Man's Best Friend

Dean stood on the doorstep, fumbling with a jangling bunch of keys, in a futile attempt to jam the correct one into the lock. Both the key and the lock were kinda rusty, and he couldn't feel or move his fingers; the air was so cold that if he couldn't see the damn things attached to his hands he would have sworn blind they'd fallen off quite a while ago.

Eventually, the pieces of metal slotted together with a grating click, (about time too), and the door swung open to allow him inside. The warm air billowing around his frozen face and hands made his skin tingle as he thawed in the hallway. He shuffled his feet on the mat, to get the worst of the wet frost/mud residue off his thick leather boots.

Then his eyeballs were assaulted.

What struck him immediately was how productively Cas appeared to have spent Christmas Eve; strings of garlands, coloured lights, wreaths and other assorted hanging ornaments and... even a load of fucking glitter, twinkled at him and dangled from every single surface that he could see. It was impressive really: snowmen, santas, reindeer, robins, snowflakes, holly and mistletoe, the whole lot was here. It was their first Christmas in this house together, and Cas had been frankly horrified when Dean had announced his plan to 'not really celebrate' Christmas. Seriously, the face he'd gotten in response had broken Dean's heart, so he'd granted Cas free reign with a credit card. Retrospectively speaking, that was not his best idea, because he'd subsequently bought just about every festive decoration going, including even the tackiest of the tacky, dragged them all back here, and by the looks of things, the guy had gone rogue.

He somehow found a tinsel-free space to hang his damp jacket, removed his shoes, and went to deposit a collection of bulging plastic bags on the kitchen counter. Everything in danger of melting or going off was immediately bunged into the freezer, and then he went in search of Cas.

He found his boyfriend where else but at the top of a ladder, pinning sparkly-ribbon-streamer-things up on the walls in their bedroom. The Christmas tree stood proudly next to the TV in the living room, already 'beautifully' decorated, and honestly, why wouldn't it be proud? Dean had seen plenty of jewellers' stores with less bling than that tree. Cas was wearing a really rather hideous dark green Christmas jumper with a fair isle pattern on it, jeans and socks, his black hair messy and unruly as ever, even though, to Dean's knowledge, he hadn't even been outside today. He was bent over, balanced a couple of steps from the top, concentrating very hard. Dean was getting a really good view of his arse from his vantage point in the doorway, and goddamn, he wasn't complaining. However, despite Dean having said nothing, Cas became aware of his presence and turned to face him with a grin. Dean stepped forward as Cas shimmied down the step-ladder to present him with a kiss; the festivities had put him in an impossibly good mood.

"Hey babe." Dean smiled. "Nice job you've done round here, you must have been working at the speed of light."

Cas rolled his eyes. "You know that's physically impossible, Dean. But I'm glad you're admiring my handiwork." He gestured widely around the room. "Perhaps I should take a view to becoming an interior decorator."

"Yeah... or not." Dean smirked, and Cas frowned, before laughing as well. "I've gone and bought a load of extra grub," Dean explained, "because Sam's turning up tomorrow, and the guy eats like a horse, so I'm prepared this time."

Cas nodded by means of agreement, and was just about to resume the labour-intensive task of Christmasifying the whole house from top to bottom, when Dean left and began heading for the toilet.

As Dean reached for the doorknob, Cas suddenly scooted in front of him and blocked the entrance.

"I'm afraid you will have to use the downstairs lavatory, Dean."

"The fuck, Cas? Why can't I go into this one--"

Cas cut him off abruptly and declared, "BECAUSE I HAVEN'T DECORATED IN THERE YET."

Ordinarily, Cas being bossy was sexy as hell, but this was just a little confusing. He had no intentions of throwing off Cas' decorating groove, however, so he considered himself well and truly told, and retreated downstairs. That's the thing about dating weird, dorky little guys; they have a habit of doing weird, dorky stuff, so he put it completely out of mind as he creaked his way down the wooden steps.

