Jacob took hesitant steps toward the bar. His eyes trailed on the ground, not knowing who Oscar was but certain he’d find out. In the meantime, he wouldn’t put the little guy at risk.
He arrived at the bar and took a seat. There was a beat of hesitation before he settled his arms on the bar so his passengers had a way down. Leaving them to their short climb, he nodded at the much taller Dean.
“I’m Jacob Andris,” he greeted, looking bemused. “How … how’s it going?”
“Jacob?” Dean repeated, a grin blossoming on his face. He clapped the kid on the back, earning a look from the Dean perched close by on a shoulder. “Bowman told us all about ya!”
“Do you mind? ” Dean snipped from where he was sitting. No matter how much Jacob tried, he couldn’t completely stop the impact from jostling Dean and Sam a bit.
Dean poked at smaller-him in the side curiously. “Dude, since when am I bitty? ”
The much smaller Dean batted at the questing finger in aggravation. “Dude, quit it!”
They stared at each other, and the regular-sized Dean burst into a grin. “Awesome.”
Before Dean or Jacob could react, Dean had nabbed his smaller counterpart off the teenager’s shoulder, setting him down on the bar before he could get a swipe in with his tiny knife. “Bartender!” Dean called out, “we need a whiskey and apple pie over here, stat!”
“Coming right up!”
Sam stared at where his older brother was standing now, in just as much shock as Dean was down on the bar. “What in the world,” he said weakly, though he could feel the underlying current in the room that said they were safe. As boisterous and odd as this new Dean seemed, he wasn’t a danger.
Just excitable.
“Uh,” Jacob said, once again at a loss for what to say next. He didn’t have any clue who Bowman was. He had a strange feeling he might someday, but for now the name rang no bells. He decided to just let that one slide by.
Instead, he eyed Dean– the one he knew– down on the bar. The little guy wasn’t hurt at all, but he’d definitely never left Jacob’s shoulder behind so fast. The taller Dean was swift, and clearly had enough experience handling someone smaller than himself. Little Dean didn’t have a scratch on him.
In fact, he’d been set down next to a miniature version of the bar they sat at. Jacob grinned at the sight, and reached down to nudge one of the stools.
“Check it out, guys, you got front row seating,” he mused, giving the stool a light twirl. “Sam, you wanna order anything?”
“Maybe just a beer,” Sam said, his voice low.
That didn’t stop the bartender from overhearing. “One beer, comin’ up!”
Sam slowly climbed down Jacob’s arm, taking in the new, unfamiliar surroundings. The warm lighting overhead pushed away any shadows, and though Sam was shy as he saw the other Dean glance over at him, a telltale tingle going up his neck at the motion, he knew the man meant no harm.
Not that the smaller Dean would ever believe them.
Brothers Apart 