#had links to jackie's posts but I had to remove them cause dumblr mutes all posts w links from searches

[cloverhighfivewritestoo]

The Wrecking Reindeer

👉 Read it on Ao3

Destiel domestic tooth-rotting Christmas-themed fluff slice of life

w/c 1.4k

Summary: Dean and (human)Castiel bought their first house, in the country side, and Dean hung Christmas lights to make their house pretty.

A/N - Thank you SO MUCH Jackie for letting me use your art!!! I saw this ancient piece (2014!!) from @winchester-reload​ on one of her posts, and I HAD to answer her question: “Why is Dean threatening that reindeer? We’ll never know.” Tl;dr: because Dean loves Cas. But go read it. BTW this art is eons away from Jackie’s current art (which you must go see). Still, I love this one. Dean’s face LOL

It was late afternoon, dusk easing in to night. Dean and Castiel had gone to the grocery store and, when they came back, the lights Dean so painstakingly put on the house were torn down. Again.

“THE FU-“

“It’s OK, Dean, I’ll help you put them back up.”

Dean whined. “How many times I’ve put those back up?” He huffed a whine again. “And I wanted to put some around the fir trees, too. You know, make it extra pretty.”

"It’s already quite beautiful. Why put more?"

Dean was turning grumpy. "Because that's how it's done, Cas. You fall in love, you get a house, and you decorate it for Christmas, and more is better. OK?"

“OK, Dean, if you say so.”

“I don't say so, it is so.” His eyes widened and he smiled. “Just wait. The Christmas lights and the snow falling? – he made an encompassing gesture – Magical. And when the snow hangs on the trees and on the lights, and they shine through? – he made his gesture again, but bigger – übermagical."

“Dean, I’ve seen galaxies and nebulae.”

“Pff. Small stuff.”

They unpacked and put away the groceries, and went out to replace the lights. First, they redid the windows, Dean using twice as many clips. Then, they went for the ones hung from the roof. This time, Dean drilled holes in the gutter and used tie-wraps. Once done, he climbed down the ladder, smiling. He looked at the lights on the house. “Hah. Now, they’re going nowhere.” He turned to Castiel. “Well, hello, ladder holder.” He gave Castiel Eskimo kisses and a peck on his lips. He smiled like a kid. “Let’s do the fir trees!”

Dean practically sauntered to the first tree. When it was done – Dean humming Christmas songs the whole time – they went to the other tree. As Dean was almost done placing the lights carefully spaced, Castiel following him around with the bulk of the string, they heard some noise behind them.

“SON OF A BITCH!” Dean let the Christmas lights fall down, unsheathed his machete as he ran and grabbed by the rein the reindeer currently hoofing the thin blanket of snow. It was looking for something to eat and getting its antlers tangled in the lights from the fir tree in the process. “YOU! You stop right now or I’m making steaks with you!”

“Dean! Stop!” Castiel threw the string of lights to the ground and went to Dean.

Dean was still holding up his machete, threatening the animal. “But he’s the one messing up my lights!”

“He’s a young buck from the farm down the road. Can’t you see?”

Dean looked at the reindeer, who was grunting and trying to shake the lights off. “Huh. You think?”

Castiel sighed. “You’re holding him by the rein. He’s clearly someone’s. Come on.” Castiel took the rein and petted the reindeer’s nose. “There, there. It’s alright. We’ll get the lights off your antlers and bring you back to your home.” The reindeer grunted.

Castiel, with the help of a still grumpy Dean, untangled the lights. Once the reindeer freed, Castiel walked a bit further with him and stroke his fur. “He’s nice. I like him.”

Dean was holding the string of lights. “Just let me put these back before we take him to his owner.”

Dean repaired the damage on the first tree, finished the second tree and plugged everything in. “Alright. All done.”

Meanwhile, Castiel had found an apple and was feeding it to the reindeer.

“Where did you find that?”, asked Dean.

“I leave them out for animals, if they need food for the winter.”

Dean rolled his eyes. Why wasn’t he more surprised? “Apples. You leave apples around.”

“Yes.”

“No wonder reindeer come to our house. Next thing you know we’ll have deer and moose too. Not to mention all the squirrels.”

Castiel looked at Dean, a hopeful, gleeful twinkle in his eye. “You think?”

Dean huffed. “Come on, we’ll take Rudolph here back.”

“Can you leave your machete here though? We don’t want to frighten them.”

