#and bobby and sam go with it

[thanatosdetesreves]

"What ?"

"Huh?"

"...Anyway, what was I saying? "

[shanastoryteller]

The day his deal comes due, Sam goes missing.

Dean tells himself it’s nothing, that he’s gotten caught up in some research, some last ditch, hail mary nonsense and that he’s just turned his phone off and everything’s fine, that he wouldn’t do something stupid, that he wouldn’t break his promise.

He tells himself that for the first two minutes after he cracks his eyes open and sees the empty bed across from him, and the first time his call goes straight to voicemail, and not much after that. Sam’s broken his promises over things significantly less important to him than his brother’s life.

Dean is dressed and in the Impala five minutes later, heart thudding wildly in his chest. He calls Bobby, Ellen, everyone he can think of, but none of them have heard from Sam, none of them have eyes on him. Sam was with him last night, even if he boosted a car, there’s only so far he can get.

He keeps calling, keep searching, desperate to stop whatever he’s trying to do, to find him, to see his brother one last time before he’s dragged to hell. To make sure Sam is going to be okay after he’s dragged to hell. But the hours tick down, the sun sets, and he can’t find a trace of him. He’s so exhausted and heart sick that when he goes to call Sam again it takes him a long time to read the number on his phone, eyes swimming, the time not making any sense.

1:03

That’s not possible.

That’s not –

His phone rings, blocking out the time with Bobby’s name across the screen, and he answers it but his throat is too thick to say anything.

“Dean?” Bobby says tentatively. “Are you – I got an email from Sam. It just said, I mean, did–“

“What did it say, Bobby?” he asks, even though he’s sure he knows.

Bobby sucks in a breath at his voice, because he knows just as well as Dean that he should be screaming in hell right now, not answering his phone. “To take care of you.”

Dean drops the phone, hears Bobby still talking as he grips the wheel and presses his forehead against the back of his hands. This is what he’d been afraid of. This is why he hadn’t wanted to mess with the deal in first place. This is the one thing he’d begged Sam not to do.

It's easy to find a crossroad.

The demon is laughing at him when it shows up, wicked grin in a pretty face. “That didn’t take you long, boy.”

It’s a different demon than the one he delt with, obviously, but Dean figures they all know the same shit, since demons are a bunch of gossips. “This wasn’t the deal. My brother lives and I die.”

“You traded your soul for your brother’s life,” she corrects, so amused by all this that all he wants to do is kill her, to exorcise her, to make her scream. “Just like your father traded his for yours. There’s no reason Sammy can’t make his own trade. Man, but is your family fucked up. Maybe if you’d just settled down like little Sammy wanted, you wouldn’t all be bargaining for each other’s lives like haggling at a flea market.”

“Untrade it,” he snaps. “My soul for him alive, come on, no year, no waiting, you bring him back and take me to hell right now.”

She laughs in his face. “You don’t have anything to bargain with, boy.”

“My soul,” he repeats, “That’s what this is about, isn’t?”

“Oh, it’s what it’s all about,” she says. “But Sammy’s a clever boy. You know that, don’t you? He didn’t trade his soul for your life, he didn’t have to. You didn’t die. No, he traded it for your soul. Sorry, honey, but your credits been declined.”

At first he doesn’t understand. Sam traded his soul for Dean’s, exactly, so there’s no reason he can’t trade it right back. Then he gets it.

She sees the exact moment it clicks, the moment despair and horror sweep across his face too quickly for him to stop them. “That’s right. Little brother owns your soul now. For some reason he didn’t think you’d take proper care of it. You have it because that’s where he wants it, but no one will be making any deals with you, Dean Winchester. You can’t sell a soul you don’t own.”

“You can’t,” he has to clear his throat, “you can’t just come in and change things at the eleventh hour-”

“Eleventh hour?” she interrupts. “Sammy made his deal eleven months ago.”

His mouth is so dry he can’t speak.

“Isn’t it funny?” she asks, head cocked to the side. “All this time, the deal he’s been trying to get out of wasn’t yours, but his own. Maybe the two of you might have even managed it, except you just wouldn’t help, would you? Insisting that he not research, that he not look for a way out, and he spent so much time trying to convince you, coaxing you to talk about your feelings when he knew you were safe, all he because he thought it would make you feel better when he was gone, because he couldn’t tell you the truth and talk about how scared he was, so talking about your fear was as close as he could get.”

