#like the brother of dean right. from wincest. we need a brother so they can incest. his name is sam right

[triple--a--threat]

bestie that is dean 😭

AND IM SUPPOSED TO KEEP TRACK OF THEM?!!?? HOW THE FYCK AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHICH WHITE BOY IS WHICH????? DO YOU THINK I CARE

THIS IS LITERALLY HOW THEY APPEAR TO ME

[jinkieswouldyoulookatthis]

Anti-destiel Wank (sorry but I have to)

If you hardcore ship Destiel, please just scroll on by. Please.

Ok, I'm gonna get myself in trouble, I'm sure, but I gotta get this off my chest...

Destiel may be a perfectly fine ship,

but,

IT'S JUST A SHIP.

In the actual context of the show there IS NO ROMANTIC OR SEXUAL TENSION/RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEAN AND CAS.*

Full fucking stop.

Subtext can be interpreted in ANY WAY YOU WANT. It is subjective. You will find whatever you look for in it. Please stop waving subtext interpretations around as if they were objective facts, they aren't. Subtext, by its very definition, relies on implied meaning and understanding, this means it is a subjective interpretation of the media that varies from viewer to viewer. The inherent variations are what make it fanon/headcanon instead of canon.

If you see tension of that sort there and it makes you happy to postulate the what if, then go ahead, that is what fanon and head canon and fan fiction is all about. But if the fact that the tension you think you see isn't being addressed in actual canon makes you grumpy, maybe you need to take some of the fanatic out of your fanning. If you are beginning to think the show creators are actively trying to repress Dean's "true sexuality and feelings" because they are evil, you might need to consider that you've dug in too deep.

Because, like I ship wincest. Yeah, I said it. But I am aware that canon doesn't actually include any level of sexual or romantic (in the modern sense) relationship between Sam and Dean. Wincest is not canon.

Now, are Sam and Dean the real "love" story of the show? Yes, yes they are. That has always been 100% the entire point of Supernatural, the great love story of two brothers struggling to save the world together. It's about family and everything that means, but at its heart, it is about Sam and Dean WInchester. Not all kisses and cuddles and sex kind of love, but love nonetheless. Full stop.

Now, the fact that Destiel is such a popular ship is not surprising to me in the least. Jensen and Misha are two gorgeous guys who share a lot of chemistry on screen and off. And, it is canon that Cas loves Dean. That has been evident since Lazarus Rising (4x01) when Cas was introduced. Castiel's love of Dean Winchester has been his character's main motivation all along and culminated with Cas sacrificing himself to save Dean, after telling him that he loved him in Despair (15x18)

But Dean's main motivation has always been to watch out for his brother. And though Castiel became Dean's best friend, he still comes second to Sam. Nothing against Cas, he just isn't Sam.

So why are so many people so absolutely convinced that Destiel is so real within the context of the story?

Well, I'm pretty sure that it is the same reason that they are so opposed to the idea of wincest.

As we all know, incest is bad, mmmkay? Incest is probably one of the biggest, strongest, cultural taboos we have. So it makes perfect sense that the idea of two blood-related brothers having sexual or romantic feelings for each other is considered icky. It's so off putting that it is a complete no go for even fantasizing about for most people. And that's probably a good thing, tbh, incest should be taboo. But where does that taboo spring from? Why is it so deeply off limits? There are several reasons, but the two main ones are:

That incest can lead to inbreeding.

That incest too often involves molestation or rape of children.

Both of these are seriously bad enough that we all pretty much collectively agree to avoid incestuous relationships. But, do either of these two reasons really apply in the case of Sam and Dean?

The short answer is no. Primarily this is because they are fictional characters that are being played by unrelated actors. But to humor the objectors we'll look at it closer.

We can take the first one right off the table. As two cis men, neither of them is capable of becoming pregnant, so outside of the mpreg (male pregnancy) or gender bending subsets of fanfic tropes, this is not applicable.

The second reason only becomes an issue when talking about the characters earlier in their lives, pre-show or flashbacks. Weecest or teencest, or whatever, are things, but these typically have separate ship names for a reason, because even when dealing with fictional characters this squicks a lot of folks who are otherwise down with the wincest ship. So most content is tagged or labeled as its specific flavor, so anyone can find it or avoid it. But wincest that involves adult Sam and Dean (the specific pairing I'm referring to in this post) doesn't apply to the second reason listed above.

So there really is nothing morally wrong with Sam and Dean having sex with each other. I know that statement is going to bother a whole lot of people, but it is true. Just because something is taboo does not automatically make it morally wrong. Being gay used to be taboo in our culture, and is still taboo for way too many people, even though there is nothing morally wrong with homosexuality.

Now, I wasn't in the fandom back at the beginning of the show, but I've heard tell that the very first Sam/Dean fic was posted just a few hours after the pilot episode aired. A few hours, that's all it took for some highly motivated fan to type out a story where they were more than just brothers. The story is called Reunion. If you watch the pilot, even with your anti-incest goggles on, the chemistry between Jared and Jensen is palpable throughout. There is a reason the show lasted for 15 years, and that reason is that Sam and Dean just work on screen so well together. So if it only took one episode for that ship to be born, what did all the future destiel shippers do? Well I imagine they felt somewhat uncomfortable for the first 60 episodes.

Flash forward to season four and the introduction of Castiel. Finally there was another male character for fans squicked by the notion of sweet, sweet brother loving to focus on! Cas was clearly fixated on Dean more than Sam, which followed the plot since Cas had been instructed to rescue Dean from Hell. As it would turn out, the brothers were destined to be the meatsuits that Michael and Lucifer wore to the big prize fight to determine the fate of the world. Prepping Sam for Lucifer involved him consuming demon blood, which made most of the angelic host view him as an abomination, a factor that Cas had to learn to get past in his relationship with the younger brother. But Dean was ready to go right out of the box, no assembly required for Michael. Castiel, and many of his angelic brethren, as well as a lot of Demons, seem to be drawn to Dean in a way that they just aren't drawn to Sam. Is this fair? Hell no. But I mean, look at him! Jensen has sexual tension with literally everything he comes in contact with, people, food, his car, the man oozes sexual attraction. Don't get me wrong, Jared is a sexy fucking ball of sunshine, and our Sammy is a damned attractive man, but he tends to be more repressed and less openly sexual than his brother, so it is what it is.

Where was I going with this? That's a good question. I got a bit distracted, sorry. Oh right...

At its root, destiel is a reactive projection. There is undeniable tension between characters in the show. Since all of the main cast are male, that tension is highly homoerotic. The two main characters, who are undeniably emotionally enmeshed and co-dependent with each other (a very well established canon fact btw), happen to be blood-related brothers. Oh no! Where is all that tension coming from since we cannot admit or accept that it's coming from them? Ah ha! Here is a new male character that we like, yes, it is obviously coming from his interactions with one of the brothers, even though he wasn't in the first 60 episodes. Yes, it all makes perfect sense now, all that tension was merely foreshadowing.

I've read through all the destiel subtext posts. I've gone back and watched all the scenes they reference multiple times with the express purpose of finding destiel. I'm telling you it is just a fanon ship. Which is 100% fine and good, ship that ship, just stop declaring it more canon than canon, because it's not.

