Transcript: Track 17: Kid Fics

Episode 17 posted May 28, 2021
Transcript by miss-melodypond
Links to all fics mentioned can be found on the main episode post.

[intro music] 

Ellen: Hi everyone, welcome to the 17th episode of Mixtape Book Club Podcast. My name’s Ellen

Mal: And my name’s Mal. 

Ellen: In each episode, we take a look at a different trope or subgenre in the huge collection of Destiel fanfiction. And today we’re gonna be discussing kid fics. That is fics where Cas and/or Dean have a child.

Mal: So to discuss her fic A Fine Romance we would like to welcome AO3 author DragonSgotenks otherwise known as Sarah! Hi Sarah!

Sarah: Hello [laughter].

Mal: Thank you for coming to talk to us.

Sarah: Yeah thank you for having me.

Ellen: So the fics that we’re gonna discuss today apart from A Fine Romance are going to be Light Me Up by tricia_16 and The Nanny by Kitmistry. 

Mal: And as always links to all the fics we’re talking about today are going to be available in this episode’s post on mixtapebookclub.com and also included in our collection on AO3.

Ellen: Yes so, let’s get right into it. Sarah you — I know you’ve written quite a few fics that involve children [slight laughter] in various configurations I think. What do you think, is it about, hum, I don’t know if I wanna say it’s about Dean and Cas that makes you think — like what is about including children in fics that you love so much?

Sorry to put you on the spot right from the start…

Sarah: Well, [laughter] well that’s fine. For me personally, kids are just a big part of my life. I’ve taken care of kids my whole life, I was a nanny for years. I have my own kids, I took in my cousins, they live with me now. And that’s just a big part of my life so I like to read about that and so I’ve been reading all the kid fics I could find when I started reading fanfiction and when I got into the Supernatural fandom. And, I just like that domestic fluff stuff, you know?

Ellen: Yes!

Sarah: And so I wanted to read some Dean and Cas domestic fluff and I got to the point where I was like — I felt like I had just read everything that I liked personally so I was like “alright well I guess I’ll have to just write it myself now.” 

Mal: That’s the golden rule isn’t it, just write what you wanna read!

[Laughter]

Ellen: Yeah

Sarah: Yeah

Ellen: Oh we don’t have like — I guess in canon we don’t have —  there’s not a lot of children-based kind of… Oh sorry! That’s a terrible thing to say, there are loads of children in Supernatural in various episodes but, the guys themselves obviously don’t end up with a lot of them but we do have obviously Jack in later seasons, we got Claire popping now and then.

Sarah: Yeah. [laughter] I think the way that they added Jack and — as like their collective son was probably the only way you could really, logically, have that happen in canon. Because they’re pretty messed up, I mean… 

Mal: [laughter] Yeah.

Sarah: They don’t have the best life for raising kids but — but I personally feel like I see a lot that kind of nurturing… Those traits, they pop up with Dean and they definitely pop up with Castiel and so I pretty much write AUs and so in an alternate universe if they didn’t have to spend their time in an underground world of monsters and violence then I feel like that would make sense for them.

Ellen: Yep.

Mal: Yeah I completely agree with you there actually. I think if Dean wasn’t constantly worried about the world ending and there being monsters out there or things that could, I guess in some way take his family from him, then I guess, to me, he would one hundred percent have been somebody that wanted kids and wanted, like, honestly probably deep down, not that he’d say it, probably wants, like, the whole picket-fence nine yards. But… he’s just — that’s just not been his life, unfortunately… 

Ellen: He did have that short period with Ben there as well, I don’t know what I’m talking about saying that there were no kids in Supernatural, there’s heaps. He had that whole year with, like, Lisa and Ben where it’s obvious that he really enjoyed kind of being a father figure to Ben so… And he, um, he’s really good with, you know, all the children that they save on hunts and whatever, he’s always, you know, gets down to their level and talks to them.

Mal: Yeah like we’ve got that iconic scene from like the first couple of seasons where he dives into the lake to save the boy, that’s there’s in every trailer ever [laughter] so I think that’s just like something that’s core to his personality. I loved seeing him with Garth’s kids in season 15 that was just so adorable, I loved that so much.

Sarah: that was so cute. 

Ellen: Not enough babies in Supernatural.

[Laughter]

Mal: Probably for the best, it’s not a safe environment [laughter]. There’s so many stories and people, you know, enjoying the idea of “ok well what if Jack hadn’t, you know, pretty much grown into an adult overnight” and that kind of stuff. And I’m always there like “love the idea that’s adorable” but that bunker is not baby-proof in the slightest.

[Laughter]

Mal: Like can you imagine having a child in that bunker? 

Sarah: Yeah, or just a baby with all those powers and no — and like no ability to, like, control it? That would be crazy. That would’ve been kinda fun to watch though…

Mal: It would have been, I kinda — in the back of my head I kind of just want to write, like, sort of season 13-14 but if Jack was a baby. [laughter] Like, if they were on a random hunt and his powers start going crazy and they have to wrestle him out of his car seat.

Sarah: Yeah, like every time he’s hungry things just start floating around him or lightbulbs start exploding.

Ellen: There is actually a fic which is, um… Let me just find it, it’s called… Trial and Tribulations of Raising a Nephilim. I have not actually read it. It’s by an author called Sickandtiredofyou, but basically, it looks like– I haven’t read it, but it’s on our list–a canonverse story where Jack is actually a newborn at the beginning of season 13. So…

Mal: Well that sounds delightful. I will be reading that.

Ellen: But anyway, I guess just to clarify there’s like multiple kid fic tags. There’s a couple of different definitions, actually. It’s like — it’s either a fic where there are kids in it, like the guys have children or, you know, look after children. Or they’re where the guys themselves are kids or — there’s also a subset of that where, canonverse type, there’s a de-aging spell or something that’s happened. So there’s a few different kinds of — if you’re looking at the kid fic tag… 

Mal: Yeah those kinds of age regression type spell things they often kind of get filed in there too don’t they? So yeah, good point.

Ellen: It has potential for absolutely adorable stories.

Mal: Yes, there is a story I absolutely love where it’s exactly that situation: there’s a spell, they get hit by it and get children versions of Team Free Will and, I don’t know people — I guess sometimes people feel like they can be much more honest with children in some ways? So it’s really interesting to read [laughter].

Sarah: I know I read one where Sam — I couldn’t tell you the name of it for the life of me ‘cause it was a long time ago but Sam got de-aged, he got hit by a spell and then Castiel shows up to help Dean and they kinda — they have to kinda like take care of him for a while and they, like… just kinda open up with their feelings as they’re taking care of like a baby Sam. That was a good one.

Mal: Yeah there’s a really good de-aged Cas fic that I really really like called Growing Pains by DarkHeartInTheSky which — I’ll link that somewhere in case anybody’s interested in that aspect of kidfic. But that’s a canon — I think it’s like post-season 11, maybe? With lots and lots of, you know, caretaker Dean kinda tropes going on there with de-aged Cas so really good fic. So, I will link that one. Though that’s not the type — the specific type of kidfic that we’re gonna be talking about today. 

Ellen: We might link some other ones at the end after we’ve talked about these few fics. So the three that we’re gonna talk about today are where — they’re all where either Dean or Cas has had a child with someone else and then, you know, that person has died or they’ve split up or whatever.

Sarah: Yeah, though in A Fine Romance the other parent doesn’t die they just… 

Mal: He’s just not interested in them… 

Sarah: Yeah. There was gonna be a whole tragic story to that but I cut it all out to make it just a big fluffy story [slight laughter].

Mal: Sometimes you need that big warm fluffy hug of a story.

Ellen: Shall we — let’s — shall we have a chat about A Fine Romance then since we’ve started…

Mal: Yes. Let’s start with that one. 

Ellen: A Fine Romance by DragonSgotenks was published in 2019, it is 54,000 words, and it’s explicit. And Sarah if you’d be so kind to read us the summary?

