Dean was interrupted in his very important viewing of A Christmas Story by a series of loud crashing noises followed by the clash of shattering glass and then a grumbled noise that Dean thought might have been Cas swearing. It was the last part that had him snickering when he heaved himself up off the couch. Crashing was a regular enough noise from the bunker's storage rooms, former angels-of-the-lord swearing was decidedly not.
He passed Sam's curious look on the way to the storage room and waved him off, calling back that he would handle it. Not like he had a lot of other things to do, what with Mother Nature snowing them into the damn bunker and all. He almost regretted not having Sam tag along, though, once he walked into the actual room because it was a sight Dean wasn't totally prepared for.
The storage room looked like any one of their numerous others. A long, dim, almost hallway-like space lined with metal shelves that extended up to the ceiling. In the middle of this room stood Cas, in one of his hideous oversized sweaters, hands angrily on his hips with boxes scattered all around his legs and a pile of colorful broken glass spilling out of one. Cas also held what looked like a green wreath in one hand. Dean cleared his throat.
"Hey, babe?" he said cautiously. The hand holding the wreath shot into the air angrily.
"I was just trying to retrieve this but everything kept falling no matter what I did!" Cas said in a raised voice. Dean stayed where he was.
"And why did you want the wreath?" he asked. Cas turned to glare at him.
"Because I was curious," he said icily. Dean bit his lip to keep from smiling. It would only piss Cas off more, but he just looked, frankly, cute as hell in an ugly sweater, waving a wreath around while he raged. Dean took a step forward and put his hand on Cas's arm.
"One broken box of glass isn't the end of the world, Cas" he said. Cas raised an arch eyebrow at him but his face drained of some rage. He glanced down at the colorful shards.
"I may have reacted strongly," he said. Dean chuckled.
"It's possible," he said. He glanced around the floor. "What is all this stuff, anyway? I've never been back this far." He crouched down and tipped the overturned box back over so he could look inside. More rainbow shards of glass lined the bottom, and they also surrounded thin, cardboard boxes that held partially shattered antique Christmas ornaments. Dean picked one up that looked undamaged, a green and pink globe of fragile blown glass, and look at it in the light.
"I believe they are Christmas decorations," Cas said. When Dean glanced back, he saw the little colorful ornament reflected in Cas's wide eyes. He handed the ornament off and Cas took it gingerly. Dean shifted his weight over and pulled another box open. That one was full to the brim with multi-colored, thin tinsel garlands, all twisted together in knots and sparkling. Another box was full of undamaged vintage ornaments. He looked at the numerous other boxes around them and those still on the shelves.
"A lot of Christmas decorations for a bunch of book sniffers stuck in a secret bunker all the time," he said. Cas spun the ornament in his hand.
"Maybe it helped them to feel less homesick," Cas said. Dean ripped open another box to find long strands of colorful Christmas lights. Above him, Cas cocked his head and a slow smile spread over Dean's face.
"I have an idea," he said. Cas looked away from his ornament.
"What?"
"Well, we're snowed in here, right?" Dean said. Cas nodded unsurely and Dean's smile expanded into a grin. "Sam!" he yelled so loudly back into the bunker that Cas jumped in surprise. "Put the books down! We're decorating for Christmas!" Cas's face stretched into a warm smile.
"I'll grab some boxes and bring them to the war room," Cas said. Dean cracked open another box and his eyes lit up. He pulled out a thin cardboard square with a sepia toned image of a man with oiled up hair on it and held it up.
"And I'll get some music going," he said. Sam leaned his head around the corner, his eyebrows pinched together in confusion.
"Did you say we were decorating for Christmas? Seriously?" he asked. Dean leaned down and snatched a garland on his way out of the storage room and quickly draped it around Sam's neck as he passed.
"Seriously," he said with a smug grin, and then he was gone. Sam shook his head fondly and retrieved a box before following after Cas. They only made it to the storage room door before Frank Sinatra's voice wound round the hallway, echoing 'Jingle Bells'. With full loads, it took the three of them a total of four trips each to get all of the boxes into the war room and stacked up on the tables. Dean looked them all over and rubbed his hands together giddily.
