History HoYay / Supernatural

** "Huggy Bear" is a reference from the TV show "Starsky and Hutch." He was their confidential informant and good friend. There was quite a body of Starsky/Hutch fanfiction back in the day.
The slash association with that show may be the subtext in using that nickname.

* "Huggy Bear" is a reference from the TV show "Starsky and Hutch." He was their confidential informant and good friend. There was quite a body of Starsky/Hutch fanfiction back in the day.

* In the early seasons, the brothers are very touchy-feely, especially Dean, almost to the point of a RelationshipWritingFumble. Sam, in the earlier seasons, tended to touch Dean less often, but by Seasons 3 and 4 is pretty well constantly terrified of Dean dying, and starts grabbing at and touching Dean almost as often as Dean goes for him. Especially notable due to how emotionally repressed the two are.

* To be fair, though, nobody seems to have any concept of personal space when it comes to Dean. Can someone say Azazel? He just loves to pin Dean to walls/graves, lean in far too close and tell him how worthless he is. It's especially disturbing/sexy/twisted when he's possessing [[IncestIsRelative Dean's Daddy]] in "Devil's Trap".
*** Continued when Azazel possesses Dean's ''grandfather'' and moves into his personal space, showing once again that the {{Big Bad}} apparently loves Wincest even more than the fans do.

* Sam's history of FoeYay with demons doesn't just apply to the female ones. Azazel makes his liking of Sam, out of all the special children, quite plain, calling Sam his "favorite," [[PersonalSpaceInvader getting up in his personal space]], protecting him from other demons and trying to help him, and basically acting as the [[DistaffCounterpart male]] forerunner of [[DatingCatwoman Ruby]]. Then there's the crossroads demon in "I Know What You Did Last Summer" taking the form of a handsome, dark-haired young man for Sam when crossroads demons are supposed to [[HotAsHell take the form that their summoners would be most attracted to]]--and Sam seemed perfectly willing to seal the deal, which would require a kiss. Then in "Two Minutes to Midnight", Crowley calls Brady (from "The Devil You Know") Sam's "demon lover." (Well, it ''was'' [[ExperimentedInCollege college]].) ''Then'' there's Crowley himself, who flirt-taunts with Sam very, very often.

** He has some shades of this with [[FoeYay Lucifer]] in "Hammer of the Gods" as well, with Lucifer cradling Gabriel's head in his arms and getting quite up close and personal. Unfortunately, this is right before [[spoiler:killing him]]. Then, of course, there's this line, said quietly while very close to Gabriel's face.

** In the diner, Dean refers to Cas his "shy but devastatingly handsome friend".

** In [[https://twitter.com/xsimply_mishax/status/1324792593121726465 a deleted scene]], Crowley says to Cas "all in a desperate attempt to save your boyfriend" confirming that indeed EveryoneCanSeeIt.

--> '''Castiel:''' [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre And when you turn. And you'll turn. Sam... and everyone you know, everyone you love.... they'd be long dead. Everyone except me. I'm the one who'll have to watch you murder the world. So if there's even a small chance that we can save you, I won't let you walk out of that room]].

* The next time Dean sees Amara in 11x21, she wants him to tell Chuck that she'll keep hurting Lucifer until he confronts her. Then, to make sure that Dean passes the message along, she shows him [[IHaveYourWife a vision of "your friend, Castiel"]] who looks like he's been put through the meat grinder. Amara considers Cas [[Recap/SupernaturalS11E10TheDevilInTheDetails to be]] [[NotWorthKilling broken and expendable]], but she knows that Dean doesn't. Sure enough, this motivates Dean to come up with a harebrained scheme to free Cas [[spoiler:(and, by extension, Lucifer)]] from Amara, going so far as to accept help from [[spoiler:''Metatron'']].

** Shortly after their conversation about the mixtape and subsequent reconciliation, Dean finds that Cas stole [[spoiler:the Colt]] from his room and vanished. The way Dean explains the incident to Sam is evocative of someone who has fallen victim to a HoneyTrap scheme; the fact that he kept the item in question ''under his pillow'' doesn't help:

** Dean's visible relief when Cas walks through the portal back into their world, which is replaced by a look of utter horror when Lucifer stabs Cas InTheBack, killing him. Later, Dean falls to his knees next to Cas, looking completely numb to everything around him (Sam, [[spoiler:his mother trapped in the Apocalypse world ''with Lucifer'']], the uber-powerful newly-born nephelim...)

* In 14x01 when Castiel is looking for Dean he meets the demon Kipling, who taunts him about his known attachment to Dean by telling him "I thought you were joined at the... everything".

** Castiel has been tasked by Naomi to find and rescue Samandriel ASAP. He immediately goes to Dean for help and finds him sleeping sprawled on the couch, snoring lightly, and with a beer bottle clutched in his arms. Instead of waking him up so they can get on with the mission, Cas spends several moments just looking at the [[BeautifulDreamer sleeping Dean]] in rapt fascination. And if Dean's reaction when he wakes up ("Damn it, Cas! How many times I got to tell you?") is any indication, this isn't the first time Dean has woken up to find Cas watching him from three feet away.

