Destiel Trope Collection 2026 | Day 28: Mutual Pining
I need to say something | @destiel-wings
Rating: Teen & Up
Word Count: 4,861
Main Tags/Warnings: Episode: s15e09 The Trap, Canon Divergence, POV Castiel, Purgatory, Angst and Romance, Dean Winchester Loves Castiel, Dean Winchester Uses Actual Words, Love Confessions, Canon-Typical Violence, Dean Winchester Prays to Castiel, Mutual Pining
Summary: What would have happened if Dean had confessed in 15x09 in Purgatory. This is the one where Dean gets to say what he needs to say.
Dance with me | @kikiatthemirror
Rating: Teen & Up
Word Count: 6,597
Main Tags/Warnings: Lampstiel, Lamp? Lamp!, Angst, Happy Ending, Idiots in Love, Mutual Pining, 15x10, Post 15x19, Inspired by Fanart, walking in a dream, POV Dean Winchester, POV Castiel, Dancing
Summary: You know the scene of Dean tap dancing in S15? And the beautiful art Jackie did of that scene?
Well, this fanfic was born because of these two things. There was something about Jackie's art that spoke to me about the love and pain that Dean and Cas had to deal with, not realizing they could be together. This Fanfic has 5 chapters, with an analysis of different moments from different points of view. And an ending that I partly want to leave in the hands of the reader.
All the times I (almost) | @destiel-wings
Rating: Teen & Up
Word Count: 7,009
Main Tags/Warnings: Love Confessions, Angst and Romance, Abuse of Angel Powers (Supernatural), Memory Magic, Castiel Uses Actual Words (Supernatural), Dean Winchester is Bad at Feelings, Castiel is Bad at Feelings (Supernatural), Idiots in Love, Pining
Summary: Castiel confesses, but he canāt bear the look of disbelief on Deanās face (and dreads his answer too much) so he makes Dean forget... Over and over again.
Good Luck, Babe. | @teeparadigm67
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 14,565
Main Tags/Warnings: Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Jealous Dean Winchester, Idiots in Love, Getting Together, Friendship/Love,
Summary: Castiel Novak has spent years loving Dean in the quiet spaces between whatās said and what isnāt. Heās learned to live on scraps ā shared beds, secret touches. But after another night of giving too much and waking up to nothing, Cas finally draws the line. He canāt do this anymore. He doesnāt want to call it off, but if he wonāt call it love, heāll just go find someone else to call him baby. He's tired of opening his heart to someone who just sees him as an explicit kind of love affair.
Dean Winchester never meant to fall in love with his best friend. Sure, he can shoot another shot to try and stop the feeling, but Castiel has always been the one thing that feels real. Still, fear kept his mouth shut and his heart locked up ā until he sees someone elseās hand on Cas, someone else leaning in to make him laugh. Jealousy simmers into something sharp and desperate because losing Cas? That would wreck him. But under the glitter and neon lights heās suddenly standing in the face to face with "I told you soā and starting to realise he may already have.
Inspired by: Good luck, Babe! ā Chappell Roan
Asterism of an F-Series Ford Pick Up | @disabled-dean
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 17,398
Main Tags/Warnings: Case Fic, Road Trip, Mutual Pining, PTSD, hell flash backs, touch-starved Dean Winchester, touch-adverse Dean Winchester, sex dreams, nightmares, mild body horror, only one truck bed, star gazing, alternate angel lore, ambiguously set during S12, the truck is a metaphor, dear God is the truck a metaphor
Summary: When you've been to hell, desire is isolating and ugly.
Or: Cas drives his truck for a case and Dean is exceptionally horny about it
āOnce on a hunt when he was a teenager, Dean had been caught too close to an explosive when it had gone off. There had been the moment when the projectile hit, and the moment when it had detonated. And just before it had, there had also been a moment when he had believed that maybe it wouldnāt.
He had thought about that moment for years, over and over again, until something else had taken its place. And the way that that moment was quiet, the way it was still- that is how this feels. To lie beside Cas in the bed of his truck, their shoulders barely touching.ā
The Better Part of Valour | @andimeantittosting
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 20,098
Main Tags/Warnings: mutual pining, canon-divergent from 15x18, newly human Cas, miscommunication, semi-detailed wound care, top Dean/bottom Cas
Summary: Castiel summons the Empty, but it doesn't take him. Instead, the Empty strips him of his grace, leaving him alive but human, and leaving Dean and Cas to face the aftermath of the things they both said in that dungeon.
Some things I still can't tell you | @andimeantittosting
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 20,646
Main Tags/Warnings: post 15x18, Cas is saved from the Empty, cursed Dean, sirens, miscommunication
Summary: After Cas comes back from the Empty, Dean is determined to show him all the things he can't say. But after their first night together, he wakes to find Cas gone and seemingly determined to stay that way.
