"I need you."
Those words have been said many times. They've been forced on Dean's tongue. They've fallen from his lips. They've been said when he was broken and bleeding and when the only pain he felt was deep inside of his chest.
But no matter what, those words have always meant the same thing.
Castiel doesn't need Dean to say that he loves him. He doesn't need to hear Dean say that he wants Cas. All he needs to hear was that Dean needs him.
"I need you" is so very different than "I want you" or even "I love you".
Love is more that they enjoy each other's company. It is being in the same room and sitting across from each other at the local diner of whatever town they were currently residing in. It is sharing glances and smiles and clinking their beers together before taking those first sips as they lean on the hood of the Impala with Sam.
Want is when Dean covers Cas' mouth with his own. It is when Cas shoves him into the leather in the backseat of his car. It is the needy drag of skin on skin and rough, calloused hands running over hard flesh. It is when they infuriate each other so much that Sam locks them in a room together until they can't argue anymore because their mouths are too full of moans and gasps.
But Castiel knows that Dean needs him. He needs Cas to punch some sense into him in back alleys in the darkness of night. He needs Cas to come when he calls and pull his ass out of the fire and touch his forehead, no questions asked. He needs Cas to lean on after a particularly hard hunt. He needs Cas' gentle hands to rub circles on his back when he can't sleep because he can hear his brother coughing up a lung down the hall.
He needs Cas. Angel or otherwise.
"I need you," Dean says late at night after Cas has once again threatened to leave them because he needs to find his fallen brothers and he can't stand the fact that they're all out there, helpless, because of him.
"I need you here. I need you to stop leaving me. I need you to stop blaming yourself because it's not all your fault."
And the kiss he presses onto Cas' lips is better than any love confession.