#Crowley Not-A-Bang 2023

[crowleybigbang]

Crowley's Big Bang 2023

The time has finally come, darlings.

After a long pause, the Crowley Big Bang is back, new and improved.

In fact, this is not going to be a traditional Bang.

We do realise that lots of us have gone back to working full time, with all the stress and fatigue that this may cause. So, to allow us to focus better on the torture, we decided to try something a little different: allow us to present you:

Crowley Against Humanity.

The whole thing is going to be as easy as standing in line in Hell: two prompt lists (black and white cards, if you’re familiar with the game).

The Prompts Lists are coming tomorrow, 1st of July!

Care to bury your box and join us at this crossroads? Then, under the cut you go.

You pick up to two prompts from each list, and mix and match away to your heart's content - provided you still have one.

You enjoy your creations, share them with us, and wait for October - since we're shooting for a month filled with creations and hellish chaos.

The prompts can be used faithfully, mentioned in passing, used as loose inspiration: we just want you to have fun.

How about collaborations? We know that those are the heart of a Bang. This year, those will not be handled by the mods - freeing you from check-ins, deadlines and such.

But, once the prompts have been claimed, we encourage you to reach out to fellow minions and see what team-up can see the light! No limits there: two artists, two authors, multiple artists and one author… as long as everything is safe and consensual, the sky’s the limit.

Deadlines and Timing:

Sign Ups open on July 7th! You’ll find the link here and on our Discord server, complete with instructions. If not, just shoot us an ask!

After that, you’ll have until the 21st of July to sign up - artist or author, welcome!

The prompts claims will be on July 22nd.

You have until the 30th of July to tell us if you decided to work with someone.

Works are due the 24th of September.

The Fine Print

Of course, there are rules.

In order to participate, you have to connect with us on Discord - You’ll find the invitation link to the server included in the sign-up form - or you can send us an ask if you want to get in before that.

First, you don't act like pre-cure Crowley, or any of his minions. Not to the mods, not to your fellow creators. You do that, you'll be snapped into oblivion - AKA banned from the Bang.

We won't reblog hateful content of any kind. It’s not our role to police your creations, but it’s our job to keep this space as safe as possible and enjoyable for everyone. Trigger warnings and detailed tags are compulsory. If those are missing, or incomplete, the work will not be reblogged on the blog or included in the collection.

Are you in doubt about a tag? No one has ever been called out for being too careful. You can always shoot us a DM on Discord, or open a discussion on our server - hiding the bit in question and warning the other participants about it.

NSFW: while it’s perfectly fine to create NSFW stuff, Tumblr’s policies have made it increasingly difficult for it to stay up and circulate. Please, do take the necessary precautions and label it correctly. When it comes to our server, we have a dedicated channel you can use to share that material.

RPF: nope. This is a Crowley event, which means we focus on the characters.

Fics must be at least 2K long.

No AI creations allowed. The whole point of this Bang is connecting with other human creators, and celebrate the love of fandom through original creations.

Again... don't be a douchebag. When in doubt, the mods will be happy to help - compatibly with the timezones and those pesky real life committments.

We hope to see you all at the crossroads for signing away your souls. In the meantime, don't forget to misbehave and raise a little Hell.

[missunderstoodlyrics]

You guys! Look at this amazing art by @QueenoftheCute for my fic for the Ineffable Idiots Big Bang 2023!

I'm in love with it.

[naegleria-nfowleri]

One of my pieces for the @do-it-with-style-events Mini Reverse Bang (where writers took inspriation from art submissions)

My partner Mika and I had posted our work here!

Mika is an amazing writer. If you like their works please consider showing them love and support on AO3 or their Twitter!

[lestatslestits]

Marry Me a Little

Written for the @do-it-with-style-events Mini Reverse Bang! I had the honor of collaborating with @scsivi, who created the gorgeous artwork that inspired this fic.

Summary:

Once in the hallway Nina says: “Mine’s gone mad. Has yours gone mad?” “He’s—er—trying on bow ties.” --- Nina and Maggie have the dubious honor of organizing a wedding for two powerful celestial beings. It's every bit as chaotic as it sounds.

Excerpt:

“I do hope it’s a clear evening,” he responds, something of a non-sequitur.  It’s not a real concern. Not only has the forecast been perfectly clear, they both know that he is capable of changing the weather at the drop of a hat. Truly, he sounds more excited than worried. Maggie suspects he just wants an excuse to talk through the details of the ceremony, as though he’ll pop if he doesn’t get to marvel over them. It’s sweet, really, and a lump forms in her throat, unbidden.  “Mr. Fell,” she interrupts, “I’m so happy for you and Mr. Crowley.” “Oh, why thank you, Maggie,” he beams at her.  “I hope it’s all wonderful for the two of you for—well, for forever.”

Read (and see full artwork) on AO3!

