#nothing wrong with Sugar but everything wrong with gabe

[squiggle3worm]

I never noticed that it was implied that after Sally went missing Gabe was cheating on her.

“She was interviewing him in our apartment, in the middle of a poker game, and there was a young blond lady sitting next to him, patting his hand. A fake tear glistened on his cheek. He was saying, ‘Honest, Ms. Walters, if it wasn’t for Sugar here, my grief counselor, I’d be a wreck’…”

Gabe never actually cared about Sally so why would he have a grief counselor besides keeping up appearances for insurance or something. If she is an actual grief counselor why is she comfortable being called “Sugar” unless it���s her first name. That’s not impossible but the amount of people with that name is so low it would be surprising. It’s easier to assume Gabe was cheating on Sally that it is to assume Sugar was there for any other reason.

We already knew that Gabe was abusive and a horrible person so I guess it’s not that shocking he’d cheat on Sally too. It just went over my head when I was reading it as a kid.

[bloodstainedellie23]

Gabriel x Balthazar x Castiel x Reader Imagine

"Here," You held out a chocolate bar towards the school janitor. "I wanted to say thank you for helping me today, I noticed that you like this." His honey eyes traveled from your earnest (e/c) pools to the hershey's bar in your delicate hands. Gabriel had expected many things, but for you to take time out of your day to reward him was not one of them. Taking the treat from you he cracked a cheerful smile, his body practically beaming.

"Think nothing of it."

That was the start of your relationship. Everyday at school you would see him and wave and he found himself liking Japan more and more, and everyday he found himself becoming more and more fascinated to you. Sometimes, you would stay after school and talk with him, usually ending up with him walking you train station to make sure you got there okay.

"Better safe than sorry," He would always say. "Makes pervs think twice before trying something too." You had to agree with him though, especially with the recent incident that happened to a young schoolgirl. Poor girl was waiting for the bus when some guy put his phone under her skirt to get a few pictures, he got caught by bystanders. You shuddered at the thought.

The bell snapped you out of your reservoir, students crowding the halls to get to the lunchroom, some of them choosing to stay in their classes to eat, however, you had different plans. You held the bento lunch, stacked high with layers, a grey cloth holding everything together as you made your way to the rooftop. Feeling the sunlight against your (s/c) you saw the shine of cognac hair shimmering near the bench. A pair of men standing with Gabriel, one a tall, raven haired with a trench coat and the other a brunette with a black jacket and pale eyes. They seemed to be deep in conversation, and you considered leaving to give them privacy, only for Gabriel to notice you.

"(y/n)!" He calls out, making you turn around and catch the attention of the other two men. "There you are!" He pats the bench beside him and you oblige, your form looking even smaller in comparison to his own. "I'll see you guys later." Gabriel bids the men farewell.

"Hello there," Balthazar takes your hand and kisses it, your body flaring at the gesture. "(y/n), what a lovely name. I'm Balthazar, and this," He waves a hand towards the guy with the trench coat. "Is Castiel, any friend of Gabriel's is a friend of ours." From a first impression, you had to say Balthazar was the flirty and fun loving type. Castiel, however, reminded you of the quiet type. Two complete opposites.

"Hello." Castiel gives you a curt nod, his eyes traveling to your lunch. "You know bento are very nutritious." Not very sure if this was him attempting conversation or just stating a fact you decided to see where this would lead you.

"Yes, would you like some? I made it." You unwrapped the boxes and laid handed everyone a box leaving you without one for yourself.

"Your not eating?" Gabriel frowns along with his brothers.

"Uh," A flare of panic coursed through you. You hadn't upsetted him, did you? "No, I'm okay. Thank you for the concern though." Yep, even you had noticed the change in your actions and tone around unfamiliar people. You tended to get nervous easily, your body becoming rigid and constantly worrying if you had offended someone or done something wrong. You would get so emotionally scrambled that panic attacks were not an uncommon thing for you, even walking up the stairs to your class, whether your late or just crowded by your classmates, made it hard to breathe. Anytime it came on you felt as if your lungs had stopped functioning and your chest would tighten.

You were snapped out of your thoughts with a piece of chicken tempura being held to your lips. "Consider it payment for the candy bars." Gabriel playfully winks, causing you to fluster.

"We're not supposed to eat after each other." You responded looking into his honey eyes. A deep chuckle rumbled in his throat. "We aren't even supposed to be up here together sugar." He had you there.

Castiel held up a piece of his bento to you as well. "The human body is fragile, you need sustenance." You found it sweet, but you noted the weird use of words from the man. It was as if he doesn't need food. "I don't need food. It tastes like molecules." Castiel replies without missing a beat, as if he had read your mind. "I did." There he goes again. Gabriel choked on his spit as Balthazar froze and whipped towards the accountant.

"What he means to say, is that he isn't hungry," He threw an arm around him, pale, almost grey eyes locking with bright blue. "Right?"

"No, angels do not need food." It was at this time Gabriel dropped the piece of chicken that was once still held up to you. Castiel looked between his brothers. "What? Do you want me to lie?"

You thought about it, looking back on every interaction you had with Gabriel from day one. If he was an angel, it would make sense as to why your panic attacks would disappear as soon as he touched your back. Any pain you had when you had first met after falling to the floor had vanished once you placed your hand in his. He always seemed to be there when you thought of him after school or when bullying would start in the halls, even when you swore that he wasn't there before. A rational part of your brain tried to reason that Castiel had a mental illness, but maybe that was you wanting to believe that. Regardless, if Gabriel was an angel too, he couldn't be a danger to you. You never felt in danger in his presence. He had several chances by now to harm you but never took them.

"Alright." You reply breathlessly putting a stop to Balthazar trapping Castiel in a headlock. They looked at you stunned and Gabriel seemed to debate something, his chop sticks fiddling with the food in the bento box you had given him. Was he nervous? "Gabriel." For once your voice was somewhat stern, yet it remained soft and concerned. "If you are an angel, then I'm sure you have your reasons for not telling me. It is hard to believe, after all." His eyes darted to the ground. "However, it doesn't change the fact that I feel at ease with you." His eyes lit up, flickering to meet your own. The gold flecks in his brown eyes were almost glowing in the sunlight. Hope and relief flooding the earthy pools. "You always seem to be there when I need you most and I am thankful for that." You tilted your head towards the sky, the light seeming to make your eyes appear brighter and your features glow. Your hair shined in the sun, soft curls framing your face. You felt hot, whether it was from the situation or the tropical weather you weren't sure. The tension on the rooftop seemed to dissipate, a comfortable silence and peacefulness replacing the atmosphere. For a moment you wished it could last forever, but you knew that time would move on.

"...Thank you." You felt Gabe's large hand tentatively touch your own, almost cautiously, the touch was warm and comforting, soothing. You turned to face him once more, his features  just as bright and cheery as when you had first met. "It's only been a few weeks, but these have been some of the best days of my life." Gabriel admits.

And it was. Here he was, his true nature revealed to a human girl, and she wasn't dropping to his feet begging for forgiveness or kissing his ass. She wasn't apologizing for saying his father's name in vain, she wasn't treating him any different than when they had first met, save for being more comfortable around him. He also didn't have to worry about her trying to fry his wings extra crispy like the dreaded Winchester brothers, even though she wasn't a hunter.

"Well," Balthazar begins. "All's well that ends well, but you still need to eat." He held up your favorite sushi roll the food grazing your lips. "A lady needs to take care of herself." A playful wink paired with his smooth british accent was a killer combination, and he was offering to feed you to boot. Suddenly another food item was shoved in your face, Gabriel glaring at his brother. "I offered to feed her first, Balthazar." The challenge was cast out, both males seeming to stare one another down. Castiel glanced between the two and held out a piece of food for you to eat as well. "I offered as well.” 

[sakuwriteshere]

One-shot: Re-Enchanted

Summary: After a hunt that didn’t end as good as she wanted, Y/N spends a movie night with her friend, Gabriel. The Archangel has an idea to cheer her up and maybe push Dean and Y/N to realize their feelings. But nothing goes as it was supposed to be.

Pairing: Dean Winchester x Female!Reader

Other characters: Sam WInchester, Gabriel

Words count: 8656 words

Warnings: Reader feeling down, FLUFF, cursed words (one or two I think?), did I say FLUFF?, mutual pining, FLUUUFFF

Beta-reader: @ireblogcauseiappreciateyou Thank you so much 💖You’re the best!

