kat_lair: (Default)
kat_lair ([personal profile] kat_lair) wrote2007-08-06 07:48 am

Supernatural fanfic: Give Me Back The Berlin Wall


Title: Give Me Back The Berlin Wall
Author: Mistress Kat / [livejournal.com profile] kat_lair
Fandom: Supernatural
Pairing: Sam/Dean
Rating: NC-17
Word count: ~ 1400
Disclaimer: Not mine, only playing.
Warnings/enticements: Incest, dubious con, dark/adult themes

Summary: Love is not insanity. It is survival.

Author notes: Although this story was written for the Soul Overturned evil!Sam Fic/Vid/Art Challenge, it really is more about Dean than about Sam, evil or otherwise. The song that inspired the fic is The Future by Leonard Cohen, and the story title and the italicised verses at the beginning of each section are all direct quotations from the lyrics. Many thanks to my marvellous beta-reader [livejournal.com profile] virtualinsomnia who valiantly suffers through all the angst I throw at her, and without whom this story would be painful to read for all the wrong reasons.

Now also in Russian:
Read the Russian translation by [livejournal.com profile] eva_lain  here or here.


 


Give Me Back The Berlin Wall

 

 ***

 give me back my broken night
my mirrored room, my secret life


 

One-hundred-and-two, one-hundred-and-three, one-hundred-and– Dean watches himself in the wall-length mirror, touching elbows to knees over and over again, fingers laced behind his head.

After the crunches he does push-ups and uses the weights brought up from the hotel gym, counting the repetitions meticulously. There’s no real need to keep fit anymore, but it’s important that he does. Just in case.

He’s sweaty and tired, muscles happy with the exercise and remembered victories. In the shower Dean presses himself hard against the white tiles, all the soft vulnerable parts – face, palms, cock, the pale pink flesh of his upper thighs – crushed between the wall and his body, hurting but safe. He washes quickly and doesn’t linger on the bruises on his hips and around his arms like he once would have.

There’s a pile of clean clothes waiting on the bed and nothing but empty space in the wardrobe. The hangers weren’t replaced after Dean broke them apart and made a weapon out of the metal bits.

Morning chores done, he stands by the window for a long time before looking away.

Outside the world is burning.

Dean picks up the phone, dials room service and orders breakfast

 

***

you don't know me from the wind
you never will, you never did


Dad’s journal ran out of pages years ago; the last entry is dated November 2009, in Des Moines. Dean smiles a little every time he reads it, because he knows what’s written on the pages is not all that happened, and while Dad was a stickler for detail, Dean very much doubts he’d want to know everything that took place during that particular hunt. Or after.

So Dean didn’t record the way his concentration slipped, because Sam’s shoulder lost contact with his for a split second. He didn’t write about the constant flicker of the naked light bulb in the bedroom, how Sam’s eyes were dark and desperate, and the first aid kit exploded open without anyone touching it. There’s not one line about the blood, running hot and thick down his neck, or the salty pure taste of it on Sam’s tongue. No word of cheap motel sheets, skin sliding against skin, and brief salvation found in sin.

These are the details Dean kept to himself. He takes them out when he’s alone, like a hidden treasure, and marvels at the colours, runs his mind over the smooth contours of the memory.

 

***

 you'll see a woman
hanging upside down
her features covered by her fallen gown


 

Mom talks to him sometimes. She sits on the closed toilet lid while Dean is having a bath and sings, or watches him pace the room with sad eyes. I remember when you were a little boy, she says. I love you, Dean. Don’t you want to come home?

Dean never answers. He’s not crazy. 

 

Jess showed up once too, silhouetted in the doorway like the world’s sexiest hallucination, honey-blond hair falling in silky strands around her face. She was gorgeous, and Dean could really understand what Sam saw in her.

He almost touched her himself, kneeling on the floor, arms outstretched. His fingers brushed the hem of her white dress, a smell like sunshine filling the air, and Dean wanted it, ached for it, but she was there to take him away, and he wouldn’t go. 

Won’t go. Not without Sam.

 

***

your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold
it's over, it ain't going
any further

 

Every evening they come to see him. 

“Hello Dean,” notSam says. “I brought dinner. You should eat more.”

“Hello Sammy,” Dean says, and looks through the expensive shirt, through flesh and bone, so that Sam knows Dean’s talking to him and not anyone else. “Best not waste such a delicious meal then. Have to keep my strength up, don’t I?”

They sit down at the table.

“I could use you out there, Dean,” notSam tells him. “We’re brothers; half of everything is yours. All you need to do is take it.”

“This is actually pretty good. Guess they kept the gourmet chefs around, huh?” The steak is so tender even a plastic knife cuts through it like butter.

There’s a crash as the water pitcher hits the wall. “I’m offering you the world on a fucking plate, you stupid sonofabitch! The world!” Dean’s hand is suddenly pinned to the table, held immobile with enough force to make his bones grind.

