Kidfic Recs
Another batch of recs here, this time kidfic. And by kidfic, I mean stories where childhood intersects with the complexities of an often ugly or unfair reality. So, for this group, forget the cute connotations attached to the term, and enjoy some fic where childhood is a central theme in stories written for grown-ups.
They Put Me In A Cage Full of Lions by amerella
Gen/Dean, Sam, John/Not rated. - This is one of those fics that makes me want to bust out the superlatives. It captures Dean in that stage of childhood where life is kind of dreamlike and ephemeral, with its own sort of logic and emotional landscape. Dean's struggle to assimilate the adult world he confronts is one that's hard to forget.
One day in June, dad buys Dean a bike. He doesn’t buy it for any reason. This is the summer before Dean almost gets his brother killed.
The bike has lightning bolts along the sides. When Dean rides it down main street in any given town all the kids he meets stare after him like he’s golden and that’s because he is. It won’t fit into the trunk of the car, is the only thing. Dad has to make it fit. He ties the trunk down to keep it in place, and that works half of the time. The other half of the time it’ll come cracking open as they’re flying along and dad will pull off hard to the side of the road and say, Jesus. Or sometimes, Jesus CHRIST. He’ll be that mad. How often has he had to re-tie knots that never should have come undone?
Familiar Admonishments by teand
Incest/ John/Dean, Sam /Adult Content - This is a really difficult story that even the author admits not everyone will want to read. (Pay attention to the warnings.) It's a painfully realistic portrait of child abuse, where the psychological element is just as (if not more) traumatic as the physical. Dean is fifteen and so, so young.
(From the author's notes) I've always said that I just write the stories I have to tell. I know, pretty much exactly where this came from: a request for a story, the brilliant fulfilment of that request causing my thoughts to go in other directions, an argument about incest, someone's comment that Dean fills the role of the mother in the triad, and the knowledge that defining your self worth with sex is something that has to be learned at an early age.
Parental Supervision Advised by minkmix
Gen/John, Sam, Dean/PG - Not all kidfic has to be, um, as traumatic as the above recs, and I'm a little in love with the way minkmix writes the young Winchesters and an often hapless John.
John knew horror.
At least he knew it in degrees. And most of it he could deal with something like a smile on his face. But nothing prepared you for some things. Like walking into a puddle of warm milk with your socks on before he had even gotten his first damn cup of coffee yet. He wasn’t quite in the mood but he felt like he could do some yelling. Really loud stern yelling.
No Refills by minkmix
Gen/John, Dean, Sam/PG - Not strictly kidfic as defined above, but still one of my favorites.
As soon as they were in the actual doctor’s office and behind those swinging doors, John washed his hands of it. His spawn were someone else’s problem for about $500 bucks an uninsured hour. He’d catch up on his National Geographic and enjoy the peaceful hum of the piped in muzak. It was time to drink some coffee and hope like hell that Sammy didn’t bite anyone with a good lawyer.
Dalliance by minkmix
Gen/Dean and Sam/PG - The tone of this piece would seem to fit the POV of a much older child, but putting Dean in this mental space makes a subtle point of how grown up he is.
A sudden shrill shriek made him sit up and check the colorful network of metal bars, swings and shiny silver slides.
There were about a billion little kids swarming over the thing. It didn’t take him long to spot Sammy, standing on top of the monkey bars and looking around like he was considering jumping the good one hundred miles it was down on the wood chipped ground.
Under A Haystack by janissa11
Gen/Sam, Dean/Not Rated - When Dean is reverted to a young child, Sam is forced to re-examine their early years and accept the role of caretaker to his older brother. A nice, long, engaging story that takes the time to explore all the issues it opens up.
He smiles, but Dean doesn’t smile back. He looks little, and scared, and Sam thinks, God damn it, because this regressed little-kid Dean really IS just a kid. A child, who woke up in a strange room with a strange man and is scared out of his mind.
The Yellow Crayon by ignipes
Gen/Dean, John/PG - A short piece with little Dean beginning to accept that his mom really is gone. Sad, and then sadder.
Mrs. Guenther lets him eat as many cookies as he wants. Dean knows she's not supposed to, but Daddy isn't here and she doesn't say anything about spoiling his dinner. Ever time she looks at him she gets a funny look on her face, like she's eating pickles and lemons at the same time.
When You Hear Me Calling Get the Rifle Down by embroiderama
Gen/Dean, Sam, John/PG-13 - A horrific, but nonsupernatural episode in young Dean's life. What I love about this is the way John understands.
"Sammy, what's wrong?"
"S-something bit me!" Sam held up his arm, hand still pressed tight to it.
"Like a bug?" Dean scrambled out of his bed and onto Sammy's, feet only touching the cold floor for a second. He sat down next to Sam and moved the covers around looking for insects. This new place was kind of a dump.
(ETA) little rattle stilt by angstslashhope
Gen/Sam/PG - Little Sam's confusion and fear in this story are heart-wrenching.
There’s a knock at the door and then Miss Bouverie comes in, and the Principal, too. His name is Mr Grenlen, the other kids say it’s Mr Gremlin, and Sammy laughs with them but never says it himself. His arms break out in goosebumps and he swallows again. He wishes he hadn’t gone on the monkey bars, wish he’d been more careful, like Dad had told him.
This isn't nearly as comprehensive a rec list as I'd wanted it to be, so please feel free to link your favorites in the comments! (And if anyone knows the title/author/whereabouts of this one where little Sam gets sent to a foster home by Child Protective Services, maybe drop a line? I really wanted to include it, but couldn't find it, even after much searching.)
