dean gets so much love in the fandom and i absolutely adore dean winchester, but let’s also remember that sam winchester grew up in a world where he was basically destined to fail, where all the odds were against him in every aspect of his life.
he spent his childhood skipping from town to town, school to school, never settling down for too much more than a month, yet he still managed to be accepted into stanford university.
he was cursed with demon blood in his system when he was only six months old, forced into an addiction that almost destroyed his relationship with his brother entirely. yet he still managed to beat his addiction and come out the other side a good man.
since the beginning of everything, he has been destined to become lucifer’s vessel in the apocalypse. it’s his destiny to become the devil’s plaything, but once he said yes, he managed to overpower lucifer himself and throw him into the pit. and did i mention that he did this KNOWING THAT HE WOULD BE STUCK IN THE CAGE WITH HIM?
he lost his soul, got it back, and then the wall in his mind fell, and he was reminded of all the things lucifer did to him. he managed to go on for so long despite seeing lucifer everywhere. he saved that girl in the hospital with him even with everything going on in his own life. and after all of that? castiel, angel of the lord, a literal seraph, one of god’s greatest and most trusted soldiers in heaven’s ranks, takes on what’s going on in sam’s mind, and he is rendered completely incapacitated. sam was able to handle what a soldier of heaven couldn’t.
he went through with two of the trials, weakened every time, and tried to keep going even after dean told him it would kill him. he thought his life didnt matter. and here we are, a few years later, and hes able to see that he DOES matter, and that his life isnt worth trading for something like that. hes learned self worth.
sam winchester, the man who was willing to go back into the cage to stop the darkness. sam winchester, the man who has been called an abomination for years on end and still manages to be a good man. sam winchester, the man who uses his bad experiences to help others. sam winchester, the man who has every reason to be bad, yet somehow finds a way to constantly better himself in every way.
sam winchester is a hero and dont you dare forget it
*Sam catches Cas staring at Dean from across the room*
Sam: Do you ever think about telling him?
Cas: Everyday…
Sam: Whoa, you’re not even gonna ask what I’m talking about?
Cas: I won’t riddicule you by pretending that I don’t know you’re speaking about how much I love Dean.
Sam: You know that he loves you too right?
Cas *nods*: I know…
Sam: He’s stubborn though. It worries me that he’ll probably never-
Cas: That he’ll probably never allow himself to be happy. That he’ll probably never tell me how he feels…
Sam: Yeah… Doesn’t it hurt?
Cas: To love Dean? No.
Sam: No, to know that you love him but you can’t be with him.
Cas *smiles*: It’s actually one of the most beautiful feelings in the world. To know that I love Dean so immensely without knowing for sure if he returns it, to know that I’m capable of loving so deeply… Sam, the power of unrequited love is so great that even if Dean never says that he loves me, I’ll be glad for the opportunity to have loved him… This love is all mine, it’s powerful and it’s passionate and I’m honored to feel it so immensely.
CAS invading for the first time Deanās personal space.
Remember First Encounter⦠When Dean asked āAnd why would an angel rescue me from Hell?ā
And then Castiel proceed to sayā¦
āGood thingsā¦
Gif credit @magnificent-winged-beast who pointed this too in her meta about the first encounter, she talked about this āentering into Deanā, personal spaceā for the first time.
Is such an intense scene but full of Intrigue coming from Castiel. He was so intrigued with this human. He saw a broken man.
We had a lot of situations about Castiel invading Deanās personal space that we can recall in all season 4 and firsts episodes from.season 5 till⦠This happenedā¦
And @mrsaquaman187 said here: āDean is retreating this phrase so muchā and is hilarious but with a side of truthā¦
Since then⦠We saw Castiel being so respectful about personal space with Dean, we noticed even when he needs to heal Dean he do that with such a delicate and tenderness touch, approaching his fingers or his hand to Deanās body so slowly⦠As if he was asking for permission⦠And we have this beautiful momentsā¦
There⦠So intense, and delicate at the same timeā¦
So yeah⦠He understood⦠But Dean is now the person whoās hungrily searching for Castiel, and thatās why we are having the following moments nowā¦
Dean reaching for Cas physical contact
We believe there was a change in Deanās character since Purgatory. As I said like a thousand of times, Dean discovered in Purgatory that he was feeling something else than just platonic friendship for Cas.
So, after teaching Cas about personal space, now is Dean who is gravitating around the angel⦠Trying to remain cool with bro slaps, or bro touching, but sometimes⦠The touching are not so brodlyā¦
And thatās š so blantant coming from Dean. Is Dean whoās looking for this contact⦠But why?
I said before, is because we wants to approach Cas in a different way⦠He is slowly trying to catch Casās permission before this kind of touches. Bc Cas is his best friend, and he is trying to do this in the right way⦠Slowlyā¦
This is such a sweet thought and we wanted to share with youā¦.
