RE: Tell Me You Understand (Excerpt) 5/5broken_cindersNovember 9 2017, 18:18:59 UTC
Dean fell silent, mouth still open, trying to process everything that Sam had just said. “I…what?”
Dean studied Sam. There were dark circles under his eyes and tension was sitting heavy in his shoulders and chest.
“Please? Let’s just go home. You can yell at me there.”
Sam sounded exhausted and it crawled under Dean’s skin. Sam didn’t get to play the martyr here. “Fine,” he snarled. He turned with a jerk towards the Impala and yanked the door open.
When they got home, he herded Sam inside and, before his brother could even think about slinking back off to his room, Dean pointed a finger at the dining room table and barked, “Sit!”
Sam sank into a seat as Dean yanked out a second chair and flipped it around so that he could sit backwards on it. "So," he said. “Care to tell me what’s going on?”
Sam watched him carefully. “I don’t-"
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Sam frowned and shook his head. “No, I just don’t really know where to start.”
Dean propped his elbows on the back of the chair and dropped his face into his hands. He already had a headache. Not daring to look up in case he lost even more of his temper, he collected himself as much as he could and said in a moderately even tone, “Why don’t we start with why you were so eager to get home and go from there.”
Sam was silent for a long minute. Dean glanced up, making eye contact so he would be more inclined to answer.
“I…I didn’t catch any of that.”
Dean glared at him. “What exactly does that mean?”
Sam shifted guiltily in his seat.
“Sam,” Dean said, a note of warning coloring his voice.
“Your face was buried in your arms. I didn’t understand what you just said.”
Not to be deterred, Dean repeated himself. “I said, let’s talk about your little outburst in the parking lot.”
Sam seemed to shrink a little. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. You’ve never had trouble following conversations in the dark before.” Dean didn’t mean to let the note of accusation creep into his voice, but it did all the same.
Sam muttered something that Dean didn’t quite catch.
“Come again?”
“I’ve been having trouble hearing.”
“You’ve what?” Dean asked, sure he’d just misunderstood something.
“Everything’s all mushed together and muffled, and it was too dark to really read your lips.”
Dean stared at Sam for a long minute. Finally he said, “Let me get this straight. You couldn’t hear me out there.”
Sam nodded, looking a little wary.
“But you can here?”
Sam shook his head. “No. At least not clearly. But there’s better light and it’s calmer.”
Dean stood, nearly knocking his chair over. He stalked to the fridge and yanked out a can of soda that he chugged down in one go. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he needed to be entirely sober at that particular moment. When he felt a tiny bit calmer, he came back and sat down. “If this is some kind of fucking joke. If you think you can get out of trouble by playing it off, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“I wouldn’t do that. That’s sick.”
“So what, I’m just supposed to believe you’ve got spontaneous hearing loss now?”
Sam looked away, and bingo. Dean could spot the guilt from a mile away.
“Not spontaneous, no.” That caught Dean off guard.
“Not…What the hell Sam. This isn’t funny. Don’t go making things up just to get out of trouble.”
Sam's eyes blazed. “I’m not making things up! I can prove it!”
Sam took off towards his room before Dean could blink. He heard angry muttering and papers shuffling before Sam stormed back out with a manila folder that he tossed onto the table corner Dean had been leaning against.
Dean picked up the folder. It was unmarked with only a handful of sheets inside. When it fell open, he was faced with a random chart. Three or four more were tucked in behind the first. Dean rifled through them, not really comprehending what he was looking at.
“What is all this?”
He nearly jumped when Sam yanked the edge of the folder down. “What did you say,” he snarled. “If we’re going to have this conversation don’t cover up your mouth.”
The anger in Sam’s tone stung a little. Sam hadn’t been really, truly angry with Dean in ages. Dean cleared his throat. “I said, what am I looking at?”
The tiniest fraction of tension seeped out of Sam’s shoulders. “Audiograms,” he said. “One each for the last four months.”
RE: Tell Me You Understand (Excerpt) 5/5rirrenNovember 12 2017, 09:51:17 UTC
Loved this and I'm really glad to hear there is more to come! I really liked how you did it from Dean's POV and there were all these signs that the reader could pick up but Dean didn't understand it. And it's so like Sam to not tell anyone and try to deal with it himself, even going as far as to get audiograms by himself. I guess he thought he could keep it secret by relying on lip reading. Oh Sam.
