And This, Your Living Kiss

And This, Your Living Kiss is an Alternate Universe Destiel fanfiction written by opal_bullets. 
It is both a College AU and Writer AU, as the story centres on poet Dean Winchester moving to Maple Hills to live with Sam and Eileen and auditing a college Modern Poetry class taught by Castiel. The story centres around Dean's relationships to those around him and to writing poetry, and also involves aspects of identity porn, as Dean writes under the pseudonym Jack Allen, and Castiel is a literary expert on Jack Allen's poetry. 
The story was published on Archive of Our Own in March 2019 for the Dean/Cas Pinefest. It is incredibly popular and considered as a fandom classic by many Destiel fans, particularly because of its depth, writing and use of poetry. 
It has been podficced, into Mandarin Chinese and inspired a range of fanart and fan discussion, and been recced by fans on many social media platforms, including Tumblr, TikTok and Reddit. 
== Overview ==
The story takes its name from the last lines of Carol Ann Duffy's poem "If I Was Dead", and poetry is a central subject of the work. The author has also a list of quotes and allusions in the fic on her Tumblr. 
== Fan Reactions ==
Fan discussions of the work have been widely positive. Many reviews and recommendations by fans have praised the fic's writing style, and the author's original poetry included in the story. 
Other fans have expressed that the fic inspired them to start reading the works referenced in the fic, which include Jack Kerouac's On The Road (for which the characters of Sam and Dean were originally named after), Alan Ginsberg's "Howl" and other 20th century writers: 
Popular fandom TikTok creator Berk has talked multiple times about the story and its impact on her, as it inspired her to start writing poetry, and she even had a line from the fic tattooed on her arm.@asecretvice [opal_bullets]. , Tumblr, 21 May 2023. (Accessed 20 May 2024) When Berk later published her own collection of poetry, she included Jack Allen in the collection's acknowledgements and changed her TikTok display name to "berk (jack allen era)" as a reference to the fic (as Jack Allen is the pseudonym Dean publishes his poetry under). Her recommending the fic has received over 10,000 likes. Fandom TikTok creator Dean has also about the fic. 
Other fans have praised the realism and emotional depth of the story and Dean's character, particularly his feelings about John Winchester and the way it treats Dean's relationships with Sam and Castiel. 
The story was also discussed on Episode 23 of the Mixtape Book Club podcast, a Destiel fanfiction podcast.
== Inspired Fanworks ==
File:And This Your Living Kiss Cover storiestoldbytime.png|Fic Cover by storiestoldbytime (2023)
File:Tumblr 2efbc4bfdd68ca873dbefb9c2959a463 9e63df16 1280.jpg|Art of Castiel by spikievstheuniverse (2021)
File:And This Your Living Kiss getoutofbednelly.jpg|Fic Cover by getoutofbednelly (2024)
File:And This Your Living Kiss Tattoo.jpg|Icaruspendragon's tattoo of lines from the fic (2023)
File:Lazarus Rizing idontwikeit.gif|Gif from a gifset of the poem Lazarus Rising by idontwikeit (2021)
== References ==
Category:Destiel Fanfiction
Category:2019 Fanfiction