** Dean is pretty open about his appreciation of the vintage porn magazine he found in the bunker, half-jokingly telling Sam that he "[[ADateWithRosiePalms need[s] 10 minutes]]" with it --and that's not even getting into how many times Sam's caught him visiting porn sites on his laptop. So what ''does'' embarrass Dean? Having to admit that he prays to Castiel for help. It's worth noting that he has a perfectly valid reason for his latest prayer (he needs his angel BFF to use his HealingHands on Sam, who's been [[IncurableCoughOfDeath coughing up blood]] following the first trial), but when Sam asks him why he's praying to Cas, Dean offers no answer and refuses to meet anyone's eyes, turning his whole head away from Sam and Cas while awkwardly clenching his hands. He looks very much like a schoolboy who's been caught trying to sneak a note to his crush.

** Also, given the "Old Man" is revealed to actually be a [[TheTwink very beautiful blond]] [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld young man]], as well as Benny's...[[TheBear everything]], there's something of a visual subversion of the usual takes on LoverAndBeloved going on.

* 15x17 again cements the brothers choosing each other over everything else. Dean is consumed by his need to see Chuck dead, regardless of the cost, willing to accept not only Jack's death, but that of countless others, proclaiming he would "trade it all". However, when Sam tearfully asks him if he would trade Sam and tells him that his relationship with Dean is the one thing that he knows is true, Dean stops and is willing to let go of the plan to kill Chuck. This actually ruins Chuck's plan and the ending he had written for Sam and Dean.

* Sam and the Trickster/Gabriel are quite flirty when they first meet in "Tall Tales" as Gabriel poses as janitor.

* Sam and the Trickster/Gabriel in ''Mystery Spot'', whether Sam has Gabriel pinned against the wall, or is begging him to bring Dean back. Then Gabriel admits who he is to Sam, despite Dean being there as well. And then very, very clearly holds eye contact with Sam for a beat longer than is entirely necessary.

* Episode 4x21, Dean and Castiel just stare at each other for nearly 20 seconds. The zoom-out shot of them afterwards is also reminiscent of the shots employed for especially romantic kissing scenes in many movies.

* The last 5 minutes of 4x02 see Castiel arrive at Bobby's and he and Dean share an intense conversation in the kitchen, in which Castiel continues his habit of invading Dean's personal space as Dean stares at him. Moreover, Dean wakes up on the couch and it's clear Sam didn't notice/wake up to see the angel in the kitchen, implying that the conversation [[DreamWalker happened inside Dean's dream]].

* Episode 4x16: Castiel has been demoted because he's gotten too close to Dean and his superiors feel it will "impair his judgement". And it turns out they're correct. Castiel indeed goes on to investigate something he has been ordered not to, because Dean was hurt.

* Castiel cares about humanity only in a very detached way. Him turning against heaven is motivated by a desire to keep Dean's friendship (as confirmed by Misha Collins - and the script). Teaming up with Crowley is motivated by not wanting to cause Dean further anguish.

** In addition, we see Cas's trenchcoat in the car at the end, and that pony from last episode - the one with the wings - is next to it.

* In Episode 4x20, when Jimmy kisses Amelia, we get a ''ReactionShot'' from Dean, and he looks ''really'' jealous. Nothing from Sam, of course, because why would Sam care?

* In season 2 episode "Playthings" Sam ends up drunk and clings to Dean to the extent he looks like he's about to kiss him until Dean slaps him away. There's a similar thing in "Sam, Interrupted" a drugged Sam gets his face quite close to Dean's then touches Dean's nose and chirps "Boop!" And Dean just watches him do this staying there.

* Creator/EricKripe has cited Jack Kerouac's ''Literature/OnTheRoad'' as a major influence on the show with Sam being loosely inspired by Kerouac's alter ego Sal Paradise and Dean being loosely inspired by the stand-in for Neal Cassady, Dean Moriarity. Early seasons especially retain elements from the novel such as Sam/Sal's insecurity and religious questioning and Dean's live-for-the-moment hedonism. This is relevant since the novel is laden with homoerotic tension between the two characters, which the writers didn't scrub from the narrative despite turning the characters into brothers.

* Creator/ErikKripe has cited Jack Kerouac's ''Literature/OnTheRoad'' as a major influence on the show with Sam being loosely inspired by Kerouac's alter ego Sal Paradise and Dean being loosely inspired by the stand-in for Neal Cassady, Dean Moriarity. Early seasons especially retain elements from the novel such as Sam/Sal's insecurity and religious questioning and Dean's live-for-the-moment hedonism. This is relevant since the novel is laden with homoerotic tension between the two characters, which the writers didn't scrub from the narrative despite turning the characters into brothers.