Finally managed to push past my writers block. Who knew writing two drabbles would be such hard work? Goddamn.
For anonymous:
They were kids when they met. Barely into double numbers. Both lost and motherless, alienated because their fathers refused to settle for reasons neither were old enough to really comprehend.
They were friends for six weeks. Inseparable as two loners could be in a school that was one in a list of many. After six weeks she disappeared. He lost her to a city called Metropolis, but he never really forgot her.
That was the first time Sam Winchester met Chloe Sullivan. But it wasn't the last.
---
He stumbles across her accidently, searching low-grade horror stories on the internet for potential cases. He recognises the name, has seen it printed numerous times on top-story bylines, but that was a long time ago.
He trusts her word and tracks her down in Metropolis to aide in a routine exorcism. She clearly knows the wheres, whens and whys of supernatural activity, but not the hows of eradicating it.
He assures Dean that he's fine going it alone, promises that he'll call immediately if he needs help, and leaves his brother to the whims of the city nightlife.
He meets her at apartment after a brusque phonecall covers the basics -- ... it's Sam Winchester... Kansas... thought you might need help... supernatural... my job... -- and she greets him with a wide smile when she opens the door. He remembers that smile. It's hard to forget.
It isn't hard to notice how well she's grown up. The pretty little blonde kid he shared lunch with every day for six weeks has suddenly become a beautiful young woman and it's a strange sight to see. He forgets that years have flown by, that in the grand scheme of things he was never really a big part of her life. But he notices and he remembers and it makes him smile a little. And it makes something in him ache, because from a distance, when she's turned a certain way, she looks a little like Jess.
He ignores it, ushers them out of the apartment, and on the way he bombards her with questions about her life and her work. He brings up her articles in the Daily Planet, how occasionally he would try to imagine what she would look like clicking away behind a desk. But when he mentions the sudden shift of her byline from top-quality newspaper to low-time internet rag, her face falls and he starts to realise there's a reason for it, and it isn't a good one. So he drops the subject and they don't speak again until the job is done.
On the way back he rings Dean to let him know that he's okay, that the job went as planned and that he'll be home soon. His brother babbles something about the joys of Metropolitan nightlife and hangs up, clearly in his element.
When they arrive he follows Chloe back up to her apartment. He closes the door behind him and turns, only to find her standing inches away from him. And then she steps forward and places a hesitant kiss on his lips.
"I'm glad you came," she whispers and backs away, smiling. She disappears into the kitchen and Sam watches her go.
He's still for a moment, a little shocked. But then he smiles and shakes his head and follows her into the kitchen.
And he knows this will be another moment to remember, one of many. Because it may not be the first time Sam Winchester has met Chloe Sullivan, but it won't be the last, either.
For
shopfront:
She uses him, and he lets her.
When she's alone and tired, when something inside her aches and she can't run away from it, she runs to him. And she hurts him. When she wraps her body around him, when she pounds him with hate and fury as he pounds into her, she hurts him. Because she doesn't love him. Can't love him. Not like Logan.
She watches him break a little more each time and it makes her angrier. She's waiting for him to end it, to make it stop, but he never does and she never asks him why. Because she knows already. And that's why she uses him, hurts him, breaks him. Because he can love her like Logan can't, and sometimes, just sometimes, she gets a little peace.
And everyday she waits. Waits for something to change. And everyday she wonders who will be the first to break.
Because she uses him, and he lets her.