I have a massive aversion to limp!Sam, because I've always seen both Sam and Dean proactive. But I do have a soft spot for episodes like Faith or In My Time of Dying, and those episodes tend to have Dean in peril both emotionally and physically. They are great for character insight, imo.

Of course, one of my all time fave Dean moments is in "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" when he is all awesome and heroic by sliding across the ground, into the grave, and then pined the dead girl in place. I also love that moment in Jump the Shark when he figures out how to break out of the crypt.

I kinda love Macgyver Dean ;)

I view H/C or the guys in "peril" as different than fandom usually defines H/C. As you stated above, the cuddling thing. OMG ugh. If you ever talk to people I've known for a while, you know I rant about this a lot. I'm all for the boys getting into trouble, having some emotional moments, and even showing they care for each other. We see that on the show. But I hate smarmy stuff, cuddling, excessive hugs, overuse of "Sammy" and other stuff that seems to make them less like men.

It's fine if people ant to write it. I just don't like it.

Same for ship fic. As long as the characters seem in character to me, I'm cool. :)