Dean’s going to be sick. “Don’t – please, please, I’ll give you anything-”

“You don’t have anything,” she says, gleeful. “You want to know why I agreed? The thing that made it just too delicious to refuse? Sammy’s down there, just starting in on an eternity of torture, and all he has to do get out of it is give up your soul. It’s his, after all, and he can put the original deal back in place any time he chooses. Just one moment of weakness on his end and his beloved big brother will be on the rack instead.” She sighs happily. “It’s almost as good as anything we’re doing to him down there, the knowledge that if he slips up for even a moment then it would all be for nothing. I couldn’t have found a way to twist the knife deeper if I tried.”

There’s vomit crawling its way up his throat and he has to swallow it down before he can speak. “I can’t – I’ll do whatever you want, please, there has to be something.”

She leans forward, cruelty and delight shining in her eyes. “The only thing you can do is what you’ve been telling your precious baby brother to do for the past year. Accept it. Move on. Live a good life so his sacrifice isn’t in vain.”

God. How can she – how can Sammy expect him to –

He’s doubling over, finally upchucking what little he’s ate today, and he’s dry heaving on the dirt when he hears the fading sound of her laughter.

This can’t be real. This has to be Hell, he has to be in it right now. He has to be.

[yousavorthis]

weekends at bobby's

[babyjaans]

What if in season 4 they didn’t instinctively trust the angels as ‘the good side’. Sam and bobby are just as wary of dean meeting cas in secret as dean was of sam and ruby. Sam’s never met cas and one day he walks in on them intensely staring at eachother in a motel room, and cas - sweet, baby, naive cas, not yet aware of humans and how weird they are about gender- leans in and kisses dean right on the lips pretending they just had a one night stand. He probably says something like ‘that was a wonderful sexual encounter dean, I hope you enjoyed yourself’, with the most uncoordinated attempt at a wink before he walks out.

[winchesterlesbian]

4x20 The Rapture / 14x19 Jack in the Box

[s0fter-sin]

one of my favourite aspects of supernatural that you very rarely see in paranormal shows is that sam and dean are already versed in the world they live in. there’s no sudden discovery of ghosts and demons and now they have to learn about them along with the audience; they are born into it and already know all about it. it allows the audience to follow their personal story instead of also trying to figure out this new world and its rules

the first season is full of knowledge we never see them learn; “w*ndigoes are in the minnesota woods or- or northern michigan. i’ve never even heard of one this far west.” […] “great. well then this [his gun] is useless.” (1x02), “you don’t break a curse. you get the hell out of its way.” (1x08), d: “it’s a god. a pagan god, anyway.” […] “the annual cycle of its killings? and the fact that the victims are always a man and a woman. like some kind of fertility right.” […] s: “the last meal. given to sacrificial victims. d: “yeah, i’m thinking a ritual sacrifice to appease some pagan god.” (1x11)

almost every episode in the first season is a monster they’ve faced before that they then explain to the audience in a way that should feel patronising; like it’s the same speech given over and over again but instead, the audience almost feels included in the knowledge. it’s stated with such an innate confidence and comfort in said knowledge that it feels like we already knew it too; “spirits and demons don't have to unlock doors. if they want inside, they just go through the walls.” […] “the claws, the speed that it moves; could be a skinwalker, maybe a black dog.” (1x02), “it's biblical numerology. you know noah's ark, it rained for forty days. the number means death.” (1x04), “no no no, not the reaper, a reaper. there's reaper lore in pretty much every culture on earth, it goes by 100 different names.” […] “you said it yourself that the clock stopped, right? reapers stop time. and you can only see 'em when they're coming at you which is why i could see it and you couldn't.” (1x12)

they already know and, at least in the first season, already have what they need to kill whatever they’re hunting; already know to salt and burn bones for spirits, fire for a w*ndigo, exorcisms for demons, a silver bullet to the heart for shapeshifters. there’s only three times in the entire first season that they run into something new to them; 1x14 when sam gets his first vision that leads him to another psychic, 1x16 when dean calls caleb for help on the sigil he put together and he tells him about daevas, and 1x20 when they find out vampires are real- and they only don’t know that bc john thought they were hunted to extinction and not worth mentioning

(there’s also technically two half instances if you count one of them knowing something the other doesn’t - sam figuring out the tulpa in 1x17 and dean already knowing about the shtriga in 1x18 - but those still rely on sam and dean having prior knowledge)

even when they’re uncertain about facing something, it’s not bc they don’t know what it is; it’s precisely bc they know what it is and acknowledge that it’ll be a difficult hunt (“i don't know, man. this isn't our normal gig. i mean, demons, they don't want anything, just death and destruction for its own sake. this is big. and i wish dad was here.” 1x04)

so much of the tension in paranormal shows typically comes from the main character(s) not knowing what is happening to them/the people around them and having to find out how to resolve it. supernatural is unique in that it operates more like a police procedural. the tension comes from solving the clues and identifying patterns to figure out who (what) the killer is and intercepting before they can take another victim

