(1/2)I've completely lost my ability to focus right now, except for hearing Dean saying, "You're awesome, sweetheart," on a loop. I've reread your many treatises on the subject, finally finding the one where someone asked you, "If not sweetheart, then what?" You seemed to believe that he would use "baby" or "sweetiepie" because of his love of his car and pie. I would object to both of these, because I believe that, for him, both Baby and Pie are proper names. (Brother and Angel similarly so, but
Cursing my name? For reals!?Â
Nah, I kid. I know itâs not hate. And I do apologize, RE: that first part - I obviously was not clear, thatâs on me. âCause those ainât my recommendations. Noooo.
I wanted to convey that it was interesting to me how, putting aside that he only uses âsweetheartâ sincerely for Baby & Colt, even if he was using it as an endearment for, um, living things of a twue lurve nature, wellâŠ.
Dude donât use it all that often. Not when we compare it to things he no doubt, balls-to-the-wall loves, such as the Impala and pie [and alcohol, but âmy lilâ whiskey sourâ donât quite do it for tinglinâ the nethers]. Thus, it got a raised eyebrow from me, how people donât seem to have the knee-jerk of âsweetiepieâ or âbabydollâ, derivatives of things he does talk about/refer to adoringly on the reg. Tell me if thatâs not making sense, Iâll work on phrasing it better.
Now, having said that - imagining either of those coming out of Deanâs mouth makes me wanna throw up, go eat, throw that up, then mainline Pepto so I can do it all over again til the thought is purged from my person.
All right. Letâs build a profile on Deanâs behavior & verbiage with legitimate love interests, based on what we know from canon, then see if we canât drill down on a plausible nickname or two.
On an aside, I titled the document containing the draft of whatâs below âEndeanmentsâ and I hate myself.
Hereâs how this breaks down in my head, so thatâs how itâs laid out below. Should the Mrs. or anyone reading this wanna skip ahead, you do you. Scroll til you see the heading.
I. Thing Of The First: What Do We Want & What Do We KnowII. Which Romantic Interests Do We Focus On?III. What Are We Looking For & When We Find It, What Do We Do?IV. What Else Do We Have At Our Disposal To Flesh Out Our Profile Of âDean In Love"âs Verbiage?V. Thing Of The Second: Nash On Nicknames/Endearments For Unnamed Characters -  A.K.A.: Where Iâm coming from on this, just soâs yâall can do the whole âConsider the sourceâ thingVI. What Has Worked In The Nashhole Writing RoomVII. Thoughts On The Examples Given In The Ask VIII. Nashâs Three Key Pieces Of Advice For Pulling This Off
And Before We Get Cranking, RE: That Other Post
So hereâs the meat & potatoes of what I said when somebody asked my thoughts on what Dean would use as a genuine term of endearment:
Iâd bet money that for the actual contenders [both the ones I havenât yet researched & the nonexistents/potential true loves/soulmates/blahblahblahs], theyâd most assuredly be friends first, they will not be a hunter [not a hunter proper, at least, though knowledge of is not a deal-breaker], and any endearment is gonna be something thatâs a riff on their name [a la âSammyâ or âCasâ] or related to a specific situationâŠ.. she knocks over the sugar bowl, so sheâs âSugarâ until enough glares shut that shit downâŠ. things like that. Â
I. Thing Of The First: What Do We Want & What Do We Know
This whole shebang is based upon the premise that an author gives a shit about accurate characterization of Dean within the context of a legit romantic relationship.Â
We gotta have a profile in mind regarding the broad strokes of what this chick would be like if our writing of his behavior/the things he says - such as, ta-da! an endearment - is gonna ring true.
All we can know is whatâs in canon, and bless the wiki and all their transcripts because no one has to re-watch all the seasons to answer this. #hallelujah Â
II. Which Romantic Interests Do We Focus On?
The bed-âem-and-book-it chicks are ruled out, see above, RE: legit love premise.
In the draft of the answer to the other Q thatâs referenced in the Q linked above, I have it fleshed out more than I do here - although itâs not completely episode/quote-by-quote sourced - so if y'all wanna know the reasoning behind why I deem these four and only these four ladies of the âlegit, Dean was really into them/this had the potential for true loveâ category, I can share it, but I canât promise when.
I have no idea if he had an endearment for any or all of these ladies, is my point, y'all feel free to do the deep dive in that respect,Â
----> ETA later: We did the deep dive. He called Lisa âHoneyâ when she was dying; unrelated but kindâve, when he was pretending to be Belaâs husband and she fake-choked on shellfish (also âdyingâ), he called her âHoneyâ, too. There ya go.
I stand by these chosen few and the order in which Iâve placed them, the reasons why have to do with character autopsies I do/have done for my big story, ergo would have to be another post or fourteen. Moving on.
