screamtrain

"What?" Sam says.

"What?" Dean asks.

"That's not–" Sam starts, then stops. Sometimes his brother is so ignorant that it's not even worth getting into. He shakes his head. A conversation about alternative lifestyles isn't what he came in here for anyway. There's a box of protein bars in the back of the cupboard with his name on it. Metaphorically, not literally. Nobody else touches them.

Sam's got the box in hand when Dean says, "Morning, sunshine."

Sam doesn't need to look up to see who Dean's talking to—it's always Cas—but habit kicks in and he glances up just in time to see Cas pad into the kitchen. He's wearing sweats, a too-big t-shirt, and a grumpy frown that could rival a toddler's at nap time. These days it's a fifty-fifty toss up on whether or not Cas needs to sleep. Looks like last night was a sleep night. Tonight might be one too.

"Hey, Cas," Sam says.

Cas makes a vague grunting sound in response and heads directly for Dean's cup of coffee. Not surprising. After years of Dean eating the angel's food, the not-quite-an-angel-anymore-but-not-exactly-human-either has taken to eating Dean's.

Dean holds his blue ceramic mug out to Cas. It's misshapen with uneven coloring and nobody's sure if it's actually safe to drink from, but Jack made it at the community center in Sioux Falls when he was visiting the girls a few months back; anytime Dean uses another mug, Jack gets an exaggeratedly dejected look on his face. Sam is pretty sure he's doing it just to fuck with Dean and it's definitely working.

"You up for a drive?" Dean asks. It's directed at Cas, but Sam figures he should pay attention too. It might be about a case.

Cas makes a vague noise that could mean anything from "I'll slaughter your entire family" to "Should I pack my mittens?"

"Great," Dean says. It's sarcastic but there's an undercurrent of affection, even if Dean would never admit it. He's so weird about his feelings, especially when it comes to his male friends. He's got this whole toxic masculinity thing going and it's honestly exhausting. If he could just pull his head out of his own ass, he'd see that–

He's… snuggling Cas. That's really the only word for it. Dean's got one arm wrapped around Cas' shoulders and his nose buried in Cas' hair and yep that's the sound of him placing a kiss on Cas' head.

And now he's murmuring something into the side of Cas' head, too low for Sam to make out.

And Cas isn't freaking out. He's… he's leaning into it.

What the fuck.

"Uh, what the hell's happening?" Sam asks.

Dean and Cas both look over at him in unison. Like they choreographed the movement. They both have a furrow between their brows, too, like their facial expressions are part of the dance.

Sam gestures helplessly at where the two of them are still more or less pressed together. Cas' face stays scrunched up but Dean's breaks into a giddy smile.

"Finally," he says.

"Finally, what?" Sam asks. "Are you two… together?"

"Sam," Cas says. He packs a lot of exasperation into that one syllable. Sam thinks it's unwarranted, even if Cas is trying to stave off Dean's impending sexuality crisis by avoiding the topic of conversation.

Well, too bad. They need to talk about it.

Sam asks, "Does Jack know?"

"Know what?" Jack asks, rounding the corner into the kitchen. He goes straight for the cupboard where the bowls are.

Sam looks at Dean, eyebrows raised. Dean still looks way too amused. Something isn't right.

Cas says, "About me and Dean."

Unconcerned, Jack asks, "What about you and Dean?"

"Yeah, what about us?" Dean says. It's directed at Sam. It feels like a trap.

Sam gestures vaguely to where Dean still stands with his arm around Cas. It's moved down to his waist.

"That you're… you know."

"What? What are we doing, Sammy?"

"Oh," Jack says, like he's figured something out and in the process lost all interest in the proceedings. More than anything he looks disappointed to find that the Fruity Pebbles are mostly just rainbow-colored dust. His bowl isn't even halfway full and the box is empty.

"Is Sam's gay crisis about Dean something we can do on the way to the store or do we have to stay in the kitchen until it's over?"

His face is so earnest that Sam is dumbstruck by the question.

Then, Dean starts laughing so hard that he loses his balance and slides down the cabinets til his ass hits the floor. Cas looks down at him fondly.