Reading Between The Lines (Sabriel)

Chapter 18

"I've got genital herpes," the yoga lady says proudly.

"I've got genital herpes," the old man repeats.

Sam finds himself in the middle of a basketball field, the ball in his hands and at a perfect angle from the hoop. This part he can do. He shoots the ball in the hoop with ease before turning around for the less pleasant part.

"Seriously?" he deadpans. This is dumb, even by the Trickster's standards.

"Hey." Dean jogs up to him, seemingly completely unbothered by this "show." "You're the one who said play our roles, so..."

"Yeah," Sam mutters. "Right."

Dean claps him on the back and returns to the game.

Sam looks up at the camera, defeated. "I've got... genital... herpes." Each word makes him cringe as it leaves his mouth. He knew the Trickster liked embarrassing people, but it's supposed to be bad people. What did he do to deserve this?

The basketball game freezes so the yoga lady can say, "I tried to be responsible."

The old man glances at his wife. "Boy, did I try."

"But now," Sam forces himself to say, finishing the script that's somehow been instilled in his brain, "I take twice-daily Herpexia to reduce my chances of passing it on."

"Ask your doctor about using Herpexia," the yoga lady says.

As Dean lists off the possible side effects, Sam can't help but feel a little better about this whole thing. These aren't pretty side effects. The Trickster could have made them suffer through all that shit, but he decided to just make them do the advertisement instead. It's oddly reassuring. Maybe the Trickster isn't doing this out of malice like Sam had thought. Sure, he shot Dean and he hit Sam in the nuts, but this is kind of calm. Maybe he's just playing around.

Oh, who is he kidding? The guy shot Dean. When they get out of here, they are so going to have a talk about this.

Sam's back up for the end of the commercial. He's not sure how he knows this is the end, just like he's not sure how he knows what he's supposed to say, but, somehow, he does. It must be the same magic that somehow taught Dean Japanese over the span of 20 seconds.

"I'm doing all I can to slightly lessen the spread of..." God, he really has to say this again, doesn't he? "Of genital herpes." He forces a fake smile as he finishes, "And that's a good thing."

And, finally, he gets to play the basketball game. He grabs the ball from Dean and dunks it in the basket. This part he can do. Throwing things is second nature. He doesn't quite mind this piece of it. If only he could —

And the basketball field is gone, just like that.

Great.

This is just peachy.