Fic: Embers Glow and Embers Fade
Title: Embers Glow and Embers Fade
Author: xxkaytayxx
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count : 5177
Spoilers: Seasons 1-5
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, its characters, or anything else associated.
Summary: Fifty 100-word drabbles about the world of Sam and Dean, and all those pulled along for the ride.
1. Bullet
There are things Dean would think about if he went out drinking without an agenda. He would sit in the corner and ache at the men laughing at the bar, drenched in the fraternal affection of an introductory night on the town.
The beer would be bad, and the music would be ten years too current, blasting out of a stereo that’s seen better days. Dean would straighten up, cringe from an ache in his side, and realize he’s been shot more times in the last year than he has smiled.
But Dean doesn’t do these things. So he’s fine.
2. Fire
Dean loves lighting fires.
When they’re hunting, he’s the first one in the grave, salt and matches in hand. There’s the snap of wood striking, and John watches his son smile.
John’s got some theories he mulls over when his sons are asleep but he never is. Maybe it’s because of how they lost Mary. Maybe, for once, Dean likes to be the one forcing things up in smoke.
John’s never been into psychoanalysis bullcrap, but it still hurts when he remembers, once upon a time, his son’s biggest dream about fires was being a hero and putting them out.
3. Advocate
Plenty of people think that Sam would’ve made a fantastic lawyer. He’s dedicated and focused, having this perfect knack for research where he can find the exact five sentences they need out of a pile the size of the population of California. He’d probably be able to sniff out the piece of winning information out of all those legal documents in the exact same way.
But when Dean chortles hysterically while Sam has his favorite shirt super-glued to his head, shrieking, “Dean!” while secretly he’s panicking about his hair, Dean knows different.
Because really, no judge would buy that bitchface.
4. Worship
Watching Dean Winchester writhe around whining about stomach cancer isn’t how Zachariah particularly likes to spend his Saturday nights either. Still, the fact of the matter is, he’s damn tired. He’s been watching the world implode on itself for eons without a minute of personal vacation time, and if the Big Man Upstairs was really that upset with all of his precious monkeys being tossed in the trash bin, there’s no doubt he’d be back in town.
But He’s not here. Zachariah is.
Besides, underneath all that grandiose, hollow, heroic babble, Zachariah’s rather confident that Dean wants that rest, too.
5. Backup
After Zachariah the Dick yanks him back to the here-and-now, the first thing Dean does after breathing is call Sam. They meet up a few hours later. He looks into those sorrowful eyes and feels a little better, even if his stomach his still churning.
Then they’re a team again; a broken, creaking team that wouldn’t win any football championships. But they’re together.
Later, when Sam’s asleep, Dean knows that the truth is that the glue is already leaking.
Because, back when they were okay, he would’ve been able to joke, “White loafers, Sammy! Who knew Lucifer was so gay?”
6. Doorknob
Bobby’s always been a proud advocate of better-safe-than-sorry. There’s holy water slipped into every drink in his house, and he has more weapons in one room than most cops have seen their whole lives. He used to be able to use each and every one of them.
But not anymore.
So once he gets home from the hospital with its stupid bed that jerked when it slid up and down, the first thing Bobby does is install thirteen new protective locks on his door.
Well, what is he supposed to do if anything breaks in? Roll over its damn foot?
7. Unholy
After they find out about the demon and the deep-dark-evil plans that apparently Sam thinks of as his destiny, he starts checking that he can still get out of devil’s traps.
Sam tries to be subtle, casually stepping in and out of the paint after they smoke something nasty. He dumps more salt on his food and takes daily swigs from their holy water stash, complaining that there’s nothing else besides beer.
Then, “You’re just my dumbass little brother, Sam, so would you stop freaking out already?”
Sam ignores him, but he goes back to complaining about high blood pressure.
8. Prerecorded
The first time Dean thinks about calling Sam at Stanford, it’s after a hunt that goes pretty darn well. He’s high on adrenaline, and he has his phone to his ear before the body’s finished burning. Even before the shrill ringing starts, “Damn, Sam, you wouldn’t believe-“
Of course, that cell ends up being tossed next to the charring remains of Phil Edward Finch.
Next time, he just doesn’t hold on to the plastic tight enough when the spirit pushes him over the water. After that, well…
Let’s just say that Dean loses a lot of phones that first year.
9. Conformist
He can’t heal anymore. The constant reassurance of his brothers has been wiped away, obliterated. He cannot find the strength or remember the means to abandon his vessel, and the layers of skin are becoming less confining every day.
But people can still tell. Waitresses smile until they meet his eyes, the glimmer of teeth disappearing as the grins wilt in the presence of something they know inside is not right. Alien. Foreign. Wrong.
He’s trapped in the middle of the hourglass, and no matter how it shakes, no side will offer him welcome.
Castiel just wants to go home.
10. Parsimonious
When they were still growing up, Pastor Jim’s was one of the few places their dad deemed safe.
John always gave his sons a few precious dollars to put in the collection, instructing them strictly not to tell Pastor Jim. He never wanted them to repay him for his help, but John didn’t enjoy the feeling of debt.
Dean would let Sam toss the coins into the shiny golden bowl. Afterwards, he’d gaze at the stained-glass angels and feel protected.
Sam wishes he could take those offerings back, because apparently devotion isn’t enough to get your brother out of Hell.
11. Joyless
Castiel remembers the days of days, when people gathered together to worship because they wanted to. It wasn’t about escaping punishment, and a woman didn’t believe she could scrub her soul clean with holy water alone.
Castiel attempts to partake in mass. He watches children play with their phones through service, fathers falling asleep in the corner pews. No one sings along with the hymns.
He observes as a man who calls himself a priest shouts about damnation, and how “We are corrupt, blasphemous sinners and liars!”
Castiel condemns no one in this audience. His Father’s love is not here.
12. Matchmaking
Down in Hell, new arrivals aren’t much cause for anything. They’re just different souls to pin up after the others are dyed and rusty. Fire and brimstone get on even each other’s nerves after a while, and that’s when demons start shrieking for the surface.
But when Dean Winchester falls down, oh man, it’s like Cinco De Mayo if they were all rotting in Puebla. Everyone’s clawing all over, bargaining and, ha, even praying for a chance to tear him apart.
Too bad Alastair claimed him before anyone else even got a chance. He always was a possessive bastard anyway.
13. Overlain
“Jeez, Dean! Can’t we do anything without him tagging along?”
Dean likes Jamie. She wears tight red sweaters and even tighter jeans, but the cogs are still turning underneath all that shiny blonde hair. They make-out between cringe-worthy classes, flick notes over the head of this kid who has a different pair of glasses for every day of the week.
