I could not have picked a worse night or time to post this. I get that. but I had not ability to do anything about it earlier.
This was my first DCBB. I absolutely cannot take full or even most credit for this story as I co-wrote it with the lovely @cliffnotesofanerd. It was fun collaborating - especially when people tried to guess who was responsible for what. I give all the kudos to her for the smut. It is good smut, I just can’t write it :). Generally speaking though, I wrote the parts from Cas’ POV and she took on Dean. And if I didn’t already appreciate a well dressed man before...
Summary: Business is tanking, and Cas is facing the very real possibility that he may lose his livelihood as a tailor. Can one client, no matter how attractive, really make a difference?Written for the Dean/Cas Big Bang 2014
Read on AO3 || part of this challenge
manip by @cliffnotesofanerd
Dean’s fingers hovered over the keys of his laptop as his eyes scanned the page in front of him, disbelieving.
“...give him the message his perversions are not welcome...”
“...do you really want this man touching you?...”
“...let your money talk and take it elsewhere...”
A flicker of indignation kindled in Dean’s chest. So that’s what the man at Men’s Wearhouse had meant when he’d said, “Don’t listen to Yelp. Novak is the best tailor in the city.”
“If I hadn’t already decided to go there,” he muttered in irritation at the needlessly vitriolic reviews, “you can be damn sure I’m going now, just to spite you chucklefucks.” He plucked a Sharpie from the cup by the desk and scrawled the address on the back of his hand. If memory served, it wasn’t far; if he didn’t mind carrying the garment bag while he walked over to pick up Bailey, he could stop by between the Pattersons and the O’Neils.
Bailey was the lethargic corgi of F14 on Chester Avenue. Her owners had incorrectly hypothesized that if she got some more exercise, she’d perk up; as far as Dean could tell, her sedate waddle had not become any more energetic in the few weeks he’d been walking her. She was, however, waiting eagerly at the door as he unlocked it, and greeted him with a single polite bark.
“Hey girl,” he said, stopping briefly to scratch her behind the ears. She wiggled her tail-less rear end in canine glee. “You ready for walkies?”
He took her leash down from its hook, replacing it with the garment bag in the meantime, and Bailey grunted in approval as Dean led her out into the hallway, locking the door behind him.
Bailey was in rare form this morning. Dean grinned as she trotted next to him on stubby legs, tongue lolling out one side of her mouth. Maybe the budding spring weather was all the dog had needed. Dean knew it certainly improved his mood to see green emerging on the tips of the branches, and to forego at least a few of the layers the frigid weather had forced him to don during the past several months.
Bailey wasted no time taking care of business, and her trot did not last for long before she resolutely flopped to the ground, nose on her forepaws as she looked plaintively up at Dean. Dean frowned. He’d leave a note to have the Pattersons take her to the vet, just to make sure nothing was causing her discomfort. He’d had enough experience with longer dogs to know that spinal issues weren’t uncommon.
“C’mon, Bailey. Up you go. Home’s right there. You want jerky?”
Bailey’s ears perked up at the familiar bribe.
“That’s right. Jerky jerky,” Dean said temptingly. He’d given up on not sounding ridiculous ages ago.
It was enough to coax Bailey back to the apartment building and onto the elevator, though she whined as Dean tugged at the leash to head down the hallway, eventually giving in with clear reluctance. Thoroughly concerned now, Dean scribbled a quick note to let Mrs. Patterson know before tearing off a bit of Bailey’s favorite treat and tossing it to her. “Good girl,” he crooned as she wolfed it down, her appetite clearly unaffected. “I’ll be back later,” he promised her, glancing at her water dish before lifting the garment bag from its hook and slipping out the door.
The tailor’s shop was three blocks away. Dean shifted the garment bag over his shoulder so it wouldn’t catch on his backpack as he squared his shoulders.
“Right. Off to see Mr. Novak.”