"So, where to start?" he asked. For Dean, the answer was Cas helping him to wind Christmas lights around the stair railings in the bunker's entryway while Sam draped garlands around doorframes. One box held a little tree made of tiny, faded ornaments which they put in the center of the kitchen table. And one box, Dean's favorite, was full of stockings and brass stocking hangers. They removed the katana swords off of one of the bookshelves in the war room to hang them up in a nice line. Three in a row, all spaced out in front of the ancient books.
They made it through the full Sinatra album and part of the Bing Crosby before they found the tree. After all, it only made sense that there would be a tree. Dean didn't see the Men of Letters guys leaving their bunker to cut down trees in the middle of a Kansas winter. The tree was tucked in behind a few shelves, all wrapped up in thick, waxy paper. They put it up in the war room too – it only made sense. It was the only place that had enough room and where they spent the most time. They moved one of the maroon armchairs over to another alcove and put the towering tree in its place.
Alright, maybe not towering. But it was about seven feet, which was more than Sam or Dean had ever had as kids. Hell, the tree from Charlie Brown was more than they had ever had as kids. They covered it with sparkling tinsel and all the tiny vintage ornaments that filled far too many boxes. Little blown glass orbs, a couple boxes of ceramic ones with Christmas scenes painted across the front, glittering stars, and even delicate glass flowers of about any color you could think of. By the time they emptied out the last box, you could barely see the synthetic green of the tree anymore. As soon as they finished, Sam ran off to find the egg nog he had apparently purchased at their last supply run.
"Hey, it's December, I figured why not have it around," Sam grinned and wandered off. Dean shook his head. Eartha Kitt crooned over the record player. Dean watched Cas, who looked up at the tree with eyes full of wonder. The glowing lights from the tree reflected off the sparkling ornaments and shone in Cas's eyes. He had a small smile carefully on his lips. Dean reached an arm around Cas's waist and pulled him in close to give him a kiss just on the corner of his mouth.
"You like it?" Dean asked.
"It's beautiful," Cas said. Dean shrugged.
"I didn't really think about it, but this is kind of your first Christmas," he said. "So we ought to do it in style." Cas's smile tiled further upwards, crinkling at his eyes.
"I love it all," he said. "It's so happy. And bright." Dean nodded. He glanced at the doorway Sam had left through. Damn kid was probably looking for obscene amounts of rum to dump into the eggnog. He leaned in closer to Cas.
"You know, there is another Christmas tradition I'd like to show you," he said. Cas looked at him curiously. Dean knew the mischievous grin was all over his face, but he couldn't wipe it off. He jerked his head over towards the doorway and dragged Cas along with him until they both stood together beneath the archway.
"What is the tradition?" Cas asked. Dean looked up at the little leaf dangling in the doorway. He'd made sure to hang it up when Sam wasn't looking, since he knew he'd only get shit for it, but he couldn't resist putting it up anyway. Cas followed his eye line.
"That's mistletoe, correct?" Cas asked.
"You know about this one?" Dean asked. Cas raised a brow at him.
"Dean, I've been watching all these Christmas specials with you, of course I know," he said. Dean's cheeks reddened slightly but Cas just shook his head and leaned forward, kissing him softly. Dean smiled into Cas's mouth and put his arms around his waist, pulling the two of them more tightly together. He smelled like dusty boxes and peppermint and Dean loved it. He trailed his fingers up Cas's back.
"I should have known," Sam's voice came from the other side of the doorway. "Leave you two alone for five minutes…" Dean felt Cas's smile this time as they pulled away with one last peck on the lips. They both turned to grin sheepishly at Sam, who was holding three cups full of eggnog in his hands. He tried desperately to look stern and failed.
"What, I can't take advantage of a few Christmas traditions?" Dean asked. Sam rolled his eyes.
"Just come get your eggnog, jackass," he said. Cas wound his arm around Dean's waist and they both walked over and took their glasses before turning to look at the tree. Cas leaned his head over to lean on Dean's shoulder. They all stood and looked at the tree for a while, music playing gently. Dean turned his head slightly and kissed the top of Cas's head.
"Merry Christmas, guys," he said, and the music faded out.
Thanks for reading. This piece was done for the fantastic Destiel advent calendar, which you should all check out on tumblr. You can also follow me over on tumblr at preparetobemildlyentertained. Merry Christmas!