This is a oneshot for SPNxBookworm, hope you like it and thank you for the idea! :) - Set while Sam is at Stanford, Dean-25, Max-21.

This, this was the exact reason that having an older brother sucked. No, scratch that, this was the exact reason that having Dean Winchester, and his stubborn ass personality, as an older brother sucked.

I'd told him over and over that his plan had sucked, that he'd end up getting himself into some kind of trouble, but he'd gone ahead with it anyway. He'd walked out of the motel room in a mood, gotten into his car and driven off without looking back, the stubborn frown fixed into his face, not taking in a single word that I'd said to him, as usual.

I'd left him for an hour or so, figuring that he'd just head to a bar somewhere, realise that he was once again being a reckless jackass, and then head back. But he hadn't. And that's when I'd gotten worried. Sure, Dean and I had our fights, but we never let them last- especially when we were in the middle of a hunt. I'd left him a dozen messages, called him at least the same number of times, but he hadn't answered any of them. And that wasn't like him. So I knew that something was wrong. Just purely based on the fact that I trusted him not to freak me out like that. I knew he didn't have it in him to ignore calls like that in the middle of a hunt, not without a seriously good reason.

So I'd tracked the GPS his phone, praying to god that the location would be tracked to a bar somewhere in town, but as usual, being the shoot first ask questions later moron that he was, Dean had to go it the dangerous route. And that's why I was driving a stolen car, going thirty over the speed limit, my foot flat against the gas pedal, driving across town to wherever the hell Dean had ended up.

Three hours earlier.

"They're just demons, Max." Dean muttered, his voice remaining calm despite the obvious frustration building up. "What the hell are you getting so worked up about?" He asked as he pulled a bottle of holy water from his duffel bag on the bed, looking over it slowly.

"Because, for one, Dean, we have no idea how many demons are there. Two, you're acting like taking on a bunch of demons at once is something that we do everyday. And three, you're an idiot who doesn't think things through properly and has a habit of getting himself into situations usually requiring a lot of medical care." Dean looked up at me and raised an eyebrow, remaining completely unphased by everything I was saying. "How the hell do you know this exorcism is even going to work, huh? You don't."

"Because, I called Bobby." He said, shoving the small bottle to the bottom of the bag. "He said it would."

"No, Bobby said that he was pretty sure it would. And he also said that doesn't mean it's guaranteed to work." I argued. "So really, your big plan here is to barge through the front door, throw holy water at them and hope that you don't die."

Dean sighed, neither of us were ready to give in yet, not by a long shot. "Well, sometimes, Maxie, hope is all you've got." He said sarcastically, shooting me a light smirk before returning his attention to his bag.

"Oh, sure, sure- great plan, Dean, really. I mean, I was going to suggest that we throw ourselves off of the nearest cliff and save them the trouble of slicing our throats, but you are just spot on with that idea."

"Maxie-" Dean began, getting no further before I carried on.

"Dude, for all we know, there could be ten of them there." I said seriously. "Hell, we'd be lucky if we made it past the front door."

Dean just rolled his eyes at that. "You're over thinking this."

"Jesus, Dean-" I could've laughed, if he wasn't being so frustratingly reckless. It was since dad had left us, going off to do whatever it was he was doing, leaving just Dean and I to hunt alone. Since then, it was like he'd taken that independence and channeled it all into his hunting. But that had made him just more devoted to wanting to kill things, and wanting to save people. But it was starting to get out of hand. The risks he was starting to take without dad being around to stop him were insane. Then he'd make it through and grin, smirking and thinking that it was badass. But it was the thought that one of these days he was going to do something like that and it wouldn't pay off, and that one of us would end up getting seriously hurt. "-Dad's been gone for a month and you're already getting stupid. Will you please just sit down, think about what you're planning to do, and then maybe act like you might have some sort of a brain up in that thick skull of yours? I am not going to let you get yourself killed."

I knew that I shouldn't have said that, lately any mention of dad bailing was enough to set him off. Sure, we both liked having the freedom of taking hunts without him, without the constant pressure not to make mistakes, but neither of us were lying when we said that we felt safer when he was around. "You know what, Max- maybe you should try and grow up a little." Dean responded, his tone hard. "You're supposed to be a hunter, and that means that sometimes you have to take a couple of risks here and there, it isn't supposed to be a safe job."

I shook my head at that one. "No, I get that, Dean, I do. But that doesn't mean that it's supposed to be a suicidal one." I countered, looking him straight in the face.

Dean scoffed. "Now you're just overreacting." I rolled my eyes, turning away from him and not bothering to answer. I didn't know what I was supposed to say to that one. "If you don't want to come, that's fine." He added, his voice now calmer than it had been. "But I'm going."

"Dean, no. You are not taking a friggin' demon thing on your own." I argued, not even believing what I was hearing anymore.

"Relax, I'll be fine." He picked up the duffel bag from the bed and tossed it over his shoulder, turning to the door. "I'll see you later." I could hear it in his tone, he was still pissed, and there was no changing his mind.

