1 - 20 of 185 Bookmarks by ErstwhileSaint
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Summary
Castiel Novak is a wealthy heir to a thriving fishing company. Money, fine clothes, carriages, and parties—he has everything he could possibly want—except the noble title his demanding father, Charles Novak, craves and the freedom to love whomever he desires within the rigid confines of London's high society.
One foggy night, Castiel throws himself into the Thames, hoping never to return.
One foggy night, a mysterious man with golden eyes brings him back to life, and Castiel becomes so obsessed that he doesn't care about dying at the hands of thieves and monsters as long as he finds his savior: Dean Winchester, a handsome sailor with green eyes instead of gold, the only detail that seems to be wrong.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 58,047
- Chapters:
- 9/9
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 23
- Kudos:
- 57
- Bookmarks:
- 27
- Hits:
- 1,247
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
04 May 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Real cult queer horror vibes. I love it.
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Summary
Ever since he was a sapling, Castiel knew he was different. The forest was full of trees, but none were like him. It did not trouble him much. Not while the human boy, Dean, spent the days beneath his branches, filling the quiet by recounting adventurous tales in the shade of Castiel’s leaves.
As they grew together, Castiel knew they were kindred. Until the day the Dean’s family moved, and Castiel was left alone.
Years later, when Dean returns to the forest as a grown man, Castiel discovers that some connections don’t fade, and that love, once rooted, has a way of changing everything, and that even the wildest things can find a place to call home.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 64,084
- Chapters:
- 22/22
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 264
- Kudos:
- 150
- Bookmarks:
- 62
- Hits:
- 2,348
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
04 Apr 2026
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A crack in everything (that’s how the light gets in) by tanis-in-a-trenchcoat (wiptanis)
Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005)
10 Mar 2026
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Summary
When angels appeared on Earth, the first thing humans did was use them as weapons against each other, causing the Great War and the Pale, a strange, misty substance that fractures the planet into pieces of isolated matter.
A century later, Castiel is an outcast among his fellow angels and humans alike. The only human who will befriend him is Dean, a handyman at the office where they both work. Together, they discover the existence of a Pale Spot that threatens to devour all reality around, and the love they feel for each other just might be the key to stopping it.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 125,360
- Chapters:
- 18/18
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 50
- Kudos:
- 40
- Bookmarks:
- 27
- Hits:
- 1,360
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
23 Mar 2026
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Summary
Dean has spent most of his life drifting between one-horse towns, drowning himself in short-lived pleasures and the certainty that no one ever stays.
Until he finds himself with a bullet buried in the gut, deep in a desert that the locals claim is cursed - that once you go in, you don’t come back out.
He’s saved from bleeding out by a handsome stranger, but as they trek through the inhospitable wilderness together, it turns out that the only thing worse than being stuck in the desert alone, might be to be trapped there with someone you can’t trust.
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Summary
164 years after the expulsion of the angels from the Seraphim Garden, Dean Winchester has made it his personal mission to destroy every last one of them in any way he can, starting by evacuating the most fragile of their future followers.
The children.
But when a mission goes wrong and Sammy is kidnapped, Dean finds himself at the gates of the legend garden, then inside its walls, once said to kill anyone who comes near enough to know where they are.
As Dean comes to explore his new prison, and gets to know the Angel keeper, he finds that maybe not all angels are quite so wicked.
Will Dean find his way out if this cursed sanctum? Or will it kill him before he gets the chance?
Maybe he'll discover it’s not so cursed at all?
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 43,758
- Chapters:
- 18/18
- Collections:
- 2
- Comments:
- 117
- Kudos:
- 460
- Bookmarks:
- 134
- Hits:
- 8,146
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
21 Feb 2026
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Summary
After the death of his son, there is nothing left for Dean other than his garden market. His days are tough, the nights are tougher, but at least there's a reason to get up in the morning. And with the new boom on do-it-yourself garden magic, his business is going okay.
Amidst the passing of time, there is only one thing that distracts him from functioning like a normal human being: Diagonally across the street, in the display window of that traditional Herb and Potion shop, plants are dying in masses.
Storming in to confront the owner goes differently than he imagined, though. Castiel Novak may be the kind of guy who wears old-fashioned mage robes and keeps his shop in sweltering heat, but he's also a talented herbalist, the kindest soul Dean has ever met, and utterly beautiful.
Not that Dean is ready for anything other than friendship.
(Not that Cas doesn’t get sick a bit too often.)
Entry for the DCBB 2018 - Art by harplesscastiel
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 72,533
- Chapters:
- 21/21
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 208
- Kudos:
- 530
- Bookmarks:
- 179
- Hits:
- 7,827
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
17 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Beautiful and sweet. I wish the art link still worked cause the locations just begged to be illustrated!
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Dark Blue (Have You Ever Been Alone in a Crowded Room?) by WhoIPretended2Be
Fandoms: Supernatural (TV 2005)
03 Sep 2025
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Summary
Castiel is a shapeshifter, haunted by his mother’s murder and terrified of becoming a monster himself. Survival means pretending, and he’s learned to be anyone but himself until the night he meets Dean Winchester.
