SPN Fanfic: So Desu

[caffienekitty]

Title: So Desu
Warnings/Rating: SPOILERS FOR 5.08, GEN, PG.


Word Count: 775-ish
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Characters: Bobby, Dean
Summary: The trouble with questions you don't understand... (Tag for 5.08)
A/N: Just a random post-5.08 thought I had. Doesn't really fit, but here it is anyway. Language inaccuracies are certain. [LJ-only for now]



-
So Desu
by CaffieneKitty
-


"Hey, Bobby. You know Japanese, right?"

Bobby sighed. "And the short answer to that question would be 'Go try to pick up a girl that knows English and stop callin' me at 2 AM.'"

The line fell silent for a moment. "Sorry. It's... I'll call in the morning."

Something's up. "I'm awake now, you may as well keep talkin'. Just don't ask me to go look anything up 'coz I don't have my wheels on."

"It's... I don't remember exactly what he said. It was the Trickster, and there was this game show..."

Game show? "If you're waking me up to tell me about some dream you had..."

"No, no, it was- There was this guy, he asked Sam a question in Japanese and the answer was 'Ruby'. Sam got it wrong and- it's not important. The guy asked me a question and I got it right. In Japanese. I need to know what I said."

Bobby leaned up on one elbow, cradling the phone between his ear and his shoulder and turned on the bedside lamp. "You spoke Japanese?"

"...It's complicated."

"Un-complicate it," Bobby growled.

"I shouldn't have called."

"Well you did, and I'm awake and if this turns out to be some lame-ass prank-"

"Bobby. The Trickster is- he's an angel."

Bobby could hear the big chunk of unsaid detail lurking behind Dean's words.

"An angel? You're sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Hunh. Fallen?"

"I don't think so."

"Hunh. This the same Trickster that we staked couple years back? The one that had you two at each other's throats?"

A hesitation. "Yeah. Same one."

"No wonder the staking didn't take." Bobby hitched himself up on the bed. "So, what's this all got to do with you speaking Japanese?"

"It's not- I answered the question, I don't know what the question was, but I answered it. I said 'so desu'."

"You said 'yes', basically."

Bobby heard Dean take a deep breath. "I said yes?"

"Yep. So desu. What was the question?"

"I don't frigging know, it was Japanese. I have no idea what I said yes to, Bobby." Dean's voice was tightening, rising in pitch. "What if the question was 'Do you give permission to let the archangel Michael possess you?'"

Bobby grunted. "I suspect I would still be sleeping, because I doubt the archangel Michael would be calling me at 2 AM to pick my brain about Japanese phrases he could look up online."

Nothing but silence and tense breathing came from Dean's end of the phone.

"Dean, relax. 'So desu' is an affirmative kind of yes, confirming a fact. More like 'it's true' or 'it is so' than yes. 'Doi suru' would be what you'd say to agree to a request."

"You're sure?"

"Positive. You didn't give permission for anything."

Dean let out a breath, the air hissing in the phone speaker. "Okay. Okay."

"You really think they'd trick you into agreeing like that?"

"I dunno. Zachariah took Sam's lungs away trying to get me to agree." There was a bitter snap to Dean's voice. "I wouldn't put anything past them."

"So, this Trickster-Angel. Is he with Zachariah's bunch?"

"No." Quick and certain.

"Free agent, like Castiel?"

Dean hesitated again. "Yeah, sort of."

From the hesitation, Bobby could tell there was a lot that Dean wasn't saying. He wanted to ask Dean when he and Sam would be coming back to South Dakota, what exactly had happened, whether they were okay, what curve ball the damn apocalypse had thrown at the two of them now. He knew he wasn't likely to get an answer to any of it. Not yet. Something had hit Dean hard, more than this Japanese thing. He wasn't ready to talk about whatever it was yet, but he called Bobby anyway.

Bobby rubbed a hand across his eyes. Sometimes I miss being a friendless hermit. "Not something you wanna discuss in a 2 AM phone call?"

"No. I don't even know... I should let you get to sleep."

"Yeah, you should." Bobby said gently. "You should get some too."

Silence from Dean's end of the call again.

"Try. Okay? Whatever you agreed was true, it'll keep."

"Yeah. Okay, Bobby. G'nite."

"G'nite Dean. Keep in touch, alright?"

"Yeah." The call disconnected.

Phone calls at two in the morning, talking about things that aren't what really needs talked about, just to be talking. Bobby returned the receiver to the cradle, turned off the bedside lamp and lay back in the bed, staring at the dark ceiling above.

Guess you get that sometimes with family.

- - -
(that's it.)

Post A/N: I know 'hai' is actually yes, 'so desu' was what was used in the show as 'yes', so there we are. All other linguistic assertions are Google-based.

Comments

[ficwriter1966.livejournal.com]

Nicely done, CK! I totally buy late-night phone calls between Dean and Bobby - really, the only place Dean can turn for some reassurance. Oh, BOYS.

I'm wondering if Show plans to revisit that question and its answer. I'm thinking yes. The other question was something we've seen the boys wrangle over, but Dean's question was new (albeit a gigantic Acme anvil).

[caffienekitty]

Thanks!

I'm wondering if Show plans to revisit that question and its answer. I'm thinking yes. The other question was something we've seen the boys wrangle over, but Dean's question was new (albeit a gigantic Acme anvil).

