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It hadn’t been while that Sam had been on the road, well, not long for him. He had been driving around two and half hours, just by himself since Dean wasn’t with him. First time in what felt like forever. He did love Dean, he was his brother after all, but damn, Sam was so tired of arguing with him; he swore it was like talking to a brick wall.
He always had a problem with everything, they both always had a problem with each other. Dean was trying to sacrifice himself but Sam didn’t want him to. Sam wanted to trust Ruby, while Dean did not. Sam’s eyes were locked on the road, he had forgotten what he originally had left the motel for. Was it food? For a case? He couldn’t remember, didn’t matter anyway, he was gonna end up going back to the motel at the end of the day. Sam was relaxed for once, he actually didn’t think about worrying about anything at the moment, too tired to focus on anything.
His body on tensed back up when he flinched at the familiar sound of angel wings. He assumed it was Castiel, but looked over to see Dutch. He was a bit nervous to see Dutch, considering he was an archangel, and from what he had learned dealing with Gabriel; they were unpredictable.
“Oh, uhm. Hi, Dutch.” Sam said, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to glance over at Dutch. He was just sitting in the passenger seat and staring at Sam. “Hey Sam.” His words were fast paced and reflected his personality. The archangel had a bag in his hands. A small white plastic bag he had seen a lot while being on the road.
It was just a normal gas station bag. Which was weird considering Dutch was everything but normal. He was an archangel, “I bought you some stuff”, Dutch said, Sam looked over, staring at the archangel but making sure to stay straight on the road. He processed Dutch’s words on a few seconds after he spoke, why would Dutch just get him stuff out of the blue? He hadn’t known him for very long, only a few months, so it was a bit strange for Dutch to already be acting all nice and friendly with him. The ‘stuff’ Dutch mentioned intrigued Sam and he attempted looking over subtly to try and see what was in the bag but there was no need.
Dutch just took it out the bag too. It was a dark red drink in a glass bottle. A red label stretched around it, ‘Cheerwine’. Dutch caught a glimpse of the hunter staring at the drink. “Would you wanna share?” Dutch asked.
“Oh, no- no thanks.” Sam said, although his throat did feel a bit dry, and the cold soda did look a bit appealing right now. He didn’t say anything, he rarely had shared a drink in his entire life. Only when he absolutely had to. He kept driving, the awkward silence only punctured by Dutch’s finger constantly tapping on the glass, he hadn’t opened the bottle yet, he was saving it to see if Sam wanted some of it.
He had bought it, well, not really bought it. More like, appeared in the store, grabbed it, and zapped himself to the car. He left the cashier a bit confused as to how he walked in and never walked out. Dutch was hoping she just brushed it off, if she didn’t, oh well. Didn’t hurt him any.
Sam kept glancing over at Dutch, just to make sure he was still there, he didn’t know if Dutch would randomly disappear out of nowhere like Castiel would. He didn’t, he looked a bit bored though, the road in front of them not being anything special, just a normal backroad that the Winchesters would always ride down.
Sam eventually slowly rolled the car off to the side of the road when there wasn’t a ditch beside them. He knew if he got even a nail stuck in Dean’s tire he would chew Sam out over it. Much more if he got a scratch on the paint job, so he definitely didn’t wanna roll the car just straight into a ditch, also because he wasn’t stupid. Of course he wouldn’t roll the car into a ditch. Sam relaxed his hand and moved it down to rest on the bottom of the steering wheel after putting the car in park. Dutch looked at him a bit confused, Sam smiled, and couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “I might’ve lied earlier,” The hunter spoke, his tone playful.
“About what?”
“I am thirsty.” Sam said, glancing down to the glass bottle in Dutch’s hands. It was such a small thing to pull over for but also, he couldn’t let his throat stay dry now could he? Especially when an archangel was offering him a cold drink—and it would feel nice to drink something other than beer. Dutch couldn’t help but grin as he handed the drink over to the hunter.
Sam looked at it for a moment almost like he was analyzing it before reaching up to pop off the cap. It didn’t smell of anything, just like all sodas. So Sam put the drink up to his lips and felt the cool sensation soothe his dry tongue. It didn’t actually taste too bad. “Where did you get this?” Sam asked after he pulled his lips away. Not that he wanted to buy it, he just didn’t know if he had seen this drink before, he didn’t really pay attention to what drink they sold in stores since well, they only got beer most of the time.
“A corner store… in North Carolina..” Dutch said, speaking slowly as if he was just saying common sense, he was honestly just surprised the Winchesters, or at least, Sam, had never seen the drink before, considering how he had literally been almost everywhere on the U.S. map. Pretty sure they had even been out of state too. It was hard to name a place they had not been.
