the way these scenes parallel each other is so important to me holy shit

i know this has been said a million times but they couldn’t do it. both of them just couldn’t do it. even when naomi was manipulating cas, even when the mark was manipulating dean. they both resisted.

cas didn’t want to have hurt him in 10x22, but he barely fought back simply because it’s dean. dean was strong, but cas had his grace back. he could’ve thrown dean across the room, hell, he could’ve killed him. and he didn’t.

dean didn’t want to have to hurt cas in 8x17, but he barely fought back simply because it wasn’t cas. he was being mind controlled by some asshat angel. cas wouldn’t beat him to a pulp, not now. dean wouldn’t hurt him. he let it happen and he begged for cas to be okay, which naomi never expected.

“happy new year, dean,” cas murmured, his eyes glued to the sharp slope of dean’s shoulders. tension. but cas couldn’t understand why. he cast his eyes around the room, trying to assess what had sparked the uneasiness in dean.

dean’s voice was quiet, strung-out and wary as he spoke. “i’ve got a new year’s resolution for you.”

cas scrunched his eyebrows, looking at dean in confusion.

“you… you’re not allowed to die. for the rest of the year. no getting killed. no leaving m-” dean broke off. “just, don’t,” he finished, the last words coming out as a hiss.

cas took a half step back. “dean-”

dean stood up, sucking in a sharp breath. “don’t. don’t you dare.”

cas watched as dean stormed away, down the bunker corridor to his bedroom.

on the tv, glimpses of fireworks flashed across the screen. the light caught a notebook resting on the arm of the chair. dean’s notebook.

the pages had been left open, dean’s messy scrawl catching cas’ eye.

new year’s resolution: