Work Text:
It was hard to believe it was Christmas again, and this year they had reason to celebrate. After some convincing they had talked Jack into bringing back both Castiel and Gabriel, and the two angels had decided to stick around. Gabriel had managed to win over Eileen and it wasn’t long before he had worked his way into Sam and Eileen’s relationship, the three of them happily coexisting together.
Dean and Castiel however…
“You know, I could just snap my fingers and force them together,” Gabriel said as he and Sam took tinsel out of the box of decorations. “Save us all a lot of time.”
“No,” Sam said with a firm shake of his head. “They need to come together themselves.”
“You know that’s not going to happen,” Gabriel said. “Castiel is convinced Dean doesn’t like him that way, and Dean has his head so firmly up his ass he can see daylight.”
“That may be true, but you can’t force things,” Sam said. “That would hurt more than help.”
“Fine, have it your way,” Gabriel sighed.
“What are you two whispering about over there?” Dean called across from where he was decorating the tree with Castiel.
Gabriel went to answer but Sam slapped him on the arm, Gabriel rolling his eyes. “We were talking about all the kinky things we’re going to do to Eileen when she gets back,” Gabriel answered.
“Gabriel!” Sam hissed.
Dean pulled a face while Castiel looked awkward. “What have I said about TMI!” Dean answered.
“You asked,” Gabriel answered.
“You did,” Castiel said.
“That’s no excuse,” Dean protested, taking out more baubles to decorate the tree.
Sam and Gabriel exchanged a look and went back to stringing up the tinsel around the library, watching Dean and Castiel over where they were decorating the tree. They and Eileen had had long conversations about the fact Dean and Castiel were so oblivious of each other. It didn’t help that they had a feeling that something had happened before Castiel had been dragged into the Empty, especially with the way Dean had reacted when he’d lost him and even more so when they’d gotten Castiel back.
“Maybe I should steal cupids bow,” Gabriel said as he untangled some more tinsel. “Shoot them both in the rear.”
“I really don’t think it would make any difference,” Sam said, glancing over at the other two. “I mean, I think they already love each other. They just won’t do anything about it.”
“We could lock them in the dungeon for a week,” Gabriel said. “Give them enough food to survive of course.”
“You underestimate the stubbornness of my brother,” Sam said.
“Well, if he’s anything like you…” Gabriel said.
Sam paused. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Mystery Spot ring any bells?” Gabriel asked.
Sam gave him the bitchface. “You forced me into that.”
“I mean after. When it was Wednesday and Dean still died,” Gabriel said. “You went on a vendetta. You even killed Bobby Singer.”
“Only it was you, not Bobby,” Sam reminded him.
“And what if it wasn’t?” Gabriel asked. “How would that of turned out?”
“Except it was,” Sam reminded him. “And you fixed everything.”
“Dean still died,” Gabriel reminded him.
“Yeah, and Cas brought him back,” Sam said. “Which you could have done if you wanted to.”
“So you got lucky,” Gabriel said. “How was I to know there were bigger plans. It’s not like I was on speaking terms with the family. Still not.”
“Cas is your family,” Sam reminded him. “And Jack.”
Gabriel shrugged it off, finally freeing the piece of tinsel and handing it to Sam. Sam did have a point but they both knew that Gabriel was referring to Heaven. When Jack had brought them back he had enlisted Castiel and a very reluctant Gabriel to help rebuild Heaven. They were still working on it, spending days at a time away from everyone. But they had cut a deal with Jack – they’d only work on it provided they got to spend the majority of their time on Earth.
“So I guess I better stick you on top of the tree,” Dean said out loud, picking up the angel decoration and bringing their attention to him and Castiel again.
“Actually it’s Gabriel,” Castiel answered.
“What?” Dean asked.
“Gabriel,” Castiel said. “He was the one who told Mary she was pregnant with Jesus and led the three wise men to the new baby.”
“So I’m impaling Gabriel on the tree,” Dean said.
“Technically,” Castiel confirmed.
“I remember telling Mary she was knocked up,” Gabriel said as he hung another strand of tinsel over the shelves. “Her first worry was Joseph not believing her.”
“So did you explain it to him?” Sam asked.
“Sure did,” Gabriel said. “Guy tried to punch me. Thought I was the one impregnating his wife.”
Dean snickered.
“They leave that out of the Bible,” Sam said.
“They leave a lot out,” Gabriel said. “And they get some things wrong too in the translations.”
“Like what?” Sam asked.
“Well for one there was no inn,” Gabriel said. “They were at a friend’s house.”
“Then how did Jesus end up in a manger?” Sam asked.
“Guest room was taken,” Gabriel explained. “They had to stay in the main room where the manger was.”
“So Mary was a virgin,” Sam said.
Gabriel shook his head. “They consecrated their marriage on their wedding night as per tradition. She was just young. A maiden. Another mistranslation.”
“So the virgin Mary wasn’t a virgin,” Dean said, genuinely surprised.
“They hadn’t done it for a while,” Gabriel admitted. “Joseph was a little bit put off by how young she was so promised to wait til she was older before trying for a child.”
“Which was rare for the time,” Castiel said. “Not the age thing, but waiting.”
“Yeah,” Gabriel agreed. “Most men would just force themselves on their wives.”
“So Joseph was a good guy,” Dean said.
“One of the reasons they got chosen,” Gabriel said.
“Still, I’d pay to see Joseph take a swing at you,” Dean said. “That would have been awesome.”
“He led with the shoulder. It was easy to duck,” Gabriel said with a shrug.
“You know, I keep forgetting how old you actually are,” Sam said, looking at Gabriel. “You don’t seem that old.”
“Gabriel is significantly older than I am,” Castiel said.
“Not by that much,” Gabriel said. “Only a thousand years or so.”
Sam’s eyes widened as he distracted himself with the tinsel in the box.
“Hey, I’ve got it where it counts sasquatch,” Gabriel said to Sam. “As you know.”
“Again with the TMI,” Dean protested as he started climbing the stepladder to put the angel on the tree.
“What does that even mean?” Castiel asked.
“Too much information,” Sam answered. “TMI.”
“Ah,” Castiel said, looking over at Gabriel. “Then I have to agree. I do not wish to know the particulars of your sex life.”
“Well I’d ask about yours except its non-existent,” Gabriel said.
“Gabriel,” Sam chastised.
“It’s true,” Gabriel said, grabbing another handful of tinsel to untangle.
“Would you really want information on your brother’s sex life?” Dean asked.
“If my virginal brother had one I’d definitely be asking. Have to tease him with something,” Gabriel said.
“Oh, he’s not a virgin,” Sam said as he strung up some more tinsel.
Gabriel’s ears pricked up at that. “Come again?”
“I had sexual relations with a reaper,” Castiel answered as he hung another bauble on the tree.
“How did I miss this memo?” Gabriel asked, looking at Sam and Dean and seeing that they didn’t seem surprised by this information. “When was this?”
“While you were abducted,” Sam said. “A few years ago now.”
“Dude?” Gabriel asked.
“It was a chick,” Dean replied.
“Hot?”
“Very,” Castiel answered.
Gabriel looked around them. “Where is she now?”
“Dean killed her,” Sam answered.
Gabriel snorted. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dean said from the top of the ladder.
“She killed Cas,” Sam explained. “Dean tricked her into bringing Cas back and then Dean killed her.”
“Yeah, that’s what I told you, wasn’t it,” Dean said.
Sam frowned and looked over at him. “What?”
“Gadreel brought Cas back, not the reaper,” Dean said.
“As in ‘former guardian of the garden’ Gadreel?” Gabriel asked. “Since when did he get out of lockup?”
“We really need to catch you up,” Sam said with a heavy sigh. “You missed a lot.”
“Apparently so,” Gabriel agreed.
Looking over at the tree they saw Dean balancing on the ladder, reaching out with the little decorative angel. Dean smirked over at Gabriel and then stabbed the angel down onto the top of the tree. Gabriel winced slightly at the move, giving Dean a firm glare while Castiel looked between them and chastised Dean for the move. Dean shrugged it off, still smirking as he made his way back down the ladder.
“Your brother is a dick,” Gabriel said to Sam, soft enough so that Dean couldn’t hear him.
“Yes he is,” Sam agreed. “But please don’t get back at him for it. I don’t need another prank war between you two.”
Gabriel gave him an innocent look. “Prank war?”
