My Destiel fic recommendations (part 1)
Everyone’s taste is so different, so I’ll share my taste first so you can decide if you want to look at my recommendations. :) Personally, I prefer canon-based or canon-adjacent fics, so that’s what these are. I like angsty fics with lots of inner monologue and detailed characterization, but I also love some good ole’ fluff and smut, so be warned! Let me know if you have similar taste or recommendations of your own!
• Say my name like you mean it by erynnis_hun (beautiful and sexy post finale fix-it)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/69942101
Castiel comes back, human, and suddenly the world feels different. Dean calls him Castiel at first for fun, to mask the weight of everything, but it doesn’t stay a joke. With every repetition, it becomes something else—tender, binding.
• That song you sing for me by tanis-in-a-trenchcoat (TanisVs) (super cute yet angsty mixtape fic)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/62993332
Dean gives Castiel a mixtape with his thirteen favorite Led Zeppelin songs. Cas listens to it over time, thinks about what it means and decides to make his own tape for Dean.
He managed to record ten songs.
or that year when Dean and Cas already knew they were in love but never said a thing about it until it was too late
• a roaring undercurrent, simple and sensory by violethoure666 (well-written smut)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/67925266
Castiel looks at the trees in wonder. They have all been burned with the same pattern, identical branching forks, lightning-like, from base to top.
• Ignite Your Bones by ilovehowyouletmefall (depressing but powerful, read tags!)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/38411026
“The whole Cain-and-Abel thing,” Dean blusters. “Us dead. Whatever. I'll kill Sam. Sam will kill me. We'll kill each other. Okay? You pick. But, first, you gotta put everything back the way it was,” Dean continues, and this, this is why he’s Chuck’s favourite. Even at his lowest, he’s still making demands. “The people, the birds, Cas. You gotta bring him back.”
Even at his lowest, Dean still lets himself hope for something.
• Ten Minutes From Home: Lebanon Coda by disabled_dean (angsty and intimate, mind the tags! Absolutely stunning writing and characterization)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/61589965
What does John see when he looks at Cas?
Cas doesn’t look like a monster.
But neither does Dean.
John stands, slow. He holds out a hand. Calloused like Dean’s hands are calloused. Scarred the same way that Dean’s hands are scarred. There’s the smell of him in the air too. Earthy and dark, slightly sour around the edges. The room feels suddenly choked with it. Claustrophobic.
Cas probably smells like the fabric softener they buy in bulk at Costco, but so does Dean so he can’t tell.
John says, toneless, “I hear you’ve been driving my car.”
• Down to Agincourt by seperis (a spin off the episode, The End, and a classic SPN fic - extremely well-written!)
https://archiveofourown.org/series/110651
• The Answer by quinnvicious (porn with feelings set in season 14)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/18628420
“Please.” Dean’s voice is steady, but it doesn’t hide the breaking of his soul.
• of the unlocking and the lift away by unicornpoe (When I tell you I cried reading this fic!!! It’s gorgeous and one of the most tender post-finale fix-its out there)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/32410771
Dean doesn’t know what to do. Dean wants to say stay with me, stay with me and never leave. Dean wants to apologize. Dean wants to set his mouth at the hollow of Cas’s throat as gently as he’s ever done anything, feel the beat of Cas’s heart beneath his lips. Dean is so lonely, and he’s missed him so much.
• between the essence / and the descent by tothewillofthepeople (beautiful and unique post-finale fix-it. More of a slow-burn which I also love)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/57842911
Cas comes back on a Thursday.
And then keeps coming back on Thursdays. He doesn’t seem to have much choice in the matter, actually. For the rest of the week, he’s stuck in the Empty, and Dean is left trying to figure out how to save him, how to talk to him—and how to get him out for good.
• Whiskey Breath Eulogy by AdelaClancy (heart- wrenching angst and a beautiful ending - also, post-finale fix-it)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/54234529
Cas comes back from the empty. Human, and without memory. There’s resilience to be said about the human spirit, though, and how after everything- we still have our souls. They tie us together in ways beyond reason, and Cas doesn’t know why- but he knows these people, they’re important. He feels it.
