Work Text:
It's the first Christmas in the bunker where the holiday is not brushed aside by some big threat, so it's no surprise that Dean goes all out.
Every inch of the bunker is covered in tinsel and lights. No room is safe from Dean's decorating. At the center of it all is the war room. The only room big enough to house the 12 foot pine tree that Dean insisted that they needed. Currently half decorated, the tree sits in one of the corners of the room.
“Sam, have you seen Cas anywhere? He was supposed to help me finish decorating the tree,” Dean yells to Sam down the hall as he walks the final box of ornaments into the war room.
“No I haven't. Last I saw him was three hours ago when he asked me what I needed at the store,” Sam yells back. Dean walks over to the table and drops the box on top.
“Where the hell is he?” he mumbles to himself as he opens it and takes out a small gold bell.
“Over here,” a voice calls out from somewhere in the room causing Dean to jump, the bell almost dropping to the floor.
Putting a hand over his chest to try and calm his now racing heart, Dean cautiously says, “Hello?”
“Hello, Dean.”
Dean looks around the room confused. He's sure that is Castiel’s voice, but he doesn't see anyone else in the room and there's no one in the library. Last he knew, Gabriel was in the kitchen cooking snickerdoodles and Sam and Jack were in Sam's room playing Monopoly.
“Cas?”
“Yes, Dean?”
“Are you doing the mind thingy again?” Dean thinks assuming that Castiel can hear him and that's why he can't see the angel.
“No.”
“Ah ha! But you just responded!”
“Dean. I'm not ‘doing the mind thingy’ as you put it. I'm over here.”
Dean turns his head towards where the angel's voice is coming from. He drops the bell on the table and walks over to the tree. Moving the branches with his hand, Dean starts looking to see if Castiel is somehow inside the tree.
“Are you in the tree? Because I swear I heard your voice coming from over here.”
“I'm not in the tree, Dean.”
“Then where the hell are you, man?”
“Look up.”
Dean looks up and has to step back. There Castiel is, sitting with his knees to his chest on the top of the tree, looking down at Dean with a smile.
“What the…Cas, why are you sitting on top of the tree?”
“I overheard someone at the store tell a child that the angel goes on the top of the Christmas tree,” he says with a straight face, the smile never leaving.
Dean stares at Castiel for a moment before turning around and walking to the table. He rummages around in the box and pulls out a small metal angel figurine with a loop on the bottom to keep it on the tree.
He holds it up in the air, “This angel, Cas. They were talking about this angel.”
“Oh,” Castiel's face falls slightly. Dean sighs and lies the angel down on the table.
“How did you even get up there?”
“I'm an angel, Dean. I can fly.”
“Okay, fine. How is the tree not snapping in half? You're not exactly a feather, Cas. Tree limbs don't support that much weight.”
“I'm using my wings to hover just above the top. It may look like I'm seated, but I'm actually three inches above it.”
“Of course you are,” Dean mumbles to himself while rubbing his face with his hand. “There are three angels in this bunker. Why are you up there? Isn't this the type of thing Gabriel would enjoy?”
Castiel nods, “Yes and I did ask but he said ‘As much as I'd love to Cassie, I'm a little busy prepping here. Got a lot of cookies to bake.’”
“Huh. That's…very mature of him.”
“Then he proceeded to go into detail about how well he's preparing and how he's sure that Sam will appreciate it as he continued to get all the ingredients out.”
“Okay…sure?”
Castiel looks down at the box on the table Dean had placed there earlier and points to it, “Is that all the decorations left?”
The hunter looks up at the angel in confusion for a moment before realizing that he's talking about the box on the table. Dean turns around and walks over to the table.
Patting the side of the box he says, “Yup. Last box. Wanna come down here and help me?”
Castiel looks down at the tree beneath him then over at Dean, “I can't.”
Dean raises an eyebrow and leans against the edge of the table, “You can't?”
Castiel shakes his head in response, “No.”
“Well, why not?”
