#mficwriting

Fairytale

Rated: G | AO3 link | Words: 847 | Beta: No Beta | Tags: Domestic Fluff, Post Canon

Excerpt:

“You left your coffee on the counter again,” a voice to Dean’s right said. Dean turned and saw a pair of legs clad in pinstripe pajama pants. His gaze traveled up as he saw Cas standing on the porch step, holding two mugs of steaming coffee. Dean smiled and reached up.

“At least you caught it before it got cold again,” he said, taking the mug from Cas so Cas could sit down next to Dean on the porch step.

Cas opened his mouth but Dean shook his head before the words could come out.

“It tastes different when I microwave it.”

The familiar rebuttal, one that Cas’s heard at least once a week, drew a soft laugh from Cas as he settled down next to Dean.

The two sat in silence as they took in the early June morning. The shallow fog hadn’t lifted entirely as the sun broke the horizon only ten minutes before. The dew sparkled in the filtered light and birds in the trees behind the house chirped away, louder than their alarms.

Rated: T | AO3 link | Words: 1,989 | Beta: @crab-full-of-rocks​ and destielzchild | Tags: Domestic Fluff, Cuddling & Snuggling, Sleepy Cuddles, Established Relationship, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Canon Compliant

written for @winchester-reload​ winter challenge. prompt: cold.

They hoped the furnace would last the winter. Their hope was misplaced.

—

Excerpt

As soon as Dean shifted the covers off of him, the blast of cold hit his skin like someone threw a bucket of ice water on him. He hissed as he sought out his slippers somewhere beneath the bed. Even the carpeted floor was cold. Glancing back down at the bed, he muttered an apology as he took one of the extra blankets they put on the bed and wrapped it around his shoulders. It did little to relieve the chill.

“S’cold,” Dean heard Cas mumble into his pillow, hiking the bedsheets around him more, leaving Dean’s spot in bed open to the cold air. It’d be freezing by the time he got back.

Trying to make quick work of it, Dean shuffled out of their bedroom, goosebumps coating him from head to toe.

In the hallway, Dean came to a stop at the thermostat. He didn’t even look at the temperature at the bottom as he tapped the screen, bumping the thing from 66 degrees to 70. It wouldn’t be for long, they’d be waking up in three or so hours anyway, but anything to take the chill away.

Dean hit “OK” and stood back, waiting for the cast iron radiators to rattle with life as hot water rushed into them.

But nothing came.

Rated: T | AO3 link | Words: 1,528 | Beta: @crab-full-of-rocks​ | Tags: Domestic Fluff, Snowball Fight, Established Relationship, Post-Canon, Human Cas

Second fic for @winchester-reload​‘s winter writing challenge. 

 They got way more snow than they anticipated, and only one of them is excited about it.

Excerpt

That night, Dean laid on his side, but slept in bursts. The obvious thing would be to fully get off the couch and pull Cas along with him to their bed — but the thing would have been cold by that hour and Dean still felt warm and snug where he was.

Caught between a soft and softer place, he instead rode the wave of consciousness in and out, in and out as time passed. At some moment in the liminal hours, Dean glanced up to the tiny circular window near the top of the slightly vaulted ceiling of the room. It took him a moment to realize snow had started to accumulate on the small amount of space available right outside the window.

He blinked a few times, trying to focus his eyesight on the display but all his eyes wanted to do was close so he could slip back into a shallow sleep.

Dean thought he only blinked, but when he opened his eyes, the living room was cast in a silvery morning glow from the curtains and the little porthole window up top. The sun had barely risen but whatever light it provided was filtered through the snow that was still, surprisingly, falling.

Dean frowned as he looked back up at the small window, not able to see the flakes but seeing that the tiny snow drift on the window’s ledge had grown.

Rated: G | AO3 link | Words: 2044 | No Beta | Tags: Implied/Referenced Homophobia, Post-Canon

Summary: Farmer Reynolds from up the road is a grumpy old man who hates "city folk". Dean and Cas learned to avoid him when they can, but while taking a walk one day, Dean sees the man needs some help (despite his stubbornness). 

EXCERPT

The man’s face, now and angry purple-red, made him look like he was an inch from keeling over. His dog had gone inside at some point to escape the heat.

Dean sighed and pointed at Miracle with a quiet “stay” before heading up to the old man.

“Do you need help with that?”

Something clanged off the engine and fell to the ground and Reynolds swore.

“Not from the likes of you.”

Dean fought the urge to roll his eyes.

“We aren’t contagious.”

Reynolds laughed and spat again.

“Never said y’were,” Reynolds said, yanking on something else. “But city folk got soft hands and I don’t need y’breakin’ it more.”

Dean frowned as he watched. Was “city folk” a euphemism?

“I’m not from the city.”

Reynolds laughed and looked over to him. Dean wished he didn’t. The man looked grotesque in the sunlight with sweating pouring from his bald head and cap.

“Y’got a pretty face, new clothes and shoes, and livin’ with another man. You’re city folk.”

Dean sighed as another piece of metal fell from the tractor.

“I can a hundred percent guarantee you I am not from the city, and I do actually know a thing or two about fixing engines,” Dean pointed out, wondering why he was trying so hard. Half of him wanted to turn around and leave Reynolds to it, hoping he didn’t have a heart attack.

But the guy was beginning to shake and was probably overheating. Reynolds was probably close to getting heatstroke.

“Sure, kid,” Reynolds said.

