sorry yearly rewatch of spn has my trans sam brainrot coming out. read below the cut at your own risk cuz i gotta get this out before i keep going on my own fic
Sam first feels it walking home from school. He's in fifth grade and Dean goes to the middle school. They're supposed to meet every day at 3:45 on the corner of Wilson and Main. Sam always goes where Dean tells him to go so he's on his way when the creep sloughs down his spine. Maybe last year he wouldn't have felt the prick of being watched but he's nine now and he's started to notice things. Things like how Dean's throat has a bump in it where his does not. How his father and Dean have hair where Sam's skin is smooth. He's started to notice his chest and how it's slowly but surely getting bigger. It makes him nauseous, these understandings, but he doesn't know why. Doesn't know why it makes him want to punch a hole in the wall. All he knows is that last week Dean tried to be brotherly and take him to go get "feminine" stuff and he threw a tantrum so big the motel owner threatened to kick them out.
At least Dean hasn't mentioned anything about it since.
Still, Sam automatically scans his surroundings. He's older now, his father has taught him things. Nothing like Dean, who Sam thinks could fight the world and win. No, John treats him like he is breakable. He shows Sam how to curl a fist, how to dodge one, and how to aim a gun. He never shows him how to take a hit. Not like Dean. But still, he's started to teach Sam more about the world they really live in, so he watches the shadows carefully, waiting for movement.
When he doesn't find any, he turns back around. He immediately bumps right into someone. It's a woman. She's taller than him. He's still achingly short for his age. He hopes one day he'll get a growth spurt like Dean did.
The lady looks down at him and Sam gets an uneasy feeling. John has told him to trust these feelings so he does. He takes a step back. The lady just smiles more, raising her eyebrow at him. She's pretty, Sam notes, with smooth skin and long black hair, a dress that reaches her knees. "You okay there?" she says, and her voice is silky in Sam's ears.
"Yes, ma'am," he says, and he hates how his voice sounds. That he can't manage the gruff tone of Dean and his father even when he tries, the only traces of it coming out when he screams.
"What a polite young girl," the woman says.
Sam flinches involuntarily. He doesn't really know why. Just that it sounds wrong to him, those words strung together. Still, he's always supposed to be polite. "Thank you, ma'am," he says, looking up at her. If he doesn't go now he'll be late meeting Dean.
"You don't like that, do you?" the woman says. It's an inquisitive tone, not a fact, like she's observed something about him. Sam doesn't like that she has read him so easily.
"I'm a girl, ma'am, no worries." Yet the words feel like ash on his tongue. A curse given voice.
"Do you want to be? Sam, do you want to look like me when you grow up?"
And he has not given her his name. Sam backs up for real now, and yet takes her in all the same. How her hips are gentle curves, how the dress hugs her thin waist, her full chest. How the apple of her cheeks are adorned with blush, how her eyes are soft with mascara and shadow. How her hair cascades in thick waves, slightly curled. She's beautiful.
Sam does not want to be beautiful like this.
"I-I need to get Dean," he says, more to himself than her.
"I'm not here for Dean," she says, taking a step. Her eyes flick to black before settling back to brown and Sam shoots straight up. He's nine. This is a demon. Dean will never make it here in time. "I'm here for you, Sam." She crouches down to his level and takes his face in her soft yet firm hands. "I'm not here to hurt you, little one. I'm simply asking you a question. Do you want to look like me, Sam?"
"I don't want to make a deal!"
"No deals, Sam. I promise. Just yes or no."
He opens his eyes to look at her, forces himself to be brave because Dean would always be brave in times like this. Dean's not scared of anything. He thinks he's seen Dean scared once or twice, when their dad comes home drunk or angry, but those times he just locks the two of them in the motel bedroom until morning.
The woman's grip doesn't ease. Sam is nine, he can't outfight another being. So he squares his shoulders like he's seen Dean do and looks straight into her eyes. "No," he says, glad his voice doesn't shake.
"Okay," she says, releasing him. "What do you want instead?"
"You don't want to be a girl, Sam." She runs a finger along his arms, a gentle nail down his throat like she has read his innermost thoughts. "What do you want instead?"
Sam looks at her long, long hair. It sways at her waist. His is almost as long. It's dark and brown and thick. He hates it, but every time he begs for a cut he's ignored. There's never enough time, enough money.
He curls his hand into a fist. "Sh-short hair," he hisses out, almost ashamed to say any of his wants to this thing, this demon. "I want short hair like Dean's."
There's a soft snap of her fingers, and when Sam looks again, the woman is gone. It's only a second before he hears his name being yelled from down the block in that gravelly voice that's still creaking and cracking in the middle.
When Dean catches up to him he nearly stops in his tracks, mouth still half open to yell at him for being late. "Dude. What the fuck did you do to your hair?"
Sam's fingers move slowly up his neck, and even then he can feel it. The soft fuzz of his hair on the nape of his neck. It's been shaved down, and when he shakes his head slightly, he can feel the shaggy layers against his cheekbones. His head feels inexplicably light. "Oh. Uh, I cut it. In the bathroom."
Dean assesses him. He reaches out and runs a hand through Sam's hair, then slaps him across the head. "Dad's so gonna have a fit."
Sam sticks his tongue out at him. "I don't care." And he doesn't, because for the first time in recent memory, Sam feels like Sam.
Dean rolls his eyes and throws an arm over his little brother's shoulders, steering him in the direction of the motel. "Whatever. Looks good, kid."
Sam shoves him and takes off, sticking his middle finger up back at Dean. He laughs when he hears the sound of his brother's footsteps running after.
"Not a kid!" he yells, and thinks maybe, one day, his voice can crack like Dean's too.