#SAMMY YOU RISKED IT ALL BECAUSE YOU'RE GAY

[swan2swan]

Been wanting to use this gif a lot. Hadn't made it.

Also, yeesh, this scene.

[scoobydoodean]

I'll also acknowledge that in this scene in 4.04, Dean is REALLY upset. Right? More than we've seen before. MUCH more. Three reasons for this:

First, the angels are breathing down Dean's neck about it.

CASTIEL You brother is headed down a dangerous road, Dean, and we're not sure where it leads. So stop it. Or we will.

Second, Dean doesn't want Sam to experience what he did. Dean himself was corrupted into demonhood in the Pit, and becoming a demon himself and joyfully inflicting torture on others is what traumatizes Dean the most about Hell—more than the torture that was inflicted on him. He's seen what demons are capable of. He's been one. He sees where this is headed. It's terrifying to think of Sam experiencing a similar fate.

Third, Dean is not a stranger to demonic influence. Dean himself made a demon deal, and he was being enticed to make the deal he made in 2.22 as early as 2.08 Crossroad's Blues. Their father made a demon deal, which influenced Dean's own deal (believing he "came back wrong" and that he didn't belong here and dying himself would set things right; wanting to be released from the burden of John's cryptic dying words). And now here was Ruby in 3.16, trying to entice Sam into using demonic powers by dangling Dean's life over Sam's head. She was maneuvering to tear apart the last remaining shreds of Dean's legacy before he was even dead. Dean rejected this passionately. He saw Sam about to go behind his back, he outsmarted Ruby, and he stood his ground on getting to choose himself how his own fate would decided. He refused to have his death become the reason Sam was sent down a dark path, no matter what Ruby (full of shit btw) promised.

DEAN Sam. We are not gonna make the same mistake all over again. SAM You said that but what does it even mean? DEAN Don't you see a pattern here? Dad's deal, my deal, now this? I mean every time one of us is – is – is up the creek the other is begging to sell their soul. That's all this is, man. Ruby's just jerking your chain down the road. You know what it's paved with and you know where it's going. SAM Dean. What do you think is gonna happen? This is me, I can handle it. And if it'll save you... DEAN Why even risk it? SAM Because you're my brother. Because you did the same thing for me. DEAN I know... and look how that turned out. All I'm saying... Sammy, all I'm saying is that you're my weak spot. You are. And I'm yours. SAM You don't mean that. We're… we're family. DEAN I know. And those evil sons of bitches know it too. I mean, what we'll do for each other, you know, how far we'll go? They're using it against us. SAM So what? We just stop looking out for each other? DEAN No, we stop being martyrs, man. We – we – we stop spreading it for these demons. DEAN We take this knife, and we go after Lilith our way. The way Dad taught us to. And if we go down, then, uh... then we go down swinging.

Sam himself, in 4.01, refers to not working with Ruby or using the powers she wanted him to use to save Dean as "Practically [Dean's] dying wish". Dean died scared, but also proud. He was relieved that he got to choose how his own death went down. He thought he got to choose not to have his death used to lead someone else to destruction. This is the first time Dean really gets to (or thinks he gets to) choose that. He didn't choose for a gay man who was the target of a homophobic pastor's wife to die in his place in 1.12, but it happened. He didn't choose for John to bring him back to life in exchange for his own soul and go to hell for eternity, while leaving Dean with horrible guilt and terrifying cryptic words that assigned him responsibility for the rest of Sam's life. Dean thought he DID get to choose this. It was the one consolation he had before his death, as he faced down an eternity of torture, and Sam knew that:

Look, you didn't want me to go down that road, so I didn't go down that road. It was practically your dying wish.

But while saying these words (in a tone where he sounds offended that Dean would question him)... this is exactly what Sam was doing. So Dean is seeing that Sam pissed all over his grave quite knowingly, while telling Dean to his face: "I would NEVER I can't believe you'd think that of me."

Wanna point something out that I think really really tends to get lost within fandom discussion on the subject:

What's scary about Sam's powers isn't Sam's powers. What's scary about Sam's powers is what the demons might want Sam to do with them.

[destieldisaster]

05x10 - Abandon All Hope

MotW: Lucifer, Meg, some hellhounds

Any Cas? Yesssss

HI CROWLEY, IT'S GOOD TO SEE YOU, NOW DO A GAY KISS

THE ZOOM ON CAS WITH THE "got him" GODDDD

"Going down" Cas don't say things like that to Dean, he might explode 😏

HUGGY BEAR

Nice, Jo

Heh, of course Crowley's mad about them ruining his rug

Wow, killing off his own demons right away

"But I forgot you two, at best, are functioning morons" Crowley's already talking like they've know each other for years

"Hey, you're functioning morons.." Dean, what?

"I'm in sales, damn it!"

