duuuude your nanowrimo sounds amazing! i'm really curious to see it in full, it sounds like something i'd enjoy :D makes me wish i had time to write a 50k novel on top of the other stuff i have to do lol /sobs
thank you so much! and believe me man, it’s super hard to keep up with. i get distracted super easily, but i’m lucky to have a creative writing class in school so i get 50 minutes out of 5/7 days a week to just sit and write so it helps. even though i can only get like 500 words in in class but i try to write at home as much as i can
SPN Writing Challenge | hekate1308 vs. chocolatechipcastiel
prompt: witch
pairings: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Jessica Moore/Sam Winchester
word count: 2,280
tags: magic AU, witch!dean, familiar!cas, witch!sam, familiar!jess, witch!crowley, witch familiar bond
Dean Winchester is by no means a bad witch. On the contrary, when it comes to healing spells or sigils against evil, there are few who can do better.
Yet he’s hardly powerful enough to attract the attention of a familiar. This should not be a problem – Dad never had one, and Mum’s left after her death, so he’s used to working alone, even if it can leave him exhausted afterwards.
So yeah. He’s totally cool with not having a familiar. Sam has Jess, of course, but he’s Sam. He’s far more powerful than Dean anyway.
But that doesn’t mean he can’t look when Castiel Novak enters the club.
Castiel Novak, the raven familiar who yet never shows his animal form.
Castiel Novak, the offspring of one of the most famous familiar families in the United States.
Castiel Novak, who famously decided not to bond with anyone and who still only now and then helps out a witch, always leaving after the spell is completed.
He settled in Lawrence a little more than two years ago. Dean has seen him countless times since he first set foot in the Club.
And yet he still stares.
He can’t help it.
Castiel Novak is gorgeous. And it’s not only that. It’s the way he moves, how he doesn’t give a damn what other witches and familiars think, how vocal he is about choosing what to do with his life and staying a free familiar; in fact, the day when he took down Crowley because he told the old witch he wouldn’t have anything against bonding as long as his partner (yes, he used that word) had nothing against him helping other witches if needed and Crowley threw a hissy fit has already become the stuff of legends –
In short, Dean’s problem is not that he wants to bond with Castiel Novak.
Although he certainly wouldn’t say no, given the chance.
No, his problem is that he has a crush on Castiel Novak. And that he doesn’t even know his name.
The familiar rarely ever talks to anyone voluntarily, waiting for others to approach him. They usually come to him with some big magical problem, and since Dean never dabbles in something so far above his abilities, that’s out of the question.
So he’ll just keep watching and nursing his stupid crush from a distance.
Hopefully it’ll go away eventually.
He doesn’t expect they’ll ever speak.
One day, he visits the hospital again, eager to help; some people he can heal, some people he can’t, there’s a limit to what even magic can do, and it’s always heard to watch a life slip away.
Annalisa is just old. There isn’t much he can do for her, and normally, he would let nature take its course, but all she’s been talking about for weeks is her daughter, how she’s going to come visit her tomorrow, and Dean is trying desperately to strengthen her life force so she’ll still be conscious when she does.
The nurses and doctors have grown used to his presence, even though they’re still somewhat wary of the “faith healer” who readily offers his services and never takes anything in return; but least no one objects to him sitting at Annalisa’s bedside for hours. He suspects she knows what’s going on, what he is, but he doesn’t care.
He can feel her life force draining away, she’s growing listless and tired, and after she falls asleep, he mumbles the spells he previously only cast in his thoughts, takes her hand and focuses, but nothing’s helping. He’s exhausted, his hands are shaking, but he doesn’t care. He has to keep trying.
There’s a hand on his shoulder.
“Try again” a voice says, and he has the feeling that he should be able to recognize it, but he’s too busy with the power suddenly running through him.
His magic has never felt like this before. He isn’t that strong, he has never been. But he doesn’t mind because suddenly he knows he can do it.
Annalisa is going to see her daughter one last time.
He finishes the spell, strengthening her life force enough to last for one more day.
Now he becomes aware that only a familiar can channel a power in this way; he has no idea how he or she found him, but he’s incredibly grateful. He turns round with the biggest grin, only to realize who he’s looking at.