They Put Me In A Cage Full of Lions by amerella
Gen/Dean, Sam, John/Not rated. - This is one of those fics that makes me want to bust out the superlatives. It captures Dean in that stage of childhood where life is kind of dreamlike and ephemeral, with its own sort of logic and emotional landscape. Dean's struggle to assimilate the adult world he confronts is one that's hard to forget.
One day in June, dad buys Dean a bike. He doesn’t buy it for any reason. This is the summer before Dean almost gets his brother killed.
The bike has lightning bolts along the sides. When Dean rides it down main street in any given town all the kids he meets stare after him like he’s golden and that’s because he is. It won’t fit into the trunk of the car, is the only thing. Dad has to make it fit. He ties the trunk down to keep it in place, and that works half of the time. The other half of the time it’ll come cracking open as they’re flying along and dad will pull off hard to the side of the road and say, Jesus. Or sometimes, Jesus CHRIST. He’ll be that mad. How often has he had to re-tie knots that never should have come undone?
Familiar Admonishments by teand
Incest/ John/Dean, Sam /Adult Content - This is a really difficult story that even the author admits not everyone will want to read. (Pay attention to the warnings.) It's a painfully realistic portrait of child abuse, where the psychological element is just as (if not more) traumatic as the physical. Dean is fifteen and so, so young.
(From the author's notes) I've always said that I just write the stories I have to tell. I know, pretty much exactly where this came from: a request for a story, the brilliant fulfilment of that request causing my thoughts to go in other directions, an argument about incest, someone's comment that Dean fills the role of the mother in the triad, and the knowledge that defining your self worth with sex is something that has to be learned at an early age.
Parental Supervision Advised by minkmix
Gen/John, Sam, Dean/PG - Not all kidfic has to be, um, as traumatic as the above recs, and I'm a little in love with the way minkmix writes the young Winchesters and an often hapless John.
John knew horror.
At least he knew it in degrees. And most of it he could deal with something like a smile on his face. But nothing prepared you for some things. Like walking into a puddle of warm milk with your socks on before he had even gotten his first damn cup of coffee yet. He wasn’t quite in the mood but he felt like he could do some yelling. Really loud stern yelling.
No Refills by minkmix
Gen/John, Dean, Sam/PG - Not strictly kidfic as defined above, but still one of my favorites.
As soon as they were in the actual doctor’s office and behind those swinging doors, John washed his hands of it. His spawn were someone else’s problem for about $500 bucks an uninsured hour. He’d catch up on his National Geographic and enjoy the peaceful hum of the piped in muzak. It was time to drink some coffee and hope like hell that Sammy didn’t bite anyone with a good lawyer.
Dalliance by minkmix
Gen/Dean and Sam/PG - The tone of this piece would seem to fit the POV of a much older child, but putting Dean in this mental space makes a subtle point of how grown up he is.
A sudden shrill shriek made him sit up and check the colorful network of metal bars, swings and shiny silver slides.
There were about a billion little kids swarming over the thing. It didn’t take him long to spot Sammy, standing on top of the monkey bars and looking around like he was considering jumping the good one hundred miles it was down on the wood chipped ground.
Under A Haystack by janissa11
Gen/Sam, Dean/Not Rated - When Dean is reverted to a young child, Sam is forced to re-examine their early years and accept the role of caretaker to his older brother. A nice, long, engaging story that takes the time to explore all the issues it opens up.
He smiles, but Dean doesn’t smile back. He looks little, and scared, and Sam thinks, God damn it, because this regressed little-kid Dean really IS just a kid. A child, who woke up in a strange room with a strange man and is scared out of his mind.
The Yellow Crayon by ignipes
Gen/Dean, John/PG - A short piece with little Dean beginning to accept that his mom really is gone. Sad, and then sadder.
Mrs. Guenther lets him eat as many cookies as he wants. Dean knows she's not supposed to, but Daddy isn't here and she doesn't say anything about spoiling his dinner. Ever time she looks at him she gets a funny look on her face, like she's eating pickles and lemons at the same time.
When You Hear Me Calling Get the Rifle Down by embroiderama
Gen/Dean, Sam, John/PG-13 - A horrific, but nonsupernatural episode in young Dean's life. What I love about this is the way John understands.
"Sammy, what's wrong?"
"S-something bit me!" Sam held up his arm, hand still pressed tight to it.
"Like a bug?" Dean scrambled out of his bed and onto Sammy's, feet only touching the cold floor for a second. He sat down next to Sam and moved the covers around looking for insects. This new place was kind of a dump.
(ETA) little rattle stilt by angstslashhope
Gen/Sam/PG - Little Sam's confusion and fear in this story are heart-wrenching.
There’s a knock at the door and then Miss Bouverie comes in, and the Principal, too. His name is Mr Grenlen, the other kids say it’s Mr Gremlin, and Sammy laughs with them but never says it himself. His arms break out in goosebumps and he swallows again. He wishes he hadn’t gone on the monkey bars, wish he’d been more careful, like Dad had told him.
This isn't nearly as comprehensive a rec list as I'd wanted it to be, so please feel free to link your favorites in the comments! (And if anyone knows the title/author/whereabouts of this one where little Sam gets sent to a foster home by Child Protective Services, maybe drop a line? I really wanted to include it, but couldn't find it, even after much searching.)