Fic where Dean finally reciprocates Sam's feelings, but Sam immediately panics and assumes it's a hallucination?
Edit: u/hello-starling found it! So happy! https://archiveofourown.org/works/34339321?view_full_work=true
Original post for reference:
Looking for a fic I read a couple years ago on AO3.
In it, Sam has had unrequited feelings for Dean for years, but Dean hasn't reciprocated. Dean's aware of Sam's feelings and both are embarrassed about it.
After Sam comes back from hell (and maybe something about the wall? And the cage? And Lucifer?), Sam is very messed up mentally. Dean realizes he has feelings for Sam. He tries to tell him this (maybe at Bobby's house??) but as soon as he tells Sam that Sam isn't alone in feeling this way, Sam promptly loses his shit and starts screaming for Dean to come help him, because he thinks the person confessing his feelings for him is actually a hallucination of Lucifer. In his mind, there's no way Dean would ever reciprocate his feelings. He full on panics.
Dean responds by fleeing the room and changing his clothes and coming right back, pretending that it had been a hallucination. He figures Sam is not mentally healthy enough yet. He subsequently keeps his feelings to himself for, like, years.
I thought it was one of the Leonidaslion fics, but I can't find this one scene in any of them and it's driving me nuts! Ring a bell for anyone?
Posted Jun 23, 2025, 4:20 AM UTC