Title: Advent Treasures 6/25: Shoebox Surprise.

Author: Deathangelgw

Author email: deathangelgw@gmail.com

Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. All of them are owned by meanie people...wah!

Warnings: AU, angst, dark, sap, hints of slashy puppy brother love.

Pairings: Sam with hints of Dean and John.

Rating: PG for swearing

Summary: It’s Sam’s first Christmas away from Dean and his dad. But what do memories mean?

Beta: nadda

Timeline: HA! Who needs a timeline!

A/N: Every year, I do ficlets for Advent up until and including Christmas. To me, they are a symbol of the best things and the not so great things for Christmas. Enjoy and please review!

‘thoughts’

It was eighty degrees outside, but Sam could have sworn it was below zero. He looked at the calendar again and trembled as he fought another round of tears from his eyes while curling up more. December sixth, Saint Nicholas’ Day for the Catholic minded, not that he was really. But it was a special time because it had usually been the one time that their dad would stay at home and want to be with them. When Sam had been two and Dean had been six, their dad had introduced them to the tale of Saint Nick.

Every year at that time, kids could put out their shoes on the eve of the fifth and Saint Nick would fill them with candy and toys for the morning of the sixth. And it had happened faithfully for them, even if they were in the middle of a hunt. They would put out their shoes, usually the biggest ones they had, and each morning there would be a toy and candy in them. Even after reaching their teen years, they had kept it up because it had brought them hope that there was still something worth believing out in that was good out there.

But this year, there wouldn’t be such a tradition. With his parting words only five months earlier, he had cut ties with his dad and Dean. He’d not heard from either of them since, not that he was really surprised. With his dad, it was a matter of once said, always followed. With Dean...it was more personal.

Cursing softly as a myriad of memories floated across his mind’s eye at the mere thought of his brother, Sam brushed his hand roughly over his face in irritation at the tears. ‘Dean’d never cry because he couldn’t have a Saint Nick time,’ he thought angrily, but it didn’t stop the pain. He thought he’d been able to get over their parting, but for some reason this time of the year was hitting him harder than he had expected. The sight of Dean’s grin as they shared their gifts, their dad sitting nearby with a smile that they hardly ever saw anymore...those things meant so much to Sam and he had walked away to have a ‘normal’ life.

A knock on his door broke through his misery and he sniffled before giving a hoarse, “Yea what?”

“Hey Winchester...ya got a couple of packages here. One from a ‘Nick’ and another from some ‘S. Aint’,” was called through his door and Sam looked over as his eyes widened. He stood quickly and strode to the door, opening it roughly. He saw his down-the-hall roommate in front of him and flashed a grin before grabbing the boxes. He didn’t even hear the comment that his friend muttered as he shut the door and rushed back to his bed, hands shaking to open the boxes.

He sat down and put aside the ‘S. Aint’ box before tearing off the brown paper that was covering the ‘Nick’ box. He recognized his brother’s handwriting almost immediately and saved the address area so he could look at it later. Once it was unwrapped, he stopped and felt more tears come to his eyes, but he was grinning widely as he held the shoebox in his hands. He carefully opened the box and laughed softly as he was greeted with the sight of different candy like the old fashioned hard candy, candy canes, and his brother’s fudge. He dug through it and found two new Game boy games for his Game boy and shook his head. Dean had always teased him about his obsession with his games.

He stopped as he found a small envelope at the bottom and pulled it out. Once again he was near tears as he saw Dean’s handwriting before he opened the envelope and pulled out the small letter that was encased in it. He unfolded it and smiled as he just took in his brother’s precise, yet always a little crooked writing before reading the letter.

Ho Ho Ho!

Hey little bro...Happy Saint Nick’s! I know you said that you didn’t want to hear from either of us, but yea well...when do I listen to you? Anyways, enjoy the sugar high and the brain rotters and try to get laid, would ya?

Dean.

PS: You better not have been sniffling like a baby...

Laughing at the last bit as he sniffled again, Sam wiped his eyes. ‘Just like you, Dean...’ he thought in amusement before putting aside the letter and box. He picked up the second box, which had the rather suspicious handwriting of his dad on it. He blinked as he discovered that it was another shoebox and opened it carefully. His eyes lit up as he was met with more candy and a book of crossword puzzles. He loved crossword puzzles and his dad knew it. He found another envelope and was surprised. His dad also wrote him a note? He opened it and unfolded the paper.

Sammy.

Keep your nose clean, do well in school, and remember that you’re a good man. Merry Christmas.

Dad.

PS: Keep an eye out for supernatural things.

Touched, Sam just looked at the two boxes and letters, feeling his heart lighten from the gloom that he’d been in. So much for not celebrating Saint Nick’s!

The End!

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