Sarah: Sure! Okay: 

Castiel was one of those Parents the other teachers referred to as a “hot mess” but Dean just thought he was hot, even if he did come off as kind of a dick sometimes.

When an accident lands him in the ER Dean comes face to face with his biggest crush when he discovers Cas is his nurse. It seems like fate that he manages to strike up a friendship with the father of some of his favorite students. But with Castiel still bitter over the way his ex used him up and then left him with nothing but 3 young kids to raise on his own he may be guarding his heart with too much caution to let someone new in.

Dean will have to find a way to thaw the ice around Cas’ heart or risk letting his chance at happiness slip through his fingers.

Ellen: Thank you. So this basically is one enormous fluff-fest, it’s so lovely to read. Very sweet. So Dean is the teacher and Cas is the parent of two twin boys and a young girl. So Dean is the teacher for the two boys at school.

Mal: One of the things I loved about this because it was unusual and not what I’ve seen before was that Cas had — first of all he had three children, I’ve never seen him with three before, which is kind of a whole different dynamic to just having one child to look after. And, I love the boys but, I mean, we have to talk about Honey Bea right? 

[Laughter]

Mal: It was so cute.

Ellen: So sweet. 

Mal: Did you go into the fic with any specific idea of — like, did you, kind of, I guess design the children in your head first, or did you just let their personalities come out as you write them? I was very curious about that.

Sarah: Um, so… it kinda depends on each story but for this particular one I kinda developed the kids first because I knew I was going to do teacher!Dean and single-dad!Cas. And, I didn’t want the kids to be kinda just background, or just like a way to get them together so I was trying to really think of them as little people. And, I always kinda put in things from my own kids, um, when I make kids for the story. And um… I also try [slight laughter] I also try not to make them unrealistically good but also, like, as a parent myself  I don’t wanna read stories about bratty kids.

[Laughter]

Sarah: You know what, I’m dealing with the tensions and all that stuff in real life so I try to put a balance in there so like, I was like Honey Bea, she can be a little obnoxious but I tried to do it in a little bit of — more kind of a charming way. And the kids, the boys… What was that?

Mal: I just said you really did manage to make her very charming but not perfect which was lovely actually. 

Sarah: Yeah and so the boys were a little older so I was able to give them a little more — less like in your face cute kid kind of make them little more people. So that’s always fun. I enjoy doing that. And I wanted to boys be a little more standoffish at first to kinda help build up the idea that character was — oh my god — that Castiel was kind of a, maybe not like super nice at first because in the beginning when Dean meets him and Castiel is maybe a little abrupt, Dean is not aware yet that Castiel is, like, he’s a nurse, he works at night so he basically gets off his shift and showers and takes the kids to school so that he can see them a little bit before he goes home to sleep. And so, he’s just like — he’s always, like, dressed down, he’s kind of grumpy ‘cause he’s tired and so…

Ellen: Well, I loved the fact that, um, especially with Honey Bea — or with Bea I should say — that was something I was gonna mention there, at first, because she’s not in Dean’s class but he sees her all the time in the afternoons or whatever. And, he just hears Cas calling her Honey Bea one day and thinks that’s her name, and when that first happened you don’t really address it at all until much later but I was like “oh is that actually — I bet that’s not her name, her name’s Bea” and it was just so adorable and then later on it sort of comes out and you’re just like “oh I can imagine that happening but god that’s cute” [laughter] so cute.

Mal: I kind of loved our whole introduction to her actually, but when I first read the first real scene where we meet her there was a line, um, something about — I actually wrote it down in my notes here: “Dean turns to address the little girl who is currently showing her brothers what looks like a finger-painted unicorn farting rainbows.” And when I read that I was like “oh are you writing my child?” [laughter] I was like “oh I recognize this one.” It was so, like, fluffy and lovely, and cute but also, like, the level of realism in there for me was wonderful because I have a child that would one hundred percent, if she’s painting a unicorn there’s probably going to be farting rainbows or something like that so… 

Sarah: I’ve got, um, I’ve got four kids and they would probably all draw farting unicorns. [laughter] So, is it — like I tried to kinda take from real life. And I had so much fun too with this story because I did a lot of visual stuff that I added into the story. I made a lot of, like, little mood boards and then I actually drew some of the art that Honey Bea did. I drew it and added it into the…

Ellen: Yeah that’s right, it’s in there.

Sarah: Yeah embedded it into the fic. So that was kinda fun ‘cause I got to try to draw how a five-year-old would draw. 

Ellen: I just assumed you actually asked one of your kids to do it [laughter] you did a really good job of that. It looks just like something…

Sarah: No, I’ve worked as a teacher’s assistant in the past and so — and I always really loved watching the way that children’s drawings developed ‘cause when they’re little they draw real blobs and at a certain point they start drawing like circles, they almost look like spiders with faces, and then a little bit later they’ll start to turn into like stick figures and so I was just kinda trying to devolve my drawings down to the — what a five-year-old would be doing so that, it was a lot of fun.

Mal: Kind of on a similar subject to the art really, something that you did in this fic which I’d not actually ever seen before but I thought was pretty awesome was that you actually included a little plan of what — the chapter I’m looking at right now you’ve put a little plan of what Dean’s house looks like so when you’re describing, like, where he goes from room to room when he’s kinda injured and stuff like that it’s super clear inside my head ‘cause I literally have a layout plan of the house right there. And that was really awesome. I’d never seen that in a fic before, so good job!

Sarah: Thank you! Yeah that was actually — I started off doing that more to help myself so that wouldn’t get confused when I was talking about what they were doing in the house ‘cause, um, I’d just tack on like “oh they’re going down the hallway or, oh the foyer or something, and then it’s like, is there a hallway again?” [laughter] I just had a lot of time on my hands apparently [laughter].

Mal: Time well used indeed.

Ellen: At one point, in one chapter, sort of most of the way through the fic you said in your author note that you had planned to introduce some conflict at that point but sort of threw it out in favor of just making the fluff.

Sarah: Yeah.

Ellen: Can you tell us more about what you had planned to do or I’m just — I was just curious at that point I’m like “ooh what was it?”

Sarah: Yeah, sure, no. I was, like, really gonna put them through it.

[Laughter]

Ellen: No!

Sarah: But I was getting all of these comments and at that point I was still pretty new, um, that was only like my second long story I’d ever written. And, um, everyone was just saying “oh it’s so wonderful, it just made me smile, and it just made my day” and was like “oh that’s so sweet” and like “this is not gonna be good.” [laughter] When I started doing all this other stuff, like… I kinda started setting up, I made — In fact, I never even went back and edited it out because I’d started setting up some discourse with Lisa being Dean’s ex and their whole backstory was gonna be, like, this terrible thing about how she… Oh my goodness… Okay! She was gonna have, like, cheated on Dean, and gotten pregnant with Ben, and then lied about it being Dean’s kid, until the other guy decided he would take her back, and then she was gonna leave him and — it was all this stuff. So that was gonna be, like, the backstory there and then — but then she gets — then the guy leaves her and she, and Dean ends up having to help her and that’s how he became like Ben’s, like, big brother program. ‘Cause I kinda started to set that up early on and then I was like “well am I gonna really get all that backstory? I’m not gonna have to put that in there” so I just cut that. And then the same thing — it was all backstory stuff because… Well no I guess it did change because Castiel, I just kind of — Castiel’s relationship with his ex has been — was going to be a lot more dramatic. I kinda just left it as a vague, Castiel was like a trophy husband kind of thing but didn’t realize it. And then, the guy left him when Castiel got older and the kids and the kids and everything. And he was just like “eh, I just want something young and dumb and, you know, to hang off my arm” and, um, but there was gonna be like a whole bunch of other stuff there about how [slight laughter] the reason why the kids were biologically Castiel’s which I… I don’t read my own stuff when I’m done with it so I can’t remember if I actually put that in the story or not.

Ellen: I think you did.