She’s just one card in the deck, but she’s more of a jack than a flimsy two of spades.
Still, it only takes two seconds for him to send her home before going back inside to watch Godzilla with Sam.
14. Cloak
Sam always complains about the lack of normalcy in his life. To a petulant mind, there’s nothing worse than the constant shifting from state to state, the lack of constant friends, and the fact that no one attends middle school graduation because Dad and Dean are hunting ghouls a few exits down.
Azazel understands his poor Sammy. His life is so unfair.
That’s why he always makes sure he attends all of little Sammy’s “important milestones,” even if he’s packed under a few foreign pounds of muscle.
It’s the perfect way to make sure his boy grows up just right.
15. Dimpled
Ben doesn’t forget about Dean, and his mother doesn’t try to make him.
A bunch of the other kids have nightmares; the parents, too. Sometimes the whole street wakes up screaming, but Ben’s mostly okay. Not that the whole situation wasn’t frickin’ scary as that-word-he’s-not-supposed-to-say, but yeah, he gets by fine.
Mostly though it’s because he remembers Dean, crazy awesome and straight out of the comic books he stopped reading. Really.
Sure, Dean couldn’t hang around, but if Ben ever needs him, he’ll be back in that super-epic car Ben secretly wants to drive some day. He’s sure of it.
16. Petition
When it was the two of them, the act of making decisions could get pretty heated. If Dean wanted a burger and Sam was a little tired of stomaching what should be called two buns and a wad of grease, their most tactful decision-making occurred by tackling each other to the floor until someone caved
There is little room for democracy in the trunk of the Impala, what with all the guns and rock salt.
Unfortunately, now with three of them crammed into motel rooms, Dean has become a sudden advocate of majority rules.
Stupid angel always sides with Dean.
17. Deform
Sam used to be sorry when civilians had to find out what was lurking out there in the dark. He could take all the “Really?”s the “You’re crazy!”s the “Am I crazy?”s and finally “Oh my God!”s. He always wished they could keep that happiness, even if he never did.
Lately, he doesn’t care anymore. Parents should know what might be hiding in their kids’ closets when they send them to bed, and why the hell should anyone get to stay that innocent anyway?
Tara Reynolds is the first victim he doesn’t try to comfort, and it feels damn good.
18. Ardent
Ben knows Dean tries. He comes to all his sports games, they both sing along badly to the same rock and underrated, dated, artists, and every time Dean ruffles his hair Ben’s whole heart screams “Dad.” It’s everything he’s dreamt of since their first epic meeting, except it’s not.
Because Dean’s eyes don’t…they don’t look the same. They’re dull and lifeless, and his smiles aren’t lecherous and knowing. They’re bland, and boring, and when Dean teaches him things, Ben knows he sees someone else.
Ben doesn’t want to be greedy, so he says nothing. He knows Dean really, really tries.
19. Surpass
It’s not wrong to want your father to love you. It’s not wrong to feel that warm, giving light of his love and bath in it, crave it, need it with all your being. It’s not wrong to love being his child, his everything.
It’s not wrong to hate when that love is lost, when some craven, pusillanimous piece of filth steals him from you. It’s not wrong to see those depraved, volatile creatures and wish death. It’s not wrong to loathe what has replaced you.
Lucifer’s just a discarded son who doesn’t understand how everyone can be so unfair.
20. Report
There’s a green room with gilded walls, and Zachariah places his hand on a greasy bun as an offering. He’s torn away by the bloody hand of betrayal.
Zachariah disintegrates Sam’s lungs; Dean chokes on his own sour blood. There’s confidence until he’s forced to flee from a renegade.
He gloats in one of Heaven’s echelons, touching fair, cursed hair and teasing two boys about their mother. Once again, he gains nothing.
Zachariah reclines in the room of garish walls. This time, he knows Dean will get it right. Even a moron like Winchester can only fail so many times.
21. Snap
It’s easy to manipulate, to twist and warp and make his own. He gazes upon empty space and fills it with his desires. He watches hypocrites/downright tools/assholes and has the ice cream man electrocuted by a spark from the player that blasts his cheerful music. It’s all about irony, and it’s delicious.
Gabriel likes it that way. You see, Heaven was hard and messy. It was about fighting and family feuds, and he was so damn unhappy. It was wild and uncontrollable. It hurt. So he bleeped down to the earth, took vaca, and he loves it.
No regrets, man.
22. Spotless
Castiel’s fingers grace his forehead, and Dean’s face is whole again. He doesn’t feel the flesh knitting together and the blood vanishing on the spot. He can only tell because one moment he has two pools of pain, and then the next, the smaller, barely noticeable one vanishes.
But the deeper one, filled with crags and jagged edges, continues burning, the walls crumbling more and more.
Castiel gazes at him with warmth and pity, but Dean just wants to say, “Fuck you. You aren’t Sam.”
He wants to beg, “Please bring him back.”
But Cas isn’t going to Hell again.
23. Quaking
Lucifer chases Sam everywhere.
Eventually, he finds Sam for the first time. Sam barely pays attention to the bell above the door of the diner chiming until a body thumps down across from him. His head jerks up, and he’s out of there when he catches the sight of sad blue eyes.
After that, it’s a daily thing. Sam doesn’t know how he does it, since Lucifer bemoaned how hard it was to find him out of dreams. Every hour is filled with soft words and reassurances.
I know, Sam. It’s okay.
Sam really wishes Dean hadn’t abandoned his phone.
24. Canula
Betty loves her job, slipped out of the womb ready to don her hospital scrubs. Still, her father always warned her that she’s got a mouth faster than a Mustang. In other words, confidentiality isn’t her strength.
After the exceedingly attractive John Doe is settled in, she can’t help but share her intel when she exits his room.
“-never going to walk again,” she laments as another man races down the hallway. He freezes at her words, body shaking before he staggers off in the opposite direction.
Betty sighs before continuing her conversation.
Poor thing. He must’ve lost his way.
25. Galumph
They’re stumbling from state to state when the group is stunned by an earthquake, making the road nothing more than debris. Castiel peeps in from who-knows-where to tell them it’s a creature called Who Gives a Fuck from page whatever of the Bible.
Basically, it’s one more apocalyptic dick.
They find the creature, and as they race forward, Dean calls out,
“Hey Sam, is this what your boyfriend sends you for your Bachelor Party?”
Sam, striding towards the monster, trips over his own feet when he turns to gape at his brother. He finally grins.
Everything’s going to be okay.
26. Aesthete
It’s strange to explain really, being God but not at the same time. See, he’s Chuck, but then there’s this incredible…force bundled up under his skin.
Look, it’s just weird. He’s both, and none, and everything.
