#supportive!gabriel

Holy Roller by flowersinherhair Rating: Teen and Up Word Count: 34k

Complacency rules Dean and Castiel's lives, not any sort of true happiness. Both are too scared to shake things up—that is, until Dean stumbles into Castiel's sleepy Appalachian town held under the iron thumb of Cas's revivalist preacher step-father.

One of the best things about stories— any form of story— is that it takes you to a world you may have never seen otherwise. I had never set foot in Southern Appalachia but, after reading this fic, I feel like I have. Castiel’s town is described so vividly and with so much love from the author that it came alive on the page. The chapter titles, which come from road signs the author has seen in the area, were a nice touch. Every chapter also has a corresponding song, so the author's passion for this fic is evident right from the start.

This mastery over the setting sets a perfect stage to showcase why Cas grew into the man we meet at the start of the story. Dean is the newcomer who’s just passing through on a road trip, until a conversation with Cas makes him think he might stay a while. This fic takes place over a longer space of time and is told in dual POVs, allowing the relationship between Dean and Cas to grow naturally and convincingly.

The Bird Professor by CadenceImperfect, kateaintbeehaven, and tale_to_tell Rating: Mature Word Count: 5k

“Is this—” a voice slurs through the phone. Though its owner is obviously drunk, the voice—Dean’s voice—is deep and sort of rough, and a shiver runs down Castiel’s spine before he can really register what’s happening. “This the— the bird inspector?” “Uh.” Castiel blinks. “The bird inspector? Do you mean the bird professor?” “That’s the shit!” “What the fuck?” Gabriel mouths. Castiel. “Um, yes. This is the bird professor.” “Give it to me straight, doc, I gotta settle something,” Dean drawls. “Do hummingbirds have feet?”

Based on a funny tweet by icon and legend NorthernSparrow, this fun little fic is a quick but hilarious read. Dean gets into a disagreement at a bar about whether hummingbirds have feet and ends up calling the hot ornithology professor who teaches at the same college with him.

A Tail Most Unusual by rustling_pages Rating: Mature Word Count: 9.7k

It could be argued there are worse ways of meeting the love of your life than measuring their inseam for the fitting of a prosthetic merman tail, but if you asked Castiel about it, he’d probably disagree. Secretly being a merman in Hollywood was difficult enough, but working on the cheesiest tv show to ever exploit the worst tropes about merfolk - thank you, Gabriel - with annoyingly attractive soap opera star Dean Winchester was not how Castiel had envisioned his life going.

I am so delighted to (hopefully) introduce new readers to this fic! I adore merpeople fics, and this is a fantastic spin on the genre. 

Firstly, it completely sidesteps the popular fish-out-of-water trope. Instead, Cas is very well acquainted with life on land and has a well-established reputation as a prosthetics expert in Hollywood. 

For a fic under 10k, it packs in a ton of worldbuilding while (lovingly) skewering popular mermaid tropes. The culture clash between Cas’s heritage and the mer-flavored dreck that Gabriel insists on including in his television show is hilarious. And Cas’s tetchy narration makes it clear Gabriel includes the tropes because they sell and, more importantly, they piss Cas off on a very personal level. 

Cas is perfectly snarky and a stickler for the details, and Dean is adorably priceless in his desperation to stay professional as Cas wrestles Dean's lower half (and his junk) into the tail.

Lastly, the plot has wonderful enemies to lovers build between Cas and Dean. From their first introduction, it makes it clear the enemies setup is entirely a production of their situation, and isn’t based on anything personal. Cas is (understandably) annoyed at Gabriel for twisting their culture for popular consumption. Dean is (also understandably) so turned on he can’t think straight and loses his brain-to-mouth filter on the threshold of Cas’s trailer.