Writing From the Inside

Shelter Beneath the Mundane by drvsilla.

Slash.

I’ve decided that I quite like amnesia fic, which is what I thought this was. But it turned out to be Dean in hell fic, that is a story where Dean goes to hell and Sam gets him out. There’s not a lot of hot sex here, but there is intelligent storycrafting, whereby Dean suffers through the fires of hell by imagining he’s still got a purpose. And that is, running a little breakfast place for all those people he was unable to save, and who are also in hell. I quite liked the concept, because it was original and it FITS with how Dean sees himself. He’s one of those who does what must be done. He’s very duty bound, and his way of controlling the pain of hellfire is by doing his duty. Lovely.

Excerpt:

Dean began the day’s routine, same as yesterday, same as tomorrow would follow. Coffee first, left to percolate and fill the huge silver urns that lined the back counter; one of them gurgled and he thumped it with the heel of his hand, nodded in satisfaction when it groaned and steadied on. Grill warmed and eggs set next to it for omelets or sunnysides, bacon laid down to pop while it cooked, bread and muffins and rolls in case someone wanted it as a sandwich. Everything else was where it should be - plenty of fruit in the basket next to the register, cinnamon rolls still fresh enough to serve, mints in small tins just because.

The Dangers of Second Guessing by mona1347.

Slash.

There’s no plot, but sometimes you don’t need one, when it gets this hot. The ep Mystery Spot has spawned a huge amount of desperate Sam stories, which only makes sense, seeing as how the whole experience, which really never happened, changed Sam totally. I mean, it had to, right? So, all the stories following this ep have this sense of panic in them, where Sam can’t stand to let Dean out of his sight. Like ever. There have been one or two that were super good, and had a plot, this one didn’t. But that’s okay, because it was hot and yeah, it made sense, if you could see inside Dean’s head, about how freaky it is to have Sam watching him every minute of every day. Plus, Dean’s not totally jiggy with the whole kissing thing, he’s resistant, but you know, with Sam, what Sam wants, resistance is futile.

Plus there’s lines like this one, showing me just how frantic Dean is to stop and go at the same time:

“Yeah, yeah, let me have you.”

“Shut up,” Dean growls in reply, hand grabbing at Sam’s hair and yanking his head back maybe too hard, forcing their eyes to meet. “Shut up, you stupid shit. You know. You know you always had…”

“I do,” Sam pants, nodding and wild-eyed. “I know.”

***

Something about Dean calling Sam a stupid shit in the middle of all this hotness felt real to me. He’s pissed off and wanting it and bossing Sam around all at the same time. It’s a nice little PWP here. I enjoyed myself.

Demons Made Me Spill My Guts Like a Girl by merrin.

Slash.

This is a dark, dark fic, too dark, in fact, going all AU and impossible on me. Yet the writing was teriffic so I read the whole thing, shaking my head, not liking the premise, but liking the story and the result, if you see what I mean. So I get to this excerpt and I’m like, yeah. It’s like that.

”

“Damn it, Sam. I remember what it said, okay? I remember saying it. You’re doing this because you think I want it and I want you to stop. I don’t need this.”

But the thing is, Sam knows Dean, sometimes better than Dean knows himself. And even though some things have changed and there are secrets in Dean’s eyes he’s never seen before and can only guess at the truth of, he knows this. He knows that Dean wants it, even needs it as much as he does, and he plays the one card that always gets them what they both need.

“I do,” Sam says, and Dean’s resistance crumbles like Sam is the Big Bad Wolf and Dean is the house of straw and that’s how Sam finds out Dean kisses like he’s dying, or like he’s being reborn, like he’ll never need to breathe again. Dean’s hands are on his face and his mouth is open, pressed against Sam’s. He’s making the softest, neediest noises that Sam would be duty-bound to give him crap for if he wasn’t making the same noises himself and even if it’s nothing he ever thought of before, it’s everything he’s always wanted.

Little Black Book by jeyhawk.

Slash.

I’m in the mood, so this guilty pleasure gets posted. It’s not a story, it’s a scene, where while Dean is in the hospital, Sam finds a little book Dean keeps to record all his sexual encounters. Not as tawdry as it sounds, because to Sam, reading the book is finding out more about Dean. While I don’t believe that Dean would keep a record like this (too anal for him), I like the thought of the mystery of Dean unfolding itself before Sam’s eyes. And the fact that, sometimes, Dean does it for money so he can take care of Sam. It’s a sad little treat, quite easy on the eyes.

