"Hiya, beautiful. Did ya miss me?"
You grabbed onto him when you saw that it was Dean, your fingers digging into the flesh of his shoulders, the blood from your palm staining his sleeve as you clung to him as hard as you could. Shaking and hyperventilating.
"Y/N?" Dean asked, prying your hands from his shoulders and pushing you away so he could look you in the eye. A tear escaped down your cheek and you craned your neck to look behind you, still no sign of Simon. Dean grabbed your chin, turning you to face him again. "Shh, sweetheart, deep breath." You shuttered again and sucked in a long breath. "Are you okay?"
"S-Sim-on," you panted slightly, still trying to catch your breath and ignoring his question.
You just wanted to bury your face in his chest and hide away, but that probably wouldn't solve anything, right?
"Y/N, calm down and tell me what's going on." He pleaded, cupping your face in his big hands.
"I-I don't know," you answered honestly, thinking he'd probably think you were out of your mind if you told him any of what your brother was telling you. "You won't believe me- I-I don't believe me."
"Try me," Dean said, examining the cut on your cheek and brushing away the tear tracks with his thumbs.
"His eyes, they looked black." You muttered, staring past him at a concerned Sam who was now climbing out of the passenger seat of Baby. "They were black like completely black."
"Where is he now, Y/N? Where is your brother?" Dean asked and you pointed back towards the house. "Okay, I want you to go stay with Sam and don't leave his side. Can you do that for me?"
"Uh-huh," you nodded, following Dean back to his car, Sam meeting you both at the trunk as Dean unlocked and opened it.
He propped open a hidden compartment in the back with a sawed off shotgun, displaying a myriad of other weapons. Your breath hitched when he pulled out a silver handgun, a flask, and a blade with some strange etching and a wooden handle.
Who the hell were these guys? Suddenly, you felt anxious again. He wasn't planning on using that stuff on your brother, was he?
"Sammy, take care of her. Do not leave her alone, do you hear me?" Dean ordered, his little brother nodding knowingly.
"Dean, wait! What are you going to do?" You questioned, catching his arm and stopping him as he walked up the path towards the house.
"Just stay here, you're safe here. I promise I won't let him hurt you again." He said, pushing you back towards Sam but you resisted.
"He told me he was a demon. I know demons aren't real, but his eyes- He wasn't himself, Dean." You tried and failed to explain your rambling thoughts on how your brother would never intentionally hurt you. He wasn't the violent type and he was usually the most stable, boringly ordinary person you knew.
"I'll explain later-"
"No, explain now!" You were getting frustrated with his lack of a reaction, what you were saying didn't phase him and he obviously knew more about this than he was letting on. Maybe the demon had a point, there was more to the Winchesters than you thought. "Why aren't you freaking out about this?"
"Because demons are real, Y/N." He stated matter-of-factly, sighing when you stared up at him dubiously and he gave your shoulders a squeeze.
"You're going to kill him, aren't you?" You said, shoving away his hands and hardening your stare. "I can't let you do that. He's my brother."
"I'm sorry but he's not your brother anymore." Dean said, furrowing his brow, his green eyes filling with empathy for you.
"Yes he is, he- the demon said that Simon was still in there." You argued, you couldn't just let him hurt your brother, not if that was the truth.
Simon wasn't exactly in your good books right now, but he was still family and you loved him. You would do anything for that idiot. Including entertaining the idea of supernatural explanations for his behaviour. Something you usually didn't put much merit into. Ghosts, demons, vampires, anything as such was meant for the movies not real life.
"Y/N, if your brother is still alive, we'll find a way to save him." Dean promised, brushing your hair back from your face and tucking it behind your ear. His fingers lingering for a moment next to the nick on your cheek as his gaze hardened.
"He knew you were here, he let me go. So he can't be all bad, right?" You asked, still trying to put things together. None of it made sense, not in the common term of the word.
"Dean, something about this doesn't sound right." Sam said, giving you a dubious look before sharing a knowing one with his brother; doing that thing they did back at the diner when you knew they were hiding something from you.
"Sweetheart, hold your hand out for a second." Dean ordered and you tentatively held out your good palm, watching as he pulled the flask from his pocket. He unscrewed the cap and poured a clear liquid over your skin. The water pooled and ran off between your fingers and onto the path below. "See, Sammy, all good."
"Um, what was that all about?" You asked, wiping off your hand on your jeans and glancing between the boys.
"It's holy water, if you were possessed it would've burned you." Dean explained dryly.
"Possessed?... Holy water, demons... This is crazy, you guys are crazy. Shit, I must be crazy. I'm losing my mind, aren't I or maybe I'm dreaming?" You rambled to yourself mostly, fisting your hair with your good hand and giving it a good tug just in case it was a dream. It hurt though, so you didn't think so. "Ow."