Approximately two hours passed after that, and Cas, (with some strangely enthusiastic 'reluctant' help from Dean), had very effectively filled every nook and cranny of their abode with Christmas paraphernalia. Their house honestly looked like it had caught some kind of horrendous exotic Christmas disease, and a very acute strain at that. However, Cas seemed satisfied, and his periwinkle blue eyes were shining as he stacked the empty boxes that once held the decorations. Dean headed for the kitchen, in order to begin preparing the turkey for the following day, and then he would allow it to steep overnight. Cas followed him in, and made them dinner, while Dean basted the rather sizeable bird. They stood side by side, engaged in amiable conversation. Dean repeatedly teased Cas about the turquoise apron he wore, but Cas only screwed up his face and said that he would have no sympathy whatsoever if Dean spilt something disgusting on his clothes.

Dean did notice though, that even as Cas was chopping vegetables and stirring pans of sauce etc, that he kept regularly glancing through the kitchen doorway out into the hallway, before turning back to the task at hand. He frowned lightly.

"Is everything okay, Cas?" He craned his neck to try and see what his boyfriend might be looking at. "We are definitely expecting Sam tomorrow, right?"

Cas appeared to come back to reality, and dismissively replied, "Yes, yes, your brother is scheduled to arrive fairly promptly in the morning."

"Oh okay, great. Didn't want the bastard showing up unannounced." He chuckled. "So, uh, what were you staring at out there?"

"Nothing." Cas smiled faintly. "I was merely appreciating the results of my hard work."

With the next day's lunch covered in aluminium foil, and dinner ready, they headed to the dining room to eat, Cas tugging the apron over his rumpled, dark haired head and depositing it in a nearby drawer. They ate at their small, round, wooden table, chatting over their dinner and listening with amusement to the Christmas CD that chimed with Christmas pop hits. It was something that Dean would make an exception for, music-wise, the same as he did every year, because c'mon, that shit is addictive. He also knew that he would be tired to death of every track on the album by the end of the holiday period, and then the damned disc wouldn't see the light of day for another 365 days, but hey, the novelty of the ritual first playing each year was worth it. Even with the mobile phone videos of him drunkenly singing, (yodelling was probably a more accurate term), along to Wham! and Mariah Carey. Guilty as charged.

"So, Cas," Dean said, "Did you make up a room for Sam and... whatserface, Jess?"

"Yes I did. I'm anxious to meet your brother and his girlfriend, Dean." Cas smiled widely, cheeks dimpling.

"Dude, chill, you've met my brother before, remember? Yeah? And I mean, Jess is okay, but we're gonna be penned up in here with her for a week. I swear to God I'm going to make a tally of the amount of times I hear the word 'adorable."

"From what Sam tells me, she's delightful."

"Yeah, Sam's opinion sounds completely unbiased too, having been dating her for a couple of years. Just don't leave me for a dolly bird with long hair like Jess, will you?" He chuckled, which soon turned into a full-on laugh. "Or Sam for that matter." Cas' horrified expression just made him snort, and his sides hurt.

"Why on earth would I do that Dean? I love you."

Dean took a few breaths. "I was joking Cas, I know you love me, man. I love you too."

Cas looked relieved, and he positively beamed when Dean said 'I love you'.

"Oh, but the spare room reminds me... have you decorated in the upstairs bathroom yet?"

The expression on his boyfriend's face went slightly panicked for a split-second before he composed himself. "No, I haven't got round to it today. I guess I'll do it tomorrow. Don't go in there in the meantime."

"You realise I've seen the bathroom before, right? It's fine if it's not decorated."

"But Dean, it's Christmas..." And then he did this thing with, like, pouty lips and the most intense puppy dog-eyed stare Dean had ever seen and besides making his downstairs brain begin to think, it meant that he couldn't say no even if he tried. 2nd floor restroom off-limits. So what?

The plates were gathered up and tossed in the washing-up basin, which would get rather full over the coming week due to the combination of 'much food, no chores' that applied as a standard rule during Christmas.

