There is no writer more devastatingly skilled in the Destiel fandom than Nhixxie.
Ad Astra
One day Cas says, "Stars died for you, Dean Winchester", against ruffled hair perched atop sun kissed skin and sleepy eyes.
Dean stirs, moving to spread his palms against the contour of Cas’ back, tips of fingers languidly strumming the indentations of his spine. One, two, three, four, he counts, the closest he could get to scientifically studying the anatomy of the human body.
"Is this some physics crap again?" He frowns with eyes closed.
Cas smiles softly. "Far from it."
Dean’s fingers play at the base of his back, ninth thoracic vertebrae, Cas notes.
"Then tell me all about it."
Breathe Lightly
"To my first love, and my last, Dean Winchester. These are the things I want to tell you: the human body is 60% water. The number of neurons in one person is the rough equivalent of the number of stars in a small galaxy. There is 0.2 milligrams of gold in your blood. The heart is an elaborate engine. I love you."
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Destiel/Cockles Fanfic Recs: The Best of DCBB 2013
I’ve been promising that I would rec fics from DCBB 2013 for a few months now, so I figured it was about time that I posted this. The following nine fics were absolutely incredible that I couldn’t narrow it down any more than that. I loved them so much and they are all going on the fic recs page of my blog. Enjoy all of these incredible fics!
Angel Slayer
Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 138,700 Setting: Law Enforcement AU
Jensen Ackles started his career in the FBI hunting a vicious serial killer who would carve the names of angels into his victims. However, the killer was never caught and the case grew cold. Now 8 years later, this murderer has reemerged and agent Jared Padalecki joins Jensen on the case that has haunted him all these years. As the killer begins to savor the game and bait the agents with more and more bodies, it appears that the only good thing about this case is that it brings him into contact with Police Officer Misha Collins. However, circumstances seem to work against them as Misha may have a deadly connection to the killer.
(Technically, this was a Jensen/Misha fic, but don’t let that deter you from reading it, even if you aren’t into RPF. This is literally one of the best fanfics I have ever read - twice in the past few months actually. The plot was incredibly detailed and well-paced, and the characterizations were absolutely perfect. Warning that the the serial killings are described in great and gruesome detail, and there are mentions of rape - although no descriptions.)
Suburban War
Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 105,000 Setting: High School AU
Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak were destined to be best friends from the first day that they met when Dean’s family moved to Lawrence. However, growing up presented more challenges than they had anticipated as Dean begins to long for the type of life that a small town in Kansas can’t offer.
This fic details the lives of Dean and Castiel as they grow up best friends in a small town. I loved the portrayals of Dean’s character as he faced the challenges of high school. The development of a relationship between the two made so much sense, and I loved Dean’s journey towards the end. His characterization was absolutely perfect, and it was so nice to see him develop on his own and create the life that he knew he needed to find.
Every Man’s Got a Right
Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 78,100 Setting: Season 4 AR / Time Travel
Endverse Cas didn’t expect to live through Dean’s last mission to kill the devil. So it is a surprise to him when he wakes up to find himself in the past and run into a younger Dean who hasn’t sold his soul yet. Castiel begins to hope that perhaps he can keep his future from ever coming true by changing events in the Winchesters’ past.
This fic combines two of my favorite things: a more innocent younger Dean, and a snarky future Cas. Also, I want to make a note that I know I’m not the only one who hates reading fanfics written in first person, but give this fic a chance despite that. The voice was extremely well-written and fit perfectly with the portrayal of the characters that the author was trying to create.
The Best Years of our Lives, My Ass
Rating: PG-13 Word Count: 110,800 Setting: Season 8 AR / High School
Dean Winchester lays down one night in a motel and wakes up the next morning in his childhood home and 16 years old again. His family is all alive and remembers a completely different past. The only thing that anchors him in this strange new place is discovering that Castiel has also somehow ended up there as well, with all of his memories.
This was one of the most satisfying things I have ever read. It was beautiful to have the Dean that I know and love able to go back and work through some of the issues that he never had a chance to because of how he was raised. Only this time he had Cas at his side working through it all with him, which was absolutely perfect!