Sarah: Okay! But um, there was always going to be [sigh] it was gonna be like, they would mix their stuff so they wouldn’t know who the dad was when they got a surrogate, um, but it turns out — but the guy, like, didn’t really do it ‘cause he didn’t wanna be biologically attached because he always kinda knew that he was gonna ditch him. But then he was gonna come back. He was gonna come back after Dean and Castiel started dating, and he was gonna come back and cause discourse where Castiel would tell him, like you know “I’m not interested in getting back with you” but he would get to Dean, and he would tell Dean that Castiel did want him back and he would put these, like, seeds of doubt in Dean’s head by saying like “oh, you’re gonna break up my family? like, we’re — you know like — I’m the kids’ father, like, you’re gonna — we’re a family and you’re gonna break us up, what kind of person are you? Like, it’s better for Castiel if you just leave.”

Ellen: Oh god [laughter]

Sarah: And then [laughter] I was gonna, like — Dean was gonna, like, step back thinking he was doing the right thing and then, um, Honey Bea was going to run away. 

Ellen and Mal: Aww…

Sarah: And then — Like I could probably just write a whole other story with everything I left out. But so, she was gonna run away, and then nobody would be able to find her and so in, like, in desperation Castiel calls Dean. And because Dean has become very good friends with her, and kind of — and he just knows her, and he knows them, he figures out where she’s at and he goes and finds her, and she says something to him about, like, “why’d you go away?” and, um, this and that. And that was gonna kinda kickstart him into trying to fight for Castiel. And then he realizes he never had a fight to begin with, and then it would be resolved but not until after everyone was very sad for a while.

[Laughter]

Mal: So you really could write a whole other fic just with kind of those pieces, really.

Sarah: Oh yeah, I had a lot of it down… And I just thought, “man I sure like all these people saying that, like, how much it’s making them happy” and sometimes it makes me happy to get those yelling comments [laughter]. Like sometimes you put that cliffhanger in or you put that juicy villain in and you’re like, “ohoho I can’t wait to see what people say about this” but this one kinda felt like — it was just being mean so I was like, “yeah I’ll just change it.” And then I ended up — It’s like, I absolutely love the fact that I did that I have no regrets about changing it.

Ellen: Yeah. Well you’ve ended up with one of the — I think it’s gotta be one of the most fluffy fics I’ve ever read. Completely angst-free feel-goodness so, um, you know, if you’re listening and you need a fic to make you feel happy and, you know, squee the whole time then this is your fic [slight laughter].

I also — I just remembered as you were talking about Sam and, there was a line that I’ve written down that I really loved, which was when Bea is first introduced to Sam and she turns to Dean and says, “you said your brother was a moose!” [laughter] I had to put the phone down and laugh for a few minutes ‘cause I thought that was adorable. And I can exactly, like, my daughter would totally say something like that too so I was like, “hey this is realistic!” [laughter] So good!

Sarah: Yeah, I thought that would be, um, cute cause I know my kids have definitely said a lot of things that made me kinda wish they weren’t listening all the time. 

[Laughter]

Mal: Yes. 

Ellen: So there’s also — we have to mention there’s also a cat in this fic too. The kitten that Dean rescues from the tree.

Sarah: Half-Face.

Ellen: I don’t think it’s like a spoiler to say ‘cause — it’s probably in the tags. But he does get injured trying to save this kitten and that’s how he finds out that Cas is like a nurse of whatever. But yeah, I loved the kitten bits. And I totally think that even though Dean pretends he’s not a cat person he’s, like, he’s gotta be right? 

[Laughter]

Sarah: It was, um, it was funny because I remember — I asked somebody, I was like, “is he allergic in canon?” and they were like, “yeah” and I said, “oh well, who cares?”

Ellen: So he is allergic in canon? I thought that was a fanon thing.

Sarah: I was told it’s canon, um, I don’t honestly know. That was it. That was the extent of my research. I asked… like two people. [laughter] Whatever I’m gonna do it anyway so…

Mal: Yeah I think that’s something I’ve seen both ways out there. Would have to do a deep dive to find out the canon truth of that ‘cause I don’t know, but I kind of like the idea of Dean maybe being allergic but not caring. [laughter] Like, I’ve seen fics before with cats in them where he’s literally like, “well I guess I’m just gonna take medicine.”

[Laughter]

Ellen: Forever.

Sarah: Yeah, I’ve done it kind of both ways. There was — It wasn’t a kid fic but there was another one where Cas had a hairless cat and I specifically gave him a hairless cat because a lot of people who have allergies can live with them. And they’re just weird-looking. They seem like the kind of cat that Castiel would like because they’re kind of… You have to have a special love for them! 

[Laughter]

Mal: You’re really trying hard not to call these cats ugly! [Laughter] No they’re cute but in, like, a very different way… 

Ellen: I mean, part of the attraction of having a cat is to cuddle something furry right? So, if it doesn’t actually have any fur that’s like… You know, it’s not quite the same.

[Laughter]

Mal: No. A friend of mine has one of those hairless cats for exactly that reason. Like, she doesn’t deal very well with, like, fur and, like, dander stuff. So she has one of those cats. And [sigh] it’s kinda like stroking a ballsack, honestly. I’m just putting that out there.

[Laughter]

Ellen: Oh my god! [laughter] Wow! That’s a mental image that I will not be able to erase.

[Laughter]

Mal: Sorry. Overshare of the day but yeah… 

Ellen: Well… I was gonna share a story about how my brother is actually really allergic to cats and we had cats, like, all — when we were kids and whatever. But then he and his wife got one when they first moved in together, and they would actually bathe the cat, like, each week to try to remove the dander or whatever. So that they could actually breathe, you know? And I was like, “that is just a level of commitment that I don’t think that I would have.” I mean, I just live with the allergies now…

Mal: Yeah, we’ve got one cat that loves water but then the others would, like, shred me alive if I tried to wash them once a week [laughter].

Ellen: Like, I did have — one of our cats fell into the bathtub one time. I wasn’t there when it happened but I knew it had happened because we heard this splashing and I’m like, “what the hell?” And then I went in there and there was just — like, the bathroom was just covered in water and there was this trail of water leading out of the bathroom [laughter]. I’m like, I think that the cat has fallen in the bath and then gone “aaaaaaaah” and just, like, high-tailed it out of the room. And later on, she kind of wandered out looking sheepish and, like, licking herself, and like, yeah she’s really wet.

[Laughter]

Mal: I’ve actually had a cat fall into the bath while I’ve been in it before. That was not great. He’s one of those cats that, like, thinks he’s a lot smaller than he actually is. And, he would, like, jump up on the side and sit there. And I was like, “well you can sit there if you want that’s — that’s not a big deal.” But then — and he would get, like, curious, like he would just, like, take a paw and tap the water. And then he got, like, a bit too bold and jumped onto my knees [laughter]. I guess they were slipperier than he expected.

[Laughter]

Ellen: Did you come out of that with all of your skin intact?

Mal: I did have a few scratches but I think he definitely got the deep end there because… [laughter] He was just drenched, absolutely drenched and so traumatized he doesn’t even go anywhere near the bathroom now! 

Ellen: Awww… Well I will say that I don’t think that my brother and his — and my sister-in-law actually bathe their cat anymore. [Laughter] The shine wore off quite quickly having to do that all the time but… they just deal with not breathing, now. Take the allergy meds, it’ll be fine. 

Okay! So we went on a cat-related tangent there [laughter]. As we do. Um, is there anything else we wanna say about this fic? It does have some really lovely sexy times and I have to say thank you for that. Some lovely smut towards the end of it.

Sarah: Well you’re welcome!

[Laughter]

Ellen: Thank you for the pornography [laughter]. 

Mal: If you enjoyed it, if you enjoyed Sarah’s porn and Sarah’s kid fic fluff then you should check out — she has another fic called Say Cheese which is adorable. Although more — Like, there’s some talk about, you know, some traumatic things and homelessness and stuff in the background there if I remember correctly. But I found their relationship to actually be incredibly charming in that fic so…

Sarah: That was a fun one. That was my Fic Facer$ — that was the first time I’d ever done Fic Facer$ and that’s what I wrote for it. 