Dean is a hunter, raised to follow his father’s orders and become whatever the job demands. He doesn’t know who he is when he’s not performing, until he meets someone he calls “Blue”.
What begins as a quest for revenge turns into something else: the collision of two men hiding from the world, each desperate and terrified to be seen beneath their disguises.
Series
- Part 1 of The Cost of Pretending
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 105,923
- Chapters:
- 30/30
- Comments:
- 1,106
- Kudos:
- 560
- Bookmarks:
- 172
- Hits:
- 12,510
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
07 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
The one that captured some of my experience as NB transmasc
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Summary
Dean and Cas have been in a car accident. Cas survived, Dean did not. The Winchesters arrive at the hospital in California and see Cas recovering there, and as the story unfolds, recollections from Sam and Cas are shared—starting in 1999 when Dean abruptly left Kansas to live with his online chatroom friend in Los Angeles. Dean frequently calls Sam with exciting stories about wild parties, his adventures in the desert, and his innumerable dalliances with pretty California girls. However, we learn from Cas’s perspective of the same events that Dean might have left out a few pertinent details. As Sam and Cas converse and Dean’s personal effects are given back to the Winchesters, it becomes clear that Dean and Cas were more than just friends for the past 13 years.
Based on the song “Where The Wild Things Are” by Luke Combs.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 37,268
- Chapters:
- 13/13
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 51
- Kudos:
- 88
- Bookmarks:
- 34
- Hits:
- 1,106
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
01 Feb 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Mind the tags. This one's heartbreaking but, oh, so beautiful. As a queer xennial, I heartily approve.
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Summary
Dean Winchester followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a cop to save people and hunt criminals. But when he refuses an illegal and immoral order, he finds himself incarcerated for a terrible crime he didn’t commit. With the help of his friends, Charlie and Ash, he escapes the prison work camp with one goal in mind: find his little brother Sam.
But Sam isn't where he's supposed to be. Instead, the new resident of his apartment is a handsome man with blue eyes and a secret. He also presents a possible way out.
But a run of bad luck gets Dean recaptured and forced to participate in The Running Man, a hit television show that lets criminals earn a full pardon by pitting them up against armed and genetically enhanced gladiators.
Now Dean is fighting for his life and his freedom. Cas is fighting to clear Dean’s name. And Charlie and Ash are fighting to survive long enough to usher in a revolution.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 47,539
- Chapters:
- 12/12
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 105
- Kudos:
- 49
- Bookmarks:
- 25
- Hits:
- 1,087
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
30 Jan 2026
Bookmarker's Notes
Just what I needed to recharge my soul: a bit of hope against fascism, liberally dosed with humor, wrapped in classic sci-fi, with a Destiel bow.
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Summary
Dean doesn't quite seem to realize that Castiel is an ancient and powerful celestial being, God’s fearless weapon, an Angel that has lived through apocalypses and countless tragedies before. Shaped by millions of years of blind obedience, free will could turn out to be his undoing.
A journey into Castiel's mind, from the day he was created to his encounter with the Winchesters and the events of the Apocalypse. Basically the Bible and Supernatural through Castiel's eyes, until somewhere into season 5 where the story will stray away from canon...
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 352,685
- Chapters:
- 62/?
- Comments:
- 421
- Kudos:
- 346
- Bookmarks:
- 134
- Hits:
- 15,329
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
20 Sep 2025
Bookmarker's Notes
<3 A must-read for any Castiel fans. Takes the context of Cas's tremendous lifespan and otherworldlyness, and brings it to the canonverse. Masterful character development and depiction of the slow change in heaven to the shady, oppressive place it becomes by the time canon starts.
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Summary
AU: Castiel is on the road (saving people, helping things) when he meets Dean and realizes that his soul is different - and not just because he's the pastor's son.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 100,012
- Chapters:
- 5/5
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 83
- Kudos:
- 816
- Bookmarks:
- 309
- Hits:
- 38,452
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
06 Sep 2025
Bookmarker's Notes
Very mysterious beginnings with an uplifting end. <3
(line with personal resonance for me: “Just because I don’t have your faith doesn’t mean I don’t have any,”)
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Summary
Under the cover of a masquerade ball, Castiel has five nights to recover the key to his people's freedom. The world has changed greatly in the six centuries since their banishment into the void, but the task isn't impossible. Unfortunately for Castiel, this is going to involve talking to people - especially the Knight Prince who has taken an interest in Castiel and his "costume" wings.
(Destiel Cinderella AU)
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 181,619
- Chapters:
- 14/14
- Comments:
- 2,094
- Kudos:
- 7,017
- Bookmarks:
- 2,714
- Hits:
- 143,986
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
19 Jul 2025
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Summary
Dean Winchester has spent his whole life cleaning up his father's messes. Now that his little brother, Sam, is settled in California and Bobby's got a handle on the garage, they convinced Dean to finally do something for himself. After a chance encounter at the Air Force recruitment fair Sam dragged him to, Dean got hooked on air traffic control, and he gets stationed at Kansas City Tower for his final leg of training. There, he has to impress his on-job instructor Castiel Novak, the ex-Air Force captain who piqued his interest in ATC in the first place. (And only in ATC. He swears. Those blue eyes and dark hair and stupid hat have nothing to do with it.) If all that wasn't hard enough, just one week into his OJT, Dean gets a call telling him his father is dying and has to move back home to live out his final days-which could be more like years.
