Destiel Oneshots

Festival of Lights

Sorry this is several days late lol, I had a bad mental health day when I wanted to get this done and then had finals early this week and was busy studying.  Luckily, it's still Hanukkah, even if I didn't get this out for the first night, so the idea still applies.  Idk, it might be a bit of a strange concept, but I've never seen anything like this before and wanted to do it as part of the holiday series, so please try this with me! (I have something planned for Christmas day as well)  Basically, Sam had stayed in contact with Aaron (season 8, helped make Dean's bisexuality even more obvious lol) and TFW has been invited to a Hanukkah dinner at his house.  The boys get to experience the holiday since I quite enjoy celebrating it and yeah, you'll see how it goes.  This is basically post season 15, except that the Winchesters are alive and Cas is back (since I wanted Destiel canon from 15x18 but for them to still be, you know, alive to see the other characters) (wow I used a lot of parentheses in this paragraph...I'll stop rambling and start the fic)

Sam finished a phone call and hung up, turning to Dean and Cas.  "Hey, Dean, you remember Aaron from a few years ago, right?  The one we helped with the Golem?"

Dean looked over from where he and Cas were curled up on the couch, "Yeah, why?"

"I've stayed in contact with him on and off over the years, just to see how things are going there.  He just called and asked if we wanted to come and visit for the holidays.  Tomorrow is the first night of Hanukkah and I told him we could come for dinner and celebrating the first night."

Cas looked excited at the concept, he hadn't ever gotten to experience Hanukkah for himself, but had loved looking down at all the candles from Heaven, and Dean agreed that it would be nice to see an old friend.  So, without much discussion the boys began to prepare a few things to bring.  Clothes, in case they stayed in a motel, and a box of jelly filled doughnuts as a gift.  The next morning, they hopped in the Impala, Sam forced to the backseat so Cas could be shotgun.

Sam rolled his eyes, "I haven't sat in the front seat once since you and Cas got together.  But I suppose it's a small price to pay for years of dealing with the tension between you two."

Dean glared at Sam in the rear view mirror, but Cas just smiled and squeezed Dean's hand.   The ride was fairly calm with nothing looming over the group for once.  The only sound was Aerosmith quietly playing from the radio, but otherwise it was just the brothers, the angel, and the road ahead of them.  A few hours later, they pulled up to Aaron's house.

Aaron opened the door with a smile, "Hey! It's good to see you, Sam, Dean, and this is-"

He looked at Cas, a bit unsure.  Dean smirked, remembering the last time they had seen Aaron.  He slipped his hand through Cas' and glanced at the angel, "This is Cas, he's uh, he's my gay thing. Well, I suppose bi thing-"

A smile broke over Aaron's face, "I knew there was something not straight about you, Dean Winchester!  I'm glad you finally accept it."  Dean blushed at the comment as Cas chuckled.  He reached out to shake Aaron's hand.

"Thank you for having us, it's lovely to meet the people the Winchester's have helped in the past."

"Of course, I'm just glad to have company," Aaron responded, "Come on, let's light the candles and catch up over dinner."

(Is the gay thing comment the thing I am most proud of in this chapter? The answer is yes)

~~~

Dean hadn't quite known what to expect from the candle lighting, and to be honest he was still pretty lost since all the prayers were spoken in Hebrew.  Despite that, he still felt like the action of lighting the shamash, and using it to light the other candle was beautiful in it's own way.  He was sure Sam already knew all about Hanukkah traditions, always the more religiously curious of the two brothers, but he was happy to learn from Cas later.

Soon, it was time to eat, and the meal placed before them looked incredible.  Plates of potato latkes covered the table, served with applesauce, and a platter of brisket sat in the middle of the table.  They had already started off with some matzoh ball soup, but everyone could not wait to dig into the rest of the meal.  Even Cas was eating, the ability taste without necessarily needing to eat was one of the gifts Jack granted Cas when he brought the angel back to life.

"So, Aaron, how did things go with your golem and the fight against the Thule?" Sam asked after everyone had filled their plates and began to dig in to their food.

"It went well," Aaron replied, "We wiped out the ones we were in range for, so I don't think there's much else we could do unless we went international.  I'm sure whatever you've been up to has been a lot crazier though."

Team Free Will looked at each other knowingly, "Yeah it's been a lot recently," Sam said.

"Cosmic proportions," Dean nodded.

"But at least it's all over now," Cas concluded, and Aaron looked like he was going to ask more before he was interrupted by Dean taking his first bite of a latke.

"Holy crap, these things are good!"

~~~

The night ends far too soon, but they make the most of their time.  Aaron teaches them to play dreidel, Dean thought it would be like other games with "money" involved, but he lost miserably to Cas who miraculously spun gimel every time the pot was getting full of gelt.  But hey, at least the money was edible.  The group said their goodbyes to Aaron, promising to stay in touch, before driving back to the Bunker.

Late that night, as Dean lays curled up in Cas' arms (because of course he's the small spoon, even if he won't admit it) he has the angel tell him the Hanukkah story, curious after all the traditions they had celebrated that night.  Cas tells him of miracles, of oil that should only last one day burning for eight, and Dean can't help but think of the things he could call miracles.  He remembers the silent beauty of the candles burning low, and all the candles to be added to the menorah as Aaron's week goes on. Even as the darkness came that night, there would be new light the next night, even more after that.  Cas, he realizes, is a miracle in his life.  A presence who's light only grew until it became blinding, helping him overcome the darkness and literal Hell he had been through to find the happiness and love he never thought he deserved.