FIC: The Johnnie Walker Blues (gen PG-13)
Jun. 13th, 2011 09:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tebtoscaCharacter: Rufus Turner gen
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 645
Warnings: Spoilers for all Rufus episodes
Disclaimer: Don't own, still broke
Summary: When the burn is both too much and not enough
Notes: inspired by the Rufus theme week over at
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all_spn and because Rufus Turner is my one true love
The first time Rufus Turner ever took a sip of Johnnie Walker Blue, he was twenty-two and working his first big job. Clean headshot took out the ghoul harassing the owner of the glittziest lounge this side of the Mississippi, and said owner was relieved enough to pull him into the backroom after closing to teach him about the finer things in life. Rufus grinned wide when the man pulled a bottle of Blue out of his desk and laid a perfectly rolled Cuban down in front of him. Rufus was dirty and smelled like musk and bits of ghoul brains, but the owner had just smiled in return and pushed the crystal tumbler next to the cigar and nodded at it. Rufus took in the first big gulp and promptly started choking. The owner just laughed without malice and patted him on the back until he recovered.
++++++
When Rufus met the woman he ended up loving, it was like he was a blind man who suddenly opened his eyes and saw the sun. Radiant and overwhelming and so goddamn beautiful in its audacity that at first he hadn’t known whether he could live up to it. But when she smiled shyly at him from behind the grandiose door of her parents’ house in Lincoln, Nebraska and led him into the den to meet her father, Rufus knew it was worth it. He pulled a bottle of Blue from behind his back and presented it to the man he most needed to impress. Rufus had hustled two hours worth of pool at a dive bar two towns over to afford it, but it was worth every single cent when her daddy took the bottle out of his hands and turned around to hide his half smile.
++++++
Bob Singer fucked up. Hadn’t meant to, but he had. The only woman Rufus ever loved paid for it. Rufus looked at him and he imagined that his own face mirrored the one that Ellen Harvelle wore the first time someone mentioned John Winchester after Bill died. The sorrow on Bob’s face, however, made it hard for Rufus to breathe, so he fled.
++++++
That night Rufus sat in a rundown motel room in Omaha with a bottle of the cheapest whisky he could find. It felt like battery acid going down and that was exactly what he wanted. He wanted it to hurt, to sizzle his tongue and throat and gullet. He wanted something pouring down his throat that could try and match the disgust and pain coating his insides. It didn’t work; nothing could match that kind of trauma. But the effort was there, and the next day when he threw the entire bottle back up again all over himself and the puke green carpeting and the musty old bedspread, it felt almost like a reverse communion.
++++++
Rufus could never forget, would never forgive. But as Bob showed up at his door eight weeks later and held out the bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue, Rufus took it in his calloused hand and poured them each a glass.
The Blue went down smooth. It still burned the cords going down, but it was a good burn. The burn of flushed cheeks from that first kiss. The burn of that first push into slick wet tightness that felt like a promise. The burn of knowing that only one gal would ever be enough.
Bob nursed the glass. He didn’t say anything. Didn’t have to. Just sat with Rufus until the bottle was gone and the pain ebbed, a sense of grief and history shared that went beyond anything that might have happened.
“This is good,” Rufus stated, holding the empty bottle like the white flag that it was. Bob glanced at him, his face showing that he understood.
“Yeah, it sure is, ain’t it,” Bob nodded and the burn cooled.
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no subject
Date: 2011-06-13 03:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-13 06:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 02:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-13 10:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 12:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 01:32 am (UTC)The writing is so clean, and I'm a big admirer of clean since I can so rarely manage it myself. I love how he calls Bobby "Bob", it sort of brings home that the Bobby Singer he knows isn't the exact same man the Winchesters know, and that maybe he knows him better.
I want moooore. This is a story told between the facts, and it's frustrating on the first read because I waaaant to know what happened in Omaha and about the love of his life. And then I realize that the story isn't about the facts - it's about Johnnie Walker Blue. Which is probably why this became so poignant; no facts, just the raw emotion.
It's a brilliant job. And now I'm going to go watch Weekend At Bobby's again, right after I put this in my rec list.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 01:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 02:23 am (UTC)I do love so many of these secondary and tertiary characters that exist in this universe. I mean, even Bobby himself. There's so much we don't know about him and just think about what a fucking amazing, interesting life he must of had! I guess that's what fic is for, right? LOL
Anyway, thanks again for reading and commenting <3
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Date: 2011-06-14 02:49 am (UTC)Rufus was an excellent character, and the acting brilliant. You're right, the little not-lead characters are some of the most fun (IMO); Rufus, Bobby, Ellen, Ash... Rich, vivid people with quirks and kinks and stories of their own to tell.
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Date: 2011-06-14 02:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 03:02 am (UTC)You're doing a bigbang? I'd love to see that, and I'm off to find the Madison fic as soon as I'm done typing (omg madison... Silent Lucidity was such an "ahhh, my middle school dances..." moment). Mind if I friend you?
I am totally in agreement with you writing one-off serials about the side characters, and would vote you President on that basis alone.
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Date: 2011-06-14 03:07 am (UTC)I'm doing a J2 big bang (posting July 27th) and the Sam/Dean minibang, so my summer is full LOL. As for the random side characters, I usually get hit with inspiration at weird times, like when I'm on the train coming home from work lol. I've written stuff like Meg/Lisa and Ruby vesselfic, IDK dude. I always figure at least my friends will read it, so I might as well post LOLOL
...and speaking of, friending you now! :D
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Date: 2011-06-14 03:20 am (UTC)That's what friends are for, to read the crack-arsed stuff you come up with on the train. I'm pretty sure there's a law.
*beats you to it AHAHAHA*
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Date: 2011-06-14 03:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 03:41 am (UTC)I've been watching the show for almost a year. My meatworld best friend and boyfriend tag-teamed me. Resistance was futile. I'm now more obsessed than either of them, and they've been sending me links and buying me season DVDs to keep the raging crack monkey under control. I finally watched the last episode that makes a full six seasons last night (had missed All Dogs Go to Heaven; was in Denver at the time). OTOH, it was me that found the Eye of the Tiger vid and sent it to them, for which they are still grateful. Watched it again this morning. Still cracks me up.
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Date: 2011-06-14 12:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 01:40 am (UTC)I *loved* this line:the next day when he threw the entire bottle back up again all over himself and the puke green carpeting and the musty old bedspread, it felt almost like a reverse communion.
Fabulous!
no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 02:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 01:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-14 04:23 pm (UTC)Thank so much for reading!
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Date: 2011-06-16 04:23 am (UTC)And remember, dead on Spn doesn't always mean dead forever. ;)
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Date: 2011-06-16 05:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-16 04:19 pm (UTC)*pets him*
Loved this little bit of backstory and the origins of the Blue.
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Date: 2011-06-16 05:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-17 04:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-06-17 03:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 05:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-15 11:41 am (UTC)