xaara ([personal profile] xaara) wrote2007-01-17 12:48 pm

FNL/SPN Crossover: Like This

Title: Like This
Author: [livejournal.com profile] xaara
Rating/Pairing: PG, gen, crossover
Timeline: Stanford-era Dean, post-1.08 Tim. Yes, I realize these don't quite line up. Work with me here.
Characters: Dean Winchester, Tim Riggins
Summary: He's good at that, the not thinking. He sleeps carefully and forgets his dreams.
A/N:Remember how I said I wanted to either write or read Dean/Tim Riggins fic? Well, I couldn't find any. So I wrote something that, while not technically Dean/Tim, does have both characters.

Like This

Some kid's dad gone missing and it's like the entire town suddenly cares about not-football. Kinda freaks Tim out, he thinks about it too hard, so he doesn't. Downs generic cheapass shit beer and shoulders his brother to one side so they can watch TV. Their gazes parallel like train tracks, two lines of steel or whatever the fuck they make train tracks out of, and you look long enough, seems like they intersect. Tim figures their gazes hit Katie Couric and pretty much stop right the fuck there. Nothing metaphorical about it.

First time Tim sees him, the new guy's picking up a burger and curly fries to go. Wearing leather and jeans, and it's way too hot for that shit. Tim watches a bead of sweat form at the guy's hairline, slip down the back of his neck. "Heard you had some disappearing dude," says the guy, and Trish, serving today, says Yeah, Mister Parks, called his wife to tell her he'd be home for dinner and never showed.

"Huh," says the guy. Tim watches the way his shoulders bend towards Trish. He's cutting her off and including her in his circle of two. He wants something.

She's been in the business long enough to read that, read men. Tim knows because of the one time he tried to hit on her. Honey, she'd said, honey, I'm twelve years older than you and when was the last time you washed your hair?

He hadn't tried again.

But Trish is listening to this guy, smiling at him. As Tim watches, she tips her chin down and her eyes up while the man leans a little farther forward, lowers his voice. "You aren't worried?" he asks.

Trish laughs and tells him that all she's got to worry about is her next mortgage payment, especially what with Billy growing like a weed and no child support in sight, nosir, that sonofabitch.

New guy shakes his head and agrees with her. Hands her a twenty and waves off his change, says he expects to be compensated in saturated fat and anyway what's the point, arteries are probably so clogged by now it'll be all he can do to spend his cash before he checks out. Trish laughs again and commands him to have a nice day, y'hear? Come back anytime.

"Don't expect to be in town long," says the man, "but I'll stop by before I leave."

When the man turns around, Tim whips his eyes back to his food, gone grease and gristle in front of him. Still, he feels the man's stare like sunlight on the back of his neck, hot. Threatening to burn if he doesn't do something about it.

He doesn't do anything, takes a sip of his drink. Picks at the edge of the table where the laminate's peeling.

Yeah, he thinks, yeah, come over here, start shit.

The man doesn't do anything, just walks past Tim's table without pausing. It takes Tim three nauseating bites of his burger to notice the note—try again. -dean—ripped from receipt paper and curled like a parenthesis on the table.

--

The next day, Tim takes the truck out to the range, shoots until his shoulder aches. Hits target after target, pump, set, weight of the trigger against his grip, squeeze. Jason, he thinks, hands steady. Sight, shoot. Shred the target, recoil so strong he can't think, can't breathe for a second. His heart beats thickly inside his earmuffs.

Gun empty, Tim crouches, curls his finger over the trigger guard, studies the dirt beneath his feet. When he stands up, the new guy is leaning against a car behind him.

Tim hooks his muffs around his neck. "Hey," he says.

"Nice shooting," says the guy.

Tim shrugs. "Yeah."

"Dean," the guy says by way of introduction. He's lost the jacket, replaced it with a grey t-shirt ripped at the hem.

"Tim."

"Okay," Dean says. He pauses for a second, squints out over the range. "It always this fucking hot?"

Tim half-smiles, relaxes his grip on the rifle. "Yeah," he says.

"Super," says Dean. "Well. See you around."

Sweet car, Tim thinks as Dean climbs in and growls the engine to life, gravel crunching as he pulls slowly from the parking lot.

--

Dean has a black eye and a limp the next time Tim sees him. These correspond with Mister Parks' reappearance, but Tim doesn't think about it. He's good at that, the not thinking. He sleeps carefully and forgets his dreams.

"I'm telling you, it was something straight out of the tabloids," Parks tells the paper. "Looked like bigfoot or something."

Tim hears the car before he sees it, and he steps out onto the porch, flags Dean down. He notices the injuries when Dean stops and gets out, says, "What?"

"You got room for one more?" Tim asks, and he doesn't know what the fuck he's doing. Thinks he doesn't have a helluva lot to lose.

"Hitchhiking with strangers? What would your—"

"She's gone," Tim says, cutting Dean off. "You gonna give me a ride or what?"

