Ouch. This seriously breaks my heart. But as much as I want to love John, there's just too much about the earlier years that is and will remain unclear. Honestly, I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't have gotten physical with what we saw of his temper. No doubt he loved his sons, but... This certainly seems plausible, especially considering a few comments Dean has made that seem pretty loaded... Ugh. So depressing...
Anyway- Great story with a great flow to it. You write very well (or WROTE as I just realized this was posted 12 years ago) and do a great job of getting in the minds of the characters and their psychology realistically. Love it!

How fragile is Dean’s arm that John just pulling it is enough to break it?

Omg this whole story was so good and the very ending how u tied it all together great job

This is really well written, I think you got the heart of the matter really well.

HOLY FUCKING SHIT IM CRYING SO HARD
WHY
WHY YOU DO THIS
(I’m just kidding you’re awesome)

"Dean just tried to forget" - such a powerful and heartbreaking way to end this chapter.

Great

Omg that was just amazing :"D i cried so harf

3

This was disturbing in how realistically it displays an abuser's mind.

And sad in that it could be canon Dx I suspected something like this after the episode where the boys go to heaven and one of Sam's great memories is a time when he ran away. Dean says "You ran away on my watch. I looked everywhere for you. I thought you were dead. And when Dad came home… " He lets that last part hang strongly suggesting he paid hell

Holy shit I'm crying this is fucking amazing... I'm only a couple years late

Heartbreaking yet amazing story! That was a great ending, it flowed really nicely! Kudos to you! I love this kind of fic and you executed it nicely! Great job! Loved it! I'm off to check out your other stories! Au Revoir!

Oh my gosh, Sam was SO cute in this chapter! I'm still laughing about the 'Dean's broken!' part, it was adorable! I love the way you write Sam!

I FUCKING

this is the shit

That was literally so good i'm gonna cry help

This story makes me sad because it's so damned plausible. To make it worse even if events had transpired the way they did in the story Dean would have still idolized his dad. Unfortunately, that's often the way with abused kids.

Actually, it's harder to imagine that John didn't lash out in anger on occasion given his temper and temperament. It's also plausible that Dean became the designated whipping boy leaving Sam clueless. It could also explain why Sam was daring enough to rebuke his father growing up as he had no real fear of retribution.

Poor Dean. He personifies the quote, 'show me a hero and I'll write you a tragedy'. In truth, he never had a chance.