[Fic] Life Less Ordinary (PG-13) for martyred_wings
Gift type: Fanfic
Title: Life Less Ordinary
Recipient: martyred_wings
Author: blue_flame88
Rating: PG/PG-13
Warnings: I think I went overboard on the schmoop.
Word Count 3983
Spoilers: None really but I’ll say up to 5.10 to be safe.
Summary: Lucifer was dealt with, and the boys were taking a well deserved break, it just so happens that Christmas is almost right around the corner.
Author notes: Well this turned out to be much longer than I thought it would be. I hope the giftee likes this, there’s no porn as requested I’m afraid as I can’t write it, at all. And you wouldn’t want me to try. Also any knowledge of eggnog making I have derives from the Internet.
The first thing Dean did as soon as Lucifer was put back in his little hole was to declare, very loudly to everyone and everything that could hear, that he was taking a year off. He then proceeded to shuffle off towards his car so he could get back to his motel and sleep. And if he so happened to drag Cas along with him, well it was nobody’s business.
It was time all if them, not just him Sam and Cas had a vacation. A nice long one where they could relax and not think about having to stop the devil or deal with anymore douche bag angels, Cas and Anna excluded from that of course.
Dean had intended to go across country and see the things he had wanted to years ago, the Grand Canyon, the world’s largest ball of twine. That sort of thing.
His plans however had been somewhat sabotaged first by their lack of money, and second by the lure of Cas and a comfy bed. It was considerably more innocent than Sam liked to make it out to be, he enjoyed the warm body next to him so he could indulge in some manly cuddling.
He had thought Cas was going to disappear at the end of all this, hell the damn angel did disappear for a day or two before he promptly returned to the brothers, explaining that he had been given a forced vacation of sorts.
The knowledge that Cas wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon made Dean reluctant to let him out of his sight for more than a second.
They had shacked up at Bobby’s for a few months, the brothers didn’t exactly have anywhere else they could stay, bar a motel, so the older hunter was more than happy to put them up in his spare rooms for a while.
A few weeks later Bobby had begun grumbling about lazy hunters who wouldn’t know the meaning of work if it bit them in the ass.
Dean guessed that comment had been directed solely at him.
He’d been ready to protest the point when Cas had interjected with the observation that Dean eating all the food in the house didn’t constitute as helping.
Because Dean Winchester most certainly did not pout, he started working on the broken and rusted cars in the yard out of his own volition, not because he wanted to prove a certain angel and older hunter wrong.
The extra cash flow was an added bonus.
Months went by and suddenly the makeshift family had found themselves on the horizon of their first hunt free Christmas.
To say Dean was a little excited was a bit of an understatement, he had practically bounced into the kitchen late November with a huge grin plastered on his face.
“ Guess what?” Dean was literally bouncing on his toes, energy thrumming through his veins as he waited for either his brother or Bobby to pick up the rest of the conversation.
“ What?” Sam answered, his expression clearly conveying the confusion he felt.
“ It’s officially three weeks till Christmas.” More bouncing.
“ Congratulations boy you figured out the use of a calendar.” Bobby’s affectionate grumble came from behind a newspaper. Sam shrugged at him as though the news wasn’t all that important and went back to his breakfast.
“ Oh come on you guys can’t tell me you don’t want to do anything for the holidays.” Sam’s head snapped up at that, an even bigger look of bewilderment on his face.
“ Since when do you care? You’ve never wanted to celebrate it properly before.” An eyebrow rose along with the statement, Sam’s eyes studying him closely as if he was about to reveal himself as a shapshifter and suddenly kill them all.
“ Ok so I’m not normally. But this is the perfect opportunity to do something this year.” Sam pulled an unconvinced face at that, Dean huffed and began ticking point of on his fingers. “ No monsters, no apocalypse, no angels breathing down our necks.
“ Except the angel breathing down your neck, or on it.”
Dean ignored him, opting for getting revenge later.
“ Christmas is about family and well… we’re all still here.” The elder Winchester looked meaningfully at his little brother, and as much as he could at Bobby through a wall of paper. Sam promptly shut his mouth at that, whatever argument he had waiting on his tongue dying at Dean’s words.
The younger Winchester shuffled in his seat a little guiltily as he prodded at his breakfast, shoulders hunching slightly as he fixed his gaze on his plate. A loud sigh issued from Bobby as the man folded up the newspaper and dumped it on the table giving Dean an expectant stare.
“ Well?” Dean looked behind him then back to the older hunter, shrugging at the other man. “ If you want this Christmas thing to go ahead you better get it sorted boy.” A huge grin appeared on Dean’s face as Bobby wheeled himself out of the kitchen and into the living room.
“ Thanks Bobby.” Dean could have sworn he heard an idjit come from the vicinity of the front hall.
Shuffling around the kitchen for his wallet and car keys Dean pulled on his jacket and opened the door, only stopping to look back at Sam. His brother let out a long sigh and grabbed his coat off the back of his chair, hurrying out of the house along with Dean.
