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Chapter Text

~ The week before ~

 “What the hell is this shit Sammy?” Dean didn’t wait for his Sasquatch brother to speak when he answered the phone before launching into his tirade. “Gish-whizz? Geesh-wes? I can’t even say the fucking thing. Why did I get an email saying I’m in a team for it?”

“Hi Sam, how are you going at Stanford Sam? That’s great Sam.” Sam snarked when he could finally get a word in. “It’s GISH-WHES and it’s a scavenger hunt, Dean. It’s for charity and it’s fun. I signed you up with me since I’m staying with you the week it’s on anyway.”

Dean sighed angrily, putting up another mock protest, they both knew he’d cave and do it anyway, anything to make Sammy happy . “I’ve never even heard of it, what charity? I have to work Sammy.” He was already caving, Sam could hear it in his voice.

“The charity is Random Acts, they do all kinds of different things, they’re amazing.” Sam gushed, remembering to stop himself before he got too into explaining the charity, and by extension, the people who support it, namely one Gabriel Speight. Sam shook his head slightly to clear it, his hair whipping into his face as he did so. “And you don’t have to work Dean, I already talked to Bobby.”

“Damn it Sam, you can’t just do that, I need the money.” Dean was out of excuses, this was his last chance at getting out of doing some weird sounding scavenger hunt.

“Good thing I’m paying my way when I stay then huh Dean?” Sam muttered through the phone and Dean sighed. He’d lost, Sam had really planned this one out.

“Fine Sammy. Pick you up Thursday.” Dean didn’t wait for his brother to say bye, he just tapped the red end call button in frustration. Dean didn’t like doing new things, and he absolutely hated not knowing what was happening, which Sam knew.

Dean rubbed his hand over his face and tossed his phone onto the couch as he passed it on his way to the fridge to get a beer. Leaning against the counter he eyed his apartment critically, before taking a large swig of the beer and getting to work cleaning up for when his neat freak, lawyer-in-training brother arrived in 3 days.

~ Two days before ~

 “Christ Sammy, why do you have so much luggage?” Dean was beyond confused, Sam had several large bags, as opposed to his usual one + carry on. “You moving in?”

“It’s for GISHWHES Dean. You can NEVER be too prepared for GISHWHES.” Sam looked at him like he should know this. “Did you even read the links I sent you?”

Dean avoided his brother’s eyes, which was easy to do since his younger brother was much taller than him and all he needed to do was NOT look up. “I forgot.” He mumbled, a little ashamed at the disappointment that flashed across his brother’s face.

Sam sighed audibly. “It’s ok Dean, we will go over it tonight, we have time. The list doesn’t go live until Saturday morning. We can go over the information you need to know while we skype with the team tonight.”

“Huh?” Dean was in the process of trying to tetris all of Sam’s bags into the trunk of his sleek, black  ‘67 Impala. “Skype who?”

“The rest of the team, Dean.” Sam just tossed the last of his bags into the backseat, rather than allowing Dean to pack and repack the trunk over and over. “There’s 15 people to a team. We’re all getting to know each other tonight. I think there was another one or two people in Kansas City that we can team up with to get more done as well.” Sam was excited, Dean could see it in the way he bopped his head when he talked, the way his eyes lit up and he smiled, even while he talked. It made him glad he’d agreed to be a part of whatever this was, just to see how happy it made his brother.

The information Sam had Dean reading was a list of intimidating commandments. “Sam why is there a waiver of legal liability here? Just WHAT did you get me involved in?”

“Don’t worry Dean. It’s FUN. Just have fun.” Sam didn’t even look up from where he was making a list of all the different, sometimes weird, objects he had brought with him. There was paint, different costumes, cardboard, glue, and all kinds of other weird trash and junk including plastic lemons? What?

Dean left him to his cataloguing weird shit and went to pick up pizza and beer. While at the store he also grabbed a bottle of whiskey because fuck it, if he was about to meet 13 strangers for the first time in a group Skype call, he was going to have some liquid courage to back him up.

Sam was done with listing the things he’d brought with him and had moved on to cataloguing different weird things throughout Dean’s house by the time Dean got back with dinner. “Sammy let’s eat.” Dean tossed a beer towards his brother, then held his breath as Sam didn’t seem to notice it coming towards him, hastily exhaling in relief when Sam snapped his arm out and caught it before it hit the table.

“Thanks Dean, I’m nearly done. We’ll need to compare our lists with everyone and maybe make a shopping list once The List is released.” Sam remained where he was for a moment longer, finishing up his list, before pulling out his laptop and turning Skype on. Once that was done he wandered over to the couch and stared moodily at the pizza boxes. Dean head off the incoming bitch-face by opening the second box, showing a supreme pizza that was drowning in vegetables. “You’re the best Dean.” Sam said, instead of the complaint Dean had known was coming.

“I know.” Dean declared around a mouthful of greasy meat-lover’s pizza, washing it down with the rest of his, now warm, beer.

Dean jumped at the strange noise that was Sam’s Skype getting a call, and quickly wandered to the kitchen to bring back a pair of whiskey glasses with ice. He settled in next to Sam on the couch and poured a hearty amount over the ice in each glass as Sam answered the call and happily said hello to the eleven faces showing on the screen.

“And this is my brother Dean.” Sam said cheerily and Dean finally tuned into the conversation when he heard his brother introducing him. He looked up and nodded at the screen, trying his best to plaster a friendly grin on his face he eyed the faces as Sam went through each person and gave him a little background info on each person.

“So Jo you already know.” Sam barely glanced at the screen, happily accepting his drink and taking a sip.

“Hi Dean, good to see you with us this year.” The young blonde waved at the screen happily. Dean definitely already knew her, they’d grown up together. Their fathers had worked together at the same police station and had been close; especially after their mother, Mary Winchester, had died in an electrical fire. Bill Harvelle had taken a bullet to the gut in a drug raid and John Winchester was removed from the line of duty for taking down the shooter with “unnecessary lethal force” in retribution. John had ended up getting drunk and skipping town to places unknown, leaving Sam and Dean with Jo’s mom, Ellen. Which had honestly worked out better for the boys than the absent parenting they’d had before when John would throw himself into his work and seemed to forget that his sons existed.

“And this is Ash” Sam moved on, indicating a slightly high looking guy with a honest-to-god mullet, the guy, Ash, waved excitedly from his little square on the screen. “Ash is amazing at the tech items, he could make a working computer out of a toaster and a T.V.”

“Seriously?” Dean gaped at the screen incredulously as Ash laughed and nodded. Dean honestly couldn’t believe it, the guy definitely did not look like a tech whiz, there was a bong in the line of view from his webcam for crying out loud!

Moving on Sam introduced the next face, a cranky looking Asian boy who looked like he could use a serious nap. “This is Kevin. He’s in advanced placement and is the best researcher you could ask for.”

“Really Sammy? I thought that was your thing?” Dean elbowed Sam as he looked between the screen and his brother.

“Well yeah, but Kevin can get the really obscure things, as well as things in different languages, really, he’s amazing.” Sam rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, apparently uncomfortable, Dean wondered if there was a story there or if Sam just didn’t feel comfortable with Dean picking on him in front of his friends. He magnanimously decided to let it go.

“Anyway next we have Charlie.” Sam indicated a pretty redhead waving enthusiastically at the screen, bouncing in her seat a little. “She’s another tech whiz. She can get us into anything, which, while technically not legal, is actually pretty useful. Just don’t talk about it, ever.” Everyone laughed, except Dean; he gulped a little, apparently this was a pretty serious competition.

“So I’m Crowley.” An accented voice spoke up and everyone quietened down to allow the introductions to continue. Crowley was a slightly older looking guy who looked to be impeccably dressed, as he spoke he sipped from a tumbler in his hand. “And I can get almost anyone to make a deal and allow us to do what we need to.”

Sam nodded, watching Dean carefully. “Crowley is quite the salesman. He’s practically a demon when it comes to getting us the permission we need for things.”

Crowley snorted. “Demon? I’m the king!” He chuckled darkly at a joke no one else seemed to understand.

“Right…” A heavily Southern accented voice drawled slowly. “Anyway I’m Benny. Nice to meet you, brother.” Dean looked for the source of the voice, eventually matching it to the bear of a man on the bottom right of the screen. “I don’t bring anything specific to the table but it takes all types to make a team.”

Sam decided to take back his job of introducing people at this point, jumping in at Benny’s last word and waving towards a light haired man in the middle of the screen. “This is Balthazar, he is a rare art dealer, which was amazingly useful last year. I think he said he convinced his ex, Cassie and her cousin to join as well, but we haven’t met them yet.”

“They’re in Kansas, headed your way to stay at a hotel and team up, since we learned last year how much better it is to work in groups.” The light haired man, Balthazar, had quite the sexy accent, Dean could definitely admit to that. Though the smirk on his face, like he knew something they didn’t, made him seem like he thought he was better than the rest of them. “They have your number, Sammy boy, I think they’ll call to get your address so you guys can get the list together on Saturday.” Sam nodded. Dean glared, only HE could call his brother Sammy .

“I’m Garth!” A voice practically exploded from the speakers in his eagerness to be introduced.

“Garth keeps us sane.” Sam pointed to a lanky looking boy whose ears looked too big for his face. “He has this happiness that never seems to die, which is a godsend when everything gets overwhelming.”

“So this is Adam.” Sam pointed to a younger guy on the top of the screen as he leaned in to stage whisper to Dean. “He’s really easy to manipulate, you just reverse psychology him with anything you don’t want to do and he’ll jump into hell itself to prove he can.”

“It was one time!” Adam mumbled, rolling his eyes at the Sasquatch through the screen.

“So I’m Meg.” A pretty brunette spoke up, cutting off an old argument that had Dean more than a little curious. “I’m pretty good at keeping out of trouble, so I usually do the things they won’t.” She flicked a hand at the screen, indicating who “they” were with the gesture. Dean got the impression that Meg did anything they’d been told ‘no’ about, or anything that might be illegal.

“And finally this is Claire.” Sam introduced the last person, a young blonde girl with piercings on her face and ears. “Her guardian’s a cop, which was unbelievably helpful last year.”

“She’s my mom now.” Claire interrupted suddenly. “Adoption paperwork was finalized last month.” Claire blushed and ducked her head as everyone congratulated her and expressed how glad they were for her, it was so sweet that Dean felt uncomfortable for her.

“So you’re what? 12 then?” He joked, watching as relief that the attention was off her and annoyance at his words fought for dominance across her face.

“Eat me Hasselhoff. I’m 17.” She smiled, apparently she had seen his gesture for what it was and decided to respond in kind, with insulting jokes.

“So that’s everyone, except Cassie and the mystery cousin.” Sam raised his eyebrows at Balthazar as though asking for more information, however Balthazar just stared right back at him and Sam sighed and gave up.

“Well hi guys, I’m Dean and I guess I’m pretty good with machines. So maybe I can be useful.” Dean waved awkwardly at the screen before raising his drink to his lips, draining the glass. “Though I have no idea what I’m doing. Sammy just signed me up for this thing.”

They chatted together for a while, talking about last year’s challenge and how they’d all been matched up at random and had stayed in touch afterwards and formed their team themselves this year. They showed Dean the things they did together the year before and Dean was both really impressed and really confused.

“Uh, isn’t this a scavenger hunt?” He asked at one point.  When everyone replied to the affirmative he continued his thought. “Well, aren’t scavenger hunts where you look for things? Not make them?”

Everyone looked thoughtful. “I suppose, yeah…” The redhead, Charlie, ventured. “But this one is The Greatest Scavenger Hunt The World Has Ever Seen. So it’s only natural to do it differently from other scavenger hunts.”

Dean snorted, unimpressed. “Uh-huh. I think this Misha person just doesn’t understand scavenger hunts. And who names their child Misha? MISHA?”

“Well, he actually named himself Misha.” Meg interrupted his rant. “His real name is Dmitri.”

Dean just shook his head. “Misha…” he mumbled to himself, before raising his glass to his lips, staring into it’s depths forlornly when he realized it was empty.

A few drinks later everyone was much better acquainted and Dean felt like he had more friends than he ever remembered having at one time. He seemed to get along with everyone, even Balthazar and Meg, for all their standoffishness, seemed to be genuinely interesting people, once you got them drunk enough to forget to keep their asshole personas up.

Dean fell asleep smiling that night, actually feeling glad that Sam had dragged him into this GISHWHES thing.

~One day before~

 Sam was a monster. Dean didn’t know what he’d done with his brother, but this thing who woke him up at dawn to ask if he wanted to go for a run could not be his brother. His brother loved him and wouldn’t willingly torture him like that.

Dean had tried to go back to sleep, he really had, but as soon as he had started to drift off again Sam was back from his run and brought an offering of coffee and donuts. Dean decided not to murder him after all.

Apparently they were going to spend the day cooking so that they didn’t have to stop GISHing ( Was that a word? Dean wasn’t sure) all week to cook and could just heat up food when hungry. Dean had suggested they just get takeout all week but Sam’s bitch-face had him quickly backtracking and allowing Sam to cook balanced meals for them both.

Sam had organized his refrigerator and freezer, skillfully stacking the containers of precooked meals for the week, and still leaving a lot of space around them.

“Uh Sammy, you can use the whole fridge you know?” Dean offered from the breakfast bar he’d been delegated to sitting at, Sam having claimed he was “hovering” and that he was in the way.

“We need the space Dean.” Sam raised his eyebrows in challenge. “There’s a lot of items using veggies and stuff so we need the space for it.”

“Why do we have to do so much? There’s 13 other people.” Dean groaned, already exhausted by the thought of all the stuff Sam will have them doing, though it could also be the fact that he was up at dawn .

“Dean, when we group up with Cassie and her cousin there will be four of us, we’ll actually be the biggest group in our team so we need to take on the most.” Sam patiently explained, as though he were talking to a child.

“So what, the others aren’t grouping up?” Dean pouted.

“Well Jo and Ash will be. And I think a few of the others are as well. Charlie and Kevin live near each other but they generally do the online and computer based things.” Sam really was a giant nerd, he’d planned out everyone’s tasks and roles without even knowing what The Items would be.

“Jeeze Sammy, how many times have you done this GISH-WHIZZ thing?” Dean asked, mispronouncing the word on purpose, just to bother his giant baby brother.

“It’s GISH-WHES, Dean.” Sam sighed, raising to the bait, just like Dean knew he would. “And I did it last year, and learned a lot about what we need to do differently this time.”

Dean chuckled and decided to leave Sam to his obsessive preparations. One tip he’d seen about GISHWHES was to get a lot of sleep before-hand. And he was totally down with doing that.

~

It was around noon when Dean woke from his nap, Sam had finished planning, sorting and cooking and had closed himself in the spare room to nap as well.

Dean wondered what had woken him, since Sammy was definitely asleep, he’d checked and everything.

A sound in the living room alerted him to Sam’s phone, the notification light was flashing and Sam had a missed call and a message. Annoyingly Sam’s phone was locked with a fingerprint lock.

Because Dean was nosy, and because it might have been important or something GISHWHES related that needed to be checked quickly, Dean had no issues with sneaking into the spare bedroom and manhandling his brother’s finger onto the sensor and unlocking the phone.

After checking the missed call, some unknown number, and the text message, a notification that someone had called and didn’t leave a voicemail message, Dean decided to snoop around. And ended up quite disappointed, Sam’s phone was completely boring. Apparently he still didn’t have a girlfriend or boyfriend, and there wasn’t even any booty-call messages.

Bored, Dean went to toss the phone onto the couch. It hadn’t even left his hand when it dinged again with another text message.

Unknown Sender: Hi Sam. Balthazar gave me your number, I need to get your address so we can come around tomorrow and work through The List together. C

Dean replied with his address and decided he should probably wake Sam, so the Sasquatch could actually sleep that night, being up all night would negate the whole “sleep lots before GISHWHES” thing they were trying to do.

They had a pretty quiet afternoon, catching up on each others lives since they were last together, stuffing their faces with Sam’s pre-prepared food and watching Game of Thrones, Sam mentioned his ex, Jess, once or twice but didn’t seem as sad as he had when they’d first broken up. Dean probed a little and learned that Sam had a crush on someone he believed was unattainable.

“So what about you, Dean?” Sam quickly turned it around on him. “What happened with Lisa?”

“Eh.” Dean shrugged. “Apparently we both liked the idea of each other more than we actually liked each other.” It was true, he’d been sad when they broke up, but it wasn’t the heartbreak he’d expected, just disappointment that he’d spent so much time building something with Lisa and it hadn’t worked out. Sam nodded in understanding.

All too soon Sam was announcing that he was going to bed, eyeing Dean critically and suggesting that maybe he should too.

Normally Dean would rebel for the sheer principle of being told it was bedtime, but he was tired and he was pretty sure that this was going to be an exhausting week.

~Saturday: Day 1~

 Sam woke Dean up at dawn again. Dawn. Dean was seriously considering fratricide until his brother handed him a coffee and a plate of bacon.

“So the list launches at 7am, Dean.” Sam explained once Dean’s mouth was safely occupied with chewing on several pieces of bacon at once, and thus unable to cuss him out. “I figured you’d like to be awake and showered before Cassie and her cousin get here.”

Dean glared at him across the top of his coffee. “Fine.”

Sam cleaned up the breakfast dishes while Dean showered, it was already 6:30am so he rushed through his morning routine. Upon leaving the bathroom he heard new voices from his kitchen, distinctly male voices.

“Uh hi?” Dean wandered into the kitchen once dressed. “I’m Dean.”

Three faces turned to face him. Sam looked like he was about to burst out of his skin in excitement, a faint flush had settled on his face and he was twisting his hands nervously.

Huh? What’s that about? Dean wondered to himself before he found himself in the gaze of the most stunning eyes he had ever seen. Dean swallowed nervously, completely trapped under the weight of those eyes, a blue so deep it reminded him of the sky at night. So lost was Dean that he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the glorious blue that seemed just as trapped as he.

“Well hi Dean-o.” A voice drawled from somewhere out of his view. “I’m Gabe.” Dean finally tore his eyes away, looking towards the source of the new voice. Gabe was a short man however, while standing next to the huge frame of Sam Winchester, he looked even shorter. His hair was a sandy, dirty blonde and his eyes seemed almost amber in color, a ring of green blending seamlessly into the gold of his irises. What was with all these gorgeous eyes today? Dean thought to himself, inwardly smirking at how much of a sap he was suddenly being.

“Dean, this is Gabriel Speight.” Sam exclaimed, waving his hand in a gesture that implied that Dean should know who that was. Dean didn’t, and apparently it showed as Sam sighed and sent his brother a look that promised that Dean would know all about him later. Suddenly Dean understood the blush and nervousness from his brother, Sam liked this guy. Dean grinned wickedly.

“Well hi Gabe. Nice to meet you.” Dean extended his hand and Gabe met him halfway in a firm handshake. As they released each others hands and stepped back Dean was interested to see Gabe’s eyes flicked straight back to surreptitiously watching Sam. Huh.

“And this is my cousin, Cassie” Gabe clapped the man with the blue eyes on the back, the contact unexpected and jolting the dark haired man forward a step. He turned and glared at his cousin before turning back to Dean and extending his hand.

“It’s Castiel.” Castiel had a deep, husky voice that immediately had Dean’s blood flowing south. Dean stepped forward to shake his hand, barely containing the flinch at the jolt that went through him when their hands met. Now that Dean wasn’t trapped by the man’s eyes he took a moment to allow his own to wander. Castiel was close to Dean’s height, with dark hair and those magical blue eyes. He wore a tan overcoat over the top of a pressed, dark colored suit. As Dean’s eyes returned to his face he was pleased to see a slight blush on the man’s face, Dean smirked confidently. Castiel’s tongue flicked out, wetting his lips, his eyes on Dean’s face as he slowly withdrew his hand, Dean was startled, he hadn’t realized they’d still been gripping the others hand.

“Hello Cas.” Dean tried to sound confident. “Here we thought you were a girl. Balthazar didn’t even correct us.”

“Cas?” Castiel tilted his head questioningly, looking adorably like a puppy when he did so.

“Well, yeah.” Dean chuckled. “Apparently you’re no Cassie and, sorry but, Castiel is just too much of a mouthful.” Dean quirked an eyebrow, letting his eyes wander down Cas’ body as he finished the sentence, gleefully happy to see the flush had returned to the shorter man’s face at the implication.

Dean startled at the sound of a throat clearing beside him. He’d forgotten there were other people here.

“Come on Dean, The List goes live any second.” Sam was seated in front of his laptop on the couch, Gabe was next to him, closer than strictly necessary, but not touching. Both were wearing identical smirks of amusement as they watched Cas and Dean quickly step apart and make their way over.

It wasn’t long before Gabe had his own laptop out, pulling it from a bag by the door that Dean hadn’t even noticed previously. A couple of minutes later they were part of another chaotic group Skype call, everyone talking at once in their excitement while they waited for the list to launch. Dean thought that everyone had way too much energy for it not even being 7am on a Saturday.

Sam had a complicated looking spreadsheet up on his laptop, tabbing between that and the web page that Dean assumed would be where The List would be. Gabe was leaning right into his brother’s personal space, his attention deceptively on the spreadsheet while he did so. Dean settled on the floor in front of where Cas had perched on the couch, watching idly as Cas ranted at Balthazar to stop introducing him as Cassie and that he’s very sick of people thinking he’s a woman because of it. The different conversations around him suddenly tapered off into an expectant silence when Sam sat up straight and said “It’s up.”

~

Dean was exhausted. They’d been working on going through The List and moving items to the spreadsheet for hours. After it was all on the spreadsheet they went back through and went over each item, dissecting it and discussing their ideas for how it would best be done and who they think would be best to do it. It was around 11am when Sam had split everyone into pairs, pairing himself with Gabe without even sparing an apologetic glance at Dean when he ditched his brother for a total stranger.

It was 1pm when Dean flopped backwards onto Cas’ legs, tired and cranky at how long this was all taking. It was 1.34pm when Cas idly started running his fingers through Dean’s hair. Dean had stiffened a little at first, flicking his eyes towards Gabe and Sammy where they lounged against each other; attention focused on their respective laptops and the list, before practically melting into the touch.

Finally at 3pm they were done and everyone had an intimidating list of things they needed to do, plan for and buy. Sunday was for shopping, everyone had to make sure they could get everything they needed, as well as send emails out to the different places and people they needed to contact to get things done. Sam was in charge of monitoring The List to make sure that they knew ASAP if anything was added, removed or changed.

Dean was glad when they ended the Skype call, it was exhausting trying to keep track of so many voices and conversations at once. And he decided that he really, truly hated skype. It kept dropping out and having to reconnect, people ended up in different calls and it was just chaos. Charlie promised that she would make them their own voice chat program for next time, just as done with skype as Dean was.

Dean was less glad when Cas and Gabe had to leave, he’d gotten comfortable and had started to doze against Cas’ legs while Cas chatted and agreed to or vetoed different tasks for them to do together. He was however very interested in getting his brother alone and pressing him for information about one Gabriel Speight.

The door had been closed for less than 2 minutes when Dean rounded on Sam pressing him for information like a teenager after a date.

“So spill Sammy. What's gotten into you? You're practically fawning all over the guy.” Dean watched as Sam’s eyes flicked to the door and back to his face.

“Well Gabe is kinda well known for his work with Random Acts, the charity that GISHWHES is done by. He fundraises for them and he brings in a lot of publicity.” Dean got the distinct impression that Sam wasn’t telling him the whole story.

“And?” He pressed, waving his hands to motion Sam to keep going.

Sam sighed. “And he’s in the film industry as well. That’s where I first saw him, I looked him up and discovered the Random Acts work and it went from there.”

“Movies huh?” Dean mused. “Anything I’d like?”

“No!” Sam answered quickly, suddenly changing the subject. “You looked like you were getting pretty cozy with Castiel over there.” Sam eyed Dean critically, smirking to himself when Dean blushed.

“It was comfortable.” Dean shrugged, trying to appear casual and failing miserably. “Shut up.” He muttered childishly as he slammed his bedroom door.

Chapter Text

Dean was in the shower when a knock sounded at the door. Since it was so early there really was only one person it could be, well two people, but one duo. Shit. Sam sipped his coffee, shaking his foggy head as he wandered to answer the door.

On any other day he’d be on his run by now, the endorphins and the chill morning air working together to snap his mind into wakefulness. However, as today they were expecting his teammate Balthazar’s ex; Cassie and her cousin before 7am, Sam hadn’t had the time to go for the usual run, which meant that he really needed the caffeine hit.

Sam swung the door open, startling the man on the other side, tan overcoat pulled closed against the cold air, hand raised to knock a second time. “Oh. Can I help you?” Sam had been expecting two people, not one.

“Er, Sam?” The shorter man pulled his arm down, dropping it to his side, embarrassment clouding his features. “Hi I’m Castiel. Uh, you know my ex? Balthazar?”

Sam gaped, they’d spent a good chunk of time discussing Balthazar’s ex Cassie and never once been corrected that it was, in fact, a man. “Right, we were uh, expecting someone a little, uh, different?”

Castiel’s face darkened. “Of course you were.” He sighed, rubbing his face with his hand in frustration. “God damn it Balthazar.” He mumbled.

Sam was about to mention that they had also been expecting a second person, Castiel’s cousin, when the sound of footsteps rushing up the hallway cut him off. Sam bit back the comment opting instead to take another sip of his coffee.

As the source of the footsteps came bursting into view Sam found that he really regretted that action. Hot coffee left his mouth in a fine mist, Sam barely managing to turn his head enough to not directly spray the men in front of him. He sucked in a panicked breath when he saw that he hadn’t quite managed to avoid it entirely, both men were covered in small dark droplets. Unfortunately for Sam, he still had a partial mouthful of the hot liquid and instead of air, he’d inhaled that instead.

Tears sprang to his eyes as he choked, Sam wasn’t sure if they were from the lack of air as he spluttered and struggled to get a breath or from the total mortification he was feeling when he realized that he had just sprayed a mouthful of coffee over Gabriel Speight and his cousin, both of whom were looking at him in concern.

Gabriel acted first, rushing forward and reaching up to pat him on the back awkwardly. “Are you alright?” Gabriel asked, his hand slowly rubbing circles on Sam’s back, leaving a burning trail through his shirt.

Sam nodded, sucking in breath after breath as he tried to calm himself down. “I’m sorry.” He waved his hand at them both, indicating the droplets of coffee on their clothes, embarrassment stopping him from being able to finish saying it out loud.

“Good thing I wore my raincoat after all, huh Gabe?” Castiel chuckled, idly running his hands over the droplets and blending them into the fabric. Sam hoped it wouldn’t stain.

“It’s perfectly ok.” Gabriel winked. “Not the first time someone has sprayed me with bodily fluids, though we usually at least exchange our names first.”

Sam blushed scarlet. It took him several tries to get his name out, standing for a moment, mouth gaping open like a fish, completely dumbstruck that Gabriel had just flirted with him. Sam snapped back into himself when Castiel snorted, saving him from having to introduce himself. “Sam, this is my cousin Gabriel. Gabe this is Sam.”

Sam looked between the men, looking for a family resemblance and struggling to find one. Where Castiel was tall and dark haired, Gabriel was short and his hair was the color of darkened honey. Where Castiel’s eyes were blue, Gabriel’s were a glorious mixture of amber and green. Sam was drawn to those eyes just as much in person as he had been the first time he saw them.

He heard the water shut off further inside the apartment and suddenly remembered that he should probably invite their guests inside, since he'd kept them outside in the chill morning air for long enough. Wordlessly he stepped aside, indicating with his arm that they should come in.

“Would you guys like come coffee?” Sam asked, waiting as they set their bags down by the door before leading the way to the kitchen.

“Well I did already get some.” Gabriel joked, raising his eyebrow at Sam’s renewed blush, amusement quirking his lips into a cheeky grin.

Sam heard movement behind him and watched Castiel’s head snap up to look around to where Dean stood in the doorway. “Uh hi.” Dean mumbled, clearly confused as he looked at the two new men in his kitchen when he’d been expecting at least one woman. “I’m Dean.” 

Chapter Text

~Sunday: Day 2~

Dean woke up to his alarm, he’d deliberately set it for an hour earlier than he strictly needed to be up, giving himself time to shower and mentally prepare for the day. Today they had plans to check out different stores and buy the things they could to get started on their GISHWHES items.

He was excited to take part in the Hunt. He told himself it had nothing to do with spending the day with a certain dark haired man and if he thought of deep blue eyes and full lips while he took care of his morning wood in the shower, that was nobody’s business but his own.

Sam was already up when Dean exited the shower, a steaming mug of coffee in front of him and a second one waiting on the counter for his brother. “You’re the best Sammy.” Dean praised, happily clutching the warm mug to his chest as he breathed the fragrant steam.

“I know.” Sam replied, smirking, as he left the room to take his turn in the bathroom. The water had barely started when someone knocked on the front door. Dean sighed and set his mug down, wandering over and letting an overly cheerful Gabe and a barely functional Cas into the apartment.

“Coffee?” Dean offered, waving them towards the kitchen. Cas responded with a grunt, rushing towards the kitchen before Dean had even finished talking. “Uh?” He turned to Gabe as the shorter man closed the door behind him.

“He didn’t set his alarm this morning, and was running late.” Gabe explained. “He doesn’t really function very well without coffee.” Dean nodded in understanding, he was the same usually.

Gabe and Dean reached the kitchen the same time that Sam did, hair still dripping from the shower and his t-shirt clutched in his hands. Gabe stopped moving, eyes roving over Sam’s chest and shoulders appreciatively. “Good morning.” He sang happily, only a little disappointed when Sam rushed to pull his shirt on.

Dean snorted at the interaction, turning his attention to the counter that had his mug on it, only to find that it was empty. He frowned as he peered into the cup, raising his eyes to meet Cas’ he narrowed them suspiciously. “You.” He accused, pointing his finger at the man in mock anger.

Cas looked apologetic as he handed Dean the coffee in his hands. “Sorry.” He mumbled, turning around to make himself another. “It was all alone and abandoned.”

“It’s ok dude.” Dean snorted a laugh, god the man was adorable . The thought startled him, where had that come from? He wondered, shaking his head.

They joked together over coffee until Sam announced that it was time to head out for breakfast, apparently Gabe had wanted donuts for breakfast, which was definitely something they didn’t have in Sam’s prepared meal plan. Dean was actually pretty impressed that Gabe convinced Sam that donuts were a breakfast food, though he contributed the success to Sam’s obvious infatuation with the short man.

They decided to take two cars since they’d split up after breakfast to get the different things they’d need to buy for GISHWHES in their pairs. Sam didn’t even ask which car to go to, he just walked up to Gabe’s red Mercedes and hopped into the passenger seat. Cas looked at Dean and shrugged, following him into the garage and to the Impala.

“Nice car.” He whistled lowly, running his fingertips reverently along the smooth black paint.

“Thanks man. I restored her myself.” Dean beamed while leaning over to unlock the passenger door to let Cas slide into his seat. He took a moment to push a cassette into the tape deck before reversing out of his spot and heading towards the bakery Sam suggested they meet up at, apparently Gabe had highly recommended it.

Dean was elated to discover the bakery also housed a cafe and that they served a decent sized breakfast platter, complete with bacon, eggs and sausage links. Cas, it seemed, had the same idea and Dean grinned in approval when twin plates were brought to their table. Dean snickered around a mouthful of bacon when he realized that Gabe had ordered for Sam and he was currently staring wide-eyed at a plate of various donuts.

To Dean’s surprise, Sam didn’t even complain. He just plucked a glazed donut from the pile and happily dug into the least healthy breakfast Dean can ever remember his brother eating. It wasn’t long before conversation turned to their day, Dean telling Cas about all the stores he could take him to to shop for the Hunt.

Dean snagged two powdered donuts from the plate on Sam and Gabe’s table as he went to pay for his breakfast, passing one to Cas when he reached the register. “Thanks Dean.” Cas smiled happily, taking a bite while he waited for his turn to pay. Eventually everyone was ready to go and get things started for the day.

Sam and Gabe were off to research a local petting zoo, hoping to find a goat they could get to pose with Sam in a boat for a green eggs and ham photograph. They were also going to hunt down one of those inflatable dancing tube things that you see at car yards, apparently Sam was going to dress as one and let it choreograph a dance. After that they were going to be going shopping.

Dean was taking Cas out to find a street sign they could personify, Sam had suggested just using google maps but Dean loved the excuse to take Cas for a drive in his Baby. After that they’d be hitting up the party store to buy all of the things they may or may not need.

“I wonder what the rest of the team is up to today.” Dean mused, turning the music down. “Jo sounded like she was really busy when she popped into chat today, but I didn’t see her claim that many tasks.”

“Yeah as far as I know she only took on one or two for now, but that’s ok. Once she gets those done she can help Ash with his.” Cas was watching street names as they passed, trying to find something he’d like to see Dean dress up as.

“That’s the one!” Dean exclaimed suddenly, making Cas jump.

“Huh?” Cas looked around as Dean pulled the car to a sudden halt just past an intersection. Angel Street . “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s perfect Cas. I know just where we can get some wings that would look amazing with your hair, and heck they even have glitter paint so we can give them highlights to match your eyes.”

Dean looked so excited that there was no way Castiel could say no. “Well I am named after an angel.” He agreed.

And that was how Cas ended up at the costume store with Dean circling around him, a predatory gleam in his eye. “I think you should be shirtless.” Dean announced suddenly, prompting Castiel to remove his shirt before he even realized he’d moved, “And maybe we could glue the wings to your back.” Dean was running his hands across Cas’ skin while he talked, planning where to put the wings.

Cas shivered slightly at the touch and swallowed heavily. “Ok Dean.” he said slowly. “If that’s what you want.”

Dean grinned. “Awesome.” He rubbed his hand across the skin of Cas’ back once more before catching himself and stepping away. Immediately Cas missed the warmth of Dean’s hands against his exposed skin, and quickly pulled his shirt back on, suddenly conscious of the fact he was in an aisle in a store, not even a dressing room.

They spent quite a bit of money between them, purchasing different things for the tasks they’d claimed, and even picking up some things they thought might help out Gabe and Sam with their tasks.

“We should start making costumes and stuff we’re going to need all week.” Dean suggested as they walked back to the car weighed down by their shopping bags. “Give time for the glue and paint and stuff to dry.”

“Good idea.” Cas agreed, carefully eyeing the way Dean’s ass looked in his jeans as he walked on ahead. Cas waited until Dean had the trunk of the Impala open for him to offload the bags, before casually mentioning his thoughts “I really think you should do the veggie cheerleader outfit, Dean.”

“What? Why me?” Dean stuttered, taken completely off guard. “I thought that one of the girls were doing it.”

“Because I’d like to see it.” Cas shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “But if someone claimed it, we’ll see how they go with it first.” He moved around and got into the front seat, leaving Dean gaping at the inside of the trunk, wondering what the fuck just happened.

Dean had been worried things would be awkward between them when he joined Cas in the car, however Cas just grinned innocently at him and pushed the tape into the player to start the music, singing along and smiling over at Dean when they caught each others eye. It was actually really comfortable.

Dean took them to the mall food court for lunch, intending to look for a few things they still needed to either find or report to the other’s that they couldn’t and let someone else try. It was nice to finally have some down time, and Dean chatted carelessly with Cas while they ate the questionable food court offerings.

“So what do you do Cas?” Dean asked as they sat down, locking eyes with the stunning blue ones across the table.

Cas picked at his food. “Oh, I…” He trailed off, looking away. “I work for a film company.” Cas was actually blushing.

Dean blinked. “Okay? Do you work with Gabe then?” Cas’ head snapped up, his eyes searching Dean’s for something, though what it was, Dean didn’t know.

“Not exactly.” Cas mumbled, apparently having found, or not found, whatever he had been looking for in Dean’s face. “I mean, they’ve tried to get me to be in them too, but I prefer to be behind the camera, not in front of it.” Castiel looked beyond uncomfortable with this conversation, and that just made Dean even more curious, he decided right then that he was going to look up a certain Gabriel Speight when he got back to the apartment that night.

“Anyway.” Cas cleared his throat loudly, rubbing his face with his hand. “What about you? What do you do Dean?”

Dean swallowed his mouthful. “I’m a mechanic.” He said proudly. “I grew up on the road so it was important to know how to fix a car, eventually I started working with Ellen’s friend Bobby, he gave me my first job and it just kind of went from there. I’m taking over the business from him when he retires.”

Cas was impressed. Dean looked really proud of how far he’d come on his own, how he’d managed to find a career that he was good at and that he liked to do. “That’s awesome, Dean.”

They exchanged amusing work stories over the last of their burgers, though it seemed that Cas was very careful about how much he shared about his line of work. It just made Dean more curious.

After their meals were finished, they wandered through the mall together, walking closer to each other than strictly necessary, hands touching as their arms swung a little with each step. “So I was thinking we can check out the prices of things at the farmer’s market.” Dean suggested, avoiding Cas’ eye. Cas nodded.

On the drive home, with several bags of corn and cabbage stowed safely in the trunk, Dean was wondering at which point he’d become ok with attempting to make a cheerleader outfit out of cabbage.

Though it was pretty obvious when he thought back on it. It would have been when Cas turned to him with a playful gleam in his eyes, his expression so eager that it had made his dick twitch in his jeans and asked “So are you going to get naked for this cabbage, Dean?”

Gabe’s Mercedes was already parked by the curb when they pulled up to Dean’s building, Dean, as usual, make sure to park his Baby in the garage to keep her safe from harm. Cas and Dean emptied the trunk of the many bags of completely random things they had bought.

The apartment was suspiciously quiet when they entered. Neither Sam, nor Gabe were anywhere to be found. Dean shot Sam a quick text message and was a little concerned to hear his brother’s phone from the coffee table. Cas looked over at him and shrugged. “I’m sure they’re fine Dean.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah. Help me get this shit unpacked.” He dropped the costume bags on the couch for Cas to handle, taking the bags from the farmer’s market with him into the kitchen to put away.

By the time he had the vegetables safely put up Cas had started gluing deep blue feathers into the black wings they’d bought. They looked amazing and Dean couldn’t wait to see the finished product. “What can I do, Cas?” he asked, sitting down on the floor next to his friend.

“Uh.” Cas scratched his head, looking around at the things they had spread out around them. He looked over at Dean helplessly. “I have no idea. It’s a bit late in the day to start anything new.”

Dean hummed as he looked around, pulling over the handwritten list Sam had made up of things he could do. “Oh I could try this one. Making a Slangaroo out of toilet paper.” He pointed. “Wait, what the fuck is a Slangaroo?” Cas wordlessly pulled up the image of the GISHWHES mascot on his phone, handing it to Dean and focusing his attention back on the wings, carefully removing feathers where they’d be attaching the wings to his skin.

Dean was halfway through a toilet roll and one hundred percent sure that this Misha person was satan when Sam and Gabe came in the front door. Sam was completely soaked and he and Gabe were too wrapped up in each other to pay any attention to the people around them.

“For fucks sake Sammy!” Dean snapped when his brother dripped onto his toilet paper origami, causing the whole thing to turn to mush in his hands.

“Sorry Dean!” Sam called over his shoulder as he pried himself away from Gabe and went into the bathroom to shower.

“Where were you guys?” Cas asked, patting Dean’s shoulder in commiseration, looking over at the mess of toilet paper on his lap.

“Oh I was just getting a little revenge.” Gabe smirked, pulling out his camera to show a photo of Sam, wearing a dalmatian onesie, on his hands and knees on a lawn, a fire hose being sprayed directly into his mouth.

Dean burst out laughing before what Gabe had said registered. “Wait, revenge?” He asked between chuckles.

“Sam sprayed Gabe and I with coffee when he answered the door yesterday.” Cas explained, shaking his head at the picture with a grin.

“I see.” Dean didn’t see. “Well at least you guys got one of the tasks done. Great job.”

Gabe nodded wickedly. “Yep. I’m going to upload and submit this now. And of course email you guys copies.” He winked, connecting his phone to his laptop and pulling the images off it.

Cas finished with his wings, and helped Dean clean up the mess they’d made before insisting that he and Gabe needed to get back to the hotel because he was in dire need of a shower, having accidentally put his hand in glitter glue during the clean up, he’d rubbed it all over his face before he’d realized what had happened. Gabe and Sam looked as sad to be separating as Dean felt to watch Cas go, although at least he had shirtless Cas in wings to look forward to the next day.

The thought made his dick perk up with interest, and he excused himself to his room while Sam reviewed his list for the day. Once Dean was safely in his bedroom he made sure to lock the door behind him. Settling himself on the middle of his bed with his laptop and a wash rag in front of him he pulled up his favorite porn site.

On a whim he searched for ‘angel porn’ and was most definitely not disappointed by the results. He clicked on the first one he came across with a dark haired guy in wings, and yanked his pants down enough to let his hand have easier access. He touched himself slowly, working himself up at an easy pace, rubbing himself over his boxers. He was on the second video before he removed his pants and boxers completely and took himself in hand.

He closed his eyes as he gathered precum on with his thumb, twisting his wrist a little each time his hand reached the tip. He could hear his own panting breaths mixing with the ones coming from his headphones as he pictured blue eyes and full lips, he was close. Just a little more. He’d just started moving his left hand downwards to fondle his balls when a familiar voice made his eyes snap open.

“I have the kielbasa you ordered.” Gabriel drawled into the room.

Dean raced to cover himself, slamming the laptop closed and searching the room. Gabe wasn’t there, but his voice was still continuing, right in Dean’s ear. It was almost as though, no. Nooo .  Dean cautiously opened the laptop in front of him, and sure enough, on the screen was one Gabriel Speight, two hot women wearing only angel wings, wrapped around him seductively.

“SAM!” Dean roared, closing the tab on his browser and simultaneously flinging the headphones as far away from himself as he could. Dean raced to pull his pants on as he flung open the bedroom door. “Are you fucking kidding me Sammy?”

Sam turned away from where he’d been reheating their meals. “What?” He asked, all innocent confusion.

“Oh he’s in films, Dean. Nothing you’d like, Dean.” Dean mimicked, breathing heavily through his nose. “I just saw your goddamned boyfriends’ dick Sam!”

Sam looked like he tried not to laugh, however it wasn’t long before he was hunched over holding his sides as he tried to breathe around his laughter. “Oh my god.” He choked out. “You… you saw, you were getting off to Gabe?”

“No.” Dean snapped. “Instant goddamned boner killer right there, hearing his voice in my ear. I thought he was in my room watching me jerk off.”

Sam was gone to laughter again when a thought hit Dean. Cas worked with Gabe. “Son-of-a-bitch!” Dean was hard so fast that he felt dizzy, apparently his dick didn’t get the memo about Cas being behind the camera, not in front, that or it didn’t care because Cas worked in the porn industry .

Chapter Text

"SAM!" Sam was disinterestedly watching the microwave while he waited for it to heat their food when he heard Dean’s shout. Moments later he heard Dean’s door bang open and heavy footsteps coming down the hall. “Are you fucking kidding me Sammy?” Dean yelled, bursting into the kitchen in disarray.

“What?” Sam turned around to face his brother, confusion obvious on his face.

“Oh he’s in films, Dean. Nothing you’d like, Dean.” Dean mimicked, breathing heavily through his nose, hands clenched at his sides. “I just saw your goddamned boyfriends’ dick Sam!”

Boyfriend? Sam was momentarily confused since he didn’t have a boyfriend when the rest of the sentence clicked into place in his mind. Oh shit!

Sam tried not to laugh, he really did. But the way Dean was trying to control his breathing, the way he’d gotten so upset, it just cut through Sam’s restraint without much of a fight. “Oh my god!” He managed. “You…” his laughter cut him off again. “You saw, you were getting off to Gabe?” Sam felt an irrational flash of jealousy at the thought and shoved it far away, focusing instead on the hilarious look on his brother's face.

“No.” Dean snapped, glaring at him. “Instant goddamned boner killer right there, hearing his voice in my ear. I thought he was in my room watching me jerk off.” Sam couldn’t stop his laughter again, Dean’s face really wasn’t helping, a mask of righteous fury covering his features as he looked like he’d been betrayed. He’d finally got his laughter under control when a look of realization crossed Dean’s face, “Son-of-a-bitch!” Dean burst out again, turning and dashing from the room, a blush covering his face.

Wonder what that was about . Sam thought in amusement as he served up their food. Dean was nowhere to be seen when he left the kitchen so he knocked on the closed bathroom door where the shower had just started running. “Dean, your food is in the microwave.” He called through the door.

“Thanks Sammy.” Dean’s voice sounded strained and Sam resolutely did not want to know what was happening in the shower. He headed towards the guest room, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he sat on the bed with his food.

Sam: So Dean saw one of your videos tonight.

Gabe: Oh? Which one?

Sam: I’m not sure, but he apparently didn’t like what he saw.

Sam chuckled when his phone rang. “Hey Gabe.” He answered without looking.

“What about you Samsquatch?” Gabe’s voice was low, flirty. “Did you like watching my videos?”

“What?” Sam stuttered awkwardly, glad that Gabe couldn’t see the deep blush that he could feel creeping over his face.

“I know you’ve seen them Sammy boy.” Gabe continued. “Your reaction on Saturday was quite telling.” Sam gulped, twisting his hand nervously in the sheets, his food forgotten.

“I... Uh. Huh...” Sam began, screwing his face up in frustration as he tried to think of a way to avoid this particular conversation.  He felt a stirring in his groin as his dick began to betray him, perking up as if to listen closely to the porn star on the other end of the line.

“So is that a yes? I’ll take it as a yes.”  Gabe answered, his voice teasing.  “Tell me” he purred into the phone “which one is your favourite?”

Sam’s breath began to quicken. “Fuck, Gabe. I can’t. I mean. Shit.”  Sam shook his head in confusion and took a deep breath to steady himself, pressing one hand against his traitorous cock as he spoke again. “I mean I haven’t seen all of them. But my current favourite is the aeroplane one where you’re the captain and the crew keep coming into the cockpit and fucking while you’re trying to fly the plane.” Sam froze a little, cursing his verbal diarrhoea, wondering absently if he chose that movie because Gabe’s only involvement for most of the movie was watching the others while they hammered away at each other right next to him.  Of course, he had his dick in his hand for most of the time, and an interesting set of lips wrapped around him at one point by a pretty cabin attendant who was also getting reamed by the co-pilot but Sam liked the idea of him not being with anyone else for part of the film.   And where the fuck did that thought come from?

He heard his name being moaned into the phone and snapped back to the conversation “I’d like to come in your cockpit.” he thought heard Gabe groan.

“I beg your pardon?” he asked “You want to, to ohhhh.” and with that, he was done for. His half attentive dick sprang to attention inside his jeans, making him wince at the pressure. He palmed himself through the denim, tempted to undo the buttons and release himself.

“Well I guess now that’s out in the open Sammy, how about you tell me what it was you liked about that one. Not that I understand why, I barely got any sex at all in it. I’m still pissed about it” Gabe muttered, seemingly more to himself than to Sam.

“That’s what I liked.” Sam answered with a barely controlled groan. “You were so frustrated through the whole thing. Nobody was touching you, well except for that one woman, but - ”

“She was the worst. I mean, talk about the whore of Babylon. That one gives ‘loose lips sink ships’ new meaning. I hated working with her. So unprofessional.” Gabriel cut in, surprising him with his vehement tone. When had they gotten off track?  He cleared his throat. “What I mean is, we had a job to do and, well, never mind. So I’m guessing, from your comment that you liked seeing me frustrated? Oh Sammy, if only you could see me now. Two days in your company, I’m very frustrated.”

Sam agreed with Gabriel, he liked hearing him frustrated. “Tell me”.  He said into the phone, finally letting his hand wander to his pants, releasing his dick into the room, breathing sharply as the air hit tender skin.  He got comfortable on the bed and stroked his fingers up his length, sighing in pleasure at the sensation.

“Oh Sam, are you touching yourself for me?” Gabe asked, his breath heavy.

“What do you think?” Sam snorted back at him.

“Hmmmm. Good.” Sam heard squeaking and he assumed Gabriel was getting also comfortable for what was about to happen.

“I bet you’re perfectly proportioned, aren’t you Samsquatch?"

“wh-what?” Sam asked, momentarily confused as his brain tried to follow what Gabe was saying.

“I bet that perfect body of yours has an equally perfect dick to go with it, doesn’t it?” Gabe continued, groaning into the phone.

“Well, um, I’ve never had any complaints” Sam answered, matching Gabriel’s moan with a lust filled one of his own as he grabbed onto his dick properly and started to move his hand up and down the shaft, twisting slightly as he neared the head.  He moaned again. “Are you, um. Fuck, Gabe.” Sam’s hand moved faster, his breath catching in his throat as he moaned Gabriel’s name again.

“Hell yeah, Sammy, I am. And I can tell you right now. Ohhhh. The next chance we. Mmmmm. Get. I’m going to make you scream.” Gabe was starting to sound like he was having trouble putting words together, desperate, like he was a man on the edge.  Sam pictured what he thought Gabriel might look like, lust-filled eyes, hair a mess as he took himself in hand.

That image was enough to have the sensation pooled low in his belly to spread like fire through his body and he arced up, thrusting into his hand desperately chasing his release.

“Fuck yes. Gabe. Going to shut you up, make you stop talking. Unnngh.” Sam bit his lip as his climax got closer.

“Ohhh Sam. Mm. As long as it’s. Your dick shutting me up. Fuck.” Gabe stammered his words. “Come for me Sammy, right now. Please. Ohhhh FUCK.” Gabriel shouted frantically, moaning Sam’s name over and over as he climaxed.

The sound of his would-be lover spilling his release and shouting his name ended Sam.  He thrust upwards into his hand one last time and came harder than he had in years, throwing his head back, hitting the back of the bed with a loud thud as his body collapsed, heart racing and out of breath.

“Fuck.” Sam said once he caught his breath. “Gabe?” he asked, hesitantly.

“Mmmm, can’t talk. Dead. You killed me.” Came the muffled response through the phone.  “I hope you’re happy with yourself.”

Sam groaned contentedly and looked down at himself, at the mess he had made. “I ruined my shirt. This is all your fault short-stack. So yeah, if you’re not at least dead, I’ll be looking to finish the job.”

“That a promise Samshine?” Gabe asked in a clearer tone. “I mean.. we don’t have to take this further” he suddenly sounded hesitant. Like the confident, mouthy individual from 10 minutes before had vanished.

Sam frowned at the phone. What was he on about? “Shut up.” Sam said, and took a breath. An idea had just popped into his head and he blurted it out before he lost his nerve. “You could, you could arrange to stay over tomorrow night. Or I could stay with you, you know, to get our tasks done? I mean, I guess that would make sense anyway, right? If you, we were together, for GISHWHES?”

Silence met him as he sensed Gabriel freeze on the other end of the connection. “I’d like that Sammy.” Gabe answered softly, finally. “I really would.”

Sam released a breath he hadn’t realised he was holding and looked at the ceiling, sighing in relief. “Good. That’s great. I’m looking forward to it.”  He tried to stifle a yawn but failed miserably, alerting the other man to just how tired he was.

Gabriel chuckled. “You wore yourself out Sam-I-am, get some sleep ok? I’ll see you in the morning for some green eggs and ham.”

“Oh haha, poetry. You’re a funny guy Gabe.” Sam retorted. “But you’re right. I’m beat. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow. With your bags. Night Gabe.” Sam said with a smile.

“Night Sammy” Gabe replied before disconnecting the call.

Sam dropped his phone onto the bed and threw an arm over his eyes, attempting to process what had just happened. Did he really just have phone sex with a porn star?

Chapter Text

Gabe hung up the phone and sighed. He heard an angry sound to his right and turned his head, seeing his cousin standing there gaping at him. “Oh shit. Cas where the hell did you come from? I thought you were grabbing food.”

Cas sneered at him. “I’ve been standing here for way too long. My ears. My eyes. Dude, what about the bro-code?” He wailed in exasperation.

“You weren’t here when I started man.” Gabe smirked at him. “You can’t play that card. Besides, why the fuck didn’t you say something?” he asked in disbelief, a little uncomfortable that his cousin had heard him lose control. It wasn’t something that happened very often. “I’m sorry. You were never meant to hear that. Or see it.”

Cas dumped the containers of Thai food he was holding onto the table and ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. This was new ground for him and Gabriel.  They worked together, sure but he had never seen his cousin actually relax enough to enjoy a sexual act.  Certainly none of his films had ever been done for pleasure.  Not that he was keeping tabs. Not really, not anymore. “Don’t worry about it” he sighed. “Let’s eat.” And he dropped into a chair, grabbing his yellow curry and tearing the lid off. “The food alone this week is going to cost us a fortune Gabe. It will set us back. I’m sorry.” Cas looked over to Gabriel with an expression akin to the news that someone had kicked his puppy.

Gabriel jerked upright on his bed, shaking his head, a slight tremor running through him. “No. Cas. Please don’t say that. We’re done with it. No more, you said we had enough to get out for good.” He slumped, shoulders bowed under a heavy weight, his afterglow completely gone.  Sam’s offer had completely left his mind when he had realized Castiel had witnessed him with his dick out for fun and not work.  His heart was still racing though, which was weird. He absently ran a hand over his stomach, and started to take large gulps of air, trying to control the panic that was welling in his chest.  He felt faint and the room started to spin and he suddenly couldn’t breathe.  Fuck, why couldn’t he breathe?

Cas had been living with his cousin for long enough to recognize the beginnings of the anxiety attack that was about to hit Gabriel in full swing.  He leaped back out of his chair and sat down next to Gabe, running a hand firmly across his shoulders in an attempt to ground him and stop the attack before it got out of control.

“Easy man, breathe slower.” Cas said softly, his hand circling. “We will be fine. Our plans won’t change. I’ll make sure they don’t. It will be ok.”  He repeated the words over and over like a mantra until Gabriel’s breathing was a little more regulated and he could feel that his heart had slowed to a more normal rate. “Are you hungry? Do you want your dinner?” Cas stood up once the worst was over, knowing that his cousin would now want some space and time to organize his thoughts.

Gabriel sat on the edge of his hotel bed, breathing heavily as the attack passed.  It had been a while since he had had one this bad, but he still knew the steps to take.  He stood up and went to the little fridge supplied by the hotel and grabbed a beer, twisting the cap off and gulping most of it down in one go. He belched and grimaced. “Whiskey man, we need whiskey.” he said, knowing the beer wasn’t going to give him the buzz he was craving. 

Cas smiled around his mouthful of food and kicked at the bag near his bed. “Over there, make me one while you’re at it.”  He paused to swallow.  “In fact, because you’re an asshole and you made me witness you jerking off earlier, you can make me drinks all night.”

Gabe snorted back a laugh. “Whatever man. Here. Now shut up and get drunk with me.  Or half drunk at least.” he handed Cas the drink he’d poured for him and picked up his dinner.  “Smells good.” he sat down to eat. “I might take the leftovers with us tomorrow to save a bit of money.” he added as he dug into his chili basil stir-fry.

Cas looked up from his dinner, cocking his head as he looked at Gabe. “I wouldn’t worry too much about not having food while we’re teamed up with the Winchesters. I got a good look in their fridge and freezer this afternoon when we put the stuff we got for GISHWHES away.”  He actually giggled.  Gabe stared at Castiel, his mouth gaping.  Since when did Castiel giggle ?  “Dean told me Sam made him spend the day cooking so they were ready.  I’m sure we can convince them to share. If we ask nicely.  You know, since you and Sam are so close now.”

Gabriel just stared at his cousin unsure how to react. He appreciated his cousin's attempts to distract him, but he wasn’t sure how he wanted to deal with what had happened with Sam earlier.  His mind wandered back to the event and the conversation that went along with it.

He dropped his fork as he remembered.  “Fuck. Cas, with all that happened since you um. Since what happened before... I forgot. Fuck!” he slammed a palm against his forehead, cursing the fact that he had just had a completely unnecessary panic attack, quite literally over a non-existent issue.

“Huh?” Cas asked in confusion.  “The fuck are you talking about?”

“Sam and Dean. We can stay there.  Sam invited us to stay so that it’s easier to do the tasks. Oh man, that fucking panic attack.”  His breath started to quicken again.  “Oh you have got to be KIDDING me.” He rolled his eyes, fighting off the anxiety that tried to raise it’s head again and slammed back his glass of whiskey.  He looked over to Castiel, who sat there with a smirk on his face, his eyes lost in thought.

“Hey earth to Cas.” Gabe waved his hand in front of Cas’s face.  “Stop making plans to smooch Dean and talk to me.”  Castiel jumped, and had the grace to look guilty, his face flushing in embarrassment.

“So?” prompted Gabe. “What do you say?  I mean, the sleeping arrangements will be interesting.  Can’t say I know where we’re sleeping, but Cas, I’ll sleep on the kitchen floor if it means we save some cash here.”  He toed the carpet and twisted his fork in his dinner and looked up at Castiel, desperation in his eyes.  He had no choice, he had to make this work. They couldn’t go back, not now.

Cas paused to look at Gabriel.  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea Gabe.  I’m not sure if you can handle it.  What if you have an attack?” he looked at Gabriel in concern. “You know the nights are worst.”  He added softly. 

Gabe knew his cousin meant well.  He knew that Castiel was worried about him, but at the same time, he was determined to do this.  There was simply no choice. “We have to do it Cas.  Besides, nobody knows. We don’t have to say anything.  We need this to happen and if I flip out, you’ll be there.”

“Hmmm. I suppose it would make things easier. We could pay them something to stay there, or supply the alcohol. Something, just so we’re not freeloading.”  Castiel said thoughtfully, submitting to Gabriel’s pleading, knowing that his cousin was right. 

Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief.  He meant what he said when he said he’d sleep on the floor.  Not that he thought the Winchesters would make him or Cas do that.  He paused midway through pouring them a second (fourth?) drink, remembering his earlier promise to Sam. And what the fuck was he going to do about it?  He hadn’t been with anyone unless it was work related for a long time.  Hell, he hadn’t even called Sam with the intent of making the man get off, he just wanted to ask about Dean’s nocturnal porn activities.  And then the giant fool had spoken in that low voice when he answered.  Gabe was a goner after that.

They sat up for a few more hours talking and drinking until what was probably an unwise hour before they called it a night, each man falling comfortably to his respective bed to sleep the kind of sleep only a night of whiskey could bring.

~

The blaring of the alarm from Castiel’s side of the room woke Gabriel up and he sat up groggily, wondering where his damned cousin was and why couldn’t he have a different alarm for fucks sake?  He heard the water in the bathroom turn off as he checked his phone to see what time it was.

“Shit.” he muttered to himself.  He’d overslept.  He jumped off the bed and pushed past Castiel when he left the bathroom, showering in record time so that they could pack up the room and leave as soon as he was done.

Castiel, however had no such desire to be moving fast or even at all this morning, his blue eyes gazing at him tiredly as he accused Gabriel of getting him drunk again.

“This is all your doing.” he complained bitterly, pulling his shoes on. “You had to make me match you drink for drink and now I need more caffeine than this stupid room can offer.  Let’s go. And you’d better hope I get coffee soon or I’ll kick you in the neck.”

“But Cas” Gabe started, “what about our stuff?” He looked at his cousin nervously, silently vowing to cut Cas off next time they were drinking.  Funny, he seemed to insist he wanted more every time Gabriel opened the bottle.

Castiel groaned loudly “Coffee Gabriel. Then stuff.” he picked up Gabriel’s keys and threw them at him. “Now”

Gabriel caught the keys and made his way out the door, admitting to himself that coming back later in the day wouldn’t really make a difference to their plans since they had to drive around doing their tasks all day anyway.  As long as they didn’t have to pay for another night, he wasn’t that bothered if he had to come back to collect them.

What he failed to take into account however, was Sam’s reaction when they knocked on the door sans bags. 

“Morning Sammy” Gabriel quipped, rocking back on his heels and running his eyes over the man in front of him.  Damn he looked good even at 7am.

Cas pushed past Sam, muttering something about coffee as he made his way to the kitchen.  Sam looked at Gabriel confusion blanketing his features.  “Gabe, hi.”  He stuck his head out the door and looked up the hallway. “Did, did you leave your bags in the car? That was silly, come on, I’ll help you with them.”  He grabbed Gabe by the arm, not noticing how the shorter man tensed up at the touch and turned to walk up the hall.

“Uhh. Sam, about that, we didn’t -” Gabe stammered out, trying to explain what had happened but failing miserably.  Sam looked crestfallen, the light going out of his eyes as he realized there were no bags with Gabriel and Cas. 

“Gabe? I don’t understand.”  he leaned towards Gabriel, silently begging for an explanation, and when none came he ran his hands through his hair in frustration and sighed.  “You aren’t staying?” he finished, the sadness clear on his face.

It was all Gabriel could do to resist flinging himself forward at Sam and holding onto him.  “No Sammy, I mean. Yes, i think. But ooooohhhh shit. Can we do this with coffee please? And not in the hallway?” Gabe begged Sam, pleading with his eyes for the other man to see what he was trying to say as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

“Fine.” Sam muttered, stepping out of the way and walking back to the kitchen to get coffee for them both.  Gabriel followed warily behind him, not sure of what was about to happen.

Castiel was in the kitchen when they walked in, a dreamy look on his face as he inhaled what was probably the second cup he’d had in the short time he was there.  He shouted for Dean to get his ass out of bed before pouring himself and Gabriel a mug of coffee each, making Gabriel's with way he remembered he took it from the day before.  The tension in the room was thick as he handed Gabriel his mug.

Castiel picked up his coffee and grabbed Dean’s mug, disappearing from the kitchen mumbling about it being far too early, leaving Sam and Gabriel alone as they stared awkwardly around the room. 

“So. uh, I’m going to check on what the others have been up to overnight, come on.”  Sam walked into the lounge-room and flopped himself down onto the sofa, his face still sad.  He shifted slightly as Gabriel sat down next to him, and they pulled out their computers and waited for them to boot up.

“Sam”  Gabriel said softly, pausing catching his breath as Sam looked at him, hurt in his eyes.  “We seem to have had a misunderstanding.”

“No Gabe it’s cool, I get it.  Lets’ just focus on GISHWHES ok?”  Sam replied, looking away again.

“No Sammy.  See? There you go misunderstanding me again. Castiel is a bitch in the morning and he refused to do anything until he’d had coffee.  I mean, look at him. He was on his second cup before we even got in the room.”  Gabe knew his reasoning probably sounded lame, even though it was the truth.

Sam took a sip of his coffee and didn’t say anything for a moment.  Gabriel wondered if murdering his cousin for ruining any potential he had with Sam would be an acceptable excuse when Sam finally answered.

“Fine.”

Gabriel sighed and stood up, walking out of the lounge-room to track down Castiel, hearing him behind the door to what could only be Dean’s room.  He grinned at the thought of the revenge he was about to get and burst through the door without knocking.

“Cas, we need to get our shit from the hotel. Oh.” Well, he thought to himself, what do we have here?  He leaned on the doorway and grinned at the pair on the bed, who had leaped apart, pretending that they had not, in fact just been kissing on Dean’s bed.

He was trying not to laugh at them, he really was so he told Dean they were going to get their stuff and left them behind, calling out to Cas to let the man clothe himself before heading back to the sofa, still chuckling. Sam glared at him in confusion so he concentrated on his laptop, leaving Sam to whatever problem he was having, deciding to deal with him later.

Chapter Text

~Monday: Day 3~

Dean slept through his alarm. Which wouldn’t have been so bad if Sam had have woken him up when he got up, but he didn’t. Dean wasn’t woken up until Gabe and Cas were already there, Cas knocking on his door and ducking inside the room, placing two steaming mugs of coffee on Dean’s bedside table before racing back to close the door behind himself.

“Uh, morning Cas?” Dean mumbled as he sat up in bed, relieved that he’d bothered to put his boxers on after his shower the night before. “You couldn’t have waited until I was up?” Cas raised an eyebrow at the slight tenting of the blankets in Dean’s lap. Dean threw his pillow at him. “You know what I meant you pervert.”

Cas chuckled, sitting on the side of Dean’s bed, as he sipped his coffee. “I couldn’t deal with them before I had my coffee.”

“What do you mean?” Dean asked, gratefully accepting his own mug from Cas as he shuffled around to sit beside him. “What’s going on?”

“Right now?” Cas smirked. “Nothing. Sam isn’t speaking to Gabe for some reason, last night though.” Cas actually shuddered. “It’s one thing being behind the camera and knowing it’s fake, quite another hearing it when it’s completely real.”

Dean was a bit slow in the mornings, so he could be forgiven for not catching on at first. “What are you talking about?” Cas looked at him over the rim of his mug, eyebrow raised. Dean finally understood what Cas was implying. “Oh shit! But aren’t you guys sharing a room?”

Cas nodded. “Yes, but apparently phone sex doesn’t count against the bro-code of not in the same damned room.”

“Well if it makes you feel better I was subjected to your cousin’s sex life last night too?” Dean offered and that definitely caught Castiel’s attention.

“What?” Cas looked nervous, almost like he was afraid to know what Dean meant.

“I… uh, I saw some of his work.” Dean now knows that Cas had filmed the majority of Gabe’s recent videos, opting to work with his cousin soon after he’d made it big in the industry, he’d spent a lot of time the night before googling Castiel Novak and his cousin Gabriel Speight.

If Dean had thought that Cas looked nervous before, he looked downright terrified now. His hand shook as he turned to place his mug on the side table, angling his body away from Dean, he looked almost like he was about to flee. “What work did you see?” He asked slowly, looking everywhere but Dean.

Dean blushed. “I, uh I saw one of the ones you filmed.” Cas relaxed minutely. “Gabe said something about a kielbasa?”

“Wasn’t he with a pair of angels in that one?” Cas met his eye, and Dean blushed further as he nodded mutely. Amused suspicion flickered in Cas’ eyes then and Dean was so relieved that the cautious fear was gone that he forgot the reason he was embarrassed to tell Cas which film he’d seen in the first place. “Would this have anything to do with a certain pair of wings I spent the evening working on?” Cas drawled suddenly, fear in his eyes gone and replaced with a hungry look.

Dean looked away, embarrassed, Cas reached out and gently gripped his jaw. “Don’t hide your eyes from me, Dean.” He murmured softly, suddenly a lot closer than Dean expected him to be, soft breath ghosting over moist lips. Dean leaned in unconsciously, his green eyes locked with Cas’ blue neither man daring to breathe as their faces inched closer. Cas’ eyes flicked to Dean’s lips and he licked his own wetting them, so close now that the tip of his tongue ghosted over Dean’s lips as well.

Dean surged forward and closed the distance between them, crushing his lips to Cas’ roughly at first, before pulling back to deepen the kiss. He opened his mouth into the kiss, pressing his body closer to Cas’ when Cas did the same, there was no fight for dominance, they simply explored each other, with tongues and hands as they reveled in the taste of coffee on each others tongues.

The kiss was almost tender, there was no urgency as they breathed together, until the moment was ruined by the door bursting open. “Cas, we need to get our shit from the hotel. Oh.” Gabe apparently had no sense of privacy as he just casually made himself comfortable in the door frame, grinning mischievously as Dean and Cas sprang apart to glare at him. “I’ll wait.”

Cas sighed, moving to untangle his limbs from Dean’s, Dean however was looking at Gabe like he’d grown another head. “What?”

“Didn’t Sam-I-am mention it?” Gabe smirked. “He’s invited us to stay here, which will save so much on hotel costs.”

Dean scrubbed his face with his hand in frustration. No , Sam hadn’t mentioned anything. Though, he supposed that could have been due to the fact he hadn’t left his bedroom yet today. He sighed. “Well let’s get this shit done then.” He looked pointedly at the door, waiting for Gabe to leave so he could drag his mostly undressed ass out of bed.

Gabe snorted a laugh and left the doorway, leaving the door open as he wandered down the hall. “Come on Cassie, let the man put some clothes on.” He called behind him.

Cas sighed and collected the empty mugs. “I’ll make us more coffee.” He mumbled, hesitating in the doorway a moment, before pulling the door closed behind him, leaving Dean to wonder what the hell was happening to his organized life.

Cas had another coffee waiting for Dean when he reached the kitchen. “Thanks Cas.” Dean accepted it gratefully, leaning against the counter next to where he stood watching Gabe and Sam where they sat on the couch in the next room. They both looked to be wrapped up in looking up info on different GISHWHES tasks on their laptops, but they seemed to be taking turns at watching the other out of the corner of their eye. Dean caught Cas’ eye and smirked, inclining his head towards the front door. Cas nodded.

“Well, uh, we’re just gonna… go.” Dean called awkwardly, opting to just bring his coffee with him rather than trying to drink the scalding liquid on the way out the door. Gabe didn’t even look up, though Sam waved silently over his shoulder.

“So what the hell is going on there?” Dean asked Cas once they were both settled into their seats in the Impala.

Cas didn’t answer at first. “I’m not entirely sure.” He said finally. Before twisting around in his seat to make sure they had everything for the day. He smirked when he saw the wings in the backseat.

“Ok Cas, whaddya say we start knocking out these GISHWHES items?” Dean looked really excited to finally be getting started and he happily tapped his fingers along to the music playing on the radio as he drove.

“Of course, Dean.” Cas smiled over at him. “We need to collect our things from the hotel as well.” He hesitated. “If it’s ok with you that we stay, I mean it is your apartment, and it seems like you weren’t a part of the agreement.”

“Yeah Cas, it’s fine.” Dean interrupted his rambling. “I mean, it would have been nice if Sammy had talked to me before extending the invitation but what’s done is done.” Cas looked like he was about to protest, so Dean cut him off again. “And I really don’t mind, Cas, I have a three bedroom apartment, there’s room.”

Cas opened his mouth to speak again when he realized where they were. “Stop, Dean!” He exclaimed suddenly enough that Dean complied immediately, stomping his foot down on the brake hard enough the car jerked to a stop, flinging them back in their seats.

“What?” He cried, looking around for some danger or reason for the sudden stop. “Cas?!” He was taken aback at Cas’ low chuckle.

“You’re very responsive to me, Dean.” Cas murmured, suddenly a lot closer than Dean remembered.

“I… Uh.” He stammered. “What are you doing Cas?” Dean licked his lips, memories of that morning slamming into him and rushing straight south. Cas grinned wickedly and sat back, pulling the pair of wings he’d been fetching from the backseat into the front with them. It was then that Dean realized where they were, Angel Street. He swallowed audibly as Cas started to unbutton his shirt.

“I’ll just...” Dean forced himself to look away from the slow tease that was Castiel’s long fingers carefully popping each button undone, and the smooth tanned skin that was revealed beneath. “I’ll get the glue.” He practically flew out of the car, begging his cock to behave, telling it that he didn’t need to get any harder in public.

After having fetched the glue from the back seat Dean stood carefully and turned around to face Cas. Cas was completely shirtless now, and had turned so his back was to Dean, the wings leaning against the side of the Impala within easy reach. Dean’s mouth felt dry, and his hand itched to touch the expanse of skin presented to him. Instead he licked his lips and reached for the wings. Dean took a second to position them between Cas’ shoulders before attaching the glue, pressing the wings lightly to Cas’ skin he stepped back, wanting to confirm they were evenly positioned. Seeing that they weren’t, he leaned back in, his breath ghosting over the toned shoulders as he adjusted where they sat, Dean watched as goosebumps erupted over the exposed skin. He was gripped by a sudden desire to taste the skin in front of him and had to force himself to step away, clearing his throat.

“Don’t move too fast Cas, they have to dry.” He said softly, watching the slow way Cas turned to face him, careful not to jolt the wings and displace the drying glue. He sucked in a breath when Cas was finally facing towards him, glued on wings proudly on display. It needed something extra to make the look just so. “C’mere Cas.” He raised his arms up, ruffling Cas’ hair until he looked thoroughly debauched. Dean bit down on his lip to stop a groan as he inspected his work. “Cas” He breathed. “You look…”

“Do I look good Dean?” Cas’ voice was lower than normal, almost a growl. Dean’s cock twitched against the inside of his jeans and he hissed at the contact. He nodded weakly.

“Ok now let’s get this photo taken.” He suggested, trying to distract himself. “Go pose with the street sign.”

Castiel was trying to kill him. Dean was sure of it, as he tried to take different pictures for the GISHWHES task, he was trying to angle the photo correctly so that the street sign was visible in the image as well as Cas with his wings. Meanwhile, Cas was smirking wickedly at him as he posed, ranging between pole dancing poses, to innocent, to rutting against the cool metal. Dean was done for. “Caas.” He begged. “Come on I need a photo that we can use for the Hunt.”

“You’ve been taking lots of photos Dean.” Cas murmured, lips pressed to the pole suggestively, eyebrow raised.

Dean swallowed thickly. “Nothing that works for the Hunt though Cas.” Cas winked at him and complied, turning down the kink factor in his poses and trying to look serious. “Thanks Cas.” Dean mumbled, snapping a number of different photos, pretty sure that at least one would work for the Hunt submission. “We should.” He cleared his throat as he eyed Cas’ naked torso and the wings popping over his shoulders. “We should get those off you and get to the hotel.”

Dean was putting the camera back into the back seat of the car when he realized that they might have a problem. The glue they’d bought to affix Cas’ wings was still in the bag in the car, Dean checked his pockets with trepidation, a snort escaping him when he saw that the tube of glue in his pocket was superglue. “Oh shit.” He chuckled. “Um Cas?”

Cas popped his head over Dean’s shoulder to eye the tube in his hand. “Fuck.” He mumbled, realizing that the wings weren’t coming off anytime soon, at least, so long as he wanted to keep the skin on his back unscathed. “Well.” He said, wincing as he tugged experimentally on the right wing. “I guess we should look for a way to get superglue off.”

Dean nodded. “Though we might as well stop by the hotel and check you guys out first.” He offered, helping Cas put his dress shirt on backwards so they could button it up to the wings. “Then we can look it up back at my place while we grab some lunch.”

It took some maneuvering to get Cas seated comfortably in the front seat of the Impala with the wings, Dean was glad for the bucket seats as a newer car would probably have been less comfortable for Cas.  While they drove they made lighthearted conversation, bordering on flirtatious. Dean really enjoyed talking to Cas, but talking to Cas while he had that messed up, sex hair and those wings stuck on his back was hard. And so was he.

Cas pointed out which room belonged to him and Gabe and Dean parked the Impala right outside the door. They’d barely made it into the room before Cas had Dean pressed back against the door, arms to either side of him, face close enough that Dean could smell the coffee from earlier on his breath. “Did you think I didn’t know which video you were watching of Gabe’s, Dean?” Blue eyes held green as Dean’s breathing sped up. “Did you think I didn’t see the way you were watching me making the wings? Or the reaction you had when I put them on today?”

