Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

August was...tired. Really tired. And angry. Very angry. And a little lonely. But mostly tired and angry. 

A normal day for him was watching his Dad, the one person who he was supposed to be able to rely on, run around worrying about literally everyone else except him. After all, why should he worry about August? August was just fine. He’d heard him say that to Uncle Liam once. August is fine. August doesn’t have problems. August isn’t struggling. Why would he be? It’s not like he lost his mom, was abandoned by his dad, and was still dealing with flashbacks from watching one of the most important people in his life die or anything.

Oh wait. Yes he was.

But no one was worried about him. Why would they be? He’s not the one that threw massive parties in the family home for months and got a stern talking to. He’s not the one who got himself and a friend arrested for drug possession and learned how to drive Mom’s car. He’s not the one that ran off with a boy and almost got killed and got a pat on the back. 

No. He’s just the kid who was afraid his dad was running away again and decided to be angry about it this time and got yelled at for his troubles. He’s just the kid who got drunk one time and had to run it off the next day. He’s just the kid who keeps getting promised driving lessons and never gets them. He was just the kid who handled all the food and most of the cleaning and the video editing for a big party and didn't get so much as a 'thank you'.

Sucks to be the kid that doesn’t have to throw a massive tantrum every time something doesn’t go his way. Sucks to be the kid that no one notices unless he fucks up.

He just needed a break. If he was gonna be invisible, it was gonna be on his own terms.

He locked his door. He set the note down on his bed pillow. He double checked he had everything he needed in his duffle, including the shoebox with his cash. He texted Ruby and Bel to cancel upcoming plans and warn them he wasn’t going to be around for a while. After a moment's hesitation, he one to Uncle Liam too, making sure to schedule it for when everyone woulf already be awake. He then turned off his phone and grabbed his wallet, making sure his bank card was in there. He was gonna have to stop at an ATM and empty his checking account later.

The last step: get out of the house. The window in his room didn’t have an alarm sensor on it (he didn’t like to think about that) so he just had to climb down the side of the house to get out. It would be a little tricky since he didn’t have a tree or a trellis to work with but it wasn’t that far of a drop, right? He’d be fine.

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Cordell hummed while he made breakfast. He was going to commit to this "Joe Citizen" thing and that started with making breakfast for the kids before school. "Stella! August! Bacon's almost ready!"

He heard pounding footsteps on the stairs and looked up with a smile when Stella sat herself at the kitchen island. "Dad, I'm gonna have to skip yoga with you this morning," she said apologetically. "Bel and I are making plans for fundraising for new soccer uniforms and she can only meet in the mornings."

"That's okay. I should probably be spending more time at the Side Step anyway."

He plated breakfast for the three of them, frowning softly when he noticed August hadn't come down yet. "Do you think he just didn't hear me?"

"His room is closer to the stairs than mine…." Stella took a bite of her bacon. "He might just be dragging his feet on going to school. He was really upset about losing his hero status after he accidentally broadcast our dirty laundry to the whole school." She shuddered and kept eating.

Cordell grimaced at the reminder of that incident. That had been a very interesting phone call with the school. "I don't blame him. But if he doesn't get downstairs soon, he's gonna be late."

The front door opened aburptly and Liam barged in. "Cordi! Is August up yet?" he asked, voiced full of worry with a tinge of fear.

"He should be up but he isn't down yet. Why do you ask? Did something happen?"

"I got this text from him this morning." Liam showed him his phone by way of explanation. 

[From: Auggie]: I can't be here anymore. I'll be back though. Eventually. I love you.

Cordell felt everything stop around him, like a pause button had been pressed somewhere and gave him time to think. Well, it was less thinking than it was internal screaming but still. Better than external. 

“Dad? What’s wrong?”

He shook his head and went upstairs. “August! This had better be a bad joke!” 

No response.

He knocked loudly on the bedroom door. “August! Come out here, now ! This isn’t funny!”

Nothing.

“Alright, I’m coming in.” He turned the- He didn’t turn anything. The door was locked. Since when did August lock his door? Cordell really wasn’t in the mood to look for the key so he stepped back and kicked it open; he’d fix it later.

The first thing he noticed was the open window. The second thing he noticed was August’s phone. The third thing he noticed was the missing duffle bag that usually sat outside his closet. And then he saw the note.

The next thing he registered was Liam trying to walk him through a panic attack.

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I’d say I’m sorry but I don’t really feel sorry. Maybe I should, I don’t know.

