This is one requested by DarknessShinesOn who wanted to see Cas Christmas shopping for Sam and Dean. Hope you enjoy!

Also, this site is losing reviews again, but hopefully they'll be up soon like usual. I was able to read them through my email though, so thank you to anyone who reviewed the last story if I didn't reply to you already :)

How to Shop for a Winchester

For DarknessShinesOn

Castiel had become used to a lot of human customs since his time on earth, and especially thanks to his time with the Winchesters. The celebration of holidays and the traditions that went along with them was one of those things. Sam and Dean had never really been traditional with holiday celebration considering they grew up on the road, and usually had their own methods of celebrating—like crashing at a hotel with Boston Market on Thanksgiving and watching the football game, and Dean's long nights on Valentine's Day where he tried to make it a point to leave no lady lonely. Christmas wasn't much different, but they still did what they could, depending on where they were. Usually it was quite a bit like their Thanksgivings, except with the added exchange of gifts purchased last minute at a gas station, but this year, they had the bunker, and Dean suggested they do a proper Christmas and invited Castiel to join them so he could experience the human traditions first hand.

But that created several quandaries for Castiel. The exchange of gifts was customary, but he was not practiced with purchasing gifts at all so he would need to do a lot of thinking before he figured out what to get Sam and Dean for Christmas gifts.

First he wondered if he was supposed to pick up something random like they usually did—shaving cream or publications like Busty Asian Beauties—but since Dean had said they would have a 'proper' Christmas that year, Castiel figured that meant they would give each other 'proper' gifts as well. So, he would have to decide what to do about that.

Neither of the brothers were exactly easy to shop for. Castiel realized that soon enough as he looked at generic items on the internet to get ideas, and none of them seemed like something Sam or Dean would want or could use. So instead, he decided to go to the nearest mall and look for something there. Surely a place with so many stores would have something he could get for the brothers.

It was quite busy and loud with other people doing last minute shopping and he found it a bit hard to concentrate but eventually he was able to tune everyone out and just look around.

He first went to the bookstore, thinking he could find something for Sam there. There was also music, but he didn't see any of the small square tapes Dean kept in the Impala, so he figured Dean probably wouldn't like any of the music to be bought there. He wasn't really sure what books Sam might like or might have already read either. Castiel never had much time to read so he had no recommendations, and browsing the so-called 'popular titles' he didn't think something called 'The Twilight Saga' sounded like anything Sam would enjoy reading. Therefor he passed up the bookstore and went further into the mall to see what other options there were.

He found a department store, which had a lot of clothing options. Both brothers wore an inordinate amount of plaid flannel and Castiel knew if he were to get them more it would at least be appreciated, but perhaps that was a little dull. They had band shirts that Dean would probably like, as Castiel had seen him wear a few old ones while he worked on his car, but Dean was rather critical of music, and if Castiel got the wrong one, Dean probably wouldn't like it, so he passed on that option as well.

He could always get them useful gifts, he supposed, but wasn't sure what they needed. The bunker had quite a lot of everyday stuff in it, and Sam and Dean always packed light for the road, so anything else, even if it were useful, probably wouldn't really be appreciated.

Weapons were likewise out. They had their favorite guns and knives, plus, all the other things that the Men of Letters had locked away in the bunker, and could use nothing else Castiel could possibly find that normal human consumers could buy.

He supposed there were always edible things; both brothers, especially Dean, liked to eat. But Sam liked salads, and Dean liked hamburgers and pie, and Castiel didn't think any of those things could be easily wrapped and distributed several days after the purchase date while still retaining their integrity.

As he continued to wander through the mall he felt his options waning, and still no ideas coming to him. Perhaps he should just get them the plaid shirts; they would at least appreciate those, he figured.

But then he was walking by a booth in the middle of the mall that had specialty handmade journals on display. Castiel stopped to look at them. They were nicely made, and some were even manly enough to his eye to suit even Dean Winchester. Journals were an important part of a hunter's life and to his recollection neither brother truly kept one like their father or Bobby Singer had. And now that they had found out they were Legacies to the Men of Letters, it was only proper that they should record their own hunts and findings for posterity sake.

Castiel went to talk to the man selling the journals and chose two sturdy, plain leather ones that could have more pages added to them if needed, and then had the man emboss the brothers' initials on each one so they wouldn't get them mixed up. Happy, and satisfied with his choice of gift, Castiel paid the man and then stopped on the way out of the mall to let the little girls at the wrapping booth wrap them for him for a few more dollars to charity. He hoped Sam and Dean would enjoy these gifts.

When Christmas finally came, they convened at the bunker to celebrate together and Castiel surprised the brothers by adding his gifts to the small pile of presents.

"Cas, you didn't have to get us gifts," Sam said.

"But that's a Christmas tradition between friends and family," Castiel insisted.

Dean shrugged. "Well, I guess we did say we were doing Christmas right. And we did get you something too, Cas."

"You did?" the angel asked, genuinely surprised.

"Of course," Sam said. "Didn't you just say its tradition between friends and family?"

Castiel felt a warmth in his chest that his feeling for the brothers were reciprocated, and settled down in a chair in the cozy den they had made out of one end of the library. "What do we do now?" he asked.

"Well, first, some eggnog," Dean told him, standing up and dishing out three cups from the bowl sitting on the table. "Watch out, it has some bite," he cautioned, as he sat down on the couch with Sam. "Then we relax, and do whatever we want. We can open presents, or we can watch Christmas movies, and later we're going to attempt to make a pizza, which will be our new tradition."

"If it comes out," Sam added blandly.

Dean shot him a good representation of Sam's famous bitchface. "Hey, have a little faith. Christmas is the time for miracles."

"Well, it's gonna take one," Sam smirked at his brother and Dean made a rude gesture.

"Perhaps we should open the gifts first," Castiel said, cutting in before the sibling rivalry took off.

"Awesome," Dean grinned and Castiel stood to retrieve his gifts, handing them to the brothers.

"These are for you," he said and sat back, anxiously watching the brothers open the gifts and hoping they would like them.

As the paper fell away the brothers looked appreciatively at the journals.

"Cas, this is really nice," Sam told him sincerely. "I've been meaning to get a journal."

"I thought you should have them now that you are Men of Letters," Castiel told them.

"Thanks, buddy," Dean grinned. "I guess I gotta learn to write stuff down now."

Castiel was happy that they had liked the gifts. It seemed he'd finally gotten a human custom correct.

"I'm glad you like them. You are very hard to shop for," he told them.

The Winchesters laughed and Dean dished up more eggnog. "Well, I think you did a good job for your first gift-shopping experience." He held up his cup. "Merry Christmas, bros."

Castiel and Sam smiled and held up their glasses in turn. "Merry Christmas," they repeated.