Dean was confused. And not the usual 'I-have-no-idea-what-day-it-is-or-how-I-got-here-oh-and-why-am-I-wearing-a-sombrero' confused. This was a whole new level of confusion for him.

He wished Balthazar had never opened his big fat mouth.

The one in the dirty trench coat, who's in love with you.

Because now all he could think about was Castiel. Cas.

Dean didn't know whether to believe Balthazar. He didn't even know whether he wanted it to be true. Cas couldn't possibly be in love with him, and even if he was, Dean wasn't gay.

Of course, there was nothing wrong with being gay, but Dean had never entertained the thought that he might be. He could say, with all honesty, that he enjoyed sex with women. He liked the way their soft skin felt under him, the curves of their faces and bodies. Yes, Dean Winchester definitely liked women.

Then, why was he getting all worked up about one comment from one smarmy angel.

Dean groaned in frustration and threw himself down onto the narrow bed. He stretched out as much as he could, and tried to think of one instant when he was attracted to another man, but came up short.

Cas was the only one.

When Cas had been pulled out of Jimmy Novak and taken God-knows-where, Dean had felt nothing. He looked at the man and felt nothing but a mild irritation and maybe some disgust at the man's eating habits. Even in the bizarro-earth scenario where they had been sent to an alternate reality where he and Sam had been actors, and Cas was played by some guy named Misha, Dean had felt nothing towards the guy. The minute Cas returned, everything changed.

For Dean, it was all about Cas.

Sometimes when Cas would stare into his eyes, Dean felt as though he was drowning in those twin pools of blue. His heart would race and his palms would start to sweat. Then he would bark some comment about personal space at Cas, just to cover up his embarrassment.

He tried not to think about the fact that his body's reaction to Cas was similar to it's reaction to a particularly hot chick, only more intense and more unexpected.

Dean sighed. Great, I'm in love with an angel. Fan-freaking-tastic.

"What am I going to do about you Castiel?" Dean whispered to himself.

The room suddenly turned cool and Dean knew that Cas had appeared.

"Why would you need to do anything about me, Dean?" his voice was coloured with confusion.

Dean silently cursed himself for speaking Cas' name out loud. Freaking Angels... never come when you need them, but when you want to be left alone, that's another story.

"Dean?" Cas repeated.

Dean sighed and pulled himself up off the bed. What could Cas possibly do to him? Throw him back into Hell? Been there, done that. Being around Cas without being able to have him was it's own kind of Hell.

Dean took a deep breath and turned to the angel. Castiel stood a foot away from him, wearing his usual trench coat and ill-fitting suit. His dark hair was standing on end and his eyes gleamed bright blue in the pale, drawn face.

"I love you Cas." Dean's voice shook slightly as he made this confession.

"I feel the same way about you Dean" Cas replied, his voice even. He stood with his back ramrod straight, his face as blank as ever.

Dean sighed. This was going to be harder than he thought. He took a few steps forward until he was only inches away from the angel. His voice was softer as he repeated himself.

"No Cas, I really love you"

The mask fell from Castiel's face, his eyes widening in confusion, fear and... longing.

"But Dean, you like women." he replied in his usual matter of fact manner.

"Women and you." Dean smirked

"But my vessel is of the male sex," Cas responded.

"I'm in love with you, not your vessel"

Castiel tilted his head, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"I don't understand"

Dean groaned in exasperation.

"It's not about the meat-suit. I would love you no matter who you're wearing because the wrapping doesn't matter. Only you do. "

Castiel's face cleared, his eyes appearing a lighter blue as a smile touched his lips.

"So you would love me even if my vessel was an 80-year old woman?"

Dean laughed, surprised that Cas could make jokes.

"Let's not go that far" he replied, closing the distance between them.