Soooo, my plan for this edition of Fanfic Wednesday was to (finally) bring you all the fourth installment of my Destiel Greatest Hits series (you can find the first installments here, here, and here) but RL got in the way of my fanfic reading (bummer, I know), so INSTEAD, I’m going to share with you my ALL-TIME FAVORITE fics.

Ready or not, here we go.

 

So, these three fics are the ones that have stuck with me, often coming into my mind in the middle of the night when I cannot sleep…for years. Pretty much since I started this blog and fanfic recs….six years ago.

If you haven’t read these fics before, or even if you have, grab a cup of tea and maybe some pie, curl up with a blanket and your phone, and let these two idjits make you fall in love with them again.

How A Righteous Man Raises A Rose 

By SwordOfMyMouth

Author’s Summary: AU in which the apocalypse and angels and demons never happen, and Sam and Jess and Dean live together in a suburban lifestyle — and then suddenly, nothing is alternate universe at all. Told from Sam’s POV. Dean is compelled to tend a dead rose garden, if only Dean could remember why; and remember why it is so important.

Um, so I’m starting with this one because it’s angsty af and if you’re like me, then you’ll definitely cry. Yet it is so well written, and so tender, that the image of Dean caring for a rose garden will stick with you for many years. It’s kinda heartbreaking, but well worth the read.

Clean Air

By anactoria

Author’s Summary: Centuries after the surface of the earth was devastated by an unknown disaster, the remnants of humanity live in a series of vast underground silos, each unaware of the existence of the others. For the inhabitants of Silo 34, the silo is the world, and the only world they know. Questions about the outside world are forbidden, and asking them is what got Dean Winchester’s parents killed. He isn’t even sure himself that they weren’t crazy. That all changes when he hears a voice on the radio — a voice from another world.

Hi, I’m [redacted] and I’m obsessed with dystopic AU fanfiction. “Clean Air” is probably the best example of this in the Destiel fandom. I read this five years ago when it was first posted during the DCBB 2014, and even now, five years later, I sometimes turn to the Mutineer and exclaim, “Wasn’t ‘Clean Air’ the best thing you’ve ever read on the internet?”

All Things Shining

By askance, standbyme

Authors’ Summary: Something in the world is waking up. It isn’t long before it’s brought to the attention of the Winchesters and Castiel: miracles are spreading across the country, the paranormal seems to be shrinking back on itself—and it all has something to do with the missing prayer book of a traveling preacher who died over a century ago. Dean is convinced it’s all the lead-up to another Apocalypse; Sam and Castiel aren’t so sure. Regardless, it sends them out on a less-than-typical road-trip, following the Mississippi and remnants of a very old story that seems increasingly to call to them. And along the way the trio learn much more about themselves—and the consequences and origins of love—than they’d ever have anticipated.

So, I started this list with the most angsty fic…and I’m ending it with the happiest. If you want your boys to be in love and have nothing hurt, well, then this is the fic for you. Excuse me while I go cuddle a pillow and cry for joy over Stars and Catfish (you’ll understand once you’ve read this one).

What’s your favorite Destiel fic? Tell us in the comments!