it’s such a different tone to go for when compared to other shows that came both before, during, and after its run. it sets sam and dean on even footing with each other since they both have the same knowledge going in, and it puts them in a place of authority usually reserved for an outside character

the shows i compare spn to most is charmed, buffy and teen wolf; every main character in those shows are brought into the paranormal world knowing nothing, putting them on the same level as the audience, and they have their mc interact with others already knowledgeable about that world in order to overcome their problem/monster of the week. the audience organically learns about this new world as the characters learn about it. it’s a sound writing strategy that prevents “as we already know”-style exposition but something that complicates it is if your world building isn’t unique or intriguing enough, this slow introduction can become boring

we’ve seen shows like these before; sitting through the same tropes of characters learning to use their powers, struggling with no longer feeling normal/relating to the regular world around them, and not knowing how much they can trust the people already involved in this new world gets repetitive. all three shows eventually reach the same level of comfort with their new world that spn starts with but if the characters aren’t enough to draw you in, you can end up dropping it before they reach that point (and often, before the overarching plot can really kick in and evolve the show beyond the villain of the week format)

it’s the superhero origin movie in tv format; dragged out and overplayed. dropping the audience into an established world of course comes with its own problems but you also have the benefit of pre-existing established character dynamics that let the audience slot in like they’ve always been there instead of just getting to know all the characters while the characters also get to know each other

sam and dean already knowing about the supernatural lets the audience immediately get to the core of the story; the conflict between sam and dean, the search for their father, and the mystery of what killed their mother

[thatsnotbuddies]

that's a wrap! flyers 24-25

[nobodymitskigabriel]

One cage headcanon I think about a lot is that the first time sam wakes up in the cage, it looks exactly like bobby's panic room.

And it takes him a very long time to figure out that it's not bobby's panic room.

[shallowseeker]

I'm breaking this one out by itself because it's a little funny.

*Dean's phone rings*

*Dean answers without looking*

*Dean proceeds to yell at Cas*

Ah, right. What could possible be so important?

/////

Sam goes on to tell Dean that *drumroll* Sam is Lucifer's true vessel.

WOW! Scary!

DEAN: *sarcastically* Just when you thought you were out, they pull you back in, huh Sammy? SAM: That's it? That's your response?

It's... completely lost on Sam, though… the REASON for Dean's sarcasm here.

See. It's this: now that Sam's found out that HE'S a vessel, he's in his car with an absolute FIRE lit under his goddamned tail, EAGER to get back in and fight.

Sam.

SAMMY.

🤦🤦🤦🤦

Dean throws a hint.

DEAN: *sarcastically again* I guess I'm a little numb to the earth-shattering revelations at this point. SAM: Well what are we gonna do about it?

And Sam... still doesn't get it.

Sigh.

Here's the thing. Sam wasn't panicking when they learned that Dean was a vessel. (Only Cas and Bobby were panicked and stressed. They were mean, but they were at least aware of the reality of things.)

But Sam.

Yes, Sam was going through things, struggling with things, and sure, taking time to go through things is okay. But on the other hand, it definitely still hurts that Sam wasn't insisting on staying in the fight on Dean's behalf, to protect Dean from becoming a vessel.

But now that Sam's learned that he's a vessel too?

Boom.

It's not even that, though. It's this whole conversation.

Because what's missing here? Empathy for Dean's plight.

Sam doesn't realize that this is why he's perpetually at... the kids' table. This right here.

In this whole conversation, Sam is eaten up with ranting about his own feelings, about how he's sick of being a puppet, and how he's going to hunt Lucifer down and gain redemption.

Sam's all about "how he can do this," how he's "gonna prove it to you."

It makes him seem a lot younger than he is.

....

There's no acknowledgment of how helpless Dean must have been feeling all this time, knowing that he's been targeted by an archangel, about how scary this whole thing is.

Hell, even Cas acknowledged Dean's fears re: Michael.

I mean: He did it in his Cas way, but it still acknowledged the enormity of the fear.

Cas:

///

Meanwhile, Sam back in 5x01, right after DEAN learned about being Michael's vessel was pretty much: Geez, why is everyone so cranky and stressed?

🥺 Dean, what do you mean that you didn't mean your pep talk to Bobby? Whaaaat? Why not? 🥺

///

....

And the thing is. Not "getting it"? That's understandable. But this conversation is just... devoid of support for Dean.

“We’re not stronger when we’re together, Sam.”

And they're not. (Not here, anyway.)

Sam's zapping all the strength for himself.