“He put itching powder in our clothes,” Sam reminded Gabriel. “Whatever he does to you he does to me and Eileen as well.”
“Yeah, and I turned Castiel’s shirts pink,” Gabriel reminded him. “With ‘I love Dean’ stitched in large font on the back of his trench coat.”
Sam stared at him. “Was that the week Castiel would only wear hoodies?”
“Maybe,” Gabriel said innocently.
“How did he undo it?” Sam asked. “Did he pick out the stitching?”
“Nah, I reversed it,” Gabriel said with a dismissive wave. “I figured he’d suffered enough.”
“Ah. Good,” Sam said, finding his own tangle of tinsel. “Who the hell put this back in the box? It’s a mess!”
“Don’t look at me. I was dead,” Gabriel reminded him.
Sam sobered as he began to untangle his own knot of tinsel. He glanced over at where Castiel and Dean were decorating the tree, seeming to have found their own tangle of the sparkly threads of doom. “I still wish I knew what happened before the Empty took Castiel.”
“Have you tried asking?” Gabriel asked.
“Many, many times,” Sam said. “They just close down when you mention it. Dean always gets angry and Castiel just looks sad.”
“The question is – why did the Empty take Castiel,” Gabriel said. “Something had to have triggered it. It doesn’t just jump between realms willy nilly.”
“You think he made a deal?” Sam asked.
“I definitely think he made a deal,” Gabriel said. “The question is when.”
“Well, the first time the Empty kicked him out he said it was he irritated it,” Sam said. “So I doubt it was then.”
“I can see that,” Gabriel said. “Didn’t you say Jack died and Castiel brought him back?”
“That’s my guess for when he made the deal,” Sam said. “Cas said that there wasn’t one though.”
“My brother might not be good at lying, but he can do it,” Gabriel said. “Didn’t you say he lied to you for an entire year?”
“When he set the Leviathan’s free, yeah,” Sam said. “Although we worked it out.”
“He should have known better than to mess with the souls in purgatory,” Gabriel grumbled. “That was the one thing we were always told not to mess with.”
“Souls or purgatory?” Sam asked.
“Both,” Gabriel said.
“Wouldn’t pulling Dean out of hell be messing with a soul?” Sam asked.
“That was different,” Gabriel said. “Those were orders. Not that I necessarily agree with them, but Castiel was just doing what he was told. Like a good little solider.”
“Sounds like Dean,” Sam said. “Dad used to always call him his ‘little soldier’.”
“That’s why they’re so perfect for each other,” Gabriel said. He looked over at where Dean and Castiel were, a thoughtful look crossing his face.
“Gabe,” Sam warned. “Whatever you’re thinking, don’t.”
“No, this one you might agree with me,” Gabriel said. He raised a hand and snapped his fingers with a smirk.
Sam frowned, looking around the room to try and work out what was different. Then he spotted it, hover just above Dean and Castiel’s heads. He raised a brow and had to admit that he did agree with Gabriel on this one. It was a tad cliché but it might work.
“You know,” Sam called across the room. “When you’re under a mistletoe together you’re supposed to kiss.”
“Yeah well it’s a good thing we don’t have any,” Dean called back.
“Actually,” Sam said, pointing up.
Dean and Castiel frowned, looking to where he was pointing. Dean blinked.
“Why is it floating?”
“Pucker up, Dean-o,” Gabriel called.
“What?” Dean looked over at them. “No!”
“You have to,” Sam said. “If it was over us we’d do it.”
“Yeah well that’s different,” Dean said.
“I don’t understand,” Castiel said, staring at the object floating above their heads. “Why is there mistletoe over us?”
“Its tradition,” Sam answered. “If you get caught under a mistletoe with someone you have to kiss them.”
“It’s just a stupid game,” Dean said, giving a dismissive wave. “It’s nothing.”
“Ooo, someone’s scared,” Gabriel teased.
“I’m… what?” Dean stared at him. “I’m not scared.”
“Then kissy kissy,” Gabriel said with a wink and a smirk.
Dean and Castiel continued to stare at them, Gabriel and Sam gesturing for them to hurry up and go ahead. They noted that Castiel’s eyes were slightly wide whereas Dean just looked annoyed. Eventually a resigned look crossed Dean’s face and he moved over to Castiel who turned to look at him. With a moment’s hesitation Dean leaned forward and pecked Castiel on the lips before stepping back quickly before Castiel even had a chance to react.
