spn fic: "Cheerwine and Soggy Fries" (G, Sam, Dean)

[fannishliss]

title: "Cheerwine and Soggy Fries"
author: fannishliss
warnings -- none, gen, no paring
spoilers: generally s5
685 words.

notes: erinrua was kind enough to prompt me, and this was her prompt. Very fun for hiatus!

summary: Sam and Dean at a picnic table with hamburger wrappers, sunshine, and fall colors.

Two brothers in a shiny black car pulled onto a scenic overlook somewhere in the Appalachian mountains.

To the west, softly rolling hills stretched away in the distance, covered by a blanket of brilliant oranges, reds and yellows, occasionally interrupted by the spiky darkness of evergreens. The air was crisp and the sky was the brilliant blue of autumn, with only a trace of wispy clouds. A friend they'd once known might have called it the eternal empyrean. They just called it a damn nice day.

The car rumbled to a halt in the gravel of the overlook. Heavy Detroit steel swung open on well-oiled hinges that always creaked anyway.

The man in the beat-up leather jacket opened the trunk and dug around. He emerged with several dripping bottles and he carried them over to the picnic table, where his brother was sorting through the contents of a brown paper bag.

"Okay, we've got barbeque chips, vinegar chips, and crab chips, six apples, two Snicker bars, and a bag of baby carrots. Where's my v8."

"I left it in the cooler. I brought you a pony bottle of Coke and a Cheerwine instead."

Sam Winchester ground his teeth together at the thought of all that sugar, but he came from stock possessed of strong white teeth and had never had a cavity in his life. Besides, he secretly liked Cheerwine, and they only came across it once or twice a year.

Dean popped open the Cheerwine for Sam and a tiny emerald bottle for himself, downing half of it in the first gulp.

"Man, what is it about the tiny bottles that makes Coke taste so much better," Dean said, with a mighty carbonated sigh.

Sam rejected the psychological answer in favor of the folklorical. "Legend has it," he intoned, in his expository voice, "that the pony bottles all come from Mexico, where they still make Coke with cane sugar instead of corn syrup."

"Ah," Dean sighed again, and then burped while saying "Samuel Campbell Winchester."

Sam had never had a middle name, but after Dean had met their grandad, he had rectified the situation by always adding the "Campbell" into his belch. Dean's middle name had been Michael, but that didn't matter any more. In hindsight, they would have understood their mother's long game a little more clearly if they had just been paying attention.

Dean popped open the hood of the car and pulled a big foil wrapped bundle from off the top of the manifold, balancing it gingerly on his fingertips and hustling it over to the picnic table.

Sam kept his mouth shut as Dean pulled back the foil. Any comments about sogginess or cold spots resulted in immediate forfeiture of the lunch.

Deep inside the foil layers Dean revealed two red and white paper baskets of steak fries (soggy, as Sam expected, but steaming), a huge handful of ketchup packets (Dean loved him some ketchup, and maintained that hot ketchup was tastier than cold) and two cheeseburgers wrapped in paper, the size of Sam's head. Well, no, but at least the size of his massive paw. Which was still saying something.

Dean opened the wrapping and took an enormous bite of cheeseburger. Sam knew Dean thought he was picky, but the truth was that Sam enjoyed just watching the sensations of pure pleasure that registered across Dean's face as he ate. Eating put Dean in the moment in a way that would make a Zen monk nod in smiling approval.

Sam peeled back the wrapper on his own burger and chomped down. It was hot and good. Sam felt the sunshine of late fall warm his skin. He opened his eyes, and the world around him looked like paradise. Across the table from him, his brother chewed messily and swallowed, licking a stray dribble of ketchup and juice from his chin.

"Good, huh, Sammy," Dean grinned.

It was November 2, 2015, Sam and Dean were still standing, and God was in his heaven: that much at least was right with the world.

"Yeah, Dean. It is," Sam smiled back.

 

Comments

[andreth47.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THIS. I really needed a happy fic tonight, TY! (also, lol "their mother's long game" in naming Dean Michael, and the Zen cheeseburger)

Q: What did the Buddhist monk say to the hot dog vendor?
A: Make me one with everything.

*ducks*

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I am SURE that Mary Campbell had a long game. She spent five years planning before she had Dean... I am convinced that something was up her sleeve.

My in-laws are all Buddhist types, so I actually wrote this at their retreat center!!

[andreth47.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, that's certainly possible. Do you think Michael is already in Dean somehow? I've heard that theory around.

Oh, and I meant to ask, what's Cheerwine? I don't think we have that in upstate NY...

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I like your icon! I accomplished my goal of rereading Good Omens over the break... it is peppered throughout with little things that Supernatural drops on us here and there. :)

I think that if Dean actually WERE Michael, in the way that Anna Milton was actually Anael, that Dean would have remembered it by now -- and also, it might have shown up when he died or when he was in Hell. It seems like Castiel would recognize him, the way the Angels recognized Anna. However, I think it could be that Mary asked for help from Michael, based on her telling Dean repeatedly that Angels were watching over him. I think it's possible that Dean is "michael ready" in a way that Nick or Raphael's poor vessel were not.