When he meets the boys, he bumbles and stutters, and the whole time he thinks, “They’re beautiful.” They’re his creations. He loves them way too much.
Then Castiel appears, and he feels that bloom again because this is his child, too. But at the same time, his human heart breaks, because this is the son that will crash and burn when He leaves him.
27. Milieu
“We’re leaving, boys, and that’s it. Pack up your things.”
And, as always, that’s where Sam’s face turns red. He bangs his fists on his knees, eight and full of fury.
“I want to finish the year! For once!” he screams, and Dean goes on pouring the cereal. He places it in front of Sam as Dad replies stonily, “There’s still a month left, Sam. People would be dying, you understand?”
Sam slaps the bowl away, and it clatters to the floor, spilling cereal everywhere. Dean stares down and whispers sadly, “What do you want, Sammy?”
“I want a home!”
28. Turbid
“Look, I know I’ve been selfish, and stupid, and I ran away from my problems. I get that. I know I’m probably freakin’ devil’s spawn anyway, so I’m the last person who deserves a miracle.”
“But it’s not for me. It’s for him. He doesn’t deserve this, alright? He needs to keep putting whoopee cushions on my seat in the Impala. He needs to eat greasy food so I can make fun of him when he gets old and fat.”
“He’s my big brother. Please.”
But when Sam returns to the room, Dean’s still silent, and his eyes see nothing.
29. Innocuous
Sam always wanted a dog. They were sweet, friendly, and screamed out normalnormalnormal. So when he finally runs away, ditching behind all that baggage, he’s unbelievably excited to get one.
It’s thrilling, being on his own. He feeds his buddy, who’s warm and loving, and they cuddle up together in his little hole in the wall. He’s free, and it’s the most amazing feeling.
Eventually, of course, they find him. As he’s yelled at and lectured, Sam tucks the memory away, safe and sacred.
Years later, it’s shoved back in his face, and it’s not so innocent and harmless anymore.
30. Titivate
Jess doesn’t fall for Sam right away. He’s cute, and he obviously likes her after a few minutes of conversation, but Jess is a smart girl. Boy’s gotta earn it.
So at first it’s a very blank slate. Then they go out a few times, and Jess finds herself in his warm, overly protective arms at night. A few dinners together, and Jess knows everything in his fridge and his DVD collection.
A few months after that, and Jess can’t imagine her future without Sam, his tall frame fitting perfectly in her dream house. Every day, he gets a little bit closer to a staple, to an always.
A few years, and Jess finds herself pasted to a cool ceiling. A few years, and maybe she’ll see him in Heaven.
31. Esurient
They have a vampire scare in one of the beaten towns of Pennsylvania. They lop off the frenzied heads in broad strokes, and suddenly it’s a mess of blood on blood, open wounds sliding against one another.
Dad barks after the panic, “If it ever happened, you know what you’d have to do, Dean.” Dean can’t keep the bile down, and John starts burning the bodies to a symphony of hurling guts.
Dean has a myriad of nightmares after that. He watches his father tear at the innocent while the world bleeds to the tune of “It’s your job, son.”
32. Bifurcate
Castiel knows he made the right decision. He’s hammered it into himself because that raw hole of burning hurt inside is killing him. He takes planks of certainty and denial, nails them over the gaping abyss that leaks and spurts.
He’s still splitting down his center, ignoring the growing trenches. It was right. Freedom. Justice. Humanity. Life. These are all the reasons; these are all the lies.
But when Dean comes down the stairs, Castiel just leans against the banister and laughs, his mind fuzzy and his eyes red.
“Why’d you do this to me, you son of a bitch?”
33. Incarnadine
When Sam leaves home, Dean storms out back, punching the bark off trees until his palms are dripping with both blood and splinters. He collapses on the ground, grits his teeth and cries. His clutching palms leave red handprints on the grass.
John needs to escape. He grabs the car keys and slams the door. The edge clips his finger, and he curses, the skin splitting angrily. He still stomps to the Impala and races away, clutching the steering wheel tightly. It’s the only blood that ever gets on that leather, but John scrubs it clean before Dean ever sees.
34. Gaucherie
“What are you doing, man?”
Castiel blinks for the first time in minutes. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been staring at me for like an hour,” Dean gripes, inhaling more popcorn. Mmm…popcorn and Dr. Sexy. It’s a good night.
“I apologize, I didn’t realize-“
“Uh huh. I stopped buying that at least two months ago. I get it. I’m a hot piece of ass,” Dean smirks, but Castiel’s expression stays blank.
“Oh, just sit down,” Dean demands, and Castiel is suddenly next to him, too close and definitely awkward. Dean sighs, silently allowing Castiel to sneak popcorn from his bowl.
35. Ameliorate
Although Sam doesn’t talk about it after his return from Stanford, he dreamed about home a lot; the feeling of Dean making him breakfast, or the rare times Dad came home early.
Sam dreams that he and Dean are standing on tattered pavement. They stare, and then they drive a fist into the other’s face.
Sam crashes to the ground, and he feels good. A punch for the Winchesters is an embrace for the world, and he expects eyes full of “I’m sorry.”
But when he looks up, Dean’s always gone, and when he wakes up it’s all the same.
36. Traduce
Ruby knows that every time Sam joins his brother back on the road in their pathetic excuse for a home, she’s under the assault of constant defamation. Slut, demon bitch…Dean probably has come up with some pretty creative titles.
But Sam is here now, and he’ll be here tomorrow. They’ll tumble onto the bed together, paint the sheets as she makes him strong, helps him get ready.
She hasn’t yet taken her final bow of betrayal, but she knows Sam barely trusts her. He’ll never love her.
But he’ll keep coming back, and that’s enough to get her job done.
37. Predilection
Demons like to talk, to spew with fancy words dripping in slime instead of getting straight to the point. Today’s demon is bombastic but as mundane as the six o’clock news.
This time there’s a brother and an angel, and two shots that just want to slam into skin and call it a day. There’s another brother, named Dean, who’s standing in the middle, watching two bullets go flying.
Even a year ago, he’d be racing towards the brother named Sam without hesitation. But in the split seconds, the world watches him struggle to decide.
Now something has irrevocably changed.
38. Assiduous
The drug store opens at 6 AM, and at 5:59, Dean is waiting at the front door, tapping his foot. The owner enters, surprise written in the bags under his eyes, and Dean pushes past once the keys are in the door.
By 6:15, Dean has a giant bottle of purple something for colds. Orange juice sits on the table, the condensation spilling, and three tissue boxes line it like a fortress.
When Sam wakes up at 6:45, Dean throws some Tylenol at his head, and as it bounces off his nose, “Take it, bitch.”