When they've been together lately, Dean is the big brother who lends support, and Sam isn't giving anything back. Sam's out to prove himself, not to support others.

And they tell older siblings and parents to be patient, to let them learn, to step back and forgive, to be "a soft place to land."

That's hard to do. And it's exhausting.

And aside// Sam's apology to (demon) Bobby was SO MUCH NICER. Sam, where is this humility and energy for other people????

SAM: No, actually. Bobby, this is all my fault. I'm sorry. Lilith did not break the final seal. Lilith was the final seal. I killed her, and I set Lucifer free. You guys warned me about Ruby, the demon blood, but I didn't listen. I brought this on. I'm sorry.

[littlemissfix-itfic]

Without Bobby Singer, Dean Winchester would have killed himself before Sam’s first death in season 3. Without Bobby Singer, Sam Winchester would have fallen into a depression and gotten himself killed on a mission or drank himself into an early grave following Dean’s suicide. Without Bobby Singer, the world is never saved, not because of his knowledge or his research, but because he loved those boys, because the Winchester boys were his sons, that he loved more than anything in this life and the next.

In this essay I will…

[keen-eye]

(i got this question in an ask but i wanted a separate post for it)

Why do you think Bobby preferred Dean over Sam? 

dean being 4 years older than sam and being john’s right hand “man” made it so that dean was always going to be more included in hunter/adult business than he was excluded, whereas it was the opposite for sam. sam was the sensitive and feminine one, the one who needed protecting, he was more interested in research than violence. and as the show made clear, all of those traits are looked down upon in the hunting world, and it was much harder for traditional and tough guys like john & bobby to understand/relate to sam. dean & bobby had a closer relationship with mutual trust and respect between them, growing to be more like equals/fellow soldiers as dean got older. but bobby never stopped seeing sam as dean’s little brother, and dean taking on john’s role after his death only furthered this divide/power imbalance between him and sam. (5x07) “they still want to sit you at the kiddie table”. 

now, add all of this on top of the very important factor: sam’s monstrosity. not only was sam different, he was Other. this put “sammy the monster” way farther down on the winchester-singer hierarchy than if he was just “sammy”. he was simultaneously someone that they needed to watch out for and someone that they needed to watch out for (2x11). he needed to be protected from the truth and he was untrustworthy, he needed to be protected from danger and he was dangerous. he was both the scapegoat and the damsel in distress. 

bobby was dean’s confidant as they dealt with each season’s What’s Wrong With Sam, with bobby ultimately deferring to dean’s authority over sam’s life every single time. they almost killed sam by locking him in an isolated cell to go through a forced detox. then they blamed him, a victim of heaven’s and lucifer(/azazel/ruby)’s manipulation and violations, and only a piece of a grand plan to start the apocalypse, for being solely responsible for it. then they let him sacrifice himself to lifetimes of torture by the devil thinking that he deserved it. and then when he Came Back Wrong they blamed him and almost killed him again, and as a victim suffering from mental illness they treated him like he was a burden, making him feel like he should hide it from them. because while dean was hardened by his time in hell, which is respectable, sam was weakened, which is not. 

sam was inferior because he couldn’t internalize his struggles like a Real Man should. but at the same time that bobby was resentful of sam over that, he would check in on dean’s emotional state and commend him for putting up with sam (bobby is the biggest dean ass kisser on the show). it's just one of the countless double standards against sam. most of the seemingly positive things that bobby said about sam were prefaced by sam having a darkness in him, or by sam being damaged and fragile. in fact, probably the nicest thing that bobby ever said about sam was said by a fake bobby created by sam’s subconscious (9x01). call bobby dean’s “real” dad if you must, but do not even try to say the same for sam.

[a-vibing-potato]

I WANT TO SEE DESTIEL SO BAD. SO HELP ME I'M GONNA WATCH FOUR EPISODES OF SUPERNATURAL TODAY SO I CAN GET TO CAS AGAIN BECAUSE MY GOD DID I GET A LITTLE TASTE OF REMINISCENCE ABOUT WHAT IT'S LIKE HAVING HIM ON THE SHOW YESTERDAY AND NOW HE'S NOT IN THE NEXT FEW EPISODES. GOD I'M GONNA WATCH SUPERNATURAL SO HARD AFTER WORK.

[blushingsastiel]

if apocalyptic bobby ever talks like that to sam again and makes him feel like crap when he's trying his best -

[wanderingcas]

new beginning for the whole 'bobby takes in cas after his parents die so dean and cas grow up together but then fracture and separate for 10 years for mysterious reasons' canon divergent au

[mlp-natural]

Trying something new (Drawing them little ponies smaller)

[werepires]

this is actually way more depressing than I remember