Fic: Clean plates and dirty shoes

[adams_ransom]

Title: Clean plates and dirty shoes
Author: tawg
Word count: ~3,200
Rating: PG
Pairings/characters: Castiel, Balthazar, Inias
Notes: Written for John, my Balthazar enabler.
Summary: A human AU in which Castiel's life has not gone as he had planned, and familiar faces remain a blessing.

Comments

[vicious_sock]

awwww, I love how they fits together, this is like the fic version of comfort food, and we definitely need more fics with Bal and Inias.

<333

[tawg]

this is like the fic version of comfort food
I love that description! And yes, I am hoping to see more Inias around the place. (Hoping for more Balthazar goes without saying.)

[whit_merule]

Poor Dean. I'm afraid you are very, very recognisable in that description. And it's not okay. No, not even if you're the Righteous Man. No, not even if you're not actually having sex with him.

I did love Castiel being able to touch base with his family like that in that episode, and that brief glimpse of him and Inias together had such interesting potential. This fic takes that glimpse and runs with it so beautifully. AUs are interesting like that, aren't they? They give us such a chance to play around with things the show gives us and look at them in a new light - like, in this case, showing Cas' old relationships/job as valid and worthwhile and important, and this unnamed lover, no matter how intense their relationship, completely overstepping his bounds in making such demands.

[tawg]

Thank you for the long comment *loves*

I think the Dean and Cas dynamic in terms of committing to a cause is really interesting, because both Dean and Sam have had people who are important to them 'convert' to the side of being on the look out for the supernatural. In contrast, Cas was not only already on that team, he was a far bigger player with far bigger concerns, and he's never really stopped having concerns that are bigger than Sam and Dean - it's just that he lost the capacity to deal with them for a while. So it was really fun taking that push-and-pull and transferring it into an AU, and then slapping some understanding angels on top to put Cas back together. Hot damn do I love some angels.

[whit_merule]

Well, and of course you just know that every silly little thing (like hotel reservations) that can go wrong will. Because this is Cas' life. *cuddles him*

And, yes, I think you're right about that - Dean's used to having that role (he even had to pull Sam back into The Life Of Fixing Evil in the pilot episode) and is too accustomed now to that being the only right way to fight, the one that he owns and evangelises and approves. Of course, evangelising the angel... not so much.

[tawg]

evangelising the angel... not so much.
Lol, I haven't seen it put that way before, but yes. There are definitely a few moments that spring to mind for that. And that's an excellent point re: Sam in the pilot. I want to be having all kind of Dean-ish thoughts right now, but I'm stuck at work with a headache.