Sam/Dean and J2 recs from spn_holidays
I'm sure most people are aware of the spn_holidays challenge that recently occurred (and if not, you're in for a treat, as there was so much awesome fic!) The majority of the gifts have been posted now, and I've collected a recs post of everything that I enjoyed from the community :D! There was a LOT of awesome stuff posted, and this can hopefully point the way if you're feeling overwhelmed by how much there was, or hopefully point out some fics you might not have otherwise read.
All Sam/Dean and J2, as those are my personal preferences ;)
Sam/Dean
Extremist Means by dreamlittleyo - NC-17; Sam gets Dean back from Hell, and they have to go through Purgatory to get back out. Awesome atmosphere of the greyness of this Purgatory, the oddness of events there, with some really hot sex and an awesome ending.
It's A Life by xzombiexkittenx - NC-17; please persevere despite the annoyingly formatted font!! It's allegedly a Winchester version of It's A Wonderful Life, except far from being a happy Christmas story, it's a long (~25,000 words), DARK, intense and complex story about Sam and his powers and demons and Dean and, just, GOD. Incredible, insightful, clever writing and a hell of a powerful story.
Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same by walkawayslowly - NC-17; really lovely post-deal first-time story, with the sex starting off as a hidden, secret thing, and slowly swimming to the surface that they both want just this. Which I LOVE. *_* also, incredibly hot sex, OMG.
Aurum by benitle - R; WATERSPORTS YAY! Um, obviously a warning for that. A careful, nicely-done look at this kink of Sam's with a really hot fulfilment, mmmmm.
Motel 6 by setissma - R; series of excellent little vignettes in motel rooms, with gentle, lovely schmoop *_*
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas by gilascave - PG-13; lovely, schmoopy little Christmas story with awesome presents and kissing *_*
A Little Teasing Never Hurt Anyone by sinoftheday - NC-17; cute little fic, with lovely teen Sam and some nice (non-graphic) sort-of Weecest, involving Sam's growing pains, a concept I am bizarrely fond of; also some really cute and hot older!Dean-in-glasses sex.
Resolution by aynslee - NC-17; gorgeous litle snippet of Sam and Dean in a post-apocalyptic world, though not dark and angst-filled - a quietly happy little piece with Sam finding somewhere safe to care for an ill Dean. Eee.
Punxsutawney by astolat - NC-17; OMFG, AMAZING. I don't want to give away the plot (if there's anyone left who hasn't read it) as it's fun to figure out at the beginning, but this is chock of full of genius humour, cleverness, angst, sex, and sweetness, everything a good Sam/Dean should be and written flawlessly.
Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts by musesfool - NC-17; an engaging and interesting casefile fic, set in Stanford, Palo Alto with a nice sense of place, and a lovely established Sam/Dean relationship woven through it.
We Meet Face to Face to Face by cormallen - NC-17; gorgeous D/s, subtly and carefully done, touching on Dean and his Daddy issues; a seriously hot broken, needy Dean, and guh.
Just a Hole in Arizona by dragojustine - NC-17; five different snippets of different times in their lives, all loosely centred around the Grand Canyon - just lovely. Especially great pre-Stanford!boys, painful and beautiful.
dreaming long grass and birds on the wire by oxoniensis - R; gorgeously done wingfic, with a lovely, lovely Sam, and beautiful writing.
A Little While by lizzypaul - PG-13; awesome outsider-POV fic, with Sam and Dean visiting Becky(from Skin) five years later. Very nicely done.
The Adventures of Dean Winchester and His Incredible Shrinking Penis by bitter_crimson - NC-17; a fun and really quite sexy genderswap/genderfuck fic.
Fianna by uschickens - PG-13; wow, AWESOME story. Sam disappears, and Dean attempts to cope. Lovely overall idea, and the Dean angst is awesomely done, omg. D:
More Than a Swindle by elohvee - R; a fantastic, sparse, tense first-time story, with great build-up and well-done resolution.
The Only Easy Way Is Up by mooyoo - NC-17; gorgeous fic, dealing with Dean and how he coped, or didn't, with Sam leaving for Stanford, and then coming back; fantastic, painful and then quietly hopeful. Lovely characterisations.
Paperwhites in bloom by estei - R; fabulous Weecest fic - well, Sam's 15, so it's underage but not hugely so. Gorgeous build of UST, with Dean wanting and Sam pushing until it breaks. Guh.
the future's open wide by cathybites - NC-17; short, sweet and awesomely hot fic, full of desperation and love, after Sam finally saves Dean.
