FIC: Ketchup and Cheese (gen, implied Sam/Dean, 10x12)

[citrusjava]

Title: Ketchup and Cheese
Rating: gen
Words: ~450
Notes: on the 10x12 comment meme,amberdreams wrote a prompt which someone should fill for real. I stuck to the beginning of it - the concept of Sam going on the case alone. Also, this is unbetaed, just a quick little thing for the fun of playing 'what if' , no impressive literary intentions.

Summary: If Sam had the conversation at the bar, how might he have told the story?

"To fucked up childhoods", she says.

They clink.

" My brother, he -" Sam continues, hesitates. When he speaks again, his voice is deeper, eyes lost in a memory she can tell she's only getting the cleaned up version of. That's OK, it's not like he's getting the full versions of hers. "O ur dad dropped us off for a few hours, took him a week to stumble back" Sam grimaces, as if he isn't going through his second whiskey with her with the sun not even halfway down. She wonders, for a moment, whether he has kids of his own waiting at some crappy motel. "A friend of the family came all the way from Dakota to get him straight".


She doesn't say "wish I had a friend of the family to come get me back then".

"We only had a bunch of boxes of macaroni and cheese, and I wouldn't eat it. So he – my brother - he went into a McDonald's and grabbed" - he digs his hands into an imaginary container, fingers stretched wide, holding up with cheeky pride a huge amount of "- all the ketchup he could hold". For a moment, his dimples show. "Left a trail of ketchup packets all the way back to our room. And he made something he called Hot Blooded" -

"Like the song? Cause it was red ?"

"Yeah" his smile widens but his eyes are lowered and soft, like he finds it ridiculous, and disgusting, but will personally punch anyone who made fun . "Red, spicy. It was basically mac 'n cheese swimming in ketchup, but he insisted it was something completely new. And I ate it. And for days he practiced squirting ketchup at my head whenever I got out of the shower"

She laughs. "That sounds disgusting".

"You should have tasted his macaroni and cheese and marshmallow fluff. He didn't take out the cheese flavoring"

"Yup, gross"

He seems on the brink of protesting, but concedes. "It was. But, my brother. You know" his voice goes rougher, eyes looking away. "He was lookin out for me. I knew it"

She isn't sure what to say. He's telling the story like a funny anecdote, she doesn't know how much to acknowledge the rest. "Did you eat it?"

He nods slowly, eyes far away. "Yeah. Told him it was exotic". He smiles, sad but sweet, as if getting banged up harder made him softer, appeased him about this .

Their eyes meet, and for a second he's with her, she can see what he's like. What he's like for his brother.

She'd loved someone like that once. Three times at least, really. The further down the line you go, the more you have to love to try again.

His phone rings.

"I should go", she says.

Comments

[meesasometimes.livejournal.com]

that's really sweet.

[frozen_delight]

Oh this was delightful! My favourite line was this: "Yeah" his smile widens but his eyes are lowered and soft, like he finds it ridiculous, and disgusting, but will personally punch anyone who made fun .
Thanks so much for writing and sharing!

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

aww, thank you so so much....

[balder12.livejournal.com]

Aww, I love the idea of Sam playing along with Dean's attempts to make the macaroni palatable--each of them trying to take care of the other as best they can.

She'd loved someone like that once. Three times at least, really. The further down the line you go, the more you have to love to try again.

I really liked this. You see a lot about her in one line.

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Aw, that means a lot , thank you....

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

And of course he was playing along! Educated kid Sam who wants to eat normal food and wants to be higher class would not directly and simply consider marshmallow fluff macaroni and cheese 'exotic'. The word is problematic for some versions of older Sam, but ok, I can see him wanting to say something good and it reminding him of something someone may have eaten, you know, in some European adventure classic, exploring strange new lands....

[tabaqui]

Aw, Sam.
*pets him*

[elwarre.livejournal.com]

Aww, this is adorable with just the right touch of heartbreak. So much emotion in so few words. Thanks for sharing.

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Thank you so so much for writinng!!

[misplaced-ad.livejournal.com]

This is a lovely little moment that tells so much about both of them. I love your observant, reading-between-the-lines Tina.

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

thank you so so much! I'm so glad {cuddles-if-you feel-like-getting-randomly-cuddled*

[zara-zee.livejournal.com]

Lovely. Sam just isn't quite as practised at relaying sad stories as humorous anecdotes. The line about 'thinking it was exotic' is so different here. So much sadder. Fabulous 'what if'... :)

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Aw, makes me glad that you see that, thank you, thank you!
And by the way - go you and good luck with the big bang! *cheers * !!

[runedgirl.livejournal.com]

This is exactly how I think it would go. Beautifully written - I especially love this hard-hitting line: The further down the line you go, the more you have to love to try again. Woah.

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you! It meanns so much that you can imagine it that wayy!

[dreamsofspike.livejournal.com]

Okay, I was enjoying this, thinking how sweet it was and how well you captured Sam's mannerisms, etc...

Then I got to THIS line:

The further down the line you go, the more you have to love to try again. - and the simple truth of that, and the implications it holds for Sam and Dean - how much Sam loves that even after everything that's happened between them, he's still holding on, still fighting for them, willing to "try again" - wow. That's an emotional gut punch I wasn't expecting and makes this more than just sweet, it's powerful.

Beautifully done. <3

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Thank you so so much!

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

I was worried that didn't come across, I'm so glad it did, for you....

[runedgirl.livejournal.com]

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

I'm so, so touched and honored.
Thank you! <3 <3

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

Fascinating reversal...sweetly poignant. Nice use of the outsider POV.

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

This definitely rings true for a Sam version of that scene - and I love the idea that Dean still thinks Sam loved his culinary creations...from Sam's POV, if he knew that, he'd be happy.

[citrusjava.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much!!!!

.from Sam's POV, if he knew that, he'd be happy

He would!! He would find it endearing, and perhaps feel relieved that he'd been able to do something for Dean like that.