“ If you buy a singing Santa toy I’m disowning you.” Dean’s grin only got wider.
***
Three hours later. After two mall trips, one lost car scare, who knew mall parking lots were that big? Small child dodging, pushing, shoving, and getting every insult under the sun thrown at them, and some new ones, they made it back to Bobby’s with their Christmas shopping in one piece. Well mostly.
The two brothers were currently arguing over where the tinsel should go.
Dean had gone for the more is better approach and had liberally chucked the brightly coloured decorations seemingly everywhere, any amount of plain wall had been covered by the itchy crap.
Sam however had chosen the more aesthetic route and had artfully pinned the tinsel around picture frames, windows, and running along the edges of the ceiling.
Only when Dean had crossed over onto Sam’s side of the room did the younger of the two actually notice his older brothers decorating habits, and proceeded to nitpick like no tomorrow. Who actually thought it was a good idea to cover the ends of the sofa with tinsel?
“ You know you really aren’t helping with the whole me thinking you’re a girl thing right now… just so we’re clear.” Sam rolled his eyes at his brother, not bothering to rise to the bait. There was nothing girly about knowing how to decorate a room for god’s sake.
“ Dude there is no reason to put tinsel on the table!” pointing emphatically at the offending decorations curling up the table legs, he had to give Dean points on being able to pin that in place.
“ Why not? It’s sparkly it’s meant to decorate, so lets decorate.” The elder Winchester grinned while rustling the tinsel in his hands.
“ This isn’t decorating, this is throwing tinsel somewhere seeing where it lands, and deciding that’s good enough!” Sam’s arms flailed somewhat above his head as he spoke.
“ Dude you are really uptight.” The younger Winchester nearly screamed in frustration, there was no way his brother was being this dense by accident.
He opened his mouth to retort but was stopped as the flapping of wings sounded in the air, a familiar trench coat clothed angel appearing in the room a moment later.
Dean’s grin went from amused to happy in less than a second at the sight of Cas, shifting himself over to the angel as the dark haired man looked around the room in mild curiosity and a little fear. Sam smiled to himself at the sight, he may get a little fussy with decorations, but at least he wasn’t making embarrassing googoo eyes at an angel.
“ Why are there baubles hanging from the lampshade?” The deep voice rumbled in the room, sounding both amused and curious at the same time.
“ We’re decorating for Christmas.” Dean supplied, his grin widening.
“ I’m decorating, he’s throwing tinsel around the room like it’s radioactive.” Cas had plucked a single length of blue tinsel at this point and was inspecting it as though it held all the answers in the universe.
Dean’s chest thrummed with warmth at the sight; even with the angels mostly gone Cas was still himself, was still curious about every little human thing that they did. He couldn’t have asked for more.
“ Wanna help?” shoving the decorations into his angel’s face a little too eagerly, he hadn’t seen Cas since this morning, so what if he got a little excited?
A small smile quirked the angel’s lips, eyes looking up at Dean before returning to the decorations in hand.
“ If you wouldn’t mind an extra pair of hands.” Dean practically bounced and handed Cas an armful of tinsel.
“ Sure thing, maybe you can help me clear up Dean’s mess.” Sam ducked an incoming Santa hat aimed at his head.
“ It is rather… bright.” Cas blinked once at the wall of tinsel.
“ Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side.” There was a distinct whining tone in Dean’s voice.
“ My apologies, I shall endeavour to make it up to you.” Sam tried not to smile as he turned around to pin tinsel around another picture frame.
His brother may make googoo eyes at an angel, but he couldn’t be happier for him.
***
Several weeks had passed; Christmas decorations had been evenly and tastefully placed around the house, Dean’s half of the room had been rearranged so it was less blinding, much to the elder hunter’s complaints. Even Bobby agreed that it looked nice. Soon enough Christmas Eve approached
Dean clapped his hands together and faced his two helpers of the day.
“ Right next order of business, a tree.” Smiling wide.
“ Dude you should have mentioned that when the malls were still open, we could have picked one up.” Sam’s expression fell a little, apparently after his scrooge like episode a few weeks back he was fully behind the whole Christmas idea now.
“ I didn’t want to get one at a mall Sammy.” His brother’s face scrunched up.
“ Why not?”
“ Because it’s our first Christmas in a long time, I didn’t want a fake plastic one, we’re gonna go get the real deal.” Grinning broadly at his brother and his angel.
“ And how are we going to manage that? It’s not like the trees around here are any good for that.” Sam was using his best talking to an idiot tone.
Dean sighed and shared a look with Cas, the angel’s eyes lighting up in clarification as he stepped up to the two brothers and placed a finger on each forehead.
The expletive from Sammy was worth the nauseous feeling in his stomach.
“ See Mr smarty pants, real Christmas trees for us to take.” Dean gestured to the large pine trees surrounding them. Sam looked around in mild awe.
“ Where did you take us?” craning his neck back to look up at the stars through the trees.
“ Greenland.” Sam stared at Cas in disbelief.