However, with Sammy-- I don't think Mary could have anticipated that Azazel would feed him demon blood, or that he would grow up to have powers, and to nourish his powers with more demon blood and exercise them until he was able to kill high level demons with his brain.

I also think the fact that both of them have died and been brought back must have some effect on their vesselly status.

I am still not looking forward to bro v bro. I hope they avoid it!! Winchester brotherliness should always trump messages of destiny from outside forces.

Cheerwine! I googled it to learn more, and it is made in North Carolina (which is why we only see it in the south) and when it is sold in glass bottles it uses cane sugar just like the legendary mexican coke. It is a very sweet cherry soda and highly carbonated.

Cheerwine sounds lovely!!

[andreth47.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, tell me what you thought of GO!! Damn, I love that book. I totally ship Crowley/Aziraphale, of course! So many quotes and great bits, like Shadwell and his cigarettes, and War with her 'teeth like beautiful bullets', and the Chattering Order of Saint Beryl, and The Them ("there were only two ways a child could go with a name like Pippin Galadrield Moonchild, and Pepper had chosen the other")!! And Dog. And the tapes turning into Best of Queen albums.

*loves*

I agree with your comments about Mary and Dean and Sam. I guess we're going to see Mary again sometime this season? Not sure.

I keep thinking that the boys are going to voluntarily say yes to both their possessors, as part of a Very Silly and Possibly Self-Sacrifical PLAN. As Winchesters do.

The plan will work, but one or both will die executing it. Then Cas and God and possibly Adam, will pull a reincarnation or two out of their ass? I dunno, haven't really figured that bit out yet... ;D

Re: Cheerwine sounds lovely!!

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

It's kind of weird, but my actual religious beliefs keep interfering with how I see the season working. Like, in RL, I believe in an "ineffable God" much like Aziraphale does, a god not playing chess, but extremely complicated solitaire. The Angels complain that only four of them have Seen God, but is Seeing God something a being in time or space can really DO? I doubt it. To me, Seeing God is very much like Being God. If Dean's amulet ever does burn, in my mind, it would be because the brothers Winchester finally make the leap of faith, that enables them to stop the Apocalypse -- to me, much like in Good Omens, it would be the defense of the World against the callous forces of Good/Evil -- the defense of what even Lucifer calls God's crowning Creation (except that he omits the humans). I think Kripke has put Dean solidly on the path of defending humanity and the human world against all the arrayed forces. I don't think Dean will say Yes unless he gets an assurance that it will mean the survival of his family and his way of life -- not a reward in the Fields of the Lord (which btw sound very much like an Angel Fairy Tale to me!) I also miss Anna, I wish that God would mysteriously save her as well. ---- In a very very far fetched aside, I haven't seen anyone mention that Anna is the grandmother of God? the word "Anna" being one of our oldest indo-european names for the Original Goddess -- ie. Di Anna, or In Anna.

And Yay Adam or ah, Jesse in this case, right? I definitlely think you can't bring an Antichrist on stage without setting him off!! :P

Pippin Galadriel Moonchild!! haha! My house is called Tir annun -- Looks West. -- so it is both Elvish and Led Zeppish. :)

[erinrua.livejournal.com]

EEEEEEEEEEEEE! Oh, this is simply delicious! Happy boys, so many wonderful visual and tactile details, and the ending - 2015 and God is in his heaven?

I am purring, now, because that means the boys won the war, and they both lived through it. Oh, for the happiest of happies! Thank you, dearest authorly person! This is perfect.

I am also now craving a big, fat burger to eat on a roadside picnic table. *g* Thank you!!

(Uh, but what is Cheerwine?)

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you liked it. I'll have to pop in on the happy prompt fest as well!

Cheerwine is a very sweet cherry soda with an awesome name, made in North Carolina. It's local to the South, so you don't see it everywhere.

Sam and Dean were actually drinking "retro Cheerwine" which is sold in glass bottles and sweetened with cane sugar, like the legendary pony bottles of Coke. :)

[erinrua.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooh, okay. LOL, love the idea of the boys chugging down sticky-sweet soda. Hee! And retro Cheerwine? That sounds awesome. *g* If I get back out to the Carolinas sometime, I'll have to look for and try it out! :-)

Re: Cheerwine and Soggy Fries

[fannishliss.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks for reading!!

I really love this little moment. Erinrua gave me this gentle prompt and it percolated for like two weeks. And I wrote it at my in-laws' zen retreat. Ahhhhh!

I love how Sammy is wary about his lunch. Ever the little brother!!

I have this thing where I tend use rhetorical punctuation inside speeches. Let me know if it bothers you too much? I think it's because of all the nineteenth century diaries with their sudden Capitalization and dashes ----- everywhere ------ and commas, for every pause, whether necessary or not. :)

[sabacat.livejournal.com]

I liked that. It's nice to see the boys doing something so peaceful and ~normal~, where the only thing Sam has to worry about is soggy fries. ^_^

Cheerwine is a gift from the gods... pure and simple! It's THE greatest soft drink on Earth! :P And definitely one of the top ten best reasons to live in NC. lol