Like, I’m really excited for the poll and I can’t wait for it to start. It’s one of my favorite things to do. We’ve been hard at work trying to get all the second stories in each AU are ready to go as well for afterwards when we start adding those to it. And charting out the new storylines we keep coming up with (we can never stop! XD ).
From this angle, it was easy to see how small the cleared-out area was for Jacob. As huge as it all could seem for Sam and Dean, there would barely be enough room for the kid to stretch out fully, instead of curling up to sleep like the night before.
With the bag sitting to the side, along with Jacob’s pillow and a firepit that could fit a pool in it, Sam could almost imagine he was the small one. Only the trees that surrounded the area broke the illusion.
Oscar couldn’t sleep. He had a huge pillow to rest on and a warm shirt to curl up in, but his attention was focused away from them. At night, sometimes, he was up and about searching for food, after all. He was used to sleeping when he was tired, and at the moment he wasn’t tired.
He sat up on the pillow with his legs stretched out in front of himself and his hands braced on the plushy surface beneath him. Nearby, he could hear the quiet pattern of Sam breathing, sprawled under the shirt-blanket. Sam was a little more used to sleeping every night, or most every night.
Dean’s breathing was much easier to hear. His huge lungs were bigger than Oscar’s home in the walls. Probably. Those breaths created little breezes back and forth over the pillow, with the way Dean had hugged it protectively close. Oscar had stayed in the big motel room more and more often as the days wore by. He spent so much time with his friends, and couldn’t be happier.
It wasn’t doubt or even fear for the big, wide open room that kept Oscar awake now. For once, his reason was peaceful and without worry. He stared at the window of the motel room, where the edge of a curtain had gotten caught in just away that left it hanging open a few inches.
To someone who barely stood over two inches tall, it was a wide break in the fabric indeed. Oscar stared at the sky beyond that window in awe. The streetlamp outside had flickered out earlier, and after that, Oscar couldn’t look away.
Oscar could see the stars out there.
Little twinkling lights seemed to peek back at him. Oscar had only ever seen the daytime sky with them, so far. By the time night fell, they were always safely back in the room to watch TV or run and play (sometimes with Dean trying to catch Sam and Oscar as they laughed and scurried away).
Oscar sighed contentedly and lay back down to draw some of the shirt over himself. He curled up, but made sure he could still see that small space between the curtains. He fell asleep watching the stars for the first time in his life.
Set in the Brothers Together au created with @nightmares06. Oscar is about 12 in this one.
Oscar didn’t fully understand it, but every once in a while the office staff would decorate the lobby of the motel. He vaguely remembered his mom telling him that the humans had special days that they liked to celebrate every year. Since he didn’t have a calendar (and could barely make sense of one anyway), he was still learning when to anticipate these days.
He watched surreptitiously from a vent as one of the older staff members, a lady with hearing problems and a frown stuck in the wrinkles on her face, trudged around the room. Despite her scowly appearance, she seemed pleasant to every person that came in and Oscar knew her voice well. It was softer than it looked like it should be, and she talked about her grandchildren to whomever would listen.
He sometimes wished he had a grandmother like her. Someone that could take care of him since he didn’t have anyone at all. He was twelve years old and it had been four years since he had warm food.
At least Oscar remembered that he was supposed to check the office sometimes, make sure they weren’t planning any pest control or something. That was how he’d found the woman in the lobby, frowning around absently and hanging paper shapes from the ceiling or taping them to the walls.
They were pumpkins with scary faces or black bats with fanged grins. Some of the shapes were stylized pictures of wrapped candies. Oscar knew this one. He frowned thoughtfully and tried to remember the word.
One of the maids came into the room to duck behind the front desk and find something back there. She grinned at the shapes already hung up. “Getting ready for Halloween?” she asked.
Aha! Oscar thought with a faint smile. While the ladies struck up a conversation, he inched back away from the vent. He had seen what he needed to, and he needed to focus on seeking out food now.
‘Halloween’ was a strange holiday for the humans. Oscar didn’t know what it was for, but he never questioned it, because a lot of times people had late nights away from their bed. Seeking food was easier. It also meant that the one they called ‘Thanksgiving’ was coming up, and after that was ‘Christmas.’ Lots of people drifted through and dropped more crumbs than usual.
Oscar didn’t celebrate the holidays the same way humans did, but they were worth looking forward to in his own way. Anything that made his life easier was to be celebrated.
He ventured into the dark with silent steps and found himself drifting back in memories again. He wondered with a peaceful acceptance if his friends were out there somewhere, excited to do whatever it was humans did on Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. Like he often did, he imagined finding Sam around the corner, beckoning him to hurry back to the room, inviting him to join Sam and Dean for their celebration this year.
Come on, Oz, Dean’s already started! Sam said in his imagination.
Oscar smiled and walked faster, even though he didn’t really have anywhere to go. It was nice to imagine, though. He knew that this Halloween wouldn’t be any different than any of his other Halloweens, or any in the future. Oscar was there to stay.
He could still celebrate. He had his memories to keep him company.
Unfortunately, you won’t be seeing the giant Jacob story in the poll for some time.
For personal reasons, I will never start posting a story that’s unfinished. We are currently in the process of writing the story, and then it will need to be edited and beta’d by one of our wonderful beta readers. Your patience will be rewarded, and while my OCD and attempt at perfectionism may seem annoying when I won’t post stories instantly, you will get a fuller and richer story when it’s completed to our liking.
The poll came about because when we originally were going to start posting the AUs, we discovered that both of us, night and neon, have our own favorite AU. We couldn’t decide which one to post.