“ Seriously?” he shouldn’t have been surprised but still, it was one heck of a journey to make.
“ I believe it is where your Santa Claus lives.” Cas sounded so sincere Sam wasn’t sure whether he should tell him that Santa wasn’t real.
“ Right well let’s pick one and go.” Dean clapped Sam on the shoulder and moved to walk in step with Castiel, his fingers not quite brushing the back of the angel’s hand.
They strode for a short distance, waiting until the trees got smaller before considering them.
“ What about that one?” Cas pointed to a large fuzzy looking pine tree that stood tall and proud by itself. It was a fine looking tree all right; there was just one small issue with it.
“ That would never fit in Bobby’s living room, we’d have to poke it through the ceiling and the roof.” Dean explained, walking off.
Cas tilted his head at the plant as though he couldn’t quite understand room to tree ratio.
“ Here, this one will do fine.” Dean pulled them both over to a smallish pine tree, hands on his hips, looking proud.
Sam sized up the tree, thought of Bobby’s living room and nodded at Dean; this would fit perfectly into the corner. He blinked as he just realised something.
“ How are we going to cut it down?”
Angel telekinesis had many useful applications.
***
Decorating the tree had been far more daunting than the house, it didn’t help that both Sam and Castiel were disagreeing with Dean’s decorating method, once again the elder Winchester felt the need to cover the entire tree with baubles and tinsel.
A smack on the back of the knees from Bobby shut Dean up and he went to sulk by the couch, the older hunter helping Sam and the angel with cleaning up the tree before Cas retreated and went to console the brooding Winchester.
Sam shook his head and continued to help Bobby, hearing the deep murmur of Cas and Dean’s voice. His brother didn’t sound too upset at getting booted off tree duty, not that he wouldn’t get his revenge on Sam anyway.
“ You’re kidding me.” Dean’s surprised tone made both him and Bobby look back, the elder Winchester’s eyebrow’s high in apparent shock.
“ What’s up?” looking between his brother and Castiel.
“ Cas has never celebrated Christmas before.” Well that wasn’t entirely surprising; the angel didn’t even seem to think the news was all that significant either given his expression.
“ It is pagan in origins and does not fall on Christ’s actual birthday, unlike what your society is lead to believe.” The look of surprise still hadn’t dropped from Dean’s face.
“ Oh man. This isn’t offending you or anything is it?” Sam placed the bauble box on the coffee table, feeling a little guilty for not asking or thinking of the angels’ beliefs.
“ No, it is not.” A small smile pulled at Cas’s mouth. “ Christmas is about family, love and sharing. I can think of nothing better to celebrate.” Sam sighed in relief, and then proceeded to get even more worried at his brother’s expression.
“ You know what this means?” Dean’s eyes twinkled mischievously.
“ Dude no.” Standing up straighter and pulling a stern face.
“ Eggnog!”
Sam sighed and face palmed.
***
The kitchen was a mess, milk, sugar and egg residue was sticking to almost every work surface, but it was a small price to pay for eggnog, damn good eggnog at that if Dean said so himself, which he did.
The elder Winchester was currently mixing all the ingredients in a large bowl while Sam and Bobby added a few more decorations around the house, Cas sitting in the kitchen with him as a personal helper.
The angel hovered over his shoulder and stared at the concoction, child like curiosity gleaming in his eyes.
“ That is edible?” a small sniff sounding as the angel presumably used his nose to judge its tastiness.
“ Yeah, well in a sense. You drink it.” Dean explained, grabbing a bottle of brandy to pour in the mixture.
“ It does not look like any drink I have seen before.” Shifting closer to Dean’s back as he spoke.
“ That’s cause it’s special, only made once a year.” He may or may not have leaned back into Cas a little bit.
“ For Christmas.” Sniffing again at the holiday drink.
“ Yup”.
“ It would seem strange to have an alcoholic drink be a centre point for the celebrations.” His tone seemed a little miffed.
“ It’s not really, just a treat. I think it’s only an American thing anyway.” Moving to turn around and face the angel, his blue eyes were still locked onto the drink. “ You want some don’t you?” smiling a little at the sheepish expression on the angel’s face.
“ It smells nice.” Cas looked up at him as he gave his rather poor explanation, blinking at the hunter in all seriousness.
“ Well you’re gonna have to wait six hours at least.” It was unfair that his angel could look that adorable when he was put out. Dean rolled his eyes but smirked as he looked back at Cas, liking his lips slightly.
There was something he’d wanted to do ever since the angel turned up.
Looking around briefly he determined the coast was clear, he didn’t want to give Sammy any more ribbing material this Christmas, and gently yanked Cas to him. Slanting his lips over the angel’s and effectively making the heavenly being forget all about the eggnog.
A throat cleared behind them.
Dean reluctantly pulled away from the angel and turned to pick up the bowl from the table, moving over to the fridge and placing it on a cleared shelf before looking at his brother, the damn Sasquatch was smirking at him.
“ Don’t say anything.” Sam blinked at him, opting for his best innocent look.