"You're not crazy and you're not dreaming. Just stay with Sam, okay?" Dean waited for you to nod before continuing up the path towards your brother's house.
"Don't hurt him, De. Please." You shouted after him, Dean giving you one last glance before ducking inside the front door.
"Y/N," Sam called and you joined him behind Baby as he ruffled through the trunk again. "Here, this will keep you safe." He reached out for your wrist and tied a black braided bracelet around it. There was a tiny silver pentacle charm hanging from it and you toyed with it as you examined it. "It's an anti-possession charm, as long as you have this on no demon can possess you. So in other words, don't ever take it off."
"What about you?" You questioned, watching as he pulled down the collar of his shirt exposing an identical design tattooed on the left side of his chest. "And that actually works?" You asked, he hummed and nodded, pulling a first aid kit from the trunk.
You leaned up against the back of the car, letting Sam wrap your injured palm and treat the nick on your cheek, barely wincing at the sting of the disinfectant. You were a little embarrassed to mention the scratch on your inner thigh and figured you'd tend to it later, it wasn't really that bad, your jeans having taken the brunt of it.
"Thanks, Sam." You smiled shyly at him.
"No problem, Dean would kill me if I let anything happen to you." He smiled, stuffing the kit back into the trunk when he was done. "I don't think I've ever seen him so taken by someone. It's kind of endearing, seeing him happy for once without faking it."
"I can protect myself, you know. I'm not completely incapable of doing things." You scowled, he shut the trunk and glanced back at you a little shocked by your outburst.
You were starting to feel like all they did was save you from everything, the side of the road, the tornado, the motel room, and now your brother. You didn't want either one of them to think that you were helpless like your brother had described you. Worst of all, you didn't want to think that about yourself. You wanted to be strong and willful, and sure the shyness got in the way of that sometimes but you didn't think of it as an adverse quality.
Most of the time being shy let you filter out the people in your life that you were meant to get close to from the ones who were just passing through. Those who took the time to pull you out of your shell were some of the most remarkable, down-to-earth people you'd ever met.
With Sam and especially Dean, you warmed up fast and now you felt like maybe you were misrepresenting yourself as some sort of damsel in distress. God, you hoped they didn't think of you like that. You weren't opposed to a man saving the day, you just didn't want to be entirely helpless without one. And you wanted to be able to keep up with Dean, you didn't want him dropping you off somewhere again because it was the easier option.
"That's not what I meant- I just meant that it's hard to fight back against something you know nothing about. I'm sure with a little combat training and lore, you'd make quite the hunter." Sam insisted, but the compliment was lost on you, only confusing you further. Hunter?
"Hunter? I thought you guys were in 'contract work'." You said, raising your brow.
"Well, we do take on a case-by-case basis which essentially is contract work. Except we don't technically get paid to do the job." Sam explained, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Oh. That makes perfect sense," you rolled your eyes.
"It will after we explain everything."
"No more secrets?" You asked, Sam shook his head, gesturing to cross his heart as a promise.
Dean wasn't gone for more than a couple of minutes before he emerged from your brother's house, tucking the strange blade back into the waistband of his jeans. He didn't seem too worked up and walked over to you and Sam.
"He's gone. Must've bolted out the back door when Y/N came running out." He stated, scratching the scruff on his chin and tilting his head to look up at you through his lashes. "Are you okay?" He asked, glancing down at your now bandaged hand.
You nodded, letting him pull you into a hug, slowly wrapping your arms around his waist and resting your hands on the back of his tense shoulders. He sighed into your hair and tugged you impossibly closer until you could feel his heart thump against your cheek and he tucked your head under his chin.
You never wanted him to let you go again and the feeling seemed mutual when you pulled him down by his shoulders and pushed up on your tip-toes to meet his lips with yours. The kiss was soft and supple and a little slick from how Dean wet his lips in anticipation. He tightened his arms around you and lifted your body flush against his until you were barely touching the ground. He half-smiled as he broke the kiss and rested his forehead to yours as he stared deep into your Y/E/C eyes for a moment.
The sound of Sam clearing his throat awkwardly caught your attention, the two of you suddenly aware that he was still there. Dean pressed a chaste kiss to your hair and pulled away, letting you down onto your feet gently.
"Shut it, Sammy." Dean warned, watching his little brother smirk and glance away sheepishly.
"Why'd you come back?" You questioned, meeting his emerald eyes again as the sun beamed down on his face making them glow.
You could spend hours just staring into his eyes, not to mention the freckles dusting his cheeks and those long eyelashes that tickled your skin every time he kissed or nuzzled his face into you. Damn, how did you get so attached to this guy so quickly? Just being next to him made you feel safe and warm and tingly all over. And you loved how he looked back at you the same way when he let his guard down.
