Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Dean," Sam called abruptly from the doorway to the kitchen. Dean had been attempting to return it to its usual spotless self for over two hours now. Sam thought that Dean had been using it as an excuse not to talk to him about the mysterious Zeke. Unfortunately for Dean all it had done was give Sam time to connect the dots. And now here they were.

"I'm a bit busy, Sammy," Dean called as he turned the sink on. Sam waited patiently as it noisily made bubbles out of the detergent.

Eventually, Dean had no choice but to turn off the tap or flood the place.

"I know about Zeke," Sam said. Without the noise from the tap the room became very quiet.

"Sammy, I-"

"No, Dean," Sam cut his brother off. He had planned a speech and Dean was going to hear it before he made mindless apologies. "How could you? I thought with Cas being human now that you'd finally man up, but to pull something like this..."

"I know... I know," Dean dropped the sponge back into the hot, soapy water. "It was a dick move, but you gotta understand I thought -”

"You thought what, Dean? That I would think it was disgusting? That I would hate you for something like that? I'm your brother."

Dean chuckled weakly. "So, what, consequences be damned? I just... a friggin angel, man!"

"No, Dean, this isn't about an angel anymore. This is about Cas. Poor, human, Cas. Who you chased out of this bunker. And for what?" Sam asked. Dean turned back to the sink with a noise of displeasure. Sam frowned at his brother's back."This isn't worth punishing yourself over."

Dean pushed the dishes noisily around under the water. Sam wanted nothing more than to tie his brother to a chair and force him to talk. Sometimes he thought that would be the only way his brother would ever admit to anything.

"Of course I should punish myself," Dean eventually replied. "I let you down, Sammy. This isn't what was supposed to happen."

"What the hell, Dean? Do you hate yourself so much that you'd rather be miserable for the rest of your life?" Sam shouted. "Do you think I give a crap if you and Cas wanna bump uglies every now and again? News flash: I don't. In fact, it would be a welcome relief from you eyeing each other up in front of me all the time."

Dean turned to face his brother, eyes as wide as saucers. "Come again?"

"I. Don't. Care. If. You're. Gay. For. Cas." said Sam, annunciating each word.

"Cas?" Dean repeated dully. "I'm not gay for Cas."

"I'm not an idiot, Dean." Sam grinned. "You spent weeks searching for Cas to bring him here and then all of a sudden he can't stay. And then you start acting weird and talking about some dude called Zeke. You totally had a fight with Cas about some guy you may or may not have slept with."

He doesn't know, Dean's brain finally caught on to what his brother was implying. He could have laughed out loud if his brain had not also supplied an image of him and Zeke, who was wearing his brother. Yuck.

Dean coughed, almost choking his words out. "I didn't sleep with Zeke."

Sam's smile widened. "Don't tell me, tell Cas."

Dean wished that his brother would stop giving him that knowing look. As though Sam was picturing Dean and Castiel getting married and adopting babies and skipping off into the sunset holding hands. About Dean and Cas living together and kissing and Dean really needed to stop imagining this because it was not quite as bad as he thought it would be.

Heat rushed up Dean's neck. "Ah, me and Cas... it's not really like that... I mean, I... and he.... he slept with a chick." Dean pointed out weakly.

"And you haven't?"

Touché, Dean thought. Suddenly the room was very warm. He dried his hands and clapped his brother on the shoulder. "I'm gonna go outside. Get some air...." Dean said.

Dean quickly crossed to the door, eager to get out of the awkward conversation. He needed to leave before his brother started thinking about who Zeke really was again. Or before he began talking about how gay he was for Castiel.

"I might, uh.... check on Kevin and Cas." The words were out of Dean's mouth before he realized what it must have sounded like for his brother. If possible, Sam's grin grew brighter. "Not like that," Dean huffed.

Ok, maybe a little bit like that, he added silently to himself as his brain supplied many examples when a pair of blue eyes or a gravelly voice had helped him get off. Dean fished his phone out of his pocket. Cas couldn't stay in the bunker, but that didn't mean that Dean couldn't visit him, did it?