“Oh come on!” Gabriel protested.
“That’s it?” Sam asked. “That was barely a kiss, Dean.”
“It’s enough,” Dean said.
“I barely felt it,” Castiel said.
Dean looked at him like he’d been betrayed.
“Try again,” Gabriel said. “And put some tongue into it.”
Castiel stared at him like a deer in the headlights, Gabriel sticking his tongue out at him and wiggling it around. Sam rolled his eyes at the move and but gestured for Dean to hurry up and try it again. Dean glared at him but grabbed Castiel, pulling him closer. They stared at each other for a long while before Dean leaned forward and kissed him.
It was clear that the start of the kiss was just a pressing of lips together, but then they saw Castiel part his lips. Dean hesitated for a moment before seeming to accept the invitation. Gabriel and Sam exchanged a low five as they watched the two of them kiss. There was definitely tongue involved, Dean and Castiel pulling each other tightly against each other.
“There we go,” Gabriel said to Sam and giving him a wink.
“Yeah,” Sam said, getting a little uncomfortable as he watched them kiss. “Do you think they’ll remember we’re here?”
“What? Worried they’ll do it on the map table?” Gabriel asked.
“Yes, actually,” Sam said. “That’s… getting rather involved over there.”
They looked back over at the other two. Castiel had his hand in Dean’s hair now, Dean’s around Castiel’s waist and pulling him firmly against him. Hearing the door to the bunker open Sam and Gabriel looked up. After a moment Eileen appeared with her bags. She stopped as she saw Dean and Castiel who hadn’t even noticed her arrival. Sam gave Eileen a little wave.
Sitting her bags down on the library table Eileen signed “about time.”
“Tell me about it,” Gabriel signed back.
Sam was still impressed by how well that Gabriel signed. Gabriel had explained it to him that sign language was one of the many languages that angels knew. Even Castiel was well versed in signing and Sam couldn’t help but feel like he was missing out. Eileen and Gabriel had been teaching him but he still felt like he had a long way to go.
Eileen joined them, taking the tangle of tinsel from Gabriel and quickly undoing several of the knots that he was stuck on. They kept watching Castiel and Dean, Sam checking his watch and impressed by how long they had been going.
“If they don’t stop they’re going to pass out,” Sam said.
“Castiel doesn’t need to breathe,” Gabriel reminded him.
“I will laugh if Dean faints,” Eileen said.
As if on cue Dean and Castiel broke apart, Dean gasping hard at the air. They stared at each other, still seeming to forget that they had an audience.
“Get a room,” Gabriel called out.
That got their attention. Castiel and Dean turned to stare at them as if they had just remembered that they were there. Castiel turned an interesting shade of pink while Dean’s face merged into a bitch face that could rival Sam’s. Dean grabbed Castiel’s hand, saying something to him and dragging him out of the room.
“Oh my god, they actually are,” Sam said as they disappeared out the door.
“Dean said ‘we need to talk’,” Eileen said, reminding them that she could lip read.
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what they’re doing,” Gabriel said, grabbing some more tinsel that mercifully wasn’t knotted, allowing him to hang it.
“I am definitely not going anywhere near Dean’s room for the next hour,” Sam said with a shake of his head. Some mental images he didn’t need.
“On the plus side that means we’ve got the library to ourselves,” Gabriel said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.
Eileen laughed while Sam huffed.
“You’re insatiable,” Eileen said, giving him a light push in the arm.
“Hey, I’ve got years to make up on,” Gabriel reminded them. “And with you two around who can blame me.”
“Well,” Sam said with a resigned sigh, looking down at the mess of tinsel in the box. “I guess this can wait for a couple of hours.”
“Wise choice,” Gabriel said, slapping him on the rear and then giving it a squeeze. “So, here?”
“No!” Sam protested. “I don’t want to risk Dean and Cas coming in.”
“Your room is closest,” Eileen said.
“Then off we go,” Gabriel said, giving them a push toward the door. “First one there gets to be in the middle.”
They began pushing each other in the race for the door, laughing as they went.
END