Dean swallowed, eyes flicking between Cas’ and his lips.

“Do you want to kiss me, Dean?” Cas drawled, stepping backwards away from him even as Dean leaned towards him. “Do you want to kiss your angel?”

Something snapped in Dean and suddenly he surged forward, hands reaching forward to grip onto Cas’ shirt and tugging him towards him, the fabric came loose in his hands as the buttons popped off, and a second, quick tug and Dean was tossing the ruined shit onto the floor as his hands explored Cas’ skin. Cas crushed their lips together, one hand moving up to grip Dean’s hair, holding him in place as their tongues fought for dominance.

Dean pushed Cas further back into the room, moving forward until the press of the bed against the back of his legs made him stop moving. Dean shoved him onto his back and looked down at him where he lay, breathing heavily on the bed below him.

Castiel’s hair was a sexy mess, first from the earlier photos and then from their kisses so far, the wings spread out behind him almost looked real as they shifted with Cas’ heavy, panting breaths. “Fuck Cas.” Dean groaned. “Look at you.”

“Come here Dean.” Cas beckoned to him from the bed, Dean was more than willing to comply, falling onto the bed, landing softly over the top of Castiel, pinning him to the mattress.  Castiel groaned as Dean rubbed up against him, feeling the other man’s erection through his jeans as he moved. Their mouths met again, slower this time each man licking lazily into the other as their hands explored.

Cas gasped softly as Dean’s hands found the attached wings, the slight tug of his fingers against the feathers pulling on the glue on his back with a delicious sting. “Dean.” He murmured softly against the man’s lips.

“Yeah Cas?” Dean panted as he pulled back from the kiss, looking down at Cas’ flushed face below him.
“Please Dean, touch me.” Cas gasped out as he thrust his hips upwards against Dean, breath catching at the friction. Dean moved back and slowly undid Cas’ jeans, even as Cas fumbled with the button on Dean’s.  Cas sighed as Dean pulled the denim down over his thighs, relieving some of the pressure on his aching cock. He moaned as he felt Dean’s hand move over the top of it hesitantly and he thrust upwards again into Dean’s hand to gain friction. “Yes Dean. Please” he begged, nibbling into Dean’s neck.

Dean groaned as Cas’ teeth bit into him and he tightened his hold on Cas’ cock, the momentary flash of pain making his own dick throb.  He pulled back and yanked their pants the rest of the way off, removing his own shirt immediately after.  He crawled back over Castiel, leaving a trail of kisses behind him as he made his way up Cas’ leg.   Fuck, this man is so beautiful he thought to himself and was overcome with the sudden desire to taste every part of Cas that he could get his mouth on.  

Cas moaned and spread his legs apart as he felt Dean moving up his body.  His cock was so hard  it hurt and he couldn’t wait to feel Dean inside him, which was a new sensation for him. He generally liked to be the one in control, but knowing that Dean wanted him sent his senses reeling, and he ached to be touched.  He opened his eyes and looked down and his gaze locked onto Dean’s green eyes at the same time he felt the other man’s tongue brush over the tip of his cock.  He put one hand in Dean’s hair, resisting the overwhelming urge to push him down until he’d swallowed him completely.  

“Argh, Dean” he stammered. “Feels so good. Mmmmmm.” he moaned as Dean sank all the way down, humming around him as he went lower and lower, mouth and tongue working around his shaft. “Dean” he said again as he felt a finger brush over his entrance. “Lube, bathroom, now. My bag.” he gasped the words out desperately.

Dean slowly pulled his mouth off Cas’ cock with a pop and looked up at him with wide eyes. “Right.” He replied hoarsely, and disappeared into the bathroom.  Cas heard what sounded like every single toiletry he owned clattering onto the tiles, realizing that Dean must have upended the bag to find what he was looking for.

“Son of a bitch” he heard Dean's voice, slightly muted from the bathroom. “Hah! Found it” He exclaimed in triumph, reappearing in the hotel room. Dean licked his way back up Castiel’s body until he found his mouth again and kissed him passionately, positioning himself between Cas’ legs and pulling his knees up a little.  He stroked Cas’ cock with one hand as he prepped Cas with the other, moaning into the other man’s mouth as the kisses became more frantic.

“Cas, oh Cas. You’re so fucking beautiful.” He moaned as he removed his fingers from Cas’ ass, watching the way he writhed beneath him.

  “Dean, hurry up. Mmph. I’m ready. Get inside me. Now” Cas almost yelled in frustration, grabbing onto Deans cock and lining him up with his entrance.  He pushed Dean into him, moaning loudly at the feeling of Dean’s cock as it slid inside.

  “Fuck Cas, you’re so tight. So fucking tight. And so hot.” Dean shuddered, pushing himself slowly into Cas, not stopping until he bottomed out.  Cas wrapped his legs around Dean’s waist and started to roll his hips.

“Move Dean. Please move. Ohhh yes. Again.” He mouthed as Dean finally, wonderfully started to move in and out, their hips finding a matching rhythm as the moved together, the pace almost frantic as both men lost themselves in the sensation.

Dean slammed his hips a little harder into Cas. “Cas, ohh mm. Do you like that angel? Do you like it when I’m fucking you?” Dean was a little surprised at the words that fell out of his mouth as he fucked into Castiel, but oh the man was so tight, and so fucking gorgeous that he couldn’t control it.  He licked his way from Cas’ shoulder up to his ear, almost blowing his load when the other man answered.

“Oh god Dean, yes, fuck me.” Cas screamed at him, moaning loudly the whole time.

Dean moved his hands down Cas’ body, his fingers twirling and pinching when one of them brushed against a feather. A feather? What? Dean wondered, concentration momentarily broken as his minded fed him an image of Cas wrapped around the street sign shirtless with the wings glued to his back.

“Hnnngnggng” He moaned, abruptly pulling out of Cas and flipping him over onto his stomach and staring at the wings that appeared to sprout from his back.  “Oh yes. That’s it. Those fucking wings are so perfect.”

Cas pushed up onto his knees and looked back over his shoulder at Dean. “Keep fucking me Dean. Please, I need you to - ohhhhh”

Dean pushed back into Cas and started pumping his hips into him. He could feel the orgasm building, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before he lost it completely. “Come on angel, yeah. Come on baby.” Dean had both hands on Cas’ hips but he moved one of them to touch the wings attached to the man underneath him.  He grabbed at the skin where they were glued onto Cas’ back, fingers moving through the feathers.  

Cas moaned as he felt Dean’s hand touch his back where the wings tugged at his skin, the stinging pain from the glue pulling was overshadowed by the heat of Dean’s fingers as they roamed his back.  He was so close, so close to coming without a hand on him and that was unheard of.  

“Dean please.” He begged. “I’m going to come.” Dean leaned his body down over Cas’, his chest laying across the wings as he bit down on Cas’ shoulder roughly. Cas arched his back and Dean’s name fell from his lips like a prayer, his body pulsing as he blissfully, finally came, spilling onto the bed beneath him, cock untouched.

Dean felt Cas shudder underneath him as he cried out, his body pulsing around him as he thrust into the tight wet heat one last time, Cas’ muscles clenching down on him as he came were enough to drag Dean over the edge. “Fuck! Cas!” Dean cried as orgasm washed over him.

Dean pulled out and they carefully arranged themselves so they could lay together, mindful of the wings that were tugging painfully against the skin on Cas’ back. As Cas settled onto his back, tugging him down to lay by his side Dean realized what they’d forgotten. “Shit Cas.” He exclaimed, moving to sit back up. “We forgot to use a condom.”

Cas reached for him before he could fully sit up, drawing him back down beside him so he could simply turn his head to look into the enticing green of Dean’s eyes. “It’s ok Dean, I’m on the pill.” Cas winked cheekily, laughing as Dean swatted his arm playfully. “I’m clean Dean, still have my most recent test results in my luggage if you wanted to check.”

“I am too.” Dean mumbled, running his fingertips across Cas’ chest softly. “Clean, I mean.”

Cas nodded seriously. “I’d hope so, there’s no point both of us being on the pill.” Dean shut him up with a kiss. This time there was no urgency, it was slow and sweet as they lay wrapped in each others arms, enjoying the afterglow.

Too soon it was time for them to get the hotel room packed up and before long they were back at Dean’s apartment. Cas had opted to leave the bags on one side of the living room and headed straight for Gabe’s laptop on the table to look up ways to remove super glue from skin.

“I’m going to make something for lunch.” Dean called from the kitchen, already making them each a coffee. “You hungry?”

Cas grunted what may have been a yes so Dean set to work making them each ham and cheese toasties. When he brought the food out Cas looked a little spooked. “What’s up man?” Dean asked, handing Cas his plate and mug. Cas just turned the laptop so that Dean could see the results of his searching. “I’ve asked Gabe to bring some back here from the store.”

“Acetone huh?” Dean scratched the back of his neck, eyeing Cas carefully. “That’s gonna sting like a bitch.”  Cas sighed and nodded, resigned. “I can always give your back a rub afterwards though.” Dean offered, his hand reaching for Cas’ seemingly of it’s own accord. Cas looked up at him and their eyes met. Dean, in a way very reminiscent of the first time they met, found himself trapped by the deep blue, unable to look away until Cas broke the spell by leaning forward and gently pressing their lips together in a chaste kiss.

“I’d like that Dean.” He said as he sat back and dug into his lunch, occasionally shifting as the wings tugged or caught on something on the couch. “Thank you, Dean.”

Chapter Text

~Monday - Continued~

Cas and Dean sat together to look over the photos for the street sign task, Cas lounging comfortably against Dean’s lap with the laptop perched on his knees. As they scrolled through the photos he could feel Dean getting harder underneath him. “Not now Dean.” He chuckled, pressing back against Dean’s chest as much as the wings would allow.

“Later then.” Dean murmured into his ear, gently taking the lobe between his teeth as he did so, pulling back quickly. “Besides, I’m keeping these photos and there’s nothing you can do to convince me otherwise.”

Cas ground himself back into Dean’s lap. “I’m sure I could convince you.” He gasped as he felt that Dean was suddenly a lot harder. “Luckily for you, I don’t mind you keeping them.” Dean carefully moved the laptop over onto the coffee table, running his hands over Cas’ exposed torso as he twisted around on top of him.

They were making out on the couch like teenagers when Sam and Gabe walked into the apartment. Dean sat up when something hard and yellow bounced off his head. “Did you just throw a lemon at me?” He asked incredulously, eyeing the yellow fruit as it rolled onto the floor. He raised his eyes to the doorway to face Sam and Gabe and was met with twin stares, each trying to look completely innocent. He narrowed his eyes at them suspiciously before dragging his attention away and helping Cas stand without the wings pulling at his skin anymore than they already had.

Gabe let out a low whistle. “Looking good cousin dearest. Those almost look real.” He stepped forward to inspect the wings, reaching a hand out to pull on them.

“Knock it off Gabe, they’re hurting.” Dean said as he stepped between them and slapped his hand away.  “Did you get the acetone?” Gabriel looked momentarily taken aback at the way Dean had put himself between him and his cousin but quickly shook off the shock.

“Yup.” He drawled slowly, popping the ‘p’.

“Well can I have it?” Dean snapped, patience wearing thin.

Sam sighed from where he stood behind Gabe and he stepped around the pair and their pissing match. “Here Cas.” He said, handing the bottle over. “I’m making lunch for us now Gabe, if you want to eat you’re coming to help me.”

Sam left the room abruptly, Gabe hesitated, eyes flicking between Cas’ back and over to Dean. “You OK Cas? Need me to help?” He asked, finally seeing just how irritated the skin on his cousin’s back really was.

“We’ve got it Gabe.” Cas mumbled, positioning himself face down on the living room floor with a pillow. “Go have something to eat.” He flung his arm out as Gabe passed him by on the way out of the room. “And Gabe? Thanks.”

Dean quickly went to fetch a couple of rags and a small bowl of scalding water. “Ok so Cas I’m going to use the acetone to work the glue off your skin a little at a time.” He explained. “By the time I’m done getting them off the water should be cool enough to use to clean the chemical off your skin. Let me know if it hurts too much or burns your skin OK?”

Cas nodded, laying his head on his arms where they folded in front of him.

It took a long time to get the wings off Cas’ back, at first he’d seemed ok with the way Dean’s hands would run over his skin, dragging the damp cloth across where they attached and lightly tugging at the join. Soon however, the acetone had hit a spot of broken skin and Cas had tensed up, flinching. “Fuck.” He breathed as it felt like his back was set on fire.

“You OK Cas?” Dean fussed as Cas’ skin flared an angry red from the agitation and the chemicals, leaning down to press cool lips to the base of Cas’ neck when he shook his head.

“Let’s just get them off me.” Cas growled, gritting his teeth against the pain as Dean ran the cloth over the sore skin again.

Sam brought a bottle of aloe vera gel out of Dean’s medical cabinet, placing it wordlessly beside the bowl of, now lukewarm, water. “Thanks Sammy.” Dean didn’t stop working to look up, Cas’ back was an angry red, and Cas himself had stopped talking around halfway through the removal of the first wing.

Dean didn’t notice Gabe and Sam leaving, so concentrated he was at making sure he didn’t rush and cause Cas more pain as he gently pulled at the last of the glue. “I’m sorry Cas.” He murmured, finally looking down at Cas’ wingless back. “If I’d only been paying attention, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“S’ok Dean.” Cas rasped, making Dean jump. Cas hadn’t made a sound in quite some time.

“Hang on Cas.” Dean muttered when he realized Cas was trying to get up. “Let me get the chemicals off.”

“Shower.” Cas insisted, reaching for Dean’s hand to help him up, keeping a hold of it and tugging him along to the bathroom. Dean scooped up the tube of aloe gel and let himself get pulled along behind Castiel.

They undressed slowly, Dean helping Cas with his pants and shoes as too much movement pulled at the tender skin on his back. Dean set the water a little cooler than he’d usually take his shower, and tugged Cas under the water with him.

Cas hissed as the cool water hit the angry red skin of his back, Dean wrapped his arms around him to keep him upright as he swayed. Cas’ hands gripped Dean’s shoulders tightly as his breath came out in laboured pants. Dean pressed kisses over Cas’ face and shoulders, everywhere he could reach without removing his arms from where they held Castiel close to him.

As the cool water soothed Castiel’s back he seemed to become more aware of his surroundings, starting to press small kisses to Dean’s chest and allowing his hands to rove over the sleek, wet body holding onto him. Dean gasped when he felt their hard cocks slide against each other. “Cas.”

“I’m OK Dean.” Cas replied softly, reaching his hand down to grasp their combined hard ons, rocking his hips forward into the warm tunnel of his hand, the slow drag of his erection against Dean’s setting a fire under his skin that had nothing to do with the acetone.

Cas flung his head back at the sensation, eyes briefly staring at the ceiling as the water rolled down his back. As he lowered his eyes, searching for Dean’s he met another, smaller pair of eyes. “Dean, is that lemon looking at me?”

Dean startled, snapping his head around to see what Cas was talking about. Sure enough, perched atop the shower door was a plastic lemon, a pair of black and white eyes stuck onto it and it looked like it was staring right at them. “Shit.” Dean swore, reaching up to try and knock the offending citrus fruit down from it’s voyeuristic perch, only to have it end up falling on top on him and bouncing off his face. “Son of a bitch.”

Castiel snorted a laugh. “I believe a certain little assbutt had something to do with this.”

“Could he even reach to put it up there?” Dean wondered out loud, soaping up a cloth and gently washing Cas’ tender back. “I’m sure a particular sasquatch helped.” He sighed, reaching over to turn the water off. “Come on Cas, let’s get your back looked after and get back to work. We had a couple of tasks I wanted to do today.”

Cas opted to sit upright on Dean’s bed and attempt to fold the toilet paper Slangaroo while Dean rubbed the aloe gel onto his back. It helped distract him from the slight pain and the not so slight arousal he felt as Dean’s hands ran across his back.

He was nearly finished with the origami when Dean left the room to wash his hands, returning shortly with a couple of bottled waters. “Here Cas.” He said, tossing it gently so it landed far enough away that the toilet paper wasn’t in danger of getting wet, but close enough that Cas could grab it when he needed. “That’s looking amazing man.” Dean pressed a kiss to Cas’ temple and left the room again, heading out to do some of the smaller, online tasks that no one had claimed.

Half an hour later Castiel joined him in the living room, having finally finished the toilet paper origami and gotten a photo of it that he was actually happy with. “Hey Dean, what are you up to?” He slid in beside Dean on the couch.

“I’m just making an application form for an imaginary friend.” Dean mumbled, looking up long enough to make eye contact before turning back to the laptop. Cas uploaded his picture while Dean finished up the task he was doing, then waited as Dean uploaded that as well before showing him the finished toilet paper animal.

“That’s so awesome Cas.” Dean mumbled proudly, pulling him forward for a quick kiss before getting up. “And now it’s after 5 which means it’s beer o’clock.”

Dean got them beers while Cas pulled up group chat so they could see how everyone else was going with their tasks. “So Ash took 100 different photos of his nose.” Cas said matter of factly as Dean entered the room with their beers.

“As you do.” Dean deadpanned, handing Cas his opened beer and taking a swig of his own as he sat down, maneuvering himself behind Cas on the couch.

He then leaned over to read chat as well. “What the hell was Meg doing today?” He asked in surprise before he read her message out loud, having to stop part way through to control his laughter. “I got a couple of things done today, I’ll submit them tomorrow though because it’s been a long day of gluing vegetables to my titties and being kicked out of shopping centers and I’m going to get drunk to celebrate.”

Cas barely managed to swallow his beer before he started laughing. “I have no idea but it sounds like she had more fun than we did.”

“Oh I don’t know about that.” Dean murmured softly, leaning over so his lips brushed Cas’ ear as he did so. “Barring a small issue with some glue, overall our day has been pretty amazing, in my opinion.”

Cas shivered slightly, goosebumps prickling his skin as Dean’s breath danced over his ear and lips and teeth gently grazed the lobe. “Dean.” He moaned softly, leaning back into Dean’s lap. Conscious of his tender back, Dean guided him to turn around, sighing happily when Cas was perched on his lap, knees either side of his legs as they explored each other with mouths and hands. Cas gasped as he felt Dean’s erection through his jeans when he leaned forward to press kisses to Dean’s jaw and he subconsciously thrust his hips downwards, eliciting moans from both men as he did so.

Dean shifted slightly, indicating for Cas to let him up so Cas slowly extracted himself from his lap, pouting slightly as he did. Dean stood and pressed Cas back down onto the couch gently, kneeling between his knees and working the button and zip of his jeans down, moving his boxers out of the way and allowing his heated erection to spring free.

Dean licked his lips slightly and leaned forwards, keeping eye contact with Cas as he did, and lapped at the already leaking head. The sound Cas made was pornographic and Dean’s dick twitched slightly in response. Dean palmed himself roughly through his jeans and focused himself back on the man in front of him.
Dean took as much of Cas’ cock into his mouth as he comfortably could, slowly dragging his tongue along the length as he bobbed his head, his hand coming up to grip the excess and moving in time with his mouth. Cas groaned beneath him, hips twitching with the strain of fighting not to thrust up into his mouth, hand flying into Dean’s hair to grip it tightly.

“Fuck. Dean.” Cas’ eyes snapped closed as Dean hummed in response and brought his left hand to hold onto Cas’ hip, urging him to move a little, telling him without words that it was OK. Cas’ hand in his hair gripped impossibly tighter, guiding his head downwards as he started to thrust minutely upwards. “Gggaah.” He moaned, voice wrecked when Dean pulled back to lick at the sensitive underside, running his tongue over and around the head of his cock to the slit and back before sinking back down, pushing further down this time.

It took Dean a moment to realize that the moans weren’t only coming from Cas, Dean was moaning around Cas’ cock as well, causing the blue eyed man to gasp at the vibrations. Dean reached down to palm himself again as he realized that he was so thoroughly turned on by giving his partner pleasure that he could probably get off just from the filthy noises Cas was making below him. This thought in mind he kept his right hand active, palming himself through his jeans whenever Cas would make a particularly amazing noise. His left hand he moved over to gently tug and fondle Cas’ balls. Cas groaned loudly at the new stimulation as he thrust faster into Dean’s mouth. Dean felt Cas’ balls drawing up, the grip in his hair tighter still, and Cas’ breathing was ragged and broken by gasps and moans as he came apart underneath him.

Dean hollowed out his cheeks and worked to breathe through his nose as he worked to swallow around Cas’ cock, finally managing to get the entire length into his mouth and throat. He snapped his eyes open at Cas’ choked out moan, their eyes meeting as Cas looked down at where he disappeared into Dean’s mouth. “Dean I’m…” He gasped a warning, the hand in Dean’s hair trying to pull him off in time. Dean moaned at the wrecked look on Cas’ face and swallowed when Cas’ came with a broken whisper of Dean’s name.

When he’d come down from his orgasm Cas pulled Dean into his arms on the couch and kissed him, hard. “I didn’t hurt you did I?” He asked softly between kisses. Dean shook his head. “Oh good, so it’s your turn now?”

Dean shook his head again and Cas looked confused so he explained, a slight blush across his face making his freckles stand out. “It was for you Cas, I wanted to make you feel good.” Cas’ eyes softened and they lay together on the couch, kissing softly for a while until Dean decided it was time for another beer and got up to fetch them.

They opted to watch TV and relax together on the couch as they waited for Gabe and Sam to return for the day, wanting to wait until everyone was together before they’d review the subscribed items and see if there was anything new or that they had new ideas about.

They were halfway through an episode of a new cooking contest-styled show when Gabe and Sam arrive back at the apartment. “Hey Sammy.” Dean called out over the back of the couch, not wanting to move from where he was laying with Cas curled up back to chest on top of him. “Can you grab a couple more beers? We wanna go over The List again and check submissions.”

“Well this looks cozy.” Gabe stated, entering the room and deliberately sitting on Cas’ feet at the end of the couch.

Dean frowned, glaring down at Gabe around Cas’ head. “Get off him, Gabe!” Dean kicked his own legs at Gabriel. “He’s in pain.”

“It’s not his feet though.” Gabe smirked, sending Dean a cheeky wink before raising slowly and moving to a different seat. “How’s the back Cas?” He asked sincerely, apparently deciding he’d pushed Dean’s protectiveness far enough.

“It’s better than it was.” Cas mumbled, letting Dean gently help him to a sitting position so there was space for them to sit together to go over The List again. “Dean took care of me.” Dean blushed as Cas regarded him with a fond smile.

“Oh he did, did he?” Sam sang playfully, entering the room. “I’ll be he took real good care of you.” He winked, passing beers around as he and Gabe laughed quietly, a quick glimpse of Cas and Dean’s matching blushes making the pair laugh louder.

“Shut up.” Dean muttered, shoving Sam’s laptop at his overgrown little brother. “Upload the shit you did today and submit it. I want to check on submissions and stuff.”

Cas was reading over the group chat, letting the team know what they’d completed and what they were working on still when Dean noticed that he was staring at the screen of Gabe’s laptop, a slight furrow to his brows as his mouth twisted unhappily. “What’s up Cas?”

“Uh.” Cas started, hesitating suddenly and watching Sam and Dean cautiously. “Jo’s a friend of yours isn’t she?” The men nodded slowly, confused and concerned.

“Uh huh.” Both Winchesters said in unison, leaning over from their places on the couch to look at the screen over Cas’ shoulders to see the message she’d posted in chat that morning. Apparently she’d rolled her ankle and would only be able to help with any tasks that didn’t require her to actually move around.

“Son of a bitch!” Dean was annoyed, Jo had taken on a lot of tasks and now she’d withdrawn from all but two of them so they now had a lot of things to distribute through the group again. Dean surprised Sam and Gabe when he took charge of distributing the newly available tasks to people, when they’d looked over wide eyed at Cas, he’d just shrugged. He’d been watching Dean get more and more passionate about the tasks and the Hunt itself the past few days, he wasn’t surprised at all.

Cas’ face was starting to looked pained a few hours after dinner, the muscles in his back visibly twitching through his shirt as he sat stiffly on the couch. “Cas? You ok man?” Dean ask softly, leaning over to run a hand gently across where he knew the skin was still raw and abused under his shirt. “Do you want me to set you up in the extra bedroom now so you can rest?”

Honestly he should have done it sooner, but the thought had slipped his mind, he cursed himself internally when Cas shot him a thankful look and nodded, accepting his help to get up and excusing himself from the room with a muttered “Goodnight Sam, Gabe.”

After Dean checked the bed in the 3rd bedroom was made up and dumped a pair of towels on the end of it for Cas and Gabe he’d intended on returning to the living room, however when he poked his head into the room Sam and Gabe had their heads together in conversation about their new dessert fairy task, which Gabe had gleefully accepted. Instead he decided he’d go to bed as well and called a “goodnight” into the room as he left.

Dean had barely fallen asleep when he was startled awake by the side of the bed dipping down beside him. The room was dark and he could barely make out the shape of the person climbing into bed beside him. “Cas?” He mumbled sleepily, already moving over to make room for his blue eyed friend. “You alright?”

“I didn’t mean to wake you, Dean.” He whispered softly. “I, well, the mattress in the spare room was digging painfully into my back and well…” He trailed off, a hopeful lilt to his voice as Dean watched the head tilt of the shadowy silhouette he could make out in the darkened room.

Dean didn’t say anything else, choosing to just lift the blanket up to allow Cas easier access to his bed. Once Cas was settled Dean was more than happy to press up behind him, and they fell asleep that way, with Dean’s lips pressed softly to the back of Cas’ neck and his hand running soothingly up and down his side.

They were woken with a violent jolt a few hours later. A loud bang echoed down the hallway from the living room and Gabe’s shrill voice cut through the still night. “Stop! Please.”

Cas was out of the bed before Dean even registered him moving, his bare feet padding down the hallway as he sprinted through the darkened apartment towards his cousin. Dean followed as fast as he could, stopping in the doorway in shock as he looked at the scene unfolding in front of him.

Sam knelt frozen on the floor, hand raised to cup his nose as it bled furiously, staring open mouthed at where Gabriel sat with his back to the wall, arms wrapped around his own head defensively as he sobbed “Stop! Al. Please. Please Al, please stop.” Gabe was rocking slightly as he spoke, peeking through the gap in his arms to stare in terror at an empty spot of carpet. “Please, just let me go, Alistair. Just let me go.” He trailed off brokenly, his harsh breathing punctuated by shuddering sobs.

“What the hell did you do to him?” Castiel roared from where he now stood protectively between Sam and his cousin in a vague imitation of how Dean had stood earlier in the day. Sam snapped his eyes away from Gabe and up to Cas’ furious face, Dean flinched back a step at the uncontrolled rage that was practically oozing of Cas in waves, but Sam didn’t even blink.

“I didn’t do anything.” Sam’s voice sounded thick and Dean wasn’t sure if it was with emotion or from the blood that still dripped from his nose. “We, we fell asleep on the couch and I woke up to him like this.” Sam swallowed thickly, “When I tried to ask what was wrong he… he hit me.” Dean fought down his initial anger at the words, clearly Gabe wasn’t in his right mind when he did so.

Cas deflated, turning around to look at his cousin where he sobbed against the wall. “Shit.” He sighed, reaching up to scrub a hand over his face. “I knew this would happen.”

Chapter Text

Monday: Sam & Gabe

Sam was sitting on the sofa wondering how the hell he was going to backtrack from the needy whining asshole he was sure he had come across as when he opened the door less than an hour before. So Gabriel didn’t bring his bags, big deal.  It’s not like they were an item, it had been one incident. One mind-blowing incident that was over faster than any other time he could remember in recent memory. Fuck, he’d lost his load faster than a teenage boy with his first copy of a skin mag.

Pushing the memory aside, he glanced sideways at the man smirking beside him, accepting his explanation as truth, wondering what had happened to change his mood so abruptly while he was in Dean’s room.   He probably just gave Dean a hard time about the porno . He thought to himself, his mind still mulling over how he was going to deal with the elephant in the room when Cas appeared in the lounge-room again, looking flustered, as he passed them on his way back into the kitchen.  Dean passed a moment later, looking equally out of sorts.  He looked back down at his and Gabe’s task list for the day, waving absently at his brother as he left.  

After five of the most agonizingly slow minutes had past, he sighed and closed his laptop, standing back up to gather the things they needed to get on with their day.  “Uh, Gabe, little help?” he asked the other man, who was busy typing and frowning at his computer.

“Yeah sure Sam, just a sec.”  He typed furiously for a few more minutes then looked up, smiling.  “I got an email from a friend, Anna, the one with the goats.  Apparently their goat herd got decimated by a pack of wild dogs, but they said their neighbor is willing to let us do the thing there. I just told them we could be there in an hour.”

Sam blinked at him. “Huh. Yeah OK dude. Let’s do it. What else can we knock off while we’re out?”  he tried not to stare as Gabriel stood up and stretched himself out, his shirt riding up to reveal trim hips and a golden brown trail of hair that stretched from underneath his shirt down into his low-riding jeans.  He bit his lip as he felt the flare of arousal low in his belly, as he watched Gabriel stretching, arousal turning to shock when he saw a large scar wrapped around painfully his hip.

Gabriel opened his eyes after his satisfying stretch and noticed Sam staring at him.  Well, maybe not quite at him since he wasn’t looking at his face. “ Hellooooo Samsquatch, my eyes are up here” he snorted out, ignoring the look of shock on Sam’s face.   Dammit, he must have seen the scar he thought to himself.

Sam jumped, quickly averting his eyes. “Um , Sorry Gabe. I, uh. What’s with the scar? Looks like it was painful?”  He asked carefully. “Some kind of accident?”

“Uh, yeah. An accident,” Gabe answered easily enough, making sure it was covered again before grabbing some things to shove into a bag.  “Can’t trust me with machinery man. Or large animals.”  he looked at Sam again, seeing sympathy in his big stupid puppy eyes. “Stop that.” he said irritably. “It was a long time ago, it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Sam rolled his eyes “Whatever man, though look, I just wanted to um, say something” he stepped closer to Gabriel, noting the way the shorter man swallowed nervously. Good, he thought. I’m not the only one thinking this is the most fucking awkward time ever.  “OK so 2 things.  First, I’m sorry for acting like a pissy brat earlier.  There’s more to that, but that will do for now.  Second,” and at that he took another step closer, bolder after seeing the hesitant smile appear on Gabriel’s face at his confession. “I can tell it bothers you that I just saw that scar.”  his fingers twitched towards it, wanting to trace the outline of it so that he could feel it and maybe taste it?  The smile on Gabe’s face faltered and his eyes reflected a hint of fear.  Sam just stood in his space and stared down at him, close enough to be touching, but refrained.  He simply looked down at Gabe and smiled. “It doesn’t bother me. I couldn’t care less. That you have a scar I mean. Not that you got hurt.” he saw the panic in Gabe’s eyes start to fade and it took all of his will power to not lean in further and kiss him.

Gabe felt the tendrils of fear rising in him as he watched Sam stalking over to him and was pleasantly surprised at his apology.  What he didn’t expect was the invasion of his personal space and the panic attack that was threatening to raise it’s ugly head to dissipate as Sam just stood there being fucking gorgeous, staring at him, telling him that he didn’t care about the scar.  He was fairly certain that Sam would, in fact care a lot about the scar when he saw the extent of it.  If he did.  And that was also something for later.

“That’s nice to hear” He said sarcastically once he got his voice back.  “Come on, let’s go do the goat thing and we can come back to the city and grab the rest of the stuff we need after that. He paused and grinned cheekily, “Then you can gift wrap me up and ship me like a fangirl at the post office.”

Sam rolled his eyes at the shorter man. “Wait, we need to eat. I’ll grab some things” Sam said and darted into the kitchen.  He was back a couple of minutes later with a thermos and a container of what looked suspiciously like rabbit food.

They headed west out of the city out to Gabe’s friends place, making good time as they flew up the freeway.

“You know, your brother and my cousin were making out this morning.” Gabe said casually to Sam when they were nearly at their destination.  He’d wickedly timed his announcement to coincide with Sam taking a sip from his coffee. Unluckily for Gabriel though, Sam was facing him so he once again wore it.

“Oh shit, your car!” Sam spluttered, coughing as Gabriel roared with laughter. Sam narrowed his eyes at Gabriel “You’re an ass.” he mumbled. “You made that up.”

“Scouts honor Samsquatch” Gabriel giggled.  “Lips locked, hair messed up.  Why do you think they were so awkward earlier?”  He asked.

“Well” Sam started, “It wasn’t exactly low tension there for a while was it? Seriously though? Dean? And Cas? Hunh.” At least they got to kiss Sam thought, almost bitterly.   At this rate, I’ll never know what the little smart ass tastes like.

“Right?” Gabe asked. “We were taking a one-way trip to angst town that was all Cas’ fault and they get to make out” he shook his head. “Doesn’t seem fair.”  He narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. “I’ll get him for that.  What?” he asked innocently when he saw Sam looking at him in surprise. “You think I didn’t want to climb you like a tree this morning? Or you weren’t aware that I’m a renowned trickster?”  Gabriel smirked, the confident air he’d portrayed the day before taking dominance once again, to his relief.  It was easier to be cocky.

“You wanted to what me like a who?” Sam asked him, jaw dropping. His dick twitched attentively. Did he mean-?

“Oh hey. We’re here” he said, turning off the highway, stopping Sam from saying anything else, leaving him speechless and preventing any further discussion by calling his friend to let them know they were on their long tree lined driveway.

Sam shot what his brother would have called an epic bitchface at Gabriel and adjusted the awkward boner in his pants as he got out of the car, hoping that his shirt would hide him from any kind of embarrassment.  He stared in surprise at the enormous house in front of him as an attractive couple approached them from the steps, introducing themselves as Anna and Bartholomew.

They walked them over to the adjoining property and were introduced to the neighbors, who were immediately curious about what they were up to. So Sam and Gabriel spent at least half an hour explaining GISHWHES to them before heading off towards the dam, where an old rowboat awaited on the shoreline.

“In you get Gabe.  I’ll hand you the goat.” Sam smirked at him and he picked up one of the baby goats that were sniffing around, hoping for some food from the bag Sam carried.  

Gabriel shook his head “Ohhh no you don’t. The task says Sam-I-Am has green eggs and ham, not Gabe-the-babe. There is no way you are not doing this.”  He crossed his arms, a smug look of triumph on his face, his feet set.

“Actually Gabe” his friend Anna piped up, “Dr Seuss wrote that Sam had a pesky friend trying to force him to eat it. You’re both supposed to be in the boat.” Gabe and Sam turned to Anna in unison, and she burst out laughing at the matching looks of dismay on their faces.  “I’ll take the pictures.  Get in the boat.”

Gabriel shook his head at being caught out and huffed out a laugh.  He took the baby goat from Sam and climbed into the boat, rocking it dangerously as he sat down with a thud.  Sam climbed in awkwardly after him and tried to push off, but not before Anna deposited another 2 goats into the small boat with them and gave it a shove.

Sam rowed out from the shoreline a little as Gabe plated up the green eggs and ham and tried to force-feed it to him, with Anna taking pictures the whole time, giggling to herself over their commentary.

“Sam eat it. Eat my meat Sam.”

“No. Ugh Gabriel, get that disgusting thing away from my face.”

“That’s not what you said last night.”

“You wish loser.”

“Hah! Do I ever.”

“OK lovebirds”  Anna called from the shoreline.  “I’ve taken about 50 shots, there’s bound to be something usable.  I’ve got to get to work so I need to get out of here.”  

The boat returned to the shore and the two men climbed out, placing the goats safely back onto the grass.  The trio walked back to Anna’s house and she gave them a box loaded with different farm-grown fruits and vegetables before they said their goodbyes.  Sam and Gabriel left, promising to send her the pictures once the hunt was over.

They drove back to the city, intending to go straight back to the apartment to pick up more items for their list.  As they were nearing the turnoff to Deans apartment they passed a homeless shelter with a “donations needed” sign out front.

“Gabe, stop the car.  Pull over, quick!” Sam urged. He turned around in the car seat to look at the box of food that Anna had given them. “We can donate that food.”

Gabriel obediently pulled the car over and turned off the engine, looking at Sam with respect. “Yeah sure Sammy, they could probably use it more than we can.  Let’s see what’s in there. Oh man, I’m keeping all of these though.”

Sam looked at him, an eyebrow cocked. “You want to keep lemons?  That’s a lot of lemons.  Are we doing tequila shots or something?” he asked in confusion.

"Haha. Not a bad idea but no.  I’m going to make some lemon curd. That stuff is divine.  And maybe some muffins.”  Gabe carefully set the bag of lemons aside.

“You know this could be a task of some sort”  He said suddenly.  “Let’s take a few pictures just in case.”

“Yeah good idea.”  Sam responded with a smile.

They climbed out of the car and as they walked back towards the shelter Gabriel’s phone chimed in his pocket.  He pulled it out and burst into uncontrolled laughter as he read the message.  “Seems like our genius counterparts have managed to superglue wings to Cas and now need us to come to the rescue”  He howled in glee as Sam looked on with concern, a giggle erupting from his mouth even as he tried to stop it.

“Is he, is he OK?”

“He’ll be in some pain but he’ll be fine.”  Gabe answered.  “Looks like we’re going to the hardware store too.”

They handed over the box of produce to the shelter manager in a bit of a rush and continued on to the hardware store before making their way back to Dean’s apartment.  As Sam put the key in the lock, muted groans could be heard from the other side.  Gabriel rolled his eyes, recognizing what was happening and picking a lemon out of the bag he was carrying, tossing it into the air a couple of times as the door swung open.  

Upon seeing his cousin wrapped around Dean, Gabriel took aim and tossed the lemon at them, wincing a little as it bounced off the top of Dean’s head.  At least it missed Castiel, who unsuccessfully tried to spring up off the couch as they walked in.  He ignored Dean’s glare and attempted to give the wings an experimental tug, only to have his hand knocked away by a suddenly possessive and very protective Dean.  Now that was an interesting development.

Sam made a small sound of disgust and snatched the bag off Gabriel before he pushed through to the kitchen, leaving Dean and Cas with the acetone.  He commanded Gabriel to follow him, not bothering to check that he did.

He dumped the bag onto the counter, grunting at the other man as he sauntered into the kitchen.  “There’s your lemons.” he pointed at the bag.  He busied himself with making sandwiches for them to take with them for their afternoon adventure, not really paying attention to what Gabe was doing with the lemons, or why he had the collection of plastic ones on the bench with him until he saw the glue.

“What on earth.  Gabe what are you doing?”  Sam asked, his patience wearing thin.  He rubbed his hand over up over his face.  It had been a long day so far with nowhere near enough caffeine or alcohol in it and it wasn’t even half over.

Gabe turned his handiwork around so Sam could see it. “What do you think? Freak the other guys out?” and he motioned towards the lounge-room with his head.  “Where can we put them?  Bit of payback for earlier.”  he grinned at Sam, wiggling his eyebrows up and down comically.

Sam suddenly grinned wickedly at his companion hazel eyes lighting up. “Dean’s bathroom. Here take this.”  He grabbed his messenger bag and shoved the food and some drinks into it and slung it over Gabriel’s shoulder, his fingers brushing over the other man’s chest and back as he settled it in place across his torso.  His breath caught as he felt Gabriel’s warm skin through his shirt and he reluctantly pulled his hand away and stepped back, sensing that Gabe had tensed up for all the wrong reasons when he touched him.

Gabriel let out a small gasp as Sam touched him, and fought off a curious mixture of desire and fear for the split second it took for the bag to be placed around his shoulders.  He was reasonably certain that Sam wasn’t going to hurt him, but old habits died hard and not for the first time he cursed the events that had led him to living a life of fear and distrust.  Sam’s eyes were full of questions and confusion as he stepped away, but he said nothing, just grabbing their task bag and moving to head towards the door.  Gabriel grabbed his arm and looked up at him, silently pleading for understanding from the man in front of him.   When had this gotten so fucking complicated?  He thought to himself, squeezing Sam’s arm in reassurance.  Sam nodded imperceptibly at him and the ghost of a smile crossed his face.

They walked silently to the bathroom and Sam deposited the lemon at the top of the shower, making sure to face the eyes in so that it appeared to be having a good look at whoever was in there.  They made their way back to Gabe’s car and headed off to the river and their next task.

“Man it’s such a nice day. I’m glad we got this task. I love water skiing.”  Sam said happily from his spot in the passenger seat.  He turned to Gabe as he snorted. “Never done it dressed as a stormtrooper though.  Where on earth did you get those outfits?” he asked curiously.

“There’s always a stormtrooper task Sam, you should know that, you’re a veteran Gisher now. Though compared to me, you’re still a noob.” Gabe chuckled at the memory of the many GISHWHES years he had under his belt.

“Yeah, about that. Why don’t you have your own team? I would have thought you’d be part of the Shatner clause you know? Famous guy like you and all that.” Sam asked him curiously.

“I did have my own team Sammy, but half of them defected to a different team a few months ago.”  He shrugged and glanced sideways at Sam as he drove.  “Cas and I didn’t really feel like going with them and the rest didn’t sign up again. Balthazar had mentioned to Cas that there were two spaces on his team so here we are.”

“So it’s a coincidence?” Sam asked him curiously.

Gabriel grinned at him, his amber eyes glinting cheekily “Well, now that you mention it Samsquatch there may have been a Twitter conversation with you in the past with an invite?”

Sam sunk into his seat in mortification, a look of horror on his face “No way.” He didn’t remember that, did he?  Sam looked away from him, his skin blushing a bright shade of pink.

“I have to admit, it is a coincidence Sam. I do remember the invite though. It was the nicest one. Probably the only one that didn’t involve the offer of sex.  I really do like cake.” he chuckled at Sam.

“Yeah look where that’s gotten us.  I guess I owe you a cake.” Sam replied flippantly as the car pulled into their destination at the river.

They climbed out of the car and went into the boat hire place to get on with the task of waterskiing in tandem in a ballet pose wearing stormtrooper uniforms and pink tutu’s.  

The man driving their boat laughed appreciatively at them as they emerged from the change rooms in their respective outfits, ready to go.

Sam looked down at Gabriel and burst out laughing. “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” he asked, howling with laughter.

That sent the boat driver into another fit of laughter as he recognized the line.  Gabriel scowled at them both and climbed into the boat.

“Laugh it up boys, it’s not like I’ve ever heard that one before” he grunted sourly as he rummaged for the waterskiing gear.

Sam climbed in after him, sobering up as they organized themselves for the task ahead.  “So who is taking the shots? We just setting up the GoPro’s and seeing what happens?” he asked Gabriel.  

“Sure thing Sammy.  That’s going to be the easiest option.” Gabe said and set about getting the cameras angled correctly, rolling his eyes that his experience in the porn industry had an actual transferable life skill that was useful to them.  

They launched the boat off the jetty and Sam got wet first so Gabe could set the cameras before he jumped in after him, setting himself into his skis and standing up on top of the water like he was born to it.  After a few shaky moments, Sam was upright and the boat took them in lazy sweeps of the river, the camera’s recording the whole time.  They took turns posing on their skis, practicing movements until they had them synchronized for short periods of time for the video submission.  Both men climbed back aboard when it was time to return to the dock, leaning companionably (and unconsciously) against each other as they caught their breath, resting for a few minutes before the next task began.

They waved goodbye to the driver as they headed back to Gabriel’s car and packed the stormtrooper outfits into the trunk.

“Man, I need about 8 beers” Gabriel said to Sam as they climbed back in and took off.  “I’m beat.”

“Yeah same.” agreed Sam, leaning back in his seat and groaning in pleasure as his back settled into the soft leather.  Gabe bit his lip as the memory of Sam groaning like that for other reasons filled his head.   Good. he thought to himself.   Get a hard-on.  Good timing idiot.  He was suddenly thankful he was wearing jeans and not the shorts he’d packed to wear after the waterskiing was finished. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably, praying to whatever that Sam wouldn’t notice and looked over at him.  He was fast asleep.

Gabriel drove for a while in the direction of Dean’s apartment and tiredly pulled the car into a parking lot near the post office and poked Sam awake.  “Hey sleeping beauty.  No napping.  Out of the car Samshine, we’ve got one more thing to do.”

Sam jerked awake, flinging himself forward and staring around in confusion. “Oh, sorry man, I was just too comfortable. These seats are amazing.  Can we get coffee?  I see a cafe.”

“Sure Sam, whatever you want.” Gabe answered.  “You do that and I’ll go sweet talk the post office before it shuts.”

“Deal”  Sam answered and went to get the biggest cup of coffee he could find for them.  When he entered the post office he found Gabriel chatting easily with the staff behind the counter, his eyes dancing happily as they met Sam’s when he approached.

“Good news Sammy, we didn’t miss the post”  he chuckled at him.  “And there’s bubble wrap we can use. You know, so you don’t get banged up en route.”

“How come I’m always the default task do-er?” Sam complained half-heartedly, handing Gabe his coffee, noting how the man smiled in pleasure when the aroma hit his nose.  

Gabe groaned into the coffee and took a large sip. “Oh Sam, this is perfect.  How did you know?”

Sam winked at him mischievously, “Girl’s gotta have some secrets Gabe.  Now” and he turned to the postal worker.  “How much to mail myself to LA?”

The lady behind the counter laughed outright.  “Big man like you?  It’s going to cost a pretty penny to get you out to Cali. How about we get you gift wrapped and weighed and see how we go?”

Sam looked at her thoughtfully, his eyes flicking sideways to see if Gabriel was watching.  “What if I mail him instead?”  he asked, motioning towards Gabriel and eyeing him meaningfully to draw attention to his shorter stature.  “Will that make it cheaper?”

Gabriel spluttered in mock outrage at Sam “You overgrown Sasquatch!” he fumed.  “Always with the short jokes. You’re fucking hilarious.” and he elbowed Sam sharply in the side, making him gasp in pain. “Just for that, you don’t get any of my amazing lemon curd.”

“Just get in the bubble wrap shortie” Sam shot back, rubbing at his side, grinning down at him fondly.

Gabriel grumbled at him as he was turned about in bubble wrap and then covered in brown packaging paper.  Once he was made into a brown paper mummy Sam motioned for him to get onto the scales only to find that he was bound so tight he couldn’t move his legs to walk.

“Uh Sam, little help?” He asked awkwardly.  “I can’t seem to move, you wrapped me too tight.”  he tried not to feel trapped.  It was just bubble wrap and paper.  He was definitely not trapped. His breath started to come a bit faster.  “Sam? I may be, uh, getting a little claustrophobic here, can we hurry this along please?”  he begged.

Sam’s eyes popped as amber Gabriel’s eyes morphed from amused to slightly panicked in about 2 seconds.  He slammed his coffee back onto the counter and ran his hands through his hair, thinking quickly about what they could do to make this go faster.  He didn’t want to see that look in Gabe’s eyes.  Not again today, or at all.  He stepped forward into Gabriel’s space, talking softly.

“Look, Gabe, I don’t know what’s going on with you today, but I need to touch you so we can do this. Ok? Can I do that?  Or do you want me to unwrap you?”  Gabriel stared at Sam in awe as the man said absolutely everything right without being prompted.  He’d told him what he was doing, then offered him an alternative.  Only Cas had ever done that.  Only Cas knew how to do that.  He shook his head and smiled weakly at Sam.

“It’s ok Sam, just a little claustrophobia,” and he could see Sam didn’t buy the lie but went along with it anyway.  “Just do whatever you were thinking and woaahh-” Gabe’s voice cut off as Sam swept in and unceremoniously picked him up like he was a department store mannequin and carried him easily over to the scales.  He distinctly heard the click of a camera as he was stood on his feet again, dignity ruffled.

Sam stepped back once he had Gabe on the scales and looked at him to make sure he was OK.  He cast a quick look to the postal worker, smiling in delight at his camera in her hands. “Haha you caught that.  Good.”  He took the camera back and got pictures of Gabriel standing there indignantly before helping him back down again and setting his legs free from their paper binding.

Task completed, they thanked the post office staff and finally headed back to Dean’s apartment for some much needed rest and lots of beer.

They entered the apartment to find the other half of their team resting quietly watching a cooking show?  Sam grunted at them as they entered, groaning when Dean lazily demanded beer from his comfortable position on the couch underneath Castiel so that they could go over the day.  He stood in the kitchen not really listening to the others talking and opened a beer, taking a sip before downing half of it in one large gulp and sighing tiredly.  He rummaged around the freezer and grabbed some of the prepared dinners out to reheat, grumbling to himself about having to make more now that the others were there.  Then he pulled himself up short for complaining and resolutely told himself he was happy the way things were going.  And that he wasn’t confused by Gabriel and his damned mixed signals at all.  Sam sighed again and grabbed enough beers to pass around, and a second one for himself before returning to join the banter he could hear in the other room.

Gabriel surreptitiously watched Sam as he entered the room and picked on his cousin playfully, however, he’d spent enough time with Sam over the past few days to know that something was bothering him, and he was guessing he knew what it was.  He turned his attention to the computer screen, taking his beer absently as Sam sat down next to him, their bodies almost touching along the sides from shoulder to knee.  He only half paid attention when Cas announced one of their teammates was injured, but he mustered enough outrage for them all when they found out they had to pick up her tasks.  

“Happens every fucking year” he complained with a huff.  “There’s always someone that does it for one reason or another.  It takes time to put a decent team together. I know she’s your friend, but I’m reserving the right to be pissed.”  He got up to get more beers while the new tasks were sorted, and flopped back down into his seat, ears perking up when Sam mentioned that the “dessert fairy” task was up for grabs again.

“So Gabe?  Wanna dress up and take some cakes to the firemen?”  Sam asked playfully, elbowing him as he sat down.  “We could go all matching with tutu’s and wings and shit.”

Gabe snorted out a laugh “Don’t tell me you have a wing kink there Sammy”  he said and leaned over to whisper, “I think that’s what got Cas into trouble earlier.”

Cas and Dean got up to leave the room saying goodnight on their way out as Sam barked out a laugh at Gabe's words, sobering up immediately when an unwanted image of his brother and Castiel having sex popped into his head. “Oh eww, gross.  I didn’t need that visual Gabe.”  he complained at the man grinning impishly at him.  “Thanks a lot.”

“Hey I didn’t tell you what to think Samsquatch”  Gabe answered flippantly.  “That was all you big guy.”  He kicked his shoes off and pulled his feet up onto the couch and grabbed the remote.  “I’m done with Gishing for today.  Let’s watch a movie.” he said as he started flipping through the guide.  

Sam muttered his agreement and twisted himself into a better position for slouching. “There, that one.  The Lost Boys.” he said as the title flashed past.

Gabe turned to stare at him, amber eyes twinkling.  ”Oh Sammy, where have you been all my life?”  he asked, grinning broadly.

“I’m right in front of you Gabe.”  Sam answered with a nervous gulp. Way to go Sam , he thought. Make him run why don’t you?

It was impossible, but Gabriel stared harder at Sam than before, the banter suddenly gone from his demeanor as he sat up and moved over to where Sam was slouching, watching him with hooded eyes.  He swallowed the fear that clawed its’ way up his spine at being so close to someone that wasn’t Castiel, telling himself he was ridiculous, that he had been near this man all day with nothing to fear.  Sam was not him .  He kept going until he was right up next to Sam and stared into his eyes.

“I. I’m not ready for that conversation with you Sammy” he said softly.  “I wish I was, I wish I didn’t have to have it at all actually.”  he added ruefully.  Sam’s expression softened and he raised a hand as if to touch Gabriel’s cheek but stopped before he made contact.  

“Gabe, whatever it is, whatever you’re scared of.  I’m not, I’m not that.”  Sam said softly to him, hazel eyes glistening in the low light as he tried to fathom what Gabriel was and wasn’t saying.  He gasped when Gabriel leaned into his hand, eyes closing at the feeling of Sam’s hand on his cheek.

“I know you’re not Sam. I know.  But,” he couldn’t finish, he couldn’t say it.  He just stared helplessly at Sam and leaned into his hand, taking comfort in the warm touch that was beginning to feel a lot like a life raft.

“Whatever you want Gabe,” Sam said to him quietly, daring to move his thumb along Gabriel’s cheek, smiling when the other man pressed further into his hand. “Whatever you want, at whatever pace you set.  I’m here.”  He felt a lump forming in his throat at the thought of Gabe being so terrified of something that he couldn’t bare to be touched.  He felt a low rumble of determination in his belly that he recognized as the desire to protect Gabriel from further harm.  He was surprised by the ferocity of it.  He’d only known the man for a handful of days and he was ready follow him anywhere.

“Can we, “Gabriel hesitated, unsure of how to proceed, eyes downcast.  Sam’s declaration that Gabriel was setting the pace was enough to start melting his frozen heart.  It was enough for him to be willing to try.  “Can we just lay here?  While we watch the movie? Together?”  Sam’s answering smile lit up the room and he sighed in relief.  

Sam’s heart leaped out of his chest at Gabriel’s simple request.  He surged forward and grabbed the other man without thinking and manhandled him into position in front of him on the couch so that they were comfortably spooning in front of the screen.  It was only after he heard Gabriel gasp and stiffen that he realized what he had done and he froze.

“Shit. Gabe, I’m sorry.  After all that effort. Fuck man. Are you OK?”  he asked desperately, wanting to turn Gabriel over to check, but knowing that checking to see if he was OK might ironically freak him out.  He settled for laying a hesitant hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.

“Well, I can’t say your methods didn’t surprise me Samsquatch” Gabriel answered with a small huff, his body taut, “But I did ask for it.  This time.”  He forced himself to relax, gritted his teeth and pulled Sam’s arm around his waist. Just to see what it felt like.  After giving Gabriel a few moments to adjust, Sam relaxed his arm and pulled Gabe a little closer to his chest, both men sighing into the touch.

They were asleep within minutes, movie forgotten as it played on.

Chapter Text

Sam slept peacefully with Gabriel curled up in front of him on the couch, unconsciously curling his arm tighter around him periodically as they slumbered, as though checking he was still there and safe.  Safe with him, and not whatever he was running from.  He roused briefly when he heard Gabriel whimper, muttering to him that he was there, and it was OK before pulling him closer, subconsciously nuzzling into his neck and rubbing up against him, thrusting his hips slightly forward as he fell into a deeper, contented sleep.

~~~

Gabriel ran.  He ran through the dark night bleeding from at least a dozen wounds from as many different beatings, not knowing where he was or which direction he was headed.  The wound across his hip was too deep and too long and if he didn’t stop the bleeding soon he was going to bleed out.  The irony of his medical training at university trying to be helpful now wasn’t lost on him.  All he knew was if he stayed he was dead.  Dead like - no!  No, he refused to think about what had happened to his friend as he scrambled into a hedge on the side of the road when a car approached from the direction he had run from.  He waited there, crouched under a bush, thorns digging into his bare back and sides for the car to pass.  He had no idea who it was, but keeping out of sight was probably for the best.   At least, he thought to himself, at least I’m not drugged enough tonight to not see what’s in front of me .  He had no idea what day it was, or what date for that matter, he’d lost track of time shortly after being ‘persuaded to stay’ by Alistair.  He stepped out of the hedge and stumbled on, desperate to reach his cousin, the only person he knew that might help him.  If only he knew where he was.

He crept around a dark corner only to stumble into a wide body.  He fell backwards, arms flying up trying to escape from the arms that wrapped around him, pulling him in.  Gabriel caught a glimpse of Alistair’s pale eyes as the moonlight hit them and he struggled to break free, his whimpers soon becoming screams as the arms held on tight, refusing to let go.

“Going somewhere honey?”  The man holding him asked, his voice dripping with venom.  He was the worst, the leader of the despondent group that had taken Gabriel captive, he had to be, with a name like Asmodai.  Gabriel shook his head, this wasn’t what was supposed to happen, he was safe.  Safe with Sam and Cas and Dean , a dim part of his mind tried to tell him even as he fell deeper into the clutches of the nightmare and the evil that held him in thrall.

“No” Gabriel struggled against him, but weeks of being beaten and drugged made him weak and he was soon being pushed into the car sitting by the curb to be taken back to the warehouse he was previously held prisoner at, the nightmare shifting suddenly to the movie setup and the horrors that lay within.  Asmodai’s rough arms circled him from behind and he felt a chill as a tongue licked obscenely up his neck, and a man breathed heavily into his ear, a sign of things to come.  He saw Alistair walking around the outside of the room turning on the video cameras that were set up, setting them to record what was about to happen.  Gabriel screamed and started to struggle again, getting an arm free and lashing out.  He felt his fist connect bone and heard someone cry out in pain as he struggled free from Asmodai’s grasp and ran.  He thought he heard someone calling his name but it was no use, he was caught up in the horrors of his past and the cries of his name soon faded away.

He was forced down onto the bed that suddenly appeared by Asmodai, and he watched in terror as Alistair reappeared naked, climbing gracelessly onto the bed and hovering over Gabriel before shoving his erect cock into Gabriel’s mouth.  Asmodai held him in place, held his face so that he couldn’t bite down and Alistair thrust painfully in and out of his mouth, not caring when blood began to appear from his teeth dragging against the skin of his own lips.  The sight of Gabriel’s blood coating his cock only made him harder and his thrusts became more desperate.  Gabriel’s mind tried to switch off as the abuse continued.   How is this happening again?  It shrieked at him clawing desperately at the darkness to let him in.

At some point Alistair was pulled out of the way and Gabriel was flipped onto his stomach, a hard cock ramming deep into his ass without lube or any kind of preparation.  Gabriel cried out in pain as Asmodai slammed into him from behind him over and over.  He felt his insides tearing and knew that he was going to die.  He was going to die alone and forgotten in a shitty rat infested warehouse God only knew where and nobody would know.  Just like Kali. Dead and gone, just like Kali.  Alistair came around from behind him and lined himself up with Gabriel’s mouth again laughing as Gabriel began to beg.

“Stop! Al. Please. Please Al, please stop.” he cried in pain, knowing what the answer would be but saying it anyway.  “Please, just let me go, Alistair. Just let me go.”  The only response he got was an evil smirk and his face was held roughly as Alistair thrust himself back down his throat, effectively pinning him from the front even as he was raped from behind.

“You’re not going anywhere again. We’re not done with you Loki.” Alistair panted down at him in between hard, cruel thrusts into Gabriel’s mouth.  He felt his senses begin to dim as his airways were cut off and everything blissfully went black.

“What the hell did you do to him?”

Gabriel heard a voice in the darkness that sounded like his cousin Castiel, but that couldn’t be right, Cas would never scream at someone like that.   Cas was too nice for that, it’s obviously a fake Cas Gabriel thought dimly to himself as he wondered if death had come.  

“I didn’t do anything.”

A terror soaked voice answered fake Castiel.  His mind screamed at him to recognize the second voice, but if Castiel wasn’t real, then how could the other voice be?  No, better to believe they were both fake.  That way he could die knowing nobody saw him like this, a raped, broken and bloodied mess, a vessel of a man lying on a cold floor in an abandoned building.

“We, we fell asleep on the couch and I woke up to him like this.”  

The second voice intruded his thoughts again, invading his fading mind and insisting on being heard.  A vague sense of recognition briefly surfaced, only to sink back down again into the darkness.   It wouldn’t be long now , Gabriel thought to himself.   It will be over soon.  He longed for the darkness to embrace him forever.

“When I tried to ask what was wrong he… he hit me.”  

There was that voice again, insisting and pushing it’s way to the front of what was left of Gabriel’s consciousness.  An image of a tall, dark haired man with soft hazel eyes laughing at him surfaced in his mind, and Gabriel was able to match the man to the voice. Sam?  What was Sam doing here watching me die?  And why was he dressed like a stormtrooper?  It was all too much for Gabriel to comprehend and his mind sank gratefully back into oblivion, Cas’s voice penetrating the darkness once more before everything faded completely.

“Shit. I knew this would happen.”

~~~

Sam slumbered on peacefully, blissfully unaware of the torment Gabriel was suffering through less than half a meter away until an elbow caught him sharply in the ribs, jolting him from a deep sleep to fully awake in a split second.  

“Ugh, Gabe, that hurt.” he mumbled tiredly, considering moving them both to the bed in his room where they could stretch out a bit.  He selfishly decided he preferred having Gabriel sleeping pressed up closely against him and his mind started to sleepily wonder if he could convince Gabriel to let him kiss him soon.  He really wanted to taste him, really wanted to kiss the man from head to toe, savoring every piece of him.  Sam groaned at the thought of Gabriel allowing him to touch him, coming undone for him and he pressed his sudden erection against his back, the hand that was holding Gabriel splayed out on his chest, fingers lightly feathering the skin as he fought the urge to move them south.  He remained still, biting his lip until he could taste blood, knowing that one wrong move could make him lose any chance he had at making Gabriel trust him.

Gabriel whimpered again and Sam pressed his hand into his chest, thinking that the gentle pressure combined with his whispered words would soothe whatever nightmare that Gabriel was having, never imagining that the other man was trapped in a memory, and being held down was the furthest from safe he could possibly imagine.

“No!  Let me go.” Gabriel mumbled, each word louder and more panicked than the last.

“Gabe?”  Sam asked, instantly releasing his hold on him.  “Wake up man, you’re having a nightmare.”  He shook Gabriel’s shoulder softly, trying to wake him.  To his absolute horror, Gabriel started to thrash about in front of him, fighting off a foe that Sam couldn’t see, his screams for help getting louder and louder.

“Gabriel,”  Sam said sharply, shaking him more firmly, tendrils of fear starting to form in his gut.  “Wake up.  You need to wake up.”  He sat up as Gabriel flipped around somehow, his eyes wide, unseeing and panicked and Sam felt a closed fist connect with his face.  His cheek took most of the force behind the hit, but as he twisted himself to avoid the blow Gabriel’s fist connected with his nose and he felt the blood begin to flow.

“Stop!  Please.” Gabriel shrieked and flew off the lounge, knocking Sam onto the floor as he went past, hitting the wall on the other side of the room as he smacked into it with a resounding thud.  He slid down the wall, horror reflected in his eyes, his cries getting louder and more incoherent as Sam watched him, the seconds ticked by in some kind of sick slow motion.

He pulled himself to his knees and cupped his hand over his nose as he heard footsteps thumping up the hallway.  Castiel appeared in the doorway, taking in the scenario in a millisecond and sprinting to place himself protectively in front of Gabriel, turning to face Sam with a righteous fury, his eyes seeming to glow in the light of the television on the other wall.

Sam could only stare at Cas in a kind of stupendous awe as he tried to comprehend what had just happened.  He answered Castiel’s questions as they were shot at him, meeting Castiel’s eyes as he explained what had happened and watching in dismay as Cas’s shoulders slumped in defeat, the fight leaving him as he realized what had happened.

“I knew this would happen.”  Castiel said to him in a resigned tone.  He observed Gabriel in silence for a few moments before he turned his body so that he was facing Sam and Dean, who had pressed a bag of frozen peas onto Sam’s face.  “I tried to warn him.  I, We didn’t want you guys to see this.”  He looked pained and his voice faltered as he spoke.  “They hurt him so much.  I couldn’t help him.  I didn’t know.  Not until it was too late.”

Dean turned from where he had his bag of peas shoved against Sam’s face.  “Who? Cas?  What the hell are you talking about?”  he demanded irritably, looking at Cas, then Gabriel, who was rocking back and forth staring at nothing, unaware of his surroundings as he sobbed quietly, freakishly in time with his rocking.

“It’s not my story to tell Dean.  Well, that’s not 100% accurate, but it’s enough.  Help your brother.  I’ll see to Gabriel.”  Cas turned away from Dean and Sam and knelt down next to his cousin, speaking softly to him as he ran a hand over his head, smoothing his hair down in an attempt to get his attention focused back on the present and away from the horrors of the past.

~

Gabriel floated in a haze, wondering when the end was going to come, when the darkness would stop messing around and finally let him rest and be at peace.  He was unaware of his surroundings, had no idea of the concern on the faces of the three other men in the room, and was completely oblivious to what had happened until he heard Castiel’s voice penetrating the his mind.

“Gabriel” he heard softly, over and over again. “Gabriel, come back. I’m here. It’s me, Cas.  Come back.”

The world shifted slowly back into focus and Gabriel raised his terror-filled eyes to look at his cousin. “Cas? He asked uncertainly, entirely sure what the answer would be.  “How are you here?  Are you real?”

“Yeah Gabriel, I am real, I am here.  You’re safe.” He hesitated for a minute.  “So is Dean, and Sam.  We’re all here.  At Dean’s place in Kansas City for GISHWHES.  Remember?”  Castiel removed his hand from Gabriel’s hair and smiled.  “We may have to have an awkward conversation with them after this, but I can assure you, everything will be fine.  Can you stand up?” He asked gently, encouraging Gabriel to stand up and move to the couch.

The horrors of his nightmare subsided slightly as Gabriel came to the realization that he’d had a full blown panic attack in his sleep in front of his teammates.  In front of people he barely knew.  In front of Sam.  He rubbed his palms against his forehead, trying to make sense of what had happened, and what had triggered it in the first place.  “Do you have anything harder than beer Dean?”  he asked, his voice hoarse.  He stood up, using the wall for support and braced himself for the task ahead.  

“Uh, yeah, absolutely man.  Be right back.” Dean left his spot by his brother and walked into the kitchen, returning with a bottle of whiskey and four glasses.  He poured a generous amount into each glass and handed them out wordlessly.  Gabriel took his glass and knocked back the contents, holding his glass out for a refill before he noticed Sam sitting on the floor, a dejected expression on his face and what looked like a bag of peas pressed against his nose as he took a glass from his brother.  He thought back to earlier that evening, when he had asked Sam to lay with him and quickly pieced together what must have happened.

“Sam?”  He asked, walking over to him, his own pain forgotten as he knelt next to the sad looking man in front of him. He steadied himself for what he was about to do, and reached out to put his hands over Sam’s, removing the peas.  He winced at the bruise that was forming on Sam’s cheek and the blood that was smeared across his face.

“I did this.”  he declared sadly with tears of shame in his eyes.  “I’m so sorry Sammy.  You were never meant to see this, to be part of this.”  Gabriel sighed and looked down at his hands, fingers threading nervously around each other.  “We can go stay back at the hotel.  Cas?”  and he looked sadly over at his cousin, who looked about as happy as a man who had just been told his favorite dog was dead.

Sam looked up at Gabriel, an incredulous look on his face.  “Gabe I don’t believe what I'm hearing here.  What are you saying?”  He asked in disbelief, even as he heard Dean spluttering to Cas that he didn’t want them to leave.  “If you think a nightmare is going to scare me away, then you don’t, you don’t know me very well.  We’re a team.”  He added lamely, trying to find the words to stop Gabriel from leaving.

“I hurt you Sam.” Gabriel mumbled at him.

“Big deal.  Shit happens.  My nose isn’t broken.  It was an accident Gabe.  Look, Dean broke my arm when I was 12.”  Sam started to say to Gabriel. “He -

“Hey jerk, you’re the ass that climbed the tree.”  Dean countered at him. He looked at Gabe and smiled, “He’s right though.”

“Whatever bitch, you threw that rock at me and made me lose my balance.  Asshole.”  Sam threw back at him, a smile on his face.  He sobered and turned back to Gabriel.  “What we’re trying to get at, you idiot, is that you’re not going anywhere.  I meant what I said to you earlier. This?”  And he waved his arm around the room.  “This doesn’t change that.  Not for me.”  Sam set his face resolutely and stared at Gabriel, absently wiping the blood off his face.

Gabriel flicked a glance at Castiel, who was doing his best to look neutral in the debate that raged around him.  When their eyes met and Castiel gave him a small nod, Gabriel sighed and ran his hands through his hair, frustrated.  “Fine.” he submitted to them.  “We’ll stay.  But look, you have to understand, I can’t promise it won’t happen again.”

“Jesus Christ man, how often do you have to live through that? You’re expecting it to happen?”  Dean asked in shock.  

Gabriel scoffed at him, “Yeah. Most nights.”  He downed his whiskey again and grimaced. “We’re getting some better liquor tomorrow. This shit is awful.”  He put the glass down and looked at Cas and Dean, flicking his eyes to Sam sitting stubbornly on the floor glaring at him before he spoke again.  “Why don’t you guys go back to bed?  Cas can give you the rundown Dean.  We can talk more tomorrow when we’ve all had time to process.”

Castiel moved forward a step towards Gabriel “what about you, cousin?”  he asked in concern.  

“I’ll be OK.  I need to talk to Sam.  Go to bed Cas.” he replied firmly, waiting for them to leave before he spoke again.

Once the they had left Gabriel exhaled sharply. “Sam -”  he started.

“No. Gabe,”  Sam interrupted.

“What?”  Gabriel asked.

Sam sighed, unsure of where to start.  He really didn’t Gabriel to leave.  “I don’t want you to tell me what I can and can’t handle, man.  But I, I have a feeling this is my fault.”  He looked at Gabe sadly.  “I’m known to be handsy when I’m asleep,”  He added sheepishly, his cheeks flushing.  “If, if you’re not used to, or don’t like being touched then maybe I did something that set you off.  And for that, I’m sorry.”  His eyes were filled with unshed tears as he looked at Gabriel, begging for forgiveness.

Gabriel shook is head at him, his features pained. “Don’t be stupid Sam.  There is no way you are responsible for the mess in my head.”  He stood up again, refilling his empty glass and motioning for Sam to stand.  “Let’s get you cleaned up.  Come on.”

Sam stood obediently and followed Gabriel to the main bathroom, sitting heavily on the side of the bath when he was ordered to sit by the other man.  He looked on with interest as Gabriel sifted through the contents of the cupboards until he found what he was looking for.  A first aid kit appeared on the sink and Gabriel unpacked it and set out the contents in a manner that suggested he knew what he was doing.

“Uh, Gabe what are you doing?”  Sam asked nervously as Gabriel picked up a pair of forceps and put them to the side before turning back to him and wiping his skin clean with a disinfected cloth.

“Stop talking.”  Gabriel replied absently, picking up the forceps and removing God only knows what from Sam’s face.  “Brace.” he warned, before giving Sam’s nose an experimental squeeze, tracing the lines of it gently with his long slender fingers.  Sam gulped nervously, knowing he was sure to be hellbound for wishing those fingers would trace something else.  “Your nose isn’t broken.  Fuck I’m so glad.  I’m so sorry I hit you Sam.” He added as he continued his ministrations.  “But that bruise is going to be a bitch.  Your brother was on point with the frozen peas, it will help.  What?”  He noticed Sam was staring at him wide eyed and he stopped moving, his fingers hovering over Sam’s cheek.

“You know what you’re doing?”  It wasn’t really a question that fell from Sam’s lips.  “Cleaning the blood, checking my nose.  The way you’re handling that kit.  How?”

“Well, I am a doctor Sam.”  Gabriel said matter-of-factly to him, finally putting the forceps down.  “I went to medical school.  Studied at UC-Davis.  Graduated summa cum laude .”  He huffed a little.  “I haven’t always been a porn star Sam, I have an MD and a PhD.”  He saddened at the thought that Sam’s attraction to him was most likely based on his screen presence and not who he actually was.  That bothered him a hell of a lot more than he’d like to admit to himself at this point in time.  So he did what any broken person would do.  He clamped firmly down on his feelings and ignored them.

Sam blinked at Gabriel, stunned.  He knew he wasn’t just the porn star, that there was more to Gabriel than he first thought, but a doctor? With a PhD?  He could see that Gabriel was waiting for some kind of response so he smiled up at him, wincing a little as the bruise made itself known.  “So you’re a fucking smart little bundle of sass then aren’t you Speight?  I knew there was more to you than your Twitter feed.”  He stood up off the bath and moved out of Gabriel’s space, not wanting to crowd him and send him into a panic again.

Gabriel snorted out a laugh at him.  “Yeah Sammy, I’m real smart.  So smart I’ve completely fucked up my life with one stupid decision after the other.”  He took a deep breath.  “I promised you an explanation Sam.  Are you ready for it?”  He asked the other man, not sure what he wanted his answer to be.

Sam raked his hands through his hair and bit his lip.  “When you’re ready Gabe.  If you want to do this now, we’ll do this now.  But not standing in my brother’s bathroom.”  He thought for a minute before hesitantly adding “Do you think you’re up to coming to my room?  I’m not, I’m not asking for anything, I don’t want you to think that.  It’s just private, you know.  For whatever it is you’re going to lay on me.  I have the feeling it’s bigger than i can fathom, and I want you to be as comfortable as you can be.”

Gabriel looked at him for a long second, wondering briefly, not for the first time that night where Sam had been all his life.  “Sure Sam.  I’ll um, just grab that awful bottle of whiskey.”

Chapter Text

Seeing Gabe like that had scared Cas, it had been a long time since he’d had a complete, all encompassing episode like that and he was relatively sure it was probably due to waking up beside someone other than his cousin for the first time since Alistair.

“You OK Cas?” Dean’s concerned voice drew him out of his thoughts and Cas’ head snapped up to see that same concern painted across his handsome face.

“I am fine, Dean.” Cas sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes closed.

“Bullshit.” Dean reached out and gently pulled Cas’ hand away from his face, keeping it wrapped in his own as he leaned forward to rest their foreheads together. “Talk to me Cas, you keep this inside and it’s going to eat away at you.”

Cas searched his face, his eyes, looking almost into Dean’s soul before he answered with a sigh. “I don’t know where to start.”

“Where ever you think the start is, Cas.” Dean’s eyes softened and he settled back against the bed frame, carefully pulling Cas to lean back against him so he could wrap him in his arms as they sat together. They sat in silence for a while, Cas chewing his lip as he thought, trying to piece together a good starting point.

“So about 8 years ago Gabe had a falling out with the family, the thing you need to know about our family is that they’re all very much traditional Catholics and they didn’t approve of his ‘choices’.” Cas figured this would be the best place to start the story, to tell not only the pain and struggle his cousin endured, but the reason as well. “And of course by ‘choices’ I mean his sexuality.”

Dean’s hands moved softly up and down Cas’ arms, attempting to comfort before even understanding the need. “Typical.” He sniffed quietly to himself, Cas didn’t even hear; now that he was talking, years of anxiety, stress and pain were bubbling up and out of him and he couldn’t stop.