"Dean, don't you dare-" But he'd already slammed the door closed behind himself before I had a chance to finish. I shook my head and followed him, pulling open the door just in time to see him climbing into the Impala and taking off out of the parking lot. Neither of us meant it, we'd had a long week, this was our third hunt in two weeks and we were both exhausted. And it was starting to show.

Present.

I climbed out of the car and sighed as I closed the door behind me, looking around slowly. The Impala was parked up outside of the doors of an old warehouse, the place was in the middle of nowhere, naturally, no place to run. It looked like it hadn't been used in years, the windows all either boarded up or smashed in and the walls around it sprayed with graffiti. I took a breath and headed towards the doors, pushing one of them open slowly and slipping inside, closing it softly behind myself. The place was dark, the only light in there coming from the cracks in the windows up ahead, just one big, empty, black space. I walked futher inside, fists clenched at my sides and ready for a fight.

I heard movement behind me, turning around quickly to see someone, clearly Dean, lying on the floor. I ran over to him, dropping to my knees beside him and looking over him carefully. He looked like he'd literally just regained consciousness, his eyes barely open. I breathed out a small laugh as his eyes focused on me. "You stupid-" I shook my head. "Dean, why didn't you listen to me?" I whispered, pulling him up by the front of his jacket.

Dean groaned and ran a hand over his face. "Where's the fun in that, huh?" He mumbled, the pain was clear in his voice as he forced up a small smile.

I was relieved that he was okay, but I could've slapped him. "You are seriously going to be the death of me one day, Dean Winchester." I muttered, pulling him up with me, my fists never leaving where they were gripped to the front of his jacket.

Dean scoffed. "But if you die, who's gonna keep me out of trouble, hm?" He smirked.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You know what, this is a good question." I answered, looking around slowly. "I take it your little exorcism didn't work?"

Dean just glared at me. "If you're gonna say I told you so, save it." He muttered. "They're gonna be back."

"Right, c'mon, we gotta go." Dean nodded at me, turning towards the door to see four guys blocking the way out, their eyes black. "Oh, crap." He said, taking a couple of steps towards them.

"Dude, what the hell are you doing?" I hissed, looking up at him like he was insane as we got closer to them.

"Well, that's the only way out." He said as we continued to walk towards them, his voice low. "We fight past them and we make a break for the car. Kay?"

I shook my head. "Smart plan, about as smart as your last one really."

Dean looked down at me with a smirk, automatically getting one in return. He always did, no matter what. Because we always seemed to end up like this, no matter what situation, whatever arguments we got into between us- we always ended up fighting side by side, because that's how we did things. Together.

And sure, a lot of the time it ended bad, like this time- where we limped out, practically dived into the Impala and drove away at full speed, but we were both alive. That was always something.

30 minutes later.

It was almost midnight by the time we almost dragged each other through the motel's door, both in pain, both with bloody faces and fractured ribs, but both alive. I dropped down into one of the chairs at the table with a groan, taking a drink of whiskey while Dean put a line of salt at the door and window, closing the shades with a sigh. "Are you okay?" He asked, turning to face me, a concerned frown on his face.

"Oh, yeah, Dean, I'm freakin' awesome." I muttered, shaking my head and giving him a small smile. I realised that whatever pain I was in, he was in it too. "I'm fine." I said, lowering my voice. The guilt was clear in his face, I could practically hear the speech coming from him.

"Just, hold on, alright?" He said quietly, crossing the room and grabbing the first aid kit from his bag before sitting down beside me with a slight grimace. "Let's get you fixed up." He said softly, looking me over slowly. Neither of us spoke for a couple of minutes, Dean busy concentrating on stitching up a gash on my arm while I wiped the blood from my face with a damp cloth. "Maxie," He began gently, his tone low. "-I really am sorry."

"Dean, it's fine." I smiled lightly, shrugging it off. "It's okay."

"No, you shouldn't have gotten hurt like that." He mumbled, now refusing to look at me. "I should've just listened to you."

I sighed and looked up at him, seeing the clear guilt and sorrow in his bloody face. "Don't worry about it, alright?" He finally looked up at me, looking me in the eyes. "This stuff happens, ya know.. Just gotta take the rough with the smooth, I guess."

He cracked a little smile at that. "Yeah, maybe- but our rough is pretty rough."

I laughed and nodded. "Well, I guess I'm lucky that I've got you around to save my ass, right?"

"Ditto, thanks, Maxie."

"Yeah." I said quietly, nodding at him. Because that's how we did things. Whatever the hunt, whatever fights we ended up in, we always ended up like this. Sitting back in the motel room together, laughing it off and patching each other up. Because we were a team, and that's how we rolled.

Awh, I love Dean and Max! Thank you so much for reading and hope you liked it!
And as usual, if there's anything at all you want to see, just send me a PM and I'll be happy to write it! :-))