❀ For this Bang, instead of a particular ship or genre, this theme is focused purely on encouraging the collaboration between artists and writers.
❀ Artists and writers are allowed and encouraged to come forward in pre-planned pairings, or will fill out a Google Form that lists preferred tropes/genres, pairings, squicks, and tier length the author/artist would be comfortable signing up for.
❀ The mods will pair together anyone who has not chosen a pairing ahead of time based on common interests, and ensuring one person’s squicks are not another person’s likes.
❀ This Bang has no restrictions on pairings, ratings, or universe (RPF or canon).
❀ This Bang will have three tiers (Mini Bang (5k), Tier 1 Big Bang (10k), and Tier 2 Big Bang (15k).
❀ This Bang has a Discord that will remain open before and after the Bang with channels and weekly events dedicated to sprinting or encouraging artists and writers to work on WIPs, regardless of their connection to this Bang or others.
Twenty-something Dean Winchester first saw the statue of the angel on a whirlwind college trip through Rome, and it changed the course of his life. Now, in his forties, he's a professor fresh off a divorce and headed back to Italy again with his tiny redheaded bestie, both of them planning to relive some of their glory days on a much needed vacation. And of course, to update the angel statue on his latest research about him: he might have finally found out who he is.
Little does he know how powerful that knowledge will prove to be.
Working with @farenmaddox on this has been a highlight of the past few months and I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity for this collab! If you, like me, enjoy a middle-aged Dean with dad problems and accompanying dadbod, and a Cas who is as weird as he is sincere, you're gonna wanna check this one out. (aaand a thank you to the @spnspeeddatingbang mods for their support and patience!)
[ visit beautiful Rome today, via ao3 ]
the art:
third one in full on ao3, plus a silly comic of one of my favorite moments, under the cut:
Rating: Explicit
No Archive Warnings
Word Count: 45,000
Pairing: Dean/Castiel
Tags: Urban Fantasy, Professor Dean, Wing Kink, Body Worship
Summary:
Dean had planned to get a business degree, something to give him a mooring in an unstable life, but an unexplainable encounter with a statue during a class trip leads him down a different path.
Fifteen years later, history professor Dean Winchester and his best friend Charlie are both fresh off a divorce and heading back to Rome to try to recreate the magic of that long-ago summer. Older, heavier, but probably no wiser, Dean goes back to the strange statue that he’s been obsessing over to tell it how it changed his life. He’s not sure what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t for the statue to reciprocate. Or to ask Dean to show him the pleasures of the city he’s stood sentinel over for centuries.
There are 5 (FIVE!!!) gorgeous illustrations included because @stonelions is amazing.
🌖 Link to Fic | Link to Art 🌔
Not sold yet? Try an Excerpt:
“My biggest news is about you, actually. I think I finally figured out who you are. Sort of.”
The statue didn’t answer, obviously, but the quiet calm of the gathered night felt almost like a held breath. Like it was waiting for Dean to speak.
“I still can’t trace who sculpted you. You have all the hallmarks of a Bernini, but you’re not a Bernini. I mean, you know that, why am I telling you? But you’re almost definitely the angel Cassiel. Also known as Cassael, Qafsiel, and a few other variations. Since I couldn’t exactly ask you about your preference, I’ve just been calling you Cas. Va bene così? Cas?”
It was like the held breath of the velvet dark released. Like the wing shifted against Dean’s back. He felt off-balance, for a second. When he straightened himself up and looked up again, there were eyes looking down at him.
Eerie eyes, glowing electric blue.
“What the shit?” he screeched.
He hurried to scramble off the plinth and get a few feet of distance, pivoting as he did to avoid turning his back to whatever was going on. He looked up and his breath was caught in his throat.
The statue was looking at him.
Dean had to be seeing things. The statue had tilted its neck to look down, those impossible eyes fixed on him, and the normally severe, almost melancholy expression had softened. A faint smile on stone lips.
