It started with having to squint a bit more to see what he was reading and with a growing sinking feeling Sam started to see, or not see, that it was starting to grow a bit more.

It wasn't that bad, he could still see far away in what he thought, hoped, was still twenty-twenty vision, it was just...reading things were starting to become a bit of a hassle. He knew that it was something that was going to come with age, he just didn't think that it was going to happen to him in his thirties.

Maybe it was the stress of the life and hunting and his time in hell, maybe it did something to him on a molecular level that made his body older than it really was. Maybe it was his genes, he had no idea of either side of his parents whether or not vision problems were in their history. Maybe it was just stress and everything else in his life causing more damage to him.

Either way he wasn't able to hide it anymore and Dean was starting to get suspicious.

So he made an appointment with Lebanon's eye doctor, paying out of pocket due to not having insurance as Sam Campbell, and got his first eye exam since he had been at Stanford.

"You're a bit nearsighted and you're starting to get far sighted." the doctor told him, moving the machine away from him. "Does your family have a history of glaucoma or any other eye diseases?"

Sam shrugged. "My family had a habit of dying young enough that they didn't have to worry about that." he said. "We don't know our family medical history."

The doctor nodded at that, making a note in his folder. "What about your brother? Is he complaining of any vision problems?"

"If he is then he's not telling me." Sam said with a small smile. "He'll go blind and still insist that he's seeing perfectly."

"Yeah I've had some of those patients." the doctor said with a laugh. "Your prescriptions enough that I think glasses would help but if you think you can get by without it you can. You still pass the driving criteria so you don't need to worry about your license."

That was the farthest thing from his mind honestly, considering how little he actually drove them around but he nodded his thanks regardless.

"I'll show you." the doctor said pulling out lenses and sliding them into a frame like object. She carefully placed it on his eyes and moved a bit to the side. "Now look at the letters, can you see the bottom ones?"

Sam nodded and recited them, reaching up to take the frame off, squinting at the letters for a moment before placing them back on, breathing out slowly as he saw the stark difference.

The doctor nodded and took the lenses out, sliding new ones into them. She took a magazine off of her desk and handed it to him. "And this is what I recommend for your reading glasses."

Sam stared at the magazine in his hands, feeling his chest tighten slightly when he realized that yes, he could see a lot more clearer with the glasses. He did the same thing, bringing them up and looking at the magazine before putting them back on.

He sighed and handed her the magazine back. "Okay then."

"If you want one pair with both I'd recommend bifocal lenses." the doctor said taking it back and tossing it lightly back onto the desk. "They'll have distance on the top and reading on the bottom."

Sam chewed on the inside of his cheek. "What about contact lenses? Corrective surgery?"

"Contact lenses are a possibility." the doctor agreed. "I wouldn't recommend corrective surgeries, like laser, just yet because your prescription isn't that bad. Surgeries can be expensive, especially since you don't have insurance, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you really want to."

"Just exploring my options." Sam said, drumming his fingers against his seat. "Are there bifocal contacts?"

"Oh yes, a lot of people swear by them, some of them can't handle them. It all depends on you." the doctor said. She glanced over his prescription and got up, going to the other room for a moment before coming back with two packets. "This isn't an official contact lenses prescription for you but at the very least you can see how they feel on your eyes."

She had him lean his head back a bit and used a small rubber plunger to put the contacts in his eye. Immediately they felt weird and he couldn't help but rub at his eyes, feeling something shifting under his eyelid.

"They feel weird." he said honestly, blinking a few times. He glanced up at the eye chart and rubbed at his eyes once more, shaking his head. "I don't think so."

The doctor nodded and quickly took the contacts out of his eyes. "That's just so you can see how they feel, your eyes seem really sensitive so I'd suggest glasses for now. You can always do contacts later on."

Sam thanked her and took his prescription, staring down at the numbers with a strange feeling in his chest, before he went to the front and started to look at the frames they had for sale as well.

The optician came out to help him with choosing a frame, telling him prices and other possible lenses options. Apparently there were different types of coatings for them and other choices.