“ What? I wasn’t about to say anything about how cute it is that you regress into a teenage girl around Cas.” That smile was so getting knocked off his face.
“ He does not seem to have shrunk or grown his hair out longer.” Cas was regarding Dean with a carefully blank look, though his tone betrayed his mirth a little.
“ Not helping.” Dean didn’t miss the twinkle of mischief in the angel’s eyes for one second. Sam grinned to himself then jerked his head towards the living room.
“ C’mon, time to put presents under the tree.” The eager excitement was infectious it seemed, even Cas was grinning, well as much as he did grin anyway.
Sam hurried off into the room; a plastic bag grasped in his hands as he went and knelt by the tree. Dean followed soon after, rummaging in the living room for his hiding spot. Sam gave him an incredulous look.
“ Merry or not, I know for a fact that if I don’t hide these you will find them.” Dean pointed out, jostling the bag before him slightly.
He knelt down beside Sam and placed his presents beside his brother’s. Bobby wheeled himself in a little later and added his offerings to the pile, the three of them looking towards the angel standing in the corner.
Cas seemed to have honestly been enjoying watching the family moment as he snapped back to himself, offered them all a small smile, and fluttered off. Only to return a few moments later with five perfectly wrapped presents.
If anyone noticed the extra gift no one said anything. If Anna came to wish them a merry Christmas she would, if not, then they’d just have to wait until next year. Dean would make sure Cas was ok in the meantime; he knew what it was like to have an estranged sibling.
Sam walked over to the drinks cabinet as Bobby wheeled out to get four glasses, pouring a shot of whiskey into each beaker and handing one to each of them. The older hunter raised his drink and nodded to all of them.
“ Merry Christmas ya idjits.” They all returned the sentiment, fond smiles spread across each of their faces. They were alive, whole, and happy for once in a very long time. “ Now get yourselves to bed before I chase you away.” Shooing them all out of the living room.
***
Dean yawned pleasantly as he trudged up the stairs, wishing Sam a goodnight before shuffling off into the bathroom, leaving Cas to whatever it was he did before settling down for the night.
Scratching the back of his neck as he entered the room he had been occupying for the better part of a year he smiled as he saw Cas propped up against the headboard, a book firmly settled in his hands as his eyes skimmed the pages.
The guy wasn’t really reading it with that much interest, he was just keeping himself busy. It made Dean wonder what the angel did to pass the hours while he slept.
The hunter flopped back onto the bed, bouncing the mattress and jostling the angel slightly before letting out a pleased groan, it was nice to have a proper bed again after so many years.
Dean lay there content for some time listening to the swipe of paper as Cas turned the pages of the book, opening his eyes when he heard an almost rhythmic tapping noise.
“ It is tradition to wait until morning before opening the presents?” the angel’s thumb was the source of the noise.
“ Yeah, it’s part of the anticipation. And fun.” Grinning as he moved to prop himself up beside Cas, shoulders bumping together. “ Don’t tell me you have no patience.” Leering slightly at his angel with that.
“ I merely am anxious to see how well my purchases are received.” It figures, the angel is more excited about pleasing people than what others have gotten for him.
“ I’m sure they’ll like whatever you got em Cas, it’s not like we’re hard to please.” Nudging his angel with his shoulder.
“ Still, thinking of suitable gifts is… challenging.” Dean couldn’t help but smile at the frown of concentration on Cas’s face; the guy really did care about making others happy too much.
“ Hmm, and you’re not at all curious to see what we all got you?” leaning further into the angel’s space as he grabbed the book from Cas’s hands. An almost sheepish look crossed the angel’s face.
“ I would be lying if I said it didn’t peak my interest.” The hunter grinned as he closed the book and placed it on the bedside table, shifting to cover the angel with his body and dragging the other man down further onto his back.
“ Well I’ll just have to take your mind off it then.” Grinning down at Cas before planting his lips against the angel’s in a heated kiss, only to break off after a few moments.
“ If it’s really bothering you that is.” Eyes twinkling at the glare he received.
“ Dean.” Okay, okay. He got the point.
“ Pushy angel.” His halfhearted muttered remark was lost between their mouths, Castiel’s arms reaching up to grip at Dean’s head, fingers sliding through short blond strands.
Dean smiled against Cas’s lips, grin widening at the hitching of breath he received for dragging his mouth over the angel’s neck, hands fisting up Cas’s night shirt so he could get at more skin.
It was suitably pulled off and dumped to the floor as the hunter continued his slow exploration of Castiel’s torso, fingers skimming along the angel’s boxers.
“ Is this another tradition?” Cas’s voice came out a little breathy, his long fingers gently gripping at the hunter’s shoulders and head.
Dean grinned up at Castiel from his place at the angel’s abdomen; predatory look softening a little as he rubbed soothing circles along the other mans hips.
“ Merry Christmas Cas.” The gleam was back, and mirrored in Cas’s blue, blue eyes, promises of payback glinting at him. Oh Dean could so work with that.
