samdeanjess for that thingy !
when or if I started shipping it.
I hadn't even considered it until reading the infamous body swap fic. x. (<---- here it is in case anyone wants to read it) but since it brought together the two relationship dynamics I like to explore the most within the show it is now one of my favorite "what if?" relationships.
I just think that they're incredibly well balanced as a hypothetical dynamic. It's been established that Jess, at least physically reminds Sam of Dean and since we don't have that much of an established personality for her within canon there's a lot of room to work with whether they share personality similarities as well. Dean is attracted to Jess and I don't think it would be much of a stretch to think that in the event that Jess lived and went on the road to learn how to hunt they would have a level of chemistry. They both are protective and possessive of Sam and Sam loves them both for different, but equally heartfelt reasons and I think that would cause friction that could lead to some really interesting relationship dynamics.
My personal headcanon is that Jess is also a special child and her and Sam are able to support each other through their psychic awakening in a way that Dean wasn't able to support Sam. I also think that Jess would want them to get along/supports Sam having healthy relationships with his family. I don't want to make her the therapist of the group but I think Sam and Dean have never had an outsider observe their dynamic and that she would be able to help them communicate. I also think that Jess and Dean would be best of friends and the idea of them going on hunts together and goofing around while Sam stays back to do research is very charming to me. It's such a vast creative playground imagining how her presence in their life would change events as she is the catalyst for why Sam leaves and stays gone.
What makes me happy about them:
The idea of Dean begrudgingly accepting her into their group because he doesn't want to share Sam but eventually letting up and buying her the brand of chips she always gets and paying attention to which side of the bed she sleeps on. I think that she would be family to him in a really tangible way because she's family to Sam and was the person who took care of him while he was away at college. I think after a few months on the road together they would all get really physically comfortable with each other. I imagine them sprawled out on motel beds while Jess and Dean talk about their favorite black and white westerns as Sam fondly smiles at them over his laptop screen. I think that Jess is already a good shot and Dean sometimes pulls her into a jumping hug when she knocks four bottles off a ledge and blows out the smoke.
I think that Jess is kind to Sam in ways that Dean wishes he could be kind to Sam and that Jess eventually is able to get him to open up to a lot of the way's that Sam has changed or grown as person. I think that Jess makes them treat life a little more like an opportunity then a duty. She plans field trips and gets them to stop at landmarks that they've passed by that she hasn't seen. I am a believer in artist Jess so Dean will surprise her with art supplies and canvas and Sam will take pictures of buildings and nature that she can use as reference photos. Jess sometimes will stay back from a hunt to let the brothers have time together so she can work on a painting or a sketch. She'll draw silly little doodles of them and tape them on the dashboard and they all get lovingly tossed into the glove box to be saved. I just see them operating as a strange "room for one more" type of family.
What makes me sad about them:
I think that Dean would struggle with the fact that the existence of Jess means that him and Sam are never going to be travel on their own again. (I do think that Jess once she was proficient enough as a hunter would go on solo trips or visit her family again. I think that the road life isn't for everyone and she not only would want stability but see that Dean and Sam need to spend time together on their own.) I think that there would be a lot of conflict in the beginning because Dean is bad at expressing his feelings and Jess doesn't really understand the world she's getting into or necessarily the people she's now working alongside. I also think that Jess would react with a lot of pain finding that Sam hid this entire world from her and that their first few weeks would be difficult as they talked that out. They aren't really a sad relationship to me and I don't really create AUs with the intention of angst so they're very much my indulgent "everyone lives, everything is fixed" trio.
Things done in fanfic that annoys me:
There is so little fanfic for these three but probably pettily that the authors idea of Jess don't align with my idea for her. That's inevitable when there's so little known about a character but I have such a particular idea of her in my head that I'll be reading and be like "the Jess I created from literally nothing would never do that."
Things I look for in fanfic:
JESS AND DEAN ARE BEST FRIENDS. Jess and Dean having a good relationship outside of Sam is like, absolutely crucial or else it doesn't work and I'm not having fun.
Sam being like "the two people I love most are in a room together" and Jess and Dean just staring at each other intimately aware of how much tension is happening behind the scenes. I actually have such vanilla headcanons for them because most of my idea of them is like, cuddling together and just forming a weird family unit. I do think that Jess being the one that realizes that there is tension between her and Dean as well as between Dean and Sam and being the person who orchestrates everything crashing together is ideal.
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:
I actually would love to write something about Jess/Dean if Sam was the one who died in the fire (like a reverse AU where Jess is the chosen one and Sam's only role is to introduce her to the supernatural via his death) and Jess forces Dean to tell him everything and to let him join her on his quest for revenge. I don't think they would necessarily be happy, but I think that they are the only two people in the world besides John that really "knew" Sam and they would spend a lot of time mourning him and sharing the versions of him they knew and like, sad fucking in the back of the impala.
My happily ever after for them: them on the road being a hunter trio driving off into the sunset and Jess eventually getting them to settle down and having the peace and rest that they deserve.