Chapter Text
***Dean's Point of View***
Business had been slow lately, as, in the last two years, bills were starting to pile up. It was all because of his father; since the death of Sam and Dean's mother, a fox Beta, their father had taken to drinking. It wasn't exactly a surprise, an Alpha never takes the death of their Omega or Beta well. The house fire that killed her and the loss of all of their belongings hadn't helped. Starting over again, with just his boys and no help made things hard for John Winchester. and the bottle was his only comfort, it seemed. The drinking wasn't the problem. It was the secrets that came out While he was drinking.
Dean's omega status had been well hidden for years, especially since Dean was the first male in his father's line to ever Present as an Omega; and on top of that, he wasn't even a wolf. Somewhere down his mother's Fox bloodline, there was a recessive trait for Coyote blood, and lo and behold, Dean was it.
The disappointing omega coyote that was never good enough to please their father. It was shortly after Dean presented that their drunkard of a father took off, leaving the Shop to the Eldest, and the Eldest to the Youngest.
Most of their business was of the female persuasion, the type that liked to stand around and gawk at him while he worked. He was small, lithe, and he could fit in a tight place without much problem, and his narrow hands and long arms had a pretty good reach. His physique was pleasing to the eye, or so he'd been told a time or two. The other regulars were the Alphas who liked to come in and harass Dean for trying to run a business, which was no place for an omega.
Thankfully, Dean just did the labor, Sam did the bookkeeping. There had been a couple of guys around to work security, but Dean didn't like them, or the message they sent to prospective new customers, so he sent them elsewhere. Sam didn't like it, and he took to staying in the office when Dean was working, which was almost always. There was a small apartment above the shop where the boys lived, it helped to avoid bills like rent since they owned the shop.
Sam was often concerned because Dean was up with the sun, and he would work over to get a car done long after closing time because he wanted to get the job done and get the car out faster. Sam had seen him work almost a week straight on three hours a night and it was getting to be too much.
"Dean, you've got to stop. You know I don't like asserting my dominance, but you are pushing boundaries, and if you leave me with no choice, I will make you close up shop and rest, I swear to all that is Holy." He growled as Dean worked through yet another meal.
Dean lifted his lip in a snarl, refusing to meet Sam's gaze. "I have to do this, Sam, it's the only thing keeping us afloat. Okay? Until you're done with school, this is how it has to be."
Sam hated that Dean put himself through this; yes, Dean was the older brother, but Dammit, Sam was his Alpha. It wasn't Dean's job to take care of him, it was the other way around, but Dean would have none of it.
"You know how exhausted you get when you get too close to your cycle, and it's coming, soon, and we can't afford the suppressants this time Dean. Your body can't handle it anymore. You need to let it happen. You've been holding back for how long?"
Dean didn't answer, because he knew Sam was right.
Sam was getting frustrated, and so was Dean, but the difference between them was when Sam got frustrated, Dean was swamped with instinctual responses, like tilting his head to bear his throat, averting his gaze and lowering himself, despite being significantly smaller than his brother.
Dean growled defiantly, skulking away to the back office where he handled service reports and he slammed the door behind him, leaving Sam to fume.
Dean was beyond getting frustrated at this point; it had been one thing after another all damned day.
First his radio quit working, then a part he ordered came in and it was the wrong part; then one of his best wrenches fell into an engine block he was working on and his retrieval tool came up missing because one of the other guys who worked in the shop every now and then moved it.
Dean loved his shop, he took pride in his work, in the appearance of his business and in the customer service and fair prices he was always determined to provide, but lately, things just weren't going his way.
They were barely staying afloat. Sam was in school, and as much as he wanted to support Dean, Sam knew he had a better chance of doing that with an education. On top of that, he had an Omega of his own that he was bonding with. Dean wanted Sammy to be happy, to live a normal life, go to school, have friends and a family, but since their father disappeared, Sam had tasked himself with taking care of him.
Dean might've been an omega, but he resented the fact that anyone thought he needed to be taken care of.
Really though; if it wasn't for Sam, there were times when Dean had been in trouble that he couldn't get out of on his own. Sometimes he worked too much, he skipped meals, he didn't sleep or hydrate. Sometimes his customers got rough with him, if it wasn't for Sam, he'd have been made a victim more than once, and damn it all if it didn't piss him off all the more.