Title: Mirrorball
Author: MissAnnThropic
LiveJournal: miss_annthropic(dot)livejournal(dot)com
Summary: Dean plays with light and sound and mood like a disco ball, but he needs other people to light him up.
Disclaimer: None of it's mine. I'm just a sad little fangirl that spends her days writing fanfic and watching DVDs of her favorite shows :(
Author's Note: I wrote the first two paragraphs of this weeks ago then it just languished on my hard drive as I struggled to find a way to write the rest. I wanted it to be a full-length story and couldn't figure out how to do it, until I finally gave in and said 'fine, have it your way, Muse.'
Dean doesn't exist outside a vacuum. He's refractive. All the vitality he shows is the energy reflecting off the people around him. He plays with light and sound and mood like a disco ball, but he needs other people to light him up.
Dean alone is a mirrorball in a dark room. No glitter and dazzle. He needs people to shine.
Once, Sam came across Dean when he was completely alone. It was rare to find Dean by himself. Without Dad, Sam, some woman, someone… Dean went to great pains not to find himself alone. He sought out company when he looked up and realized he was the only person in a room.
That day, Sam found Dean sitting on the end of the bed in their motel room. How long he had been alone, Sam could not say. Long enough. Why he had stayed there, alone, instead of going after companionship was another mystery Sam couldn't solve.
Dean looked up at his younger brother, plainly not expecting anyone, and the eyes Sam met were empty. Flat. Nothing. The dark of isolation had lasted long enough that the residual light of the last person Dean reflected had gone.
For a moment, looking into his brother's eyes and seeing a blank stare, Sam was afraid.
Then Dean began to light up, his eyes glittered as he threw Sam's light back at him, and Dean was himself again. In the presence of someone else, his refractive nature shone through in a broken-light pattern that belonged to Sam.
Belonged to Sam, but it was Dean.
The mirrorball.
END