The Things We Learn to Live With | @whoipretended2b
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 29,324
Main Tags/Warnings: Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Miscommunication, Emotional Constipation, Workplace Relationship, Coworkers, Online Dating, dating apps, Light Angst
Summary: Castiel sees his a coworker on a dating app and swipes left to avoid humiliation. Months later, a stray comment outs him to the same coworker, Dean Winchester.
As misunderstandings pile up and avoidance becomes its own kind of harm, Castiel is left asking: how much of the life heās built is peace and how much of it is just practice at staying unseen?
The Waltz of Shilly-Shallying | @thefandomsinhalor
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 36,395
Main Tags/Warnings: Veterinarian & Pet Groomer AU, Friends to Lovers, Castiel is Jack Kline's Parent, Slow Burn, Miscommunication, Cas and Dean Need to Use Their Words, Belphegor is Jack's Imaginary Friend, Fluff
Summary: Crushing on each other for quite some time, Dean and Castiel both hesitate to make a move. One thinks the feeling isnāt mutual, while the other figures itās best to focus on his familial duties and remain friends. That is until they find themselves under the mistletoe.
His for the Holidays | @tea-or-die
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 42,219
Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Like A Gay Hallmark Movie, but not, Neurodivergent Dean Winchester, Friends to Lovers, Oral Sex, Frottage, Anal Sex, Heartache, Angst, Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, John Winchester Hate Club, Planes, Misunderstandings, Holidays, Christmas, Ice Skating, Fluff, Smut, Alcohol, Drinking, Breakup, Reunions, Anxiety, Panic Attacks
Summary: MIT grad Dean Winchester is desperately trying to keep his late fatherās garage from sinking, moonlighting as a bartender to pay the bills. Heās helping Ellen out again when his high school crush walks through the doors.
Castiel Novak owns a prestigious aviation company, and is only home for the holidays ā begrudgingly at that. The last thing he expects when he walks into the small-town bar is to fall in love with the bartender.
Heightened emotions and holiday dread bring the two men close together, but will it be enough? Can they really make it last, or is Cas just his for the holidays?
Dear Temporary Neighbour | @thefandomsinhalor
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 45,632
Main Tags/Warnings: Neighbours AU, Fluff and Angst, Small Towns, Slow Burn, Lake House, Misunderstandings, Temporary Dean/Ritchie, Temporary Castiel/Daphne Allen
Summary: When Dean needs to remind himself how very much engaged his new summer neighbour is, he grows desperate and infuriated with himself for having fallen for him. If only he knew that Castiel has sought refuge at this charming house by the lake to reflect on certain aspects of his life, notably his engagement.
Every Rose Has Its Sword | @gaoshunenjoyer
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 55,472
Main Tags/Warnings: Mentions of Myth & Folklore, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Fae & Fairies, Inspired by Tam Lin, Fey Dean Winchester, Human Castiel, Shapeshifting, Swords, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, Witch Rowena MacLeod, Temporary Imprisonment, Being Bitches to Each Other to Lovers, Knight Dean Winchester, Mutual Pining, Kidnapping (Not between Cas and Dean. Don't panic), blink and you'll miss it Sam Winchester/Eileen Leahy, suuuuuuuper background Michael/Adam Milligan, Fantasy
Summary: When Castiel inherits an ancient plot of land in Scotland from his uncle, he leaps at the chance to move as far away from his past as possible. The place is charming even if it has quirks but, best of all, nobody knows anything about him. Itās mostly perfect. The only snag is the patch of woods on the land and the strange way nobody will talk about them.
When spite leads Castiel into the Aikenwood despite the warnings, the very last thing he expects to find there is a knight named Dean in a bower full of roses. Heās handsome even if heās also irritating and, despite himself, Cas is oddly charmed by him. He finds himself drawn back to the wood again and again, but there are stranger powers at work than just a knight and a few roses. A little digging reveals that most who enter the Aikenwood donāt come out again, and Dean isnāt all he appears to be.
With their lives and feelings tangling like vines, Castiel soon finds he must do everything he can to save Dean from an impossible fate that threatens to tear them apart forever. But the truth has both roses and thorns, and Cas isnāt sure which heās going to find if he succeedsā¦
The Only Game I Like to Lose | @tea-or-die
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 57,900
Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Age Difference, Trans Dean Winchester, Domestic Violence/Abuse (Dean/Lee), lovers reunited, Misunderstandings, CEO Castiel (Supernatural), Mechanic Dean Winchester, Sugar Daddy Castiel (Supernatural), Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst, Happy Ending, Infidelity (Dean cheats WITH Cas not on Cas), Transphobia, Divorce (not Dean/Cas), Vaginal Sex, Oral Sex, Blow Jobs, Cock Warming, Dom/sub Undertones, Unsafe Sex, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester
Summary: Deanna needs to pay for her brother while he's at college.
