November 29th excerpt:
The next toss, his paper clip sailed upward, higher than Jacob had managed before. A quiet clink accompanied it landing atop the nightstand.
“Ha!” he said triumphantly. Despite his own weariness, he made it. He looked aside at Dean. “Did you see– oh,” he stopped, finally noticing that Dean had fallen asleep right there on the floor.
November 28th excerpt:
Once he had a decent idea of the lay of the land, which changed quite often with Sherlock and John’s eclectic style of organization, Dean’s legs tensed.
Without any warning, he bolted for the entrance to the walls near John’s armchair.
8. Jar – Stan has a wake-up call.
AU: ???
Stan couldn’t breathe.
He thought seeing the world from only a few inches tall had been amazing, and after he climbed down his bedspread to the floor, he was all set on exploring the alien landscape his bedroom had become.
Then the ground, the very air, everything began to shake. Steady vibrations rattled the floor under Stan’s feet and froze him in place. Sharp impacts on the massive shut door made him flinch, and he clapped his hands over his ears as a tremendous voice rumbled through it.
Panic rose within the teen as it sank in. Someone was looking for him, and they were enormous.
His imagination took it from there, disregarding the logic that whoever it was out there was one of Stan’s brothers, his family. Instead, Stan was paralyzed by images of giants as they’d always been portrayed in films and stories, vicious creatures who meant harm to those smaller than them.
These overwhelming fears came to a head when he saw the door open ever so slightly, and Stan jumped behind the nearest thing to hide, hardly noticing that it happened to be a discarded shoe that was now taller than he was.
Stan’s heart pounded too loudly in his ears to process what the giant was saying, but he certainly felt the wave of displaced air when the door swung open, the earth-shattering footsteps that followed. Humongous feet stomped closer and swung right past Stan’s hiding spot in only a handful of steps.
A hand shot up to cover Stan’s mouth, quieting his heavy breathing and stifling the dread-filled cries he could feel creeping up his throat. The giant’s feet were right there and Stan was completely exposed, it could notice him at any moment! He needed to find a new hiding spot, and he glanced around the corner of the shoe to find one.
If he could just made it under the dresser in the distance…
November 14th excerpt:
“So, how do we get this started?”
“Now,” Dean said pointedly, his grin broadening, “you get the biggest honor of all.”
With a grandiose gesture, Dean waved towards the floor near the agent’s feet. “You get to offer me a lift to the floor so we can get this party started.”
November 8th excerpt:
Struck by a thought, John carefully reached a hand toward the brothers, extending a finger to Dean with an amiable look in his eye. “Shake on it?”
Dean recoiled from the hand, his eyes darting from the extended finger up to John’s expression to read his intent. Spotting nothing but honesty in the planes of John’s face, he hesitantly reached forward.
As his hand approached the waiting finger, Dean’s much smaller fingers brushed against the thick skin and flinched. Reaching forward again, Dean gripped John’s fingertip, finding his entire hand inadequate to cover the entire surface. Using that same determination, Dean reached out with his second hand as well, clasping the rest of John’s fingertip and a bit of his nail, the rigid surface ungiving between Dean’s hands as he shook them up once, then down.
November 7th excerpt:
He finally noticed that Sam was tugging at his sleeve. The younger boy was looking up at Dean, his expressive eyes full of worry. “What?” Dean said, his tone sharp with the lingering exhaustion from the night before combined with the stress of waking up with Sam and John both missing from the bedroom.
“There’s bacon,” Sam said simply, pulling Dean’s sleeve in the direction of the food. “John made it. It’s good!” He tugged harder at Dean’s arm. “Please?”
November 6th excerpt:
With the map spread out on the seat next to the teenager, Dean could survey their path from above with a bird’s eye view, but there was something about being down, on the map, that always appealed to him. Once he finished off his last bite, he took the initiative to slide down Jacob’s sleeve to join in on the planning.
Letting go of Jacob’s sleeve a few inches from the ground, Dean landed with a thump, rolling to catch his balance and coming out of the roll to land on both feet. The motion was as agile as any cat landing on their feet, graceful for a man of less than four inches. The only thing that ruined the move was a slight stumble as he skid to a stop, the paper unexpectedly wrinkling under his boots from the added weight.
November 5th excerpt:
“Lucky I’m such a morning person,” Jacob joked. “We could get on the road for a bit before grabbing some breakfast. Since nowhere will be open yet.” He lowered his hand to the desk for Dean so he could at least get himself ready for the trip.
“And then onwards! To the next hunt!” Dean boasted loudly as he slid off Jacob’s hand.
November 4th excerpt:
Jacob’s hand reached for the nightstand, ready to switch off the alarm. Then, his mind finally caught up enough to remember I didn’t set an alarm. He ended up diverting his reach before he could bowl Dean over, resting his fingers at the edge of the nightstand instead. He propped himself up enough to send the tiny guy a bewildered look, catching up to why he was on the nightstand and not right next to his head like he’d thought.
“Dude,” he mumbled, giving Dean as much exasperation as he could. “What the shit.”
6. Catch – A Wild Baker Appears
Sort of doing these out of order, but I’m determined to do them all
AU: ???
“Stan?”
Simon Baker rapped gently on his youngest brother’s bedroom door. “Suppertime! Get it while it’s hot!”
These days, Simon thought to give Stan whatever space he needed. School had always been a rough time for the kid, even more so now that he was a teenager. Even so, Simon tried to keep spirits light in the hopes of cheering Stan up.
Simon’s brow pinched when there came no answer. Usually, even on the worst days, he’d get a grumble in response at least. Stan would never turn down a meal.
“C’mon Stanley, don’t want it to get cold without you,” he called through the door as he made a move to open it. He went slow, not one to burst in on anyone, and he listened for Stan to correct him.
It wasn’t that he hated being called Stanley, but he did prefer ‘Stan’.
Only when Simon still didn’t hear a peep out of the room did he open it all the way. Now he was concerned.
His frown deepened as he stepped into the room and found it empty. Stan wasn’t in bed, but his schoolbag was still there and the window was securely shut. Simon knew Stan came home earlier, so where did he–?
A light skittering on the floor by his feet interrupted Simon’s thoughts. He looked down; when he didn’t see anything, he took a wary step closer.
In the corner of Simon’s eye, he noticed something quick and tiny dashing into the open. He didn’t get a good look before it took shelter under Stan’s dresser.
Simon sighed and strode over to shut Stan’s door. If his brother brought another mouse in the house, he’d better take care of it before it got into the walls. Then he could resume figuring out where Stan went.
Grabbing one of Stan’s jars and a ventilated lid from the desk, Simon lowered himself to the floor to peer under the dresser. It was too dark to see in any detail, but a small shape hurried to the far side. Simon sat up and reached around to snatch it before it hid under the bed.
In his hurry to get his catch into the jar, Simon didn’t notice that it didn’t quite feel like a mouse in his grasp.
He made sure to tilt the jar so the little thing would slide safely to the bottom. Simon was used to this habit of Stan’s, and he knew it came from a well-meaning place. Their youngest brother was never one to walk away when anyone or anything needed help. Even a lost, injured mouse.
So it was a complete shock to Simon when he lifted the jar to find something that definitely wasn’t a mouse.
“Oh, God.”
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Brothers Apart 