“I was so weak, Dean.” The usual self hatred and guilt washed over him in a rush as he remembered. “I just let them disown him, I didn’t speak up, even when I had the same ‘perversions’. I stayed in touch with him though, out of guilt partially and partially because he was the only member of my family who ever was really nice to me. Gabe, Gabe was in medical school and his parents cut him off, with less than a year to go they cut him off and he just sucked it up and did what he could to make enough money to finish the year.” Cas felt Dean’s arms tighten around him, and a sought his hand with his own, an attempt to ground himself as he let it all out for the first time.

“He did it, he managed the last year and he got his degree, but he’d ended up with a pretty big debt doing so, my uncle, he wanted Gabe to go to therapy, to get help for his affliction or he’d make Gabe pay it all back, all the money the family had already put into it. Gabe told him to go to hell and that he’d get the money, I guess he just wanted to be out from under the family’s thumb, be his own person.” He swallowed thickly and hesitated. “A few months after he graduated I got a weird call, I don’t know if he even remembers it, he told me to get the hell out, to be myself and stop living in fear of the family. It was the kick I needed and I moved out, cut contact with the family, but by the time I tried to call Gabe and let him know, his phone was disconnected and no one knew where he was.”

Cas was lost to his memories, hand gripping tightly to Dean’s as he relived the years of not knowing, the years of loneliness and fear for his cousin, his voice cracked as he spoke but he kept going, kept explaining how for 2 years he’d had no idea where Gabe was, explaining how he kept the same phone on the off chance that Gabe might call him, and how glad he was he’d done so, in the end.

~

Castiel was dragged awake by the sudden loud sound of his phone going off. He groaned as he rolled over to check the time, 3:19am. He was about to let it go to voicemail when it clicked, that wasn’t his usual phone, it was his old phone, the one he religiously kept charged and carried with him everywhere. It was his lifeline to a cousin who he hadn’t seen in nearly 2 years, a cousin he’d been unsure was even alive anymore.

He was out of bed in a heartbeat, leaping for the phone where it sat on his dresser. “Gabe!?” he sobbed into the phone, clinging to the phone so tightly he could feel the hard edges digging into his hands.

“Cas.” Gabriel’s voice sounded thick, wrong. A wet cough followed soon after. “Can you come and get me?”

Castiel felt his knees get weak in relief, even as he rushed to throw on clothes and shoes. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for this call Gabe.” He collected his keys from the coffee table. “Where are you?”

Gabriel gave him the address of a park downtown, and Cas made the drive there in record time due to the hour and the way he didn’t even try to do the speed limit. He was not prepared for the sight that greeted him, the broken figure sprawled across the bench by the phone.

Gabriel was wrapped in a filthy sheet, stained with blood and, maybe, semen, Cas didn’t want to look too closely at it to be sure. Underneath the sheet he was naked, his feet were bare and bloodied, his face was a rainbow of bruises at varying degrees of healing, and Cas was sure that under the sheet was just as bad.

Cas raced forward towards his cousin, but hesitated at the way he flinched away, cringing backwards against the back of the bench, bringing his knees to his chest and hiding his head. Cas stopped and raised his hands slowly, holding them palm out to show he meant no harm. “Gabe?” He said lowly, waiting for his cousin to react.

“Cas!” Recognition flit across Gabriel’s face and he was moving, flinging himself towards his cousin as great, wracking sobs fell from his lips. “They killed her Cas. They killed her and I was going to be next.”

Nothing Cas could do or say could calm Gabe down so he directed them to the bench and held his bloody and broken cousin while he let out 2 years of agony and grief. Castiel wasn’t surprised to find his own face wet with tears even as he tried to soothe the small, terrifyingly thin man in his arms.

~

“He was so small, Dean.” Cas sobbed, voice cracking. “I was so afraid.”

Dean didn’t really know what to say so he contented himself with leaning down and brushing his lips across the unruly hair on the top of Cas’ head, squeezing him tighter to show he was still here for him.

Cas let out a shuddering breath and continued. “I ended up giving him my coat and drove him to the hospital, the triage nurse took one look at him and called the police. They kept Gabe in the hospital for a week, he was on fluids and antibiotics, had stitches and rape kits and STI tests done, and through it all he was a mess, they’d ended up having to keep him sedated to let him rest and heal, and to stop him from pulling the IV out.”

“Then came the court hearings, Alistair and Asmodai were pretty well known to police, but they were slippery, they had good lawyers and Gabe and I had to take out another loan to pay for the court fees and the lawyer. Which meant that we needed money.” Cas stopped. “I hate myself every day for letting him convince me to let him get it the way he wanted.”

~

“Stop it Gabriel! You’ve only been back for 6 months, you refuse to see a therapist but you want to do THIS?” Castiel reached towards his cousin imploringly. “Please Gabe, there’s got to be another way.”

“There isn’t, Cas!” Gabe snapped angry at the way he subconsciously stepped back when his cousin had raised his voice. “We need the money for the lawyer NOW and this is how we can get it, I need to do this, we can’t let them get away with it, we just can’t. Kali deserved better, she deserves this. I DESERVE THIS!”

“The police are pushing for the death penalty already Gabe.” Cas murmured, carefully stepping towards his cousin and placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Let them handle it.”

“No!” Gabe snapped, pulling at his hair in agitation. “I need to do this, Cas. I will never be OK until it’s over.” He sat down on the edge of the bed with a thump. “Help me do this.”

“Ugh fine!” Castiel caved. “But women only! And I will film and produce and if I feel you can’t do it we’re stopping, got it?” Cas sighed brokenly, running his hand through his hair and tugging lightly at the strands in stress.

It took a month for Cas to get Angel Productions started. They had nothing but a rented studio, some low key props, a single video camera and some girls who wanted to break into the porn industry. Gabriel couldn’t get it up at first, so Castiel agreed that he could use some medical assistance and allowed him to buy some Viagra. Then he couldn’t get off, and couldn’t cope so he went behind Cas’ back and bought ecstasy.

On ecstasy Gabe was almost his old self, cheerful, charismatic. Castiel knew it was a lie but he chose to pretend it wasn’t, just so they could get the money for the court case, Gabe needed this to be done and Cas had agreed to help him do it, even if that meant making porn.

It took 2 more years for the court case to be decided, in the end Gabe’s testimony was pretty damning, especially when Kali’s body turned up in a dumpster near the park Gabe had called Cas from not long after he escaped. They’d expected the death penalty side of things to take a long time but police were eager and the general public were screaming for blood when the details came to light so it was less than a year after the case was done and they were gone.

Even after Asmodai and Alistair were dead and buried the demons didn’t leave Gabe alone, he had nightmares and was taking ecstasy daily just to get through the day. It wasn’t until he’d had an overdose scare that Cas had realized how bad things actually were and had forced his cousin into rehab and therapy, costing them all of the money they had earned and leaving them almost right back where they’d started.

When Gabe left rehab he got involved with a charity called Random Acts and soon made himself a name for doing good in the world and things were going well until last year, when a man claiming to be a videographer for Alistair and Asmodai's snuff porn ring contacted Gabe with a demand for money, in exchange for the videos he still had. So Angel Productions was up and running again to make them the money needed to pay him off.

~

“I’m done now, I won’t let him do it to himself again.” Cas decided suddenly, remembering the panic attack Gabe had at the mere mention that they might be behind in their payments to his father, that they might need to go back. “I can’t believe I ever let him talk me into it in the first place. How could I?”

Dean rubbed his shoulders gently. “You did what you had to do Cas.” He murmured, leaning forward to place a kiss where his hand had just been. “I cannot even imagine what I would do in your situation. I’m so sorry you went through that, both of you.”

Cas finally turned in Dean’s arms, for the first time taking in the tear tracks on his lover’s face, his red rimmed eyes crinkling at the edges as he tried to smile. “Hey you.” Dean mumbled, leaning forward to press their lips together gently. “I’m going to get us one last drink, I think you need it.”

Dean untangled himself from where he’d been wrapped around Cas and crept out of the room and into Sam’s, hunch proven correct when his eyes landed on his brother’s sleeping form on the floor between the door and the bed where Gabe lay, hugging a pillow to himself. And there on the bedside table was his prize, the now mostly empty, whiskey bottle.

He carefully fetched it from the table, taking care to not step on Sam or make any noise as he did so, before he closed the door his eyes met Gabe’s and he wasn’t even surprised that the smaller man had woken to the movement in the room. “Goodnight Gabe.” He whispered as he left.

“Night Dean.” Was the soft reply.

Cas was still leaning back against the headboard when Dean entered his room with the whiskey in hand, opting to forgo the glasses and just pass the bottle between them since there was so little left.

“How’s your back now Cas?” Dean murmured, taking a gulp of liquor he took before passing it over, feeling the burn as it settled into his bones.

“It’s a lot better now, Dean.” Cas took a swig from the bottle, shuddering as he swallowed it down. “I’m not in any hurry to glue anything on my back again any time soon but you did a good job.”

“Cas?” Dean cautiously reached for his friend’s hand. “Thank you for talking to me, for telling me about what you and Gabe went through.”

Cas shrugged. “It’s Gabe’s story mostly, he went through so much and I didn’t even know.”

“No, you suffered too.” Dean interrupted him softly. “I can’t even imagine what I would do if I didn’t know where Sammy was for all that time, and to find him like that. I…”

“Hey.” Cas stopped Dean’s rambling, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Sam’s alright, heck even Gabe’s doing so much better than he was, I mean yeah I haven’t seen him break down like that in a long time, but he really surprised me afterwards, how fast he came back to himself. I think Sam’s good for him, Dean.”

Dean relaxed into the touch, leaning into Cas’ space and claiming the bottle back for another mouthful. “So Gabe’s a doctor huh?” He mumbled, watching as Cas extracted the bottle from his hand and finished it.

“Yeah, not that you could tell from the way he let you deal with the wings trouble.”

“Well that was probably partly my fault.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I’m very, protective of you, Cas.”

Cas carefully reached for Dean’s hand, linking their fingers together as he raised his face to lock eyes with Dean. “I noticed, you psycho.” He said seriously, the effect ruined by the way his lips quirked into a barely there smile.

“Oh I’ll show you psycho.” Dean chuckled, using his body to press Cas into the bed beneath him as he tickled him roughly.

Cas thrashed and laughed. “Stop!” He cried. “I give!”

Dean held him down a little longer for good measure, before leaning down to press their lips together chastely. “I’m glad you’re here, Cas.” He mumbled, releasing him and rolling onto his back.

“Me too.” Cas whispered as he settled into Dean’s side, smiling happily when Dean wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

Chapter Text

Gabriel scooped up the whiskey bottle and two of the glasses from the lounge-room and walked back to where he thought Sam’s bedroom was.  He hadn’t had any time so far to explore where he was supposed to be sleeping but there weren’t exactly many doorways to choose from so he figured he couldn’t get too lost.  Sam was looming in a doorway waiting for him with a concerned look on his face, but he moved inside when he saw Gabriel coming up the hall.

He stepped into the threshold of Sam’s bedroom, apprehensive about being in someone else’s space.  He wasn’t sure if he ever would have gone to Sam’s bed at all, despite what had happened on the phone, and he knew that wasn’t fair to Sam.  He knew Sam was interested in him, from the moment he first stepped into the apartment he knew, and at first it was just just to boost his own ego and test his limits that he let it go as far as it had.  But now it was too late to go back and he owed Sam an explanation.

“Gabe?" Sam asked, concern leaking into his voice. “Are you just going to stand there?  Are you, are you OK? We can go back to the couch if you need more space.”  

Gabriel snapped out of his reverie and saw Sam leaning on his dresser.  His eyes flew around the room, taking in the jeans in a heap on the floor where Sam had dumped them earlier, the half shut suitcase and the unmade bed in the corner. He also saw the plastic lemon with googly eyes that Sam had disappeared with earlier in the day sitting on the bedside table under the lamp, and he smirked at what it represented.  

“You know next year we should rename ourselves after those stupid lemons.” He took a calming breath and stepped right into the room, not stopping until he was standing near the desk. He poured them both a shot and looked at Sam uncomfortably until he moved to close the door before walking over to take the glass on offer.

“You don’t have to do this, man. Not now, not at all.” Sam said softly to him, sympathy in his hazel eyes.  

“Yes Sam, I do. After what happened on the phone, and then the day we’ve had, I do.” Gabriel grimaced at the taste of the whiskey as it slid down his throat, and welcomed the warming sensation as it fired up his blood.

“Uh, yeah. That. Well OK. Do you want to sit? Make yourself comfortable.  Lay down, whatever.” Sam blushed at him as he remembered the night before.   Was it really only yesterday?

Gabriel was silent for a long time, leaning against the desk for support and Sam thought he’d changed his about talking when he eventually spoke, his voice low and troubled.

“I was 27.  Just about to finish my PhD and on track to start a permanent job in the trauma ward at a children’s hospital in LA.  I was going to be researching trauma patterns in accident victims, operating, helping sick kids and getting paid a fuckton of money to do it.  It was everything I’d ever wanted.  Then my parents found out I was bi.”  Gabriel’s body shook slightly at the memory but he pushed on.  “They cut me off.  I was sick, they said.  Disgusting.  An aberration. Not a good Catholic angel at all.  So they disowned me and cut me off.  I had a year to go and suddenly I had a massive debt, a job that didn’t pay enough and nobody to lean on.  Cas was there, but he was dealing with his own demons at the time so it wouldn’t have been fair to drag him down with me so I tried to leave him alone.”  Gabriel threw his head back and looked at the ceiling, noting absently that Sam had crept closer and was leaning on the desk next to him.  He could feel the tension rolling off him in waves and wondered what was going through his head, thinking that if the story so far bothered him, then what was to come would really hurt.  

“That’s harsh.” Sam blustered out. “You had nobody? Oh Gabe, I’m sorry.” Sam reached out to touch Gabriel and pulled his hand back suddenly as if he’d been burned, remembering. “Fuck” he said in frustration and ran his hand through his hair instead. “All I want to do is grab onto you Gabe and hold you but I know it will freak you out.”  He moved away from Gabriel again, settling himself onto the end of the bed with his back to the wall.  

Gabriel looked at the expression on Sam’s face and laughter burst out of his mouth. “You look like a petulant child Sammy.” He said as he took a sip of Dean’s awful whiskey.  He tossed the bottle at Sam before he sat down at the other end of the bed, his fried brain telling him to get it over with.  “Tell you what.  Next time you get the overwhelming urge to attack hug me, just do it, OK?  I, I want you to.  You have no idea how much I want to be OK with that.  To be honest, I don’t know how I’ll react, so how can you?”  He fluffed about with the pillows for a minute before he settled back against them and continued his story.

~~~

Gabriel entered the bar with one purpose.  He wanted to get wasted.  And maybe laid.  But mostly wasted after the day/week/month/year he’d had.  How could his parents do that to him?  So he liked to fuck guys occasionally.  Alright, he liked guys better than he liked girls but that didn’t give them the right to just disown him like that, did it?  How could that possibly have anything to do with what kind of person he was?  Nothing had changed, he was the same person he was when he first experimented with whats-is-name back in his first year of university.  No, he decided sadly, they hadn’t cared simply because they didn’t know.  He ordered a beer and sat down, scanning the room as he took a sip, feeling the rejection of his family and friends and the loneliness in his soul like some kind of death knell.

Around six beers and 4 bourbons later he noticed he was no longer sitting alone so he turned, swaying slightly in his seat to the person next to him.  He had no idea she’d put something in his drink about half an hour before so he just stupidly grinned in triumph as she whispered the words he was waiting to hear that night.  He followed her clumsily out of the bar and got into the car that was waiting for them on the side of the street, not caring where they went as long as she gave him more alcohol and put out as promised.

He woke the next morning alone in a seedy hotel with little memory of anything beyond his first beer. Or maybe second.  The twinges in his body reminded him that he’d had sex, and as he pulled his clothes back on he had the grace to wonder if he’d used protection.  Or if it had been used on him.  As he was leaving, he noticed a note

Hey Loki

You’re a lot of fun, take the money, you earned it.  

We’ll be in touch

Kali & Alistair

He had no idea what the note meant, or who Kali and Alistair were but he needed the money.  There was $2000 cash sitting under the note.  He scooped it up, planning on taking it straight to the student loans office.  He didn’t think anymore about what had happened that night.

About a month later he received a call from Kali, asking him if he’d like to go another round, same payment, same deal.  The only problem he had was that he still had no idea what she was talking about so she sent him an email.  There was no doubt in his mind that he’d been paid to fuck and be fucked on camera once he was done watching the video link attached to the email.  He said no, despite needing the money.  He was almost done with his dissertation.  He could hold out until the money started to flow in honestly.

She called again a week later, with a higher offer.  He said no again.

She called four more times.  His answer was still no.

Then HE called.  Alistair called him and after one conversation he was lost.  The man had a way of talking that just took down all of Gabriel’s excuses without making them seem invalid, and by the end of that first phone call from him he’d agreed to a date with him.

It was all downhill from there.

It started with sweet talking.  Vulnerable Gabriel was always going to fall for the handsome sweet talking man.  Especially when Alistair professed his undying love for him after 6 weeks of solid, carefully crafted courtship.  He was, figuratively speaking, in heaven and believed he was in love.  A part of his mind tried to tell him that he was just lonely, and that the rejection from his parents was making him reckless but he shut that voice up with cocaine.  The cocaine lovingly supplied by Alistair that was designed to make him compliant and dependent.  At some point during his forced addiction he agreed to making more porn, which made Alistair and Kali very happy.  And after a while they introduced him to a man called Asmodai of all things, the one who made it possible for them do what they did.  Gabriel was convinced he was happy, and that he was surrounded by friends that loved him so he withdrew further from his old friends and with no family to speak of, was soon forgotten.         

He thought he remembered calling his cousin, Castiel, to try to convince him to live his life and be free, free like he was and to be happy.  He found out the hard way that Alistair didn’t like that he had called his cousin after he’d worked so hard to isolate Gabriel so he naturally took the next step, beating Gabriel senseless and locking him in a room alone for days with no food or water.  By the time Alistair opened the door again Gabriel was a filthy mess on the floor, begging for forgiveness, promising to do whatever Alistair wanted as long as he didn’t leave him alone again.  

After that, the true nightmare began.  At first Gabriel thought Alistair and Asmodai were just fooling around, and that his safe words would be just that, but he was soon robbed of that illusion when they ignored him and only got more excited as his pleas for them to stop became screams of pain.  They kept him drugged constantly, only feeding him to keep his strength up for the constant rapes and beatings.  A few times, different men came to see him and paid money to Alistair so that they could participate in their festivities, taking turns to see who could make him scream louder and for longer.  Sometimes they used blades and cut his skin as they fucked into him.  He lost track of time.  It meant nothing to someone who never saw a window or sunlight anymore.

In his more lucid moments Gabriel begged for death.  He would beg them to kill him, only to be told “soon” before they took him again and again, sometimes to the brink of death before bringing him back for more.

~~~

Gabriel paused in the telling of his story to take a sip of his drink only to find Sam curled up as small as he could make himself, sobbing with his head in Gabriel’s lap. He had a tight grip on Gabriel’s legs, and his body convulsed with heavy, wracking sobs as he listened to the horrors of the past unfolding before him. Strangely, the only thing Gabriel felt with Sam wrapped around him was comfort, despite the fact that the man was a crying mess. He ran the fingers of one hand through Sam’s hair, tears streaming down his face, wondering how, or if they were going to get past this moment.

“Sam?” he asked gently in a thick voice, smoothing Sam’s hair down as he spoke.  “How are you doing there Samshine?  Do you want me to stop?”

Sam shook his head into Gabriel’s lap. “No Gabe, no. I want to hear it all.  I’m sorry I’m not stronger for you Gabe, I wanted to be stronger for you.” And his shoulders started to heave again as he sobbed fresh tears onto Gabriel.

“You’re doing fine Sammy. You’re doing just fine. Look at me, I’m not even close to freaking out right now and you’re basically in my lap. That’s a whole new level for me.” He said softly to Sam, who froze when he realized where he was.  “Shhh Sam. It’s OK. You need this. I need this, please don’t move away.”

~~~

Gabriel had no idea how much time had passed when they killed Kali. They thought he’d been beaten unconscious again but they were wrong. He was just so listless and broken, and they were used to him not fighting them anymore so they ignored him. She was never treated as badly as he was. Not even close, considering that she was the one who found them the lost souls they needed to fulfil their perverted fantasies. She never took part though, not except for that first time, not unless there was another female present, which was rare. Kali preferred to direct the horror. No, Kali was killed because she was caught stealing money from them to pay for a one-way ticket out of the country for herself, complete with a whole new identity. When they killed her they made sure they fucked her senseless first with the cameras on, Asmodai's dick down her throat, Alistair ramming her from behind in their favourite positions as they choked the life out of her slowly, watching the light fade in her eyes as she finally, finally died.  They must have forgotten about Gabriel lying there in a pool of his own blood, only noticing him as the blood lust faded but Gabriel was way beyond caring. If they killed him now, he would at least have some peace and his soul would be free.

But they didn’t kill him. They left with Kali’s body thinking he was unconscious or already dead. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered, in the drugged out fog that was Gabriel’s mind was that the door was left open. He forced himself to his feet, forcing himself to at least try to get out. He was dead anyway, what did it matter if they found him before he got away. He stumbled through the building he was in, pausing only to grab a dirty sheet to wrap himself in, to cover his naked and beaten body.  

He emerged into the night. Oh and wasn’t it wonderful to feel fresh air again? He headed down the first street he came to, trying to orient himself, to find out where he was. He had no idea how long he walked for.  He scurried past a gas station and a line of shops before he saw a sign with names on it that he recognized.  He was only a ten minute drive from where he used to live. This whole time, however long that was. He was skittish, hiding from anything that moved as he stumbled into a park on his search for a phone, his body being fueled by adrenaline alone at this point. He found what he was looking for at the other end of the path he was trying not to walk on and dialed the only number he could remember before he fell onto a nearby bench, energy drained from his desperate flight.  

He only vaguely remembered Castiel running up to him, coat flapping in the night air as he pulled himself into a stop in front of Gabriel. He didn’t remember much of the hospital, only that he put up a fight anytime anyone came near him so he had to be sedated. He was fortunate in that he hadn’t picked up any STI’s in the time he had been held captive but not so much with the rest.  He was malnourished to the point of anorexia, weighing 50 pounds less than when he was taken and he had a couple of bones that had to be broken and re-set. Short of plastic surgery there was nothing that could be done about the multitude of scars that criss-crossed his body, but he was alive so he didn’t really care. It wasn’t like he was going to be putting himself on display anytime soon.

The court cases were particularly hard. The prosecutor kept him out of the limelight as much as possible, and kept his name out of the press but word got out eventually.  He had to go into more debt to pay for the lawyers, and the medical bills were enormous. So he convinced Castiel that their only option was to make more porn. Proper, safe porn for some quick money and then they could get out. He’d seen first hand how much money was there and it seemed like the fastest way for him to get his life back together.

~~~

“The fucking irony there, Sam, was that I couldn’t get it up.” Gabriel snorted, still running his fingers through Sam’s hair. Sam had stopped crying and was holding onto Gabriel’s other hand in a vice-like grip. “Every time I thought about sex I’d clam up and nope.  Wasn’t happening. I had to be fucking medicated to do my job. Which is why a lot of the time I wasn’t the main act, if you get what I’m saying. But then, once the Viagra kicked in I couldn’t finish, couldn’t have an orgasm to save my life so I snuck off and got my hands on some ecstasy. Now that was the stuff I needed. Really turned things around for the movies we made. Cas was so pissed when he found out.” He looked down at Sam tenderly, wanting nothing more than to keep soothing the oversized idiot in his lap that was still there, still seemed to like him, scars and all.

Sam turned his head to look at him. “Why did you need so much money?  That part is confusing me.” He said with a small frown on his sad face. 

“Medical bills, legal bills, university bills, you name it Sammy and we had them. My father had also demanded all the money back that he’d invested into my education.” Gabriel answered him, absently wiping away some tears from Sam’s face.

“That doesn’t sound right.” Sam muttered, confused. “In this kind of case there would generally be compensation and whatnot. You really shouldn’t be in debt because of this. Not when you’re the victim. I’m going to run it by the firm I work at when I get home to make sure.” He rolled his body over and resettled himself with his nose against Gabriel’s stomach, only the thin fabric of his shirt separating Sam’s lips from soft skin he knew he would find there one day. He inhaled slowly, breathing in the scent that he had come to recognize as Gabriel’s, sweet sandalwood mixed with cedar, like the forests at higher altitudes he had visited once during spring break.

The movement was almost too much for Gabriel, and despite their circumstances and the mood in the room, his dick was starting to pay attention to the close proximity of Sam’s head to his groin. He stifled a groan and leaned his head back onto the wall, grimacing. At least that was no longer an issue. Gabriel was more than pleased with that development.

“For the love of - Sam, God, please stop moving your head around or things are going to get awkward really quickly.” Gabriel not-quite moaned at Sam as he took another sip of his drink. He felt, rather than saw the grin that was suddenly plastered on Sam’s face as he tried to remember where he was up to in his story.

“Quick question Gabriel, so are you, uh still taking the uh, medication?” Sam asked curiously, his breath heating up Gabriel’s stomach as he spoke. He really wanted the answer to be no, for Gabriel’s reactions to him to be completely natural, because he knew precisely what was happening in Gabriel’s pants at that point in time.

“Little shit”  Gabriel muttered at him. “That’s what you’re focused on?” He asked incredulously, slapping Sam playfully on the back of the head and instantly regretting it because the smart ass squirmed his head around a little more before settling again, nose pressed against Gabriel’s shirt once more.

~~~

The ecstasy was a game changer for Gabriel.  He felt like he was back in control of his life again when he was high, and his libido was back to normal.  He still couldn’t perform without the Viagra though, so life became a routine of unsatisfying scripted sex, late night editing and waiting.  Waiting for the court case to be over and done with. The prosecutor’s office applied for the death penalty for Alistair and Asmodai, and because they were already known to the FBI , they were charged with other crimes besides the kidnapping and torture of Gabriel and the murder of Kali. Gabriel broke down and cried in the witness room adjacent to the courtroom the day that the sentences were finally handed down, mourning the loss of his old life, his innocence and the ever persistent loneliness and fear that never left him alone.  

He couldn’t form relationships with people, couldn’t trust anyone except for Castiel, who gave up his own life to leap into Gabriel’s to try to help him reach the other side of the turmoil he was in.  He couldn’t stand people touching him, and the one date he went on ended with him in the ER sedated because of the panic that set in when the man he was with tried to kiss him. Castiel’s partner left him soon after that because he couldn’t deal with Gabriel and the whole fucked up situation but, being the saint that he was, Cas only told Gabriel that if Balthazar couldn’t handle the bad times, he sure as shit didn’t deserve the good times when they finally arrived.  But Gabriel had to watch his cousin give up everything to stay near him in case he flipped out and the guilt only piled higher as time went on. The day that Alistair and Asmodai were executed Gabriel thought he would finally get some peace, but he felt nothing.

The nightmares were a constant thing, in varying degrees of terror and Gabriel was soon reliant on drugs daily to help him cope.  And then one day he went too far. It was the day after a particularly stressful shoot in an airplane with an extremely pushy woman who tried to force Gabriel into some “real sex” that he tried to kill himself with an overdose.  But of course Cas was there to ruin Gabriel’s plan, coming home early from a date that he’d finally agreed to go on with a guy from the coffee shop up the road.  Gabriel had had it all planned, right down to the call to the emergency services that were supposed to arrive after he was dead. But Cas was there.  Again.  Like some kind of fucking guardian angel.  

Cas pulled the plug on the movies and sent Gabriel to rehab, arguing that Gabriel being alive and well was better than him being dead and Cas having no debt. So Gabriel cleaned himself up for Castiel. He couldn’t bare to let his cousin down again. During his rehab he stumbled onto a charity called Random Acts, and once he was clean he decided to get involved with their mission. He soon found gratification in the acts of kindness he did for them, using his medical knowledge to help them out on more than one occasion with their overseas missions. Castiel was more than happy to jump into those activities with him, and it didn’t take long before he gained his own small army of followers on the various social media platforms, and through the validation he got from them each day, managed to keep his thoughts reasonably positive, and life got a little better. For a while.  

Then a call came in from a guy claiming to have video footage of Gabriel’s experiences at the hands of Asmodai and Alistair. The price for him to hand over the material and keep his mouth shut was heavy. As far as the police were concerned the matter was closed, so Gabriel and Castiel had no choice but to return to porn to make up the money they needed to get rid of the last pieces of evidence, once and for all.  

~~~

“So that’s where we are Sam.” Gabriel finished. “That’s it. They only reason Cas agreed to come here this morning to stay was ‘cos it would save money on the hotel room. Well, that and I’m pretty sure he’s fucking your brother. That will give us what we need to pay off that fuckwit and move on.” He sniffed back the last of his tears and looked down at Sam, who was staring back up at him from his position in Gabriel’s lap.  

“You need another lawyer man, that’s just extortion. That’s illegal.” Sam said as his hands found the bottle of whiskey.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him “Of course it is. But we can’t afford to pay off another set of legal fees man. And I can’t go back. I don’t want that to be my life anymore.” Gabriel’s shoulders slumped slightly as he considered his options.

“Let me make a call? I... I have to tell you, Gabe, I’m pretty familiar with your case, I just didn’t know it was you, you know? We had it as a case study, and the firm I’m working for, well it comes up a bit because they can’t stand the firm you went with. Mostly. I think we could have done better for you though. Well, Mrs Tran could have. She’s all over cases like yours.” Sam sat up reluctantly and Gabriel was surprised that he missed the warmth that having him pressed up against him offered.  

“You work for Linda Tran?” Gabriel said in disbelief. “We approached them, we did, but we got convinced to go elsewhere.” He waved his hand dismissively. “If you think she can do something, and it won’t cost us the earth, make your call.”

Sam looked back at him, topping off his glass before he spoke. “I can’t make you promises here Gabe, as much as I’d like to. But I’ll talk to her. She likes me. I’ll see what I can talk her into, for you, and Cas.” Sam leaned back on the wall next to Gabriel, trying to process everything he had been told.  It was one thing to hear about it or read it in a case file, but to be confronted with the realities of a case, and the living, breathing, hot as hell victim in said case was completely different. He wasn’t exactly sure where they were headed after tonight, but he’d be damned if he didn’t want to try and make whatever was going on between them work. He hadn’t felt so passionate about being with someone since he’d broken up with Jess, and if he was to be completely honest with himself, he had been interested in Gabriel for longer than he and Jess had been separated. And wasn’t that just the most interesting development?

He heard Gabriel yawning beside him and turned to face the man next to him. In his bed. “What do you say we get some sleep?” He suggested.  

Gabriel’s amber eyes widened in the lamplight. “I don’t think I can sleep Sam. I don’t want a repeat of what happened earlier.” He dropped his eyes and his fingers played nervously with the quilt on the bed. “But man, you’re driving us around tomorrow. I’m going to be exhausted.”

Sam wasn’t fooled by what Gabriel was saying. He knew, after hearing the horrors of his past what the real problem was here, in this room, right now. “Don’t be ridiculous.” He snorted at him, swatting at Gabriel’s leg. “Lie down and go to sleep. You can sleep in the bed, I’ll take the floor.” Sam got up and walked out of the room, leaving Gabriel sitting alone on his bed in a daze. He walked back in a few moments later laden with blankets, pillows and a yoga mat that he’d found in Dean’s linen cupboard. He tossed them onto the floor between the bed and the door and proceeded to make himself a nest out of what he had scavenged before turning his attention back to Gabriel, who was watching him with an unfathomable expression on his face.  

“What?” He asked with a raised eyebrow, walking back over to sit on the bed near Gabriel. “If you’re not OK with sleeping on my bed, we can go to the other room. It’s up to you. Whatever you want, remember? But I’m not letting you sleep alone.”

“I remember what you said Sam. I just wish what I wanted and what was possible right now were the same thing.” Gabriel answered sadly. He reached out a hand out to Sam, who put his out to meet Gabriel’s, closing over it with a gentle squeeze. He didn’t miss the symbolic gesture that Sam probably unconsciously made by putting his weird assortment of bedding directly between the bed and the door and he moved forward towards Sam suddenly, kneeling next to him and pressing their foreheads together with a sigh.

“Just. Sam. I don’t know what this is, but please don’t give up on me yet.” He whispered faintly. He felt Sam suck in a deep breath and once again thought the worst. Sam didn’t really want him. Didn’t care. He didn’t matter to him, how could he after what he’d just confessed?

“Stop it, Gabriel.”  Sam said softly to him, unable to control himself any longer. The day had just been too long and the dramatic events too frequent for him to deal with it rationally. He was tired, exhausted and emotionally wrecked and just wasn’t up to thinking anymore. “Stop it. I can tell what you’re thinking and you’re wrong. Again. Another one of those monumental misunderstandings like what we had this morning. I’m going to go lay down. Over there.” Sam waved at his bedding. “You’re sleeping right here, and when you’re ready, I’ll sleep next to you again.”  He smiled, their noses touching and their breath mingling in between them. “When you’re ready babe, and not a moment before.” He reached up a hand and ran it down Gabriel’s face, marginally more confident in touching him after the events of the night.

“Christ, Sam you’re a pushy brat. OK. You win. We’ll try this your way.” Gabriel sighed, knowing Sam was right. Better to ease in. Better to know what he was getting himself into and - he felt Sam gasp, his warm breath suddenly closer as Gabriel realized he was the one that had closed the short distance between them and not Sam. Their lips met, a soft collision of skin that had hearts racing and thoughts scattering in an expression of pure emotion.

They lingered hesitantly, both men wanting the kiss to deepen and go further, while at the same time knowing that it was futile, that they had to wait for Gabriel to be ready.

Sam’s hand came back up to cup Gabriel’s face as he pulled away from the kiss he’d been waiting for months for. “Goodnight Gabriel.” He said in a slightly breathless voice before getting up and moving to his makeshift bed. It wasn’t exactly the comfortable bed he had been hoping for that night, but it would do just fine if it helped Gabriel. Sam rolled onto his side so that he was facing the bed and his eyes grew heavy as he watched Gabriel watching him, his body wrapped around a pillow, and for the second time that night, they fell asleep.

Chapter Text

~Tuesday: Day 4~

Dean woke with Cas’ head on his chest, his soft breaths puffing heat onto his skin. I could get used to this, the thought rose in his mind unbidden as he looked down at the gorgeous man pressed against him. He tightened his right arm where it was wrapped around Cas’ shoulders and held onto the sleeping man a little tighter before pulling away and pressing a kiss to his hair.

“Cas, we need to get up.” He nudged Castiel’s shoulder softly, chuckling softly as Cas only grunted and snuggled closer. He was about to try again when his phone vibrated on the bedside table.

“Hello?” He mumbled quietly, not wanting to be rude to Cas despite the fact he needed to be up anyway.

“Dean?” A female voice ask cheerily. “It’s Lisa.”

Dean bit back a groan, because of course Lisa was calling him now. “Oh hey, now isn’t really a good time.” He replied, biting back the rude comment that attempted to leave his mouth, over the top of a sleeping Cas was not where he wanted to have this conversation, whatever it was.

“Oh.” Lisa’s disappointment was heavy in that one syllable. “Well that’s OK, I can call back whenever?”

“I don’t really know what you want to talk about, honestly.” Dean was in no mood to deal with his ex, especially before his coffee. “We’re done and that’s not going to change.”

He was met with a slight gasp, followed by “If you say so, Dean.” He really hoped that was the end of it, but the whispered 'we’ll see about that' as he pulled the phone from his ear was enough to set him on edge and he wondered what the hell was going on.

“Who was that?”  He heard Castiel ask with a distinctly jealous twinge in his voice.

Dean startled slightly, looking down at Cas where he lay, still pressed to Dean’s side, peering up at him curiously. “No one important.” He hedged, feeling awkward talking about his ex to his… friend? Lover? Dean wasn’t sure what they were and it was way too fucking early in the day to be having these thoughts. “Coffee?”

Cas looked like he was going to say something but seemed to change his mind, nodding instead. “Yes, coffee.  We’ve got some GISHing to do.”  He moved to pull his tired body into a sitting position and suddenly found himself face to face with Dean and being kissed so thoroughly he thought he might suffocate.   There were worse ways to go out , he thought to himself as he was just as suddenly released.  He blinked rapidly at Dean in confusion for a few seconds as he caught his breath after the onslaught.

Dean laughed out loud at the expression on Castiel’s face when he pulled out of the kiss.  “God you’re adorable Cas.”  He chuckled at the other man, planting another kiss on his nose as he climbed out of bed to search for a shirt.  “Come on man, let’s go get some coffee into you.”

Dean left the room with Cas in tow and headed for the kitchen.  Sam’s door was still shut so he assumed that he and Gabriel were still out of it and decided to just let them sleep it off.  He heard a clatter coming from the general direction of the kitchen and wondered who it could be.

“Ouch, fuck it. Motherfucker.”  he heard Gabriel snap and rounded the doorway only to see him standing near the oven with his thumb in his mouth, sucking on it furiously as he glared daggers at a baking tray that was sitting on top of the stove, full of what looked like freshly baked muffins just begging to be eaten.

“Uh. Morning Gabe.”  Dean began awkwardly, completely uncertain on how to deal with the whole situation from the night before, when his nostrils caught the scent of the muffins on the tray.   Was that bacon?  And cheese?  Then the aroma of the coffee hit him and all awkwardness was gone as he unceremoniously dove for the pot and poured a cup for him and Cas, who had gone straight to Gabriel when he walked in.  “You made muffins AND coffee?  Oh man, will you move in?  Cas, you won’t mind right?”  He winked at them as he sipped his coffee.

Castiel stared at Dean in mock horror.  “You’re passing me over for Gabe because he baked you a muffin?”  He stumbled a little as Gabriel pushed into him with a smirk on his face.

“You’re a pretty shade of green when you’re jealous Cas.  But sorry Dean-o, you’re not my type.  I like my men tall.  Lucky for you, this is Castiel’s recipe.”  Gabriel bantered back at them after he’d pulled his burnt thumb out of his mouth and shoved it into a bowl of cold water.

Castiel laughed at his cousin, pleased to see that he seemed in good spirits, especially after the night they’d had.  “Dickhead.  Anyone is tall compared to you.”

Dean snorted back a laugh, “The only person I know taller than me is my brother.  Speaking of..?”  He left the question hanging, looking at Gabriel to answer.

“Snoring like a fucking freight train in his nest on the floor.  Why else do you think I’m up?”  Gabriel said, rolling his eyes at the memory of trying to sleep through the rumbling snores coming from Sam.

“I don’t know man. Your sorry for punching your brother in the face muffins needed to be baked.  I’d say you got up at just the right time.”  Dean said in jest with a wide grin plastered on his face before he realised that their meaning could be offensive and his eyes widened in shock.  “Shit.”

Gabriel and Castiel both stared at Dean, blue eyes in disbelief and dismay, amber eyes in shock, and then, surprisingly mirth.  Gabriel threw his head back and laughed.  “Oh Dean-o, the look on your face. Priceless.”   He walked over to Dean and punched him in the shoulder.  “Thanks for not making things awkward.  I appreciate it.  Eat your damned muffins.  But leave the pot alone.  I’m not done with it.  It’s destined for a pie.  I’m going to go get ready for today.”

“Pie?” Dean’s head snapped up. “Oh man, marry me.” Gabriel just laughed and sent a cheeky wink at Cas as he left the room. Once Gabriel had gone, Dean made a beeline for the muffin tray and grabbed one, inhaling in delight.  

Castiel was still staring at Dean, but the dismay had turned into something more familiar to Dean and he stared back at Cas, green eyes meeting blue.  “I don’t know what it is about you and Sam.  Gabriel hasn’t been so open with anyone for years.”

“I like to think it’s because of my perky nipples.” Dean smirked. “Wait, that’s why you like me.” He winked, laughing along with Cas as he playfully smacked his shoulder.

“That’s just a bonus.” Cas said through a mouthful of breakfast muffin. “So what’s the plan for today?”

“Uh, we have a few things we could do. Lets check out The List.” Dean finished off his coffee and poured himself another before heading into the living room to pull up the list and spreadsheet on the laptops, Cas following along behind him, already on his second cup. Gabriel was already there, working on a handwritten list of the things he’d like to get done today.

They spent an hour reviewing the rest of the team’s submissions, updating the spreadsheet and going over the list, Sam stumbled out of his room towards the kitchen at one stage, barely present enough to flap a hand at them in an attempt at a wave as he passed them.

Gabe laughed from the chair he was in, checking the group chat. “I can only imagine how that conversation went for Claire’s mom.” He took a moment to imagine it before elaborating “‘I managed to get a coffin for Claire to lay in with the popcorn.’”

“Um, probably something like ‘hey can I borrow a coffin?’” Sam muttered grumpily as he entered the room to join them, finally.

“OK so Ash, Kev and Charlie have been pretty busy doing the online, photoshop and art based things.” Dean sat back, scratching his chin as he thought out loud. “They’re pretty much all covered. Uh, we could dress as a prospector and pan for gold in a fountain?”

Cas nodded eagerly, writing it down on their to-do list for the day. “We might as well do the town crier one at the same time, all dressed in the prospector getup.”

“I uh… I tried to get you guys an interview with the radio station for the task of getting them to talk about us on air.” Gabe ventured. “But they want to talk to me instead.” He sighed. “I’m more interesting since I’m semi-famous.”

“That’s fine Gabe, if you feel up to doing it?” Cas squinted at his cousin carefully, as if trying to discern if he was OK to do it.

“Yeah yeah I got this.” Gabe waved dismissively. “I just feel bad cause there’s not a lot left for you guys to do, just the shitty ones no one wants.”

“To be fair Gabe, we totally expected you to take the ones that can use your fame and contacts to our advantage. Have you got that politician dude, um Dick Roman, to do the thing?” Dean was preoccupied reading over the list but he took the time to stop and look at Gabe while he was talking to him, smiling happily when Gabe nodded in response. “Good, dude we so got this.”

“There’s a bee challenge.” Cas announced suddenly. “I’d like to do it.”

“Uh I think Charlie was going to paint a picture of a bee.” Sam scrolled down the list to check. “Yeah she hasn’t done it yet but she’s got it in her list.”

“It’s not just painting, we could plant a garden for the bees.” Cas insisted. “I want it.”

“Uh, yeah, OK Cas. If you feel so strongly about it.” Dean was already shooting off a text message to Charlie asking her if that was OK with her. “We could actually double up again and dress as pokemon while you plant them.”

“Alright.” Castiel added the 2 new tasks to their list, making a note of the things they were going to need to get them done as he did so. “Where are we going to get the pokemon costume?” Sam suddenly started laughing, prompting Cas and Gabe to shoot him a confused look, complete with matching head tilt. But it was Dean who explained.

“I actually have one already.” His cheeks were pink with embarrassment. “It’s not here, it’s still at Bobby’s place but yeah, I dressed as Scyther one time for Comic Con. Shut up Sammy, Scyther is totally badass.”

“Alright well that’s a few for us, I’ll keep The List on my phone and if we get done quickly we can find something else to do then.” Cas looked over at Gabriel. “You guys know what you’re doing today?”

“Sure do Cassie.” Gabe announced with a smirk, Cas just frowned in his direction. “You going to shower and get dressed anytime today Samsquatch?”

Sam shot Gabriel his classic ‘it’s too early for this shit’ bitchface and threw a cushion at him. “Nah I thought I’d go out just like this.” Gabe threw the cushion back, poking his tongue out at the younger Winchester cheekily.

“I think we should leave before they do something unforgivable.” Cas stage whispered to Dean, already making for Dean’s room. “Like spilling our coffees.”

Cas and Dean took turns using the shower, wanting to get started with their day and completely aware that wandering hands would not make that happen any faster. Cas snaked a container full of muffins as they left the apartment.

“OK where first?” Dean asked once they were situated in the Impala. “Nursery?”

“Nursery.” Cas confirmed with a nod, relaxing into his seat comfortably as Dean drove. “Then Bobby’s I guess.”

“I should probably let him know we’re coming.” Dean mumbled. “I’ll call him when we stop.”

Cas wandered through the nursery when they arrived, apparently already knowing exactly which flowers bees liked and heading straight for the flower section. “Nerd.” Dean mumbled fondly to himself before pulling out his phone and calling Bobby.

“Waddya want idjit?” Bobby’s gruff voice asked in place of a greeting. “You’re off this week so I know it can’t be a work call.”

“Well hello to you too, Bobby.” Dean grinned. “I need to come round and pick something up, that OK?”

“Duh boy. I’ve been telling you to get your shit out of my place for years.” Dean knew that Bobby didn’t mean it, though the comment still made him feel guilty. “Yeah, sorry Bobby.”

“Idjit.” Bobby said fondly and Dean could practically hear the way his father figure was smiling through the phone. “I’ll see you soon then?”

“Yep, me and Cas will be there soon.” Dean finished the call and was about to head into the nursery to look for Cas when he spotted Cas already making his way out to him.

“I got them, Dean.” Cas proudly showed Dean the colorful potted plants in his arms.

“Cas!” Dean protested. “I was going to pay for them!”

“It’s fine Dean, you pay for everything else.” Cas carefully placed the plant pots inside some plastic bags before tucking them into the back seat. “I wanted to.” Dean already knew better to argue, when Cas wanted to do something, he did it. That much was clear from the time they had already spent together and from what he knew about the dark haired man.

The drive to Bobby’s was filled with lighthearted conversation and teasing and both men wore a smile when they exited the Impala at Bobby’s scrapyard and auto shop. The older man was already outside to meet them, having heard the rumble of Dean’s car coming up the road. “Good to see you smiling boy.” He clapped Dean on the back jovially before turning to face Cas. “You must be Cas.”

Cas nodded and reached a hand out for the man to shake. “Castiel Novak sir.”

Bobby shook his hand firmly. “None of this ‘sir’ business y’hear? It’s Bobby. Well come on, you’re here for a reason.” Bobby gestured to the house. “You know where it all is, boy. I’ll be out here doing some actual work.”

Bobby Singer’s house was filled with what could only be called organized chaos. There were books everywhere in the living room that Dean and Cas passed through, book shelves full and the rest taking up every available surface, even sitting on piles on the floor. Cas raised his eyebrows at Dean in question. “Bobby likes to read.” Was Dean’s only explanation.

Cas had expected to be led to the basement or attic so was surprised when Dean, instead, led him to a tidy bedroom, a thin layer of dust showing how unused the room was. “This was my room.” Dean mumbled self consciously. “It should be here somewhere.” Dean rummaged through some boxes in the closet, while Cas wandered around the room interested in this glimpse of a younger Dean.

He was peering at an aged photo beside Dean’s bed when Dean’s shout of victory recaptured his attention, dragging his eyes away from the image that could only be young Dean, baby Sam and their mother smiling happily at the camera. “Got it!” Dean grinned at him, bundle of green fabric in his arms. “Let’s go.”

Castiel hovered by the Impala while Dean went to say goodbye to Bobby, turning down the offer of staying for a beer with a laughing “it’s not even noon yet Bobby.”

Bobby just shrugged and took a swig of his own with a muttered “It’s 5 o’clock somewhere. Now get out of here ya idjit. Your boyfriend’s waiting for you.”

Dean blushed scarlet even as something fluttered in his chest at the term. “Cas isn’t… he’s not my boyfriend.” He hastily mumbled, averting his gaze from where he’d been watching Cas casually leaning on against the side of the Impala.

Bobby shot him a weird look that Dean could only interpret as meaning ‘idjit’ before shaking his head and mumbling something he couldn’t quite hear. “Well go on, Cas is waiting.” Dean let himself be shooed out of Bobby’s workshop, mind going over his reaction to hearing Cas referred to as his boyfriend .

Dean walked slowly back over to the Impala, heart fluttering in his chest at the way that Cas’ eyes lit up when he saw him headed his way. “What now? Plant the flowers or go get the stuff for the prospector outfit?” He asked as he reached the car.

“Hm, where were we planting them?” Dean asked, trying to think about what would be closer. “Oak Grove Park?”

Castiel nodded thoughtfully. “Or we could do it at Children’s Fountain Park and get them all at once?”

“Great idea Cas!” Dean slapped him on the shoulder, walking around to the driver’s side of the Impala. “So first we need prospecting gear.”

“And a bell!” Cas realized. “For the town crier one. Although, Dean, we only really need the pan, hat and overalls for the prospector outfit.” He smirked, looking at Dean’s red flannel.  

Dean winked happily. “Glad to be of service.”

They pulled into the Walmart parking lot and wandered through the store in search of what they needed, eventually settling on a low bowl to use as the panning dish. They were on the way to the menswear section to look for overalls when Cas remembered a task that hadn’t been done. “Dean, we need to defend the panties.” Dean started and looked over at Cas in confusion.

“We what?” He spluttered, staring at Cas like he’d grown a second head.
“For the Hunt. There’s a task to use things found in store as armor and a weapon and defend the ladies undergarments.” Cas watched him blandly. “Let’s do it while we’re here.”

They walked through the different sections of the store eventually deciding on a fruit bowl as a helmet, a fur rug as a loincloth, children’s floatation device as a chest plate and a pool noodle sword. Dean was insistent that, since this was Cas’ idea, Cas would be the one posing for the photo and gleefully helped him put on his ‘armor’.

Cas looked ridiculous and in the first few photos he just stood around awkwardly swinging the pool noodle. Dean couldn’t breathe, he was laughing so much. “Cas, you need to look like you mean it.”

Cas just stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“Pose, look fierce.” Dean explained, raising the camera again. “Defend those panties, Cas!”

It took several tries to get a decent photo, once Castiel started posing Dean’s laughter shook the camera so much that most of the pictures were completely blurry. Eventually Dean took a photo he was happy with, Castiel looked… ridiculously badass. The makeshift armor and panty lined background a complete contrast to the hard lines of Cas’ glare as he raised the pool noodle threatening above his head.

It was actually really sexy Dean thought to himself as they returned the different armor items to where they belonged and checked out with their purchases.

The drive to the Kansas City Children’s Fountain didn’t take long and before Dean knew it he was helping Cas into his old Scyther costume and taking pictures while he used a spade to dig and move the flowers from their pots to their new home, careful to not get any dirt on the oversized fabric scythes of the costume. He then stuck the small sign that stated what the plants were and that they attract bees, stepping back for Dean to take another photo for the second task.

“OK now let’s get you out of there so you can take the pictures of me prospecting, people are starting to stare.” Dean looked around uncomfortable at their audience. “It’s for charity.” He explained to the curious onlookers, sighing in relief as they wandered away, curiosity sated.

“Uh Dean.” Cas’ voice was muffled by the mask. “I think I’m stuck.”

Dean laughed as he moved to extract Cas from the slightly too small costume, the struggle resulting in them being pressed against each other, laughing, as they held each other to stay upright.

Dean was caught up in Cas’ gaze again, his deep blue eyes staring through him, and he was taken aback at the fondness he could see there. He gasped, sucking in a fast breath as Cas brought their mouths together in a soft kiss that could only be described as sweet.

“Your turn.” Cas mumbled, pulling away gently. “Let’s get you dressed up.”

Dean opted to do the town crier video first. “I don’t really want to stay in wet clothes longer than I have to Cas.”

Cas struggled not to laugh as he filmed Dean standing on a bench in his prospector gear, ringing a bell and shouting about there being free beer at the Roadhouse and to put it on Misha’s tab. People milled around and watched the display and for a moment Castiel worried that they might take him up on that. Dean set his fears to rest though. “The Roadhouse is Jo’s mom’s place, it’s not even in this state Cas.” He winked cheekily, handed the bell to Cas and climbed into the fountain to pan for gold.

Cas got some good photos and placed the camera on the bench so he could safely take the damp bowl out of Dean’s hands and help him out of the fountain. Dean apparently had other ideas however, tugging Cas in to join him with a splash. “Dean!” He protested loudly, allowing Dean to help him up, before using the bowl to dump water over his head.

A small water fight broke out before someone yelled at them that they weren’t allowed in the fountain and that they’d called the police. “Shit!” Dean laughed, finally climbing out of the fountain and collecting their belongings from the bench. “Let’s get out of here before the police arrive!”

“Dammit Dean.” Cas complained from the passenger seat as they drove back towards Dean’s apartment. “Even my underwear is wet, pass me those napkins.” Dean was appreciative of the way Cas helped him wipe the water off the leather seats of his Baby before they went upstairs.

They shucked their wet clothes, and changed into dry ones, before hanging them over the edge of the bathtub to be dealt with later. Dean opting to start uploading and submitting the 5 tasks they’d completed in their trip and Cas made a fresh pot of coffee.

“Hey Cas?” Dean asked softly as he sipped his coffee, allowing the dark brew to warm him better than the dry clothes even could. “Want to go get lunch with me?”

“We have food here Dean, I know that Sam made up more than enough.”

“I mean, I want to take you to lunch Cas.” Dean wasn’t looking at him now.

“Do you mean like a date, Dean?” Cas held his breath, trying not to appear too hopeful, sure they kissed and touched and slept together but Cas wasn’t under any illusions that it was more than a friendship with a convenient sexual attraction that they could take advantage of simply because they were both adults.

“Uh.” Dean scratched the back of his neck, finally looking over at him. “Yeah Cas, a date, I mean if you don’t want to, that’s ok I just...”

“Yes.” Cas breathed, interrupting him. “I want to.”

Dean sighed heavily in relief. “That’s good. I’m glad, I do too. Want to go on a date with you, I mean.” He knew he was rambling and snapped his mouth closed, taking a breath before speaking again. “I’m going to get dressed to go out then. Be ready in 5 Cas.”

It took about half an hour for them to get to The Green Room. Dean was excitedly raving about the burgers they served here as they parked nearby and walked towards it. Once they found seats Dean happily ordered them both a beer while they read over their menus.

“Oh man I can’t decide.” Dean groaned, eyes scanning the menu hungrily. “How about you Cas? Anything jump out at you?”

“The Forty-Ten.” He nodded to himself decisively. “Definitely that one.”

Dean closed his menu and pushed it away. “I like your style.” He winked.

They ordered the burgers with some fries and another beer when the waitress returned. Conversation was easy, Dean wasn’t sure why he’d expected otherwise, everything was easy with Cas right from the start. It’s not like putting a label on their meal would change that, but he’d still been nervous.

“So, other than your work with Gabe, what do you do Cas?” Dean defaulted to first date conversation automatically, feeling a little guilty that for all of the things he knows about Castiel, he doesn’t know much about his life outside of Gabe.

“Uh.” Cas looked a little put on the spot. “I was studying film and creative arts, I wanted to be a director. I had to drop out when Gabe… well, back then. Since we shut down Angel Productions I haven’t really decided on what to do. Gabe and I, we’re kind of… transient right now.”

“Transient, what does that mean?” Dean sipped his beer before looking back at Cas. “Are you guys homeless Cas?”

Cas ducked his head. “Well, we stay in motels and Gabe’s car when we have to.”

Dean felt awkward, he didn’t know what to say to that. His first impulse was to tell Cas that they could stay with him, even after Sam left, that he had space. But a voice in his head stopped him, too soon , it whispered, you’ve only known him 4 days. Way too soon . He cleared his throat. “Oh. Um, I’m sorry Cas. I feel like an ass for not realizing.”

“It’s not your fault Dean.” Cas murmured, snagging his beer from the table.

Dean was saved from putting his foot any further into his mouth by their food arriving. Cas took a large bite of his burger and moaned obscenely. Dean’s mouth snapped open as his body remembered other times Cas had made that noise. Cas noticed and smirked. “These make me very happy.”

And just like that the tension left the air and the normal ease of their conversation returned, they mostly discussed GISHWHES and what Sam and Gabe might be doing with their day. After they’d finished their beers and burgers Dean asked for the bill, paying with his card and pointedly throwing the receipt, with the waitress’ number scrawled across the bottom, in the trash, reaching over and taking Cas’ hand in his as he did so.

“Thanks for this Cas. I didn’t really know if you’d want to come.” Dean mumbled, leading the way back over to the Impala.

“Don’t be silly Dean, of course I wanted to.” Cas glanced over at him with a blush. “I worried that you weren’t interested in dating me, that it might have just been physical for you.”

Dean looked surprised. “You’ve been thinking about it?” He asked softly, stopping by the side of the car and raising his hand to stroke Cas’ face. Cas nodded.

“I’d like to pursue a relationship with you, Dean.” Cas leaned into the touch of Dean’s hand. “If that’s what you want, too?”

Dean grinned happily and surged forward for a kiss that left them both breathless and smiling. “I want to.”

Chapter Text

When Sam woke up the next morning the first thing he did was look over at the bed to check on Gabriel, only to find the bed was empty, Gabriel nowhere to be seen. He shot up off the floor so fast the blood rushed out of his head and the room spun around for a few painful minutes before he could stand properly and he could make his way out of the bedroom to find him. He tried to shake the stiffness out of his long limbs and back as he passed Dean and Cas in the living room on his way to the coffee, still wondering where Gabriel was when he heard him speaking from the chair he was slouched in, hidden from sight.

The knowledge that Gabriel was still there relaxed tension that Sam wasn’t really aware of as he poured himself a coffee and joined his team in the other room, grabbing his laptop and plonking himself down on the couch not far from Gabriel, shooting him a sleepy grin as their eyes met. Gabriel’s eyes looked tired, but alert as he wrote on his to-do list and Sam wondered how much sleep he had actually gotten once they had finally gone to bed. He silently vowed to make them take it easier today.

“So Gabe, what’s our game plan?” Sam asked him after he’d woken up enough to converse properly, scowling at Castiel’s back as he and Dean left the room.

“We need to upload the crap we did yesterday. In all the excitement it never got done.” Gabriel answered him, standing up and stretching lazily. “More coffee?” he asked as he disappeared into the kitchen with their mugs. He reappeared a moment later with refilled mugs in one hand and a plate of muffins in the other.

“Here, before your brother eats them all.” Gabriel passed the plate to Sam and sat down next to him, both mugs in hand. He held Sam’s mug out to him expectantly.

“Where did these come from? I never made muffins.” Sam said in confusion, taking his mug.

“Well you snore really fucking loudly Samsquatch. A guy got woken up so many times by the thunderstorm on the floor he got up to bake.” Gabriel snorted at him.

“I don’t snore!” Sam disagreed vehemently, the hint of a grin on his face. “You must have me confused with the guy on the bed. That little fucker was loud enough to wake the dead once he finally fell asleep”.

“Pfft. Whatever.” Gabriel fished his phone out of his pocket and pressed a few buttons on it before handing it to Sam. The sound of someone snoring really loudly came from the speakers followed by Gabriel’s voice saying, “Yeah Sam, you snore.” He raised an eyebrow at Sam as if to say ‘beat that’ and took his phone back.

Sam swallowed back a laugh, amazed and unbelievably pleased at how easy the conversation was this morning and took a bite of his muffin. “Oh my god Gabriel.” He moaned obscenely around the mouthful, chewing in delight. “This is amazing. Come back to LA with me and bake for me.” He moaned again and Gabriel had to concentrate very hard to keep his thoughts away from imagining Sam moaning like that in bed while he -. Get it together Speight.

He coughed loudly. “You Winchester boys are so cheap. One bite of a muffin and you both start moaning. Dean’s already proposed. You’ve got some stiff competition there Samshine.” Gabriel said playfully, winking at Sam. He was startled by the sudden change in Sam as his eyes darkened with lust and he leaned forward towards Gabriel, a mischievous glint in his eye.

“Like fuck I do.” Sam whispered possessively to Gabriel before pulling back out of Gabriel’s space, not wanting to push the limits of his tolerances too early. He smirked at Gabriel and took another bite of his muffin, watching his facial expressions changing from cheeky to shock and was that desire? Most importantly to Sam, however, was the complete absence of fear in Gabriel’s eyes.  

“So what’s on our list today Gabe? He asked innocently.

Gabriel squinted at Sam suspiciously, ignoring the flare of arousal and decided to let his little territorial display slide. He would deal with that later. And maybe get a little payback. “When you’re ready we’ve got to get to a radio interview uptown. Then the fire station. Then, then we’re going to go shopping for feminine hygiene products so we can make a panda padna.”

“OK but to be clear, if you think for one second that I’m dressing up like a fairy while you laugh, you’re mistaken.”

They managed to get themselves organized and out of the apartment in fairly good time without adding to the sexual tension that was most definitely building between the two of them. As Gabriel drove them to the radio station for their interview his mind wandered back to the possessiveness that Sam had been showing since they physically met. He thought it should have bothered him more than it did, because Alistair had been possessive too. And look where that led him. That’s where the similarities started and ended though, because where he had been sinister and hurtful, Sam was protective and caring. But didn’t he start out that way too? Actually, no. Hindsight was a bitch. Gabriel wanted to thump his head against the steering wheel in frustration. No. Sam. Was. Not. Him. Sam wouldn’t hurt him. His thoughts spun around in his head, keeping him preoccupied until they got to their destination.  

“Hey man, you still with me?” Sam asked hesitantly. He had seen Gabriel withdrawing into himself during the drive and decided it would be best to give him some space. A lot had happened between them in their short burgeoning friendship and Sam didn’t want to mess it up. He moved to walk beside Gabriel and they headed into the building housing the radio station. “We good?  You need some time?”

Gabriel sighed. And that was another difference. Sam was always asking him stupid questions about how he was feeling or coping. Something else he never did. Gabriel wasn’t sure when he stopped naming Alistair when he was thinking about Sam, but he thought it might have been a positive thing. “I’m fine Sammy. Just my brain on overdrive. Let’s do this.” He reached his hand out and touched Sam’s back hesitantly, briefly as they walked along. He could do this.

The radio interview went better than Gabriel expected. He was pleasantly surprised that they didn’t try to make a big deal out of his status as a porn star, and remained focused on the real reason they were there.

“So,” The on-air reporter, Paul continued after a song had ended. “We have GISHWHES participants Gabriel Speight and Sam Winchester in the studio with us again. Tell us more about The Hunt guys. And how did you manage to get someone like Gabriel on your team Sam?  He’s pretty famous in certain circles. From what I understand, Gabriel, you have had your own team for a while now. Why the change?”

Gabriel and Sam exchanged glances, trying to mentally communicate who was going to speak. Gabriel spoke up first. “Well, it’s bit of a coincidence really. Sam and I have been mutuals on social media for a while now but that’s about it. My cousin Castiel got a call from his ex, who happened to be on Sam’s team asking if we were keen to join them. After some googling we decided to throw it in with them.” Gabriel explained briefly.

“Yeah, uh but we didn’t actually know who either of them were until they showed up at my brother’s house on Saturday. All we knew were their GISHWHES usernames, we hadn’t had the opportunity to speak to them at all because they were on the road.” Sam laughed suddenly. “We thought Castiel was a girl. It was so funny.”

“Right, so tell me more about what you’re up to this week.” Paul asked curiously.  And so Sam and Gabriel took turns explaining the various tasks the team was doing that week, with an emphasis on a few items that required some celebrity pull on Gabriel’s part.

“An all holidays in one night celebration?” They were asked incredulously.

Sam nodded before remembering nobody could see him. “Oh yes, that’s going to be fun. Everyone has been asked to come dressed as a certain holiday. You know, Halloween, Christmas, May 4th.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel added. “We’re really looking forward to that one. It’s going to look like a calendar threw up in Dean’s living room.”

The interview went on for about half an hour before Gabriel and Sam were free to leave and move onto the next task, but not before obtaining the recording they needed for their submission.  

“Time to go get icecream for the firemen Samsquatch!.” Gabriel exclaimed happily as they slid back into the car.

“Uh, Gabe, where are we supposed to be getting changed?” Sam asked.

Gabriel looked at him in confusion. “Beats me Sam. Google is your friend.” He yawned and slumped against the steering wheel while Sam found them somewhere to change for the task. He looked at Sam tiredly, still drained from the emotional outpouring the night before and wished he could sleep for a few hours.

“OK man, look. How about you let me drive? You sleep, the place we need is about half an hour away anyway.” Sam suggested, eyeing Gabriel sideways as he put directions into Gabriel’s GPS. He saw Gabriel about to protest as he sat up straighter. “Please, Gabe? Let me do this for you.”

Gabriel sighed, looking at Sam irritably. “Fine.” He snapped. “You can drive if you want.” He got out of the car, but not before he saw the concerned expression on Sam’s face turn to hurt at the tone of his words. He stomped around to the other side of the car, knowing he was acting childishly but damn it, Sam was just too fucking nice and he didn’t know how to deal with it. Not when he knew that whatever Sam felt for him was the perfect reflection of his own feelings. It would so much easier if he wasn’t attracted to Sam. But life did always have a way of throwing lemons at him. Gabriel stopped just short of the passenger side door, leaning with his head on the roof, waiting for Sam to get out of the car.

Sam was trying to process the flare of Gabriel’s frustration, and not be offended by him lashing out but after the crappy sleep he’d had on the floor his patience was wearing thin. He stepped out of the car only to find Gabriel slumped against the back door, face-down with his eyes closed.

“Sam. Sam, I’m sorry man. You didn’t deserve that.” Gabriel said to the red metal in a muffled voice. Sam raised an eyebrow at Gabriel’s back waiting for him to turn. “I’m trying. I don’t know how to do this.”

Sam’s frustration fled instantly and he decided to throw caution to the wind. He pulled Gabriel off the car, spun him around and enveloped him in an all encompassing hug, keeping him there until he felt relaxation set in. Gabriel’s arms came up behind Sam’s back tentatively as he relaxed into the hold he was in, eventually resting his head against Sam’s chest. It felt nice. Sam felt nice. And safe, and he smelled like morning rain and Gabriel knew then that the possessive streak Sam had been displaying would never be used against him. He felt Sam’s mouth touch his hair in a hesitant kiss and he smiled, facing upwards to look at the other man.

“You sure know how to break a moody fit Samshine.” He said, amber eyes glowing in the sunlight as his fingers lightly caressed Sam’s lower back. Sam was having trouble concentrating as he looked into them, and he felt like he would be lost if he stared for too long into their depths.

“Yeah well, you’re a grumpy shit when you’re tired Gabe.” Sam leaned down to say quietly into Gabriel’s ear, noticing the shiver than ran through him when his lips brushed the outside of it. Gabriel barely stifled the groan that threatened to escape him, biting his bottom lip to try to keep quiet, gasping at the sensation of Sam’s breath in his ear. Sam had no interest in being quiet and he growled in frustration as Gabriel reflexively pulled him closer.

“Gabe. Christ.” he whispered, breathless. “Get in the car before we embarrass ourselves in public. Please. ”

“Too late for that Sammy.” Gabriel laughed wickedly as he let go of Sam and got back into the car, adjusting himself as he got comfortable.  Sam got into the driver’s side, muttering about short legs and giant teases before he pulled into traffic.

“We have to stop doing that.” Sam complained after they had set out. “I’m popping boners like a teenager, Gabriel and it’s really distracting.” He stopped talking for a minute, looking at Gabriel to see his reaction.

“It takes two Sam-I-am.” Gabriel chuckled at him. “Though you’ll be pleased to know I’m having the same problem.”

Sam looked at him thoughtfully then grinned cheekily. “You know you never answered my question, about the medication?”

Gabriel barked out a laugh and punched Sam in the arm, hard. “Oh fuck off Samsquatch. I’m going to take your advice and sleep. Well, try to anyway.”  He curled himself into the seat, facing Sam and closed his eyes. After a minute, Sam put his hand on Gabriel’s foot where it rested near the gear stick and focused on the drive ahead.

Gabriel shifted sleepily in his seat, not quite ready to wake up when he realized that the car had stopped. He felt a feathery touch on his face and lazily swatted it away before dropping his arm. A moment later the feathery sensation was back, more insistent this time. He groaned and rolled his head, trying to escape whatever bug was trying to get up his nose and opened his eyes slowly. And swore to whatever gods existed that he would never ever see another sight as amazing and fucking hilarious as the one in front of him, grinning like a fool, feather in hand.  

He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating. But no, there was Sam in a pink corset with matching tutu and flowers in his shoulder length hair. His pale pink tights that did nothing to hide the hairy legs underneath were offset by the iridescent wings poking out from behind his shoulders.

“Wakey wakey.” Sam chanted as Gabriel rolled around in his seat, howling with laughter. He let him laugh for a minute before grinning evilly at his partner in crime and holding up the pale yellow and green ensemble he’d packed for Gabriel to wear.

Gabriel whipped his phone out and started snapping images of Sam in his ridiculous outfit as he climbed out of the car. “You remind me of that caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. Those wings are tiny compared to the rest of you.” He giggled.

“Are you saying I’m fat?” Sam asked him with a laugh.

“Not at all Sammy.” Gabriel eyed him up and down with a leer. “I am pretty sure I might now have a wing kink though.” He added cheekily, taking the outfit from Sam and getting into the backseat to change.

“No superglue.” Sam said, his pupils widening at the thought of Gabriel with a set of wings flaring out of his back. “God dammit Gabe. I’m wearing tights. Stop putting ideas in my head.” He looked on with interest as Gabriel began to remove his shirt.

“Turn around Sam. Stop eyeballing me while I’m trying to change. Give a girl some privacy.” Gabriel said uncomfortably all of a sudden, all laughter gone from his voice.

Sam rolled his eyes and turned obediently away, making sure that nobody else was looking into the car as he did. “You know Gabe,” he mused thoughtfully, and oh so carefully. “I’m going to see them eventually.”

“Maybe so Samsquatch, but not yet. And only on my terms.” Gabriel answered him easily. He grunted as he shifted about in the car trying to dress himself in the cramped space wondering how on earth Sam had managed with his tall frame.

He emerged from the car eventually and Sam gaped at him for a minute before dissolving into a fit of giggles. Gabriel looked like a sunflower. An upside down sunflower. With a 2 day beard. The green pixie dress he was wearing was sleeveless but Gabriel had wound ivy up his arms, presumably to hide scarring, and he had a green felt hat perched on his head that rose up to a comical point. There were little yellow flowers stuck all over it that Sam felt looked adorable. What set him off giggling though, was the bright yellow tutu that was sticking out at all angles from under the bottom of the dress, and it was caught up in the equally yellow tights Gabriel had pulled on, giving Sam a perfect view of the delectable shape of Gabriel’s ass when he bent over into the car to retrieve his phone.

Sam’s nostrils flared and he breathed deeply, trying to control the inevitable twitching coming from his dick when he was confronted with Gabriel’s backside. “Uh Gabriel, you might wanna, um fix your tutu.” He muttered with a smile, trying not to get caught looking as Gabriel straightened up.

“Huh?” Gabriel asked as leaned in to take a photo of the pair of them.

“Your ass is hanging out.” Sam laughed at him.

“And you’re just letting me stand here looking stupid? Shame on you Sam.” Gabriel snorted.

“Man, if I’d grabbed your ass to fix it while you were bent over in the car your head would have gone through the roof. I’m not taking that chance.” Sam answered him seriously.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Sam suspiciously. “Pfft, you were checking out my ass weren't you Sam. Admit it.”

“It’s a nice ass.” Sam smirked at him. “I’d tap that. Put your wings on Gabriel and let’s get this done. Be a good angel.”

“That’s archangel Gabriel to you motherfucker.” Gabriel said flippantly as he slipped his wings over his shoulders and grabbed the ice cooler out from behind the back seat.

They weren’t surprised that the whole fire station crew had turned up to see them deliver the desserts, and Sam was glad that he knew a few of them still from his high school days. It made the introductions easier and the banter less forced.

“So what do you need from us to get this done Sam?” The station chief asked them.

“Uhhh, we seriously just need to get photographs of us looking ridiculous feeding you ice-cream.”

One of the firemen was peering intently at Gabriel with a questioning look on his face. Sam moved slightly in front of Gabriel when he noticed, taking the cooler off him and opening it onto the table off to the side. “He’s going to take the pictures. I’ll do the feeding. I look more ridiculous, it makes sense” he said firmly, letting them know the matter was not up for debate.

“No way Sam. I didn’t put this dress on so that I could take photos. I’m getting in that fire engine.” Gabriel answered with a laugh, a little overwhelmed that Sam seemed to naturally want to defend him. Whether he needed it or not.  He wasn’t sure if he was pissed off or aroused. Maybe both.

Sam looked at him for a minute then threw back his head and laughed. “You’re just a big kid. Fine. Get in the fire engine.”

They messed about with the ice-cream and eventually got all of the firemen fed, with both men getting photographed numerous times, often in scandalous poses that Sam thought wouldn’t have gone astray in one of Gabriel’s movies. With that thought he sobered up from his antics and began to watch Gabriel more closely, noting that the expression on his face was close to the one he wore the day they met. A mask, Sam realized with a start. The face he showed the world. Sam was humbled that Gabriel trusted him enough to let him past that, to see what was underneath. And a little pissed that Gabriel was flirting his fine ass off with someone else. Sam denied to himself that he was being jealous, even as the low growl escaped his lips.

“You know,” One of the firemen was saying to Gabriel. “You look really familiar. I can’t place where I’ve seen you before.” It was the one who had been looking at Gabriel funnily earlier. Sam’s ears perked up and he readied himself to move over to help Gabriel if he needed him.

Gabriel raised a sarcastic eyebrow at the fireman. “Oh yeah? I don’t know man, do you ever watch gay porn?” He answered in full sass mode, mask firmly in place.

The fireman was silent for a long minute, staring at Gabriel in disbelief, recognition and horror dawning in his eyes. “What? No way man. Not me. Nope.” he answered a bit too quickly, laughing a bit too loudly along with the other firemen.

“Relax man, I was just fooling around.” Gabriel answered. “What else would you expect from a guy in a green pixie dress?”  His eyes, however, were starting to look at little panicked.

Sam looked at his watch in a show of regret. “I hate to break up the party but we’ve got a few more tasks to get done today guys. Enjoy the ice-cream, we’ll catch you later.” He motioned for Gabriel to walk in front of him, not moving until the shorter man did.

“That was fun Samsquatch.” Gabriel said with a skip in his step. “Didn’t enjoy watching you flirting with that one guy, but it was fun.” They reached the car, out of sight of the fire station and began the process of changing back into their clothes, opting to just pull their jeans on over the tights.

“What part was more fun?” Sam asked him with a possessive growl, crowding Gabriel up against the car door without touching him and looking down at him hungrily. “The part where that guy recognised you - and from the look on his face I don’t think it was your more recent work. Or the part where I had to watch you flirting with a fire station full of other men who all looked like they wanted to have you.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes dramatically at Sam. “They’re not the one I’m standing here with Sam. I wasn’t flirting. I was in public mode. Acting. You , however were most definitely responding to that other guy.” He scooted out from in front of Sam and breathed a little easier at not being crowded. He then pushed Sam against the car and held him there, one hand lightly pressed into the larger man’s chest.

