Author's Note: OK, so I got bored while on tumblr (blasphemous!), so I decided to start looking for some writing prompts... and then this unholy beast was born. Oh, there is a slight chance that there is going to be some language, so look out for that. Not sure, but just to be safe, you know.
Dean was sitting on the couch in Bobby's living room, drinking a beer and staring blankly at the wall. It was too cold to really do anything. Normally he wouldn't have minded too much, but today he was stuck inside with Sam, who had decided to set the radio to that one goddamn station that plays Christmas music 24/7 without fail. To make things worse, his younger brother had started to sing along.
He could hear Sam from the kitchen, where he was making some soup. "All of the other reindeeeer used to laugh and call him naaaaamesss..."
He shuddered and chugged the rest of the bottle. Hopefully he would be put out of his misery soon.
"Then all the reindeer loved himmm as they shouted out with gleeee, Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer-"
"Did you know that Rudolph's red nose can probably be attributed to a parasitic infection in his respiratory system? I thought that was interesting."
Dean heard Sam drop the metal spoon into the pot with a clang. "Jesus, Cas! What the hell!"
He smiled to himself. Free at last. "Hey Cas!" He waved towards the kitchen.
Castiel's head poked out of the doorway to the kitchen. "Hello, Dean."
"Where were you?" Sam asked, still a little sore about being snuck up on.
"Oh, here and there. I visited a few light festivals, looked at Christmas decorations, chased some penguins..."
"At the zoo?" Sam inquired, curious as to how Castiel might have gotten away with it.
"No, Antarctica," he replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and Sammy was a little slow for suggesting otherwise.
"...Oh," he remarked, deciding that it would probably be best to go back to his soup now and leave his older brother to deal with the angel.
Castiel stood in the kitchen for a while longer, just listening to the holiday songs and staring out the window, where it had actually begun to snow. He suddenly snapped out of it and spun to face Dean, who was still sprawled out on the sofa, one foot propped up on the coffee table (he took advantage of Bobby's temporary absence – if he had been home, he would've chewed Dean out big time). Cas squinted his eyes for a moment, as if thinking hard about something.
"We should get a Christmas tree," he stated.
"No way in hell I'm going out in this weather," Dean quickly replied.
"I could get one and carry it back myself, if you'd like."
"You're not stealing us a tree, Cas."
Sam looked into the living room from the kitchen to see his brother having something of a staredown with a mildly disheartened Castiel. "Just go with him to get a tree, man. Bobby'd probably like it, anyway."
Now Dean was conflicted. On the one hand, he really didn't want to go out in what now looked to be a full-on snowstorm. On the other hand, he did want to get out of the house, and Cas was staring right at him with the most hopeful expression he'd ever seen on anyone, ever.
"I dunno. It looks really cold out there," he mumbled, feeling around the couch to see if he could find his jacket.
That was when Sam Winchester pulled out his trademarked bitchface.
Fuck Yeah Time Skip!
Dean was covered from head to toe in warm, layered clothing as he drove the Impala to a (somewhat) nearby tree farm. Sam was, of course, riding shotgun, leaving an elated Castiel to sit in the backseat.
After a little under half an hour of driving through the snow they finally arrived, parking near the front of the near-empty lot. The angel in the backseat jumped out almost immediately. He seemed to be unusually enthusiastic, power walking past the other two.
"Wait up," Sam called after him, adjusting his coat against the wind.
Castiel stopped a few yards ahead, fidgeting impatiently as his friends caught up with him. Just then, a man wearing an antler headband, a glowing red plastic nose, and the most ridiculous holiday sweater Dean had ever laid eyes on (it involved dancing reindeer) approached them.
"Hi, my name's Steve! Can I help y'all?" he asked, his sweater lighting up distractingly as the noses on the reindeer print flashed.
"Yes. We are here to acquire a tree for our home," Cas interjected, successfully preventing anyone else from speaking.
"Alrighty, folks, right this way!" Steve chimed, bright smile never leaving his face despite the almost intolerable cold. He trudged through the growing layer of snow coating the ground, leading the group to a small-ish lot filled with pine trees of all sizes. He stopped. "Feel free to pick out whichever one you like. You want me to bring y'all some hot chocolate?"
"Yes. That sounds amazing," Dean added (a bit forcefully – it was really cold, and he needed sugar). Sam and Cas nodded in agreement. Steve beamed at them.
