Here was the thing. Out of all the ways he ever saw them dying, Dean never thought they would go like this.
To be fair, he didn't really predict the other times either. Death for them was tricky like that. It could never be something easy. It always had to be over the top and bloody. They didn't do typical. But ever since Dean had died the first time, he always thought they'd get taken out for good by something from hell of heaven. Something hardcore. Blaze of glory and all that.
He never expected a giant flame monster trying to eat them alive as they way they would bite it. Because that was just pathetic. The hunters equivalent to dying on the toilet while taking a shit, pathetic (though Tywin Lannister deserved every bit of that shameful death, in Dean's opinion).
"Dean, in here!" Dean didn't think, just letting his legs carry him through the doorway that Sam was holding wide open. He could feel the heat lick the heels of his shoes as he threw himself through the entryway, the rubber soles of his boots actually, honest to God, melting. He hit the floor belly first, his hands scrapping against the floorboards, and behind him, he heard the monster roar. He saw Sam slam the door shut in his peripheral vision, locking it behind them. They were safe. Well, for like five minutes.
"How did we fuck this up so badly?" Dean mumbled into the floorboards. They felt nice and cool on his face compared to the inferno he just tried to fight hands on. He was pretty sure that he tanned more in those five minutes in his entire life.
"We mistook the identity of the creature." Dean looked up. Sitting in the corner of the room was Cas. He'd run in first, half carried by Sam when the mission started turning pear shaped. Or maybe squash shaped; a pear didn't seem adapt for how badly they fucked this one up. The edges of his trench coat were burnt, some patches missing entirely. Given the state of Cas's grace lately (shitty), Dean wondered if they'd have to buy him a new one. If they lived, that was. "To be fair, a fire wraith and a fire chimera are very easy to confuse."
Dean doubted that. One was a ball of fire, the other was a giant hulking monster of flame. With teeth. And claws. And bad breath. Seemed like a big enough difference to him. He looked over his shoulder to glance at Sam. His younger brother was etching sigils into the wood of the door using a screwdriver he found in one of the desk drawers. "Got anything?"
"Working on it." Which was Sam for "we're fucked." He turned back to Cas. "Any chance you can zap us out of here?"
The look Cas gave him was withering. "Dean, I cannot even heal the burns on my torso at the moment. Zapping us out, as you call it, is out of the question." The snark in his voice vanished when there was another bang at the door. "Though I wish it were otherwise."
Dean pushed himself off the floor getting into a sitting position. There weren't any windows in the basement window, not even ones for ventilation. That had to be against housing code. After he was sure that the only other way out was the way they got back in, he reached for his knife. If Sam's sigils didn't work, they were going to have to fight their way out of this one. Which probably meant they were going to be burnt alive.
It wasn't the worst possible death Dean had ever faced down, but it didn't sound pleasant.
"Well Cas," Dean said trying to keep his voice light. Like they weren't all about to go out in a ball of fire. "If you have any confessions, now would be the time."
He meant it as a joke. Something to relieve the "we're all going to die" tension. But Cas's expression suddenly grew very serious, like "end of the world serious" and he cleared his throat.
"Dean," he said, his voice pitched just as low as it was when they first met. "I have something I need to tell you."
And wasn't that unexpected. Dean had been taking the piss and Cas actually wanted to talk about his feelings? Go figure. Sam didn't seem to be too thrilled about it either, given how still he suddenly had gotten behind him. Dean held up his hands. "Cas, look man, you don't have to-"
"No, I do." Cas got up and walked over to Dean a slight wobble in his step. He feet must have gotten burnt. He knelt down in front of Dean and placed his hand on his shoulder. It was weird.
"Cas…" Sam said, voice pitched higher than Dean was used to. Cas didn't pay him any mind, staring Dean straight in the eyes. Even after all these years, his best friend still didn't understand the concept of personal space.
"It needs to be said, Sam." Cas gripped his shoulder tighter and Dean's brain went into hype drive mode. What was this? A confession? And of what? Given Cas it could be anything from an "I love you" to an "I ate the last slice of pie last week and never told you." He braced himself for anything.
Well almost everything. Because the words that left Cas' mouth one second later were so far out of left field that Dean was pretty sure they weren't playing in the same stadium.
"Dean. I've been seeing your brother for the last year."
Dean blinked. The monster clawing outside their door seemed very distant all of the sudden. He must had heard Cas wrong. Or maybe Cas still hadn't gotten used to human expressions after all these years. "Excuse me?"
"I've been seeing your brother. For the last year." He looked at Dean's face and took in the stark confusion there. "Romantically."
Somewhere behind him, Sam groaned.
"Now was not the time, Cas," Sam said. He sounded disgruntled, like Cas had accidently washed his colored shirts with his white ones instead of disturbing Dean's tentative grasp on the universe. Cas let go of Dean's shoulders and glared at Sam over Dean's shoulder.
"You've been saying that for the last year, Sam," Cas said. For some reason, his tone reminded Dean of Lisa's back when they used to have small squabbles. "I wasn't going to let us die here without coming clean."
Dean heard Sam's etching speed up, becoming almost frantic in pace. The room was beginning to collect smoke. "One," his younger brother said. "We are not going to die here. And two, near death situations are not opportune times to come out of the closet."
