#dean meta

[insanesonofabitch]

I’m not sure if someone else already made a post about this, but I was rewatching Tombstone and something just hit me. Dean wanted to stay alone with Cas a little bit longer in that cowboy hotel room. Sam takes Jack with him and pairs Dean up with Cas, after noticing how happy Dean was to get Cas back (which he even made a comment on earlier in the episode, we love a supportive brother). Dean agrees with this change of plan. Sam and Jack immediately gets up to leave and head for the graveyard. But when Cas is about to get up too and get ready, Dean does this:

And this is the same fucking goddamn episode where Dean makes Cas wear a fucking cowboy hat. And then gets offended when Cas didn’t immediately recognize his Tombstone reference. “I made you watch it,” not “we.” The same way “where Dean spread your ashes” is NOT “we.” And Dean has probably already seen ALL of those movies, probably a shit ton of times. He just wanted Cas to see them too. With him. Like a movie date night. And then Cas imitates a phrase from the movie, “I’m your huckleberry.” And then Dean, after averting his eyes and closing them and gulping down, says “Yeah, exactly.” immediately followed by “…it’s good to have you back, Cas.”

AND NOT TO MENTION THE FACT THAT DEAN TOOK A PHOTO OF CAS OFF SCREEN???????? AND THEN PRINTED IT OUT??????????

#THIS. FUCKING GODDAMN EPISODE. #DEAN. #YOU AND YOUR LITTLE SCHEMES #ooohh I bet his ass was (unsuccessfully) flirting with Cas the entire fucking time #and Cas didn’t really get his very subtle (cowardly) hints so he gave up somewhere on their way to meet the sergeant #but THEN “I’m your huckleberry” happens and it’s taking everything in Dean’s power not to show how badly he wants Cas #insane show for insane people #supernatural #spn 13x06 #spn #tombstone #dean winchester #castiel #destiel #deancas #casdean #dean x castiel #destiel meta #dean meta #reiotalks

[deanwasalwaysbi]

Dean's nothing about our lives is real speech? When he says "everything we are is because of chuck"? He was speaking privately & directly to Castiel when he said that.

Not to Sam. Not everything I am. Everything we are. Dean was having a full on crisis.

"You asked, 'What about all of this is real?' We are." Dean didn't know how right Cas was.

Like no baybee. It'll take 15 episodes, but god himself will tell you Cas defied him and his plan to love you, actually.

#destiel #dean was always bi #deancas #spn 15x17 #spn 15x02 #spn meta #fav #original content #dean winchester #Dean meta #misha collins #it kills me that cas's line wasnt in the script #that misha knew and might have ad libbed it in #jensen got his start on soap operas and boy did that pay off for us #supernatural #castiel deserved better #why am i being so normal about this

[princessmadelines]

DEAN WINCHESTER : HOW TO BECOME THE 21ST CENTURY MARLBORO MAN

Do you want to be become The Man? Do you dream of being the perfect Action Hero? That's easy enough, kid! All you need is your Father's leather jacket, his vintage muscle car, and his cassette collection. And if that isn't enough, look no further than 80s action movies. Save the day, get the girl... yes, it's that easy! Just follow the script, and you'll be the perfect Red-blooded American Man.

or a study of dean's performance of masculinity

#mads edits #this came to me in a fever dream at 2 am last night #the face-as-mask is soo 2016 but honestly it still slaps imo #dean winchester #graphics #spn #spn edit #*deanstudiesbypm #deanwinchesteredit #spn graphic #supernatural #spn meta #dean meta

[t00muchheart]

season 4 dean and cas are so 🤌 🤌

just… cas saw dean stripped bare of his defenses and at his lowest and touched his soul to raise him, his voice ringing out that dean winchester had been saved, and at the same moment, cas was lost to the angels because his path had changed course.

and as a result, cas knows more ABOUT dean than almost anyone at this point, he has seen past all the lies and masks dean uses to the truth of him, BUT he doesn’t KNOW him, really, because he lacks a fundamental understanding of how people work and what drives them. and it just becomes the two of them tearing down each others’ perceptions of the world, dean showing cas what it really means to have humanity and how significant emotions are while cas teaches dean that he’s worth the effort that went into saving him