Hereâs my ranking for âLegit, Dean Totes Felt Somethingâ characters:
4. Jo3. Cassie2. Lisa1. Carmen
All of these ladies, no matter if nothing ever got off the ground [Jo] to the what-might-have-been [Cassie] to the long-term relationship [Lisa] to the dream ideal [Carmen] have some stark, canât-miss-âem, key characteristics in common [intelligent, mature, value family, etc.] but I wonât go into that here.Â
Theyâre as solid a guide as weâve got right now, and not just for doing this nickname postulation exercise - Iâd also recommend peeps who wanna reeeeeally drill down on an O/C love for Dean to utilize these characters as a jumping off point. R/Is are, of course, going to be [::coughs:: should be] more nebulous in their attributes.
Take home message is that he had a great deal of respect for all of them, so anything that would have to depend on tone because it walks a fine line, you may wanna axe it from the list as an everyday sub for their name.
III. What Are We Looking For & When We Find It, What Do We Do?
You are looking for any nicknames/endearments he assigned to them.
If he did use an endearment with them, do the following:
(1) Which of those 4 is your Dean love interest most like?
(2) Picture Dean calling your character whatever endearment he called them
(3) Howâd that work out for you?
And if not, to speculate upon what he would sayâŠ.. guess what?
(1) Which of those 4 is your Dean love interest most like?
(2) Picture Dean calling them whatever endearment youâve chosen
(3) Howâd that work out for you?
That is your litmus test. Wash, rinse repeat.
IV. What Else Do We Have At Our Disposal To Flesh Out Our Profile Of âDean In Love"âs Verbiage?
Plenty.
Weâve got the ability to make the profile more robust because of the cooooooooopious amount of evidence on the flip side, what he zeroes in on with the bed-âem-and-book-it type of gal, what his verbiage is like with them, the peeps he doesnât intend on keeping around for long.Â
Bonus: that recent ep of what he was like under a love spell. Take what we saw, scale down the intensity, fiddle with it where appropriate - meaning, â86 anything that was alike in all the men they charmed, as that isnât evidence of âDean In Loveâ coming to the surface, itâs evidence of the spellâs structure so as to elicit specific behaviors in victims.
Second thing you can look at in terms of nicknaming habits are people for whom he has no romantic inclinations. The easiest cases in point being Sam and Castiel, a.k.a. Sammy and Cas. Off the top of my head, for whatever reason, I recall him calling Gadreel âZekeâ prior to the stolen identity reveal.
So Deanâs a â-yâ adder and a name-shortener, consistently with Sam and Castiel, however many times with Ezekiel/Gadreel, and thereâs likely more examples, godspeed on that research journey, I ainât your girl.
I am also 100% - and I know yâall are, too - that heâs a biiiiiiig proponent of situational nicknaming, and while itâs usually snark [think âBatmanâ for himself, âHarry Potterâ for Mick, etc.] it still goes to pattern. Iâve got so many of these in the CASPN decks, itâs unreal, and maaany, possibly most, of them - as noted just now - are TV/movie/music/book-related. [I know this because Iâm trying to pull them out as I go to stick them in their own âDeanismsâ deck, because if the decks ever go âpublicâ for sale, they canât have copyrighted content in them]
Again: here weâre looking at a broad stroke in his verbiage, to get a feel of his go-tos, his habits in what he calls others.
V. Thing Of The Second: Nash On Nicknames/Endearments For Unnamed Characters -Â Â A.K.A.: Where Iâm coming from on this, just soâs yâall can do the whole âConsider the sourceâ thing
I donât lean into the whole nickname thing. Itâs not a purposeful effort, as in, Iâm policing myself or when I edit Iâm taking them out. Itâs just not a reflexive brain-to-keyboard thing for me. I donât often have characters calling each other by name/nickname/endearment, particularly when itâs just 2 people in a convo, unless itâs a heated convo, a la âDAMMIT NASH!â and âEAT ME, SHITBIRD!â
Longer the fic, trickier this gets. Somebodyâs gonna have to address our nameless-faceless protag at some point, and as has been established copiously during my tenure in this fandom, I hope Y/N and her pouty, lip-nibbling, everything-she-does-including-fart-is-done-softly self would die in a fire, ceiling optional, so believe me: I *do* co-sign substitute monikers.