An excerpt:

“Sam doesn’t know what it means, but he supposes that is all right because he lost track of what they are doing and where they are going a long time ago. As long as there is him and Dean, the Impala, and the soft, hard warmth between them, he knows they’ll be okay no matter where the twisting road of life will take them next. He slides over on his back, letting Dean curl around him with his head on Sam’s chest without calling him a girl even once. He knows Dean needs this, just as he knows that Dean would never ask for it, and that any ribbing would leave him with a shot of Dean’s back as he moved to the other bed.”

they put me in a cage full of lions; i learned to speak lion
 by amerella.

Gen.

I’ve often thought that the Winchester boys were exceptional children at risk. Smart, bright, but in an enviorment that could prove harmful to them, even as it made them tough. Like the title of this fic, if you put a child in a cage with lions, you get a child who can speak lion, who is lionlike. This fic, as well, is mostly Dean’s story, though you can see Sam, who likes to squeeze himself into small spaces, learning to speak lion as well.

The fic is more of  character exploration, with not plot, but it did have some nice images.  The part I liked best is when Dean, having fallen of his bike, waits for his dad to rescue him because he likes how his dad looks when he’s walking towards him, intent on rescue.

Family Ties by concernedilly.

Slash.

Sex, sex, and more sex. I can’t keep up. This story has the usual, the hotness, the touching, the kissing, all of that. It’s a story where Dean wants to experiment with light bondage, and I don’t believe for a minute he would indulge in that. Too many chances for it to go wrong, and I think he’s got enough excitement in his life without that. When he wants to practice with Sam, it doesn’t go very well. When Sam decides to figure it out and then give Dean what he wants, it goes better. Yeah, okay. Hot and stuff. What got me was this line:

“It takes Sam three days and four long blowjobs to forgive Dean for having to put his shirts back on to cover his still-persistent erection, go out into the night and drive thirty miles to an all-night store to get paperclips. That’s the real problem with sleeping with your brother, he thinks: Sam knows all the damage Dean’s ever taken on his arms and shoulders, spent the nights up listening to Dean grit his teeth against the pain, so he couldn’t just leave him tied with his arms up all night like he so richly deserved.”

I liked the realism of the fact that Sam remembers, knows, how many times Dean has been tied up and bashed around and that he can’t really take much more of the same. But if Dean wants to be tied up, Sam will give it to him. His way. Good stuff.  

And So Awakens Devils by concernedlily.

Slash

I hate AU, post-apolcolyptic stories. I hate stories where Sam is the Antichrist. I hate stories where Bobby is possesed by a demon. Ug. Ug. Ug. Read this story anyway. It’s fantastic.

Long Lay the World by setissma.

 Slash.

Oh, I did not want to like this story at all. It’s what I call a hanging curtains story because literally that’s what Dean does. He gets sick of the road (if you can imagine such a thing), terrified that one more werewolf is going to finish Sam off, and that’s it. He moves them to Chicago (my least favorite of cities), and buys a goldurn house for him and Sam. It’s all about fixing the house up and how Sam gets suspicious and thinks Dean’s leaving him for some girl, and I’ve got my hands balled up into fists and I’m holding my breath till I turn blue, cause I don’t like it!!! Except I did. Guilty pleasure definately and you know why? Because this line made me laugh like an idiot:

“Sam makes dinner, actual meatloaf with mashed potatoes and some green beans, and Dean decides this house idea was literally the best he’s ever had. Sam falls asleep with his feet in Dean’s lap, watching Christmas movies, and Dean tops out at 27 pieces of popcorn balanced on his face before he wakes up, which is a new record.”

I about spit out my dinner at that one. Plus, you know, Dean he LOVES Sam to pieces, like in this line:

“He leaves it there, and Sam falls asleep again, against his side. It’s a good way to drive, Dean thinks, and he doesn’t even care that it’s a little girly – Sam’s safe, and he’s making Sam feel safe, and that’s all that matters.”

And she had Sam down pat:

“Sam doesn’t scare easily, but he can’t handle fear, doesn’t know how to deal with loss, and Dean figures maybe it’s the two of them, except the only thing he’s ever been afraid of losing is Sam.”

These people, I swear.

What Comfort It Brings by nutkin.

Slash.

You people. What is it with you, sucking me into a story about Dean’s last days on the planet? Don’t you know how that rips at my very heart and soul? It’s cruel, that’s what it is, and it would be much, much nicer of you if you didn’t write it so beautifully so that I won’t loose myself before I even begin, thank you very much. 

Factum Amoris by Lenore.

Slash.

I read this one a while back, when I had just started reading fanfic for SPN, to see if I could see what it was all about. At the time, I hadn’t liked the story, thought the premise of an enchanted sod house that trapped kids to sacrifice them for the harvest was a bit stretching it. Then, after reading many, many fics, I realized the theme of “we have to do it to save you/me/each other” was quite common. To shorten that title, I’ll call it the sex to save theme. Not badly done here, and their reactions after seem sane in that they realize that it’s not quite right what they’re doing.