The Winchesters' New Protege

Welcome to the Family.

It takes Jason a while to start to settle in. Initially, they took to treating him a little like a stray cat. They were decidedly against forcing him to interact with them, but if he does try to approach them, they're going to be as accommodating as possible. He's traumatised enough as it is and they want to make sure that he sets the pace.

After a few days, Jason manages to build up the nerve to leave his room for longer than the time it takes for him to dash to the library and back. He still mostly avoids them, tucked away in some alcove that he discovered, but it's good that he's comfortable enough to stay out there.

Unsurprisingly, the first person that Jason approaches is Dean. It happens about two weeks after Jason arrived.

"Oh, sh-" He leaps back and Jason flinches at the sudden movement – the poor kid looks like he's going to cry. Dean takes a moment to compose himself. "I- I didn't hear you come in."

"Sorry," Jason says, eyes dropping to the floor. His voice is small and catches in his throat slightly.

"Don't worry about it," Dean says quietly. Some part of him wants to rest a hand on Jason's shoulder, but he decides against it. He's not sure how Jason will react to it and he doesn't want to freak him out. This is the first time that Dean has properly seen Jason in a few weeks and he doesn't want Jason to retreat back into his room. "It's good to see you, actually. How are you feeling?"

Jason mumbles something that sounds like "fine," and Dean notices that he's staring at something. The wrench in his hand. Oh.

Dean slips it back into his pocket, making a show of doing it as slowly as he can. The situation stirs some memory of being in Jason's position with John that he pushes away. This isn't going to end as that did. There's the ghost of an ache in Dean's jaw at the way that Jason's hands are balled up into fists around the hem of his black hoodie to stop them from trembling – to stop him from looking weak. Dean is not his father.

What would Bobby do? What did Bobby do? The first time that he noticed that Dean flinched when he moved too suddenly or that his eyes glazed over when he raised his voice?

"I'm working on some of the cars in the garage," he says, forcing himself to keep his hands where they are. Jason looks like he's waiting for Dean to hit him, resigned to it almost. Dean is not his father. "They're all vintage and kinda... broken. I could use a hand fixing them, actually. The others aren't any good at this kinda thing, so I've just been doing what I can by myself."

Dean watches as Jason's face forms into a slight frown as he works over what Dean said. Then there's a flicker of surprise as he realises what Dean is asking. "Really? You want my help?"

"Yeah. You seem like a smart kid," Dean says, crouching down in front of him. "But you can say 'no' if you want to. There's no sense in forcing you to do something you don't wanna."

"Yeah, I'd... Yeah." Jason nods.

Dean beams at him. "Great." He walks Jason to the garage and then over to the car that he'd started on.

"This one's not so bad," he says, patting the hood. "There are a few kinks with the engine and it needs new wheels."

He hands Jason a tire iron. Jason turns it in his hands, glancing between it and the car.

"I was thinking that you do the wheels and I'll see what I can do with the engine?"

Jason nods. "I'm good at taking the wheels off."

"So, I've heard," Dean says, laughing.