You know, if Dean and Cas were to ever actually reach relationship status, I think I would actually miss this.
Watching each episode with intense laser-focus, looking for hints and clues. This easter-egg hunt, where each time Dean places his hand on Cas’s shoulder is like a jellybean reward and tumblr explodes in a frenzy of joy.
So I wouldn’t mind one bit if, after an highly-charged, emotional scene where Dean and Cas finally put a label on what they are to each other, their relationship was kept low-key. So we could still have all the fun of over-analyzing every second they spend on screen together.
Small but noticeable things, like what lurea talked about: the way Dean and Sam start taking separate motel rooms, and when Sam walks in Dean’s room the next morning Cas is there, watching television while Dean’s in the shower, and we notice that only one bed has been slept in; the way Cas joins them for breakfast every morning and Dean slides in the booth next to Cas and pours sugar in Cas’s coffee and hands it over to him automatically.
Like the way Dean and Cas would stand close to each other all the time, brushing against each other’s shoulders as they walk. Or the way we would see them leaning into each other in a quiet, private conversation by the impala while Sam walks up with keys to their motel rooms for the night.
There could be a running gag that whenever Sam comes into a room, we hear the flutter of angel wings and Dean’s alone in the room, red-faced and breathless, and Sam just rolls his eyes, and a few minutes later Cas reappears, looking infinitely smug and collected and Dean just stares at him.
Or how Dean and Cas show up late for a hunt and Sam’s busy fighting monsters and he’s all mad because, “Where the hell have you guys been?” and Dean just grins in his flirty way and Cas has that poker face but looks shifty-eyed and just says “Research.”
Or the way Cas gets grumpy and stomps around exploding lightbulbs and Dean maybe teases him a little with that goddamned affectionate look in his eyes, but then reaches out and just puts his hand on Cas’s shoulder and Cas stands still and takes a deep breath and calms down.
Or how they have a stupid petty fight and we don’t even know what it’s about and they’re sniping at each other all day and at breakfast they sit on opposite sides of the table and Cas just glares at Dean with his arms folded and Sam is trying to a peacemaker, and Cas says snottily to Sam, “Tell your brother to pass the sugar” and Dean explodes and he’s all “I have had it with you, you child, and Sam tell the fucking angel he can get his own damn sugar.”
But then later Sam’s been waiting in the motel and Dean and Cas burst in through the door and Dean looks completely battered and maybe a little shell-shocked and he’s leaning against Cas’s shoulder but he’s grinning and Sam goes, “What happened to him?” and Cas just says, “Me,” and Sam just throws his hands up in the air and he’s all, “I don’t even want to know.”
And maybe Dean and Cas spend a holiday at Sam and Amelia’s house, and Dean comes back one night and pulls a squirming tiny something out of his coat pocket and drops it in Cas’s lap, saying gruffly, “You said wanted a damn cat.”
Because, like I read in a post the the other day, if Dean and Cas actually got together…nothing would change, really, and I don’t think I’d even want anything to change.
And I’d really love it if this was paired with a storyline about Cas choosing to fall and become human.
Seeing Cas discover coffee and picking out his own clothes. Trying new things, and trying to figure what he likes and doesn’t like and what it all means, and Dean getting to introduce Cas to these things - I think it would be fulfilling to Dean, showing Cas these parts of humanity. And Sam could finally teach a brother how to use a shotgun.
I mean, I don’t even know, they already act like an old married couple, so maybe all that would change is that they would just stare at each with less longing and more of a “yeah, I’m gonna hit that tonight” sort of a look. They can be everything they already, just more - more shoulder touches, more meaningful looks.