Sam glances around and smiles.
39. Alacrity
The stuffed dog slips out of too tiny fingers, hitting the ground with a sad poof. Mary lets out a deep breath and cringes as Sam erupts, his tiny mouth morphing into something wide, wet, and ear-splitting.
“Oh, Sam,” she hushes, closing her eyes as her hand searches the floor. After a few seconds of scraping the tile with her nails, she opens her eyes at the sudden silence.
Sam has the dog stuffed in his mouth, and Dean stands next to him with a wide grin. When she looks at him in surprise, Dean only shrugs,
“Sammy needed it.”
40. Puissant
People say power corrupts, that whole absolute power corrupts blahblahblah thing. Dean’s never thought about that, because well, he’s never had any power really, besides what lies in his fists. Even Sam barely listens to his Big Brother Initiative.
And Dad, he’s the only one who really has any power over Dean, and he doesn’t abuse it at all. He’s tough, yeah, but he needs to be, because the world’s full of monsters and dead mothers. It’s not wrong that Dean always listens, no matter how much Sam talks about brainwash and soldiers.
It’s Dad. He’d never lead them wrong.
41. Sacrosanct
Dean’s believed in his father’s mantra for so long, he really has. He’s given everything he could possibly give. Is it so goddamn wrong that he wants to break it just once?
Here Sam is happy but distant. Here Mom’s alive and so beautiful it hurts. Here everything is different and nothing’s the same; some is right; some is wrong, but it’s easier.
Still, Dean knows he’s going to end up slicing his imaginary skin open wide to let his hopes lick the floor.
If there’s one omnipresent rule, it’s that Dean never gets to rest, and he never will.
42. Screenplay
The feeling as he slips forward is strange. The human stomach he’s borrowing drops, and his mind fills with visions of roller coasters he’s only seen from up high. He stares at his brother, at shock and fury, at disappointment and sadness that seems so genuine.
Still, even as he tumbles down, Michael knows he is righteous. He is good, and Lucifer will be locked away, deep in the bowels of Hell that deserve him.
He never imagined it this way, but it’s the inescapable, unpredictable cruelty of prophecy.
As darkness claws around him, Michael can’t help but wonder, “Father?”
43. Esperanza
When Lucifer trips into nothingness, Sam swims along the surface, thinking of where he’s been and what he’s done.
He’s proud of Stanford, of Jess. He misses his father but knows he went out right.
He thinks of Dean, of forever roadways in a car built of love and metal. He remembers little things, the way Dean knows hundreds of lyrics and yet his Spanish sucks cause he can’t keep track of over three words.
Sam did the right thing, but he’s still crying where he’s curled up inside his own head.
Lucifer doesn’t even try to shut him up.
44. Latticed
Castiel comes when Dean’s in the garden. He watches as the other moves around a tiny fenced square. Dean would tell him it means a lot to Lisa, but Castiel knows that every time he touches the fresh ground, Dean feels Sam somewhere, and he needs that reassurance.
“Why are you here?” Dean asks, his throat scratchy, and he won’t look at Castiel.
Castiel replies, “I missed you.”
Dean slowly stands up and turns around. He sloppily wipes his nose, laugh wet, before dragging Cas into a quick but tight embrace.
“Yeah, right. You were just tired of being junkless.”
45. Outsell
“Sam, why the hell would you want to be a Boy Scout,” John groans, wiping a hand over a tired face He peeks through his fingers at his petulant son, barely seven and bright as a tomato.
“Because it’s cool! A bunch of boys in my class are in it, and they get to have meetings, and they sell popcorn and make money and it’s cool, Dad-“
John ends up saying no.
When he looks for his boys at night though, for a straight week, they’re huddled under a five-dollar sheet in the backyard. John says nothing. So it goes.
46. Centripetal
Sam and science haven’t always gotten along. It’s too black and white in a world that he knows is drenched in ancient grays.
But when that stray piece of shrapnel snaps, and suddenly Dean’s startled face is right there, all Sam can think about is how gravity is pulling down on that deceptively insignificant universal speck at a rate of exactly 9.8 meters too slow. When his legs won’t move, his mind chimes static friction.
Later, Sam comes to the conclusion that the theory of relativity is bullshit, because no matter which way he turns his head, Dean’s still gone.
47. Evince
Sometimes Dean drives out, seeking a comfort in metal and harsh leather, and parks in some deserted field. He lies on the ground, palm to the dirt that Sam’s disappeared under, and starts his stories about Lisa, and Ben, and Life.
“Ben’s a real special kid, man, but…shit, Sammy, he’s not-“
He tells his empty stories, cries his heavy tears. The ground starts out dry but ends wet. His tongue gets weary and bitter, but he goes on.
And when Sammy stops being such a bastard and finally shows the fuck up, he better tell Dean his stories, too.
48. Gullible
Angels are warriors. Angels are virtuous. Angels are full of trust and the purity of clean grace.
Castiel is not.
Castiel drinks, and drinks, slurping down amber and molten glass and squished rubies.
Angels are not fools. Angels are not broken robots who throw down bottles upon bottles, seas of jagged edges swimming. Angels-
Castiel does.
Castiel swallows, and with each movement of this frail, human throat, his mind screams “fool.”
“I’m an angel of the Lord,” he repeats hysterically. “An angel of the Goddamn Lord.”
Castiel sees nothing when he stares upwards. Castiel hears nothing. He drinks some more.
49. Weightlifter
His entire life, Sam has been the one who had to be protected. He was the younger brother, and Dean was his own designated superhero. Well, until he got older and realized superheroes didn’t have it nearly as bad as the Winchesters.
Still, even after Sam slipped away from Stanford, Dean was always in orbit around him, trapped in this never-ending cycle of gottaprotectsamgottakeepsamsafegottahavetogotta. But Sam wasn’t the little kid who needed that, and he wanted to heave his own share.
So now, Sam can’t understand why Dean is so upset that he’s finally found a way to be strong.
50. Twosome
Sam&Dean. Dean&Sam. The Winchester boys.
Fate’s a screwy, malicious bitch. She’s solid and she’s real, and she hates as strongly as she loves, mixing the two into a putrid swirl of beauty. She finds her own jokes hysterical. She has never had one played on her.
So God makes Dean, and then Mary pops out Sam, and Fate laughs until every angel shivers.
She gives them love, and it’s going to be the strongest love the world has ever known.
It’ll be unhealthy; it’ll tear apart them; it’ll glue them together with sticky blood.
She’s so excited for the show.
A/N: This is my first fanfiction in over a year due to an extremely extended vacation. I always use prompts like these to get myself back in the game, so please let me know how it turned out. Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed it!