And if you don't like fictional incest, cool, cool, you don't have to. But the underlying sexual tension existed in the first 60 episodes prior to Misha being cast on the show, so it was coming from somewhere. And it'd be cooler if you learned how to scroll past people shipping wincest, like I'm sure you do for all the other weirdass, squicky shit that people post all over the internet. But if it makes your heart beat a little faster to imagine that Dean and Cas have eyesex but that Dean and Sam don't, that's fine. I think it's delusional because neither ship is actually canon and both are 100% A-Ok in fanon, and honestly Jensen doesn't seem to be able to control his eyes, which is not something anyone should feel bad about (it's fucking marvelous) but you do you.

*Castiel does love Dean. He confessed as much, but Dean did not reciprocate. What I am referencing is a mutual romance or attraction, which does not exist.

[pagannatural]

2.09 Croatoan

-my beloved

-The brothers go to Oregon because Sam has a vision of Dean shooting someone who pleads for his life.

-Sam thinks Dean is violent and out of control because of his grief but he’s actually violent and out of control because he’s losing his mind over Sam.

-Sam looks very Scared Little Brother when they realize the town has no phone signal. He stands really close to Dean. Sam is right. I forgot how scary this episode is.

-Sam hesitates to kill the son who had the mom tied up, and Dean berates him. Dean calls the son a “monster” and Sam says “it was a kid.” Dean likes a clean line between monster and human.

-Sam is always the one who comforts the victims and tells people everything will be okay, another way in which his role in the relationship is traditionally feminine. He’s the one women find non-threatening. (And he’s too distracted by Dean to be attracted to them).

-When the mom, Beverly, says “one minute they were my husband and my son and the next they had the devil in them” the camera cuts to Sam and Dean. This line could be Dean describing a blood-drinking Sam: one minute he was my husband and my son and the next he had the devil in him.

-One of the armed men blocking the road out of town asks Dean to get out of the car to “talk a little,” and Dean says “you are a handsome devil but I don’t swing that way, sorry.” It’s easy to forget that in the early 2000s, this kind of throwaway joke on network tv didn’t usually hint at a character’s hidden sexuality, it was just a vaguely biphobic little joke. But I do think there’s a reason it’s here.

The Croatoan virus is a demonic virus spread from blood infection that’s not visible just by looking at someone. So we have a little AIDS parallel. It’s also a similar concept to Sam’s demon blood. His blood represents choice and sin and the human mixed with the monstrous. Blood is also associated with family.

Incest and queerness are taboos that have often been conflated in fiction (and in history), and both have been strongly associated with monstrosity—think predatory sexuality, birth defects, infertility, rejection of the natural order. A desire that’s dangerous and wrong and destructive, that must stay hidden and can only survive in the shadows. The homoerotic incestuous monster hunters are the perfect storm of gothic queer horror.

Whether or not either brother is queer doesn’t affect the plot, and isn’t the point. I can see Dean grappling with being in love with Sam without questioning his sexuality at all. Sam is a category unto himself to Dean, and Sam doesn’t appear bothered about his sexuality aside from his feelings about Dean. But the confluence of these taboos—incest and queerness—with blood is central to the plot of the show and the question of what evil is. Really their love for each other and their shared blood is what saves them, keeps them human.

-Another of my absolute favorite underrated wincest moments is when Beverly is begging for her life from the utility room and Dean asks Sam “are you sure she’s one of them?” Sam barely nods and it’s enough for Dean to shoot her three times point blank. He doesn’t need any more information, just for Sam to nod slightly.

-Sam suggests that they need to leave to warn others of the virus and Dean tells him he has a good point. They respect each other’s input and work together well.

-Duane shows up and the situation becomes very tense. Sam is standing with his whole body facing Dean. In moments of extreme stress, Sam often seeks Dean’s protection rather than focusing on the threat.

-Dean has a gun on Duane with some urgency but Sam says “I gotta talk to you—now” and Dean leaves the room with him immediately.

Sam argues that they should wait and not kill Duane in case he isn’t infected. Dean says “what’s that buy us?”

“A clear conscience, for one.”

“Well it’s too late for that.” Is Dean talking about his guilt over John’s death? Or is this more about his general self hatred around never being enough to be everything for everyone, to give Sam everything that he needs and be the perfect son and soldier and brother and father and mother?

Sam tells him “you don’t act like yourself anymore, Dean. You’re acting like one of those things out there.” Dean does feel lost. He needs Sam to save him so that he can save Sam.

-Sam is so devoted to Dean this season. He spent season 1 gradually giving into his complete trust and commitment to Dean and now he’s been losing him or at risk of losing him in different ways all season. He fights tooth and nail for Dean every step of the way to get him to listen, to talk, to come back to him.

-Dean pushes Sam out of the way and locks him out, aiming to kill Duane. He says “it’s not him, not any more” and “I’ve got no choice.” But then Dean decides not to shoot him.

-When the doctor asks if it’s alright to untie Duane, Dean and Sam seem to have a wordless conversation in which Dean defers to Sam’s judgement, and Sam tells the doctor it’s okay to untie him.

-Sam is Dean’s morality. Dean is submitting to Sam, needing him to help him make the right choice. By doing this he’s also believing in Sam’s ability to stay good.

-Sam says about Dean not killing Duane “you know I’m gonna ask you why.”

Dean replies “yeah I know,” not looking up, focusing on keeping his hands busy making Molotov cocktails.

“So why? Why didn’t you do it?”

Dean looks at Sam with his chin tucked, like it’s hard to meet his eyes. He doesn’t answer. He clears his throat and says “we need more alcohol,” basically asking Sam to leave for a moment so that he can pull it together. He gazes after Sam with this raw, shamed look.

It’s the first of two parallels in this episode to their conversation in 1.19 where Sam says his reticence to date is mostly not about Jessica, and Dean asks “then what is it about?” and Sam just looks at him, implying heavily that it’s about Dean.

The question Dean was asking Sam there was essentially, Why can’t you love anyone else?

The first question Sam asks Dean is why he didn’t kill someone, but it’s also why Dean wants to do the right thing and not lose himself, and the answer is because of Sam.

-After Sam is attacked, he reaches for Dean’s hand to help him up off the floor and then just leaves his hand outstretched after Sarge holds Dean back and tells him Sam is infected. It’s like his muscle memory of reach-out-hand, Dean-pulls-me-up hasn’t caught on.

-The whole time Dean argues with the others about Sam, Sam only looks at the floor or at Dean. He’s not watching the conversation, he’s watching Dean because he’s scared and he looks to Dean when he’s scared.

-Dean says “no one’s shooting my brother”

He’s so protective. He was about to kill someone who might be infected just in case, but when it’s Sam he would simply rather die in a murder suicide and that’s that on that.

-Sam asks for the gun so that he can shoot himself, saying “I’m not gonna become one of those things.” This episode is pure foreshadowing for the end of s5. Sam refuses to become a monster, Dean chooses to stand by him and die rather than kill him. Because of their faith in each other, because they waited, things work out.

-Dean hands over the keys to the impala. He’s not fucking around. He tells the doctor “oh actually we’re not really marshals.” He’s in a truth telling mood, fuck it.

-Sam asks Dean to leave him and keep living, looking at him with incredulity and gratitude and love and fear.

Dean leaving him alone to die or become a monster would fulfill Sam’s deepest fear—left behind, not belonging, because something is wrong with him. But he still asks Dean to go, he throws a fit, he tells him “this is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done.” It reminds me of that scene from Titanic, Jack telling Rose “you’re so stupid” for staying with him instead of saving herself.

