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Sam hadn’t planned on going to prom. They could never be sure when Dad would move them, so he didn’t want to promise to take some girl and then have to leave before the dance and leave her unexpectedly dateless. And he didn’t get the point of going alone.
John didn’t give a crap. Prom was a distraction from hunting. Dean kept encouraging him to go.
Surprisingly, Dean was there when Sam got home. Even more surprisingly, given Dean's presence, John wasn’t. “Hey, Sam. How was your first day?”
“Annoying. It’s six weeks to the end of school, can I please have this be my last first day at a new school?” Sam dropped his backpack to the floor. “It doesn’t help that their prom is this weekend so that’s all anyone’s talking about.”
Dean's eyebrows shot up. “Huh. Short notice, but we can probably get you ready if you…”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Come off it, Dean. I don’t care.”
“You should go. I went. Had a great time.”
“You like prom so much, why don’t you go?”
“I’m not a student." Dean waggled his eyebrows at Sam. "Unless you’re offering to take me as your date…”
“You’re my brother.” Taking Dean to prom would be great, if it weren't for that little fact.
Dean shrugged. “They don’t know that.”
“If you go as my date and ditch me for some girl, how does that look?” And, of course, Sam would have to hit him.
“Terrible. So I won’t do that. You ditch me for some girl, I’ll leave and hit up a bar." Dean grinned. "Come on, Sammy. Take me to prom.”
“If you’re not looking to hook up, why do you even want to go? Glorified, yes, but it's a high school party and you've always said you were done with those when I tried to get you to come with me to those.”
Dean laughed. “I want you to go. I had a great time at mine. You want normal? Prom is normal.”
Sam found he didn’t have a counter for that. “So if I get you a ticket, you’ll go with me?”
“Yep. Not wearing a dress, though.” Sam grinned. The mental images were plenty to keep him entertained for weeks.
Before buying tickets, Sam double-checked the rules on dates. Or tried. Turned out, there weren’t any. So he bought two tickets and waited for the inevitable hunt to pull Dean away. Dean spent the week pulling together preparations. Saturday afternoon, as Sam tried to figure out how to tie a bow tie, he burst into laughter. “Are we actually doing this?”
“Yep. I’ll even let you drive.”
“You are so ridiculous.”
At prom, people stared when Sam walked in with a hot older guy. He hadn’t made any friends at school yet. Dean played it up, putting a possessive hand on Sam’s back and winking at some of the girls who were staring. They giggled and turned away. “So I guess I’m the gay kid at this school now,” Sam whispered to Dean.
Dean chuckled. “Well yeah, what did you think was gonna happen when you showed up with a hot older guy at prom?”
“I thought you’d say you were kidding and we were headed for a bar or something.” He really had. It's not that Dean had a problem with gay people, but he tended to be a little weird about people thinking he was gay himself. Which is why Sam hadn't come out as bi.
Dean punched his arm lightly. “I’ve been bugging you to go to prom how long now? And you thought I’d back down?”
“Yeah, fine. Whatever. Are you actually gonna dance?”
“Sure, why not? Think they’ll play any decent music?”
“I’m sure we’ll hear ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ or something at some point.”
“I said good music.”
Sam swatted Dean on the arm. “You are such a pain in the ass.”
Dean smirked at him. “Sure you wanna say that to someone everyone thinks is your boyfriend?”
“Oh my god.” Sam burst into laughter. “I’m going to kill you.”
Dean did, in fact, dance with Sam that night. On the rare occasion someone came over to talk to Sam, Dean played the role of hot older boyfriend a little too well. Sam almost believed it himself. Dean noticed Sam’s smiles becoming more and more forced. “Hey. You okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Having a great time.” Sam put as much effort as he could into faking the smile this time. Truth was, he wanted to get out of there. He wanted Dean to stop pretending to be what Sam had wanted him to be for two years now. But he couldn’t tell Dean he wanted to leave, not without giving a reason, and he didn’t have one.
Dean wrapped an arm around Sam’s back. “Come on. Let’s get out of here, huh?”
