Chapter Text
“Samuel, are you sure you want to do this?” Rowena asked. She and Sam were sitting in the library reading over several rather large tomes, they had a cauldron in the middle of the table and various ingredients laid out.
“Of course, he can’t like being a kid again. I need my brother back,” Sam insisted.
Rowena rolled her eyes, “He’s still your brother you know. And he might like having a normal childhood. Haven’t you asked him?”
The guilt on Sam’s face was answer enough.
Rowena tutted disapprovingly, Sam pulled one of his more obscure bitch faces (number 64 to be exact).
“You know it won’t work if he doesn’t want this. He’ll just stay that adorable boy that he is now and continue growing up normally, you won’t get a second chance,” the witch advised.
“Let's just figure out what else we need then,” said Sam. Sam turned his head back to the books and continued studying the spells. Rowena was teaching him how to create his spells as well as working on being able to reverse the spell that de-aged Dean. Being the older brother was something Sam was still struggling with and he desperately missed having a brother closer to his actual age, but Rowena’s words sat uneasily in the pit of his stomach and the new realization that Dean might not be ready to be grown-up again.
/
Dean wandered into the library and spotted Sam and Rowena deep in concentration as they read through books, occasionally conversing with each other, they didn’t even notice the boy come in until he plopped his butt onto the table next to the cauldron and various spell ingredients. There was a small vile with a purplish goo swirling around itself, Dean was quick to pick it up, idly tossing it from hand to hand.
“How’s Rowena’s school of Witchcraft and Wizardry going?”
Irritated, Sam plucked the bottle from his brother's hands, giving him a look that meant “Don’t touch” Dean rolled his eyes in reply.
“If you worked on your Latin a wee bit you could join us,” Rowena suggested.
“No thanks,” Dean said, jumping back down from the table and heading toward the kitchen to sate the growl in his stomach.
“He does seem happy enough, Samual,” Rowena said.
Sam pressed his lips together, he didn’t want to admit that the witch might be right about his brother, Dean did seem happy.
/
The following week Dean was noticeably home late from school, surprisingly John was completely unconcerned about it. Sam thought about asking but there hadn’t been any detention notices and Dean arrived promptly with the late bus, and his school work was getting completed so Sam decided not to rock the boat despite his curiosity about whatever Dean was apparently up to.
When Dean arrived home, disheveled and looking like he’d been working out he headed right to the kitchen to wolf down whatever plate of food had been left for him before getting a shower and starting his school work. Sam would just watch in awe as Dean went about his work without complaint. He didn’t have too much time to think about it however because Rowena was still staying with them and teaching him her magic and Eileen was coming to town the following week and he wasn’t at all anxious about seeing her again, no not one bit.
Once Sam and Rowena were fairly certain that their spell would work to restore Dean to his correct age they now realized breaking the news to everyone would be the challenge. Sam found the right opportunity at the end of that week when Bobby came by for a visit to discuss a possible case with John.
The three Winchesters, Bobby, and Rowena had sat down for dinner. Dean was particularly excited for the burgers Bobby had made, he took a gigantic bite and groaned happily.
“I have some news,” Sam said, breaking the silence. He cleared his throat a little nervously, Dean was still practically making love to his burger but John gave him a little elbow so that he’d at least look up.
“Um, right. A few months ago I was gone for several weeks on a case. Rowena and I were working on a new spell. And we finally got it worked out.
“Dean, we figured out how to reverse that spell on you and restore you to your actual age.”
The burger in Dean’s hands fell to the plate.
“Dean?” Bobby was the first to recover from the shocking news. It snapped Dean out of his surprised paralysis, he quietly excused himself and ran from the room.
John whacked his giant son upside the head.
“What the hell is the matter with you boy?” Bobby asked.
“What? I thought he’d want to go back.”
“He would or you?” Bobby snapped, “I’ll go talk to him.”