I love you guys but I just can’t stay here. I’m not really a part of this family anymore. I don’t hit anyone’s radar unless I did something wrong. I can’t talk about anything with anyone except what the latest family drama is. 

I miss the days when we just hung out. When was our last family game night? Movie night? Or even just sat down and talked to each other about mundane things like football. Hell, even family dinner is ruined because there’s always some kind of tension going around.

Maybe I’m overreacting but I can’t be bothered to care. I'd like to say something guilt trippy like “Oh woe is me now you don’t have my burden anymore” but i can’t even be bothered with that. I’m just tired of being ignored. If that’s all I’m gonna be in this world, I’m doing it on my own terms. 

I’m not leaving forever (probably). I’ll be okay.

Love,

August

Chapter Text

August flopped down on the king-sized bed in the room he’d managed to book in one of the cheaper motels in town. He had to admit, he’d thought his cash would go a little further than it was. Sure, it got him a bus ticket out and a cheap motel room but the extra cash he’d had to fork over to bribe people into not asking for ID was an unexpected charge. He idly wondered if it’d be worth it to find a way to get a fake ID or learn how to make one. It’d save him the trouble of paying double the price for everything. 

Of course, it might increase the chance of him getting found out and sent back home before he was ready.

Sighing, he decided to unpack his duffel while he figured out his next step. He was in a new town, completely alone. 

Maybe he'd just hang around the motel room for a while. He'd have to go out for groceries but he doubted anyone would come looking for him in the middle of nowhere. After he had a littlr time to himself to clear his head, he'd go back home.

Yeah. That sounded like a good plan.

Once he was unpacked, he turned on the small television that came with the room. It opened on the news but he flicked past it; something about some local disappearances. He didn't think he needed to worry about that. Besides, Scooby-doo was on a few channels later. 

He'd be fine.

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"You know what's worse than werewolves?" Dean asked.

"What?"

"Pedophile werewolves."

Sam rolled his eyes. "'Pedophile' would imply the werewolves are choosing their prey based on sexual desire. It's a lot more likely they're just taking kids that don't look like they'll fight back."

Dean smacked the back of his head as he passed. "My point still stands. Monsters that target kids are the worst."

It was a fair point, Sam could give him that. They were currently investigating a possible pack of werewolves that were targeting children. The kids ranged from elementary-school age to smaller teenagers. Again, it likely had a lot more to do with the child’s ability to fight back than anything else. So far, eight kids were missing. Two bodies had already been found and it wasn’t a pretty sight; they’d have to move fast before anyone else got hurt.

“Any idea where they’re hiding out?” Sam asked.

Dean shrugged. “Hard to say. The bodies were dumped outside of the town so there aren’t really any locations to trace them to. Might just have to hit up anywhere that looks abandoned and hope for the best. We’ll start towards the edge of town and work our way in.”

Sam nodded. It wasn’t the best plan but it was all they had to go on and they couldn’t waste time doing interviews. “There’s an abandoned farm outside the city. We can start there.”

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August awoke with a groan. He'd been on his way back to the motel room when a nice old wam asked him for help loading her car. Things went black shortly after he helped her with the first box.

Now he was here. It was dark, but he could make out vague shapes in the moonlight coming in between the rotting wood slabs that made up the structure. He couldn't see everything but growing up in proximity to ranch life let him recognize enough things to guess he was in some kind of stable. Though, given the state of the place, there probably hadn't been horses there in years.

He experimented with moving his limbs and was relieved to find that nothing was broken. His head hurt but that would fade eventually. His arms were tied by the wrist above his head to the hitching post he was resting against. He wished he’d paid more attention to knots in Scouts when he had the chance, but that's besides the point.

He looked up and frowned at the wall when he heard some shuffling noises on the other side. “...Hello?”

There was a squeak and a sniffle. “...H-Hello?” came a quiet voice.

“Hey. Are you okay?”

Another sniffle. “No. I miss my mommy….”

Me too, kid. It sounded like a girl, probably around 7 or 8 years old. He had a fleeting memory of the missing person’s story on the news. Was she one of them? “I’m sorry. Can you tell me your name?”

“M-Madison….”

“Hi, Madison. My name’s August. Are you hurt?”

“N-No, not really. I got a bump on my head but that’s it.”

“Okay, good. That’s good. Do you know if there’s anyone else here?”

“There’s some other kids, but they’re sleeping.”

Okay, that was good. Hopefully. As long as no one was dead. “That’s good, Madison. I’m sure we’ll get out of here soon. People are looking for you.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah.” He hoped so, at least. And Madison could use a little hope, right?