[elliart7]

So excited to show y’all my first contribution to the 2023 Ineffable Idiots Big Bang!

This piece is for the lovely “Break Into Your Golden Thinking” by @katierosefun 😁

@ineffableidiotsbigbang

[snarky-synesthete]

New GO Fic ^_^

I was able to sneak in another entry for the "Do It With Style" Mini Reverse Bang 2023! This time I paired up with the delightful @discountedsocks to make this cute little kid fic.

Title: A Growing Vocabulary; rated G; 4,800 words

Aziraphale and Crowley are very proud of their sweet toddler Muriel, but Aziraphale gets a shock when Muriel uses some dreadful language at the plant market. Wherever could the child have learned it?

[paulpaul24]

Recently had the pleasure of working with @canadiankazz in her fic, Not Like Other Angels, for @ineffableidiotsbigbang.

[sinister--potato]

My entry for Crowley Against Humanity (it will definitely be redone down the line when life stops sucking for a bit)

||Where do I even start to look for ... Lovers in league against satan||

This is the very last minute thing I've ever submitted in my life, I'm so sorry!!!

[shadoweddepths]

Chapters: 1/5

Fandom: Good Omens (TV)

Rating: Explicit

Audience Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Characters: Aziraphale (Good Omens), Crowley (Good Omens)

Additional Tags: Ineffable Idiots Big Bang, Ineffable Idiots Big Bang 2023, Fallen Angel Aziraphale (Good Omens), Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Soft Crowley (Good Omens), Bathing/Washing, Wingfic, Flashbacks, Nightmares, Literal Sleeping Together, Whump, Aziraphale Loves Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley Loves Aziraphale (Good Omens), Love Confessions, Communication, Wing Grooming, Hurt Aziraphale (Good Omens), Cuddling & Snuggling, Fanart, Protective Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale and Crowley Take Care of Each Other (Good Omens), Panic Attacks, Aziraphale Has a Vulva (Good Omens), Crowley Has a Penis (Good Omens), POV Crowley (Good Omens), Crowley Takes Care of Aziraphale (Good Omens)

Summary:

“I choose Crowley,” Aziraphale says, voice both soft and firm at the same time. Meets Crowley’s gaze so steadily, as if it’s easy for him to say those words. And it’s as much to Crowley as it is to the Metatron, as much promise as it is a renunciation, and Crowley’s heart hurts.

“Very well,” the Metatron says. “You will not like the consequences.”

“Damn the consequences.” Aziraphale uses his just-enough-of-a-bastard voice, the one that makes shivers race up and down Crowley’s spine. “You may see yourself out, Voice of God.”

There’s a rustle of feathers, and then the Metatron is gone and the bookshop is silent, save for the ticking of the clock and the furious staccato of Crowley’s heartbeat.

Aziraphale – an angel of grace and poise and grandeur – stumbles. His expression twists in confusion, first, and then pain – horrible, gut-wrenching, unexpected pain – and then he falls to his knees, voice breaking in a pained whine.

“Oh,” he gasps, head thrown back, eyes glazed and unseeing. “Oh, that – damned indeed,” he says, just before he crumples forward and blacks out.

(Aziraphale rejects the Metatron's offer and chooses Crowley instead. Crowley helps him through the aftermath.)

Here's the first chapter of my contribution to @ineffableidiotsbigbang! I've never done anything like this before, so I'm incredibly excited to get this story posted. Big thanks to willow tree for beta-ing this fic, and to willow tea for the absolutely gorgeous artwork that will be posted along with chapter 3!

The finished fic will have approx. 22,200 words.

Source: archiveofourown.org

[petrichoravellichor]

Title: Inner Demons Pairing: Crowley/Dean Winchester Rating: T Word Count: ~2.2k Summary: The so-called Drowley Summer of Love has officially come to an end, and Crowley is fine with it. Really. He is. (Spoiler alert: He is not.) Set during 10x02: Reichenbach. Warnings: Brief Instance of Self-Harm

Written for the 2023 Crowley Against Humanity Challenge, hosted by @crowleybigbang. Black card prompt: "Why can't I sleep at night?" x White card prompt: "My Inner Demons."

(Read on Ao3)

*****

If the depressingly dim and horrendously decorated Flamingo Lounge has a single redeeming quality, it’s that other than the wide-eyed bartender watching Crowley storm up to the bar, the place is mercifully, blessedly empty.

“Get out,” Crowley snaps at the man, shucking off his coat and sinking down onto a barstool. “Leave a bottle of whatever passes for decent Scotch, and get out.” He blinks; when his eyes re-open, they’re blood red. “Now.”

The bartender obliges, quickly setting the glass he’d been wiping down in front of Crowley, procuring a bottle that he places next to the glass, and all but running out of the bar.