“I find I didn’t like that one bit. I don’t like sharing.”

Sam just raised an eyebrow at him and didn’t say a word, a little stunned at the dominance in Gabriel’s voice.

“I don’t like sharing anymore .” Gabriel clarified angrily. “And fuck you for making me say that Sam.” He hissed bitterly, wiping sudden angry tears from his face. How could Sam make him feel like that with one cocked eyebrow?

Sam nodded at Gabriel, unable to speak. He was more than a little shocked. What the hell just happened? “Gabe I. Gabe please.” He begged.

Gabriel refused to look at him. He ducked around Sam and got into the car on the passenger side. Sam realized belatedly that he still had the keys so he moved to the drivers side with a heavy sigh, still wondering what had gone wrong, and where.

He drove in the general direction of Dean’s apartment, not really paying attention to anything except the waves of hurt he could feel coming from Gabriel. He knew that he would have to do some pretty major damage control, once he figured out what happened. They were passing the riverside park when Sam made a split decision, pulling the car into a parking space and turning the engine off.

“Right. We’re doing this like adults Gabriel.” He said to the hurting man beside him. “Get out and walk with me. Please?”

Gabriel finally looked at Sam and saw the pain and confusion in his hazel eyes. He sighed and nodded, and they set off on a walking track toward the water, not speaking. They walked past a cafe and Sam made Gabriel wait while he went inside.  He came back out with two cups and a bag of food and they continued walking.

“Where are you taking me Sam?” Gabriel asked quietly, finally breaking the silence.

“Just over here Gabe.” Sam said, guiding him off the path to a spot overlooking the river that was fairly private. He sat down and patted the ground. “Come on, man. Sit. Please.”

Gabriel moved to sit down next to Sam, and was surprised when Sam pulled him in front of him, enveloping him in his presence, back to chest, his legs raised either side of Gabriel and one arm loosely wrapped around his waist.

Sam waited for Gabriel to relax, knowing enough by now that if hadn’t moved away he wasn’t going to. He rested his forehead on Gabriel’s back for a minute to collect his thoughts. He had no idea what he was going to say, he just knew he couldn’t let this go.

“Gabriel I don’t know what happened back there. But I’ve upset you. And I’m sorry. We always seem to get here don’t we?” He mused.

Gabriel melted back into Sam, his anger and hurt slowly dissipating. “Yeah. We do. I’m not sure what happened either. Apparently jealousy doesn’t suit either of us. I guess it’s been so long since I allowed myself to feel anything for anyone that I just don’t know how to deal with the emotion. Your eyebrow went up and I just saw red. I thought you were throwing the past in my face.” He leaned his head back onto Sam’s shoulder and sipped his coffee.

“What? Fuck. Gabe, no I would never do that, not to you.” Sam declared sadly, the shock evident in his voice. He felt Gabriel’s fingers start to stroke the hand on his waist and Sam relaxed finally. “Are we good? Have we adulted past this?” Sam asked hopefully, pushing his face into Gabriel’s neck and nosing it a little.

The arm around Gabriel tightened a little, holding him closer. “We’re good Samshine.” Gabriel sighed, automatically turning his head a little to give Sam better access.

Sam smiled into his neck. “You and your nicknames. I like that one Gabe. Keep that one just for us.” He nuzzled a bit deeper.

“I don't know what you’re talking about Samsquatch. Mmmmph, keep doing that.” Gabriel said with a small moan.

“Ass.” Sam muttered, deciding with that invitation it was way past time to plant a few kisses on Gabriel’s skin. His lips feathered across the side of Gabriel’s neck and he made his way up to the soft skin behind Gabriel’s ear. He lingered for a long while, planting soft kisses up and down Gabriel’s neck but it wasn’t enough. It was nowhere near enough of a taste of the man before him. Sam wanted more but he forced himself to stop.

Gabriel groaned in protest when Sam’s lips stopped moving on his neck. It felt so damn good, so amazing that he thought he might not be able to say no if Sam asked him to go further. He thought he might surprise himself and say yes. He felt Sam’s frustration and marveled at his self control.

“Oh god Gabe, I want you so much.” Sam said with his head resting on Gabriel’s shoulder, not trusting himself to move. “I want all of you, as much as you’ll give me. And then I want the rest.”

“Sam,” Gabriel groaned softly into Sam’s hair. “You’re driving me insane with the things you say. I want this too.”

“I. I want you to take control Gabriel.” Sam murmured, running his free hand up Gabriel’s leg in a light caress. He felt the other man shiver at the sensation and kept his hand moving slowly as they both lost themselves in the moment, sitting together comfortably, enjoying the sunshine.

“Wait, did you just tell me I was topping?” Gabriel asked cheekily after a few moments once Sam’s last words sunk in. “I’m sure you did.”

“Mmmm. I swear to God Gabriel.” Sam grunted the warning into his neck, lips caressing once more as he lost a bit of his self control. He loved the sass that came out of the other man’s mouth but right now it was driving him crazy. Behind the sass he knew Gabriel wanted an answer though, but he trailed a few more kisses into his neck before he answered. Just to make a point. Gabriel groaned again. “Top or bottom Gabriel, I don’t care. Whatever you want, babe, it’s your decision. Besides,” He added with a smirk. “you promised to make me scream, remember?”

Gabriel’s breath was coming faster and his heart was racing. He was so turned on he couldn’t think straight, the only thing running through his mind was the feeling of Sam’s mouth on his neck and his hand on his leg. And the fact that he honestly could not remember the last time he’d felt like this. Long before the kidnapping. Long before him . “God’s busy Sammich.” He panted leaning heavily on Sam. “And as much as I’d like to fulfill that promise to you right now , before we both lose it like teenagers again, we’ve got stuff to do.” He put his hand up to Sam’s head and pulled gently on his hair, removing the distracting lips from his neck. He twisted himself a little in Sam’s arms to look at him, and bit down on his own desire as he saw Sam completely flustered, lust-filled pupils blown wide open and breathing heavily.  He moved his hand to Sam’s mouth and pressed his fingers against his lips.

“Put these away for now Samshine.” he said gently, not wanting Sam to feel like he was being rejected. Sam’s only response was to open his mouth and bite down gently on Gabriel’s fingers, his tongue finding them instantly and licking at them eagerly.  Gabriel sucked in a deep breath and didn’t bother to fight the images flying around in his mind showing him Sam with something else in his mouth, the same expression on his face. He wanted Sam’s mouth on him, and he knew now it would be soon.

Sam sucked on Gabriel’s fingers for moment longer before he reluctantly let go. He was mesmerized by the way Gabriel’s eyes altered from mildly aroused to full blown lust when he took them into his mouth, amber irises almost disappearing completely as his pupils dilated.

“Hhmm. Sammy stop that.” Gabriel said, finally taking his hand back and giving him a shove. “Down boy!”

“Not much chance of that in the next few minutes Gabe. I don’t think I’ve ever been so fucking hard.” Sam retorted with a painful moan.

Gabriel leaned in a little. “It hurts doesn’t it?” He whispered, still trying to get his own breathing under control while he waited for his own painful erection to dissipate. “Get yourself together Sam, there are kids about.”  

“OK Gabe, way to ruin the moment.” Sam complained.

Gabriel laughed wickedly. “It worked didn’t it? Now tell me Sam, what did you buy me for lunch?”

He forced himself to turn back around away from Sam before he did something stupid like encourage him again and dug around in the bag that held the food Sam had bought. They shared lunch together on the grass overlooking the water without managing to frustrate each other again, but it was clear the thought was never far from either man’s mind.

Chapter Text

“I just realized the perfect task for you Dean.” Cas said suddenly from his place on the couch where he’d been going back over The List with Dean.

“Yes?” Dean raised his eyebrows in question.

“The freckle constellation one.” Cas explained, already reaching for a pen. “It’d be a shame to let that one go considering you have these amazing freckles we could use.”

“I’m not sure that I want someone drawing on my face Cas.” Dean mumbled, blushing at the intensity of Cas’ inspection. “I don’t even know any constellations.”

“That’s fine, we have to make a new constellation anyway,” Cas took a step towards him. “it’ll only take a second and you can wash it off again.”

“Tell you what, Cas, you catch me and you can do it.” Dean was already leaping out of his seat by the end of his announcement. Cas lurched forward, arm extended and reaching for Dean’s shirt.

“Deal.” He growled as Dean evaded him, spinning on the spot as Dean put the couch between them.

Cas feinted to the right as Dean made to move to the left and then he climbed over the back of the couch, catching Dean off guard and knocking into him, tackling him to the floor. “No fair!” He protested loudly from where he lay, pinned underneath Cas’ firm body. “You can’t just go around walking on the furniture, Cas.”

“I think you’ll find I don’t care, Dean.” Cas mumbled. “Hold still.”

Cas took his time, feather light touches stroking Dean’s face as he worked out an appropriate constellation of freckles. Dean squeezed his eyes closed as Cas approached him with the pen, irrationally not wanting to see the point of it coming towards his face. He squirmed under Cas’ weight as Cas drew, the ballpoint rolling on his skin tickling him.

“Come on Cas.” He huffed, trying to bat Cas’ hands away. “Just take the picture already.”

Cas got up to grab the camera, settling himself back down over Dean’s hips when he sat back down. “Alright. Stay still.” He mumbled, looking through the viewfinder. “Open your eyes Dean.”

Dean snapped his eyes open in time for Cas to take the picture. “You good?” He asked when Castiel put the camera down but didn’t get back up.

“Nope.” He mumbled lowly, pupils dilating in arousal as Dean looked up at him, breathing heavily. Dean made a show of trying to push Cas off him, smirking when Cas grabbed his hands and pinned them to the floor above his head.

“Wha-” Dean was interrupted by Cas crashing their lips together, hard enough that he tasted blood.

There was nothing sweet about this kiss, Cas’ lips were pressed against his, desperate and needy. His tongue begged for entrance and invaded Dean’s mouth the second he parted his lips. Cas changed the way he held Dean’s hands, pressed them to the floor using his right and that left his left hand free to run up and down Dean’s side, pressing his nails lightly into skin.

Dean groaned as their tongues fought for dominance, a slick wet dance in which he could still taste the coffee on Cas’ lips and tongue. He tugged experimentally with his hands, hoping to pull them free so he could touch the man above him.

“Stop, Dean.” Cas growled into his mouth, tightening his grip. And damned if that didn’t send all his blood straight to his cock at once.

“Jesus Cas.” Dean choked out when Cas moved his lips down to his neck, licking and sucking a mark on his collarbone. He was powerless to stop the way his hips thrust towards his boyfriend . Something fluttered in his chest when he realized that Cas was his boyfriend now, and the sudden realization made him struggle to free his hands again, wanting just to touch . “Cas.” He whined when Cas didn’t let them go. He opened his mouth to speak again when there was a firm knock on the door.

“Don’t answer it.” Cas whispered directly into his ear, letting his lips graze the sensitive skin, breath ghosting down his neck and making him shiver.

“Mhm” Dean managed in response, twitching his hips against Cas’ again, groaning at the way could feel Cas’ erection against his own, even through their pants.

The knock came again, a little louder.

“For fucks sake.” Dean closed his eyes and huffed a frustrated breath through his nose. “Cas…”

Cas understood and, with a frustrated sigh of his own, released Dean’s hands and shuffled to his feet, reaching down to help his boyfriend up as well. They did their best to right themselves as Dean moved to answer the door, watching as Cas adjusted himself in his pants and sat on the couch with the laptop.

“Later.” Dean mouthed apologetically, making himself presentable as well. He took a calming breath and opened the door. He gaped in shock. “Lisa?”

Lisa stepped past him into the apartment before speaking. “Hi Dean.” Her voice was pitched low, seductive. He wished she was still outside in the hall, so he could have closed the door in her face, which was probably why she came inside as soon as the door was open. She was sneaky like that.

“What do you want Lisa?” Dean sighed closing the door behind him and slumping against it. “Now isn’t really a good time.”

“You keep saying that.” She drawled, stepping forward towards him.

“Because it’s true.” Dean shrugged and tried not to feel like a cornered animal, feeling the closed door at his back. “But seriously, what do you want? Why are you here?”

“I miss you.” She shrugged slightly, staring at him and sucking her bottom lip between her teeth. “We had something good, Dean.”

“Uh.” Dean started, finally catching on to what’s going on and suddenly painfully aware of Cas in the next room, no doubt hearing every word. “What are you talking about Lis? We agreed we weren’t good for each other.”

Lisa’s face twitched. “No you agreed.” She snapped, before taking a breath and trying again. “You can’t deny the sex was awesome.” She purred, stepping close enough to reach a hand out and touch his chest. Dean swallowed and pressed himself harder to the door, unable to move away from her.

“Lisa, it was a mutual decision.” Dean begged, really regretting having closed the door behind himself.

“No Dean, it really wasn’t.” Lisa mumbled. “You got scared and broke it off. Not me.”

“Lisa, seriously.” Dean heard movement in the living room and just knew that Cas had moved closer to the door way. “We wanted different things from our relationship. I just wasn’t as serious about it as you were.” Lisa huffed and opened her mouth to speak but he continued over the top of her, not letting her. “It’s not that you didn’t matter but I just don’t want that sort of thing with you.”

“I’m pregnant!” She snapped out desperately. Dean heard a slight gasp from the living room, he knew that Lisa heard it too when she flung herself around to face the doorway behind her. “Is there someone here?” She spotted one of Gabe’s creepy plastic lemons staring at her from the table in the hall. “Is that lemon looking at me? What the hell Dean?”

“You’re what?” Dean was wracking his brain, trying to go over every time they’d slept together. Admittedly it had been a lot, their whirlwind relationship was a blur of alcohol, twisted sheets and thrashing limbs, it was easily possible that they’d forgotten protection at some point. “And it’s… it’s mine?”

Dean heard shuffling in the living room but Lisa’s attention was back on him, eyes searching his as she stepped forward and grabbed his hands. “Yes, it’s yours. I’m keeping it Dean.”

Dean nodded mutely, eyes drawn instantly to Lisa’s still flat stomach. “I’m gonna be a dad?” He whispered, not moving his eyes away. To be perfectly honest, Dean had never wanted to be a parent, but he knew better than to voice that. This was his child, his baby and he was not going to become John Winchester. No child of Dean’s would ever go through life wondering if their father even knew they were still alive, no child of Dean’s would have to live with a parent choosing to walk away from them.

“OK, yeah… OK.” Dean mumbled incoherently. “So have you been to the doctor yet? We could do that together?”

“Oh.” Lisa froze suddenly. “I, um. I already told Madison she could come with me.”

“Oh, that’s fine.” Dean was disappointed, he wanted to be there, it was his baby after all.

“You can come to the next one, Dean.” Lisa said kindly, reaching forward and putting a hand on his arm. “I have to go, we could have dinner tonight?”

“Sure.” Dean agreed, mind still reeling. He was going to be a father . Lisa leaned forward and Dean had enough presence of mind to turn his lips away from her so that the kiss landed on his cheek instead. “At 7. Your choice where.”

He moved aside to let Lisa out, not moving from the door frame as he watched her walk down the hall away from his apartment. He was still staring at the empty hallway when a throat cleared behind him and it was as though the roof caved in on top of him. “Cas.” He croaked out, turning towards him but unable to raise his eyes to meet the stunning blue ones he was sure were currently studying him.

~

Cas checked his email, trying to calm his breathing while Dean went to answer the door. He palmed himself through his jeans when his boyfriend turned around to mouth “later” to him. The promise in his eyes making his dick twitch painfully.

“Lisa?” Dean’s voice carried down the hallway. Cas frowned remembering, Lisa had called that morning as well.

“Hi Dean.” A woman’s voice purred seductively and he clenched his fists, breathing heavily through his nose. Dean hadn’t given him a reason not to trust him so there was no reason for him to rush into the hallway like a jealous boyfriend, even if that was exactly what he was.

“What do you want Lisa?” He heard Dean ask, even as the door closed. He’d invited her in . Something inside of Castiel’s chest was throbbing painfully. “Now isn’t really a good time.”

Cas tried to stamp down on his jealously as he heard Dean try and brush her off again, forcing himself to remember that, despite everything, it really only had been four days.

“I miss you.” He heard from the hallway and the throbbing pain in his chest spiked suddenly. Breathing through his mouth he tried to control his emotions, staring blankly at the laptop in front of him, not seeing it. “You got scared and broke it off, not me.”

The voices in the hallway were speaking quieter and, against his better judgement Castiel silently placed the laptop on the table and moved towards the doorway, wanting and desperately not wanting to hear more. He heard Dean trying to turn her down gently and the tension he felt building inside his chest started to uncoil and he breathed a little easier.

“I’m pregnant!” The words hit Cas like a slap, he felt them as a physical thing, ramming straight into his chest and forcing the air out of his mouth in a low gasp as something shattered inside of him. He slapped a hand over his mouth even as he felt his legs wobble beneath him and slowly slid down the wall until he was seated on the floor, knees clutched to his aching chest and back hard against the wall behind him. He probably looked a lot like Gabe in this moment . The thought was an unwelcome one.

Castiel focused on his breathing, sucking in each breath and holding it. It was OK, they could get through this. He tried to tamper down the searing pain in his chest, to reassure himself. It’s not like Dean had done this while they were together, he and Lisa happened long before Castiel and Dean had even met, and there was no way Cas could let Dean’s past actions affect their current relationship.

He talked himself down from his premature heartbreak, hearing the rumble of voices but deliberately not focusing on them. It would be fine . It had to be fine, Cas finally had something going right in his life again, something that wasn’t for him and Gabe but something that was just his .

And he was about to lose it.

 ~

Dean couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t speak. Half an hour ago he’d been so happy, so ready to jump into a relationship with Cas, now he was going to be a father and instead of being filled with the joy he knew he should be feeling, he was terrified. And more than that, there was a burning pain that spread further through his chest with every beat of his heart. He couldn’t meet Cas’ eyes, he really didn’t want to have this conversation.

Cas hesitated, unsure. “Dean?” He asked slowly, taking a tentative step forwards. “Do you…” He licked his lips, eyes flicking from Dean’s face to the open doorway behind him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Dean shook his head and took in a shuddering breath. “Not really Cas.” He mumbled, turning to close the door. “I mean, I know I have to talk about it but not right now, is that, is that OK?” He was being selfish, he knew what he needed to do here and taking comfort in Castiel was not it. It was unfair to Cas and unfair to himself, but that didn’t stop him from flinging himself forwards at Cas’ hesitant nod.

Dean’s actions were fueled by something may have been fear, or grief. Grief for the brand new relationship he’d started with Cas, grief for the future together he’d barely let himself consider, grief for the bubble of happiness that he’d built around himself in this apartment. He didn’t try and justify his current behavior, he knew he was probably making a mistake here, but he needed this, needed Cas and this may very well be his last chance to hold onto that happiness they’d spent the last few days cultivating.

Cas seemed just as desperate for the touches, clutching at Dean’s shirt tightly, pulling him towards himself even as Dean pressed himself forwards. They crashed together hard enough to throw Cas’ balance off and he took a stumbling step backwards, Dean following until he had Cas pinned back against the wall.

Dean slotted a leg between Cas’ thighs, a slight moan escaping his lips as Cas angled himself so he could push his own leg forward against Dean’s own groin. Cas’ hands were everywhere, his left moved from Dean’s face, to his neck, to his hair and finally settled on clinging tightly to Dean’s right shoulder hard enough, Dean knew, that there’d be a mark there later. Cas’ right hand was running wildly over Dean’s back, sneaking up under his shirt and across his bare skin, nails scraping gently.

“Cas.” Dean murmured against his lips, his own hands busy as well. Dean’s right hand was in Cas’ hair, guiding and restraining as the mood took him. His left was gripping Cas’ hip, thumb rubbing circles against the soft skin under the waistband of his pants.

“Dean.” Cas was breathing heavily, and his eyes were lust blown and dazed. “I need you.” Dean met his eyes and saw the same desire and desperation in them that he could feel in himself and he nodded.

They stumbled down the hallway to Dean’s room, occasionally stopping when one would suddenly press the other to the wall for a messy kiss. The fell together in a tangle of limbs when they finally reached the open door of Dean’s room, barely making it to the bed before Dean was licking and nipping at Cas neck. Cas moaned loudly as Dean sealed his lips around the area below his ear and sucked a mark into the skin. “Please.” Cas begged softly, hips twitching upwards towards Dean’s where he lay on top of him. “Dean. Please.”

“Anything Cas.” Dean moaned, thrusting his own hips downwards onto Cas, chasing friction.

“I need you.” Cas flung his arm out towards Dean’s bed side table, and Dean understood.

“Yes.” Dean rolled away to fetch the lube and a condom from the draw, taking a moment to shuck his clothing as he did so. He heard the rustle of clothing behind him and turned to watch with half lidded eyes as Cas did the same.

A low growl escaped him as he watched Cas’ hand drop lower, skimming the skin of his stomach and reaching down to grip his erection loosely. Placing the supplies beside Cas on the bed he crawled up between his legs, eyes locked with the lust darkened blue ones above him. Cas moved his hand away as Dean reached his target, tongue flicking out to taste the reddened head. He could see the strain in Cas’ body as he resisted the urge to twitch his hips upwards.

In complete contrast to the urgency that had got them this far, Dean was slow and careful as he pushed his lubed finger into Cas, one hand firmly holding his hip down, lazily mouthing at Cas’ cock. He gently pumped his finger in and out, letting Cas’ adjust to the intrusion before pulling out and slowly adding another. Cas writhed beneath him, panting and moaning his approval and Dean hummed in appreciation at the taste of the slick precum on his tongue.

He kept going until Cas was more than ready for him, before pumping his fingers one final time, twisting as he did so to drag them tortuously slow across Cas’ prostate. Cas let out a wail and his hips thrust forward, hard, barely giving Dean time to pull his head back or risk choking on the cock in his mouth. “Sorry.” Cas gasped, fists clenching at the bedding.

Dean withdrew his fingers slowly, reaching for his dirty shirt from earlier to wipe his hand on. “S’ok Cas.” He rasped, voice hoarse and reached for the condom.

“No!” Cas almost sobbed, flinging a hand out to stop Dean’s movement. “No condom. I want to feel you.”

Dean hesitated before nodding and crawling over the top of Cas, leaning down to press their lips together as he used his hand to line himself up, slowly pressing into the tight wet heat. A low groan escaped his lips when he bottomed out, Cas’ legs wrapped around his waist tightly, holding him still as they enjoyed the moment. Cas slowly loosened his legs, an invitation for Dean to move.

There wasn’t anything fast or urgent anymore, Dean carefully pulled back, almost all the way out, the slow drag heating him up from the inside out. He crushed their lips back together, tongues dancing in an erotic dance even as he thrust back in. Cas arched his back, squeezing Dean with his thighs to try and set the pace. Dean refused to rush this though, he stubbornly kept it slow, blindly reaching for Cas’ hand and linking their fingers together when he found it, already searching for his.

“Dean.” Cas whispered, voice cracking. “More, please, I need more.” Dean understood and shifted slightly, allowing the slow drag of his cock to hit Cas’ prostate with every thrust. “Harder, Dean. More.”

Dean was powerless to refuse him, having made the mistake of looking down at the man beneath him. Cas’ eyes were lidded and lust blown, but they searched his face as though cataloging everything, his hair was damp and messy, his lips red and kiss swollen. “Fuck Cas.” He groaned, snapping his hips forward faster, harder. “You’re so fucking sexy like this.”
Cas rolled his hips to meet each thrust, moaning wantonly. “Touch me.” He begged. “I’m so close. Please.”

Dean reached a hand between them, grasping Cas’ neglected erection and pumping it in time with each hard snap of his hips. Cas’ eyes snapped closed and his body seized as he came with Dean’s name on his lips. Too much, it was all too much and as a wave of emotion slammed into Dean he came with a broken sob.

He carefully pulled out and pressed a breathy kiss to Cas’ lips, before leaving the room to take a moment to compose himself and fetch a cloth to clean them back up. When he returned to the room Cas was still breathing heavily, laying in the same position with his eyes tightly closed. He opened them to look over when Dean entered the room. “Thanks.” He murmured when Dean passed the warm cloth over, Dean just tossed it towards the door when he was done with it.

Cas pat the bed next to him in invitation and Dean hesitantly sat down beside him, awkwardly looking away as Cas’ face fell.

“Cas look.” He started, trying in vain to meet Cas’ eye. “I know you heard everything. Right?” Cas nodded, pulling himself up into a sitting position even as he reached for his boxers.

“I know what it’s like to have a dad who didn’t want you.” Dean started, unsure of exactly how to have this discussion. “I can’t do that to my own kid.”

Cas turned away to pull on his pants, visibly relaxing a little once he was covered. “I understand that, Dean.” His voice gave nothing away, speaking in slow, measured sentences.

“I have to go to dinner with Lisa tonight.” Dean couldn’t get a read on Cas so he decided to plow onward regardless. “I need to be there for the baby. I know that we’ve only officially been together for like… 4 hours.” He snorted, self deprecatingly. “And there’s no way that I expect you to be OK with this all. Hell I’m not sure I’m OK with it all.”

Cas’ shoulders slouched and he seemed to shrink in on himself. “Where are you going with this Dean?” He asked in a flat voice, raising his eyes to finally meet Dean’s. Dean almost flinched, even Cas’ face was empty, devoid of emotion. He was simply waiting.

“I just” Dean coughed and forced himself not to look away. “I would understand if this was too much for you, we just started dating and you sure as shit didn’t sign up for a baby.”

Cas’ mouth popped open and he stared. “What?”

“You don’t have to do this…” Dean flailed his arms awkwardly around the room. “If you don’t want to, Cas.”

“Are you giving me an out, Dean?” Cas reached a tentative hand towards him, relaxing minutely when Dean met him halfway.

“Well yeah, I mean, I think 4 hours is a bit soon for you to be OK with the kids talk…” Dean joked halfheartedly, swallowing past the ache in his chest at the thought of Cas accepting the out he was offering. He was taken completely off guard when Cas attacked his lips with his own.

“I’m not going anywhere Dean.” He announced breathlessly when they broke apart.

“Thank fuck. Me either.” Dean agreed, before amending. “Well, except the shower, and then dinner with Lisa, but you know what I mean.” He chuckled, leaning in to press another kiss to Cas’ lips.

Chapter Text

Sam was half dozing in the sun, using Gabriel as his source of shade when the other man’s phone went off, breaking the compatible silence that had fallen between them when lunch was over.  Gabriel grunted at his phone before tapping away madly for a minute.

“Oh hey, Dick Roman just confirmed he can come on Friday night to the calendar party. He’s bringing his 80’s pop star wife. We could probably use her for something.” He flopped himself down next to Sam and snapped a few pictures of them in the grass together before putting his phone away.

“You sure like taking pictures Gabe.” Sam said drowsily, pulling him in for a quick spooning hug before they had to get up to leave. He was pleased to notice that Gabriel only stiffened slightly as he was pulled in, relaxing into Sam almost instantly.

“No Sammy I like taking pictures of you. Cheesy right?” Gabriel answered with a smile.

Sam waved his arm about. “Nah. I don’t mind. Go nuts if it makes you happy.”

They stood up to leave, gathering their rubbish as they went. Gabriel yawned loudly and stretched, looking at the river and marveling about how nice it was. “I like it here Sam.” He said as he absently stood on his toes to kiss Sam on the cheek. He realized what he’d done at the same time it occurred to him that it just felt so right to be here with Sam in these moments. He was getting used to Sam’s handsy behavior, and although he suspected it was deliberate on Sam’s part, he chose to say nothing about it. It made him feel appreciated, wanted and perhaps a little loved that Sam cared enough to make him feel comfortable.

Sam looked at him in shock and put his hand up to touch the spot Gabriel had kissed. “What? I’m not allowed to touch you?” Gabriel asked, clearly deflecting Sam from making a big deal of what he’d done. “Can’t tell me to take control and then not let me do it Sam.” He teased as he walked along the path.

“You surprised me. That’s all.” Sam answered with a half grin, the delight on his face evident. “You can touch me anywhere you want.” He added with a leer.

“What did I say about there being kids about you pervert?” Gabriel said back to him with a strangely out of place shy grin showing. “Honestly Sammich, anyone would think you were horny or something.”

Sam just shook his head and got into the car, assuming the driver’s position over Gabriel’s protests that since it was his car he should be driving it. “Too tired to drive remember?” Was all he said to Gabriel as they drove out of the park. “Supermarket?” He asked.

“Yes. You oversized bossy pain in my ass.” Gabriel sulked.

Sam sniggered from his seat, eyes on the road. “I’m not touching that one.” He muttered, rolling his eyes.

Gabriel fished out his phone again when they pulled up at the supermarket, deciding to document their adventures in the feminine hygiene aisle.

“Say hi Samsquatch.”

“Uh.” Sam suddenly had no idea what to say. He saw Gabriel huff in exasperation and heard something about him being a novice before he found words again. “So hi, we’re in the supermarket for Gishwhes and we got a task where we have to make an animal out of uh, um, feminine hygiene products. The clown videoing this thinks he’s funny and that I need to narrate our journey through the supermarket.” Sam paused to grin over at Gabriel, proud of the way he’d handled it. “We have no idea what we’re doing, by the way.”

“You’re doing great Sammy. Oooh don’t let me forget to get some more whiskey before we leave. You know, since you drank all of your brother’s last night.” Gabriel quipped. “Oh and some chocolate. I need chocolate. For reasons.”

“Oh yeah. I drank it all by my little lonesome. And really Gabe, reasons? What are you too lazy to bother coming up with an actual reason?” Sam laughed at him. “Fine, we’ll get you some chocolate. But you have to share it with me.”

Gabriel’s only response was a raised eyebrow. “Share my chocolate? How dare you.”

“Where the fuck are these stupid pad things?” Sam asked in exasperation as they threaded their way through the aisles, searching for chocolate and Kotex. “Fuck you Misha, making us buy this shit.”

Gabriel shrugged, rocking the phone in his hand. “Probably up near the shampoo and crap you dork.”

“You know what? Bite me.”

“Oh I’ll bite you big man.” Gabriel flirted. “Now find me my chocolate, Sammich.”

They looked at each other at Gabriel’s remark and burst into a fit of giggles as they rounded the corner at the end of an aisle. As they turned into the next one, Sam saw Dean’s ex-girlfriend Lisa standing with another woman exactly where Gabriel wanted to be, right in front of the chocolate. He sucked in a deep breath and pulled Gabriel back out of sight so she didn’t see them.

“Woah, Sammy, what the hell?” Gabriel asked quietly, dropping his phone to his side.

“That’s Dean’s psycho ex in that aisle.” Sam replied, just as quietly.

“What? Lemme see.” Gabriel nonchalantly walked around the corner and randomly grabbed a bag of candy off the shelf before turning back to Sam.

“Meh.” He said. “Cas is way better looking that that trashbag.”

“We’re going to have to wait until she’s gone. I don’t want her to see me. She’s a  complete bitch.” Sam said with a shudder.

“I KNOW RIGHT?” A female voice shrieked up the aisle at them. Both men looked at each other in horror at the screeching and without speaking headed back into the aisle they had just left. They stopped around the location opposite where Lisa and her friend would be standing in the next aisle. Gabriel and Sam casually began to examine the stock on the shelves without looking like they were trying to eavesdrop while they waited for them to move on.

Another voice spoke that Sam identified as Lisa. He motioned to Gabriel and mouthed her name at him as she spoke. Gabriel gave a curt nod as he concentrated with all that he was on a can of cat food lying on the shelf. Sam blinked rapidly in shock, and shuddered at some of the things they were talking about, all while pulling faces at Gabriel without realizing and Gabriel had to stifle a laugh.

Sam shuddered again and Gabriel touched him lightly on the arm. “Dean went out with that ?” He whispered incredulously. Sam could only nod at him in response, shocked at what they just heard. “What a piece of work. This is why I prefer men.” He ran his gaze up and down Sam’s body. “Samsquatch men.” he added, hoping to distract Sam from the conversation that had happened on the other aisle. He stepped closer to Sam, absolutely mesmerized at the changing expressions on his face and poked him in the cheek, standing up taller to lean into Sam’s ear.

“You have such an expressive face Sammy.” He whispered seductively, feeling himself getting hard again. “I can’t wait to see it changing when you finally get me into bed.” Sam promptly dropped the bag of pet treats he was pretending to examine and gaped down at Gabriel, the shocked expression enough to send Gabriel into a fit of giggles.    

“The fuck? Gabriel you. I. We’re. Huh.” Sam was lost for words as he stared down that the hysterically giggling man in front of him. He swallowed quickly and cursed inwardly at the thought of yet another boner that had no relief in sight. Then the meaning behind Gabriel’s words hit him and he narrowed his eyes in thought, wondering at what point he’d gone from freaking Gabriel out with a light touch to the promise of sex. He reached down to pick up the bag he’d dropped and when he straightened Gabriel was staring at him again, one eyebrow raised.

“That’s right Sam-I-am. I didn’t say if. I said when.” He said quietly. He grimaced before adding, “And this supermarket was absolutely the place to tell you that. I meant it though. I want to watch the expressions on your face changing when you’re riding me.” His eyes flicked away from Sam at movement further up the aisle, noticing Lisa walking past the end and he stepped away from him a little reluctantly, and a little concerned with where that conversation had come from. Sam Winchester was making him crazy.

“Time to go Sam. The psycho ex is gone.” He looked back to Sam, his eyes wide and tugged on his arm to get him moving.

“I’m definitely having a cold shower when we get home.” Sam mumbled. “And drinking a lot.” He was having a difficult time being patient with all of the innuendoes that had been flying around since he and Gabriel had met. He wasn’t used to having to wait for his partner to be ready. All of his previous lovers had jumped into bed with him within hours of them meeting. Once less than 30 minutes. Patience with sex was not something Sam Winchester had a lot of experience with.

They crept out of their aisle carefully, making sure that Lisa and her friend were really gone and filled a basket with randomly selected chocolates and sanitary pads as quickly as possible.

“I’d like to purchase lots of the alcohol right now Gabe. I’m about done.” Sam said, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands, not wanting to project his frustration onto his not-quite lover that he hadn’t even had the pleasure of kissing properly. Gabriel just looked at him and nodded quietly after seeing the tired and helpless look in Sam’s hazel eyes. He felt a flare of pity for Sam, knowing he was partially responsible for the look in his eyes.

Gabriel looked down at his watch as they left the store. “Home then?” He asked Sam. “I could use a cold shower myself.” He made a show of adjusting himself and grunted as his hand brushed over his swollen dick.

Sam barked out a laugh and threw his free arm over Gabriel’s shoulder and pulled him in. He pressed a light kiss into the top of his head before he let his arm drop. “I’m so fucking happy to hear that Gabe. It makes me feel so much better to know you’re suffering along with me.”

“Yeah yeah. A good taste of my own medicine and all that. Fucking sadist.” Gabriel retorted, nudging Sam in the ribs.

“You’re the doctor babe.” Sam said with a wink as he got into the car, tossing the bags of sanitary napkins onto the back seat.

Gabriel glared at him for being careless with his car but let it slide. “Huh. That’s a first.” He noted thoughtfully. “Nobody has ever referred to me as a doctor before. Not even Cas. I’m always ‘Gabriel-the-pornstar.’ Thanks Sam. That means a lot.”

Sam shook his head as he drove, disappointed at the types of people Gabriel must be surrounded by. “Jesus Gabe, you are a doctor. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in the meantime. You have that too. I’m surprised you haven’t looked into getting back into it. I think you would be good. Especially with pediatrics. You know, ‘cos you’re a big kid yourself.” He smiled around his delivery so that Gabriel would know he was joking about the last part. Mostly. He saw Gabriel watching him with a guarded expression that wasn’t quite the mask from earlier and he could just tell the other man was at a loss for words.

“I think I said this already Samshine but where have you been all my life?” And just like that, Sam watched the mask slide away as Gabriel’s face lit up in a brilliant smile. Sam’s stomach gave a lurch at the look in Gabriel’s amber eyes, but he pushed it away. It was way too early for thinking about that. He realized with a start that Gabriel was still talking and focused his thoughts on the conversation.

“-just didn’t offer the funding we needed in the time frame we had so it wasn’t an option. I’m not sure if I can do it Sam. There’s a stigma attached to what I do. People don’t like it. I’m, I’m not sure the medical community could handle it.” Gabriel finished, a little sadly.

“You, you could always try man. Hey, are you up for a drive? Just to hang for a bit without it being a GISHWHES thing?.” Sam asked, suddenly not ready to get back to Dean’s apartment just yet. He selfishly wanted to monopolize Gabriel for just a bit longer. Cas would get him back at the end of the week, when GISHWHES was over, so Sam felt his actions were well justified.

“Sure thing Sam, I don’t think I’m ready to deal with Cas and Dean eye-fucking on the couch.”

“Or real fucking on the couch.”

“Eww! Oh yuck Sammich. Gross.”

Sam drove them around the city and out into the countryside, feeling like a weight had lifted as soon as they escaped the traffic. He was really enjoying Gabriel’s company, and he was honest enough with himself to admit that it was going to hurt when the hunt ended. They drove for about an hour, mostly talking about nothing while they enjoyed each others company. Sam didn’t realize until the city was in front of him again that he had subconsciously taken a route that would send them back to the side of the city where Dean lived. He was in two minds how he felt about that.

“Man, I need to stretch out for a bit. Mind if we stop?” He asked with a yawn, pulling the car over into a tree-lined picnic area and parking in the shade near the back.

“I can drive you know. I’m fine.” Gabriel offered as he got out and wandered over to the trees, Sam following along behind him, stretching lazily.

“I know you are. You can if you want to, I’m beat.” Sam answered. “We’re not that far from Dean’s actually.” He added, pulling Gabriel in for a hug as he dropped his arms down from the stretch.

“Hhmph” Gabriel grunted as his face hit Sam in the chest. “Warn a guy Samsquatch.” he inhaled the scent of Sam as his arms went around the back of Sam’s waist and he sighed happily. They stood for a moment quietly savoring each other before they walked deeper into the scattering of trees, hands still joined.

“You keep taking me to see nice places Sam and I’m not going to want to leave.” Gabriel said in jest as they walked.

Sam just grunted in reply, not trusting himself to speak on the subject, wondering how the hell Gabriel just knew what he was thinking. Gabriel peered up at him with a grin when he didn’t answer. “Samsquatch? You OK? You going to miss me so much you can’t -”

“Oh shut up Gabriel.” Sam interrupted him as he grabbed the shorter man around the waist and smashed their lips together. His left hand came up to cup the back of Gabriel’s neck as he finally, finally kissed the object of his desire. He was prepared to let Gabriel go if he was moving too fast and the thought that he’d ironically asked for the other man to take control crossed his mind fleetingly. He felt Gabriel stiffen at the complete invasion of his space and he withdrew sadly, pressing their foreheads together. “I’m sorry. Gabriel. I...”

Gabriel growled at Sam’s apology, easily dismissing the panic that threatened to rise up in his chest. He could do this. No, he was doing this. He reached up and took hold of Sam’s neck, one hand on either side and pushed himself back into the kiss, surprising Sam with the ferocity of it. Sam brushed his tongue tentatively along Gabriel’s lips and felt him gasp before he opened and he licked into the moist, demanding cavern of his mouth. He tasted of coffee and chocolate and Sam thought it was just about everything he’d ever wanted in a kiss.

Sam pulled back after a while so that he could breathe for a minute and realized that somehow he had ended up with his back pressed up against a large tree trunk with Gabriel planted firmly between his parted legs. And they were somehow at eye level.

“So that happened.” Gabriel said softly to him, amber eyes twinkling in the late afternoon sun. He rolled his hips into Sam’s, pressing him further into the tree bark and eliciting a groan from the other man when their erections collided through layers of clothing. Their tongues entwined lazily again for a while, searching and tasting and Gabriel wondered what he had ever been worried about with Sam. Kissing Sam was like coming home again after years of aimless searching.

“Let’s go home Gabe.” Sam moaned as Gabriel planted kisses along his jawline to his ear. “Please.” He begged.

“You think it’s going to be that easy Samshine?” Gabriel muttered into his ear breathlessly as he rolled his hips into Sam again, teasing.

“Actually no, I just want my cold shower you fiend.” Sam quipped, cupping Gabriel’s ass in two hands and holding him firmly against his erection. Gabriel moaned loudly when he felt Sam’s hard length pressed against him, and he was overjoyed at the hint of the size hidden under the denim.

“What if I don’t want you to?” Gabriel asked, diving into Sam’s mouth again and tasting heaven. “What if I, mmmph. Want you just like this Sam?” He breathed into Sam’s ear as he briefly wondered where his forward behavior was coming from before deciding that he just didn’t care. Sam seemed to have unleashed a side of him that he had well hidden, and Gabriel was more than willing to just go along for the ride and hope the crash at the end was worth it.

Sam threw his head back against the tree and savored the pleasure he was getting from the close contact with Gabriel. “Ohhh. God. Gabe.” He gasped out at the feeling of the lips trailing down his neck. “At this point I don’t care how I get there. I just know that I am getting there. So unless we’re doing this here and now can we please go home?” He rolled into Gabriel again, absolutely out of his mind with lust and utterly aroused by the dominant side of the shorter man.

Gabriel lifted his head to do a quick scan of the park they were in to make sure they were alone and looked back to where Sam leaned against the tree with a dazed expression on his face, his hair stuck to the bark in every direction. His pupils were completely blown wide open. Gabriel decided he like seeing Sam so utterly undone and he leaned back in, grinding his hips firmly into him with a breathy moan. Their kisses became more heated, tongues clashing in a fight for dominance as they rolled into each other repeatedly. Gabriel clenched a fist into Sam’s hair, holding on as the sensations coursing through his body threatened to overwhelm him. It had been so long, so fucking long since he’d found pleasure in sex, he wasn’t sure he could stop if he wanted to. Sam’s groans were becoming louder and more desperate sounding and Gabriel thought he might have hand prints in his ass cheeks by the time they were done.

“Gabe, please.” Sam begged as he felt the orgasm pooling low in his stomach. “I can’t, please. I need more of you.” His words were cut off by Gabriel’s mouth again as their hips ground together faster, chasing release.

“Let it go Samshine.” Gabriel gasped into his ear, his voice hoarse as he caught Sam’s hazel eyes with his. “Let go for me. Please Sam. I need you like this.”

In his lust filled haze Sam understood exactly what Gabriel was saying to him and he pulled one hand reluctantly off Gabriel’s ass and buried it in his hair, kissing him soundly. He relished the feeling of Gabriel’s hardness rolling into him and felt his orgasm building.

“Anything, Gabriel. I’ll do anything for you.” Sam uttered in complete devotion as he felt Gabriel tense up.

“Then come for me Sam.” Gabriel buried his tongue in Sam’s mouth as he fell over the blissful edge of his orgasm at Sam’s declaration. He felt Sam shuddering into him as he followed Gabriel over into the abyss.

They leaned against each other breathing heavily, kisses slow and sweet and unhurried as they recovered. Eventually the haze started to clear from Sam’s mind and he looked about to see that the sun was almost set. He could have sworn it was only late afternoon. He let go of Gabriel with one hand and pulled his phone out to check on the time.

“Oh man, we should really get home now.” He murmured quietly to Gabriel, who appeared to be dozing whilst standing against Sam’s chest.

“What are we on a curfew?” Gabriel mumbled irritably.

“I’m hungry Gabe. And we need to shower.” Sam answered with a laugh.

“Fine. We can go.” Gabriel reluctantly peeled himself off Sam, stood up on his own and looked around. “Where did the sun go?”

Sam chuckled at the surprise in Gabriel’s voice and pulled him towards the car. “Right? Come on Mr. Dominant, let’s go.”

“Hah!” Gabriel giggled and let Sam lead him away. They drove back to Dean’s apartment, in compatible silence, hands entwined in Sam’s lap. The Impala wasn’t there when they arrived so they assumed that Cas and Dean were still out and headed up to the apartment. Sam keyed open the door and let Gabriel through, getting distracted by his rear end as he walked into the apartment. He stalked up behind him and lean towards him, planning on stealing a kiss when he saw Cas sitting alone on the couch with a dejected look on his face.

“Hey Cas.” Sam said awkwardly, like he wasn’t about to casually grope his cousin in front of him.

Cas appeared not to notice either of them and just stared blankly at his computer screen. “Oh, hey.” he answered somewhat sadly.

“Hey cousin, what’s up? Where’s Dean-o?” Gabriel asked him with his usual aplomb.

Cas looked at them uncomfortably and let the silence stretch out. “He uh, went out for dinner. With a friend.” He answered finally.

Sam looked at him confused. Dean didn’t really have many friends, he was a fairly private person so whoever he was with, Sam was likely to know. “Who was it?” He asked curiously.

“Oh. Um, nobody important really. He’ll be back soon.” Cas answered flicking his eyes towards the door.

Gabriel looked at Castiel sideways, spotting the lie. “Right, Cas. OK.”

Sam felt the tension in the room mounting and had no idea what was going on. “Hey man, you hungry? I’m going to get some food out for dinner.” Sam asked as he walked into the kitchen, sensing that Gabriel wanted to speak to Cas alone for a minute.

“No thanks Sam. I’m tired. I might just go to bed.”

Sam nodded once and disappeared into the kitchen. Gabriel rounded on his cousin immediately. “OK what gives?” He demanded.

“Nothing Gabriel. I’m tired, and I’m just trying to process something huge.” He looked up at Gabriel with a pleading expression. “Please just let me be. I’m going to bed.” And with that, Cas got up and headed up the hallway.

Gabriel threw his hands up in the air in frustration and stomped over to the kitchen. “I have no idea what stick is up his ass.” He rolled his eyes at Sam. “Mind if i take the first shower? I seem to have made a mess of myself somewhere along the way.” He grinned cheekily at Sam, who was busy shoving a lemon wedge into a bottle of beer. “Oooh beer. Thanks Sammich.” He darted over to Sam and snatched the beer off him and tried to move away but Sam grabbed hold of him and yanked him back.

“You think you can steal a man’s beer?” He growled down at Gabriel, who winked at him and took a swig.

“I think I can steal your beer Sam.” He reached up and pulled Sam’s head down for a messy kiss before he ran off to shower, leaving Sam standing in the kitchen, a hot mess all over again.

~~~

Gabriel was standing in Sam’s room shirtless examining the scars on his body in the mirror when Sam walked through the door after his shower wearing only a towel slung low on his hips, beer in hand.

“Oh hey Gabe, sorry I thought you were out in the - woah.” Sam couldn’t help his reaction to the sight of Gabriel before him, scars bared. He averted his eyes quickly, and watched Gabriel freeze as their eyes met in the mirror, a look of complete dismay on his face as he realized Sam had seen him, and it was too late for him to hide.

Sam spun on his heel and marched over to the drawers, pulled some pants out and hurriedly dressed himself, discarding the towel onto the bed when he was decent.

“You might as well look Sam.” Gabriel said to his back, the distress in his voice evident.

“No.” Sam answered, and he heard Gabriel gasp at his refusal. “Not until you want me to. I’m not about to make you uncomfortable now, not after how far we’ve come.” He pulled a shirt over his head and waited for Gabriel to do the same before he turned around again and sat on the bed. He patted the spot next to him and waited for Gabriel to join him.

“I’m sorry. I know it’s stupid. I know you’re going to see them and feel them and all of that. I’m just having trouble with sharing this part of myself, only Cas and the makeup girl have ever really seen them.” Gabriel climbed onto the bed and sat down behind Sam. “They’re horrible, and all they do is remind me.” He took a swig of the beer he stole off Sam and leaned over to rest his chin on Sam’s shoulder while he snaked an arm about his waist.

Sam twisted around so that they were face to face and reached up to cup Gabriel’s face. “Don’t ever apologize to me about that man.” He pushed their lips together in a tender kiss that gradually deepened when Gabriel opened up to let Sam’s tongue invade his mouth again, his desperate need for Sam to understand evident in the way he clung to him.

“See?” Sam asked him with a grin when they surfaced for air. “Why on earth would I want to push you into something you’re not ready for when you’re miles ahead of yesterday? Give me some credit.”

Gabriel snorted at him and rolled his eyes, his dismal mood gone. “You just want to tap this fine ass.”

“Whatever.” Sam laughed and wrestled Gabriel into the bed, positioning himself over the top of Gabriel hesitantly, unsure of how much he could get away with. “You’re a douchebag.” He added as he dipped his tongue back into Gabriel’s mouth slowly, teasing him as he rocked their hips together. Gabriel arched up into Sam in response, one hand fisted in Sam’s hair, the other clutched desperately at his back and he felt Sam’s erection pressing firmly into him.

“Hmmph. I thought you were making me dinner Sam.” Gabriel moaned at Sam when he released his mouth and started planting kisses down his neck to his collarbone.

“You only want me because I’m feeding you.” Sam said between kisses.

“Now who’s the douchebag?” Gabriel stammered out as Sam’s hand brushed over his chest, searching. “You give me beer too. Don’t, uhhh. Don’t forget that part.” Gabriel lost his train of thought as Sam tweaked at his nipple through his shirt.

“Speaking of beer.” Sam said with a cheeky grin as he sat up suddenly, leaving Gabriel flustered and sprawled on the bed. “I want more.” He stood up and looked down at Gabriel, who was breathing heavily with his bottom lip caught in his teeth. “I like the look of you in my bed Gabe. But you’re right. I am feeding you. Come on.”

“We need to upload stuff too Sam. We’re lagging.” Gabriel said as he stood up and followed Sam out of the room.

Sam got their dinner out of the oven and they ate on the couch, leaning against each other in a tangle of arms and legs. When they were done Gabriel removed their empty plates and came back into the living room yawning.

“Oh man, I’m so tired. You fed me so well I’m going to go into a food coma Sam.” He flopped himself back down next to Sam on the couch and curled up.

“Uh, you can go to bed Gabriel, you don’t need to wait up for me.” Sam said. “I can’t be assed getting my computer out though.”

“I’m good Sam, I don’t want to sleep yet or I”ll be up at 3.” He answered, burrowing himself into the cushions in the corner of the couch. “Oh hey, why don’t we watch The Lost Boys? We didn’t get very far last night.”

“Seems like a year ago.” Sam answered as he got up to turn everything on. When he turned back he saw that Gabriel had stretched himself out along the length of the couch, leaving him almost no room to sit back down. “Hey, what gives?” He demanded, raising an eyebrow. “And how the hell are you taking up so much space short stack?”

“Come on Samsquatch, be the little spoon.” Gabriel laughed, making room for Sam by dropping one leg onto the floor.

Sam shook his head, smiling. “Idiot.” He sat down between Gabriel’s legs and was pulled in to lean against his chest. He made a show of prodding Gabriel to get comfortable and started the movie. Gabriel’s hand started threading through his hair and he sighed in contentment, reflecting on the last 24 hours as the movie played. He felt Gabriel’s chest slowly rising and falling evenly under his head and after a while he turned his head to look up at him. He was fast asleep, with his hand still in Sam’s hair, a look of complete relaxation on his exhausted face.

Sam considered moving away to give Gabriel some space, just in case he woke up to a nightmare, and was surprised when Gabriel’s grip on him tightened when he tried to move. He shrugged to himself and settled back into Gabriel’s embrace. He played another movie when the first one finished, letting Gabriel sleep and it was just finishing when he heard Castiel talking in the hallway.

“Dean?” Sam heard him say.

“I’m here Dean, where are you?” Castiel came into view and raised an eyebrow in surprise at Sam and Gabriel entwined on the couch with Gabriel fast asleep.

Sam gently dislodged himself from Gabriel, trying not to wake him up. “What’s going on Cas?” He asked the disheveled man in front of him quietly. He could hear Dean at the other end of the call rambling away but couldn’t make out his words. Clearly he was drunk.

“Dean’s drunk somewhere downtown. The Eagle’s Nest. He needs a ride.” Cas said, frowning at the drunken ranting coming through the phone.

“Oh for fuck’s sake. I’ll be there soon.” Sam snapped, irritated. The bar was at least a 20 minute drive in each direction and he had been planning on curling up with his lover and sleeping the rest of the night away.

He stood up and stormed into his room to put his shoes on, realizing that he would have to take Gabriel’s car to pick up his idiot brother. When he returned to the living room Cas had hung up the phone and was staring at it with silent tears running down his face. Gabriel was sitting up rubbing his eyes sleepily.

“Sam?” he asked in confusion. “What’s going on? Cas, hey man, what’s up?” He got up and rushed over to Castiel, who put his head on Gabriel’s shoulder and sobbed quietly.

“Dean. He. Oh I can’t... Please Sam, just go and get him so I know he’s safe.” Cas begged.

“Uhh yeah sure Cas. Gabe can I borrow your car?” Sam asked awkwardly. “You stay with Cas, I’ll be back in about an hour.”

Gabriel took one look at the exhausted expression on Sam’s face and refused to hand the keys over. “No way Sam, look at you, you haven’t slept at all. It’s after 2am. I’ll drive.”

Sam shook his head stubbornly. “No Gabe, I can’t ask you to do that, get some sleep. My stupid brother is my problem.”

“Go with him Gabriel.” Castiel interrupted. “Just both of you go. Fuck.”

Gabriel and Sam looked at Cas in shock. “Uh, sure Cas. Go to bed man, we got this.” Gabriel told him gently.  Castiel nodded at them and disappeared up the hallway again, dragging his cloud of doom with him.

“Right Sammich, let’s go. I’m driving.” Gabriel said firmly. Sam looked at him and prepared to argue the point. Gabriel just stared at him, one eyebrow raised until he nodded and opened the door.

“I bet you five bucks the ass throws up in my car.” Gabriel mumbled as they drove to the bar.

“I’ll take that bet.” Sam said around a yawn. “Man, I was just about to go to sleep. Thanks for doing this Gabe, Dean owes you one.”

Gabriel grunted. “He’ll owe me more than one if he pukes in my car.” They drove in silence for a while, wondering what state Dean was going to be in when they got where he was waiting.

“I was having such a nice sleep Sam, why did he have to ruin it?” Gabriel complained suddenly. “I don’t sleep much, often or well most of the time.” He sighed in frustration.

“I’m sorry. I’ll sing you a lullaby when we get back.” Sam retorted at him, taking Gabriel’s hand in his. “Oh hey, there’s Baby. I’ll let Dean know we’re here.”

Chapter Text

Dean honestly wasn’t sure how he felt as he prepared for his dinner with Lisa. So many thoughts and feelings flickered through his mind. Mostly, he was afraid; afraid he’d be a bad parent, afraid there might be something wrong with his baby, afraid he might lose Cas, afraid of the huge change in his life. He was excited too though, sure he’d never really thought about a family but now that the idea was there he could already see himself with a little baby girl, buying frilly dresses, teaching her to ride a bike, to fight, to shoot, to work on a car and to drive. He could see Sammy as the doting uncle, could even see Gabe there secretly providing candy no matter how often he’d tell him not to. He was not a bit surprised that he could see Castiel in this new vision of his life, tending to scraped knees and cooking them amazing muffins and pie.

Funnily enough, Lisa didn’t come into his vision at all. Dean knew that she would be a big part of his life now, as the mother of his child, but the main concern he had regarding her was hoping that she’d like Cas and not get weird about him being around their baby. Which was completely insane considering the newness of everything between them.

Cas seemed a bit out of sorts when Dean had finished dressing and found him seated on the couch, laptop perched on his lap while he simply watched the rest of the team chatting in their group chat, occasionally sending an emoji here and there.

“You OK Cas?” He asked as he reached him and Cas hadn’t looked up or shown an awareness of him being in the room at all.

“Shit!” Cas swore, jerking violently in surprise. “Dean!”

“You seem a bit out of it Cas.” Dean huffed an amused breath at the reaction.

“I’m just tired. It’s been a long day.” Cas was clearly not being completely honest and Dean would have to be completely dense to not understand what was bothering his boyfriend.

“It’ll be fine man.” He murmured, leaning over to press a comforting kiss to Castiel’s forehead. “I’m running late but I’ll be back right after dinner ok?”

Dean had nearly made it out of the apartment before Cas was suddenly in his space, crowding him against the wall. “I’ll be waiting, Dean.” He growled lowly, voice husky with suggestion as he crushed their lips together roughly, pressing his body fully against Dean’s, before moving his mouth downwards to suck and kiss the exposed skin of his neck. Then, just as suddenly, he backed away again. Dean could barely gather his thoughts together enough to return the kiss, shaking his head slightly to clear the slight fog of arousal.

“Uh.” He mumbled, swallowing heavily. “Yeah, see you soon Cas.”

Dean made his way out of his apartment building to the Impala, pausing a moment to allow the chill of the night air to clear his head, chuckling a little to himself when he realised that Cas had sucked a hickey into the skin of his neck, higher than the last one he’d left. High enough for it to be seen over the collar of his shirt. Cas had marked him before letting him go to dinner with his ex, the possessive action shouldn’t turn Dean on, but it did. It really, really, did.

Lisa had, of course, chosen a classy, expensive little Italian restaurant for them to meet up at and Dean was glad that she’d arrived on time and was already seated as there was quite a number of people waiting to be seated. The server led him through the tables to a booth in a quiet corner of the room, Dean was grateful for the privacy as he knew that this would be a very awkward conversation.

“I’m sorry I’m late Lis.” Dean ducked his head apologetically as he sat down in the seat opposite her. She’d really dressed up for the occasion and Dean was instantly uncomfortable at the amount of cleavage she was showing and the way she looked at him from under her lashes when she responded.

“It’s fine, Dean. I ordered for you already since you weren’t here.” 

He bit back a scathing response and wordlessly accepted the beer she offered him, it wasn’t a brand he usually drank and he was again reminded at how little they actually knew about each other. He cleared his throat awkwardly, trying to hide a grimace at how warm his beer was, it was his own fault he was late, after all.

They made awkward small talk for a while, only stopping when their food was brought out to them. Dean ordered another beer and flinched when Lisa ordered wine.

“Should you be drinking?” He asked her gently, trying not to come across as too judgemental.

“What?” Lisa looked at him askew. “Why shouldn’t I… oh! Shit!” She quickly flagged the waitress down and changed her order to a coke instead. Dean decided that was a win, even if he wasn’t really sure about caffeine and pregnancy either, it had to be better than alcohol at least, right?

“So…” He ventured around a mouthful of fettuccine, stopping to chew and swallow his food at the disgusted eye roll she shot him when he did so. “When is your next prenatal appointment? I know you said Madison could go but I’d like to be there too.”

Lisa choked on her coke. “Uh.” She coughed. “It was today.”

“Of course it was.” Dean sighed, a little sad at missing it. He leaned back in his chair and scratched at the back of his neck, feeling a little exposed at the way Lisa’s eyes ran over his body. “The next one then. So do you have a due date yet?”

“What’s that?” She asked suddenly, glaring at his neck.

“What’s what?” Dean had the strangest urge to cover his chest and was suddenly taken off guard when Lisa sat forward and reached towards his neck.

“That, Dean. It’s a hickey.” She accused, dropping her hand when he flinched backwards away from her.

“You just said what it was.” He snarked, uncomfortable. “Look it’s not really any of your business, you and I? We’re not together.”

Lisa seemed to inflate with anger, sitting up straighter in her chair and leaning forwards menacingly. “Listen to me Dean Winchester.” She hissed at him across the table. “We will raise this child together, as a couple or you will have no place in it’s life. Do you understand me?”

“Excuse me?!” He snapped, dropping his fork to his plate with a clang. “You can’t do that.”

“Watch me.” She spat. “It’s us or the whore.” She gestured at the hickey on his neck to get her point across before rising and stalking out of the restaurant, leaving Dean with the bill and a sour taste in his mouth. “Fuck.” He mumbled tiredly, flagging the waitress down.

After Dean paid the bill he decided that he would stop at the bar across the road for a drink or two. He really needed to think and honestly didn’t want to be dumping all this shit on Cas, not when they were so new.

Dean was several beers into his pity party when he was joined at the bar by a cute redhead. He spared her an appreciative look before turning back to his drink with a sigh.

He was jolted out of his wallowing by a pointed cough to his right. Suddenly paying attention, he realised that the redhead was now seated on the barstool next to him, with a row of shots spread between them. She raised an eyebrow, indicating he was supposed to be doing one with her.

Dean would have politely turned her down, and honestly, he knew that Cas was waiting for him to come back to the apartment, but something stopped him, it could have been that the redhead was watching him with blue eyes that were almost familiar or the tilt to her head that just screamed of Cas, or it could have just been his own misplaced pride that had him picking up the shot in front of him and knocking it back with a flirtatious grin rather than going home to his boyfriend, he wasn’t really sure.

“I’m Anna.” The redhead yelled over the dull roar of the bar, leaning in close enough that Dean could smell the whiskey on her breath.

“Dean.” He caught himself before winking, thoughts of Cas foremost in his mind.

“So Dean…” Anna asked, leaning close enough to him to be heard but too close for him to feel comfortable, her breasts rubbing against his arm as she did so. “Why do you look like someone kicked your puppy?”

Dean picked up the next shot, watching her closely over the rim of the shot glass as he considered his response. “My ex.” He said finally, knocking back the amber liquid and sliding the glass to one side, already eying the next one. “She seems to think that she has a say in what I do, simply because she’s pregnant.”

Anna took her shot and slid the next to Dean, picking up her own and flagging the bartender down for more. “Yours I take it?” She asked, watching him carefully, her head tilted curiously, so familiar that he had to say something.

“You don’t happen to have a brother do you?” He asked, dimly aware that he was changing the subject from what they’d been discussing but buzzed enough not to care.

“I have a few actually.” She grinned before leaning back in to whisper conspiratorially. “But don’t worry, they’re not here.”

Dean laughed and conversation after that was lighter, Anna talked about her brothers and Dean happily talked about how proud he was of Sammy. It was easy to talk to Anna, there was just something about her that felt familiar, and he honestly enjoyed her company. After their second round of shots they’d switched to beers and Dean excused himself to the bathroom, not realising just how drunk he was until he’d tried to stand up.

In the bathroom Dean figured he’d better call Cas, he was definitely late to get home and he guiltily remembered that Cas had said he was going to be waiting up.

“Dean.” The call went through nearly instantly, Cas had to have been waiting for him to call and Dean cringed internally.

“Hey Cas. I’m sorry I didn’t come right back, I’m such a horrible boyfriend. I just couldn’t come back. I needed to drink.” He rambled, painfully aware of how drunk he sounded. “Cas?”

He heard a loud sigh through the phone. “I’m here Dean, where are you?” Dean gave the name of the bar, before launching into a description of where it was. He heard Cas start speaking to someone at his end of the call and heard a muffled voice say “Oh for fuck’s sake. I’ll be there soon.” Dean blinked drunkenly at the phone in his hand, confused at the interruption to his rambling.  “Sam is on his way to pick you up Dean.” Cas said gruffly to him.

“Thanks Cas. You’re so awesome.” He gushed drunkenly. “I’m so sorry Cas, I ruin everything, everything I touch. I ruin it. Lisa, Lis she wants me to get back together with her, so we can be a family.” He bit back a sob. “Cas, I’m going to be a father. A father, I’m going to have a baby but I have to get back with her, so I’d have to break up with you. But we’re going to be a family.” Dean probably should have stopped talking when he heard Cas gasp into the phone. Or maybe he should have stopped talking when he heard a low sob. Suddenly Dean was aware that he probably shouldn’t have said anything, at least not while he was so drunk that he wasn’t making sense. “Cas?” He asked, voice cracking a little.

“Sam’s on his way to collect you, Dean.” Cas muttered lowly, disconnecting the call.

“Fuck.” Dean mumbled, hitting the call button again and punching the wall angrily when it went straight to voicemail. He hissed through his teeth at the sharp pain in his knuckles and swore again.

When he returned to the bar he’d intended to tell Anna that he needed to leave, however he was distracted by the fact that she was no longer alone, and he’d have sneaked away except she didn’t look particularly happy with her new company and she visibly sagged in relief when he entered her field of view.

“Uriel this is my boyfriend Dean.” She announced, catching Dean’s eye and silently begging him to go along with it. “We were about to leave.”

The man, Uriel, turned around to give Dean an appraising look, a vicious sneer on his face as he took him in. “I think he was just leaving.” Uriel muttered, stepping forward into Dean’s personal space. “Zach?”

It was then that Dean noticed the second man, a short, balding fat man with a seedy grin. He stepped forward and put an arm around Anna’s shoulders, tugging her towards the door while Uriel kept himself between Dean and his new friend. Anna looked stricken, shooting a panicked look between Dean and the bar where the bartender was occupied serving others on the far side.

Dean made a snap decision and pushed past Uriel, stalking up to Anna and snatching her out of Zach’s hold. “I think you should message your brothers now.” He murmured to her, leading her away from the two men, not daring to shoot a look back towards them until they were a safe distance away. They were still standing at the bar, watching as Dean and Anna moved across the room.

“I already did.” She said, clinging tightly to his arm. “I messaged Michael when I saw Uriel watch you go to the bathroom and you didn’t come back out right away. He’s on his way.”

Dean nodded. “OK, well my brother is on his way too so we can hang around and keep you safe if Michael doesn’t get here first.”  He suddenly wished that he hadn’t quite had so much to drink.

Uriel and Zach had vanished into the crowd by the time Anna’s phone notified her that her brother was there to pick her up but Dean didn’t feel comfortable letting her leave alone, even if she was only going outside. Sam couldn’t have been far away either so he opted to escort Anna to her brother safely.

Michael was pacing along the footpath when they exited the building, and he rushed forward when he saw Dean holding onto his sister. “Anna! Are you alright?” He stepped close enough to them that he could easily put himself between them, however trusted his sister enough that he simply waited for her response before deciding how to react. “Who is this?”

“I’m OK Mike.” She stepped forward to hug him, giggling as she stumbled a little. “This is Dean. He got those other guys away from me. Oh! I need your number Dean.” She turned back to look at Dean hopefully.

Dean honestly wasn’t going to give her his number, but something about the twin blue eyed stare that both Anna and Michael fixed onto him stopped him from speaking up, and he found himself nodding instead, holding his hand out for her phone so he could input his number. As he saved it to his phone he was filled with guilt when he realized it was nearly 3am.

Unsurprisingly, Michael seemed in a hurry to get Anna into his car and to get her home, especially when it looked like she wanted to lean in to kiss Dean. Dean wouldn’t have gone for it anyway, but with the daggers Michael was staring at him he was even less willing. He sighed in relief when a text lit up his phone saying that Sam was waiting around the corner and he had an excuse to leave without offending Anna or being murdered by her older brother.

“My ride is here.” He said to Anna and Michael, deflecting Anna’s subtle advances, much to the relief of her brother. “I’ll see you guys later.” He called over his shoulder at them as he wove his way drunkenly through the people on the sidewalk.

Dean was focused on putting one foot in front of the other as he rounded the corner, but he was happy to see that Gabe had pulled his car up beside the Impala when he looked up. He was filled with gratitude at the thought that Sam had the forethought to bring a second driver so they could get Baby home safely as well.

Hand raised to wave, Dean opened his mouth to call out to his brother and friend. Instead he bit his tongue painfully when his head snapped forward as someone hit him from behind. His vision swam even as he spun around on the spot, hands raised to defend himself. “Wha?” He slurred, swaying a little on the spot while he waited for his vision to clear.

“Uriel?” He muttered, squinting to focus his vision on the large dark skinned man in front of him. “What the fuck?” He stepped to the side as Uriel went to swing at him again, landing a sloppy hit of his own as he dodged.

“Dean, behind you!”

He was almost taken unawares when Zach came up behind him, snapping his head around in time to partially deflect a blow to the face when Sam had shouted to alert him to the danger. It was still enough to knock him backwards, too drunk to keep his precarious balance. He stumbled back and landed hard against the Impala as his foot slipped off the gutter.

Sam’s shout had also got the attention of Uriel, who snapped around to face the new threat. “This doesn’t concern you.” He spat, eyeing the taller man cautiously. “Just walk away.”

“Uh how about no?” Sam declared, already stepping forward into Uriel’s personal space. “That’s my brother you’re assaulting. Back the fuck off.” He deliberately stood over Uriel, practically daring him to go further.  

“Dean?” Gabriel was suddenly in front of him, hands on his shoulders. “Are you alright? Can you get up?”

He nodded slowly, eyes widening when he saw Zach coming up behind him. “Uh, Gabe? Behind you.”

“Now who do we have here?” Zach’s voice drawled lowly and Gabriel froze, eyes widening in terror as he turned his back to Dean. “I know you.”

Dean pushed himself off the car to try to put himself between them but he wasn’t fast enough to stop Zach from grabbing onto Gabriel and yanking him away towards the wall of the nearby building, crowding the shorter man against it with his own body. He dragged a hand down Gabriel’s torso until it reached his crotch and rubbed against it roughly, ignoring the panicked cries and weak looking attempts Gabriel made to stop him.

“Sammy!” Dean cried to his brother who was busy keeping Uriel away from him, unaware yet that Gabriel was in trouble. “Help Gabe.”

Sam heard his brother cry out and turned his head briefly to see what was happening and felt his blood boil when he saw Gabriel pushed up against the building being molested by Zach. He was over to Gabriel in two quick steps, hauling Zach off him and swinging his clenched fist into Zach’s smarmy face. As the balding man’s head snapped backwards from the force of the hit, Sam brought his knee up, slamming into his groin with enough force to lift him onto his toes.  Zach landed hard onto the sidewalk and didn’t move again.

Sam was breathing heavily as he glared down at Zach where he lay prone on the sidewalk, he didn’t move so he turned to look at Gabriel and his heart sank. Gabe looked smaller than normal, hunched in on himself, his terrified eyes were flicking in every direction and he was struggling to keep his breathing under control. Sam took a step towards him, hands raised when someone grabbed his hair roughly from behind. His arm was caught in a vice-like grip and he was jerked backwards painfully.

Gabriel leaned heavily on the wall waiting for the anxiety to either take him away to oblivion or pass by. He could never tell which way it was going to go. He couldn’t believe what had just happened, but he also couldn’t believe how fierce Sam was in his defense. How fast he had moved. He stood up straighter, breathing harshly when he saw Uriel dodge easily around Dean and head for Sam.

“Sam!” Gabriel snapped back into himself as he watched Sam take a punch to the kidney, face contorted in pain as he sucked in a gasping breath.

“No you fucking don’t, you great big bag of dicks.” He hissed, stepping away from the wall towards where Uriel stood, twisting Sam’s arm up hard enough that the taller man looked like he might pass out from the pain. He leapt forward, not quite sure what he was going to be able to do against someone built like a quarterback, but not willing to sit by and watch.

He reached Uriel the same time Dean did, grabbing for the arm that held Sam’s where it was pulled up behind his back and shoving even as Dean went to spin him around. Sam wrenched himself from Uriel’s grip as soon as it loosened enough to allow for him to move without risking dislocating his elbow. Gabriel swung at Uriel and landed a punch in his solar plexus, making him fling himself forwards as he struggled to breathe from the sharp blow to his diaphragm. Gabriel brought a knee up into Uriel’s face and shoved him backwards roughly with a snarl, accidentally sending him towards Dean, who jumped to one side in slow motion as Uriel stumbled backwards, catching his foot and sending Uriel down in a heap. He stepped back towards Sam, who was breathing heavily and holding his arm gingerly.

“I think you’re done here.” Dean snarked, looking down at the man by his feet.  He swayed a little, still very much feeling the influence of all those shots he had consumed that night.

Dean watched as Uriel checked on Zach before opting to leave his unconscious friend where he lay and he snorted, turning back to the road and stumbling towards the Impala. “Dean, don’t walk on the road!” Sam called out to him from where he’d been quietly murmuring to Gabriel. “You’ll get run over.”

“I’ll do what the fuck I want, Sammy.” He slurred obstinately, adrenaline and alcohol working against him. “Besides I just had to save your ass, I’m safer without you.”

Gabriel and Sam snorted in unison. “Sure Dean.” Gabriel muttered, rolling his eyes and smirking as they reached him.

“What the fuck is going on with you Dean?” Sam snapped, taking a moment to glare at him across the roof of the Impala. “Since when do you go around getting into bar fights?”

“It wasn’t my fault Sammy!” Dean slurred, slouching against the door, pressing his overheated face against the cool glass of the window. “Anyway, we’re not in the bar, we’re on the street.” He huffed a drunken laugh at his joke and gazed at Sam drunkenly.

Sam just snorted and turned his attention back to Gabriel, though Dean didn’t miss the way he reached a hand over to thread his fingers through Gabriel’s while they talked and shit like that wasn’t a knife in the heart after the way he fucked everything up with Cas. “You going to be ok to drive back alone Gabe? We can just come back for the Impala tomorrow?”

Dean cringed, his poor Baby shouldn’t be left out all night. He was filled with relief when Gabe nodded that he’d be fine to head back on his own.

The drive back to the apartment was done in silence, for which Dean was very grateful, as it was he had to keep his eyes squeezed shut and swallow down the urge to puke all over the interior of the Impala.

Sam pulled up in front of Dean’s building, all but jumping out of the Impala in his hurry to check on Gabriel, leaning over to whisper into the short man’s ear as he handed over the keys to the apartment. “Give us a bit Gabe, we’ll be up shortly.” Gabriel gave him a quick nod and locked up his own car, shooting a calculating look at where Dean was starting to look decidedly green in the back of the Impala, he chuckled when Dean flung open the door and practically fell onto the footpath, unable to hold back the urge to vomit any longer.

“I like this guy Sammy, he didn’t even puke in the car. I owe you five bucks it seems.” Gabe snickered as he made his way over to the building, waving slightly before letting himself in, leaving Sam and Dean where they were by the curb.

“What’s going on Dean?” Sam asked, sitting a short distance away, wrinkling his nose as Dean leaned into the gutter to puke again. “Why did those guys jump you?”

Dean explained about talking to Anna and pulling her away from them when they were making her uncomfortable, about how he waited with her until her ride arrived to take her home. “I assume they were waiting for us to go our separate ways to maybe grab her, so when she went home with her brother they wanted some payback.”

“Well that was a good thing you did Dean, but why do you look like you started the apocalypse?” Sam prodded gently, watching as Dean’s face crumpled.

“I ruined everything.” He sniffled. “I think he hates me Sam.”

“Cas?” Sam clarified gently. Dean nodded, watching the expressions flicker across his brother’s face, the curiosity as to what they fought about, anger (probably at Dean) that it led to this, finally settling on Sam’s usual compassion. “I’m sure he doesn’t hate you Dean.” He sighed.

They sat outside until Dean thought that he could move without puking, and Sam guided him up to the apartment and shoved him into his empty bedroom. Cas was apparently staying in the spare room, the thought made Dean unbelievably sad and he flopped himself face down on his bed and sobbed into his pillow until he passed out.

Chapter Text

~WEDNESDAY~ Day 5

But first the rest of Tuesday

Sam shut the door to Dean’s bedroom, not bothering to stop it from slamming shut. He was bone tired, it was after 4am and his whole fucking arm ached from where Uriel had it twisted up behind his back. He scrubbed a hand through his hair, wincing at the tenderness he felt there, before remembering he took a hit to the head before his hair was pulled. He forced himself to go to the bathroom to find some painkillers before he made his way back to the living room, wanting to sleep. He was surprised to find Gabriel lounging there waiting for him.

“Hey.” he mumbled tiredly, falling onto the lounge heavily and crying out in pain when his arm twisted under him.

“Sammy?” Gabriel asked in concern, moving over to him. “Are you OK? Sit up for me.”

“No man, just let me sleep. I’m done.” Sam replied in a muffled voice from where his face was pressed into the cushion.

“What, right here? Nope. Come on Samsquatch. Get up please. I’ve had enough of stubborn ass Winchesters for one night.” Gabriel snapped at him, slapping him in the rear as he spoke.

Sam groaned painfully and rolled over to sit up. “I’m so tired Gabriel.” He sulked. “What do you want?”

“Bed.” Gabriel said firmly, pointing towards the bedroom. “You’ll sleep better. I also want to poke you for a bit to make sure nothing is broken.” He smirked.

Sam stood up reluctantly. “If I wasn’t so tired I’d have a witty comeback for that. Come on then.” He stumbled towards his bedroom, leaning heavily on Gabriel when he maneuvered himself under Sam’s arm to help him. Sam sat down with a thump and kicked his shoes off as Gabriel stood in front of him and started feeling around his scalp for injuries.

“There’s a bit of a lump here Sam but nothing broken.” Gabriel said quietly, moving his hands down Sam’s neck. “Take your shirt off, I need to see where he hit you.” Sam removed his shirt silently, and let Gabriel moved around behind him to poke around at his ribs. Gabriel felt him wince when he prodded at the area where Uriel caught him with his fist and he rubbed at the skin softly for a minute before he moved onto Sam’s injured arm. “This might hurt.” He said as he moved it around and felt for injuries, feeling Sam flinching away when he hit the injured areas. “You may have torn something Sam.”

Sam grunted. “It would have been worse if you hadn’t pulled him off me Gabe. Speaking of which, how are you doing?” Sam could have kicked himself for not asking sooner. He had seen the look on Gabriel’s face when he was pushed against the wall and he knew there would be consequences and most likely a setback ahead for him.

Gabriel sighed and closed his eyes, fighting the memory flashbacks from earlier. “I’m good Sammich.” He deflected. “I’m more worried about you right now.”

“Bullshit.” Sam said to him, spinning around to look him in the eye. “Don’t say you're OK, don’t try to tell me what that asshole did to you doesn’t matter Gabriel. It fucking matters. I’m sorry I didn’t notice sooner.” He said sadly. “I let you down.”

Gabriel stared at Sam in disbelief. “We were in the middle of a brawl Sam. You can hardly be everywhere. What happened is not your fault. Please don’t try to carry that guilt around.” He reached out and pulled Sam closer to him, testing to see if he could still stand to be near him, touching him, holding him. To his utter relief it wasn’t fear that gripped him tight when their bodies grew closer together, it was need. “Samshine.” He murmured, butting Sam’s forehead in a cat-like manner. “Lay with me, please, I need you to be near me right now.”

Sam pressed his lips to Gabriel’s forehead, too tired to do anything else but lay down and bring Gabriel into his arms so they could sleep.

It felt like he had been asleep for only a few minutes when he felt Gabriel start to whimper and thrash about in the grip of a nightmare but he was suddenly wide awake again, memories of the last time running through his head. “Gabriel. Gabe. wake up.” He shook him softly, trying to arouse him just enough to shake whatever he was dreaming about and send it away. He ran his hand through Gabriel’s hair as his body started to shake, muttering soothing words to him with each gentle stroke. “Gabriel, babe, I need you to wake up. You’re dreaming again.” Sam said a little louder as the shakes became more violent.

“Samshine?” Gabriel asked in a small voice that was tinged with fear, stirring slightly out of sleep.

“I’m here” Sam said softly, running his hand up Gabriel’s back. Gabriel rolled over so that he was facing Sam and burrowed into his bare chest, quivering slightly. Sam swallowed the emotion that welled up in him and hugged Gabriel closer. “I’m here.”

“My Sam.” Gabriel said sleepily before he fell back into a peaceful slumber. Sam wasn’t far behind him.