Dean is living in buttfuck nowhere with a husband he's growing to resent.
Castiel just wants to be a provider.
Effigy | @thevioletcaptain
Rating: Mature
Word Count: 61,920
Main Tags/Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, grief, depression, Dean-typical moments of suicidal ideation, temporary character death, consensual but traumatic sexual situation
Summary: Drowning in grief after losing Cas to the Empty, a hunt leads Dean to a well-meaning but reckless young witch who has created an āumboĆ°ā ā a supernaturally animated effigy that takes on the form and memories of a person who has recently passed. Though he and Sam convince the witch to nullify the spell that sheās woven, Dean finds himself weak against the temptation of using the same magic to see Cas one last time.
But when the umboĆ° he creates takes its first breath, opening familiar blue eyes that lock with Deanās just as earnestly as those heās missed, Dean canāt bring himself to end it after just one conversation.
Meanwhile, newly rescued from the Empty, Castiel works to rebuild the afterlife with Jack. But the work of divine creation is draining him in ways he did not expect, and leaving him to question whether he made the right choice in returning to Heaven despite his heart pulling him back to Earth.
Opposites Distract | @gaoshunenjoyer
Rating: Teen & Up
Word Count: 71,472
Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Office Workers AU, Accountant Castiel, Officer Worker Dean, Pining, Romantic Comedy, There Was Only One Bed, Road Trips, unnecessarily complicated not-quite-long-distance relationship, Phone Calls & Telephones, Miscommunication, They are both so stupid for each other and they absolutely look it, emoji lover Castiel, Gay Castiel (Supernatural), Bisexual Dean Winchester, Humour
Summary: Castiel Novak's life is normal.
He works a tolerable job in a downtown office building on the twenty third floor, has exactly two friends, and absolutely no love life to speak of. But despite the drudgery of his work, Castiel loves his job for an unconventional reason - the man in the building next door. Heās everything Castiel ever dreamed of, and will probably never have, because they work in opposite buildings, have never spoken, and have no reason to meet. Thereās absolutely nothing to indicate the man might be harbouring a crush of his own in returnā¦ Not even when he goes out of his way to share a look with Castiel every day from across the distance that separates them.
An incident with the office printer brings Castiel and his mystery man much closer than either of them expected and suddenly itās obvious thereās only one thing keeping them apart: the fifty feet between their buildings. And fate, of course. It seems that a relationship simply isnāt in the company forecastā¦ but nothing circles back quite like love.
A crack in everything (that's how the light gets in) | @tanis-in-a-trenchcoat
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 125,360
Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Disco Elysium Fusion, Alternate Universe - Office, Written in the Style of the Game Disco Elysium, Angel/Human Relationships, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Love at First Sight, Lust at First Sight, Mutual Pining, Castiel and Dean Winchester Have a Profound Bond, Fictional Setting Racism, Angel True Forms, Creature Castiel (Supernatural), Self-Sacrificing Castiel (Supernatural)
Summary: When angels appeared on Earth, the first thing humans did was use them as weapons against each other, causing the Great War and the Pale, a strange, misty substance that fractures the planet into pieces of isolated matter.
A century later, Castiel is an outcast among his fellow angels and humans alike. The only human who will befriend him is Dean, a handyman at the office where they both work. Together, they discover the existence of a Pale Spot that threatens to devour all reality around, and the love they feel for each other just might be the key to stopping it.
My Heart in a Cigarette Tin (series) | @taymarpigeon
Rating: Explicit
Word Count: 274,072
Main Tags/Warnings: Alternate Universe - Human, Mafia AU, POV Dean Winchester, Canon-Typical Violence, sickness and injury, Angst, Fluff, Humor, Smut, Pining, Possessive Behavior, Love Triangles, Openly Bisexual Dean Winchester, Bottom Dean Winchester, Top Castiel (Supernatural), Dom Castiel (Supernatural), Castiel's Dom Brow (Supernatural), Sub Dean Winchester, references to past abuse, Recreational Drug Use, Homophobic John Winchester, Abuse Outside of Castiel/Dean Winchester, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSDm Significant Character Death, Dean Blue Screening, Russian Castiel (Supernatural), Grapefruit, BDSM, Murder Husbands, Dead Dove: Do Not Eat, Additional Warnings Apply
Summary: Choices, that's what it all comes down to in the end, the decisions we make at the junctures we face: "What if I'd zigged instead of zagged, dodged instead of weaved?"
What if, the night Dean Winchester found out the man of his dreams isn't the angel he believed he'd kicked Castiel to the curb instead of fucking him needy on the bedroom floor?
Or...
What if he went all in instead of touching lips through the bars of where their two worlds meet?
Unfortunately Dean doesn't have an answer for either because things didn't play out that way, but life...
Life never stops throwing you choices.