NotSam hasn’t moved an inch.

“Remember Bobby’s cooking? You’d never think it to look at him, but that man sure knew his way around the kitchen.” Dean slowly reaches over with his left hand, extricates the fork from the numb fingers of his right and resumes eating.

“That one time we came back from a hunt – the male covenant in Jackson, you remember Sammy? – and every fucking joint in the country was closed because it was Christmas Day, and you said…” Dean grins as wide as he can, anything, everything, for his little brother. “… you said ‘Let’s go see if Bobby has a turkey big enough for us’ and so we went. I’ve never eaten that much in my life.”

NotSam is looking at his clenched fists and clearly not listening. It doesn’t matter though; Dean knows that Sam is.
 

 

***

give me absolute control
over every living soul
and lie beside me, baby
that's an order

 

Strong hands are pushing his head down, the white cotton cold like snow, his mouth split open across the bed. It’s okay, Sammy. It’s okay. You’re not hurting me. The words soak into the pillow, muffled truths given freely.

He refuses the food on occasion for fear of poison, refuses to listen to the lies, refuses to give up, but he never refuses this.

There’s the blunt pressure of teeth at the back of his neck, and Dean arches into it, shuddering. The desperate, needy noises that escape unbidden are not all his, though the blood usually is. Pleasure like thorns tears through all the open places of him, and he is drifting away, inside out and weightless.

Sometimes Dean lets himself think about that first time in Des Moines, sometimes the rest stop just outside of Albany; the feel of hot leather sticking to his knees and the dashboard digging into his back, and Sam, slick and gasping under him as Dean grinds down again and again and—

Sometimes Dean lets himself come, the memories spilling from his mouth like holy water, so Sam knows what it is that’s brought him off.


 

***

I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival

 

NotSam doesn’t always stay the night, but Dean likes it when he does. He can talk to Sam then, without anyone else listening. Shh, shh. It’s going to be fine, I swear. Can touch him, palm skimming the lazy curve of a shoulder blade. Just hang in there, bro. Kiss the rise of bone, the long sweep of spine disappearing under the covers. For me, Sam. Please. Carefully, so as not to wake the other one, just a brush of lips against sleepy soft skin that smells so much like Sam that Dean is afraid he’ll forget the difference one day. I won’t ever. Not ever.

The mornings are always red and black, like volcanoes. A firestorm rides the world now; its epicentre, its living heart, beating right here in this room on the seventeenth floor of the last building standing.

“It’s me, Dean. It’s me!” The walls are shaking, and the air reeks of ozone. “You have to see it! You must know!

But the years have melted Dean into hard glass, transparent and unbreakable, and the only thing he knows, the only thing he loves, is his brother, and whoever this is, it’s not him.

“See you tonight, Sammy,” Dean says, feet touching the base of the mirror. In the reflection a pair of hazel eyes catch his; one man, two men, three. Dean holds the gaze. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The door slam vibrates through the floor and into the bones of his back. Dean curls up smoothly, his body falling into the rhythm like a lover, like a promise. One, he counts.

Two.

Three.



Fin.

 

[identity profile] gretazreta.livejournal.com 2008-06-28 11:13 am (UTC)(link)
Hi! Just a note to say this story was recced in this week's "Blast From the Past" edition of [livejournal.com profile] crack_impala. Thank you - this story is a real favourite of mine.

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-06-29 06:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, this explains the six new comments I came home to other day :) I was all o_O but of course ridiculously flattered. Thank you so much for the rec, I'm very pleased that the story has stood the test of time.

here on a rec

[identity profile] catdancerz.livejournal.com 2008-06-28 01:01 pm (UTC)(link)
and well worth the visit. a painful, twisted story. haunting...

Re: here on a rec

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-06-29 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much. Tell you the truth I broke myself a little with this story...

[identity profile] pr-scatterbrain.livejournal.com 2008-06-28 01:16 pm (UTC)(link)
I really enjoyed this piece. I was facinated by Dean; his decent, his mental anguist, and how he held onto the one thing that mattered (but might not exist); Sam. Wonderful work.

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-06-29 07:04 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm endlessly fascinated by the myriad ways these boys can be broken (and sometimes put together). Thank you very much for taking the time to read and comment, it really means a lot to me.

[identity profile] gottalovev.livejournal.com 2008-06-28 02:36 pm (UTC)(link)
oh wow, this is very powerful! Dean breaks my heart and makes me want to hug him. I can only hope he's right and that his Sam will come back.

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-06-29 07:06 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much. Dean breaks my heart too. I like leaving things unresolved and ambiguous so readers can make up their own mind about what is really going on...

[identity profile] sumaes.livejournal.com 2008-06-28 04:20 pm (UTC)(link)
God, this is so dean because he'd never be convinced that his Sam is gone or evil. This is just beautifully written and I'm so sad now, but it worth it :). Thanks!