“Oh my god, what the hell is happening to me?” Dean muttered, body held stiff. He was afraid to move.
“Sì, Dean. Va bene.”
The voice was a scraping rumble, rock sliding over rock.
Tags: Everyone Knows but Them, Friends to Lovers, Stanford Era, Sporty Boys in Tiny Shorts
Summary: Dean and Cas are close. Inseparable, even. Anyone who knows them would tell you that much. They met in freshman year, been roommates and teammates and everything in between since then, and Dean’s thinking it’s just that — the not living together anymore thing — but it’s been a little weird between them since they made the move off campus and back home to Sioux Falls. Cas must be feeling it too because it’s not three days later that he’s signing them both up for the local rugby team, which, given how messy their last season turned out, is probably a bad idea. Cas needs it, though, and Dean needs Cas, and so even though it is a really bad idea, he’s gonna do it anyway. Game on.
I'm so thrilled to finally share this collab with the world!! Around this time last year tiktok kept sending me unhinged rugby videos and I knew I needed to share them with @salamitsunami1. What followed was the collab of my dreams where I got to combine 3 of my loves -@salamitsunami1, sports, and Destiel! This was an absolute blast to collaborate on and I hope everyone will go give it a read & leave it lots of love
You can find it on AO3 here: LINK TO FIC
FUN FACT: That first image is cropped, if you want to see the full version you'll have to go to AO3 here or wait to get to it in the fic
Thanks to the @spnspeeddatingbang for running this event!
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Background Sam Winchester/Jessica Moore
Tags: Amnesia, Stanford Era, Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Falling In Love (again)
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Summary:
“Dean.” Someone says, loud and breathless.
Dean turns around. There’s a kid standing there, looking at Dean, then at the girl. He’s tall—Dean doesn’t often have to tilt his head up to look at people but he can tell he will for this guy—with shaggy brown hair and wide eyes. Dean looks at the blonde girl next to him.
“Sweetheart,” Dean says, raising his eyebrow. “You are way out of this guy’s league.”
Or: After a witch hunt, Dean is cursed to lose his memories of Sam. With Sam gone at Stanford, Dean doesn’t even notice. Sam does, though.
Dean Winchester has finally been able to come to his family’s country estate, leaving London and the politics that he detests behind. Given his choice in the matter, Dean would much rather live a life where he could travel and discover the fossils that have long captivated him. But alas, his future is not his own. He is being groomed to succeed his father as the next Lord Winchester, although it is well-known that his younger brother, Sam, is far better suited to that task.
A chance meeting in a tea house of another man of science has Dean thinking thoughts he never before dared to entertain. Dean allows himself to imagine what it would be like to go his own path in the world, and perhaps with the dashing blue-eyed Castiel by his side.
Dean’s musings are dashed when he learns not only is his new found friend a Novak - a family his own has long feuded with, but that his father intends for him to court the woman his brother loves.
Will Dean and Castiel find a way to free Dean of a life he knows he was never meant to live so that he can have a chance of happiness?
Link to Story Link to Art
Thank you to @spnspeeddatingbang for running such an interesting Bang.
Tags: Time Travel, Curses, Canon-Divergent at 15x03
Summary: Chuck is gone, Jack is dead, and Cas has left the bunker. All that remains for Dean is hunting, but even that backfires when he’s hit by a witch’s curse. The curse has him traveling through Cas’ past, doomed to witness his worst moments without being able to help.
By sheer luck, Dean finds a way to communicate with Cas, leaving him notes across time in an effort to make up for past mistakes and let Cas know he’s loved and valued. But will it be enough to change things for the better between them and end the curse that’s keeping Dean trapped?
Here's the art I made for my @spnspeeddatingbang with @friendofcarlotta! It's always such a pleasure to work with them, and I hope you all enjoy the fic as much as I do!
