#author: sobsicles

[profoundbondfanfic]

break the skin (to break the barriers)

break the skin (to break the barriers) by sobsicles (@sobsicles) Rating: Mature Word count: 29k

The first time she meets him, he's nothing more than an almost-missed appointment. ~~~ Dean is silent for a long, tense moment, then he gruffly says, "It's not for banishing the angels. It's to summon them. So, it doesn't—it's not to get rid of 'em, but to draw 'em in." Mitzi can't help but glance up at him at that. His voice is so heavy with so much unexplained pain, and she doesn't understand why, or what angels have to do with it. She knows religion can impact people. She's very aware that it can get complicated, and that it can be a huge source of pain for someone, but Dean sounds grievously wronged, somehow, as if it's a truly personal thing. She pushes through, focusing back on her job, clearing her throat before murmuring, "Well, I guess we all want angels to visit us sometimes." "Just the one," Dean mumbles. "Your guardian angel?" Mitzi asks. Dean breathes out, "Something like that. As close to one as an angel will ever get."

After Chuck is defeated, Dean walks into a tattoo shop and hands the owner a list of tattoos he's thinking of getting. The first on the list is a sigil that will draw angels to him. Or rather, just one angel.

Told from the POV of Mitzi, the owner of the shop, this story follows Dean's appointments as he uses the time he spends getting his body inked to tell Mitzi the story of his life. And he starts right from the beginning. Obviously, Mitzi thinks she's making it all up, but Dean's stories are entertaining, so she listens. And Dean talks. He talks about his family, his friends, life as a hunter. He talks about Cas. These appointments are like therapy sessions for him, but also for us as readers, because we get to relive the story of the Winchesters and remember some of our favorite moments.

Mitzi is a delightful OC, sassy yet kind and empathetic. The writer has done a beautiful job fleshing out her character so she's not just there for Dean to talk at, and her interactions with her sister and their friend will surely get you as invested in their personal lives as much as Dean's.

Thankfully, though this story follows the SPN canon faithfully, it completely ignores the final episode and writes its own ending. Dean gets the happy ending he so much deserves, and his new friend Mitzi is there to celebrate with him.

[profoundbondfanfic]

six hundred sundays (and many more)

six hundred sundays (and many more) by sobsicles (@sobsicles) Rating: Mature Word count: 15.6k

Dean starts falling in love with him on a slow Sunday morning under slanted sunlight that slips through the gaps in the trees. ~~~ "When did it stick for you? When did your six hundred Sundays start?" Dean asks. "It never started," Castiel admits. "It simply never stopped. My love for you is eternal—existing forever, without a beginning or an end." Visually, Castiel's love is a circle. Aurally, it's an echo. Kinesthetically, it's breathing. Overall, it is not fate, and it is not chance; it is choice. He would not choose differently if he could go back and do it again, and that's why he didn't choose differently from the start.

Castiel returns from the Empty after Chuck is defeated and everything is perfect. Or as perfect as he thinks they can be. He has his family, the world is safe, and Dean is still talking to him after his big confession. Castiel's feelings don't have to be a secret anymore, even if they are not reciprocated.

Except... except Castiel thinks Dean's feelings may be changing. He thinks Dean might be falling in love with him. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking. After all, now that the world is not ending every other Thursday, and the Winchesters can take it slow, there's no reason for Dean not to build Castiel a gazebo.

For four Sundays, Dean works on it, and for four Sundays Castiel watches him, but there are a lot of stuff still left unsaid between them. In this beautiful story, Castiel and Dean get the closure they need, and Dean Winchester finally uses his words like a normal-ish human being.