~~~

“Gabriel.”

Gabriel roused briefly from where he was curled up in bed with Sam wrapped around him half naked and wondered who had called his name. Sam was snoring gently so he figured it must have been his imagination when he heard it again.

“Gabriel.”

He looked around the room and saw Castiel standing in the doorway, a pleading expression on his face. He scrubbed at his face and sat up on his elbows as much as he could without disturbing Sam. “What’s up Cas?” He asked his cousin sleepily.

“I want to do GISHWHES with you today. I, I don’t want to see Dean right now.” Cas answered him in a dejected voice. “Please Gabriel.”

Gabriel let his head fall back to the pillow with a sigh, inwardly cursing, but he knew he couldn’t refuse his cousin anything. Even if he was acting like a pathetic child. “Make me coffee Cas.” He demanded with a soft groan. “I’ll be out in minute.”

Castiel nodded and left the room. Gabriel considered snuggling back down into the warmth that was Sam and waking him up so they could all leave Dean alone to process whatever was going on but one look at the dark circles under his eyes made him reconsider. He peeled Sam’s arm off him and got up, making Sam stir in the bed.

“Gabe?” Sam moved his arm on the bed, searching.

“Right here Sam.” Gabriel leaned back onto the bed briefly and kissed Sam on the cheek. “I need to go with Cas. He wants some time away from Dean today.” He stroked Sam’s hair. “I’ll find out what’s going on, but you need to sleep.”

Sam fought to open his eyes. “No Gabriel.” Sam protested tiredly with a sad note, still not quite awake. “Cas can have you back later.”

“Maybe.” Gabriel answered vaguely. “I can’t say no to him Sam. Not after all he’s done for me.” He kissed Sam again on the lips, lingering for a minute before he pulled back again. “I’ll text you. Sleep Sammich, I’ll make it up to you later.” Sam’s hand made a grab for Gabriel as he left the bed. Gabriel hesitated in the doorway once he was dressed, looking back at Sam sadly before he moved to the kitchen in the hunt for his promised coffee.

“This fight of yours had better be something worth me leaving Sam in bed for, cousin.” Gabriel quipped moodily as he entered the kitchen and grabbed his coffee. “I slept the whole fucking night with him with no freak out. Except for the brawl at the bar, that is.” He added as an afterthought.

Castiel choked on his coffee. “Brawl?” He asked, coughing. “What the hell happened? Is Dean OK?” And just like that, with his cousin’s concern for the asshole in the bedroom who was snoring off a bender, Gabriel knew that Cas was in deep, and that whatever had happened between them was serious. But that didn’t stop him from giving Castiel a hard time, just this once.

“Oh I’m fine thanks. I mean I only got molested by an overzealous fan, and Sam will be lucky if he doesn’t have torn ligaments in his arm and a bruised kidney but yeah, Dean is fine.” Gabriel said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“What? I’m sorry Gabriel, are you OK?” Cas asked, concern for Gabriel overriding his curiosity about Dean for a minute.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” Gabriel answered. “Look, why don’t we just get ready and get out of here? I can fill you in as we go.”

“Uh, yes. That’s a good idea. Let’s go before Dean, ugh. Let’s just go.” Castiel agreed with a heavy sigh.

“And don’t think for a minute that you aren’t telling me what the fuck is going on with you and Dean.” Gabriel added as they consulted Castiel and Dean’s list.

Castiel sighed, knowing that Gabriel wasn’t going to let it slide, especially after he’d woken him up from what looked like the most comfortable sleep he’d had in years. With the only person he’d ever trusted enough to be close to since his escape from Alistair. “Deal. And for the record, Gabriel, I’m sorry. I know what a big step you’ve taken in the past few days.”

“Don’t worry about me Cas. Let’s get out of here. Those Winchesters are making us crazy.”

Their first stop was a random supermarket, where they wandered up and down the aisles matching coupons to products with a little note attached from “the kindness fairy”. Castiel had put the notes together the night before while he was waiting for Dean to get back from the bar, and he placed them on the shelves with regret, like they were some kind of lifeline to the man who he had thought he might have had a future with.

Gabriel made sure he took photographs of Castiel placing the coupons, as well as some shots of the coupons on their own as they went along. They were even fortunate enough to witness an elderly couple finding one of their coupons and managed to catch a photograph of their reaction, and the joy on their faces made the cousins smile, reminding both of them why they were really doing GISHWHES in the first place.

“What are we doing for the forced perspective Cas?” Gabriel asked him as they finished up in the supermarket.

“Oh!” Cas answered with a smile, happier after the task they had just completed. “We were going to use one of those stupid lemons you hid around Dean’s place and have it glaring at one of us from behind like some kind of sour monster out for vengeance.” He reached into the bag he had with him and waved a lemon at Gabriel. “This is Brutus.” He tossed the lemon at his cousin, who snatched it out of the air and pretended to take a bite out of it.

“Where is this happening? How about we go to a park so we can get the angles right?” Gabriel suggested as they sank into down into their seats.

“Yeah whatever.” Cas agreed. “Sounds good.”

“Great, I know just the place. Sam took me there yesterday.” Gabriel answered, thinking quite deliberately of the park by the river and not the other one where they had broken through some fairly significant barriers. He coughed uncomfortably as his dick twitched at the memory, clearly more interested in the second park. Good , he thought to himself. Get another boner in front of Cas, ‘cos that’s always fun. Gabriel focused on programming the GPS instead of how Sam felt underneath him pressed against the tree and set off.

“Speaking of Sam,” Castiel ventured, and Gabriel rolled his eyes. “How is that going?”

Gabriel’s face lit up and he gave his cousin a genuine smile. “Great. I think. I don’t really have a bar to measure it by though.” He saw Cas’ face drop a little and he maneuvered the conversation a little. “But I don’t want to talk about Sam while you’re sitting there like his brother just dumped you on your wedding day Cas. Time to dish.”

Castiel wasn’t sure how much to tell Gabriel, he wasn’t sure what was happening with Dean and he didn’t want his cousin to get angry if there was nothing to get angry about. But he needed to talk to someone so he decided on a half truth. Just as he opened his mouth to speak his phone chimed and he glanced down at it in his lap. Dean. His heart lurched painfully in his chest and he took a deep breath and swiped his phone open to read the message.

Dean: Cas? Are you OK? I need to talk to you. Please call me.

Cas closed his eyes, trying not to think about how happy he was less than 24 hours before. How he was so sure he was heading for something special with Dean and now it might be ruined on the words of a woman Dean didn’t even like. His phone chimed again and he looked down, noticing that Gabriel was watching him out of the corner of his eye as he drove.

Dean: Cas please, I’m not sure what I said. I’m sure I’m an asshole though. Please call me.

“Fuck it.” Castiel uttered in absolute frustration. He needed to vent. “He was with his ex.” Gabriel’s jaw dropped in shock, but Castiel didn’t let him speak. “They had some, um. Loose ends to tie up. Dean said he forgot about it when she turned up yesterday.” Cas sighed sadly.

“SHE?” Gabriel yelled at him in disbelief. “Wait, do you mean that skank Lisa?” He demanded angrily.

“Uh, yeah I think that was her name.” Cas answered, confused at how Gabriel knew who she was.

“Sam pointed her out to me while we were shopping for the padna stuff at the store yesterday. We hid like the courageous warriors we are so that she didn’t see us. Nice piece of work that, what the fuck is Dean thinking?” Gabriel flipped back to the present. Something about Lisa was nagging at him but he brushed the thought aside as he focused back on Castiel.

“Huh.” Castiel said. “Lucky you. I had to listen to her throw herself at Dean yesterday in the apartment. She totally cockblocked me.” He complained.

Gabriel sniggered and tried not to laugh at Castiel. “So you guys really are fucking then?” He asked, not really surprised but wondering where they found the time. Then he thought of the park again and kept his mouth shut.

Castiel shot him an amused look. “I thought that was obvious Gabriel. I mean, not as obvious as your phone sexcapades with Sam but, you know. So, have you and Sam..? He’s not trying to push you into anything is he?” He left the question hanging and waited for Gabriel to answer, silently praying he wouldn’t have to deal with Sam pushing his cousin for sex.

“Nope. Jesus Christ Cas. I could only let him kiss me yesterday . I couldn’t bear his arm on me the day before.” Gabriel answered him, suddenly unwilling to elaborate on anything else. “What is this, a chick flick? Cas stop making me confess shit like a teenage girl at a slumber party.” He whined, a little embarrassed about what he’d said.

“He stopped your nightmare last night.” Castiel stated matter-of-factly, his blue eyes staring straight at his cousin.

“I didn’t have one.” Gabriel disagreed with a shake of his head. “Bit hard to stop something that didn’t happen Cas.”

“I heard it Gabe. I got up to get a drink early this morning. I’ve been through enough of them with you to know what to listen for.” Castiel said firmly. “I heard it start. And I heard Sam talk you out of it faster than I ever could.” He finished, leaving Gabriel staring between him and the road in shock as they drove along the road by the river to their destination.

Castiel and Gabriel walked around the river park looking for a spot to take their photograph with the lemon. Cas wondered what Dean and Sam were up to but refused to text Dean back. He was just sadistic enough to want to make Dean suffer as much as he was. Also, he had done nothing wrong so it was only fair for Dean to stew in his juices for a while longer.

“I think if we put the lemon here and one of us stands over there it will work.” Cas said at one point, gesturing vaguely down a hill. “I’ll handle the camera, you start walking.”

“Bastard.” Gabriel said good-naturedly to him, and started walking. “Sing out when I’m far enough.” He called over his shoulder as he took his phone out to read a text from Sam.

Sam: How’s it going? Cas OK?

Gabe: Yeah Samsquatch. I know what at least part of the problem is. Dean was with Lisa.

Sam: WTF, Really? *vomits into shoes* I wonder why.

Gabe: Cas didn’t say. ...Did you just fake vomit into fake shoes?... I hope they weren’t mine.

Sam: Yes. Now I’m fake *eye-rolling* you with fake eyes. Dean’s not talking about it, he’s still being an ass. I may have punched him in the face.

Gabe: What did he do? Do I need to put Nutella in his muffler? Salt in his sugar? Sand in his bed?

“GABRIEL.” Cas bellowed at him, sounding frustrated. He turned around and looked back up towards his cousin, trying to decipher what he wanted. Apparently he couldn’t hear a word he was saying from that far away without either of them yelling.

“Fuck this.” He dialed Cas’ number. “You good there cousin?” he asked when he answered.

“Funny Gabriel. Now move to your left. No, your left. Thank you.” Castiel said to him through the phone. “Now, act scared like there’s a monster coming. You’re only half it’s size. This should look creepy enough. Stay like that.” He hung up the phone and line up the shot properly and took a few photographs. He flicked through them, only seeing one he didn’t like and waved Gabriel back up the hill. He saw him take out his phone again and assumed he was communicating with Sam. He felt a wave of pain wash over him when he thought of Dean and wondered if he had heard Dean correctly last night or if he was somehow mistaken. Would he really break up with him like that? Surely he was just wasted, right? He pulled out his phone to text Dean back when Gabriel walked up to him, his face livid.

“Your boyfriend had better have a good excuse for the shit he’s pulling Cas.” Gabriel snapped.

“What’s going on now Gabe?” Castiel asked curiously.

“Sam won’t say. Fuck these fucking secrets and half truths.” He stormed off in the direction of the car before he stopped and whipped around to face his cousin. “All I know is he said something to Sam and he felt it was vile enough for him to deck Dean. I mean, Dean’s a nice guy Cas. I know we’ve only known him a little while but fuck, I was hoping you guys would make it. Now tell me, before I go cut holes in all of his underwear, What the fuck is going on? What flipped his switch?” Gabriel fumed, stalking around Castiel as he stood there listening to his cousin rant.

“She said she’s pregnant.” Cas admitted softly. “She walked into the apartment and said she was pregnant. Right after Dean and I admitted we were going to be together.”

Gabriel stopped dead in his tracks, shaking his head, a look of dismay on his face. “No way. No. Oh Cas. I’m sorry. Shit.” Gabriel slung an arm around his cousin and gave him a quick hug.

“Apparently we were still going to be together, then he called me from the bar and told me she’d given him an ultimatum. Me or her and the baby. I honestly don’t know if he remembers, he was so drunk. I - I didn’t even let him say what his choice was, I hung up on him.” He spun to look at Gabriel, unshed tears in his blue eyes. “What am I going to do?”

“Uhh. Cas, you could try getting the story out of him when he’s sober.” Gabriel said in a placating tone, suddenly not quite as pissed off at the elder Winchester as he was a few moments before. “Look. I’ll put a hold on the whole pissed off at Dean thing while you sort him out. Unless what he said to Sam surfaces, then I’ll kick him in the dick for upsetting my Samsquatch.”

Castiel raised an eyebrow at Gabriel’s pet name for Sam, but let it slide. “Don’t say I told you what’s going on please Gabriel. Please let me sort it out first.”

Gabriel huffed at him and started walking back to the car again, absolutely done with the dramas of the day and it wasn’t even lunchtime.

“So I’ll keep my trap shut for you Castiel.” Gabriel said to him after a long silence when they were about halfway back to Dean’s place. “But for the love of donuts man, get the whole truth.”

Castiel sighed. “Of course Gabriel. Hey, there’s this other task that we haven’t really discussed among ourselves yet. The zombie one.” Cas changed the subject.

“Oohhh yeah. Oh hey, how about zombie porn?” Gabriel laughed wiggling his eyebrows.

“No.” Cas answered firmly. “We don’t need to be doing that.”

Gabriel sulked. “Aww come on Cas, we could make it look really good. Authentic even.”

“And how do you think Sam will feel if we pose you in a porn shoot with a naked woman?” Castiel snapped. “I can see he’s so far gone on you it could ruin things. Think about it Gabriel.”

“For all you know he might like it.” Gabriel snapped back at him. “Fuck. I was kinda joking Cas. You’re no fun.”

“I know you Gabriel. That wasn’t a joke. I’m not supporting that idea. Let’s just go back to the apartment and wait for the others. I have the feeling today is only going to get worse.” Castiel sighed.

“Good idea. I’ve got some files to dump off my phone, it’s complaining it’s too full. And I need to sort out submission photos and take stock of where we are up to.” Gabriel answered.

They got back to Dean’s apartment and made coffee, sitting in relative silence, listening to Gabriel’s iPod while they worked on their submissions. Castiel occasionally joined in the team chat when someone popped in there to give an update, but Gabriel focused on cleaning out the data on his phone and transferring it to his laptop so that he could work on his and Sam’s items.  

“Hmmm.’ He said thoughtfully, “No wonder it was complaining, there’s a 20 minute video on here. I wonder what the hell that is?” Gabriel asked himself as he heard the door open. He looked up and saw Sam rushing over and just about melted at the sight of him, realizing with a start that there was no way leaving Sam after GISHWHES finished on Sunday wasn’t going to hurt like a bitch.  

Sam watched Cas storm out of the room, with Dean close on his heels and flopped himself down next to Gabriel on the couch. “Incoming.” He said with a small laugh, as he threw an arm about Gabriel and planted a kiss on the top of his head. “Was that enough of a warning? What are you doing?”

“Uploading a massive video file off my phone and I have no idea what it is.” Gabriel answered, twisting his torso so he was leaning into Sam a little. “We’ll have to wait and see. Are you going to tell me why you punched your brother?” He asked curiously.

Sam grunted in disgust. “I’d rather not. Maybe later. Are you going to tell me the rest of what’s up with your cousin?” He asked back.

“What makes you think there’s more to tell?” Gabriel asked him suspiciously giving him the side-eyes.

“Oh it just doesn’t add up. Not all the way.” Sam answered thoughtfully. “Their reactions are too over the top for ‘dinner with an ex.’” Sam used air quotes with one hand. “And Cas seems more open than Dean. Which means, Gabriel, that you have the answers I’m looking for.” Sam buried his nose into Gabriel’s neck and inhaled his scent before he began nuzzling around, hoping to entice the answers from his lover by distracting him with kisses.

“Hmmm. Nice try Sammich.” Gabriel moaned softly to him as he felt Sam’s mouth moving on him. “It’s not going to work.”

“See? I told you you knew something.” Sam licked a stripe up Gabriel’s neck and smiled into his skin. “I’ll get the answers out of you.”

“Shit.” Gabriel swore at him, halfway between irritation that he’d been manipulated so easily and aroused. “Stop it Sam, I promised Cas I wouldn’t say anything yet. Asshole.”

Sam removed his lips from Gabriel and sat back. “Spoilsport.” He grumbled.

“I didn’t say stop fooling around Sam. I said stop asking questions I can’t answer.” Gabriel tapped his neck. “Back to it.”

Sam laughed and rolled his eyes at the commanding tone in Gabriel’s voice and leapt forward to obey before he was aware he had moved, mouth landing firmly where Gabriel’s fingers had been a second before. He bit down gently and sucked hard on the soft skin at the base of Gabriel’s neck, marking him with a territorial growl before he heard Gabriel’s voice coming from his computer.

“Say hi Samsquatch.”

“Oh hey it’s our thing from the supermarket.” Gabriel said in delight.

Sam leaned forward more so he could see better. “I totally forgot about it.” He admitted. “Big day yesterday.” He nudged Gabriel in the side with a leer.

They laughed together at their antics on the screen, happy to have something of their week together on video. Suddenly Sam’s manner on the computer screen changed as he saw Lisa in the chocolate aisle and the footage changed to shelves and products as her voice rang out on the speakers.

“I KNOW RIGHT?”

Gabriel stiffened suddenly, back going rigid and he gasped loudly as all of the pieces of what had been bothering him about Lisa fell into place. He looked up from the screen in horror as Dean and Castiel charged back into the room to see and hear what was going on.

Chapter Text

~Wednesday: Day 5~

Dean groaned when he woke up, his mouth felt like it was filled with cotton wool and tasted foul, his head throbbed painfully and he was pretty sure he could still taste blood. He stumbled to the bathroom, sighing happily when the hot water of the shower helped to relax his aching muscles.

While he washed he mentally planned his morning; first he’d do his teeth and make a coffee, then he’d talk to Cas and explain himself, he couldn’t remember exactly what he’d said in his drunken call, but it was probably not good. This was evidenced by the fact that Cas slept in the spare bed instead of Dean’s.

Feeling a little more prepared for his day Dean finished up in the shower, shooting a suspicious glare at the top of the shower in case there was any more voyeur lemons around before he took care of his morning wood, blue eyes and dark hair on his mind and Cas’ name on his lips as he came.

Feeling in a much better mood now that he was showered and relaxed he whistled while he wandered around the kitchen preparing his coffee, it was nearly 11am and he found himself wondering where everyone else was. Once his coffee was ready he set off in search of the others.

“Cas?” He called as he knocked on the door to the spare room, getting no response he opened it and was met with a made bed and an empty room. Dean frowned, and retraced his steps up the hallway, checking his own room, the bathroom, the kitchen and the living room. No Cas. No Gabriel or Sam either.

When he knocked on Sam’s door, a sleepy “Come in.” answered him and he cautiously opened the door. Sam was sitting on the side of his bed shirtless, hair a tousled mess as he yawned, rubbing one of his arms and wincing slightly as if it hurt.

“Where’s Cas?” Dean demanded, suddenly afraid that he and Gabe had left to stay elsewhere, even though he could see Gabriel’s bag by the foot of Sam’s bed and rationally knew they wouldn’t have left without it.

“Probably out doing tasks for GISHWHES.” Sam mumbled, standing. “Like we’re supposed to be, what time is it?”

Dean stared at his brother. “What? Um, 11 o’clock. But… Cas. I… Why are you here then?”

“Cas wanted to go with Gabe today.” Sam shrugged, shooting Dean a glare. “So yeah, you got me.”

And like that Dean’s good mood was gone, he glared at his feet while he sipped his coffee, trying to remember what the hell he’d said to Cas the night before but only able to remember snippets. He told him about Lisa’s ultimatum though, he remembered that much. “Shit.” He muttered under his breath.

“Cas was pretty upset.” Sam said, reaching over to pat his shoulder. “What the hell did you do? You better not have cheated on him, Dean.”

Dean was offended. “Of course I didn’t cheat on him Sammy, what do you take me for?” Red hair and eyes so blue they were familiar but not flashed into his head and his conviction lessened. “Well, I’m pretty sure I didn’t.”

“Dean!” Sam threw his hands in the air and stormed out of the room, heading for the kitchen to get himself some coffee. He just woke up and it already felt like it was going to be one of those days.

“I really don’t think I did Sammy, I think I said something but I just can’t remember what.” Dean argued, following after him.

“I don’t know what you guys talked about Dean, Cas said you were having dinner with a friend and you’d be back right afterwards. We were all pretty worried when you weren’t back so he has a right to be pissed at you, even if you didn’t cheat.” Sam poured himself a coffee and turned to face his brother, still livid about the events of the early morning. “Heck, I’m pissed at you too, you put Gabe and I at risk with that bar fight.”

“Dude.” Dean lowered his mug and stared across the room at his brother. “I thought I’d dreamed that. Holy shit Gabe was so badass. Jumping to your rescue like some kind of avenging angel.”

“An angel Dean?” Sam joked. “Really? Don’t go putting your weird wing kink onto Gabe.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Sammy.” Dean mumbled, feeling his traitorous face heat up. Sam just laughed at him.

“Anyway, we might as well get some things done, it’s already pretty late in the day. Lets check The List.” Sam suggested, giving Dean a free pass to escape from his embarrassment.

“Oh so there’s a new one up that we can do.” Dean announced shortly after having sat down and opening the Updates page. “Sea shanties, I think we can do that dressed as pirates, it’ll be fun.” Sam nodded and they quickly packed up some gear and made their way to the Impala.

“Really Sammy, on the curb? You couldn’t park her in my spot?” Dean scrunched his nose as he stepped over the rank smelling gutter where he’d puked the night before. “I’m so sorry, Baby.” He mumbled, running his hands over the sleek black finish, checking for scratches.

“Honestly Dean, I was surprised we made it this far without you puking in it.” Sam ran his hands through his hair, glaring over the roof of the car at his brother.

“Oh, good call then.” Dean shuddered at how close it had been.

Sam waited until they were buckled in and Dean had the Impala on the road before he started probing for information. “So what the hell happened Dean?”

“I got drunk and put my foot in my mouth, as fucking usual Sammy.” Dean snapped, seriously not wanting to talk about it with his brother, especially since he hadn’t had a chance to talk to his boyfriend, the text messages he’d sent Cas over breakfast had apparently been ignored.

“Uh huh. So uh, how serious are you and Cas?” Sam, the nosy asshole, asked shooting him a look. “Because it’s only been like a week and you’re both emo as fuck today.”

“We’d just decided to be exclusive and all that shit, and I get drunk and fuck it up. Of course we’re going to be in a bad mood. Can you just drop it Sammy?” Dean slammed his hands onto the steering wheel in exasperation.

“Sorry sorry.” Sam raised his hands placatingly. “It’s just that - it’s just usually sex with you, I’ve never seen you get upset like this over someone who wasn’t family.”

Dean glared at Sam, deciding he had had quite enough of talking about him and Cas, so he figured he could be forgiven for the words that tumbled out of his mouth next. “And you? You never wait this long for someone to put out.”

“It’s not about that, Dean.” Sam sighed, looking out the window as they pulled up to the costume store. Dean made a noncommittal noise and slammed the door of the Impala a little too roughly when he got out.

“Whatever Sammy, I know it’s only about the challenge for you, isn’t it?” He sneered nastily at his brother. “The broken porn star, that’s quite the trophy fu-” Dean was cut off by a fist to the face.

“Shut the fuck up Dean.” Sam fumed, holding his brother’s shirt collar with one hand, keeping him close while he glowered down at him. “Just because things are shit for you doesn’t mean it’s OK for you to hurt everyone around you. Jealously is fucking ugly.”

Dean tasted blood, again. Breathing through his nose he gently probed the inside of his mouth with his tongue, feeling the cut on the inside of his cheek from where his teeth caught the tender flesh. “Come on Sammy, people talk. Everyone knows what you’re like and what you’re here for.” He wrenched himself out of his brother’s grip, stepping back and spitting blood onto the road. “Everyone you’ve been with since Jess left you has just been another trophy fuck for you, hasn’t it? I can see why a pornstar would be on your radar.”

“Fuck you Dean. You know nothing about Gabriel and I.” Something seemed to click in Sam’s mind and he stepped back, sighing. “I’m not going to fight with you Dean. That’s what you want, isn’t it? Something to take your mind off your fuck up, to feel like a punishment for your own idiotic behavior.”

“Hey!” Dean mumbled halfheartedly, annoyed at how well his brother seemed to know him. “Sammy I’m sor-” He started, knowing he’d been caught out.

“No! Fuck you Dean.” Sam interrupted him angrily. “I know why you said it, but that doesn’t mean I forgive you. You’re an asshole, now let’s get the costume and be productive.”

After renting a pirate costume and guitar Sam put a hand on Dean’s arm to stop him moving back around to the driver’s seat. “Look Dean, Cas seemed really upset last night and this morning, well… This morning it was 100 times worse. I don’t know what you did or didn’t do but you need to fix this. I can’t deal with you both moping around, and Gabe isn’t impressed that his cousin is hurting.”

Dean shook his head sadly, unlocking the Impala and opening the door. “I don’t even know if I can Sammy.” He mumbled as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Or if I should.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Sam snapped his head around to look at his brother who just shook his head, refusing to elaborate further.

“Give me a bit Sammy, I need to talk to Cas first but I promise I’ll tell you everything then.” He looked over to his brother with a pleading look. “I think I’m probably going to need your help.”

Sam looked like he wanted to press the issue but instead just sighed and let it go. “Alright Dean.”

It wasn’t long before they reached an intersection with plenty of foot traffic, Dean let Sam out of the car with the guitar and mic then he circled the block to find a place to park his Baby. When he caught back up to Sam he’d already taken a moment to throw the pirate costume on over the top of his clothes.

Sam snorted a laugh. “You make a pretty good pirate, Dean.” He mumbled, readying his phone to record Dean’s performance while Dean checked that the guitar was in tune.

“Sammy, this stupid thing won’t tune.” He grumbled angrily.

“Leave it, I think out of tune will work for what we’re doing anyway.” Sam waved him over to the mic. “Let’s get this done, I’m starving.”

Dean felt like an idiot. He strummed on the out of tune guitar and sang off key, dressed in a cheesy pirate costume while his brother filmed him and strangers rushed past him, many refusing to even make eye contact with him. It irked him more than a little that people were so uptight they couldn’t just enjoy him making a dick of himself in public.

He finished his song with a flamboyant pose and looked hopefully over to Sam. “Please tell me that’s good enough.” He sighed in relief when Sam nodded. “Oh thank fu-” a woman walking by with a pair of small children glared over at him for cursing and he quickly amended to “Thank Chuck” with a wink, earning himself an eyeroll and slight grin as the woman and children walked away.

“Come on Dean, you smooth fucker.” Sam laughed,  after watching the interaction.

“You’re just jealous, Bitch.” Dean winked, helping to gather everything together. “You wish you were this smooth.”

“Whatever Jerk.” Sam replied with a smirk. “Let’s get back, Gabe says they’re already there. Though to be fair, they left way earlier than we did.”

After returning the rental pirate costume and borrowed guitar they made their way slowly back to the apartment, idly chatting about the remaining GISHWHES tasks and which ones they thought they could do.

“I’m really proud of how much some of the other guys are doing.” Sam said, scrolling down the list of submitted items on his phone.

“Oh yeah!” Dean didn’t take his eyes off the road. “Although some people could really try a little harder. There are people who have done like 2 things and that’s all, they haven’t even been in chat.”

“I saw that” Sam agreed lightly, a look of irritation crossing his face, “and I mean Jo even did the same thing last year, except last year she didn’t even have an excuse of hurting herself she just forgot .”

Dean sighed. “I thought as much, you know you don’t have to keep her on the team just because we know her? This was supposed to be a competitive team, she can be on someone else’s if she just wants to have some fun with it.”

“She’s been pretty active in chat though, criticizing everyone’s work but not actually doing anything.” Sam shook his head. “I’ll try and talk to her.”

“Man GISHWHES is turning us into chicks I swear. All these chick flick moments and bitching about people.” Dean laughed, pulling into his spot in the apartment parking.

“We really need to do more tasks though, Dean.” Sam muttered, reading over the list again.

“We’ve done plenty Sammy, and besides we can have lunch now and go do some more afterwards, we still have a few days too. We got this.” Dean stepped out of the car, suddenly nervous about going upstairs and seeing Cas.

“Oh for God’s sake Dean.” Sam snapped, already walking away from the Impala. “Let’s go I’m hungry.”

Dean swallowed down his nervousness, he didn’t remember exactly what he’d said to Cas the night before but he could hazard a guess. And honestly he wasn’t too concerned about himself, not really. He just didn’t want to see how much he’d hurt Cas because he couldn’t filter himself when he was drinking.

They could hear Gabe talking as they opened to door to the apartment. “Hey guys.” Sam announced, rushing into the apartment to get closer to Gabe with an odd look of relief on his face. “How was your morning?”

Cas made a noncommittal noise, avoiding Dean’s eye.

“It was pretty good Samsquatch, we got a couple of tasks done. And I have an idea for the zombie worker task.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and Castiel huffed angrily, stalking out of the room.

“What was that about?” Dean wondered out loud, watching after Cas.

“He hates my idea.” Gabriel shrugged, adding, “You should probably go talk to him anyway Dean-o.” He turned back to Sam, effectively dismissing him. Sam flopped down on the couch next to Gabriel and threw an arm over the back of the seat behind him.

Dean sighed and ran a hand roughly through his hair, following Cas into the kitchen so he didn’t have to deal with his brother going calf eyed over whatever the hell Gabriel was to him.

“Hey Cas.” He mumbled at the floor, unable to look over at his boyfriend where he stood fumbling with the coffee maker.

“Hello Dean.” Cas said and Dean winced at how hollow his voice sounded.

“I… uh…” Dean started and trailed off, unsure how to broach the topic of his behavior the night before, opting instead to take a different route. “How was your day? Do anything totally humiliating? Cause I did.”

He risked raising his eyes to see how Cas was responding and he didn’t look completely annoyed so Dean continued, explaining how he’d been dressed as a pirate, playing an out of tune guitar and singing pirate shanties off key. He explained how people mostly ignored him but some even crossed the street to avoid him, he was pretty sure he’d heard someone telling their friends not to take drugs. By the end of Dean’s retelling Castiel was quietly laughing and Dean felt proud of his accomplishment. He’d endure any humiliation to keep the smile on Cas’ face.

“I missed you today Dean.” Cas admitted, ducking his head shyly.

“I missed you too Cas.” Dean agreed. “I even searched the whole apartment for you this morning.”

“Coffee?” Cas offered Dean a mug, coffee already poured and prepared exactly the way Dean liked it.

“Thanks Cas. We should probably decide on something for lunch eh?” They spent some time rummaging through the freezer, finally deciding on the calzones that Sam had made and frozen, they shoved the food into the microwave while Cas told Dean about his morning, snickering a bit as he described the look on Gabe’s face for the forced perspective photo.

“It looked like he’s going to be eaten by that damned lemon.” Cas giggled.

“Which lemon? Was it the one from my bathroom?”

Cas nodded. “I named him Brutus.”

“Why Brutus?” Dean snorted, eying the plastic lemon Cas set on the counter.

“Because of the betrayal. Brutus was Caesar's most trusted and he betrayed him, we trusted our family and they put him in your bathroom to scare us, then he fell right onto your face.” Cas was laughing by the end of his explanation and Dean couldn’t help but to laugh as well.

They could hear Gabe and Sam laughing in the living room as well, however a sudden silence drew their attention to a shrieking voice coming from Sam’s laptop.

“I KNOW RIGHT?”

Cas and Dean exchanged a look, was that Lisa’s voice? They rushed into the living room together, and saw identical looks of shock on Sam and Gabriel’s faces and their eyes zeroed in on the laptop where a video was playing. All they could see was the floor and shelving of a supermarket, but it was the audio they were hearing that had the room so silent that you could hear Cas and Dean’s sudden, shallow breathing.

“So you told him?” came a voice.

“Yeah, he didn’t give me much choice in the end Madison. I had to play my cards out earlier than expected.”

“And? How did he take it?” the second voice, Madison asked.

“As expected. He’ll do what’s right. We’re having dinner later. He thinks I’m at a prenatal appointment with you.” Lisa added with a nasty laugh.

“Ooh things moved fast then. Pity you got your period right?” Madison answered.

“Yeah.” Lisa continued. “A bit hard to seduce him back right now. At least he believes I’m pregnant. Next month I’ll just casually miscarry at period time and he’ll be so used to the idea of a baby and upset he’ll want to try again.”

“You do play for keeps Lisa. Nice work.” Madison said.

“Oh yeah. I’ve got him right where I want him.”

The voices on the audio kept talking, changing to Sam and Gabriel again as the female voices faded, but Dean didn’t hear anymore. All of the air rushed out of Dean in a whoosh. He felt like he’d been hit in the gut with a 2x4. It was all a lie. There was no baby, no pregnancy. It was all a game to trap him into something with Lisa.

Gabriel looked a little green as he shut the lid on his laptop, stopping the rest of the audio from playing. “Oh shit! Cas…” He reached a hand towards his cousin, finally putting 2 and 2 together. Dean chanced a look over at Cas where he stood, jaw working but no sound coming out.

“What the hell Sam?!” Dean snapped, jolting out of his stupor. Sam just stared back at him with a look of complete confusion on his face.

“You knew!” Cas suddenly shouted, turning on his cousin harshly. “I fucking told you today and you had this all along! And you didn’t even say anything.” Gabriel flinched visibly at Cas’s words and tried to step back.

“Hey! Don’t yell at him!” Sam was suddenly standing by Gabe’s side, a united front. “What are you even talking about?” He demanded angrily.

“Lisa…” Dean murmured, swaying on his feet. “She lied. It was all a lie.” Sam paled, understanding dulling his anger faster than he could think.

Cas watched the devastation flash across Dean’s face and something broke inside of him, he drew on the sharp stab of pain and forced himself into movement. “Dean, sit down.” He murmured gently, leading Dean to flop down onto the couch where he sat, staring blankly at the floor.

Cas left him there to process his thoughts, urging Gabe and Sam into the kitchen behind him.

Dean wasn’t sure what to think, his emotions felt like an elastic band, pulled way too tightly, the sudden revelation causing them to snap entirely. He felt broken, disconnected. All his plans for a baby were for nothing, all his worries were for nothing. Cas and his fledgling relationship was going down in flames and it was all for nothing.

“Fuck!” Dean suddenly yelled, reaching for a cushion to scream his frustrations into. He didn’t realize he was crying until suddenly Cas was there, gently tugging the cushion away and pulling Dean into his arms.

“Shh Dean.” Cas soothed gently, running his fingers through Dean’s hair softly as he rocked them together, comforting Dean as he grieved for a life he’d only imagined and a child that never was.

It was a long while before Dean had cried himself out, Cas had risen once to fetch them a beer and their lunch, sliding back onto the couch next to Dean when he returned.

“I’m sorry Dean.” He muttered, handing Dean’s food and opened beer to him. “I know you were excited to have a family.”

“Why would someone lie about something like that, Cas? I just don’t get it.” Dean stared morosely at the food on his lap.

“I don’t know Dean, and I’m not sure I’d ever really want to understand people like that.” He offered a half-hearted smile as he started in on his lunch.

“Where’s Sammy and Gabe?” Dean asked after a while, looking around.

“They took their lunch with them somewhere.” Cas said, eyes lowered. “They felt we need time alone to talk about this.”

“Right… Cas?” Dean asked hesitantly. “What did I say to you last night? I don’t remember and I know that it’s this huge thing between us right now.”

Castiel sighed. “You didn’t really say anything major Dean. You… you were drunk. You told me that she gave you an ultimatum, me or her and the baby. Then you started raving about how excited you were to be a father, I may have made assumptions.”

“What do you mean assumptions?” Dean wondered. “Like that I’d accept her ultimatum? That’s why you hung up on me and avoided me all day? Because you assumed I’d take my ex back?”

“It’s not even about your ex, Dean!” Cas was not going to cry, he wasn’t . “It’s about how we had literally just had a conversation about pursuing a relationship and you were going to throw it away on her word alone!”

“I wasn’t !” Dean snapped. “I was going to discuss options and you’re the one who jumped to conclusions! Would you prefer if I just told her to go have an abortion? If I didn’t take responsibility?” He knew that wasn’t what Cas was getting at, but he couldn’t make his mouth stop moving, lashing out before he even thought about what he was saying.

“She wanted you to break up with me to be a father!” Cas yelled, throwing his hands up in the air.

“She wasn’t even pregnant!” Dean screamed back at him, confused by the weird mix of disappointment and relief that saying it out loud caused him to feel, and how little it stung after his breakdown before.

“That’s not the point Dean. It sounded like you were considering breaking up with me, not even 24 hours after we decided that we’d try being together like this!” Shit, crying , Cas turned his face away, trying to hide the tears from Dean. “It really made me doubt how much I mattered.”

Dean could see the hurt in Cas’ eyes before he turned away and he hated himself that he put it there, he hated that Cas was right, all he wanted to do was take back the last 24 hours. But, of course, he couldn’t do that so he did what Dean Winchester does best, and for the second time that day he hid behind his anger and lashed out with his hurt. “You and I only met because you were on this team as a favor for your ex. How do I know that you weren’t just doing this to get back with him ?”

“I joined because I wanted you!” Cas clapped a hand over his mouth, eyes going wide as he realized what he’d let slip.

“What?” Dean stared at him dumbly. “What are you talking about?”

“Fuck.” Cas sighed sadly, raising his hand to scrub at the traitorous tears. “I joined because of you. When Balthazar called, I was going to say no… but” He sighed again, pacing back and forth in agitation. “Let me explain.”

Castiel glanced irritably at the name that appeared on his phone screen. He tried to ignore the flare of painful memories associated with Balthazar as they knocked on the door to his conscious mind and considered just letting his voicemail take the message. Because he’s an adult and can do what he wants, he did.

Ten minutes later the phone rang again, and Castiel knew , without the shadow of a doubt that this was one of those times. Balthazar would call and call until he finally answered. He sighed loudly, getting the attention of his cousin Gabriel who was working on the other side of their office and swiped right.

“Hello Balthazar.” He grumbled into the phone, the irritation in his voice reflected in his tone.

“Cassie, how are you my darling?” Balthazar’s voice boomed out of the speakers.

“I’m not your darling Balthazar.” Castiel snapped at him, ready to hang up.

“Oh Cas, don’t be like that, I thought we were past all that crap. You know I call everyone that, right?” Balthazar laughed into the phone. “I’ve called to ask you and your lovely cousin a favour.” Castiel knew Balthazar would never ask them for anything under normal circumstances so his interest was piqued. He waved at Gabriel, who rolled his eyes in exasperation and pressed the speaker button.

“You’re on the speaker now. Gabriel is here. What are you after?” Cas said matter of factly to his phone.

They heard Balthazar hesitate briefly before he spoke again. “Hello Gabriel, how are you these days? I’m asking out of genuine concern for you, I hope you understand that. I’m terribly sorry how things worked out.” There was the faintest trace of regret in Balthazar’s tone as he delivered his apology.

“I’m doing great dude. Thanks for the concern. You’ve got me curious though, what is it you’re calling for that needs me on a speaker?” Gabriel retorted sarcastically, expecting something huge, like a kidney or something to be requested.

“I noticed neither of you have declared allegiance to a GISHWHES team this year. Are you dropping out of the hunt?” Balthazar’s voice came through the speaker.  

Castiel stared at the phone, and then looked at Gabriel in disbelief. “Is he asking us about GISHWHES Gabe? Is that was this is about Balthazar?”

He heard Balthazar giggling in delight at the other end of the line. “Of course Cassie, there are two places on our team. We just had a pair who were teamed up drop out. Something about being pregnant and wanting to focus on a family or some garbage like that. We were having a meeting and we decided that we needed more pairs after last year, and the only confirmed pair we have are a couple of brothers who will be operating out in Kansas City. I thought of you two, and had to ask.”

Gabriel looked confused. “How do you know we’re not committed to a team yet? And what’s so special about your team? We’ve had a shitload of offers you know.” He looked over to Cas, who had the grace to look guilty.

“Um, I may have mentioned it to him a few weeks ago.” Cas mumbled at him. Gabriel rolled his eyes again, wondering if Cas would ever get over how broken he’d been when the two of them had broken up. Then he remembered precisely why it had happened and stopped himself from commenting further.

“Consider this.” Balthazar said to them. “Most of the team last year were complete novices, and we still managed to get into the coffee table book AND a spot on the runners up list.”

“Hmmm.” Cas replied thoughtfully, opening a tab on his computer and navigating to the GISHWHES website. “I do remember you talking about that. Team Free Will? That’s you guys right?” He asked.

“You got it. Look, I’ll be honest, I haven’t told the others who you guys are. Nothing. Just that you’re both veteran Gishers whose team fell apart. And since you haven’t rejected me out of spite, I know you’re both at least kind of interested.” Balthazar said, his voice almost managing to sound humble.

Gabriel and Castiel shared another look and shrugged. “When do you need an answer? Can you give us a few hours?” Castiel asked his ex.

“Absolutely darling!” Balthazar’s voice was pleased. “Give me a call when you’ve decided. I’ll talk to you soon.”

As the call cut off Gabriel sat thoughtfully for a few minutes, considering while Castiel searched online for any information about the Team Free Will. “I’ve heard of them Cas,” he mused. “I can’t place where, I mean I know they are a Gish team but it’s something else.”

Cas grunted at him. “Maybe if you looked at this stuff with me instead of staring at the wall your memory might help you out a little.”

Gabriel scooted over on his desk chair, bumping into Castiel with a rocking thud as he came to a stop. “Gimme a look.  Nope, nope, nope.”  He said as he scanned the pictures on their website. He was just beginning to think he was mistaken when he saw the cropped out picture of a twitter feed and recognized a username that he was familiar with. “Hold up. Well hello there. I know you.” Gabriel muttered clicking on the link to the twitter feed of one Sam Winchester.

Castiel rolled his eyes, knowing that despite whatever his cousin was thinking, nothing would eventuate. Although sometimes he really wished it would. Gabriel needed to start trusting people eventually.

“Gabriel please don’t tell me you’re considering joining this team because you think that one of them is - ohhhh who is that?” Castiel’s words were taken from him as he stared in delight at the computer screen and the pictures rolling past his eyes.

“That, dear cousin is one of my most active followers on twitter.” Gabriel smirked. “I’ve spoken to him a few times. He doesn’t seem to be the stalker type. I mean, it’s not like he cropped and shared it with a fangirl GIF when I followed him back a few months ago.”

“Oh not him.” Castiel said dismissively. “The other one. Who is that?” He asked, clicking on a photograph to see if it was tagged. “Hmm, no name on that. Does this guy have facebook?”

“Wait. On the team page, wasn’t there another Winchester?” Gabriel asked curiously.

Castiel navigated back to find what he was looking for. “Hello Dean.” He drawled seductively to the pair of green eyes staring at him from the screen on the team bio page.

“Castiel, please don’t tell me you’re considering joining this team because you think that one of them is hot?” Gabriel mimicked his cousin’s sentence from earlier with a laugh, nudging him in his chair.

They clicked through the website for a few more minutes before closing the computer and looking at each other. Gabriel raised an eyebrow and shrugged. The point of the hunt for him was to make himself feel better. If his cousin found something along the way, who was he to deny him that opportunity, after all they had been through together?

“Call back your idiot ex.” He told Cas, even as Cas grabbed his phone and hit the call button.

“Cassie, that was quick!” Balthazar said to him, the surprise evident in his voice.

“We’re in.”

“I joined because I wanted to meet you.” Cas mumbled as he finished the retelling. “I wanted you, before I even knew anything about you.”

“Cas.” Dean sighed slowly, reaching out a hand and placing it gently on his shoulder. “I’m such a fucking idiot.” He pulled his hand away to rub it down his face as he explained. “I wouldn’t have broken up with you over this, I mean what she was threatening isn’t even legal… My brother is a lawyer for fucks sake! I just, I saw myself becoming my dad, when she told me that I had to choose between her and the baby, and you… honestly all I wanted to do was to come back here to you.”

Cas sucked in a surprised breath, raising his eyes to search Dean’s, seeing the both guilt he felt over that reaction and reading the honesty there.

“And shit, I’ve only known you for 5 days Cas. FIVE DAYS!” Dean was struggling to express himself coherently, slipping into a disjointed ramble. “I shouldn’t have gone to the bar, I definitely shouldn’t have called you when I was drunk. I know it sounded like I was trying to break up with you… I just couldn’t shut up, I couldn’t just spit it out. Five days, Cas. Shit.”

“Dean? What?” Cas wanted to comfort him but all the hurt he felt held him back so he hesitated, trying to beg Dean to continue with his eyes.

“Fuck! Cas. Everything about this screams ‘too soon’ but I fucking love you ok?” Dean flicked his eyes to Cas’ face before turning away as he continued. “And I mean like; my ex told me she was pregnant and I instantly started worrying about how you’d react to a baby in our life, like she asked me to choose between my child and you and all I could think about is how I couldn’t ever do that to you, I went to a bar and got completely wasted because of the thought of losing you.”

Dean started to pace, still avoiding Cas’ eye. “I wake up and you’re the first thing I see, the first thing I think about. I go to sleep and it’s the same. You know how I like my coffee, what beer I drink, you know my favorite food and it’s only been five days. I know the dumbest shit about you and it all feels so important and it’s not enough. I need to know more. Five days Cas, it’s been five fucking days and I don’t know how I am going to live when you walk out that door on Sunday.”

Cas looked completely stunned and Dean swallowed nervously. “You don’t have to say it back… I know it’s too soo-”

“I don’t have to leave.” Cas’ low whisper interrupted him. He cleared his throat and spoke again. “I don’t have anywhere to go afterwards anyway... I could stay?”

Chapter Text

“What the fuck Gabriel?” Castiel demanded once they were in the kitchen, rounding on his cousin once more. “Why wouldn’t you tell me you had that audio?” He asked in confusion. “Why do you have that audio?”

Sam stood next to Gabriel, ready to defend him if necessary but held back to see how the cousin’s interacted with each other first. He couldn’t believe what he’d heard yesterday was about his brother, and because nobody had bothered to communicate anything they’d all suffered for it.

Gabriel bristled at Castiel. “Oh fuck it Cas. Why would I hold that back? I already told you we saw her. And as for the audio, Sam and I were making a stupid video documentary of our supermarket adventures. I didn’t realize it was still recording. Which would be completely obvious to you if you heard what I said to Sam afterwards.” He flicked his eyes up to Sam, who had turned a lovely shade of red at the memory of Gabriel’s words.

“I don’t think I want to know.” Castiel said sullenly with a small grin. “Look, Dean and I clearly need to work some things out. Do you think you guys could beat it for a while? Take the food that’s already heated, I’ll put some more in for Dean and I.”

“We’ll just take the muffins.” Sam spoke up finally. “We can go eat in the garden or something so we’re not far. Dean’s been beating himself up all day. Go sort him out, if you can.” He added.

Cas smiled wryly at Sam. “I heard you were the one beating him up.” He jested at him.

Sam just grunted at him. “Asshole deserved it.”

“Oh OK, I’ve had enough.” Gabriel said, scrubbing his face wearily. “This is getting worse than a trashy daytime soap opera. Just one day. Just one day without shit going down, please. ” He begged to nobody as he got the muffins out and heated them for him and Sam. “We’ll be downstairs.”

Sam shared a startled glance with Castiel before he followed Gabriel downstairs, giving him some space to calm down as he led him through to the garden behind the building. He was pleased to see that there was nobody in sight. He threw the blanket he’d snatched off the couch onto the ground out of direct sight from the building and anyone else that might be in the garden and sank down into it with a sigh.

“I feel like a kid that’s been sent outside to play while their parents have sex or smoke a bowl.” Sam said moodily as they ate.

“Could have been worse Samsquatch, we could have been sent to our room.” Gabriel chuckled. “Though I’m guessing you would prefer that.” He added, wiggling his eyebrows comically.

Sam snorted his agreement. “Don’t pretend you wouldn’t.” He joked.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and shook his head. “I don’t know about you Sammich. One minute you’re all ‘whenever you’re ready Gabriel’ and the next you’re as horny as a teenager who just discovered sex.” He maneuvered himself around on the blanket until he had his head in Sam’s lap with his legs stretched out to the side. “Make up your mind.”

“Huh?” Sam asked blankly. “What are you talking about?” Gabriel’s comment reminded him of what Dean had said to him earlier and he tensed up, the anger boiling up inside him again.

Gabriel watched Sam’s face change from discontent to outright anger and he felt him go rigid underneath him. “Hey man, I was joking. Don’t get all emo on me.” He sat up suddenly and moved away from Sam, shrinking in on himself a little and cursing himself for reacting that way.

Sam was startled as Gabriel all but leapt away from him, fear clouding his features. “Hey, Gabe what gives? What, what did I do?” He realized with a start that the fear that Gabriel lived with everyday was hidden behind a thin veneer, and that he just poked a hole in it somehow, bringing it to the surface. He reached out a hand to Gabriel, pleading, and after a moment’s hesitation he took Sam’s hand and moved back over to him. “You wanna tell me what that was all about?” Sam asked, running a hand up Gabriel’s arm in what he hoped was a comforting way.

“Your reaction to what I said. I’m sorry. Habit.” Gabriel explained shortly as Sam wrapped his arms around him.

“Oh, wait.” Sam shook his head. “That was me having an internal monologue. What you said was pretty close to what Dean said to me this morning. Well, not really. It just reminded me.”

“Tell me.” Gabriel insisted, moving back into Sam’s lap, he faced upwards so he could see Sam’s face and felt his fingers start running through his hair.

“I. He. OK fine. He said he thought I was chasing you for the fun of it. For the bragging rights or something. That I don’t wait, I’m not patient enough to wait for someone to be ready. Which I guess if you think about it, is kinda true. I mean he was just lashing out cos of the shit that’s going on with Cas. I know that. But he brought up everyone I’ve ever slept with since Jess and I broke up and said the same thing about them.” Sam hung his head, not sure what to think of the rant he’d just made. “It’s true. I’m not known for hanging around. I’m sorry. I don’t want that with you.” He declared sadly, hoping against all odds that Gabriel wouldn’t run.

Gabriel stared up at him quietly, thinking. “I remember when you broke up with Jess.” He said softly. “Social media man, I saw it. I remember. It looked raw.”

Sam sighed, figuring he might as well confess everything at this point. “She left me because I was hung up on you. I didn’t even realize at the time. She told me a lot later during an argument.”

Gabriel blinked at Sam, speechless. “Sam no, are you telling me you were hung up on a porn star? No.” He said, dumbfounded, unable to process the information.

“I had no idea you did porn until after I started following your charity work Gabriel.” Sam confessed honestly. “So no. Not a porn star.”

“Well fuck.” Gabriel said, sitting up and pulling Sam’s sad face upwards so they were looking at each other. “I don’t know what to say to that Sam.” He said as he cupped Sam’s face in his hands and kissed him softly. “Except that you must be bitterly disappointed to find out what a hot mess I am. And you have lousy taste.” He finished with a huff and a smile. “You want to know a big secret?” He asked with a twinkle in his amber eyes, desperate to make Sam smile again.

“Uh, sure thing Gabe.” Sam answered as his arms came back up to circle Gabriel’s waist.

Gabriel leaned in closer to Sam. “We joined your team knowing full well who you and Dean were. Cas was intrigued by your brother from the moment he laid eyes on him.”

“So not a coincidence then, you lying hound. And you, Gabe? Dare I ask?” Sam wanted to know.

“Ah well, you see Sam, I had no intention of letting you in. No matter how hot you are.” Gabriel said cheekily, brushing his thumbs over Sam’s cheeks, his eyes glowing. “And you know why.” He said sadly, the light in his eyes dimming slightly as he remembered. Sam could only nod at him because of the hold Gabriel had on his head. He looked so sad it almost broke Gabriel in two. “But.” He continued with a small smile, swallowing hard and pushing forward. “You’re insisting on being let in. So here I am Samshine. Broken and scarred. And scared as fuck. But here. And yours.”

A split second was all the warning Gabriel had before Sam pressed their lips together, his tongue demanding entrance into Gabriel’s mouth, finding his tongue, dipping and swirling them together in a frantic kiss. And somehow Sam ended up flat on his back in the garden with Gabriel hovering over the top of him grinding their hips together slowly as his hands finally ventured onto Sam’s body, caressing him timidly, softly as they explored his chest and stomach.

“Gabriel.” Sam uttered reverently as they lay together his hands roaming over Gabriel’s back.

“Mmmm Sam. May I help you?” He asked with a grin, leaning on Sam’s chest with his hands resting under his chin.

“Do you remember this morning? When we were sleeping?” Sam asked, pillowing his good arm behind his head.

“Nope. Cas told me I had a nightmare though. Apparently he has a sixth sense for them.” Gabriel said with a wry grin.

“Not that. After.” Gabriel shook his head in confusion so Sam pressed on. “You claimed me in your sleep. I just wanted you to know that.”

Gabriel leaned forward for another kiss, his eyes twinkling happily down at him. He rolled his eyes at Sam. “You can’t hold that against me Sam-I-Am. Apparently you’re some kind of knight in shining armor. And I was asleep.” Gabriel felt Sam’s hand slap down on his ass and he laughed at the taller man strung out underneath him. “Come on Sam, we’ve had enough wuss moments to last me a lifetime. Or at least a week.”

Sam growled at him. “Fine, ruin the moment you ass.” He pulled Gabriel down for another slow kiss, knowing that they couldn’t take things any further without running the risk of being arrested.

Gabriel moaned into Sam’s mouth before he pulled back again and moved along Sam’s jaw line, kissing his way to Sam’s ear. “This is the part where I curse that we’re not allowed inside until the adults have finished smoking weed.” Gabriel said in a hoarse whisper as he licked the tender skin under Sam’s ear, causing him to buck up into him and grip on tighter.

“Uhhh, we could just sneak in and check if the coast is clear. I doubt there will be make-up sex happening in the living room.” Sam panted as he ground his erection into Gabriel’s firmly, searching for friction and stifling a moan.

“I like that idea. Just be ready to avert your eyes.” Gabriel muttered, giving Sam one more kiss before he jumped up. “Come on Sammich, let’s go make out for a while in private.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Don’t have to ask me twice.” Sam said, leaping up and grabbing the blanket before chasing after Gabriel, who had already disappeared.

They crept quietly through the apartment door, listening hard for any indication that Dean and Cas were still about and needing privacy. Hearing nothing, Sam ventured into the living room to gather up his laptop and a six pack of beers from the fridge. He went into his bedroom to find Gabriel standing over an upended shopping bag staring at a pile of sanitary pads and chocolate.

“What gives?” Sam asked, looking at the pile of stuff, hoping that Gabriel wasn’t going to suggest they work on the padna now .

Gabriel looked up at him. “Just throwing it there so we don’t forget.” He bent over to pick up a bag of M&M’s and threw them on the bed, climbing onto it after them. “I forgot about my chocolate. Rude.”

Sam stared at Gabriel’s ass as he crawled up the bed and turned to sit, his dick still hard from their antics in the garden. Who was he kidding though , he asked himself. It felt like he’d been hard since Gabriel walked through the door on Saturday morning. He took a deep breath in an attempt to control his urges and twisted open a couple of beers, passing Gabriel his and turning to play some music on his laptop.

Gabriel eyed the six pack with one eyebrow raised. “We having a party Samsquatch?” He asked, feeling more than a little nervous about what he thought was about to take place. He took a long swig of his beer while he stared at the curve of Sam’s back, considering his options. If his eyes traveled to Sam’s ass, that was his business because apparently, it was his ass to stare at. His phone started to ring but he ignored is as he watched Sam close the bedroom door and flick the lock into place as he turned back to face Gabriel, a predatory gleam in his eye.

“So Gabe.” He said, stalking over to the bed and crawling over the top of Gabriel, pinning him down. “What were you saying about coming up here and making out?” He said as he caught Gabriel’s lips with his own, kissing him hungrily. He pulled back after a moment to make sure Gabriel had enough space but was yanked back in for more even as he felt Gabriel’s legs part, making him sink closer into his body. One of Gabriel’s hands slid under his shirt above his waistband and started to stroke lazy lines down Sam’s back making him groan and he thought he might lose what little control he had at the amazing sensations that spread through his body at the feeling of Gabriel’s hands on his bare skin. “Hmmm. Gabriel,” He breathed heavily kissing Gabriel from his jaw down to his collarbone. “Please. I can’t control it, I don’t trust myself. I. I want you so bad, please take over. Or tell me to stop.”

Gabriel was lost, lost in the blissful surging of his blood as he felt Sam moving over the top of him. He wanted to open right up and take Sam deep inside him but he knew he wasn’t quite ready for that yet so he let his hands start to wander around Sam’s body, feeling and exploring the toned muscle and skin he knew was there. He needed release, he wanted it. His desire for Sam was nothing like anything he’d ever experienced. Gabriel wanted Sam’s hands on him. “Sam. Ohhh please don’t stop. I don’t want you to stop.” He wrapped one leg around Sam’s ass and pinned him down, grinding upwards desperately into him, crying out as their erections collided against each other, making both men moan loudly.

Someone banged on the wall connecting to Dean’s room and they heard a voice yell out, “JESUS CHRIST YOU GUYS! KEEP IT DOWN OR TURN THE MUSIC UP. BRO CODE!”

Sam lifted his head and started giggling, burying his head into the pillow next to Gabriel’s head and he laughed, trying to muffle it. Gabriel joined in, keeping one leg wrapped around Sam as he laughed at the complaint coming from Dean’s bedroom.

“FUCK OFF DEAN-O! I HAVEN’T BEEN LAID FOR YEARS. I’LL MAKE AS MUCH NOISE AS I WANT.” He yelled back through the wall as he let Sam go so he could turn up the music.

The volume on the laptop increased to full and Sam was back faster than Gabriel could blink. His hands ran over the top of Gabriel’s shirt, asking permission and Gabriel tensed up slightly against his will. Sam’s hands stopped moving, reacting to Gabriel’s body so he reached up and grabbed one of Sam’s hands, guiding it into his shirt, leaving no doubt in Sam’s mind that’s where he wanted it to be.

Sam couldn’t believe that Gabriel was letting him go so far as he ran his hand over the bare skin under his shirt. He could feel the scars under his fingers but didn’t pay them any attention. Not this time. Right now all he wanted to do was feel Gabriel under him. “Gabe?” He murmured in surprise when he felt Gabriel’s hands on the front of his jeans. “No. You don’t have to. We can stay like this.” Sam said as he ground into Gabriel, diving in to meet his mouth.

“I know Sam.” Gabriel moaned around the slow, deep kiss. “I want you to touch me. I need you to help me.” He answered Sam as he started to unbuckle his jeans, fumbling with the belt buckle a little. He felt Sam’s indecision for a minute, before his hands were there, helping him undo the belt so he could have better access. He dipped one hand below the waistband of Sam’s jeans and ran it around into Sam’s back, moving it down to cup the bare skin of his ass. Sam gasped involuntarily and thrust his hips forward, one hand up in Gabriel’s shirt, the other moving hesitantly to the front of Gabriel’s pants. “Mmmph. I swear to God Sam..” He complained loudly.

“God’s busy, remember?” Sam answered flippantly, plunging his tongue possessively into Gabriel’s mouth, hesitation gone as he tore open the front of Gabriel’s pants. He broke off the kiss suddenly, moving down Gabriel’s body in one swift movement and nudging his erection through his jeans with his nose, mouthing it through the fabric as reached up to free it from it’s hiding spot.

Gabriel’s hand fisted tightly in Sam’s hair as he breathed heavily over the top of his dick, unable to quite believe that he was going through with this, that he was letting Sam get so close. That he wanted Sam to swallow him down and get on with it and stop fucking teasing him. He growled in frustration and felt Sam chuckle and suddenly his dick was enveloped in the warmth of Sam’s mouth.

“Jesus Christ.” He uttered as Sam sucked hard at the tip, using his tongue to lathe at the underside of his dick while his hand pumped slowly up and down his not inconsiderable length. “Sam. mmm. Sam. So good. Ohh.” Gabriel bucked upwards uncontrollably as Sam took him all the way into this mouth and swallowed him down into his throat. There was no way he was going to last long, not with Sam humming deep in his throat as he bobbed up and down on his dick, mouth and tongue working him over. He started to rock his hips upwards in time with Sam’s movements, the pressure building and he let his head fall back onto the pillow and lost himself in the sensation of Sam.

Sam pulled his mouth free when he felt Gabriel getting closer to orgasm and moved back up the bed, ignoring Gabriel’s protests. “Not yet babe. I want you to wait for me.” He whispered wickedly in Gabriel’s ear, licking his earlobe before he kissed Gabriel thoroughly, making the shorter man taste himself on Sam’s lips.

“Fucking tease.” Gabriel complained, reaching into the front of Sam’s jeans and caressing him, a satisfied sigh escaping his lips. “Mmmm Sammich. I was right.” He moaned into Sam’s ear breathlessly, lost in a lust filled haze. “You are well proportioned.” He brushed his thumb lightly over the dripping head, and Sam pressed his head into Gabriel’s shoulder, frozen in place when Gabriel wrapped his hand around his length and started pumping lazily, his fist tightly wrapped around Sam’s dick.

“Oh fuck me Gabriel, so good mmmph.” Sam cried, thrusting into Gabriel’s fist. He reached down to take hold of Gabriel’s dick and enveloped his large hand around it’s girth. His fisted hand met Gabriel’s and he ground up against it, feeling their erections meet for the first time skin to skin and both men cried out again. He lined himself up with Gabriel’s dick and wrapped his hand around both of them, keeping Gabriel’s hand on his as their hips began rolling in time with each other, kissing frantically with panted breath as they approached their orgasms.

“Sam please,” Gabriel moaned blissfully, unable to hold back any longer. “I’m going to, come with me again Sam. I need you.”

Gabriel dug his fingers into Sam’s back and scratched down deeply as the orgasm shook through him and he spilled his release all over Sam’s hand and the space between them, crying out his name even as Sam joined him, adding to the mess on Gabriel’s stomach as he chanted Gabriel’s name over and over.

Sam collapsed into Gabriel, ignoring the wetness between them and captured his mouth, tongues swirling together slowly as they savored the afterglow of their encounter. Gabriel’s hand ran feathery patterns up and down his back as they lay there together causing goosebumps to breakout over his skin. He shivered and let go of where his hand still held on between them, giving Gabriel a teasing caress as he did so, grimacing slightly at the sticky residue that coated his hand.

“Ugh.” He said as he ripped his shirt off, using it to wipe his hand before he did the same for Gabriel and turned his attention to Gabriel’s stomach. “You’re going to need to lose the shirt Gabe.” He said gently to the other man, knowing it might make him uncomfortable. He moved to get off the bed and get Gabriel another one, but he was stopped when Gabriel grabbed his arm.

“It’s OK Sam.” Gabriel said softly. He sat up and pulled his shirt off, being careful not to make more of a mess. He wiped his stomach clean and handed the shirt to Sam before falling back onto the bed exhausted. He watched Sam get up and get a shirt out of his bag anyway, a little bit in love with the way Sam cared for his needs. “I’m so tired Sammy. You ruined me.” He said drowsily, squirming into Sam as he climbed back onto the bed with fresh beers and spooned himself around Gabriel’s back. Sam’s hands started to trace lines on his skin, subconsciously following some of the scar tissue, as if he could heal the ruined skin with a caress and Gabriel had to force himself to not flinch away from the touch. “Go ahead Samshine.” He murmured, feeling himself fall closer to sleep, finally relaxing his tensed muscles. Sam’s hands continued their journey around Gabriel’s body and he felt Sam’s lips press against the scars on his back.

Sam pushed gently at Gabriel’s back, urging him to lay on his stomach so that he could access the skin on his back better, overwhelmed at the level of trust Gabriel had placed in him as he complied with Sam’s request with a small whimper. He leaned in and stroked Gabriel’s hair away from his head, kissing his ear. “Thank you Gabriel.” He whispered reverently, feeling Gabriel melt underneath him he and trailed his lips down Gabriel’s spine, planting soft kisses as he moved, stopping at the base of his spine where his jeans started low on his hips. He traced the long scar he’d seen on the day Gabriel had come to stay with his tongue, aching for the physical pain it would have caused when it happened, and at the same time grateful that it didn’t ruin Gabriel’s spirit completely.

“You know what would be amazing?” Sam asked after a while, tracing the curve of a scar that curved up Gabriel’s back from his spine to his shoulder blade with a finger as he kissed the back of Gabriel’s neck.

“I’m asleep Sam. Either keep going with what you’re doing or be quiet.” Came the muffled response from his drowsy lover.

“You’re a bossy piece of work, you know that?” Sam asked, nipping Gabriel on the shoulder, wondering how difficult it would be to entice him into another round.

“What can I say Sammikins? You like it when I’m bossy.” Gabriel retorted, his shoulders shaking a little as he chuckled.

“Oh yeah? Says who?” Sam asked, biting him again.

“Says three orgasms.” Gabriel said wickedly as he spun around to face Sam, wiggling his eyebrows. His eyes widened when he saw the lust in Sam’s eyes and he sucked in a quick breath.

“I told you I wanted you to take control, didn’t I? It’s not something I give up lightly Gabriel, or, in fact, ever.” Growled Sam as he lean in and captured Gabriel’s mouth again, trying to ignore the fact that Gabriel’s phone had started to ring for about the fourth time. He sighed suddenly, exasperated. “Where is your damned phone? It’s driving me nuts.”

“Huh?” Gabriel lifted his head in a daze, finally registering the ringtone. “Great. Fucking mood killer.” He pushed Sam off him and got up to find where he’d tossed his phone when he’d climbed onto the bed earlier.

“Hello.” He snapped into it irritably before he could stop himself.

“Gabriel? Hi, it’s Paul, from the radio station.” Sam heard a voice say.

“Oh hey man, what’s up? Sorry, I couldn’t find my phone.” Gabriel apologized.

“No worries at all. I’m just calling to let you know we had a great response to your segment yesterday and you guys spoke really well. Ever considered a career in radio?”

Gabriel laughed into the speaker. “I’ve haven’t, no.” He answered.

“We should talk about that. Anyway, that’s not why I called. There’s someone in particular who called who wants to see you. Says she knows you but won’t say how. But that you would know her.”

Gabriel froze, and Sam could see the exact moment when the anxiety started to take hold. He watched as Gabriel’s breathing became labored, and his eyes grew wild.

“Gabriel?” Came the voice from the speakers “Are you there? Her name is A-”  

Gabriel slammed his finger down, disconnecting the call and threw his phone onto the ground. He started pacing anxiously up and down Sam’s bedroom, three paces left and four right, aware that Sam was watching but unable to control his actions as the panic set in.

Sam let Gabriel walk up and back one more time before he planted himself in front of him and grabbed onto the shorter man’s shoulders, not knowing if it was the proper thing to do, just that it was the right thing to do. “Hey.” He peered into Gabriel’s amber eyes, and swore inwardly at the fear that had set in there. “Gabriel.”

Gabriel’s body started to shake as Sam held him in place, refusing to let him get away from him. His eyes snapped up to meet Sam’s and he blinked at him. “Sam. Sam, I don’t know anyone here besides you and Dean and Cas and the guys we saw the other day. And they would just call me. Who is it Sam? Who is it? ” His voice broke as the anxiety grew, threatening to overwhelm him and he found it hard to breathe. He couldn’t breathe. It had to be someone from before, someone who knew, what if it was someone who had been there? Someone who-?

Sam let out a protective growl at the thought that someone was here to hurt his Gabriel and he pulled Gabriel closer to him, picking him up easily, and carried him over to the bed. He murmured softly to him, hoping that it would pass, because he didn’t want to have to call Castiel in and face his wrath. “Gabriel it’s OK. It’s fine. Everything is fine.” He said as he sat on the bed and pulled the panic stricken man into his lap and wrapped himself around him. “I’ll find out what’s going on. It will be fine. Nobody is going to hurt you. Come back Gabriel. I need you to come back to me.” Sam choked out a sob on his last sentence, overwhelmed with the emotions coursing through him as he tried to soothe Gabriel.

Gabriel rose out of his reverie when he realized Sam had picked him up and deposited him onto the bed, and he was now curled up in his lap. He sat there for a while getting his breathing under control and listened to Sam’s heartbeat as the words Sam was muttering calmed him down. “I’m sorry.” He said simply, raising his head finally to look at Sam. “Bet you’re sorry you ever met me now, right?”

Sam stared down at Gabriel, speechless. He rolled his eyes without realizing and pressed a kiss to Gabriel’s forehead. “Idiot.” He answered before he could stop himself. “You really need to work on your self esteem Gabriel. Of course I’m not sorry.” He brushed the hair from Gabriel’s face and kissed him again. “Do you have, uh, meds or anything you need to take? Want me to get them for you?”

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at Sam. “Really Samsquatch?” He smirked, finding humor an easy option. “You’re asking me that old chestnut again? Isn’t it obvious by now?” He rearranged himself so that he was straddling Sam’s legs and put his head back down as Sam scoffed at him in disbelief.

“Stop it. I’m being serious.” He chided.

Gabriel sighed. “No Sam, I don’t like how I am when I’m medicated. I just have to deal with it. Which can make shit like this worse. So um, thanks for talking me out of it.” He pushed Sam backwards onto the bed and was a little surprised when Sam moved them both back so that they were both lying properly, legs entwined. Gabriel put his head in the crook of Sam’s arm and burrowed in, still trying to get his emotions under control.