So I came up with the idea to toss the story names at our loyal readers and let them decide. This way, the choosing of the new story is fair to everyone, including us. I thought it would be a fun way to get everyone involved in the process. This way, we don’t have one story, say Brothers Found, dominating so that the people looking forward to Brothers Adopted have to wait a year to get their story.
It’s nice to get all this feedback and see the hate my great idea is getting.
We will either do the blind poll like I want to do, or I’ll go back to choosing the stories myself. Those are the only two choices. As one person once said to me, we’re giving you free, quality content either way, and it would be nice to see some appreciation to the work I put into this.
From Neon:
Just to clear something up about “the point of the poll,” since that’s gotten some questions before. It’s meant to be a fun way to sort of randomize which of the ready stories gets posted, since, as night mentioned, there could be favoritism edging certain AUs out without them getting a chance. It is not a tool to definitively decide which AU is the most popular.
Gotta give ‘em all a chance! The poll is harmless fun and, regardless, you’re getting 3 updates a week! We put a lot of work into this stuff. We’re not paid enough to get heckled this much about our methods of content delivery.
“Oscar,” Jacob repeated. The shift in the tension in the air was palpable. Even though the little guy was curled up warily on the table, getting a name out of him felt like a step forward. A tiny step forward, but it was better than watching him cry and not knowing if he was hurt. Knowing he caused those tears had sent Jacob reeling.
“I’m Jacob,” he replied, allowing the faintest smile to cross his face. “Where, um, where did you come from, Oscar?”
Oscar shrugged, the tiniest little shoulders Jacob had ever seen, and wiped at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I always lived here,” he replied. His voice was still rough from his crying, but it wavered less than before.
“And you came to get food,” Jacob mused. Holy shit. He couldn’t help but think of how desperate Oscar must have been to climb his backpack for food, if someone Jacob’s size inspired this much terror. Was the little guy living out of that bag with nothing else to his name?
Jacob smirked at the sight of Sam’s slow waking. The sluggish movements and lack of much concern was a huge contrast to what Jacob had grown used to in the last few weeks. No one else sat still when he was so close, so he never really had much chance to see their various actions in miniature. Delicate little hands and arms (that he had to remind himself were actually just normal) moved about with so much dexterity that he’d miss it if he didn’t pay attention.
Then, he glanced back to Dean. One hand reached down and gently nudged at the quarter sticking out of Dean’s bag again. “You’ve got a lot to carry back and it’s a bit of a hike,” he pointed out. “You want me to get you there?”
Dean put his hand protectively over his duffel bag, giving the huge hand that hovered nearby a mistrustful look, wondering if Jacob was going to pluck the coin away. “It’s not as heavy as it looks…” he countered slowly.
This prompt takes place between the events of Taken and Schism, while Sam’s arm was healing and Dean stayed at the motel for three months (a record, for Trails West ).
It was late, but Krissy found herself wandering the passageways and vents in the walls on her own.
Normally, she would wait until someone else was willing to go. She didn’t like to venture close to the human rooms on her own. Lessons drilled into her mind from her father and her mother, back in those happy years before everything had changed, taught her the dangers of humanity.
Those lessons stuck fast after her father was gone, and her mother withdrew from the world, leaving Krissy and her young brother Bennett to fend for themselves.
Walt was amazing. He’d come to live with them after Krissy had dragged him out of the ash herself, saving his life as he’d saved theirs since. He helped find enough food for everyone to eat, brought home more supplies than Krissy ever dreamed of finding on her own now that her best friend Sam was gone.
Of course, Sam was back now, along with his older brother.
Dean.
No one had ever expected them to reappear, Krissy least of all. She knew Walt had hoped to see his erstwhile adopted son again, but those were dreams and fantasies best left to musings. Sam appearing on her doorstep had been the last thing she’d ever expected.
And so she wandered, and wondered.
Sam’s arm was broken, so he was staying in the walls with them until he healed. She’d noticed a nervousness about him that hadn’t been there when he left with Dean. It wasn’t hard to figure out that his recent injury had forced him to confront truths better left to the subconscious.
He was afraid, just like her.
Krissy paused at the slits of a vent, drawn to the light. She knew what room she was over, and only just managed to get herself close enough to see out. She didn’t want to risk the human glancing up and seeing her.
The large hunter was sprawled out on his bed. The television was on in the background, but the sound was turned off. In his hand was curled what she’d heard called a… ‘music player,’ or an ‘iPod.’
Humans sure had strange names for things.
Dean was wearing earbuds, so Krissy let her guard relax a little. She could hear the music, a soft rock that Sam had talked about while they were growing up, leaking from the buds. He’d never hear her with those on. Even a hunter’s senses could be dampened down.
For a moment, she stared at him, trying to imagine him standing at the same height as Sam. He didn’t look that scary, not laying on the bed, his eyes closed and his face so peaceful. Kara talked about him nonstop, and for a moment Krissy could see it.
Then her phobia caught up to her and she stumbled away from the edge of the vent. The soft music vanished, and her breath caught as she realized he might have heard that.
“Sam?” came a deep call, a hopeful note resounding in it. For over three weeks Sam had been in the motel, and Krissy knew that he hadn’t gone back to see Dean yet.
She slowed her breathing and pulled herself out of sight around a corner. A shadow dampened the light, and she covered her mouth.
“Sammy? That you? I’ve got some salad, if you wanted to come visit…” Dean’s voice trailed off, sounding forlorn and lost. Krissy had to blink back surprise at that.
The light came back, and she heard the human stomping away.
Maybe she’d see how Sam was feeling. Human or not, Dean sounded lonely. No one deserved to be forgotten like that.
Brothers Apart 