XD At the very least, they all know deep inside which Sam or Dean or Oscar or Jacob or Bowman is theirs, so they can keep track of their own AU family. Otherwise it’s pandemonium, everything and anything goes!
So glad you’re enjoying it! More will come soon, we promise! We continue our way through the other stories already released to work up to the present day.
Oscar is unanimously adopted by everyone. And he doesn’t mind that one bit. He’s so shy around new people, but he appreciates that they all look out for him and make sure they won’t cause him trouble while he’s exploring.
“Alright, your turn, half-pint,” Dean mumbled half to himself as he opened up his pocket. “Time to come out.”
“What?! ” Jacob hissed before he could even stop himself. The last thing he wanted was to be brought out of the pocket here, no matter how much he disliked being confined.
He flinched away as Dean’s fingers joined him in the pocket, knowing he had nowhere to go to avoid them but trying to anyway. He pressed himself as far into the bottom of the pocket as he could go, thinking maybe Dean would get the hint when he couldn’t find purchase on the back of Jacob’s hoodie. To provide extra incentive, he kicked at Dean’s fingertip as hard as he could to make sure the callused hand could feel it.
“Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad!” Dean hissed after his finger flinched back from the kick.
I like to think that he would definitely date her. Those two, as tragic as the story ended up, were meant for each other. And once he’d been with her for a bit, before they moved in together, Sam would bring the idea up to Dean, knowing it’s not his place to decide.
Dean would be thrilled for the chance to get to know the woman his brother loves, even with all the teasing remarks to both of them.
Jacob sat at the bottom of the pocket for a long while, letting his food settle and trying not to think about the fact that he was stowed in a pocket. If he closed his eyes, it almost felt like a hammock. A hammock with a huge heart pounding not far away and a sway lent to it by huge lungs filling with air, but a hammock nonetheless. The sensations filled him with unease. Jacob wondered how he’d ever get used to this.
Bowman lurched to his feet and pressed his hands against the lid, but his strength was no match for the giant. It snapped into place so loudly that he thought his eardrums might have popped. Bowman could only see vague shapes tinted red through that lid.
Everything else around him was the same, except tinted grey. Bowman was stuck inside a container barely half the width of his wingspan.
“Let me out right now! ” he demanded, slapping his hands against the lid above him.
He’d get headbutts if he doesn’t scritch (and if he does, these birbs just cannot make up their minds), and the birb will squawk if Dean goes out of sight. Once he’s claimed the brothers as his ‘flock,’ he’s gotta keep them in sight the entire time, or chirp for their location! Can’t stress that birb out.
There will be so much buzzing by Dean’s face once the cockatiel takes to the air.
Before Jacob could react, his leg was snagged between two fingers so Dean could peer at the tiny boots. “Where did you manage to get boots your size?” he asked curiously, squinting down at them and realizing he could even see miniscule treads on the bottom.
Jacob, dazed by being picked up so quickly, propped himself up on his elbows and tried to pull his leg free of Dean’s grip. The human had a fascinated look on his face, which was of course very close now that Dean had decided to act on his curiosity. Jacob hadn’t even had time to sputter out a protest before his leg was snared in gigantic fingers.
It felt so ridiculously small compared to Dean’s hands. He could try to scoot himself backwards on Dean’s hand, or maybe even sit himself up more. But it was difficult to have any effect, and Jacob began to wonder if his extra strength was even there at all for a moment.
“Shut up.” “I didn’t say anything!” “Don’t care. Shut up.”
A fun dialogue prompt for Jacob. And, honestly, who else would he have this conversation with but Bowman Leafwing?
Jacob pursed his lips in an effort to school his expression. He’d definitely heard the sound of Bowman’s landing, though he hadn’t expected it at all. He tread carefully on grassy patches and whatever stones he could find until he could catch up, and then he squatted down so he could see.
Bowman sat up and lifted his arms and wings out of the mud he’d careened right into. Globs of soaked earth dropped from the limbs with tiny plops and Jacob bit determinedly on his lower lip. It wouldn’t do any good to laugh now.
Even covered head to toe in mud, it was very easy to tell when Bowman was about to boil over.
Wild, dark green hair matted down to his head and Bowman’s eyes shone especially bright in contrast with the mud dripping onto his face. Jacob could hardly even see his lower half stuck in the mud puddle.
Bowman whipped his gaze upward. “Shut up!”
“I didn’t say anything!” Jacob insisted, his voice shaking with laughter he refused to let out.
“Don’t care. Shut up.” Bowman’s word was final, though even Jacob could pinpoint the embarrassment in his voice.
“What even happened?” Jacob asked, his voice gentler than before. He hesitated to pick Bowman up and help him out of the mud until he got permission. With the tiny sprite’s pride, one couldn’t be too careful.
Bowman grumbled to himself and tried to brush more globs of mud off his arms. His wings were coated and heavy with the stuff. “Flew through a spiderweb,” he mumbled.
Jacob’s eyebrows shot up and he was caught somewhere between amused and concerned. “You’re not gonna get bit, are you? Got any passengers?”
Bowman shook his head and some drops of muddy water flew away from his hair. “I don’t think the spider was in the center. She’s probably upset that I took her net down, though.”
Jacob sighed and a low, quiet roll of thunder rumbled overhead. As if claiming its own innocence in the whole ordeal. The rain pattered lightly against the canopy above, but only a few drops here and there fell on him so far. Bowman had happened to land in the path of the small storm’s runoff.
“How about I get you to the stream?” Jacob offered, holding out a hand towards his small friend. The fall had been amusing, but poor Bowman’s wings were drooping and it was kind of pathetic.
Bowman shot him another glare. “Fine. But not a word to anyone else, do you hear me?”
Jacob shook his head. “Not a single one. Promise.”
Bowman nodded sharply in approval, and then leaned towards Jacob’s hand. His own tiny hands left smears of mud on Jacob’s fingers as he scrambled for purchase, and when he finally managed it he had to tug himself out of the mud as it tried to keep him. As soon as he could, Jacob curled his fingers up under Bowman’s middle to help tug his legs free.
Bowman crawled to Jacob’s palm, wings dragging and his clothes sopping wet.
“What would you do without me?” Jacob asked, lifting Bowman up and nudging him with his thumb. Bowman swatted at it and glared, so he was probably alright.
“I’d die of shame,” the sprite answered ruefully. “Just get me to the stream before I decide to throw mud in your hair.”
A tent, colossal enough to fit the giant and made out of a strange shiny cloth sat nearby. The ground was scattered with things Bowman couldn’t stare at long enough to name. He only saw enough to know they were big and alien to him. His eyes lingered on a rough circle of ashes filled charred wood. The remains of a fire.
The giant had built a fire, and recently. Bowman thanked the Spirit that he hadn’t ended up cooking on the flames.
Brothers Apart 