like a fever that just won't break.

Title: Childhood I
Genre: gen, pre-9x04 "Slumber Party," exhausted Dean headspace
Characters: Dean (POV), Kevin; Linda and John by extension; a bit of Sam
Rating: R
Word Count: ~3,700
Warnings: masturbation, brief non-explicit mentions of past underage, talk of prostitution
Summary: What happens on the "Dean and Kevin go get falafel" trip stays in the "Dean and Kevin go get falafel" trip.

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Title: Childhood III
Genre: gen, 9x23 "Do You Believe In Miracles?" tag
Characters: John (POV), Dean; Millie Winchester (pre-series)
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: ~3100
Warnings: use of racial slurs/the Vietnam War/Red Scare rhetoric, reference to suicide (non canon character)
Summary: In the moment between Dean's soul failing to ascend to Heaven, and Dean's soul returning to Earth a demon, John catches it. And, inasmuch as one can speak to an amorphous ball of sound and light and memory, they have a chat.

---

NB: Childhood is a three-part series set across S9 about childhood, parenthood, and how they weave into one another. Each part is thematically connected to the others, but can stand alone!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to drop a few recs here--all three of these are pretty disparate from one another, united only by their excellence. From torturously angsty to wonderfully healing, to me this is a trifecta of "yup, and this is why we H/C, world." All of them were written for hoodie_time's most recent comment meme. The meme is closed to new prompts now, but fills are welcome and highly encouraged indefinitely! :)

Title: 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?'
Author: quickreaver
Characters: Benny, Dean, Sam
Genre/pairing: gen
Rating: PG-13
Word-count: 2707
Spoilers: Takes place between 8x14 and 8x18.
Warnings: N/A
Summary: Based on the prompt, "Benny helps Dean through his involuntary detox in Purgatory. But he starts drinking again once he's topside, and Benny finds out and sneaks past Sam to talk to him and is really sympathetic and all like, brother, I have a (blood) drinking problem too, so I understand, let's help each other out, and Sam realizes that Benny is actually a pretty good friend after all."
Reccer's Notes: I should just invest in one of those customized rubber stamps for my comments re: the beauty of H/C, irrespective of anything else, because <33333. Dean/alcohol is my sadTP, and I love the way it's thrown into the mix amidst Sam, Dean, and Benny here. I love Benny's, hmmm, sort of reticent yet compassionate-all-the-same narrative here. And Sam's first line is just sublime; his entire entrance, really. I love how palpably his presence shifts the dynamic of the fic--and how that dynamic demonstrates considerable fluctuation thereafter, right up until the end.

Title: Untitled
Author: ang_the_adverse
Characters: Dean, Lisa
Genre/pairing: het
Rating: PG-13 (sex)
Word-count: ~1000
Spoilers: N/A
Warnings: N/A
Summary: Based on the prompt, "Past s5, Dean lives with Lisa and Ben, and suffers all teh issues and PTSD after the clusterfuck that has been his life. One of the reactions his body has to that (it can have other things, too - let your imagination run wild) is erectile dysfunction. Dean just can't get it up. It's got nothing to do with Lisa - in fact, it would be super sweet if they still have sex (of sorts) and Dean makes sure Lisa gets off and is happy. He just doesn't get off himself anymore."
Reccer's Notes: There's a bedroomy, but down-to-earth feel to this whole fic that just screams Lisa to me. Separate from a lot of fics that include Lisa, I mean; I think it might have something to do with, hmmm. The sense of owned experience, maybe. To me, it felt very much like, "This is our life. And we're gonna rock that in a way that only we can."

Title: Won't Cry Wolf
Author: geckoholic
Characters: Dean, OMC, John, Sam
Genre/pairing: Dean/OMC
Rating: R
Word-count: ~3000
Spoilers: N/A
Warnings: prostitution of a minor, dubious consent, rape
Summary: The first time it happens, he's thirteen. Winter in Colorado, rundown apartment complex, and Sammy broke a vase in the hallway. It was an accident, he was running around, playing, and he tripped. Their landlord said the fucking vase was expensive, and money's tight as it is.

What the hell else was he supposed to do?

Reccer's Comments: This fic is everything that I find appealing about hooker!fic--that sort of consensual push and pull, that aspect of the clandestine, and we all know how well the Winchesters deal with the clandestine--taken to the next extreme. The sensitivity with which you are able to approach the subject here, without pandering to established notions of political correctness, or otherwise trite representations, is criminal. It is so, so good. And the way Dean is written here is so very true to his character, in a way that I don't even think I can describe.