Author's Notes : (Summer Gen Prompt: An obnoxious demon lives in the glove-compartment of the impala, and neither Sam nor Dean want to go in there, but they have to, I mean, their fake ID's are in there, while their on a different case.) Hope you enjoy!
Summary : The Winchesters are miles from their destination when they discover they have a bit of a problem. Sam is amused, Dean… not so much. But after a few hours of going nowhere, both brothers have had it. It's time for war, this time with feeling…
"Make a left onto 202." Sam says quietly and Dean follows his brother's directions without so much as a grunt of acknowledgement.
They stopped talking two hours ago after exhausting topics like the weather and that poltergeist terrorizing people in Sugar Loaf got old.
"Here?" Dean asks briefly and silence descends again as he guides the Impala down the Palisades Interstate.
There's not much of anything around to see, just mountains and green. Hot too, Dean notices, as Sam carefully rolls down the window as to not draw any attention to himself. Dean's cranky; he knows it and he stopped pretending to be otherwise about a hundred miles ago. He almost smiles at his brother's attempts to keep his head down.
All this being on the road together, close quarters, tension mixed with weeks of repressed fear is causing them to butt heads more often than not. It had been a mixed vote on whether they should do this job at all but Dean finally agreed after an almost taking his brother's head off. Sam had only been trying to explain that a small hunt might be good for them. A distraction. A diversion. Whatever.
They had left the motel four hours ago and the casual conversation had ended. Dean knows there's so much that's been unsaid that maybe should be. But every time Sam tries talking to Dean they both end up annoyed. Dean knows Sam's starting to regret wanting to say anything at all.
Communication, they need to work on that. Or at least that's what Sam keeps saying. Frankly Dean would rather drive in silence.
"Shit." Dean hisses suddenly and pulls the car off the road as it makes an unnerving sound.
The car rolls to a stop and Sam stares at him. "What is it?"
"Shhh." Dean says and tilts his head to the side.
He can hear a low muffled groaning, and then a sigh and then something that sounds like –
Music scales? "What the hell?"
It gets louder and he looks at the radio, but it's off.
He looks in the back seat - nothing.
But it's inside the car?
It gets louder again, but still muffled, like it's inside a box or something. Dean gets out of the car and opens the trunk, but after a few minutes of shuffling around weapons, bags, and their rag-tag collection of odds and ends he gives up and comes back to the driver's seat. As soon as he sits, one leg hanging out of the Impala and the other in, it stops.
"Huh. Sammy did you hear -"
Sam shrugs, but then it starts up again.
There!
Dean's hand snakes out toward the glove compartment so fast Sam jumps. The compartment falls open and something shrieks from inside it.
"Aieeeee!! You scared me! Took you long enough, I was just starting my G-minor scale trying to get you boys to pay attention."
Sam's eyebrows disappear into his hairline. Standing inside the compartment is a freaky looking blue thing in an even darker blue vest and pants. It looks like something from a fucked up version of Sesame Street crossed with one of those troll dolls. Only… kinda glittery.
"Do you know what that is?" Sam asks.
"No." Dean mutters.
"Do you know how it got there?" Sam adds.
"No." Dean says again.
"Do you have any idea how to rid of it, Dean?"
Dean rounds on his brother, "What are you, five?! If I don't know what it is, and I don't know how it got there, how in the hell am I supposed to know how to get rid of it?!"
Sam gives back one of his more wounded expressions and Dean begins to wonder if he's doing it just to piss him off.
"'It' is standing right here." The thing warbled. "You could just, you know, talk to me."
They both turned to look at it, then back to each other. Sam nodded his head at the demon. Dean shook his. Sam nodded harder. Dean's shook harder in response.
There was a slight tapping noise, "Ahem. Waiting."
I can't believe this. The little freak's actually tapping his foot at us?!
Rolling his eyes, Dean finally ventured, "Fine. So then, how do we get rid of you?"
The demon grinned and he looked between the brothers. "Well…it's a complicated process."
Dean glared and the demon chuckled.
"Aww boys, don't get angry. You know what? I like you; I'll let you off easy,"
The demon straightened his shoulders, and took a few deep breaths. Dean turned to Sam, about to ask him if this was real or if he had just fallen asleep at the wheel, when the small thing burst out into song.
"How do you document real life when real life's getting more like fiction each day…"
With a flourish, he stopped. And waited. "C'mon, guys.. You know what that means, right? It's easy - sing a song for me and I'll go, I'll disappear like it was nothing and you boys can go on bickering and doing whatever it is that you do."
