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tigriswolfTitle: Forgive me, my heroes, for thinking this tragic
Fandom: Supernatural/Watchmen
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Betsy Sholl
Warnings: pre-series for both
Pairings: pre-Edward Blake/Dean, mentions of possible John/Dean
Rating: PG13
Wordcount: 250
Point of view: third
Prompt: Dean/Comedian, different/more/beg
Dean's seen the way Dad watches him sometimes, far more frequently as he's gotten older, and he knows that Dad'll never say anything, and he'd have to get Dad completely wasted for Dad to ever take it if Dean offered, and, well.
Even if they both want it, that'd be too much like rape for Dean's comfort.
Dad's off somewhere in the southwest and Dean's got a hunt up in New York. Sammy's playing house at Stanford, Dean's lonely, and he wants to connect with someone. Anyone. He can't have what he really wants, so he'll take what he can get, and that's usually a lot.
So, he's in this bar, checking out the prospects, and this guy walks in, almost identical to Dad, though Dean can tell at the first glance he's not.
Dean knew Dad had an older brother, but he didn't realize they could pass for twins. And this guy, he moves like Dad, he sounds gruff like Dad, he smells like gunpowder and cigar smoke, and Dean won't mistake him for Dad, not even in the heat of the moment, but he's the closest Dean will ever come to Dad.
And he's watching Dean. Leaned against the counter, whiskey in hand, he's watching Dean with a gaze as sharp and dangerous as Dad's.
So Dean smirks at him, salutes him with his glass, and drains down his own whiskey.
This is the closest he'll ever come to what he really wants, so he'll make it count.
Title: a thousand things I'd never done before
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: takes place during season 5
Pairings: maybe some implied Castiel/Dean
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 230
Point of view: third
Prompt: Castiel, There isn't a handbook on how to fly
Angels are created knowing everything they will ever know. From the first moment they awaken in God's palm to the last moment of their existence, they never learn anything new.
That is why Lucifer's rebellion came as such a shock to his siblings. (God knew, of course.)
And as Castiel loses more and more of his Heavenly abilities, as his Grace fades down to a pinprick of divine light, he notices that while he still knows everything he ever knew, he knows other things, as well. He knows what rain feels like, how blueberry pie tastes, the noise Metallica makes when played at full volume with two brothers singing along, the scent of blood and gunpowder and a burning corpse, and how bright the sunrise glows.
And finally, when his Grace is all but gone, when he can no longer carry anyone but himself, Castiel stands atop a mountain and spreads his wings. Soon enough, he won't even be able to do that.
He knows the secrets of creation, but they are leaving him in twos and threes, all the knowledge an angel possesses. He is more human than angel, now.
He wants to fly once more before even that is lost to him.
(And he knows, in that place within brimming with the touchscentsoundsighttaste of humanity, that all the things he's forgotten are worth the things he's learning now.)
Title: the only wonders of the world
Fandom: White Collar
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Maya Angelou
Warnings: AUish; mentions of child abuse
Pairings: Peter/Neal/Elizabeth
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 420
Point of view: third
Prompt: Neal, Peter, & Elizabeth, Peter doesn't understand their need for extravagant things
Peter had both parents, a dog, a cat, an older sister, and a younger brother. He had a fenced-in backyard, a bicycle, school during the week, and a job mowing lawns on the weekend for extra cash.
They were happily upper middle-class, with enough money for vacations to national parks and the beach every year. He dressed well, was popular, and succeeded in everything he tried with the knowledge that if he fell, his parents would catch him and set him back on his feet.
He has never doubted that he'd get a happy ending.
o0o
Elizabeth had no father and an older brother. Her mother worked two jobs, her brother dropped out of school to look for employment, and Elizabeth graduated at the top of her class through sheer determination and force of will. She had hand-me-downs and food-stamps, and then she went to her brother's funeral when his first attempt at selling drugs ended badly.
A year later, her mother died in a home-invasion turned disaster and Elizabeth moved to New York for college on a scholarship.
Her mother and brother had always told her to aim for the moon because she deserved it. She was the best of them, the smartest and brightest. She could succeed at anything she tried.
Elizabeth thought for a long time she wouldn't get a happy ending.
o0o
Neal had foster parents and foster siblings, cruel classmates, and a world that told him he'd never be anything because he came from no-name parents and nothing. The only thing he could ever claim as his own was his name—he chose Neal when he was seven.
He listened to everything they said, took all the abuse they dished out, and ignored it. He survived it. He didn't graduate only because he moved on, left that life at fifteen and never looked back.
And he decided, the first time he was beaten and left for dead, that he would rise above this, become something better and stronger, become untouchable and powerful and live.
Neal knew that to get a happy ending, he would have to steal it.
o0o
Peter doesn't understand the value El places in pretty things, or the way Neal pampers himself with all the best of everything. He's never known want.
But he loves them, and El deserves all she desires, and Neal has this smile, when he's surprised with presents, and Peter wants them to be happy.
Lying in bed with Neal on one side and El on the other, Peter knows this is their happy ending.
Title: inscribe themselves in sky
Fandom: Supernatural
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Denise Levertov.
Warnings: future!fic; spoilers for everything aired
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 230
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, Angels turn into stars when they die
Mrs. Verner sends Mama and Daddy an email telling them she needs to talk to them because there's an issue with Mary. Deanna hacks into the account so that they can read the email before Daddy opens it, and she says that means Mary's in trouble.
Mary doesn't think so, though. Mrs. Verner told her she had an amazing imagination when they had to write their own legends. Mary filled almost three pages with Grandpa Sammy's story about angels. Grandpa Sammy said that his older brother, Deanna's namesake, had first told him that angels became stars when they died after Castiel (their guardian angel) chose to leave Heaven to save them.
Mama tells Deanna to watch Mary while she and Daddy go to their parent-teacher conference, and Mary asks Deanna for the story where Castiel, Grandpa Sammy, and Uncle Dean saved the whole wide world.
Deanna grumbles but she pours a bowl-full of lucky charms and they curl up in Daddy's chair to eat together. And then Deanna repeats the words that Grandpa Sammy whispered to her before he walked into the sunset, where his brother and their angel waited.
there was once two pairs of brothers, and while one set wanted to battle across the world, the other wanted only to save everyone.
and they did, that's the beauty of it, little one. so listen, listen to me, and I'll tell you about when love saved the world.
o
Title: hear the sorrow of Daedalus
Fandom: Firefly
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: post-film
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 165
Point of view: third
Prompt: Firefly, author's choice, "Pity not Icarus, for he touched the sky."
They told her, with their cold hands and sharp instruments, with their biting words and their scalding lies, they told her and told her and told her again, you're special and great and we have to break you, must break you, not meant for us, become what we want, break break break
They burned her wings, shattered her mind, left her tattered and torn and wrong, and her brother, though he tries, can never mend her. She's broken.
But she still flies, her and Serenity, they still soar through the black, far from any fences or locks, away from those who would ground her forever, who would bloody her wings, who would cage her.
Her brother asks her what she's thinking about, curled up in Wash's chair. His ghost stands next to her, whispering the ship's secrets, and she's almost sure Simon doesn't want to know that.
So she says, "Icarus touched the sky," and her brother gives her a sad smile, pressing a kiss to her forehead.