Itâs too far to scroll up, hereâs what I said about his nicknaming pattern â>
and any endearment is gonna be something thatâs a riff on their name [a la âSammyâ or âCasâ] or related to a specific situationâŠ.. she knocks over the sugar bowl, so sheâs âSugarâ until enough glares shut that shit downâŠ. things like that.Â
We talked above about him riffing on the personâs name. The situational thing I mentioned - Iâll tell yâall what I did for this, RE: the sticky wicket of when itâs a mini-series/series. [Personally? I think most one-shots can dodge this issue altogether, though certainly YMMV]
VI. What Has Worked In The Nashhole Writing Room
Now, I haaaaated writing the smut thing of mine when I lost a bet, so I plotted it to hell to keep my sanity, and it expanded to 5 g.d. parts. The smut part of it is *riddled* with the tripest tropes that ever troped [part of said betâs terms], so Iâm talking about the story part of it here.Â
Dean and the protag had a touch-and-go, volatile sitch going on for the bulk of it, ergo chances high due to intense emotions that somebody at some point was gonna have to address each other in at least a tense manner, if not one of anger.
And she was tough as nails, a sniper called in to assist them on a hunt, and she wouldâve ended him if he dared call her anything even in the realm of too cutesy-shmoopsy on the reg. It would be in conflict with what Iâd built her up to be, bottom line, and likely suck the readers out of the story.Â
Hereâs the dodge I came up with, keeping in mind the situation is sheâs a sniper:
âSo, we have a decision to make,â Dean said through a partially chewed bite of his burger.
Was he actively trying to be gross? He thankfully swallowed before continuing.
âIâm not in the mood to drive all the way back to Jodyâs, then have to share a bed with Sam in her guest room,â Dean began.
Okay. He was talking to me.
âI think the best thing to do is head to the bunkerââ
I looked to him, aghast.
ââand weâve got plenty of room, we can pick up a toothbrush for you when we stop to fill upââ
Did he not notice the big black bulky thing Iâd thrown in the back floorboard when they picked me up? I was never not prepared. There was already a toothbrush in my backpack. And a change of clothes.
And a Glock.
ââthen weâll all be fresh daisies, get you home tomorrow. Whaddya say, Snipes?â
Oh god. Heâd nicknamed me. Had my letting him win a staring contest actually infused him with enough bravado to try and make friends? Convince me to stay in what Jody had described as essentially a really large basement?
They end up in love - but the sub for her name isnât lovey-dovey, and it doesnât have to be, the dynamic between them is vastly more important [more on that later].Â
In another one in the olâ draft folder - and itâs not a romantic dynamic, but the nickname dodge happens because sheâs unnamed - hereâs how thatâs gonna work. In an earlier scene, itâs mentioned that Dean was giving her a hard time via the Patsy Cline song âI Fall To Piecesâ [spoiler alert: itâs the story based upon THIS thing, youâre smart cookies, youâll get the reasoning behind it]
And youâd remember. Itâs not something youâd forget. I know this because no one else has. Dean still calls me âClineâ - let me rephrase - he bellows it, with glee and snort-laughs, though I suppose thereâs worse things to be called. Heâs called me those, too, over the years, he doesnât disappoint. And Sam still narrows his eyes at left my knee, watches my gait for any unevenness or wobbles, and it doesnât matter what I say, heâll believe he messed up the articulation til the end of days.
Tangentially-related, in âBuild Me Up, Buttercupâ - the nutty AU-ish thing that actually started because I was riffing on the sweetheart situation and it mutated - thereâs a chunk of conversation between The Woman In Black/The Masked Vampirate/The Apprentice [â-> hint, hint, hint: we *can* refer to folks without using a name/nickname] and Dean on this very topic, of what we call others in lieu of their given names. Mini-spoiler: Even though sheâs written 3rd person O/C, and even though she does end up as someoneâs love interest, youâre never gonna know her name.
Not spoilers, because these stories are already âout thereâ, you also never learned/will never learn the names of the chicks in Hello, Iâm Gone; The Lore You Know; It; The Once Demon Barber From Robintree; A Delicate Desiccation; The Bell-Watcherâs Daughter; A Fluff By Any Other Name; and who frigginâ knows what-all in the stack of quickies Iâve accumulated.
VII. Thoughts On The Examples Given In The Ask
Back to what you saidâŠ.. and shit, Imma c/p it here, if anybodyâs made it this damn far, I wonât ask they scroll up:Â
All right, in no particular order, just as things hit meâŠ..
Itâs about 7:30 a.m. here in Nashland, this is rotten and off the top of my head, but I could totes picture seeing pumpkin in a Halloween fluff, like - something happens with a pumpkin, itâs dropped or she slices open her hand trying to carve it, is like â[something something] and donât start calling me pumpkinâ and heâs like âNahâŠ. Punk.â âCause, again - he loves a situational riff & heâs a shortener.
Agreed on princess, I co-sign your gut, heâd say it sneery/as a cut-down on someone whoâs afraid to dig in, get a little dirt in the skirt on a hunt or something.
