Playtime

Timeline: During the two month stay at the motel while Sam’s arm heals.

Sean, bringing up the rear by at least six inches, scuffed his feet against the ground. “What if we get caught? ” he asked plaintively.

She giggled. “We won’t get in trouble, silly. I promise, it’ll be fine!”

“But Walt…”

He was cut off when she darted back and grabbed his arm. She dragged him the rest of the way down the tunnel, all the way to where the exit was. “We’ll be fine! Just a quick look!”

Out in the motel room, night had fallen. Steady breaths could be heard from the towering bed above their heads, one huge arm draped off the side and motionless. Kara pushed Sean over to the bed cover, and they both used the thick fabric to climb up.

Dean was motionless up on the bed. One hand was draped over his chest, the left hand with his ring on it. The second hand that would normally have that massive, clunky watch on was hanging off the edge. Kara waved Sean on encouragingly, then scrambled up to Dean’s stomach. She bounced a little on the cushioned surface, laughing at the way her feet sank into the skin. If only he let them play like this when he was awake! But they had a plan tonight, and she tried to focus on that.

“See?” she whispered to Sean. “He’ll never know! His ring’s so big. We can just take a peek.”

Sean, spurred on by curiosity, followed her up the stomach and on to the chest. They arrived at the massive hand. Huge fingers were stretched out, a small space created under the arch of his palm that was actually big enough for them to fit under. Sean’s eyes widened at the thought. It had been less than a year since he’d been a human, and now he could hide under a hand with no one the wiser.

While he was staring in amazement, Kara snuck past him and slipped under the hand. “Whoa,” came her small voice. She stroked the thick silver, staring at the nicks and scratches that covered it. She couldn’t imagine how someone could actually have scratched up such a powerful looking ring.

Curious, she wrapped a hand around it, testing the thickness of the metal.

While she was under there, Sean’s eye was caught by something even more interesting. Moonlight glinted off a brass amulet, resting peacefully on Dean’s chest, another thing that they’d never even come close to. He slunk up to it, carefully eyeing Dean’s face to see if there was any sign the hunter had noticed them there. But the human slumbered on peacefully.

Sean nudged the amulet, then picked it up. It was heavy and solid. Instead of being cool to the touch like he’d expected, the brass face had picked up the body heat of its owner and was warm to the touch. A hand wrapped around the thick cord that it would normally hang suspended from, slipping up it to stare at all the small threads that were bound into one. It was amazing for Sean to think that when he was a human he couldn’t have even seen the detail that was in these objects. Dean couldn’t even see half this detail.

The hunter suddenly shifted, sending Sean sprawling a few inches down. Kara clung to the ring in surprise.

Dean’s hand lifted up, taking Kara with it. She gave a squeak of surprise as it passed over Sean, then over Dean’s face. Her fingers - clammy with sudden nerves - slipped, and she fell.

Right on Dean’s nose.

A scattering of freckles surrounded Kara’s landing spot, each as thick as or thicker than her fingers. The skin wasn’t smooth this close, but it still had a soft feeling as long as she didn’t brush against the stubble under his nose.

Kara froze, afraid she’d woken up her friend. For a second, the eyebrows scrunched together, and Dean brushed his hair flat with his hand. Then the skin between his eyes evened out and the hand went back to his chest.

He was still asleep.

She let out a quiet giggle. “That was fun! ” Normally, she’d want to do it again, but first she needed to worry about getting off Dean’s nose without waking him.

This idea was encouraged when the hunter shifted under her. A deep breath was taken. She could feel the breeze pass her by even as it was pulled into immense lungs. A sigh rattled out of him, fading into silence.

She went to push up, but just ended up slipping back down from the awkward angle she was lying at. A fluttering next to her caught her attention, and she gave a small gasp at the sight of his long eyelashes as they moved. They were twice as long as her hand. She brushed her fingers over them, giggling at how the fluttering sensation tickled.

“Kara!”

Sean’s voice came from nearby, and she peered off from her perch. Sean was trying to keep his balance on the pillow next to Dean, but the weight of the human turned it into a steep slide before he could get close enough to climb up. “Kara, we should go!” he called to her, nerves starting to come out.

“I think that’s a good idea.”

The unexpected voice made Sean jump and Kara almost tumble from her perch. Walt was standing on the nightstand next to Dean’s watch, his arms crossed and a stern glare on his face.

“Aww!” Kara said. “But we didn’t even wake him up!” she pointed out.

Walt pursed his lips, trying to hide a smile. “You sure about that?” he asked.

“Huh?” Kara glanced back down at the hunter, and squeaked with surprise when she saw one of the big green eyes staring straight up at her.

The eye dilated as it tried to focus on the tiny girl, the skin next to the eye scrunching in a smile. She toppled off Dean’s nose in surprise only to be swept up in a hand before she hit the ground (in other words, Dean).

Dean let out a laugh of his own as he went to sit up, collecting Sean in his other hand. “How’d you figure it out?” he asked Walt as he held both hands near the smaller man to let Walt climb in with the kids. With both children already in Dean’s hands, there was no way the older man would turn down the help out of pride. He always remained near his charges.

“For one, there’s no way a hunter sleeps through Kara landing on his nose.” Walt mussed up her hair. “For another, you’re very bad at hiding smiles.”

Dean had to nod in response to that. People like Walt and Sam could read him like a book, he was coming to find. Small tells that were hidden to another human were as plain as day to someone the size of his finger.

Sean blinked up at the giant. “So you knew the whole time?” he asked, disappointed.

“Nope, just when this one decided to canonball my face,” Dean said with a gentle smile, nudging Kara lightly with a finger before he lowered them all down to the ground. “I think you two might want to stick to visits during the day. Safer all around for everyone.”