The Breath of All Things
Rating: M* Word Count: 65,400 Setting: Care Home AU
Dean Winchester just wants the rest of the world to ignore him after an accident takes away his ability to walk. He can no longer do what he wants and sees himself as a failure, so he sit in his wheelchair and waits for the day when he won’t be a burden to anyone anymore, especially himself. However, things begin to change when the care home he lives in has a new volunteer named Castiel.
I loved this fic. The characterization of Dean was so well-written and the I really appreciated the way that characters with physical diabilities were handled in the story because their hardships and pain were not diminished nor were they scorned for depression over what they had lost. Instead they were respectfully encouraged to find meaning in the life that they had and use their passions for the good of others.
*This fic actually had a rating that was the equivalent of PG-13, but I decided to give it a higher one because of the suicidal thoughts and mentions of a past suicide attempt (Trigger warning).
Heaven for the Climate (Hell for the Company)
Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 98,000 Setting: Season 4 AR
Castiel raises the Righteous Man from hell, only he isn’t exactly an angel - although he tells Dean otherwise. Now the armies of heaven and hell are both after him because of his role in shaping the fate of the world. Throughout this story, the history of angels and demons are revealed, as well as Castiel’s origin.
There is a horrifying scene where a character is taken advantage of and almost raped (Trigger warning). Thankfully, it isn’t just brushed off and the characters actually discuss it, so I decided to include this fic on the list anyway because the entire thing was very well-written. I was fascinated by all the history (even though some of it did not line up with canon, which sort of bothered me). Castiel’s character arc and storyline alone is enough reason to read this fic though.
Waiting For You
Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 36,400 Setting: Best Friends/Hospital AU
Misha loves his life exactly the way it is and never thinks about settling down, that is until a drunk driver almost kills Jensen one night. Now with his best friend struggling to survive, Misha learns that his life might not be as perfect as he though it was.
Despite how often the word twink was used (seriously, it got irritating after a while), I loved this fic. The characterizations were brilliantly written with Misha a bit of an asshole who is afraid of commitment and Jensen a brilliant performer who struggles to show his true feelings to anyone.
Shut Up (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is) by kototyph
Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 23,800 Setting: Domestic AU
Dean is surprised to wake up in bed with another man from his firm after the company weekend in Vegas, but he is even more astounded when he realizes that the two of them got hitched over the weekend. He assumes that the two of them will get a quick annulment after returning home, however, he begins to enjoy spending time with Castiel so much that he has trouble reminding himself that they are supposed to be separating soon.
This fic was so fluffy that I almost died from the cuteness. Dean and Cas fixing up an old house in Boston together was so adorable, especially as they began to fall for each other.
The Great Escapist by 8sword
Rating: NC-17 Word Count: 100,500 Setting: Nursing Students AU
Castiel tries to escape his home life after his brother dies, and he assumes it won’t be a problem to crash with his college roommate for the summer. However, he isn’t expecting Sam’s brother, Dean, to end up being his roommate for the summer instead.
There were so many reasons I loved this fic, not the least of which was Dean and Cas being able to explore their different reasons for their journeys into the medical profession. The best part though, was watching Cas’ emotional journey, especially as it intersected with the Supernatural books that his father had written. From the author description, you might think this is a fluffy summer fling fic, but instead it delves right into the emotional pain that these boys are facing while they work through some of that with the help of the other.
For a complete list of the fics I read out of the DCBB 2013 with links to the ones I liked, click here. (As a disclaimer, I did not not read every fic this year, but read all the descriptions and downloaded 54 out of the 122 that sounded interesting to me.) I would be happy to answer questions on what I did or didn’t like about any of these, and please let me know if there are any that I didn’t read that I should give a chance.
Still want more fics to read? Check out my previous posts:
Destiel Fanfic Recs Part 1: My Favorite Depressing Supernatural Universe AR Fics
Destiel Fanfic Recs Part 2: My Favorite Hilarious Supernatural Universe AR Fics
Destiel Fanfic Recs Part 3: My Favorite AU Fics
Or visit the new Destiel/Cockles fic recs page on my blog for the compilation of all of these lists.