#spn #supernatural #spn meta #dean winchester #castiel #cas #deancas #casdean #destiel meta #destiel #cas meta #dean meta #supernatural dean #dean studies #cas studies #castiel my beloved #it takes two to have a profound bond

[freakwiththeknifecollection]

Jo is a Dean mirror, but not in the way people think like their stories being the same, but in a literal sense of the word like bizarro world. Dean lost his mom and was raised (I use that term extremely loosely) by his dad, Jo lost her dad and was raised by her mom. Dean never got to be a kid and was forced to grow up too fast, Jo was always treated like a kid and never allowed to grow up. John brought Dean into hunting, while Ellen kept Jo out of it. Dean was in the hunting life and only wanted a normal life, Jo had a normal life and only wanted to hunt. Etc. They're both twisted but in different directions

#now that doesn't mean they're not compatible- they are! they're just not the same it's my point #their differences is what makes their dynamic so interesting #jo harvelle #dean winchester #jo harvelle meta #dean meta #spn meta #deanjo #chestervelle #dean x jo #jo x dean

[hauntedpearl]

like i think a lot of early seasons dean getting mad and then getting over it is like. bad emotional regulation, still, but he's hyperaware that people can and will leave him and there's a line to cross. thinking about that fight they have in scarecrow where dean literally repeats john's words to sam because he just doesn't know what else to say and then literally the next morning he's calling sam and apologizing and telling him that he's proud of him etc. like dean's always mad because his life is shit and he doesn't know how to not take things personally and it's like an understandable mode of existence. but he used to also have these moments where he'd come to his senses because he knows he can't push people too far (sad why he gets here but good in terms of like. just how he ends up treating people i suppose.)

but by the time we get to s15 he's like..he just does not have that fear anymore. and even if he does it's just so fucking warped like thinking about divorce arc!!! he literally was soooo cruel to cas but when cas was walking away he was legit surprised! he was like where the fuck are you going! like.hello??? i don't think he consciously makes them his punching bags but somewhere along the line I think he kind of internalizes that they're all gonna only have each other WITHOUT understanding it properly. so he's like existing in this new reality with the same old trigger happy brain that's on the edge of blowing up at people at all times. but he's got this unearned confidence (which he himself doesn't know where it's coming from and he feels both absolutely entitled to and entirely fucked in the head about (because he still thinks he's not good for anyone and they should all leave him but that's like his worst fear yk)) and it makes him. worse. well worsebetter if you enjoy this kind of spiral into the inevitable cycle of violence but yeah.

#anyway. idk if that made sense #dean meta #mild deancrit I guess? i mean i am not being crit tho i love him I just feel bad about him ajgddjjdd #but could be perceived as such i guess! I GUESS! #i need yo finish my rewatch of this show fr i think it can help me figure out why he's so crazy better #bc rn im operating on faulty memories that are like 8 years old #and that's not helpful #doe is talking again

[dotthings]

Oh, this moment on the Jensen and Rob panel at Jib14 made me so happy.

Jensen: If every time they hurt Dean, they hit his heart, they hit his chest?…Oh like a heart attack? Gosh I’ve never thought about that. That’s a really interesting like…pick up. Maybe. That’s a writer question, that’s a good question. That was never something that was conveyed to me, that was never something that was told to me, that we’re going to attack Dean’s heart the most and it’s because he’s got the biggest heart. But it’s a really good kind of perception or perspective on the story and I think it might have been one of those happy accidents that it happened that way, maybe subconsciously to the writers and probably subconsciously to me, if you want to get Dean, that’s where you get him. And it makes sense….thank you…now I’m going to think about that for the rest of the day! Thanks a lot! Rob: That was like poetry. Jensen: That was beautiful.

Although, I doubt it wasn't on purpose on the part of the writers--we've seen the symmetry on spn, we've seen how it rhymes. Although I'm sure there are a few things where they'd do it the first time, and then realize how that came across symbolically, and then keep leaning into it, because that's how creative process sometimes work. (Just saying, fandom leans way too hard into the assumption everything good on spn was accidental instead of understanding, no it wasn't, but accidents are part of the creative process, too). There's deliberate reasons Death went for Dean's heart in 15.18, for example.