“A proper angel belongs on the tree, not some fake metal version.”
Dean sighs. He turns around and picks up the angel.
“What if I make it less fake? Would you come down then?”
Castiel hesitates for a moment, thinking. Then he nods his head, “Yes. If you can manage to make it more real I will come down and help you finish decorating.”
Dean nods, says, “Then I'll be back,” and walks out of the war room heading towards the kitchen. When he arrives he's greeted with a room full of baked cookies and an archangel half sticking out of the oven.
Leaning against the doorframe, Dean rolls his eyes, “Quick kids! Push him in! Then you can be free at last!”
Gabriel pulls the tray out of the oven, puts the cookies on a cooling rack, and turns the oven off before turning around and glaring at Dean unamused.
“Oh ha ha. Very funny, Dean-o,” Gabriel leans his back against the edge of the counter and crosses his arms, “What do you want? I'm a little busy here.”
Dean steps forward and holds out the metal angel, “Can you fix this?”
Gabriel raises an eyebrow, “Is it broken?”
“Well, no…”
The archangel shakes his head, “Everyone knows you can't fix what isn't broken, kid. It is what it is.”
“I need you to fix it so Cas can get off the damn tree.”
Gabriel stares at the hunter, a smile forming on his face, “Cassie actually went and did it, huh? So is he, like, a bird or a gargoyle?”
Dean looks at him confused, “What?”
“Is he a bird or a gargoyle?”
“Um…bird?”
Gabriel grins, “Atta boy, Cassie.”
“So can you fix it or not?”
“Oh I can fix it. It's just a matter of how.”
Dean looks down at the angel in his hand, “He wants it to be more real. Whatever that’s supposed to mean.”
Gabriel looks down at the angel in the hunter's hand. In a matter of seconds his face lights up.
“I know just the thing,” he says before snapping his fingers. The angel in Dean's hand changes before their eyes from a small metal angel to three small life-like porcelain angels that look like they're hugging each other.
“Is this…” Dean looks down at it in impressed curiosity.
Gabriel nods, “Yup. Me, Cassie, and Jack. I can bet you Sam's ass that he can't refuse to get off that tree now.”
“First of all, never say those words to me again. Secondly, thank you Gabriel.”
“Don't mention it, Dean-o,” Gabriel chuckles then with a straight face says, “Seriously. Don't. Can't go ruining my reputation now, can we?”
Dean rolls his eyes, “What reputation?”
“Ow, Dean. You wound me,” Gabriel dramatically places a hand over his heart as Dean turns around to leave, heading back to the war room.
“Well, Cas,” Dean says as he walks into the room waving the angel, “Is this real enough for you?”
As Dean walks closer to the tree, Castiel's eyes widen at the angels in his hand.
“Is that…How?”
“Magic.”
Castiel frowns, “You're not magical.”
Dean shrugs, “I could be. You never know.”
“You forget that I rebuilt you. You're not magical. You had Gabriel's help, didn't you.”
“No, I didn't,” Dean rolls his eyes, “Can you come down now?”
Castiel stands up and floats down, landing in front of a wide eyed Dean.
“You just…floated down.”
“Wings, Dean,” he says as he takes the angels out of Dean's hand. He turns around and slowly rises off the ground. Once he reaches the top, he places it in the exact spot he previously occupied.
“Look good?”
Dean, who was watching Castiel intently the whole way up, nods his head, “Yeah, man. Looks real good.”
The angel rolls his eyes, “The angels, Dean.”
“That's what I meant!”
Castiel lands back on the ground and raises an eyebrow.
“Fine,” Dean throws his hands up, “It's not what I meant, but the angels do look good up there.”
Castiel turns around and looks up, “They do, don't they.”
Dean pats the angel on the shoulder and turns around, walking to the table. He takes two ornaments out of the box and walks back up to Castiel.
He holds an ornament out to the angel with a smirk, “Come on, Sunshine. This tree isn't going to finish decorating itself.”