Barnes attended the First Annual Supernatural convention dressed as "Sam."
Background[]
Barnes and his boyfriend Demian were inspired by the Supernatural books by Carver Edlund and by hunters Sam and Dean Winchester. The Winchesters had arrived at the convention after being duped into it by super-fan Becky Rosen. The two unwittingly became part of the hoard of Sams and Deans who gathered to learn the guidelines of the "case" wherein teams were to find a body and burn the bones. Barnes and Damien were eager to win the competition. The Winchesters quickly realized it was part of the LARPing festivities and retreated to the hotel bar.
Later, Sam and Dean noticed a LARPer rush into the bar after having apparently been accosted by a real ghost. They approached the hotel manager intending to get the real story about the haunted history of the property and bribed him for the info. They learned that Leticia Gore actually did kill four children and then herself there 100 years ago. He told them the spirits of all of them had been seen there periodically ever since. When they pressed him for the location of Leticia's crime, the manager said he said he knew, but that the area was "off limits to nerds." Dean slid him another $50 to reveal that the attic was where everyone died. and Barnes and Demian overheard this exchange and decided to give themselves an edge toward solving the "case."
As the two made their way toward the attic as "Sam" and "Dean," Barnes voiced some concern that no one else seemed to be focusing on the attic. Demian, who was at least slightly more into the LARPing than Barnes, first of all reminded Barnes to "stay in character" because, he explained, he looked stupid if he was just doing it alone. Secondly, he figured the conversation they'd overheard between Sam and Dean and the hotel manager was by design and part of the game. When the spirit of one of the orphan children, which they thought was just a fellow LARPer, appeared in front of them, Barnes squealed "Oh my God! That make-up is amazing!" After Demian again barked, "Amateur! Stay in character!," Barnes apologized in his "Sam" voice. The spirit proceeded to guide them to the actual map of the graveyard on the property.
After the Winchesters encountered the scalped ghost of Leticia's son in the attic and learned about the 1909 police account of the murders of him and three other boys by Leticia's hand, they were intent on burning her bones. They overheard Barnes and Demian in the hotel bar talking about the map (in their raspy "Sam and Dean" voices) and approached them to take it. The LARPers figured acquiring it was a master game strategy, however, and weren't willing to even let them look at it. Demian even told them it was a game, not charity, and flashed his toy pistol to scare them off. Dean was by then in the mood to use his real gun, but Sam more calmly suggested that their two teams work together. They agreed only after Barnes made clear that they got to keep the $50 Sizzler gift certificate, and Demian required that they got to play "Sam" and "Dean". Sam and Dean were then dubbed "Rufus" and "Bobby."
Sam and Dean followed the team to the graveyard while being subjected to their interpretation of the 'ghost-possessed Sam' showdown scene from "Asylum." Finally completely fed up with that and the whole idea of having their lives glorified, Dean vented on them by way of a rant about how the Winchesters' lives sucked—it was not fun, nor entertaining, and the reality of it would send most people to the nuthouse. As he stormed off, Demian and Barnes were left wondering why he was so upset about fictional characters. When Barnes and Demian got to the graveyard and began looking for bones on the ground, they were reasonably shocked when Dean and Sam actually started digging up bones. Shortly thereafter they were assaulted by Leticia Gore's ghost, and began to suspect that the boys were not there just to LARP.
The Winchesters ultimately found themselves trapped inside the hotel being bested by the evil orphans' spirits. Though traumatized, Barnes and Demian rallied and managed to get back to the graveyard and burn the orphans' bones just in time, and saved Sam and Dean.
When it was all over, Dean thanked them for saving him and Sam. It was only then that Dean learned their names and revealed to them that he was the real Dean, but his reply was received only with Demian's "Yeah, me too!" and Barnes' "Get the hell outta here, Dean!" Annoyed, Dean was about to leave when Demian stopped him and suggested that he was wrong about the Supernatural stories: Both Sam and Dean got to wake up every day with a chance to save the world alongside a brother he would die for knowing the other would do the same, which was in stark contrast to their own ("Our lives suck") lives. This suggests they did believe him. Dean smiled as he conceded that maybe he had a point. Before Dean left he found out that the two had met in a Supernatural chat room, and that they weren't just friends, they were partners.