A/N: Originally written for @alleiradayne​‘s 2020 Supernatural Summer Shut-in Challenge but I thought it didn’t really fit the genre and the prompt so I didn’t use it as an entry. However, I really liked the story and I wanted to write something about the movie Enchanted so I thought it could be great to post it anyway.

You don’t need to have watched the movie Enchanted, but it’s highly recommended! There’s a lot of references. Also it’s very cheesy and I apologize for it ^^”

Enjoy and feel free to reblog and/or comment ;)

Main Masterlist

___________________________

Re-Enchanted

After several months of running all over the country, jumping from one case to another, you could finally spend a lazy night in the bunker. No demons, no monsters, no witches to hunt. Just you, a big bowl of popcorn, and a TV. You loved Dean for choosing such a huge screen.

“Hi there, Sugar!” Gabriel jumped into the couch, right next to you, bumping you slightly in the process, making you grunt at the sudden weight against you. The archangel simply ignores you as he plunges his hand into the popcorn, stuffing his mouth with the sweets.

“Long time no see, Gabe. How have you been?” You asked as you shift more comfortably into the couch.

“Same old, same old,” Gabriel waved his hand before he let his arm fall over your shoulders, pulling your body into his. You moved again, your head resting against his shoulder, leaning on Gabriel a bit more as you tucked your legs underneath you.

You let out a content sight, feeling carefree for the first time since a long time. Gabriel was one of your best friends, he spent his time with you whenever he could, which was a lot if you were honest, and you wouldn’t complain about it. The archangel was someone very funny and nice, and it was a pleasure to be near him. You loved his humor and his little pranks, especially when you weren’t on the receiving end.

The both of you fell silent as your attention fell back onto the movie. Once in a while, Dean would let you use his Dean cave and you had to admit the man outdid himself with the room. Everything you would need to spend the perfect movie night was here. Well, almost everything.

You loved Gabriel to death, really. But there was someone else you were closer to, and you smiled fondly when you thought about what he would say about your movie choices.

“Oh man, come on! You’re watching that chick-flick? Again?” Dean asked as he entered the room. Not you nor Gabriel moved, your eyes still focused on the screen.

“Patrick Dempsey.” Gabriel and you said at the same time, like it was the only natural explanation.

You didn’t see Dean rolling his eyes at your comment, as you were too focused on the screen. You watched Gisele landing in the middle of Manhattan while you put some caramelized popcorn in your mouth, the sweet treat melting on your tongue.

This movie was your guilty pleasure and you weren’t shy of showing it. Yes, you were a hunter. Yes, you were a badass. Yes, you knew the horrible truth, monsters existed in this world, killing innocent people and turning their insignificant and boring lives into nightmares. That was exactly why you needed your chick-flick moments. You were a hunter but you were also a human being before everything. Since you were a kid, you loved fairy tales and happy endings. You knew you would never have a happy ending with this life but it didn’t hurt to still hope and dream about it.

Dean’s groans broke your concentration and you spared him an angry glance, sticking out your tongue at him before you turned back into your movie.

“You’re one to speak, Dean-o,” Gabriel smirked at Dean. “We all know you have a soft spot for handsome doctors.”

Dean scoffed at Gabriel’s words, shifting from one foot to the other, crossing and uncrossing his arms, not really knowing what to do with his body.

“This guy is not, Dr. Sexy!” Dean stressed the words, pointing at the screen when Patrick Dempsey appeared on the screen. “They are totally different characters,” Dean added firmly. His favorite TV show has nothing in common with the other supposed medical drama show Patrick Dempsey was in.

“Hush you two. It’s the interesting part,” You say to the two men, adjusting your head on Gabriel’s shoulder.

You saw Dean’s body coming into your peripheral vision, as the man was looking for something. You ignored his presence as you concentrated on your movie, you let out a happy sigh as Gabriel started to thread his fingers in your hair. This was a perfect night: best movie, best candies, bestie at your side. You were totally oblivious of what was going on around you.

***

Gabriel wasn’t really watching the movie, he knew it by heart, for having watched it so many times. No, something more funny and interesting was going on in the room. He glanced secretly at Dean who suddenly stopped in his quest of whatever he was looking for when he heard your sigh.

The hunter looked at you and Gabriel, not so discreetly, his jaw clenching when he saw the intimate gestures the archangel was giving you. It was totally friendly but Dean didn’t know that.

An amused smile stretched Gabriel’s lips and he quickly hid it behind your head as he kissed it, his thumb brushing your cheekbone. It wasn’t rare for Gabriel to be so touchy with you, the archangel loved cuddles and it didn’t take him too long to know you craved it too. It was totally platonic, the both of you knew it.

But Dean didn’t.

And Gabriel was enjoying every second of this sweet torture. He loved how Dean’s fists clenched and unclenched at his sides, how his eyes darkened as his gaze zoomed on the spot where Gabriel’s lips rested on your head, how his body was slightly trembling with jealousy or how tight his lips were sealed to prevent himself from saying something.

“Need something?” Gabriel asked casually.

Dean jumped slightly at his question, unaware that he was staring at the both of you. He licked his lips and searched around him, grabbing the nearest thing: a pair of earphones. He waved the thing, as a way to tell Gabriel he had found what he was looking for, then left the room in a hurry.

A cheshire cat’s smile appeared on Gabriel’s lips while you remained totally oblivious, you were too deeply focused on your movie to notice anything.

Interesting.

***

You woke up feeling dizzy and your head hurting as if a herd of elephants had stepped on it the whole night. Carefully you opened your eyes, squeezing them shut quickly as the bright light assaulted you. You blinked a few times before you opened them once and for good. The first thing that hit you was that you didn’t recognize where you were. The last thing you remembered was spending the night with Gabriel. You don’t even remember falling asleep.

“Are you alright?” You heard a strange, chipmunk voice asking you.

That’s when your fuzzy brain registered something you haven’t noticed yet. As you looked around the room, searching for the owner of the voice, you felt that something was wrong. The place and the furniture around you didn’t look like what you were used to. Everything was so colorful and...cartoonish?

“Someone dreamed of her prince, right?” The chipmunk voice giggled and that’s when your eyes fell on the little squirrel standing at your feet.

Your eyes widened, your mouth slack opened as you saw the tiny creature climbing along your legs, finally sitting on your lap, big, brown eyes staring at you.

You jumped from the bed you were sitting on and ran towards the nearest mirror, not believing your own eyes. Your cartoonish reflection looking back at you.

“What the hell?!” You asked your own reflection, your fingers pressed against your face.

***

It took you a bit of time to comprehend what was going on. Apparently you were right in the middle of your favorite movie and for whatever reason, you were the main character, Gisele. Except that the cartoonish characters around you knew your real name, and this little detail didn’t seem to bother them. You stood in the middle of the room, totally speechless as you watched the many (too many) cartoonish forest animals dancing and singing around you. If they wanted you to sing along, it would be over your dead body!

Despite your refusal to play along, the movie kept on going and soon, too soon, the deers and birds looked at something behind you, stuttering and suddenly afraid. Uh-oh...

Being chased by a giant troll isn’t something funny. Within your career as a hunter you’ve seen a lot of weird things, but this had to top everything else.

“Get the hell out of here!” You yelled at the monster who was crawling on the same tree branch you were currently using as a safe space.

And just like in the movie that you knew by heart, the weight of the little chipmunk sent the troll far, far away and leaving you alone holding onto the frail branch as if your life depended on it. There was no way, the tiny creature could save you, you knew what was going to happen next. You closed your eyes and reluctantly let go of the branch, feeling your body falling quickly and heavily. You screamed through the fall because let’s be honest it was scary and the branches that hit you in your fall weren’t leaving a nice feeling to your body. Finally, you landed on something soft and warm, and felt a pair of strong arms wrapping around you.

“Oh my gosh…” You sighed, feeling relieved to still be alive, being an immortal cartoon character had its perks. You lifted your eyes slowly, ready to see Prince Edward from Andalasia for the very first time, and more particularly the one who played the character.

“Sam?” You said, totally bewildered as you were expecting James Marsden instead.

But Sam Winchester, your friend and hunting partner, was the one wearing the burgundy outfit instead. He was a cartoon as well but you could recognize his face easily.

“Yes, it’s me! And you are?” Sam asked you, a strange look written all over his face as if it was the first time he saw you.

“Y/N. Come on this isn’t funny. I don’t know what’s going on but we need to do something.” You said, as you tried to climb down from the horse you fell onto but Sam held you tight, keeping you in place.

