SQL 2012 :: Variable Returning Asterisk Instead Of Error

This query was run against a database on 2008 SP3 and 2012 SP2

Here is an example of what I ran

Declare @A_number varchar(5)
Select Top 1 Column_Is_an_int = @A_number
From Our_Main_Table
Where A_Database_Name = 'A database with many records in this table and multiple records in the Column_is_an_int some are more than 5 characters'

Select @A_number
Exec My_Stored_Proc @A_Nmuber

The top result for that database had an integer that was 8 characters including the - sign.

When the query ran I would normally expect it to throw the binary data cannot be truncated error. However in this case it returned a * in the variable which then tried to pass it in to the SP which of course threw a fit.

Once I changed the varchar(5) to varchar(50) it worked perfectly.