Dean raises an eyebrow and steals a glance at his brother who apparently thinks this is pretty funny as he's trying not to laugh out loud.
The little demon stands there, waiting for a minute and apparently has A Thought as it suddenly gasps and a small blue hand flies to its mouth, reminding Dean of that gay guy from that sitcom awhile back - what was it? Some annoying redhead, a brunette with a voice that made Dean keep it on mute…
Man, maybe Sammy's right, I have been watching too much TV. Great.
"Tell me you know that song." It gasps, its eyes wide. "You have to know that song! It's from the best show ever!!!"
"Nope, sorry." Dean answered.
"Nooo!" The blue creature's cries set Dean's teeth on edge. He turns to Sam with a pleading look. "You must know it, you spent time in college, come on big guy, tell me you know this song."
When Sam shook his head the creature proceeded to bang his head against the inside of the compartment, throwing his little hands up in frustration. "Why!? What is wrong with kids these days? Have they no culture?"
It continues to shake his head in frustration as it starts to pace the small area.
"I have sooo much to teach you." The blue thing looks at them. "Sorry fellas, but it looks like you're not going anywhere."
Dean fixes the demon with what he hopes is a very determined glare. "I am not singing show tunes."
"That's what you think, sweetie." And the demon smiled. "Sing, my angels of music, and I'll be gone!"
Like hell.
Two hours later they were still sitting at the side of the road. Apparently Marvin, who finally gave his name after Sam correctly identified a song from Oliver!, had control of the Impala and he wasn't going to budge until the deed was done. Dean couldn't even get the car to start.
After the first fifteen minutes, Dean had been about to jump into that "I feel pretty," song one of his girlfriends had liked to sing, when Marvin stopped him, casually informing the brothers that there was a catch.
But he won't say what it is.
"This is more fun!" Marvin insisted. "Think of what you'll learn!"
Beyond that, he hadn't said much. He just sang. A lot. Without stopping.
Sam had still thought it was kind of funny, until after the eighth or ninth song, when he realized he couldn't get some song about being popular out of his head. Dean took no small satisfaction out of watching his brother as he laid his head back on the seat, squeezed his eyes shut and moaned in frustration. (Or at least moaned to try and drown out Marvin who was going on and on about going "Into the woods…" or some weird repetitious thing about cows and cloaks and some weird spell-type crap. Dean couldn't follow, it was too damn fast.)
Finally, Dean decides he just wants to burn a clip into him and be done with it, but Sam keeps reminding him that he'd hit the car, too, with no guarantee that Marvin wasn't bullet-proof. Besides, it was a harmless creature; just annoying as hell.
An idea occurs to Dean as Marvin wails about a Technicolored coat of some sort.
"There's gotta be something in here." He mutters, reaching into the backseat and coming up with their father's journal in his hand.
He sits back down in the seat and flips through the pages.
Marvin's latest song finally ends. "You know what Broadway show reminds me of you boys?"
"Please, do tell." Sam mutters with his eyes still closed as he lay back in the seat.
"Well actually there are many…" The blue demon seemed to consider. "Rent, for one, just because I can both see you serenading to either "Take Me or Leave Me" or "Without you"…" The demon seems to consider that for a second and chuckles. "Heh."
"Yeah yeah…" Dean said in a bored tone. "Can you just please tell us how to get rid of you?"
The demon grinned. "You'll see boys…"
And then the door to the compartment slams shut. "Hey!" Dean reached out and pulled on it, but it wouldn't budge.
"That's a very interesting little demon." Sam deadpanned.
"Will you just help me, already!" Dean snapped, still trying to pry the glove compartment door open.
"Together you're unlimited, together you're the greatest team…."
"Just tell us already!" Dean huffed, banging on the door. But the demon continues to ignore him singing something about some guys named Mark and Roger.
"Will you shut up and listen for a second!" Dean yelled.
There was a pause. "Ask nicely." Marvin shouts.
Dean suppresses a string of curses. "Can you please tell me, how we get rid of you?"
Dean asks slowly this time and glares at Sam who's choking back another fit of laughter.
"You know, you could do a little more to help here Sam." Dean takes a half-hearted swing at his brother's arm.
The demon ignored Dean's latest plea and went back to singing, now about rocking a boat.
Screw it.
With a jolt, Dean angrily walks away from the car.
"Where are you going?" Sam calls, getting out with a worried expression replacing his amused one.
"I'm calling Bobby. I'm done with this crap!" Dean shouts back and Sam eventually settles back in the car. Dean can barely make out Marvin singing "All That Jazz."