RE: Tell Me You Understand (Excerpt) 5/5broken_cindersNovember 16 2017, 01:02:30 UTC
Thanks! Poor Sam. For all that he's brilliant he can be a bit thick sometimes. Dean is my absolute favorite PoV to write from. He's snarky and observant and just really wants to protect his family. I loved the idea of discovering Sam's dilemma along with his brother. I'm glad it's working here!
RE: Tell Me You Understand (Excerpt) 5/5broken_cindersNovember 16 2017, 01:05:34 UTC
It's coming! It's coming! Unfortunately my boss seems to think I actually have to show up for work, so really it's her fault it isn't done yet. I'll for sure list it in the comm when it's up!
RE: Tell Me You Understand (Excerpt) 5/5cowboyguyNovember 15 2017, 14:34:31 UTC
Oh, man, I was so excited to see this had been filled, and then I didn't have any time for nearly a week to actually sit down and read it. So sorry this review took so long, but...
OMG I WANT TO SEE MORE. I am so sorry not sorry AT ALL that this has taken over your NaNo because this is amazing. I love the setup you've started with, and both boys are written so well. It was great to see all the little clues, all the tiny things that show that Sam's attitude isn't for the reason Dean thinks it is. And Dean, feeling out of his depth in dealing with his brother but still trying to make an effort and figure it out.
Really excited to see more of this! (And wishing you good luck on your NaNo! I'm ridiculously behind schedule on mine, lol.)
RE: Tell Me You Understand (Excerpt) 5/5broken_cindersNovember 16 2017, 01:24:13 UTC
Aw shucks, thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it. At last check this story was about 20k. I'm really close to finishing it and starting to edit. It should be up around early December.
Sam might be my favorite, adorable bundle of walking disaster, but I love the way Dean handles it. He's so wonderfully imperfect at it and most of the time I just want to give him a big squishy hug until he feels better. I kinda fell in love with the idea of him telling the story.
I really have you to thank for being ahead on my NaNo. I'm sending lots of cookies and encouragement for your NaNo. You can do it!
RE: Tell Me You Understand (Excerpt) 5/5amararaeNovember 29 2017, 02:22:00 UTC
How will I know when you post this? I can't read the snippet without completely losing myself to checking for an update everyday. Will this be posted on fanfiction?
Hi! I usually try to post simultaneously on LiveJournal and fanfiction. Your welcome to follow either account, but I will also be announcing it in the comm when it goes up. I'm not going to set a date because I'm really, really bad at deadlines, but I'm hoping another week or two. Depends on how quickly the last bit of editing goes and how fast my beta can get it back to me.
Hey I just wanted to make sure that you are okay, since I haven't heard from you in over five months. I get worried about people, easily. Just let me know.
Your so sweet! I'm fine, just crazy busy. I've moved three times since last I posted and have been working like a mad woman. I just came off two 18hr days at work, because sleep is for losers! :D Actually, I was close to posting another excerpt because it has been taking me so long to get this to a presentable point.
Oh okay thanks for getting back to me. I was getting kinda worried. And I didnt want to come off as pushy. So does this mean you will be posting something soon?
Sadly, I've been working 8-15 hr shifts almost daily for a couple weeks now so progress is slow. I'd say this is about 90% written. What's up here is chapter one and part of chapter two, minus a little on the front end that I cut because of character limits. I'm planning on posting the first few chapters around the 15th, my work schedule permitting. Might be more like the 17th because Sundays are much slower for us.
Dean studied Sam. There were dark circles under his eyes and tension was sitting heavy in his shoulders and chest.
“Please? Let’s just go home. You can yell at me there.”
Sam sounded exhausted and it crawled under Dean’s skin. Sam didn’t get to play the martyr here. “Fine,” he snarled. He turned with a jerk towards the Impala and yanked the door open.
When they got home, he herded Sam inside and, before his brother could even think about slinking back off to his room, Dean pointed a finger at the dining room table and barked, “Sit!”
Sam sank into a seat as Dean yanked out a second chair and flipped it around so that he could sit backwards on it. "So," he said. “Care to tell me what’s going on?”
Sam watched him carefully. “I don’t-"
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Sam frowned and shook his head. “No, I just don’t really know where to start.”
Dean propped his elbows on the back of the chair and dropped his face into his hands. He already had a headache. Not daring to look up in case he lost even more of his temper, he collected himself as much as he could and said in a moderately even tone, “Why don’t we start with why you were so eager to get home and go from there.”