“Oooh Y/N! You’re right. We shall be married in the morning!” As if his sudden (and not romantic at all) wedding proposal wasn’t surprising you enough, you fell speechless when you heard him starting to sing.

“You were made…” Sam sang, expecting you to finish the song.

“I’m not singing.” You said plainly, pushing against his chest to free yourself.

Everything froze around you, as if the time had stopped. You looked around and quickly your eyes fell onto the only thing that was still moving.

“Gabriel.” You should have known it was because of him. Who else would have enough power to create all of this?

“Come on, Sugar. Sing along!” The archangel said with energy, coming closer to you and holding out his hand to help you get down from the horse.

“What does all of this mean?” You asked, feeling furious and you weren’t going to let his funny cartoonish look disturb you.

“Consider it as a well-needed break.” Gabriel started to explain. “Don’t be mad. I know you’re feeling down lately-”

“Of course I’m feeling down, we lost an innocent on our last hunt.” You reminded him, you had explained everything the night before. “The guy is dead because of me.”

It was Gabriel’s turn to stop you. “That is not your fault. Those things happen.”

You rolled your eyes at that and crossed your arms upon your chest, showing Gabriel your back. You were going to give him the silent treatment, and you were not in the mood to play in his stupid pranks.

“It’s just a dream, I swear. I wanted to do something nice for you, that’s all.”

“Really?” You turned around, hearing the defeat in his tone. Your arms fell at your sides as you relaxed a bit.

“Well,” You didn’t need to look at him to know there was a mischievous smile curling his lips. Gabriel’s arms wrapped around your waist as he rested his chin on your shoulder.

“Just play along, enjoy it while you can and once you wanna get out of it, all you have to do is to realize what you truly want,” he told you, not even an ounce of wickedness in his voice. He was genuinely worried about you and wanted only your well-being.

“What I truly want?” You parrotted as you broke the embrace, feeling something fishy behind those words.

The Archangel wiggled his eyebrows before disappearing. You called his name several times but he was already gone and you could only count on yourself to get out of here.

“Great…” Was the last thing you had time to say before everything turned black.

And the story started all over again.

And again and again.

After the fifth time, you realized that if you wanted to reach the end of the movie, or this dream or whatever it was, you had to play along just like what Gabe said. Well, you better start doing it, the faster you would reach the end, the faster you would wake up. After all, it was just a dream, nothing could go wrong right? And the fact that Patrick Dempsey was waiting for you was another good reason to keep moving.

***

“So, get this,” Sam entered the library, throwing a newspaper into Dean’s lap.

“Come on man! We’ve just got back, can’t we have a little break?” Dean groaned but picked up the newspaper anyway.

“It’s not that far and there’s already three vics. Looks like a simple salt and burn, it would only take us one day, two at tops.”

Dean kept on reading the article, nodding absentmindedly at his little brother’s words. Sam was right, the three vics were from the same family and each of them died in the same house within weird circumstances. And after the last hunt, Dean knew an easy win was what you needed to cheer you up. With one look, Dean knew that was also the main reason for Sam to go.

Dean slapped his thighs as he stood up. “Alright! Get ready, we’re leaving in ten.”

Sam nodded and headed for his room to get ready, though Dean stopped him in his tracks when he asked him to go and tell you they were leaving.

“She’s still in her room?” Sam asked, a bit surprised when he checked the time. It was already one in the afternoon and now that he thought about it, he hasn't seen you since the night before. There was only one reason for you to stay inside your room for so long. You were more depressed than what Sam thought.

The soft and gentle knock on your door didn’t get any response from you, so Sam knocked again, a bit more firmly. When he still got no answer from you, Sam brought his face closer to the door.

“Y/N? Uh...we found a case. A simple salt and burn case so don’t pack too heavy, ok? We’re leaving in ten,” Sam told you from his side of the door. He turned around, already thinking about what he needed to pack but after a second he glanced at your door again. You still haven’t answered him.

Sam knocked again. “Y/N? You’re awake?” His hand was already turning the doorknob. The door opened a crack, leaving enough room for Sam to take a look inside.

“Y/N?” Sam opened the door completely and entered your room. He came closer to your bed when he spotted you still soundly asleep.

Gently he shook your shoulder, hopeful that the movement would be enough to stir you awake.

“Come on, this is not funny.” Sam tried to chuckle but something deep down his stomach told him you weren’t faking it. “Dean!”

It didn’t take long for Dean to come in. The urgency in his brother’s voice was enough of a warning and when he realized that Sam was in your room, Dean feared the worst. They had tried everything to wake you up but failed miserably. Your chest was moving up and down which meant you were asleep, and more importantly still alive. There was no trace of pain on your face, on the contrary, a small smile adorned your peaceful face.

“What’s going on?” Dean walked back and forth in front of your bed while Sam kept staring at you, thinking deeply.

“Do you think it’s a curse?” Sam offered but both brothers were quick to ditch the possibility, it’s been a few months since your last encounter with a witch.

“I don’t know. A demon maybe?” Dean tried but he didn’t know what could have put you in this state. The bunker was the safest place in the world, nothing could enter and hurt them here.

“Why does it always have to be something evil with you two?” Gabriel asked from the corner of the room, his sudden appearance making both Winchesters jump.

“Gabe! You have to do something. You have to help her.” Dean was quick to reach the Archangel, not bothering about the fact that he just appeared for no reason.

“Oh I’m already helping her, don’t worry,” Gabriel pushed Dean slightly on the side so he could come closer and sit at your feet. A fond smile on his lips as he watched you sleep peacefully.

The Winchesters remained silent, staring at Gabriel expectantly, waiting for more information from him. The archangel rolled his eyes and let out an exasperated sigh, how could those two idiots be still alive, after so many years was beyond him. They were so slow sometimes.

“I’m the one who put her under the sleeping spell.” Sometimes it was better to say it straight if you wanted to get to the main point quickly.

“What?” The Winchester brothers said in sync.

“She’s having the time of her life! Well...she’s going to if she relaxes and lets go.” Gabriel announced, proud of himself. Though his own satisfaction disappeared quickly when Dean grabbed him by the collar and pushed him strongly against the nearest wall.

“Wake. Her. Up.” Dean seethed lowly, he was ready to beat the hell out of Gabriel if he needed to. Super powerful archangel or not.

“Now, now,” Gabriel easily freed himself from Dean’s tight grip. “That’s not my job.”

“And whose job is it?” Sam asked, he was calmer than his older brother but he needed just one more tiny push before feeling the need to kill Gabriel himself.

“Prince Not So Charming over here,” Gabriel replied, his thumb over his shoulder, pointing at Dean.

“What?” Dean’s eyes widened. He didn’t have time to react when Gabriel stopped in front of him, pressing two fingers to his forehead.

“One rule: play along and be honest,” he whispered before Dean fell unconscious.

That's how she knows that you love her

That's how you show her you love her (That's how you know)

He didn’t know what was going on anymore. One second he was inside your room, ready to give Gabriel the death sentence, and the other he was sitting in a white carriage in the middle of who knows where.

You've got to show her you need her

Don't treat her like a mind reader (That's how you know)

Dean didn’t know what was the craziest. The fact that he was sitting in a carriage, wearing a monkey suit, or that he was watching you singing and dancing with people, too many people. And you were wearing a dress too! As far as he could, he didn’t remember seeing you in a dress. He had to admit that it suited you. You should wear it more often even though it wouldn’t be practical during a hunt.

That's how she knows that you love her

That's how you know that you love her

It's not enough to take the one you love for granted (He's your love)

The crowd cheered happily once the song was over. It took a few seconds for Dean to understand what was going on. He's heard this song so many times, the monstrous melody was engraved into his brain forever.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

You were giggling and clapping enthusiastically as you sat down, sitting in front of Dean. You still were a bit surprised to see Dean instead of Patrick Dempsey. You knew Gabriel was having fun with the three of you, and you had to admit that seeing Sam wearing tights was particularly funny but you still were wondering why Gabriel thought having Dean here as well would be funny. Strangely, you didn’t complain about it. Sure Dean wasn’t Patrick Dempsey but he was still Dean Winchester and you would be lying to yourself if you said that Dean wasn’t easy on the eyes. It was difficult to play at first, having the face of your friend in front of you but you quickly realized that he wasn’t truly Dean, just a dreamy representation, just like Sam.

“What’s wrong?” You asked him when you noticed something different in his eyes. There was a kind of glint in them that wasn’t there before.