Sam chuckled. “You know what everyone’s gonna think if they notice us leaving early.”
“They’re gonna think my car must have a comfortable back seat. Yeah, I know. That a problem?”
Sam shrugged. “You’ve already got them thoroughly convinced you’re my boyfriend. I don’t think it matters.”
“Then come on. Let’s go.”
Instead of going home, Dean drove them out to the middle of nowhere. He threw a blanket over the hood of the car and offered Sam a beer. Once they were settled, looking up at the sky, Dean reached over and took Sam’s hand. “Hey.”
Sam looked down at their joined hands. “Dean?”
Dean's voice was soft. “Did you know you talk in your sleep?”
“What are you talking about?” Sam hadn't known. What that had to do with Dean forgetting that the show was over and he could go back to being Sam's brother who hated shows of affection, he didn't know, either.
“It’s usually fragmented, a few words at most, but I’m around you when you’re asleep enough to have put it together. The bad news: Dad too.”
Sam pulled his hand away from Dean, eyes widening a little in fear. He was pretty sure he already knew the answer, but still, he asked. “What are you talking about?”
Dean reached out and caught Sam's hand again, lacing his fingers through Sam's. “I’m talking about you. Dad didn’t want me to do this for another couple weeks, wait for your birthday, but I don’t care. Just wanted to make sure it was a real thing, not just some bizarre dream plot. And after tonight, I’m pretty sure it is.”
“What’s my birthday got to do with anything?” The only thing Sam could think of was that John and Dean were going to kick him out early, but that didn't explain Dean's sudden need to hold his hand...
Dean shrugged with a wry expression. “Honestly, not that much, and I told Dad that when I told him to take off without me. Pretty sure you’re capable of making decisions for yourself already. You’ve been through way more than most thirty-year-olds. And it’s not like it’ll ever be completely legal for me to take you to the backseat of the Impala. What do you think? It’s kind of a normal thing, losing your virginity on prom night. Or pretending to, at least.”
Sam jerked away again. He couldn't believe Dean was doing this. He'd thought Dean would... not get it, exactly, but at least not be a dick. “Dean, don’t. That’s not…”
“Oh, I know." This time, instead of reaching for Sam's hand, he reached up and stroked Sam's face. "I’m not offering a one-night stand, here, Sammy. If that were all you wanted, you'd have found someone else to bang and gotten over it. I’m talking about being together at least until you leave for Stanford.”
“You… know about that?”
Dean sighed and nodded. “Yeah, I know. Dad doesn’t know that one. I found your acceptance letter, and you’ve got a way out of this, at least for a while. I’m not gonna try to hold you back. I’ll come visit when I can, but if you don’t wanna be tied down to a long-distance thing…”
“You’re not mad at me?”
“Nah. Cut me off, turn into an asshole who’s too good for his big brother to come visit, then I’ll be mad. Might not come for a little bit if we end up breaking up for you to go to college, take some time to figure out how to go back to a couple years ago where you were just my pain in the ass little brother.”
Sam smirked. “Sure you want to say that when you’re hitting on me?”
Dean's face took on a hopeful look. “If it’ll get you to stop overthinking this and let me kiss you? Not what I was expecting, but I don’t have a problem with it.”
Last time Sam called Dean’s bluff, it wasn’t a bluff. He looked over at his brother. Dean was smiling at him, but not in a way that showed any sign that Dean was being anything but sincere. “You say Dad knows…?”
“Yeah. And at first, he was kinda…" Dean trailed off, shaking his head. "Like any parent would be on finding out that his sons have a relationship way different than he meant for it to be, really. But he’s come around to at least not gonna give us shit about it. We don’t make him watch, he won’t try to stop us.”
Sam slid over toward Dean, turning his head up to kiss his brother. Dean kissed back, and Sam relaxed. If Dean was faking it, he was damn good. No wonder he’d been so convincing. Sam pulled back and burst into laughter. Dean gave him a curious look. “Wow. The entire senior class had the chance to know I was getting laid tonight before I did. Jerk.”