Work Text:
Dean liked to check in on Sam and Castiel when they've been in the library for a long time. Sam forgets he's human way too often.
When he walked in, he saw, as expected, coffee, but nothing else, no plate or napkins. So a sandwich is in order for Sam- Dean did a double check. Sam and Castiel are holding hands, when did they start doing that?
Dean decided he'd ask, be subtle, he could do that. "Hey," he greeted, with the least subtle look on his face. Grinning way too big.
"Hey," Sam greeted back, raising his eyebrow at Dean's attempt to do whatever he was doing.
Dean debated if he should sit or not, he figured why not. And sat, still smiling way too much, hands clasped together looking at the two, leaning maybe a little too forward, "So… Anything new with you two?"
Sam and Castiel shared a confused look, "Like anything at all?" Dean asked, refocusing their attention.
"Uh, no, not really," Sam answered, not anything he could think of has changed. Not anything that would interest Dean, anyway.
Castiel had a feeling he knew what this was about, but also could tell Dean wasn't going to be blunt enough, "Is there anything new with you, Dean?"
"No." Dean answered quickly, "Nothing new." Shaking his head, he looked back down at the hands that were still connected, yep, they were definitely holding hands. And being weird about it, Dean decided.
"So…" Dean tried again, "When did you two start, to…" He looked down at their hands, pointing to them with his head, and let out a laugh, "you know?"
Sam and Castiel shared another look, both confirming that if Dean wasn't going to say it, they should absolutely mess with him.
"No, I do not know," Castiel said, feigning their confusion. And Dean sighed, not too surprised at Castiel's reaction.
He turned to Sam and held his hands out towards their holds again, "Sam, help me out here?"
"I would," Sam said, "but I don't know either." Sam's face said he didn't know, but that tone… Dean looked at Sam suspiciously for a second before deciding that this wasn't getting him any closer to an answer.
"Okay, fine," he laid his hands flat, "when did you two start holding hands?" Dropping the weird smile and all, just focused on the answer that had to be said.
"Today?" Castiel asked and looked at Sam, pretending to think, "Well, four hours ago."
Castiel could answer the way Dean wants him to, or… "The exact time is four hours, thirty six minutes, and twenty-two seconds. Twenty-three. Twenty-four-"
"I get it," Dean said, slamming his hands down in frustration, he looked back over at Sam who wasn't giving any further indication that he knew what Dean was asking. Damn it.
"But um," he tried again, "what about in general?" He thought about it for a second, wrong thing to ask.
"Or like, the first time?" Yes, that was the perfect thing to ask. There was no way it wouldn't tell him exactly what he wanted to know.
"Oh, Halloween." Castiel said, and Dean looked at Sam surprised. Sam hates Halloween, and looked back at Castiel even more confused because when did they spend Halloween with them?
"When I met Sam for the first time," Castiel clarified, which didn't clarify anything, or it did, but did it? Have they been together for that long? He couldn't have been oblivious for that long, there's no way.
"I'm sorry, what?" Dean asked, Castiel could tell Sam wanted to laugh, they wanted to as well, but Dean could read Sam a lot better than he could read them.
"No need to apologize," Castiel said, getting Dean's attention, letting Sam turn away and regroup, "I can remind you, then you should remember."
Dean leaned in, because how did he miss that?
"Sam was introducing himself and I held his hand," Castiel had meant to do a normal greeting but to their knowledge at the time, that was one, "A lot less brass than our meeting, I must say." Castiel pointed out, Dean fake smiled at that. He might have to do a repeat of that, yeah, he definitely wants to. "You two were hunting a witch at that time."
"Okay, I remember that," Dean said, cutting Castiel off, they'd probably just keep accounting that day and get more specific with it, "I just thought you meant something else." Dean sighed. He leaned back in his chair relaxed. They aren't dating. He didn't miss anything, this was good news.
"Like what?" Castiel asked, and Dean sat up, and figured, they'd get a laugh out of this.
"I thought you two were dating and didn't tell me." He said with a laugh, that now just started to feel awkward with how the two were staring at him. Not laughing with him.
Castiel took a moment so they could say this as casually as possible, "Oh, you were right." Raising up their hands, "We are dating, it's why we're holding hands to begin with."
Dean nodded, at them, forcing a smile, and looked at the table, next time, he's ignoring the two. Yep. Doesn't matter. He's doing it.
"You know what?" He pushed his chair out and stood up, "I'm just going to dismiss myself. Yeah," He looked at the two and started to walk away, "Um, yeah." He glanced back at them once more before going back to his room. That was something. Something he's never doing again.
"Do you think that he'll ever figure out that you play dumb majority of the time?" Sam asked once Dean was out of view, Castiel looked at him finally smiling, "Just to mess with him, because you definitely catch on quicker than people think."
"Knowing Dean? No." Castiel replied, "He has no clue. Most people don't."
"Which you enjoy way too much," Sam pointed out as if he doesn't go along with it every time.
"Perhaps." Castiel said, in a serious tone, but Sam knew Castiel was just amused at what they had just pulled off. To be fair, so was Sam. Messing with people when you're not known for it is much better than when they know. You get to do it a whole lot more. Something these two know all about.