The One like a Hallmark (Destiel)

Chapter 1: Reindeer?

Dean blinks three times. His brain wasn't really sure it was comprehending the whole scene before him. Part of him thought it was a hallucination of some sort due to the very powerful witch he was supposed to be hunting; yet, the other side pointed out that this isn't the strangest thing he's ever seen.

An apple was chucked at baby's windshield from somewhere above. Dean was ninety-eight percent sure apples weren't in the forecast. Just a crap ton of snow.

Yeah, Dean thought as he watched someone hold out an apple to a deer, only for the wild creature to prance away. This is bizarre.

After five minutes of taking in the sight before him, Dean finally took pity on the poor soul and got out of his car. Dean didn't even know what he was doing here; driving down a backroad into a dense forest landscape at six o'clock in the afternoon. The air was close to below freezing, white powder from the heavy snow this morning that kept Dean from investigating earlier (he was mainly frustrated that he couldn't get to a diner to start off his morning and ended up suffering through three cups of very crappy coffee).

He knew dad would be disappointed if he didn't check in with some new information on the case, so he thought he'd do some searching before dinner. Dean didn't really know what he expected the turn out to be but he surely didn't foresee nearly hitting a very frantic deer while some man in a beige trench coat chased after it. Not to mention he seemed to have some sort of back up amongst the trees.

Dean wasn't entirely sure what he drove in on, and he wasn't exactly sure he wanted to honestly.

For a hunter, you'd think Dean would be used to ambushes from behind. And in some ways, he was. He'd learned not to react right away until you identified that there was indeed a monster behind you. No one prepared him for the rough breaths behind him and light thumping of hooves.

Slowly- doing his best not to startle the hooved creature behind him- he turned around, coming face to face with a very similar reindeer he'd watched the one man struggle to control.

"Didn't realize you were allowed to roam around so close to Christmas, Comet." Dean couldn't help but remark. He noticed the strange bridle over the reindeer's snout. "So, Santa's helper over there is trying to coral all of you. Well ain't that somethin'." Dean shrugged his shoulders and thought, "why not" and grabbed the bridle.

Though they seemed to be putting up a pretty good fight towards the one guy, the wild caribou followed him easily.

"Hey, Santa!" Electric blue eyes shot over to meet his. Dean was taken back by the intensity of the gaze before putting a grin back on his face. "Need help roundin' up your reindeer?" The man tilted his head, and damn it shouldn't have been as cute as Dean's mind thought it was. It was hard to tell much about the man's appearance, due to the wool scarf protecting his nose but also covering his mouth in the process. He wore a blue and white striped hat over his ear. The only odd thing about his attire was the business suite underneath the trench coat.

The trench coated stranger jogged over to him, unwrapping his scarf in the process as he took in the sight of Dean and his feral reindeer. "You got one. How?"

Dean refused to recognize how attractive the man was at the moment. "Sort of just came up to me on his own. I assume they're yours?" The man nodded. "How many more you got?"

"Seven more." He gave Dean a overwhelmed smile. The man looked at something high over Dean's shoulder and quickly said something as his eyes widened in realization.

Now of course, Dean was far too curious as to what had the man so concerned. So, instead of "ducking" as the stranger had said, Dean furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and was about to turn around to see what was so important until an object knocked right into the back of his head. It wasn't a heavy object but is definitely caught him off guard.

Turning around to see what hit him, a red apple laid innocently in the fluffy white snow.

"Gabriel!" The stranger besides him yelled towards the sky. Dean followed his eyesight until he found someone squatting in the trees; holding a basket of apples.

"I'm on a mission, Cassie! You warned him!" The small man with auburn hair shouted back.

"How is pelting the deer with apples going to help our current situation?!" The man- Cassie?- asked.

"It'll scare them back to the pasture!" Gabriel replied, tossing an apple to the south of him. The deer besides him jumped a little but Dean kept his grip on the bridle, pulling him back down.

"I don't see the philosophy in that!" Dean had to agree with the beautiful stranger.

"Hey," Dean interrupted their little spute. "I can help you round up the rest if you tell me where I can put, Dasher here?"

"You don't have to do that. I feel like I've caused you enough problems as it is." His voice was rough and genuine. Dean waved him off.

"Nah, I was just heading up that way to go talk to the...Shurley's?" Dean made a face as he guessed the name. Look, he'd gotten a little distracted by the rouge reindeer to focus on the details of the case.

Blue eyes widened in surprise before he offered his hand to Dean's. "I'm, Castiel Shurley, actually. What brings you up here?"

"Dean Mercury." Dean shook his hand before letting go. "I wanted to ask you a few question about the death of your uncle." Castiel eyed him for a moment, most likely wondering what Dean could possibly want to know about his uncle but the man nodded anyways.

"It's the least I could do for your help." Castiel smiled. "That is, if you're okay with helping me gather the others?" Dean chuckled at the utter hope in those azure eyes.

"I'd rather not be on Santa's naughty list this year." Castiel beamed at him before ushering Dean to follow him.

And that's how Dean found himself hunting down seven freaking reindeer until the sun went down, in just above freezing weather. Not to mention, Gabriel snickering ruefully as he successfully managed to aim five more apples at Dean.