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The sun is barely out when Dean's alarm wakes him up. He could be sleeping still, Sammy has told him that today will be a lazy day, but today is also Sammy's birthday and Dean can't let it happen without celebrating; his brother is always so sweet and understanding towards him when he needs to be little, he has to thank him! Problem is— he is little right now so what he has in mind could be hard to do… Whatever, it'll be fine, he decides.
Still in his pajamas, he walks down the hallway and into the kitchen; he's going to bake a cake. With fruits because Sammy likes it when it's healthy, and he'll add a bit of chocolate because he prefers chocolate over fruits and he wants to eat some too. He opens the fridge, the cupboards, gets all he'll need on the worktop— and stares. He knows that he knows what to do with everything but his brain struggles to make it make sense right now. He ends up shrugging and thinks that maybe his body will remember the steps for him. Fingers crossed.
Breathing in deeply, he starts with the flour in the bowl, then the eggs, sugar— should he put the butter now? Wait, he has to melt it first. He thinks he has to anyway, he's not sure. Fingers crossed again, he takes some, probably too much, and puts it in the microwave. He adds milk into the bowl and whisks the flour mixture while the butter melts and finds that it's harder than usual but perseveres. But his hands skid, the batter-to-be doesn't want to do what it's told, and Dean slowly starts to think that it was a bad idea.
He pouts; there's flour on his cheek and his fingers are wet with egg white, there's butter spread on the worktop, he's already tired and he still hasn't cut the fruits. Maybe he can just make pancakes instead? But no, it's Sammy's birthday, it has to be a cake!
The microwave beeping shakes him up and he realizes that it could also wake his brother up. Eyes wide open, he listens carefully to any sound but doesn't hear anything from Sammy. Sighing in relief, he fetches the now melted butter and adds it to the odd preparation, whisking again. It actually starts to look okay now, so Dean smiles.
*
Sam stirs under the cover and wonders why he's already waking up when the sun doesn't seem to be that high in the sky yet. Then he hears it, the noise of someone moving into the kitchen; Dean, as a little kid, he recognizes him just from the loudness of his actions. Curious, he gets up and pads out of his room, walking carefully until he stands in the shadow of the kitchen threshold.
He watches Dean work with a frown of concentration on his face, his tongue poking out. His whisk skills are less assured than usual but he still looks like he's doing good at whatever it is he's making. Or maybe not, seeing as he's suddenly pouting now. Sam can't help but smile at that; Dean has always been cute when he's confused, either as an adult or a little one. The microwave startles him out of his contemplation and he watches as little Dean suddenly freaks out, listening to something. Himself, Sam realizes; his baby doesn't want to wake him up. Warmth invades him at that observation.
Being even more discreet than before, he watches him continue to bake, admires him focusing hard on cutting the fruits right, and worries a little when he goes to melt the chocolate with milk in a pot instead of the microwave. He almost leaves his hiding spot when the milk starts to boil and overflow but little Dean quickly gets it back on track and, really, Sam didn't know he could be prouder of his brother than he already is. The kitchen is a total mess but nothing is broken and more importantly, his baby isn't hurt.
When the time to use the oven comes, Sam debates whether he should make an appearance or not. Despite his baby using his adult's skills to the the best of his child-capacity, Dean is still too young to use the oven correctly. But then he sees his brother debating as well and he somehow knows that he should get back to bed soon before Dean sees him in the shadow; he's suddenly sure that he won't put the cake to bake without him.
*
Dean is trying to figure out what to do now that his cake is ready. Or rather, that the batter is ready to be cooked. He already put the fruits in it, then the mixture into a mold, and the chocolate seems liquid enough to cover the cake but— how does he bake it? He knows he has to use the oven, he just doesn't know which program to choose. Well, he'll just punch the preheat button —he fortunately remembers that one— and let Sammy do it. It's safer that way.
Making sure the cooking plates are off, little Dean almost trots to Sammy's room and has to remind himself that he can't startle him too much or Sammy could feel threatened. It's his birthday, his brother can't feel bad today, so Dean turns the knob very slowly, the sight of Sammy's hair poking out of the cover making him giggle.
“Dean?” his brother sleepily asks, turning around.
“Happy birzday, Sammy!”
“Hi, baby.” Sammy smiles and opens his arms so Dean runs into them. “Thank you, Dee. Are you awake for long already?”
“Yes, I have a su'prise for you. But you need to come with me.”
“Yeah? What did you do?” Sammy asks, squinting playfully, and Dean knows it, but he still feels guilty somehow.
“Nothing!”
“Oh, Dee, baby, it's okay, I'm not mad. I was just joking.”
“I know…”
“You're still tired, aren't you? You woke up very early.” Dean nods shyly. “We'll nap a bit soon, after you show me what you have for me, okay?”
“Can I sleep with you?”
“I thought it was my birthday?” Sammy fakes surprise and this time, Dean giggles. “Of course, you can, Dee.”
*
Despite knowing already, Sam is honestly touched by his brother's action and he tells him as much. Dean feels so proud of himself that he doesn't even shy away from telling him that he should make the last steps himself as to not ruin the cake, and Sam happily does so.
They clean the kitchen together, regularly checking on the cake, and Sam reheat the melted chocolate that Dean realized he made too early.
“It's not serious,” Sam soothes him, not liking the reason for the cute pout on his brother's face. “You did really well melting it anyway, it's perfect actually. Wanna help cover the cake with me?”
“Can I?”
“You did every step until now, might as well do the last one, yeah?”
*
The cake sticks to the mold and Dean apologizes for having forgotten to oil the mold but Sam shushes him with a boop on his nose.
There's too much chocolate so they use the leftover to make hot chocolate to drink with the cake and Dean squeals in happiness.
There are lumps that Dean hasn't gotten rid of and patches of bad mixed batter in the cake but Sam doesn't say anything about it. The cake is good and there are fruits; Dean has obviously made his best just for him, there's no use to temper his joy.
“It's the best birthday surprise, Dee, thank you. I'm so proud of you.”
Seeing his brother's smile highlighted with hot chocolate is totally worth it, he thinks as he cleans Dean's mouth.