[Detroit!AU: when the man comes around]

[stilljustandrew]

Ever since they started what he's been mentally referring to as the Interdimensional Witness Relocation Program, Andrew's been getting most of his sleep at Milliways. Between helping Sam Winchester settle in at the Academy as a putative Watcher-in-training and trying to juggle his own schedule around that, there hasn't been time to sleep at home.

Especially since about half the time he finds himself lying awake anyway, jittering from a combination of nerves and caffeine.

Andrew rolls over, bunches up the pillow under his head, and lets out a sigh of tired frustration as he tries to relax again.

Comments

[gavemea_45]

His expression hardens into a grim, flat look.


"No."

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew's head comes up swiftly, eyes wide and distressed. "Of course no, I, I'm not -- I wouldn't -- "

[gavemea_45]

"I know you wouldn't, that's not what I mean," Sam tells him.

He turns to cast a quick glance around the room.

"I've got to -- it won't take me long to pack--"

[stilljustandrew]

"What?" Shocked. "No, what are you talking about?"

[gavemea_45]

"If he knows I'm here --"

Sam turns back to face him.

"We can't risk it. I can't risk it. Maybe there's nothing anyone can do for me, but you can save yourself--"

[stilljustandrew]

"No!" He half-rises. "Sam, no. I don't, there's nothing to save me from, he didn't -- he didn't threaten me with anything."

Beat.

Smaller: "Except losing you."

[gavemea_45]

"He's fucking Lucifer, Andrew!"

Fury and fear paint his words.

[stilljustandrew]

His own voice rises in turn. "That's exactly why you should stay here!"

[gavemea_45]

"And what if he comes after me?" Sam snaps back at him. "What happens then?"

[stilljustandrew]

"Look, there's no way he can come after you here. Not unless someone brings him through from Milliways, and who's gonna do that?"

[gavemea_45]

"I don't know," Sam says, flatly. "You tell me."

[stilljustandrew]

Andrew stares at him.

"Nobody." There's the faintest touch of hurt in his voice.

[gavemea_45]

"You mean you wouldn't," he informs him.

"But how many people here would say the same? You think they wouldn't turn me over in a heartbeat to protect this place, and everyone here? And they'd be right to do so--"

[stilljustandrew]

"No!" Vehement. "No, they wouldn't. And again, how's he supposed to threaten this place if he can't even get here? Sam --"

[gavemea_45]

"We didn't think he'd be able to even find me, and we were obviously wrong about that--"

[stilljustandrew]

"Sam, I'm not abandoning you."

It's beyond vehemence now; he slams the words down as though they spell the end of any possible argument.

As far as he's concerned, they do.



A little lower: "I'm not letting you just go off alone. And I'm not gonna help him take you."

[gavemea_45]

Sam studies him in silence for several very long seconds.






"You're sure about this? Absolutely sure?"

[stilljustandrew]

"I said so to begin with, didn't I?"

He meets Sam's eyes.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

[gavemea_45]

He nods, slowly.






"I don't deserve a friend like you, man."

Sam's voice is hoarse.

[stilljustandrew]

"Don't think like that."

Soft; close to pleading. He reaches out to touch Sam's arm.

[gavemea_45]

Sam scrubs the back of his hand over his eyes, and disguises the movement by slinging his arm around Andrew's shoulders.

"Yeah, well." He manages a wry half-grin. "You know me."

Beat.

"C'mon, let's get out of here for a bit, grab some coffee or something before getting back to work. You game?"

[stilljustandrew]

He lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and relaxes.

"Sure. Want to head into town? There's a place that stays open late."

[gavemea_45]

"Sounds good to me," Sam agrees. "What time is it, anyway?"

[stilljustandrew]

"... Late," he admits, sheepishly, after a look at his watch. "About three?"

It was about two-thirty, after all, when he went to Milliways to try to get some sleep.

(It hasn't really occurred to him to wonder what Sam was doing awake.)

[gavemea_45]

"Late enough to be early, then."

He grins, and takes his arm from Andrew's shoulders in order to walk over and open the door for him.

"You could say we're just getting a jump start on the day."