( He wasn't exactly hoping to dig at the elephant in the room so much as lighten the weight of it a little so they could cruise right along to other topics, but he'll take that outright offering easy. Nice and gift-wrapped. He's still not demonstrably contrite, but that stone wall of lacking empathy gives just a little into something more personable. )

I get it. I mean- ( a huffed-out kind of scoff, tired. ) I really get it.

( Which is wholly counterintuitive to the shit he just pulled, yes. )

Fifteen-years-ago-me probably would've thrown the punch, so. I know where you're coming from.

( The dislike, if not the why. Dean's aversion was rooted in the same thing as most of his worse qualities - an incredibly biased, toxic upbringing. John's ideals were his ideals, set in stone even after the guy died. Some things he's grown on, learned to be more tolerant of. Some things he can't use John Winchester as an excuse for anymore.

His eyes are on the trees as they walk; his attention might be on the conversation, but that doesn't keep him from being alert. It's a particular, practiced kind of multi-tasking most people don't pull off as well as they think they do. Not the case here. )