“Where the hell are we?” Dean exclaimed grumpily. “And since when are you singing?”

You blinked several times, surprised by his outburst. “Dean? Is that really you?”

“Son of a bitch!” He yelped, shoving away the two doves over his head.

Well, things just get more complicated.

***

“Really, Gabriel?” Sam gave the archangel his best bitchy face, the latter only shrugged, not seeing where the problem was.

Sam grunted as he tried to lift Dean’s unconscious body from the ground. When he cast the spell, Gabriel didn’t see the need to prevent Dean from the heavy fall, it was even a little funny if he was honest. Once Dean was securely thrown over his shoulder, Sam glared at the angel.

“You mind telling me what this is about?”

“She needed a break, ok? She was feeling really, really down yesterday night.” Gabriel started to explain, a mix between seriousness and worry written all over his face.

“We know.” Sam agreed, his anger slowly replaced by sadness. “We were working on it.”

Gabriel scoffed at that. “Right! Another hunt, huh? It worked so well before.”

“Because you think your way is better?” Sam shifted from one foot to another, his brother was kind of heavy.

Gabriel shrugged. He didn’t know if his little plan would work but it was worth the shot. Truth to be told, you and Dean were really stubborn, and if you didn’t play his little game like how Gabriel expected, who knew what would happen.

***

Dean was standing in the middle of a living room, wearing only a bathrobe. He did as you told him and followed your lead. You’ve spent half of the day together, acting like the characters of your movie, and he would lie if he said that he didn’t enjoy the time he had spent with you at the restaurant but he had enough of all this shit already. He didn’t know why he ended up here and he couldn’t care less, what mattered the most was to get you and him out of here, as soon as possible.

“You have to wake up, Y/N.” He told you sharply, keeping his voice low so he didn’t wake up the little girl sleeping in the next room.

“Don’t you think I’m trying?” You hissed, using a cushion to hide your bare legs. You were only wearing a shirt, and you wouldn’t feel as embarrassed as you were feeling now if it was Patrick Dempsey instead of Dean. “Gabe told me to play along and that’s what I’m doing.”

“He told me that too,” Dean remembered the last words from Gabriel before he was sent into this nightmare.

“Every time I refuse to follow the movie, it starts all over again. I think if I reach the end of it, I’ll wake up but as for you, I have no idea why you’re here. I mean, you were here but it wasn’t really you before, if you know what I mean?”

“I don’t know the movie. How am I supposed to stop this?” Dean groaned then started to pace in the middle of the room. To be honest, he knew the movie, the big lines anyway. Whenever he watched it with you, Dean was more focused on you than the movie. He loved the fact that it brought a smile to your face every time. Of course, he wasn’t going to admit this out loud.

You sighed and scratched the back of your head. “Just follow my lead.” You stood up and stood in front of him, trying to ignore the fact that Dean Winchester was naked under that bathrobe. “Let’s start a fight.”

“I’m sorry?” Dean blinked several times, totally lost with your plan.

“Come on, yell at me or something.” You encouraged him, waving your hands in the air.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” Dean scoffed and took a step aside.

“Really?” You defied, knowing you were heading exactly where you wanted.

“No.”

“No?” Perfect. You were back on track! “Is that the only word that you know? No?”

“What? No!”

“Yeah? No! Over and over again. Every word out of your mouth is ‘no’! It makes me so...angry!” You forced a laugh with the last word, you weren’t in the mood at all, but the show must go on as they say.

“Are you alright?” Dean asked, worried about your sanity. He knew what Gabriel’s tricks could do to a human mind.

You punched him in the chest lightly before calming down. “I’m...I’m wonderful.”

Dean’s face told you he wasn’t buying it.

You were far from wonderful, you perfectly knew what was going to happen next, and it was going to be awkward. Why did it have to be Dean in front of you? Playing your part just became ten times worse. You swallowed hard as you brought your fingers near Dean’s bare chest. Dean froze when he felt your fingers against his skin, just over his heart. It took all his willpower to control the beating as calmly as possible. You glanced at his lips then his eyes, oblivious of Dean doing exactly the same thing. Slowly you brought your face closer, Dean doing the same. You shouldn’t feel so scared, you knew what was going to happen, everything was fake. So why were you so thrilled suddenly? Did Dean know he had to walk away?

Apparently yes, because the next second Dean cleared his throat and walked away. This was a real torture to him, he needed to get out of here before he would do something you would regret. You didn’t have to pretend you were feeling disappointed with him leaving you alone, and you really were confused about what just happened and what you were starting to feel.

***

Once he had laid down Dean on his bed, Sam came back into your room where Gabriel was still watching over you. He was expecting this to be over already, what was taking them so long?

“This is your worst idea, ever, Gabe,” Sam said grumpily as he sat next to the archangel, a hand rubbing his face.

“I know they’re kind of slow but-” Gabriel agreed, knowing his plan wasn’t perfect but he had little time to think about it.

“Slow? That’s an understatement.” Sam scoffed, shaking his head. “My brother thinks it’s one-sided or that he doesn’t deserve her or some crap, while Y/N is too scared to admit she’s head over heels in love with Dean.”

“You knew?” Gabriel was surprised. He had just realized there might be something between them, the night before. How come Sam knew before him?

“You spend as much time with those two idiots as I do and you’ll know,” Sam smirked, before he became serious again, wanting to know more about Gabriel’s next move. “So what are you going to do to fix this mess if none of them admit their feelings?”

Gabriel’s lack of an answer wasn’t reassuring. He hadn’t thought about that.

***

As if being stuck in this movie wasn’t enough already, Dean had to be wearing this stupid royal outfit. The material was scratching his skin and he wasn’t thinking about the pair of tights. This was humiliating, really. Gabriel was so dead once they were back. If they ever came back.

All his negative thoughts flew away when Dean spotted you at the top of the giant stairs. You were once again wearing a dress. If there was one thing that he enjoyed with this mess, it was the dresses, they looked really good on you. Though, right now you were stunning. The dress was really simple contrary to the royal dresses the folks around him were wearing but you were the most beautiful woman in the room to Dean’s eyes. Honestly, he didn’t need you to wear a dress to find you beautiful and attractive. You gave him the most beautiful and biggest smile as your eyes made contact with his. Even though he didn’t know the movie as best as you, Dean recognized that part of the movie. It was your favorite part, you told him that every time you’ve reached that particular scene. The way your face would brighten saying this, how carefree and innocent you looked when you admitted it, Dean loved every fucking second of it and that’s why he accepted to watch the movie with you every time you asked him to.

As he was fondly thinking about those precious moments he had shared with you back in the bunker, his eyes followed your form elegantly walking down the stairs. This scene was becoming his favorite too, but only because you both were in it. You stopped just a few inches from him, and Dean was still lost in his thoughts, his lips slightly parted and totally speechless.

Someone cleared his throat and broke the magical spell between you two. That was when Dean noticed Sam next to you.

“Nice tights, Sammy,” Dean mumbled, trying to focus on something else than you.

“Thank you, peasant.” Sam thanked him, genuinely.

“Still not the real Sam.” You whispered to Dean.

“Right.” Dean nodded, still thinking about his first encounter with this weird Sam, and more particularly the moment he heard him sing. He will make fun of his little brother for the rest of his life.

A voice resonated into the huge ballroom. “Well folks, it’s that time of the night. I would like to ask each gentleman to invite a lady he did not accompany this evening to dance the King and Queen’s Waltz.”

Sam invited the woman who was Dean’s partner, the latter more than happy he did. Dean had tried the whole evening to get rid of her, refusing to dance with her or whatever crap the movie expected him to do. It was during that time when Dean realized that Y/N was the only one who had to follow the movie. The rule was only meant for you apparently. She accepted and walked with Sam in the middle of the room, getting ready to dance and leaving you and Dean alone and very awkward. He knew what was going to happen next and he was so not ready for this.

“Y/N,” Dean stuttered, licking his dry lips before giving you an apologetic look. “I don’t dance.”

You came closer, holding his hand in yours. “Please. Humor me,” you whispered, your eyes roaming over his. Dean obliged because there was no way he was going to say no to you when you looked at him like that.

The soft music started as you walked, hand in hand towards the middle of the room. Feeling insecure and totally out of your comforting zone you stood face to face. Dean exhaled softly before grabbing your right hand in his and resting his other one on your hip while yours found the perfect place over his left shoulder. Slowly the both of you started to sway from left to right, the moves awkward but soon you let yourselves go and started to properly waltz. Sure, it didn’t look as professional as it was in the movie, but to you, it was still perfect. Slowly you got closer, Dean brought his lips near your ear, hot breath tickling your skin.