There was a head of carefully tousled dark hair bent over a newspaper at the counter as Dean pushed at the door. It immediately looked up at the tinkle of the bell, and Dean stopped in his tracks.
Oh, shit. He was hot.
“Good morning,” the man said with a polite smile that made Dean swallow. “Can I help you?”
Dean stared. The man behind the counter raised an eyebrow before Dean realized he was waiting for a response. “Yes! Yes, I…” He brought the garment bag around in front of him, laying it gently on the counter. “My brother’s wedding is the day after tomorrow,” he said, focusing carefully on the zipper of the garment bag as he undid it, “and I let things go a little last minute.”
“I see,” the man behind the counter said, eyes flicking upwards from the suit on the counter to touch Dean’s briefly. Dean was treated to a glimpse of blue before the gaze focused back down on the suit. “Let me guess: hemming and pressing?”
“Well, it’s brand new, I don’t know if it needs to be pressed,” Dean began, but the look the man shot upwards at him was so scandalized that he nearly swallowed his own tongue. “Yes. Pressed. And the arms are long.”
“It’s off the rack, of course the arms are long,” the man mused as he lifted the suit on its hanger, letting the plastic of the Men’s Wearhouse garment bag fall away. He paused. “What I mean to say is, you’ve got a bit of shoulder to you,” he said in a less critical tone, meeting Dean’s gaze and holding it, “so any jacket that fits you in the shoulder is bound to be long in the arm. Especially this label.” He jerked his head at the suit. “Let’s see you in it. See what I can do.”
Dean blinked. “So you’re the tailor? Not, like, his son?”
The man was already halfway to a curtained corner of the shop; he looked over his shoulder, brows drawn in a nonplussed furrow. “Of course I am.” He turned, thrusting his hand forward as Dean stepped closer. “I’m Cas. Cas Novak.”
Dean grasped the offered hand, unable to quell the tiny thrill at the touch. “Dean Winchester. Pleased to meet you.”
So I’ve totally been slacking on my bigbang recs (grad school life) and I haven’t even finished reading all the ones I wanted to read so there will very likely be a part two :D
Listed in the order I read them. I LOVE ALL OF THESE but a * next to one means it’s an absolute favorite of all time!
The Path of Fireflies by: museaway
R | After his humanity is restored, Dean wakes up in bed with Castiel, a wedding ring, and no memory of the past twelve years.
Heat Wave by: Winnywriter
NC-17 | There's an old cabin in the woods, a worn and weathered thing, tucked away from prying eyes and unwanted responsibility. Officially, it's the Novak family's summer vacation home, but for a few days during the summer after graduation, Cas and Dean make it their own, spending their days dozing and swimming and hunting for snipes. The heat is relentless, the mosquitoes even more so, and it's the perfect place for Dean to settle into a niche he never thought he could fit.
Let This Remain by: VioletHaze
NC-17 | Dean Winchester dropped his little brother Sam off for his freshman year of college, then dropped out of his life completely. Now, nearly a year later, Dean's gotten himself together and is back in Lawrence to make things right with his brother. As he works to build his life in Kansas, Dean finds himself repeatedly crossing paths with Castiel Milton. Maybe the universe is trying to tell him something at a time when he's actually ready to listen.
* The Last Great Race by: wincechesters (madefrommemories)
NC-17 | There is a race that takes place every year in Alaska called the Iditarod, a thousand mile journey across the Alaskan wilderness by dog sled team that has come to be known as "The Last Great Race on Earth”. It is a test of endurance, of the relationship between dogs and their people, traversing mountain ranges, frozen rivers, forest and tundra.When writer Castiel Milton is forced to spend two and a half months in Alaska at Winchester Kennels to cover the race preparations and the Iditarod itself, the only person more dismayed than he is Dean Winchester, one of his hosts. Castiel views his assignment as a punishment and is less than impressed by his surly host, and Dean distrusts the sheltered city-born writer who has invaded their home and their lives. But soon, as the Winchesters prepare for their race and Castiel learns about sled dogs and what a musher’s lifestyle is all about, they forget to hate each other and their relationship evolves into something neither of them expected.
