Tags: Inspired by The Lives of Others (2006), Communism, Cold War, Mutual Pining, Long Separation, Second Chances, Significant Character Death
Summary: 1984: Castiel Novak is an officer of East Germany’s secret police, one of the best at interrogating enemies of the state. With thousands of people illegally crossing East Germany’s closed borders each month, draining the country of its workforce, his task is more important and righteous than ever.
But one day, Castiel meets celebrated playwright Dean Winchester. Dean is handsome and compelling, but Castiel isn’t at all sure that he is as loyal to the people’s government as he claims. To prove his suspicions, Castiel launches an operation to install surveillance equipment at Dean’s apartment.
From that day on, Castiel spends long days and nights listening in on Dean’s life, and unexpected emotions soon rear their head. As doorways to doubt begin to open, Castiel must decide if he's willing to save the man he is falling for — from the government he is meant to serve.
Sneak Peek: The final item on his checklist is the plain wooden chair where the prisoner is going to sit. Its seat is covered with a thin cushion, designed to conceal a specially treated cloth that will absorb the prisoner’s scent. After the interview, it will be retrieved and stored in a sealed jar to preserve that scent. It’s a useful and ingenious system for finding fugitives with the aid of State Security’s specially trained dogs.
Approaching footfalls echo in the corridor outside, traveling toward Castiel’s domain. Two distinct sets of footsteps: one sure and precise, a military cadence, the other stumbling and unsure.
Castiel takes a seat behind the desk and turns on the recorder as he awaits the knock. When it sounds, he calls, “Come in.”
The door opens, but Castiel doesn’t look up to acknowledge either the prisoner or the guard. He is holding a pen and studying the open file in front of him, though he received it yesterday and could recite its contents by heart. Psychology matters: he wishes to be perceived as a busy man who cannot be bothered to observe idle courtesies.
“Sit down,” he says, curt and to the point.
Still he does not look up, but he can see enough to tell that the prisoner has obeyed him.
“Hands tucked under your thighs, palms down,” he says, pretending to write a note in the margins of the file. Palms sweat when prisoners are nervous. Another tool to help strengthen the scent imprint.
The prisoner hesitates briefly, but then he follows the instruction.
Satisfied, Castiel raises his eyes off the file and nods to the guard in silent dismissal.
“Well,” Castiel says, not quite smiling, but keeping his face open, conversational, his hands folded on the desk in front of him. “What would you like to tell me?”
Tags: Creature Castiel, Incubus Cas, Miscommunication, Sex to Love, Smut with Plot and Feelings, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, Monsterfucker Dean Winchester, Dominance/Submission, Edging, Anal Sex
Summary: Castiel is an incubus who prefers feeding off ambient desire. It’s easy, even if it isn’t very satisfying.
Then the man with the golden soul walks into Crossroads. When Castiel warns him that he is intense, demanding, and difficult to satisfy, Dean only seems more interested.
Desire is easy. Attachment is the part no one warned him about.
Sneak Peek: Humans liked to pretend they were progressive about monsters, liked to congratulate themselves on knowing the right words and the right etiquette. But there were lines they still drew. Creatures they tolerated and those they did not.
Incubi occupied an uncomfortable rung in the hierarchy of acceptable monsters. Vampires were romanticized. Werewolves were pitied. Seelie fae were sought after. Demons were feared, but at least understood. Incubi, on the other hand, were treated as predators by people who could not tell the difference between coercion and consent. Questions came laced with accusations. And enough people still believed the tales that incubi fed on souls in exchange for sexual pleasure. There was a not insignificant amount of people who believed they reached into victims and hollowed them out.
Castiel had long since stopped trying to educate humans.
He didn’t steal, not their desire and certainly not their souls. He absorbed what was already there, what people were shedding without noticing. Their arousal and release.
When he used to try explaining, he would tell them he fed off human souls the way plants fed from the sun. He, like the plants, absorbed what was freely given. But he no more hurt the humans he fed from than the plants hurt the sun.