Author: xxkaytayxx
Genre: Gen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count : 5177
Spoilers: Seasons 1-5
Disclaimer: I do not own Supernatural, its characters, or anything else associated.
Summary: Fifty 100-word drabbles about the world of Sam and Dean, and all those pulled along for the ride.
1. Bullet
There are things Dean would think about if he went out drinking without an agenda. He would sit in the corner and ache at the men laughing at the bar, drenched in the fraternal affection of an introductory night on the town.
The beer would be bad, and the music would be ten years too current, blasting out of a stereo that’s seen better days. Dean would straighten up, cringe from an ache in his side, and realize he’s been shot more times in the last year than he has smiled.
But Dean doesn’t do these things. So he’s fine.
2. Fire
Dean loves lighting fires.
When they’re hunting, he’s the first one in the grave, salt and matches in hand. There’s the snap of wood striking, and John watches his son smile.
John’s got some theories he mulls over when his sons are asleep but he never is. Maybe it’s because of how they lost Mary. Maybe, for once, Dean likes to be the one forcing things up in smoke.
John’s never been into psychoanalysis bullcrap, but it still hurts when he remembers, once upon a time, his son’s biggest dream about fires was being a hero and putting them out.
3. Advocate
Plenty of people think that Sam would’ve made a fantastic lawyer. He’s dedicated and focused, having this perfect knack for research where he can find the exact five sentences they need out of a pile the size of the population of California. He’d probably be able to sniff out the piece of winning information out of all those legal documents in the exact same way.
But when Dean chortles hysterically while Sam has his favorite shirt super-glued to his head, shrieking, “Dean!” while secretly he’s panicking about his hair, Dean knows different.
Because really, no judge would buy that bitchface.
4. Worship
Watching Dean Winchester writhe around whining about stomach cancer isn’t how Zachariah particularly likes to spend his Saturday nights either. Still, the fact of the matter is, he’s damn tired. He’s been watching the world implode on itself for eons without a minute of personal vacation time, and if the Big Man Upstairs was really that upset with all of his precious monkeys being tossed in the trash bin, there’s no doubt he’d be back in town.
But He’s not here. Zachariah is.
Besides, underneath all that grandiose, hollow, heroic babble, Zachariah’s rather confident that Dean wants that rest, too.
5. Backup
After Zachariah the Dick yanks him back to the here-and-now, the first thing Dean does after breathing is call Sam. They meet up a few hours later. He looks into those sorrowful eyes and feels a little better, even if his stomach his still churning.
Then they’re a team again; a broken, creaking team that wouldn’t win any football championships. But they’re together.
Later, when Sam’s asleep, Dean knows that the truth is that the glue is already leaking.
Because, back when they were okay, he would’ve been able to joke, “White loafers, Sammy! Who knew Lucifer was so gay?”
6. Doorknob
Bobby’s always been a proud advocate of better-safe-than-sorry. There’s holy water slipped into every drink in his house, and he has more weapons in one room than most cops have seen their whole lives. He used to be able to use each and every one of them.
But not anymore.
So once he gets home from the hospital with its stupid bed that jerked when it slid up and down, the first thing Bobby does is install thirteen new protective locks on his door.
Well, what is he supposed to do if anything breaks in? Roll over its damn foot?
7. Unholy
After they find out about the demon and the deep-dark-evil plans that apparently Sam thinks of as his destiny, he starts checking that he can still get out of devil’s traps.
Sam tries to be subtle, casually stepping in and out of the paint after they smoke something nasty. He dumps more salt on his food and takes daily swigs from their holy water stash, complaining that there’s nothing else besides beer.
Then, “You’re just my dumbass little brother, Sam, so would you stop freaking out already?”
Sam ignores him, but he goes back to complaining about high blood pressure.
8. Prerecorded
The first time Dean thinks about calling Sam at Stanford, it’s after a hunt that goes pretty darn well. He’s high on adrenaline, and he has his phone to his ear before the body’s finished burning. Even before the shrill ringing starts, “Damn, Sam, you wouldn’t believe-“
Of course, that cell ends up being tossed next to the charring remains of Phil Edward Finch.
Next time, he just doesn’t hold on to the plastic tight enough when the spirit pushes him over the water. After that, well…
Let’s just say that Dean loses a lot of phones that first year.
9. Conformist
He can’t heal anymore. The constant reassurance of his brothers has been wiped away, obliterated. He cannot find the strength or remember the means to abandon his vessel, and the layers of skin are becoming less confining every day.
But people can still tell. Waitresses smile until they meet his eyes, the glimmer of teeth disappearing as the grins wilt in the presence of something they know inside is not right. Alien. Foreign. Wrong.
He’s trapped in the middle of the hourglass, and no matter how it shakes, no side will offer him welcome.
Castiel just wants to go home.
10. Parsimonious
When they were still growing up, Pastor Jim’s was one of the few places their dad deemed safe.
John always gave his sons a few precious dollars to put in the collection, instructing them strictly not to tell Pastor Jim. He never wanted them to repay him for his help, but John didn’t enjoy the feeling of debt.
Dean would let Sam toss the coins into the shiny golden bowl. Afterwards, he’d gaze at the stained-glass angels and feel protected.
Sam wishes he could take those offerings back, because apparently devotion isn’t enough to get your brother out of Hell.
11. Joyless
Castiel remembers the days of days, when people gathered together to worship because they wanted to. It wasn’t about escaping punishment, and a woman didn’t believe she could scrub her soul clean with holy water alone.
Castiel attempts to partake in mass. He watches children play with their phones through service, fathers falling asleep in the corner pews. No one sings along with the hymns.
He observes as a man who calls himself a priest shouts about damnation, and how “We are corrupt, blasphemous sinners and liars!”
Castiel condemns no one in this audience. His Father’s love is not here.
12. Matchmaking
Down in Hell, new arrivals aren’t much cause for anything. They’re just different souls to pin up after the others are dyed and rusty. Fire and brimstone get on even each other’s nerves after a while, and that’s when demons start shrieking for the surface.
But when Dean Winchester falls down, oh man, it’s like Cinco De Mayo if they were all rotting in Puebla. Everyone’s clawing all over, bargaining and, ha, even praying for a chance to tear him apart.
Too bad Alastair claimed him before anyone else even got a chance. He always was a possessive bastard anyway.
13. Overlain
“Jeez, Dean! Can’t we do anything without him tagging along?”
Dean likes Jamie. She wears tight red sweaters and even tighter jeans, but the cogs are still turning underneath all that shiny blonde hair. They make-out between cringe-worthy classes, flick notes over the head of this kid who has a different pair of glasses for every day of the week.
