That does sound pretty funny, Matt.

It just occurred to me (uh, as I was leaving BevMo after having spent a lot of money) that one way or another, there's a really confused liquor store owner out there. Because even if Cas somehow paid for what he drank, WEIRD.

I sort of imagine he tried to drink it *there* initially, too.

I remember years ago reading part of a long AU Season 1 story wherein Sam was not just gay but flaming and working in the fashion industry

There was one series of stories which were really intense, and ultimately too depressing for me. They all started the exact same way, with Dean going to get Sam at Stanford and finding him in five different districts of SF instead, hooked on five different *drugs,* some of them of the supernatural kind. Like, voodoo and letting the loa ride him was one, I think.

They all ended in Wincest, and they were just so grim and so graphic. Nicely researched! But ultimately not a fun read, even in the "I need the angst" way.

My assumption was that Cas did indeed do his drinking in situ. He doesn't know any different. I mean, where else is he gonna go? Then he sat in a park for a while and stared at people creepily. Maybe even got approached by a policeman.

Man, Amy, that sounds rough. I don't know why I let depressing fics, even depressing summaries get to me. I just read one where Sam went off on his own to get his head straight and left Dean in pain, and I was way affected by it. It's a credit to the writing, but still. I need a "reset to canon" button, or an "apply liberal schmoop" button to undo the bad pain. Also, people need to stop putting fic that doesn't make me at least good sad where I can see it. Because I can't stop reading until it's too late.

a long AU Season 1 story wherein Sam was not just gay but flaming and working in the fashion industry

Matt, there is one story like that that I've read... the name is escaping me right now, but it does turn into Wincest. So if that's a turnoff for you that might be why you didn't finish reading it.

They all started the exact same way, with Dean going to get Sam at Stanford and finding him in five different districts of SF instead, hooked on five different *drugs,* some of them of the supernatural kind.

Amy, they were rei_c's "Five District, Five Drugs" stories that you're talking about. You're right, the series of stories having to do with voodoo are really well researched but they're graphic and there's a lot of grimness there.

I think Sam was a hustler in one of them, too, and on some kind of other paranormal "drug," if I remember right, that was the Celtic variety of ... whatever it was. That brand of hustler!Sam just made me want to cry.

Of course, I've never forgotten it, even if I never finished them.

There was one hustler!Dean story that made me cry, too. But that was a good sort of bittersweet ache, I guess.

Also, people need to stop putting fic that doesn't make me at least good sad where I can see it. Because I can't stop reading until it's too late.

I've stopped reading anything that isn't by an author I like or trust, or recced by someone I like and trust. I got tired of, well, clutching my pearls at some of the things I was finding, and being generally annoyed by bad first-person and completely OOC portrayals and horrible spelling.

Hey, I just discovered my snobbery.

I'm in complete addict phase, so I'm clicking on everything that doesn't warn me off in the pairings or author's note. And, apparently, I don't always read those closely enough. My back button is getting quite the workout.

But really, if people would tell me up front they're writing dumb!Dean or bitchy!Sam it would save me a lot of wasted reading. Or just, basically, can't write an angel to save your life. That would be good to know up front. And I know there's a point in canon where it was just fine, but with hindsight I can't read nice!Ruby.

Just don't get bored and go clicking the bad tags on delicious.

Trust me.

Signed, this one time, ran out of rentboy fic and somehow wound up in the really, really wrong place for 24 hours.

I've stopped reading anything that isn't by an author I like or trust, or recced by someone I like and trust.

This. In the heady days when I first discovered fanfic I was on a bender and just read everything. But I soon found myself unable to stomach some of the out of character portrayals, or the storylines, or my God the spelling/grammar that floats around out there. And then I was reading an epic-length story that was actually compelling and well-written and got about two-thirds of the way through it and realized that there was no way it was going to end without the author killing Sam. Which, no. I checked the final chapter and sure enough, he was dead. And this had not been marked as a deathfic. I fully embrace an author's right to tell the story they want to tell, but I also have the right not to read deathfic. So from that point on I've made the decision to only read stories that are only by authors that I know I like or that are recced by people I trust.

Sometimes they can kill Sam and it's okay. But I'd really rather they start with him dead so I can decide about going on with the fic. I have bumped into far fewer dead!Dean fics, but the last one I read still hurts. I'm glad I read it, though. And it's not one where the author could have warned without giving away the ending, so I couldn't get mad at her.

I think I'd rather read dead!boy fics than when they're mean to each other or leave each other in pain. It all hurts, but at least one feels like they could go out in character.

Of course, now that heaven sucks, even that doesn't have a poignant peaceful feeling to it.

::goes back to plowing through the crossover tag on AO3::

For a while I was obsessed with dead!Dean fics, and exploring Sam's reaction to it. In the obsessed enough I actually wrote one way.

I've read less dead!Sam -- in fact, I can't remember if I've read any dead!Sam. I generally appreciate warning for death fics, too, though.