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“This is stupid,” Sam huffs, crossing his arms like a belligerent seven year old.
“C’mon man,” Dean says throwing the hat back at him. “Gotta keep the tradition alive.”
“S’stupid tradition,” he mumbles begrudgingly shoving the antlered hat over his head. “Aren’t we getting a little too old for this?”
Dean snickers as he pulls on his green hat with elf ears attached to the sides. “Aw, where is your holiday spirit, Sammy.”
Looking around the room he frowns to himself. “Hey Cas!” He calls loudly. “C’mon man!”
The rustling of a plastic bag and the shuffling of feet from down the hall has Dean smiling before he watches Cas turn the corner in his red Santa hat. “Sorry,” he says walking up to the untrimmed tree and putting two haphazardly wrapped presents under the tree. “I was not informed that wrapping a gift would be so…difficult.”
Sam snorts and slaps him on the back. “We can shoot a monster right between the eyes from a half a mile away, defuse bombs and behead vampires without issue, but wrapping a Christmas present is what defeats you?”
Dean watches as Cas scowls at the present underneath the tree like he’s willing it explode. Not being at the other end of that look makes it a lot more enjoyable. Castiel actually kind of looks adorable with his face all scrunched up, eyes squinting.
“You and Dean have had your entire lives to master – oh. You’re messing with me.”
Dean laughs and bumps his shoulder with Castiel’s. “It doesn’t look that bad. And you have until next year to get better.”
Something warm spreads throughout his chest as Castiel glances up at him, smiling softly up at him. Dean feels the blush spreading over his cheeks, and clears his throat, ducking his head under Cas’ stare.
“Alright,” he says rubbing his hands together before reaching for his brown paper bag. “Let’s start decorating the tree! What did you guys get?”
“This is so dumb,” Sam groans picking up a plastic bag beside him. “I don’t understand why we don’t just buy ornaments let every other sane person.”
“I told ya,” Dean replies reaching into his back and pulling out a car air freshener. “It’s tradition. I don’t care if we retire and become millionaires. This is where we came from.”
Grumbling to himself, Sam places a wrapped stick of beef jerky on one of the upper branches of the tree. Castiel walks up to the tree holding a roll of toilet paper with a confused look on his face. Sam starts laughing as Dean tries desperately to fight back his laughter.
Frowning, Castiel looks from roll of toilet paper to the tree. “You told me to buy things at a gas station that might be used to decorate a tree. When I asked the kid behind the counter he gave me this.”
Unable to hold back any longer, Dean tips his head back in laughter. It takes a moment to calm down, but when he wipes at his tearing eyes, he looks back to Cas who is looking at him fondly.
“It’s nice to see you laugh,” he says. “I can understand why you do this every year. It’s very enjoyable.”
Instead of acknowledging the remark, Dean chooses to throw his arm around Castiel’s shoulders giving his shoulders a squeeze. “Don’t ever change.”
The rest of the night passes full of laughter, warmth and a toilet paper fight that ended up with rolls of it thrown throughout the bunker. It’s near midnight when Sam calls it a night wishing them an early Merry Christmas. Dean gets up from the couch and starts collecting the loose strands of toilet paper when movement by the Christmas tree catches his eye.
Castiel stands there his red Santa hat slightly askew on his head, holding one of the terribly wrapped present. Dean looks from Cas to the present that honestly looks like it’s made up of more tape than actual wrapping paper.
“Technically it’s Christmas,” Castiel says holding out his gift. “Merry Christmas Dean.”
He knows he should wait until tomorrow morning when Sammy is around, but he’s too excited to wait. Dean drops whatever he’s collected from their mess and walks over to Castiel taking the present. It’s light. He shakes it, giving Cas a grin as he tilts his head at him.
The anticipation is killing him, so Dean digs right in attacking the present. That’s literally the only way to describe what he’s doing, trying to pull the paper free from the massive amounts of tape Castiel has used. Finally, with a grunt and some very serious straining, he rips a big enough hold in the side of it that he’s able to pull the object free of the mangled wrapping paper.
Dean blinks down at the exact replica of his Impala in his hands. Slowly turn it over to inspect the car, he feels his lips pulling up into a wide smile.
“I am told that giving a gift is to be meaningful and –”
“I love it,” Dean whispers looking up at him. “Seriously Cas, this is…this is awesome. I just wish I’d gotten you something better.”
Dean will never get use to the way his heart flutters when he sees Cas’ gummy smile, or the way his body pulls towards him wanting to touch in any way possible.
“You didn’t need to get me anything,” he says. “I already have everything I could ever need.”
Dean rolls his eyes and sets the car down on the coffee table. “That’s not the point in Christmas. Giving a gift is just a way to show somebody you care about them.”
“Well, I care about you,” he says seriously. “You know that.”
“I know that, but it’s – ” He stops himself and shakes his head. “Ya know what, it doesn’t matter. Thanks Cas. I love it.”
“I’m glad you like it. It took awhile to figure out how to put it together but – ”
“Wait, you made this?!” Dean interrupts, head turning back to the mini Impala on the table.
“Well, yes. I wanted to make sure that it was exactly like your car. I even managed to put a little rocks inside it so when it moves it sounds like the legos in your vents.”
Dean takes a moment to try and wrap his head around the amount of dedication and care Castiel put into his present, but any amount of words of gratitude he can think of fall flat. Instead his feet move him forward and Dean has a heartbeat of a second to realize what he’s doing before he dips his head and presses a featherlight kiss against Cas’ lips.
“I love it,” he whispers pulling back enough to watch Castiel’s eyes flutter open as a pink blush fills his cheeks. “Merry Christmas Cas.”