This is another tiny little fic that's been sitting on my computer for a while. Kind of an outsider's POV and a "choose which brother" story. Not set in a specific season, though I imagine it'd be in one of the later ones.

Clear Your Vision

If you had attempted to walk in his shoes, I imagine you wouldn't've lasted long. If you had caught but one glimpse into his mind, I doubt you would remember how to breathe. He has seen things you cannot imagine, been through a Hell you will never understand. His brilliant eyes have seen the very worst there is to see. And I wonder if you would ever be able to make those eyes shine as bright as his do, if you had seen the same. I wonder if you would be able to remain standing on two feet if you carried the burden that digs a cavernous hole in his heart and splays it's grunting weight across his weary shoulders.

I think not.

I think you would collapse under the strain of the life he has lived. I think you would've given up long ago, would've ceased living if it meant relief from that jagged, cutting pain that never goes away. And I think that maybe if you had looked, if you had really looked at him, then maybe you wouldn't have been so unforgiving. Maybe you would've understood why his speech was sloppy and his limbs were clumsy and why he couldn't quite control the drink in his hand. If you had lived the life he has, you would want an escape too. And maybe you could've understood that desperation, that need for numbness. If only you had just taken that one extra second to find his eyes. Then maybe you would've seen what it means to lose your faith. To have nothing left. If you had only paid attention to the broken way he carried himself, even before the first shot of whiskey found its way down his parched throat, then maybe you would've reacted differently. Maybe then this broken, ruined man wouldn't have a bloody nose to add to the endless catalog of injuries that already slice long, unhealing marks across his soul. If only you had looked.

If only you had seen.

Thanks for reading, as always!