Just as Dean is starting to get comfortable at his new mining job in Nevada, the site is shaken by the announcement of a six-week visit from a team of consultants hired to make changes to the practices and procedures of the mine. Among that team is Castiel Novak, one of the most coolly infuriating, stuck-up, unfairly attractive men Dean has ever met.
The friction between them comes to a head during an unexpected but scorching hot makeout session at a company picnic, and they soon fall into a pattern of hooking up at the site or after work at Castiel’s hotel. But it’s just sex, or so they keep telling themselves. Castiel is only in Nevada for six weeks. They’ll have their fun, and then it’ll be over. But as those six weeks go by and they gradually get to know each other, both of them find themselves wondering if there might be a chance it could become something more.
For this year's @deancaspinefest, I was lucky enough to get to create some art for the lovely Teacass & Superhoney! Turn the World to Gold is gloriously piney, and I struggled to find just one moment to illustrate. My shortlist had about twenty scenes listed in the end... as you can see, I managed to whittle that list down to five.
Dean rarely visits the bunker. He knows Sam’s got enough people to spend time with in there, even though they’re all just a bunch of librarians. But then a hunt goes wrong, Dean breaks a leg, and is forced to stay with his brother and all his new research buddies while he recuperates. Soon it turns out it wouldn’t be half as bad if it weren’t for Sam’s constant nagging, all the boring nerd duties they put him on, and the annoyingly good-looking new guy who seems to know exactly how to get under Dean’s skin.
———
A story diverging after season 2 in which Sam doesn’t get stabbed and instead moves into the bunker to become a modern Man of Letters, Dean doesn’t sell his soul for him but continues to hunt, while Cas is not an angel but still pulls Dean out of hell. Not literally, though.
Summary: Dean rarely visits the bunker. He knows Sam’s got enough people to spend time with in there, even though they’re all just a bunch of librarians. But then a hunt goes wrong, Dean breaks a leg, and is forced to stay with his brother and all his new research buddies while he recuperates. Soon it turns out it wouldn’t be half as bad if it weren’t for Sam’s constant nagging, all the boring nerd duties they put him on, and the annoyingly good-looking new guy who seems to know exactly how to get under Dean’s skin.
A story diverging after season 2 in which Sam doesn’t get stabbed and instead moves into the bunker to become a modern Man of Letters, Dean doesn’t sell his soul for him but continues to hunt, while Cas is not an angel but still pulls Dean out of hell. Not literally, though.
Keep reading for a sneak preview!
Castiel stops talking just a moment later and starts the engine, so Dean forces himself to open his eyes and sit back again.
“So,” he starts, voice a bit raspy. He clears his throat. “You a hunter?”
Castiel chuckles under his breath. “Far from it. I’m a Man of Letters.”
“Really? You live in the bunker?” Dean leans forward in the seat, curiosity taking over his pain. “I’ve never seen you there.”
The bunker houses a lot of people, but Dean is fairly certain he wouldn’t miss a face like Castiel’s. Not with that hair.
“I do, yes,” Castiel says. His eyes stay on the road, but Dean can see one of his cheeks lifting in a soft smile. “I just moved in recently, though. That’s probably why we haven’t had the pleasure of being introduced yet.”
“Oh.” Dean rests his head on the back of the passenger seat. “I guess I haven’t visited in a while, so that actually makes sense.”
“Your brother says you’ve been hunting a lot,” Castiel prompts.
Dean lets his eyes slide closed. “Yeah, you could say that.”
Castiel glances at him, but doesn’t comment.
“Anyway.” Dean straightens up. “You never said where we’re going.”
“You never asked.” Castiel’s hands brush gently over the steering wheel when he swerves the car towards a narrow road that runs at an angle to the main street. Their surroundings are swallowed by the darkness, but Dean can see a long building with a row of pale doors when the car’s lights swipe over it.
“A motel?”
Castiel hums, parks, and shuts the engine. “It’s really late and you need to rest.”
“But—”
“I think we can go back to Lebanon tomorrow, if you’re up for it by morning.”
