“Do you love Cas?” Sam asks one day, blurting it out after dealing with their shit for far too long.
Dean looks away from the television and frowns at him, “Huh?”
Sam takes a deep breath in, waiting for the inevitable of Dean to yell at him, “Do you love Cas?”
Surprisingly, Dean doesn’t shout, in fact he looks at Sam like he’s the biggest idiot in the universe, “Course I do, it’s Cas,” Dean shrugs, “He’s family.”
Sam sighs because that isn’t what he means dammit. Warily, he looks over at Dean and tries to decide on whether to push it any further or not. Dean’s cooperating at the moment but when he feels like he’s being cornered, he fights back and Sam figures that if he tries to force the issue, the conversation may end up with Dean storming off and not speaking to him for a week.
Sam’s decision, however, is made when Dean carries on to speak.
“Just like you love him,” Dean states with another shrug.
“No,” Sam disagrees before he can even stop himself.
Dean’s gaze snaps back onto Sam, eyes narrowing as he argues, “You don’t love Cas? What the fuck dude?” Dean shuts the television off and plonks the remote onto the coffee table with far too much rigour than necessary, “After everything we’ve been through with him and you don’t think he’s family?”
“No, I do see him as family,” Sam tries to quickly dissipate the situation because of course Dean had to take what Sam had said in the completely wrong fucking way, “I love him like a brother, I do,” Sam placates before adding a little hesitatingly, “Unlike you.”
This only somehow makes Dean angrier, his nostrils flaring as he crosses his arms defensively, “So what, you’re saying I don’t love him?”
“No,” Sam takes a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose because he loves his brother to death, he does, but sometimes he can be really fucking difficult to talk to, “What I’m saying is, I love Cas like a brother,” Sam lets that sink in before adding, “You love Cas in a different way to that,” his voice softens, “Something more.”
As soon as the words are out of his mouth, Dean averts his gaze, jaw strengthening as he suddenly finds the coffee table to be the most interesting thing in the room. Sam watches him for a moment because honestly, he’d kind of been expecting Dean to try and deny it, to get angry or to shut it down and call Sam an idiot before slinking off and never mentioning it again. But Dean doesn’t deny it, doesn’t even try to, he just stays where he’s sitting, a slight blush to his cheeks as he takes shaky breaths in and out.
“Are you-” Sam asks quietly, “Are you ever going to tell him?”
Dean locks his gaze back to Sam, the younger brother in shock at how how fucking sad his eyes are before they’re quickly masked with disbelief, “And why the fuck would I do that?” Dean asks angrily, “Why the fuck would I go tell him that and ruin everything? If I tell him, I’ll fuck everything up,” Dean turns his face away but not quick enough for Sam to miss the way his eyes are starting to water, hands bunching into tight fists, “He doesn’t feel the same way about me. If I tell him, he won’t want to be in the same room as me, let alone-”
Sam’s ready to interrupt, to tell his big brother that he’s being a fucking idiot because of course Cas feels the same way, of course Cas loves him. Sam opens his mouth to tell him, to ask him how Dean has somehow not noticed the way Cas looks at him like he’s the entire world, how sometimes Dean is the only person that can make Cas smile, how when Cas passes a coffee to Dean in the morning, his hand lingers over Dean’s far too long to be platonic. Yet, just he is about to speak, Cas storms into the room, slamming the door open with conviction, eyes ablaze. Sam’s eyes widen because this really hadn’t been part of the plan, though by Dean’s accusatory gaze Sam’s way, he seems to think so.
Before Sam can defend himself and say that he hadn’t known that Cas had been listening in, Castiel growls, stomping his way to where Dean is sitting, “You couldn’t be more wrong Dean Winchester.”
“I-” Dean looks bewildered, eyes darting to Sam and back to Cas, “I didn’t-” he stumbles on his words, “We were just-”
Apparently, Castiel isn’t in the mood for any of Dean’s shit today because he cuts Dean off by cupping his cheeks roughly, bringing Dean’s face closer to him before he slams their mouths together. Before Dean can understand what’s happening, Cas pulls away, still cupping his cheeks as he rumbles out, “I love you, you infuriating, stubborn-”
The few seconds give Dean the apparent chance to catch up, his mouth agape for a moment, eyes full of wonder as he looks up at Cas. Another second passes and then his face breaks into a grin and fuck, Sam hasn’t seen his brother that happy in a really long time, maybe not even ever.
Still grinning, it’s Dean’s turn to interrupt Cas, grabbing a hold of Cas’ hips and tugging at him, Cas falling pliantly into his lap with a surprised noise, arms wrapping around Dean’s neck to steady himself. And with that, Dean is kissing Cas like there’s no fucking tomorrow, one hand settling in Cas’ hair, the other sliding up the back of Cas’ t-shirt.
Sam’s not sure whether they’ve completely forgotten his existence or they’ve reached a point where they just don’t fucking care but when Dean starts fucking sucking on Cas’ neck, Cas’ head tipping back as he moans Dean’s name, Sam takes that as his cue to leave and run far, far, to the other side of the bunker so he won’t hear anything that will thoroughly scar him for life.
Even with the disturbing sounds emitting from the room as he shuts the door behind him, Sam finds himself smiling because honestly, when he’d been planning on asking Dean about his true feelings for Cas, he’d expected maybe an admittance, if that. He really hadn’t expected this. But hey, Sam is definitely not going to complain that he’s somehow brought the two idiots together.
After all, it’s about fucking time.
He just prays that they won’t leave any dodgy stains on the couch.