Anyway I appreciate Jensen's comment here and the fan's analysis and Jensen's appreciation of their analysis and Jensen's idea that it was subconsciously in his own mind even if he didn't think about it that way himself before. Because Dean has a really big heart, and "if you want to get to Dean, that's where you get him." Bingo.

LOL poor Jensen caught Dean feelings. His faux grumpiness about it absolutely sent me. Yes, same Jensen. We do this to each other in fandom all the time. Now I've caught Dean feelings too, thanks a lot Jensen, now I'm going to think about this for the rest of the evening!!! And I'm going to spread the Dean feelings just by making this post!!! Jensen has to suffer Dean feelings, so do we!!!

#spn meta #jib14 #Jensen Ackles #Rob Benedict #Dean meta #Dean Winchester

[mrcowboydeanwinchester]

early seasons sam is just that bit spoiled and i think that is just a feat in itself on dean's behalf. he managed to raise a kid in a motel room off of macaroni cheese and second hand clothes but he sacrificed enough that sam still grew to be spoiled and petty. that s1 dynamic where sam has absolutely no clue about any of the shit dean went through is actually so so important because it shows just how stupidly good dean was at putting on a front of normality and protecting his brother. not only has dean been performing his whole life he's been performing parenthood his whole life and it was a success. dean's performances didn't start as self protection they started in the same way a mother performs to their child that everything is okay as the world falls to pieces around them. as s12 says, it's not fair and dean can't do it, but sam's spoiled s1 nature is a sign of how successful dean actually was

#this is rambly and a bit confused but u get it!!!!!! #sam is SPOILED and he grew up with NOTHING and that just shows how much dean SACRIFICED #that sam could have so much he ends up not realising it #dean meta #sam meta #dean and sam #ola originals

[sweetpapercroissant]

“dean winchester is a misogynist because he lies to women to get them to sleep with him and therefore clearly doesn’t respect them”

then you actually watch the show and every time dean sleeps with a woman he’s soft and there’s a gentleness even in his passion and he always makes sure his partner’s satisfied/comfortable and he does form genuine connections with the women he sleeps with even if he lies about his name and job (which is completely understandable and actually the sane thing to do considering most of america knows him as a serial killer and there’s not a lot of people around who’d bother talking to a guy who claims he hunts monsters for a living) (or for fun ig since there’s not a lot of ‘living’ in this profession) and he spends time getting to know them and offers the little bits of himself that he can and most of the time that dean has sex with a woman he sleeps over and they see him off in the morning with a goodbye kiss and genuine affection for him and if they ever run into him again they’re clearly fond and look back on their shared memories with satisfaction if nothing else and. this is the guy who doesn’t respect women? how? by believing they are adults who can want and enjoy a night of sex with no strings attached (something he’s always straightforward about btw)?? and more importantly it’s always consensual and they like him as a person and they’re clearly both enthusiastic about it (in fact there’s actually instances where dean isn’t completely enthusiastic but never the other way around).

also any time he’s been in a serious relationship where he was going to be a part of the other person’s life he tells them the whole truth, about hunting and monsters and his role in it and what being with him would entail. so i’d say he respects women just fine but maybe you need to seriously evaluate why you feel having casual sex with women is inherently disrespectful of them.

not to mention that the sex does mean something to him. even if he didn’t it wouldn’t be “wrong” or “misogynistic” to want to have sex with a woman without a relationship BUT. the sex does mean something to him. because he craves intimacy and human contact and affection and being liked and wanted and so often when he’s going through something he’ll open up to these women (jaime, anna) and they’re willing to listen to him without judgment and they’re gentle with him, with his grief, his trauma and the sex is a way for him to connect on a deeper level with them and it helps him and he’s spent almost his entire life isolated from society and can’t form long lasting relationships for much of his childhood and youth but he actually cares about them as human beings and he feels affection for them and it fulfills his desire for tenderness that he can’t expect from anyone else. and there’s nothing wrong with any of that.