Mal: Oh! We should mention that this week because, are you doing it this year Sarah? 

Sarah: I am!

Mal: Oh! I’m doing it also so we should mention that this week because time has gotten away with me but I think that when we’re posting this… possibly the auctions will be up? Don’t quote me on that. I’m not good with time [laughter]. But I think it’s gonna be somewhere around the same time.

Ellen: I think they’re starting in June, aren’t they?

Mal: Um, yeah but June’s next week right?

Ellen: Is it? Oh god. Okay…

[Laughter]

Sarah: Yeah, it’s sneaking up on us.

Ellen: This month has just been, like, completely blurry. Okay, cool! We will put a link up to the Fic Facer$ website in the post so check that out if you wanna contribute some money to Random Acts and buy yourself a fic or some artwork. 

Mal: Yes!

Ellen: Okay, um shall we move on to the next fic? 

Mal: Yes. So the next kid fic that we’re going to discuss is Light Me Up by tricia_16. This one was published back in 2019 and it’s 195,000 words exactly, which is beautiful. As a number person I love seeing these round numbers [slight laughter] and she managed to hit exactly 195,000 words for this one.

Ellen: That’s quite a skill!

Mal: It is Explicit which is kind of something that Trisha’s a little bit known for in the fandom, I think. And this fic certainly doesn’t let you down on that front. So the summary goes like this: 

Five years after participating in a life-changing threesome with his then-girlfriend and her friend Cas, Dean’s single, comfortably bisexual, and has everything he’s ever wanted except for that special someone to share his life with. When tragedy strikes, he and Cas are reunited in an unexpected way, and a split-second decision entangles their lives in ways neither of them could have predicted…

Ellen: Yes! So this one’s actually a sort of — it’s marked as part 2 but that’s because the first part is just, um, it’s only a short… 

Sarah: It’s just the threesome [slight laughter].

Ellen: Yeah.

Mal: Yeah, I think Tricia does a really good job of kind of explaining what happens in that story within this one, so don’t panic if you haven’t read the first one. But at the same time, go and read the first one. 

[Laughter] 

Ellen: It’s only 9,000 words the first part and it’s…

Sarah: She did a really good job.

Ellen: Yeah. It’s the story of Dean and Cas having — Well, Dean and Lisa having invited Cas to be, you know, in a threesome with them. So it’s really hot, basically 9,000 words of porn, and [slight laughter] worth the read. But, at the same time, if that’s not your thing you don’t have to read that in order to read the main work. So yeah, basically I guess the only way to describe this is that Cas comes back to the country after being overseas for five years? I think? And, in the meantime Cas — Dean’s broken up with Lisa and hasn’t actually heard from her for all these years. And then it turns out that Lisa had been pregnant from that one night probably, like — so she doesn’t know if Dean or Cas is the father. But she has the child who’s name’s Liam and he’s… five years old I guess when we first meet him but Lisa is in a car accident and dies. And so she’s left Liam to Dean and Cas to look after. So… there’s more to the kind of the set up of the story than just that but that’s basically what happens in the first chapter I guess. But it turns out that Dean hasn’t been able to stop thinking about Cas as his first kind of, um, gay experience I guess, in all that whole five years. And then… it’s the same for Cas so he’s — always had this attraction, you know, that just blooms when they actually come back together again which is great [slight laughter].

Mal: I think one of my favorite things about this fic is the pretty much non-stop blush that Dean has from the second that Cas comes on screen [laughter]. Until the very end of the fic. Like even after they’ve been together for quite a while, like, basically a year by the end of it. And then there’s… even further. It’s still not changed! And I think that’s pretty adorable. We do love a blushy Dean in this fandom, on occasion. 

Ellen: We really do. And I think one of the things that Tricia’s known with her works that she posts serially like this is that there is — basically these two can’t keep their hands off each other. They do have some kind of sexual encounter in every single chapter. So if you want, like, some really hot and also very emotional smut then this definitely a fic for you. 

Sarah: She does a really good job with Liam as well. You know, she really does good at making him a little person.

Mal: Yeah he’s sweet.

Sarah: Not just like a stand-in. He’s got a whole character and I really appreciate when authors that are doing kid fics really give a lot of personality to their — to the kids. 

Mal: Yeah. And I — hopefully Tricia won’t mind us just saying that you can tell from reading this that she is somebody with children in her life but you can tell that this is somebody who genuinely has experience of being around kids. 

Sarah: Yeah for sure.

Mal: It’s so rich and, like you said, you don’t only see kind of the cute good sides, like, you see bad sides and you see the stressful parts and for Dean and Cas some incredibly, incredibly stressful parts. I like that, I like that it’s not all kind of rose tinted. 

Ellen: Yeah there are parts that are very sad because, you know, while dealing with a child that’s just lost his mom and, um… and I guess Cas and Dean didn’t really get a chance much to grieve at all because there was no — they just found out that — suddenly that they had to look after this kid, who they embrace, like, right from the start. They, you know, welcome him into their — Dean welcomes him and Cas into his house right from the start. And they’re nothing but loving, which is really lovely. There’s no doubt, kind of thing there.

Sarah: Yeah and I — it’s really fun to kinda see her work that fake dating angle while still…  actually dating? I guess it’s like… it’s kinda funny. It’s kind of like Inception of fake dating. 

[Laughter]

Ellen: That’s right. Yeah cause they say they’re gonna pretend to be in a relationship when they’re actually in a relationship.

[Laughter]

Sarah: Yeah because they’re gonna pretend and then they actually start a relationship but they still have to pretend they’ve been in a relationship the whole time. So it’s — there’s a lot of layers there. It was just kinda fun to play around with and to see how she did it with fun. 

Mal: Yes. ‘Cause they really don’t last all that long with the fake part of the relationship. But then they are still faking how long their relationship has existed and various other things about it. 

Ellen: There does come a point, like, in the early chapters where you just kinda wanna shake Dean a bit cause he doesn’t believe that Cas actually wants him in that way and they’re just, you know, having fun and not actually serious about it. And like, it goes on for a while when he’s just like, [whispering] “he’s really into you.”

[Laughter] 

Mal: We as readers that’s, like, so obvious to us as a reader but you’re just like, “Dean! Come on! Get with the program!”

Ellen: Well she does a great job of kind of stringing that along, you know, for a while until you’re just like, “aaaah just get together!” and then they finally sort of work it out and they’re so lovely! So it’s got a good payoff. 

Sarah: Yeah, for sure. 

Mal: The softness in the kind of later parts when they’re genuinely together and kind of genuinely loving their life with Liam and everything. So soft and lovely!

Ellen: Yes so this — I mentioned — I remember when she was posting this serially and I, um, you know, wish I could have followed it week to week, ‘cause I’m terrible with WIPs in general [slight laughter]. But because there’s just so much, you know, love and fluff in it for a whole sort of 200,000 words that I imagine that having it spread out week to week would have been lovely. It’d have been like, “oh my weekly fluff injection has arrived in my [inbox?]” you know? It would have been a really nice thing to… 

Mal: Yeah there are some stories that work very well delivered that way, I think.

Sarah: I read that one as a WIP and it was really great. I had a lot of fun with it. That was back when I — there was a lot of things posting so I remember, like, every day there was a new chapter of something [slight laughter]. 

Mal: Yeah, I kind of have a rule about how many WIPs I can follow at a time. Just because my brain just won’t… Well, first of all: time, second of all: my brain just starts mixing things up if I’m not careful. So I kinda have like a cap on how many WIPs I can read at a time. So this wasn’t one that I read as it posted but at the same time that means that I had, like, 200,000 of fic — of fluff — to binge in one go!

Sarah: That’s nice sometimes too though! 

Mal: Yeah. It’s nice to have a mixture, really.