“Smart man,” Crowley mutters to no one in particular. He snatches up the bottle and pours himself a glass of…Jameson? Really? “Dead man,” Crowley amends darkly, but making good on the threat would require going after said man, and Crowley has better—worse—more important things to do. He sets the bottle aside in disgust and knocks back his drink. It tastes like acetone, but it’ll have to do.

With a huff, Crowley reaches back to where his coat hangs and removes the First Blade—his “finder’s fee,” as he’d flippantly called it when talking to Sam. Judging by the positively murderous look in Dean’s eyes as Sam had driven away with his wayward brother handcuffed in the backseat of the Impala, Crowley himself would be paying a price if Dean ever got hold of him after this...

Well, then Crowley will just have to make sure Dean never gets hold of him after this, simple as that.

He turns the Blade over in his hands, taking in its…not craftsmanship, but rather, its underwhelming lack thereof. In the dingy fluorescent light of the bar, the Blade looks crude and unremarkable; it feels crude and unremarkable. Cut off from the power of the Mark and held by someone with no claim on it whatsoever, it’s no longer a powerful killing tool but simply a piece of old bone.

Crowley sets the Blade down on the counter in front of him and pours himself another shot of Jameson. For all his past scheming over the blasted thing, the act of actually possessing the Blade is decidedly anticlimactic. Honestly, the only reason he’d even taken the it at this point was because he could, so that Dean wouldn’t have it…

Dean stands over him, chuckling as Crowley glowers up from the floor—the bastard had pushed him. Crowley gets slowly to his feet, ignoring his still-stunned minions and ready to smack the smirk right off Dean’s face but managing to keep his anger in check…for now. “What…do you think you’re doing?”

Dean stares coolly back at him. “Oh, whatever I want.”

“Really?” Crowley counters. “Because I think you don’t know what you want. Tell me, Dean,” he sneers softly, “what are you? A demon? If so, why isn’t Lester’s wife dead? Did you feel sorry for her?” He feels a stab of satisfaction at the way Dean doesn’t meet his eye. “So maybe you’re human. Except you have those pretty black peepers, and you’re working alongside me. Why don’t you do us all a great big favor and PICK A BLOODY SIDE?!”

For a split second, he thinks Dean might strike him—good, Crowley thinks fiercely; he could do with throwing a few punches himself right about now—but instead, Dean just smiles in a way that doesn’t reach his eyes and says, “Or what?”

There’s a veneer of calm to Dean’s voice as he speaks, but Crowley hears the underlying menace well enough. He hesitates, and Dean advances, his smile turning even more feral. “Hmm? Go ahead. Make a move. See how it ends.”

And Crowley…doesn’t make a move. Not so much because he knows perfectly well that Dean will gut him if he does, but because…because damn it, even though Crowley’s furious with Dean, and even though a large part of him would like nothing more than to lash out and make Dean feel at least a fraction of the betrayal Crowley himself is currently feeling, another, even larger part of him wants to lash out at himself for being stupid enough to think that this confrontation hadn’t been inevitable, that what he had with Dean Winchester, of all people, could ever last…

Dean huffs; then, in a low growl, he delivers his coup de grâce: “I ain’t your friggin’ bestie, and I ain’t taking orders from you. When I need to kill, I’ll call. Until then, stay out of my way.”

It’s as good a knife wound as any, even if it doesn’t actually pierce Crowley’s meatsuit. He feels himself on the precipice of a scream as hurt, anger, and an all-too-familiar sense of worthlessness coalesce into a writhing maelstrom of self-loathing and despair and foolish, feverish want—to strike Dean, to kiss him, to kill him, to just…have him in some way, or at the very least, to not lose him, not like this…

Open your eyes, Dean, he thinks furiously, desperately in Dean’s direction. See what I see, feel what I feel—

But Dean doesn’t hear him, doesn’t see, doesn’t feel. There’s nothing but hatred in the hollowed-out blacks of Dean’s eyes—hatred, and Crowley’s own pitiful, dejected reflection staring back at him, and…and fine. It’s fine. He's—

“Fine.” Crowley draws himself up, centuries of practice in play as he keeps his voice flat. “It’s over.” He feigns a shrug, addressing his minions. “What can I say? Crazy ones—well, they’re good for a fling, but they’re not relationship material.” He looks squarely back at Dean as he speaks the last bit, hoping it stings.