This was going to be the best Christmas ever.
~~~~~~~~~~
Title: Life Less Ordinary
Recipient: martyred_wings
Author: blue_flame88
Rating: PG/PG-13
Warnings: I think I went overboard on the schmoop.
Word Count 3983
Spoilers: None really but I’ll say up to 5.10 to be safe.
Summary: Lucifer was dealt with, and the boys were taking a well deserved break, it just so happens that Christmas is almost right around the corner.
Author notes: Well this turned out to be much longer than I thought it would be. I hope the giftee likes this, there’s no porn as requested I’m afraid as I can’t write it, at all. And you wouldn’t want me to try. Also any knowledge of eggnog making I have derives from the Internet.
The first thing Dean did as soon as Lucifer was put back in his little hole was to declare, very loudly to everyone and everything that could hear, that he was taking a year off. He then proceeded to shuffle off towards his car so he could get back to his motel and sleep. And if he so happened to drag Cas along with him, well it was nobody’s business.
It was time all if them, not just him Sam and Cas had a vacation. A nice long one where they could relax and not think about having to stop the devil or deal with anymore douche bag angels, Cas and Anna excluded from that of course.
Dean had intended to go across country and see the things he had wanted to years ago, the Grand Canyon, the world’s largest ball of twine. That sort of thing.
His plans however had been somewhat sabotaged first by their lack of money, and second by the lure of Cas and a comfy bed. It was considerably more innocent than Sam liked to make it out to be, he enjoyed the warm body next to him so he could indulge in some manly cuddling.
He had thought Cas was going to disappear at the end of all this, hell the damn angel did disappear for a day or two before he promptly returned to the brothers, explaining that he had been given a forced vacation of sorts.
The knowledge that Cas wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon made Dean reluctant to let him out of his sight for more than a second.
They had shacked up at Bobby’s for a few months, the brothers didn’t exactly have anywhere else they could stay, bar a motel, so the older hunter was more than happy to put them up in his spare rooms for a while.
A few weeks later Bobby had begun grumbling about lazy hunters who wouldn’t know the meaning of work if it bit them in the ass.
Dean guessed that comment had been directed solely at him.
He’d been ready to protest the point when Cas had interjected with the observation that Dean eating all the food in the house didn’t constitute as helping.
Because Dean Winchester most certainly did not pout, he started working on the broken and rusted cars in the yard out of his own volition, not because he wanted to prove a certain angel and older hunter wrong.
The extra cash flow was an added bonus.
Months went by and suddenly the makeshift family had found themselves on the horizon of their first hunt free Christmas.
To say Dean was a little excited was a bit of an understatement, he had practically bounced into the kitchen late November with a huge grin plastered on his face.
“ Guess what?” Dean was literally bouncing on his toes, energy thrumming through his veins as he waited for either his brother or Bobby to pick up the rest of the conversation.
“ What?” Sam answered, his expression clearly conveying the confusion he felt.
“ It’s officially three weeks till Christmas.” More bouncing.
“ Congratulations boy you figured out the use of a calendar.” Bobby’s affectionate grumble came from behind a newspaper. Sam shrugged at him as though the news wasn’t all that important and went back to his breakfast.
“ Oh come on you guys can’t tell me you don’t want to do anything for the holidays.” Sam’s head snapped up at that, an even bigger look of bewilderment on his face.
“ Since when do you care? You’ve never wanted to celebrate it properly before.” An eyebrow rose along with the statement, Sam’s eyes studying him closely as if he was about to reveal himself as a shapshifter and suddenly kill them all.
“ Ok so I’m not normally. But this is the perfect opportunity to do something this year.” Sam pulled an unconvinced face at that, Dean huffed and began ticking point of on his fingers. “ No monsters, no apocalypse, no angels breathing down our necks.
“ Except the angel breathing down your neck, or on it.”
Dean ignored him, opting for getting revenge later.
“ Christmas is about family and well… we’re all still here.” The elder Winchester looked meaningfully at his little brother, and as much as he could at Bobby through a wall of paper. Sam promptly shut his mouth at that, whatever argument he had waiting on his tongue dying at Dean’s words.
The younger Winchester shuffled in his seat a little guiltily as he prodded at his breakfast, shoulders hunching slightly as he fixed his gaze on his plate. A loud sigh issued from Bobby as the man folded up the newspaper and dumped it on the table giving Dean an expectant stare.
“ Well?” Dean looked behind him then back to the older hunter, shrugging at the other man. “ If you want this Christmas thing to go ahead you better get it sorted boy.” A huge grin appeared on Dean’s face as Bobby wheeled himself out of the kitchen and into the living room.
“ Thanks Bobby.” Dean could have sworn he heard an idjit come from the vicinity of the front hall.
Shuffling around the kitchen for his wallet and car keys Dean pulled on his jacket and opened the door, only stopping to look back at Sam. His brother let out a long sigh and grabbed his coat off the back of his chair, hurrying out of the house along with Dean.
“ If you buy a singing Santa toy I’m disowning you.” Dean’s grin only got wider.