Sarah: Yeah. I kinda think of them like — ‘cause I don’t watch TV, really. Once Supernatural ended I cancelled cable [laughter]. It was all I had it for! So, it’s like, okay Monday — you know how, like, some people are like, “well Monday I watch an episode of this and Tuesday I watch an episode of this.” Like, Monday this person’s updating and… I used to post on Tuesdays, and then I had someone Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And then the weekend was open for other things. 

[Laughter]

Mal: All planned out! Yeah!

[Laughter]

Ellen: I often find I read — I’ll read the first chapter of something that someone’s posting week to week, and then I just… get behind and then I have to catch up and it’s just too stressful for my brain. I just wait ‘till everything is finished, and then… don’t read it because I got too many — Oh my god! There’s so much fic, aaaaaaaaah! 

Mal: [laughter] There’s so much fic. I think there are people out there in all three camps there. There’s people who much prefer to read, like, a bite-sized dose once a week… Or once every two weeks, however people want to post. People who… simply cannot do that, don’t have the patience for it, much prefer to binge a fic in one go. And then people that kind of do… like a mixture, like me, like I will — I’ll do both. 

Sarah: I have such little time, with all the kids and all the things that go on with them, that unless I wanted to completely give up sleep it’s just easier for me to do, like, “oh, today I’m reading one chapter on this one update.” And then on the weekends I might, like, binge… So when something’s complete and I look at that, like, 195,000 words I’m like, “oh” — I’m like, “I’m not gonna have time to read that.” And even though I could stop in the middle just like when I just read the update, I can’t. I can’t put it down and then things don’t get done and it turns into total chaos. ‘Cause it’s just me here with the kids so if I’m not manning the helm then nobody is.

Mal: It just doesn’t feel the same though, for some reason. Like, pausing in the middle of a completed fic doesn’t feel the same as stopping at the end of a WIP chapter. And I’m not sure why it doesn’t [laughter].

Sarah: Yeah, it’s hard to stop.

Ellen: I think I read this one in, like, one whole day. Yeah, I found it very difficult to put this one down [slight laughter]. Um, just because I needed to know how it was gonna turn out. Because, you know, they agree that they would have to do the fake thing for a year and then we’re sort of approaching the end of the year and you’re just like, “aaaah what’s gonna happen!” So… yeah. I had to keep reading to find out. 

Mal: Yes. And you also kind of want to keep reading ‘cause there’s still this question of, uh, you know, kind of who Liam belongs to. And I — I’m not gonna spoil it but I love the way that Trisha decided to resolve that. But, um, I think it kinda keeps you going because you really wanna know at the end! ‘Cause she makes sure to point out all the way through there’s little things that Liam does that are more like Cas and there’s little things that make him look more like Dean and, like, things like that. Or, you know, his eyes look like Cas’ but his attitude is like Dean’s sometimes [laughter].

Ellen: Yes, freckles like Dean. 

Mal: Yeah! So it’s great really, kinda keeps that going so you really want to know or find out. But the way she does resolve it at the end I actually really like. I think that was the best option. Good job! 

[Laughter]

Sarah: It’s funny how invested you can get in a detail like that. I did that once in an a/b/o story that I wrote and, um, I got a lot of people asking me who the biological dad was and I did not reveal that… on purpose.

Mal: Some things are just for the writer to know, right? They’re, like, bottom of the iceberg that you don’t need to see.

Sarah: There’s contextual clues that I think would make it fairly obvious but… I had one person that just hounded me the entire time, and I was like, “just because of you, I’m not putting it in now.” ‘Cause I was going to.

 [Laughter]

Ellen: We like a bit of spite now and then. 

[Laughter] 

Mal: Um, fic writers can be contrary people on occasion!

[Laughter]

Sarah: I had — that was one of those times when you post something and you just kinda cackle to yourself. ‘Cause you’re like — you know it’s gonna drive someone nuts but, it’s like, feels good?

Ellen: Yep! 

Mal: Sometimes we love the screaming. 

Ellen: There’s actually, like, a big proportion of this whole fic is just — is smut basically, like, the actual plot itself is quite contained in the end. There’s just a lot of fucking [slight laughter].

Mal: There is a lot of it, yep. And it’s one of those things where, like, I’m — it kind of depends on mood for me? Like, whether I wanna read it or not? Like, some days I’m like, “I will not skip a single word of that smut. [laughter] It’s not happening.” And then, like, other days I’m like, “no I’m just not in the mood.” So, like, especially when I go back to read stories like this where I kind of know what the plot is, so it’s not as important if I, like, miss a tiny detail maybe. Like, if there’s something that’s said during the smut or some kind of emotional thing that happens in there it’s not gonna matter as much if I miss that. Then I will kind of, like, skim past a little bit to get to something specific that I remember. It’s just on — just mood. Like, some days… Some days I’m not skipping a single motion. Not a single thrust is going unread. 

[Laughter]

Ellen: She does set some very, um, you know, emotional connections in her smut scenes in this one that, um… You know, one of the reasons that we like explicit fics, I think — apart from some times, you know, you want just a down and dirty smut scene but…

[Laughter]

Mal: Yeah, you just want something hot sometimes!

[Laughter]

Ellen But, if you’re specifically after the emotional connection this one got that in spades so… 

Mal: Oh yeah. And that’s something that Trisha’s really good at, I think, personally. Like, when she wants to hit that emotional note, she will — she’ll hit it right on the head so… 

Sarah: That’s another reason why kinda reading it once weekly or however, whenever they — people update sometimes it helps kinda draw it out so it doesn’t feel like you’re reading just nine hours of… sex.

Mal: Like the longest porno ever!

[Laughter]

Ellen: Um, Trisha actually has… not only does she have a few other fics that involve children, but she also just finished posting her most recent WIP which is called “Saving Grace”… Is that right? 

Sarah: A Little Grace.

Ellen A Little Grace! I knew it was “grace”… 

Mel: perfect timing, because it just finished posting! 

Ellen: She just finished posting, um, like, today? Or yesterday, or something. So, um… that is a baby fic as well so if you’ve been waiting for that one to finish posting then get on it right now! 

Um, so, let’s go on. The third fic is called The Nanny and it’s by Kitmistry. And, it was just published a couple weeks ago for — as part of the SPN Media Big Bang in 2021. It’s 120,000 words, a reasonably long one. And it’s also Explicit. And so, as part of the Bang it has art in it as well, missmistibluryface is the name of the artist. And the summary goes like this:

He had style, he had flair, he had…well, actually, he didn’t have any of those things. But he did have pretty green eyes, and Claire didn’t want to murder him on sight (all Castiel was asking for these days). And that’s how Dean became the nanny!

[Laughter]

Ellen: If you can’t tell from that summary, this is based on the television show The Nanny. And I loved — Boy! I must have been like… It was on in, like, the 90’s right? So… I must have been a teenager of some sort but… 

Mal: Oh! It’s time to confess I’ve never seen it.

Ellen: You haven’t? Oh…

Mal: I haven’t — like, I’m aware of it but I never saw it 

Ellen: I used to watch it when I still lived at home, obviously. I was — And I remember my mom really hated the sound of Fran Drescher’s voice because she has quite a grating kind of voice. And so every time I’d have it on she’d be like, “what are you watching that rubbish for? Turn it off!” I’d be like, “but it’s so good!”

Sarah: I loved that show!

Ellen: It was so good!

Mal: I’ve been missing out all these years. 

Sarah: I used to watch it with my grandma. 

Mal: That’s okay, I got the Destiel version instead!

Ellen: Yeah! Yeah, I’ve gotta say this is a really, you know, it’s… [sigh] How d’you describe it? She took the actual vague plot of The Nanny overall. Like the first few seasons before they actually get together. That’s a bit of a spoiler for the show, they do get together in the end. It’s not even in the end it’s like halfway through the whole season they get — the series. Um, but… And then turned it into a new story basically. But, you know, you can really see the elements of the TV show coming through. So I really appreciated those. 