If it does, Dean doesn’t show it. “Are you done?” he demands, and this time, Crowley nearly does strike him, nearly does knock Dean to the floor and stand over him and shout until his voice goes hoarse and—

“We’re done,” he states levelly instead. It’s almost funny: even to Crowley’s ear, it actually sounds like he means it. He lets out a clipped, bitter laugh. “You know what, Dean? It’s not me. It’s you.” With that, he steps around Dean and makes for the door, his minions in tow. Dean doesn’t call after him, and Crowley tells himself he wouldn’t stop even if Dean did call out. The bar door slams shut with a heavy clang behind him, and it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t—

Crowley snarls and hurls his glass at the wall behind the bar. He’d given Dean a chance at something extraordinary, at a life free from the burden of having to give a damn about—about anything, and this was the thanks he got? For risking his life and helping Dean get the Mark and the Blade and indulging each and every one of Dean’s puerile, hedonistic, dive bar-centric whims every day for the past six months? This was what Dean gave him in return? Hadn’t they been more than that, been...been friends, been—

“Think of it,” he says conspiratorially to Dean. “The King of Hell, Dean Winchester by his side. Together, we rule. Together, we create the perfect Hell. And all of this that’s bloomed between us never ends…”

Well, so much for that, Crowley seethes. He seizes the bottle of Jameson and takes one final swig before slinging it forward to shatter alongside the remnants of his glass. So much for him and Dean and Growley and Squirrel and the whole great, big, fat, bloody lot of it!

Did you honestly think he’d say yes? jeers a judging, contemptuous voice from one of the older, more deeply hated recesses of his mind. Crowley recognizes the voice all too well—it is, after all, his own. Dean Winchester, the Righteous Man, on your side? Anyone, ever, on your side? You were all too keen to call out Dean’s indiscretion with Lester, but did it ever occur to you, pot, that you were calling the kettle black? What do you think you are, hmm?

Crowley’s eyes fall on the First Blade, and a moment later it’s in his grasp. He hesitates; then, slowly, he brings the Blade up and runs it down the palm of his other hand…

A ribbon of red blooms in the Blade’s wake. Crowley watches as for a moment, the blood continues to flow…then disappears when the cut vanishes entirely, which is…good. It’s good. Plus one for demonic healing, and all that…

What was it you said to Dean? interjects the voice in an odious purr. 'Why don’t you do us all a great big favor and pick a bloody—'

Sod off, Crowley bites back, clenching his teeth and forcing himself to sit up straighter on the barstool. He doesn’t need to—He knows perfectly well what he is, damn it: he’s an arsehole, a bastard, an irredeemable villain of the highest degree, and he doesn't need anyone, least of all Dean sodding Winchester, on his bloody side! He’d somehow forgotten that over the past year or so, lost his previously unfailing sense of demonic clarity and allowed himself to get swallowed up in…in feelings, but no more. From now on, he’d be strong, would go back to thinking strictly of himself and his own best interests without losing any proverbial sleep over it, and if Dean ever did sort himself out enough to decide to pick up the phone and call him up for old time’s sake, well, then Crowley simply wouldn’t answer.

To prove it to himself, he pulls his phone from his pocket and thumbs the power button, ready to pull up his contacts and block Dean’s number once and for all, and…and as his lock screen flares to life, he finds himself staring at a photo of him and Dean, taken months ago at some middle-of-nowhere dusty dive bar whose name Crowley can’t even remember, and yet—

“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” he grumbles to Dean as they step out of the Impala, the ridiculous cowboy hats Dean had found at the last petrol station and insisted on buying perched squarely on their heads. “When this is over, I expect you to honor our agreement. For the next week, I pick the music.”

Dean rolls his eyes. “Whatever, man. Just do what you can to avoid cramping my style, all right? Unlike you, I plan on getting laid tonight."

The next few hours pass in a haze of cheap beer, loud country music, and the constant clack of cue sticks against resin as Dean hustles three different sods at pool…and Crowley loves every minute of it. He can’t help but marvel at how wondrous it is to see Dean like this, free and uninhibited in his flirtation not just with women but also men, the part of him that Crowley had long suspected to be locked away now on vivid, unabashed display for whoever feels like looking…and Crowley finds that he does feel like looking. He watches as Dean bends low over the pool table and expertly sinks the final 8-ball into the designated corner pocket, much to the consternation of his latest victim, and he wonders…

A few minutes later, he and Dean are back at their table, laughing and toasting Dean’s victory with fresh mugs of beer that Crowley’s starting to think isn’t so bad after all, when one of the servers walks by, and Crowley, in a moment of inspiration, holds out his phone and asks her to take his and Dean’s picture.

“Admit it,” Dean says with a wink, sounding more than a little drunk as he leans in and flicks the brim of Crowley’s hat. “You’re startin’ to like it, aren’tcha.”

And maybe it’s the booze, or maybe it’s the company, or maybe it’s the fact that Crowley can’t remember a time in recent memory where he’s enjoyed himself as much as he has tonight, but he feels himself smile back. “Maybe I am,” he concedes, and Dean laughs and claps him on the shoulder just as the flash goes off…

“Sir?” calls a voice, ripping Crowley from his reverie and setting him squarely back in the present. “Uh, Your Evilness?”