#this has to be one of the dumbest things i’ve seen people say about it #i mean sure it raises some questions about consent #but even when he lies about his job he never pretends to be a different person than who he is #what you see is what you get with him #and even when he lies about his job with #motive (???) beyond that. information or just flirting (although let’s be honest it’s the former WAY more often than the latter) he never #actually has sex with someone who he thinks might want to sleep with him just because of his job. #that has never happened #sometimes he just likes playing different parts because it’s fun #and there’s nothing wrong with that either #and he isn’t the only character on spn who’s done this so why is this question only raised when it comes to dean? #and #some of y’all straight up have a weird relationship with sex #supernatural #dean winchester #dean and sex #dean meta #.txt

[hells-plaid-angel]

They’re on a hunt when it happens. It’s something so innocuous Cas doesn’t think about the action until they’re driving home. They’d pursued their monster-of-the-week and run into another hunter who claimed they were an old friend of John Winchester. 

It took too long for them to realise the hunter was the one behind the killings, acting as a go-between, doing some dirty work for Hell. They found themselves cornered in the man’s yard, trapped and backed into a corner with a not-so-friendly looking hunting dog standing between them, and the high fence, their only exit. Cas’ grace was failing, so he was unsure if he could get himself and the Winchester brothers out of the mess unscathed. 

Cas knew many things about Dean Winchester, he knew he wasn’t cruel for the sake of cruelty but he also knew any man with a gun in his hand, who found themselves backed into a corner would be tempted to fire. It wasn’t often Dean surprised Cas, but that day he did. He held his hands out in front of himself, open-palmed and moved slowly to greet the animal. Its pinned ears and raised haunches kept Dean several arms lengths away, but they stood facing each other until the animal calmed.  When it did, Dean touched the creature softly and ushered both Cas and Sam out. By the look on Sam’s face, Cas understood he’d also been surprised Dean’s plan had worked. 

It isn’t until they’ve caught the hunter and driven back to the bunker and Sam had retired to his room that Cas decided to broach the subject. 

“How did you know the dog wouldn’t attack you?” 

“Call it a hunch,” Dean replied trying to minimise whatever had occurred, letting Cas know he was touching on something important. 

Something Dean didn’t want to talk about, was usually the exact thing he needed to talk about. Cas isn’t sure how he manages it, but after a few prolonged glances and a long stretch of silence, Dean speaks. 

“It’s a hunting dog, Cas. Course it’s going to attack you if it’s been told to. I know they’re dangerous, I ain’t stupid. But you sit with the thing for a while, show it you can trust it,  and maybe it starts to get iffy. Thing doesn’t like to fight, it just does what it’s told. You pet it and confuse the hell out of it. Hunters want the things to be tough, so they never touch ‘em gently. Think it’ll make ‘em soft.” Cas understands.  Dean is the dog. 

Cas wonders if he’s ever been touched gently. He decides it’s his job to make sure Dean is. 

He spots a few scratches and bruises littering Dean’s body from the aftermath of the hunt and pulls him into the kitchen, trying to get a better look at him. He reaches out a hand to heal Dean but the man shrugs him off, making an excuse about not wanting Cas to waste his grace. That won’t do. Cas needs to show Dean that people can be gentle with him.

That’s how the two end up knee to knee at their unconventional version of a dining room table, with Cas helping to cradle a packet of frozen peas to Dean’s face. Cas tentatively strokes a thumb over the underside of Dean’s eyes, along his cheekbones. No one taught Cas how to be gentle, so he’s unsure if he’s doing it right, but from Dean’s stunned silence he thinks perhaps he is.

In the following days, Cas grabs every opportunity he can to touch Dean softly. He shocks Dean speechless as midway through a conversation Cas moves forward and gently brushes a strand of hair to the side, that had fallen into Dean’s eyes. When he needs to move past Dean he places a soft but firm hand in the middle of his back. He even throws a blanket over Dean’s shoulders on a partially cold morning. 

When he begins to run out of ways to be gentle he finds another, one that even Cas knows is toeing the line of things he can get away with. 

“Night, sunshine. I’m hitting the hay,” Dean grumbles, rising from his seat beside Cas in his ‘Dean Cave’ as the movie they were watching comes to a close. 

Cas stands with him before he can talk himself out of it and cautiously, places a kiss to Dean’s cheek. He lets it linger before pulling and mumbles, 

“Goodnight, Dean.” 