He says “it’s over for me, it doesn’t have to be for you.”

“No?”

“No. You can keep going.”

“Who says I want to?”

This scene is so dramatic and romantic. Close shots of their faces, Sam looking up at Dean with his eyes full of tears, begging him. Dean tells Sam he doesn’t want to go on without him.

Sam asks, what?

For a moment it almost looks like he’s taking this as the confession that it is, before Dean puts some distance between them and leans against the wall. This is the second scene is this episode to parallel their conversation in 1.19, this time even more closely.

Sam thinks Dean doesn’t want to go on because their dad died, but Dean says “you’re wrong. It’s not about dad. I mean part of it is, sure, but-“

Sam interrupts to ask “then what is it about?” and Dean gives him this look,

this look of love and tenderness, like he’s willing Sam to understand.

This time Sam’s question is Why don’t you want to live? And the answer is that Dean doesn’t want to live without Sam.

I love how this scene makes clear that Sam’s romantic partners compare directly to Dean. It confirms what Sam was thinking about in 1.19, because for these scenes to rhyme they must have been thinking about each other.

-The brothers share a romantic beer at the lake. Sam asks Dean what he was talking about last night in a way that honest-to-god sounds like he’s referring to pillow talk. Dean doesn’t want to tell so Sam keeps pushing, but their tones are teasing and light. They really sound like they’re flirting. Dean suggests that they go to the Grand Canyon.

Sam keeps questioning him, gentle but insistent, as Dean talks about taking a break.

-Where is our Grand Canyon episode?

-Sam looks so scared when Dean says John told him something about Sam before he died. I wonder what’s running through his head. There’s this feeling that people with Sam’s negative core belief often get, which is a fear that something is deeply wrong or rotten in them and that eventually other people will find out. He’s probably thinking that’s finally happened.

[my-prompt-dump]

Wincest/Gencest/Weirdcest

I can't remember if Charlie met Jack but no one here is dead and everyone is sorta friends.

Also was supposed to be a Fem!Sam au but I can always make another post with that version if any of you want!

---------------------------------------------------

Someone screams in the bunker and keeps screaming. It Dean was already up at the first scream and was about to run to whoever was in trouble until the door to his room opened with a bang.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS???"

It was Charlie, holding a... copy of Vogue Magazine? Ugh, Dean is too tired for this. He flops back down to sit in his bed. He's exhausted as fuck but he knows he can't go back to sleep now.

"Jesus, Charlie. I thought someone was dying"

"I wish I was! Cos you just scarred me for life!"

Dean looks at his phone to see that it was still 8 in the morning. Okay, too early.

"Will you two please shut up?" A voice says behind Dean. There buried under their blanket and a mountain of pillows is Sam, birds nest hair and all.

"No! Just- Here! What the shit is this?!"

She shoves the magazine right up to Dean's face and he takes it to see it better.

"Holy shit!"

He feels Sam sit up and position himself to look over his brother's shoulder.

"Oh. They actually did it."

"Man, looks like they weren't full of shit after all. Hey, Sammy, you think we can still get royalties from this?"

Charlie makes an indignant noise. "Huh???"

Dean is still grinning proudly but at least Sam sends an apologetic look her way.

"We were broke." He says like that explains everything. Sam must have seen the doubt in her face because he repeats himself.

"That's literally the whole story, Charlie. We were broke. Chuck didn't include this in the books?"

"NO?? What's the story of this then? Please elaborate for my sanity."

"I would like to know too."

They all turn to the door and see Castiel there, Jack smiling shyly behind him.

Sam and Dean share a look, doing that soulmate annoying silent telephatic talking voodoo whatchumacallit with each other.

Dean stares at the picture again on the page. A picture that takes up the entire spread of the page, followed by an interview with the owners of a booming clothing line.

The picture is him and Sam in their younger years, in a position that will never make people guess they were brothers. They are hugging and wearing clothes too fancy for either of them to ever own. Dean's back is to the camera, but his head is facing right so that his eye is still trained to the lens of the camera; protective and possessive. He's standing in between Sam who was sitting on a table, legs wrapped around his older brother's waist. Sam's arms are around his shoulders, fingers almost clawing his back. His brother's eyes are looking directly at the front; dangerous and equally possessive as Dean's.

Not only that, they were wet and made to look sweaty as fuck so it looks like it's a during-sex kinda shot.

Jeez, how did they agree to that. Not a single thing about this shot was promoting the clothes, you can't even see them properly!

"Alright, but no talking or we're stopping."

They all nod and begin to listen intently.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Flashback to teen Sam (19) and Dean (23) being banned from every bar at an nth mile radius because of constant hustling and brawls but they're almost out of the allowance John gave them.

John told them it'd be enough til he comes back and that they need to leave as soon as he's back so "no need to get a job, Dean".

Dean should've gotten one anyway just in case because even if he went and got one now, they'd be starving before he gets his first paycheck.

Sam was walking home from school one day and spots an ad stapled to a pole.

'Urgent: Looking for models for our clothing line! Not a scam! Inquire at XXX-XXX'

He thinks it over and says fuck it, he is not having junkfood for dinner again.

Arriving home, he slams the poster at the table where Dean was cleaning their guns.

"Fuck!"

Sam pays him no mind and just points at the thing.

"Let's do it."

At first Dean was confused but he sees the ad and raises an eyebrow at his brother.

"One day of our photos being taken and we'll get money enough to last us a week. Come on."

"Don't know what you're thinkin but we are not models, Sammy."

"We're not ugly, Dean."

"Being not ugly doesn't mean we can model, dude."

Dean would marry himself if he could, that is how good looking his brother thinks he is. Sam was relying on Dean's vanity to get him on board but this. This wasn't what he was expecting.

Well.

Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

"What? Lady-killer Dean Winchester is too chicken to be rejected and find out he's not that handsome after all?"

Dean freezes and Sam already knows he won.

Dean's pride is so easy to mess with.

------------

It's a starting clothing business that hopes to be big one day. They didn't want to spend too much money but figured that investing in good quality will get them far.

So when two guys in secondhand clothes from Goodwill came for the modelling job, they were hesitant. But when they were cleaned up by the crew, they look like proper models. Handsome, beautiful, pretty, fit, TALL.

Brothers they say but there's an air around them that they can use to say otherwise.

They dressed them up, did their make up, gave them a wet look for the final set and they were done.

Their first promotional poster was born.

Sam and Dean went home with a month's worth of cash and the company was left breathless.

It took them a while to get an audience to see them but it was that photo that blew the growing internet up and put them in the spotlight.

They have it framed in the middle of their new big ass studio like a trophy.

Years later, when they were reached out to by Vogue (VOGUE!!) for an interview about their journey, they knew what photo to use as a centrepiece for their page.