Crowley blinks, vaguely aware that two of his minions have appeared behind him, but he doesn’t respond. Instead, he unlocks his phone and goes to his photo album, flicking through the files until he finds the one of him and Dean he’d set as his lock screen.

“Sir?” says the same minion as before. “Sir, it’s time to move on.”

And it is, isn’t it? Time to move on. Time to forget about Dean Winchester once and for all, to cut out this…this weakness at its source. Time to go back to being what he truly is, what he always has been, what he always will be…

Crowley hesitates, his finger hovering over the delete icon.

“You know why I always defeat you?” he says to Sam and Dean what seems like a lifetime ago, in Bobby’s junkyard. “It’s your humanity. It’s a built-in handicap. You always put emotion ahead of good old-fashioned common sense…”

A second ticks by. Then another. Then another. Crowley stares at the image on the screen in front of him…and then he pockets his phone, allows one of his minions to help him with his coat, and leaves the bar without looking back.

[violet-prism-creatively]

For some reason, Tumblr won't let me add alt text to the art I posted with Ao3 links to fic. So here's just my two pictures for the @do-it-with-style-events reverse mini bang, with image descriptions.

Image description: A drawing in colored pencil of Aziraphale and Crowley in Crowley's plant room. Aziraphale holds a potted peace lily and has a worried expression. On the other side of a plant shelf, Crowley sits on the floor, his knees drawn up, holding a potted lavender plant and snarling at it.

Fic: Grow Better (Together) by Supergeek21

Image description: A digital drawing of Aziraphale and Crowley in a snowy environment, with green Northern Lights in the night sky behind them. Aziraphale kneels in a red summoning circle with his wings out, red pentagram symbols burning his clothing and skin in some places. He looks up at Crowley, who is pointing a flaming sword at him with a pained expression. Both characters are dressed in 18th- or 19th-century clothing.

Fic: So Desperate Grown by Snowfilly1

[crowleybigbang]

To Reclaim A Throne

In this gloomy Monday, we exceptionally bring a little solace - don't get used to it, though...

@hectatess combined the prompts "Our chief weapons are fear, surprise, and..." & "Cellphone reception" for a delightful story.

Just head over to the trusty AO3, go and shower the author with love. This is an order, of course.

[hobbitual-psychick-art-stuff]

Finally the time has come to post my Crowley Big Bang 2023 art and story!

My prompt cards for the Crowley Against Humanity 2023 big bang were:

In the Seventh Circle of Hell Sinners Must Endure—

And: A bespoke Suit

A story in which Crowley descends to the seventh circle of Hell on an errand and finds himself pondering the shape of things.

Posting October 9th

[drconstellation]

More Half-and-Half-A-Miracle Thoughts

Part 2: The Dark side of Aziraphale

Updated 10 Nov 2023

Part 1: Miracle Power Ranking is here. Part 3: The Third Archangel is here

There was one that thing that struck me about the miracle working scene: why did Gabriel offer crossed hands to the duo?

Gabriel offers his right, his good, heavenly angel-sided hand to Crowley first, and his left, his sinister-sided demon hand to Aziraphale.

And this is NOT an accident.

Its been observed that Gabriel, in his amnesiac state like this, has reverted back to a more base-state angelic being, one of joy, and love, and curiosity. He's acting on instinct here.

Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. The demon has more light in him than the angel, and Gabriel and can feel that instinctively. This really shouldn't be a surprise to us, its been in our face all along. Now don't get me wrong - Crowley is still a demon, and Aziraphale is still an angel, I'm not saying that they aren't. Mostly we talk about how Crowley isn't all that much of a demon at heart, just "going along with Hell as far as [he] can," but we don't really talk about much about that other side of Aziraphale other than wishing to see more of his BAMF! side.

You know what - its a side that thanks to all of the rest you ops and meta-ists out that that I've come to both fear and appreciate. And let me tell you, if I found myself in a dark alley on a bad night I would hope to God it was Crowley I bumped into , because I feel he would at least give me the choice to walk out alive. I don't think Aziraphale would, I would be at the mercy of how ever he decided he wanted to manipulate the situation...and I find that rather chilling.

Crowley might be the charred demon with a heart of gold, but Aziraphale is the two-sided bastard of an angel he loves. All bright light casts a shadow. Its easy for us to be blinded by the shining light of goodness and right and the side of God (er, hang on, isn't the GO God an eldritch horror in disguise...?) and not be able to see what is hiding behind it.

We rarely see the back of Aziraphale's waistcoat, because he is rarely seen without an overcoat on, a covering of social propriety. There is the noticeable occasion in S2E1 when Crowley comes back to do the apology dance then they perform the hiding miracle (see screenshot below, and it was still hard to chose a good angle for all it went on for several minutes!) and perhaps in S1 when he spends all night reading Agnes Nutter's book. Both times its only in the privacy of the book shop, under the cover of night. So its easy to miss that the color of the back panel is a most un-angelic color: a dark viridian green. I know I keep banging on about this, but its important, and in more ways than one.