Darlinâ is tricky, because Deanâs not Southern/doesnât have a drawl unless a touch of Jensen slips outâŠ. and honestly, heâs not got much of an accent from what Iâve heard, though remember thatâs going through a Dixieland filter, so consider the source. Might I offer a sub for it? See how âdollâ works.
Well, honeyâs hitting closer to sounding like him. Iâd go âhonâ, though, RE: being a shortener. âHey, hon?â is more casual than âHoneyâ, and âHoneyâ also might run the risk of popping a reader back to⊠[forgive the Rocket inclusion]:Â
Full quote is âHoney, there ainât no other men like me.â, but yâall knew that. Itâs not on the OH HELL NO list for me, Honey/Honâs definitely a contender.
But speaking of pinging my âOH HELL NOâ radar -Â
[gasps] Oh, WhooziesâŠ. oh my WhatsisâŠ. sugarplum?
[shakes head vehemently]Â
* UNLESS* Y/N is a violet-hued fairy in ballet slippers, and they are battling a baby-chomping sentient Nutcracker. But even then, heâd call her âPlums.
Sweetie⊠hmmmmâŠ.. you know what might be worth a go? âSweetsâ. I could hear âHey, Sweetsâ coming out of his mouth. If you could figure a way to make it a lesser of two evils, thatâs even better, likeâŠ. he pats her on the ass and calls her âsweetcheeksâ and sheâs all âOh, but noâ, so he downshifts to âsweetsâ.
âPuddinâââŠ.. ermâŠ.. My knee-jerk is no. If it were suuuuper situational, perhaps. Iâm drawing a blank on what the situation would be, though, because my mind immediately pops to that episode at the spaâŠ. I justâŠ.
Iâm hearing it in my mind as if somebody was writing a story where itâs basically a re-hash of that episode - Oh but (tee-hee) this time Y/N got the roofied pudding, and now Deanâs gonna drive her nuts never letting her forget it! Tune in for next weekâs episode of Supernatural, guest starring Ordinary McTypical-Chick as Puddinâ! [/announcer voice] [cue laugh track], and then Iâm allâŠâŠ
 Round up on the âGive âEr A Tryâ list:
Honey â> sure why not; âhonâ may be better
Sweetie â> ehhhh, probably situational;Â âsweetsâ could be worth a try
Pumpkin â-> sooooo situational; and if go there, would 100% roll it into âpunkâ
Darlinâ â> ehhhh;Â âdollâ suggested sub
âŠ.and wasnât mentioned, but unless it works your personal nerves, from my POV, âbabeâ doesnât pull me out of the story if it sneaks into Deanâs dialogue, a la âHey, babe? You already toss some shells into the trunk?âÂ
Nashâs Three Key Pieces Of Advice For Pulling This Off
1. Who is this person on the receiving end of the nickname - know this, and itâll narrow down your choices;
2. Do it like Dean: if they have a name, go â-yâ or shorten it, or take a situation/circumstance and spin it;
and, possibly the most important -
3. Limit, limit, limit
Make your own parameters for amount of times this is happening in a given piece. Iâm just throwing #s - like, = 500 = 0, 501 - 1K = 1, 1.1K - 2.5K = 2, something like that. Take away the pressure of it by making ârulesâ and youâre free to get your brain back to the story.
Because here it is, yâall - and Iâve said this in other posts - the best thing you can do for yourself or for those you beta is to stop after every scene or paragraph or page or âxâ amount of words, whatever your pref is, and ask yourself about what youâve just read/written:
Who cares? - A.K.A.: Is ____ advancing the plot/the interpersonal dynamics, or not?
Regarding non-nickname stuff: Does it matter that we know about her morning routine? That she had oatmeal because she was out of bagels? The make and model of her car? Her co-workersâ names? Her co-workers at all? What her cat is like? What her cat is named? Her cat at all?
And the same applies here: Does an endearment matter in this particular sentence/moment? I care about the relationships between/amongst the characters, how well theyâre grooving with each other [or not], how that weaves together, how itâs integral to the plot, how it impacts the action/the task, how it plays into the climax and resolution [or lack thereof].
Is it ideal to have things coming out of the mouths of the characters we all know ring true? Absolutely. And thatâs the other âwho caresâ here: BIG cares if things that are âun-Deanâ creep in. As the adage goes: âWhen in doubt, donâtâ.
So, when stuck on this element, figure out something else to do with the sentenceâŠ. and Iâd start with 86âČing the nickname. Bet you money most of the time, the message of the sentence will read exactly the same.
You got this.Â
Thanks for the Q, hope I helped in some fashion and that the curses either wane, or perhaps reach new, interesting heights and volumes, depending on the level of said helpfulness.
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