Mal: See, that’s what I love about, um, like, fics you do find in media bangs and stuff like that. It’s because you might expect a certain thing but the writers that we have in our fandom are so talented that they will take this and they will use that concept to create something entirely different. And — But you’ll still be able to recognize where the inspiration for all these different things came from. Yeah, it’s a very unique reading experience. I love it. 

Ellen: Yeah so I guess if you haven’t seen the show and you don’t know how it works, the, um… I’ll just explain the Destiel version rather than the real version but… Dean shows up to this Beverly Hills mansion to — answer a car advertisement because he’s a mechanic and he’s looking at buying a car. But they’ve also got an ad out for a nanny for Castiel’s children and they assume… the butler… who is Balthazar?

Mal: Yeah, shout out to Balthazar the butler because he was fantastic in this [laughter].

Ellen: Yes! He assumes that Dean is there for the nanny position and Dean doesn’t get a chance to explain. So basically in the end he becomes — he ends up taking the job and becoming a live-in nanny in Castiel’s mansion. And, obviously one thing leads to another and… Cas is basically smitten with him at first sight [slight laughter]. And yeah, it’s, um, that is pretty much what happens in the TV show as well [slight laughter]. Like, she accidentally becomes a nanny. But, yeah, it turns out that she, and Dean in this case, are actually great with children. So, Cas has got Jack and Claire as his kids. And Jack is just a little kid, he’s like 3 or something? I think. 

Mal: Yeah he’s quite small. I think he just starts, um, like preschool or something?

Ellen: Yeah, he starts kindergarten or something. [sigh] Yeah.

Sarah: I thought it was pretty fun, you know, it’s — like I said I love the show and, um, so I always like to see when people take on stuff like that. Especially stuff from when I was growing up ‘cause, you know, the nostalgia’s always a fun thing. And, um, so… Yeah I thought that was a really fun aspect. And then, just the kind of misunderstanding in the beginning was real fun. I love that kind of stuff. 

Mal: Yeah, there were definitely parts in this fic where I laughed out loud. Especially with all the, like, misunderstanding stuff at the beginning. And just various things that the kids did. Like, she did a great job of making this fic really funny. So, I don’t know… I assume that’s a reflection of the TV show, that it was a comedy of some kind [laughter].

Ellen: Yes, it’s a sitcom. 

[Laughter]

Mal: Good, okay! [laughter] So she did a great job emulating that part!

Ellen: Yeah. She did a great job of casting the characters too. Like, you know, the, um… I had trouble at the beginning separating the actual — because I had the TV show kind of in my mind, I was still thinking of Balthazar as looking like Niles [laughter].

Sarah: Yes!

Ellen: It took me a while to kinda get the Supernatural characters into my head but by the time, like, Meg came in and she was herself, you know. Like a — but she was also really good as being, like, the C.C. stand-in. 

Sarah: Yeah. Her dynamic was always the best in the show so she did a really good job — or they did a really good job, um, translating that into the fic. 

Ellen: Yeah, and I loved the fact that, um… So in the show I think Fran has her mom and… an aunt or something, who always come over and get in the way and, like, gossip about everything. And in the fic it’s Bobby and Rufus which is just so perfect! [laughter] They’re just right for that role. 

Mal: It was! And Rufus was wonderful in this fic [laughter].

Ellen: Yes! ‘Cause he’s like a — he believes that the KGB are gonna get him or something. 

Mal: Yes [laughter]. And it’s so believable and it’s so Rufus! 

[Laughter]

Ellen: Oh, I just loved their — the characterization of these guys, it worked really well. 

Mal: And also another characterization point I really loved: Meg as Cas’ assistant. Because at no point does she turn into, like, a simpering assistant who is going — or a business partner who is going to, you know, acquiesce to him in any way, she’s still just Meg through and through [laughter].

Ellen: Yeah. And in the show, um, that character is actually trying to get with the guy. Like, she’s tryna — like, she’s feeling threatened by the nanny and she — ‘cause she wants to be the kid’s mom and stuff. So I’m glad that they didn’t try to, um, that Kit didn’t try to bring her into that role. Like… 

Mal: No, I actually… [?] there is a surprise pairing. And, um… That’s the kind of other, I guess, like, little bit of a ship that we have in this story. There’s a brief, um, very brief kind of Dean/Lisa. I will say it doesn’t really, kind of particularly ever amount to much [Laughter]. 

Ellen: Yeah…

Mal: It definitely is something to just kind of help Dean realize where he is supposed to be. But then Lisa is a really nice, kind of, character by herself in this one, which I like. But, there is that little surprise pairing as well which I assumed was something from the show but it sounds like it wasn’t so… A genuine surprise in that case. 

Ellen: Are you talking about [ommSpoilers]?

Mal: Yes.

Ellen: Yeah that is from the show. 

Mal: Oh it is from the show? Oookay!

Ellen: Yeah I think so…

Mal: Interesting! All right. This sitcom had it going on. Okay.

Ellen: Is that right Sarah? I haven’t seen it for a long time.

Sarah: That’s, um… Yeah, that’s — that was always my favorite part of the show. 

Ellen: those two sniping at each other? 

Sarah: Yeah, then they, um… Yeah, it’s kinda like that… enemies to lovers type almost in the show, yeah. 

Ellen: it doesn’t happen until much later. 

Mal: They’re not characters I would think to ship together, if that makes sense. In fact, they’re not characters I would think of putting together? But in this fic the way that they just spend the entire time, like sniping at each other for the whole story, like, it worked [laughter].

Ellen and Sarah: Yeah.

Ellen: Yes, that’s very reflective of the show as well. But, um, yeah it worked really well… 

Anyway, I think I read this whole story in one day and I loved every minute of it [laughter]. So thank you Kitmistry! Um, I thought it was adorable. And even like.. . I loved the arc of, like, even Dean and Cas. We haven’t actually spoken about them at all [laughter] in this story, but… They start, you know, it’s just gradually escalating, like, near misses and misunderstandings and they almost kiss and then they just — you know, they get cockblocked by something and [slight laughter]. You know, they get locked in the house together and there’s all these things that nearly happen. And then, eventually something does happen, and then Cas is all cold about it. And then… the gradually escalating nature of it was really well done I thought. 

Mal: Yes. I think one of my favorite portions of the fic — to, I guess, very mildly spoil it — is the portion where Cas decides that he is basically doing this, and he’s in, and he’s going to date Dean… Kind of fails to actually tell Dean that [laughter]. And just sort of.. you end up with this great scene where as far as Cas is concerned they’re on a date, Dean isn’t sure what they’re doing [Laughter]. 

Ellen: Yeah [laughter]. “Wait, is this a date?” 

[Laughter]

Ellen: It’s very true to their characters to be honest [slight laughter].

Mal: Yeah. It was pretty charming, I thought. So, I liked that part. I really enjoyed Claire in this fic. She’s great in canon as our — basically our Dean mirror for a lot of different things. And she kind of.. comes across that way in this fic a little bit too. Like, all of those kind of very Dean elements are what make her bond with Dean a little bit whereas it sounds like she’s kind of been a bit of a terror for anybody they’ve tried to employ before [slight laughter]. 

Sarah: Yeah. Yeah, their relationship together was really nice in this story. 

Mal: Yeah, I do love a bit of Dean and Claire bonding. So… 

Ellen: Yeah, wish we had had a bit more of them in the show. 

Mal: Yeah, ‘cause they were always so good together. Just the, like, the family chemistry of those two together worked really well. It definitely felt like Dean was trying to win-over his step-daughter for a lot of that [laughter].

Ellen: And she’s always, you know, giving him shit and calling him Hasselhoff and stuff [slight laugher].

Mal: Yeah, like, she’s one hundred percent aware that’s what he’s trying to do and she’s not gonna let him get away with it that easily [laughter]. 

Ellen: I also loved Jack as a — you know, he was only four or whatever. Spoke really like an adult, and while I’m — I’m not saying that’s a bad thing because in — I’m pretty sure in the show, like the little kid, the younger kid is, like, some kind of genius as well? Is that — am I remembering that wrongly? He’s, like, a really smart little kid and he’s always pulling the wool over her eyes? I might be just totally making that up… 

Sarah: I can’t remember that as much…

Mal: You two are gonna make me watch this show! 