Dean lends him a thoughtful look and seems to come to a decision. He jerks his chin towards the car. "Hop in."

--

"Heard about the quarterback," Dean says once they've ridden in silence three, four miles outside town. High-tension wires against the sky like yard lines. He imagines running across them, shocks jolting him forward with each step.

"Got a name," says Tim. "Street."

"Yeah, I figured. Heard you and him were close."

Close, Tim thinks. Living the land, nothing but Texas stretched out forever in front of them. "Yeah," he says.

"Sorry," says Dean. "It's tough, losing that."

Tough, right. Losing your best friend and your dreams and your future and on top of it, "I slept with his girl," Tim says, eyes front.

Dean doesn't say anything for a while. Nods, finally. "Lemme guess," he says. "QB got wind of it and won't talk to you."

"Pretty much." The car seems tiny. Tim has nothing to do with his hands.

The sun's beginning to set by the time they pull over onto the shoulder, stop and get out. Tim stretches his arms above his head until he feels his shoulders pop. The fields are daunting in their silence. Dean faces the nightfall, last light slippery against his back. Tim closes his eyes against the sun. "What brings you to Dillon?" he asks.

"'m an investigator," Dean says, "looking into the Parks case." It's bullshit, but Tim lets it slide. He doesn't care, really, doesn't want to know.

"Leaving soon?" he asks.

"Yeah."

Dean turns around until the sun illuminates both of them and Tim sees clear green eyes and freckles. And something else. "Wasn't your fault," he says before he realizes it, before he's sure.

He's sure, though, when Dean turns to him, frowning. "What?"

"Whatever it was," says Tim. He digs his toe into the ridge between grass and blacktop. "It wasn't your fault."

"Done a lot of things," says Dean.

"Me too," says Tim. Thinks, You don't know the half of it, man, you know jack shit.

They stand in silence until the sun sets. Lightning crawls in from the west, but it won't bring rain. Tim thinks about darkness and giving birth to something so pure it tears the sky open.

"Should probably get going," Dean says at last, voice startling. "I need to make Albuquerque by noon."

The car has grown in the darkness. Like a pumpkin, drive you home as long as you're in bed by midnight.

"Thanks," he says when Dean drops him off in front of the sign. Riggins. 33. Running back.

"Yeah," says Dean. He leans over and up in the absurd contortion people make to see out the passenger window. "Look. Good luck with the season."

It's over, Tim thinks, don't you get that? He forces a smile. "Yeah, thanks."

Dean smiles back, his eyes unreadable in the shadows. "Wasn't your fault, either," he says.

"Yes," says Tim, "it was."

He pushes off the car and up the front walk and doesn't turn around, not even when he hears the engine grumble away down the block. The door is unlocked. He goes inside.

Hey, his brother says from his sprawl across the entire fucking couch. Where you been?

Tim looks at him, feels the failure like always, high and sharp in his chest. He grabs a beer. "Nowhere."
ext_46841: (Default)

[identity profile] 1407graymalkin.livejournal.com 2007-01-17 07:41 pm (UTC)(link)
best. crossover. ever.


Dean and Tim is just hilarious. Even better if it had Sammy and Jason too. Cause then, then it would be frikin' amazing.

"Nice shooting," says the guy.

Tim shrugs. "Yeah."

"Dean," the guy says by way of introduction. He's lost the jacket, replaced it with a grey t-shirt ripped at the hem.

"Tim."

"Okay," Dean says. He pauses for a second, squints out over the range. "It always this fucking hot?"

Tim half-smiles, relaxes his grip on the rifle. "Yeah," he says.

"Super," says Dean. "Well. See you around."

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-01-18 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
I actually started playing around with a fuller crossover idea, but I got slightly hung up on what to do with Tyra. ;)

Thanks.

[identity profile] joyeuxnoel.livejournal.com 2007-01-17 07:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Oooh. I really, surprisingly enjoyed this a lot. You totally nailed the voice for both characters and I like the subtle understanding/bonding that Dean and Tim have. Plus I loved the spare description in contrast to the attention to detail. The sign on Riggin's lawn flowed nicely.

I'll confess, for about two seconds after I saw it was a crossover I was scared it was going to have something to do with Tyra and all those logistics. XD I'm definitely pleasantly surprised.

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-01-18 12:43 am (UTC)(link)
hehe, as I mentioned in my comment to [livejournal.com profile] 1407graymalkin, Tyra was one of the reasons I ended up writing a very small piece--I didn't want to have to deal with her and Sam and the inevitable (kind of silly) angst that would cause.

I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for the comment. :)

[identity profile] http://users.livejournal.com/_voxy/ 2007-01-17 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Tim hears the car before he hears it,
Should that be: before he sees it? :)

I don't usually read fan fic, but I couldn't help it when I saw the merging of two of my most favorite fandoms. Beautiful work and I loved that the two characters with the most guilt on their shoulders would be the ones to silently understand and attract each other.

Thank you!