***
Three hours later. After two mall trips, one lost car scare, who knew mall parking lots were that big? Small child dodging, pushing, shoving, and getting every insult under the sun thrown at them, and some new ones, they made it back to Bobby’s with their Christmas shopping in one piece. Well mostly.
The two brothers were currently arguing over where the tinsel should go.
Dean had gone for the more is better approach and had liberally chucked the brightly coloured decorations seemingly everywhere, any amount of plain wall had been covered by the itchy crap.
Sam however had chosen the more aesthetic route and had artfully pinned the tinsel around picture frames, windows, and running along the edges of the ceiling.
Only when Dean had crossed over onto Sam’s side of the room did the younger of the two actually notice his older brothers decorating habits, and proceeded to nitpick like no tomorrow. Who actually thought it was a good idea to cover the ends of the sofa with tinsel?
“ You know you really aren’t helping with the whole me thinking you’re a girl thing right now… just so we’re clear.” Sam rolled his eyes at his brother, not bothering to rise to the bait. There was nothing girly about knowing how to decorate a room for god’s sake.
“ Dude there is no reason to put tinsel on the table!” pointing emphatically at the offending decorations curling up the table legs, he had to give Dean points on being able to pin that in place.
“ Why not? It’s sparkly it’s meant to decorate, so lets decorate.” The elder Winchester grinned while rustling the tinsel in his hands.
“ This isn’t decorating, this is throwing tinsel somewhere seeing where it lands, and deciding that’s good enough!” Sam’s arms flailed somewhat above his head as he spoke.
“ Dude you are really uptight.” The younger Winchester nearly screamed in frustration, there was no way his brother was being this dense by accident.
He opened his mouth to retort but was stopped as the flapping of wings sounded in the air, a familiar trench coat clothed angel appearing in the room a moment later.
Dean’s grin went from amused to happy in less than a second at the sight of Cas, shifting himself over to the angel as the dark haired man looked around the room in mild curiosity and a little fear. Sam smiled to himself at the sight, he may get a little fussy with decorations, but at least he wasn’t making embarrassing googoo eyes at an angel.
“ Why are there baubles hanging from the lampshade?” The deep voice rumbled in the room, sounding both amused and curious at the same time.
“ We’re decorating for Christmas.” Dean supplied, his grin widening.
“ I’m decorating, he’s throwing tinsel around the room like it’s radioactive.” Cas had plucked a single length of blue tinsel at this point and was inspecting it as though it held all the answers in the universe.
Dean’s chest thrummed with warmth at the sight; even with the angels mostly gone Cas was still himself, was still curious about every little human thing that they did. He couldn’t have asked for more.
“ Wanna help?” shoving the decorations into his angel’s face a little too eagerly, he hadn’t seen Cas since this morning, so what if he got a little excited?
A small smile quirked the angel’s lips, eyes looking up at Dean before returning to the decorations in hand.
“ If you wouldn’t mind an extra pair of hands.” Dean practically bounced and handed Cas an armful of tinsel.
“ Sure thing, maybe you can help me clear up Dean’s mess.” Sam ducked an incoming Santa hat aimed at his head.
“ It is rather… bright.” Cas blinked once at the wall of tinsel.
“ Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side.” There was a distinct whining tone in Dean’s voice.
“ My apologies, I shall endeavour to make it up to you.” Sam tried not to smile as he turned around to pin tinsel around another picture frame.
His brother may make googoo eyes at an angel, but he couldn’t be happier for him.
***
Several weeks had passed; Christmas decorations had been evenly and tastefully placed around the house, Dean’s half of the room had been rearranged so it was less blinding, much to the elder hunter’s complaints. Even Bobby agreed that it looked nice. Soon enough Christmas Eve approached
Dean clapped his hands together and faced his two helpers of the day.
“ Right next order of business, a tree.” Smiling wide.
“ Dude you should have mentioned that when the malls were still open, we could have picked one up.” Sam’s expression fell a little, apparently after his scrooge like episode a few weeks back he was fully behind the whole Christmas idea now.
“ I didn’t want to get one at a mall Sammy.” His brother’s face scrunched up.
“ Why not?”
“ Because it’s our first Christmas in a long time, I didn’t want a fake plastic one, we’re gonna go get the real deal.” Grinning broadly at his brother and his angel.
“ And how are we going to manage that? It’s not like the trees around here are any good for that.” Sam was using his best talking to an idiot tone.
Dean sighed and shared a look with Cas, the angel’s eyes lighting up in clarification as he stepped up to the two brothers and placed a finger on each forehead.
The expletive from Sammy was worth the nauseous feeling in his stomach.
“ See Mr smarty pants, real Christmas trees for us to take.” Dean gestured to the large pine trees surrounding them. Sam looked around in mild awe.
“ Where did you take us?” craning his neck back to look up at the stars through the trees.
“ Greenland.” Sam stared at Cas in disbelief.
“ Seriously?” he shouldn’t have been surprised but still, it was one heck of a journey to make.