I still have like 45 DCBB fics to read but hell I am still open for suggestions. Anyone know of really good Major Character Death fics? If not just awesome ones in general!
Hoooooooly shit go read this fic it's called A Beginner's Guide to Communing With the Dead and you're literally going to shit yourself it's so good. Plotty and fascinating and all the good things you want in a fic minus the porn. Literally incredible. I'm still reeling.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
So, earlier you mentioned the fic The breath of all things. Firstly I would like to say how dare you, secondly, this just consumed my entire afternoon, and third, I have cried enough to make a bath out of my own tears. It was amazing. Do you have any more recommendations? :) x
SO GLAD FOR ANYONE TO READ IT!!!!
And so glad you asked :) I have many many recs from this year's DCBB list!
You should DEFINITELY also check out Jess's other big fic, My Roots Take Flight. FANTASTIC (although I still like TBOAT better!)
I decided to read every single DCBB this year, and here are my favorites! Make sure to leave comments and kudos if you enjoy them because they all obviously took a huge amount of work! Under a cut, because the list is pretty huge.
(ETA: there are definitely more fics that are fantastic! I just tend to not like fics with endings that are ambiguous or sad. Just a personal preference! And my very favorites are starred!)
Oct 3: mollyC - Every Man’s Got a Right
Word Count: 78,108
Summary: Cas never expected to live through Dean’s last plan. Now, he’s not only alive, he’s in the past—before Dean went to Hell, before he made the deal at all. Can a fallen angel and a couple of hunters change the future by altering the past?
Oct 4: darkly_ironic - On These More Familiar Roads
Word Count: 37,439
Summary: Castiel isn’t the man—or the angel—he used to be. As learns to cope with the loss of the Winchesters and his own newfound humanity, his old life feels a world away. That is, until he finds Dean, who’s been brought back to life by unknown forces. With Sam missing, demons on their trail, and all the rules changed, just having each other may not be enough… AU from then end of Season 7.
Oct 7: saltnbyrne - What Once Was Sacred
Word Count: 55,775
Summary:
Los Angeles detective Dean Winchester works tirelessly to atone for the sins of his father one case at a time. When his best friend Charlie drags him to visit Sam at his new job, Dean stumbles onto a bizarre string of deaths that brings him uncomfortably close to his past.
Dean can’t stop thinking about Castiel, an enigmatic DJ who plays the sexiest music Dean’s ever heard. A chance encounter at Castiel’s house reveals that Castiel is an incubus, and Dean must face the lies and the reality of his childhood as a hunter. Dean comes to see that he and Castiel have more in common than he thought, and that guilt can be the hardest thing to cast aside.
Oct 7: bravest, edmstuck - What Falls for Love
Word Count: 51,323
Summary: An angel of the lord going by the human name of Dean is told to make contact with his current charge, Castiel, on Heaven’s list of prophets-to-be. Castiel is swept up in a war waged by angels and demons, and both the angel playing human and the human playing prophet learn things are never as simple as they seem.
Oct 8: **kismetjeska - The Breath of All Things
Word Count: 65,397
Summary: Dean Winchester was twenty-six years old when a car accident killed his father and left him paralysed from the waist down. A year and a half later, Dean is in a wheelchair and lives in a care home in Kansas, where he spends his days waiting to die. It’s only when Castiel Novak starts volunteering at the care home that Dean starts to wonder if a changed life always equals a ruined one.
Oct 10: dustlines - Safe Spaces
Word Count: 22,800
Summary: The angels have fallen, and Castiel is collapsing under the weight of what he’s done. Nothing is as it was before, and Dean struggles to find Cas before it’s too late to save him. The road, though, is full of many new and unpredictable obstacles, as fallen angels and the spread of untempered Grace are creating havoc all over the world. In this newly-ravaged, volatile climate of fear, Dean and Cas must rediscover how to rely on each other if they are to survive the wars both inside and outside of their own heads. Canon-divergent from 8.23.
