Do you know what I see here?
A man who says “please don’t do this now, there’s so much happening right now and I don’t know how to respond to you”
And let’s not forget about here:
All I see is a man who says “no please don’t do this cas, you are to important and I can’t give you what you want what you deserve”
Let’s just remember for a second that this was Cas’s revelation, not Dean’s. Even if Dean loves him back it is not his revelation of happiness that’s happing right here!
Dean still sees himself as broken an damaged. Like he can’t give cas what he deserved. He doesn’t want cas to confess or to love him because he does not feel capable of giving cas everything he thinks he deserves.
This scene was not about Dean getting over his repressed feelings and shame and all that stuff, it was about Cas realising what his true happiness is and finally, after eternity, getting to love in it. He didn’t need Dean to respond here, that wasn’t why he sait it, he needed to love his own happiness.
And also, to add, this right here:
Take away deans pining over the years, his best friend just confessed his feelings for him and then dies and it dawns upon him what his own feelings are.
Dean has just had his whole life thrown upside down and was preparing himself to die. Honesty, would anyone launch right to explaining their own feelings in a situation like this? I completely believe we will see Dean explain his feelings about all of this, but this scene wasn’t about that, it was about Cas