The sudden gunshots pierced the air and whatever sense of calm August had managed to maintain. The yelp forced its way out of his throat and his breathing quickly escaped his control. The continued shots didn’t help as he was assaulted with flashbacks of that fateful night. He couldn’t think. He could barely breathe. He definitely wasn’t worrying about Madison anymore. He didn’t have the oxygen supply for that.

He curled his knees into his chest and tried to remember the breathing exercises Dr. Jane taught him. He thought he heard someone calling his name, but he dismissed it. No one would be looking for him here; he'd made sure of it. Not that he'd been all that worried about people following him anyway….

Breathe….One crisis at a time….

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“Dean? Did you get everyone?” Sam was untying the last of the kids as his older brother approached. 

“Yeah, took ‘em all out. You get all the kids?”

“Yeah-”

“No, he didn’t!” The brothers looked down at the little girl pulling on Sam’s sleeve. “He didn’t get August!”

August? “Who-”

“He’s on the other side." She pointed at the wall behind them. "He’s nice. He talked to me and said someone would save us when I was scared.”

Great. There was another one. Fan-fucking-tastic. Sam sighed. “Okay, okay…. Dean?”

He nodded. “I’ll have another look around and see what I can find, you get these kids out of here." Dean headed in the direction Madison pointed while Sam got the kids outside to somewhere the police could find them.

“August? August? Are you here? Come on, kid….” He looked around every corner, peering into the dark shadows for anything resembling a person. He really hoped Madison hadn't been talking to a ghost; that was the last thing they needed right now. 

He froze when he heard the whimpering. "August?" he called tentatively as he walked towards the sound. "You in here?"

He turned another corner and cursed inwardly. The poor kid was freaking out. Maybe Sam should've been the one to come; he was better at this kind of thing. Oh well. He was here now.

"Hey," he said softly. "Are you August?"

The kid flinched and curled in on himself even more than he already was.

"Hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm getting you out. You’ll be home with your family in no time." Dean moved closer, lowering his gun while he reached for where August’s wrists were tied. He grunted when August's foot connected with his shin. 

“N-No.” August shook his head, though it seemed like his breathing had evened out a bit. “Can’t go home. Not now.”

Okay. Kid didn’t want to go home. Fine. As long as he was out of this place, Dean couldn’t care either way. “Okay, okay, fine. We won’t take you home. But I gotta get you outta here so you gotta let me untie you. I know you don’t know me from Adam but you ain’t gettin’ out of here alone. Do you think you can trust me enough to let me untie you?”

August stilled and nodded.

“Okay. Okay, good.” Dean moved slowly and untied the ropes. Once he was free, August curled up all the way, rubbing his wrists.

“Come on, kid. We gotta get movin’.”

August sniffed and nodded, slowly rising to his feet. “S-Sorry. Got a little freaked out….”

Dean placed a gentle hand on August’s shoulder and led him out. “Nothin’ to be sorry for, kid. Woulda happened to anyone.” He glanced down when he felt August lean into him and couldn’t help a small smile. “My name’s Dean, by the way. Madison’ll be happy to see you.”

August looked up at him. “She’s out?”

Dena nodded. “My brother took ehr and the other kids out a while ago. The police are already on their way to pick you up. Then-”

He stopped talking when August stopped walking. “I’m not meeting any police.”

Dean quirked an eyebrow. Kid didn’t want to go home and he won’t meet the police? So he’s a runaway. Fine. Kids do that shit all the time. “Okay. In that case, me and my brother can give you a ride to wherever you’re staying in town.”

August thought for a moment and patted his back pocket. Then he nodded. “Okay. Just no police.”

“Gotcha.”

Sam came jogging back. “The kids are safe. I tipped off the police and they should be here in a few minutes. Did you-” He paused when his eyes landed on August. “Oh, hey. Did you want to-”

“He won’t meet the police. I told him we’d just take him back to his place.”

Sam’s eyes flitted back and forth between him and August. “Okay…. We should go now then. Before anyone else shows up.”

“Right.” The impala was parked out of sight but it wouldn’t be good for them to be seen riding around with a kid in the backseat. “Come on, August.” The kid was by his side in a second and they made the trek to Baby. Dean thought it was a little weird that August stuck so close to him when normally their traumatized passengers found their way to Sam but he wasn’t going to say anything about it. 

Kids were weird.

Sam waved to the other rescued kids as they got in the car. Hopefully, they’d all be returned to their parents in the morning. In the meantime, they had other concerns.