[incesthemes]

happy (late) wincest wednesday!! what do you think sam and dean's favourite books are? which books do you think they would have inexplicable (or explicable) beef with?

i'm sure after moving around twice a month for fifteen years and having to read the same books over and over again gave them a few rivalries, lol! -lizzy :)

omg happy wincest wednesday thursday!!!! thank you, this is such an awesome prompt.

ok i think they've both probably read a lot of classic lit and stuff from the literary canon because it's the kind of thing you can find anywhere, right? it's always available in some form or another, at school or in libraries or even just as movie adaptions.

based on vibes i really want to say dean's favorite book would be on the road, both for the metatextual nod to mister eric kripke and because i think dean would relate to it (well, obviously)—and the main character is dean too :) it's cute :) i also think he'd be really into westerns; the one i've read the most of is the titus bass series by terry c. johnston so while it's not quite what i imagine dean's tastes to be (too historically accurate, too little heroism) i'll go with that one. rough, gun-slinging action and lawless heroes are right up dean's alley. the trashier, the better.

on the other end of the spectrum, i see sam being quite into gothic literature. it's relatable to his feelings of exclusion and otherness, and like any child trapped inside a horrific queer narrative i think he would relate heavily to the monsters haunting the protagonists. i can see him really liking frankenstein especially, and i also definitely think he'd have a thing for kafka. it's horrible of me, but i also think he'd be drawn to rosemary's baby, imagining (subconsciously or not) his own mother as rosemary.

importantly, i think they'd both be most drawn to narratives they see themselves in, and i think they'd be rather disinterested in stories they can't directly relate back to their lives. as a result, they probably have a LOT of overlap in the books they enjoy, but the differences are marked and striking to an almost concerning degree. nevertheless i do think they've read through a great deal of the literary canon even if they don't personally love it, simply because it's what they can get their hands on. i can definitely see dean enjoying long, heroic epics like the iliad or beowulf, while sam has certainly read dante's divine comedy cover to cover (and of course, then they switch and read the other's pick, now hundreds of miles away from the library they stole the books from).

i really want them to have some kind of ongoing discourse about east of eden in particular, just because of HOW many similarities there are between cal/dean and aron/sam. i'm trying to figure out how to articulate the nature of that discourse (dean thinks it's just like them fr fr and sam insists it's not? the other way around, perhaps—though i can't see that as clearly. perhaps a simple debate as to whether it applies to them, or which generation they see themselves in most) but i really need to see something like that.

i think sam would definitely have petty beef with supernatural stories when they get the monster lore wrong. "we already KNOW what they do, how can you be THIS wrong about it???? open a book, dumbass," and the like. dean just thinks it's awesome no matter what (as long as the monsters are the bad guys) and they definitely bicker about it incessantly. on the flip side, dean would probably turn up his nose at gothic lit quite a bunch when the monsters are portrayed sympathetically (hello again frankenstein) and would, with his best Big Brother Voice, talk down to sam about the shit propaganda he's reading. sam in turn calls him an idiot in his best Little Brother Voice and doubles down on whatever he's reading. (naturally, the conflict here is that sam sees himself as the monster and therefore sympathizes with it, whereas dean sees "sympathetic monster" and shuts down entirely via john's unquestionable training. i can't imagine dean as a kid being able to comprehend the idea of sam viewing himself as wrong or bad in any way, so the thought of sam relating to the monster simply doesn't compute.)

anyway yeah THANK YOU for this ask, i LOVE well-read and self-educated winchesters so much 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[girlwithonegoal]

sorry but the only reason destiel even works is because wincest did it first and also better

i've been thinking a LOT about this and want to get it all out so here it is. if dean was truly in love with cas, he would not have hesitated to tell him so when he literally knew cas was about to DIE. we don't see that. we see shock, grief, disbelief (an angel loves me!), we see him trying desperately to process his best friend is leaving him but nowhere does dean say, or imply, with his eyes, or words, that he's in love with cas. of course he loves cas - cas is family - and cas is not exactly his brother, (closest is brother-in-arms), despite his insistence in an earlier episode - but he's not in the kind of soul-crushing love that cas is with him. he's not in love with cas, and can't be, because he's already in love with sam.

when dean dies, he gets as close as he possibly can to confessing to sam he's in love with him without actually crossing the line. he would never to that to sam - he would never do to sam what cas did to him - because he would NEVER do anything to make sam lose his agency (sidebar: not that cas doesn't respect dean. but his love confession is almost wish fulfillment - i'm going to confess to dean i love him and go out in a blaze of glory and then leave without dean ever even having to reciprocate because i know he doesn't love me back. and he's absolutely right).

dean has already had years and years of not having his own agency from john his whole fucking life! john did whatever he wanted to dean and dean took it because like hell was he going to subject sam to that bullshit. which brings us to sam and dean's childhood - not much is known of their early years before sam went to stanford and that's fully on purpose. we can almost see dean as not only a brother figure to sam but also a father figure. john leaving for weeks maybe even months at a time - how the hell did dean and sam manage to survive? by dean doing whatever he had to do. emphasis on whatever.

you see, john absolutely knows that dean is beautiful. whether you read their relationship as purely abusive or abusive with a sexual component - dean definitely did questionable things to get food on the table for sam, an aspect that's more in fanon that canon but reads true to the heart of the show. sam doesn't know because dean wanted a normal childhood for him. and dean would rather die and go to hell for 800 years than force sam to make a choice, make any choice, of a romantic and/or sexual nature related to him.

back to dean's death. this is again the closest thing to a love confession that dean can make - my baby brother - take out the word brother and it would be not only romantic but stunningly true - he raised sam, this child who grew up to be a man, this child who loves him - waiting outside sam's dorm for hours - can you picture him pacing in the snow, waiting for the one thing he wants but can't have??? why does that sound familiar? oh, right, because that's what cas said but in dean and sam's case it would be actually true. how cruel and unbelievably insane it is to find your soulmate in your brother, the one person you have that you love unconditionally, not just because they are your family but because you are in love with them, and you can never have them as long as you live.

re: american gothic and soulmatism. very different from crimson peak where thomas fully realizes the unhealthiness of the codependent incestuous relationship with his sister and wants to be free and happy with edith. but sam and dean don't want to be free. in their minds, they already are free as long as they have each other and only each other. not getting in all the other romantic relationships that the brothers have with other people bc it would take too long, but they already fulfill that need for each other and don't need anyone else...like i'm sorry i love my sister but i want to get married one day to someone else. if you read their relationship as purely platonic, it doesn't work at ALL.

the kripke early seasons fully leaned into the gothic horror aspect of it all and incest is definitely a part of that...dean and sam literally cannot live without each other. they can't do it! sam dies in dean's arms and dean can't even wait five fucking minutes without making a deal with a demon lmao. he can't eat. he can't sleep. their love is a perpetual resurrection; they keep killing each other and bringing each other back to life. because they don't know how to stop. they are a singular mangled fucked up entity. i read a fic once where the author described sam as hating his own body because it was separate from dean's and dean's whole presence was a phantom pain. and yeah. just yeah. they can't live without each other because they ARE each other.

seasons 1-3 to me are spn at its soul. that's it. cas only works as a side character, if he's a brother (like, purely platonically) to both sam and dean or just unrequited romantic love for dean. the trope of an angel falling in love with a faithless man who can't pray only works if dean hasn't been in love with sam the whole time.