[Edit: Since I first wrote this, I've written a mega-meta on all the colours in GO, and some of the following interpretation has changed a little - but the significance of the green still stands!]

All the angels wear some form of a pale colored neutral palette, ranging from white to beige to taupe (white, off-white shades and shades of brown,) with dove-grey for the known in-show seraphim, Gabriel, Michael, Uriel and Saraqael. Gold and blue are also associated with Heaven. But Aziraphale is the only angel to wear green and shades of blue-green. He's quite unique in that department.

The colors of Hell are completely different. Black, lots of black. And red, different shades of red. The demons are actually quite a colourful lot, but do tend towards the darker shades. Red is a colour of passion, not just a demonic colour, although it can be associated with the demonic sinister left hand side. The main colour of Hell is actually green - the thick green light that you almost of have to swim through in the crowded halls of Hell, and examples like the green stag on Furfur's sash. It represents chaos, in competition to the rigid lawful nature of Heaven.

So while Aziraphale mostly presents a socially acceptable angelic front, its telling only Crowley has properly glimpsed that dark, shady, bit-of-a-bastard unpredictable side to him - and likes it. (More from Cobragardens about it here in 1793 Paris and 1601 at the Globe.) I mean, come on - this is a being that sent a man to his death so he could go on lunch date? A lunch date he practically concocted just so he could see Crowley. wtf? A being of love who was about to shoot the Antichrist to stop Armageddon? A being who quietly and efficiently discouraged the mafia who threatened to set the book shop on fire from ever returning? (See, told you I didn't want to meet him a dark alley...) Plus we saw him mind-control a whole roomful of people for his Jane Austen-themed ball, just to woo his beloved demon, with no thought of the possible collateral damage. I'm sorry, is this the same "guardian angel" we were all glowing over earlier?

The coat lapel as wings theory adds some weight to this hidden dark side of Aziraphale as well. Aziraphale's lapels always point downwards, towards Hell. Particularly when he has been discorporated and returned to Heaven, where frustrated about being told he has to gear up for war, he instead wonders out loud if he can return to Earth to a possess a body, reasoning that if demons can, he must be able to as well. lmoa! You are so not an angel, my dear! Yet...he isn't a demon either. He's almost...a bit of both. Two sides to a coin. A blend of light and dark. Shades of grey...although he doesn't like to admit it.

Image by lomiel

Back to the shadow-like green panel on the back of the waistcoat.

Actually, on second thoughts, I'm going to put that in Part 3.

[anironsidh]

My art for the @do-it-with-style-events reverse mini bang 2023 with fic by @ineffable-doll

Aziraphale and the bookshop

Crowley and his plant shop

Nina and the coffee shop

Maggie and the record shop ft Muriel

And finally, the link to the wonderful fic inspired by the art 😁

[spnproshipbang]

SPN Pro-Ship Bang 2023 Masterlist

It's been a wild few months—thanks to all our contributors, and even more to all our readers! If you missed any, here's the masterlist for this year's submissions.

1. Jump then fall (you all over me)

Author: @restingdeanface Artist: @ncdover1285

Read on Ao3

Check out the art!

2. Searching for the Hand That I Can Hold

Author: @eninkahootz Artist: @midnightsilver

While Dean is trapped in Purgatory, Sam searches for him so intently that he hardly sleeps. When he does sleep, Lucifer haunts his dreams. Thanks to a witch named Rowena and a rogue reaper named Ajay, Sam is reunited with Dean in Purgatory but ends up with no way to get them home. He learns that Dean, Cas, and a vampire named Benny have a plan to get out via a distant portal. As the four of them journey through the woods to get to the portal, Sam hides the fact that he never stopped having psychic powers. Although they must regularly battle monsters and sustain injuries, the group enjoys the simple pleasures of living amidst nature. Sam and Dean grow closer as the months pass. Cas and Benny show signs of mutual attraction, and Sam wishes Dean would open up to the possibility of their relationship becoming romantic as well. Will Sam and Dean ever become a couple? Will Sam ever come to terms with his psychic powers? Will the four of them ever make it home?

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3. i'm so sorry (that you have to have a body)

Author: @archangelsammy Artist: @brothersinablackcar

Lucifer is still in Sam's head. Sam would say something about that, except he kind of likes being possessed.

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4. Diplomatic Measures

Author: @ladylilithprime Artist: @hawkland

Sam Winchester was taking a Saturday breather to read just for the enjoyment of it when a pair of no longer dead Angels come calling with an offer he absolutely could refuse but doesn't want to.