J2
Witching Hour by queen_kiwi - NC-17; cute little first-time J2 fic, with nice snippets of Colin and Ridge on-set, and of their scene, Wee!chesters trick-or-treating.
L.A. Story by kestrelsan - NC-17; gorgeous story, with Jensen getting over Danneel and a lovely realistic growth of J2. Including some awesomely hot sex, omfg.
Can’t Point the Way to Your Heart by belyste - NC-17; OMFG *_* one of my favourite things from the whole exchange. A long first-time "AU in the vein of movies like Hitch - Jensen's an unofficial advice guru, and Jared's his latest project. Except while Jensen's supposed to be helping Jared end up with the woman of his dreams, he falls for him instead." YES, it is as awesome AND MORE than you think. Hilarious and so happy-making. <3!!
If At First You Don't Succeed, Suck Seed by balefully - NC-17; with a title like that, how can you not want to read? :D Hookerfic, except not one of those dark, gritty, uber-angst-filled ones where everyone has a Sordid Past; this is incredibly fun, shockingly sexy and hilarious, with a nice dollop of boys angsting to make everything the sweeter. Utter genius. Jensen's the resident male 'bunny' at the Moonlite BunnyRanch brothel in Nevada, and one day Jared walks in...
On a train heading west of nowhere special by frayen - R; cute little fic with a cute pining!Jensen and fun banter.
So Small A Turning by kashmir1 - NC-17; gorgeously hot Christmassy schmoop, with the boys decorating their tree. Perfect. :D
Break My Stride by apreludetoanend - R; in the interest of full disclosure, as the author says, but without spoiling, this also has Jared/Dean and implied Dean/Sam. Things that crossover the Js with SamnDean aren't always my cup of tea, but this is subtly and cleverly done. At times fun, sexy, hopeful and really sad, and overall awesome.
A Little Crazy Never Killed Nobody by storydivagirl - R; ADORABLE little schmoopy, fun snippet. Eee. Dancing! Cooking! <3
I Might Fall In Love With You But I'm Not Sure [So I'll Drop To My Knees] by affectingly - NC-17; nice little first-time story with muisunderstanding, cuteness and a REALLY hot blowjob, omg.
The Idiot's Guide To Making A Movie by sazzlette - R; a funny and quirky fic, a lot of fun and surprisingly sweet, where the Js work together again in a film noir. And wear fedoras.
Serious by jasmasson - NC-17; a fun and SO cute fic, with humour and also lovely h/c schmoop.
All Sam/Dean and J2, as those are my personal preferences ;)
Sam/Dean
Extremist Means by dreamlittleyo - NC-17; Sam gets Dean back from Hell, and they have to go through Purgatory to get back out. Awesome atmosphere of the greyness of this Purgatory, the oddness of events there, with some really hot sex and an awesome ending.
It's A Life by xzombiexkittenx - NC-17; please persevere despite the annoyingly formatted font!! It's allegedly a Winchester version of It's A Wonderful Life, except far from being a happy Christmas story, it's a long (~25,000 words), DARK, intense and complex story about Sam and his powers and demons and Dean and, just, GOD. Incredible, insightful, clever writing and a hell of a powerful story.
Everything Changes, Everything Stays the Same by walkawayslowly - NC-17; really lovely post-deal first-time story, with the sex starting off as a hidden, secret thing, and slowly swimming to the surface that they both want just this. Which I LOVE. *_* also, incredibly hot sex, OMG.
Aurum by benitle - R; WATERSPORTS YAY! Um, obviously a warning for that. A careful, nicely-done look at this kink of Sam's with a really hot fulfilment, mmmmm.
Motel 6 by setissma - R; series of excellent little vignettes in motel rooms, with gentle, lovely schmoop *_*
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas by gilascave - PG-13; lovely, schmoopy little Christmas story with awesome presents and kissing *_*
A Little Teasing Never Hurt Anyone by sinoftheday - NC-17; cute little fic, with lovely teen Sam and some nice (non-graphic) sort-of Weecest, involving Sam's growing pains, a concept I am bizarrely fond of; also some really cute and hot older!Dean-in-glasses sex.
Resolution by aynslee - NC-17; gorgeous litle snippet of Sam and Dean in a post-apocalyptic world, though not dark and angst-filled - a quietly happy little piece with Sam finding somewhere safe to care for an ill Dean. Eee.
Punxsutawney by astolat - NC-17; OMFG, AMAZING. I don't want to give away the plot (if there's anyone left who hasn't read it) as it's fun to figure out at the beginning, but this is chock of full of genius humour, cleverness, angst, sex, and sweetness, everything a good Sam/Dean should be and written flawlessly.
Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts by musesfool - NC-17; an engaging and interesting casefile fic, set in Stanford, Palo Alto with a nice sense of place, and a lovely established Sam/Dean relationship woven through it.
We Meet Face to Face to Face by cormallen - NC-17; gorgeous D/s, subtly and carefully done, touching on Dean and his Daddy issues; a seriously hot broken, needy Dean, and guh.
Just a Hole in Arizona by dragojustine - NC-17; five different snippets of different times in their lives, all loosely centred around the Grand Canyon - just lovely. Especially great pre-Stanford!boys, painful and beautiful.
dreaming long grass and birds on the wire by oxoniensis - R; gorgeously done wingfic, with a lovely, lovely Sam, and beautiful writing.
A Little While by lizzypaul - PG-13; awesome outsider-POV fic, with Sam and Dean visiting Becky(from Skin) five years later. Very nicely done.
The Adventures of Dean Winchester and His Incredible Shrinking Penis by bitter_crimson - NC-17; a fun and really quite sexy genderswap/genderfuck fic.
Fianna by uschickens - PG-13; wow, AWESOME story. Sam disappears, and Dean attempts to cope. Lovely overall idea, and the Dean angst is awesomely done, omg. D:
More Than a Swindle by elohvee - R; a fantastic, sparse, tense first-time story, with great build-up and well-done resolution.
The Only Easy Way Is Up by mooyoo - NC-17; gorgeous fic, dealing with Dean and how he coped, or didn't, with Sam leaving for Stanford, and then coming back; fantastic, painful and then quietly hopeful. Lovely characterisations.
Paperwhites in bloom by estei - R; fabulous Weecest fic - well, Sam's 15, so it's underage but not hugely so. Gorgeous build of UST, with Dean wanting and Sam pushing until it breaks. Guh.
the future's open wide by cathybites - NC-17; short, sweet and awesomely hot fic, full of desperation and love, after Sam finally saves Dean.
J2
Witching Hour by queen_kiwi - NC-17; cute little first-time J2 fic, with nice snippets of Colin and Ridge on-set, and of their scene, Wee!chesters trick-or-treating.
L.A. Story by kestrelsan - NC-17; gorgeous story, with Jensen getting over Danneel and a lovely realistic growth of J2. Including some awesomely hot sex, omfg.
Can’t Point the Way to Your Heart by belyste - NC-17; OMFG *_* one of my favourite things from the whole exchange. A long first-time "AU in the vein of movies like Hitch - Jensen's an unofficial advice guru, and Jared's his latest project. Except while Jensen's supposed to be helping Jared end up with the woman of his dreams, he falls for him instead." YES, it is as awesome AND MORE than you think. Hilarious and so happy-making. <3!!
If At First You Don't Succeed, Suck Seed by balefully - NC-17; with a title like that, how can you not want to read? :D Hookerfic, except not one of those dark, gritty, uber-angst-filled ones where everyone has a Sordid Past; this is incredibly fun, shockingly sexy and hilarious, with a nice dollop of boys angsting to make everything the sweeter. Utter genius. Jensen's the resident male 'bunny' at the Moonlite BunnyRanch brothel in Nevada, and one day Jared walks in...
On a train heading west of nowhere special by frayen - R; cute little fic with a cute pining!Jensen and fun banter.
So Small A Turning by kashmir1 - NC-17; gorgeously hot Christmassy schmoop, with the boys decorating their tree. Perfect. :D
Break My Stride by apreludetoanend - R; in the interest of full disclosure, as the author says, but without spoiling, this also has Jared/Dean and implied Dean/Sam. Things that crossover the Js with SamnDean aren't always my cup of tea, but this is subtly and cleverly done. At times fun, sexy, hopeful and really sad, and overall awesome.
A Little Crazy Never Killed Nobody by storydivagirl - R; ADORABLE little schmoopy, fun snippet. Eee. Dancing! Cooking! <3
I Might Fall In Love With You But I'm Not Sure [So I'll Drop To My Knees] by affectingly - NC-17; nice little first-time story with muisunderstanding, cuteness and a REALLY hot blowjob, omg.
The Idiot's Guide To Making A Movie by sazzlette - R; a funny and quirky fic, a lot of fun and surprisingly sweet, where the Js work together again in a film noir. And wear fedoras.
Serious by jasmasson - NC-17; a fun and SO cute fic, with humour and also lovely h/c schmoop.