"You wouldn't happen to know where the devil is, by chance, would you?" what the hell is this conversation???

Wow, ungrateful much, Sammy? Crowley's not a complete idiot, thankfully

CAS DOING SHOTS WITH ELLEN AND JO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH DUDE

"Sam Winchester having trust issues with a demon. Well, better late than never" SAVAGE DEAN

"Since when have we ever done anything smart?" WHO WROTE THIS EPISODE???

Dean, stop flirting with Jo, your boyfriend is right there..

"Sweetheart, if this is our last night on earth, then I'm going to spend it with a little thing I call self-respect" VERY NICE, JO

FAMILY PICTURE

"Ever heard of a door handle?" "Of course I have" Caaaaaaas ilysm

Shiiiit, Luci trapped Cas, that's Not Good

FUCK YES, Cas is loyal

"I'll die first" Cas, baby, no

Oh no no no, JOOOO

Holy fuck Jo, you're gonna BLOW YOURSELF UP?

"See you on the other side" SO WHY WASN'T SHE THERE THEN?

No. Fuck. Ellen too. Fuck fuck fuck.

Taking a moment to deal with this because we just lost two amazing characters and that scene was so emotional and then that explosion.. I'm crying here

OKAY, the boys are going in. The last words moment was nice. Let's GO.

I knew the Colt wouldn't work anyway, but still annoyed at Dean wasting time sassing and risking Luci vanishing

But he did get him and he didn't miss and it was honestly a great moment! The tension was built up so well and then this moment of release where everyone takes an unsure breath..

But this isn't some random demon, this is actual Lucifer, so he gets back up again and they are FUCKED

Ohhh, he mentions Detroit

That.. is a lot of dead people

"They're just demons" Luci proving Crowley's point

Meg really believes they're gonna win. Also: Clarence!

HE LITERALLY USED HER AS A BRIDGE AND WALKED OVER HER TO GET OUT OF THE TRAP. CAS YOU FUCKING LEGEND

(also i see the show trying to get me to care about megstiel, but in this scene all i see is meg being interested and cas using her as something to step on)

"Oh, hello, Death" that right there is a good line

Oh nooooo, don't burn the picture! Jesus fucking christ this episode..

[awed-frog]

I saw one of your tags say that you're not sure Sam would be ok with Destiel and I'm curious why. Do you think it'd be like the Benny situation again or something else? I didn't ship Denny but I don't think Sam likes when someone else comes before him in Dean's eyes. (I can't see Sam not liking Desitle as a homophobic thing, but ya never know.) Anyway I'm genuinely curious because I could see Sam not exactly like a shipper but ultimately ok with it.

Hi! I have to say, I’m always torn when I hear about people reading my tags, because on the one hand I’m vain and prideful and they’re written to be read, but on the other, tagging is like talking to yourself, so - *blushes slightly*.

Anyway, first things first - before I discovered what a fandom was, I was a total sucker for shipper!Sam. My doubts didn’t begin until after I’d read a shitload of fanfiction about it, and something really rotten in my brain was like, What if Sam wasn’t okay with it, though? because I always like to be contrary and to turn things on their heads and see how they work and if they still work. So I’ve got no real problems with shipper!Sam. It’s just - I sometimes wonder - generally when I’m writing myself - what would be more interesting from a narrative point of view - if it’d be better to have Sam in the background, hanging up mistletoe and leaving The letter of the day is B leaflets around the Bunker or if it’d be easier for Dean to have something to push against. I think a case could be made either way - but if TPTB would have wanted to go down that first road, they probably wouldn’t have killed off Charlie, since she would have been (and she probably was) an even better shipper and wingman than Sam.

That said, I have two arguments against shipper!Sam.

One: Sam is way more messed up than he lets on, and some part of it is terrified not only that Dean will walk away, but that Dean will fall in love with someone and actually pursue that. I know I’ve seen this discussion go down somewhere, but I honestly don’t remember who first came up with this - apologies, guys - the fact that Sam is an all or nothing kind of guy. Like, when he went to Stanford, that was it - he never contacted John, or even Dean, again. For years. And the same happened when he was with Amelia - he just - I don’t know, cut himself off? I’m not sure if it’s his personality, or a by-product of his less than ideal childhood, but Sam’s got trouble to let people into his life, and once they’re in, it’s like there isn’t room for anyone else? Which is a childish trait, of course, and it signals a lack of emotional maturity on his part (not surprising - poor Sammy). And since Sam tends to relate with other people through his own experiences, part of him surely assumes Dean’s exactly the same; that if Dean found himself a new best friend, or a better hunting partner, or even a spouse of some kind, he’d just walk away and that would be it. So in this sense, Sam would feel threatened by any relationship Dean could potentially develop, not only by Cas.

