Destroy What Destroys You

by ohsecretsecret

A different kind of "early twenties" AU. Dean Winchester and his anarchist queer group The Hunters only went to the Angels of the Lord megachurch to protest its virulently homophobic preaching. He makes something of an impression on a young, closeted, and deeply devoted young man by the name of Jimmy Novak.

1. Notes and Warnings

Title: Destroy What Destroys You

Author: ohsecretsecret

Pairings: Dean/Cas, references Dean/Victor, Sam/Jess, Sam/Ruby, Sam/Gabe

Warnings: homophobia both internalized and external, transphobic and homophobic violence, minor character death (canon deaths), police brutality, sexual assault, jail sucks, references those awful de-gay camps they send children to and torture them, references homelessness, Dean engages in sex work and doesn't hate it, a couple of your favorite characters are now transgender and honestly if you're gonna be fucked up about that I'd rather you just not read this fic.

Author's notes:

So I have read a lot of destiel AUs where Dean and Cas meet in their late teens/early twenties. They've all been great, but they've all been really really normative and about normal suburban lives and it didn't look like anything even close to my own experience at that age, so I decided to write a fic that reflected that. Basically my life was centered around something called Queers Bash Back (see: wiki/Bash_Back), or Bash Back/BB for short. BB was an anarchist queer group that existed all across the US and Canada from like 2007- 2010. So, for the record, most things in this story are real. All the actions, the conferences, the fire Dean saved Sam from (happened in Minneapolis last year and a friend of friends died saving his housemates), the grand jury witch hunt (please see the Pacific Northwest Resisters, who are in jail right this second), and a lot of the conversations (especially the Sam and Dean conversations about what to do with yr life) are from my and my close friends' real lives. We live in interesting times, I guess.

Oh and the church action that happens in the first chapter really did happen almost exactly like that. I wasn't there (before my time) but my best friends were and there's video of it. Bill O'Reilly called them homosexual terrorists. Too good. (google "Mount Hope Infinity" if you don't believe me).

Sorry if you're upset I turned a couple of characters into trans folks. I get upset when people write about sex workers like they're all tragic victims and when slavery is glorified, so now we're even, fandom.

I have this theory that the AUs I enjoy the absolute most are the ones that kind of parallel canon events. I'm a psych person and I think that the only way you can get a Dean Winchester is with the formula of his life events, you know? Same with Sam and Cas. So this is like, canonverse kinda.

But hey, if any of this interests you and you want to learn more about how to be a scary badass like me and my crew, lemme know. Also all I want in this world is fanart for this story because I pretty much need to see punk Sam and Dean and co.

The title of this fic comes from an anarchist slogan I've always loved.

I'm considering making a glossary for this story because honestly I don't expect anyone to know what an oogle or a space bag is. If that would be at all interesting to you, let me know.