She’s just one card in the deck, but she’s more of a jack than a flimsy two of spades.
Still, it only takes two seconds for him to send her home before going back inside to watch Godzilla with Sam.
14. Cloak
Sam always complains about the lack of normalcy in his life. To a petulant mind, there’s nothing worse than the constant shifting from state to state, the lack of constant friends, and the fact that no one attends middle school graduation because Dad and Dean are hunting ghouls a few exits down.
Azazel understands his poor Sammy. His life is so unfair.
That’s why he always makes sure he attends all of little Sammy’s “important milestones,” even if he’s packed under a few foreign pounds of muscle.
It’s the perfect way to make sure his boy grows up just right.
15. Dimpled
Ben doesn’t forget about Dean, and his mother doesn’t try to make him.
A bunch of the other kids have nightmares; the parents, too. Sometimes the whole street wakes up screaming, but Ben’s mostly okay. Not that the whole situation wasn’t frickin’ scary as that-word-he’s-not-supposed-to-say, but yeah, he gets by fine.
Mostly though it’s because he remembers Dean, crazy awesome and straight out of the comic books he stopped reading. Really.
Sure, Dean couldn’t hang around, but if Ben ever needs him, he’ll be back in that super-epic car Ben secretly wants to drive some day. He’s sure of it.
16. Petition
When it was the two of them, the act of making decisions could get pretty heated. If Dean wanted a burger and Sam was a little tired of stomaching what should be called two buns and a wad of grease, their most tactful decision-making occurred by tackling each other to the floor until someone caved
There is little room for democracy in the trunk of the Impala, what with all the guns and rock salt.
Unfortunately, now with three of them crammed into motel rooms, Dean has become a sudden advocate of majority rules.
Stupid angel always sides with Dean.
17. Deform
Sam used to be sorry when civilians had to find out what was lurking out there in the dark. He could take all the “Really?”s the “You’re crazy!”s the “Am I crazy?”s and finally “Oh my God!”s. He always wished they could keep that happiness, even if he never did.
Lately, he doesn’t care anymore. Parents should know what might be hiding in their kids’ closets when they send them to bed, and why the hell should anyone get to stay that innocent anyway?
Tara Reynolds is the first victim he doesn’t try to comfort, and it feels damn good.
18. Ardent
Ben knows Dean tries. He comes to all his sports games, they both sing along badly to the same rock and underrated, dated, artists, and every time Dean ruffles his hair Ben’s whole heart screams “Dad.” It’s everything he’s dreamt of since their first epic meeting, except it’s not.
Because Dean’s eyes don’t…they don’t look the same. They’re dull and lifeless, and his smiles aren’t lecherous and knowing. They’re bland, and boring, and when Dean teaches him things, Ben knows he sees someone else.
Ben doesn’t want to be greedy, so he says nothing. He knows Dean really, really tries.
19. Surpass
It’s not wrong to want your father to love you. It’s not wrong to feel that warm, giving light of his love and bath in it, crave it, need it with all your being. It’s not wrong to love being his child, his everything.
It’s not wrong to hate when that love is lost, when some craven, pusillanimous piece of filth steals him from you. It’s not wrong to see those depraved, volatile creatures and wish death. It’s not wrong to loathe what has replaced you.
Lucifer’s just a discarded son who doesn’t understand how everyone can be so unfair.
20. Report
There’s a green room with gilded walls, and Zachariah places his hand on a greasy bun as an offering. He’s torn away by the bloody hand of betrayal.
Zachariah disintegrates Sam’s lungs; Dean chokes on his own sour blood. There’s confidence until he’s forced to flee from a renegade.
He gloats in one of Heaven’s echelons, touching fair, cursed hair and teasing two boys about their mother. Once again, he gains nothing.
Zachariah reclines in the room of garish walls. This time, he knows Dean will get it right. Even a moron like Winchester can only fail so many times.
21. Snap
It’s easy to manipulate, to twist and warp and make his own. He gazes upon empty space and fills it with his desires. He watches hypocrites/downright tools/assholes and has the ice cream man electrocuted by a spark from the player that blasts his cheerful music. It’s all about irony, and it’s delicious.
Gabriel likes it that way. You see, Heaven was hard and messy. It was about fighting and family feuds, and he was so damn unhappy. It was wild and uncontrollable. It hurt. So he bleeped down to the earth, took vaca, and he loves it.
No regrets, man.
22. Spotless
Castiel’s fingers grace his forehead, and Dean’s face is whole again. He doesn’t feel the flesh knitting together and the blood vanishing on the spot. He can only tell because one moment he has two pools of pain, and then the next, the smaller, barely noticeable one vanishes.
But the deeper one, filled with crags and jagged edges, continues burning, the walls crumbling more and more.
Castiel gazes at him with warmth and pity, but Dean just wants to say, “Fuck you. You aren’t Sam.”
He wants to beg, “Please bring him back.”
But Cas isn’t going to Hell again.
23. Quaking
Lucifer chases Sam everywhere.
Eventually, he finds Sam for the first time. Sam barely pays attention to the bell above the door of the diner chiming until a body thumps down across from him. His head jerks up, and he’s out of there when he catches the sight of sad blue eyes.
After that, it’s a daily thing. Sam doesn’t know how he does it, since Lucifer bemoaned how hard it was to find him out of dreams. Every hour is filled with soft words and reassurances.
I know, Sam. It’s okay.
Sam really wishes Dean hadn’t abandoned his phone.
24. Canula
Betty loves her job, slipped out of the womb ready to don her hospital scrubs. Still, her father always warned her that she’s got a mouth faster than a Mustang. In other words, confidentiality isn’t her strength.
After the exceedingly attractive John Doe is settled in, she can’t help but share her intel when she exits his room.
“-never going to walk again,” she laments as another man races down the hallway. He freezes at her words, body shaking before he staggers off in the opposite direction.
Betty sighs before continuing her conversation.
Poor thing. He must’ve lost his way.
25. Galumph
They’re stumbling from state to state when the group is stunned by an earthquake, making the road nothing more than debris. Castiel peeps in from who-knows-where to tell them it’s a creature called Who Gives a Fuck from page whatever of the Bible.
Basically, it’s one more apocalyptic dick.
They find the creature, and as they race forward, Dean calls out,
“Hey Sam, is this what your boyfriend sends you for your Bachelor Party?”
Sam, striding towards the monster, trips over his own feet when he turns to gape at his brother. He finally grins.
Everything’s going to be okay.
26. Aesthete
It’s strange to explain really, being God but not at the same time. See, he’s Chuck, but then there’s this incredible…force bundled up under his skin.
Look, it’s just weird. He’s both, and none, and everything.