“ I believe it is where your Santa Claus lives.” Cas sounded so sincere Sam wasn’t sure whether he should tell him that Santa wasn’t real.
“ Right well let’s pick one and go.” Dean clapped Sam on the shoulder and moved to walk in step with Castiel, his fingers not quite brushing the back of the angel’s hand.
They strode for a short distance, waiting until the trees got smaller before considering them.
“ What about that one?” Cas pointed to a large fuzzy looking pine tree that stood tall and proud by itself. It was a fine looking tree all right; there was just one small issue with it.
“ That would never fit in Bobby’s living room, we’d have to poke it through the ceiling and the roof.” Dean explained, walking off.
Cas tilted his head at the plant as though he couldn’t quite understand room to tree ratio.
“ Here, this one will do fine.” Dean pulled them both over to a smallish pine tree, hands on his hips, looking proud.
Sam sized up the tree, thought of Bobby’s living room and nodded at Dean; this would fit perfectly into the corner. He blinked as he just realised something.
“ How are we going to cut it down?”
Angel telekinesis had many useful applications.
***
Decorating the tree had been far more daunting than the house, it didn’t help that both Sam and Castiel were disagreeing with Dean’s decorating method, once again the elder Winchester felt the need to cover the entire tree with baubles and tinsel.
A smack on the back of the knees from Bobby shut Dean up and he went to sulk by the couch, the older hunter helping Sam and the angel with cleaning up the tree before Cas retreated and went to console the brooding Winchester.
Sam shook his head and continued to help Bobby, hearing the deep murmur of Cas and Dean’s voice. His brother didn’t sound too upset at getting booted off tree duty, not that he wouldn’t get his revenge on Sam anyway.
“ You’re kidding me.” Dean’s surprised tone made both him and Bobby look back, the elder Winchester’s eyebrow’s high in apparent shock.
“ What’s up?” looking between his brother and Castiel.
“ Cas has never celebrated Christmas before.” Well that wasn’t entirely surprising; the angel didn’t even seem to think the news was all that significant either given his expression.
“ It is pagan in origins and does not fall on Christ’s actual birthday, unlike what your society is lead to believe.” The look of surprise still hadn’t dropped from Dean’s face.
“ Oh man. This isn’t offending you or anything is it?” Sam placed the bauble box on the coffee table, feeling a little guilty for not asking or thinking of the angels’ beliefs.
“ No, it is not.” A small smile pulled at Cas’s mouth. “ Christmas is about family, love and sharing. I can think of nothing better to celebrate.” Sam sighed in relief, and then proceeded to get even more worried at his brother’s expression.
“ You know what this means?” Dean’s eyes twinkled mischievously.
“ Dude no.” Standing up straighter and pulling a stern face.
“ Eggnog!”
Sam sighed and face palmed.
***
The kitchen was a mess, milk, sugar and egg residue was sticking to almost every work surface, but it was a small price to pay for eggnog, damn good eggnog at that if Dean said so himself, which he did.
The elder Winchester was currently mixing all the ingredients in a large bowl while Sam and Bobby added a few more decorations around the house, Cas sitting in the kitchen with him as a personal helper.
The angel hovered over his shoulder and stared at the concoction, child like curiosity gleaming in his eyes.
“ That is edible?” a small sniff sounding as the angel presumably used his nose to judge its tastiness.
“ Yeah, well in a sense. You drink it.” Dean explained, grabbing a bottle of brandy to pour in the mixture.
“ It does not look like any drink I have seen before.” Shifting closer to Dean’s back as he spoke.
“ That’s cause it’s special, only made once a year.” He may or may not have leaned back into Cas a little bit.
“ For Christmas.” Sniffing again at the holiday drink.
“ Yup”.
“ It would seem strange to have an alcoholic drink be a centre point for the celebrations.” His tone seemed a little miffed.
“ It’s not really, just a treat. I think it’s only an American thing anyway.” Moving to turn around and face the angel, his blue eyes were still locked onto the drink. “ You want some don’t you?” smiling a little at the sheepish expression on the angel’s face.
“ It smells nice.” Cas looked up at him as he gave his rather poor explanation, blinking at the hunter in all seriousness.
“ Well you’re gonna have to wait six hours at least.” It was unfair that his angel could look that adorable when he was put out. Dean rolled his eyes but smirked as he looked back at Cas, liking his lips slightly.
There was something he’d wanted to do ever since the angel turned up.
Looking around briefly he determined the coast was clear, he didn’t want to give Sammy any more ribbing material this Christmas, and gently yanked Cas to him. Slanting his lips over the angel’s and effectively making the heavenly being forget all about the eggnog.
A throat cleared behind them.
Dean reluctantly pulled away from the angel and turned to pick up the bowl from the table, moving over to the fridge and placing it on a cleared shelf before looking at his brother, the damn Sasquatch was smirking at him.
“ Don’t say anything.” Sam blinked at him, opting for his best innocent look.