Sam gave a contented sigh. “I’m glad to hear that Gabriel. That you’re not medicated. On all levels. Well, some more than others.” He giggled at his own joke as Gabriel’s hand found a nipple on his bare chest and gave it a twist. “Ouch.” He complained, but didn’t slap his hand away as it began to caress him. “So are you ready to talk yet?”

“No.” Gabriel answered, deflecting a little.

“Too bad. Fine, I will.” Sam said firmly and pushed on, staring at the ceiling lost in thought. “I’ll call them back and find out what’s going on and who it was. I’ll tell them you’re protective of your privacy and that you’re not willing to give out any information at the moment.”

“I said no, Sam.” Gabriel said irritably.

“You’re not talking here, I am.” Sam said to him absently, overriding his concern as he ran a hand up Gabriel’s back, trying to soothe him. “Let me do this. I’ll even put on my lawyer voice for you.”

Gabriel grunted and sat up. “Bossy Sammich is bossy. Where is my beer? Or have you decided I can’t have it anymore?” He asked tartly, unable to stop himself from being irritated at Sam for pushing, but also incredibly awed he was being so protective.

Sam laughed in delight at the expression on Gabriel’s face and sat up with him, pulling him in for a slow, deep kiss that left them both breathing heavily. “Is there anything else you need right now?” He asked, a little suggestively as he got up to fetch the beer, showing his back to Gabriel. He heard a gasp and suddenly Gabriel was standing behind him, running his hands down his back.

“Uh, Gabe?” He asked, holding a beer out.

Gabriel turned him so that he could see his back in the mirror, a big smirk on his face. “Check it out Sammikins.” His back was covered in four deep red welts, ranging from his shoulder down to his ribcage.

He looked at the welts and then back to Gabriel and raised an eyebrow. “All’s fair in love and war, huh Gabe?” He took a swig of his beer and turned around, moving forward towards the bed and pushing Gabriel in front of him.

“It’s only fair Samshine, you marked me when we were on the couch earlier.” Gabriel smirked at him again and stood taller to catch Sam’s mouth, his hands roaming on Sam’s chest.

Sam felt himself getting hard again and regretfully pulled back from the kiss, knowing if he took advantage of Gabriel again, while he was in such a raw state he would regret it. “Gabriel.” He sighed into his lips. “We should be doing something productive. And I’m hungry.” He added.

Gabriel reduced the space between them again and trailed his fingers along the waistband of Sam’s jeans, making him moan loudly. “You’re always hungry Samsquatch.” He complained, guessing what Sam was playing at but wanting him anyway.

They heard the apartment door slam obnoxiously loudly and sighed simultaneously when they heard Dean yelling, knowing their privacy was over for the immediate future. Sam leaned down for a slow kiss before letting Gabriel go so that they could go out and face their family.

“I’m going to go shower.” Gabriel said with suggestive leer as he gathered up a change of clothes and walked out the door, hurrying down the hall before Dean saw him shirtless.

Sam threw on a shirt and followed Gabriel, scooping up their soiled clothing as he left his bedroom. Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him when he invaded the bathroom and started to rinse them in the sink, humming softly to himself.

“You right there Sam?” He asked tartly as he undid his jeans.

Sam was startled out of his domesticity at the tone in Gabriel’s voice and he looked up in shock. “What? Oh.” He realized belatedly that Gabriel might not want him in there so he mumbled an apology and turned to leave, throwing the wet shirts in the basket. “I’m going to check on the team.” He said as Gabriel rolled his eyes at him.

“For a minute there I thought you followed my offer to jump in with me but I can see that you’re all caught up with housekeeping detail so..” He giggled to himself as Sam planted a kiss on the top of his head and left with a huff, muttering something about shutting up a smart mouth on his way out the door.

Chapter Text

Dean led Castiel to his bedroom, where they made themselves comfortable on his bed, legs tangled as they lay together, slowly making out. Hands gently explored everywhere they could reach and their tongues met in a slow dance, they were kissing with no expectation, no destination in mind other than to express how they felt.

“I love you too Dean.” Cas mumbled, eventually pulling away, pressing their foreheads together as they breathed between them.

Dean chuckled lowly. “Aren’t we a pair? Five days and we’re both goners.”

Cas’ response was interrupted by moaning from the next room and both men shared a surprised look before snickering together and staring at the wall.

Dean shouted for the pair in Sam’s room to keep it down, letting out a guffaw at the response they got from Gabriel. “We should probably give them some privacy.” He suggested conspiratorially to Cas who nodded.

“We could do that pineapple jogging GISH task and let them have the apartment for a while?” Cas asked, already heading for Dean’s bedroom door even as the music in the next room was turned up louder.

“Awesome. Let’s go buy some pineapples. We needed a hat for this one too didn’t we?” Dean shifted what hand he held his keys in so he could catch Cas’ hand once they reached the hallway stalling for a second at the way Cas missed a step. “Is this OK?” He asked gently, indicating their entwined hands.

“Yes.” Cas agreed quickly. “It’s fine. I just didn’t take you for the hand holding type.”

“With you Cas, I’m rewriting my rules.” Dean mumbled, suddenly shy. Castiel’s hand in his felt right and Dean was a bit reluctant to let go to get into the Impala which made him feel pretty silly since he could easily just grab his hand again inside the car.

They went to the farmer’s market first, opting to buy two large pineapples, figuring that they could use the parts they cut out of them for the shoes to make the hat. As they wandered through the different stands Dean watched the way Cas’ eyes lit up at different things, cataloging everything about the man in front of him. He watched how Cas gravitated towards some foods almost instantly and others he ignored all together, he chuckled quietly to himself when Cas all but ran away from the stall trying to sell him kale.

Once they’d run out of stalls to explore, Cas and Dean made their way to the grocery store, opting to just buy a knife from there rather than heading back to the apartment, potentially interrupting Sam and Gabriel.

“I’m going to buy a couple of spoons too so we can scoop out the middle. How should we keep them on?” Cas grabbed a couple of spoons and moved them to the next aisle. “Dean?”

“Huh? Oh sorry Cas, I wasn’t listening.” Dean snapped out of his reverie and focused his attention on where his boyfriend stood with his head tilted to one side as he stared at him.

“Are you OK Dean?” Cas asked him gently, watching his reaction closely.

“I’m fine. Sorry was just lost in my thoughts, what’s up?” Dean hedged, not wanting to talk anymore about what had happened earlier.

“I asked how we were going to keep them on, as well as keep the hat together.” Cas gestured at the different tubes of glue in front of him helplessly.

“Uh Cas?” Dean mumbled softly. “Glue won’t work because it’s a wet surface. Maybe we could use fishing line or ribbon and tie them.” He suggested thoughtfully.

“Good idea. Glad I thought of it.” Cas snickered, continuing down the aisle a little to where there were sewing items and ribbons, selecting a small spool of yellow ribbon. “Alright, that’s all we need, let’s go.”

Dean drove them to the park by the river, glad to see that there weren’t a lot of people around considering the time of day. Sitting at a picnic table, they carefully cut the pineapples in half and gently carved the edges to form the shape of the ‘shoes’. When it was time to scoop out the pineapple flesh Dean watched in amusement at Cas opted to eat it, rather than just dumping it out and throwing it away, lecturing him about wasted food and starving people as he savored the fruit. As a result, Cas had most of his pineapple scooped out and ready to go before Dean was done with his carving, because he’d been too occupied with watching the way Cas’ lips wrapped almost sensually about the spoon.

The first scoop Dean made into the pineapple must have been too hard, as he accidentally flicked the chunk of pineapple across the table at Castiel, juice spraying across the table as well. Dean snickered at the look on his lover’s face. “Sorry Cas.” He choked out between giggles, eyes widening when Cas stood up threateningly. “Oh shit!” He didn’t have time to move away before Cas had poured the collected pineapple juice that had settled in the bottom of the ‘shoe’ over his head.

“Dammit Cas! I’m going to be sticky all afternoon now.” He cried out irritably, digging the spoon into the pineapple in front of him and flinging chunk after chunk of pineapple flesh at his boyfriend while he laughed and dodged. It wasn’t long until Dean’s pineapple was hollowed out and Cas was also a sticky mess.

“OK OK!” Cas laughed, raising his hands in surrender and coming back over to Dean. “Let’s bore some holes in these for shoelaces and figure out how to make these into a hat.” He held up the extra pieces of pineapple skin.

It took quite a while for them to get the holes carefully bored into the pineapple skin, learning the hard way that too much pressure would cause them to crack and tear. Cas was delegated to wearing them while Dean took the video. “You have smaller feet, Cas.” He said in a reasonable tone.

“Only by half a size, Dean!” The blue-eyed man complained sourly, moving to strap the gutted fruit onto his feet.

It was chaos; first Cas’ feet were too big so they had to cut the end off so that his toes could stick out, then once they were on and tied Cas put the hat on his head and started protesting about the pineapple juice dripping into his hair, to which Dean just raised an eyebrow and moved in to straighten it out on Cas’ head.

“You know Cas.” He said softly as he corrected the angle of the ‘hat’, scenting at Cas as he leaned closer to Cas’ ear. “I bet that pineapple tastes great on you.” Cas took in a sharp breath as Dean’s words and let out a low moan.

“Don’t make suggestions you’re not going to flow through with Dean.” He growled back at him in a low voice.

Dean stepped back and gave Castiel a saucy wink. “Who says I’’m not going to?” He asked innocently.

Castiel shook his head at him with a laugh. “Not funny Dean. You’re not funny.” Cas said as he attempted to adjust his sudden erection in his pants.

“I think I’m adorable.” Dean flirted at him. “Let’s get this done so I can get my hands on you.”

The first step was awkward, Cas couldn’t get the momentum to move forward because the insides of the pineapple were too slippery, and he slid around when he tried, tripping over himself a few times. The next few steps were better, and he strode along in a running pose until the pineapples split entirely, remaining attached to his feet by the ribbon alone. When he looked back to where he started there was a trail of pineapple juice and broken bits of pineapple skin scattered along behind him.

“Oh man, Cas.” Dean wheezed, jogging up to him while he laughed. “Your face. That was hilarious.”

“Yeah yeah laugh it up.” Cas muttered, hopping around on one foot as he tried to catch hold of the ribbon to pull it off. “It’s your Baby we’re about to get all sticky.”

Dean shot a horrified look in the direction of the parking lot. “Shit. I hope there’s something we can sit on.”

“I’ll give you something to sit on.” Cas deadpanned, attempting to leer over at Dean before bursting into laughter.

“Did you just..?” Dean looked shocked even as he snorted a laugh of his own. “Oh man you’ve been hanging around Sammy too long.”

Castiel barked out a laugh. “We’re in real trouble then because I can assure you, if he and my cousin are together we will know no peace.”

They worked together to clean up the mess they’d made on and around the picnic table, as well as collecting the things they were keeping, opting to just throw the soiled ribbon in the trash with the pineapple skin on their way to the Impala. Dean opened the trunk nervously, sighing in relief when he pulled a couple of old towels out that he kept in there for emergencies, although this wasn’t exactly what he’d had in mind when he’d put them in there.

Dean drove them straight back to the apartment, the drying pineapple juice sticky and uncomfortable on their skin, and both men were eager for a shower.  Dean snagged the soiled towels and the bag of utensils to bring up with them, and considered racing Castiel upstairs to the shower, before realizing that running with the knife in his hand probably wasn’t a very good idea.

“Don’t suppose I can have first shower, Cas?” He asked hopefully as they reached the apartment door. He shoved the key in the lock and twisted the key, reminding himself to wash the pineapple juice off them later.

Cas suddenly pressed him into the apartment door and slowly licked a trail up Dean’s neck. “Mmmm.” He said breathily. “You taste like pineapple.” He finished with a murmur, stepping around before opening the door. “And I guess we can share.”

“We’d better let Gabriel and Sam know we’re back. Just in case.” Cas warned him.

“Ugh, Cas. Don’t spoil the mood.” Dean complained with a roll of his eyes, slamming the door shut as hard as he could.

“Yo! Sammy!” He bellowed. “We’re baaaack!” He tossed the soiled towels onto the floor and took the bag of utensils into the kitchen, hearing his phone chime as he emptied the bag into the sink. He washed his hands and pulled the phone from his pocket, frowning at the number in confusion as he unlocked it.

Castiel raised an eyebrow at him, curious. “Dean?” He asked. “What is it?”

Dean shrugged. “I’ve got no idea Cas.” He said as he read the text.

Hi Dean, It’s Anna. My brothers and I wanted to know if you were free to catch up for a drink or something. We wanted to thank you for your help last night.

“Ohhhhh.” He said, his mind suddenly filling in a few holes in his memory from the night before. “Anna.” He said simply, as if that explained everything.

Castiel felt a flare of jealousy inside him and tried not to let it show on his face. He failed miserably. “Who is Anna?” He asked, the confusion and hurt from the day before betraying him again.

Dean saw the emotions fly across Castiel’s face and he grabbed his hand. “It’s not what you’re thinking Cas. I was talking to her for a while at the bar, that’s all. Then I hung around after I’d called you to make sure her brother picked her up safely.” He grimaced painfully. “Actually, that’s the reason we had the brawl. The losers that were harassing her jumped me after she left.”

“Oh.” Castiel replied, suddenly not wanting this to be a big deal. “OK.”

“That’s it? OK?” Dean answered in disbelief, certain that Cas had been about to push him further.

Cas sighed. “Yes Dean. OK. I trust you. I am curious though, what does she want?”

“Here. Read it.” Dean thrust the phone at Castiel, deciding that he wasn’t going to try to hide anything from his lover anymore. He was surprised when Castiel smiled and shook his head.

Dean smirked back at him, amazed at the trust Cas was showing after what had happened. “Her and her brothers want to meet up for a drink to say thanks. I won’t go without you Cas.” He said firmly. “If you don’t want me to go, I won’t.”

“Of course you can go Dean, I’m not your keeper. Though a night out would be nice.” Cas tilted his head thoughtfully. “Why don’t we all go? Sam and Gabriel got injured in that brawl too.” He suggested.

Dean nodded his head enthusiastically. “Your cousin is a bad-assed motherfucker man, the way he leapt on the guy that had Sam pinned. I’m still in shock. Who would have thought such a short ass could be so ferocious?”

“Who is ferocious?” Sam asked curiously, waltzing into the kitchen and sipping on a beer. Dean chose not to comment on the spring in his step as he made his way to the fridge and opened the door.

He huffed out a laugh. “Your boyfriend. Last night.”

Sam smiled dreamily as he remembered, leaning on the fridge door with a goofy expression on his face. “Oh yeah. He was.”

“Idiot.” Dean muttered, throwing a wet dishcloth at him, hitting him right in the face, earning him a classic Sam bitchface.

“Ugh Dean. Grow up.” Sam snapped as he threw it back, hard. The fridge beeped at him and he jumped, sticking his head in to find something to eat. He grabbed an apple and wandered back out to the living room.

A heavily accented voice was singing horribly, being booed and jeered at, Dean looked over at Cas and they both ducked into the living room to see what the hell Sam was listening to.

“Poor Benny.” Sam laughed hunched over, waving his arm towards the laptop where the Cajun was looking madder and madder as he attempted to do karaoke. “He’s asked if someone else can please do this task.”

“Oh man.” Dean felt embarrassed on the big man’s behalf as he watched him storm over to the camera and it suddenly stop recording. “That was a task?”

“Yeah, we need to have a team member do karaoke of a particular song from this list that Misha has included.” Sam brought the list up to show Dean who remembered just in time to walk around to look and not lean his pineapple juice covered self over the back of the couch.

“Fucking Misha.” He muttered as he read the songs on this list shaking his head. “Uh that’s it I need to shower, my damned clothes are sticking to me.”

“Gabe’s in there.” Sam said, suddenly depositing the laptop on the table and heading for the hallway. “And then it’s my turn.” He grinned wickedly as he let himself into the bathroom with Gabe.

“Dammit Sammy!” Dean fumed, groaning and resting his face against Cas’ shoulder in frustration. “Great, now I’m stuck to your clothes too.” He mumbled as he leaned away a little and Cas’ shirt pulled at his skin.

“Hmm.” Cas mused, watching the bathroom door close behind Sam. “That’s interesting.”

“What? That Sammy is an asshole?” Dean pulled his face off Cas’ shoulder and opted to head to the kitchen for a beer. “We already knew that.”

“No, Gabriel being OK with him in the bathroom with him.” Cas followed behind, accepting the beer Dean handed him. “It’s a big step for Gabe.”

“What do you mean?” Dean was confused. “Dude we heard them earlier, and Sammy’s seen him naked plenty, the man did porn, heck I’ve seen him naked.” Dean shuddered a little at the memory.

“This is different though Dean.” Cas explained, trying not to give away too much of his cousin’s issues and insecurities. “In the films he wasn’t totally naked, not really, and even when he was he had make up covering his scars, and heck, when we heard them earlier I’m betting that they were probably covered, but in the shower? In the shower he can’t hide anything, and he can’t really distract from them.”

Dean heard a muffled moan from the bathroom and raised an eyebrow at Cas. “Seems like he’s being pretty distracting right now.”

“I don’t want to think about it Dean.” Cas muttered. “But to be fair the fact that Sam just saw him, scars and all, and he’s coherent enough to be distracting is a big step for my cousin.”

“Dude, you know way too much about how your cousin’s sex life works.” Dean deadpanned as Cas gave him a flat look.

“It’s been necessary Dean.” He snapped, turning away to face the sink in front of him.

“Shit, Cas I didn’t mean it like that. I was kidding.” Dean reached for his boyfriend and pulled him into his arms. “I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry Dean.” Cas sighed, allowing himself to be tugged into Dean’s embrace. “I know you didn’t mean it that way, I’m just so used to taking care of him, defending him, it’s hard to do anything but that now. I don’t know how to let it go.” He said simply.

“I understand that Cas.” Dean closed his eyes as he rested his head on Cas’ shoulder, their cheeks pressed together as they simply held onto each other. “You have us now, we can help you, whether that’s helping to defend him or to help you realize that he doesn’t need it anymore. I’m going to be here for you.”

Dean didn’t know how long they stayed like that, just enjoying the presence of each other, but they were startled out of their thoughts by the bathroom door opening again, Sam and Gabe’s voices moving down the hall as they wandered into Sam’s room. “C’mon Cas, let’s go shower.”

Castiel easily let himself be led to the bathroom, not only because it was Dean, but also because he was more than ready to get the sticky pineapple juice off.

They (literally) peeled each others clothes off, tossing them into the sink so they could easily clean up afterwards, Dean started the shower and they stepped under the spray together.

“I love you.” Cas murmured pressing their lips together, a slight gasp escaping him as their bodies crushed together under the warm water, their cocks filling quickly.

“I love you too.” Dean moved his lips down to Cas’ neck, rolling his hips forwards as he did so.

“Dean, I still smell like a pineapple.” Cas protested, even as he pressed closer. Dean growled and pulled away to reach for the shampoo. They opted to wash each other, hands slick and soapy as they scrubbed one another's hair and skin, before long they were clean and their soaped up hands were slicking the way for messy hand jobs as they leisurely thrust into a loose tunnel of their combined hands.

“I’m close.” Cas panted, guiding their linked hands to move faster even as Dean groaned and thrust harder against him.

The sudden spray of cold water shocked a yell from both men, orgasm ripping through them even as they arched into each other, trying to escape the rain of cold, accidentally knocking the bottles of shampoo and body wash onto the floor. “Shit!” Dean yelled, dragging Castiel out of the shower stall behind him. “Those assholes used all the hot water.”

Cas was laughing as he leaned back in to turn off the taps. “Good timing though I guess.”

They shivered a little as they toweled off, rushing to warm up. “I bet they’re off enjoying themselves.” Dean muttered darkly as they left the bathroom, yelling for Sam and Gabe to knock it off and hurry the hell up.

When Sam and Gabriel finally showed themselves Dean invited them to tag along to do the karaoke task, and shot off a text letting Anna know where to meet them.

“It’s gonna be fun, Sammy.” He reassured his brother with a slap on the shoulder. “You’ll see.”

Chapter Text

Gabriel let the hot water beat down on his skin as he stood under the shower, not moving. He knew he should get out and let Sam have the room but if he was being honest with himself, he was hiding. It wasn’t the best feeling in the world to have your fledgling relationship marred by constant drama and contention.

Though I suppose, he thought to himself as he gave in, turning the water off and reaching for a towel, if we can survive this level of shit so early, there’s hope. Just don’t fuck it up idiot. He dried himself quickly and was just pulling his jeans back on when the door flew open and Sam marched in with a huge grin on his face.

“You again.” He said sarcastically, a little relieved that he was already dressed and his scars covered. He might have let Sam touch them before, but that didn’t mean that he was totally comfortable with the idea of them being on display at all times.

Sam chuckled a little wickedly, closing the door behind him. “Hah, yeah. Dean and Cas are so sticky and covered in pineapple juice and grass and dirt and they’re busting to get in here to get clean.” He raised an eyebrow suggestively to Gabriel, earning himself an eye-roll for his efforts.

Gabriel smirked at him, happy to conspire. “Oh really. Well in that case.” He shoved Sam against the back of the door and leaned in. “Make some noise Samsquatch.” He whispered to him, running his hands up into Sam’s shirt and pushing it up over his head. Sam put his head forward and took Gabriel’s mouth in a hot and demanding kiss as Gabriel undid the front of Sam’s jeans again, dipping his fingers below the waistband, teasing Sam as they didn’t quite reach his swollen member.

Sam groaned loudly and lifted Gabriel off his feet, spinning him around and pinning him against the door without losing contact with his mouth. He dropped his jeans to the floor and pressed back into Gabriel, wearing only his briefs, absolutely out of his mind with the need for Gabriel again. “Jesus, Gabriel w-what have you done to me? I’m out of my mind here.” He breathed. “I literally only came in to shower when you were done.” He rubbed his erection against the smaller man and felt Gabriel shaking underneath him against the door.

Gabriel shook his head, unable to understand it himself. “I. I don’t know S-Sam.” He moaned, suddenly remembering what he was planning when they started this. “ Just. Ohhhh. Damn. Give me some noise Sammich, have your shower and we can get back to it.” He grinned wickedly.

“Oh no way”. Sam said to him, moaning loudly for show as he ground himself into Gabriel again, getting one back from him in the process. “There is no way I’m not taking care of this while I’m showering.” He growled at him.

Gabriel smirked at Sam. “Oh no you’re not Samsquatch. That’s mine. And I want it.” He reached between them and stroked along the length of Sam’s dick through his briefs, just as Sam did the same for him. “In fact.” Gabriel pretended to think for a minute, fingers working slowly. “I’m going to wait in here to make sure you don’t do anything stupid.”

Sam took in a deep shuddering breath to calm himself down. “Fucking hell, I swear you could just talk me through it.” He let Gabriel go abruptly, turned and jumped into the shower stall, flicking the water on and throwing his briefs out over the top at Gabriel’s head.

“So tell me why I’m showering now if we’re just going to make a mess again?” He asked tartly, trying to ignore his painfully bobbing erection as he soaped himself.

Gabriel shrugged, leaning on the wall, thoroughly enjoying the spectacle that he’d created. “We can do that if you want Sam. I’d love to make you come undone without me touching you. As for the other thing, this was your idea Sam, not mine. You barged in here to piss your brother off remember?”

Sam laughed. “Oh yeah. Look how that turned out.” He started to rinse the soap off himself. “FYI I’ll be jumping you in about 20 seconds.” He warned Gabriel.

Gabriel gulped and pushed himself off the closed door to grab a washcloth and a towel for later at the same time as Sam turned the water off. He watched as Sam dried himself hurriedly, wrapping the towel around his waist and scooping up his clothing his own eyes on Gabriel, the lust clear in both hazel and amber eyes.

They walked up the hallway with false calm and locked themselves back in Sam’s bedroom. Gabriel had a moment’s hesitation that he tried unsuccessfully to hide from Sam, who went from lust filled to concerned in half an instant.

“Hey.” He said, taking Gabriel’s chin in his hand and making eye contact. “Nothing you’re not ready for.” And Sam kissed him gently, his tongue questioning at the entrance to Gabriel’s mouth, wrapping his arms around his back and pulling him closer. He had a second’s warning before Gabriel pushed him backwards, making him fall onto the bed, losing his towel in the process. Gabriel followed him onto the bed, crawling his way up Sam’s body, peppering it with kisses until they were face to face, diving in for a heat-filled kiss as his hands roamed over Sam’s torso.

“What do you want Sam?” Gabriel sighed into his ear, his hand slipping down to tease Sam’s still damp skin.

“You. N-now.” Sam uttered, desperate for contact. “Please, Gabriel t-touch me.” He begged, hooking a leg around Gabriel’s back and pulling him down closer, sighing in delight as their bodies met, one naked, one fully clothed. He growled at the realization that the power levels were ridiculously unbalanced and took action before his brain caught up with what he was doing. Sam’s hands went to Gabriel’s pants and he undid them and yanked them down over his hips, reaching between them to grab hold of Gabriel’s erection, pumping his fisted hand with hurried movements, wanting more.  He watched Gabriel’s eyes glaze over as his head fell to his chest, panting heavily as he lost control.

“Ohhh christ. Sam, slow down please. Mmmph. I can’t.” Gabriel pleaded with a soft cry, completely overwhelmed, bringing Sam to his senses immediately. He eased up his movements, letting go and savoring the way Gabriel melted into him as he did. He lay still for a moment, breathing heavily before Gabriel started to squirm out of his jeans so Sam helped him to push them the rest of the way off. He ran his hands up into Gabriel’s shirt, feathering his fingers across the skin of his back, one hand remaining there while the other made it’s way down to Gabriel’s ass, fingers kneading into the soft skin he found there. He eased his legs open wider, and Gabriel slipped into the space between them, rolling his hips into Sam as he kissed him deeply.

“Are you OK?” Sam asked, pulling Gabriel back for a minute. “We can stop. We’re, we’re moving pretty fast for you babe, I get that.” Sam said softly to him, cupping his face in both hands.

Gabriel’s eyes misted at the sentiment and he smiled back at Sam, kissing him gently on the lips. “I’m fine Samshine, really. I just.” He sighed against Sam’s lips. “Too fast. You took me by surprise.” He shifted position slightly, giving them both the friction they desired and started to move slowly against Sam.

“I’m so sorry Gabe.” Sam said to him, pulling his head back for another kiss, tongues dancing slowly. “I would never hurt you.” He declared with unshed tears in his eyes, looking up at Gabriel, mortified to think he’d done something wrong and caused Gabriel to hurt.

“Oh Sam. Don’t get upset.” Gabriel said with a half smile, thumbing a tear off Sam’s cheek. “This was always going to be a hurdle for me. I’m surprised we’ve managed to get this far.” He rested their foreheads together, still moving slowly, still wanting to make Sam come undone. He felt one of Sam’s legs wrap around his waist again, bringing them impossibly closer together. “You’re doing everything right Sam. Trust me. Trust me like I trust you.”

“Yes.” Sam uttered softly, and Gabriel crashed their mouths together, taking Sam’s offering and tucking it away, cherishing it. They moved slowly together, unsure where one ended and the other began, kisses becoming more heated as they chased their release again. Gabriel licked a slow stripe along Sam’s jawline to his ear, whimpering and moaning softly as he worked his way to the soft skin along his collarbone. He felt Sam gasping underneath him and raised his head briefly to look at him. His head was thrown back into the pillow, eyes partially rolled back in their sockets and he had a small smile on his face. Gabriel didn’t think his dick could get any harder than it already was, but seeing the blissed out look on Sam’s face proved him wrong. He wanted more, he suddenly realized, and the thought had Gabriel moving faster, whispering Sam’s name as he kissed down his neck again. He felt Sam’s body responded instinctively to the change of pace, and if Sam cried Gabriel’s name as they climaxed, fluids from their combined release coating their stomachs once more, then Gabriel accepted that offering too, using it to help him heal his broken life.

“Samshine.” He said softly after a while, nudging Sam, who appeared to be dozing contently underneath him.

Sam didn’t respond, just tucked himself around Gabriel a little while pulling the blanket over the two of them, brushing Gabriel’s hand away irritably when it tickled his nose. “Stop it.” He mumbled, hearing a crashing sound and muffled shrieks coming from somewhere else in the apartment.

“Sam we really need to get on with the Gishing.” Gabriel said regretfully, snuggling into Sam more, despite his words about getting out of bed. “I think we’re behind schedule.”

“Mmmmmmph.” Sam sighed dramatically. “Just leave me here Gabriel. You go make that stupid bear thing. I think I might die from what you just did to me, but I’m going to die happy.”

“Oh Sam. I haven’t even started with you yet.” Gabriel chuckled wickedly into his ear, making Sam groan again.

“YO SAMMY! GABRIEL!” They heard Dean bellowing suddenly from the living room. “GET SOME CLOTHES ON YOU PERVERTS AND GET OUT HERE.” Cas’ muffled laughter filtered through the walls and Sam sighed again.

“See Sammich? Our absence has been noted.” Gabriel giggled against Sam’s chest, earning himself a slap on the ass for his efforts. He squirmed around and pushed himself up. “Ugh. you made a big mess Sam.”

“Shut up.” Sam snorted. “At least half of that is your fault.” He felt around for his discarded towel, dragging it up to clean up with, refusing to open his eyes.

“Lucky I came prepared then isn’t it?” Gabriel asked smartly, and Sam flinched when he felt a cold wet cloth being rubbed against his stomach.

“SAMMY MOVE IT!” Dean called again, impatience clear in his tone.

“Asshole.” Sam and Gabriel muttered in unison as they climbed out of bed and pulled their clothing back on. Sam made sure he waited until Gabriel had changed his shirt before he opened the door and walked out into the living room.

“What’s up Dean?” He asked, accepting the beer offered to him.

“You guys wanna come out with Cas and I?” Dean asked, surprising them both with his answer. “I got a text from the chick who was the reason those assholes jumped me last night. She wants to buy us beer until we forgive her.”

Gabriel and Sam shared a look one hopeful, one bored. “I’m kinda tired Dean.” Sam said finally, looking back to his brother, silently hoping he could get out of whatever Dean was planning.

Dean rolled his eyes at him, sitting down next to Cas. “Whatever princess. Look, there’s this bar just up the road that has karaoke on tonight. We figured we could take the task that Benny just dumped on you and get something to eat. Then meet up with Anna and her brother.”

“Woah woah woah, Dean. Karaoke?” Gabriel said, rocking on his heels with a large smile on his face. “I fucking love karaoke.” He said excitedly. He turned to look at Sam, amber eyes downcast in a puppy like expression. “You knew there was karaoke and didn’t tell me? What gives Samsquatch?”

Sam rolled his eyes, defeated and scowled at Gabriel. “Really Gabe? I’m terribly disappointed in you.” He shook his head sadly.

Castiel laughed lazily from his spot on the sofa, throwing one leg over Dean’s lap. “You’re never going to win this one Sam. Forget it.”

Sam threw himself down into the armchair, and sighed. Gabriel perched himself on the arm next to him and leaned over. “Come on you party pooper.” He yelped when Sam dragged him down onto his lap. “Hey watch it. Don’t spill my beer you jackass.” Sam’s hand tightened on his leg as he rolled his eyes.

Castiel gave his cousin a look of surprise at the easy way he interacted with Sam and received a wink in return. “I looked up the karaoke bar. The food looks amazing. Even better that it’s Dean’s shout.” He laughed, poking Dean in the shoulder.

“Yeah yeah. Just don’t tell the world. People think I’m an asshole for a reason.” Dean mumbled, embarrassed. “Karaoke starts at 9. We’ve got half an hour.”

“But I need to do my hair and makeup Dean, you can’t expect me to be ready so fast.” Sam complained, still not entirely convinced he wanted to go.

Gabriel squirmed teasingly in his lap, sending the blood rushing straight to Sam’s groin. “If we do this, I want to do it in style. There’s a lot of points riding on this task. I want them all.” He said to their little team. “Suits?” He asked.

“Oh yeah.” Dean answered, imagining what Cas looked like all dressed up and liking where it led him. “Definitely suits.”

“Aaaaand now I’m wearing a penguin suit.” Sam muttered, not really as bothered as he was making out he was, but there was no way he was going to let Dean get away with getting him out of bed so easily. And Gabriel was acting far too smug for his liking. He sipped his beer thinking it would be nice to just hang out for a while and caved in. “Fine,” He said, dislodging Gabriel as he stood up. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Wait.” Dean called out as he started to walk away. “We need to choose a song from the list.”

“There were only 2 choices Dean. Pick one.” He answered with a shrug. “Though if you’re taking a vote. Wagon Wheel.”

“Oh yes. I vote that too.” Gabriel added his vote to the tally.

Dean looked at him curiously. “You don’t even know what the other one is.”

“Don’t care. Wagon Wheel.” Gabriel said dismissively, drinking his beer. “Bob Dylan man. Come on.”

“Cas?” Dean prompted his lover, who sighed happily and rolled his eyes.

“Same. It’s one of our road tripping songs. Though I prefer the newer version.” Cas answered, getting up to go and find his suit.

“Well, that was easy. Out the door in 20 guys.” Dean ordered with a warning glare at both of them, and disappeared after Castiel.

Sam shook his head and marched back into this bedroom with Gabriel trailing after him. He grabbed his grey suit of the closet and threw it on the bed. He stripped off his clothes, ignoring the look on Gabriel’s face, knowing that if he looked at him there was no way they would be leaving the room for the rest of the day. He grabbed the bottle of cologne he kept there, figuring he might as well smell nice and set about getting ready, ignoring the strangled sounds coming from Gabriel, who was openly ogling him as he dressed himself.

“Take a picture Gabriel it will last longer.” He finally quipped at him childishly, just as he heard Gabriel’s phone snap a photo.

“Too late. Fuck you look good Sam.” Gabriel growled suddenly into Sam’s spine, pressing up against his back and grabbing onto his hips. “If I wasn’t so excited about karaoke I’d be throwing you back onto the bed right about now.”

“Fuck. Damn it Gabriel.” Sam said, his knees suddenly weak at the feeling of his lover pressed up behind him so intimately. He shook his head lamely, eyes raised to the ceiling helplessly. “I’ve unleashed a monster. A dominating, sex crazed monster.” He pushed backwards into Gabriel and was rewarded with the feeling of the other man’s thick erection pressed firmly against his ass. “Oh God. Let’s, let’s get out of here before I ask you too.”

Gabriel chuckled wickedly, holding onto Sam for a moment longer before he let go, only to have Sam stay close and turn around to face him, one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face. “Two can play at that game babe.” He said darkly, intuition telling him he was right. He raised a hand and stroked it down Gabriel’s face slowly, watching with increasing confidence as Gabriel’s expression softened and he leaned into Sam’s hand. He brought their lips together gently, filing the information away for later use.

“Touche, Samshine.” Gabriel said softly against Sam’s lips, almost tempted to give the night out a miss. He grinned suddenly. “Let’s get out of here before one of us gets bent over on the bed.”

Sam moaned at the thought of Gabriel bending him over something, anything and filling him up and cursed again. “Do we have to go out?” He complained, nipping Gabriel on the neck lightly.

