Dean barely paid attention to the long winded history teacher during the lecture and was all too happy to start packing up his stuff early. His teacher gave him the evil eye when Dean got up five minutes before the bell was about to ring.

“I have permission to leave.” Dean took great pleasure in reminding the older man that he had permission from the principal to leave early.

The asshole scowled at him, but there was really nothing he could do and he knew it. So the teacher finished giving out the homework assignment a little more sharply and reminded Dean that he had detention during lunch.

Dean gave him the finger when the teacher’s back was turned back to the blackboard, earning a few snickers in class. Dean was out the door before the asshole could turn around to see what it was about.

He walked quickly back towards Sam’s classroom but still didn’t get there before the bell rang. God damn it. Why did his class have to be on the other side of the damned campus? At least he was almost there. Sam better be waiting for him, or he’d throttle the younger boy himself.

Dean got to Sam’s class as most of the students were filing out. He was there in time to see Sam on the floor picking up his things and two boys standing over him. The teacher was still in there, so of course the little fucks couldn’t start wailing on Sam, but it was obvious they were the cause of Sam’s little mishap. If he found fresh bruises on the younger boy... Dean was almost disappointed that the teacher was in the room after all... it meant he couldn’t rip the little fucks a new asshole. That would have to wait till later. Didn’t mean he couldn’t make them shit their pants a little until then.

“Why don’t you help Sam with his things.” Dean practically growled directly behind the two boys. "And apologize"

Sam hid his own smirk as he saw Dean walk up behind the boys. He thought the two were going to have to be either peeled off the ceiling or shit their pants or maybe both when Dean growled in their ears. The boys stood frozen in place for a moment.

Sam thought Dean was going to shove them or something, but the boys slowly knelt down and handed Sam the folders that had skittered across the floor and one of his notebooks.

"What was that, Barry? Did I hear you say something?" Sam asked.

Barry hadn't said a word. He glared daggers at Sam. "Sorry I bumped into you, Colt," Barry muttered.

Sam looked at Matt.

Matt held up his hands. "Didn't touch you," he said.

"Somehow, I don't think that matters to him," Sam said innocently.

Looking over his shoulder at the glowering senior Matt turned back to Sam. "Sorry."

Sam smiled, but his eyes were hard as steel. "Apologies accepted. But you both might want to be a bit more careful next time. You know what I mean?"

Sam stood up, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Crap. That was going to be a nice bruise just below his shoulder blade. At least it wasn't kidney level. He saw the teacher watching them closely.

"C'mon Dean. Don't want to be late for second period." He pushed by the boys. They jumped back a little, expecting Sam to retaliate. He would. Eventually. But not now.

The two shits harassing Sam practically jumped a foot in the air and Dean found it really difficult not to laugh, especially when he saw Sam fighting his own grin. The two boys stood looking at him like a couple of deer caught in headlights for a couple moments before their survival instincts took over and they dropped to do exactly as he said. Helping Sam gather up his books and apologizing. Though not nearly sincerely enough that Dean was about to let them off the hook. Oh no.

Dean waited for Sam to get his things and nodded when the younger boy suggested they go, though he didn’t take his eyes off the two boys who looked ready to bolt any second.

“Catch you later.” Dean told them with a grim smile, and he was sure the two shit heads paled a few more shades right before his eyes. They looked pretty well terrified. Good. If he had to remind everyone just why they should be more afraid of him then of Eric, so be it.

Dean followed Sam out into the hall then, putting a hand on the younger boy’s lower back possessively as they walked.

“Oh, by the way. I have detention during lunch.” Dean said, almost conversationally, though he rolled his eyes in annoyance at the thought. “I can skip it if you don’t want to join me though.”

Sam bit the inside of his cheek at Dean's comment to the teens. He wanted to turn and look at them and see just how scared they looked, but resisted. Oh what the hell. He turned and saw they were about as white as chalk. He gave them a bit of a smile. "Told you," he said simply.

It was a little weird having Dean's hand on his back, practically around his waist like he was some chick. He could see it now, somebody clicking a picture with their cellphone and emailing it to his parents. He wasn't real worried about that. He'd just tell the truth. That was the way it was in that school. Dean had to show Sam was under his protection. It also wasn't lost on Sam that the senior could easily shove him out of the way if there was bigger trouble. He didn't really realize that Dean's arm around him made him relax some, feeling safe, and he moved just a little closer to Dean as they walked.

"Detention for being late or smarting off to your teacher?" Sam asked. "Nah, I don't mind. So long as we can stop by the lunch room and grab a sandwich. Got a lot of homework to catch up on anyhow. And no, you can't skip it. Piss the teacher off enough and you'll end up suspended and I'll end up a little bloody smear."

Dean smiled a little when Sam walked closer to him, practically inviting him to wrap his arm around him completely, instead of shoving his hand off or something. Not that he thought that the younger boy would really do that, but there was a chance Sam be embarrassed and would protest Dean ‘marking his territory’ this way. Considering Sam wasn’t some blushing teenage girlfriend… despite the younger boy’s tendency for PMS worthy displays.

As far as he could tell though, Sam wasn’t even blushing in embarrassment at the overly familiar hand at his back. Dean realized he didn’t really mind it either. He liked being able to display, without a shadow of a doubt, that Sam was his. Keeping Sam close to him like this also pretty much insured no one was going to even attempt to fuck with the younger boy. No one was dumb enough to try to go through him to get to Sam.