Dean is so thirsty for Castiel hahahha poor baby, he donāt know how to hide it anymore
@agusvedder !! Yes!! Thatās right! And I truly believe this Dean glued to Cas is a physical sign of what is coming this season with the Profound Bond rejecting Michael possession⦠All the bonding foreshadows this series made this season, from the demon with that ājoined in the everythingā quote, passing by Nick saying to Luci āIām bonded to youā and the last āhe was attached to you, to all of youā so so excited waiting for the second half of the season!!!
Yay! Thanks x your addition!!
šš
Well, this surely backs your theory that Dean and Cas never did the did. But also can backup the theory that they were together, in the biblical sense, (meaning they have sex in every flat surface of Noraās apartment Ep. : Heaven canāt wait) and there was a very long dry spell since Season 12, so Dean is longing for more. š
It makes me wonder, did we see Dean act like this with anyone else? Cassy or Lisa? Did he touched them whenever he could? A small touch just because? I only can think in Baby for that kind of touchy intimacy, but He Knows he loves Baby.
For Dean Baby is his home, his safe place, the only thing familiar and constant in his life, Baby is his shield, his happy place, he allows himself to show affection toward her, itās actually the only thing he loses his temper over it if something happens to her, heās very protective and jealous of Baby. And heās so touchy with her, casually or intentionally he always caresses her and lets himself to be comfortable and show affection. He respects her and always takes care of her. We can say that heās naturally a touchy person when he feels⦠at home and safe, safe to be himself. And Cas provokes the same and even Dean isnāt completely aware of that.
Cas somehow has become his Baby in that sense (hehe) platonic or romantic Cas is his safe place, his family and home. But Cas is not an object, he feels and responds, he goes if he wants, Dean canāt keep it in a garage and pretend heās going to be there always. Except Cas somehow has shown him that he is and at some point he really tries to do that, to be physically where Dean left him. We donāt know what exactly happened in Hell when they actually first met, we suppose and they made us understand that is in Hell when their Profound Bond started, or the reason why it exists, but a solid bond canāt be formed on force or in a minute, both have to be willing and it takes time. And while we see that the scene of the barn seems to be the first time Dean sees Cas thatās not the case. Cas has āproblems with personal space ā just and exclusively with Dean, why? And when Dean asks him to respect his space (in a sweet way btw) Cas does it, like you pointed out, he really really respects Deanās wishes and always always ask for permission. So why at first Cas has āproblems with personal space ā?? Because obviously Dean already gave him permission to be closer before⦠THAT closer.
It went slow but Dean opening to Cas felt so natural and warm, even to him, as if they already did it before, their Profound Bond is mentioned really early actually, but even then they had, off camera, a lot of moments together. Just them without Sam.
The thing is their bond allowed Dean to really feel comfortable around Cas, just being himself, happy Dean, grumpy Dean, vulnerable Dean, and Dean is responding or trying to respond like he responds with Baby, because somehow he feels the same, he feels safe, he feels at home, he just wants to take care of that precious being but heās conflicted because that being is no longer acceptable in so many ways for the rest and himself. Loving a car is normal for men, loving a man is not, because heās a man too⦠and heās an Angel, but is not acceptable because heās a hunter, a human, a Demon. And yet he canāt help it, he just does the same and touches him, and takes care of him, and smiles at him, and just feels at home around him. He just doesnāt accept it even when all his cells tells him that itās the most natural thing to do, because maybe he already did before.
Maybe they already did the do in Hell and both forgot about it, but their bodies and souls didnāt and thatās why both just keep gravitating toward each other. Maybe each touch resonates so hard that they want more and more.
Cas provokes the same familiarity and security as Baby, but it also puts his world upside down because Dean Feels how strong is his necessity to treat Cas like he treats Baby, with love and passion. Even if one tries to see the whole situation as platonic or brotherly you know that with Sam or with Charlie was and is So Different.
Their Profound Bond is special and strong because both were and still are willing to it. It was never about manipulation or dirty games, they always considered and respected each other desires and boundaries, it was and still is about love, thatās why Michael canāt have Dean, thatās why Cas is always careful.
Sorry if everything is a mess, I had multiple ideas but Iām sick, its 3am and I need to sleep. Hope something had any sense.
Well⦠Basically support the idea they didnāt do it yet mostly because Dean is doing this approaching (caressing shoulders, brushing shoulders and almost rubbing hands) since season 11ā¦
He is doing this so slowly bc Dean is so respectful too about Cas being his bestest friend and he doesnāt know Casās feelings or how Cas would react to Deanās feelings⦠So he is, ofc this is my interpretation, approaching Cas respectfully slowly and shyly (talking about physically, here) and the āside by sideā as if they were glued, always coming from Dean, is something weāve seen since season 13 but this season is like glued-glued come on!! And we love it⦠But the āslowly approachingā is what make think they didnāt do the thing yet. Bc the way they act with each other, is not the way lovers would act. Is the way male friends would act ignoring the other maleās feelings, trying to be āno homoā to show your male friend you are just friends and itās cool. Like Cas saying Dean he has a woman in his car in season 10. And all the Healing!Dean process he has to make for truly accept himself.