With a last look at the tree and the other twenty-seven tonnes of spangled Christmas decor around the place, the two men retired upstairs to enjoy Christmas Eve as their last night of privacy and quiet for a little while.

* * *

Christmas Day dawned, bright and frosty. The kind of fresh air that you could feel slicing icily through your airways and clearing your head- especially useful if you've been on the sauce the night before, Dean recalled from experience of previous Christmases. He pulled the curtains fully back and turned round to face Cas, who was still cocooned in blankets and sleeping soundly in their bed, head distinguishable only by the mass of black spikes that was shown up by the pale grey covers. It wasn't like him to sleep late, but then Dean supposed he had arisen unusually early this morning, and he wasn't usually the type to sleep a long time. Sammy was a pro at it; as kids it had always been Dean's job to wake the little squirt up, and he hadn't half made his job difficult.

Now, he took Cas by the shoulder and shook gently, until dark eyelashes fluttered and blue eyes opened blearily. He was so cute when he woke up. Dean might never get used to it.

"Merry Christmas babe." Dean said softly, with a grin. His own voice was still a little deep and husky from sleep. Cas stared up wordlessly with an adoring expression and pulled Dean down into a warm kiss. Then, he sat up, pulled back the covers and got to his feet with an eagerness that Dean had not anticipated, and he grabbed Dean's wrist to practically drag him downstairs.

"We need to open presents!" He stage-whispered, eyes gleaming. Dean sincerely hoped he wasn't expecting too much. He knew they'd made a prior agreement to do presents, (some in the morning, and some for later when Sam and Jess arrived), but frankly, he just didn't want Cas to be disappointed.

They sat on the leather couch, diluted morning sunlight illuminating their currently unlit tree, and each produced a little stack of presents. Dean had wrapped his presents for Cas in navy metallic paper with silver angel silhouettes on it. They weren't done particularly neatly, but they were respectable and he had done his best. Truth be told, he was pretty proud of them, and became uncharacteristically bashful as he passed them over to Cas.

"The paper is beautiful." Cas said in awe, running a finger over it. "They're perfect. You're always so good at knowing what I'll like."

"Dude, you haven't even opened them yet."

"Ah, I know, but I almost don't have to. I know I'll like them anyway. Here are yours, by the way. Don't be fooled by the standard of the wrapping; they really didn't take very long."

"You're not supposed to say that." Dean chuckled.

Cas smiled as he held up a pile of immaculately packaged, ribbon-adorned gifts, in riotous bright colours, the paper covered in cartoon angels. Like a really festive acid trip. Dean's heart swelled with a sudden wave of gladness that he was spending Christmas here, by the side of the man he loved dearly. Even if he did have a shitty taste in Christmas decorations and jumpers. He guided Cas into another kiss by way of a thank you, and gestured at the presents he'd given Cas.

"You first."

Cas didn't tear straight into the present- instead, he peeled away the Sellotape with almost mathematical precision, and unfolded the paper. He wanted to keep the paper, he explained. Dean huffed in laughter and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I have an entire roll of the same paper, Cas. You can have the whole thing, I swear. Just open the friggin' presents if you want."

Cas paused, before doing just that, with gusto. The smallish, squashy package he held turned out to have a royal blue silk tie, that unrolled and fell into his lap. He inhaled and picked it up gently to admire its sheen. Dean coughed, almost embarrassed.

"Yeah, I mean, um, neckties really aren't my sort of thing, but you normally dress kinda sharp, and I thought it would, you know, look nice with your... eyes." Cas said nothing, he simply wound it round his neck and put it straight over the t-shirt that he'd slept in.

"I love it, Dean." He said softly. He sounded so grateful and sincere, Dean's heart thudded with pride.

The remainder of Cas' presents were an encyclopaedia of animals, (the guy was thrilled, what a nerd), a bottle of cologne, and a framed picture of the two of them together. Dean wasn't usually one for sappy, lovey gifts but it was worth it just to see Cas melt, and eagerly go right away to place it on the mantelpiece.