Two, we used to see Sam as the shades of grey brother, but the amazing thing about this show is that Sam and Dean went through a lot of character development resulting in them almost swapping the roles they had in the first seasons - and yet all this feels natural and completely believable. So these days, Dean’s more likely to be the one who gives monsters a pass (hell, look at his relationship with Crowley), while Sam’s become sort of judgemental and what needs must. I think it was Ruby, most of all, who scarred Sam from the inside out and made him so much more conservative, or pragmatic (like, look at him now - he’s more willing than Dean to work with the BMoL, because he’s Mr Head Choice or something). Sam took a huge risk in liking and trusting Ruby, and it all hinged on a sort of anti-racism argument - an I don’t care if she’s a demon, because even demons can be nice and Our biology doesn’t determine our destiny and whatever else. Dean had shut him down about this, of course, but Sam had persisted - and I know there were other elements at play here, but to me, the central point was exactly this: a pigheaded and generous and noble willingness to trust a creature you don’t understand at all and you’ve got no reason to trust. Now, of course things are different with Cas, because Cas has proven, time and again, that Dean’s safety would be his number one priority and all that, but I’m still not convinced Sam would actively want that for Dean. After all, Sam’s seen this other, softer side of Dean’s - he’s seen him around kids (he remembers him from their shared childhood) and he’s heard (a bit) about how happy he was with Robin and whatever, so I sometimes feel Sam still wants the Sookie ending for Dean: a chance to have a true family of his own, and a life Dean could finally lead in full view of everybody, without shame or weirdness or sigils carved on the walls. And I’m not sure this is something Cas would be able to give Dean.

Finally, there’s the whole bisexuality deal. Here, I have to say - I don’t know what to think. I’m sure Sam’s got no problem with queer people, but it’s always slightly different when it’s your family, right? And there are days I think Sam must know - Jesus, they’ve been sharing a room for thirty years - and days when I think that no, that parent/child thing they’ve got going is way too strong for Sam to see the whole picture (to even think about it). 

(Like, I know it was supposed to be funny and that I’m reading too much into it, but Sam recoiling when Rowena suggested he undress Dean and check his chest hair or something - to me, that was emblematic of how their relationship works. Dean’s changed Sam’s diapers, has helped him to get dressed for years, surely bathed him and watched him play with that one plastic submarine they’d scavenged somewhere and, years later, he stitched him up and massaged weird herbal salves over his bruises and whatever - but to Sam, of course, it’s weird to think about his brother’s body at all, because that’s the relationship we have with our parents: when you actually have to take care of them that way, it means things have got very bad and very scary.)

In any case, at the very least Sam would be worried about Dean’s safety (and there’s always that heartbreaking thing, right, that if you’re bi and you can be happy with a woman - man, it’d be so much easier) - but one big reason to be optimistic in this sense was this new development we’ve seeing - that openly gay hunters can actually exist in the community without being bothered. 

(Then again, judging from the news coming about the US, I sometimes feel Dean and Cas could have their college AU life only in a big city, and not in one of those wild, road off to the horizon states where Dean feels most at home. So, well - I really don’t know.)

Anyway - we know so little about Sam, it’s likely that anything could work concerning his approach to the Destiel situation. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

[swan2swan]

The most we got was a guy who could be her Californian uncle hugging her and looking happy. And they were (as I always say, very rightfully) deliberately choosing to avoid even suggesting that homophobia existed, which is great. This show might want to go for something heavier...but, yeah, they may also do it through dinosaurs.

The only other real option I can think of is her Dinosaur Piracy. Bringing a not-really-legal dinosaur onto her property and endangering herself and her family. That would tie into the plot, so it could work well.

The way I see it, though, the reason coming up has to be Relevant to Furthering the Plot. To that end, there are three main options:

Homophobia to push Yaz and Sammy's relationship forward, possibly onto marriage. Her making a Decision. That's kinda unlikely, because I don't see how it's gonna happen (unless they Tom Sawyer it and have her family be "OH NOW THAT SHE'S DEAD WE'RE SORRY", but that's gonna be tight).

Tie it into dinosaur operations. Sammy meets a dinosaur smuggler who got Bumpy to her, meets up with Mae again and talks about her family, it all ties into the Dinosaur Smuggling Concept.

Something about her relationship with Brooklynn and the way she dealt with her death, bringing things up when she sees her again. Maybe Sammy covered for Brooklynn on a caper and her parents said "You're risking your life and gonna get hurt! Let her get hurt on her own if she wants to play games!", and then when she died they pulled an ill-timed "I told you so" and Sammy stormed out.

Or maybe her family got mad because she's going through a gay phase thanks to the influence of that reckless, dead Brooklynn girl who smuggled an illegal dinosaur. Why stop at one reason?

Okay, but

Sammy totally got ostracized from her family for being gay didn't she

They're gonna tackle this issue head-on and it's gonna be heavy.