Oct 10: **scaramouche - What Has Eight Tentacles
Word Count: 16,174
Summary:
Dean watched an anime porn about this once, but real life turns out to be way less interesting.
Or, the one where Dean gets turned into an octopus.
Oct 16: **deans1911 - F**k You!
Word Count: 24,459
Summary: Castiel Novak, the general manager of a failing restaurant, and Dean Winchester, his stubborn head chef, hate each other’s guts. It’s up to celebrity Chef Balthazar Roche to keep them from running Garrison 16 into the ground and killing one another in the process.
Oct 17: deathbycoldopen - Come In From The Cold
Word Count: 32,406
Summary: When Castiel Angelios moves to town to eventually fill his brother’s old position in the family business, he never expected to be enlisted in an increasingly antagonistic prank war between his family and another. Nor did he expect to meet someone like Dean Winchester, the charming and beautiful owner of the cafe across the street. But while Castiel attempts to navigate the line between loyalty to his family, and strengthening this fledgeling friendship, he discovers that both sides are using illegal magics to get ahead, jeopardizing everything that Castiel has built for himself.
Oct 21: **choc_freckles - What Holds Us Up
Word Count: 39,708
Summary: What happens when John Winchester suddenly comes back to life, and meets the boys as they are today?
Oct 22: **anythingtoasted - Roots
Word Count: 38,686
Summary:
After the apocalypse, Dean, Sam and Castiel settle into a gentler life, and Dean starts to make peace with the things that plagued him before 2009. Tentatively, carefully, he starts getting better.
But something lives in the woods, in the house; something calls to him in his dreams that crosses the lines between waking and sleep. Whilst trying to reconcile himself with himself, Dean finds himself wondering if the things he’s managed to build are really slipping away, or if the whole thing is just in his head.
Oct 22: geckoholic - Muted Angels
Word Count: 13,861
Summary: There’s nothing worse than a case involving dead kids, at least in the book of Detective Dean Winchester. It’s just his luck that his partner is the lieutenant’s favorite, and she chooses to give them the high-profile murder case of a dead girl from the suburbs. More deaths follow, and the two of them get sucked into the world of religious cults and ritualistic murders. In the face of that, Dean’s feelings for aforementioned partner are the least of his problems.
Oct 30: **irlyh8cornnuts - Best Years of our Lives, My Ass
Word Count: 110,801
Summary: Dean goes to sleep in a motel room in Texarkana, and he wakes up 17 years old, in his childhood bedroom in Lawrence, Kansas, 1996. He has no idea how he got there, why his parents are still alive, why his brother is an adorable freshman with no memory of his adult life, and why the only ally he has in this place is the angel he left behind in Purgatory – somehow also 17 years old. They have to get out, that’s the important thing. Only, falling in love with his angel wasn’t a part of the plan….
Oct 30: strange_radio - When Times Go Rough
Word Count: 21,811
Summary: Mary Winchester, Ellen Harvelle and Karen Singer are all sisters, the daughters of Samuel and Deanna Campbell. The (now much larger) Winchester-Campbell extended family resides in Lawrence, where they are retirees, college students, and small business owners who hunt on nights and weekends. With their original plan for the apocalypse suffering a setback with the failure to secure Sam and Dean as future vessels for the archangels, the demons have created another plan that begins with the death of Jessica Moore. Castiel, visiting from the canon timeline, helps the Winchesters and their extended family investigate and avenge her death, and falls just as hard for well-adjusted, small-town Dean as he has for the Dean in his own timeline.
Oct 30: belwrites - Righting Wrongs Already Inked
Word Count: 27,000
Summary: The fire that destroys the apartment building of Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak sparks a chain of events that lead to Dean and Cas three thousand miles from home, at a family reunion with the very people Cas has tried to forget. But maybe a little family bonding is just what Cas needs to heal old wounds and start forgiving himself for something that happened years ago, something he has immortalized onto his skin in Technicolor.