"This is how you open a present." Dean muttered when it was his turn, and proceeded to rip into the first one with childish glee and fervour.

A vintage penknife was nestled in the paper, and Dean was amazed. Cas had a really good eye for presents. It felt weighty in his hand, and he liked that it had seen some action. The next parcel felt a bit spongy. Clothing then. He snorted as he pulled away the paper and lifted up the item. It was a charcoal grey apron, with white lettering reading 'Kiss The Cook'.

"I almost bought the one that said 'Keep Calm and Eat Pie'," Cas offered. "But I then I realised that by buying this one, I would benefit from it as well."

Dean laughed heartily, and opened the last present, a flat-ish, rigid square one. It turned out to be an assortment of proper vinyls- he felt like a teenager again as he flipped through them. ACDC's Back in Black, Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, Bad Moon Risin' by Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas. Dang, Cas had done his homework. These were epic.

"Thanks, Cas!" Dean exclaimed and enveloped him in a massive hug. "They're all awesome."

Cas looked slightly scheming. "That's not quite all of them."

"Cool it, the others are for later. That's only a few hours away."

"They're SUPPOSED to be for later," Cas said slowly, "But there is one that can't really wait."

Dean was confused, but before he had a chance to say something Cas had scuttled out of the door, looking somewhat mischievous. He heard him ascending the stairs, and assumed whatever it was was in the bathroom on the landing. The possibility of Cas hiding a present in there had certainly crossed his mind, but specifically what, he did not know at all. Less than a minute later he heard Cas returning excitedly down the stairs with the present, and wondered again what it could possibly be. Whatever it was, however random or wacky; croquet set, gold plated fondue forks, matching banana costumes or a life size cutout of Morgan Freeman, (he honestly wouldn't put anything past Cas), the last thing he was expecting it to be was alive. Let alone shaped like a tiny, wriggly black Labrador puppy.

Dean balked at Cas, who stood cheerfully and calmly in the doorway, miniature canine in his arms.

"I- what- um, I..." Dean tried multiple times to say something but nothing came out; each new question tripped over the next one and none of them made it out of his mouth. And so neither of them said anything, as Cas walked slowly over to the sofa and placed the puppy between Dean's hands. It was warm and smooth, and he could feel its heartbeat and its breaths beneath his fingers. It had massive ears and paws compared to the rest of its body, and it felt like silk and velvet. Dean finally rediscovered his tongue.

"You know... I don't even like dogs."

He looked up to see Cas' eyes widen, as if he were suddenly considering the possibility that his actions had been a mistake, so Dean quickly elaborated.

"But then again, I thought I was straight until I met you," he smiled. "It's an honour to have you always proving me wrong. You keep changing my life for the better." And then, at the relieved and loving expression on Cas' face, he kissed him gently on the lips.

He looked down at the puppy in his embrace. Damn. First there was Sam, then Cas, and now there was a third pair of eyes that he just wouldn't be able to say no to. Life was unfair sometimes; he was absolutely smitten with the little fella.

"I don't have a clue what to call him though." Dean realised. "Got any, um, ideas?"

"Jimmy." Cas blurted. Dean was slightly taken aback.

"Why Jimmy?"

"It's a good name. I like it."

"Are there no other names you like? You know, Gnasher? Cerberus? Godzilla?"

"Truthfully speaking, Dean, I have been thinking about it ever since I bought him."

Dean exhaled a laugh. "If you say so. Okay then." He shrugged, and looked back down at his new pet. "Yeah, actually, that could suit him, I guess. Hey, Jimmy!"

They both grinned as the pup let out a wide-mouthed, high pitched squeak in response. Dean was falling further in love each second. Both with the puppy, and with the man on the sofa next to him. The grandfather clock in the hallway chimed that it was nine o'clock. They looked at each other.

"We gotta do some stuff before Sam and Jess come over."