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-01-18 12:51 am (UTC)(link)
Um. Yes. Yes it should be. *fixes* Thanks for the catch.

I definitely saw a lot of Dean parallels in Tim when I first started watching FNL, so the first thing that occurred to me was (of course) to get them talking somehow. Thank you for commenting. :)

Dean and Tim

[identity profile] ewanmax.livejournal.com 2007-01-17 09:33 pm (UTC)(link)
I did a double take when I saw the pairing because I've been way lost on Dean for about a year now and Tim is taking hold fast. Two of the most angst filled heartbreakers on tv and I'm crazy about both of them. So, all I can say is thanks.

Re: Dean and Tim

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-01-18 12:53 am (UTC)(link)
Angst-filled heartbreakers indeed. That's probably the most accurate description I've heard of the two of them so far. ;) Thank you.

[identity profile] astrothsknot.livejournal.com 2007-01-17 10:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Lovely job. I do feel that there's a lot of similarity between Dean and Tim - plus I'm one of the three folk watching FNL wishing there was more fic out there.

You've got how guys talk to each other very well.

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-01-18 12:57 am (UTC)(link)
I definitely wish there was more fic out there, but I also haven't really poked at the fandom--do you have any recommendations, either of stories or authors?

You've got how guys talk to each other very well. You know, that's seriously one of the best things you could've told me, because it's hard to get that sort of thing down on paper. Mostly because, well. Guys don't really talk to each other. :P

Thanks.

[identity profile] belle-1220.livejournal.com 2007-01-18 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, man. I f'love this. Tim and Dean, FTW!

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-01-18 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
No kidding re: the win. :)

Thanks!

[identity profile] geneli4.livejournal.com 2007-01-20 12:03 am (UTC)(link)
mmm, nice.... i think i like that there's more going on tim's head than there appears to be. *g* he's so darn pretty, sometimes it's easy to forget there might be more!

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-02-24 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
So I've now officially broken my record for longest lag-time between comment and response. :P

Thank you so much, and a definite yes to that second bit of your comment--he really does like to put up a stupid front, doesn't he?

[identity profile] expatiates.livejournal.com 2007-02-02 10:09 pm (UTC)(link)
well...that was pretty much fantastic. really excellent use of those two characters. my favorite line is the bit from the summary, "he sleeps carefully and forgets his dreams." really lovely in its simplicity.

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-02-25 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm actually glad you said "simplicity," because writing this fic consisted mostly of (a) writing a scene, and then (b) deleting about 80% of that scene.

Thank you for reading and commenting. :)
ext_1770: @ _jems_ (fandom: fnl made of nothing)

[identity profile] oxoniensis.livejournal.com 2007-02-22 10:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I loved this! It has this hot and sleepy sort of feel to it, that works so well with Tim's point of view. Great character voices too.

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-02-25 06:28 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you. :) It was surprisingly difficult to write through Tim; he's introspective, but in a very specific and limited sort of way. Capturing that in written form when he is so--not illiterate, antiliterate, maybe?--was a fun challenge.

[identity profile] halfway2home.livejournal.com 2007-02-24 07:31 am (UTC)(link)
Very nice. Tim's voice and inner turmoil really come through. There's a great descriptions too like these:

Their gazes parallel like train tracks, two lines of steel or whatever the fuck they make train tracks out of, and you look long enough, seems like they intersect.

and

Tim thinks about darkness and giving birth to something so pure it tears the sky open.

I hope you write more FNL/SPN fic. :)

[identity profile] xaara.livejournal.com 2007-02-25 06:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks. It was a lot of fun to write these two fandoms together; I'll have to see where I can get them to intersect in the future.

[identity profile] pocketfullof.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Lazy and hot and quiet. Very nice.

[identity profile] meriwethersays.livejournal.com 2007-04-11 05:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Very nice, you captured them well.

But now I want some Dean/Riggins smut. Damn.

[identity profile] iamzulma.livejournal.com 2007-04-13 04:16 pm (UTC)(link)
i liked this, a lot! seeing dean through tim's eyes and noticing how he is with women, and this curiosity about who he really is. i liked their banter, and it felt true to both of them. i hope FNL gets renewed, especially after that fantastic finale!
ext_7691: (Dean (by dekolette))

[identity profile] casapazzo.livejournal.com 2007-08-14 11:59 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, man -- there's just something so satisfying about two terse guys set together, isn't there? And I've been looking for more Dean/Tim since [livejournal.com profile] thisisbone got me addicted -- this is great! (If you're looking for more Dean/Tim + smut, check out her series.)

I love how your Tim is always looking, watching everything but it's all locked up inside. And your technique with the quotation marks - like the only conversations that are real are the ones between Dean and Tim. Poor boys. *smooshes them together*
ext_7691: (*facepalm* (by dev-earl))

[identity profile] casapazzo.livejournal.com 2007-08-14 12:05 pm (UTC)(link)
*facepalm* And I just noticed that you wrote this back in January, so you probably saw bone's by now. I always did suck at timing....