Sam was silent for a long minute. Dean glanced up, making eye contact so he would be more inclined to answer.
“I…I didn’t catch any of that.”
Dean glared at him. “What exactly does that mean?”
Sam shifted guiltily in his seat.
“Sam,” Dean said, a note of warning coloring his voice.
“Your face was buried in your arms. I didn’t understand what you just said.”
Not to be deterred, Dean repeated himself. “I said, let’s talk about your little outburst in the parking lot.”
Sam seemed to shrink a little. “Oh.”
“Yeah, oh. You’ve never had trouble following conversations in the dark before.” Dean didn’t mean to let the note of accusation creep into his voice, but it did all the same.
Sam muttered something that Dean didn’t quite catch.
“Come again?”
“I’ve been having trouble hearing.”
“You’ve what?” Dean asked, sure he’d just misunderstood something.
“Everything’s all mushed together and muffled, and it was too dark to really read your lips.”
Dean stared at Sam for a long minute. Finally he said, “Let me get this straight. You couldn’t hear me out there.”
Sam nodded, looking a little wary.
“But you can here?”
Sam shook his head. “No. At least not clearly. But there’s better light and it’s calmer.”
Dean stood, nearly knocking his chair over. He stalked to the fridge and yanked out a can of soda that he chugged down in one go. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he needed to be entirely sober at that particular moment. When he felt a tiny bit calmer, he came back and sat down. “If this is some kind of fucking joke. If you think you can get out of trouble by playing it off, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“I wouldn’t do that. That’s sick.”
“So what, I’m just supposed to believe you’ve got spontaneous hearing loss now?”
Sam looked away, and bingo. Dean could spot the guilt from a mile away.
“Not spontaneous, no.” That caught Dean off guard.
“Not…What the hell Sam. This isn’t funny. Don’t go making things up just to get out of trouble.”
Sam's eyes blazed. “I’m not making things up! I can prove it!”
Sam took off towards his room before Dean could blink. He heard angry muttering and papers shuffling before Sam stormed back out with a manila folder that he tossed onto the table corner Dean had been leaning against.
Dean picked up the folder. It was unmarked with only a handful of sheets inside. When it fell open, he was faced with a random chart. Three or four more were tucked in behind the first. Dean rifled through them, not really comprehending what he was looking at.
“What is all this?”
He nearly jumped when Sam yanked the edge of the folder down. “What did you say,” he snarled. “If we’re going to have this conversation don’t cover up your mouth.”
The anger in Sam’s tone stung a little. Sam hadn’t been really, truly angry with Dean in ages. Dean cleared his throat. “I said, what am I looking at?”
The tiniest fraction of tension seeped out of Sam’s shoulders. “Audiograms,” he said. “One each for the last four months.”
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OMG I WANT TO SEE MORE. I am so sorry not sorry AT ALL that this has taken over your NaNo because this is amazing. I love the setup you've started with, and both boys are written so well. It was great to see all the little clues, all the tiny things that show that Sam's attitude isn't for the reason Dean thinks it is. And Dean, feeling out of his depth in dealing with his brother but still trying to make an effort and figure it out.
Really excited to see more of this! (And wishing you good luck on your NaNo! I'm ridiculously behind schedule on mine, lol.)
Reply
Sam might be my favorite, adorable bundle of walking disaster, but I love the way Dean handles it. He's so wonderfully imperfect at it and most of the time I just want to give him a big squishy hug until he feels better. I kinda fell in love with the idea of him telling the story.
I really have you to thank for being ahead on my NaNo. I'm sending lots of cookies and encouragement for your NaNo. You can do it!
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Hi! I usually try to post simultaneously on LiveJournal and fanfiction. Your welcome to follow either account, but I will also be announcing it in the comm when it goes up. I'm not going to set a date because I'm really, really bad at deadlines, but I'm hoping another week or two. Depends on how quickly the last bit of editing goes and how fast my beta can get it back to me.
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Sadly, I've been working 8-15 hr shifts almost daily for a couple weeks now so progress is slow. I'd say this is about 90% written. What's up here is chapter one and part of chapter two, minus a little on the front end that I cut because of character limits. I'm planning on posting the first few chapters around the 15th, my work schedule permitting. Might be more like the 17th because Sundays are much slower for us.
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