Rated: T | AO3 link | Words: 2,447 | Beta: @crab-full-of-rocks​ | Tags: Domestic Fluff, Christmas, Bad Cooking, Established Relationship, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Human Castiel (Supernatural)

Third fic for @winchester-reload​‘s winter writing challenge.

Cas tries to make a special Christmas drink — but his bad luck streak in the kitchen continues.

--

Excerpt:

Cas panicked for half a second before remembering that pre-packaging the spices was a suggestion, not a requirement.

Sighing, annoyed with himself regardless, Cas unscrewed the lid of the cinnamon sticks. Or, at least he tried to. Something prevented it from turning the final quarter it needed — almost like a rock had gotten wedged in there. Frowning, he turned harder, face growing hot over the heat of the stove and simmering cider. It smelled great with the oranges at least.

With one final yank, the top unscrewed. But Cas’s hands, slightly sweaty while working over the pot, nearly dropped the glass jar.

He saved it just in time for nine of the cinnamon sticks to plop into the mixture instead of just four.

“Shit,” he mumbled to himself, agitation growing. This was supposed to be easy.

The Odyssey, The Iliad, & The Winchesters

A thinkpiece on the upcoming The Winchesters prequel show to Supernatural;

11,039 words

EXCERPT

Let’s set the stage and learn who our main storytellers will be: Jensen and Robbie Thompson under Chaos Machine Productions (CMP).

Let’s start with Robbie.

When initial criticisms came out during the June 2021 leak, I wondered how many people voicing their opinions and concerns were newer Supernatural fans and/or wasn’t aware of Robbie’s impactful time of the show.

I know many fans had started during “Dabb Era” which comprised of seasons 12-15 where Andrew Dabb was the showrunner of Supernatural.

Robbie’s last episode was in season 11. He never got to write for “Dabb Era” and many fans who started in this time were not around during peak Robbie fandom.

His first episode was Slash Fiction, 7x06. It was an episode where we saw leviathan pretending to be Sam and Dean, trying to draw them out, and putting them on every wanted list in America. It’s also the episode where we meet Frank Devereaux, played by Kevin McNally.

Robbie’s final episode was Don’t Call me Shurley, 11x20, where we saw the return of Chuck and confirmed his identity was that of God. It’s where we get some Chuck and Metatron dialogue, setting up what will eventually become the final battle by the end of the show. Oh also, Robbie made God queer — so that was pretty sweet.

In between those episodes, Thompson penned several that became iconic in certain sectors of the fandom like LARP and the Real Girl, Goodbye Stranger, First Born, Fan Fiction, and Baby.

And that’s not even all of them. Gifsets, fan edits, fanfic, fanart, Twitter threads, and other Tumblr posts still get made to this day off of fan-favorite episodes he’s written.

Robbie is an exceptionally talented writer. Between the way he approaches a story, the way he approaches puzzles (figuring out canon, making a story around one idea, etc…), and how he develops characters or works with the existing canon of characters that aren’t his — he’s someone I would want working on a Supernatural spin-off story of this size. He’s also just… a big ol’ fan of the show.

Rated: G | AO3 link | Words: 1253 | No Beta | Tags: Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Fear, Nostalgia, References to The Empty, Human Castiel (Supernatural)

Summary: On a drive out of Chicago, the boys stop at an old familiar barn on the outskirts of Pontiac, Illinois. Ideally, it'd bring back fond memories. But for Cas, he's still struggling with the last memory he had of the place.

EXCERPT

“You’re supposed to be asleep,” he said to Dean, glancing over to him.

Dean ignored Cas as they passed by some traffic cones left by the side of I-55.

Cas reached over and tapped Dean on the arm and Dean finally turned to face him.

“Take exit 197,” he instructed nodding at a sign they were coming up on.

EXIT 197

PONTIAC

FLANAGAN

1 MILE

Cas hadn’t been paying much attention to the signs, but now he understood why Dean suddenly took interest.

Nodding, Cas moved over to the travel lane as they passed another field, and a sign that indicated the exit was half a mile away. A knot began to form in his stomach.

“Take a right at the end of the ramp,” Dean said as Cas slowed down.

“I know where to go.”

Things looked different on the ground versus how Cas originally came into the area — and at night, with his eyesight now nothing special, things did look exceptionally foreign — but he still knew where to go.

“Do you think it’s still there?” he asked.

Dean sat back in his seat as they headed down Route 116.

“I hope so.”

Rated: G | AO3 link | Words: 685 | No Beta | Tags: Established Relationship, Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Post-Canon, mention of nightmares, Rainbows, Human Cas

Summary: A quiet moment of reflection as a storm blows over the farmhouse

EXCERPT

One of the best things about the house wasn’t the fancy bathtub they installed or the TV they invested in. It wasn’t the barn they spent two years fixing up into a study and a place for Dean to fix cars, and it wasn’t the garden out in the back.

Cas’s favorite piece of the house was a partial wrap-around porch with its small, pitched roof that protected them from the rainstorms or the harsh sun.

His favorite time to go out there was during summer storms that blew through the area in the course of ten minutes, allowing them for breathtaking views as the cell would approach. One of Jack’s favorite things to do, when he was there for a storm, was set up his phone for a timelapse.

Cas and Dean, if they saw the storm wasn’t going to be too bad or spawn off a tornado warning, would often sit outside on the repurposed outdoor couch and watch the storms pass through.

It was in those minutes that Cas felt the most alive.