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5. Pen Pals

Author: @zrterria Artist: @oopsimfade

Gabriel was just doing his job punishing the wicked when he found a letter from a sad child. Thinking on it, he decided to write back. Things change when there is a kind ear to listen and an archangel willing to step in at a moments notice.

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6. Wherever I Am...There You Are

Author: @ncdover1285 Artist: @alexiescherryslurpy

Dean uses a spell to travel to the past, and the future, and back. It gets a little confusing, but whenever he lands, Crowley is there to help him anyway he can… until he isn't.

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7. A Tale of Two Brothers

Author: @sam-and-dean-codependency Artist: amberdreams

On November 2nd, 1983, the Winchester home was enveloped in flame, and parents John and Mary were found dead in the morning. Their sons, Sam and Dean, were nowhere to be found. While the town of Lawrence, Kansas, eventually forgot about the family, Sam and Dean were being held by Heaven and Hell to fulfill their great destinies in God's Plan. Dean held by Heaven with Castiel as his trainer and Sam held by Hell with Crowley as his caregiver. When the two brothers meet ahead of schedule, no one could've predicted what happened next.

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8. Found a Place in Independence

Author: @sweet-sammy-kisses Artist: @pasta-n00dles

Independence is a place where the outcasts can come and find a place where they belong. No questions asked, if you had no place to belong well then Independence was the place for you.

The Winchester’s had searched for a place like that where they could be happy and let the ghosts of their past be just that in the past.

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9. Always The Wolf You Know

Author: @babyboykingsammy Artist: @blindswandive

The Winchester Boys have never had any easy life, their upbringing being supervised by a man hell-bent on vengeance for his murdered wife, and have largely been left to their own devices. If Dean's behavior, as the only Alpha his Omega brother, Sam, has had to turn to for love and affection, has become something with sharp teeth and long claws, well... It mattered not to him. Sam had always been his to love, cherish, and protect, and Dean would do anything within his power to ensure that he was the only one that Sam looked at as if he hung the moon.

There was no other bonds, familial or otherwise, that mattered as much to the two young Winchester boys as the relationships they had with each other.

If Dean had to fight to keep all of Sam's affection to himself he would do it. Even if it meant going after the one Alpha that they should have looked up to, their father, John Winchester.

There would never be a price Dean would not be willing to pay to keep his darling Sammy forever by his side.

Never.

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10. Beauty and the Beast of Below

Author: @ladyknightskye Artist: @spn-fanfic-reblog-writes

Fending off an unwanted advance leaves Dean Winchester in a bind - literally. He wakes up about to be auctioned off in one of the slave markets of the Below, the seedy underbelly of the City of Enoch. However, all of this is further complicated by the fact that Dean is the Michael Sword - the only person in the entire city whose internal hardware is immune to being hijacked.

Or so he thought. Enter Lucifer - the first Michael Sword. Lucifer buys Dean under the pretense of using him as a sex slave. In reality, Lucifer knows how dangerous Dean can be, and wants to use him to help take over the Below.

As Dean and Lucifer get closer, they begin to realize that Dean’s abduction was not an accident at all.

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11. Living His Grey Flannel Life

Author: @samanddean76 Artist: @girlsvmonsters

Jimmy Novak is a 21-year-old twink working his corner in Papillion when he is attacked by a long-term client. As he struggles to escape, he is rescued by a big, strong, and mysterious stranger named Sam Winchester. When Jimmy wakes the next morning, he flees the safety of the strange motel room as his life has taught him that he can never expect good things to come his way. And he can’t help but to be suspicious when a few days later, Sam pulls up to Jimmy’s corner and buys some of his time. But as Sam keeps coming back, night after night, Jimmy wants to simply surrender to the irresistible pull he feels towards his savior. The problem with that scenario? Jimmy is losing chunks of time, waking up in strange clothes, remembering chilling images as he apparently helped Sam bring justice to those who had viciously hurt him in the past. Jimmy is beginning to do things that he had never done before. And then Jimmy comes back to himself and finds that Sam has been badly injured. Will the arrival of Bobby and Rufus save the day or only deepen his confusion? And when will the little voice in the back of his head ever stop trying to convince him to just put all of his faith into Sam?

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12. on a stormy sea of moving emotion

Author: @izzyaro Artist: @alexiescherryslurpy

Dean is sick of angels. From orchestrating the Apocalypse to shattering Sam’s Wall, all they’ve done is cause trouble.

Balthazar is no exception to that rule, but there might just be more to him than that.

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13. A Stairway to Heaven

Author: @atwojay Artist: @hawklander

Dean never understood why his best friend (and crush) just up and left after graduation, and he'd probably ask him what the hell all that was about now that he sees him again after ten years of no contact... if Dean wasn't too busy being shot and bleeding out on the floor of the Crashdown Cafe. Good thing Cas has some kinda superpowers, or this reunion might have ended before it even got started.