You'd never met anyone like him, able to pull you from your shell without any effort on his part. It usually took you a couple of dates just to be able to speak freely with someone. But with Dean it was instantaneous almost like your soul recognized his.
"You forgot your jacket in the backseat, I was returning it." He shrugged, biting on his bottom lip nervously.
"My jacket... That's the only reason?" You teased, grinning up at him.
"One of many," he said, clearing his throat and trying to hide the blush in his cheeks. "Is your bedroom upstairs?" He asked, glancing back at the house.
"Uh, yeah. W-why?" You weren't sure what he was getting at.
"Go pack a few days worth of clothes and essentials, you're staying with us. No arguments, sweetheart." He answered, his lips tugging upwards at the thought of having you close by for who knows how long.
"I have no objections to that," you giggled, hearing Sam snort somewhere behind you. Dean gave him a threatening glare as you skipped off towards the house and bounded up the stairs towards your room.
You quickly grabbed your suitcase from the closet and started tossing the couple of things you had unpacked from your apartment back into it. You ducked into the bathroom, making one trip with all of your essentials tucked under your arms and dumping them into your pack-back, which had somehow made its way into your room from your brother's car.
"Hey, De." You said, hearing footsteps against the hardwood behind you. "I'm almost ready-" you heard the bedroom door close and spun around to see Simon standing there.
"Hello, baby sister." The demon snickered when you grabbed the lamp from the bedside table, getting tangled in the cord for a moment before you ripped it from the outlet. "Are you going to be a good little girl like you promised or do I have to make good on my threat to hurt your brother?"
"...I'll be good," you mumbled after a moment's hesitation, hating yourself for giving in so easily but not wanting the demon to harm your brother. He was all you had left of a family.
"What was that?" He demanded lowly and you glared hard at him, gripping the lamp tightly debating taking a swing.
"I'll be good, asshat." You growled. "Dean will be up here any minute, you know."
"Could do without the insult but that'll do. Now Simon says, drop the lamp and take that off," he ordered, gesturing towards your bracelet and snickering. How the hell did he know about the bracelet? Maybe it actually did do something? "-And don't make a sound."
You dropped the lamp onto the bed, scowling as you untied the bracelet.
"Happy?" You muttered, letting the bracelet fall onto the ground.
"Very."
You heard the front door open and close downstairs and the boys walk in. You were about to call out when Simon opened his mouth and a cloud of black smoke billowed out. You backed up until the backs of your knees hit your bed and you fell back onto the mattress. Black smoke twisted in the air above you and funnelled in between your lips when you gasped, forcing its way down your throat.
Your body buzzed and vibrated until you could no longer control any of your movements. 'View-only' was an understatement as you were starting to understand. Watching through your own detached eyes as something within you compelled you to move off of the bed and stand tall, stretching out as if to test each of your limbs. You involuntarily smirked, pulling down the rolled up sleeves of Dean's flannel to cover your bare wrist. And as if all of that didn't feel weird enough, you felt the presence of something dark like another consciousness crowding your head and then you heard it. A sinister voice echoing in your ears and warping your mind.
'You were so good for me, Y/N, and because of that I'll let your brother live. For now.' The demon hissed in your mind.
Your body grabbed the bags you had packed before stepping over that of your unconscious brother and out into the hall. You pulled the bedroom door shut behind yourself just in time for Dean to meet you at the top of the stairs.
"Everything alright?" Dean asked, watching you set your suitcase down and adjust the straps of your back-pack over your shoulders.
"Peachy," the demon responded, your body shaking visibly with the force of your will as you tried desperately to warn Dean to no avail.
"You're safe now, Y/N/N. I'm not leaving you again." He promised.
Damn-it, Dean. You cursed in your mind when he mistook your body shivering as fear.
You watched as he wrapped you up in his muscular arms, pulling you in for another quick hug. Your body not responding to it, as much as you wanted it to. Then he pulled away and pecked your lips with a chaste kiss and smiled.
How did he not know it wasn't you?! You screamed out into the void, trapped inside your head. An ominous cackle bouncing off the walls of your mind when you realized it was the demon, laughing at your distress. 'Fuck you!'
'This is gonna be fun...' Thought the eerie voice in your head that sounded nothing like you.
In that moment, you had no more inclinations about demons not being real. You were experiencing the possession first hand. You weren't in control of your body, you were barely in control of your own mind and the worst part was that Dean had no idea that it wasn't you. And you had no way of warning him.
"Come on, sweetheart. Let's head home." Dean said, grabbing your suitcase and walking down the stairs in front of you.