Castiel Novak just appeared out of nowhere and helped him channel his power.
He swallows. It means nothing; Cas helps when he can. He has to remember that.
“Hello, Dean”, he says, and the witch does a double take. Cas knows his name?
“Cas”, he manages, his voice somewhat shaky, and it doesn’t help at all that
Cas frowns and cups his face in his hands, studying him.
“You exhausted yourself.”
“Her daughter’s coming tomorrow. She wanted to see her one last time”, he answers, only now realizing how tired he is; he doubts he can stand up. If Cas hadn’t stepped in, he’d probably be passed out, and Annalisa would be dead.
Cas lets go of his face. He tells himself he doesn’t feel the loss.
“Can you...” Cas begins, making upwards gestures with his hands.
“Have to”, he grunts, and manages to get up, albeit with Cas’ help. He allows the familiar to escort him to his car, feeling his warmth at his side, and admits to himself that Cas channelling his powers out if benevolence worsened his crush considerably.
“Are you sure you can drive?”
“The day I can no longer drive Baby, consider me dead.”
He mumbles his thanks and leaves without looking at Cas again. When he arrives at his apartment, he doesn’t remember how he made it home, but at least he doesn’t feel dizzy anymore.
He goes to bed immediately.
He sleeps for ten hours straight, although he has a strange dream of lying half-awake for a while and hearing the flutter of wings outside of his window.
He highly doubts Cas will ever speak to him again when he wakes up the next morning and remembers how he treated the familiar; his only excuse being that he was exhausted and surprised. He sighs and forces himself to get up.
Witch or not, he still needs money, so he works at a garage during the day. Normally he doesn’t mind, he’s always loved fixing cars; but today his thoughts keep drifting back to a beautiful with deep blue eyes, and to what a fool Dean made of himself when he got one chance to actually speak to him. He continues to beat himself up over it until that afternoon, when he’s elbow-deep in a motor and Cas greets him with “Hello, Dean.” He’s snuck up on him again; Dean bangs his head on the hood standing up and no doubt presents an even less dignified picture than last night. Many members of the magical community look down on those who have normal jobs. Cas, with his lineage, is probably of the same opinion.
“Hey” he says, unsure what the familiar’s doing here. “Annalisa died an hour ago” Cas tells him. “She got to see her daughter and say goodbye. She went peacefully, content.” “I’m glad” Dean answers, blinking to dispel the tears that are gathering in his eyes. The last thing he wants to do is cry in front of his crush, but he really liked the old lady. “Thank you for telling me – wait, how do you know?”
“I went there in my other form”, Cas explains, “I just sat on the windowsill for a second; I wanted to check up on her.” Dean remembers his strange dream, the sound of wings at his window, and his heart starts beating faster despite himself. It can’t be. Why would Cas care how he’s doing?
“You did a good thing” the familiar says unexpectedly. “Not every witch would hae cared enough to help her survive one more day and tire themselves out in the process.”
Dean shrugs. “I know it sucks not be able to say goodbye, ‘is all.”
He does. Their family never recovered from their mother’s death. At least Annalisa’s daughter got to see her one last time.
Cas is looking at him funny.
“Have dinner with me”, he says abruptly.
“What?” Dean breathes, bewildered. Cas tilts his head to the side in a gesture Dean has always found too adorable for his own good.
“I understand that it’s customary to ask a person out if one’s interested in them.” Interested. Interested!?
It can’t mean what Dean wants to believe it means. Cas would never consider going out with him.
He agrees to have dinner though, because being Cas’ friend is more than he ever hoped for.
Friendship, however, is not what Cas has in Mind. Dinner’s great. Cas turns out to have a great, albeit strangely direct sense of humour, and a soft, shy side to boot; Dean resigns himself to crushing on the familiar for years to come; and then, over two pieces of pie they ordered for dessert (and that Cas’ favourite is pecan too is just unfair) Cas leans over and kisses him. Just like that. And dean responds. Just like that. And then they’re dating. Just like that.
A few days later, on their third date, Cas takes Dean’s hand and explains, “I’d really like for us to continue this. But you have to understand that I’m not interested in bonding. I want to help as many witches as I can.”