" Why not? There is no such thing as an opportune time, Sam!" Cas' eyes narrowed. "Are you ashamed of us, Sam? Is that it?" And there it was. The couple's fight cliché. And it had come out of the mouth of an angle of the lord.
"Cas…" Oh my God, did Sam actually sound remorseful? Dean couldn't deal with this. Not now. Maybe later, when he had time to tilt the world back on its axis but not now.
"Guys," Dean said, his voice a little croaky from the smoke. "Are you two seriously having a romantic comedy cliché fight right now?"
Both Sam and Cas looked at Dean, somewhat sheepish. At least Dean's ability to make the two revise their life choices hadn't changed. A blush had spread up Sam's neck, turning his face tomato red. His younger brother turned back to the sigils, beginning to carve once more. Cas, meanwhile, directed his gaze to the floor.
"Dean, I-' Dean held up a hand and cleared his throat.
"Man, now is not the time. But if we make it out of this? You two owe me a hell of an explanation."
It was only at that moment that the sigils on the door began to glow and everything turned white.
The explanation was not nearly as interesting as Dean expected.
"You were a demon," Sam said, walking over to the kitchen counter to grab himself a bowl of cereal when Dean had cornered him to ask how all this business started. "It was a bad time." Like that explained everything.
Cas was a little more forthcoming, though that wasn't saying much. He'd actually come to Dean to deliver his explanation. Maybe because Dean kept following him Everywhere. Like a cat. "After you vanished, I worked with your brother on some cases. We grew close."
"That kind of close?"
"I was dying. It was a bad time." Great, now they were parroting one another. "Why do you not approve?"
That wasn't quite right. Dean didn't not approve. He didn't care who his brother banged or what gender they were. He was an open guy. As long as they weren't a demon, he was cool with it. If Sam was happy, he didn't give a damn. And after all the shit that Cas had been through for their sakes, the angel deserved something nice in his life as well.
Dean just preferred that it wasn't with each other.
" I don't understand why you're so freaked out," Charlie said over the phone. She'd called up to get information on a case only to get slammed with Dean's confusion about the shift in his world order. "I mean, okay, it's unexpected. But it isn't the weirdest thing you've ever experienced."
Dean was standing in the kitchen, well more like hiding, as he watched Cas and Sam pour over books in the other room. They each flipped through the pages occasionally pausing to consult each other on what they'd figured out. It was par for the course.
"They're acting so…normal," Dean said, keeping his voice to a whisper. It made him feel a little ridiculous. "Like, normal, normal."
"And? What, did you expect them to get all lovey dovey just because you're in the know now or something?"
Dean scrunched up his nose. Last thing he needed was that mental image. "God no. It's just…they're acting exactly the same as before. Like, exactly the same." He looked back to Sam and Cas. Both of them were looking over the same book now, discussing a certain page. Sam was talking about a certain section, his finger running across the pages, and Cas broke in to comment every so often. It was a familiar scene. Dean could remember similar instances going back at least three years. Looking at them, he'd have no idea that anything even changed. "I guess," he said, searching for the right words. "I expected something to be different. Something noticeable."
"Who says there isn't? Maybe you just haven't been paying attention." Charlie sounded far too amused for Dean's liking. "Look, Dean. You've had a rough couple of months. Don't beat yourself up about missing something small." Dean didn't qualify a full blown relationship between his brother and his best friend as something small, but he didn't comment. "Just keep an eye out. The pieces will fall into place."
"Did you get that line that from a fortune cookie?"
"Shut up." She said the phrase just like he did. He heard a click from the other end of the line and he tucked his phone back in his pocket. Missing something? He looked back up at Cas and Sam. What could he have-
And oh. Oh. He was an idiot. A colossal idiot. Because the way Cas was staring at Sam right now should haven given their entire secret away the first second Dean ever saw it.
Sam didn't even seem to notice it. He was still reading the pages out loud, his voice a little excited. Cas was still interjecting on occasion, but he was no longer staring at the book. Instead, his eyes were fixed on his brother's face, softer than Dean had ever seen them. A small smile graced his lips, one that was far too fond to be angelic. His hand was so close to Sam's that they were almost touching.
Dean knew how to read people. It was a part of the job. And what he saw in front of him was a poor bastard in love.
At first, Dean thought Sam didn't notice how Cas was looking at him. It wouldn't be surprising if he didn't; Sam tended to zone out when he was in the nerd zone. But soon enough, Sam's hand crept towards Cas's just enough so that they were overlapping. And while Sam's hair was covering most of his face, Dean could easily see his smile. A smile he'd seen him give Jessica in photos.
They were in love. His idiot brother and his best friend were in love. With each other. And happy.
All Dean had ever wanted for them was to be happy. Always.
"Oh my God," Dean said without meaning to. Both Sam and Cas looked up, not moving their hands apart. Dean opened his mouth searching for words. He couldn't just go out and spill his feelings all over the floor. He took a deep breath and settled into a role he could work with.
"You two are gross," he said. He turned around to walk over to the fridge. He hoped they'd be able to parse his real message.
Behind him, Cas squeezed Sam's hand and smiled.