Dean doesn’t say anything, doesn’t do anything. He raises a hand to his cheek, as though to capture the heat of Cas’ lips and stares at him with wide-eyed amazement. And once more Cas sees the same look of frozen and confused horror as the dog. So it was true. Dean wasn’t used to being treated with such fondness. Cas would have to change that. 

#I've had a brain worm the past few days #so I'm sharing it with you #destiel #deancas #spn #supernatural #destiel ficlet #destiel drabble #dean winchester #bisexual dean winchester #dean studies #cas #castiel #dean meta #let 'em be soft damn it #spn meta #destiel fluff

[wheretosearchforsnow]

Destiel in Season 4 and 5 of Supernatural and Death of God

German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche’s well-known phrase “God is dead,” introducing the idea of the missing God, laid the foundation for one of the most important topics in the 20th century Existentialist Movement. The possibility of God’s non-existence means that everything that is possible to happen can happen, and if everything is allowed, how can man choose? How can man know how to live? If everything is allowed, can there be we define right from wrong?

Such questions are asked on Supernatural, with the character Castiel first appearing at the end of the first episode in the fourth season, which marked the series’ introduction of Christian mythology as a central them ever since. Castiel, an Angel of the Lord, initially shows complete devotion to God and identifies as servant of heaven:

CASTIEL: We have no choice. DEAN: Of course you have a choice. I mean, come on, what? You’ve never questioned a crap order, huh? What are you both, just a couple of hammers? CASTIEL: Look, even if you can’t understand it, have faith. The plan is just. SAM: How can you even say that? CASTIEL: Because it comes from heaven, that makes it just. - 4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

This argument on the morality behind the act of “purifying a city” or “taking one thousand two hundred fourteen lives” between Castiel and the Winchesters is not dissimilar with Danish theologian Søren Kierkegaard’s discussion on Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac. When Abraham was told that as a result of God's will that he must sacrifice his son Isaac, he was in a kind of either-or. If the message is genuinely from God, then he must sacrifice Isaac and it is the right thing to do; but if the message is not from God, then he would be committing what would be the very worst possible crime judged on the basis of Abraham's own view of human ethics.

The dichotomy here, between Castiel’s and Dean’s rationales, is that while the former believes there is a God and God and religion (in other words, heaven’s plan for earth) are the most important things, and man must do nothing but obey heaven’s command, the latter insists that there is no God and it is for man to take the total burden of responsibility for the world and for himself upon his own shoulders, with no one to give him any sign.

Though the former seems to suggest a lack of agency or necessity for decision making in moral judgement, as the plot unfolds, we see Castiel demonstrate a sense of uncertainty, the very secret he voices in the conversation with Dean in the episode’s epilogue.

CASTIEL: I’m not a… hammer as you say. I have questions, I have doubts. I don’t know what is right and what is wrong anymore, whether you passed or failed here. But in the coming months you will have more decisions to make. I don’t envy the weight that’s on your shoulders, Dean. I truly don’t. - 4.07 It's the Great Pumpkin, Sam Winchester

This mirrors Kierkegaard’s Abraham in his questions on God’s will. Indeed, how is one to know whether the command is from God or not? If an angel speaks to him, how does Abraham know it's not a hallucination? And if God himself speaks, how is Abraham, or Castiel, to know whether this is really God or whether the command is their own inward evil wishes? Nobody but Abraham, or Castiel, can decide and they cannot tell within his life whether he has done the right thing or not.

Perhaps it is this introspective nature in Castiel that draws him close to Dean, the human in his charge, and by implication humanity. Dean, a firm non-believer and what many, including himself, perceive to be as farthest from being servant of God as possible, detests the idea of God even in face of angels walking the earth.

DEAN: God? CASTIEL: Yes. DEAN: God. CASTIEL: Yes! He isn't in heaven. He has to be somewhere. DEAN: Try New Mexico. I hear he's on a tortilla. CASTIEL: No, he's not on any flatbread. DEAN: Listen, Chuckles, even if there is a God, he is either dead—and that's the generous theory— CASTIEL: He is out there, Dean. DEAN: —or he's up and kicking and doesn't give a rat's ass about any of us. CASTIEL glares. DEAN: I mean, look around you, man. The world is in the toilet. We are literally at the end of days here, and he's off somewhere drinking booze out of a coconut. All right? - 5.02 Good God, Y'all

Dean has no intention of trying to prove that God does not exist, as one cannot prove a negative, but the very specific objection to the traditional concept of God above parallels with the simple objection in many existentialists work that is based upon the injustice of the universe. Albert Camus has given this same type of criticism in his novel, "The Plague", in which the priest, Padalu, confesses that he is not able to understand how there can be any justification so that even eternal paradise could cancel out the sufferings here on earth of one innocent child. Why, Deans asks, if God is all powerful, does man have to suffer? If God is merciful, then how can he sentence man, any man at all to eternal damnation?

