The Man Who Wasn't There
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| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Man Who Wasn't There |
| Author(s): | Shay Sheridan (shayheyred) |
| Date(s): | 2004 |
| Length: | 4609 words |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | due South |
| Relationship(s): | |
| External Links: | The Man Who Wasn't There at the author's website The Man Who Wasn't There at Archive of Our Own |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Man Who Wasn't There is a Turnbull/Dewey story by Shay Sheridan. It was written for the 2004 Due South Seekrit Santa challenge.
Reactions and Reviews
During the Christmas party at the end of 'Good for the Soul', Turnbull plays with his toy gun and ruminates on the fact that no one really sees him as anything more than a background figure in a Stetson. At the same time, he notices that Dewey is seen and disliked by everyone, and he wonders if negative attention is better than no attention at all. He's still deciding when a falling-down drunk Dewey offers him a ride and then promptly passes out, leading Turnbull to bring Dewey to the Consulate, where they have a very interesting conversation...I can't remember what first prompted me to read this fic; I'm very OTP-oriented, and I could never have imagined a world where I'd *want* to read Turnbull/Dewey, much less *enjoyed* it. Of course, now Turnbull/Dewey is my second OTP in the fandom. Damn you Shay, for making me want a pairing that no one else has ever written!
Ahem.
It would be easy to dismiss The Man Who Wasn't There as a novelty simply because of its rare pairing, but in reality it is so much more. Turnbull and Dewey's shared, but completely different, forms of loneliness are both so painful and sad that you'll find yourself sympathizing with both of them, even if you usually don't like the characters. Couple that with hints of bittersweet backstory, spot-on characterizations, and the eventual realization that *here* is an unexpected opportunity for something that neither of them every thought that he would have, and you have one of the sweetest, most interesting, best written stories in the Due South fandom. Brilliant.[1]
Because you wouldn't expect a story like this to work (or at least, I wouldn't), but it does. Fic that explores Turnbull or Dewey as more than caricatures is pretty rare. This one is sweet and kind of sad, exploring how both of them are misfits that don't really belong anywhere. I'm not wild about Dewey in the show, but this fic's take on him got my sympathy. Also, I find the Turnbull POV in this story absolutely charming. It's an unexpectedly adorable story about two socially awkward, unhappy people finding friendship together, and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.[2]