Unintended by: emwebb17
NC-17 | Castiel is a successful defense attorney beginning to doubt the integrity of the work he does. After winning a date with a firefighter named Dean at a charity auction, Cas decides that he needs to make a change in his life. He just has one more case to take care of, but his involvement has devastating consequences.
Enfleurage by: saltandbyrne
NC-17 | Castiel is a struggling perfumer with a rare gift. When a handsome new customer orders a custom scent for his husband, Castiel is drawn into a world he never imagined. Dean and Sam have secrets, and Castiel might be the only person who can share them. [warning for: wincestiel]
* The Last Moonlight Serenade by: gankyourdarlings
R | It's the night before 1945 and Honolulu is celebrating like flipping the calendar is all it'll take to end this thing and send everybody home. Makes for one hell of a party. But it's been a long war, getting longer, and Dean Winchester stopped pinning his hopes on anything a long time ago. Then, as the clock ticks down to the new year, he finds himself in the company of a grounded fighter pilot. All of a sudden, maybe there's something to look forward to.
* These Bleeding Feet (Dance Only For You) by: JinxedAmbitions
NC-17 | Castiel has danced his entire life. It has always been his dream to dance en pointe in the Russian Ballet; however, his mother and his instructors encourage him to stick to the classical style. Castiel leaves his family and the ballet academy behind to come to Chicago for a chance to dance as he has dreamed.While he trains in a tiny unheated studio, he meets Dean Winchester who has come to fix the heater. They build an unlikely friendship as Cas trains for the production. Dean doesn’t understand the first thing about ballet, but he teaches Castiel about friendship and family, and Castiel has never danced so well as when he performs for Dean.
* Hart of the Storm by: almaasi
NC-17 | Historical AU. One by one, people disappear into the forest. A hunter named Dean is employed to bring them back, and eliminate the danger while he’s at it. His search leads him to Castiel, the forest’s resident deity: a shapeshifting stag, glowing with all the power of a thunderstorm. Thinking Castiel is the monster he’s been sent to kill, Dean falls prey to the forest’s magical defence and is transformed into a deer. Castiel commits to caring for him while he recovers – and Dean lets it happen, holding onto hope that Cas can make him human again. Meanwhile, other people embark on their own quests to save friends and family: Missouri, Dean’s surrogate mother; the young Native American schoolteacher, Elsie; Dean’s own brother, Sam, alongside Charlie, Elsie’s lady love. Like the others, they vanish without a trace amongst the trees. What is taking them? And will they ever come back out?
* Your Heart Makes by: schmerzerling
R | Castiel is directionless, depressed, and working in one of the worst possible places to be so—Disneyland Park. Seeing hundreds of excited people every day, trying to smile for the customers, and dealing with the fact that his infuriating brother Gabriel is so readily capable of every park job he throws himself into makes Castiel feel like he could barely manage to keep his head above the foot of water in the “It’s a Small World” canal that he oversees. All of that changes when the universe sees fit to put him in a Disneyesque love story opposite the handsome animator in the window on Main Street who doesn’t care about Castiel’s lethargic lack of idealism—so long as he can make caustic Cas come to appreciate every attraction in the park. But life isn’t a Disney fairytale, and even though an easy out and a happy ending are what Castiel seeks, he’ll begin to wonder if the happiest ending isn’t really an ending at all.
Aventine by: dtkrushnics
R | Dean Winchester, surgeon turned sober companion, has been assigned his new client - the brilliant, if standoffish, Castiel Novak - for the next six weeks. What he expects is late night searches for needles and booze, playing chaperone to sobriety meetings, maybe the occasional stern talk or two. Instead, he finds himself working with Castiel for the New York Police Department. Feverishly helping to solve the case of the elusive M, an as-good-as-they-get serial killer who seems to be following Castiel around the globe, Dean and Castiel find themselves trapped in a cat and mouse game where the consequence of not being quick enough could be deadly.