[Laughter]

Ellen: I may be totally making that up.

[Laughter]

Sarah: I haven’t watched it in a really long time.

Ellen: No, me either, that’s why I’m doubting myself now. I have to go and watch some Youtube or something and see if I work it out… 

Well, we’ve got a few other fics in this kind of category that we can recommend as well. Um, we’ve already mentioned a few of them earlier, but we’ll make sure that we have links to all of these fics in the post. So, on mixtapebookclub.com. So, um, have a look. One I wanted to recommend, which I just read the other day, is called Together We’re Golden. It’s by nickelkeep. It’s only 10,000 words long but this is one of the ones where… This is the one — I don’t know if it’s the one you were talking about before Sarah but it doesn’t sound like it’s the same one. But, um, Sam is hit by a spell from a witch and is de-aged to like a two-year-old or something. And, Cas and Dean are there with him. They’re on a hunt but trying to find this witch. But, um, they have to then both take care of him for a little while until Rowena can get there and fix him. And so, that is just an extremely adorable story [slight laughter]. Because Cas — because Sam still remembers everything, he just can’t articulate it because he can’t speak very well anymore and he’s only got, like, a baby brain. [laughing] So he still, you know, needs to, you know, have a nap [slight laughter]. It’s just adorable! So definitely if you’re after some really cute kid fic where they’re actually de-aged give that one a go! 

Sarah: That sounds adorable, yeah. 

Mal: I wanted to mention a slightly older fic. It’s called Plain and Tall. Um, and this is a really different kid fic because it’s kind of set in… I don’t think they gave a specific year this is set in. But it’s set on the American frontier, like, way back when. It’s a historical fic and Dean is a single parent. He has tiny daughter with Lydia who then essentially disappears in the night and leaves him which obviously, the historical implications make that a much — I guess an even bigger deal than it would be in our kind of modern society. That’s just not a thing that happened back then, really, that you had women going off by themselves and leaving a single dad with a tiny baby. Um, and so when Castiel who he believes is just a drifter who stops by in his town looking for some work. Um, he puts him up for a little while because he got some work done on his farm and Cas ends up being really good with the baby. And their relationship evolves from there! And obviously there’s some drama in there [slight laughter] but it’s just a really really lovely heartwarming story. Like, it’s one of those that you kind of read and, like, afterwards you like — you feel a little just glowy and happy [laughter]. 

Ellen: That sounds nice.

Sarah: I read that one quite some time ago and I remember really liking it.

Mal. I think I’ve read this one — I think I’ve read it, like, three or four times over the years. It was published back in 2016. I don’t think I said how long this one was. It’s just under 70,000 words and it is Explicit. Um, but yeah, it’s one that I tend to come back to periodically. Just get… that kid fic itch and that historical itch all in one! But it’s really well-written. It’s written in a way that’s very kind of easy to read. ‘Cause I know sometimes people are kind of apprehensive about historical fics because they don’t necessarily like the style that a lot of things like that are written in? Um, but this one is done in such a way that it’s really easy to read, I think. 

Sarah: Yeah. Um, I have one that I can recommend. And that is — it’s called… Okay, the name of it is Kinda Like Family, Kinda Like Love by followyourenergy. And I read it quite some time ago. Well I guess it was published in 2018 but… feels like it was a very long time ago that I read it. But it was, um, that was always one of my favorite kid fics. And it’s one of the few that I’ve actually re-read. I don’t re-read things very often because there’s just always so much new stuff to keep up reading. It’s hard for me to find the time to go back and read things twice or…

Mal: This actually came up the other day, sorry. I just mentioned that the only time I re-read fics is when it’s late at night, and I’m sleepy, and I wanna read something, like, before bed because then if I fall asleep and don’t get to the end of it, it won’t annoy me. Because [laughter] because it’s something that I’m re-reading, yeah. Like, I can’t read new fic at that time of day, I just can’t do it!

Sarah: Yeah. I re-read it actually for a book club, um, the Destiel Inc book club. And, um, and that kind of got me into re-reading a couple others. But, um, yeah that one’s always one of my favorites. I like to read that one. It’s just — it’s, um… It’s 122,313 words and it’s got a couple of timestamps. But it’s just really good, I like it. 

Ellen: Yep and followyourenergy’s also got another one. Like, she writes a lot of fics that have kids in them actually which is delightful because she does it so well. Um, but she’s also more recently published one called Crashing In which is where… [sigh] Now, I haven’t read all of it. I’ve only read a few chapters because I wanted to read it before we recorded and I didn’t get to finish it [laughter]. But basically Dean is, um, like, he’s a celebrity and, like, a movie star or something. And he crashes his car into Cas’ cafe where he…

Sarah: It’s like a convenience store slash deli.

Ellen: That’s right. And he’s got a little baby who he’s looking after. And, yeah… I really wanna get back and read the rest of that because I just love the way that she writes Cas.

Sarah: It’s really good!

Ellen: In particular with babies [slight laughter]. She’s great!

Sarah: Yeah.

Ellen: And I guess the other one we should mention is, um, because we’ve spoken about it before, is Stay With Me Sweetheart by MandalaRose. We spoke — I think it was in our episode 10 maybe? We spoke with her about that. But she has included a really adorable baby Claire in that one too. Just one of my favorite baby Claire fics. So cute! 

Sarah: Yeah. I remember reading that one. I think there was three chapters out when I started reading it and it was, um, it was so good. 

Ellen: Yes!

Mal: That’s one that I did read as a WIP [laughter]. I had a slot for that one in my rotation when I started posting it so I was like, “yes!” Managed to actually read that one. 

Sarah: Uh… Can I self-promote? 

Mal: Yes of course! Go for it.

Sarah: I’ve just recently started posting a new, um, single dad Dean story. So it’s still a WIP but it’s, um, it’s called And Because It Is My Heart and I’ve just posted chapter 2 today so… 

Mal: Yes! And that one is in my WIP rotation as well! That’s very exciting!

[Laughter]

Sarah: That one is, um, that one is single dad Dean and he’s got a 6 year old daughter and they’ve been having a rough go of it. He gets by but he just lost his job and… they’re having a rough go and he finds out he’s actually had inherited a farmhouse from his grandfather. And so, it was supposed to have been taken care of by a trust all these years but when he shows up, turns out the guy had been stealing the money and the house is just a mess but… So, cue Castiel there to help him fix it up and maybe fix up some other things in his life.

Mal: Yes, you are tapping into one of my other favorite tropes here which is, like, the — the whole, like, handyman fixing up a house kind of story. Don’t know why I love it so much but I do [laughter]. 

Sarah: It’s very, um, kind of hallmark [slight laughter] kind of hallmark weekend special but, um it’s been kinda brewing in the back of my mind so I thought I’d start getting it down and getting it posted. 

Mal: Yes. Well we appreciate it. Thank you!

Ellen: Yeah, I’ve been enjoying reading these kid fics so much I think I might have to get on the WIP train with that one too [slight laughter] I think.

Mal: Yeah. You’ve only got two chapters to catch up on. I have the second one open on my phone. 

[Laughter]

Sarah: Yeah, I think just — I think just about, um, everything I have posted save for… maybe two? Maybe three, things are kid fics. I — Well, maybe more of that ‘cause I forgot about all the A/B/O bingo ones I did [laughter]. Those are all mostly smut but…

Mal: For this episode at least we kinda almost — really didn’t end up with any A/B/O ones just ‘cause I feel like we can probably do — it probably deserves a separate episode, by itself [laughter]. For A/B/O kid fic ‘cause obviously there’s a lot of those given the universe so… We might have to check out some of those.

Sarah: Those are my favorite honestly. I have to say.

Ellen: Now, we didn’t, um, I forgot to mention which I’m gonna do now, that we — you also have, if you wanna read about adorable alien babies.

