Every Broken Thing (Coda)
Fandom: Supernatural Pairing: Sam/Dean Rating: Adult. Word Count: 457 Spoilers: None in this chapter. Warnings: Implied m/m incest. Language. Brothersnarking AN: Once upon a time, this was a one-shot PWP. And then mona1347 happened to it (for which I am eternally grateful). inlovewithnight gave it (and us) love and encouragement and is a true and dear friend and quite possibly a goddess in disguise. Dean wiggles—just a little—but Sam catches it.
"So…" Sam draws the word out and Dean's hands clench tight on the wheel. "Really? You…never?"
Dean throws him an exasperated look, shifting uncomfortably—and carefully—on the seat again. Sam's been like a one-note bird all damn day. "No, I never! What the hell? Why are you so fixated on this?"
The grin that spreads across Sam's face is wide and very pleased with itself and Sam slouches lower, throwing his arm over the seat to take up twice as much room as before. "What do you know?" he damn near purrs. "Sammy gets the ass-cherry. Well, all right."
"Dude, I swear, if you don't shut the hell up about it, I will shoot you."
"I'm just saying…"
Dean's lips twist. "Whole lotta nothing, is what you're saying," he growls and Sam holds up his hands and laughs.
It startles Dean, who can't remember the last time he heard Sam sound so…relaxed. His shoulders come down from around his ears and after a moment, he laughs too.
***
This is not the end.
Sam knows they will argue about this. Not once, but time and again.
He knows the looks Dean will give him. The one that says, I'm ruining you, sad and somehow angry. Or the one that says, I’m just waiting for you to leave, wary and disbelieving. Either one will need to be soothed away with his touch and his mouth and soft murmured reassurance because Sam is stubborn and because Dean will never quite believe anything he wants this badly isn't suspect.
Sam doesn't mind. He doesn't care.
Life with Dean is always fighting; part and parcel of who and what Dean is. Dean fights with monsters and men. Dean fights with himself and he'll fight with Sam, same as ever.
They still don't talk about it. Of course they don't. But the only real thing they have, as always, is each other.
So when they get those looks, in small towns and seedy motels, they don't rush to point out they're only brothers. They stare back calmly and are never the first to look away. They let people assume what they want. They always did anyway.
They stop renting doubles on the road. Dean will collapse on the bed's yielding surface and hold out his arm to Sam—for them to fuck or sleep or even just lie together and stare at the TV for a couple hours in mindless fascination. Sam falls asleep like that and wakes up trapped and half-strangled under Dean's sprawling weight, sweated out because Dean puts out heat like a damn furnace...
But he wouldn't trade it. He won’t give up.
Because this is not the end. Except, really, sort of it is. The end of Every Broken Thing, anyway. *wibbles*
But…hey! A soundtrack!
We'd like to start off with the disclaimer that most of this is music that neither Sam nor Dean would be caught dead listening to. This is not that kind of soundtrack. Rather, this is the soundtrack of authorial process; the songs that gave us the inspiration, motivation and gumption to carry this story through to the end.
1. Blurry - Puddles of Mudd 2. Whisper - Evanescence 3. A Sorta Fairytale - Tori Amos 4. Walking Away - Lifehouse 5. So Cold (acoustic) - Breaking Benjamin 6. Let Me Go - 3 Doors Down 7. Road I'm On - 3 Doors Down 8. Slept So Long - Orgy 9. Wings of Steel (HEaDAcHE Mix) - Collide 10. How You Remind Me (acoustic) - Nickelback 11. I Will Follow You Into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie 12. Something I Can Never Have - Nine Inch Nails 13. When I'm Gone - 3 Doors Down 14. Brothers on a Hotel Bed - Death Cab for Cutie 15. Soul Meets Body - Death Cab for Cutie 16. Bloodsport - Sneaker Pimps 17. Can't Take This - Orgy 18. Broken - Seether feat. Amy Lee 19. Phase - Breaking Benjamin 20. Everything I Wanted - Jonatha Brooke 21. You and Me - Lifehouse 22. Come 'Round More Alabama - Steve Carlson feat. Jensen Ackles 23. The Only Time - Nine Inch Nails 24. Do It Again - Tori Amos