When you heard Dean’s soft but offkey voice singing the lyrics, exactly like in the movie, you felt your heart skipping a beat and realized what all of this was about. You finally understood what Gabriel wanted you to know. All those strange feelings you’ve had since you’ve met him, it was more than friendship. If you were honest with yourself, you secretly knew what it was but you were too scared to admit it, even to yourself. Ignorance is bliss, particularly in your lifestyle. You smiled as Dean pulled you closer to him, feeling his warmth against your skin and you let yourself enjoy the moment, a soft smile on your face as you rested your head against his shoulder.

Too soon, someone broke the moment. Nancy, Dean’s date, interrupted you and asked for Dean’s attention, while Sam did the same with you. Regrettably, you let Dean go and accepted Sam’s awaiting hand. The two of you shared one last longing look before you started to climb up the stairs. Once you were at the top, Sam went to get your wrap after he made sure you were fine. You were far from being fine contrary to what you had assured him. You weren’t even pretending to play along anymore, you were truly devastated because you knew that it was only a dream, and once everything would be over, it would only remain a dream. There was no way Dean Winchester would be in love with you. The lyrics of the song fitted perfectly ‘So close and still so far.’

You jumped when an old lady appeared behind your back. It was the old witch, the one who wanted to kill you and you tried your best to not roll your eyes as you let her speak and pretend that she has been looking for you. If only you had your gun with some witch killing bullet with you but you could only cringe as you felt her wrinkled hands covering your bare shoulders as she forced you to look at Dean.

“To never be with the one you love.” She said, and you were hit by the truth behind those words.

Then she offered a red apple. “Just one bite, my love, and all of this will go away.” If only it was true.

You glanced one more time at Dean who was looking at you as well. Judging by his face you could tell he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. That was when a strange, and very stupid thought crossed your mind. Maybe you could stay like this? Maybe if you refused to finish the movie over and over again it would only restart to the beginning, and never end?

“But you must hurry. The magic will not work unless you take a bite before the clock strikes 12.” The witch warned you, pushing the apple into your hands. You didn’t need to think twice and took a tiny bite, falling unconscious the next second.

“No!” Dean screamed, witnessing the whole scene. How could he forget that part? He had made fun of it with you, saying it was too cliché. He started to run towards you as the witch took you away, kicking into the stupid apple as he climbed up two steps at a time. Fortunately, Sam was quicker than him and stopped the witch to leave with you.

Someone brought a small couch for you and Sam laid you down gently before taking his sword out from its sheath and pointing it right against the witch’s throat.

“Y/N.” Dean knelt next to you, fearing the worst when he saw how pale your face was. He had seen enough dead people to know how death looked like. And right now, he was living one of his deepest fears.

The witch started to explain what happened but Dean didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t have time for this stupid drama.

“Shut up!” Dean shouted, leaving everyone speechless. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from you, he would do anything to bring you back.

“Kiss her,” Dean asked Sam in a whisper. He knew what needed to be done.

“What?”

“A true love’s kiss, all of this is about this stupid crap so now kiss her and bring her back to me!” Dean yelled, he didn’t care if it followed the movie or not, he just wanted to bring you back. That was all that mattered.

“Yes of course!” Sam exclaimed, before pushing Dean on the side and kneeling in front of you. “I knew that,” Sam added, matter of factly. He clearly forgot about that.

Sam pressed his lips against yours, there was nothing romantic in the gesture. A simple brush of his lips against yours, as if there was no feeling at all. He parted and waited for you to open your eyes but nothing happened. So Sam tried again, pressing his lips a bit more forceful, again and again.

“Why isn’t it working?” Dean whispered, feeling more desperate as the seconds ticked by. Speaking of seconds, the clock chimed, announcing midnight. The witch laughed evilly, giving Dean a weary feeling.

“When the clock strikes 12, she will be dead.” The witch informed Sam and Dean, she was glad that her plan worked perfectly.

“Somebody as a gun?” He asked no one in particular. If the kiss didn’t work, maybe killing the witch would break the spell?

“Unless…” Sam started to say, thinking deeply before turning his gaze towards Dean.

“No, no, no. It couldn’t be me.” Dean shook his head, he knew you weren’t feeling anything for him. You were just friends. It was one-sided. It wouldn’t work and you were running out of time, he needed to find something else.

“Kiss her, Dean! It’s ok.” Nancy cut him short, urging him to do it.

Dean shifted from one foot to another, not liking the sudden attention on him. The clock chimed again and Dean finally moved. He knelt once again and brushed the hair that fell in front of your eyes. Gently his hand cupped the back of your neck and brought your face closer to his.

“Please, please, please.” Dean murmured as he lowered his own face.

The clock struck 12 as he pressed his lips against your cold ones, in a chaste kiss. Reluctantly he broke the kiss and looked at you, praying for your eyes to open but as he was fearing nothing happened and you remained still. You weren’t feeling the same, he knew it.

The crowd fell silent and the air around was filled with sadness as they lowered their heads.

A soft gasp left your lips as you slowly regained consciousness, your eyes falling over Dean’s teary ones. You gave him a soft smile as your hand cupped his cheek.

“I thought that I had lost you.” Dean breathed, tightening his hold around your waist.

You shook your head no before you pressed your forehead against his.

“Come on, let’s finish this movie, and let’s go back.” Dean smiled at you as he helped you to stand up.

Gently you pushed him away, giving him an apologetic smile. “I’m not coming back, Dean.”

“What?” Dean chuckled, thinking you were joking but his smile fell when he saw how serious you looked.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to live knowing this is not true. Gabriel gave me this gift and I intend to keep it. Now that I know how it feels like, I can’t let it go, Dean.” You tried to explain.

“What are you talking about?” Dean asked, totally lost. Why did you change your mind? Why now, after all of this? This was not supposed to go that way.

“Everything is so perfect, too perfect to be true. I don’t even think you’re really you.” You walked around the couch, stopping a few feet from the witch.

“I’m real, alright,” Dean argued, his eyes following your every move.

“Yeah, right.” You chuckled and picked up the sword on the floor. “Dean Winchester, the badass hunter who doesn’t like chick-flick moments dancing and singing? Come on…”

“Hey, hey, hey!” Dean held out his hands, silently begging you to stop what you were going to do. “Look at me, please. It’s me, I swear.”

“I’m tired of this. I don’t want to feel bad because I screwed up a case. I have enough of this burden and if I’m being honest, I can’t go back and just be friends. This, here, is better. It’s all I ever wanted without knowing it.” You said more to yourself than him. You were totally lost in your thoughts. “If I don’t end this movie, it will start again and again. It’s not perfect but it’s still better than nothing.”

“Y/N, don’t!” Dean warned but it was in vain and he could only watch you helplessly as you killed the witch. She wasn’t supposed to die like that, even Dean knew it. Everything froze around you and you gave one last glance at Dean before everything became black.

***

Dean woke up with a start. It took a few seconds for his brain to register that he was back into the bunker. Without wasting another second, Dean rushed out of his room and headed for yours. Sam and Gabriel jumped from surprise when Dean barged into the room.

“Dean!” Sam exclaimed, relieved that his brother was safe but Dean didn’t care, his attention focused on your still sleeping form.

“Wait. If you’re awake, why isn’t she?” Sam asked, suspecting there was a problem.

Dean licked his lips as he took a step closer to your bed. “She...she doesn’t want to.”

“What? Why?” Gabriel and Sam exclaimed at the same time.

“I don’t know, ok?” Dean yelled at them, they were too loud and he needed to think, he needed to find a way to bring you back. “Send me in there again. I’ll make her change her mind.”

Gabriel remained silent and simply stared at him. He couldn’t send him back once again. There were no more ingredients for the spell. It was only meant for two.

“Send me back, Gabriel! Now!” Dean roared, pushing the archangel hard against the wall.

“I can’t!”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Sam put himself between the both of them, stopping the fight before it became really serious. “What happened, there? What did you do?”

Dean tried to compose himself, giving Gabriel one last murder look. “We were in this movie, her favorite one.”

“Enchanted?” Sam asked for more precision, knowing perfectly your guilty pleasure. You weren’t shy about it.

“Yeah. We played the roles, just like Gabriel wanted. We thought that if we reached the end of the movie we would be back. Everything worked perfectly until I kissed her and…”

“You two kissed?” Sam and Gabriel asked, once again in sync. A huge smile on their faces, it did work as they expected in the end.

