Clipped Wings

[NINE] Mistletoe

"Try these on, do they fit?" Dean asked with his head buried under his bed.

A pair of brown boots landed at Castiel's feet. He sat down on Dean's bed and tried them on.

"They feel pretty good."

"Can you walk in them?" Dean asked, revealing his head. Cas stood up and walked across the bedroom, walking perfectly fine in them. Dean bit his lip, nodding to himself.

"Sweet. You can borrow my jacket and I'll wear the spare one," Dean said, pushing himself up off the floor. "We're going to Wally-World!"

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Dean would have said no to driving out into snow that's up to their knees. Not to mention that his Baby was barely visible anymore. So, good thing Wal-Mart was only down the block from his apartment.

"I hate snow," Dean grumbled as they trudged down the sidewalk to the store. Dean checked his watch and remembered reading that Wal-Mart didn't close until 7 p.m. Good thing it was only 3:30.

"My feet are wet," Cas commented behind Dean when they arrived in the parking lot. There were only a few cars and thankfully, it was plowed.

Dean stomped his boots off and walked to the entrance. "We are almost there, don't worry, Cas."

The warmth of the store when they walked inside was overwhelming. Dean put the hood of his jacket down and waited for Cas to finish brushing his pants off from snow.

"Can we get hot chocolate?"

Dean smiled, "sure, Cas."

Dean lead Cas to the sparse Christmas section. It was pretty depressing, to say the least. Most of the decorations and gifts were taken and close to all of the shelves were bare. Either way, Cas started grabbing things that interested him and gathering them in his arms.

"You have a budget of forty bucks," Dean chimed in, shoving his hands in his pockets. He smiled to himself and watched Cas gather random decorated pinecones, plastic ornaments, tinsel, and mistletoe.

Dean gulped, trying not to let his mind wander. Cas probably doesn't even know what mistletoe is for, besides that it's pretty and decorative.

"I'm on the highway to Hell... I'm on—"

"Be right back! Keep shopping!" Dean chirped, walking around the corner to answer his phone.

"Dean, hey, how you holding up?" Sam asked on the other end of the phone.

"Oh, hey, Sammy. It's pretty good, I'm actually at Wal-Mart right now," Dean said, laughing.

"Ha! That's typical of you! Last minute shopping like always."

"What's that suppose to mean, bitch?" Dean asked, a smile on his lips.

"Forget about it, Jerk. But, good news! Jess and I are scheduled to board the plane late tonight! We won't make it by tomorrow morning like planned, but we should be there the day after," Sam explained.

"That's fine. I think Jo and her mom were planning on coming over the day after Christmas, anyways. Good timing."

"Really?" Sam asked, surprised. "Great! Then you won't have to spend the holidays alone. I don't want you to feel left out like other years..."

Dean cleared his throat, peering around the corner to find Cas. He watched Cas closely examine a nutcracker, his eyes narrow and curious.

"I'm actually— not quite alone, I met someone and they're staying with me until—"

He heard Sam gasp. "REALLY? That's such good news! I can't wait to meet her— hey, Jess! Dean met someone and we'll meet her when we get there!"

Dean's eyes widened, "Sam— it's not a— Sam, it's not like that— I'm not—"

There was a shuffle on the other end of the phone and suddenly Jess's voice filled the speaker. "Dean! I can't wait to meet her! What's her name? Maybe we could pick up a little gift for her before we show up?"

Dean gulped down the sudden panic, frantically looking for an escape. "No— no, that's okay its really no big—because she's not a girl— but have a Merry Christmas and see ya soon— BYE."

He slapped his phone shut and let out a deep breath. Sam and Jess are going to be a little surprised when they realize the "her" is actually an angel who got booted out of heaven. Yikes.

"I think I'm done."

Dean looked up to see Cas with an armful of... decorations. Dean watched a green painted pinecone fall from the pile and roll across the isle.

"Yeah, okay." Dean breathed, scooping up the pinecone and leading Cas to the registers.

Happy Holidays.

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"Too bad I couldn't find a Christmas Tree." Cas commented, hanging  ornaments from the ceiling with masking tape.

"I think you did a good job, Cas. And, you managed to stay $10 under budget," Dean praised, taping up a poster of a yellow duckling wearing a Santa hat.

"Thank you, Dean. I enjoy doing this," Cas smiled, glancing down at Dean.

Dean chuckled because he had to admit, he did too.

"Anything else we should add?" Cas asked, surveying the living room.

Dean looked around, actually pretty proud of the work they put out. The only thing that was missing was the mistletoe.

Dean cleared his throat. "What about... this thing." He reached into the Wal-Mart bag and pulled out the small bundle of fake mistletoe on a red ribbon.

"Oh," Cas said, walking towards Dean and taking the mistletoe from him.

"Let's just put it here," Cas suggested, holding it above their heads. It was obvious Cas was just showing Dean he wanted to hang it on the small ledge that separated the living room and the kitchen, but Dean still blushed.

"Y-Yeah. Good spot," Dean said, stepping back and grabbing the step stool they were using. Dean tacked it onto the ledge and stood back to admire the final product. It looked pretty damn good.

Cas hung gold and silver ribbons across the walls, framed the windows with red and green bells, hung up a sign that said "Merry Christmas!", set up a wooden snowman by the T.V., replaced the old rug with a blue and white snowflake one, positioned a clay sculpture of Santa Claus on the bookshelf, and hung ornaments from the ceiling. And all Dean contributed was spiked hot chocolate and taping two 99 cent posters to the wall.

Cas stood next to him, smiled, and pointed at the mistletoe.

"Did you know you're suppose to kiss the person you meet under the mistletoe with?"

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