SPN reclist: Outsider POVs
My fic sweet spots for this trope: developed perceptive OCs observing or realizing the depths of love shared between Sam and Dean... and of course hurt lil bro Sam
Last updated 1/1/2022. Let 's get started! 🤗 ❤️

Category: Gen
What Moms Do by Ridley C. James. (FFnet). Rated PG, Gen, 4k words. Summary: Sam has a crisis in school, and Dean does what any big brother would, he comes to the rescue.
fanfiction.net/s/2940014
my thoughts: This fic is so pure, haha. It basically covers how all the things that, traditionally, moms do, are things that still get done for Sam even though he doesn 't have his mom. Cue ‘awww ' because that 's exactly what you 're gonna utter unconsciously while reading this fic. This is also a shmoopy kid!fic and therefore listed in my reclist of shmoopy kid!fics .

From the Darkness by K Hanna Korossy (FF.net). Rated PG-13, Gen, 8k. Summary: He was terrified. This wasn 't what I 'd signed up for. Outsider POV.
fanfiction.net/s/4231764
my thoughts: This fic is in my top favorite SPN fics . One of the best outsider POVs. The ending is positively cinematic and K did actually tell me the whole story was inspired for that one brilliant moment. This author has quite a few other Outsider POVs too and they 're all incredible, primarily Martyr for the Cause (another hurt!Sam one, fanfiction.net/s/7188438) and then Rest Your Weary Head (fanfiction.net/s/4516632) where Sam 's the protective one.

MIA by Madebyme (FF.net). Rated PG-13, Gen, 5k words. Summary: She's always had a soft spot for strays but there's something different about this one, and more than anything she wants him to find whoever he's lost. Outsider POV with hurt boys!
fanfiction.net/s/7065918
my thoughts: Featuring the POV of a perceptive and extremely helpful older diner owner and hostess. Loved her observations of stressed + caretaker!Dean so much. Check out the sequel/parallel fic, Safe Haven (fanfiction.net/s/7985004), where it 's Dean 's turn to get got!

I Wish I Was Your Brother by Scribble2Much (FF.net). Rated PG, Gen, 118k words. Summary: The intensity of the close bond between the Winchester brothers inspires envy, awe, admiration, longing and even suspicion in outsiders. A series of stories told by individuals after unforgettable encounters with Sam and Dean.
fanfiction.net/s/6547226
my thoughts: The sweetest (and sometimes angstiest!) series of standalone outsider POVs ever. The one I remember most (bc I loved it) was Chapter 7, "Support System" with Sam visiting Jess 's grave.

Ellie 's Giant by cordelia_gray (AO3). Rated G, Gen, 1k words. Summary: A mute giant with sad eyes lives at the end of Ellie's street.
ao3.org/works/182592
my thoughts: It was awesome how cordelia_gray put so much meaning and love into such a short outsider POV.

charmer & gentle by askance (AO3). Rated G, Gen, 3k words. Summary: The afternoon girl calls them Big and Tall, the strangers who come in late every now and then, buying this or that. The night girl doesn't think those names fit quite right.
ao3.org/works/4932184
my thoughts: I get this fic mixed up with AmyPond45′s fic You Can 't Go Home Again (ao3.org/works/2065908) because both feature the outsider pov characters coming up with these brilliant nicknames for Sam and Dean. There 's a twist in AmyPond45′s fic that disqualifies it for this list (and it 's also Sam/Dean), but I promise you if you liked this fic and you don 't mind wincest, you 'll appreciate You Can 't Go Home Again.

i have a rendezvous with death by leonidaslion (AO3). Rated R, Gen, 13k words. Summary: Harvie doesn't know what to make of the man who saved her, or his great, yellow-eyed hound, but one thing's for sure: there are stranger things in this rider-ridden world than haunts.
ao3.org/works/193826
my thoughts: Brilliant, interesting OC perspective that 's kind of unraveling the mystery of Sam and Dean. This fic also features animal transformation/shape-shifting tropes and it 's all inside a post-apocalypse AU. Fantastic fic!

Fellowship of the Nine by emebalia (FF.net). Rated PG-13, Gen, 26k words. Summary: Sam spends a weekend with some Stanford friends . But he's not the man they used to know anymore. Outsider POV. Season two.
fanfiction.net/s/9016084
my thoughts: This fic perfectly combined my love for outsider POV with my love of Sam 's Stanford friends getting a reality check meeting him after a year or two on the road with Dean. And yay emebalia wrote a sequel! Two Brothers, fanfiction.net/s/9646447

Connected by abcdefuk-off (FF.net). Rated PG-13, Gen, 9k words. Summary: Assumptions and labels can be incredibly incorrect when you don't truly know a person; that is a lesson a teacher learns when she crosses paths with Dean Winchester and his little brother Sammy. One-shot. Weechesters/Teenchesters. Hurt/Asthmatic/Sam and Protective/Big Brother/Dean.
fanfiction.net/s/11798913
my thoughts: Ooo how I love the villain of an awful, bitter teacher in SPN kidfics! This one is especially satisfying re: defeating them! This is also a shmoopy kid!fic and therefore listed in my reclist of shmoopy kid!fics

It 's a Dog by Jedi Sapphire (FF.net). Rated PG-13, Gen, 4k words. Summary: A vet gets a call to the scene of a fire, where she finds an injured puppy. Then she meets a man called Dean, who seems just a little crazy. Also, there 's a witch in there somewhere. Set vaguely after the S6 finale; no spoilers past 6.22.
fanfiction.net/s/8699532
my thoughts: The most brilliant marriage between puppy!Sam and outsider POV. Bonus: protective and caring Dean. Since this fic features puppy!sam, it 's included in my animal transformations reclist too 👍

Several self-recs (all my past Outsider POV fics):
Revelation on Heroes by fogsrollingin (AO3). Rated PG-13, Gen, 5k words. Summary: Taylor, a traumatized survivor of a wendigo's attacks, has to help the two men who saved her in return. Outsider POV.
ao3.org/works/21299312
My thoughts on me: Self-rec! I wrote little snippets of this piece before going to bed for a month or so, figured one Sunday to just pull it all together and edit it for publishing. Yeah nonsexual nudity and hurt!sammy. Yay bro hugs and cuddles!

Ordinary People. PG-13, gen, 27k words. Summary: Teenchesters. Outsider POV & OC: Jesse really appreciates Sam as he's welcomed into their group, but slowly realizes the truth behind his family as reality sets in...
ao3.org/works/698485
my thoughts on me: Heavy drama featuring hurt!Sam. I sorta ‘stole ' a scene from the film Stigmata and refashioned it for this story, haha. Protective!Comforting!Dean. Also some cool elements of the narrator, Jesse, thinking Dean 's an asshat and then realizing how wrong she is.

The Nurse 's Office and Camp, both outsider POV vignette stories inside my epileptic!Sam ‘verse called A Change of Plans, ao3.org/series/1127963 . Both rated G, gen, 7k and 9k words, respectively. These are shmoopy, featuring outsider POVs that get caught up in how cute and amazing Sam & Dean 's brotherhood is.

Drugs are a Hell of a Drug, PG-13, gen, 3k words. Summary: Karen, exhausted and stranded, gets a five minute drive with the Winchester brothers, the eldest of which is a lee bit woopy.
ao3.org/works/5994571
my thoughts on me: Comedic fic! Hopefully it gets you to smile at least once ;)