The Competitive Exclusion Principle States

[sparrow_lately]

Title: The Competitive Exclusion Principle States (or scenes from an alternate universe wherein Sam stole the Winchester boys in 1987)
Rating: PG-13
Words: 5,446
Spoilers: Vague, but for all aired episodes.
Warnings: Language, briefly mentioned child abuse, briefly mentioned neglect.
Summary: Basically picked up where " Reverse Engineering" left off

Comments

[tabaqui]

Ooooh.
*sniffle*

Poor Sam. And poor John! I love that Sam did break down and *talk* to him.
*pets them all*

One teen thing: 'lipless kiss to Dean's forehead'? That's not really possible, is it? Unless he's kissing with his nose.... :)

[sparrow_lately]

I couldn't just have Sam deny John his kids--who, for all his faults, he really does love very much--without any attempt to explain it. Given Sam's inclination to forgive his father by the time he's chinnin' in '78 in season five, not to mention the fact that this is his dad and he does love him (and on some level crave his approval), and I figure Sam owed poor John at least some edge of an explanation.

Re: lipless kiss, that was my weird, 3 am attempt to articulate that strange thing emotionally constipated adult men do when they want to express awkward paternal(ish) affection, where they press their dry, closed mouth into a hard line and then just sort of put it up to your face for a second.

But hey, you have given me the terminally adorable mental image that is big!Sam giving wee!Dean an eskimo kiss, or a butterfly kiss. :)

[tabaqui]

Good authorial choice!
:)

I guess i'm not familiar with that kind of 'kiss' - the men i know pucker up and smooch you! Heh.

Perhaps you could just say he 'pressed his cheek' or even 'mouth' to Dean, imply just contact rather than a kiss.

But, yes - Eskimo kisses are an adorable mental image. :)

[sparrow_lately]

I changed it just for you, m'dear! :)

Ah, see--I come from a breed of repression that would have glazed over the eyes of a puritan minister, and when any man but my doting southern godfather kissed my cheek or forehead it was a dry, awkward affair, and if there's one thing me and the Winchesters have in common I figure it's weird emotional repression. :P

Speaking of emotions, your icon is actually sort of mean it's so Emotionally Compromising. <3

[tabaqui]

Aw, you didn't have to do that!
*smooches you*
:)

My dad would kiss you good and wet, with a big hug. Everybody - our mom, me and my sister, our brothers, his family, my mom's female relatives, good friends..... We all still do it, too - i go visiting, i give my brother a big kiss on the cheek, he does the same. We like emotions! Hehe.

Yeah, that icon kinda devastates. So does this one, though.

[sparrow_lately]

*gives an awkward little shrug-squirm, accepts smooch*
:)

My godfather will still smother-hug and kiss me, but he's the only one, lol. I can't even remember the last time I so much as pecked my brother. Or anyone I was related to. Not since I was very small. I gave my friend a peck on the forehead today, because he's having surgery next week, and drunk!Sparrow is prone to cheek kissing, but for the most part I don't come from tactile people. And we certainly don't like emotions. My family, as a whole, comes from the Dean Winchester school of feelings. :P

You and your painful icons. UGH. <3

[tabaqui]

*pet pet pet*

It's funny, because my mom's family is all very Stoic German, but she's never shied away from hugs and kisses and declarations of emotion. I think because her mom never once said 'i love you' and she didn't like that.

My dad's family were all *very* noisy and emotional and grabby and, even though i loathed being touched most of the time, i don't have any issues with giving my aunt or sister or cousin a big hug and kiss. They're family!

And any minute now, someone will be yelling about something and there will be a lot of 'gawd damn's hurled around and it will be hysterically funny. So - worth it.
(My aunt and uncle (siblings) once had a shouting argument over my aunt having her pocketbook on the table while we played cards, and my uncle didn't like that and she didn't care and there was much to-do and finally, we got back to playing 'Shaft Your Neighbor', which i a card game my dad's family favored.)

Good times. :)
*maybe this icon isn't quite so hurty?*

[sparrow_lately]

*happy noise*

My mom's family is German and while she never reserved affection when we were young kids now we're older it's about the same level just...less often? Well, who knows, I don't live at home anymore. At any rate my mom's always been the "buck up kiddo" type...I used to talk about the 24 Hour Sympathy Rule. Maximum time allowed for moping of any kind, even after major illnesses and injuries (of which I had many), was 24 hours.

My dad's family's all Irish with some married-in Italian so it's all loud and lapsed Catholic. Most recent Ridiculous Argument was about who set off the fire alarm last Thanksgiving and whether or not my cousin, boyfriend off with his family out of state, hiked up her skirt and refreshed her makeup to greet the firemen (she totally did).

Good times indeed!
Of course that icon's hurty, it's a SPN icon! :P

[tabaqui]

Heee! Oh, yes, exactly. From skinned knees to death, you get a dab of sympathy and a cupful of backbone. Hehe. It works, though. I mean - my mom *or* dad never said 'don't be a baby' or anything horrible like that, but they were very straight forward and didn't give in to histrionics

[sparrow_lately]

Oh, I'm not complaining about the stoicism--it's great, especially where it comes to lots of health issues and the like. But my touchy-feely friends from the west tend to think there's something terribly wrong with me. :P

[tabaqui]

Heh. Yeah - i tend to let my affection come out in what i'm saying and have perfected the art of being not quite close enough to touch, which works for me.

My daughter and her friends are always hugging and flopping and puppy-piling all over each other. So different than when i was her age.

[sparrow_lately]

When I have people I'm close with I tend to be tactile in weird little bursts, but I'm generally pretty reticent with people I'm not very close with. New Englanders are like that.

[tabaqui]

Ooh, where in New England? My dad was born in Tewksbury, MA, and we would go visit for a couple of weeks ever year.

I do so love New England, and miss it very much.

[sparrow_lately]

Ooh, just a county away from your dad! When I was small I lived in the absolute middle of nowhere, but I lived in the burbs just twenty minutes out of the city from the time I was 12 or so.

New England will always, always have my heart.

[tabaqui]

:)

I've been to the east coast and the west coast and the east is just...better. I love the Atlantic, i love everything about New England. Someday, i'll live there.

[sparrow_lately]

I've been west of Ohio once and once only, and I came scurrying back with my tail between my legs. I'm a New England girl to my very bones. I'm going back there, too, once I've done my wandering for a bit. :)