Sam nodded, “Its not bad.” The hunter spoke as he handed the glass back to Dutch, his movements calm as he realized the archangel didn’t want to cause any trouble. Dean would scold him for hanging out with Dutch, but Sam always wanted to at least give Dutch a chance, and Dutch appreciated Sam for that. He wasn’t very kind to Sam when they first met, but he did eventually warm up to him.
It wasn’t anything personally against Sam, he just didn’t talk to that many humans. Dutch held the drink between his legs, the car was a bit awkward, Dutch just kept glancing over at Sam as if expecting him to say something, and he was. Sam breathed in deeply. “So, what do you wanna listen to?” Sam asked, he didn’t even know if Dutch liked music at all, but that was a dumb question. Every creature loved music, even some animals loved it. Like birds.
Dutch shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t mind really, your music taste isn’t too bad.” The archangel said playfully, he didn’t have an opinion on music, too busy doing other things other than listening to songs. Suddenly, a question popped up into Sam’s head, “How do you know what music I listen to?” He furrowed his brows but there wasn’t any real concern behind his words.
Dutch didn’t reply, just smiled contently. “I like to keep an eye on you.” Dutch said, but he didn’t mean it in a way to scare Sam—rather to comfort him. He tried to look out for Sam in his free time or just check on him every now and then.
He didn’t bother with Dean.
Back to when they had first met again, Dutch thought Sam would hate him due to what had happened in the cage, and the fact he was an archangel. He didn’t, and that was one of the main reasons he softened up on Sam. He cared about him, and the more he watched him, the more he truly saw Sam for himself. His nightmares, his way of flinching at yelling, and even with all his trauma, he was still compassionate. Sam would still try and be the best he possibly could to others.
Dutch wanted to talk about it with Sam, he wanted to know how the taller man felt, he didn’t want Sam to just bottle all this up and call it a day. Dutch just had to wait for the right time, when they got closer maybe, but he was always open to listen.
Sam turned on the radio, flipping through the channels. Skipping over many songs, ‘Fine, Again’, ‘The Thunder Rolls’, ‘Girl Crush’, before he finally lands on ‘Unwell’ by Matchbox Twenty. Sam just knew the song, nothing more, also the other songs weren’t what he particularly wanted to listen to right now. He needed something to just play in the background while they talked, or just sat there, he didn’t mind.
“I guess I can live with this song.” Dutch said, sighing mockingly—yet not rudely. “Shut up.” Sam laughed. The dark haired male reached his hand into the plastic back again, but this time, he only pulled out a simple candy bar and extended his arm, offering it up to Sam. The hunter took it despite his confusion.
“What’s up with you?” He asked, his brows furrowed with his words. “What do you mean?” Dutch replied, Sam unwrapped the candy bar, his eyes going down and scanning over the sweet milk chocolate. “You aren’t usually this.. generous, I guess.” He spoke, turning his head to face Dutch again. The latter shrugged his shoulders while his fingers idly played with a loose string attached to his jeans. “What? Angels can’t be kind now?” He almost laughed out. “Well, you’re an archangel. They don’t exactly have the best reputation among hunters.” Which Dutch’s kind really didn’t. Especially after Gabriel, Micheal and Lucifer just solidified it.
“I suppose you’re right.” Dutch wasn’t offended. He knew it was true after all, if only his brothers hadn’t made them look so bad, maybe a simple offering wouldn’t seem like a blue moon from an archangel.
He glanced down at the bottle that was now placed in a cupholder between them. It was one Dean himself rigged up so it didn’t exactly have the best stability, but it could manage. “You want any more?” Sam nodded, reaching for it. “Sure.” Sam’s hand wrapped around the drink and pulled it up to his lips, taking another drink of the bottle.
“Save some for me, giant.” Dutch joked, making Sam smile against the bottle until he pulled away. “I might.” The hunter bantered. Before he could sit it back down in the cupholder, Dutch grabbed it. “I want some too, I did ask to share.” He said, taking an awfully large gulp of the bottle.
Sam scoffed, “And you wanna talk about me not saving some.” Dutch nodded, “I bought it”
“Uh, correction. You stole it.” Sam said.
“Stealing or no buying, I have bigger things to worry about.” Dutch said, it was nice. Just the two of them playfully joking around in the car and not arguing. There was no tension, no anger, and Sam didn’t have to think about anything at the moment. Neither did Dutch, and good God did he have a lot to think about after years of living with billions of knowledge.
Sam took a bite of his snack, it was sweet, he rarely ate sweets, but he could let this one slide. It wasn’t everyday he got to hang out with an archangel. “Is it good?” Dutch asked, he sounded almost eager to hear Sam’s answer. “I wouldn’t know, I just picked up a random one that looked good.” Dutch moved his hand to scratch the back of his neck while the hunter nodded in response, swallowing the bite he had just taken. “Yeah.” Sam said, wiping his mouth with his hand. “It’s actually pretty good.” He added on. “Im glad.” He watched as Sam stuffed another bite of the chocolate into his mouth.