When he meets the boys, he bumbles and stutters, and the whole time he thinks, “They’re beautiful.” They’re his creations. He loves them way too much.
Then Castiel appears, and he feels that bloom again because this is his child, too. But at the same time, his human heart breaks, because this is the son that will crash and burn when He leaves him.
27. Milieu
“We’re leaving, boys, and that’s it. Pack up your things.”
And, as always, that’s where Sam’s face turns red. He bangs his fists on his knees, eight and full of fury.
“I want to finish the year! For once!” he screams, and Dean goes on pouring the cereal. He places it in front of Sam as Dad replies stonily, “There’s still a month left, Sam. People would be dying, you understand?”
Sam slaps the bowl away, and it clatters to the floor, spilling cereal everywhere. Dean stares down and whispers sadly, “What do you want, Sammy?”
“I want a home!”
28. Turbid
“Look, I know I’ve been selfish, and stupid, and I ran away from my problems. I get that. I know I’m probably freakin’ devil’s spawn anyway, so I’m the last person who deserves a miracle.”
“But it’s not for me. It’s for him. He doesn’t deserve this, alright? He needs to keep putting whoopee cushions on my seat in the Impala. He needs to eat greasy food so I can make fun of him when he gets old and fat.”
“He’s my big brother. Please.”
But when Sam returns to the room, Dean’s still silent, and his eyes see nothing.
29. Innocuous
Sam always wanted a dog. They were sweet, friendly, and screamed out normalnormalnormal. So when he finally runs away, ditching behind all that baggage, he’s unbelievably excited to get one.
It’s thrilling, being on his own. He feeds his buddy, who’s warm and loving, and they cuddle up together in his little hole in the wall. He’s free, and it’s the most amazing feeling.
Eventually, of course, they find him. As he’s yelled at and lectured, Sam tucks the memory away, safe and sacred.
Years later, it’s shoved back in his face, and it’s not so innocent and harmless anymore.
30. Titivate
Jess doesn’t fall for Sam right away. He’s cute, and he obviously likes her after a few minutes of conversation, but Jess is a smart girl. Boy’s gotta earn it.
So at first it’s a very blank slate. Then they go out a few times, and Jess finds herself in his warm, overly protective arms at night. A few dinners together, and Jess knows everything in his fridge and his DVD collection.
A few months after that, and Jess can’t imagine her future without Sam, his tall frame fitting perfectly in her dream house. Every day, he gets a little bit closer to a staple, to an always.
A few years, and Jess finds herself pasted to a cool ceiling. A few years, and maybe she’ll see him in Heaven.
31. Esurient
They have a vampire scare in one of the beaten towns of Pennsylvania. They lop off the frenzied heads in broad strokes, and suddenly it’s a mess of blood on blood, open wounds sliding against one another.
Dad barks after the panic, “If it ever happened, you know what you’d have to do, Dean.” Dean can’t keep the bile down, and John starts burning the bodies to a symphony of hurling guts.
Dean has a myriad of nightmares after that. He watches his father tear at the innocent while the world bleeds to the tune of “It’s your job, son.”
32. Bifurcate
Castiel knows he made the right decision. He’s hammered it into himself because that raw hole of burning hurt inside is killing him. He takes planks of certainty and denial, nails them over the gaping abyss that leaks and spurts.
He’s still splitting down his center, ignoring the growing trenches. It was right. Freedom. Justice. Humanity. Life. These are all the reasons; these are all the lies.
But when Dean comes down the stairs, Castiel just leans against the banister and laughs, his mind fuzzy and his eyes red.
“Why’d you do this to me, you son of a bitch?”
33. Incarnadine
When Sam leaves home, Dean storms out back, punching the bark off trees until his palms are dripping with both blood and splinters. He collapses on the ground, grits his teeth and cries. His clutching palms leave red handprints on the grass.
John needs to escape. He grabs the car keys and slams the door. The edge clips his finger, and he curses, the skin splitting angrily. He still stomps to the Impala and races away, clutching the steering wheel tightly. It’s the only blood that ever gets on that leather, but John scrubs it clean before Dean ever sees.
34. Gaucherie
“What are you doing, man?”
Castiel blinks for the first time in minutes. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve been staring at me for like an hour,” Dean gripes, inhaling more popcorn. Mmm…popcorn and Dr. Sexy. It’s a good night.
“I apologize, I didn’t realize-“
“Uh huh. I stopped buying that at least two months ago. I get it. I’m a hot piece of ass,” Dean smirks, but Castiel’s expression stays blank.
“Oh, just sit down,” Dean demands, and Castiel is suddenly next to him, too close and definitely awkward. Dean sighs, silently allowing Castiel to sneak popcorn from his bowl.
35. Ameliorate
Although Sam doesn’t talk about it after his return from Stanford, he dreamed about home a lot; the feeling of Dean making him breakfast, or the rare times Dad came home early.
Sam dreams that he and Dean are standing on tattered pavement. They stare, and then they drive a fist into the other’s face.
Sam crashes to the ground, and he feels good. A punch for the Winchesters is an embrace for the world, and he expects eyes full of “I’m sorry.”
But when he looks up, Dean’s always gone, and when he wakes up it’s all the same.
36. Traduce
Ruby knows that every time Sam joins his brother back on the road in their pathetic excuse for a home, she’s under the assault of constant defamation. Slut, demon bitch…Dean probably has come up with some pretty creative titles.
But Sam is here now, and he’ll be here tomorrow. They’ll tumble onto the bed together, paint the sheets as she makes him strong, helps him get ready.
She hasn’t yet taken her final bow of betrayal, but she knows Sam barely trusts her. He’ll never love her.
But he’ll keep coming back, and that’s enough to get her job done.
37. Predilection
Demons like to talk, to spew with fancy words dripping in slime instead of getting straight to the point. Today’s demon is bombastic but as mundane as the six o’clock news.
This time there’s a brother and an angel, and two shots that just want to slam into skin and call it a day. There’s another brother, named Dean, who’s standing in the middle, watching two bullets go flying.
Even a year ago, he’d be racing towards the brother named Sam without hesitation. But in the split seconds, the world watches him struggle to decide.
Now something has irrevocably changed.
38. Assiduous
The drug store opens at 6 AM, and at 5:59, Dean is waiting at the front door, tapping his foot. The owner enters, surprise written in the bags under his eyes, and Dean pushes past once the keys are in the door.
By 6:15, Dean has a giant bottle of purple something for colds. Orange juice sits on the table, the condensation spilling, and three tissue boxes line it like a fortress.
When Sam wakes up at 6:45, Dean throws some Tylenol at his head, and as it bounces off his nose, “Take it, bitch.”