Tags: Friends to enemies to lovers, AU – college, Everyone knows but them, Gay Castiel, Bisexual Dean, Sporty boys in tiny shorts
Summary:
Dean and Cas are close. Inseparable, even. Anyone who knows them would tell you that much. They met in freshman year, been roommates and teammates and everything in between since then, and Dean’s thinking it’s just that — the not living together anymore thing — but it’s been a little weird between them since they made the move off campus and back home to Sioux Falls. Cas must be feeling it too because it’s not three days later that he’s signing them both up for the local rugby team, which, given how messy their last season turned out, is probably a bad idea. Cas needs it, though, and Dean needs Cas, and so even though it is a really bad idea, he’s gonna do it anyway. Game on.
Relationships: Dean/Castiel, past Dean/Lisa, Minor Charlie Bradbury/Others
Tags: AU – Urban Fantasy, Professor Dean Winchester, Summer Romance, Falling In Love, Wing Kink
Summary:
Dean is something of a late bloomer, so it makes sense that he doesn’t start university until he’s already in his late twenties. He’d planned for a business degree, something that will give him a mooring in an unstable life, but an unexplainable encounter during a class trip leads him down a different path.
Fifteen years later, history professor Dean Winchester and his best friend Charlie are both fresh off a divorce and heading back to Rome to try to recreate the magic of that long-ago summer. Older, heavier, but probably no wiser, Dean goes back to the strange statue that he’s been obsessing over to tell it how it changed his life. He’s not sure what he expected, but it certainly wasn’t for the statue to reciprocate. Or to ask Dean to show him the pleasures of the city he’s stood sentinel over for centuries.
A healthy dose of Roman Holiday with a Destiel twist and a zesty sprinkle of urban fantasy.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester; Sam Winchester/Sarah Blake; John Winchester/Mary Winchester
Tags: Historical AU, Regency AU, Secret relationship, misunderstanding (not between Dean and Castiel), fossils, paleontology
Summary:
Dean is spending his first summer at his family’s country estate rather than staying in London as usual. A chance meeting in a crowded tea room leads Dean to meet Castiel whom he soon discovers he has much in common with, in particular a love of science and fossils.
It’s not until they are both in attendance at a ball that they learn that each is from the family their own has sworn to despise over ancient slights. The two agree to continue to meet, with the help of their mutual friend, Lady Bradbury.
Returning from the ball Dean’s father informs him that he’s made arrangements for Dean to court Lady Blake with an eye toward matrimony - the same Lady Blake that Sam intends to propose to.
Can Dean find a way to escape his fate to serve in the House of Lords for a life of studying science and travel with Castiel and help his brother marry the woman of his dreams?
Relationships: Dean Winchester/Sam Winchester, Background Sam Winchester/Jessica Moore
Tags: Amnesia, Stanford Era, First Time, Angst with a Happy Ending, Falling In Love (again)
Summary:
“Dean.” Someone says, loud and breathless.
Dean turns around. There’s a kid standing there, looking at Dean, then at the girl. He’s tall—Dean doesn’t often have to tilt his head up to look at people but he can tell he will for this guy—with shaggy brown hair and wide eyes. Dean looks at the blonde girl next to him.
“Sweetheart,” Dean says, raising his eyebrow. “You are way out of this guy’s league.”
~~~
Or: After a witch hunt, Dean is cursed to lose his memories of Sam. With Sam gone at Stanford, Dean doesn’t even notice. Sam does, though.
Tags: Canon-Divergent at 15x03, Time Travel, Curses
Summary:
Chuck is gone, Jack is dead, and Cas has left the bunker. All that remains for Dean is hunting, but even that backfires when he’s hit by a witch’s curse. The curse has him traveling through Cas’ memories, doomed to witness his worst moments without being able to change them.
By sheer luck, Dean finds a way to communicate with Cas, leaving him notes across time in an effort to make up for past mistakes and let Cas know he’s loved and valued. But will it be enough to change things between them and end the curse that’s keeping Dean trapped?
