Chapter Text
“Sam! Stop changing my phone’s contacts, it’s driving me nuts!” Dean hollers as he aggressively goes through his phonebook into Cas’s entry, then mutters angrily about annoying brothers. Dean is so done with Sam messing with his phone. It’s Cas, not Cass, damnit.
Cas, who is sitting across the table from him, cocks his head to the side in question. Dean shows Castiel his name, which Sam wrote as Cass before deleting the extra s. Dean shakes his head when Sam comes in and hands beers for the two of them.
“Dude, I’ve changed that ages ago and you notice now?” Sam rolls his eyes in exasperation.
“It’s Castiel, not Cassiel, I dunno where all this extra s is coming from!” Dean gesticulates widely at his cell and at Castiel.
Sam nods slowly then grins at Cas. “Yeah, but I also told you it’s not because of that. A lot of languages that use the Latin alphabet kinda use single s and the double s to indicate a difference in pronunciation.”
“Like a soft s and a hard z sound,” Cas contributes, leaning forward. “It’s the contrast between ‘desert’ and ‘dessert.’ English has lost this nuance through time. So sometimes the singular s can be pronounced as a z even if the position demands an s, but a double s is almost always pronounced as a soft s.”
“Cas, you’re supposed to take my side,” Dean says shooting Cas a betrayed look. He drops his cellphone on top of the book he’s been reading for the case before this entire debate started and opens the beer Sam has given. “I’m just saying, we’re in America, we speak English.”
Sam looks like he’s holding in his laughter and barely puts his beer down before he could fall ungainly onto his chair and clutch his sides. “Yeah, Dean, because American English obviously has superior phonetics. I realize this is the reason I usually take the Latin elocution. And why there are plenty of commonly mispronounced English words of the s variety.”
“Excuse you.” Sam offended Dean. Dean speaks Latin perfectly—passably, who cares? It got the job done. “It’s Cas-tiel, not Cas-siel, why would I give my best bud the nickname of some other angel? Wait, that is another angel, right? You’re not hoarding all the Cas names?”
Cas has a small smile of amusement on his face when the question is directed at him. “I do have a brother named Cassiel.” Cas takes the pad he’s been taking notes for his research. He flips it onto a new page writing קפציאל followed by כצפיל and two Enochian words.
“The first human inscription of our names is similar so I understand the confusion in the transliteration. The Enochian is more accurate in this regard since I am ‘God’s Shield’ and he is ‘The Speed of God.’” He shows the brothers what he’s written in his blocky script, which immediately stops Sam’s laughter and switches from annoying brother to geeky fanboy.
“They’d still both be Cass,” Sam points out when he hands over the notepad to Cas. “It’s not mutually exclusive.”
“Mutually exclusive my ass,” Dean grumbles and Sam guffaws again.
“Yeah, I’d say,” Sam snorts out in between laughter. Dean did not understand the joke.
“Sam,” Cas chides, there’s a warning in his voice. “You shouldn’t tease Dean so.”
“Yeah, Sam,” Dean mimics.
“The double s still looks way cooler,” Sam insists, “and the dictionary in Word doesn’t accept Cas but accepts Cass.”
“Oh yeah, because Microsoft is the authority. Let’s see if you like the extra m in your name Samuel,” Dean argues.
Sam gave Dean a look showing that he is not impressed with the argument. “Totally different rules, man.”
“Uh,” Cas interjects and the brothers swivels towards him. He winces. “It’s actually quite similar. Sam doesn’t have a double m but Sammy does.”
Sam shakes his head emphatically. “No, no, those are arguments for shortening the name that has the I-E sound in the end, like Bob and Bobby, John and Johnny, or Cas and Cassie so the rules are different. I can’t be a Samm.” He says the last part by exaggerating the length of the m in his name.
Castiel chuckles but nods his head in agreement so Dean gave them a glare worthy of a petulant high school girl. Cas ended his amusement with a small cough before saying, “Ahh then maybe this one then: British English use s for words that Americans would apply a z for. Words like analyze, realize are spelled with s there, but Americans tend to go with the phonetics and use a z. So someone, not knowing me, might read Cas as ‘Caz’ if they see the single letter.”
“We’re in America, we don’t make simple things over complicated! It’s a z when it sounds like a z and an s when it hisses! And it’s my goddamn phone! Who’s gonna read Cas as ‘Caz’ using my phone?” Dean snaps before he takes a calming breath. It shouldn’t really matter but he‘s annoyed over it. Still, it isn’t his name and if Cas wanted Cass, he will suck it up. “So what do you think, Cas? Which one do you like better?”
A crease appeared between Castiel’s eyebrows as he gives the question more deliberation than Dean thinks it deserves. “I am an Angel of the Lord, Dean, I do not have a preference between pronunciation or the written word. It is like asking what accent I prefer. I was Katzpiel before I ever became Castiel, I am sure it will evolve again as language inevitably does through time. You should use what you are comfortable with, as I do not have an attachment to either form.”
Dean hadn’t thought of that. He’ll forever be Dean Winchester and even if someone sorely mispronounces his name, he’ll point them in the right direction. His identity is connected with his name, so he’ll probably not answer to something else. Maybe he won’t even know that his name is being called if they change it so much. But Castiel being both immortal and someone that receives prayer can’t go flitting about random people praying and correcting them over some silly thing.
“But I do like the fact that this is the first time someone has cared enough to give me a shortened version of my name,” Cas amends, “and to care enough for what it looks like in paper.”
Dean’s ears redden considerably at the statement. He didn’t even know why.
“Awwwww, Cas!” Sam jumps up and pulls Dean and Cas together. “Group hug!”
“SAAAAM!”