"...Can we bathe Jimmy first? And play with him?"

"That's what I had in mind."

* * *

A couple of hours later, all three of them had washed and groomed, and the scent of roast dinner was just starting to permeate the air throughout the house. Turns out, Cas had bought all the dog-owning stuff you could possibly need, and it had now all been set up in their living room. Dean was lying on his stomach, watching the tiny black dog try to get its head around a chew toy made of blue rope, as he himself struggled to get his head around the idea of a new pet he didn't know he wanted. Seriously, trust Cas to find an ad in a shop window and just 'decide' to buy a puppy.

As he was thinking, the front doorbell rang. He hadn't even heard a car pull up outside the house. With an 'oof', he jumped to his feet again, and hurried into the hallway, pulling the door to behind him. He could really do without a dog-hunt right this second. He pulled open the door as Cas appeared at his shoulder, to find Sam standing on the porch.

"Hey!" Sam shouted, cheeks and nose ruddy from the chill wind. He pulled Dean and then Cas in for a massive hug. "Merry Christmas, guys! How ya doing?"

"Awesome, thanks, how about you and Jess?" As Dean said her name he waved down the drive at her. She was next to their car, unloading some bags from the trunk.

"We're great, thanks. Everything's going fantastic."

"It's a pleasure to have both of you here, Sam."

"It's cool, Cas. Thanks for inviting us. It's awesome to see you, man." Sam stepped through the doorway, followed by Jess. "Hey, where should I put these bags?"

"What's in those ones?"

"Presents."

"In the living room then, but wait. Don't open the door yet." Sam looked a tad confused as Dean stepped in front to stand before the closed living room door. He was going to ask a question, but Dean spoke.

"The present that Cas bought me is in here. Wanna see?" He winked at Cas as he said it, and got one in return.

"Uhh... Sure?" Came Sam's uncertain reply. Dean turned the knob and allowed the door to swing open.

Jimmy was sat right in the middle of the room, with a decoration off the Christmas tree clamped between his minute, needly puppy teeth, shaking his head to and fro so that his ears flapped. Sam's reaction was priceless. Dean saw the moment that his fully grown giant of a brother became a little kid again, eyes lit up and heart open. Sam had definitely always been the more loving of the two of them. Dean had always been the mistrusting, cynical one, but Sammy loved everyone and everything; always bringing in strays and begging to visit the pet shop. Hell, he'd gone through a phase of wanting to be a vet, and he'd set up a 'worm hospital' in the yard. He watched his brother drop the bags and walk over to Jimmy. He crouched slowly and gently picked him up in his huge hands, as if he were a warm, furry apple.

"Hey, little fella." He murmured, transfixed by the round, brown eyes. Jess followed Sam into the living room, and gasped.

"Oh, he is ADORABLE!" (Dean made the first mark on his mental tally chart.) "What's his name?"

"Jimmy." Cas and Dean smiled, and replied in unison.

"Hey, Jimmy..." Sam stroked the puppy's head and ears, softy calling its name. "You didn't mention this at all Dean." He said eventually.

"I know I didn't. That's because I didn't even know we were getting a puppy for Christmas. Cas felt spontaneous about a week ago, and just bought one."

"Then how did he manage to hide it from you the whole time?"

"I kept him in the bathroom upstairs." Cas provided. Dean frowned as he thought about this.

"Yeah, Cas, you did. Why DID you keep him in there again?" Cas shrugged nonchalantly.

"I initially planned on keeping him in the spare room, but he kept defecating on the floor."

Everybody laughed heartily, and Sam and Jess got onto the floor to play with Jimmy, who seemed to revel in all the attention he was getting. Cas and Dean stood side by side in the doorway, beneath Cas' conveniently placed sparkly mistletoe garland. Not that it mattered, they kissed without either of them even acknowledging its presence. Christmas had arrived, and everyone was having a wonderful time, humans and animals alike.

"Merry Christmas, Cas."

"Merry Christmas, Dean."