Dean nods. He could point out that, even bonded, he wouldn’t expect Cas to stop helping others channel their powers; but he’s probably against the whole idea because it would feel too much like Dean owned him.
It causes an uproar when they walk into the Club a few days later. Dean thought Sam’s scream on the phone was bad enough, but the stares and whispers are just ridiculous. Cas holds his hand though, and he decides not to mind, not even when Crowley walks up to them and drawls, “So you got bonded after all. Guess all it needed was a pair of pretty eyes.”
Dean’s well aware that part of Crowley’s hostility towards him comes from him having shit down the other witch’s advances a few years back, so he says calmly, “We’re not bonded.” “Really? Then you’re more of a wimp than I thought.” Cas wants to snap at him, but Dean squeezes his hand and replies, “He’s his own person. And if he doesn’t want to bond, I respect that.” And Cas kisses him right in front of Crowley.
Life is good, he realizes that exact moment. And it continues to be so. Cas and he just fit; they laugh and cook and cry over stupid tv shows together, and Dean’s magic has never been stronger. Cas bundling it makes everything easy. True, sometimes Dean yearns for the bond, for the connection that would proclaim that they’ve chosen each other once and for all. He respects Cas’ choice, though. It’s difficult to imagine that their relationship could improve anymore as it is. So why bother dwelling on something that’s not going to happen?
Cas prefers his human form to the small raven that now and wakes Dean up with small pecks when his boyfriend is feeling mischievous. That preference is unusual, but then everything about cas is unusual, and that’s one of the reasons Dean loves him so much. He’s not exactly the most conventional witch either.
Now and then Cas helps other witches, once even Crowley who’s inexplicably decided to help a guy out who’s about to be evicted, and Dean couldn’t care less. He’s the one Cas comes home to and kisses in the end, and that’s all that matters.
They’ve been together for two years and are still going strong when something goes worng at the hospital and patients fall ill from bacteria immune to disinfectants.
Dean and Cas spend days healing everyone, to the witch’s great relief, but at the end of the week, he’s exhausted and drained and wants nothing more than to cuddle his boyfriend on the couch. He’s falling asleep with Cas’ fingers running through his hair and an episode of Doctor Sexy in the background when the familiar mumbles, “This wouldn’t happen if we were bonded.” Dean makes a non-committing noise. It’s true, sometimes it’s almost too much for him, even with Cas’ help, and a permanent bond would ensure that his power never runs dry; but Cas doesn’t want to bond, so why even bring it up?
“Dean?” Cas hand stills and he groans in protest, forcing one eye open. Cas is looking at him with so much adoration in his eyes that his heart misses a beat.
“Will you bond with me?” Dean sits up abruptly wide awake. “But you – “ he stammers. “You don’t want to bond. You never did!”
“No” Cas confirms, taking his hand. “Not until I found you. But you don’t try to control me. You allow me to help others. You are everything I could ever wish for as a partner and a witch. And if you agree, I’d like to have this, have us, forever.”
There’s only one answer Dean can give him.
Sam and Jess, who’ve come to love Cas like another brother, fly in for the ceremony, and Dean might cry a little when he feels Cas reach out to him, securing the bond between their powers and souls.
They kiss as if it’s a wedding, and in a way, it is.
A new chapter.
Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak. Witch and familiar. Forever.
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ my favorite thing about the holiday season is getting to spend time with my family. we're all really close anyway but hanging out with my cousins and eating good food and just kickin' back and relaxin' is honestly the best feeling in the world
That’s so cool you have a close family! And time with them (and food) is always nice!
Once again, this was a crazy hard decision - you are all amazing! I’ve spent the past 24 hours looking through the fabulous blogs who entered. As a reminder, I’ve decided that each month there will be two sets of winners/runners up - one set will be previous mutuals who entered (Long Time Friends) and the other set will be new blogs I discovered (New Friends) because they entered the botm.
Without further ado, here are this month’s winners:
winner | runner up
(be sure to hover over your name for a message!!!)
❤ Long Time Friends ❤
deanyw | envydean | adorkablejensen
❤ New Friends ❤
clloudycas | chocolatechipcastiel | wincheisters
❤ Honorable Mention ❤
jarmishjen
Reminder of what you won - don’t hesitate to claim your prizes :)