[Laughter]

Mal: That’s a very specialized kind of kid fic!

[Laughter] 

Ellen: It is! But there’s still babies and it’s still adorable. And, um, you know, they are at least half-human so… The first part’s Personal Space, the second part where babies are is called Earthly Desires. And, you know, I know not everyone is into the kind of Mpregs, you know, tentacle porn [laughter]. But…

Mal: Yeah, kind of and that’s — in that particular one it’s kinda handled very differently. Like, it’s not, like, magical? I guess? Like, a lot of, like, Mpreg stuff ends up being some kind of, like, magical kind of deal if they’re human, kind of thing. And that is very different to that. So obviously if anybody does wanna check that one out make sure you read the tags and all that.

Ellen: Yeah, read the tags…

Ellen and Mal: …first!

Ellen: But it’s so adorable I love that one. 

Sarah: It — That’s not the one where he’s — It’s kinda like The Martian is it?

Mal: Yeah kind of. 

Sarah: It is? Where Dean is, like — it’s kind of — it’s like the movie The Martian, and then Castiel’s the alien? Or, I might…

Mal: It’s not — yeah. Well, he is a martian in the sense of he comes from Mars but similarities to the movie otherwise end there [laughter]. There’s no real, like, similarity to The Martian. 

Sarah: Hold on. What’s the name of it again? ‘Cause I think I might have read those. 

Mal: Um, the first one’s called Personal Space. Yeah, Dean’s an astronaut, he’s an engineer. He goes up to Mars and there’s — he’s not as alone as he thinks he should be! 

[Laughter]

Sarah: I’m pretty sure I read those… I liked the — I love creature Cas. I do know that you wrote — I’m getting off topic here — but you wrote one of my — I love SciFi and dystopian stories. As much as I absolutely love to read kid fic and write kid fics, SciFi and dystopian are my biggest loves. And you — didn’t you write… [mumbling] what was it called? Under the Glass? Something like that. 

Mal: Oh! Under the Nothing Sky. Yes, I did write that one [laughter].

Sarah: Yes! I absolutely love that story. Just so you know. 

Mal: Oooh thank you!

Ellen: Me too!

Mal: That makes me happy! There are those stories that, like, because of — I guess it’s just the genre or whatever. Like, it’s never gonna be that fic that gets, like, thousands of kudos and stuff but it’s, like — that was definitely one that I really had just a good time writing? Like, I just — ‘cause I really love, like, Science Fiction and stuff too, so… Some fics you just need to write because it’s just so much fun to do it [slight laughter].

Sarah: Yeah, I think I have — I’m pretty sure I have it bookmarked and the note on it was like, “Oh, one of my favorite SciFis!” It’s just — I just love it! 

Mal: Aw thank you. I’ll crawl under the bed now.

[Laughter]

Sarah: Oh, okay. I did read the alien one and I really liked those too. Those are really good. Like, isn’t this the one where he, like, um, Castiel gets pregnant with, like, the eggs and then he deposits them? 

[Overlapping voices]

Mal: Yeah he decides to step up and do his part! [Laughter] Yeah. I wanted, like, a science-based way of doing Mpreg? So, like, Castiel is actually, like, based on this, like, rare type of octopus, it’s this whole thing [Laughter]. It’s this whole thing where I put, like, way more research than anybody would ever actually be able to tell [laughter] into that. But, it was fun in some way. I wanted to do it with, like science no magic, you know? Like, just for once just try it that way.

Sarah: Yeah! No, I like that. I like that. That’s kind of the — that’s kind of the fun part of reading, like, when one of them is, like, a creature it’s just like the different stuff. ‘Cause I followed your, um, A Fish Out of Water. I’m terrible at remembering the titles of things. And — when he’s the mermaid. And I was like… Not to get weird but I was like, “I wonder if this is gonna go where I think it’s gonna go…”

[Laughter]

Sarah: With the smut! And then I was like, “oh yeah it went there!” And um…

[Laughter]

Mal: Like, I try to make sure that if I’m doing something that’s, like — how should we put this? — like not quite the usual set up down there [laughter]. Like, if I’m doing something that’s a little bit more unusual I tend to try and make sure that it’s, like, skippable? So it’s, like, all identified in the text in certain ways that people are able to just skip past that if it’s not their thing. Um, but for some reason that one in Fish Out of Water I had so many people tell me that they were like, “I feel like you’ve introduced me to something I didn’t need to know about myself!”

[Laughter]

Ellen: The bearer of kinks. 

Mal: I mean, it’s just fun. I’m just, like, doing something different that’s why I really enjoy doing, like, creature fic stuff sometimes in between, like, modern things, like more normal AUs. 

Sarah: Yeah. Well you’re really good at it.

[Laughter]

Mal: Thank you. Okay. Crawl under the desk. All right! Did we have any other fics that we would like to mention before we wrap up for the day? We have to talk about your baby-wearing story. It’s, like, the cutest thing, oh my gosh!

Ellen: Yeah we don’t have to talk about it.

Mal: I will happily talk about this one! It’s a mature student Cas has to take his, um, very small baby to work — sorry, to work — to class with him. And, um, Dean is the professor who decides that the best way to help Cas out is to steal everyone’s heart in the entire room basically. By not only soothing the slightly upset child but then baby-wearing it for the entire rest of the class [slight laughter].

Sarah: Aw I’m pretty sure I read that! It’s so cute. I definitely remember reading that.

Mal: It’s adorable! 

Ellen: It’s just funny because it was just, like, a Tumblr prompt, like, it wasn’t even — I might even have seen it on Facebook or something. And I just wrote…

Mal: Sometimes they just click. 

Ellen: And yeah, I just wrote the whole thing in, like, a few hours and then posted it. And then now it’s like my highest hit count or something of all my stories so… Eh, guess it worked [slight laughter]. 

Mal: Yeah, some things — some things just land. Like, people always say things like, “oh, you know, how do I get people to read my stuff?” and I’m like, “look, if we knew the answer to that…” 

[Laughter]

Ellen: The magic formula.

Mal: ‘Cause I swear sometimes it’s at least 90% luck and 10% some weird AO3 algorithm that no one can work out so… But that one was very deserving of all the love that it got so… 

Ellen: Thank you.

Mal: Yes, so please go and read Baby Whispering 101 by our wonderful host EllenofOz.

[Laughter]

Ellen: I’m gonna write a second part to it at some point but… 

Mal: Yay!

Ellen: But if my muse ever comes back from the war.

Mal: Oh, yeah… As always we will have a list on the website of all of the fics that we have read, or researched, or mentioned within the podcast today so you can go there for a whole list of them. 

Ellen: So, if you would like to get in touch with us to tell us about your favorite kid fic or, um, any — give us some suggestions for, um you know, future topics, you can do that through any of our social media accounts. We’re mixtapebookclub at all of those. Or you can email us: contact@mixtapebookclub.com. Or you — also you can come and chat with us in the Profound Bond discord server, in our own channel there. 

Mal: I am extremely excited to announce that next week we are going to be covering one of my absolute favorite tropes that I have been waiting to do since the very conception of this podcast [slight laughter]. It’s very specific and it’s not for everybody but, um, we’ll make sure to keep it non-graphic in the actual podcast itself. We will discussing Murder Husbands fics!

Ellen: Yeah, you’ve been trying to get me to read these for such a long time now so finally it’s happening.

Mal: I am clapping and dancing in my seat right now!

[Laughter]

Mal: Ah! I’m just — I’m very glad that I’ll get to talk about the specific reasons why I like them so much ‘cause it’s probably not the obvious so [laughter] yay! 

Ellen: Excellent. Well, we need to say a very big thank you to Sarah for coming to talk to us today. Thank you. 

Sarah: Thank you for having me! It was a lot of fun! 

Ellen: And thank you everyone for listening! And we’ll talk to you again soon. 

Mal: And as always: remember that the story isn’t over until we say it is.

[outro music]