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14. What Happens In Vegas

Authors: @lord-angelfish, @callalilycas Artist: smallscalemajestic

wherein the boys first go on a hunt, dean wants to go to vegas, and they proceed to get absolutely wasted (ft. sam's admittedly very clever spellwork getting cas drunk). oh, and they get married. but not legally.

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15. Put My Feet on the Ground

Author: @hello-starling Artist: @thegoodthebadandtheart

In the wake of the defeat of Chuck, Sam takes a chance with Dean that puts them both on a different path. While navigating a sexual relationship after years of trauma, they build a new life together.

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16. It's Rest I Want

Author: @klove0511 Artist: @imnot-evenhere

After John's betrayal results in Sam's death, Dean follows in the Winchester family tradition and swears vengeance on his father. The question is: is Sam really gone?

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17. The Devil's Triangle

Author: @quicksilver-castiel Artist: @keziahrainalso

After everything, when all is said and done, God beaten and all that good stuff, Dean figured that life would go on as he knew it, just with a few fewer ends of the world.

As it turns out, he instead gets a bunch of changes, including Sam moving out of and Lucifer and Nick moving into the bunker. That last one is temporary, of course, lasting only until they can trust that the archangel and her vessel aren't going to cause one of the aforementioned ends of the world again.

At least Dean hopes that it's temporary - that is, until he doesn't anymore.

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18. Until the End of it All

Author: TheLemonrevenge Artist: Outofnowhere82

Season 3 canon divergence. Dean does not go to Hell thanks to something Sam has done. Of course nothing is free and the costs change them both.

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19. heaven, hell, and the human heart

Author: @saltbind Artist: @pentacentric

Sam isn’t about to let Dean suffer for his sake. It’s not like there isn’t historical precedent for travelling through Hell as a human - if he even still counts as that. With Ruby as a seemingly reluctant ally, and a cadre of rogue angels watching him carefully, he’s going to take a leaf out of Dante’s book. And possibly upend Hell’s carefully wrought hierarchy in the process.

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20. A Study in Winchester Transgenderism

Author: @boywifesammy Artist: @outofnowhere82

Dean shows up at Sam's Stanford apartment expecting to find his little sister, and instead finds a 6'4 dude with his sister's face and a voice an octave too deep. It takes a while for Dean to wrap his head around Sam being trans. It takes him even longer to understand why he struggles to look his little brother in the eye, and why he can't stop staring at his bare chest.

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21. In True Love's Shadow

Author: @avalonsilver Artist: @oopsimfade

A Fantasy Royalty! AU weaving through Adam Milligan’s family history on his Mother's side. From his great grandparents accepting the Archangel Michael's help down to Adam's mother working at the palace, catching King John Winchester's eye and then Adam's life as a prince — involving him being at odds with his eldest half-brother Dean and falling in love with someone unexpected. Adam is the youngest Prince of the most powerful kingdom in all the realms, Exalos. The Mainland continent of Wislira depends on Exalos's strength through the certainty of male heirs. Prince Adam is the illegitimate third son of King John. Adam's maternal grandfather, Noah Milligan, is wildly famous on Exalos. Many would be just fine with his grandson becoming King. At twenty, Prince Adam is faced with being the next King of Exalos. Although he may die before he is ever crowned King. The Archangel Michael is at the center of a secret that leaves Adam facing Death's door. Adam needs to make a life-changing decision.

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22. Naamah's Secret

Author: @samisadeangirl Artist: @ladylilithprime

Prince Samuel de la Courcel, middle child of the king and queen of Terre d'Ange, goes to the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers to pay for the services of one of their adepts, Dean Champbelle nó Eglantine, after hearing him sing and spends a steamy night together; however, Sam neglects to tell Dean that they’re half-brothers--that the king had had an illicit affair with Dean’s mother before marrying the queen—because he’d become enamored with Dean's beauty and music. As the two continue their passionate relationship and fall in love, how long can Sam keep their familial connection a secret from Dean before the truth comes out, leaving him to determine how to atone for his deception?

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23. The Immortal Game

Author: @missroserose Artist: @ncdover1285

September, 2005. Jessica Moore is focused on acing her final year at Stanford, passing her medical school entrance exams, and figuring out her boyfriend Sam—all of which leaves very little time for sorting through her strained family relationships, or wondering about her missing cousin, or remembering the charming green-eyed drifter she slept with some months back. But when she gets a strange call from her best friend Brady, kidnapped by a cult while home for the summer, she and Sam set out to find him—and along the way, she discovers her part in a sprawling chess match that not only involves Sam’s family secrets, but her own as well.

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24. (Not) Wanted: Alpha for Heats

Author: @outofnowhere82 Artist: @blindswandive

Sam has been suffering his heat for over a week. He needs an alpha but isn't interested in using a stranger for his heats any longer. Dean makes him an offer.

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