Title: Of Colleges and Dead Girlfriends
Author: Paige
Pairing: gen
Fandom: Supernatural
Rating: PG
Warning: None
Summary: Sam and Kevin bond over shared experiences and heartaches.
Feedback: No flames, flying objects or flaming flying objects please
Disclaimer: I do not own 'Supernatural'. They belong to their owners, don't sue me.

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When Kevin Tran thought about what he wanted to do with his life, being on the run from demons with a pair of near-alcoholic hunters was not anywhere on the list, but that's what happened.

Whatever had happened to Dean in Purgatory had definitely changed him, Kevin spent most of his time alternating between being terrified of him and wanting to punch him in the face.

In Sam, however, Kevin had found an unlikely ally. Sam seemed a lot more sympathetic to how he was feeling than Dean. Sam had been teaching Kevin how to research the monsters they hunted, even lending him their father's journal, which seemed to be a big deal if Dean's reaction was anything to go by. Kevin had been amazed to learn that Leviathan and demons were just the tip of the iceberg. There were monsters that he'd always thought were folklore to explain the unexplainable or made up by Hollywood, and how to kill them.

Sam was also teaching him self-defense and how to use the weapons that were part of the Winchester arsenal. Kevin had been terrified, the first time Sam suggested that they spar; Sam was built like a brick wall and Kevin knew that the older man could cause a lot of damage if he was angry. Surprisingly though, Sam was patient and even gentle as he showed Kevin how to defend himself in a fight and teaching him to handle the guns and knives.

One night, as they were cleaning the weapons, Kevin felt comfortable enough with Sam to ask the question that had been nagging at him since they'd found him in the church.

"Did you go to college?"

Sam looked up from the shotgun he was disassembling, "What?"

"Did you go to college? You said that you'd been hunting for most of your life, sounded like there was a time you didn't hunt."

Sam chuckled, "Yeah, I attended Stanford on a full ride for three and a half years."

Kevin perked up, "What'd you study?"

Sam smiled, "I was a Pre-Law, Poli-Sci double major, I wanted to make Sociology my third major but they wouldn't let me. I was studying to be a lawyer and got a 174 on my LSATS."

Kevin whistled appreciatively, one of his cousins had studied law and only got a 160 and that had been the best score in his class. "Did you have a girlfriend?"

Sam nodded, "Yeah, I was planning to propose to her." His eyes got a faraway look in them, "I always figured that I'd be a lawyer with a couple of kids by now."

Kevin hesitated, feeling like he knew the answer to his next question, but felt the need to ask, "What happened to your girlfriend?"

Sam bit his lip, "She was killed by a demon possessing one of my best friends and posed to make it look like the demon who had killed my mother had killed her too to push me back into hunting. That was ten years ago."

Kevin felt like the biggest piece of shit for asking what was clearly a painful question, "Sorry,"

Sam shook his head, "No, it's okay, it doesn't hurt as much to talk about it as it used to. I learned the truth eventually and killed the demon, so she was avenged and we avenged our parents." He was quiet for a long moment, "I still miss her, it doesn't hurt as much now that I've taken care of the bastard that killed her, but I still wonder what life would've been like if we'd gotten married."

Kevin nodded, he'd honestly never thought that far with Channing. Their relationship was mostly built around academic competition, they hadn't even gone further than kissing and touching, but he didn't say anything.

Sam however, read him like a book, "Don't feel bad if you don't feel the same. You and Channing were kids and chances are you would've gone your separate ways anyway, it just feels like more because she died so brutally and needlessly and I'm sorry we couldn't get her out of there before Crowley acted."

Kevin nodded and the two of them sat in companionable silence before Sam slapped his shoulder, "C'mon, Dean'll have a fit if we don't have these weapons finished and I really don't want to listen to him bitch about it all night." He grabbed the remote and switched the TV to a football game.

Kevin laughed and turned his attention back to the .45 he was working on; this definitely wasn't the life he'd had planned for himself, but for now, it was as good as it could be for a prophet of the Lord.

The End

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