“Not really the main event right now!” Dean tried to keep the guys focused. “Then she said she wanted to stay and living it over and over again was better than nothing. I don’t know what she meant.” Dean added before he sat next to you, his head between his hands. He didn’t know what else he could do.

Gabriel weighed the pros and cons, all of this went too far. Without wasting another second he walked towards your bed and pressed two fingers against your forehead. You didn’t really understand what Gabriel meant but keeping you in this state for too long isn't safe anymore. He needed to wake you up. He would find another way to make you realize anyway.

However nothing happened, you were still sleeping. Watching you carefully, Gabriel noticed that your eyelids weren’t moving anymore, meaning you weren’t even dreaming.

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked, noticing how Gabriel’s body tensed up.

“I erased the dream but she still won’t wake up. I don’t know what’s going on. It’s not supposed to go this way.” Gabriel explained, worried filling his voice.

“So what now? She’s not even in the dream? Where is she?” Dean asked, fearing the worst.

“Like a coma, or something? I don’t know!” The archangel yelled, he was not used to this kind of problem.

“Alright,” Sam tried to put the pieces back in order. “Gabriel, is it a spell or your own magic?”

“A bit of both, I guess? But mainly a spell.” Gabriel answered.

“So there must be a cure, right?” Sam said, already leaving the room and heading for the library.

Gabriel and Dean were right behind him. The three men started to research through the many books in the library.

“Where did you find that spell?” Sam asked, they needed as much information as possible if they wanted to find the cure.

“I’ve spent a wonderful night with that witch, name was Zahia. Geez, she was wicked!” Gabriel smiled mischievously as he remembered that particular night. Quickly he cleared his throat and became serious all over again when he noticed the brothers weren’t interested in those details.

“Great, call her and tell her to bring her ass here,” Dean ordered.

“It was one hundred years ago! In Casablanca. I don’t know if she’s even alive.”

“Then start reading,” Sam mumbled, throwing Gabriel the nearest book before opening the one in front of him.

***

It has been two days and they were still clueless. Gabriel did try to find Zahia but as he suspected she was nowhere to be found. For the first time Gabriel, the Archangel was feeling desperate. Because of him, one of his best human friends (the only one) was sleeping peacefully, waiting for her death and he couldn’t not do anything to help her.

“Did you try to kiss her?” Gabriel asked Dean who closed his book, quite noisily.

“What? You believe in true love’s kiss?” Dean scoffed, having enough of it.

Sam, who came with more coffee, stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, pointing the coffee pot at his brother. “You know what? It might be worth a shot.”

“Are you crazy? There’s no way it will be that easy!” Dean argued, jumping to his feet.

“There’s always a part of truth in the legends, Dean,” Sam said calmly. “It won’t hurt to try.”

Dean shook his head, and exited the library, fuming. This was the dumbest idea they came with. After everything they went through, they should know that all that crap didn’t work. There was no such thing as ‘love is the most powerful thing in the world’ or ‘a true love’s kiss’. No, their lives were full of curses, hurt, and death. Period.

Unknowingly Dean walked into the bunker until he reached your room and was now pacing in front of your closed door. Dean remained silent for a moment, thinking hard about it. He didn’t really believe in it but Sam was right, he had nothing to lose if he tried. Dean ran a hand through his hair and sighed heavily before opening your door.

Silently he walked inside and sat on the edge of your bed, taking a few minutes to look at you. You were becoming paler as the days passed, Gabriel tried his best to keep your health in good condition but the curse seemed to block most of his powers. It was just a matter of hours before you would be gone for good.

He caressed your cheek with the back of his fingers while he held one of your hands with his free one. Dean took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“I know our lives are far from perfect. To be honest they are crappy and I understand that you don’t want to live it anymore. Staying in your little dream was more appealing, believe me, I know how you felt. But look at what happened now, you still went down the bad path and didn’t get what you really wanted. It’s not fair.”

His voice was only a whisper, as if he was scared of waking you up when it was only what he truly wanted. He was such a mess! You were dying, without even knowing it and Dean couldn’t do anything to save you.

“I should have told you earlier, I know that. And I won’t make the same mistake, so I’m gonna tell you how I really feel about you, I hope you can hear me.”

Dean moved a bit, taking a more comfortable position.

“I’m so mad at you right now. I don’t hate you, because I can’t hate you, let’s be honest. But I’m mad, Y/N. You choose the easy way, you stopped fighting, this is not you. You’re the cool chick who fights tooth and nail and who never gives up.”

He had to stop for a short second, sniffing as he fought against the tears. His grip around your hand tightened before he kept on going.

“And that’s why I love you. You’re always reminding me there’s hope. You’re my hope, Y/N. I can’t promise you the moon or the happy endings but I can promise you that I’ll spend the rest of my life loving you. I’ve already made this promise a few years ago, I just never told anyone.”

Dean stopped stroking your cheek, cupping the back of your head instead, the exact same move that he had done earlier in your dream.

“You need to wake up because I can’t do this without you,” Dean whispered, bringing your face closer to his before he pressed his lips against yours in another chaste kiss. Praying with all his heart that the magic would strike again.

Slowly Dean parted, his hands refusing to let go as he held his breath. He couldn’t believe it when he felt your body twitching, your eyes fluttering open slowly.

“Hey…” You smiled sleepily. “What did I miss?”

Dean smiled back at you, breathing once again as you were finally awake.

“The most heartbreaking declaration of love I’ve ever heard. A bit too cheesy but who cares?” Gabriel’s voice came from the other side of the closed door, quickly followed by a thumping noise and a cry of pain.

Dean was already planning five ways to kill him and make him suffer but your voice broke his concentration.

“Oh, I don’t know. I kind of like it.” You smirked when his eyes fell on you, a blush covering your cheeks.

“You heard it? All of it?” Dean asked, he wanted to be sure.

You nodded and your smile fell. “I’m sorry if I hurt you. I thought it wouldn’t be possible for you to...you know?” You trailed off, looking at the wall instead of him.

“Oh, I know,” Dean said, his hand cupping your cheek and forcing you to look at him. “But let me show you how wrong you were instead, hum?” He whispered, bringing his face closer and kissing you again.

This one was more passionate, all of his feelings poured into the kiss. Everything he wanted to tell you but couldn’t. This kiss wasn’t chaste as the few ones you shared, in your dream or in reality. This one was needy and a little something more than what you could expect for a fairy tale movie.

FIN

Pour Toujours tags:  @drakelover78​​​​​, @akshi8278​

[itsgabriel-james]

Sugar, We're Goin' Down

The off-season for Gabe was the best excuse he had for partying nonstop. He had been practicing and playing football every weekend since he started his first semester, so it was nice to be able to let loose.

Letting loose in his first year of college meant parties, parties, and more parties. He figured that as long as his performance in class and the gym didn’t suffer, he had nothing to lose. After all, if his grades suffered, or if his coach deemed him unfit, he’d lose his scholarship.

Not to mention Gabe was talking to Maddie less and less since being back at school for his second semester, and going out and getting drunk was a nice distraction from how much he missed her. They texted constantly, but it wasn’t the same as hearing her voice and seeing her face. He missed her face, and everything about her for that matter.

Gabe furrowed his brows as he drove to meet up with Morgan for their Sunday lunch. He was trying to remember the last time he and Maddie talked on the phone. His hungover brain was probably wrong, it couldn’t have been that long, could it?

Well he did call her last night, but it went straight to voicemail. That happened a lot since she joined the sorority. Gabe knew it was just because of all the events she had to attend. They had to either have phones off or use it for social media, so he figured she just set hers on DND.

Gabe put his car in park and looked down at his phone, checking to see if she had called back and he missed it. He fought a frown at the absence of missed calls and then shrugged it off before getting out of the car.

He went inside, Morgan was already at their usual table, and sat down across from her. Rick and Joey had been joining them each week, but they went on a camping trip that weekend.

The thought made Gabe sad as he thought about weekends away with his dad.

“Hi, hun, you look.. like you had fun last night,” Morgan said with a light laugh, noticing his hungover appearance. He usually cleaned up nicely for their lunches, but today he had visible facial hair, his hair was a bit disheveled, and he had bags under his eyes.

Gabe half-smiled and nodded, running his hand through his hair, “I went to Surfside last night for a bonfire. I didn’t get back until like four.”

Morgan tilted her head to the side and frowned, “You could have cancelled, Gabe. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do this every week, especially if you’d rather be in bed.”

