Odysseus, American by coyotesuspect (nc-17)

[musesfool.livejournal.com]

Fandom: SUPERNATURAL
Pairing: Sam Winchester/Dean Winchester
Length: 10,000 words
Author on LJ: coyotesuspect
Author Website: coyotesuspect
Why this must be read:

Dean picks up an audiobook of The Odyssey as he makes he way around the country while Sam is at Stanford and finds something of his own life in the story. Beautifully melancholy and evocative of Dean's loneliness and loss. I always pictured him more as Achilles or Patroclus, but this story makes a strong case for Dean as Odysseus and Penelope both, with Sam as his Ithaca.

He uses a picture of Sam as a bookmark. It’s one of the few photos of Sam that he has; their childhood is recorded more in scars and the Impala’s ever upward ticking mileage than in Polaroid and film. The picture’s from the July the summer before Sam left, a year ago now. Sam had bought a cheap Kodak disposable camera with a mumbled excuse about using it to remember stuff with.

Dean hadn’t been sure at the time what Sam was going to need to remember. The only change happening in their lives was that now that Sam was out of school, they’d have even less ties to a place. They’d be able to cover more ground, save more lives, and Dean had it constructed it exactly in his mind- a perfect family hunting unit.

Dean stole the camera from him one day when they’d been at a river. John had left them on their own for a few days, off working a case a couple counties over. The camera was lying forgotten in a pile with their t-shirts, and Dean took the picture on the sly. Sam had just gotten out of the water and was sitting on a rock, his hair clinging to his head and his chest bare. He was in profile. Face tilted up, eyes closed, smiling.

It’s a good picture.

Odysseus, American by coyotesuspect

Please let the author know if you enjoy the story.

~*~