Though he forced himself not to let his hand rest any lower on his back to at least keep the illusion of a platonic relationship. The last thing he needed was one of the asshole teachers making problems for them because Sam was underage. Even though the fucking thing happened every day right under their noses, and other ‘sponsors’ weren’t nearly as nice as he was to Sam. Because he wasn’t anyone ‘important’ a few asshole teachers, like his history professor, would just love the excuse of slapping him with statutory rape charge to get him expelled, or even arrested.

Dean was so lost in his thoughts and keeping an eye out for trouble he almost missed Sam’s question over why he had detention. Dean couldn’t help but chuckle a little. Really, it was something Bobby would say to him, because the older man knew him too well.

“Being late, cause the history teacher is a douche.” Dean answered, and gave the younger boy a slight nod. “Yeah, we can pick something up before hand.”

Sam’s reminder of why he couldn’t get suspended sobered him a little and he had to resist tugging the younger boy a little closer to him. Yeah, he had to be careful not to piss off his asshole professors. While normally he wouldn’t care… well, except for Bobby throwing a fit about being suspended again… he really couldn’t risk getting suspended. Not that he would let Sam go to school if that happened. He’d just bring Sam to the salvage yard with him, end of story. But that was a shit storm better avoided.

“I’m not going to let that happen.” He promised.

"Guess we better be sure to be on time tomorrow," Sam said. "Besides, if I miss homeroom a couple of times that teacher will probably nail me with a detention, too. Pretty sure he hates me, especially since I know his dirty little secret. And he'd probably make it an after school detention."

With Dean's confirmation they could grab lunch, Sam nodded. "Good. Today's cordon bleu and I like cordon bleu."

He looked over at Dean when Dean made his firm promise. "I know you won't. You hardly even knew me when you stepped in as I was headed to the bus stop and was going to get jumped again." He chuckled softly. "Though I guess we still don't actually know much about each other." He turned his gaze back on the corridor, watching for anyone on Eric's payroll. "But I remember the rules. No life stories. No babbling. No annoying. Stay out of your way. And don't go anywhere alone."

Sam almost stopped when he saw Eric leaning against the lockers up ahead, Adam and Cody at his side like always. Sam got the distinct impression Eric was waiting on them. Hell, he had to be. Eric's next class was in a different building and his locker was in a different wing from where they were now.

Dean nodded in agreement, though he knew it would mean no making out in the morning anymore, which was a shame. Then he reminded himself that he was supposed to stop thinking so much with his dick. Unfortunately that seemed to be a little easier said than done when it came to Sam.

But the younger boy was right. They had to be careful because neither of them could risk getting suspended or even detentions. Especially when there were asshole teachers, like Sam’s home room teacher, that might make it a point to ‘step out’, leaving Sam alone, and give Eric or his ‘minions’ a chance at Sam.

He supposed Sam was right, they didn’t know much about each other. Though for him, that was probably a good thing. If Sam knew too much about him… well, the younger boy certainly wouldn’t be letting Dean touch him that was for damned sure. If Sam learned where he’d gotten all his scars from, how he hunted ‘monsters’ on the weekends with Bobby, some of the things Dean had done to survive… Sam would think he was a freak, just like everyone else. In fact, if Sam didn’t run screaming in the other direction he’d be surprised. No, Sam didn’t want to know about him, and Dean didn’t want him to know.

Dean saw Eric and his cronies standing in the hallway the same time Sam did and he felt the younger boy’s hesitation, but Dean didn’t let him stop. Moving his hand up from the younger boy’s back to Sam’s shoulder, Dean didn’t really care how it looked, as he tucked Sam a little closer to him protectively. Dean met the other senior’s hard glare with his own unflinching.

“Don’t stop.” Dean whispered softly in Sam’s ear.

Eric said nothing as they passed, though he didn’t bother to hide the burning anger in his eyes. He knew that Winchester was the one who’d trashed his car. From what he’d heard, Sam hadn’t been in any shape to do it.

That had been his last warning to Sam. Now Eric was tired of this game. The little cunt was so brave when he had his junk yard dog looking after him? Well, it was past time to take Winchester out of the picture then.

Sam wanted to stop, wanted to turn around and go the other direction. Eric had death in his eyes but it was for both of them, not just Sam. And maybe that scared him even more. He didn't want Dean to get hurt because of him. The comfort of having Dean at his side, at the way the senior pulled him close, gave him the strength to glare back at Eric. He wanted to put his arm around Dean's waist, to pull them even closer together, but they were in public and that was just probably a bad idea. Everyone knew Dean was his sponsor, or at least knew Dean was playing bodyguard, so Sam could easily explain away the protective arm around his shoulders. His arm around Dean's waist? That would be a tad harder to explain.

Dean's order not to stop made him keep moving and he was more than a little relieved when they got past Eric unaccosted. His room was around the corner for his next class. They were actually in this class together and after seeing Eric, it comforted him having Dean there. Dean preferred the back of the classroom and at this point, Sam was seeing the wisdom in that. You could keep an eye on your enemies and not get nailed from behind. He was going to sit beside Dean but the senior's eyes flicked to the desk in front of where Dean was sitting. It made sense when Sam thought about it. That way Dean could see everyone except the person directly in front of Sam. Dean knew so many little common sense things that Sam just never thought about. He couldn't deny he wished he didn't need to know them, but he was definitely anxious to start learning from Dean. Well, learning things about fighting. The senior had definitely already taught him some things in other arenas.

Settling into his seat Sam pulled out his notebook and opened it, ready to start taking notes. Maybe it was kind of cowardly but he wished Dean were in all his classes.