"You just need to remember how to look through the bifocals, the top will be for distance so you can read with them." she told him. "And the same for the bottom, it's only for reading."

In the end Sam got a regular bifocal glasses, he didn't want anything else on it, not transition or glare free or anything else. He just wanted to get used to them and later on he'd get more and add more to it.

It took a week for his glasses to be ready and Sam cited another need to stock up to his brother to hide that he was going into town to pick them up.

Despite himself he couldn't hide the fact that the moment he put them on, he could see so much better. He hadn't even realized how bad his vision had started to get until he got the glasses. He wore them to finish his errands and when he drove back but hid them in his bag once he got back to the bunker.

He knew that Dean would understand his need for glasses, but at the same time, Dean was still his older brother and he loved nothing more than to make fun of and annoy Sam to no end. If Sam told him that he had gotten glasses he could already hear the remarks about getting old and being an old man and he was trying to prevent that for as long as possible.

It was harder than expected, they lived in each others pockets and the idea of personal space or secrets was something that just didn't exist between them anymore. They agreed a bit go to no longer keep secrets from each other, no matter what it was about. There had been too much lying and too many things trying to keep them apart and so they decided to be one hundred percent truthful from then on.

In the end he just decided to bite the bullet and wear them at the bunker, letting Dean come to his own conclusions and realizations. He sat at their table typing something up wearing his glasses when Dean came in with lunch he had made. Sam spotted Dean stopping a few feet away from him from the corner of his eyes but didn't stop typing.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Dean asked, coming to the table and setting their plates down.

Sam glanced at him over the rim of his glasses before looking back at his laptop. "Clothes."

He couldn't help but smile when Dean reached out to swat at him at that. "You know what I mean."

Sam shook his head and took his glasses off, holding them out to him. "Glasses, I'm wearing glasses."

Dean generally took them from him, moving them in between two fingers as if they were going to come to life and bite him. "Why?"

"I need them." Sam said, looking at his computer screen and squinting for a moment. "Yeah I really do need them actually."

Sam reached for his glasses and raised an eyebrow at his brother when Dean put them on instead, winching slightly and squinting himself. Shaking his head Dean took them off and handed them back to him.

"How the hell are you going to go on a hunt with them?" Dean asked sitting at the table and sliding Sams plate to him. Sam pushed his laptop to the side for now and picked his fork up.

"I can see things clearly Dean, I need them more for reading." Sam told him. "I can still point a gun and shoot."

Dean snorted and started to eat his own food, staring at his brother for a moment.

Sam breathed out and leaned back in his chair. "Alright, let it out." he said, rolling his eyes.

Dean was quiet and continued to stare at him. "You look good." he finally said, much to Sams surprise. "Glasses actually fit you, makes you look like a professor."

Sam blinked at that. "Really?" he asked, touching the arm of the frame. "That's it?"

Dean nodded, an earnest look on his face. "Really." he confirmed. Then he grinned. "Course it also makes you look like an old man but I guess that's what you are now."

There it was. Sam rolled his eyes. "Dean you're older than me." he said.

"Yeah but you're the one with the old man glasses and the gray hair." Dean said a touch smugly. "Face it man, you got the short stick of the aging genes."

Sam took one of the papers on the table and balled it into a small ball, throwing it at his brother. "You're just worried that I'm going to look better old than you."

"Hell no, I got the looks in this family too." Dean protested. "You got the smarts in this family and I got everything else."

Shaking his head Sam couldn't help but smile as he ate, glancing at his laptop as he also typed one handed.

He started slightly when he felt Deans hand touch his arm. Slowly his brother reached out and took his hand in his, holding onto it tightly. Glancing up at his brother Sam softened at the open look on Dean's face.

"Never thought I'd get to see you get old Sammy." Dean murmured, smiling softly at him. His thumb rubbed against Sam's hand. "Looks really damn good on you."

Sam swallowed and gripped back at his brothers hand. "You too." he whispered.

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