Nov 2: kototyph – Shut Up (Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is)
Word Count: 23,800
Summary: Dean's done some pretty stupid things, but getting drunk-hitched in Vegas to a colleague he barely knows might just take the cake. His surprise husband, Castiel, is a little weird but likable despite that, and Dean figures they’ll go back to Boston, get a quiet annulment, and go their separate ways. Six weeks later, he’s still married to one of the strangest, most genuine and definitely most dangerously lov-- likable guys he's ever known. Dean doesn't know why or really even how it’s happening, but it’s getting harder and harder to remember that he has divorce papers to file.
Nov 4: briarelwood - Up On The Roof
Word Count: 23,554
Summary: Dean, Sam, Benny, and Victor make up the a cappella group The Vessels. The group's popularity is quickly fading and, refusing to be finished quite yet, hold auditions for a fifth member. Castiel Novak, a strange baritone, is one of the auditionees to which Dean initially says no. But his initial reaction might be caused by more than just being weirded out by the odd man. Castiel's rumbling voice and intensely blue eyes might also have something to do with it.
Nov 5: casicastiel - Djinn Rummy
Word Count: 22,114
Summary: With the gates of Heaven and Hell finally shut, Dean is forced to take a deeper look at his relationship, both past and present, with Castiel. However, in so doing, Dean comes to some startling realizations about himself, the person he thinks is his best friend, and the world they both live in.
Nov 6: imogenbynight - Dark Side of the Moon
Word Count: 37,232
Summary: Five months into his six month mission, an accident leaves Flight Engineer Dean Winchester stranded on the moon. It comes down to a man he has never met to bring him home.
Nov 6: blossomshed - WITH LOVE
Word Count: 10,948
Summary: On a sad day in winter, Dean meets a guy in the park who just might be able to turn his frown upside down, if he could only remember something more than his name.
Meanwhile, in Heaven, Castiel has to defend the decision to abandon his post purely to make a guy on a park bench smile.
Nov 7: hubrisandwax - As the Sparrow
Word Count: 18,773
Summary: It’s 1947. Dean is an ex-marine fighting crime and a very different sort of war to the one he faced in the Pacific as a detective on the streets of LA. This city isn’t all the glitz and glamor it’s made out to be, however, and Dean finds himself tugged in to a world of life-threatening unknowns when Daphne Novak’s body is discovered. Castiel Novak, her husband, was one of Dean’s battalion mates in the war, and he's just as deadly and dangerous as he was two years ago when he saved Dean’s life during the Battle of Okinawa. Except now he’s wanted for his wife’s murder, and Dean just doesn’t believe Cas is capable of that.
Is Cas really who he says he is, though? And what will Dean have to sacrifice in order to repay the debt he feels he owes?
Nov 11: seeing-ghosts - The Big Afraid
Word Count: 38,031
Summary: Dean likes to mind his own business. Between juggling a daytime job as a mechanic, his secret identity as one of the City's masked vigilantes, and trying to repair the relationship with his brother, Dean doesn't have time for much else - let alone relationships, romantic or otherwise. Castiel is the superhero Dean keeps running into and whose mind seems to be set on befriending Dean, whatever it takes.
Nov 12: **tamrynerdani - Set Me Up Buttercup
Word Count: 30,071
Summary: Dean is the starting setter for his college's volleyball team. His plans for the year include winning Conferences, passing his classes, kicking Benny's butt at basketball, and making sure Ash remembers to eat and bathe on a semi-regular basis. He doesn't plan on meeting Cas Milton but once he does, Dean's carefully planned year changes.
Nov 13: letters_of_stars - Smoke in the Mirror
Word Count: 52,371
Summary: It begins with the flier hung in the library: art model needed for thesis project, will pay. Castiel figures it's an easy way to make some extra money, but modeling for Dean Winchester ends up complicating his life far beyond anything he could have imagined.
Nov 14: **n_nami - When I Was Your Man (note: RPF)
Word Count: 29,991
Summary: After eight seasons of Supernatural, the writers finally decide to openly have Dean and Castiel fall in love. The only problem? Jensen and Misha fell apart when Misha left for most of season 7, and they had a hard time fixing their friendship ever since. Now it's not only having to deal with character bleed – because Jensen starts to understand where Dean is coming from – but also with the fallout of their failed friends with benefits arrangement.
