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How dare he? (He? It? They? Do angels have genders?) Either way. How dare this angel say something like that to his brother. Dean can feel himself seething even as Sam’s eyes lower to the floor, shame coloring his cheeks red.
Sure, Dean’s the opposite of a fan about the whole demon blood thing, but . . . “Excuse me?” he asks, voice low. Castiel looks at him, head tilted in that way that shows that he is confused.
“I do not-” the angel begins, but Dean steamrolls right over him.
“Who are you,” he snarls, letting danger inject itself into his voice, “to say that to my brother?”
Sam grabs at Dean’s bicep. “He’s an angel Dean,” he hisses, but Dean’s focus is on the supernatural creature in front of him. Castiel looks confused, not at all intimidated by Dean’s anger.
“But what Sam is goes against the laws of nature. He is indeed an abomin-”
“Shut the Fuck up!” Dean barks. “You call my brother that word again and I’ll fucking help Lilith break all your precious seals!”
“You don’t mean that Dean-” Sam says urgently, and he’s still trying to hold him back. (Succeeding a little, because Dean may have stepped forward and thrown a punch at Castiel if Sam’s hand weren’t curled around his right arm.)
“Maybe I do, maybe I don’t,” Dean snarls. “But no so-called ‘Soldier of the Lord’ gets to judge you- judge us after what we’ve been through, with no help from them!”
“I . . . apologize if I have offended you Dean, but-”
“Don’t apologize to me, damnit,” Dean growls, ignoring Sam’s stuttering ‘language!’ from behind him. “Apologize to Sam!” Really, the nerve of the angel, apologizing to Dean for something he/they had said to Sam.
“Samuel-” Castiel says, turning to look at Sam, and wow, Dean hates that calculating, cold gaze that is being turned on his brother.
Sam waves away the apology before Castiel is even able to voice it. “It’s fine Cas,” he says, “don’t worry about it, I know what I am.”
“Sam!”
“Dean, let’s not argue about basic facts,” Sam says, shoving at Dean’s chest, getting between him and the angel.
“You’re okay with being seen as a monster?!” Dean hates this situation. Hates the quiet despair in his brother’s hazel eyes. “Sam, no, because if you’re okay with it, you’ll stop fighting it!”
“Fighting what? The demon blood? Dean, I use it to save the demons’ vessels! If I go to Hell for saving people, I’m okay with that!” Sammy in Hell. Sammy being tortured on a rack. Sammy on the rack in front of Alistair. No.
“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions!” Dean cries, grabbing his brother by the shoulders. Castiel looks both lost and extremely curious about the scene playing out not even a foot from his nose.
“I know that, Dean, because I watched you run down that road and leave me behind!” Sam’s eyes are glassy with emotion, big and clear and fever-bright.
“Damn right I left you behind on that trip Sammy! You are never going to Hell.”
“Of course I am Dean! I’ve had demon blood in me since I was six months old, I’ve been earmarked for Hell!” Sam’s voice breaks on the last word, and Dean is reminded that of the two of them, it was Sam who prayed, went to Church, learned about what Heaven and Hell meant. “I’m an abomination, Dean,” Sam whispers, and Dean slaps him. Hates himself a little.
“Hey,” he growls, grabbing Sam’s chin to make his brother look at him. “If I’m not gonna let a freakin’ angel call my little brother that, what makes you think you can?”
Sam lets out a staticy laugh.
“I am confused,” Castiel states. “He claims himself to be an-” the angel stumbles over the words when Dean glares at them. “He seems to understand why that word applies to him, yet you are too stubborn to see the truth yourself.”
Dean takes a deep breath to tell the angel to kindly fuck off, but Sam just shakes his head. “You’ll learn to just roll with it if you hang around us long enough Cas. We Winchesters are stubborn to a fault, and it’s probably why Dean and I are still alive.”
“Too stubborn to die,” Dean smirks. “Or, uh, to let eachother stay dead anyway.” He knows Sam was just expertly changing the topic, but really, it was getting a bit too chick-flicky for a moment there. Dean would table this discussion until the angel wasn’t around. At least Castiel seemed to have understood that Dean would not accept having his brother belittled.
So sure, he let Sam change the subject. But that night, after Sam had fallen asleep, Dean curled up behind him. So I’ll notice if he tries to leave in the middle of the night for a demon-blood fix, he tells himself; but that’s a lie. It’s so that Sam will know that Dean does not see him as dirty or tainted or an abomination.