"I'll be right back with that~!" he chirped.
"Well, he sure is happy," Dean remarked as soon as Steve had left.
"Of course he is! It's the holiday season," Sam replied, perusing the selection of trees. "Not everyone's as grumpy and determined to be miserable on Christmas as you are."
Dean grumbled something unintelligible (and no doubt extremely witty) in response.
Just then, they heard Cas's voice. "I found one! Come look!"
'He's just a huge five-year-old...' Dean thought to himself, but followed the angel's voice to go see the tree he'd picked out nonetheless. It was a decent sized pine tree, and it seemed to be very healthy. It was large enough to fit most of their (Bobby's) extensive ornament collection, but still looked like it wouldn't just start shedding pine needles everywhere. Hopefully.
A few short moments later, Steve returned. He was carrying a tray with four cups of steaming hot chocolate. They all took one and just held it for a moment, savoring the way it warmed up their hands so nicely.
"So... This the one you've got your eye on?" he asked, turning to face the group.
"Yeah, this looks like the winner," Sam replied, grinning.
"Alright, I'll get you boys set up. Can I interest you in a wreath as well?"
"Yes," Castiel replied, jumping in before Dean or Sam had a chance to politely decline.
Fuck Yeah Time Skip!
Dean was back in the driver's seat of the Impala, trying his best to drive safely so that Cas didn't fall off the roof or drop the tree. Sam had protested, but Cas had insisted: since they had no rope with which to secure the pine to the car, he would sit on the roof and hold onto the tree with one hand and the car itself with the other. While it was true that he was exceptionally strong, being an angel of the Lord and all, Dean still didn't want to think about what would happen if he made too sharp a turn (either Cas would fall off and roll into the distance with the tree, or he'd rip off part of the roof of his baby with his super grip).
And so they made their way down the icy roads at a painfully slow pace, decelerating to a near stop every time they had to make a turn. After a good long while (and a few close calls, followed by Sam's bitching) they finally arrived back at Bobby's place. As soon as Dean parked the car, Cas rolled over and flopped onto the ground, the Christmas tree landing neatly on his face.
"Mpphkrlllmfft," he said matter-of-factly, holding up a finger in the air.
"Sorry, man. What was that?" Sam asked, leaning closer to try and make out the words.
With a mighty shove, Castiel pushed the tree off of himself and stood, dusting his coat off. "I said, 'We should get that inside'."
He easily lifted the tree, carrying it under his arm like a textbook, then began his journey to the front porch. Sam held the door open for him as he squeezed through, trying not to get stuck in the eye with pine needles.
A little while later, after everyone had a chance to warm up, they began setting up the tree. It took several (hilarious) attempts to get it just right, and even longer to decide where to put it. After they all finally agreed on a nice spot, the boxes of decorations came out. Lights were strung up (there was and incident where Castiel, not accustomed to hanging up lights, managed to tie himself to the tree, which no one noticed until he started commenting about how he would 'quite like to get down now'. Conveniently enough, this was the first thing Bobby saw upon returning home from his errands).
Sam, who had made some popcorn garlands, gave them to Dean to hang up. He got frustrated because they kept disappearing, when in reality it was Castiel, who was eating them because he recognized them as 'food' and was severely confused as to why Dean kept trying to put them in a tree.
Sam came back with another smaller box of gleaming plastic ornaments in all colors, which he quickly hung up. One small section of the tree, around the middle, was completely covered in them because that was eye level for Cas and he didn't quite grasp the concept of spreading them out evenly.
Bobby felt it best to just stay out of their way.
After about an hour, Sam stepped back and looked at their work. "It's perfect."
Dean finished helping Castiel get his sleeve untangled from an ornament hook, then they both went to join him. "Very nice. Very... festive, I guess."
The older Winchester paused for a moment. Sam looked pleased with himself, and was sort of grin-smirking at the tree. Cas was completely hypnotized by the lights in the tree. He, himself, felt weird, strangely happy and warm despite the many frustrations of that evening.
"...So who wants to grab a beer or two and watch Christmas specials?"
Author's Note (Again): This was mostly just me wanting to write about Cas and Dean decorating a tree. Sam just ended up there because he's a loveable moose. I wanted to add Destiel fluff soooo bad, but I can't write it to save my life, so we ended up with gems like Cas getting tied to a pine tree and Steve's flashing reindeer sweater... Sorry about that XD