@lykanyouko yes yes!! Beautiful thoughts!! I can add here Sammy, bc Sammy represents too CONSTANT LOVE, SAFE LOVE AND PLACE AND FAMILY. And Cas is DEANāS FAITH SAFE PLACE AND ROMANTIC LOVE, I love to think that bc that explains why the two of them are inside Deanās head now, FAMILY BOND and ROMANTICBOND.
And about Dean being touchy, I think he is a very touchy person with the people he loves, but with Cas is different, as you said, bc he is his BEST MALE FRIEND, so as I pointed, he has to approach carefully, testing Cas reaction to his caressing and almost rubbing/rubbing hands, he is doing this now, thatās why since season 12 but mostly this season is like ugh!!! Are they going to talk about this?? And I think they will⦠Bc all the foreshadow forb"the talk" weāve seen⦠And remember my meta about Jack asking in 14x06 about āTHE MOVES and THE TALK??ā ok⦠Maybe THIS ARE THE MOVES Dean slowly approaching his bro/no so bro best friend, trying to figure out if Cas is ok with that and maybe⦠If itās ok⦠Next time a little more⦠And if that is ok tooā¦, Next time a little more⦠Damn⦠I love the pinning!
And about your headcanon is so romantic! Now I need the fic of that! š
Thanks for your additions!!
Dean is totally in love Cas. Cas is totally in love with Dean. The āprofound bondā is Casā way of saying āwe are special to each otherā but he is an angel and he doesnāt/ didnāt understand human emotions like happiness, love, friendship. He knows nothing but following orders. Castiel had never had a thought for himself before Dean. Then he meets this important, broken man who taught him the true differance between right and wrong. Taught him that some times you have to rebel. He loves Dean and he knows that humans have ideas about who should be with who. He knows that most humans donāt accept m/m or f/f but m/f is ok.
I think that Dean is just really shy. He is not used to some one being there for him when he needs them. John wasnāt there for most of his and Sams childhood and when Sam was old enough he left too. Dean didnāt have his mom at all growing up. The only things he could depend on were the impala and his music. He knew that the impala could be fixed, cleaned, protected but normally no one would be there for him. So when all of a sudden this larger than life guy comes walking in and the world gets turned upside down. Cas saved Dean and he kept saving him. Kept just telling him that he was special, important, and needed.
I donāt think Dean ever felt that before. So he knows that he loves the angel and he is just scared that heāll screw it up and everything will be ruined. He told Cas that he didnāt need to fell like hell for failing him like he fails every god-forsaken thing he cares about.
He cares too much to let himself be happy
Thats all i have to say. Sorry if its all in a jumble
I love your āwe are special to each other,ā because it reminds me of the clear, simple assessment of my son made two years ago.
My husband and I never really discussed Destiel in front of him, not because itās a sensitive topic we want to censor at all, but because we wanted him to form his own interpretation of Dean and Cas. Heās 13 now and ships them, but when he was 11 he indicated an understanding of them in a manner which is separate from other relationships on the show.
He said, āDean is Casās human, and Cas is Deanās angel. They belong to each other.ā And thatās it. Thatās the simple truth of what an 11 year old child can take from watching them on the show. Now he cheers them onš
The Empty Shadow: Welcome back to my void Castiel. Here you will experience true loneliness, contemplate how you don’t matter, be tortured, eventually sleep-
Castiel: Actually I was just going to talk about my family for a few thousand years
The Empty Shadow: No you’re not!
Castiel: I’d like to begin by discussing the suns effects on Deans freckles. I marked changes on the calender over the course of five years and seperated results against sectional skin exposure to the sun, I think you’ll find it really interesting
The Empty Shadow: You bastard! I don’t care about-
Castiel: Wait til you here about the anomaly of freckle 93, it’s wild! But no spoilers
Wow 93 of how many?
Castiel: I’m glad you asked, the number of freckles a person has fluctuates and not all can be seen by human eyes. However during the course of my counting I identified over 600 unique freckles on Dean 😊😍
The Empty Shadow: Don’t encourage him!
Please, tell me more. Do you have a favourite? <runs into stygian blackness cackling madly>
The Empty Shadow:
HOW DID THEY GET IN HERE?! I thought I locked the door!
Castiel: I do have a favourite actually! Well several favourites, there’s one in particular, freckle number 142, though I like to call it freckle 1. But I don’t, as not to offend the actual freckle number 1 which is also beautiful, anyway, freckle number 142 rests low on Dean’s nose in a highly defined area. Making his nose even cuter, honestly it’s like magic