It didn’t take Sam long to eat it, he was nearing the end of the small candy quickly after it had been given to him. The song changed to another made by the same artist, the song being titled “Push”. Sam finished the chocolate around the beginning of the song.
“I forgot to say anything.” Sam spoke up, throwing the wrapper out of the car window. He didn’t really care if he littered or not considering he was facing the end of the world every other week. At least, that’s what it felt like. Sam followed up his words a few seconds later “But thank you.”
“Don’t flatter me. You’re always welcome, Sam.” Dutch said, he didn’t mind giving since he had the power and time to do so. “If you need or want anything at all, Sam, all you have to do is pray to me.” Dutch said, though he knew the Winchester would only pray to him if something dire was going on. For that’s just how both of the brothers were. Only asking for help if they were practically dying.
Dutch was fine with that. He understood their reasonings for it. “Okay, alright.” Sam breathed out softly. “No, seriously. I don’t have anything else to do.” Dutch clarified, he was bored, if Sam prayed to him it was at least something he could do.
“Well what about Purgatory?” Sam puzzled. Dutch knew that Sam’s concerns were valid, he did have to look after the place. But… “Purgatory will be fine if I leave for a few hours. The place existed eons before I did and went untouched the entire time.” Sam shrugged it off after hearing the archangel. He surely knew what he was talking about. “Whatever you say.” Jested Sam.
He took in a breath. “I- or, we—gotta get back to the bunker before Dean stats worrying where I’m at.” Sam said.
“Oh, that guy. Who cares what he thinks?” Dutch joked playfully. Sam replied to him almost instantly: “Uh, me. Are you forgetting thats my brother?” Dutch snicked. “Yeah, I know I’m just pickin’” Its not that he felt any irritation or hatred towards Dean. There was just a certain brother he preferred more. Dean had just acted more hostile than Sam when they first met. Sam wasn’t exactly kind, but he was easier to talk to, so they bonded… slowly.
Dutch found Dean funny. Nothing more.
Of course, Dutch knew the many reasons behind the eldest brother having trust issues, he’d have to be blind if he didn’t. Dutch just didn’t want to go through such trouble of gaining Dean’s trust. Plus, Dean already had an angel, Castiel. Sam never took anything Dutch said to heart, he was aware that Dutch rarely said anything serious; unless he really needed to. Talking about his brother Dean was not one of those moments that he absolutely needed to.
The car ride back was anything but silent. Both of the two men talked the entire time, Sam quietly wishing the car ride hadn’t ended so early. Two hours was nothing when you spent your entire life driving around the country. Sam and Dutch both agreed, once nearing the motel, that they should hang out more often when Sam could actually spend some quality time with him. The out-dated sign of the motel flickered in the distance, a clear indication it needed a few new bulbs.
The drink they had shared was nearing its empty by the time they pulled in the parking lot. Dutch took a sip of the glass, then handed the drink over to the hinter. Which he gratefully drunk up the last few remnants of. After Sam pulled the bottle away, Dutch laid his hand on Sam’s gently. At first, he thought Dutch wanted the empty glass (which he didn’t see why), but the longer Dutch’s hand rested there—the less Sam began to think that.
A blush was barely visible, but still there on Dutch’s face. His hand lingering on Sam’s a moment too long, and his face quickly, swiftly, moved up to peck Sam on the cheek before he disappeared. Leaving the hunter speechless, did Dutch really just kiss him? Of all people? That was not something he was expecting.
Sam swallowed in an attempt to bring himself back to earth after that. Glancing over at the passenger seat where now, no one sat. Still slightly baffled at what had just happened. He blinked a few times before he got out of the car, his face curving into a smile.
-
The thought did cross Sam’s mind. ‘Wait, couldn’t Dutch just snap his fingers and have himself his own drink? Without needing to share one?’ Sam brushed it off though, He enjoyed the small intimate moment the two had shared together over a drink. It was definitely better than the times that he sat in the car arguing with Dean. His feet walked along the pavement, a soft grin plastered on his face.
Sam walked in the motel, feeling as if his time spent with Dutch was too little. It was nice, despite was he initially thought of the archangel. He honestly wished he had kept driving, he unlocked the door before swinging it open cautiously. Just hunter’s instincts at this point.
He was still holding the empty bottle Dutch had given him. Dean was sitting on the edge of the motel bed, watching television. Only looking over because he heard the door open. “Dude, where the hell have you been all day?” Dean asked, he didn’t give Sam time to answer, just looked down at his hands and saw they were empty other than the small finished glass he held. “Where’s the pie?”