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“He totally likes her.”
Castiel glanced over at the smug, freckled face of the hunter standing beside him. Dean was gazing across the parking lot at Sam and Eileen, watching the younger man laugh as the brunette corrected one of his signs with a sunny grin.
“Yes, I quite like Eileen too,” Castiel agreed with a nod. “She’s very-”
“No, no,” Dean interrupted with a roll of his eyes. He shuffled closer, elbows brushing. His voice lowered conspiratorially, glancing again at his brother before turning back to Castiel. “Come on, Cas, you know there’s a difference between like and… like.”
He raised his eyebrows meaningfully on the last word, smirking like he was telling a joke. Castiel stared back at him before blinking and looking back at the two people being discussed.
“You mean he’s romantically attracted to her?” Castiel guessed with a hint of scepticism. Dean sighed impatiently.
“Yes! Duh. Dude, I know you’re crap at reading body language-” Castiel shot him a mildly annoyed sideways look “- but how can you not see it?”
Dean gestured none too subtly at Sam and Eileen; luckily the pair were still too focused on each other to notice. In truth, Castiel could see why Dean thought what he did, but he was still slightly irritated so he shrugged instead of nodding. Dean shuffled a little closer again, making a noise of disbelief.
“Oh, come on. OK, check it out: he’s standing real close to her, right in her personal space. Yeah?”
Castiel turned his head to where Dean was whispering at him from inches away, arms pressed together. He said nothing. Dean glanced again at Sam before continuing.
“And he keeps touching her. Like, unnecessarily. Wait for it… there!”
Dean lifted a hand and tapped the back of it excitedly against Castiel’s arm, pointing at Sam with the other hand. The younger hunter was squeezing Eileen’s elbow as he leaned down and told her some sort of joke. Dean left his hand resting casually on Castiel’s arm as he turned his head to meet his eyes, his expression smiling and triumphant. Castiel nodded slightly.
“Alright. Perhaps you’re ri-”
“No, there’s more,” Dean cut in determinedly. “I mean, they’ve been saying goodbye for what, almost ten minutes now? Again, unnecessary. He’s keeping the conversation going even when it should have ended. Means he likes talking to her. Like, a lot.”
Castiel raised his eyebrows but his voice was placid when he replied. “I’ve already agreed with you, Dean. You don’t have to keep going.”
The hunter ignored him, looking back at his brother briefly before focusing his gaze back on Castiel. “Eye contact, that’s another thing. Got a lot of it goin’ on there.”
Castiel glanced at Sam and Eileen to see that there was indeed unbroken eye contact between them as they conversed. He met Dean’s expectant green stare once more with a nod.
“Very true.”
“And,” Dean concluded, breaking their shared gaze to watch Sam briefly again, “he keeps smiling at her like a goddamn idiot. Trust me, I’ve watched that kid chat up many a lady in my time, and the constant smiling is one of his sure-fire tells. Although, I’m pretty sure most people do that when they like someone.”
Dean was grinning widely at Castiel as he finished his sentence, clearly pleased with himself for presenting such a convincing case. Castiel felt his own mouth twitch in response.
“Alright,” he murmured. “I believe you, Dean.”
Dean chuckled, winked and playfully whacked at Castiel’s chest as he looked away again.
“Yeah, you’d better,” he teased lightly. “Ha, look! He’s full on flirting now.”
Castiel didn’t look. He watched Dean instead, smiling gently at the brotherly pride on his face, at the knuckles still pressed to Castiel’s chest.
Castiel decided that he already knew the difference between like and like. He’d known for a long time.