Ambient feeding kept things simple. There was enough desire flowing in a place like this to keep him fed, plenty of light, diffuse and impersonal. If he was lucky someone would engage in some type of intercourse in the bathroom and the excess would keep him sated for a week or better.
Tags: Murder Mystery, Strangers to Lovers, Private Investigator Castiel, Escort Dean Winchester, Dark Romance, Psychological Thriller/Horror, Explicit Sexual Content, Blood and Gore
Summary: At St. Claire’s Orphanage, the Halloween murder mystery gala is nothing but theatre - an elaborate performance of scripted screams and safe little deaths. But when the storm rolls in and the doors close, the line between fiction and reality begins to blur.
As staged deaths give way to something far more sinister and the bodies refuse to rise, old sins claw their way into the candlelight, and every elegant guest has something to hide.
By the end of the night, the question won’t be who did it, but who deserved it.
Sneak Peek: “If you remember anything else..” He let the sentence hang.
“I’ll come to you,” Dean said, too quietly, and for a moment the room was unbearably full.
He made as if to leave, but hesitated, glancing back over his shoulder. Something unsettled flickered in his eyes as a question surfaced, uninvited but impossible to bury.
“Do you believe in evil, detective?” Dean asked.
Castiel’s gaze lingered on him, tracing the arc of Dean’s jaw, the constellation of gold in his irises, the dusting of freckles that made him look almost boyish, if it weren’t for the tired shadows, and the weathered edge that spoke of years spent getting up after life knocked him down. It wasn't an unattractive quality. It was honest.
“I’m not sure I believe in evil the way you mean it,” Castiel replied, the words slow and careful, as if purposefully shaping them would make them true. “But I want to believe in consequences.”
Dean seemed to consider that, turning it over in his mind and weighing its honesty. He finally nodded, and Castiel watched him go, every step etched in his memory. He did not write down what he was thinking. Some confessions were meant only for the dark.
Tags: Multiverse, Time Travel, Fix-It, Castiel Comes Back from the Empty, Significant Character Death (several AU Castiels die), Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Divergent After s15e18, Explicit Sexual Content, Each Chapter Takes Place in a Different Timeline/Universe, Top/Bottom Versatile Castiel/Dean Winchester
Summary: Sam keeps reading the spell, doing a quick and dirty translation in his head. “Dammit,” he curses when he gets to the last line of the incantation. “It won’t work. It says we need ‘The blood of one who died for love.’ But everyone’s just gone—there’s no blood anywhere. Certainly not ‘of one who died for love.’”
Dean recoils like he just got punched in the gut. He backs up a couple of steps and then turns and staggers back down the hall towards his room, wordlessly. Sam can’t tell if he’s drunk or just… distraught.
But a few minutes later, he re-emerges with something clutched tightly against his chest. His jacket. The one he was wearing when Cas died, the one stamped with Cas’s bloody handprint. He holds it out to Sam like a precious offering.
“There’s blood, Sam.”
(A post-’Despair’ fix-it fic in which Castiel’s sacrifice for Dean defies time and space to save the entire Supernatural multiverse.)
Sneak Peek: The second Cas, though… he’s with his Dean, standing behind him, chin hooked over that Dean in the space between his shoulder and his neck, one arm wrapped protectively around his middle. They’re both touching the stone, and they’re both shirtless, and they look much younger.
Dean balks. Seeing them… that Dean and Cas, so intimate, clearly together in the way that Dean only recently learned Cas wanted with him right before he was gone forever, cracks his heart wide open and makes him want to die. They have no idea that they’re rubbing salt into the worst wound Dean’s ever gotten. He burns with rage and grief and jealousy, and hot tears slide down his face before he can do anything to stop them.
But then this Castiel’s eyes change and he appraises Jack with a gaze that’s pure and black—he’s a demon. And there’s blood smeared across the other Dean’s mouth like—like... then finally Dean notices the bloodied cut on Castiel’s forearm, all messy and smeared just like the other Dean’s mouth.
He’s hit with a roiling wave of sickness at the idea.
“What the hell…?” Sam breathes. Then he purses his lips, shakes his head a little bit, and refocuses on the task at hand.
