The Year of Living Quietly, for pesha (gen, PG-16)

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Title: The Year of Living Quietly
Author: slob_child / Frank Zappa
Recipient: pesha
Rating: PG - 16 (swearing)
Author's Notes: I sort of creatively interpreted the prompt, which was along the vein of ‘Wee!chesters learn to deal with living on their own’. Hopefully the recipient enjoys! Clocking in at just under 9000 words.
Summary: Sam is screwed up. Dean does

Comments

[minim_calibre]

Oh, goodness. This was a slow-winding gut punch. Fantastic, with so much of what's to come laced through.

[slob_child]

Thank you! I was trying to litter the text with a bit of foreshadowing, and it's nice to know that I succeeded.

[innie_darling]

Oh, that was wonderful. I'd never considered Sammy going all quiet, and you totally convinced me that this could have happened. The list of things Dean learned from Mary is really heartbreaking, as is this: The entire year has been worth it, to see that rigid and undefeated line of Sam’s back moving away from him. To know that Sam isn’t broken, or close to breaking, that he is strong and will stay strong and won’t run from the hard decisions. Because Dean *knows* that he's giving Sam the tools to leave him. Oh, Dean!

[slob_child]

Hee, exactly! Dean's definitely the parent here, or at least one of them, as he's trying to make his 'kid' (ie, Sam) strong enough to stand on his own someday - Dean's role is confused as both child and adult, with memories of what it was like to be in Sam's shoes as the beloved baby of the family as well as his responsibility as Sam's caregiver. Thank you for your thoughtful comment!

[musesfool]

Oh. This is slow and sharp and beautiful and aching.

[slob_child]

Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed. It felt a bit rushed at parts to me, but I'm glad that the end result was pleasing.

[drlense]

Wow- another wonderful story- this was fantastic. Thank you so much.

[slob_child]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed - and you're right, this community/fic-exchange has produced really wonderful works. I'm happy to have been part of it. Thanks for reading!

[eloise_bright]

he...walks over to pull Dean’s little brother into a hug, and Dean’s little brother puts his face against Dean’s dad’s broad chest and makes small, suffocated sounds.

For some reason, this was the line that broke me in this story. Dean works so hard for his family, and yet he's on the sidelines while they hug.

I loved that the boys got a home for a year, and that Dean knows it not home, because home is his family, not a place.

Lovely aching story.

[slob_child]

Thank you, thank you! Yes, that's kind of what I was trying to drive at with the hug, and also that while Dean acts like he's Sam's mother/brother, Sam mostly just treats him like a brother, which sets up a weird and uneven dynamic between them; when Sam feels strong enough to make it outside of the stable home Dean's built for him, he doesn't tell Dean - he tells his Dad. But Dean still sees both his dad and his brother in relation to his own role in the family, which is his way of including himself - by making himself the focal point and referring to the two as "Dean's little brother" and "Dean's dad". Ahh, sorry to go all meta! Thank you for your thoughtful comment!