(no subject)

[liliaeth]

You know, I was thinking. Am I the only person that doesn't think that romantic pairings are the most important bonds people can have?

For example, I was asking for recs on spnstoryfinders earlier and I realized that my biggest problem is that even though I love Dean/Castiel, that Castiel is actually third in my list of favorite spn chars, after Sam.

Yet the only way you'll get me to pair Sam/Dean, is if Sam's evil and/or if there's dub-con or non-con of some kind involved.

It's because the brotherly bond between Sam and Dean is far more important to me, than any sexual relationship could ever be. In fact, in a brotherly bond as strong as that between Sam and Dean, having sex can only serve to diminish the bond between them, rather than strengthen it.

Especially with someone like Dean who uses sex as a way to keep from connecting with people.

While I prefer the Dean/Castiel pairing, if I read a Dean/Cas fic, then it wouldn't really feel like SPN to me, unless Sam plays a major part. And I don't mean just him being the awesome brother who helps Dean realize he's in love with Cas and then stops aside for the dean/Cas love story.

What I mean is that I want to read a story that is about Sam and Dean and the bond between them, that happens to have Dean in love with Cas. I'm not saying there aren't any, but they're rare and most of them are Dean/Cas lovestories where Sam is a supporting char to their story.

It's odd, because there are some Dean/oc story or het Dean stories, where the love interest is just there to add to Sam and Dean's stories, but you rarely see this done when the love interest is male. And that's kind of sad.

To give an example in other fandoms. I have seen Spider-Man fics with the pairing Peter/MJ where the focus is really on Peter's relationship with aunt May, or even Johnny Storm. but you rarely find a Peter/Johnny fic that's all about Peter's friendship with MJ.

Or I've seen fics that are Buffy/Spike, but where the focus is really Spike's 'friendship' with Xander, but it's are to find a Spike/Xander fic that focuses equally on the connection between Buffy and Spike.

Are slash fics really that stuck on romance that they can't push the romance aside and use it as a minor part of a friendship story? Or am I just not looking in the right places?

Comments

[super-pan.livejournal.com]

I dunno, slash doesn't work for me in most of the "fandoms" that I'm in because it seems like the canon specifically precludes it. In the case of Supernatural, I have never seen any evidence that Sam or Dean are anything other than heterosexual. And they have specifically addressed the wincest thing as not gonna happen. In examples where the characters are not as clearly defined in their straightness or gayness or in betweeness, I may see things in a more heterosexual filter but it doesn't bother me as Out Of Character for a character to be gay. Like Dr. Who, or Dumbeldore. But in fact, even heterosexual pairings that I feel are out of character don't work for me either, like Jo or Ellen with anyone, or frankly any character in SPN with any other character, cuz nobody in that verse has time or luck for romantic love or long term partnership other than brotherhood or father/son hunting relationships.

I did read one Bones/SPN crossover that I enjoyed that was Dean/Castiel because it seemed like the romance was a supporting element of the story,not the focus, and it was sort of a little gift to Dean and Cas to be together at the end, and even was a gift to Sam to see his brother happy. The story was fun enough to stand without any romance though.

[liliaeth]

Oh I agree in regards to a lot of fandoms. though I do tend to see Dean as bisexual with a physical preference for breasts and an emotional preference towards men.

But ... that doesn't mean that Dean would act on it. And I can't see him even think of his brother in that way.

Also, no matter who Dean would ever end up in a relationship with, the fact of the matter is that Sam will always come first, no matter how much Dean loves the other person, slash or het.