There is an optimistic side to this. As the repetitive occurrence of the term “free will” on this show suggests, if God exists, man is nothing; but if God does not exist, then man is free to choose what he wants to make himself. But for Castiel to arrive at this destination, it first takes him to undergo a two-season long crisis.

ANNA: What do you want from me, Castiel? CASTIEL: I'm considering disobedience. ANNA nods. ANNA: Good. CASTIEL: No, it isn't. For the first time, I feel... ANNA: It gets worse. Choosing your own course of action is confusing, terrifying. ANNA puts her hand on CASTIEL's shoulder. He looks at it; she drops it. ANNA: That's right. You're too good for my help. I'm just trash. A walking blasphemy. ANNA turns to walk away. CASTIEL: Anna. ANNA stops. CASTIEL: I don't know what to do. Please tell me what to do. ANNA turns back. ANNA: Like the old days? No. I'm sorry. It's time to think for yourself. - 4.16 On the Head of a Pin

If God isn’t out there, then Castiel has nowhere to turn. This dreadful realization may best be articulated through Hazel Barnes’ analogy that as if one would try to judge a Ford car without any Mr. Ford. So long as there is a Mr. Ford or one of his agents, then one has a model, one has a blueprint and one can say that the car which is coming there off the assembly line is a perfect Ford or an imperfect Ford. But without a plan, one cannot judge a car, and without God, there is no plan for Castiel and there is no final point of reference by which he can judge his values, or right or wrong, or declare that he has lived up to his possibilities or not lived up to his possibilities.

Yet despite “choosing your own course of action” being “confusing, terrifying,” Castiel is not in total despair. Dean, the human equivalent of the burden of a self-creative life, provides reference for Castiel on how to live a life as if there were no God. I have concluded thus that in the context of existentialism Castiel seeks Dean and humanity for answers and view them as his destination.

Note: this article is MOSTLY arguments in Hazel Barnes’ Self Encounter 2: The Far Side of Despair.

#destiel #supernatural #spn #castiel #dean winchester #existentialism #cas meta #dean meta

[insanesonofabitch]

“And when you finally turn…”

“…and you will turn. Everyone you know, everyone you love, they could be long dead.”

“Everyone except me.”

S10EP22 “The Prisoner”

This line makes me so insane not only because of the idea of it happening, but precisely because it’s not happening. He’s wrong and Dean knows he’s wrong. Because Cain already told him his destiny:

“Have you ever mused upon the fact that you’re living my life in reverse?” “…and then you’d kill the Angel Castiel now THAT ONE. That, I suspect, would hurt something awful.”

He’s living Cain’s life in reverse. And he’d kill Cas, like Cain killed Colette. Not only was Cas (supposedly) not going to live, he’s going to die by Dean’s hands and Dean knew this. As he grabs Cas by the tie and points the blade towards him, Dean knew this. As Cas holds on to his arm and asks him to stop the same way he was told Colette asked Cain, Dean knew this. And he tries to deny it and he tries to ignore it but his guilt reminds him even in his dreams.

“Looks like you’ve got an admirer.”

“You sure it ain’t you?”

S10E23 “Brother’s Keeper” (deleted scene)

Cas was supposed to die just like that and Chuck would’ve probably skimmed over it like it was nothing so he could focus on his favorite part of the story, the brothers. And he couldn’t achieve it this time but ultimately, it’s what happens at the end of the story.