The Gatlinburg Murders by: ratherbehere
NC-17 | Someone, or something, is killing people in the peaceful tourist destination of Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Sam and Dean go in expecting a simple salt and burn, but things get tricky when it looks like Cas, a blue eyed local painter with a mysterious past, may be wrapped up in it somehow. Are Dean's growing feelings for the painter getting in the way, or are they trying to tell him something?
* Things never happen the same way twice by: Whit Merule
NC-17 | One year after their adventures in Narnia, Gabriel, Anna, Balthazar, and Castiel Pevensie find themselves back there again, in a land very different to the one they remember, under the harsh rule of a usurper. And if Narnia has changed, so have they: it is not easy to find the balance between the English schoolchildren and the Narnian kings and queen, especially when it seems that their task this time might not be so simple as driving out the enemy and taking the thrones themselves. After all, the enemy this time is not a single evil Witch, but a nation of humans; and that nation already has a Prince, the rightful heir to the throne.
Mortgage on my body, lien on my soul by: ceeainthereforthat
NC-17 | About the author: J. Lee Harrison grew up in Port Orchard, WA. He lives in New Mexico and enjoys traveling throughout the US. His novel Haunted won a Bram Stoker award for Best First Novel. You can learn more at www.jleeharrison.com.Cas laughs every time he reads his bio. If it were honest, it would say “Castiel Jones is the author of seventeen novels, all written in states he's visited, published under five different pen names. He lives nowhere in particular - after years on the run from his own real-life horror story, he's forgotten how to stay in one place."Although it could be worse, he supposes. He could always be one of the characters in one of his stories.Some nights, he worries that maybe he is.When Dean Winchester recognizes him as one of Dean's favorite horror authors, he should be packing up to leave Minnesota. But the handsome, mysterious bad boy who loves books, lives on the road, and tells lies for a living feels real and solid, in contrast to the nightmare that follows his life no matter how far he runs.
Iscariot by: osaki_nana_707 & redluna
NC-17 | It's 1947. P.I. Dean Winchester hasn't had a case in ages when Cas Novak comes into his office. Now it's Dean's job to help get Cas off the hook for murder, but it's not going to be easy. Cas has no memory of the night in question, and to get the answers he needs Dean's going to have to dig deep into the secrets of the two rival mobs in town, find out what's hiding in Cas's memories, and even face some of his own personal demons... and maybe some of Cas's as well.
A Place Where Nothing Moves by: imogenbynight
NC-17 | In 1991, after the most frightening day of his short life, Dean’s family was split down the middle. His mother left. His brother, too. For the remainder of his youth, he had nothing but his increasingly distant father, a life constantly uprooted, and the book Sam left behind. A book that spoke of a light on the ocean and the terror that longed to breach it.Now, seventeen years later in the small fishing town of Jackpine Harbor, Maine, the appearance of a strange light on the horizon and a rash of storms set off memories of the day he’d rather forget, and the town’s newest resident, a veterinarian named Castiel Shurley whose apparent hatred of Dean is neither founded nor avoidable, is just one more thorn in his side.
* Clean Air by: anactoria
NC-17 | Centuries after the surface of the earth was devastated by an unknown disaster, the remnants of humanity live in a series of vast underground silos, each unaware of the existence of the others.For the inhabitants of Silo 34, the silo is the world, and the only world they know. Questions about the outside world are forbidden, and asking them is what got Dean Winchester's parents killed. He isn't even sure himself that they weren't crazy.That all changes when he hears a voice on the radio -- a voice from another world.
so i just read the spirit of lawrence high a dcbb 2014 fic and i loved it sooo much so yeah definitely recommend, its fluffy and funny at some parts, there are some dark stuff dean is a ghost so read the warnings