“Oh hells yeah. I’m not missing the karaoke. Or getting the chance to check out your ass in that killer suit. Come on Samsquatch, let’s go on a date.” Gabriel gave Sam’s ass a squeeze before he pulled away and walked out the bedroom door, laughing as it closed behind him.  

~~~

Gabriel looked over at Sam as they drove to the bar, unable to keep his eyes off the man beside him who had said he was his. Sam looked fucking hot in his grey suit, top button on his shirt undone. His hair was still slightly disheveled from earlier, but Gabriel thought it just added to the appeal.

“What’s on your mind Samshine?” He asked softly.

“Uhh, nothing Gabe.” Sam answered quickly, which let Gabriel know he was lying.

“Now why don’t I believe you Sam?” He asked, leaning over to whisper in his ear. “Want to know what I’m thinking about?” Sam swallowed and took his eyes off the road briefly.

“No. I’m pretty sure whatever you are thinking about will end up with us in a ditch with a ruined car.” Sam answered flippantly, thinking that he’d never seen anything as perfect as Gabriel in his black suit and blood red shirt. It was the tie, he decided. Definitely the tie. He wondered if Gabriel would be interested in using it to -.

“Woah Sam, on the road please.” Gabriel said in a slight panic as the car swerved. He looked at Sam, concern crossing his face. “Everything ok?”

“Yeah Gabe. I was just lost in thought.” Sam reached over to take Gabriel’s hand, pulling it into his lap. He soon realized his mistake when Gabriel’s fingers started to caress his leg, not quite touching his dick. But so close. “Jesus Gabriel. Stop it you fiend. We’re nearly there.” Sam tried to slap his hand away.

“Then I’d better tell you what I was thinking about before it’s too late.” Gabriel said cheekily, his hand finding it’s target through the fabric and stroking lightly. “I was thinking about how much I wanted to put my mouth on you. Would you like that, Sam?”

Sam groaned and pulled the car into the parking lot next to the bar and killed the engine. He threw his head back onto the headrest and rubbed his eyes. He was going to die. Gabriel was going to kill him, murder him with all of the teasing and foreplay that was happening between them. He realized with a start that Gabriel still had his hand on his dick and his traitorous body was acting without him consciously there to enjoy it. “Gabriel p-please.” He begged. “We don’t have time. You can kill me with temptation all you want later, but can we please get into the bar without me having a fucking giant boner?”

“Look at me Sam.” Gabriel commanded softly, withdrawing his hand and turning Sam’s face to look at him when he refused to. “My intent was to drive you a little crazy, not piss you off. What gives?”

Sam leaned forward to kiss him, catching Gabriel’s mouth and pushing his lips open with his tongue before diving into the warmth of his mouth, seeking solace. “Nothing.” He started to say, but Gabriel’s raised eyebrow made him reconsider. “Fine. I really wanted to just be with you tonight, ok? I know it’s selfish, I know we have shit to do, but I wanted to steal you for a while. Also,” He twisted his body to face Gabriel. “Yeah, I really want your fucking mouth on me. I don’t think I’ve ever wanted anything more than I want that. Except maybe letting you have your way with me.” He breathed into Gabriel’s mouth, smirking as he watched his pupils expand rapidly and his breathing start to increase. He noticed the Impala pulling up beside them and sighed, turning to open the door.

Gabriel caught his head and pulled him in for a quick filthy kiss before they got out and joined the other two in the parking lot.  

Chapter Text

After some discussion they decided to sing Wagon Wheel and Gabe insisted that they dress up and do it in style. Dean found that he was right, Castiel looked damned good and he couldn’t take his eyes off him in his suit, and from the way Cas kept touching him, he could tell that Cas liked what he saw as well.

“I really love that suit on you Cas.” Dean murmured into his ear while they waited for Sam and Gabriel in the living room, letting his lips brush against the sensitive skin. “Though I’d like it more on my bedroom floor.”

“Smooth, Romeo.” Gabriel snorted, digging his elbow into Dean’s ribs as he walked past them on his way to a seat. “Maybe Cas should go in my car so we know for sure you guys will actually make it to the bar.”

Castiel glared at his cousin. “We’ll be there. Will you ?” He challenged. He was rewarded by Gabriel just laughing at him wholeheartedly. His cousin was moving forward in leaps and bounds it seemed.

“Oh yes, I can’t promise what state we’ll be in, but we’ll be there.” He winked at them saucily, still laughing when Sam came out of his room with a scowl on his face.

Dean pulled the Impala to the spot immediately next to where Sam and Gabriel were only just getting out of Gabe’s car, smirking a little at the flushed look on his brother’s face. “You guys good?”

“Yep!” Gabriel sang brightly. “I’m stellar. Let’s go get this done eh Samoose?”

Sam followed behind, still grumbling. “Yeah, let’s go sing in front of people. My favorite past-time.”

Gabriel leaned over to Castiel and stage whispered loudly “I don’t think Sam wants to do karaoke. The big baby.”

“Knock it off, Gabe.” Sam sulked, squawking indignantly when Gabriel prodded him in the ribs. He rubbed his side and glared irritably at his lover.

Dean rolled his eyes. “Come on Sam, suck it up. Could be worse, we could have had to wear princess gowns or something.” He added with a chuckle.

Castiel, who had remained quiet throughout the exchange suddenly spoke up. “Pink would suit his mood right now.” He had a slight grin on his face, that broadened when Dean and Gabriel howled with laughter. Sam however, continued to scowl.

After a bit of discussion, they opted to have dinner first and wait for the crowd to thicken a bit. They settled down at a booth to one side of the stage but Dean kept an eye on the door in case Anna arrived early. He hoped he remembered what she looked like. Blue eyes and red hair weren’t a common combination though, so he figured he’d be fine. “What does everyone want?” He asked, leaning sideways to read the menu in Cas’ hands, putting his hand on Cas’ thigh under the table, stroking it lightly. He smirked when he felt Cas’ leg stiffen under his fingers.

“Mmmm. A cheeseburger.” Dean wasn’t surprised with Castiel’s choice, already expecting that would be his order.

“Same.” He looked over to Sam and Gabriel, waiting for their decisions. They ignored Dean for a minute as they concentrated on the menu between them.

Sam made his decision first. “I’ll have the chicken schnitzel.” He stated. ‘With veggies.” He added, prompting Dean to snort derisively. He ignored his brother and looked at Gabriel, who was spending far too much time looking at the choices, an odd expression on his face. Sam slipped his hand down between them on the seat and rubbed the outside of Gabriel’s thigh encouragingly.

“Gabe?” Dean pressed. “I’m going to go order.”

“Uh. Yeah sorry Dean-o, I’ll have the…” He trailed off, reading down the menu quickly and finding the cheapest thing out of habit. “BLT.”

“Gabe.” Castiel leaned across the table on a hunch to put a hand on his cousin’s. “What do you actually want? ”

Gabriel glared at Castiel, angry with him for interfering with his choices. “I want that fucking amazing sounding Peri-Peri chicken pizza OK? But I can’t eat it by myself, and it would just be wasted. You know how I feel about wasting food.” He answered, sulking a little.

Dean threw back his head and laughed heartily at him. “Jesus Gabriel, have you seen the giant sitting next to you? You’re getting the pizza.” He stated firmly with a nod.

“But…” Gabe started to protest, knowing that Sam had already decided on the chicken.

“It’s alright Gabe.” Sam interrupted, pressing their thighs together and stroking his leg. “The pizza does sound awesome. We can share it. Though get me a salad too Dean, instead of the schnitzel.”

“See? Too easy.” Dean said kindly as he rose from the table to go to the bar to order, Castiel trailing along behind him to help him carry their drinks back.

“Thanks for this Dean.” Cas mumbled as they waited for their turn. He put his hand on Dean’s back, seeking some tactile contact.

“No biggie Cas.” Dean waved him off before deciding to make a joke out of it. “Besides, you can pay me back another way later if you really want to.” He looked Cas over with a leer, prompting him to suddenly blush and now wasn’t that interesting?

“What were you thinking just now Cas?” Dean whispered, leaning down to catch Cas’ eye.

“Nothing, Dean.” Cas murmured, ducking his head to avoid Dean’s glare.

“Uh huh.” Dean said with a smirk. “Liar.”

“It’s your turn to order Dean.” Cas prompted, relieved that he could escape from divulging his thoughts to his partner.

Dean ordered their food and collected the number for their table, holding it under his arm as he grabbed two of the beers while Cas grabbed the others. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten your blush, Cas.” He murmured as he sat back down, setting the beers in front of Sam and Gabriel and accepting his own off Cas before entwining their hands in Dean’s lap.

“So tell me about this chick Dean.” Sam prompted as Dean sat back down again. “And why she was apparently responsible for the brawl we ended up in last night.” He caught Gabriel’s frown out of the corner of his eye and waited for his brother to answer. The pain in his arm hadn’t really bothered him so far, but the memory of the fight had it sending a shot of pain down from his elbow to his wrist. He absently rolled his arm to ease it off, and felt Gabriel take hold of it and start prodding around at the muscles.

Dean shrugged, watching Gabriel manhandle his brother for a minute before he answered. “Some guys were harassing her. I pretended to be her boyfriend while we waited for her brother to come get her.” He took a large swig of his beer. “They disappeared while we were waiting for him. You know the rest.”

Castiel breathed in sharply at Dean’s confession but remained silent because he’d already heard the story. It still hurt to think about everything that had happened, but he was more than happy to set it aside and move on. Once they had the real reason for their troubles dealt with, of course. He looked across the table and caught his cousins eye, recognizing the set look on his features. Castiel groaned, not looking forward to whatever Gabriel was about to say.

“Right.” Gabriel drawled, having finished his examination of Sam’s arm, he dropped it into his lap and covered Sam’s hand with his. “So even though you were being a jerk to my cousin you were out there being nice to other people?” He tilted his head and looked at Dean, who had started to turn red at the reminder of how badly he had acted. “That’s commendable Dean. But.” He held up a finger. “Tell us, since we were all present for you finding out it was all a pile of bullshit, tell us what you are going to do about that slut who tried to ruin your life? And what you have with Cas.”

All eyes turned to Dean and he shrank a little under the combined glares of the other men at the table. “Uh.” He scratched the back of his neck, thinking. “Honestly guys. I have no idea. I guess I’ll start with telling her to fuck off and go from there.”

Sam snorted into his beer and sipped it before commenting. “Did you give her money or anything? You could have her charged, it’s a felony if she got anything from you for the baby. That audio recording is more than enough to have her convicted. After we’ve gotten rid of the bits nobody else needs to hear that is.” He mumbled uncomfortably.

“She didn’t but damn, Sammy you could have nailed her ass to the wall.” Dean chuckled without thinking.

Sam coughed into his beer. “Fuck. Gross. Jesus Dean, eww. Don’t even joke about that.” Sam shook his head, shuddering, desperately trying not to think about it. He blinked his eyes rapidly, glaring at his brother and preparing to argue when he suddenly felt his hand being pressed into something firm in Gabriel’s lap. It absolutely distracted him from Dean’s comment and he started moving his fingers slowly to let Gabriel know his tactic had worked. He raised an eyebrow and smirked into his beer when he felt Gabriel thrust slightly into his hand. “I’ll leave that to you Dean.”

“Hey now.” Dean protested. “Ow, hey Cas. Stop that.” He growled at Cas when he felt his hand tighten possessively and a little painfully on his leg. “OK fine, no more joking about the whore of Babylon.” He grumbled a bit more to himself as he got up to go and get another round of beers, wanting to escape for a few moments from inquisition behind him.

Their food was delivered at the same time the Dean returned to the table, awkwardly balancing four beers. “Man those cheeseburgers smell awesome.” He exclaimed happily, allowing Cas to grab the beers and place them safely on the table.

“Sammich, this pizza looks godly. Thank you.” Gabriel didn’t waste any time, snagging a piece of pizza and taking a huge bite. “Mmmph.” He moaned around the bite. “So good.”

“That good huh Gabriel?” Sam asked him, thinking about similar noises Gabriel had made, but for completely different reasons. He picked up a piece and took a bite and understood. “Oooh good choice.”

“You guys really need to get it on already.” Dean snickered, watching as Sam and Gabe eyed each other hungrily over their pizza.

“Do we really need the porn sound effects guys?” Cas muttered before taking a bite of his burger, suddenly unable to avoid letting out a moan of his own. “Shit.” He muttered around his food. “So good.”

“Jesus Christ guys, have a little decorum.” Dean snapped, swallowing his own mouthful of burger, secretly pleased at how much they liked the food here. He definitely did not moan.

Their food was devoured pretty quickly and with little conversation, Dean was perversely pleased that, while Sam barely touched his salad, he and Gabe had managed to down the entire pizza.

“So for the karaoke, it’s open mic.” Dean explained over beers after they were done eating. “We can put our name down and choose the song. There shouldn’t really be a big line for it either.” He looked around at the gathering crowd. “Maybe.”

“I’ll go put our names down now then.” Gabriel was practically vibrating with excitement as he scurried off to mark their place in the queue. Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head at how enthusiastic Gabriel was, watching him fondly as he flicked through the computer screen over at the DJ counter.

“The team want updates.” Cas said to Dean while they waited to Gabriel to return.

“Updates of what?” Dean asked him blankly. “We haven’t done anything yet.”

Cas chuckled at his clueless expression. “They want photos. All night. They’ve already seen our dinner. So smile Dean.” He positioned his phone and snapped a few selfies, laughing when Dean licked his face in one of them.

“Dare you to send that one to them.” Dean challenged him cheekily. Cas just raised an eyebrow at him and stuck his tongue out as he pressed a few buttons on his phone. He looked up as Sam started to laugh, and saw that he had his phone in his hand and was looking at the group chat. He took a photo of Sam laughing at his phone and uploaded that too.

“Dammit Cas!” Sam chuckled as the new picture loaded, moving over to allow Gabriel to sit next to him when he made his way back to the table.

“What’d Cas do?” He asked as he sat. Sam just shoved his phone in Gabe’s face in place of answering. “Oh nice, send me that one Cas.”

“Save it from the group chat you lazy bastard.” Sam said to him with a laugh. He put his arm around Gabriel and pulled him against him, slouching a little in the corner of the seat. He snapped a selfie of his own of the two of them to add to the group chat.

“But I’m lazy and Cas has his phone out already.” Gabriel complained with a chuckle. “Thanks Cas.” He said as his phone chimed in his pocket. “I want that one too Samsquatch.” His phone chimed again and he grinned cheekily up at Sam, who rolled his eyes and downed his beer.
They watched a few people get called on stage for their songs, a young couple badly attempting to serenade each other and a group of drunk young girls out celebrating someone’s 21st birthday.

“Team Free Will - Wagon Wheel.” The DJ suddenly announced over the growing noise in the bar. “Give them some love folks, they’re here for a charity challenge. Get up there guys. Kick it to the kerb.”

“Oh! That’s us!” Gabriel clutched at Sam’s sleeve, excitedly tugging the taller man out of his seat behind him. “Come on Sam!”

“That was fast.” Dean said, surprised.

“The DJ has seen my charity work on TV.” Gabriel explained, ignoring Sam’s side-eye with a eye-roll of his own. “He bumped us up, he’s also going to film it for us.”

“Awesome.” Dean said cheerily, clapping him on the back. “You’re useful after all.”

They made their way to the stage as a group, Sam dragging his feet moodily even as Gabriel dragged him along bodily. Dean and Castiel trailed behind, laughing between themselves at Sam’s apparent reluctance.

They arranged themselves on the stage by height. Sam stood beside Dean, who stood beside Castiel with Gabriel on the far right. They each were handed a microphone and Sam shot the DJ a nervous thumbs up.

The screen lit up with the lyrics and Gabriel, Castiel and Dean started them off before the music started, voices blending together automatically in harmony and shooting a nervous look between themselves when Sam missed the cue and didn’t sing it with them. He was supposed to take the first verse and if he froze up they’d be in trouble. They were busy looking worriedly at each other, so they missed the smirk on Sam’s face as he took a breath to start singing.

“Headin’ down south to the land of the pine, thumbin’ my way into North Carolina,” Sam sang the first line of the song, his voice deep and perfectly in tune. He wiggled his eyebrows at the identical looks of shock on the three faces next to him and grinned broadly, happy that he’d managed to surprise them all. He didn’t even mind the thump in the arm Dean gave him as he continued to sing.

By the time the chorus came around again they had loosened up a little and were having fun. Sam and Gabriel were dancing a little, smiling and shooting each other glances around where Dean and Castiel were standing too close to each other and sharing a microphone, Dean’s held loosely by his side.

Gabriel took the second verse and stared out at the crowd as he sang, he frowned as he thought he recognized a woman glaring up at them but she’d turned away before he could place the face so he shrugged inwardly and continued his verse. As he reached the end of the verse he caught Sam’s eye and, even with Cas and Dean between them, Gabriel still felt like he was singing right to him. The lyrics didn’t match up entirely to what he had to say but from the puppy dog look on Sam’s face he got the message. “Lost my money playin' poker so I had to up and leave, but I ain't turning back to living that old life no more.”

This time when they sang the chorus they danced around the stage together and when Castiel stepped up to sing the start of the third verse Gabriel was standing by Sam’s side, close enough that their shoulders brushed when they swayed to the music, but not openly invading the others personal space, like Castiel and Dean were doing. When Dean took over the last half of the verse he shot a meaningful look to Cas as he changed a single word in the lyrics and sang it directly to his boyfriend, grinning wickedly when Cas blushed. “ I hear my baby calling my name and I know that he's the only one. ”

They were singing the chorus one last time when Dean caught sight of a flash of red hair and suddenly Anna was standing in front of the stage grinning up at him, with Michael and another young man at her side. Castiel made a strangled sound beside him and Gabriel went completely still. Sam kept singing for a new beats until he realized everyone else had stopped and trailed off uncertainly. He looked at Gabriel in confusion, and seeing the look of absolute horror on his face, stepped closer to him and followed his line of sight.

“Anna!” Dean stopped singing, they’d definitely gotten enough for the video at this stage anyway. He cheerfully stepped off the stage and pulled her into a hug before turning around to face the others, his arm still slung casually across her shoulders. “Guy’s this is-”

“Anna?” Castiel dropped his mic onto the stage, barely flinching when it hit the ground with a screech as he stared at the redhead in amazement.

“Anna.” Gabriel echoed, completely composed, voice steely and face completely devoid of emotion.

“Anna?” Sam’s voice trailed off in confusion, completely at a loss as to what the hell was going on.

“Dean!” Everybody jumped and whirled to face the new voice, Dean stepped away from Anna quickly, attempting to put some space between them when they came face to face with Lisa, who was standing in front of them with a cheap cider in her hand, dressed in a too tight dress with a low neckline. It was obvious she was going for a sophisticated sexy look. And to the group of surprised strangers standing in front of her, obvious that she fell far short of her intended mark.

“Lisa.” Dean snapped, running a hand over his face wearily. Sam and Gabriel moved to flank Castiel, who had started forward with a look of fury on his normally placid face when Lisa said Dean’s name. Sam grabbed his arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze before letting it go again and focusing on the scene unfolding before them.

“So this is the whore.” Lisa muttered almost to herself as she peered at Anna thoughtfully.

“Excuse me?” Anna, Michael and the younger blond man chorused angrily.

“I see you’re drinking.” Dean said lowly, drawing Lisa’s attention back to himself. “Again.”

“Don’t be silly Dean, this is cider. It’s barely alcoholic.” Lisa waved her drink at him dismissively, turning back to Anna with a snide expression on her face. “So homewrecker, tell me, how many other relationships have you come here to ruin this evening? My boyfriend not enough for you?”

Gabriel and Sam grabbed a hold of Castiel’s arms again, tugging him backwards, Gabe snapping a hand around his cousin’s mouth as he surged forward again, struggling against the hands that held him in a firm grasp. He only stopped struggling slightly when Dean shot him a look.

“I can only see one person trying to ruin relationships here Lisa. And it’s not Anna.” Dean snapped, stalking forward and wrenching the drink from her grip. “And do you really think you should be drinking in your condition?” He asked her in a deadly tone before turning away and moving to put Sam and everyone else between them. “Isn’t that bad for the baby?" He hissed loud enough for her to hear as he left. "Oh wait. There is no baby. There never was.”

“Dean wait!” Lisa stepped forward, reaching a hand towards him.

“Don’t you dare.” Castiel snapped, anger fueling one last ditch effort to get himself away from the restraining hands of Sam and his cousin. “Don’t you dare speak to him. How fucking dare you? How dare you come waltzing into his life, trying to get him to get back into bed with you after you’d already broken up?” Castiel was livid, stalking over to where she stood, trying to stare him down. “How fucking dare you fabricate a pregnancy to hold onto something that wasn’t even yours.”

“I don’t think it’s any of your business.” Lisa quipped derisively, even as she took a step back from where Castiel stood, radiating anger from every pore.

“It’s my fucking business alright.” He hissed, stepping back into her personal space. “I’m the one who had to see him grieve for a baby that never fucking existed. I’m the one picking up the pieces after what you did to him. You’re disgusting. You’re nothing but a whore.”

“Wow Cas, tell us how you really feel.” Sam quipped to break the tension as Castiel just glowered down at Lisa where she stood. Castiel sniffed and spun on his heel, stalking off to find where Dean had gone.

Castiel wandered through the people milling around the bar, looking for Dean. He was momentarily worried that he may have left but was immediately soothed when he heard Dean’s voice calling his name from where he sat on a stool by the bar.

“Dean.” He murmured, leaning down to rest his chin in Dean’s hair as he hugged him gently, before sitting down on the empty stool beside him. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah Cas.” Dean rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I mean, well no. I’m not alright, I’m so angry with her and I’m sad and relieved all at once and it’s just a confusing mess but…” He sighed and reached for Castiel’s hand. “I’ll be alright Cas." He squeezed Cas' hand slightly. "We’ll be alright.”

~

“So you’re the ‘pregnant’ ex.” Anna looked Lisa over with derision. “I’ve heard of you. He dodged a bullet here, that’s for sure.”

“Oh fuck off, you redheaded slu-aaahhh” Lisa’s slur was interrupted by her sudden shriek when an entire tray of drinks was dumped down her back. “What the fuck?”

“Oops.” The younger man who’d come with Anna and Michael said innocently. “I’m so clumsy.”

Gabriel burst into sudden laughter as he watched Lisa stalk away into the crowd, muttering obscenely. “Oh my god Samandriel. Get over here.” He opened his arms to engulf the younger man in a tight hug. “Holy shit that was awesome.”

Sam was standing near Gabriel, a look of utter confusion on his face as he watched his lover pull the younger stranger in for a hug. He couldn’t help the flare of jealousy that surged up inside him but he chose to remain silent until Gabriel explained himself. He didn’t have to wait long.

“Sam, Sam this little fire-fox is my cousin Samandriel.” He said, smiling warmly at Sam. “I haven’t seen him since he was a kid.”

Samandriel squirmed when Gabriel scruffed his hair. “It’s just Alfie. Just call me Alfie.” He muttered. “Nice to meet you Sam.” He held out a hand for Sam to shake.

“Cousin?” Sam asked, taking the young man’s hand. He turned to Anna and the other man, who had remained silent. “And you are Anna, from the bar?” He asked her in confusion. “Are you with Sama-, uh, Alfie?”

“Yes, Sam. “Anna smiled at him. “It’s nice to meet you. Alfie is my younger brother. And there's Michael, my eldest brother.” She explained. “We are Castiel’s siblings. And Gabriel’s cousins.”

“Wait.” He asked, dumbfounded. “Anna from the bar fight is also Anna the cousin?” He turned to Gabriel, who was nodding at Sam and understanding dawned in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

“Bar fight!?” Anna exclaimed, eyes going wide. “What bar fight?”

Gabriel snorted out a laugh. “Dean got jumped as we arrived to pick him up last night by some guys who were apparently harassing you? We jumped in and well.” Gabriel scruffed a hand up into his hair. “It got ugly.”

“You’re all OK though?!” Anna’s eyes were wide and she suddenly rushed forward to check Gabriel over for injuries.

“We’re fine, no long term damage.” Gabriel promised, trying not to flinch. “Now come on, I need to get my camera back from the DJ and it appears we are all in need of new drinks.” He winked at Alfie cheekily.

“Where did Michael go?” Sam asked suddenly, looking around.

“Probably to find Castiel.” Anna suggested, standing on her toes to peer around at the crowd.

Sam chuckled at her struggling to see above everyone and caught a glimpse of Michael off to the side near where their table was, helping Castiel and Dean to carry drinks. “Yeah he’s with Cas and Dean.” He confirmed. “Let’s grab Gabe’s camera and go sit back down, I could use a drink or ten after all that excitement.”

~

Dean and Michael held onto the drink trays while Castiel moved a couple of tables together and brought enough chairs for everyone to sit on, they’d just gotten settled in their seats when they were joined by the rest of their group.

“Hey there Mike.” Gabriel drawled. “Long time no see.”

“Gabriel.” Michael inclined his head. “You have no idea how glad I am to see you. You as well Castiel.”

“Oh really?” Gabriel snapped sarcastically, his temper flaring rapidly to the surface. “Where the hell were you for me when I needed you? Or when Cas needed you, for that matter?”

Castiel looked up from where he’d been leaning against Dean’s shoulder when he heard his name, shooting a disapproving look at his cousin before looking to his siblings, interested in their answer anyway.

“We didn’t know, Cas.” Anna said apologetically. “I mean, we knew what Gabriel’s parents did but we didn’t realize how bad it was and then Gabriel was just.. gone… we thought you just left too, with Gabe, of your own accord. It wasn’t until Alfie…” She choked back a sob and worked to compose herself, her blue eyes shining with unshed tears.

“When Father tried to send Alfie to one of those treatment centers for being gay under the suggestion from your parents Anna called me and I went to collect them both, that was around 5 years ago now.” Michael continued calmly.

“We looked for you Cas.” Alfie said sadly. “A few years ago we heard you were with Gabriel and we looked everywhere, but every time we thought we were close you’d moved on again…”

“Which we totally understand.” Anna spoke up, raising her eyebrows to look at them significantly, the haunted look in her eyes flicking from Castiel to Gabriel rapidly. “Considering.”

“Anna, no, don’t!” Michael snapped and Anna lowered her head guiltily.

Gabriel looked between his cousins suspiciously with dread creeping up his spine. “What do you mean ‘considering’?”

Michael sighed and pinched his nose in an action that was vaguely familiar. “When we first found you… it wasn’t that long after you’d returned to Cas. I had a friend in the DA office connected to missing persons looking for you and he let me know you’d turned up, though he was vague on the circumstances of what you’d been through.” He scrubbed at his hair, messing it up in a way that suddenly made him look more like Castiel. “And, well when the media caught a hold of it, we put two and two together, but we couldn’t find you. And nobody would tell us where you were.”

Gabriel looked stricken, his temper gone just as rapidly as it had risen and Cas moved to comfort him, stopping when he saw that Sam was already there, and was rubbing a hand down Gabriel’s back. He smiled sadly at Sam and went back to leaning against Dean instead.

“I’m so sorry Gabriel.” Michael’s usually stoic demeanor shook and he looked to be on the verge of tears. “I failed you, and I failed Castiel. I failed you both so much.”

“Hey…” Cas interrupted him gently. “You couldn’t have known. And you saved Alfie.” He reached across the table to ruffle his youngest sibling’s hair lightly.

“Wait, you guys have been trying to find them for 5 years?” Sam asked, a sudden suspicion springing to mind. “You didn’t happen to hear Gabe on the radio the other day did you? And call them?” He asked carefully, keeping the pressure on Gabriel’s back when he stiffened under his hand.

“Uh, yes. We did.” Michael answered in a puzzled tone. “Hang on. You’re the Sam that was on the radio with him. And Dean is the one having the calendar vomit party.” Michael shook his head, amazed at the coincidence.

Sam nodded earnestly before he laughed. “Yes. Yes he is. You guys should come. If you’re still in town, that is.” He offered without thinking. He leaned into Gabriel, stroked his back and muttered, “I’m so glad we sorted out who it was that contacted the radio station. At least we know, and you don’t have to worry about it anymore.” He said it quietly, hoping nobody would hear him. Castiel, however, had been watching his cousin and recognized the flare of his nostrils and the look in his eyes.

“Gabriel, what happened. I can see something happened.” He pressed, suddenly feeling awful that he’d missed something. The whole table turned their attention to them, creating an awkward silence.

Gabriel shot an angry look at Sam, who returned it with a mild one of his own and a raised eyebrow before he answered. “The usual Cas. What do you think?”

Castiel’s face fell. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you Gabriel. Are... are you OK?”  

“I wasn’t. But I am now.” Gabriel sighed, putting his hand on Sam’s leg and giving it a gentle squeeze.

Castiel stared questioningly at Sam for a minute before Sam gave him a small nod reassuring him that he had taken care of Gabriel earlier. Castiel sighed to himself, finding it hard to accept that he wasn’t solely responsible for making sure his cousin was alright anymore, but at the same time overjoyed that he had found someone like Sam, who seemed more than willing to look out for him.

“So.” Anna started, watching Dean carefully. “Lisa…” She trailed off with an awkward cough.

“Yeah, she tricked me.” Dean sighed, finishing his beer. “It’s good though I guess, at least I’m not stuck with her in my life forever.”

Anna nodded in understanding and reached a hand across the table to rest on top of Dean’s. “I’m sorry you were hurt, both by her lies and for defending me last night.”

“What?” Michael interrupted. “What do you mean ‘last night’? He was fine when we left.” He turned to Dean and looked closer and, seeing the dark shading of a bruise on his face, he paled. “You were fine when we left.” He repeated.

Dean cleared his throat slightly and extracted his hand from Anna’s. “After you guys left, Uriel and Zach caught me on my way to meet up with Gabe and Sam around the corner, it was quite messy, considering I’d had a lot to drink and wasn’t able to really react in time. I’m fine though.” He grinned “Your cousin in quite the hellhound in a fight. I’m still in shock that such a short-ass can land such hard hits.” He looked over at Gabriel and winked, earning himself an eye-roll in the process.

“Uriel!” Michael fumed. “I knew he was bad news but this is crossing the line. You can have him charged you know. I can see to it.”

“Michael works with the police, he’s a forensic investigator.” Samandriel supplied helpfully. “He knows people.”

“It’s alright man.” Dean mumbled, standing. “Gabe and Sammy already defended me, if I see him again and he start’s shit though, I’ll look into a restraining order. Actually” he turned to Sam. “I’ll look into a restraining order for Lisa as well. Now, time for another drink, anyone else?” Castiel stood up to go with him and they wandered over to the bar together after getting orders from the others.

Michael watched them go before leaning to whisper to his sister. “You should probably stop hitting on your brother’s boyfriend.” At Anna’s surprised look he raised his eyebrows and gestured with his head towards the bar.

“Oh!” She exclaimed in understanding, a blush staining her cheeks. “Of course.” She nodded at Michael and watched Dean and Castiel interacting a little longer, a soft smile on her face as she saw Cas wrap his arm around Dean’s waist and Dean lean down to press his lips to her brother’s temple.

“He looks so happy.” Alfie commented with a sigh, following his sibling’s line of sight.

“They both do.” Michael murmured as he turned back to face the table, catching sight of Gabriel and Sam with their heads together, whispering.

Chapter Text

The evening flew by, Dean found himself smiling to himself a lot a he watched his boyfriend interact with his estranged family. Castiel was practically glowing with happiness as he listened to his siblings telling him what they’d done with their lives, even around their five year long search for the missing pieces of their family having them suddenly taking time off school to chase leads.

“Michael made sure we never fell behind though.” Samandriel smiled over at his oldest sibling as he explained. “Sometimes he’d leave me with Anna and just go alone if it was too close to exams or if I was at risk of falling behind.”

“When did you graduate?” Castiel asked his youngest brother, his pride lighting up his face as he grinned over the soda Samandriel was trying to hide behind.

“Last year.” He murmured. “I took a year off to help look for you before going to college.”

“Wait.” Dean interrupted, raising a hand and peering at the youngest Novak sibling. “You’re only 19?” He snorted as everyone around him nodded, ducking their heads.

“Michael’s job has it’s perks.” Anna snickered. “Such as a real ID, that happens to have the wrong year on it.”

“I’m still not allowed to drink more than a beer here or there though.” Samandriel pouted.

“That’s alright Alfie.” Dean bumped shoulders with the teenager in commiseration. “I’m switching to soda now too. Someone has to drive my Baby home safely.”

Sam opted to drive as well, allowing Gabriel and Castiel to have another round with their siblings before everyone decided it was getting late.

Dean and Cas left first, throwing an offer for dinner tomorrow to the Novaks before they did, trusting Sam and Gabe to fill them in on the details.

Dean led Cas to the Impala, chuckling under his breath at the way his tipsy boyfriend couldn’t seem to keep his hands to himself, refusing to let Dean go around to the driver’s side of the car. “Cas, c’mon I have to drive.” He protested.

“No.” Cas muttered petulantly, his lips kissing their way up Dean’s neck, hands fisted in Dean’s suit jacket, holding him close.

“Cas” Dean whined. “The faster we get back, the faster I can get you naked.”

Cas growled low in his throat and rocked his hips forward into Dean’s. “Fine.” He hissed, forcing himself to let go. “Let’s go.”

Castiel was already seated with his seat belt fastened by the time Dean had walked around the car to his own door. “Impatient much, Cas?” He snickered as he settled into the driver’s seat, starting the car.

“You have no idea.” Cas growled, shooting Dean a look filled with promise and want. Dean swallowed thickly and looked away, working hard to keep his concentration on the road.

Castiel behaved himself on the drive back, if only because the one time his hands wandered Dean had swerved so violently into the next lane that if there had been anyone on the road with them they’d have slammed straight into them.

The second that Dean pulled into his parking spot and killed the engine Cas was on him, kneeling on the seat to crush their lips together. “Cas.” Dean groaned. “Come on, let’s take this upstairs.”

Castiel growled his displeasure when Dean pulled away, even though he knew they should go upstairs. “Hurry up then.” He grumbled, tugging Dean from the Impala.

Dean opted to take the rarely used lift up to his apartment, if only because it would get them upstairs faster, he realized after the doors slid closed that maybe they should have taken the stairs simply to keep them moving and distracted.

Cas’ face was flushed and his eyes were lust blown as he crowded Dean against the wall of the lift, pressing the number for Dean’s floor even as he slotted a knee between Dean’s and attacked his neck, gently scraping his teeth against Dean’s skin and leaving open mouthed kisses everywhere he could reach.

The lift stopped and Cas all but dragged Dean out as soon as the doors opened, he impatiently held himself back while Dean got the door to the apartment open, flipping them around and slamming Dean back into the apartment door the instant it closed behind him.

“Mine.” He growled, renewing the mark he’d sucked into Dean’s neck before his dinner with Lisa.

“Just yours Cas.” Dean agreed breathlessly, holding onto Castiel’s shoulders to keep himself upright as his knees trembled beneath him.

Castiel’s hands fumbled with Dean’s belt, undoing it and moving straight on to the button and fly of his suit pants. “Wanted to do this all night.” He mumbled, tugging Dean’s semi erect cock from his pants, eyes darkening with lust as it grew harder in his hand. Cas dropped to his knees and Dean groaned.

He couldn’t look away, watching eagerly as Cas leaned forward and his tongue darted out to taste. “Cas, we should go to my room.” He whispered brokenly. Castiel just hummed and leaned forward again, taking Dean into his mouth.

Watching himself disappear into Cas’ mouth sucked all the air from Dean’s lungs and he breathed in harshly. When Cas looked up and locked eyes with him it was all he could do to not come on the spot. “Oh damn. Cas.” He choked out when he felt the warm air from Cas’ nose as his cock hit the back of his throat.

Cas hummed in response and liquid fire burned through Dean’s veins. He reached a hand down to grip his boyfriend’s hair tightly, fighting the urge to thrust into the warm heat that surrounded him. Cas’ jaw fell slack and he lightly tugged at Dean’s hip to encourage the motion, moaning and reaching down to palm the bulge in his own pants as Dean fucked into his mouth.

Dean felt Cas swallow around him as his cock hit the back of his throat, and Dean pulled back out and began to thrust in earnest, Castiel’s encouraging moans pulling him closer and closer to the ledge he already danced along. When Cas crept a hand up into Dean’s boxers and squeezed gently on his sac he jolted, thrusting hard into his boyfriend’s mouth and coming with a loud groan and a shout of Cas’ name.

When Cas pulled off he didn’t swallow, and Dean watched with lidded eyes as he undid his own pants and tugged them down enough to release himself from where his erection pressed painfully into the cloth. Dean’s spent cock twitched in interest when Castiel spit Dean’s spunk into his hand and used it to slick the way for him to jerk himself off, eyes squeezed closed, head thrown back as his hand flew over his cock with a wet sound. With a muffled “Dean!” Castiel came, barely enough presence of mind to cup a hand underneath himself to catch the mess before it landed on Dean’s carpet.

“Holy shit.” Dean exclaimed. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.”

They pulled themselves off the floor and wandered into the kitchen, not bothering to do more than tug their pants up enough so they wouldn’t fall down as they walked. While Castiel washed his hands at the sink, Dean rummaged through the fridge for something to snack on.

“Gabriel never did make that pie.” He mumbled, peering into a tupperware container filled with lemon curd, swiping at it with his finger he licked it off and moaned. “Which is a crying shame, this stuff is amazing. C’mere Cas.”

Dean swiped more of the sweetly syrup onto his finger and raised it to Cas’ lips, eyes darkening with want as Cas’ tongue snaked out to taste. He whimpered when Cas sucked his finger into his mouth, licking and sucking to chase the flavor before pulling back with a slight pop . “Mmm. Maybe he’ll make it tomorrow.” He suggested. “We should leave it alone so there’s some left for pie.”

Dean nodded, eyes fixed on Castiel’s lips finally tearing himself away to return the container to the refrigerator and slam it closed.

“The things you do to me Cas.” He groaned as he stood. “C’mon. Let’s go to bed.”

~

Sam had Gabriel pressed up against the door of the passenger side of the red Mercedes in the parking lot outside the bar. Dean and Cas were long gone, and Michael, Anna and Alfie had left shortly after they had hashed out the details for dinner the following night. Gabriel had wanted to finish his beer and spend some time with Sam alone, and it hadn’t taken much convincing for him to get Sam to agree. Now he was paying the price for the deal he’d made, and despite being crushed up against the car with Sam’s tongue down his throat blocking his airways, he found he really didn’t care what the price was.

“Dammit Sam.” He groaned, breaking free of the kiss and trying to keep his voice quiet. “Get in the fucking car so we can get out of here.” He tried pushing Sam off him but all he got for his efforts was a chuckle and the return of Sam’s lips to his neck. His hands moved up to the tie around Gabriel’s neck and he started to loosen it to give himself better access.

“Can’t.” Sam breathed, panting heavily. “I want you here. I'm so fucking horny.” One hand crept down to the front of Gabriel’s pants and started to creep the zipper down, thrusting his fingers in and rubbing along Gabriel’s hard length when he’d created enough space to slip them inside.

Gabriel growled low in his throat and made his own play for Sam’s dick, grabbing onto it in a firm grasp and squeezing gently. “Get. In. The. Car. I’ve got plans for you Sam and they don’t involve you jacking me off in the parking lot.”

That brought Sam to his senses enough to pull away from Gabriel and walk around to get in the car. He’d barely done his seat belt up and started the car when Gabriel leaned over to him with a grin on his face. “That’s much better. Drive Sam.” He licked along Sam’s jawbone and started working on undoing Sam’s pants. He moaned triumphantly as he undid the belt and managed to free Sam’s erection in one motion, his fingers playing lightly over the tip, teasing Sam as he drove along.

“Fuck.” Sam groaned. “Gabriel. I mmmmph.” All rational thought left Sam’s mind completely when Gabriel whispered into his ear.

“I told you I wanted to put my mouth on you Sam.”

It was all Sam could do to keep the car on the road as Gabriel lowered his head into his lap. “Oh oh oh. Gabriel. I don’t think. I’ll crash. Mmmmph.” He whimpered, feeling the warm breath leaving Gabriel’s mouth caress him.

“Then find us somewhere nicer than that parking lot Sam. And don’t ruin my car.” Gabriel said breathily as he lowered his head. He stuck out his tongue and touched it to the tip of Sam’s dick, licking off beads of precum that had gathered there. Sam groaned and Gabriel felt the car swerve a little as Sam fought for control. He smirked to himself and dropped lower, running his tongue down the length and back up again several times, swirling it around the tip and sucking gently at the slit before he opened his mouth and took Sam in slowly, sucking hard and pushing down until his nose touched the grey fabric of Sam’s pants. Gabriel groaned around his mouthful, frustrated that he didn’t have the space he wanted to do it more thoroughly. Sam didn’t seem to mind though, and the thought had him moaning again as he started to bob his head up and down, moving up and down Sam’s shaft. He felt, rather than heard Sam groaning his approval. Sam’s hand grabbed into his hair and start to guide his head, timing it with the lazy thrusts from his hips as he tried to stay focused on the road. The car stopped, and Sam’s hands were suddenly struggling to get into Gabriel’s pants.

“Gabriel. Oh, so good. So fucking good. Yes.” He groaned loudly, thrusting his hips forward as he took hold of Gabriel’s dick and rubbed his thumb against the tip as he started to pump his fist, making Gabriel moan around him and push forward into Sam’s hand. He rolled his head back against the headrest, thinking that the warm heat of Gabriel’s mouth wrapped around him and working him over was the best thing he’d ever felt. He felt the orgasm pooling low in his stomach and increased the speed of his fist, urging Gabriel to his own end. “Mmph Gabriel, babe.” He whimpered. “Oh yess.” His other hand threaded back into Gabriel’s hair and he grabbed onto a handful of it as he felt Gabriel take his dick all the way into the back of his throat and swallow around him. Sam was done. He came hard in Gabriel’s mouth with a shout, throwing his head back and seeing stars as he emptied himself into his lover, gasping for breath.

Gabriel felt Sam’s hand finally fist around his dick and almost came immediately, moaning loudly around Sam’s dick. He was so hard, and Sam’s cock tasted amazing and his hand was working him wonderfully. He felt Sam tense up and took him further into his mouth, all the way down his throat, bottoming out again and swallowing his release with a lust-filled moan as he felt his own orgasm overtake him in a wave so powerful he thought he might black out. Body shaking, he rode out the waves of it, spilling out onto Sam’s hand as he continued licking and sucking on Sam’s spent member.

“Mmm Gabe.” Sam muttered softly as Gabriel’s mouth stopped working him over and he sat up, looking for something to clean himself up with. He found a box of tissues in the glove compartment and set about making sure his upholstery wasn’t ruined. “Gabriel.” He looked up at Sam, who was watching him carefully.

“Yeah Sam?” He asked, dropping the tissues onto the floor and moving closer.

Sam leaned over and kissed him softly, wrapping his arms around him. “That was... You’re amazing. I think I’ll keep you.”

Gabriel snorted. “Now you say it. Gee thanks Samsquatch. And I thought you loved me for my baking skills.” He quipped sarcastically with a feigned huff. He wore a small smile on his face.

“Hah.” Sam retorted before he could stop himself. “That’s just one reason.” Gabriel raised an eyebrow at Sam’s unintended admission, but remained silent, kissing him passionately before he could say anything else, or realize what he’d said.

“Take me home please Samshine. I want to wrap myself around you and sleep for a week.” Gabriel yawned slowly, as he pulled out of the kiss and sat back in his seat. Sam started the car again and started driving. The drive home was spent in comfortable silence, and they crept quietly into the dark apartment and into Sam’s room, tiredly shedding their suits and swapping them for pajama pants. Sam was pleasantly surprised when Gabriel crawled into bed with him without hesitation and curled around him, falling asleep immediately.

Thursday: Day 6

Gabriel wandered sleepily towards the kitchen to find coffee, the slight ache in his head from the night before reminding him that he should have made more of an effort to stay hydrated. He ignored his cousin and Dean until he had found the biggest mug in existence and made his coffee, settling himself in the armchair and pulling a blanket over himself for added comfort. He didn’t speak, just sat there absorbing the coffee until he was awake enough to notice that Sam must not have been in the apartment, because otherwise he would have seen him by now.

“Where’s Sam?” He grunted, still not sure he wanted to be awake, snuggling deeper into the blanket.

Dean snorted, “He went for a run. Like he does most mornings, the lunatic.” He answered without taking his eyes off the computer screen he was staring at intently.

Gabriel dropped his head onto the arm of the chair. “Running? Oh that’s it. There’s no way this is going to work if he’s going to do something disgusting like that. Not at this hour anyway.”

Castiel looked at Gabriel in confusion. “It’s 10am Gabriel. It’s hardly early.”

Gabriel sat up and drank his coffee. “Why didn’t someone wake me up? Dude. We’ve got shit to do.” He protested at both of them.

“Cas said you don’t get a lot of sleep. Sam said you were out of it. I have no idea man. I just live here.” Dean answered, finally looking up from the screen. “But since you are awake, settling this argument for us. What’s your idea for the zombie thing? Cas won’t tell me.”

Cas glared at Dean angrily. “Dean, come on.” He rolled his eyes. “The answer is no, no matter what he tells you.”

Gabriel drained his cup and shook his head at Cas. “Cas, don’t worry about it. I’m not that bothered anymore. We can think of something else.” He looked at Dean, hearing the apartment door open. “I suggested we do zombie porn. Because we can make it look real. But it’s -”

“No.” Sam said firmly as he walked around the corner, covered in sweat from his run. He had a worried look on his face as he stared at all of them. Gabriel gaped at his physique before he realised what Sam had said.

“Pardon Samsquatch?” He asked, frowning.

Dean chuckled. “I think if we did it right…” He trailed off, swallowing hard at the look on Castiel’s face. “What? I’m just saying -”

Sam’s face had gone from mildly worried to angry in the time it had taken Dean to speak. “Someone want to explain why I walked in on a discussion about a task involving porn? Something you guys, if I understand it correctly, are not interested in anymore?” He demanded quietly, looking at Gabriel with a devastated expression on his face.

“I think you’ve missed half a conversation Sam,” Gabriel started to say, wishing he was still asleep so this conversation wasn’t taking place.

“Whatever, I’m going to shower.” Sam snapped at him, interrupting his explanation and turning abruptly on his heel to disappear into the bathroom. The door slammed shut behind him.

“The fuck just happened?” Gabriel wanted to know, turning to Dean for an explanation.

Dean scratched his neck awkwardly. “That, my friend was bitchface number 23. The ‘I’m a stubborn ass who is going to give you all the silent treatment until the end of days’ face.” He explained. “Probably should nip it in the bud. We’ll drop the porn thing, don’t worry.” Dean looked a bit worried, and he thought that this was the last thing they all needed on top of everything else.

Gabriel shook his head, exasperated. “You know if you all just listened to my fucking idea in the first place..argh. Forget it. I’ll be grovelling in the bedroom if you need me.” He stood up, muttering to himself. “And probably not in the fun way.” He dragged the blanket with him and walked into Sam’s room to wait for him.

Gabriel leaned against the desk in Sam’s room to wait, the dim headache he’d had earlier trying to force it’s way forward as he thought about what he was going to say. He didn’t have long to wait before Sam charged through the door wrapped in a towel, hair still dripping wet. Gabriel had to remind himself that he wasn’t there to stare and waited for Sam to acknowledge his presence. Sam’s cold shoulder was certainly frostier than anything he was willing to put up with for long though, and he eventually spoke up.

“You going to just ignore me Sam?” He asked quietly, the hurt evident in his tone. Sam didn’t answer him straight away, just continued to get dressed. He flung his towel at the closed door and stormed over to Gabriel, putting one hand on either side of him and leaning in, hazel eyes damp with tears of frustration.

“Explain to me what I just heard isn’t what I think it is Gabriel.” He said in a dangerously quiet voice, pushing himself away again when Gabriel instinctively leaned away from him. He started to pace the room angrily, wanting an explanation, but not wanting to alarm Gabriel and have him become scared of him.

“You think you heard me suggesting that we make that task into a porn thing. That’s what you heard , right?” Gabriel asked carefully, his tone neutral.

“Yes Gabriel, that’s exactly what I heard.” Sam snapped at him again, still pacing.

“That makes all three of you.” Gabriel snapped back at him, his temper finally flaring. “And, like your brother and my cousin, you just jumped to the same fucking conclusion. At least Dean had the grace to laugh.” His shoulders slumped sadly at the realization Dean had been the only one who was remotely supportive, even if he misunderstood Gabriel’s intention.

Sam stopped in his tracks at Gabriel’s tone and stared at him in confusion. “What do you mean? What the hell are you talking about Gabriel? What other conclusion is there?” He looked at the ground, his anger dissipating slightly as he wondered how he could possibly be wrong. “Please. Tell me.”

“What does it matter Sam?” Gabriel asked him bitterly. “It won’t make a difference will it?”

“Well..that depends, I guess.” Sam ventured, considering. He sighed and ran a hand through his wet hair, moving to sit on the bed. He raised an eyebrow and beckoned to Gabriel to sit with him. He hesitated for a few moments before sighing and sitting on the bed, just out of Sam’s reach. “Explain.” He said, and sat waiting for Gabriel to speak.

“Fuck.” Gabriel stood back up suddenly and paced for a minute before he disappeared out of the bedroom, leaving Sam sitting on the bed completely confused.

He reappeared a few minutes later with his laptop tucked under one arm and a pair of coffee mugs in the other. He kicked the door shut irritably and walked back over to Sam, handing him the mugs while he sat back on the bed and opened his computer to boot it up.

“You’ve all just assumed I want to get a few loose women together to shoot some raunchy photos right?” He demanded, his voice still bitter and hurt.

“Uhh. Isn’t that the point of a porn?” Sam asked him, still trying to catch up. He sipped his coffee and watched Gabriel carefully.

Gabriel shook his head, upset that he’d been correct. “God. I get that you and Dean don’t understand. But Cas should have listened, he should have at least heard me out. And why would I want to do that to you Sam? To us? After everything I’ve said to you. After everything we’ve done.” He was shaking and his whole body radiated sadness, and it was all Sam could do to resist grabbing hold of the smaller man and wrapping himself around him.

“Gabe, I’m never, never going to understand if you don’t get to the point.” Sam gave up, putting his mug down and moving behind Gabriel near the headboard. He pulled him backwards, forcing him to lean into him and started to knead his arms and shoulders softly.

“Sam it’s really hard for me to be mad at you when you’re doing that.” Gabriel complained, making a half hearted attempt to shake Sam’s hands off him.

“I know.” Sam smirked, taking comfort from the contact. “I’m here now babe. Why don’t you tell me what you were thinking? If I don’t hate it, I’ll grovel accordingly.” He said lowly into Gabriel’s ear before resting his chin on his shoulder to see the computer screen.

Gabriel growled under his breath. “Asshole.” He searched around his picture files until he found what he was looking for. “Here, Sam. This is what I wanted to do. But with you.”

Sam stared at the image on the screen for a minute, taking in the details. It was Misha, slumped on a lounge staring at the mostly naked body of a woman seen from behind, with empty bottles and food wrappers scattered around him. Sam could see the appeal, it was an incredibly artistic, sexy photograph. “Hmm.” He muttered, nuzzling Gabriel’s neck and getting a warning growl for his efforts. “Hypothetically, which one am I supposed to be?”

“With your body Samsquatch, are you kidding me?” Gabriel asked him in jest, not quite willing to believe that Sam might come around to the idea. Sam laughed into his neck. “In a pair of those black underpants you like so much. And that’s it. Maybe with my tie in your hand or something.” He mused thoughtfully

“What if i get a boner?” Sam chuckled, warming to the idea. “That would be awkward. And entirely possible.”

“Jesus Sam, it will only take a few minutes to shoot. And it will be from behind. Control yourself. It will take a while to set up though. We’d need to go get some things.” Gabriel shot back at him. “It would be great in black and white, I think.”  

“And you’re the zombie? Who is going to stand around watching and praising the zombie for doing a better job of being you? Not that,” Sam paused and licked a cheeky stripe up Gabriel’s neck, tasting sweat and the remnants of soap. “anyone could possibly do that.”

Gabriel shook his head at Sam’s antics, knowing he was over his little fit of anger. Getting him on board seemed to be almost a done deal at this point. “Michael and the others are coming over later, we can ask them to jump in.”

Sam groaned. “I am not getting undressed in front of your family Gabriel. And you need to make that pie.”

“So that’s a yes then?” He asked, closing the laptop and reaching over to put it on the bedside. When Sam grunted his approval he twisted around and reached up to put his arms around his neck. “Start grovelling Samshine.” He whispered cheekily, with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“With pleasure.” Sam growled as their lips met. He wrapped his arms around Gabriel and turned them around so that Gabriel was underneath him and started to press firm kisses into the other man’s neck. He made his way slowly along his shoulder before he started moving down. He didn’t wait for permission, just bunched up Gabriel’s shirt and licked and nipped his way down his chest, taking a nipple into his mouth and biting gently before applying his tongue, making Gabriel arch up into him with a whimper. He made his way over to the other side and gave the other one the same treatment as his left hand crept down towards the waistband of the pyjama pants Gabriel still wore.

“Mmm Sam.” Gabriel moaned quietly, grabbing a handful of Sam’s hair. “You sure do make a convincing apology.”

Sam flew back up to catch Gabriel’s mouth with his, running his tongue along his lips and breathing heavily. “Shut up.” He whispered, before adding. “I haven’t apologized yet.” He moved back down Gabriel’s body as he whimpered softly, and Sam’s mouth followed his hand, trailing kisses down the line of golden brown hair that ran down Gabriel’s stomach and he swiped his tongue along the hem of his pants before he started to move them down. He looked up at Gabriel, hazel eyes searching for amber ones, seeking reassurance. He smirked at the growl that came from Gabriel and continued his task, placing a soft kiss to the tip of Gabriel’s dick as he lowered his pants. He parted Gabriel’s legs further and brought his knees up as he slowly licked along his hard length and trailed a finger down towards his ass, teasing the opening and making Gabriel buck up into him with a loud moan. Sam let his fingers continue teasing Gabriel as he took the entire length into his mouth and sucked hard before sliding it back out slowly, working his tongue at the underside the entire time. Gabriel dug his hands into the bedding and rolled his hips into Sam’s mouth, making inarticulate noises in his throat as Sam sank back down again and started to bob his head slowly.

“Oh yes. Mmmm, Sam, please.” Gabriel begged softly, tangling his hands deeper into the sheets. “Faster, ohhh. Please.”

Sam confidently ignored Gabriel’s pleas for speed and continued to slowly entice the orgasm out of the man spread out underneath him. He lost track of time as he continued licking and nipping Gabriel into a senseless writhing mess before his climax was torn from him with a convulsive shudder and a low moan. He swallowed Gabriel’s hot release eagerly, moaning and suckling as it pulsed down his throat.

Sam pulled his mouth free and wiped his face, kissing his way back up to Gabriel’s face and noting the complete relaxation on his features as he regained control of his breathing. “Now I’ve apologized.” He whispered wickedly into Gabriel’s ear as he sank his body down onto him, fitting them together and altogether pleased at the blissed out wreck lying beneath him.

“Fucking hell Sammich.” Gabriel sighed, flinging one arm over his head and using the other one to pull Sam down into a kiss. “Feel free to apologize whenever you want in the future.”

Sam kissed Gabriel’s neckline, letting out a small moan as his own erection brushed Gabriel’s leg. “What if I’ve got nothing to apologize for?” He asked cheekily between kisses.

“Make something up.” Gabriel chuckled, turning his head to give Sam better access.

Sam hummed appreciatively. “I can live with that.” He said as he twisted himself so that he could rest his head in the crook of Gabriel’s arm.

Chapter Text

Thursday: Day 6

 Dean woke to Castiel’s lips on his neck, his hand loosely gripping his morning wood and his leg was thrown over him, pulling him flush to his side, the hard lines of his erection pressing into Dean’s hip.

“Mmm.” Dean groaned, relaxing into the touch. “Good morning Cas.”

“Hello Dean.” Cas growled lowly, voice hoarse from sleep. He tightened his grip and kept stroking even as they pressed their lips together for a good morning kiss.

“This is a nice way to wake up.” Dean panted as he bucked into Castiel’s hand.

“Mhmm.” Cas groaned in agreement, rubbing his own erection against Dean’s side. “I couldn’t resist.”

Dean wrapped his arm around Castiel’s shoulders and rolled them so that his boyfriend was now laying underneath him on the bed, his knees were to either side of Castiel’s hips, their crotches pressed together. “I know what you mean.” He murmured, pressing their lips together as he thrust down, rubbing their erections together with a low groan.

“Umph. Cas .” He hissed as sensitive skin met cloth and reached down to tug Castiel’s sleep pants out of the way so they could slot their cocks together, Castiel’s hand joining Dean’s as they lazily thrust into their combined grip, lips crushed to one anothers, swallowing each others moans and gasps as they alternated who was thrusting in with who pulled out.

Dean groaned low and long when they sped up, their cocks dragging faster against each other until they moved in sync. His muscles seized even as Cas let out a shuddering breath and their hands were coated as they came, one after the other, painting Castiel’s shirt with their spend.

“I could wake up that way every morning and never get enough of you, Cas.” Dean murmured after they’d cleaned off, tossing the soiled shirt towards the door once they’d used it to wipe the come away.

“Me too.” Castiel whispered softly into the side of Dean’s neck, pressing forward enough to brush his lips softly against the sensitive skin. “I love you Dean.”

“I know.” Dean sighed softly, pulling Cas to him tighter. “I love you too, but c’mon Cas we don’t have much time left for GISHWHES.” He groaned, pulling himself out of the bed. “Let’s go see what we can do today.”

“Ugh fine.” Cas pouted, rising. “We should organize a group Skype call at some point too actually, see how everyone else is going.”

The smell of coffee lured them to the kitchen where Sam was standing in his running gear, his hands wrapped around a mug. “I heard you guys were up already.” He mumbled, pink cheeked,  as he gestured to the extra mugs on the bench. “You’re welcome.”

“Thanks Sammy.” Dean sighed happily, still floating on that post orgasm high he took as sip of the hot liquid, passing the last remaining mug over to Cas. “Gabe still sleeping?”

“Yeah, I don’t think he really exists before 9am to be honest.” Sam laughed. “Morning Cas.” He nodded, setting his now empty mug onto the sink. “You wanna come for a run?”

Castiel looked like a deer in the headlights. “I.. uh… I would but…”

“Sam leave the poor man alone, we don’t all carry jogging gear in our suitcase.” Dean chided, snatching a breakfast muffin from the container on the bench. “Besides, we’re going to check The List for things we can get done today, c’mon Cas.”

Sam laughed and slapped Cas on the shoulder. “Next time maybe.” He suggested with a grin as he made his way out of the apartment. Castiel refilled his mug and moved to join Dean in the living room.

“So I need to send out some emails and confirm everything for this dinner party tomorrow.” Dean said as he joined him. “We have a few tasks to do still, should I get Gabe up?”

“No.” Cas shook his head. “This is the most he’s ever slept, since being here with you and Sam, we should let him rest.”

“Alright. Sammy can wake him up when he gets back if he’s still not up by then.” Dean was catching up on the hundreds of messages in the team’s group chat, scrolling through the pictures their teammates had sent to show the items they’d completed.

“Wow look at this picture Charlie drew.” He exclaimed suddenly, moving aside for Cas to see the screen.

“Is that the Queen?” Cas asked, brow furrowed as he looked at the drawing on the screen.

“Yes, but look how beautiful Misha’s leg hair is though!” Dean laughed, pointing.

“I don’t understand your interest in Misha.” Cas muttered, shaking his head with a scowl.

“Oh don’t be jealous Cas. I actually think he looks a bit like you.” Dean soothed, tugging Cas back over for a kiss. “You know I like you more though.” He winked as they pulled apart.

“You’d better.” Cas snapped back with a grin, leaning over to steal another kiss.

When Dean finally caught up on the old chat messages he was really impressed at how much they were all getting done, even with Jo out of action. Dean happily jumped into the banter in the group chat when he was done.

ASH: I finally got all those pictures of my nose off my wall. Have a look at the finished product.

DEAN: Jeeze that’s a lot of noses. But weren’t you meant to be in the picture?

ASH: Shit! I forgot to pick my nose!

DEAN: LOL

MEG: Oh jesus.

CHARLIE: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

JO: How could you forget that? It’s like a major part of the task.

ASH: Well.. back to sticking noses on my wall again…

JO: And what are you guys doing Dean? Shouldn’t you be doing tasks instead of in chat?

“For fucks sake!” Dean snapped out loud.

“What?” Cas asked, startled. “What’s happened now?”

“Ugh. Nothing.” Dean ran his hand over his face in frustration. “Just Jo is really getting on my last nerve.” He turned back to the screen, relaxing slightly when Cas leaned over to rub his shoulders.

DEAN: I’m sure there’s some things you could be doing too Jo, even with your ankle. How are you going with those?

JO: Oh. I have something on today. I’ll try and do it tomorrow.

“That’s fucking it.” Dean stood up abruptly to fetch his phone, shooting a text off to Ellen, inquiring innocently about how Jo’s ankle is feeling. “I’m so done with her shit. Come on Cas, let’s start planning this party.”

“Who did you just text, Dean?” Cas asked curiously, following behind Dean as he stalked into the kitchen to refill his coffee mug. “What’s going on?”

“Jo’s mom, Ellen.” He mumbled. “I know it’s petty but I’ve never known Jo to get laid up by an injury in her life and I’m just so sick of her playing backseat driver to everyone’s GISH tasks even though she’s not doing anything herself. I mean if she’s actually injured, sure. But I don’t think so and I’d like to have confirmation of that before I say something to her about it.”

Ellen’s reply came before they left the kitchen and Dean grumbled to himself darkly. “I knew it.” At Cas’ raised eyebrow he elaborated. “She rolled her ankle days ago. It’s fine now, she went out with friends today.”

“So, in other words, you have every right to be annoyed at her?” Cas finished, understanding.

“Yeah. I won’t call her out on it now. But I swear to god if she keeps this shit up…” Dean left the threat unsaid and returned to the living room, leaning heavily onto Castiel’s shoulder when they sat beside each other. “Everyone is working so hard and she’s just not . Gah! It’s annoying.”

Cas leaned his head down to rest his cheek on top of Dean’s hair. “It’s alright Dean. Let’s just worry about this dinner party tomorrow.” He soothed. “So we need to decorate for Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween what else?”

“Food. We need to have food. And I wanted to do the wine pouring task as well, I can pour it from the window I guess. So we need someone dressed in white formal wear, I think a dress would be easiest.” Dean hummed thoughtfully. “Do you think Anna would be OK with being a part of this?”

Castiel shrugged. “We can always ask her.”

Together they made a list of decorations and foods they’d need to set up and prepare. Dean sent out some emails and text messages confirming invitations and asking if Anna would could wear something white and formal that she didn’t mind getting red wine poured on.

Dean was almost finished with his emails when Gabe stumbled sleepily into the living room and asked after Sam.

Dean explained that he’d gone for a run and started talking GISH tasks, quickly shutting up at the look Cas gave him when he laughed at Gabriel’s zombie porn idea.

When Sam arrived back from his run mid conversation, everything got awkward fast. Dean met Cas’ eyes and they exchanged worried looks as Sam stormed from the room, shortly followed by Gabe.

“Oops?” Dean tried, raising his eyebrows and attempting to look innocent.

“Oops?!” Cas echoed incredulously. “Dean! I can’t believe you sometimes.”

“What did I do?” Dean protested weakly.

“If you hadn’t encouraged him about the stupid zombie porn idea, this never would have happened.” Cas snapped, flopping back against the couch.

“I just thought it was a funny idea, Cas.” Dean mumbled, hurt. “I didn’t mean for him to actually do porn, just a zombie porn star is funny .”

Cas sighed and tried to contain a smirk. “It is a little.” He conceded, letting his smile break though. “I’m sorry Dean. It’s just such a touchy subject, I mean I watched Gabe die a little more  every day, every film we made he’d shrink inside himself more and more, and now we’re out and he’s doing so much better.” Dean leaned over to wrap his arms loosely around Cas’ shoulders, gently tugging Cas into a hug. “I just can’t see him go back to that, Dean.” Cas whispered into his shoulder. “ I can’t go back to that.”

“I understand Cas, I’m sorry.” Dean rubbed his hands over Castiel’s back, trying to bring back the contentment of earlier, sighing in relief when Cas relaxed against him. They lay together on the couch in comfortable silence until Dean spoke again.

“So no one has done this landscaping task.” He said suddenly, changing the subject and pulling away gently to point it out.

“Landscaping task?” Cas inquired, looking over at the laptop.

“Yeah, you’re meant to ‘landscape’ the yard with your clothing, then have a picnic or a party to show it off.” Dean explained. “Want to have a picnic date with me in the courtyard Cas? We just have to throw all my clothes around first.”

Cas chuckled. “Sounds great, Dean.”

Dean grabbed a laundry basket and filled it with clothing from his closet before fetching a picnic blanket and joining Castiel in the kitchen where he was making sandwiches and slicing fruit for their picnic. “Looks good. Can you grab the camera for me please Cas?”

Everything gathered together, they took the lift down to the building’s courtyard. It wasn’t really much of a garden to speak of, it was paved and had some old chairs stacked against a wall, there were also a few garden beds that were overgrown from neglect. In the center there was a large, mostly dead, frangipani tree.

Castiel spread the picnic rug on the cement in front of the tree, tossing the tupperware containers of sandwiches and fruit into the middle of it before he turned to help Dean toss his clothing over the dying plants and spread things over the branches of the tree.

“Looks good.” Dean remarked with a smirk after they’d emptied the basket. “C’mon Cas, go pose with a sandwich and I’ll take the picture and then we can eat.”

Dean took a lot of different photos, trying to find the best angle to show off the clothing in the tree. “Dean, that’s enough. Let’s eat.” Cas called, stuffing his ‘prop’ sandwich into his mouth when Dean finally settled on the blanket next to him.

“Really Cas?” Dean asked suddenly, finally noticing the plastic lemon propped on one of the containers. “You brought Brutus on our date?”

Castiel snickered. “Sorry Dean. I couldn’t resist.”

Dean rolled his eyes and took a moment to turn the lemon to face away from them before he leaned over to feed Cas a strawberry. “Well, he doesn’t get dinner and a show.” He smirked, licking juice off Cas’ lips.

They lounged together comfortably, offering each other bites of their sandwiches and hand feeding one another strawberries and cut fruit. Content and happy they dozed off together in the sun, Dean leaning against the tree with Cas laying back against his chest.

~

“You know, this is getting to be a habit.” Gabriel muttered softly as they lay there, wrapped around each other. “I can’t decide if it’s good or bad.” He placed a kiss to the top of Sam’s head and ran his hand down his arm.

“What do you mean?” Sam asked, turning his head to look at him, a look of insecurity on his face.

Gabriel rolled his eyes at him. “I mean, you goose, that we’re spending too much time in bed and not enough time being productive.” He saw that Sam’s expression hadn’t changed so he pressed on. “GISHWHES, remember? That thing we’re doing for charity? Though lying here with you certainly makes it seem less important.”

“Oh.” Sam said simply to him, smiling finally, his hand tracing circles on Gabriel’s stomach. “I can’t help it. You’re adorable and I can’t keep my hands off you.”

Gabriel snorted out a laugh. “You dork. I - hey ouch!” He gasped as Sam dug his nails into his stomach, dragging them across it with a low growl as he nuzzled into Gabriel’s neck.

“Go on then, since you don’t want to sloth with me anymore, get out of my bed.” Sam chuckled suddenly, and gave Gabriel a shove, rolling him over to the edge of the bed, just stopping him from falling off the side as he lost his balance with an indignant squawk.

“Oh, you’re in for it now Samsquatch.” Gabriel challenged as he squirmed out of Sam’s grasp and stood up. “Just you wait. I will have my revenge. I’m going to make a pie.” He finished with a huff, leaving Sam laughing on the bed behind him.

Gabriel searched around in Dean’s kitchen for the ingredients the needed, mentally cataloguing quantities. He was pleasantly surprised to find that Dean had everything he needed to make the lemon meringue pie so he set about doing it, singing softly to himself. He was setting the crust in the oven to blind bake it when Sam strolled in, his arms loaded with feminine hygiene products and his forgotten bag of M&Ms.

“You forgot to eat your chocolate again babe.” Sam said, offloading the bag to Gabriel.

Gabriel took the bag off him gleefully. “Thanks Samsquatch.” He smiled. “Wait, I didn’t open it.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You ate my chocolate! How rude.”

“Me?” Sam said innocently with a playful grin. “Nope, not me. I didn’t eat it.” He tried to move away from Gabriel but was held firm by a sudden set of deceptively strong arms holding onto his head.

Gabriel pulled Sam’s head down for a kiss, his tongue swiping across his lips, demanding entrance. Sam groaned and opened his mouth to let him in, knowing it would betray him but at the same time unable to resist. The kiss lingered for longer than was strictly necessary for Gabriel to determine Sam’s guilt, and by the time they parted they were both breathing heavily.

“Dammit Gabriel, I came out here to keep you company and make the padna, now I want to drag you back to bed.” Sam breathed into the top of Gabriel’s head, once again painfully aware that he hadn’t had any relief from earlier.

“Mmmm” Gabriel murmured to him, toying with the front of his shirt while he nuzzled at Sam’s collarbone. “Definitely later Sam. I am suddenly keen for an early night.”

Sam rubbed his cheek in Gabriel’s hair and wrapped his arms around him. “Promise? No bar, No brothers or cousins. Just us? I don’t even care if we don’t fool around, I just want to be with you.” He felt Gabriel’s body relax into his and made a mental note to give him some time to adjust to the pace they had set. It didn’t really matter to him; he would wait indefinitely for Gabriel to be ready for that last step in their physical relationship. He just hoped Gabriel realized that.

“Sure thing Samshine.” Came Gabriel’s muffled reply. “How does some intense spooning and a movie in bed sound?”

Sam gave him a squeeze as the oven alarm went off “Sounds perfect.” He kissed Gabriel on the top of his head again and let him go, turning his attention to the task of assembling the padna. He emptied all of the packets onto the table and stared at them helplessly for a few minutes wondering how he was supposed to turn the collection of pads into a three dimensional panda. His mind cast back to what he could remember of crafting in his early school years and he grinned.

“Balloons.” he muttered to himself. “I need two balloons.” He searched around their supplies for balloons and came up empty. “Of course we have no balloons. Why would we need balloons? I mean we only needed sanitary pads, fairly wings and stormtrooper outfits. Why would I think we’d need balloons too?” He kept muttering, wandering back into the kitchen to search the drawers and ignoring Gabriel’s bemused glances.

“Ugh.” Sam threw his hands up in the air in defeat, casting his eye around the living room one more time. An advertisement on the TV caught his eye and his ears perked up. “Aha!” He exclaimed and raced into his bedroom disappearing just as Gabriel stuck his head around the corner to see what was going on.

“Sam?” He called up the hallway, hearing him rummaging around in his room. “You lost it there buddy? You OK?”

“Ugh. OK this is a bit gross.” Gabriel heard him saying. He was just about to go and find out what was going on when Sam reappeared with what looked like a partially inflated condom pressed to his lips, blowing hard in an attempt to turn it into a balloon. He tried, really hard not to laugh but it was too much for him, Sam’s face had turned beet red as he blew his lungs out trying to inflate the condom. Gabriel fell against the wall, howling with laughter, tears of joy leaking from his eyes. He bent over slightly and slapped his hands down on his thighs, laughing so hard his stomach started to hurt and received a fed up glare and an eye-roll from Sam as he tied off the end of the condom.

“Stop it.” Sam warned with a glare.

“Not. A. Chance.” Gabriel wheezed out, trying to stop the giggles as Sam pulled out another one and started blowing again. Gabriel picked up his phone and took a few photographs to upload onto the team page, still giggling.

Sam tied the end of the second condom off and moved to the kitchen to rinse the taste of latex from his mouth. As he passed his giggling lover he re-thought his plans and crowded Gabriel up against the wall, grinding their hips together and kissing him passionately, sharing the gross flavor of the condom with him as their tongues collided.

“Still think it’s funny?” He asked in a sultry tone when he pulled back, noting with satisfaction how dazed Gabriel was.

“If you think that is going to stop me from laughing at you Samsquatch you’ve got another thing coming.” Gabriel bantered. “Pretty gross though.” He stopped to think for a minute, enjoying the feeling of Sam pressed up against him. “We’re going to need more of those for props.”

Sam planted a trail of kisses down his neck, whispering “We’re going to need more for other reasons too, one day.”

Gabriel’s breath hitched in his throat at Sam’s tone. “No, we don’t.” He panted, it was hard to concentrate on words with Sam’s mouth on his neck. “I am as healthy as possible Sam. We really don’t.”

Sam groaned into his neck and rolled his hips into Gabriel’s again. “Fuck.” he moaned. “I am too.”

“Mmmm.” Gabriel moaned, seeking friction, holding Sam’s hips close. “Now that we’ve got that awkward conversation out of the way, I’m telling you it’s going to be soon.”

“No rush Gabriel.” Sam murmured his breath hot on Gabriel’s neck as he nuzzled at him for a bit longer before he pulled away with a regretful sigh.

“Padna. Pie.” He said, grinning. “Or we’ll be the useless ones on the team.”

“Uhh, Samshine, the pie isn’t part of GISHWHES.” Gabriel blinked at him in confusion.

“It is if you want to stay on Dean’s good side.” Sam replied with a cheeky smile. “Maybe we can get a picture of him stuffing his face with it for a task.” He mused thoughtfully, turning back to his task.

Sam glued and stuck and manipulated the sanitary pads onto the 2 balloons and then joined them together. He sat it on the table and examined it. It looked like two strange white balls stuck together. “Ears. Nose.” he said to himself and called out to Gabriel for some help.

“Hey Gabriel, can you paint a face on these pads for me please? I’m making a nose and I need to get it lined up properly.”

“Sure thing Sam-I-Am” Gabriel quipped from behind him, picking up a brush and getting to work. The worked together in comfortable silence, concentrating on getting the padna finished rather than sexually frustrating each other again. Gabriel went back to the kitchen when he was done, patting Sam on the backside as he walked past to check on his pie.  

After that was done, Sam got to work painting the rest of the padna in the same pattern as a real panda. He was concentrating so much he didn’t realize that Gabriel was standing next to him again, observing his artwork until a spoon was shoved into his mouth and the tart flavor of lemon curd hit his taste buds.

“Mmmmm” He moaned around the spoon. “Fucking good.” He sucked the spoon hard and heard Gabriel gasp at him. “What?” He asked when the spoon was removed. “It is good.”

Gabriel grinned at him wickedly. “It’s a shame there’s none left or I’d save it for later tonight.” He teased with a wink. “Hey where’s your brother and my idiot cousin?” He asked suddenly. “I haven’t seen them since your hissy fit...and amazing apology.”

Sam blushed a little, his cheeks flushing pink at Gabriel’s words. “Oh you liked it that much huh? Good, because I plan on doing it again.” He put the brush down and turned to face Gabriel, grabbing him by the waist. “And again.” He kissed him on the nose, restraining himself for a change. It was Gabriel who refused to let go, again, and that made Sam all kinds of happy, knowing how far they had come over the past week, and appreciating it for the small miracle it was.

“Dean’s car keys are still here, they can’t be too far away. Maybe they’re doing something outside.” Sam said, remembering that Gabriel had asked him a question. “I’ll go see if I can find him. You get that pie done. We’ve still got a lot to prep for. And get that photo done.”

“Mmmph.” Gabriel agreed. “That’s going to be one hot photo. Provided the others agree to it.”

“It’ll be fine Gabe.” Sam reassured him with a wink. “Don’t worry. In fact, I’ll go talk to them about it now.”

~

Dean woke to Sam’s laughter. He groaned and tried to stretch, only for Castiel to sleepily tighten his grip and hold him still with a growl. The click of the camera drew his attention back to his brother. “Are you right there Sammy?” He grumbled, raising his hand to rub blearily at his eyes.

“Yep!” Sam crowed gleefully. “How was your nap?”

Dean ignored him, opting instead to focus his attention on the dark haired man asleep against him. “Cas, we fell asleep.” He said softly, gently shaking his shoulder. “We should probably clean all this up.”

Castiel groaned and sat up. “Ugh. Nooo.” He grumbled, opening his eyes and fixing Dean with a sleepy glare.

“We have to head to the store to get the things for dinner tonight as well as our party tomorrow.” Dean encouraged, pressing his lips to Castiel’s forehead gently.

“Bah! Fine.” Cas whined, finally pulling himself from Dean’s arms and standing. Dean and Castiel gathered up the clothing from around the courtyard, while Sam nibbled on a leftover sandwich and pointed out things they’d missed.

“Crap.” Dean said suddenly, looking at the branches above his head. “Sammy, can you get my underwear out of the tree? I can’t reach.”

“I can’t believe you just said that.” Sam laughed. “The things GISHWHES makes us say.” He shook his head and started to retrieve the items in question.

“Hey. Don’t kink shame.” Dean grinned, winking cheekily at Cas when Sam snorted another laugh. “Alright alright, now that we’ve got everything we should head back up to the apartment.”

“Where’s Gabe?” Cas asked curiously, concerned for his cousin when he realized they weren’t together. “Did you guys sort it out?”

“Yeah.” Sam ran a hand through his hair and looked away. “We sorted it out, honestly it was just a misunderstanding, I should have listened to his idea before I got upset about it.” He shook his head sadly. “Anyway, he’s upstairs, uh, baking a pie.”

“Pie?” Dean’s head snapped up from where he’d been looking through the photos on the camera. “Why are we still down here then?” Dean scooped up the laundry basket and walked towards the lift without a backwards glance.

“Cas, wait.” Sam stopped him from following with a hand on his arm. “Look, I know it’s a touchy subject. Boy do I know.” He paused with a roll of his eyes. “But maybe you should hear Gabriel out, for his idea for the zombie task.”

Castiel scowled at him. “I can’t make any promises there Sam. You haven’t had to watch it destroy him like I have.”

“It’s really not what you’re thinking it is.” Sam assured, taking some of the containers out of Castiel’s arms and following Dean to the lift. “Just hear him out. It will be fine.”

Cas sighed. ‘ I guess I could just hear what his suggestion is’ he thought to himself as he joined the Winchester brothers in the elevator where Dean had insisted on holding it open for him.

The elevator ride back to the apartment was quiet, Dean leaned sleepily against the wall while Castiel was lost in thought. Sam tried to ask about their day so far but eventually trailed off with a promise of coffee back at Dean’s apartment.

When they entered the apartment they were met with a heavenly smell. “Oh man. Gabe! When are we getting hitched?” Dean called towards the kitchen, stopping to grab hold of Cas and kiss him softly to ensure the man knew he was joking.

“In your dreams Dean-o.” Gabriel drawled, leaning through the doorway to wink at them down the hall.

“Sammy said you were finally making pie!” Dean sang happily, dumping the laundry basket by the sofa to deal with later. “That’s as good as a proposal in my books.”

Castiel snorted a laugh at Dean’s antics, elbowing his cousin in the ribs playfully as he entered the kitchen to deposit the tupperware containers into the sink. “You have your own Winchester Gabe, quit proposing to mine.”

Gabriel threw his head back and laughed uproariously. “I can’t help it that I just appeal to his kinks better than you.” He joked.

“Oh I don’t know about that Gabe.” Dean snickered, wandering into the kitchen and wrapping an arm around Cas’ waist. “Cas makes a truly fuckable angel. It’s deliciously sinful to hold on to wings while you-”

“Oh my god!” Sam interrupted with a wail, pouring his coffee and fleeing back out of the room. “Where’s the brain bleach?”

“You can wear wings for me when we have sex Samsquatch, I won’t complain.” Gabriel yelled after him cheekily.

Loud groans came back to them from the living room. “I’m not the one named after an archangel Gabriel .” Sam yelled back, sounding flustered.

“We’re going to hell, I swear.” Castiel chuckled as he watched him go.

“Well at least we’ll know each other there.” Dean shrugged with a grin. “Wouldn’t wanna go to heaven without you anyway.”

“You guys are disgusting.” Gabriel mimed puking into the sink, eyes sparkling with mirth. “All this sappiness is going to rot my teeth.”

“I think that might be all the candy you eat actually, Gabe.” Dean snorted, pressing a kiss to Cas’ temple and shooting the shorter man a cheeky wink.

Chapter Text

“So I had an idea for the existential angst photo.” Sam grinned cheekily, looking up at them when they entered the living room. “It involves pregnancy tests, and whiskey.”

“Oh no.” Dean groaned, covering his face as Gabriel started laughing. “Isn’t there meant to be a meaning of life aspect to that task? What do you suggest for that?”

“This!” Sam announced happily, turning the laptop so Dean could see the picture he’d taken of them sleeping together underneath the tree pulled up on the screen.

“Awww.” Gabe cooed.

“We can do that.” Castiel agreed. “Can I have a copy of that picture please Sam?”

“I guess I’ll put a pregnancy test on the list of things I need to buy today.” Dean mumbled in defeat, pulling out his phone. “Anything else?”

“Why don’t we all go?” Sam suggested as he put his laptop into sleep mode, having emailed Castiel a copy of the photograph. “We need to get props and stuff for the porn shoot too.”

“Sam...” Castiel started warningly. He might have agreed to talk to Gabriel about it, but that didn’t mean he had to be happy with it.

Gabriel’s head snapped up and he looked between his cousin and his lover from where he’d just sat near Sam. “I thought you were going to talk to him about it Samsam?” He mumbled, catching the disapproving look Castiel was shooting him.

“I did.” Sam defended himself, looking to Cas to remind him. “You said you’d hear him out.”

Castiel sighed, defeated. “I did. Gabriel, what is your idea?”

“OK so let me show you the picture I want to recreate.” Gabriel reached for his own laptop, glad it was still on, and quickly pulled up the image on the screen. “So not exactly like this of course, but pretty much, yeah. This.” He was suddenly nervous about showing Castiel the photograph. His cousin’s opinion meant a lot to him, and he was fairly certain he was going to resist on principle.

“Which would you be?” Castiel asked, inspecting the black and white image on the screen. His brow furrowed thoughtfully, so far so good .

“The zombie.” Gabe snorted, raising his eyebrows and holding back the ‘duh’ that tried to follow.

Castiel rolled his eyes, trying not to get irritated. “Yes, and which person would that be?”

“The clothed one.” Sam supplied from his place on the sofa, a light blush creeping over his face as he thought about standing around in his underwear in front of everyone.

Dean moved around to have a look at the screen, placing a hand on Castiel’s back as he leaned over. “Huh.” He said, looking at the photograph with interest. “This is a cool photo. What are you going to change?”

Gabriel shot Dean a grateful look, glad he had his support. “Well, the perspective, for starters. I think it would look good in black & white, but we can decide that later.” He paused, thinking. “The zombie on the sofa, looking like they’d just been thrown down. And Sam, in his underpants.” He looked over at Sam, smirking at the flush that was still staining his cheeks. “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed Samsquatch.” He teased, before turning back to the screen. “Anyway, the shot can be taken from behind Sam, so nobody’s face is in the shot. I’ll be covered in make-up anyway so that’s fine for me….I.. Uh.. Sam should have my tie in his hands. Standing over me like…” He ran a hand through his hair, feeling suddenly awkward about explaining it. And ridiculously turned on at the thought of Sam throwing him down for some fooling around.

“Uhhuhh, yeah I get it.” Dean said, stepping back with an awkward cough. “I like it. What do you think, Cas?” He asked him, rubbing his back reassuringly.

Castiel thought for a while, thought about the life they had been ready to leave behind forever. He considered his cousins idea, turning over the image he painted in his head over and over. “Gabriel.” He started, noting the look on his cousin’s face. He was clearly hurt from the lack of trust shown to him earlier, yet still there was hope in his eyes. “I’ll concede that it’s nothing like what I thought you were planning -” He stopped when Gabriel scoffed at him.

“Well duh. Nobody knew what I was planning.” Gabriel snapped out, his anger rising again. He heard Sam clear his throat and looked over to him, and saw he had a smirk on his lips and had an eyebrow raised. Sam was clearly thinking about earlier. “Uhh, yeah. Go on, Cas. Sorry.” He said, staring intently at Sam for a minute before he gave Castiel his full attention again.

Castiel saw the look his cousin gave Sam and gave up. If the two of them were comfortable with it, and Sam clearly was from the way he had championed for him to approve of the idea, then who was he to stop it? He looked at the screen again, picturing Gabriel’s description and decided that their version would probably have more class than the shot on the laptop. He nodded to himself. “Very well Gabriel. I’m in. But.” He held up a finger. “I have a few ideas myself.” At Gabriel’s shocked expression he smiled. “What? Did you think I wouldn’t want to have some input?”

“No Cas, that’s not it...Thank you.” Gabriel said simply and closed the laptop. “By the way.. What are we making for dinner? We’ve got this crowd coming tonight and tomorrow night.. We should get organized for that while we’re out.”

“I heard there would be pie.” Dean accused, narrowing his eyes at Gabriel.

Gabriel rolled his eyes at him, chuckling. “There is pie, it’s still baking. I meant the rest of it chucklehead.”

Sam laughed from his seat, happy that his brother and lover had found some common ground. If things went the way they were all hoping, they would be seeing a lot of each other in the future. Getting along with each other was important.

“Dean could do up a big batch of his famous spaghetti & meatballs. It’s amazing, really.” Sam suggested. “It’ll feed everyone and not cost too much, especially considering we need to do that dinner party tomorrow as well.” He looked at the others and saw them all nodding at him. “And, ooooh a garlic loaf and salad.” He added. He was suddenly starving.

“I’m not making rabbit food Sammy.” Dean laughed, adding salad ingredients to the list anyway.

“I’ll make the salad then.” Sam offered with a roll of his eyes.

“Fine with me.” Dean announced, stuffing his phone back into his pocket. “So who’s coming to the store with me? Cas?”

“I’d like to come, I want to get some props for the porn shoot.” Gabriel raised his hand like an excited child, grinning at Sam.

“I’d better make sure he doesn’t get anything too wild.” Castiel muttered, eyeing his cousin thoughtfully.

“Well I’m not staying here alone.” Sam pouted, standing quickly as though they were leaving right now and would leave him there alone.

“This is going to be a disaster.” Dean groaned throwing his head back and looking to the ceiling like it held all the answers. “Alright, well we’re leaving in half an hour, be ready or I leave without you.”

“What are we, chicks?” Gabriel scoffed with a laugh. “I’m ready now. Well...in” He checked his phone, where he had a countdown going. “Five minutes, the pie will be ready in five minutes.”

Dean stared at him open mouthed. “Oh don’t you dare ruin my pie shortstack.” He warned mockingly. “Or the wedding is off.”

Castiel shared a startled glance with Sam. “Uh Sam, you want to run off with me since your brother has ditched me for your boyfriend?” He asked with a chuckle.

Sam cracked up laughing at Cas’s offer, slapping his hands together in mirth. “Sure thing Cas! Hey, I hear Maui is nice this time of year.” Sam warmed at the thought of referring to Gabriel as his boyfriend. They hadn’t gotten that far in their conversations yet, but he was fairly sure it was just a given fact.

“Fine. As soon as the pie is out.” Dean declared. “Look lively ladies.” He chuckled and dug around looking for his keys.

As soon as Dean’s precious pie was out of the oven they piled into the Impala and headed to the store, grabbing a shopping cart from the ranks inside the door as they entered.

“Alright so we need to get food.” Sam announced, pushing the cart ahead of himself.

“We need more condoms, and a pregnancy test.” Gabriel announced loudly, earning a few disgruntled looks from other shoppers.

“Gabe!” Dean hissed, mortified.

“What?” He asked innocently, grabbing a candy bar off a nearby shelf and tearing it open to take a bite, tossing a handful more into the cart. “We’re safe and all that jazz.”

“Lube, Gabriel.” Cas chimed in from behind them in his deep voice, loud enough for people in the next aisle to hear him.

“Oh and ropes. Ropes make a good prop.” Gabriel supplied eagerly. “And maybe some toy cuffs, if we can get some here.”

Sam groaned and buried his face in the top of the trolley. “Can you guys not.. Talk so loud. Please?” He begged them, his face flushed.

Gabriel smirked at Cas with a wink. “Actually Sam, we should probably get massage oil or something, you’d look amazing all oiled up.”

Sam started to walk faster, away from them. Even Dean was chuckling by this stage. He would do it, for the photo but he wasn’t about to let them know that this quickly. He wasn’t above getting a little payback.

“While you’re at it.” He called back over his shoulder at the giggling trio. “Don’t forget about the food play.” That should do it. He thought to himself smugly.

Cas groaned in appreciation. “Ohhhh yes. Whipped cream. Melted chocolate. Dean….” he turned to face his lover, biting his lip.

Dean looked at him, nodding, forgetting they were in public. “Hell yeah. And maybe some ice-cream…..”

“We need a video camera!” Gabriel realized suddenly, causing Dean to tear his lustful gaze away from Castiel’s.

“We can use Dean’s regular camera as a prop, Gabe.” Castiel assured, mind scrambling straight into ‘save money’ mode automatically.

“You don’t have one?” Dean asked, looking between the cousins. “Cas I thought you loved making films, even before all the porn stuff.”

“I… uh, I sold it.” Cas mumbled, avoiding Dean’s gaze.

“Well then.” Dean turned on his heel and walked away from the group towards the electronics section of the store. After a few steps he looked back at the confused duo, “Are you guys coming or not? I don’t know what I’m looking for here.”

“What?” Castiel managed in a confused tone, tilting his head to the side.

“I’m getting my boyfriend a video camera.” Dean said slowly, raising his eyebrows challengingly at Castiel. “So he can do what he loves, besides me of course.” He winked filthily. “Maybe…. he can do both at once.”

Sam froze in his tracks, hearing Dean’s voice coming from a different direction. “Ugh Dean, we really don’t need to hear that. I don’t want to think about you in a porno.” A few shoppers turned to look at him in disgust and he moved closer to them so that he could speak softer, stopping next to Gabriel. He gave him a wink before he continued. “So uh, I mean, do what you want.. Just don’t tell me about it.” He leaned in closer to Gabriel to whisper in his ear. “Get some extra chocolate. I really want to try that melted chocolate thing with you.”

Castiel hesitantly led the way through the electronics section, inspecting the video cameras and muttering to himself. Dean watched him as he slowly seemed to forget himself, gaining confidence as he compared them, mumbling their specifications under his breath. Eventually he settled on two similar cameras, turning to ask Dean’s opinion.

“I have no idea Cas.” Dean interrupted before he could even start talking. “Get whichever one you think is best.” He swallowed, shooting a quick look at the price tags. “And the one that will last the longest, because I’d hate to have to replace it in six months.”

“This one then.” Castiel announced, finally settling on the one he held in his left hand, he looked at the price for the first time. “Uh… maybe not.”

“Nope. That’s the one.” Dean snatched it out of his hand. “I’m getting it.”

“But Dean it’s too much.” Castiel protested weakly.

“You deserve good things Cas.” Dean said softly, reaching out to tangle their fingers together. “Let me do this for you.”

“You guys are so gross.” Gabriel announced, grabbing the box containing the video camera out of Dean’s hand and placing it in the shopping cart as he walked away. “We’re going to go find the rest of the props for our porno now.” He called out over his shoulder with a wave. “C’mon Samsam.”

“Yes dear.” Sam chuckled and pushes the cart after him.

Dean laughed and shook his head, leaning forward to press his lips to Cas’ chastely. “I love you.” He murmured without pulling away.

Cas tilted his head upwards to look Dean in the eye. “I know you do Dean” he said, grabbing him by the hips and holding him close, pressing forwards to press their lips together again. They were startled apart by a throat clearing nearby and awkwardly averted their eyes as an older woman waited impatiently for them to move away from the display. “Sorry.” Castiel mumbled as they stepped aside.

“Time and place, boys.” She responded with a wink, turning her attention to the cameras on display.

Dean laughed, shaking his head. “C’mon Cas. Let’s go make sure Gabe and Sam haven’t traumatized any more shoppers.”

When they caught up to Gabriel and Sam they had already moved on to grabbing the things for the dinner party. “What took you?” Gabe smirked knowingly at them as he tossed bread rolls into the cart. “We’re nearly done, just need to go to the butcher for the meat.”

“And produce.” Sam spoke up quickly. “We need to get veggies and the things for salad.”

“Alright, why don’t we split up and meet at the checkout line in 10?” Dean suggested checking his watch.

“Yep!” Sam was already dragging a struggling Gabriel towards the produce. They wandered through the produce gathering the things they needed for upcoming dinner and party. Sam saw that Gabriel had stopped near the berries and moved over to him to see what was holding him up.

“Gabriel? What’s up?” He asked, looking at his lover just staring at the punnet of raspberries in his hand.

Gabriel started at Sam’s voice. “Oh hey Samshine.” he said softly, smiling. “I was just thinking about how much I used to love these. I haven’t had them for years.” He sat the punnet back on the shelf and turned away. “Have we got everything?”

Sam shook his head with a chuckle and picked up the punnet, putting it in with the rest of the produce when his eye caught the containers of chocolate dipping sauce lined up on the top shelf. His eyes lit up, thinking of the earlier conversation and he picked up a few containers of it, along with a second punnet of berries. “Hey Gabe, look what I just found.” His smile was wicked and he raised his eyebrows suggestively at Gabriel.

Gabriel turned back to him. “Ohhh, nice work Sam.” He said lowly, taking a container and examining it. “This is definitely on the agenda later.” He added with a wink.

“Oh. yes.” Sam was suddenly uncomfortably aware that his pants were getting tighter and he took a deep breath, trying to control himself. “I can’t wait to lick this off you Gabriel.” He whispered to him after a quick check to see if anyone would hear him.

Gabriel arched a brow at him. “And what if I wanted to do it to you instead?”

Sam swallowed before answering. “Gabriel you can do whatever you want to me. Whenever you want.” He said carefully, looking to him to catch his reaction.

Gabriel stepped closer, a look of determination on his face. “And… what if I was to say that to you as well?”

Sam stared at him for a minute, not quite sure he’d understood what Gabriel had said. “I’d be flattered that you trusted me to do that with you Gabe.” He said finally, and wrapped his arms around him, pulling him in for a quick intense hug.

Sam’s phone rang suddenly in his pocket and he fished it out, seeing it was Dean.

“Yeah man, what’s up. We’re done.”

“Dude, it’s been like 20 minutes. What are you doing up there, getting a haircut? Please say you’re getting a haircut.”

“No Dean, but the egg treatment has worked a treat. My locks are softer than ever.” Sam smirked.

“Whatever, uh, we got more beer too. Hurry up bitch.”

“Jerk” Sam said as he disconnected the call. He turned to Gabriel, who was laughing at what he’d heard. “Let’s get out of here.”

They joined up with the others and paid for their items, each of them grimacing a little at the total.

“I swear we ended up with all of the most expensive things to do.” Sam grumbled as they walked to the car. “Lucky we planned for it this time.” He added hastily, not wanting to make Castiel and Gabriel uncomfortable.

“Ehhh.” Gabriel added, making a mental note to speak to Cas about how they were going to pay the brothers back. “You know the drill Samsquatch. It always costs more than you think it will to do GISHWHES. Especially when you get all of the expensive things to do.”

"To be fair, Dean did buy me a ca-" Castiel started.

“Alright guys, let’s head home I need to get started on the sauce.” Dean interrupted, loading up on grocery bags and led the way to the Impala.

Chapter Text

Castiel joined Dean in the kitchen once they got back to the apartment. “Can I help with dinner?” He asked, watching Dean bustle around.

“Sure Cas.” Dean turned slightly to smile over at him. “I’m mincing onions right now, but once I’m done then I just need to mix all this together and you could form the meatballs while I work on the sauce.”

They worked together in companionable silence, broken occasionally to ask the other to pass something or check on progress. Dean had set the sauce on the stove to simmer when the click of a camera and a low chuckle from the doorway startled him. “Wha?”

“You guys look so domestic, working around each other like this.” Sam grinned, eyes sparkling with happiness as he snapped another photo. “It’s sweet.”

“Rots your teeth.” Gabriel agreed, leaning on the doorway and grinning around a lollipop.

“Really Sammy?” Dean groaned, throwing his head back. “Photos? Again?”

“Hey Cas likes them.” Sam defended, shooting Castiel a pleading look. “Plus, memories you jerk.”

“I do.” Cas nodded with a slight blush.

“Ugh!” Dean threw his hands in the air in defeat. “Whatever makes you happy then.” He mumbled, stepping close to his boyfriend and drawing him in for a kiss before turning to face Gabriel and Sam. “So dinner is started. I’ll put the spaghetti and garlic bread on later, what have you guys been doing while we’ve been cooking?”

“We set up the living room for the porn shoot Dean-o.” Gabriel gushed in excitement. “There’s also room for you guys to do your angst photo so we can get both done today.”

“Did you leave room for me to set up the camera and room for getting different angles, Gabe?” Castiel asked, mind snapping into work mode as he wandered into the living room to check.

“Of course I did Cas.” Gabriel grinned. “This ain’t my first rodeo.” He winked at Sam saucily, grin growing wider at the blush on the taller man’s cheeks.

“Alright well I’d like to see if Anna could stand in the background of the picture with a clipboard so that can wait.” Castiel looked around the living room approvingly. “You did good Gabe.”

“Aw, well Sam helped.” Gabriel ducked his head, motioning to Sam standing by the camera.

“Let’s position Dean for the angst picture.” Castiel decided suddenly. “Gabe, open that pregnancy test. Sam, grab the whiskey and a few empty beer bottles, maybe a glass as well.” He spun around to face Dean. “On your knees.”

“Holy shit Cas.” Dean choked, leaning forward to whisper. “That was so fucking hot.”

He settled against the wall, slumping down with his knee pulled up beneath him, dick beginning to perk up in interest as Cas leaned down to mess up his hair, tugging slightly and pulling him in for a crushing kiss, teeth tugging his bottom lip into Cas’ mouth and nibbling lightly. Cas pulled back and looked over him critically, head tilted slightly before he straightened up and nodded, pleased.

“What the hell was that?” Dean asked, panting slightly and struggling to get himself under control.

“We have no makeup, and you needed to look appropriately disheveled.” Castiel said simply, spinning on his heel to take position with the camera, nodding at Gabe and Sam to place the props around Dean.

“Go ahead and pour yourself a drink Dean, hell, drink one and pour another.” Cas ordered, gesturing Gabe to move the pregnancy test forward a bit more so it would stand out. “Perfect.”

Castiel really was in his element behind a camera and it took everything Dean had to not pop a boner right there in the living room at the way that Cas took charge of the room, dominating the entire scenario and barking orders fully expecting they be followed. That was something Dean would be further exploring in the bedroom at some point.

Castiel took several different photos before deciding that he had one he was happy with, telling Dean he could get up and having Sam clean up the mess of bottles and tossing the pregnancy test. Gabriel appeared suddenly with three more glasses and Dean happily poured them each a drink.

“Holy cow Cas.” He whispered as he handed him his glass. “You were so damned sexy like that.”

“I was?” Castiel asked, tilting his head in confusion. “People always say I’m bossy.”

“Mmm.” Dean agreed, wistfully. “Bossy and dominating and sexy.”

“So uh, I’m leaving to make the salad now.” Sam announced suddenly, getting up and heading into the kitchen. “There’s half an hour or so before Cas’ siblings arrive.”

“I guess I should go stir the sauce and throw the garlic bread in.” Dean sighed, sipping at his whiskey. “And put the pasta on.”

“Well I will steal my cousin then. We need to discuss this photo-shoot.” Gabriel latched onto Cas’ arm and dragged him away to sit on the couch.

~~~

A knock at the door around thirty minutes later had Cas leaping off the couch where he had been animatedly discussing the photo-shoot with Gabriel. He was forced to admit to himself again that he had missed collaborating with his cousin like this, and absently thought about setting up a new production company for more legitimate film making purposes. He swung the door wide open when he heard his older brother talking in the hallway and grinned widely at him as he motioned for him to come in.

“Michael” He said, shaking his brother’s hand and bringing him in for a quick hug. “I’m so glad you are here. Come in, all of you.”

"Hey man.” Gabriel waved from his spot on the couch where he was examining the new camera. “Sorry about the mess, we’re working on a few tasks for the scavenger hunt.”

Michael looked around at the setup with a look of surprise as Alfie and Anna followed him in. “What are you doing with all this?” He asked Gabriel in confusion.

“We’re turning Gabriel into a zombie and having Sam seduce him in his underwear.” Cas replied matter-of-factly to him. “Basically.”

Gabriel sniggered from behind the camera. “Gee Cas, you really have a way with words there buddy.” He looked up at his cousin. “We could use help from you guys, if you don’t mind. The only face in the picture will be mine, and it will be covered in hideous zombie paint so don’t worry about anonymity.” He said in what he hoped was a reassuring voice.

Alfie tried to stifle a giggle at Cas’s explanation but failed miserably. “I’d be happy to help you Gabriel. What do you want me to do?” He asked earnestly.

“You can start by taking a seat and drinking this.” Sam said as he walked into the room carrying beers for them all. “And I apologize in advance that you have to see me in my underwear.”

“Gabriel will be clothed right?” Anna asked with a grin, throwing her cousin a wink.

“Don’t worry cousin.” Gabriel quipped, putting the camera down and walking over to her to pat her on the cheek. “My days of excessive nudity are long gone. Samsquatch here, however is just getting started.” He said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

“Ugh, Gabe, knock it off.” Sam said, passing him a beer with a laugh as Anna moved to take Gabriel’s spot on the couch. He leaned in closer to Gabriel’s ear and spoke in his ear, barely above a whisper. “I sure hope you’re not planning on sleeping fully clothed for the rest of your life babe, that might make things, uh.. Difficult.” He chuckled wickedly as Gabriel started to cough, choking on his beer and turned back to the others. “I’d like to get this part out of the way before we eat.. But after a beer or five first.”

“Where is Dean?” Anna asked, looking around the living room as though he were hiding behind the couch.

“Fussing over his meatballs” Sam said, pointing at the kitchen with his beer. Gabriel snickered.

“I’ll go say hi, see if there’s anything he needs help with.” Anna decided with a smile, ignoring Michael’s slight frown of disapproval. “Come and get me when you need me to help with your photo Gabe.”

“Sure thing.” Gabriel waved absently from where he’d began showing Alfie the picture he wanted to recreate.

Castiel frowned, confused at the way Michael’s eyes followed their sister from the room, expression unreadable. Michael startled slightly and looked away guiltily when he met Cas’ eye.

“What’s wrong Michael?” He asked, growing concerned.

“Nothing, I’m sure it’s nothing.” Michael answered, still avoiding his brother’s eye.

“Is there something I should know about Dean and Anna?” Cas guessed, panic momentarily clutching at his chest before he dismissed it.

“What?” Sam snapped his head up at the mention of his brother’s name. “What are you talking about?”

“No, there’s nothing.” Alfie mumbled, glaring over at Michael. “He’s just being overprotective of you Cas. We just found you, he’s scared that Anna might do something to push you away again.”

“Which I won’t.” The hurt was evident in Anna’s voice as her and Dean entered the room together carrying enough beer for everyone.

“And I kind of feel like I’d need to be willing to do that to you for it to actually be an issue.” Dean added before looking away and swallowing heavily. “Well, I guess you just believing that I would, could be an issue.”

Michael looked like he wanted to shrink into the floor, guilt was rolling off him in waves as the tension between Dean and Cas grew, the rest of the group staying silent and pretending not to watch.

The silence was broken by Castiel’s laughter causing everyone to jump in surprise. “Of course I don’t think you’d do that to me.” He giggled. “Either of you.”

“That’s good. Because our news would be kind of ruined if you were worried about your sister around your boyfriend.” Alfie grinned.

“News?” Gabriel echoed curiously. Alfie nodded and shot a look at Michael, clearly expecting him to explain.

Michael sighed, shaking his head with a small smile playing across his lips. “We’ve been looking at a place nearby. I assume you’ll be living here in the city.”

“We’ve been apart too long.” Anna murmured tearfully. “So we want to stay close to you.”

Castiel could only gape at them.

“That’s awesome.” Dean grinned, slapping Cas on the back and jolting him out of his stupor.

“Yes.” He agreed quickly, swallowing back the emotion that threatened to overwhelm him. “That’s great.”

“I’m going with Sam actually.” Gabriel announced suddenly, to everyone’s surprise.

“You are?” Sam asked him in disbelief. It seemed that he and Gabriel needed to have a conversation, and the sooner the better.

“Yep. Now I’m going to change, get naked for the photo Sam-I-am.” Gabriel winked and left the room.

“And that’s my cue to finish up with dinner.” Dean smirked, making a beeline for the kitchen. “You kids have fun now.”

“Uhh. I need to… change.” Sam said, following Gabriel out of the room and down the hall to his bedroom. He entered the room and closed the door behind him, startling Gabriel, who had one leg in his pants, the other tilted ready to shove through the material. “Gabe. What was that about?” He asked him quietly. “You coming to live with me? I mean… we haven’t talked about... stuff... Don’t we need to talk about stuff?” He asked lamely, hands hanging by his side.

“Hey Sam, yeah.” Gabriel had the grace to look uncomfortable and he ran a hand through his hair when he finished pulling his pants on. “I just figured..cut through the crap you know? I know we haven’t talk about anything Sam.” He walked closer to him and wrapped his arms around Sam’s waist. Looking up at him, he smiled at the giant moose of a man that had captured his heart and helped him to finally begin to heal. “I don’t want to be without you Sam, and if that means leaving Cas behind to deal with your brother, I can live with that. As long as I’m with you.”

Sam just stared down at Gabriel. He wasn’t sure what answer he was looking for when he’d barged in the room but Gabriel had just said everything he’d needed to hear. He pressed their foreheads together and brought Gabriel in for a hug, not trusting himself to speak. He couldn’t quite bring himself to believe that Gabriel would choose him over Castiel, the one who had been there for him for so long.

“That sounds just about perfect Gabriel.” he rubbed their noses together and pulled back. “Of all the times I hate socializing...it has to be now.” Sam sighed ruefully as he moved away from Gabriel to rummage through his clothing for a pair of underpants that would satisfy the sadistic dictator of a director that Castiel had turned into. He threw on a pair of board-shorts over himself and wandered back out to the others, snagging his beer of the table as he entered the room.

Castiel was back in charge of the room, and the look of surprise on Michael’s face was evidence to Sam that the older sibling had never seen Castiel in such a light before. Anna was standing behind the sofa with a clipboard in her hand, her hair pinned up and a look of intense concentration on her face as she practiced the various poses Castiel was making her do.

“Sam.” Castiel turned to him and threw him the bottle of massage oil he had in his hand. “Start putting this on. Don’t be shy with it. I want you shiny.”

Sam groaned and caught the bottle. “Whatever you say Cas. Bossy asshole. I’m finding it hard to believe you’re a bottom.” He quipped, chuckling at the look on Cas’s face as he uncapped the lid and started to smear oil all over his skin.

Gabriel came out of the room and headed to the supply pile, searching for the zombie make-up they’d thrown there earlier. “Hey, Alfie, make me hideous.” He said to his cousin, waving the make-up kit.

“You don’t need make-up for that Gabriel.” Michael said, throwing his head back and laughing.

“Hey, no making fun of the zombie or I’ll eat your brains. Wait... You don’t have any.” Gabriel threw back at him with a grin. He’d missed his cousins and it was only now, with them in the room with him that he realized just how much.

Alfie spent about 20 minutes turning Gabriel into a zombie, covering him with fake blood and sticking latex gore to his face and neck. His hair was messed up with blood and dirt stolen from a convenient pot plant and he was deemed ready by Castiel.

“Gabriel, sprawl.” Cas ordered, smirking and pointing at the couch. “Try to look like Sam has just had his way with you.”

“Samsquatch, come and muss me up a little.” Gabriel demanded from his spot on the sofa where he’d thrown himself into position at Cas’s command.

Sam groaned at him and shook his head. “Not a chance Gabriel.” There was no way he was touching Gabriel without getting a boner, particularly after this morning’s activity. He was surprised he didn’t have one now. He clenched his fists at his sides in frustration, trying to stop thinking about the way Gabriel had felt underneath him, in his mouth. Maybe he should have excused himself earlier and taken care of the desire burning through him. He shrugged inwardly, it wouldn’t have helped.

“Ugh fine!” Cas hissed impatiently, darting forward to muss Gabriel’s hair, pinching his bottom lip harshly between his fingers until it looked swollen and red. Sam was impressed, Gabriel did look like he’d been ravaged, at least a little. His cheeks weren’t as flushed as they got when he was aroused and his breathing was much too steady, and Sam cursed as he tried to think about something else before he got a boner after all.

“Can the rest of you get into place please? Dean!” Cas called firmly. “I need you in here.” He said as Dean stuck his head around the corner with a confused expression on his face.

“Me?” Dean asked, shuffling in with a tea-towel slung over one shoulder. “What do you need me for?” He saw Gabriel and started to laugh. “Looking good short-stack.”

Castiel gave Dean a shove into the direction of the lamp he had set up before Gabriel could answer. “I need you to point this where I tell you to.” He nodded as Dean went obediently to the spot he had indicated.

“Right. I think we’re good. Sam.. it’s time.” He said that last part with a little more empathy, knowing how hard it could be for someone to be almost naked in front of a crowd of people they barely knew.

Sam swallowed hard and closed his eyes for a second before removing his shorts and flinging them to one side. He silently took the tie that Castiel handed him and stood where he was directed before he looked at Gabriel. His lover was sitting in front of him with a sympathetic expression in his eyes, but he had his regular smirk curling up the edges of his mouth. Sam didn’t know if he wanted to kiss him or smack him.

“You’re doing fine Sam.” Gabriel said softly, all traces of humor gone from his voice as he encouraged the nervous wreck in front of him. “If Caesar over there doesn’t take forever to be happy, we’ll be done in no time.” He waved an arm at Cas, who scowled at him before looking into the camera lens from behind Sam, checking his angles.

“Just stand. Yeah. Bunch that tie up a little Sam. Gabriel, stop drooling.. Actually, drool more. Yeah. OK Good.” Cas mumbled orders at them, changing positions, altering light angles and generally being a pain in the ass for at least 30 minutes before he was satisfied he had a shot that was good enough. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he lowered the camera and smiled at everyone, back to his usual humble demeanor. “Great, that was great. You guys were awesome. Sam, you can get dressed now.. Thank you.” He said to them all.

Sam hurriedly pulled his shorts back on while Gabriel heaved himself lazily off the couch and went to the bathroom to shower before they ate.

“Cas, you’re a maniac.” Michael laughed at him, clapping him on the back. “I had no idea you were so bossy.” He took a swig of the opened beer Dean passed him and shook his head at his younger brother. “You did good bro. Real good.”

Cas blushed at the praise from his eldest sibling, it was the first time any family had actually seen either of them working and he was pleased that he had made a good impression. He ducked his head slightly before he answered. “Thank you Michael. I was thinking about setting up a new company here...for legitimate work, you know.” He looked over at Dean, who just winked at him reassuringly. “It will keep me busy, and I’m good at it.”

Anna wandered over to them, with a pleased grin on her face. “I’d like to help you set that up..I have a little experience with management..It’s what I did before we set out to find you Castiel.” She said, putting a hand on his arm.

“I remember Anna. And I welcome your input.” he replied happily.

“I’m going to go finish up with dinner, Sammy you wanna help?” Dean left the siblings to their discussion, warmed inside by the hopeful smile that Cas couldn’t seem to get rid of, even as he spoke.

“Sammy, you serious about having Gabe come live with you?” He asked as he drained the pasta over the sink.

“He and I haven’t talked through it much yet, but yeah Dean, I am.” Sam stood up straighter and leveled a challenging look at his brother.

“Oh calm down, don’t get your panties in a wad Samantha.” Dean smirked. “I was just going to suggest that maybe, once you’re done learning how to be the best hot shot lawyer you can be, you guys could see about moving back over this way.”

Sam softened. “I’m not sure it’ll be that easy, but I’ll see what I can do. I know that Gabe will need Cas a lot more than he seems to think he will. And it’ll be good to see you more often, I guess.”

“Fuck you Sammy.” Dean grinned, shoving bowls into his hands. “You know you’ll miss me once you leave again.”

“Jerk.” Sam muttered as he grabbed the bowls.