#this is part of the reason why I think Dean was at least subconsciously aware of Cas’ feelings for him. way before the confession #I’m gonna elaborate about that later. probably. #but for now let’s appreciate the bi lighting #supernatural #spn #spn 10x22 #the prisoner #spn 10x23 #brothers keeper #mark of cain #moc!dean #dean winchester #castiel #colette mullen #cain spn #destiel #deancas #casdean #dean x castiel #caincolette #destiel meta #dean meta #spn meta #reiotalks

[im-some-lionheart]

have we talked yet about how 90% of what makes dean so fucking brain-rot inducing isn't even in who he is written to be, as a character, but rather in how this character was so powerful he literally possessed jensen ross ackles into doing a series of subtle jacting joices that gave dean a depth no CW network character should ever dream of having.

Dean's appeal isn't in jackles beautiful face or in the stories the writers gave him.

it's in the way his eyes are out of focus and he shakes his head when he says "and when dad got home... ". it's in the wink and the little smile he gives Cas when he says "I got laid". it's in how flustered he gets when aaron hits on him. it's in the way his shoulders tense the second John comes into frame after being all soft with Mary at the door. It's in his decision to pick up the trenchcoat from the floating water.

there's so much power in these little things Dean just does subconsciously. Dean is the only character I've ever seen who just is and as much of a wonderful actor as jensen is, I don't even think he is aware of it most of the time. and that's why it's so beautiful.

Dean just is. And Jensen just does the things Dean would do. But I just know he wasn't planning and practicing Dean's pose change when he saw John. He just did it. Because that's what Dean would do, subconsciously. But the key is in the fact that it's not intentional. It's not like he sat down with the writers and director of the episode to decide what was the best pose change for Dean in this moment. It's not planned or strategized like that. If it were, Dean would have been just another character. But he isn't. In several ways he feels real. Because Jensen isn't acting, he's just letting Dean live through him. And every thing he does adds another layer of meaning to his trauma and who he is.

#just being yadda yadda #my best friend dean winchester #dean meta #dean winchester meta #winchester derangement syndrome #Jackles #jacting joices #supernatural is a show #Parasocial yadda yadda

[emeraldsummers]

Smoker!Dean headcanons (aka if Dean was a smoker throughout the series)

As a teenager, Dean would smoke whenever he could get his hands on a cigarette, but it was pretty rare. Money was too tight to buy them, and it wasn't worth the risk of stealing them, but occasionally, Dean was able to trade for loose cigarettes. He loved the head rush and loved feeling like an adult.

Pre-series, Dean didn't start smoking in earnest until he started doing hunts without his father. John didn't like the smoking, so Dean hid it from him. Still, money was tight, so Dean only smoked a few cigarettes a day at most. His favourite thing in the world was being whiskey buzzed and sharing a cigarette with a girl.

Dean never, ever smoked inside the Impala.

Seasons 1-2 Dean is still smoking a few cigarettes per day, properly addicted at this point, and irritable when he isn't able to get a smoke break. Sam is constantly bugging him to quit, and Dean pretends he could quit any time he wants to. Sam gets non-smoking motel rooms whenever he can, which annoys the hell out of Dean.

Season 3, with the demon deal looming, Dean starts smoking more now, and by the end of the season, he is fully chain smoking regularly. Sam finds it gross but generally allows it to slide because he knows Dean needs it.

Season 4, Dean comes back from Hell with zero physical dependence on nicotine and decides to treat it like a fresh start. He doesn't smoke. He uses his experience with smoking to try (and fail) to empathize with Sam's blood addiction.

Season 5, Dean starts smoking when he's drunk, which turns into smoking when he's stressed, which by the end of the season, when he almost says "yes" to Michael, turns into him smoking all of the time again.

When he lives with Lisa and Ben, he tries to quit for their sake, but he still sneaks a cigarette outside on really bad nights. Lisa pretends not to notice.

Season 6, the smoking continues, but not as heavy as season 5. Sam is actively annoyed about it at this point, and Dean has long stopped finding smoking to be fun.

Season 7, as Dean spirals downwards after Cas' betrayal, he smokes much more heavily. It's starting to affect him physically, especially without Cas to heal him. He starts saying things like, "I'm getting too old for this." Since he isn't able to drive the Impala for most of the season, he smokes in the cars they steal, which really bothers Sam.

In Purgatory, Dean has no choice but to quit cold turkey, which is miserable, and once he's home, he continues that streak into seasons 8 and 9, his longest smoke-free period.