Jack waits for a few more long, agonizing moments. Dean can’t stop staring at the way the demon Castiel’s chin rests on the curve of the other Dean’s neck, like it belongs there. Like Dean belongs to him. In his periphery, he sees Jack give a short, stiff nod to each and every Castiel, and finally the demon Castiel and the tagalong Dean, before closing his fist around the stone.
Then they all vanish in an instant, leaving Michael, Jack, Sam, and Dean alone and Castiel-less once again.
Tags: Alternate Universe; Police officer Dean Winchester; enemies with benefits; accountant Castiel Novak; explicit sexual content; Bottom Dean; Bottom Castiel; misunderstandings; they suck at communication; happy ending
Summary: Castiel Novak had given up on love or anything resembling a relationship when Arthur stomped all over his heart and left. His brother decides to set him up on a blind date, and, although reluctant at first, Castiel agrees. It would have been nice if his date didn’t start out with him getting a speeding ticket, though.
Sneak Peek: The drive back home isn’t far, but he goes about 20 over the speed limit anyway to try to make up some time. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have bothered, because it would only give him a few extra seconds. The moment he sees the flashing lights in his rearview, he knows he’s screwed. He pulls the car over and grabs his license and registration from the glovebox and waits for the officer to walk up to his window. He looks in his side mirror and can’t help but notice the bowed legs walking up to his door. Hopefully the cop isn’t homophobic and he can charm the socks off of him.
“License and registration, please?” the officer with the whisky deep voice proclaims. Castiel hands over the documentation and damn near has a heart attack when he catches a glimpse of the guy, with his freckled nose and green eyes that put the cosmos to shame.
“Do you know why I pulled you over, Casteel?” the officer asks after looking over his license. Castiel rolls his eyes internally because he hates that he has to explain how to pronounce his name all the time. His parents couldn’t give him a normal angel name like they did with Gabriel. Instead, they had to give him one that everyone mispronounces.
“It’s pronounced Cas-ti-el and I think it’s because I might have been going faster than I should have. I’m just running late for a date and was hoping to be able to get there on time.” Castiel places his hand over top of the other man’s hand as he looks over Castiel’s license and registration and he gives the cop his best puppy dog look.
Tags: Soulmate AU, Cashier Cas, Dog Dean, Fantasy AU - Mages, Angst, hurt/comfort, temporary MCD, but not really, it's complicated, happy ending.
Summary: At a very young age, Cas was bitten by a dog. At the time he was scared and traumatized, but had no real grasp of how that attack would affect his life.
Years later, Cas is trudging through life. He has a simple, unimportant job, a small apartment and nobody but his cousin to annoy him from time to time. And no matter what he tries, he can’t find his soulmate. Because his soulmark is nothing but a smear of colors under a scar.
Everything changes when one day, he stumbles upon a lost, hungry dog. He doesn’t know why he feels so drawn to it, especially considering his fear of canines, but there is just something about the dog’s green eyes that simply pulls him in. He does the unthinkable - he takes the dog in, feeds it and gives it a home.
Little does he know that little act of kindness will change his life forever.
Sneak Peek: Cas finds himself frozen in place, staring at the dog before him, paralyzed with fear. His heart is hammering in his chest and he can feel his skin growing hot as he starts to sweat. Even though the dog does nothing but observe him curiously as it lies on some cardboard next to the dumpster, Cas still can't help the anxiety that is growing within him with every passing second.
For a moment he is thrown back into the past, over twenty years ago, when he was just a small, happy child, playing around in the park. He can almost smell the scent of the fresh cut grass and taste the ice cream he had prior. He was such a foolish child who thought dogs were interesting and he wanted to pet one. The bite mark on the inside of his forearm throbs as he remembers the look in the dog’s eyes and the sudden attack.
The dog that's in front of him now shifts, and Cas’ focus is brought back to the present. He tries to make himself breathe, tells himself he is much larger than the dog now and could either stop it or outrun it. He sucks in a breath when the light brown dog sniffs the air, but relaxes marginally when it lowers its head to the ground and closes its eyes.
The Destiel AU Reverse Big Bang Round #3 is now open for sign-ups!