[motelsnleatherseats]

Is Sam Submissive or Dominant? An Analysis. (wincest edition)

so let's talk about a couple of things: canon portrayal of sam hooking up, and during what season it's happening.

early on when we see sam hooking up with someone, he appears to be more aggressive in the way he touches and kisses. he looks hungry for it, maybe even a little forceful or overly eager. he uses his strength and his size to his advantage and effectively seizes control, so i can see how portraying or seeing him as dominant is evident.

now in relation to wincest, i think sam could lean either way here in terms of top or bottom, though i still think he's got that 'i want to call the shots' attitude so maybe he initiates or leads. he's not afraid to ask for what he wants.

seasons 1-4, we're getting sam dealing with the loss of jess, and on top of his trauma response being guilt, it's also anger as a mirror to john and how he handled losing mary. he got dragged back into the hunter life, but he had spent 4 years away from the oppressive thumb of his father (and brother at times) and he wants to hold onto what independence he had discovered in his time away. he wants to prove that he can make good decisions on his own, that's he's strong, and that he's inherently good despite being corrupted demon blood when he was a child. he still wants to make the calls, he still wants control and autonomy, and i think that translates into the bedroom as well.

fast forward to season 6, and we got soulless sam. obviously without a moral compass, he's quick to satisfy carnal desires regardless of circumstance in a take what he wants kind of fashion, so i see the dominant aspect at play here. side note but relatable tangent; considering we've seen plenty of people lose their soul a la amara's insatiable appetite, i'd like to say it's pretty impressive he went an entire year without going off the proverbial deep end. people knew something was off about sam, but he was smart and calculated enough to play off empathy and concern for a good chunk of the year.

season 7 is where we start to see the switch. at first when he gets back and he doesn't remember hell, he feels redemption at first. he atoned for his sins and got satan back in solitary, and he got to come back to his brother. but then the memories come back from his time without a soul, and we get guilt guilt guilt in heavy hitting waves. just when he thought he finally did something right, the narrative screws him. just when he thought he had finally washed his hands clean, they're drenched in blood yet again. then he remembers hell and we've got a full blown case of battered woman (person) syndrome. he's jumpy, he makes himself smaller, he loses the ability to defend himself, sex is now associated with violence (i mean really, the poor guy seems to be sexualized in most torture scenarios), and now he's gotta save face and keep up the illusion that he's managing alright on his own.

once he opens up to dean regarding the visions of satan and dean can see just how badly he's handling it (especially with the lack of sleep), i think he'd try to offer as much comfort as he could afford. sam needs that comfort. he needs softness. and dean is the only one who knows what hell is truly like, he's the only one who understands, and i think submission to dean is imminent. dean deserves his submission, he deserves his apology for trying to do things on his own, because look at how much worse he made things thinking he could do it without dean. we see this carry on into later seasons as well. after the whole amelia debacle, everyone else is really off the table. he can't afford to let dean down again, can't do anything that would drive him off to anyone else, and we see this carry on especially towards the end of season 8 with his confessions before completing the trials. 'i'm sorry for everything i did, i'd rather die than you let you down again.' -> i'll do anything to make it up to you, please tell me what to do.

i also think it's interesting to look into how dean deals with his trauma. it's almost flipped compared to sam's, because when he got back from hell, it took some pushing on sam's part to get him to open up and we see vulnerability, we see tears and remorse for the things he did, but everything else after that evolved into deep rage. he became more controlling of sam, kept secrets, told him we're doing this my way because i said so, end of discussion, and sam has no choice in the matter. he treads carefully for some time until it comes down to dean's survival, then he starts making bad decisions again (i.e. roping charlie into getting the mark off of dean's arm which effectively gets her killed and then releasing the darkness in the process) because existence without dean doesn't make sense.

another thought, as the seasons go on, we don't see sam nearly as interested in sex (though he wasn't very much at any point by comparison to dean), and who would blame him?

anyway, point of the long drawing on of thoughts and reflections~ top or bottom, i don't think it matters. i think sam is completely capable of being both dominant and submissive in relation to his mental/emotional state of mind and what kind of trauma he's processing along with how dean is treating him.

but in regards to drabbles/roleplays/fics/what have you, hey man whatever floats your boat.

-> i wanted to reblog and comment on this post but i didn't want to hijack op's post.

[angelarsenal]

Share to us your favourite wincest moments from the show 🙏

God there's so many scattered all over the place but I think one of my favorites of all time would be 2x21 where we get Sam's first death

it's so bittersweet.. the way Dean grips him up and pours his heart out god the "it's not even that bad" you can hear him crumbling realizing he's losing his baby brother right then and there in his very own arms.. then when he's speaking to Sam as if he hasn't even gone. Just the pure desperation from Dean in the last half of that episode is sickly and far from solely brotherly it's not just family he's losing but the love of his life that other piece that keeps him at least somewhat sane aghh will never get old to me

Playthings is such a classic wincest episode too drunk Sam is a mess I loove watching how he practically throws himself at Dean.. still think he would've went for a kiss if Dean hadn't slapped his hand away hmm ..

2x20 is fun to me as well I enjoy clueless Sammy the dynamic there was a bit devastating to watch but also... intriguing

also literally all the gay jokes and them getting mistaken as a couple LMAO Bugs was such a good ep man I need them to joke like that more.. fuckk I could go on

I think it's obvious I'm a big fan of early seasons wincest

[flownwrong]

happy wincest wednesday alina! I'm sending this around a few boxes today. What movie that you've seen would you like to see sam and dean in, and how much do you have to mangle them to get them in there? are they having a good time? DO. THEY. KISS.????

happy ww nige! what a question haha

well it depends i guess on whether in there is like, an au/fusion or a full crossover

i think i'd love to see them in an it follows setup actually! it's basically a ready-made fuck or die (or in this case i guess DON'T FUCK or die lol) setup

in an imaginary s3 i'd put them on the case: a trail of bodies connected in ways both obvious and not; how they figure it out is irrelevant, but just imagine—

an entity able to take shapes meaningful to you follows you at a slow but dreadfully intent pace because of a one night stand you had; nobody but you (or people previously afflicted and still alive) can see it; you have to be on the run until you figure out how to kill the thing (let's pretend for a nebulous wincesty reason you don't have an immediately available solution); you know the thing will prey on whoever you sleep with next; you got the hots for your brother, and he's going to hell.

your brother would probably like to see whatever is hunting you instead of taking shots in the dark. is probably hellbent on it even because he's due for a trip to hell soon and he needs you safe period. but if you do sleep together you'd both read some kind of obligation into each other's decisions. from his perspective, he's finishing what he started, making sure that when the deal comes through you're truly and fully safe and free. make no mistake, he wants you bad. but he's probably very focused on the idea he's talked you into it and you accepted because you'll give him anything before he leaves. from your perspective, lost in your pre-grieving, he's going through with it because of his obsession with your safety, and he'll give you anything before he leaves.

I can't figure out more sound reasoning for it to happen, mine doesn't sell the idea that well, but hell, however they work it out, it will lead to one fraught and complicated sex scene.

anyway! you have this miserable fuck, you can now both see the thing, but you also both realise now there was more than duty and desperation in there, but discussing it is a moot point now, right? the deal is still just around the corner. uh oh! get on the pain train!

bonus point if the creature takes some ouchy and confusing shapes. jess or mary for sam? dad and so help me god ruby for dean? and like. IT DOESN'T TALK. it doesn't taunt you. it just... follows. coming for you. because you fucked someone for an arguably wrong reason (if we run with my sam triggered it premise, from his perspective the wrong reason would probably be losing sight of his obsessive save dean quest. although then why did he do it in the first—quick, hit that post button before you talk yourself out of it Alina!!). and you can't stop it.

bonus point two if they figure out what to do with the creature just in time to realise they didn't need to both see it after all. wow! awkward!

short answer: THEY. DO. KISS. but they have a pretty bad time :(

also, wow, that thought got away from me. all I took from the movie is the monster concept. uh. sorry!