“Bitch.” Dean shoulder checked him and dumped some forks into the bowls as well, shooing him from the kitchen.

~~~

Dinner was eaten in the living room, 7 people sprawled around Dean’s small coffee table made it hard for people to put their bowls down until they were done, so they opted to hold onto them.

Gabriel was gesturing with his hands as he spoke, which resulted in Sam getting spaghetti in his hair. “Sorry Samsam.” He grinned, not looking sorry at all.

“Don’t even think about it Sammy.” Dean warned, knowing the look in Sam’s eye all too well after years of food fights against his brother. “White carpet. Rental. Just no.”

Sam’s eyes twinkled and his grin turned dark. “That’s fine Dean.” He turned to Gabriel and smirked. “I’ll get you back later.” He promised and Gabriel gulped, remembering the whispered conversation from the store earlier in the day.

Eventually Michael caught Alfie yawning one too many times and opted to call it a night, promising they’d come back earlier in the day tomorrow to help Dean set up for his dinner party.

“I know it’s August but I'm sure I can find some some 4th of July decorations for you.” Anna suggested. “That will help right?”

“That would be awesome.” Dean nodded happily, pulling her and Alfie in for a quick goodbye hug before hesitating in front of the stoic Michael, who grinned mischievously and stepped forward for a hug as well, slapping him on the ass with a smirk before he stepped away.

Dean flushed bright red at the indignant squeak he let out, his flush darkened at the laughter around him and he muttered grumpily under his breath, excusing himself and starting the clean up.

He’d just started the dishwasher when Cas joined him in the kitchen, freshly showered.

“Gabe and Sam have gone to bed.” He mumbled, stepping up behind Dean and pressing his lips to his neck. “Wanna put on a movie and make out on the couch?”

“Hell yeah I do.” Dean grabbed a couple of beers from the fridge and led the way to the living room, happily pulling his boyfriend down onto his lap. “I love you.”

Castiel hummed happily, pressing their lips together. “I love you too.”

Chapter Text

Gabriel surreptitiously eyed Sam throughout the evening, idly wondering when he’d thrown his all in with him, wondering at what point during the short, crazy week they’d had was it that he had decided he could place his absolute trust in the big clumsy moose. He watched him laugh, frown, blush and complain. He watched him bicker with his brother about the music and laugh with his cousins about the best places to find Thai food in California. Gabriel watched Sam watching him and something clicked inside of him.

He was suddenly, uncharacteristically, completely nervous. And he didn’t like it.

Gabriel entered bedroom after his cousins had left, excusing himself from Cas and Sam on the premise that he was tired, knowing Sam wouldn’t be far behind him. There was the promise of intense spooning to fulfill after all. He changed into his sleeping pants and booted up his laptop to search for a movie to watch while he waited for Sam to join him. He didn’t have to wait long.

“Hey you.” Sam said as he closed the door behind him and stalked over to where Gabriel stood at the desk with his laptop. He circled his arms around him from behind and leaned over his shoulder to rub their cheeks together. “Find anything interesting to watch?” He asked, tilting his head down to plant a few soft kisses onto Gabriel’s jawline.

“Nah, I only just started looking.” Gabriel answered, leaning his head to the side to give Sam better access with a sigh. “That feels good.” He said, and closed lid on the laptop, twisting around to face Sam with a grin. “Or we could skip the movie and get straight to the spooning.”

“Mmm.” Sam moaned into his neck, tugging Gabriel towards the bed. “I like that idea.” He said as his knees hit the back of the mattress and he sat, hooking an arm around the back of Gabriel’s thigh and settling him on his lap.

Gabriel shifted so his knees went to either side of Sam’s hips, allowing for him to more easily move forward and press their lips together, grinning wickedly as he thrust downwards into Sam’s wakening erection and pulling a desperate groan from the man below him.

“Gabe.” Sam panted, pulling away a little to look up at him, searching his golden eyes with a slight frown.

“Shh Samshine. Let me make you feel good.” Gabriel soothed, drawing him back in for another kiss, one hand grasping his hair to hold him still and the other dipping down underneath his shirt to play with the smooth skin of his hip, peeking out from where Sam’s shirt had ridden up. He caught Sam’s bottom lip between his teeth and tugged gently on it before running his tongue along the outside of Sam’s parted lips and dipping it inside.

Sam’s arms circled Gabriel’s back, one sitting at the base of his spine, pushing him down against his hips while the other roamed his back. This felt different. This felt more than their other make out sessions, and Sam found himself willing to let Gabriel take the lead once more to determine their pace. Their tongues danced lazily around each other, hands exploring and stroking.

“You know…” Sam mumbled, pulling back a little. “I’m feeling a little hungry. What do you think about some dessert?”

Gabriel winked salaciously. “Oh man. I’m so down for that.” He grinned and climbed off Sam’s lap, stepping away. “How about you go fetch our dessert from the kitchen while I get comfortable?”

Sam gaped at Gabriel as he slowly peeled off his shirt, his eyes drawn to the skin that he revealed inch by inch.

“See something you like?” Gabe smirked, chuckling as Sam snapped his mouth closed with a click and leaped off the bed to crowd him against the wall.

“I see something I love .” He corrected, pressing their lips together chastely before walking from the room like he hadn’t just dropped a bomb like that, Gabriel gawking after him.

Sam smiled to himself as he crept down the hallway to the kitchen to grab the fruit and sweets they’d purchased with this evening in mind. He cursed softly when he dropped the can of whipped cream on the floor and eyed the door leading to the living room cautiously, expecting Dean or Cas to come and investigate the noise. He sighed in relief when the sounds from the movie they’d put on were the only thing he heard from that direction, popping his head into the room when curiosity got the best of him.

Castiel and Dean were asleep curled up together on the couch, movie still running in the background. Sam snorted a quiet laugh and grabbed for Castiel’s new video camera, spending a few minutes filming them as they slept. Eventually he started to feel a bit creepy and saved the video, shutting off the camera and leaving it on the table before skulking from the room.

He stopped short when he reached the bedroom, all thoughts of his brother and Castiel driven from his mind by the man stretched out on his bed like a cat.

“Holy…” He muttered, trailing off as he took in all the exposed skin in front of him. Scars included, it was the best thing Sam Winchester had ever seen. And it was his.

“I don’t think your thoughts are very holy at all to be honest, Samshine.” Gabe grinned from the bed, where he rolled lazily onto his stomach and kicked his legs up behind him.

Sam shut the door firmly behind him and slid over to the bed, dumping his loot onto the mattress with a triumphant grin. “Definitely not holy.” He said lustily as he clambered onto the bed and sat himself over the top of Gabriel’s thighs. He leaned forward and kissed the back of Gabriel’s neck before making his way down his spine, pressing his lips to each vertebrae one at a time until he got to his lower back. His hands moved in lazy circles around Gabriel’s shoulder blades as he made his way back up, reaching over to pick up a chocolate bar and breaking it into pieces. He popped a couple into his mouth, and sat up, tracing his fingers over the scars on Gabriel’s back as he waited for it to melt. He felt Gabriel groaning underneath him as his lips met skin again and his tongue darted out to slowly lick each scar individually.

“Roll over Gabriel.” Sam whispered into the shell of his ear as he lifted himself up to allow the man underneath him to move. He lowered himself back down again, and leaned over for the raspberry punnet with a grin. “I believe you like these?” He teased, taking one and putting it into his mouth slowly. He chewed it, his eye twitching at the slightly sour taste and picked out another and placed it between his teeth. He leaned over Gabriel and delivered the raspberry to his parted lips, crushing it and setting free the juices before he let go of it, dropping it onto Gabriel’s tongue with a moan and chasing after it with his own.

Sam grabbed the chocolate sauce and opted to dip a raspberry into it, winking at Gabe’s flushed face and using the chocolate covered fruit to paint a heart on his chest, chasing after it with his tongue.

He paid extra attention to Gabriel’s nipples, lapping at them with his tongue and making absolutely sure he got all the chocolate off the sensitive nubs.

“Sam. Please .” Gabriel begged, writhing underneath him.

“Please what?” Sam grinned against his skin, a thrill of pleasure running through him at Gabe’s hoarse voice. He sucked the puckered nipple into his mouth again, lightly grazing his teeth across it and making Gabriel arch off the bed.

“Stop teasing me.” Gabriel growled.

“Oh but I don’t think I will.” Sam smirked, pulling himself up and gripping Gabriel’s wrists loosely above his head. “You’re going to keep your hands right here, aren’t you Gabe?” He held the smaller man’s wrists, looking down at him cautiously in case it was too much too soon.

Gabriel thrashed his head and body around underneath Sam, hips seeking contact and he groaned miserably when Sam backed off, releasing his hands and stepping away from the bed entirely. The raised brow lost a little of it’s power when paired with the concerned look in Sam’s eyes as he watched the smaller man suck in gasping breaths but his concern was alleviated when Gabriel threw his head back and swore under his breath.

“I’ll stay here.” He panted, hands exactly where Sam had left them. “ Sam .” He whined pathetically when he didn’t move. “Get back over here or so help me I’ll..payback is a bitch, Sam.”

Sam huffed out a laugh and ignored him and reached for the can of whipped cream as he climbed back onto the bed drawing senseless patterns across Gabriel’s stomach, following again with his tongue before it could melt. He smirked when he ran the trail lower, closer to where Gabriel’s erection lay, heavy against his body, carefully skirting the area but staying close enough that he knew Gabriel could feel the warm rush of air against him. Sam smiled, pressing his lips to the tip of his lovers erection when he heard him moaning underneath him, taking the head partially into his mouth and teasing him further with his tongue before pulling off and working his way back up Gabriel’s chest, licking and nipping at the skin, taking the chocolate sauce and dipping two of his fingers into it and inserting them between the other man’s parted lips.

“Mmm, Gabriel.” He said lowly, groaning as his fingers were licked clean. He leaned forward, covering Gabriel’s body with his own and pulled his fingers free, replacing them with his tongue as he rolled his hips into him. “I love that you’re letting me do this with you, that you trust me like you do.” He whispered, pulling away slightly and stroking his fingers down Gabriel’s cheek. “I’m just so grateful, you have no idea.”

Gabriel stared up at Sam, his golden eyes shining in the low light of the room. “You make it so easy for me to trust you Sam.” He said, bringing his arms down to wrap around the taller man’s neck. His fingers traced patterns on Sam’s skin, and carded through the long hair that fell loosely down the sides of his face. He brought his legs up and crossed his ankles across Sam’s thighs, pulling him closer to him as he leaned up to kiss him again. “I’m done waiting Sam. I want you. All of you. Now.”

Sam’s hazel eyes widened as the implications of Gabriel’s words sunk into the lust filled haze of his brain. The fingers on Gabriel’s cheek froze mid-stroke and he stared at the man underneath him in shock, not unable to react, not sure that he’d heard him correctly.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at the look on Sam’s face and fought back the doubt that tried to creep into his mind. “What’s the matter Samsquatch?” He asked with his usual amount of sarcasm. “Cat got your tongue?” He tightened the grip he had on Sam’s legs and rocked up into him, moaning softly at the friction.

Sam’s resistance broke at the sound and he lowered himself to crush their lips together with a gasp. “Are you sure?” He whispered as they pulled apart.

“Yes I’m sure.” Gabriel hissed. “Now come on and love me Samshine before I change my mind.” His hands clawed at Sam’s shirt and he yanked on it, forcing it up and over his back, moaning as he felt the warm skin hiding underneath. He watched Sam pull himself away and take it the rest of the way off before his weight was pressed against him again, grinding into him with renewed fervour. He used a combination of his hands and feet to push the sweatpants that Sam had thrown on after the photoshoot down and off, kicking them away with a frustrated sigh.

“Are you ready for this Gabe?” Sam asked licking his lips as he took in Gabriel’s flushed cheeks.

“Not yet I’m not.” Gabriel replied with a wiggle of eyebrows, snatching a bottle of lube from the bedside table and tossing it towards him with a cocky smirk. “Better get to it.”

Sam grinned a little and popped the cap off the bottle. “Just tell me if you need me to slow down or anything OK?”

Finding his mouth suddenly dry, Gabriel swallowed and nodded, making eye contact with Sam as he coated his fingers in the cold lube. He suddenly found himself on his back, with Sam hovering over him and his lips on his neck.

“Promise me Gabriel. Promise me you’ll tell me if it’s too much or I’m stopping right here.” Sam breathed huskily into Gabriel’s mouth, before he claimed it again.

“I promise Sam.” Gabriel managed to say between stammered breaths. “I’ll tell you Sam. I will. Now please, stop talking. I want this.”

Sam looked him in the eye, searching for any sign that Gabriel wasn’t sincere, or that he wasn’t ready, and finding nothing but reassurance and the warmth he had come to love over the last week he made his decision. He kissed a trail down Gabriel’s torso following the same path he had taken earlier in the day and took Gabriel’s length into his mouth, even as Gabriel raised his knees  to give Sam access.

As the first tentative touch of Sam’s slicked fingers Gabe let out a strangled moan of encouragement. “Come ON Samsam. I’m not going to break.”

Sam pulled his mouth away with a smirk, grin growing wider at the frustrated groan Gabriel made when he did. Sam waited until Gabriel had opened his mouth to tell him to hurry up again before he pushed his finger in, up to the first knuckle.

Gabriel choked on his words, entire body tensing up at the intrusion and breaths coming faster. Shit, Gabe thought, panic rising. Maybe I wasn’t ready yet . He focused on his breathing, concentrating on each breath in and out and slowly felt himself relax. Sam hadn’t moved his hand, instead leaning down to press soft kisses to any patch of skin he could reach.

“I’m good Sam.” Gabriel sighed, finally sure that he had his panic under control again.

Sam wordlessly started moving his finger in and out, he had Gabriel panting for breath in a completely different way before he felt it was safe to add a second finger. Gabriel’s hips jerked upward suddenly as Sam softly ran his fingertips across his prostate and Sam leaned forward to take him into his mouth again, flattening his tongue as he did so it pressed against the underside of his shaft.

Gabriel moaned as he felt his cock hit the back of Sam’s throat and keep going until he could feel the other man’s breath in his pubes. He barely noticed when Sam added another finger, scissoring and stretching him open. “Sam.” He gasped, hips unconsciously canting forward to chase the wet heat of his lover’s mouth as he pulled away. “Sam, I’m ready.”

Sam crooked his fingers to press a little more firmly against Gabriel’s prostate and pulled his head back just in time to avoid choking as the man arched off the bed with an obscene moan.
Sam pressed Gabriel’s hips back down onto the bed as he lowered his head, holding him still with one hand. Gabriel tensed up again, an instant flash of panic rising as his brain registered he was being held down. Sam let go immediately, backing off a little and opening his mouth to speak.

“Dammit Samshine.” Gabe gasped in irritation, shoving Sam off him and onto his back, settling himself on top. “I said I was ready, I’m not made of glass!”

Sam’s eyes widened as Gabriel perched above him, knees to either side and carefully inched himself down, lining himself up over Sam’s lubed cock.

“Fuck am I ever glad we had the condom talk already.” Gabe muttered as he sank lower, feeling Sam fill him inch by inch.

“Ungh.” Was all Sam could manage as he grabbed onto Gabriel’s hips and held him steady while he enveloped him in his warm heat. He was so tight, wrapped around him and it was all Sam could do to stop himself from losing it immediately. “Me too.” He gasped out, throwing his head back into the pillows as he felt Gabriel move experimentally on top of him.

“Oh god, Gabe.” He moaned as Gabriel lifted himself up nearly all of the way off him before slowly dropping back down with a blissfully drawn out moan. Gabriel repeated the motion over and over, speeding up and interspersing his actions with an occasional twist of his hips that Sam swore he was doing purely to make him lose his mind.

Sam sat up abruptly, keeping one hand on Gabriel’s hips and used the other to reach between them to grasp Gabriel’s erection, jerking him in time with his hips as he thrust up to meet Gabe on each downward motion he made. He mouthed at Gabriel’s shoulders, tasting his sweat as they moved together, groaning with each thrust of his hips against Gabriel’s.

“Sam.” Gabe moaned, arching his back and throwing his head forward onto Sam’s shoulder, his movements stuttering as he climbed closer to climax. He looped an arm around Sam’s neck and hung on, steadying himself as he lost himself in the feeling of absolute heaven that was the man underneath him.

Sam’s groans got louder and more desperate, and, feeling Gabriel start to come undone, opted to pick up the slack, bringing the hand on Gabriel’s hip up to circle his back, gripping tight and tugging him down to meet him with each upwards thrust that was becoming more frenzied as time passed. “Mmmm Sam..I’m close,” Gabriel panted, gripping Sam’s shoulders tightly. “Please.” He begged, eyes squeezed closed and head thrown back.

“What Gabe?” Sam ground out breathlessly. “What do you need?”

“You, Sam.” Gabriel panted, snapping his golden eyes open to stare down at the man below him. “I need you .”

“You have me, Gabe. Always.” Sam promised, reaching higher with the hand on Gabriel’s back to pull him down for a kiss even as he worked them both closer to the edge, hips rolling together over and over as their pleasure crested. “Fuck… Gabriel, I’m…”

Gabriel shifted slightly and Sam’s next thrust had him seeing stars. “Ohhhh shit, Sam!” He cried his lover’s name, the assault on his prostate too sudden and the next thing he knew he was coming, painting their chests the space between them with his spend, his body pulsing, clamping down on Sam’s cock hard, forcing the younger man over the edge with him.

Sam tugged him down for another kiss, and Gabriel went willingly, not even caring about the mess between them as they pressed close together, falling backwards onto the bed, enjoying the warmth closeness of their sweat slicked skin.

They lay together for a while as they came down from their post orgasm high, Gabriel’s face tucked into Sam’s neck and their legs tangled.
Sam wrapped his arms around the smaller man, letting his hands gently run across the cooling, sweat damp skin on his back. “You ok Gabriel?” He asked as he pressed his lips against damp hair. “Should I clean us up?”

Gabriel’s grip tightened and he shook his head. “Don’t go.” He said quickly. “We can get cleaned up soon… just, hold me?” His voice was small and Sam’s heart thudded painfully in his chest.

“Of course babe.” He assured, reaching up to turn Gabriel’s face to his so he could press their lips together.

Gabriel let out a shuddering breath when their lips touched, his eyes falling closed as he relaxed against the muscled man beneath him.

“You OK?” Sam repeated the question softly.

“I am so OK.” Gabriel mumbled sleepily with a grin. “And to think, we could have been doing that this whole time.”

Sam chuckled fondly, relief washing through him at Gabriel’s words. “Mhmm.” He agreed, pressing another kiss to Gabriel’s head. “But for now we should really clean up. Shower?”

“I guess so.” Gabriel groaned pathetically, refusing to move. “Carry me, Samshine, my legs are so damned sore right now.”

“Come on you big baby, you need to stretch out your muscles.” Sam prodded him in the side. “I’ll give them a rub in the shower.”

“Fine.” Gabriel sighed, pulling himself up and off Sam’s lap. “But you can at least let me lean on you.”

“Of course.” Sam mumbled with a smile.

The apartment was quiet when they crept through it to the bathroom, although the movie in the living room was no longer playing, meaning that Cas and Dean had probably woken up at some point to go to bed.

Sam turned the water on, adjusting the temperature, making sure it was warm enough to be soothing to them both. They had just taken a big step forward, and he would be lying to himself if he said didn’t expect a step backwards to match it. So, determined to make this transition as easy for Gabriel as he possibly could, he took his hand, guiding him into the shower and let him stand under the warm spray for a minute before he joined him. He grabbed his loofah and squirted some body wash onto it and started to rub it into Gabriel’s back.

Gabriel sighed happily under the spray. He had done it. He had let someone in. Finally, he felt like he was moving forward, finally he knew he would be ok. As the water beat down on him in a warm, steady rhythm and he felt Sam start to wash his back, Gabriel leaned back into him, smiling softly. “This is amazing Sam.” He said, turning to face him and looping his arms around his neck. The loofah in Sam’s hand stayed still, leaving a trail of bubbles around Gabriel’s torso as he spun around.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked with a concerned expression on his face. “I mean, this was a big thing Gabriel. For you, for us. I couldn’t bear it if you..”

“Shhh Samshine.” Gabriel said to him quietly. “I will tell you if I’m not OK, alright? Relax. I’m fine.” He reached up to brush the wet hair from Sam’s forehead with a smile. “I’m tired, but I’m fine. I promise.”

Sam touched their foreheads together as he wrapped his arms around Gabriel’s frame, the loofah forgotten in his hand. “I know, I know. You told me. I’m just making sure.”

Gabriel smirked up at him, mischief suddenly clear in his eyes. “Aren’t you supposed to be soaping me up right now Samsquatch?” He chuckled up at him.

Sam rolled his eyes and shook his head, breaking free of the hug. “Whatever. If you’re fine, you can always do it yourself.” He held the loofah over the top of Gabriel’s head and squeezed it, sending a cascade of bubbles over his face and down his body.

“Ugh. Saaaaam.” Gabriel whined, plunging his face under the stream of water to clear his eyes. He reached up and snatched the loofah from Sam’s hands and narrowed his eyes at him before using it to scrub himself clean, throwing it back at Sam when he was done with a laugh. “Bet you were looking forward to that weren’t you Sammich?” He asked cheekily, and gasped out loud when he was suddenly crowded up against the cold tiles with Sam’s mouth hard on his.

“Nah.” Sam said, teasingly as he pulled away from Gabriel, stroking a hand down the shorter man’s cheek. “I get the feeling I’m going to have the opportunity to do it a lot. You can have your victory Gabriel. I’ll have mine, in the end.” He raised a brow at his lover and grinned down at him. “Let’s get out of here. Are you done?”

Gabriel responded by turning the water off and flipping a towel down from the screen. “I’m good.” He rubbed it over his face briefly then handed it to Sam before stepping out to get another one for himself.

They dried themselves and crept back through the apartment to Sam’s bedroom where they discarded the towels into a heap on the floor and fell into bed, still naked, wrapping themselves around each other. They shared soft kisses and whispered words as they fell closer into slumber, and if the last thing Sam heard before he drifted off was Gabriel mumbling “I love you Samshine”, well, he wasn’t going to complain.

Chapter Text

~ Friday: Day 7~

Gabriel woke up slowly, still wrapped around Sam, still naked. He lifted his head, opened one eye and looked at the clock on the bedside, groaning at how early it was. Denying that he was awake, he burrowed back into Sam’s side and lay there absorbing the intimacy for a while longer. He could feel a stiffness in his joints, and the echo of what they had done the night before cleared his mind of the fog of sleep immediately. His mind replayed every detail as he lay there and he was pleased to discover he felt no regrets and no shame, even after a night of sleep. He also realised that, aside from the brief time Cas had told him about, he hadn’t had a nightmare since he’d started to sleep in Sam’s bed. Granted, it had only been a couple of days, but for Gabriel this was a big step. It might as well have been years.

Feeling Sam stir, he nuzzled into his neck and traced his fingers slowly over Sam’s muscular torso, sighing when Sam rolled into him with a sleepy groan.

“Good morning Gabe.” Sam mumbled tiredly, running a hand down his lover’s back.

“Mmm, it sure is Samshine.” Gabriel replied, turning his head and planting hisses up Sam’s neck. “I couldn’t think of anything better than this right now.”

“Me either.” Came the reply, muffled in Gabriel’s hair. “Let’s just lay here for a while longer. I can’t be assed getting up.”

“Great id--” Gabriel started to agree as a loud banging came through the door.

“Yo! Sammy! Gabriel! Come on guys, we have stuff to get done today. Rise and shine sleepyheads.” Dean called through the door. “It’s getting late. Even for Gabriel.” They heard laughter as Dean wandered away from the door again and simultaneously groaned.

Gabriel reached over to look at his phone and swore. “He’s right. It’s late Sammich. We’ve got that dinner party and about 4 other tasks to get done tonight.”

“Right.” Agreed Sam, not moving and not letting go of Gabriel. He started to laugh as Gabriel squirmed in his hold, only gripping him tighter and wrestling him around until he was on top of him. “Before we get up, there’s something I need.” He whispered, capturing Gabriel’s mouth with his own, swiping his tongue past his parted lips and kissing him lazily.

“OK I’m good.” Sam quipped cheekily and climbed off the bed, leaving Gabriel lying there looking utterly debouched and breathless.

“I’ll get you for that Sam.” Gabriel moaned, flinging an arm over his face.

“I look forward to it, lover.” Sam replied, pulling a shirt over his head with a laugh.

Gabriel threw a pillow at him as he pulled himself upright and swung his legs over the other side of the bed. “When you least expect it.” He chuckled.

“Even better.” Sam laughed back at him, pulling on some jeans and leaving the room.

Castiel was in the kitchen when he wandered in, searching for coffee. “Mornin’ Cas.” He mumbled around a yawn, frowning at the empty coffee pot and reaching over to start another pot.

Castiel watched him carefully, “Good morning Sam. Have a good night?”

Sam ducked his head, feeling blood rush to his face. “Yep, slept like the dead.” He hedged.

“Oh, I’ll bet you did.” Dean snickered, entering the room. “Bet you were real worn out last night.”

“Leave the man alone.” Gabriel called ahead of himself as he wandered down the hallway. “Not his fault he was bone tired.”

Sam groaned. “Gabe. That was a terrible pun and you should be ashamed.”

Gabriel sauntered into the room with a grin, “Never! It was a great pun and you know it, stop being such a stiff.” He eyed the coffee pot. “Shit, it’s not ready yet is it?”

Sam shook his head, casting a petulant eye towards where Castiel and Dean were standing, talking softly between themselves. “Nope. You’d think they could have made enough for everyone.”

Gabriel snorted. “They probably did, Cas probably just drank it all when we didn’t get up in time.”

Sam huffed a quiet laugh in agreement and set to investigating the fridge for something to eat. “Dean, you guys eat yet or did you just figure an entire pot of coffee’d make for a good breakfast?”

“What’s wrong with coffee for breakfast?” Castiel asked tartly and Gabriel snickered underneath his breath.

“Whatever Cas,” Sam grinned, retrieving the bacon and a carton of eggs and placing them on the counter. “So I guess you guys don’t want a bacon omelet then, since you filled up on coffee.”

“You shut your whore mouth!” Dean snapped indignantly before stopping to shoot a hesitant glance towards Gabriel, eyeing him carefully for any signs of discomfort or offense, continuing when he saw the edge of Gabe’s lips lift in an amused smirk. “There is always room for food that contains bacon. Always!”

“Hear hear!” Gabriel announced, raising his empty coffee mug in the air.

Sam sighed theatrically, turning away to hide his smile as he shook his head. “Omelets it is then. Gabe that coffee should be ready.”

“Yay!” Gabriel squeaked in excitement, rushing over to fill his mug and Sam’s. “Finally.”

“So tonight we’re getting a lot of tasks out of the way at this dinner party.” Castiel started, pulling himself up to sit on the counter and watch as Sam diced bacon and prepped the omelets.

“Yeah, the calendar puke party, plus a fancy dinner party and then Dick and Mrs Dick both doing something for us. Shame we don’t have a pet to dress up as Dick and do the spot the celebrity one with him as well.” Dean casually poured he and Castiel another mug of coffee each, ignoring Sam’s indignant sniff as he handed Cas’ over and leaned against the counter between the other man’s legs.

“Well…” Castiel eyed Dean thoughtfully and Dean found himself blushing scarlet.

“No.” He mumbled, dropping his eyes to the floor.

“Keep it PG-13, boys.” Gabriel snickered, watching the interaction with knowing eyes.

“What?” Sam asked in confusion, looking between the three, snapping his attention back to the food as realization struck him. “Oh. Oh god. TMI dude.”

“There’s a pet store down the road, maybe they’ll let us borrow something? We can ask at least?” Castiel suggested, looking way too excited at the prospect of visiting a pet store.

“We can ask.” Dean agreed, reluctantly, already dreading the trip and planning to pick up some benadryl on the way there.

“Cas, wanna go check your video camera is all good to film the shit we need to tonight?” Dean suggested, mentally planning their day. “I figure we can have the puke party in my apartment and the fancy style one downstairs, we can pour the wine from the balcony.”

Castiel gaped at him in confusion. “You have a balcony?”

Dean rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Well yeah, it’s behind those curtains in there behind the TV.” He waved an arm, gesturing towards the floor length curtains that hung behind the TV unit.

“So your TV is in front of the door why?” Gabriel tilted his head in a very Cas like gesture of confusion.

Sam suddenly started laughing and Dean scowled. “Dean’s scared of heights,” he explained as Dean turned red and ducked his head to try and hide the flush.

“Cas come on!” Gabe grabbed his cousin’s arm and dragged him from the room, “Help me move this TV unit! We need to get the room rearranged properly before we can set up.”

Dean hovered in the doorway, watching as Castiel and Gabriel worked together to carefully move the furniture around so the could access the glass door behind the curtain. “Careful Cas.” He said helplessly when Castiel opened the curtain, causing his apartment to brighten cheerfully in the light of the morning sun.

“Wow.” Castiel’s mouth dropped open as he took it all in. He silently opened the glass door and stepped outside into the morning air. Dean’s apartment was on the 5th floor and the view of the city was amazing, Dean’s building was set back from other buildings of similar height so there was nothing to interrupt the cityscape; apartments and storefronts spread out below them, a plethora of gardens broke up the urban landscape and Castiel could see the silver glint of the river winding it’s way through the city and beyond. “I’m willing to bet you’re paying extra on your rent for this.”

“I… uh probably.” Dean mumbled from inside, he’d moved a few steps closer to the door and looked like he was struggling really hard with something.  He shuffled forward another step and reached a hand out towards Castiel. “Can you come back inside now? Please?”

Castiel glanced back at him and huffed out a laugh. “Dean, I am quite certain that the balcony is safe. There are codes and protocols in place to ensure it. Nothing is going to happen to me.” He turned around in the space, frowning. “I don’t know if I can say the same for these plants though. They are beyond help.”

“What plants?” Sam asked curiously, sticking his head out the door, having set the omelette in the oven to finish, rather than stand over it and miss an opportunity to harass his brother. “Oh, dude, that’s harsh. I gave you that plant. And Bobby gave you that one.” He pointed at the two dead plants on the small table set on the balcony. “You could have at least regifted them, you jerk.”

Dean managed to look uncomfortable, as he looked at the dead plants through the window. “I did wonder where they were. The last time I saw them Lisa had them in the bathroom.”

Gabriel clicked his tongue in disapproval. “Dean, Dean, Dean, never let a woman near your shrubbery.” A sly grin crossed his face and he winked at Castiel, stepping past Sam on his way out the door. “This is a good size. I think you’re going to be out here a lot Dean-o. Cas loves an afternoon on the deck, don’t you Cassie?” He elbowed his cousin in the ribs playfully and laughed.

Castiel nodded, a faraway look in his eyes. “Yes. If we get rid of this awful setting and maybe get some low outdoor couches and brighten it up a bit.” He said thoughtfully. “Your eye level would be below the level of the railing Dean, you wouldn’t even know you were up five stories if you were sitting.”

Dean paled and swallowed heavily. “Cas--” his voice cracked slightly as he remembered that his boyfriend was standing outside of his apartment, suspended in the air by a block of concrete with two other, fully grown men. “Come inside.”

“No Dean.” Cas said firmly, warming to the idea. “Gabriel is correct. I will spend a lot of time out here. We’ll have to find a new arrangement for your living room.”

“It looks better with the door freed up anyway.” Sam encouraged Castiel, only to get a frown from Dean thrown his way.

“Do you two mind? I don’t want to be confronted with that--” He gestured moodily to the amazing view beyond the balcony, “every time I walk in the room.”

“Get used to it, Dean-o.” Gabriel announced, casually strolling back into the room and slapping him on the shoulder before turning to Sam. “Breakfast?”

“Oh crap!” Sam ducked back through the door and made for the kitchen, leaving Dean standing in the middle of his living room staring pleadingly at Castiel.

“It’s OK, Dean.” Castiel assured him, raising a hand towards where Dean stood. “I promise that nothing bad will happen.”

The look in Castiel’s eyes was so earnest that Dean found himself moving towards him, and by extension the balcony, despite himself. The smile Cas gave him as he reached the doorway was bright and encouraging so he squeezed his eyes closed, took a deep breath and stepped through, not exhaling or opening his eyes until he felt Castiel’s arms around him.

I’m outside of my apartment. Dean’s thoughts held an edge of hysteria as he shook in Castiel’s arms. Five stories of nothing but air under my feet . He snapped his eyes open in a panic, sure that he would see the ground racing up to meet him, instead, he saw Cas.

“Just look at me Dean.” Cas murmured to him quietly, using everything he’d learned from helping Gabriel get through his myriad of panic attacks over the years to now help Dean. “Don’t look out there, just keep your eyes on me, I’ve got you.”

Dean’s green eyes met Castiel’s own ocean blue ones and he sucked in a deep breath, feeling the panic draining away as Cas rubbed soothing circles over his back and shoulders, the weight of strong arms around him keeping him grounded. “Thanks Cas.” Dean muttered, his eye darting experimentally to the side of Castiel’s head where he could see mountains in the distance. His breath staggered and he refocused on Castiel again. Nodding once, he brushed off the feeling of helplessness that was threatening to overwhelm him and smiled. “Maybe over time...” he murmured, stepping back inside as Sam called out that their breakfast was ready.

Castiel didn’t comment further, simply taking Dean’s hand and walking a little behind him into the kitchen to collect their plates. They settled down in the living room to eat and Dean watched as Cas and Gabe eyed the furniture contemplatively, clearly planning the new layout of his apartment.

As soon as they’d finished their omelets Dean jumped to his feet, “I’m going to wash up.” He announced, reaching for their plates. “You guys can organise this room, as I can tell you’re planning to anyway,” he huffed a strained laugh and fled into the kitchen.

“Is he alright?” Gabriel asked, peering after him thoughtfully. “I mean this is his apartment, if he doesn’t want the balcony accessible then we shouldn’t force the issue.”

“He’s just being a big baby.” Sam laughed causing Castiel to frown at him.

“That’s not fair, Sam,” he scolded the taller man. “Making light of someone’s fear isn’t going to help them--” he shot his gaze to Gabriel and back to Sam, “I know you know this.”

“But it’s irrational!” Sam defended, missing the looks exchanged between the cousins, throwing his hands into the air in exasperation. “It’s just a balcony!”

“To be fair, Samshine,” Gabriel interrupted, placing a calming hand on his lover’s arm, “most fears are irrational, but all you’re going to do by acting this way is push him away, you can’t help him by making him feel like his fears are something to be ashamed of.”

As Sam’s gaze softened, Castiel looked away, suddenly feeling like Gabriel wasn’t just talking about Dean anymore. An idea came to him and he set to work, dragging the coffee table out of the way so they could rotate the room around, freeing up the glass doors to the balcony and opening the room up nicely.

Gabriel and Sam caught on to what he was doing and joined him in carefully moving the TV unit, Sam and Castiel each taking an end with Gabriel hovering between them keeping the TV steady since they hadn’t thought to move it separately. It took less time than he thought it would to get the room situated and when he entered the kitchen to check on Dean he found the man leaning over the sink, both hands submerged in the hot soapy water.

“We should get a dishwasher.” He murmured, leaning in to plant a soft kiss on Dean’s cheek. “It will free up more time for.. other things.”

“Oh, I agree, especially if you’re going to stay. Screw standing here for an hour everyday.” Dean laughed, scrubbing at the last plate furiously and putting it on the rack to dry.

“Come and see what we’ve done,” Castiel beckoned. “It’s your apartment Dean, we’ll change it back if you don’t like it.”

Dean followed Castiel obediently back to the living room, wiping his hands on his jeans and froze. “Guys, this looks great. Really.” He smiled widely at them, surprising himself with how much he liked the new arrangement. “It looks so much bigger.”

“That’s what she said.” Gabriel piped up with a grin.

“Oh no baby, it’s plenty big enough.” Dean smirked, throwing a leer at a blushing Cas.

“I’m not even sure if you’re talking about yourself or Cas here,” Sam mumbled, “but please don’t clarify.”

“OK, so now that breakfast and the interior decorating is complete, can we get into the tasks please?” Dean asked, sobering up and focusing on the tasks for the day.

“Should we check in with the team or just get into it? Someone might need help or something.” Gabriel suggested, searching for his laptop and booting it up.

Castiel grabbed his video camera from the coffee table and settled on the couch with it to play with the settings while Sam and Gabriel went over the task list.

“What are you doing Dean?” Castiel asked, looking over to where Dean was sitting on the other end of the couch, shuffling around as though he couldn’t get comfortable.

“I’m… uh, trying to get the balcony out of my peripheral vision.” Dean admitted, looking self conscious.

“Switch with me then.” Cas offered, standing and moving over so that we he was between Dean and the doorway. Dean sighed in relief and leaned his head against Castiel’s shoulder in thanks, finally settling and pulling his laptop over to check on the group chat.

“Oh there’s something recorded on here.” Castiel said suddenly, tilting his head to the side as he stared down at the video camera.

“Weren’t we using it as a prop yesterday? Maybe you hit record?” Dean suggested, leaning over to have a look as well.

“No, I didn’t even turn it on.” Castiel switched the mode to review and pulled up the video on the little screen, raising his head and narrowing his eyes at Gabriel and Sam when he registered what was on there. “You filmed us sleeping?”

“Creepy much Gabe?” Dean laughed, watching as the view zoomed in on their faces before panning down their bodies, showing entangled limbs and slack faces.

“What?” Gabriel snapped his head up from his computer screen, “I didn’t do anything.”

Sam suddenly burst out laughing, “sorry guys, I couldn’t resist. It was just too cute.”

Dean scowled at him and threw a cushion, hitting Sam square in the face. “If you want to film shit, film yourselves.”

Gabriel looked at Sam speculatively for a second and shook his head with a rueful laugh. “No Dean, that’s not happening anytime soon. Oh hey,” He said, smirking at Dean's look of disgust before being distracted by the group chat. “Whoever is going the seven days of happiness is one short and doesn’t have time to do the last thing.”

Cas rolled his eyes. “Of course they are. Has anyone done anything yet?”

“Um, no.” Gabriel read the chat dialogue. “They’re mostly arguing over a poem task that popped up overnight.”

“Wait!” Sam suddenly sat up straighter in his seat. “Didn’t we actually do something perfect for this already?”

“We did?” Castiel asked slowly, frowning in confusion.

“Yes!” Gabriel hurriedly scrolled through the images he pulled off his phone onto the laptop. “Here it is!”

“Here what is?” Castiel asked at the same time as Dean demanded the pair share with the rest of the class .

“Well the day we got all those lemons my friend gave us a bunch of fruit and vegetables and we stopped to donate them.” Gabriel explained, looking pleased with himself.

“And we got photos!” Sam beamed.

“Sweet!” Dean exclaimed, coming over to peer at the images. “That’s gold. That one there, send that one through, don’t even give them time to argue, just send it.” He demanded, getting annoyed with the lack of progress of some tasks as he scanned the chat.

“Done Dean-o.” Gabriel announced, a moment later. “Alright so we need to set this place up for the holidays, and make down underneath your balcony look all classy for the fancy wine shower. Whoever pours the wine should be all dressed up like a fancy waiter and the guests downstairs being served need to be wearing white. Hmm, we kind of need wine…”

“Crap!” Dean snapped his head up from where he was furiously writing a to-do list. “I can’t believe we forgot to buy wine.” He shook his head with a laugh.

“I’ll go grab some, and some last minute things for the party.” Gabriel offered, wanting to help.

“Sure, take my Visa.” Dean tossed his wallet towards Gabriel whose mouth dropped open in shock.

“Dean I can’t take your credit card,” he stuttered, dumbfounded at the lazy sign of trust.

“What?” Dean looked up, and narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Why not?”

“I’ll go with you.” Castiel offered, heading off what could have possibly been an awkward explanation.

“Thanks Cas.” Gabriel was only slightly mollified but figured that it would be OK, Cas was Dean’s boyfriend after all.

Dean stared after them as they left. “What was that about?” He wondered aloud when the door closed behind them.

“I’m not entirely sure.” Sam admitted tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I figure it’s probably something to do with Gabriel learning to trust again, but I can’t imagine that outside of from Cas he ever really had much trust placed in him either…”

“Wow Dr. Phil, you’re good.” Dean teased, figuring that his brother was probably right.

“Eat me Dean.” Sam retorted. “So, uh, do we need  to make a run to Bobby’s to get anything? Like the Christmas tree I know you have stashed there?”

“Oh man, how can we have forgotten that too?” Dean cursed under his breath. “We’d better go now. I’d get Bobby to just bring it but he’ll just whine for a year.” He stood up and grabbed his keys, picking his wallet up from where Gabriel had discarded it, sans credit card.

Chapter Text

Castiel hadn’t spent much time with his cousin this past week and he was feeling a little guilty for it as he slid into the passenger seat of Gabriel’s Mercedes.

“So…” He paused, unsure of where to actually start this conversation, eventually deciding to jump right in. “You’re going with Sam when he leaves tomorrow?”

Gabriel shot him a startled glance as he started the car. “Uh, yeah Cas, I am.” He hesitated before continuing, and they were some distance from the apartment block before he kept going, “I know it’s soon, I know we’re moving fast but honestly man, it just feels right. Kind of what I think you’re feeling with Dean.”

He’s got me there , Cas thought to himself as the car sped along the streets toward the store. “I guess I would be a hypocrite if I called you out for moving too fast.” He conceded with a wry grin.

Castiel wasn’t really sure how he felt about Gabriel flying across the country with a man he’d only known for a week, especially considering his past. He opened his mouth to suggest he go with him, just until they were settled and to be sure that everything was alright, when something by the side of the road drew his eye.

“Stop!” He cried suddenly, causing Gabriel to slam on the brakes hard enough to fling them forwards in their seats, slamming against their seat belts and back into the seat. “Oww.”

“Shit! What?!” Gabriel looked around for what could have possibly been the cause for Castiel’s sudden exclamation, a long suffering sigh escaping his lips when he spotted what was undoubtedly it. “Really Cas?” he huffed, already unbuckling his seat belt to follow his cousin out of the car.

“It’s perfect Gabe!” Castiel gushed, inspecting a low cane couch that had been set on the side of the road.

“Uh Cassie…” Gabriel looked over the couch critically. “The cushions are faded to hell and I’m not entirely sure what that stain there even is…”

“I’ll get cushion covers.” Castiel practically had stars in his eyes as he looked over the weaving, checking that it was all intact and that the legs were stable. “It’s just what we need, grab that end.”

“That’s not going to fit in my trunk, Cas. Not even the back seat, actually.” Gabriel pointed out, causing Castiel’s face to fall, before he stubbornly went to the trunk to look for the ropes he knew were in there.

“You’re going to tie it to the roof?” Gabriel stared at his cousin incredulously. “Cas. This is a Mercedes… you don’t just tie things to the roof of a Mercedes.” He said in a snobbish tone, lifting his chin and looking down his nose at his cousin.

“It will be fine Gabriel.” Castiel said dismissively, eyeing the ropes and the couch, measuring it in his mind. “Grab those cushions and throw them in the back.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes dramatically, knowing he’d lost already. Castiel had that look in his eye. “Fine.” He said, throwing his hands up in the air. “But if you get one scratch on my car, cousin, you can pay for it to be re-sprayed.”

“Yes, yes, Gabriel, in a nice pale fuchsia, just like I know you always wanted.”

“You’re a bag of dicks Castiel. Don’t scratch my car.” He mumbled as he threw the cushions into the back seat. “There’s a blanket in the trunk, lay that over the paint first.”

“Not my first rodeo Gabriel.” Castiel shot back as he threw said blanket over the roof. “Now stop whining and help me.”

With a great deal of cursing and frustration, they maneuvered the couch onto the top of Gabriel’s car and tied it down, leaving the windows open a fraction so that the ropes could loop through the car and keep it secure for their trip to the store and back. Muttering to himself, Gabriel drove them the rest of the way there, where they headed in to gather the items they needed.

“My car looks ridiculous.” Gabriel complained as he caught a glimpse of it from the checkout line when they were done. “Look at it!” He said sourly, “you’re lucky we don’t live here, or my reputation would be ruined.”

“What reputation?” Castiel drawled, and stopped suddenly. “Gabriel what are you going to do with your car if you go back with Sam?” He asked curiously, with his head tilted to one side.

Gabriel shrugged. “I don’t care. Sell it, store it, drive it. I’ll leave it with you, Cas.” He thought about it for a while as they walked. “If you sell it, that will give us more than what we need to be clear. Do it, Cas.”

Castiel stared at him as they packed the boot with their items for the evening. If Gabriel was so uncaring about what happened to the car he had desperately held onto throughout all of their troubles, he knew that he was serious about his relationship with Sam. The car had been like a security blanket for Gabriel for years.

“A fresh start for both of us then, it seems.” Castiel said, his face bursting into a smile.

“Hells yeah. I’ll drink to that. Now let’s get this monstrosity back and up to the balcony.” Gabriel said cheerfully. “Or did you want to buy some fabric and put your sewing apron on?”

“Good idea. Let’s go to the fabric store.” Castiel said sincerely and Gabriel groaned.

“I was joking Cas!” He protested lamely.

“I saw one on the way. Which means that it’s on the way home.” Castiel reasoned with him. “You can wait in the car.”

Gabriel sighed. “Yes dear.”

The stop at the fabric store was nowhere near as arduous as Gabriel made out, and he even went so far as to go through the store with his cousin, commenting loudly and quite often obnoxiously on all of his choices. In the end, they walked out of the store with enough fabric to re-cover the whole thing. Gabriel picked up a bed sheet from a clearance table to cover it for the duration of the party and soon they were back in the car, heading home again.

Dean and Sam headed out to Bobby’s place to get the Christmas tree and the decorations Sam suspected were buried in the garage amongst the rest of the garbage thrown in there by the three of them over the years. After their knocks went unanswered Dean shrugged and unlocked the door with his key, sending a text message to Bobby to let him know he hadn’t been robbed.

Dean: Bobby, we’re raiding your garage for crap for the party.

Bobby: What party? And don’t mess with my shit boy.

Dean: The party we told you about the other day.

Dean: Hey, do you still have that Easter Bunny outfit from when you did that thing with the school parade?

Bobby: Oh. right. Yeah, while you’re in the shed snooping, grab that stuff for me will ya?

Dean: Sure thing, see you later. Come over whenever you want.

Bobby: Some of us have to work for a living boy. I’ll be there by 6.

Dean laughed and put his phone back in his pocket as he and Sam entered the garage to start sorting through for the things they needed.

“Dude, we’re going to be here all day.” Sam said, sneezing violently at a dust cloud Dean sent flying with the flick of a cloth.

“Divide and conquer Sammy boy.” Dean said, patting him on the shoulder as he walked deeper into the mess. “Might as well make it neat while we’re here. Won’t take long, most of it is car parts.”

“Whatever you say Dean.” Sam said, grabbing a random box to get started.

They sorted for a while in silence, with Dean throwing Sam surreptitious glances now and then. Sam let him stare for about an hour before he finally gave in, sighing at his brother as they finished sorting the mess. “You might as well ask your the question Dean, before you burst.”

“Dammit Sammy. How do you do that? You’ve got demon blood in you, I swear.” Dean complained loudly as he found the Christmas tree, setting it to one side. “Oh hey I found it… And did you and Gabriel finally bump uglies last night or what?”

Sam choked on the water he was drinking, coughing madly for a few minutes before he huffed out a laugh. “That’s one way of putting it.” Shaking his head, he continued. “How do you know that? We weren’t that loud.”

“Paper thin walls Sam. And you both looked stupidly at each other this morning.”

“Oh yeah?” Sam asked with a smug grin on his face as he pulled Bobby’s Easter Bunny suit out of a box. “Kind of like how you and Cas look at each other every morning?”

Dean coughed awkwardly and cleared his throat. “Whatever. Hey check this out. It’s Halloween stuff. Who knew Bobby had so much festive crap?”

“That’s awesome, it’ll come in handy.” Sam opened another box, staring into it in confusion. “Uh? What the hell is this?” He pulled out what looked like a pair of leather pants.

“Oh my god.” Dean’s eyes went wide as he took in what Sam was holding. “Sammy… they’re assless.”

Sam dropped his mouth open in shock and flung them back into the box, eyeing them as though they would rear up and attack him.

“What else is in there?” Dean asked, curiosity getting the better of him as he came over to look, shoving the leather aside to peer into the box. “Is that a riding crop? What the hell Bobby?”

“Holy shit.” Sam shook his head with a laugh. “Bobby’s just as freaky in the bedroom as you and Cas are.”

Dean snapped his head up to glare at his brother. “Ugh Sammy really? I didn’t need that in my head, ever.” A calculating look came over his face and he smirked, “besides, like you and Gabe are any better.” He coughed into his hand. “Chocolate sauce.”

Sam went a little green and hurriedly closed the box. “We never saw it.” He mumbled, hurriedly stacking something on top.

“Done!” Dean agreed with a shudder, immediately turning to a new box, opening it cautiously before crowing in victory. “Got it! Christmas decorations! Now we just need the tree again, shit, where did I put it?”

“I’ve known where that is for a while, was just waiting for the decorations.” Sam announced, stalking over to the long, narrow box.

“Awesome.” Dean grinned. “Let’s load these up.”

They carted the boxes to the Impala and settled into their seats finally meeting each other’s eyes and bursting into laughter. “Oh man,” Sam snorted, “Bobby! Who knew?”

“I never wanted to know!” Dean threw his head back and looked skyward as he chuckled. “I need brain bleach, I don’t know how I’m going to face him after this, you’re lucky you and Gabe are leaving.” He sobered suddenly, grip tightening on the steering wheel. “Cas’ll probably go with Gabe, honestly.”

The mood in the Impala dropped instantly and Sam met his eye, concerned. “Why would Cas go too?”

“Because!” Dean snapped, shoving the key into the ignition a little roughly. “Cas and Gabe are all each other has had, pretty much since... forever, and really all this shit with the guy blackmailing them and Gabe’s past I totally understand why he’d go too.”

“Oh hey, yeah about that..” Sam cleared his throat awkwardly, looking out the window. “I spoke to my boss, she’s been looking into it with another one of the partners.” Sam watched Bobby’s house receding behind them through the side mirror for a few minutes before he spoke again. “I haven’t mentioned it because I didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up. I’m waiting to hear from her before I say anything.” He explained, turning his gaze on his brother.

“Oh really? Hey yeah, I get it. False hope would kinda kill them both at this point.” Dean replied, loosening his grip. “Good idea… I still think Cas will follow Gabriel though.”

“You know Dean, you really shouldn’t make assumptions like that without talking to him. I mean, what if he wants to stay but doesn’t think you want him to? Or what if he, and you, came to visit? Or we came to visit you? Or what if Gabriel and I moved here, if everything goes the way we want it to?” He threw that last part in casually, to gauge his brother’s reaction.

Dean scoffed, his eyes on the road, not believing a word of it. “Yeah right, you drank the Californian kool-aid man, you’re not coming back here.”

“Again with the assumptions Dean.” Sam said with an exasperated sigh. “I’ve enjoyed the dynamic this week, with you and I, with Cas and Gabriel. It’s made me want more of it.” Sam huffed out a laugh. “It’s like having a family again.”

“Yeahhhhh.”  Dean drawled out his words. “I know what you mean. Come on. Enough girl talk, let’s get this crap back and set up.” He leaned forward and turned the stereo up, a clear indication that he was done talking for now, and focused on the road.

Sam shook his head slightly. “Whatever you say Dean.”

They arrived back at the apartment to find Gabriel’s car in Dean’s spot, with the cousins manipulating what looked like an old cane sofa off the roof of Gabriel’s Mercedes.

Dean cocked an eyebrow at them, as he opened his trunk, at the same time Sam burst out laughing. “Wow you guys didn’t mess around. Have fun getting that up the stairs.” He walked around the back of the Impala and hefted a small box out of the trunk, groaning over-dramatically, pretending it was heavy. “I’ll just heave this beast upstairs now and leave you to it.”

Dean snickered, grabbing the Christmas tree box. “Yeah, and I’ll uh… struggle with this I guess. No no.” He said, raising a hand at his scowling boyfriend. “I got this, you take care of your… Uh… acquisitions.” He looked into the trunk and sighed theatrically. “We’re going to have to make two trips Sammy. TWO!”

“Oh man. Two? I can’t believe it. Why did you get so much crap from Bobby’s garage? I’m soooo glad the elevator is working and waiting.” He grinned foolishly as he passed Gabriel, who whacked him on the ass as he walked by.

“Don’t trip Samsquatch.” Gabriel shot after him as he disappeared into the doorway.
Sam and Dean managed to empty the trunk and sprawl themselves onto the couch, beers in hand before Gabriel and Castiel dragged their findings up the stairs. Looking over to them as they maneuvered it through the door, Dean somehow kept a straight face, taking a long pull on his beer instead of laughing. Sam was pretending to be engrossed in something random on the television, knowing that they would have to pass by his field of vision and he tossed a cushion at them as they blocked his view.

“Down in front.” He laughed, picking up the pair of beers he had hidden under the cushion for them to have.

“Gabriel.” Castiel puffed in his gravelly voice as they exited onto the balcony. “Your boyfriend is a jerk. Did you have to choose him? They held the elevator so we had to walk. Up. Five. Flights. Of. Stairs.”

“You know me Cassie.” They heard Gabriel quip back at him. “I”m a sucker for a pretty face in a plaid shirt, besides, yours was a part of it too.”

They set the cane sofa down and came back through the glass door, grinning at each other. “Let’s get the rest of the crap now while these two poor tired bastards rest shall we?” Gabriel chuckled, wiggling his eyebrows at Sam as he snagged the beer offered. “Get your beauty sleep Sammich, you’re going to need it.” He said as he walked out the door, still laughing.

Castiel glanced between them, understanding dawning on his face as a faint flush appeared on Sam’s. A sly grin appeared and he shifted his eyes to Dean, who gave him a slight nod, confirming his suspicions about his cousin and Sam.

He left the room, shaking his head. “Maybe if you two are done with your cat naps, you can start decorating, Grandpa.”

“Bite me Cas.” Dean yelled after him. “I’m not a grandpa!”

“OK Grandma!” Cas called back, his voice growing fainter with distance.

Dean looked over to Sam and burst out laughing. “Oh man, that was awesome.” He said, laughing so hard he was bent over his knees. “He’s right though, let’s get this shit sorted.”

Nodding in agreement, Sam hauled his ass off the couch and turned off the television, moving instead to the stereo to give them some music to work to. They had just emptied all of the boxes onto the couch cushions when Castiel walked back through the door laden with bags, Gabriel following not far behind.

“One trip Cas, I told you we could do it. Of course it helped that we could use the elevator this time,” Gabriel said, dropping his bundle of fabric and foam. “Oh neat,” he peered at the things Dean and Sam had dumped onto the floor, “an Easter Bunny suit! Which reminds me, we’ll need the Stormtrooper outfits for May the Fourth Be With You.”

“Over there,” Sam waved to the corner from where he was assembling the tree. “Dean do we know who is coming yet?”

“Yeah man, pretty much everyone we invited.” Dean replied, standing. “I hope we’ve got enough food. Speaking of which, better go put some things together.”

“My brother is bringing a few things, remember.” Castiel supplied vaguely, patting his pockets to search for his phone. “He sent me a list of things they picked up that we didn’t get.”

“Sweet,” Dean answered with a distracted wave, heading into the kitchen to see what he could prepare. The others returned to their tasks, only to be disturbed a while later by some obscene moaning coming from the direction Dean had gone.

“Oh mmmm. Yeah baby, come to daddy.” There was a moment’s silence as Castiel looked at Sam and Gabriel in alarm. “Mmmmph oh yeah, that’s so good.”

They crept their way to the kitchen door and stuck their heads in to see Dean standing with the fridge door wide open and a spoon hanging out of his mouth. He looked at them in surprise, not expecting to turn around to see three sets of confused faces staring back at him when he turned around. “What? Can’t a man enjoy his pie in peace?”

Gabriel snorted a laugh, “Gotta say, Dean-o, it sounded like you were enjoying something in here, but pie wouldn’t have been my first guess.”

Dean’s eyes widened and he blushed, slamming the fridge closed behind him he tried to laugh it off, “well I mean, Cas is great and all but pie’s my first love,” he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

“Should I be concerned Dean?” Castiel asked gruffly, fighting to keep a straight face as Sam laughed uproariously next to him.

“Oh man, Cas,” Sam chortled, watching as Dean shuffled across to the sink to deposit his spoon, “have you ever seen American Pie?”

Dean’s face turned scarlet and he gestured with his hand across his throat to shut his brother up but it was too late, the damage had been done and Castiel was staring at Dean in shock. Sam had tears running down his face from his laughter and Gabriel’s mouth popped open comically.

“He didn’t?” Castiel gaped, staring down the younger Winchester brother.

“I didn’t!” Dean repeated firmly, if a little loudly.

“Oh but he seriously considered it.” Sam managed between gasps for air. “The fact that he couldn’t eat it after was seriously the deciding factor.”

“Shut up Sammy, I was kidding!” Dean’s blush was so bright that his freckles stood in stark contrast, his lips were pulled into a hard line and he looked completely mortified, raising his hands to cover his face as he shook his head as though to escape the teasing. “Oh Jesus, just kill me now,” he pleaded with the ceiling as the laughter settled down.

Dean was spared further teasing by a knock on the apartment door, letting out a sigh of relief at the excuse to escape the kitchen, he shoved past the smirking trio and hurried down the hallway to let Castiel’s siblings into the apartment.

“Merry Gishmas!” Anna grinned when Dean opened the door, wearing a santa hat and holding onto a pile of brightly wrapped gifts.

“Gishmas?” Dean repeated slowly, taking in the gifts and festive attire.

“Yeah!” Samandriel agreed, stepping forward with his hands full of shopping bags. “While we were buying the 4th of July decorations Anna and I had the idea that the Christmas tree needed something to go under it, make it more festive.”

“We were going to get empty boxes and just wrap them,” Anna explained, “but, well, we couldn’t resist actually buying gifts.”

“Uh,” Dean raised a hand and scratched awkwardly at his neck. “Well... just put them on the couch or something for now, we haven’t actually got anything set up yet.”

“I have food.” Michael announced, stepping into the apartment as Samandriel and Anna wandered into the living room, the sound of voices letting Dean know that the kitchen was now clear for him to safely return.

“I was just sorting out food too actually,” Dean smiled, closing the door and following behind Michael as he wandered into the kitchen.

Michael set the bags down on the counter and leaned against it, watching Dean with interest as he sorted through the things he’d brought.

“So,” Michael started, voice carefully casual, “I hear our Gabe is going with your brother tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Dean replied distractedly, opening a tupperware container to peer at the cold deli meats inside it. “They’re flying out tomorrow night.”

“Cas going too?” Michael’s voice held a hint of something that Dean couldn’t identify and he looked over, trying to figure out where this was going.

“I don’t know.” He said slowly, searching Michael’s face. “We haven’t really discussed it, I… uh I would understand if he wanted to go with Gabe, and I know Sammy’d put him up.”

Michael looked surprised for a moment before schooling his face back to polite curiosity, “you would be OK with Castiel leaving with your brother and Gabriel?”

Dean rubbed his neck and dropped his gaze to his feet, kicking the ground with his toe. “Well no,” he admitted softly before raising his head to meet Michael’s eye again, “but I would understand.”

Michael opened his mouth to answer just as Samandriel stuck his head around the corner. “You guys need some help? I make a mean seven layer taco dip and we have the ingredients.” He looked at them brightly as he walked in, choosing not to react to the tension in the air.

Dean chuckled at him and shook his head. “Set yourself up where your oversized brother is and go nuts Alfie my man.”

“Michael, you heard him, move it.” Samandriel laughed, elbowing him out of the way.

Michael smiled at them both and opened the fridge to grab a beer. “I’ll go string some cobwebs up or something for Halloween. Have fun.” He called over his shoulder as he left the kitchen, deciding to speak to his brother about his intentions and get the issue cleared up before Dean got himself potentially worked up over nothing.

“Castiel can I talk to you for a minute?” He asked, taking a seat on the old sofa out on the balcony where Castiel was sitting sizing up cushions.

Castiel looked up at his older brother and smiled. “Of course Michael, what is it?” He asked, deferring automatically to the authority in his voice.

“Dean is getting worked up about you leaving.” He said without preamble, “have you made a decision yet?”

“I…” Castiel hesitated and looked away with a frown, “I don’t know, we haven’t really talked about it. I mean, I should go with him, we were all each other had for so long…” he trailed off and met Michael’s soft gaze.

“That’s not the case anymore though.” Michael murmured, laying a hand on his brother’s arm. “I’m so sorry we weren’t there for you, I should have paid more attention, been there for you. For both of you.”

“It’s not your fault, Michael.” Castiel cleared his throat and stepped inside, picking up a string of Christmas lights and attempting to make himself look busy. “I’ll talk to Dean later about it I guess.”

Michael sighed, wanting to push for a decision but knowing that his brother needed to do that on his own. “Don’t wait too long Cas, you only have until tomorrow.”

“I know Michael,” Castiel took a step before turning to face his older brother once more. “What if Gabe needs me though?” he asked, voice small.

“What if Dean does?” Michael replied softly, walking away to join Sam where he was rummaging through a bag of halloween decorations.

Anna was working on putting decorations on the Christmas tree with Gabriel, who had been told, in no uncertain terms, that the presents were for under the tree and could only be opened after the party photo had been taken. He was trying to sulk, but the overall effect was ruined by the gold tinsel he had wrapped around his neck like a scarf.
“Gabriel stop pouting and hand me that little box of bells.” Anna chided, elbowing him in the side and Michael chuckled, pleased to see how comfortable everyone was with each other.

By the time that Dean and Samandriel were done prepping food and setting things to cook the living room was mostly finished being decorated and Dean stopped in the doorway to admire the work the others had done.

The Christmas tree had been set up in along one wall, complete with presents stacked underneath. They had strung fake Halloween cobwebbing above and around the tree, with plastic spiders hanging in it and set images of Easter Eggs on the wall behind the webbing for Easter. Castiel had produced a Lego Star Destroyer from Dean’s bedroom, and together with the Stormtrooper outfits and a lightsaber, May the fourth was taken care of. May Day and Independence Day were easiest, an American Flag was hoisted on a broomstick stuck in one of the dead plant pots and suspended at one end with a piece of twine that ran to the curtain rod, keeping it spread and visible. Samandriel had assisted Dean with making a cornucopia for the centerpiece for the table, and alongside the currently cooking turkey and fixings they were also ready to represent Thanksgiving.

“This is weird.” Anna said with a grin, “but I actually like it.”

Gabriel took a look at the to-do list Dean had drawn up, stopping halfway down the page, “we need to set up downstairs for the fancy party,” he decided, dropping the list back to the table as he stood up.

“Speaking of…” Michael said slowly, shooting his eyes between Gabriel and Sam quickly, “we brought a table and some chairs for that, we left them downstairs since you mentioned they’d be needed outside.”

“Awesome.” Dean smiled, ducking back into the kitchen to grab a box he’d set aside earlier in the day. “This has a tablecloth, wine glasses, plates and fancy shit like that in it.”

“Alright, I’ll carry that.” Michael announces, reaching out to relieve Dean of the box. “Gabe, come on, come help me set up downstairs.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at his eldest cousin suspiciously but followed him out of the apartment regardless.

Dean and Anna wandered into the kitchen to check on the food while Samandriel focused on fussing with adding different touches to the decorations throughout the living room. Castiel caught Sam’s eye and inclined his head towards the balcony, making his way outside once Sam had nodded that he understood.

Castiel stood beside Sam and watched as Michael and Gabriel carted chairs and a table from a trailer attached to the back of Michael’s silver Lexus, chuckling when Michael stopped suddenly, causing Gabriel to walk into his end of the table, dropping it with a loud curse that easily carried on the breeze to their ears.

“Gabe looks happy to see them.” Sam observed softly, watching the men laugh together before continuing to set up the table far below.

“He believed he lost everyone.” Castiel murmured, raising his eyes to take in the city when Michael and Gabriel flopped down into the dining chairs and put their heads together to talk. “I was all he had, and he was all I had… and for so long I thought I’d lost him too, that he was gone and I would be alone again.”

“You guys have us now.” Sam turned to face him, placing a hand on his shoulder soothingly.

“But you’re leaving tomorrow, and Gabe is going with you.” Castiel spun to face the taller man, dropping his voice when he noticed that he’d been bordering on yelling. “I don’t know how to be without him, I’m always so worried that he’ll need me and I won’t be there.”

“Hey man, I get it. I am as surprised as you are that he wants to come with me.” Sam swallowed, feeling a bit lost. “I… Maybe you should talk to him about it. You’re welcome to come too, of course.” He hastily added, watching the pair below turn their faces upwards, seeking the balcony. Sam gave them an absent wave before continuing. “There’s plenty of room at my place… but you should know, that uh... Dean is going to fall apart if you leave too.”

Castiel was spared having to respond immediately as they were interrupted by Samandriel suddenly sticking his head through the doorway with a mischievous grin. “Dean and I were talking,” he started, dropping his voice conspiratorially, “and we think we should test this wine pouring thing. You know, make sure we can get it where we aim it?”

Sam chuckled at him, peering over the railing again with a perked brow. “Oh, I think that’s a great idea.” he said. “A couple of buckets of water should do it.”

“I’ll call Michael’s cell to let him know.” Cas said, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

“No!” Samandriel said desperately, stepping out and waving his hands. “I mean...why bother them with it? These logistics are an… uh... upstairs problem, right Sam?” He looked to Sam for support.

Sam grinned widely and nodded, winking at Castiel. “Oh definitely. Small details, we don’t need to bother them with it Cas, don’t waste your time.”

“Yo, here’s the buckets.” Dean stood in the doorway, a wild look in his eyes. He had two buckets of water filled almost to the brim.

Cas immediately walked over to Dean, taking one of the buckets from him. “You don’t have to come out here Dean, it’s OK. I’m sure Sam and Alfie can do the uhhh… logistical testing.”

Dean shook his head fervently. “Oh hell no, I’m not missing this for the world.” He passed the other bucket to Sam and stepped away, returning a moment later with the video camera. He stepped out onto the balcony and moved to the railing taking a deep breath before he looked over the edge at the pair below.

“Actually.” He gulped nervously. “I might go down and film from below.... You know, testing the angles or some shit, right Cas?”

Castiel laughed suddenly. “Yes Dean, that would be an acceptable thing to do. I’ll film from up here with my phone.”

Dean left and reappeared on down below, sneaking up behind them and standing a good distance away from Gabriel and Michael a few moments later, making a big deal of holding the camera out and looking up at the balcony above, zooming in on the others to see what they were doing.

Sam chuckled darkly as he stepped up to the railing and looked down, propping the bucket on the edge as he waited for Samandriel to get in position with his own. “Ready Alfie?” he asked once the youngest Novak was beside him.

Samandriel grinned and nodded, flicking his gaze to Castiel who stood to their left with his phone aimed at them. Castiel gave him a thumbs up and hit record, biting his lip to keep from chuckling when his youngest brother elbowed Sam and they tilted their buckets forward.

A high pitched shriek came from below and Castiel panned the camera down to Gabriel and Michael, a grin splitting his face as he took in the commotion below him.

Dean saw the moment that Samandriel and Sam shifted their buckets forward, dumping out gallons of cold water from the fifth floor balcony, he slowly moved the video camera to follow the arcing deluge. The camera reached Gabriel and Michael seconds before the water did and Dean grinned as he caught the looks of surprised horror on the men’s faces.

Michael’s outraged shriek reached his ears and Sam’s laughter carried down to them, Gabriel snapped his head up towards the balcony at the sound, his eyes narrowed dangerously and he spun around to mumble something to Michael, suddenly catching sight of Dean behind him with the video camera.

“You!” he seethed, stepping forwards with a glare, drawing Michael’s attention to Dean’s presence as well.

“Shit!” Dean laughed, pulling the camera close to his chest and fleeing towards the apartment building and relative safety, Gabriel and Michael were in pursuit as they laughed and growled out threats of retribution.

Dean skidded into the lobby of the building and dashed towards the stairs, only to be stopped in his tracks by Anna’s voice calling his name from the elevator. “Quick Dean! Here!”

Dean changed direction mid-stride and darted through the doorway at full speed, hitting the wall of the elevator as Anna mashed her palm against the ‘close doors’ button. Dean and Anna sighed in relief as the doors slid shut, Anna reaching over to help Dean up from where he’d slumped against the wall as the elevator started moving.

As Gabriel’s howl of frustration and Michael’s threats of vengeance followed them up two floors, Dean and Anna gripped each other’s shoulders to try and stay upright as they burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Chapter Text

When Gabriel and Michael reached the apartment they were met with towels and beer, a peace offering to try to defuse the situation ahead of time, though the dark looks Gabe shot around the room suggested that it was no use. There would be payback, and it was likely to come when they each least expected it.

Michael had moved on from murderous looks to a smooth, calm veneer that set everybody on edge, smiling pleasantly at everyone and exchanging the occasional knowing look with Gabriel, who had changed clothes as soon as he reached the apartment. Dean had offered Michael a dry shirt and he now stood nursing a beer, wearing a Metallica shirt while he arranged a playlist on Sam’s laptop.

The ringing of the doorbell had everyone’s heads swinging towards the door in unison and they all stared at it blankly until Anna rolled her eyes and moved to answer it.

“Put the music on Michael, it’s party time,” she said with a smile as she glided past him. With a nod from Dean, she opened the door and greeted the people waiting outside. “Oh my goodness, let me take some of that for you,” she said, ushering them in and taking a basket of food from them. “My name is Anna, I’m uh… a friend of Dean and Sam,” she said, not sure how to explain anything.

“Dick!” Gabriel exclaimed happily, coming to stand by Anna. “Good to see you man. Hey Debbie how are you?” he asked, exchanging air kisses with the tall blonde woman that followed Dick inside.

“Guys this is Dick Roman, and his beautiful wife, Debbie.” Gabriel stepped back from Debbie’s side to make the introductions, pointing to people as he went. “This is Dean Winchester, it’s his apartment we’re taking over, his brother Sam, and of course you know Cas.”

Dick and Debbie nodded to each person in turn as Gabriel introduced them, practiced smiles on their faces. “Nice to meet you.”

Gabriel hesitated before turning to introduce the remaining trio, the words unfamiliar on his tongue after so long separated from them, “and these are my cousins, Castiel’s siblings. Michael, Anna and Alfie.”

“Don’t hover in the doorway guys, come in and make yourselves at home,” Dean said motioning for them to enter. “Can I get you a drink? We’ve got pretty much everything,” he offered, leading the way to the kitchen for them to choose something from the fridge.

Dean had been concerned that spending time with a politician and an older pop starlet would be like pulling teeth, he’d worried they’d be self important and stuck up. He was very pleased to find out otherwise, falling into easy conversation about work and some of the craziest things they’ve seen during public appearances.

Dean was laughing at a particularly awful story involving a fan who kept mailing Debbie his underwear every week for the better part of a year when his phone vibrated on the counter, he stepped away with a murmured apology to check it and bit his lip to stop a laugh when he saw who it was.

Bobby: On my way now.

Dean: Awesome, see you soon cowboy.

Bobby: what the hell are you even talking about idjit?

Dean chuckled to himself and looked around the room for Sam seeing that, in the time it had taken for him to check his messages, his brother had gone over to join the conversation with Dick, Debbie and Gabriel, who was explaining GISHWHES and what tasks they wanted them to help with. Samandriel was at the open door smiling wistfully at a pretty blonde girl in her late teens, who had entered with her mother.

“Angela, oh hey, I’m glad you made it,” Dean said, striding over to greet his neighbor. “Hey squirt, how you doing?” he asked the teenager, who rolled her eyes at him. “Alfie, this is my neighbor Angela and her daughter Callie. Pick your jaw up dude, she’s too young for you,” he jested at Alfie, who had turned an interesting shade of red.

“Dean, I’m 18 now, I can do whatever I want,” the girl, Callie, retorted, eyeing Samandriel speculatively. At that point Dean was sure she actually meant to say ‘whoever’, as he saw the hungry look she was giving Castiel’s younger sibling.

“Not under my roof,” her mother warned with a glare at Alfie, who in turn stared daggers at Dean.

Dean and Angela looked at each other and burst out laughing. “Relax dude,” Dean said, slapping him on the back with a wink. “She won’t bite. Unless you ask nicely.”

Ushering them away from the door, Dean huffed out a laugh at Gabriel and Castiel, who had surrounded Dick where he was leaning casually against a wall, reciting lines for the task he had agreed to with the video camera in his face. They were laughing among themselves, and from what he could hear the conversation revolved largely around the three of them making dick jokes.

“No, it’s a Slangaroo. Not a kangaroo.” Gabriel chuckled. “It’s a hybrid of - never mind, just say the lines and stop being a dick, Dick.”

Dick chuckled and tried again, nodding at Castiel to restart the recording. “Hi, I’m Senator Dick Roman, and I’m here to talk about this little guy here--” Dick held up a picture of the GISHWHES mascot-- “this is a Slangaroo, the Slangaroo is the mascot of a worldwide charity scavenger hunt called GISHWHES and it’s one cute little hybrid. Slangaroo for President!” Dick grinned into the camera and winked, holding the pose for a moment before throwing his head back with a laugh, “That was fun, please send me a copy of the video when you’re allowed to, I’d like to put it on my web page, maybe raise some support for Random Acts while I’m at it.”

“My turn!” Debbie sang, stepping up to grab onto Castiel’s arm and lead him into the kitchen where they were going to film the cheese in a can commercial.

Dean followed behind them with a grin, curious at how they were going to handle it. His smile slipped when the pop star stood in front of the open fridge and started to spray the canned cheese straight into her mouth, moaning around the nozzle as she did so.

Dean folded his arms and pouted a little as he watched her turn around to face the camera, acting surprised that there was someone there. “What? Can’t a girl enjoy her deliciously healthy, deliciously tasty, Cheese Whizz in peace?” Debbie drawled, holding the can in front of her to show the label off to the camera.

After the commercial was finished Castiel shut off the video camera and turned around, catching sight of Dean in the doorway. Dean scowled at him, ignoring his surprised, “Dean!” as he registered the glare being directed his way. “Dean, it’s funny !”

Dean worked to hide a smile as he turned away, it was funny, but that doesn’t mean he’s letting Castiel off that easily for making fun of him. The doorbell rang again and Dean stepped back through the doorway, leaving Castiel in the kitchen as he went to answer it.

“Bobby!” Dean greeted the older man with a welcoming smile, stepping aside to let him past. “Come in, take a load off.” Dean waved his hand towards the living room, following behind as Bobby led the way.

“Looks bigger in here with that all opened up like this.” Bobby exclaimed, taking in the changes to the room. His eyes fell on Debbie and grew huge. “Is that…?” Dean barely got a chance to follow the older man’s gaze before Bobby was moving, ignoring Sam’s shouted greeting and making a beeline straight for Debbie.

“Uh, hi,” Bobby stammered, his voice quieter than usual. “I’m Robert, uh Bobby… call me Bobby.”

Dean smirked, apparently Bobby was a bit of a fan of the pop star, he met Sam’s eye and they shared a knowing look that quickly turned to confusion as Bobby started to gush at Debbie about her husband.

Sam grinned and winked at Dean, ducking into the kitchen and returning with Dick trailing behind him. “Oh hey Bobby, this chap wants to say hello,” Sam pretended not to see Dean gagging and mouthing the word ‘chap’ at him from behind Bobby’s back.