“ What? I wasn’t about to say anything about how cute it is that you regress into a teenage girl around Cas.” That smile was so getting knocked off his face.
“ He does not seem to have shrunk or grown his hair out longer.” Cas was regarding Dean with a carefully blank look, though his tone betrayed his mirth a little.
“ Not helping.” Dean didn’t miss the twinkle of mischief in the angel’s eyes for one second. Sam grinned to himself then jerked his head towards the living room.
“ C’mon, time to put presents under the tree.” The eager excitement was infectious it seemed, even Cas was grinning, well as much as he did grin anyway.
Sam hurried off into the room; a plastic bag grasped in his hands as he went and knelt by the tree. Dean followed soon after, rummaging in the living room for his hiding spot. Sam gave him an incredulous look.
“ Merry or not, I know for a fact that if I don’t hide these you will find them.” Dean pointed out, jostling the bag before him slightly.
He knelt down beside Sam and placed his presents beside his brother’s. Bobby wheeled himself in a little later and added his offerings to the pile, the three of them looking towards the angel standing in the corner.
Cas seemed to have honestly been enjoying watching the family moment as he snapped back to himself, offered them all a small smile, and fluttered off. Only to return a few moments later with five perfectly wrapped presents.
If anyone noticed the extra gift no one said anything. If Anna came to wish them a merry Christmas she would, if not, then they’d just have to wait until next year. Dean would make sure Cas was ok in the meantime; he knew what it was like to have an estranged sibling.
Sam walked over to the drinks cabinet as Bobby wheeled out to get four glasses, pouring a shot of whiskey into each beaker and handing one to each of them. The older hunter raised his drink and nodded to all of them.
“ Merry Christmas ya idjits.” They all returned the sentiment, fond smiles spread across each of their faces. They were alive, whole, and happy for once in a very long time. “ Now get yourselves to bed before I chase you away.” Shooing them all out of the living room.
***
Dean yawned pleasantly as he trudged up the stairs, wishing Sam a goodnight before shuffling off into the bathroom, leaving Cas to whatever it was he did before settling down for the night.
Scratching the back of his neck as he entered the room he had been occupying for the better part of a year he smiled as he saw Cas propped up against the headboard, a book firmly settled in his hands as his eyes skimmed the pages.
The guy wasn’t really reading it with that much interest, he was just keeping himself busy. It made Dean wonder what the angel did to pass the hours while he slept.
The hunter flopped back onto the bed, bouncing the mattress and jostling the angel slightly before letting out a pleased groan, it was nice to have a proper bed again after so many years.
Dean lay there content for some time listening to the swipe of paper as Cas turned the pages of the book, opening his eyes when he heard an almost rhythmic tapping noise.
“ It is tradition to wait until morning before opening the presents?” the angel’s thumb was the source of the noise.
“ Yeah, it’s part of the anticipation. And fun.” Grinning as he moved to prop himself up beside Cas, shoulders bumping together. “ Don’t tell me you have no patience.” Leering slightly at his angel with that.
“ I merely am anxious to see how well my purchases are received.” It figures, the angel is more excited about pleasing people than what others have gotten for him.
“ I’m sure they’ll like whatever you got em Cas, it’s not like we’re hard to please.” Nudging his angel with his shoulder.
“ Still, thinking of suitable gifts is… challenging.” Dean couldn’t help but smile at the frown of concentration on Cas’s face; the guy really did care about making others happy too much.
“ Hmm, and you’re not at all curious to see what we all got you?” leaning further into the angel’s space as he grabbed the book from Cas’s hands. An almost sheepish look crossed the angel’s face.
“ I would be lying if I said it didn’t peak my interest.” The hunter grinned as he closed the book and placed it on the bedside table, shifting to cover the angel with his body and dragging the other man down further onto his back.
“ Well I’ll just have to take your mind off it then.” Grinning down at Cas before planting his lips against the angel’s in a heated kiss, only to break off after a few moments.
“ If it’s really bothering you that is.” Eyes twinkling at the glare he received.
“ Dean.” Okay, okay. He got the point.
“ Pushy angel.” His halfhearted muttered remark was lost between their mouths, Castiel’s arms reaching up to grip at Dean’s head, fingers sliding through short blond strands.
Dean smiled against Cas’s lips, grin widening at the hitching of breath he received for dragging his mouth over the angel’s neck, hands fisting up Cas’s night shirt so he could get at more skin.
It was suitably pulled off and dumped to the floor as the hunter continued his slow exploration of Castiel’s torso, fingers skimming along the angel’s boxers.
“ Is this another tradition?” Cas’s voice came out a little breathy, his long fingers gently gripping at the hunter’s shoulders and head.
Dean grinned up at Castiel from his place at the angel’s abdomen; predatory look softening a little as he rubbed soothing circles along the other mans hips.
“ Merry Christmas Cas.” The gleam was back, and mirrored in Cas’s blue, blue eyes, promises of payback glinting at him. Oh Dean could so work with that.
This was going to be the best Christmas ever.
~~~~~~~~~~