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-06-29 07:11 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm sort of glad that you're sad, as horrible as that sounds. It's always gratifying to know you've managed to touch the reader somehow. Thank you very much for your comment.
amalthia: (Default)

[personal profile] amalthia 2008-06-28 05:42 pm (UTC)(link)
I liked your story.

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-06-29 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm glad, thank you very much.

[identity profile] kittyzams.livejournal.com 2008-06-30 01:28 am (UTC)(link)
This is beautiful in a really disturbing way. It's a draw on whether Dean won't give up for Sam's sake or for his own. Just really brilliant!

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-06-30 08:31 am (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, thank you very much for the feedback. The fic was for a evil!Sam challenge but evil is boring; it's the effect it has on others that makes it interesting which is why I needed to tell this story from Dean's POV.

[identity profile] twasadark.livejournal.com 2008-07-07 11:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, I love this - so succinct and evocative. You say so much with so few words. Excellent job!

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-07-10 03:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much. It's always a pleasure to find out if a reader enjoyed the story, thanks for taking the time to leave feedback.

[identity profile] crimsonkitty88.livejournal.com 2008-07-15 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
oh this one aches. I'm all teary now. Beautifully written and so very sad.

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2008-07-16 07:33 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment, really means a lot to me. I broke myself a little bit when writing this so I'm pleased it affects the readers the same way. *shares hankie*

[identity profile] eva-lain.livejournal.com 2009-01-26 09:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much! It's really a wonderful thing.
Sam and notSam is a very interesting and unusual idea.
"He refuses the food on occasion for fear of poison, refuses to listen to the lies, refuses to give up, but he never refuses this."- this phrase is awesome.
Would you mind terribly, if I translate this fic into Russian language and publish it on the forum (http://www.crossroad-blues.net/forum/index.php)? I will state everywhere that I am just a translator and you are the author of the fic. Also, all the additional information (like your email or website) can be published, if you wish.
Thank you.

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2009-01-26 11:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much for taking the time to comment, I'm glad you enjoyed the fic. And quoting stuff back at me makes me blush...

Thank you for asking. I'd be happy for this to be translated into Russian. Please can you link to this post and to my email (kat_lair@hotmail.com) as means for leaving feedback. And let me have the link to the post too, I can include it in this post too :)

[identity profile] eva-lain.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 10:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I have finished translation of your text and I have published it on the my diary - http://www.diary.ru/~eva-lain/p60266860.htm
Later, I'll publish it at a forum Crossroad (http://www.crossroad-blues.net/forum/index.php).
Thank you =)

[identity profile] eva-lain.livejournal.com 2009-01-30 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
and link to my LJ - http://eva-lain.livejournal.com/3290.html

(no subject)

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com - 2009-02-01 18:36 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] eva-lain.livejournal.com 2009-02-01 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
And at last - http://www.crossroad-blues.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=491.
When our readers will read I will tell to you their opinion =)

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2009-02-01 08:53 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh great, I have linked to both posts in the header info. And I would certainly appreciate if any possibly comments were passed my way. Thank you :)

(no subject)

[identity profile] eva-lain.livejournal.com - 2009-02-03 09:53 (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com - 2009-02-07 13:48 (UTC) - Expand

Beautiful...

[identity profile] loustat.livejournal.com 2009-04-08 08:39 pm (UTC)(link)
This story is just so beautifully sad. I love that Dean has never and will never give up on Sammy no matter how deep and dark his world, their world, has become. I was left speechless for a couple of minutes 'cause I didn't know how to begin, but I had to say somethin'! *Grins* What better song 'bout love then that used in The Crow, which, in my opinion, defines love. Again, awesome story<3

It Can't Rain All The Time-The Crow

Re: Beautiful...

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2009-04-10 08:46 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much, I'm really thrilled to hear the fic had that effect on you. What a lovely surprise to get a comment on an old fic. Thank you also for the song. At first I thought I hadn't heard it before but I have, just didn't recognise the name :)

Yes, for better or worse, I don't think Dean will ever give up on Sam. And that may very well be the one thing that destroys them both.

[identity profile] desfinado.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 06:21 am (UTC)(link)
NRGGGGGH

Strong hands are pushing his head down, the white cotton cold like snow, his mouth split open across the bed. It’s okay, Sammy. It’s okay. You’re not hurting me. The words soak into the pillow, muffled truths given freely.

I loved EVERY word in this paragraph. So perfectly chosen, evocative, like I was there in that moment, and all the emotion and feeling was carried in those words -- Dean's mouth split open, words soaking into the pillow. Hot and powerful. <3333

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2010-10-04 06:40 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, thank you so much! I'm sure shameless self-pimping shouldn't leave to this level of awesome feedback! You know I'm partial to when people pick their favourite quotes and tend to squirm in pleasure. This was such an emotionally intense fic to write and it remains one of the ones I'm genuinely proud of in terms of both structure and language. Thank you very much, compliments from you always mean a lot.

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