Unfortunately, demon!Dean picks up smoking again, and even when he's cured, smoking becomes one of his coping mechanisms for quelling the Mark.

Seasons 11 and 12, he struggles with trying to quit, going anywhere from days to months at a time without smoking before falling back into it. When Cas dies at the end of season 12, he begins chainsmoking again along with regularly getting black-out drunk, and Sam really worries for his brother's health.

After Cas returns in season 13, Dean begins working to quit again in earnest, creating a system with Sam, Cas, and Jack's help. This time, it sticks through the end of the series, but Dean does heavily consider starting up again as he spirals towards the end of season 15.

Post-series Dean is trying to maintain being smoke-free, especially since Cas is gone and Jack is hands-off. He knows any damage he does will be permanent this time, and he doesn't particularly feel like dying of cancer. But it turns out the boredom of the world not ending is worse for his cravings than the stress was. He starts smoking weed, trying to convince himself it's a proper substitute, but eventually, he just smokes weed because he likes it.

#spn #dean winchester #spn headcanon #supernatural #supernatural headcanons #smoker!dean #smoker dean #supernatural headcanon #spn headcanons #dean winchester headcanons #spn fic #dean meta #dean headcanons #cw smoking #cw alcohol #cw nicotine #cw cigarettes #cw weed #cw cannabis #im a former chainsmoker myself so this is all judgement free

[t00muchheart]

John in 1x20 apologizing to Sam for stopping being a Dad at some point and becoming a drill sergeant, letting the mission become everything, and then immediately getting sucked back into that mission and not understanding why Sam didn’t kill him to get to Azazel in 1x22, framing it as I thought you of all people would understand, because when Sam told him that they were alike, that they understood each other, he accepted that Sam was all in, at any cost

VERSUS Dean seeing that Sam is in at all costs and reminding him that his life has worth too, telling him that just because they couldn’t get back the people they lost didn’t mean they needed to lose more people. When John tells Sam to kill him the scene is framed as Sam being ready to do it until Dean’s appeal convinces him not to, and Sam looking back at Dean before telling John that family is more important emphasizes that it is Dean holding things together, like he has since he was a child.

Because when John stopped being a dad and became a drill sergeant, Dean stopped being just a brother and became a dad.

#spn #supernatural #dean winchester #spn meta #sam winchester #john winchester #spn 1x22 #ahhhhh #dean winchester character study #dean winchester meta #dean meta #sam and dean #anyway thank u for coming to my season 1 finale ted talk i’m sorry for all the posts #not really but #they will drop off a bit now

[spiritclusters]

Contrary to popular belief, 

Dean’s biggest flaw is not his selflessness, but his selfishness.

And Sam’s biggest flaw is not his selfishness but his selflessness.

I.G.:

Dean selling his soul for Sam was an act of high-tier selfishness and should never be considered selfless. Leaving Sam dead would have been an act of selflessness unprecedented in their family. Dean did not sell his soul for Sam, he sold it for himself. Then he spends the rest of the seasons either forcing Sam back from the dead against his will (or shoving his soul into his body again so he can have “his” brother), and then being angry at Sam for not appreciating all that he’s doing for him. He shoves an ANGEL into Sam and then get’s angry that Sam didn’t appreciate the sentiment. 

But Dean’s not doing it for Sam, he’s doing it for Dean. 

And yes, it makes sense, who would want to do that life alone, but at the same time. my guy, my man, my dude.

However. 

Sam drinking demon blood because he thought it would avenge and help Dean was not something he did for himself. Sam jumping into the pit so everyone can live was high-tier selflessness. 

Sam thinking Dean was dead in S8 and leaving him dead was an act of selflessness. He did not try to bring Dean back. He left Dean dead for Dean and tried to move on. That was the most selfless thing he could have done. He didn’t know about purgatory. He didn’t know that Dean was suffering. In his mind, Dean died and went to heaven and that was that. 

Sam spends the entire series doing things for everyone else and then being called selfish for it, whereas Dean spends the entire series doing things for himself and being told he’s selfless. I do think that at heart, Dean wants to be a selfless person, but when it comes to matters of family, he’s not. 

The dichotomy drives me insane. 

#sam #dean #sam meta #dean meta #sam deserves better