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“Dean, why is there a plant taped to the ceiling?”
Dean looked up from his laptop — Christmas wasn’t usually a big deal for him, but Sam was having a rough time, so he was searching for a gift for him.
“What?” he asked.
“Above your doorway,” Castiel reiterated, taking a seat beside him. “Someone taped something up there.”
Dean leaned his head back, nodding, realizing what Cas was saying. He shut his laptop, wanting to give his boyfriend his full attention.
“Ah. That.”
“Yes. That.”
“It’s mistletoe,” Dean explained.
“Okay, but why is it hanging from your doorway?”
“Wait, are you seriously telling me that you don’t know what mistletoe is for?”
“It’s for something?”
“Yeah, Cas,” Dean explained. “It’s a Christmas tradition. It started way back with Norse mythology actually and then the Christians came in and stole a lot of the Pagan stuff. So, the two Norse gods that were ruling the ‘superior realm,’” — he put air quotes up at the words — “of Asgard, had a son named Baldur. So everyone loved this dude so freakin’ much, and his mom, Frigga, worried that he would be killed.”
Castiel frowned. “But isn’t death a natural part of existence for most beings?”
“Supposedly, not these guys. Immortals, basically. They’re gods. Now stop interrupting.”
Castiel opened his mouth, glaring at Dean. Then he closed it, cheeks reddening.
Dean went on, “So she went around to everything and made them all promise that they wouldn’t hurt him. But she totally forgot about mistletoe because it was an insignificant little bastard.”
“Why would you insult a plant?”
Dean stopped dead. Why had he said that? Still, he decided to go with it and forge ahead, “Babe, that plant is crap. Heard it’s bad for werewolves though, so jot that down. Anyway, everyone decided to just throw weapons at Baldur, testing his invincibility. Obviously, all the weapons broke or bounced off of him and he was unharmed. But however, he had a brother — sometimes in the myths he’s actually his uncle — Loki. Loki was a son of a bitch, right?”
“This drama is very intense.”
“Definitely. So yeah, he’s a son of a bitch, and he wanted to kill Baldur for reasons that I can’t fucking remember, but they’re probably stupid anyway. Then again, Baldur was annoyingly perfect. Maybe I’d want to take a whack at it. Anyway, Loki knew about mistletoe not making any promises to Frigga. So he made an arrow out of it.”
“How’d he make an arrow out of a leafy plant?”
“No idea. So he took that arrow, and he fired it at him. Bam, the dude’s dead. In other stories, he actually got a blind guy to do it.”
“This still doesn’t explain why it’s above your door.”
Though, Castiel was now listening with rapt attention, and he leaned into Dean. Dean just put a hand on his thigh, and started caressing. Their knees touched.
“Here’s the thing: Frigga was so upset that she decided that mistletoe would be a thing of love, and not grief. So basically, anyone who walked under it, would have to show affection to the person who was with them. Now, Americanized into our stupid hodge-podge of traditions, we kiss under it.”
“Really?” Cas sounded incredulous.
Dean lowered his brows. “Yeah.”
Suddenly, Castiel had grabbed Dean’s flannel, and he pulled him into him. HIs lips crashed into his, and they began to work at Dean’s fervently, coaxing him to respond. Dean did so, lips moving against his, tasting him, inhaling him. Cas licked at his lips, requesting entry, and Dean let him do so. He caressed Cas’ tongue with his own, his angel moaning at it. Then Dean reached out and bit at Castiel’s bottom lip, working it between his teeth till it started to swell. He pulled on it as he drew away.
Still, Cas didn’t let him, and he held the back of Dean’s head.
Dean groaned, beyond happy to be doing this with Castiel. He’d been wanting this form of attention for a bit, as well.
Now it was Cas’ turn to bite him, and Dean just grabbed his tie, holding on tight.
Finally, after what must have been minutes of this, Cas pulled away. “There’s no need for mistletoe,” he told him.
“God, you’re damn right,” Dean breathed, before going to kiss Castiel once more.