Gabe shook his head, “No, no, I wanted to come. We had plans, I wasn’t going to cancel. Besides, this food is so much better than the dining hall at school, and I could go for a burger with some bacon.”

Morgan smiled at her son and nodded, “Well I’m happy to see you, even if you’re hungover. Order as many sides of fries as you want.”

He smiled back at her, “Oh trust me, I will.”

Their lunch consisted of catching up on each other’s week. Morgan always asked about school and Maddie. Usually he had an answer for both. Today he could only speak for one.

“School’s been good. Classes are as usual,” he spoke vaguely, his thoughts starting to drift back to his long distance girlfriend.

Had it really been over a week since they talked?

“And Maddie? How is she?” Morgan asked while finishing up her food.

Gabe picked at the fries on his plate, “I don’t know. Maybe you’ll have better luck getting in touch with her than I do.” He was half joking. Part of him was feeling a little bitter. That was probably the hangover talking.

Morgan’s reaction made him regret his words. He didn’t want her to think something was wrong. “I mean, she’s good. We text. I just haven’t spoken to her for real in a while. A little over a week, I think. We’ve both been so busy, and she’s in that sorority now.”

His mom was understanding. She looked as if she was going to drop the subject, but her face changed slightly, “Isn’t her birthday coming up? You mentioned that last week.”

Gabe smiled and nodded his head, “Yeah, shit, that reminds me. I need to send her a gift. I’ll probably head to the boardwalk and pick something out for her.”

“Go to Amherst,” Morgan smiled at him encouragingly. “Her birthday is Friday, right? You could fly out and surprise her. That will probably be a better gift than anything you’d find on the boardwalk.”

Gabe raised his eyebrows at the idea, “That.. actually could work. I have two classes in the morning, but after that I’m free until Monday afternoon. We can spend the whole weekend together. She can show me the campus, her room, introduce me to her annoying sorority sisters.”

Morgan gave him a small look at the last part, but didn’t speak on it. “I think it’s a great idea. I’ll even buy your plane ticket since it was my idea.”

Gabe smiled a real, genuine smile, one that had been missing for a few days, “Really? Thanks, Mom.”

Morgan smiled at how he called her mom. It didn’t happen often, but it did slip once or twice lately. “You’re welcome.”

Gabe was actually excited for the first time since he was back home. He was gonna get to see his girl again. He imagined how happy she would be to see him. The look on her face. The rough sex they’d have. The romantic sex to follow.

He was looking forward to Friday more than he ever had.

[rosethornewrites]

Fic: The Rebellion of Adrien Agreste, ch. 4

Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Luka Couffaine, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Kagami Tsurugi, Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir & Luka Couffaine, Lila Rossi/karma, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth/aneurism, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Kagami Tsurugi, Plagg & Tikki

Characters: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, Gabriel Agreste | Papillon | Hawk Moth, Lila Rossi, Jagged Stone, Plagg, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine, Penny Rolling, Anarka Couffaine, Rose Lavillant, Juleka Couffaine, Kagami Tsurugi, Alya Césaire, Chloé Bourgeois, Wayhem, Nadja Chamack, Nathalie Sancoeur, Sabine Cheng, Tom Dupain, Tikki, Fang, Principal Damocles, Caline Bustier, Ms. Mendeleiev, original minor character, Alec Cataldi, Lila Rossi's Mother, Sabrina Raincomprix, Roger Raincomprix, Mylène Haprèle, Le Gorille | Adrien Agreste's Bodyguard, Nino Lahiffe, Nooroo

Tags: Lila Rossi salt, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Teenage Rebellion, Swearing, Bad Parent Gabriel Agreste, Crack Treated Seriously, Lila Rossi's Lies Are Exposed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Luka Couffaine Needs a Hug, Paparazzi, Parentification, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Needs a Hug, Gabriel Agreste Needs an Aneurism, Uncle Jagged Stone, we're all queer here, the spirit of punk is sometimes just being allowed to be yourself, Kagami Finds Her Groove, punk rock fashion, Savage Kagami, Marinette protection squad, Good Parent Sabine Cheng, Good Parent Tom Dupain, Protective Kagami Tsurugi, Protective Luka Couffaine, Bisexual Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Pansexual Luka Couffaine, Sharing a Bed, Pet Names, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Instagram, Bullying, Social Media, Anxiety, Makeover, Hugs, will cure your acne, Face Punching, Bad Ass Juleka Couffaine, Rumors, Protective Juleka Couffaine, Protective Adrien Agreste, Lawyers, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Holding Hands, accountability, mental health, Jagged Stone's well-paid pet shark, How to Make the Evening News, Sexy eyeliner for days, one fish two fish Lila is a screwed fish, How to have fun and piss Gabriel off, Fuckery, sweet litigious karma, Alya sugar, lawyer shark doo doo doo doo doo doo, Schadenfreude, Bad Ass Alya Césaire, Gaslighting, abuse denormalization, Jagged likes his lawyers like he likes his pets: toothy af, Blood in the Water, Everything you didn’t know you wanted and some things you did, Gabriel Agreste is shark bait, Denial, Consequences, Principal Damocles salt, caline bustier salt, the impotence of Gabriel Agreste, snarky Nooroo, lies and the lying liars who tell them, Lila's brain is a narcissistic hellscape, Lila’s mind is built like an Escher piece, Alec Cataldi salt, Adrien Sugar, wholesome salt, Fu Salt, Kwami Shenanigans, Nooroo is a little shit

Summary:  Cuddle Piles are Like Blanket Forts, Right?

Note: These kids are dorky af. Also, thank you for helping me reach over 1K comments on this fic on AO3!

AO3 link

Chapters 1-2 | Chapter 3

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An hour later, Marinette made a trip home for her design sketchbook and supplies, and returned also with a box of pastries and a leftover black Kitty Section shirt with the blue Luka design in Adrien’s size.

“I figured this could be the basis of your outfit,” she said. “After all, you’re dating him.”

Adrien liked the idea, and Luka smiled as he held the shirt up against his chest to demonstrate the look.

“I never did get to make a design for you, Adrien. But maybe that and an outfit for the next concert if you’re able to play,” she continued. “Oh, and I was thinking—we need to call Kagami.”

“Kagami?”

Marinette nodded. “She got Akumatized when Lila sent that photo of her kissing you and implying you were dating. It’s best if we let her know. She’s your friend, and she’s trustworthy.”

He nodded. “Uh, I don’t know how closely my father monitors my phone, though…”

Luka silently unlocked his phone and handed it to him.

“I’ll text her to let her know to expect a call from an unknown number,” Marinette volunteered, pulling out her own phone. “And see if she wants to come over here. She might have more ideas.”

Pretty quickly, they had another person on board and actively planning with them. Kagami seemed to understand the gravity of the situation immediately.

“That girl is bad news,” she said when she arrived. “Your father’s actions make little sense.”

Marinette snorted at that. “They never have. I like his designing, but he’s basically awful otherwise.”

Adrien didn’t bother defending him. Really, it’d been bad for a while except for the bright spot of being allowed to go to school. Everything else had been difficult.

Kagami actually quirked a smile. “With the exception of his day wear, certainly.”

Marinette goggled, then started giggling helplessly. It didn’t take long for the rest of them to follow.

“Oh, man, Kagami. You’re right; he dresses terribly,” Marinette gasped when she could breathe again.

“So since I’m disobeying, maybe I can tell him that?” Adrien wondered. “I mean, I already called him ‘Gabe’…”

The others stared at him, and he shifted uncomfortably.

“Really?” Kagami asked softly. “For you to be that upset, you clearly feel safer angering him than being in a fake relationship with that girl.”

Adrien hadn’t thought of it in exactly those terms, but she was right.

“Her heart song is… disturbing,” Luka commented. “I’ve heard ones like it, but it’s rare.”

“What does it sound like?” Marinette asked, glancing up from her sketching.

Luka was silent for a moment, as though searching for the words to express it. “Empty. It’s like there’s an echo, and it sounds ominous. I’d compare it to foreboding music from a TV show or film, all off-beat, the kind of music that raises goosebumps in the bad way.”

“Like Jaws?” Adrien asked.

“Worse,” Luka murmured, shaking his head. “I’d offer to play it, but I’d rather not foist it on anyone else.”

They were quiet, taking that in for a minute, until Marinette cleared her throat.

