Not What He Seems

Chapter 4

Sam didn't think to bring Riot's bed when he ran out on Amelia, so the dog is stuck lying on the floor while Sam's in the bathroom. Dean is just sitting on his bed, staring off into space like in his mind, he's anywhere but here in this cheap motel in the middle of nowhere.

Riot's not the only one who notices that, because the first thing he says when he steps out of the bathroom is, "You okay?"

"Yeah," Dean says, though Riot isn't quite sure he believes it. "Hey, what do you say we blow this joint, hit the road?"

Riot lifts his head to get a better look at the guy, hoping this is just some weird joke. Riot slept the whole car ride, and he's still exhausted. It's the middle of the night, for god's sake. If Dean drove the whole way here, he won't last another hour on the road. Riot sure wouldn't have when he was human.

"Now?" Sam asks, apparently thinking the same thing Riot is.

"Yeah, Kevin's not getting any more found," Dean says, which has Riot wondering what type of danger this Kevin guy may be in if Dean's willing to forgo a whole night's sleep to get there a few hours sooner.

Sam scoffs. "Dean, the kid survived a year without us. He'll be okay for another 12 hours." He chuckles at the last part, clearly finding Dean overdramatic.

This raises two questions. One: is Kevin actually in mortal danger, or does Dean just want to find him. Two: who the fuck is Kevin? When they say kid, they don't actually mean a kid, right? That's just what adults say when they're talking about someone younger than them. Kevin's gotta be at least in his twenties, right?

In a more serious tone, Sam adds, "Besides, when was the last time you slept?"

"Hmm," Dean hums, which Riot takes to mean it's been a while.

Sam seems to think it's more than that. "What?"

"Nothing," Dean says, then proceeds to talk about what exactly this 'nothing' is. "Is that how you rationalized taking a year off? 'People will be okay'?"

Riot still has absolutely no idea what these two were — are? — into. He's almost positive that he doesn't want to know, though he's sure he'll find out eventually. But the way Dean said that, he can tell it was supposed to hit Sam hard, and it looks like it did.

Riot gets up and trots over to Sam, leaning against his legs because the guy's too tall to reach anywhere else. Sam doesn't acknowledge him,but Riot has to hope he still finds it comforting to have him there.

"People were okay, Dean," Sam says. "You're okay."

"Wow." Dean shakes and lets out a humorless chuckle.

"I did what we promised we'd do," Sam says. "I moved on. I lived my life."

Riot looks up at him, puzzled. Was he allowed to just stop what he was doing and move on? Riot definitely wasn't allowed to quit his murderous clan. Did whatever Sam and Dean were involved in not have any rules? Because that doesn't sound like how government spies work.

"Yeah, no, I'm getting that," Dean deadpans, glancing down at the dog by Sam's feet.

"It's not like I was just oblivious." Sam crouches down, finally giving Riot some pets. Hopefully it's making him feel better. Riot's always wanted to be a stress reliever for his owners. It's what his dog was to him... you know, before she bit him, turned him into a skinwalker, and peaced out. "I read the paper everyday. I saw the weird stories, the kind of stuff we used to chase."

What.

The fuck.

What type of government spy gets their shit from newspapers and not super secret spy capsules or whatever? Or does that mean there are, like, code words in the papers that he was supposed to be looking for? How does this work?

Riot now feels kind of bad for eating that newspaper that one time.

Dean scoffs. "And you said what? 'Not my problem'?"

"Yes."

Dean and Riot both look over at him immediately at that one. Riot doesn't even know what they're talking about, and he still feels like that was the wrong answer. Hell, even if it was the truth, he could've said it less... confidently?

"And you know what?" Sam continues. "The world went on."

"People died, Sam."

Riot's daughter used to quote that meme all the time when they were human. He worked with a girl named Kim, and he still heard her name most often from "People are dying, Kim."

"People will always die, Dean."

Well, that's gloomy.

"Or," Sam continues, "maybe another hunter took care of it, I don't know."

Riot nearly coughs up a hairball — which, considering he's not a cat, is a pretty big feat.

God, he was so stupid. Sam settles down right after his brother died? Knows how to do everything but be a normal, functioning member of society? His car's full of guns? They're chasing weird things? He's a hunter. It's so obvious, Riot wonders how he didn't figure it out before.

But what does he do? Riot's a nice guy. He knows that. The Winchesters, though? Not so much. If they find out he's a skinwalker, he'll be dead before he even gets the chance to explain himself. He's putting himself in danger with every second he spends near them.

But, at the same time, aren't they in constant mortal danger, too? Riot's never met a hunter, but from stories, that's what he's gathered. They go from one bad guy to another, making a lot of enemies along the way. He doesn't want anything to happen to Sam any more than he wants anything to happen to himself.

So maybe he'll stick around, just for a couple cases. He wants to make sure Sam's okay to go off on his own. Then they can go their separate ways, before someone — probably Dean — shoots him.

During his mental debate, he misses a big chunk of the conversation, tuning back in to Dean asking, "What could possibly make you stop, just like that?"

Sam looks down at Riot, and the dog rubs his head against his owner, hoping it'll make him feel a little better. Dean's calling him out way too much for comfort.

"A girl?" Dean guesses.

Sam's face twitches, just enough to give it away.

"Was there a girl?" Dean asks again.

Sam just sighs. In a desperate attempt to cheer him up — because apparently head rubs aren't enough — Riot jumps up on him, putting his front legs on Sam's chest and knocking him to the ground. Unamused, Sam just sits down and crosses his legs, which was exactly what Riot had hoped for, because he gets to rest his head on Sam's lap. Sam gently stroke his face.

"The girl had nothing to do with it," Sam says finally.

"So there was a girl," Dean says, almost accusingly.

"Yeah, there was," Sam says. "And then there wasn't."

Oh, what Riot would give to be able to shift into his human form just to remind him that Amelia's likely still waiting by the phone for him without fear of being shot on sight.

"Any more questions?" Sam asks.

Dean doesn't respond to that. With the misery in Sam's voice, it's clear that this is one thing Dean shouldn't touch, and, surprisingly, he listens.

Sam gets up without another word and crawls into bed. Riot hops up with him, curling up by his feet. He's seen Sam at a lot of low moments, but this might be the saddest he's seen him since their first few days together. Riot just wishes he could cheer him up, but he can't. So he does the next best thing.

He rests his head on Sam's feet and falls asleep with him.