[stanfordsweater]

Happy Wincest Wednesday! What's the most underrated Sam/Dean moment in the show? Sure, everyone's talking about Dean selling his soul or Red Meat, but what episode or scene for you is a great wincest moment that doesn't get discussed as often?

great question!!

i have something wicked on the brain right now, so i'm going to go with this moment in that episode:

sam's been aware the whole time that dean is hiding something, and he's been prying but (surprisingly) letting it ride and waiting for dean to tell him. it takes dean on the verge of tears, blaming himself for children dying, before sam confronts him directly. we get the flashback sequence where young sam is nearly killed, and then this:

DEAN: Dad just ... grabbed us and booked. Dropped us off at Pastor Jim's about three hours away, but by the time he got back to Fort Douglas the shtriga had disappeared, it was just gone. It never surfaced until now. You know, Dad never spoke about it again, I didn't ask. But he...ah...he looked at me different, you know? Which was worse. Not that I blame him. He gave me an order and I didn't listen, I almost got you killed.

sam is so heartbreakingly gentle with him, in a way we don’t see particularly often. when dean says “don’t,” sam nods a little, looking down, because he knows his brother and he knows that dean can’t take that from him right now. as much as sam wants to protest or wants to argue about john’s A+ parenting, he gives dean the space he needs and just-- sits. which is soooooo 🥴 then he agrees to dean’s plan of using michael for bait, not because he thinks it’s a good idea, but because he recognizes how badly dean needs to finish this-- and he either decides that the kid they don’t know is acceptable collateral damage, OR (more likely for sam at this point in canon) he has enough faith in dean, belief in dean’s abilities, that he believes they can pull off this reckless plan and save the kid. because they have to. because he knows, now, why dean is so messed up over this case, and he will do whatever he needs to kill this thing.

overall it's a stellar episode, with some of the best flashback sequences in the show-- that LOOK that john gives dean in the flashback.... i get secondhand childhood trauma from it (not to mention that depressed war vet baby sam is the absolute funniest thing to me)

[zmediaoutlet]

happy wincest wednesday!! thoughts on the amnesia trope?

happy wincest wednesday :)

I got excited enough about amnesia that, like an idiot, I tried to use the native tumblr search for something, and so obviously nothing remotely to do with amnesia came up and so we're left with:

Love the amnesia trope! I mean -- in theory, lol. Every trope can be good if it's written well and absolute trash if it's written in a trash way. Some tropes have more wiggle room than others, though, and amnesia in particular has a wiiiiide range from 'can be AWESOME' to 'ugh, god. why.' Admittedly, a lot of depictions of amnesia fall closer to the trash-why end, haha (then again, pretty much everything falls closer to the trash-why end, so no need to single it out too hard on that), in particular because of the way it tends to be used for silly melodrama and soaps. But you know what, spn's pretty much a melodrama and I think at this point if you can't accept that you've got a lot more work to do than just getting through a silly amnesia fic, so -- hell yeah, melodramatic tropes in melodramatic fic for our melodramatic canon, let's gooooo --

With that said.

I really really really VASTLY prefer single-amnesia to double-amnesia. Double-amnesia has the fun dramatic irony going on where the reader knows what's up and, oh ho, won't it be So Fun when they realize what they have done! And like, fine. It can be. But I'm immensely more interested in the single-amnesia variety, where Character A is cored out or wiped blank or made into some new entitity -- like a Regarding Dean situation where the memories are gone and just the personality remains -- or jamais vu, true newborn with only nature and no nurture -- or like I have written... twice or three times, lol, when some specific but very key information is lost -- and then Character B has to deal with the beloved shell left behind. Whether it's from the amnesiac's POV or from the carer's, you're left with this intensely fraught interpersonal situation where one person doesn't know what's wrong, or at least to what extent something's wrong, and the other person's caught in this maelstrom of alarm/worry/but also, maybe, a strange and cautious and terrible relief. Because -- wouldn't it be better, if they didn't remember trauma x or y? Wouldn't they be safer? This tends to go toward first time, which layers on an extra layer of guilt for the carer, but (being me) I actually prefer it as established relationship where the carer's not sure if it's morally right to make that reconnection -- because, after all, it was the person who was that they loved, and the person who's here now... are they the same?

Amnesia fic sits in this wonderful moral grey area, sharing a place with e.g. gender or body swap, de-aging, alternate universe selves, etc, and the grey area is embodied in a single question: what's owed to the person who's no longer here? Swiftly followed by a darker question: what's owed to the person standing in front of you, not sure why you want that other version back so badly? This was essentially the soulless!Sam plot -- he's right here and Dean wants to murder him to get back some soppy sweet version who might as well be dead. In a fic like 'What Remains,' which deservedly is one of the top recs for the trope, Sam's left with this so-much-happier Dean who, sure, was lost, but has a decent life, and is it even remotely okay for Sam to shove him back into memories of hell and pain just so that, when he smiles at Sam in the morning, it's the smile Sam actually remembers?

The only interesting lesson of Lebanon is, of course, that yes: whether it's right or not, they want their brother back -- not a facsimile or a happy shell or anything else. No matter how much it hurts, either coming or going. And we all knew that was true before Lebanon but I didn't mind it being underlined, and in every (good) amnesia fic I look forward to it being underlined again: there is no Sam or Dean Winchester that counts, except for the one that grew up entwined with his brother. Accept no substitutes. :)

[sheep33hallow]

Wincest Drabble: Meeting again ( Wincest)

He hadn't seen Dean since going off to Stanford. Now, here he was, standing on his brother's porch staring at him through the screen door. 

His brother, who he didn't know, was now his new neighbor. 

His wife, Jess, sent him over there to play nice while she was at work. Saying a family, she met one of the members, had recently moved him, and he offered to change her oil as a sign of good grace. Said the man was charming and handsome. 

Kind of had similar mannerism to Sam, she said. 

Too right on the nose. 

"Dean." His raspy voice said. Tinged with surprise. 

Dean, still beautiful as the day he left, leaned against the doorway. He raised an eyebrow at Sam. "Sammy." His big brother grinned. "You filled out nicely, didn't you?" Dean crossed his arms, looking Sam up and down with appreciation. 

"I–uhh." He was holding a freshly baked pie, Jess made, in his hands. His hold on the pan was tightening at each passing moment. His body felt tense. 

His beautiful Omega brother. 

His first knot popped inside of him. 

"Dean." Was all he could repeat. His higher brain function was acting up. He never thought he'd see Dean again. Their Father caught them one night, and shipped him off to Bobby's who eventually helped him get to school. Dean knew he was accepted into Stanford, and they had plans for Dean to visit before the blow up. 

It was only around five years ago that Omegas got their rights, and didn't need an Alpha's approval anymore on legal documents. Dean stayed with Dad, he assumed. Bobby said he had their Dad's number, but never said anything about Dean having a phone number. 

Now, his brother after seven years, was in front of him. 

Dean opened up his screen door. "Come inside. You're going to break that glassware, you idiot." 

Like an lure, he followed his brother's hand gesturing him inside. 

The door swung shut behind him. Looking around, he saw toddler items, but no toddler. 

Dean brought him into the kitchen. He took the pie from Sam, and gently pushed at his shoulder. "Go sit down Sasquatch." He meant toward the kitchen table, and Sam listened. 