Dean dials the number by heart. When the gruff voice answers, he doesn't waste any time, quickly explaining the situation.
When Bobby finally stops , ("Show tunes?! In the glove compartment?!"), he finally tells Dean what he needs to know. Dean's mood darkens as he looks at his brother sitting oh-so-innocently back in the car.
"Thanks Bobby." He finishes as he shuts off his phone, sliding back into the driver's seat.
Marvin's singing about the "rain in Spain…" now.
"Sam you little Bitch!" Dean growls. "'Do you have any idea how to get rid of it, Dean?'" He sneered, mimicking his brother's tone.
Sam was trying to keep a straight face. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I have no idea what you're talking about." Dean mocked again. "Christ, Sammy."
He reaches over and angrily knocks on the compartment again. "Marvin!" He yelled. "Shut it – we' re ending this!"
"Dean, what are you doing?" Sam asked.
"Drop it Sammy, I just talked to Bobby, these things have to be summoned. There are thousands of them, minor gods of mischief and trickery. And since I didn't summon it…"
Well and truly busted now, Sam shoots his brother a sheepish grin. "You did say no more practical jokes until the next hundred miles, and, Dude, it's been way more than a hundred miles…"
Dean can't stop the weary chuckle that escapes his lips; he can't really be annoyed anymore. "I give, Sammy, summoning a demon, impressive. Desperate, but impressive. Now, please tell me how to get rid of this thing."
Sam's grin spreads, and he taps on the compartment. It pops open.
"What can I do you for, boys?" Marvin asks, smiling, and as his gaze travels from one brother to the other, his smile fades. "Awww, party's over isn't it, Sam?"
Sam nods as he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a tape recorder and a piece of paper. "Okay…" He cleared his throat. "So, he has to umm, sing a song…but the catch is there has to be some meaning behind it. Like it relates, and I already looked at some songs that kind of mean something, I mean I think they do…" Sam is cut off as Dean snatches the recorder and the list.
"What's with the tape?" He asks.
"I wasn't sure you'd ever heard the songs before, tape's for reference."
"Jesus Christ, Sammy," Dean mutters and looked over the list. "Such a chick."
Dean's eyes grew serious as he read the songs and the lyrics. Leave it to Sam to find the weepiest, most emotional crap to make me sing… but his expression remains solemn. Dean puts on the headphones with another glaring look at his brother and plays a section of the tape. He's surprised to find that he actually seems to remember hearing the songs somewhere. After he listens all the way through, he hands back the headphones and the list, pointing to his choice.
Sam looks pleased. It doesn't last.
"You know I'm making you sing with him, right, Sam?" Marvin gleefully remarks.
Sam's groan makes Dean smile.
"Are you ready to get rid of me boys?" The demon asks.
Dean grins. "You betcha."
'Alright, let's see what you got."
Dean exchanges a glance with his brother.
"After you, Sammy, she's all yours…"
"'Kay." Sam said and breathed. "There is no future, there is no path."
Dean chimed in. "Thank God this moment's not the last..."
Then they both sang at the same time. "There's only us, there's only this. Forget regret or life is yours to miss…"
"No other road, no other way. No day but today."
Sam starts one verse, "Can't control, my destiny, I trust my soul. My only goal is just to be."
While Dean overlaps, "Will I lose my dignity, will someone care?, Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare…."
Their singing tapers off after that, neither brother really wanting to finish it out. They both had read and heard the rest of the song and they didn't need to tell each other what they hadn't spoken.
Marvin on the other hand….
"I die, without you!"
The little blue demon continues singing out to the final, "No day but today," and wipes his eyes. "Ohhhh, boys, that was perfect, bravo! Bravo."
With a short bow, Marvin intones "But now I must depart."
Sam and Dean finally exchange a look, having not looked at each other since singing.
With a final little sniff, the demon starts singing again...
"I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason. Bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow. If we let them and we help them in return… Well I don't know if I believe that's true, but I know I'm who I am today, because I knew you." Marvin finished and nodded through the tears, overly dramatic and Dean smiled and gave him a wave.
"It well may be that we will never meet again in this lifetime. So let me say before we part. So much of me is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me like a handprint on my heart…" Marvin slowly steps backwards and his voice fades as a light envelops him and he's gone.
The brothers climb back into the Impala. Dean turns the key in the ignition and the Impala starts up on the first try. Turning and grinning at Sam, he pushes a tape into the deck and cranks the volume up. AC/DC roars out of the speakers and he nods, his grin finally spreading to his eyes.
"That's more like it."