deanswingsbothways-deactivated2:

*Long, gusty sigh the likes of which hasn’t been heard since Metatron ended that sentence with, “…with humanity.”*

Okay here’s the short version:

During the crypt scene in Goodbye Stranger, Dean’s original line was supposed to be (and I paraphrase because I forget exactly where the line went in his speech), “We need you. We’re family. I love you.”

Jensen Ackles was like, “What the hell, Dean doesn’t say the l-word,” and the line got changed.

There was drama about it.

Personally, I have always come down solidly on Jensen’s side about this issue. The only person Dean has canonically said the l-word to is his mother. If he’s never managed to choke it out to Sam, there’s no way he’d say it to Cas.

Season eight was way too early in Dean’s arc to delve into Destiel (right now is still too early, too), there’s no way Dean would have said that in the way we would have interpreted it. He wasn’t there, emotionally. He’s only barely getting there now. So it would have been highly out of character for Dean to say it no matter how platonically he thought he meant it.

And since Jensen’s Dean-instincts also led to the trenchcoat thing, I tend to trust him and agree with him. Dean shows his love, he doesn’t tell it. The trenchcoat felt right, the “I love you” would have felt like queerbaiting since it would have been referring (at least in Dean’s head) to a familial kind of love.

To sum up: It was scripted, it got changed, I agreed with the change, we all moved on except for periodically reminding each other that it was supposed to happen and sighing with longing.

But not for the line as we would have been given it (I love you… like a brother), for the line as we would have written it (I love you… and want to touch your butt a little).