“Uhh, but what about my car? And my leg?” Dean lifts a brow at him.
Castiel nods. “You’re right. We will need to visit a hospital before going back. Do you think you’ll be alright for the night or—”
“Hey! I asked, what about my car?” Dean repeats angrily.
“Your car is going to be fine.” Castiel pins him with a hard gaze.
“Yeah, no way. I’m not leaving her here. You gotta go fetch her and then we can go back,” Dean says stubbornly.
“You can’t drive, Dean. I’m quite certain your leg is broken. You’re not going to be able to drive.”
“I won’t.” Dean shrugs, glares at his leg. “You will. Consider it a compliment, I usually don’t let strangers drive my baby.”
“I’m not going to leave my car here, either,” Castiel says, “if that’s what you’re suggesting.”
“Why? It’s a crappy car, anyway.”
Dean knows he’s being childish and rude and stubborn, but his head is pounding and his leg is sending painful impulses through his entire body and he’s exhausted.
It turns out Castiel is having none of his bullshit, though.
hi! happy birthday! you are one my favourite writers and I'm very very grateful that we can have you in our fandom. sending you the very best wishes! xo
!!!!!!!!! thank you so much, moonbeam!! I absolutely love being part of this fandom, and I’m just grateful that there are a bunch of other nerds who are as weak over deancas as I am :DDD I mean, can you imagine if this was a tiny ship? can you imagine the pain of there being maybe 10 works on AO3 tagged as destiel?? and in three of them they’re a side-pairing?? [shudders] this is the stuff of nightmares. sometimes, this reality is the best one!!
This is for @teacass I didn’t get the idea until you told me I should write it. Inspired by this post Thanks to @ozonecologne for giving it a quick look over :D
Dean steps out of the Impala and grabs the package he just picked up from the PO Box he and Sammy have in town. He is still amazed that they get to have that now. A reliable place to have things delivered. He is particularly excited about this package, though. It was something he saw Cas sighing at wistfully a few weeks ago while puttering around on the internet. It was this really unique table lamp that was shaped like a beehive, cut hexagons out of wood that let out a nice warm light. Dean had noticed that Cas really hadn’t done much to make his room his yet, so he figured why not help him along with something that would really fit and that he obviously wanted.
Dean finds Cas in the library as per usual. He sets the box down in front of him and takes the seat next to him. Cas just looks up at the box then at Dean and raises an eyebrow.
Dean rolls his eyes. “Just open it Cas.”
Cas puts down his book - How To Make Your Plants Happy - and just holds his hand out. Dean startles a bit then pulls a knife out of his pocket and plops it into Cas’s hand.
Cas opens the package methodically, taking his time, unwrapping everything carefully. By the time Cas sets the lamp on the table Dean is a strong mixture of excited and nervous. Cas hasn’t made one noise since he started.
Cas looks up from the lamp right at Dean. Dean is shocked, there are unfallen tears in Cas’s eyes.
“I’m sorry buddy I thought…” Dean started
Cas just shakes his head. “No, Dean, you misunderstand. I believe these are what you would call tears of joy. No one has ever given me a gift like this.” Cas looks to the lamp, brushes his fingers along the edge and back to Dean. “Thank you, Dean. It’s beautiful.”
Dean rubs the back of his neck, getting redder by the second. “It’s no big deal Cas, I just thought you would enjoy it. It seemed like you liked it when you saw it a couple weeks ago.”
They stare at each other for an undetermined amount of time before the sound of a throat clearing surprises them both.
“Hey guys, what’s goin’ on?” Sam asks with a smirk.
“Nothing, Sammy.”
“Dean gave me this lovely lamp,” They manage to say at the same time.
Sam just chuckles. “It’s a nice lamp, Cas. Good choice, Dean”.
“Yeah, whatever.”
Dean turns to Cas.“Let’s go set this up in your room.” Cas picks up the lamp reverently and follows Dean out of the library. Sam shakes his head and pretends not to notice the arm going around Cas’s shoulders.
He’s hopeful that maybe they will just set the lamp up in Dean’s room instead.