He quietly watched Dean. His brother had moving boxes around his kitchen. One box labeled plates, he opened up and took out two places, and took a knife out of the drawer. "How big you want it?" Said Dean. The side of his body was facing Sam from the counter. 

Sam swallowed. "Any is fine." 

Dean chuckled. "Still like me making decisions for you?" He said in jest. Smiling into himself, he cut two pieces and put them on the plates. 

Sam couldn't deny it. He liked to followed Dean around like a puppy. Lost with no direction, just using his nose to make sure Dean was always in high spirits and pleased. 

He wants to smell Dean now. 

Dean walks over to the table, sitting across from Sam. He put a plate in front of both of them with plastic forks. "Castiel hasn't unloaded everything. Half the kitchen is in his car." 

Sam blinked. "Castiel?" He inquired. 

"I guess you can say my mate, but he's a friend. He's an Alpha who wanted a kid, and asked me to carry it." Dean ate a slice. 

"So it's not yours technically?" 

"Oh, no that brat is mine." He chuckles. "But we did it more as a family thing. He's not very close with his father or siblings." He clears his throat. "We bonded over that aspect." He looks into Sam's eyes. 

"You knew where I was Dean." He gazed back. Not touching his pie. 

Dean waves him off. "Not important. Anyway, we decided to have a kid. Painfully boring sex on both sides. He doesn't have a sexual or romantic bone in his body, but is a great parent to Claire. So boom. Work out, and we can walk around without people knowing the truth." 

________

A.N: Just wanted to post something.

[pagannatural]

1.22

Devil’s Trap

-Dean walks away from Meg and Sam is like “are you okay?” It’s just so cute how Sam shows his care for Dean by paying close attention to him like this

-Dean says he always wanted to be a fireman when he grew up and Sam goes “you never told me that!” in this cute little brother way like he can’t believe Dean would keep something like that from him.

I feel like we as a society (by which I mean the wincest posts that show up on my dash) moved on too quickly from fireman Dean. Dean would be a fantastic fucking fireman. He could put “rescued my perfect sweet-eyed baby brother from three burning buildings” on his resume. He really sees no value in anything that he can’t relate back to Sam, does he?

-The first time Dean knowingly kills someone it’s to save Sam. A love that corrupts etc

Images that feel both illegal and religious

The way Sam melts into Dean completely, mouth open, eyes shut.

Sam says softly “you saved my life back there” which is inherently romantic. Dean tells Sam “For you or dad the things I’m willing to do or kill…it scares me sometimes.” His love for Sam scares him sometimes. Dean also saved Sam in spite of his dad’s disapproval of him using the Colt.

-Dean to possessed John: “He wouldn’t be proud of me… you’re not my dad.” Yikes, condolences. Poor Dean

-Sam walks into the room to find Dean aiming the colt at John and goes “Dean!” right as Dean tells him to stay back. I have a feeling if it had been John aiming a gun at Dean, Sam still would’ve gone “Dean!” and Dean would’ve told him to stay back, and if it were either of them aiming a gun at Sam, Sam still would’ve gone “Dean!” and Dean would’ve told him to stay back. If something’s not right Sam’s gonna yell “Dean!” and Dean’s gonna tell Sam to stay back.

Dean tells Sam John is possessed.

Sam asks how do you know, because Sam likes to be informed, and Dean just says “he’s different.”

That’s enough for Sam. He GETS BEHIND DEAN. This is the underrated samdean moment of all time for me. He doesn’t even hesitate. He tested John with holy water himself, but he knows that Dean knows John well, and he trusts Dean. He said last episode that Dean is the one person he can always count on. And he doesn’t just go to his side, he stands close behind him so that Dean can protect him.

-The demon taunts Dean by saying his family doesn’t need him

and the camera cuts to Sam who’s like. He doesn’t think I need him? 🥺

-Sam shoots their possessed dad in the thigh and immediately runs to kneel by Dean and worry over him. Dean asks Sam to go check on John, and Sam makes a face like What the fuck? I’m busy checking on you

Sam complies and stands over John to check on him. It’s just so different from his concern for Dean. Like, that’s his dad that he just maimed, lying on the floor not moving, and 110% of Sam’s concern is directed at Dean. It’s not a competition, but if it were, Dean would win.

-John tells Sam “shoot me” but Dean tells him not to, so of course he listens to Dean.

John is disappointed in Sam because “killing this demon comes first. Before me, before everything.” Sam looks at Dean in the rearview mirror and says “no sir, not before everything.” John is the one that Sam chose not to kill when he had the chance to kill the demon, and yet it’s Dean he’s thinking about when John says this. Nothing comes before Dean. A big part of Sam’s choice not to shoot when his dad was possessed was not being able to hurt Dean like that, knowing that Dean would rather have John alive than the demon dead. I honestly think he would’ve pulled the trigger if Dean told him to.

It’s a beautiful resolution to their fight last episode when Dean told Sam that he is more important to him than killing the demon. They’re explicitly each other’s top priorities by this last scene.

[gloriousmooseman]

Red (Wincest Version)

Okay. So I've finnaly gotten around to doing my first proper wincest analysis of a song. Red (as inspired by the comment left by @brookesallow on my prev post).

I definitely did NOT use this as procrastination for my exams.

Touching him was like realizing all you ever wanted

Was right there in front of you

This could be viewed as the realisation Sam comes to the first time he kisses Dean; he realises all he needs in his life is his brother and Dean will always be there for him

Memorizing him was as easy as knowing all the words

To your old favorite song

Sam grew up with Dean, he knows everything about him, without even trying, and the second he sees Dean again, it all comes rushing back.

Fighting with him was like trying to solve a crossword

And realizing there's no right answer

Sam realises there is no way for both him and Dean to be happy if he goes to college, either way they’re both going to feel alone and be missing a piece of themselves

Regretting him was like wishing you never found out

That love could be that strong

This can be viewed in two ways. First as Sam wishing had never had a whirlwind romance with Dean before leaving for college because leaving his brother hurts more than it would have to never experienced that kind of love. Alternatively, it could represent Sam regretting coming to terms with his feelings, since knowing how he feels makes it all the more painful to leave.

Burning red

The idea of the red being ‘burning’ furthers the idea of the intense hatred Sam has towards himself for his feelings. It also demonstrates the intensity of his love for Dean.

Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes

We can see this as Sam having both traumatic flashbacks from hunts and memories of Dean taking care of him. Or as him seeing Dean in everything Jess does and is.

Tell myself it's time now gotta let go

Sam tells himself he needs to let go of Dean which could be why he went to college; he knows he needs to let go of the relationship because it can’t end well for them.

But moving on from him is impossible

Sam acknowledges the impossibility of truly leaving his family, and more specifically, Dean, since they will always be a part of him and his life.

When I still see it all in my head

We can view this as the memories of Sam’s past, and specifically Dean, haunting him through dreams and 

And that's why he's spinning 'round in my head

‘Spinning around’ is associated with dizziness and gives the impression that the memories of Dean make Sam feel uneasy or irregular in some way. Dizziness also lasts after the spinning which conveys the idea that these feelings last a long time. The idea of ‘spinning’ is also commonly associated with childish activities which suggests Sam misses not only Dean, but the childhood they shared.