Nov 14: ourdivineashes - A Song for Coming Home
Word Count: 13,373
Summary: Ten years ago, Dean was left devastated by the sudden departure of his best friend, after he confessed that he felt something more than friendship for Cas. Now, with a decade of bitterness and anger built up inside of him, Dean is surprised to find his old friend returned to their small farming town. Cas says that he is here to make amends, but Dean is unsure. With storms rolling in, Dean struggles with holding onto his anger, or letting go and letting Cas back into his life.
Nov 15: undertheimperius - Bent and Broken
Word Count: 44,241
Summary: Dean Winchester, MD, has just started his fellowship in child psychiatry at a new hospital with his longtime friend, Charlie Bradbury, but when he meets his attending, the frustratingly aloof Dr. Novak, he’s afraid he’s met his match. Through new forged friendships and the pain of loss, Dean finds that there’s more to Dr. Novak than meets the eye and that maybe, just maybe he can learn a thing or two.
Nov 20: **beastofthesky - Dreameater
Word Count: 38,233
Summary: Sam, Dean, and Cas are doing the usual – saving people, hunting things, keeping other monsters in check – when it slowly becomes more and more evident that something is causing monsters to lose control. In trying to figure out what's happening, they realize that this is much, much bigger than they originally thought.
Nov 20: **squeemonster - Suburban War
Word Count: 104,885
Summary: Moving to Lawrence with his family is the most significant event of Dean Winchester's life. It brings a stability he's never known, and the only thing to have more of a profound impact on him is Castiel Novak: the two boys become fast friends the day they meet. But as Dean grows older, he dreams for something beyond the monotony and constraints of suburbia, and he is haunted by the inexplicable feeling that he was born for something more than what this life offers. As he struggles to reconcile the person he yearns to be with what his family and friends expect of him, a fateful choice exposes just how fragile his life in the suburbs is, and possibly risks losing the best friend he's ever had.
Nov 21: **tasalmalin - A Model Arrangement
Word Count: 24,145
Summary: Dean and Sam are set to make some easy cash as amateur models--even if it means putting up with Sam's eccentric ex-stalker, Becky. With Sam's long-time crush also joining them, Sam's actually looking forward to it. Dean's just hoping that his fellow third (fourth?) wheel is a cool guy, because it looks like they're going to be spending quite a bit of time together this week.
Nov 21: purplesummer91 - Across the Universe
Word Count: 24,186
Summary: Dean has just turned twenty seven and has a crappy life, a crappy family, a crappy job in a crappy coffee shop, and the most fabulous best friend he could ever ask for. He also has a recurring dream that has been tormenting him for weeks, now. A dream that involves the most gorgeous pair of blue eyes he has ever seen. Blue eyes that belong to a mysterious stranger from the coffee shop, who has left him a feather and an address that prompts him and his best friend Charlie to go on a road trip to find out the meaning of Dean's dreams, and the identity of the beautiful stranger who seem to know Dean far better than he should.
Nov 22: **todisturbtheuniverse - Pulling Out the Nails
Word Count: 58,249
Summary: Dean Winchester is the last general of a failing Resistance, and Castiel is the djinni sent to assassinate him. Given Castiel’s rebellious history, his master should have known better than to put him within a hundred miles of Dean. Together, they hatch a last desperate plan to end the tyranny of the magicians, and despite their obvious differences, find a peculiar salvation in one another. (Otherwise known as The Bartimaeus Sequence AU.)
Honorable mentions: Alexandria, Foxfire Blossom, Heaven for the Climate, Hurricane Castiel, Pies and Prejudice, Silverwing, The Good, The Bad and The Angel, The Opal and the Sapphire
"The Other Place was bright in Dean’s eyes, as though he’d brought a part of it with him."
Dean as Cas sees him for the first time after their journey to The Other Place aka powered-up!Dean for todisturbtheuniverse's DCBB, Pulling Out The Nails. (Bartimaeus Trilogy AU)
1 | 2
