I just got out when I did to prove the exit route was clear by minervacat [r]

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: none; Dean-centric gen
Length: 4k words
Author on LJ: minervacat
Author Website: when the floods roll back
Why this must be read:

This is a story about the random-but-not-really stuff that Dean keeps in the glove compartment of the Impala. I really like stories that catalogue the stuff the Winchesters carry and what it means to them, and I really love Dean's relationship with his car (I admit to being somewhat OTP about Dean/Impala), and this story merges those two things beautifully, with sharp, spare prose and spot-on character voices.

It was the first summer Sam was gone, and Dean had resigned himself to the fact that he was doomed to spend the rest of his life trapped in moving vehicles with pissed-off relatives. Dad complained about Dean's driving, and the way Dean was keeping the car up, and the radio stations Dean listened to.

When Dad had found the pack of cigarettes, he'd crumbled the paper and cellophane under his fist, and glared at Dean.

Dean said, "Hey, they were here when I moved in."

Dad grunted.

"You quit when Sammy got old enough to notice what you were doing," Dean said, because he was cranky, because Dad was cranky, because there were sore spots he knew he could push. It was what Sam had always done. "But I could have picked up the habit any time."

"You were stealing my beer when you were 10," Dad muttered. "Wouldn't have put it past you."

"Well, I didn't," Dean snapped.

"You were always going to do what you wanted," Dad said, and Dean flinches, because it's Sam who left. Dean drank and chased girls but he stayed put. "Nothing I could have done as a parent to change that. Sammy, he was impressionable. He got ideas."

Using the items in the glove compartment, minervacat gives us clear snapshots of the Winchester family dynamics over the years, and Dean's place in them. She also captures the heartbreak, loss, and enduring strength of his character.

If you enjoy the story, don't forget to tell the author.

I just got out when I did to prove the exit route was clear by minervacat

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