Comes back to me, burning red

Once again, the burning represents the intensity of Sam's love as well as his anger towards himself. These feelings 'come back to him' when he sees Dean again in the Pilot.

His love was like driving a new Maserati down a dead end street

The echo of the first line is reminiscent of how Sam feels when Dean comes to get him in the Pilot; everything from his past is coming back and it’s like the love never left.

@lilacpaperbird hope this can live up to your amazing august analysis!

[incesthemes]

final thoughts: supernatural season 4

well, i finished season 4. i did NOT finish the word search i was working on as i watched the last 3 episodes lol

i think what i'm most surprised about is how little i remember season 4 from my first watch a decade ago. i remembered nearly every episode of season 1, then a good majority of seasons 2 and 3. but somehow, nearly everything in season 4 blindsided me, to the point where i was considering the things i read on the wiki "spoilers" (lmao??)

i like what s4 had to offer, though i'm a little disappointed in the slight lack of tension. it felt like there were more "filler" episodes this season—not because there were, not really, since the plots always managed to circle back and relate to the overarching plot, and i don't think there were particularly more filler-ish episodes this season compared to the first three. i think it's because the stakes were so much higher as we approach the apocalypse, and the brothers do often voice my own thoughts in some of these episodes: why are they taking a detour now when they should be averting the apocalypse?

i don't necessarily think this was a mad thing, though. it seems very intentional, both from a writing standpoint and of course in-universe, since the angels were orchestrating the rise of lucifer. it all came together in the end, even if it felt somewhat meandering. perhaps what might have resolved this dissonance may have been a little more foreshadowing: introducing zachariah earlier, maybe, or giving the audience more of a reason not to trust ruby outside of dean's prejudices.

i think the ruby thing is very important, actually. because season 3 spent a lot of time painting demons in a variety of colors and shades, so the audience becomes inclined to believe that demons can be "good" and dean is, let's face it, kind of irrational when it comes to his us vs them mentality. thus we become distrustful of dean's judgment, even if he's right. him being right feels more coincidental than intuitive, and there isn't all that much to say otherwise. i think if season 4 had put in a little more work to break up that inherent distrust of dean's feelings, that could have really done a lot for the season as a whole.

i feel like this might not be a super common sentiment in the fandom, but i was actually surprised at how little shipbait there actually was in this season. which i suppose speaks volumes to how the first 3 seasons were more than anything—the wincest in s1-3 was absolutely unhinged. i guess i'd forgotten at how slow the destiel really started, and at the same time there was a wedge being driven between dean and sam. i remember how chummy dean and cas are in later seasons, so i was expecting them to jump right into it, and that did end up taking me by surprise. it's not as if this show is particularly subtle with its bait lol.

overall i think it was a pretty good season. i got sidetracked early on by a feverish need to read fanfiction(??? it happens from time to time) so it took me a bit longer than i was anticipating, but i liked what it was trying to do and i thought it was mostly successful at it. i think the big "OHHH" moment at the end which explained why dean and sam kept getting sent on wild goose chases, why uriel was helping alastair, why cas was so on the fence between helping and hindering—it really helped settle a lot of my reservations toward the season. zachariah was a good "invisible" antagonist. i still wish he'd been introduced earlier, not necessarily to the winchesters but to the audience at least. yknow, foreshadowing. give more pieces of hte puzzle to work with instead of dumping out the whole box at the last minute.

anyway, this just leaves one more season until i hit my goal. i'm pleasantly surprised that i'm still going strong, too! i had forgotten that i did genuinely enjoy the first 5 seasons of this show, and i'm glad i'm getting this refresher, especially now that i can appreciate better what it's doing since i'm 10 years older. still not sure what i'll do once i finish season 5—maybe i'll continue? i'm still thinking about it. but i'd like to sandwich another show in between before i make that jump at the very least (i'm currently debating between hannibal and the terror).

welp, onto season 5⸻!

[winchesterwhorehouse]

This isn’t me calling anyone out, just an observation about the fandom: we often mislabel enmeshment as “codependency.” Pop culture already does this, as does the show itself, so I don’t blame anyone for confusing the terms.

True codependency is a relationship dynamic with a very clear savior figure who “helps” (enables) someone with an untreated addiction, mental illness, etc. to their own detriment. The rescuee monopolizes the savior’s emotional labor without a real desire to change their behavior or take responsibility for themselves. The entire relationship hinges on the rescuee’s Big Problem(s). It’s an unstable person taking advantage of a people-pleaser whose self-esteem hinges on the care they give. It’s the girl from 50 Shades of Grey trying to reform and save her emotionally troubled boyfriend. Enmeshment, meanwhile, is a sort of “fusing” that is generally unhealthy but largely EQUAL. Sibling enmeshment is also called “emotional incest” by social workers. Which is why Wincest really IS canon! Emotionally speaking, it’s canon! Sibling enmeshment is sleeping in a car together as adults, knowing very intimate details about each other’s inner lives (and sex lives lol), being possessive, fearing abandonment, thinking in terms of “we” instead of being an individual, requiring the presence of the other to be soothed, the list goes on. It shows up in siblings who have experienced deep trauma together as children. So. Sam & Dean. Deeply enmeshed!

First of all ily for this ask, it has to be the most interesting thing in my askbox since I joined tumblr. Now

Taking the common points, personal boundaries are blurred and permeable. Sam and Dean fit this description in particular because of their clear lack of the same

Like here

Dean barges in when Sam's in the restroom. That's probably understandable as kids but for adults? I'm not so sure

(also this) And this is only just their physical lack of boundaries but we know it goes beyond that

From the other signs of enmeshment, one that was particularly fitting was

Finding it comforting that the other person thinks and acts like you or shares the same interests and worldviews as you

This is Dean's attitude towards Sam in a nutshell. He needs the reassurance that Sam's thought process and reasoning is entirely like his. He hates the idea of Sam being independent and immediately falls "lonely" even though there might be people (his own father) around him all the time, which goes right along with these other signs

• Finding it difficult to have alone time, including both mental and physical space

• Feeling threatened by the other person's dreams, desires, or wishes, especially if they don't involve you

[4.21]

SAM: Just listen for a second. We got a lead on a demon close to Lilith. Come with us, Dean. We'll do this together

DEAN: That sounds great. As long as it's you and me. Demon bitch is a dealbreaker. You kiss her goodbye, we can go right now

Feeling guilt or shame when advocating for yourself

Sam apologises for "leaving" Dean in purgatory and carrying on with his life with Amelia

He has time and again expressed his guilt for going off to college rather than following his father's orders and staying behind with Dean

He blames himself for the apocalypse and feels like he let Dean down ["You want to know what I confessed in there? What my greatest sin was? It was how many times I let you down"]

Enjoying the other person's closeness or dependency on you

In a town where other victims were lured to death by a siren presenting itself as one of their best fantasies, Dean's siren took the place of an admiring, idolizing little brother who'd follow his every say. He loves the idea of blind faith from his brother

Basically, from what I can see, enmeshment is stronger, unhealthier, more devoted, more fucked up and yes! It is more fitting to the Winchester brothers

Codependency means over-reliance on your partner but enmeshment means you don't see a partner, instead your identities become one. You sort of interwine among yourselves which Sam and Dean clearly do--

what's mine is yours, what I think of, you'll know, my body? yours, our souls? connected, my happiness? you

Like you mentioned, it's fusion and while it's fucked to the core I LOVE IT