Which world will you choose to visit this round?
Artists, authors, and beta readers are now welcome to sign up for the third round of the @destielaureversebb! Come join us for another exciting year full of space opera, pirates, sports heroes, vampires, naughty priests, and who knows what else! We also have a fun and fabulous discord for all participants including discussion/hype threads for every collab, writer and artist resources, and a very enthusiastic cheer squad :)
Before signing up, please take a moment to review the updated Rules and Schedule (No, really. There WILL be a quiz, so be sure you read the rules.)
Your mod team for Round 3 is @friendofcarlotta, @hawkland, @wanderingcas, @farenmaddox and @valdelion.
Calling all Hollanov and/or Destiel shippers. A new discord server is open for business.
It was created as a welcoming space for fanfic writers, artists, readers, betas, and fans to celebrate their love of Heated Rivalry and the Game Changers series by Rachel Reid and find community and helpful resources. There is also room for folks who create in the Destiel space of the Supernatural fandom (a fandom that the mods also create for).
This space has been created as a welcoming space for fanfic writers, artists, readers, betas, and fans to celebrate their love of Heated Riv
THANK YOU to all our wonderful artists, authors, and beta readers who helped make such incredible art and fics for this year's round of the Dean/Cas Reverse Bang!
Come check out the full collection on Ao3 here!
(Or view the masterlist of works on Airtable here!)
Sad to have missed out? DCRB will be back for another round with sign-ups opening in December after the Dean/Cas Big Bang! We hope to see you then
Can't get enough Dean/Cas? Join the DCBB as an author, artist, and/or beta reader now!
Thank you to all our incredible creators this round for the Destiel AU Reverse Big Bang! We had an amazing number of teams successfully post this year, resulting in 2,455,203 words of Destiel fic in 74 stories & banners, 196 art pieces, and one video edit!
Below the cut you'll find the full list of this round's collaborations. And if you missed out participating, have no fear and stay tuned: sign-ups for the 26-27 edition of this bang will be opening later this month! So watch this space for announcements, tell your friends...and artists, start getting those AU ideas fired up!
Your mod team: @friendofcarlotta, @faren, @wanderingcas, @hawkland and @valdelion
“half a world away” - Author: LoversAntiquities / @tragidean, Artist: Witchy-Worm / @witchy-worm
For the history of Infinite Cakes we have been a Supernatural bang. Now we're thinking about branching out!
We would love to see more cake from the Heated Rivalry fandom, and would be aiming for a mid-late august start. Let us know if that would be something you're into!
Would you be interested in a Heated Rivalry Infinite Cakes?
Tags: Flower Shop AU; Mutual pining; Doctor Castiel; Flower shop owner Dean Winchester; meet cute; first kiss; explicit sexual content; Top Castiel/Bottom Dean
Summary: Dean has owned the flower shop on the corner of Market and Main for 5 years now and leads a simple existence. He thought he was happy not having any responsibilities, until the day the dark haired, blue eyed stranger walked into his shop. He comes in once a week to buy a flower, and Dean wonders what it’s for, but he never asks. Over the next few months, they become friendlier with each other, and Dean finds himself wondering if they will ever become more.
It’s finally here, my entry for the DCRB 2026! This is the first time I’m doing digital art for a bang and it’s been many, many years since I did traditional art for one.
Anyway, I’m very excited to share this piece I’ve been workng on for a while. I wish I had time to do a second piece, but maybe next time!
Thank you to the mods for all their help and answering all my questions!
Thank you to @avonlady42 , who wrote a beautifully sweet story to go with my art, which you can find here! It was such a pleasure working with her!
Public claims for the Dean Cas BDSM Reverse Bang are now open. We still have a few art pieces waiting to be claimed. Reminder when you click on the link, some of them are NSFW as is the nature of the bang. If there is nothing there, then everything has already been claimed.
View the gallery here
If you would like to try to claim something, please send an email to [email protected] with your fandom name and the number(s) that you would like to try to claim.
We're back for a second round and this time it's in reverse. The artists are in charge now. Please check out the rules and schedule and come join us by clicking on the sign up form.