“It’s sheathed.”

“I can see it.”

Dean grunted. He went into the house.

Castiel was stroking the reindeer’s nose softly. “You can come again, but please don’t wreck Dean’s lights. It’s very important to him.” The reindeer grunted. Castiel answered, “Thank you.”

Dean came back out. “Alright, good to go.”

They walked down the road quietly, the reindeer in tow. Dean had his hands thrust in his pockets. Castiel knew he was still a bit grumpy. Castiel tugged at Dean’s sleeve until Dean understood Castiel wanted his hand. Dean’s expression softened instantly and he laced his fingers with Castiel’s. He gave Castiel a soft kiss. “You’re lucky I love you so much.”

“I love you too, Dean. Thanks for coming with me.”

Dean smiled at Castiel, a fondness in his eyes. “Always.”

They arrived at the house about 15 minutes later. When the door opened, the boys were greeted by a bubbly, red-haired girl. “Hi! OH MY GOD! Tauntaun!” She stepped out, threw her arms around the reindeer’s neck and hugged him. “Where were you?”

Dean said, “You called him Tauntaun? That’s awesome.”

She smiled at Dean. “Thanks.” She scrunched her nose. “Was he at your house?”

Castiel answered, “He likes to play with our Christmas lights.”

Dean added, somewhat for Castiel, “And eat apples my dear boyfriend here leaves around the yard.”

“Oh if you’ve got apples, he’s sure going to try to escape and go eat them.” She stroke Tauntaun’s nose. “Oh, by the way, I’m Charlie. Hi.”

Castiel and Dean spoke together. “Hi Charlie.”

Dean made the introductions. “This is Castiel, and I’m Dean.”

“Hi Castiel, hi Dean. Thank you so much for bringing him back. I’ll go put him in his home, but would you like to come inside? I’ll make some coffee and I have a pecan pie that’s almost done.”

Dean’s face lit up. He looked at Castiel. Castiel chuckled. “We’d love to. Thank you very much.”

Dean, Castiel and Charlie had coffee and pie. Charlie told them all about her farm – she had many different animals, a lot of them rescues – and she invited the men to come for tea or dessert or coffee or dinner or chores or lunch or any time, really. Castiel was delighted at the prospect of being with the animals. Dean mostly found Castiel endlessly adorable and got his chair closer to him just because. When they left, Castiel and Dean felt they had made a new, dear friend. The extra slices of pie they were bringing back home were just a bonus.

They walked quietly, holding hands. Snow started falling in soft, big, fluffy, lazy clusters. Dean tried to catch a few on his tongue. Castiel thought he was intriguing. He tried to do the same. Dean thought Castiel was the most endearing snowflake-on-tongue catcher.

Castiel caught one and said, “It's rather pointless, it doesn’t taste like anything. I barely feel it a second on my tongue.”

Dean hugged him close and said in a low voice, smiling against his cheek, “If you weren’t already my boyfriend I’d ask you out.” He kissed him and they kept walking, Castiel confused for a moment but letting it go.

Getting closer to their property, the lights on the house, with the snow falling, were in full effect, making a perfect real-life postcard.

“Look, Cas.”

Castiel stopped. Dean stopped with him. Castiel let Dean’s hand go in favour of passing his arms around him and resting his head on Dean’s shoulder, his nose warming against Dean’s cheek. “You’re right”, he whispered, as if his voice could flutter the snow away, “this is magical.”

Dean kissed Castiel’s forehead. He whispered as well, as he hugged him closer, “Come on. It’s even more magical snuggled on the couch in the warmth of the house.”

Castiel looked up at Dean. “Is this why you needed to put lights on the fir trees too? So we can see the decorations from inside? It's a good idea.”

Dean had a mischievous smile. “And nothing like making our own magic by the light of the Christmas decorations. He he he…” He wiggled his eyebrows.

Castiel chuckled. “Dean, must you always…”

“Oh yeah.”

Dean looked at Castiel, whose eyelashes were whitening with the frost. His heart softened. “I love you, Cas.”

Castiel held Dean tighter. “I love you too, Dean.”

Dean’s kiss lingered on Castiel’s lips, and they kissed a little longer than they expected, content in the warmth of the other. Finally, they went inside to cuddle on the couch and look at their beautiful Christmas lights in the falling snow.

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Thanks for reading! And big big thanks again to @winchester-reload for being a sport about this old piece of art and letting me love it and publish this thing for it.