Sam glances around and smiles.
39. Alacrity
The stuffed dog slips out of too tiny fingers, hitting the ground with a sad poof. Mary lets out a deep breath and cringes as Sam erupts, his tiny mouth morphing into something wide, wet, and ear-splitting.
“Oh, Sam,” she hushes, closing her eyes as her hand searches the floor. After a few seconds of scraping the tile with her nails, she opens her eyes at the sudden silence.
Sam has the dog stuffed in his mouth, and Dean stands next to him with a wide grin. When she looks at him in surprise, Dean only shrugs,
“Sammy needed it.”
40. Puissant
People say power corrupts, that whole absolute power corrupts blahblahblah thing. Dean’s never thought about that, because well, he’s never had any power really, besides what lies in his fists. Even Sam barely listens to his Big Brother Initiative.
And Dad, he’s the only one who really has any power over Dean, and he doesn’t abuse it at all. He’s tough, yeah, but he needs to be, because the world’s full of monsters and dead mothers. It’s not wrong that Dean always listens, no matter how much Sam talks about brainwash and soldiers.
It’s Dad. He’d never lead them wrong.
41. Sacrosanct
Dean’s believed in his father’s mantra for so long, he really has. He’s given everything he could possibly give. Is it so goddamn wrong that he wants to break it just once?
Here Sam is happy but distant. Here Mom’s alive and so beautiful it hurts. Here everything is different and nothing’s the same; some is right; some is wrong, but it’s easier.
Still, Dean knows he’s going to end up slicing his imaginary skin open wide to let his hopes lick the floor.
If there’s one omnipresent rule, it’s that Dean never gets to rest, and he never will.
42. Screenplay
The feeling as he slips forward is strange. The human stomach he’s borrowing drops, and his mind fills with visions of roller coasters he’s only seen from up high. He stares at his brother, at shock and fury, at disappointment and sadness that seems so genuine.
Still, even as he tumbles down, Michael knows he is righteous. He is good, and Lucifer will be locked away, deep in the bowels of Hell that deserve him.
He never imagined it this way, but it’s the inescapable, unpredictable cruelty of prophecy.
As darkness claws around him, Michael can’t help but wonder, “Father?”
43. Esperanza
When Lucifer trips into nothingness, Sam swims along the surface, thinking of where he’s been and what he’s done.
He’s proud of Stanford, of Jess. He misses his father but knows he went out right.
He thinks of Dean, of forever roadways in a car built of love and metal. He remembers little things, the way Dean knows hundreds of lyrics and yet his Spanish sucks cause he can’t keep track of over three words.
Sam did the right thing, but he’s still crying where he’s curled up inside his own head.
Lucifer doesn’t even try to shut him up.
44. Latticed
Castiel comes when Dean’s in the garden. He watches as the other moves around a tiny fenced square. Dean would tell him it means a lot to Lisa, but Castiel knows that every time he touches the fresh ground, Dean feels Sam somewhere, and he needs that reassurance.
“Why are you here?” Dean asks, his throat scratchy, and he won’t look at Castiel.
Castiel replies, “I missed you.”
Dean slowly stands up and turns around. He sloppily wipes his nose, laugh wet, before dragging Cas into a quick but tight embrace.
“Yeah, right. You were just tired of being junkless.”
45. Outsell
“Sam, why the hell would you want to be a Boy Scout,” John groans, wiping a hand over a tired face He peeks through his fingers at his petulant son, barely seven and bright as a tomato.
“Because it’s cool! A bunch of boys in my class are in it, and they get to have meetings, and they sell popcorn and make money and it’s cool, Dad-“
John ends up saying no.
When he looks for his boys at night though, for a straight week, they’re huddled under a five-dollar sheet in the backyard. John says nothing. So it goes.
46. Centripetal
Sam and science haven’t always gotten along. It’s too black and white in a world that he knows is drenched in ancient grays.
But when that stray piece of shrapnel snaps, and suddenly Dean’s startled face is right there, all Sam can think about is how gravity is pulling down on that deceptively insignificant universal speck at a rate of exactly 9.8 meters too slow. When his legs won’t move, his mind chimes static friction.
Later, Sam comes to the conclusion that the theory of relativity is bullshit, because no matter which way he turns his head, Dean’s still gone.
47. Evince
Sometimes Dean drives out, seeking a comfort in metal and harsh leather, and parks in some deserted field. He lies on the ground, palm to the dirt that Sam’s disappeared under, and starts his stories about Lisa, and Ben, and Life.
“Ben’s a real special kid, man, but…shit, Sammy, he’s not-“
He tells his empty stories, cries his heavy tears. The ground starts out dry but ends wet. His tongue gets weary and bitter, but he goes on.
And when Sammy stops being such a bastard and finally shows the fuck up, he better tell Dean his stories, too.
48. Gullible
Angels are warriors. Angels are virtuous. Angels are full of trust and the purity of clean grace.
Castiel is not.
Castiel drinks, and drinks, slurping down amber and molten glass and squished rubies.
Angels are not fools. Angels are not broken robots who throw down bottles upon bottles, seas of jagged edges swimming. Angels-
Castiel does.
Castiel swallows, and with each movement of this frail, human throat, his mind screams “fool.”
“I’m an angel of the Lord,” he repeats hysterically. “An angel of the Goddamn Lord.”
Castiel sees nothing when he stares upwards. Castiel hears nothing. He drinks some more.
49. Weightlifter
His entire life, Sam has been the one who had to be protected. He was the younger brother, and Dean was his own designated superhero. Well, until he got older and realized superheroes didn’t have it nearly as bad as the Winchesters.
Still, even after Sam slipped away from Stanford, Dean was always in orbit around him, trapped in this never-ending cycle of gottaprotectsamgottakeepsamsafegottahavetogotta. But Sam wasn’t the little kid who needed that, and he wanted to heave his own share.
So now, Sam can’t understand why Dean is so upset that he’s finally found a way to be strong.
50. Twosome
Sam&Dean. Dean&Sam. The Winchester boys.
Fate’s a screwy, malicious bitch. She’s solid and she’s real, and she hates as strongly as she loves, mixing the two into a putrid swirl of beauty. She finds her own jokes hysterical. She has never had one played on her.
So God makes Dean, and then Mary pops out Sam, and Fate laughs until every angel shivers.
She gives them love, and it’s going to be the strongest love the world has ever known.
It’ll be unhealthy; it’ll tear apart them; it’ll glue them together with sticky blood.
She’s so excited for the show.
A/N: This is my first fanfiction in over a year due to an extremely extended vacation. I always use prompts like these to get myself back in the game, so please let me know how it turned out. Thanks, and I hope you enjoyed it!