i think it would be so funny if sam and cas started saying i love you before dean and cas did.
sam is on the phone with cas in the bunker and they're on speakerphone because dean is also there and they are talking about a case. when they hang up sam says alright thanks cas, love you. and cas says i love you too, sam, and they hang up and sam goes to get up and go do something else, but he catches dean staring at him and is like what. dean is like "so um." clears his throat. "so that's a thing you guys say now?" and sam is like "what thing." because he's been saying i love you to cas for months or years so he barely registers it anymore. and dean is looking at him like he just announced he was retiring to become a stand up comedian and says, "you just said i love you. to cas. you guys. you guys said. do you-- i mean. you said i love you to cas. i didn't imagine that, did i?" and sam is like "oh yeah well. i love him. he's my friend. i love you is a thing friends say to each other." and dean stares harder and says, "i've never heard you say i love you to anyone. you've barely said it to me." and sam is like "yeah well we're not exactly like that, are we. you've never said it to me, either. but cas-- well, cas is my best friend, you know? and i do love him. so why shouldn't i say it?" when dean still looks unconvinced, he adds, "hey, you said i love you to charlie, right? well, cas is my charlie". that seems to get dean's brain working. "okay. okay, so, you guys are like. best friends. but i thought i was his best friend." "well dean, i don't know what to tell you. if you wanna tell cas you lo-" but dean cuts him off to ask, suddenly, "wait, is cas gay?" and sam is like what. and dean is like "you said he was like charlie." and sam says, exasperated, "dean, that's not what i meant. charlie was more than that, and so is cas. i just meant that i love him like you loved charlie." dean doesn't seem to be listening though, and he deadpans again, "so, is cas gay?" sam is so confused by the direction the conversation has taken and he's like "i don't know, dean, maybe. i-- i don't know, it's none of my business." that seems to set something off in dean though, and he gets up abruptly with a see ya sam and strides off to his room.
once there he sits on his bed, closes his eyes and says, cas, get in here. i need to talk to you, it's urgent. he's not surprised when cas appears out of thin air to his left. he doesn't even flinch. instead he stands up to face cas.
"you said i love you to sam," dean says. no hello, no thanks for dropping by. "earlier, on the phone. you guys said i love you."
"i... yes? i do love your brother." cas seems appropriately confused, but dean doesn't care.
"ok. ok. is sam your best friend?"
"dean, you said this was urgent."
"it is urgent. is sam your best friend?"
"i-- i don't know. he is a good friend."
"because i thought i was your best friend."
"i don't know, dean," cas says, exasperated. "i like you both. you are both my best friends."
"but you love sam. you just said. oh and by the way, i just had a talk with sam, and he loves you as a friend."
"i know that, dean."
"so if we're both your best friends--which is bullshit by the way. sam isn't the one who watches movies with you and stays up talking with you and has that... bond, or whatever, with you. but, if we're both your best friends. then do you love me?"
cas opens and closes his mouth, furrows his eyes, then finally says, "yes, dean."
"okay, well that didn't sound very convincing. do you love me? cause i love you."
cas' eyes widen a bit at that, then he smiles a tiny smile in the corner of his mouth and says, "i love you too, dean."
"okay. good. glad we cleared that up."
there's a pause in which dean keeps picking at his fingernails and worrying at his lip, cas awkwardly waiting for a sign that the conversation is over. dean decides that it's not over.
"i love you more than sam does," he blurts out, searching cas' eyes for... something. "he said he loves you like i loved charlie. i don't love you like charlie."
"oh," is all cas says.
"i love you like. like. like ren and stimpy. like mulder and scully. like butter and bread.
"oh," is all cas says again.
they stare at each other for about half a minute, then dean says, "ok. good talk."
and cas says, "i have to go. i was doing research in a private library in marrakesh."
"right. you should get back to that."
there's a flutter of wings and cas is gone.
they haven't cleared anything up, not really, but when they hang up the phone now, dean says i love you, and cas says, like butter and bread.