I think we might. The thing is, the question and answer are correct in a context entirely controlled by Gabriel. Gabriel believes it's true, whether it is or not could be up for debate. I'm not sure how it would play into the apocalypse set-up though. Maybe we'll get a more direct take on 'It's a Wonderful Life' where Dean is shown a world without Sam, in the process of them trying to convince him to go against his brother? No idea. It's an interesting thing to drop in at random, and an exercise in unreliable narrator in the 'whose truth id it anyway?' sense, regardless.

[nwhepcat.livejournal.com]

I love me some Language Expert!Bobby. Or, y'know, Bobby in general. I really liked this, with the nuances of ways of saying yes, and Bobby's crankiness, and that feeling of family.

[caffienekitty]

Bobby is indeed awesome, and I love how thoroughly he's adopted and been adopted back by the Winchesters. :-)

[aescu]

Oh, if Dean didn't understand the question that surely must have bugged him. Thank god for awesome!Bobby :)

[caffienekitty]

Yay for Bobby!

[innie_darling]

That's a really neat/chilling thought. Poor Dean!

[caffienekitty]

It occurred to me the other day that giving the correct answer to a question he doesn't understand might have broader consequences than not getting hit in the nuts, especially given the answer to Sam's was one he could understand and know that it had something to do with them specifically.

[irismay42.livejournal.com]

Oooh I never thought that Michael's crew might be trying to trick Dean into saying yes!

I know a lot of Sam Girls weren't happy with that question, but like you said in the comments above, it was the Trickster's view of the answer, not Dean's. He didn't even know what he was answering!

Love the relationship between Dean and Bobby you're presenting here. Totally a family thing.

[caffienekitty]

Oooh I never thought that Michael's crew might be trying to trick Dean into saying yes!

They've tried some really underhanded stuff to get consent, but not subterfuge. Yet.

I know a lot of Sam Girls weren't happy with that question, but like you said in the comments above, it was the Trickster's view of the answer, not Dean's. He didn't even know what he was answering!

Exactly. Unreliable narrator is a fun thing to play with story-wise.

Love the relationship between Dean and Bobby you're presenting here. Totally a family thing.

I really love the 'family of choice' that the boys are building, particularly Bobby's role in it, and the conversation at the end of "Curious Case" that let Bobby (and everyone watching) know, in no uncertain terms, that that family is not a one-way street. :-)

[samalander-dawn.livejournal.com]

love this :)
I keep trying to put down what it is I love most but really it's the whole thing :)

[caffienekitty]

Thanks! :-)

[ciaranbochna.livejournal.com]

I think Dean really should wake Bobby up at 2am, and just like this, love it:)

Although I am pondering now if Gabriel is going to get off the fence, but who knows.

[caffienekitty]

I think he probably will get off the fence, and more than likely on the 'stopping the apocalypse' side of things. Just a hunch.

[ciaranbochna.livejournal.com]

I agree with your hunch, especially after Dean's parting shot;)

[caffienekitty]

Not leaving him stuck in the oil will help too, I think.

[ciaranbochna.livejournal.com]

Well yes, even if he is an ass don't leave him in the nasty ring of fire. Oh crap now I have Johnny Cash on the brain:P

[caffienekitty]

...Which in turn makes me think of extremely short-lived laxative commercials from the late 80's.

[saberivojo.livejournal.com]

I love that Bobby is Dean's go to guy, even at 2 in the morning. Better than that, I love that Bobby lets it happen (a little grumpily perhaps, but I doubt he would want it any other way.

[caffienekitty]

I love the family the boys have built with their allies. And of course Bobby is awesome. :-)

[brigid-tanner.livejournal.com]

Love the idea of Dean calling Bobby at all hours for reassurance, with Bobby being cranky but helpful and hoping the boys will visit soon. It would be driving Dean crazy to know what he said "yes" to, cause in their world, it could be a really bad thing.

[caffienekitty]

Saying yes to any question you don't understand is usually a bad thing, even when it doesn't potentially involve the apocalypse.

[lnhart.livejournal.com]

I never think of the things you think of when we watch the exact same episodes. :-) That's why I love reading what you write.

And also...Bobby? Sometimes I miss being a friendless hermit. I miss being that sometimes, too. Family, man, once you got 'em, they're hard to shake. ;-)

[caffienekitty]

Hee, thanks. :-)

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

I like it-- worth posting out for real!

Bobby sighed. "And the short answer to that question would be 'Go try to pick up a girl that knows English and stop callin' me at 2 AM.'"
He knows Dean too well.

I love Dean's worries about what he might have said "yes" to, and Bobby's logical response.

And 2am phone calls... BOTH boys are prone to that, though thank goodness they usually only bother each other then. ;)

[caffienekitty]

And 2am phone calls... BOTH boys are prone to that, though thank goodness they usually only bother each other then. ;)

Of course calling at 2 am when you're staying in the same hotel room is kind of silly. :-)

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm thinking of the "I've got to get my head together, Dean" followed by 2 a.m. ("I'm scared, can I come home?" sequence on Sam's part. Wasn't that after Castiel had already bothered Dean too?

They're not apart often, but those life-meaning crises seem to happen in the middle of the night. ;)

[caffienekitty]

They're not apart often, but those life-meaning crises seem to happen in the middle of the night. ;)

And when they're apart. Funny how that works :-)

[tigriswolf]

Aww, Bobby. This is a lovely little coda.

[caffienekitty]

*grins* Thanks :-)