Dean sat on his bed holding a baseball he’d gotten at tryouts this week. For the last four days, he’d stayed after school for the baseball team tryouts, he’d made it through every cut, not that there had been a lot but he’d been told today that he’d made the team. He’d been on top of the world until Sam said he could return to his adult self. Now he felt conflicted about the prospect.
There was a gentle knock on his door. Bobby didn’t wait for an invitation before coming in he didn’t say anything and simply pulled the boy into a tight hug and the dam broke and Dean began to sob.
“What's this?” Bobby asked noticing the ball clutched in Dean’s hand.
Dean sniffed and quickly wiped his eyes, “Oh, the coach gave that to me since I didn’t have my own. But he said I was really good and … I made the team, Bobby.”
The smile on the boy's face was so genuinely happy and proud of his accomplishment, Bobby wanted to thrash Sam for having ruined his brother's day, no matter how well-meaning the moose thought he was being.
“Dean, that's great. I’m proud of you, boy,” Bobby pulled the boy into a different sort of hug this time.
“What am I going to do Bobby?”
“What do you want to do?”
Dean shrugged. He pulled his legs into his chest and rested his chin on his knees. He sat quietly for a while, Bobby just waited.
“It's my job to look out for Sammy. I can’t do that while I’m still a kid.”
Bobby’s heart broke, more if that is possible. “Dean, look at me,” he waited till green eyes met his own, “Sam is a grown man now, you don’t need to look after him anymore.”
“But it's my job!”
“It never should have been,” Bobby raised his voice a bit, he’d waited years to say that and it was hard for him to remain calm now. Dean didn’t reply. “You’ve given up normal for Sam before. More than once. You never had a chance to be a kid, to choose for yourself what you want for your life. You have that chance now. You don’t have to go back to being an adult, not if you don’t want to. You were given a gift, Dean. You can be a snot-nosed kid again. But it's your decision. You need to decide what it is YOU want. Not me. Not your Daddy, and not Sam. You,” Bobby said this as sternly as he ever had said anything to anyone, Dean couldn’t help dropping his eyes back down.
“It was easier when I didn’t have a choice,” Dean admitted. Bobby grunted in agreement. He patted Dean’s leg and left.
/
It was a few hours before Dean made his way back out of his room. The others looked over at him when he came back into the kitchen. Rowena was the only one no longer there, not wanting to hang out for the family drama.
John was first to break the awkward silence, “Dean, I don’t want you to make any decisions tonight, take a few days to think about what you want.”
Dean looked at the others, they all nodded in agreement as he made eye contact with them, “Thanks, Dad.”
He sat back down at the table, it had been cleared since dinner but Dean found himself still hungry since he hadn’t finished his meal. He didn’t even have to ask when a plate with a new burger and hot fries was set down in front of him. Dean looked up gratefully to see Bobby smiling down at him.
Sinking his teeth into the fresh juicy burger, Dean couldn’t help but smile. After a few moments, he set down his burger.
“Dad. If I decide to stay this age, at least for now. Could you maybe go a little easier on the spankings?” Dean knew the question was a long shot, but he had to ask.
John had a small smile, “Son, it doesn’t matter how old or big you get if you earn yourself a spanking you’re going to get one. Isn’t that right Sam?”
Dean looked over at Sam, whose face was now a surprising shade of crimson. Sam was squirming in his seat just a little too much.
“No way. Sam, did you?” Dean looked back over to his dad and back to Sam, and a glance to Bobby who looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him up. Dean let out a loud barking laugh more in disbelief than amusement.
“Yeah, it's hilarious,” Sam deadpanned as he shifted carefully in his seat. Dean couldn’t quite hide his smirk behind the burger as he continued to finish up his meal.
A week later Dean announced that he wanted to at least finish out the school year and baseball season before deciding on what he was going to do long-term. Sam looked a little disappointed but after a glance at John didn’t say a word about it.
John nodded, “That sounds like a good plan,” he said and tossed Dean his baseball mitt, “you’ve got practice in a bit, better get changed.”
The End