Dean has to decide whether to continue to let his life be defined by his father's mistakes and his misguided obligation to everyone else, or if he's brave enough-and strong enough-to find a life in his own shape.
Series
- Part 1 of a life in your shape
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 173,104
- Chapters:
- 25/25
- Comments:
- 641
- Kudos:
- 560
- Bookmarks:
- 202
- Hits:
- 20,551
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
30 May 2025
Bookmarker's Notes
The complexity of loving a shitty, dying parent while simultaneously working past the crap they put on you.
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Summary
When their latest attempt to free Cas from the Empty doesn’t work, Dean finds himself on the other end of an offer from Death. He’ll get Dean into the Empty, and all Dean has to do is to take Cas and leave. It’s perfect, simple, and everything Dean’s wanted for the past year. So, what’s the catch?
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 38,431
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 35
- Kudos:
- 109
- Bookmarks:
- 31
- Hits:
- 1,417
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
23 May 2025
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Summary
Dean and Cas hooking up at a nightclub was supposed to be a one-time thing. But an accident later that same night entangles Dean hopelessly with Cas' family, and Cas finds his loyalties tested. Instead of focusing on his work at his family's law firm, Cas can't resist befriending Dean as he recovers from the accident.
When Dean's family fails to come through for him on a promise they made, Cas makes a decision that could change both their lives forever... if they're willing to take the risk.
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Summary
Angels are a species of quantum impossibility that can kill a human just by existing, and they have been forced onto a reservation in the Rocky Mountains for the safety of the humans who have slowly taken over the land they used to live on.
Dean got lost in the woods as a boy and swears an angel helped him get home, even though getting that close to one should have killed him. No one believes him and it nearly tears his family apart. Years later, the same angel crash-lands in his fishing pond, wounded and on the run.
Castiel has dangerous information about a political plot to ruin angel-human relations, and he needs help if he’s going to live long enough to expose the truth. Dean is the only person he knows who won’t die helping him, and the only person Castiel might be willing to die to protect.
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Summary
Jamaica, the late 1600s: Castiel Milton is the son of a wealthy plantation owner. He is also a profound disappointment to his father, who has disinherited him in favor of his younger brother. Now, only one responsibility remains for Castiel: make an advantageous marriage to carry on the Milton name.
Castiel’s life changes forever the day he discovers that Dean Winchester, a long-lost childhood friend, is now a notorious pirate. Castiel conceives of a desperate plan that he hopes will prevent an arranged marriage he doesn't want. But when he meets Dean again, he's far from prepared for the passion — and adventure — that will ensue.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 88,401
- Chapters:
- 12/12
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 325
- Kudos:
- 331
- Bookmarks:
- 119
- Hits:
- 5,826
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
09 Mar 2025
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Summary
"Dean would be a better knight than Dad, though," Sam said. "Better than anyone."
"I think so," Castiel said.
Sam met his eyes, then grinned, a bit ruefully.
"I know you do," he said.(Once upon a time there was a prince, a blacksmith's apprentice, his little brother, and an oil shortage.)
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
01 Mar 2025
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Summary
Working as a museum curator in Kansas and living with his boyfriend of several years, Castiel leads a fairly unremarkable life. Or at least, he did until the dreams started: a dark forest, things lurking behind the trees, the constant sense of being hunted… they invade his mind, wearing on him until he's certain that they aren't normal dreams. But the truth of the matter is something that he's entirely unprepared for, and what he finds out will completely and permanently alter the world he thought he knew.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 23,319
- Chapters:
- 1/1
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 22
- Kudos:
- 169
- Bookmarks:
- 39
- Hits:
- 5,529
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
08 Feb 2025
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Summary
Between his fraught relationship with his sister and his tenuous place at his band's music label, Cas needs a distraction. He finds it in Dean, who's having his own issues with his brother's recovery from substance abuse and pressure from his dad (and band manager). After a stress-relieving one-night stand, Cas and Dean part on less than friendly terms, happy to never see each other again.
Months later, they find themselves back in close quarters as their rock bands tour together. With their negative first impressions behind them, Dean and Cas bond quickly, and with the allure of a convenient hook up, they fall into a secret friends-with-benefits relationship.
It's the perfect solution, until it's not. After all, Dean has a womanizing reputation to maintain, and Cas has been burned by closeted guys before.
- Language:
- English
- Words:
- 42,994
- Chapters:
- 10/10
- Collections:
- 1
- Comments:
- 107
- Kudos:
- 197
- Bookmarks:
- 68
- Hits:
- 3,242
Bookmarked by ErstwhileSaint
28 Jan 2025