“Okay, so we’re doing this. Adrien, change into the shirt so I can see what it looks like and plan accessories for Penny to get. I’m thinking torn black jeans, for starters, but I need to conceptualize.”

He grabbed the shirt to change in the bathroom; when he got back, he wasn’t expecting what she said next.

“And if you’ve been getting closer to Luka and decided to go out recently, you guys need to seem comfortable with each other.” Her cheeks were flushed. “Um. So. You need to get used to cuddling.”

Adrien blinked, glancing at Luka, who seemed to take this in stride, lifting one arm welcomingly. He moved closer, startled regardless when Luka’s arm dropped on his shoulders. The blond didn’t often have contact like this except with maybe Nino. And Ladybug, but he couldn’t admit that to anyone. And when it was people he was close to, he liked contact like this; but it was weird when it was… fake. He and Luka were friends, but they’d never…

“Is this okay?” Luka asked. “I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“I, um… I’m not… used to this, I guess. Like, my dad never hugs me or anything. I get hugs from friends, and…” He shrugged slightly.

No one spoke for a minute, and he internally panicked. He wasn’t supposed to speak up and be needy. When he spoke again it was soft. “I wish I got them more.”

He completely missed the way the others exchanged a glance, trying to avoid their glances.

The next thing he knew, he was halfway in Luka’s lap, his head in Marinette’s, Kagami close to her side, all of them in contact with him. It was wonderful—after the initial shock wore off, anyway—their affection and the physical warmth was just absolutely what he wanted. There were hands in his hair, Luka’s arm across his waist.

Luka was smiling. “I kind of like snuggling, anyway. Though you might have to compete with my guitar.”

Marinette was blushing a bit. “There’s nothing wrong with platonic affection, Adrien.”

“Although it is not the norm in Japanese culture, living in France has accustomed me to it,” Kagami added. “Although often between genders it is assumed to be less than platonic.”

“So probably it should mostly be you and Luka in public, unless you want to come out as bi and so not into Lila at all,” Marinette chirped.

“Careful,” Adrien joked. “I might get too used to this.”

“You’ll have to, if we’re going to pull this off convincingly,” Luka told him with a laugh.

Marinette, sadly, remembered she had a job she was doing and sighed, grabbing her sketchbook and removing her hands from his hair.

“Okay, so clothing-wise, I was thinking black jeans, maybe skinny jeans, and a leather bomber jacket. And, um, for more of a punk look, they have these awesome men’s combat boots with buckles that go like halfway up the calf. Then a few bracelets, like what Luka has. But black and green?”

“I think the green in his hair should match his eyes,” Luka commented. “Neon would seem off. So probably the same with the bracelets. They have really nice green beaded ones that would do the trick.”

Adrien glanced at Luka’s face and hair. “Like how yours is kind of similar to your eyes?”

That earned a soft look from the guitarist. “Yeah, exactly like that.”

Kagami coughed delicately. “And that is how you should look at each other.”

He knew from the way his face heated that his blush mirrored Luka’s.

Marinette snorted. “Come on, Kagami. Let’s get Penny and go shopping, and leave these two to figure out their cuddling.”

She twisted out from under Adrien, letting him fall back on the couch awkwardly, his legs flailing a bit as he tried to find balance.

“Hey,” Luka protested in faux outrage, “no manhandling my boyfriend.”

“My hero.”

Marinette and Kagami laughed all the way out of the room.

[ericsonclan]

Family Fun and Competition

Summary: The Garcias gather together for a night of family fun.

Word Count: 3719

Read on AO3:

It was a cloudy day today. The sky looked slightly grey and gloomy and the wind outside was cold and dreary. But that didn’t seem to bother the sleeping couple. Javi’s arm lazily moved forward and wrapped around Santiago’s waist. Santiago muttered something in his sleep about the fantasy novel he had stayed up far too late reading. Shifting his body back, Santiago basked in his husband’s warmth as Javi moved his face closer to Santiago’s back. After a moment the couple’s legs moved closer together, gently intertwining as Santiago blindy reached for Javi’s hand. Giving it a sleepy kiss, Santiago quickly fell asleep. Javi hummed at the soft kiss on his hand and wrapped Santaigo closer to himself. He buried his face into the crook of Santiago’s neck and exhaled deeply. The warm breath tickled Santiago who laughed and wiggled around.

“Stop, that tickles,” Santiago mumbled and snuggled his face further into his pillow.

“Sorry,” Javi whispered and yawned loudly. Tilting his head back, he slipped his arm off of Santiago’s waist which his husband didn’t seem happy about. Santiago made some comment while still half asleep which made little to no sense to Javi. Javi looked at the alarm clock, blinking a few times to make sure he read the time right. “Shit, it's already ten thirty.”

“So? It's Saturday - we get to sleep in and cuddle,” Santiago reached for Javi’s arm and wrapped it around his waist again.

“Babe, we have to get up,” Javi tried to resist the urge for more cuddle time; the bed was so comfy and Santiago was so warm.

“Why? It's not like we have any plans today,” Santiago intertwined his fingers with Javi’s.

“Actually we do. Gabe and Nurgul are coming over for family game night and Mariana is here with Tenn for the long weekend.”

Javi’s words made Santiago shift around and get up. His hair was all messy and fluffy. “Shit, that's right,” He searched around blindly for his glasses. After a moment or two he was able to find them and placed them on his face. Looking over he saw the loving smile of his husband.

“Good morning,” Javi surprised Santiago with a kiss that definitely helped wake him up.

“Good morning,” Santiago returned the smile before lifting up his pillow to rest his back against. “So, what things do we need to do in preparation for tonight?”

“Make pudding, wash the blankets, go shopping real quick for some snacks and order the pizzas.” Javi listed item after item on the to do list, lifting up a finger after each one.

“Alright, breakfast first then we make pudding,” Santiago stole a kiss from Javi then hopped out of bed. Getting his morning slippers on, Santiago opened the bedroom door and the two walked to the kitchen together. Breakfast wouldn’t be anything fancy, just some cereal and orange juice. The two quickly poured their cereal and milk and made their way to the table. Both were quiet for a minute or two, letting themselves wake up and hoping that the food helped with that too. Santiago glanced up and saw that Javi was smiling at him. “What?” he asked before taking a bite of cereal.

“Nothing, you’re just making eating cereal look sexy,” Javi gave a flirtatious smile while Santiago’s eyes grew large at the compliment. He could feel his heart fluttering from the line. Javi lifted up his cup of orange juice and was sipping it happily when Santiago spoke.

“Not as sexy as you drinking orange juice,” Santaigo smiled when he saw Javi choke on the orange juice. It soon changed to concern though when Javi started coughing. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. Just wasn’t expecting that.” Javi smiled and soon the two resumed eating their breakfast, casually talking about this and that.

Once breakfast was done and the bowls, cups and spoons were washed the couple moved onto the first task on their list. “It's pudding time!” Javi had a bright smile on his face while he got out two mixing bowls, one large and one small, a pot to cook the pudding in and saran wrap. Meanwhile Santiago was getting out all the necessary ingredients: sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and milk.

“You still got your bedhead,” Javi laughed as he ruffled his husband’s hair.

Santiago blushed lightly and reached for Javi’s hair. “Yours is pretty wild too!”

The two laughed together as they played with each other’s hair before returning to the task at hand. Santiago read the instructions while Javi placed all the dry ingredients in the small bowl and mixed them. Santiago then reached over and grabbed the milk, measuring it out then placing it in the pot. Turning on the heat, Santiago gently whisked the milk while Javi poured in the dry ingredients.

“I want a turn stirring too,” Javi smiled over at his husband.

“Okay, I’ll give you a turn for a kiss,” Santiago looked over at Javi who quickly agreed and gave Santiago a kiss before grabbing the whisk. Javi hummed happily while he stirred the pudding, singing a little tune about the tasty treat. Soon the chocolate pudding had formed and Javi took it off the flames.

“Oh! Maybe we should make some vanilla pudding too,” Santiago suggested then opened the fridge and peeked inside. “We have caramel sauce too so we can make it extra special.”

“Nothing’s ever wrong with more pudding!” Javi declared happily and soon the second batch of pudding was put on the stovetop as Santiago whisked away. After a few minutes both puddings were ready and had cooled down enough to be placed in containers. With some quick saran wrapping the pudding was safely secured and placed in the fridge.

“Okay, that's one task down. On to the rest!” Santiago led the way to the next task. The couple shared a smile; they couldn’t wait for tonight and were sure the others felt the same way.

“I think the dough’s risen enough, Nuri!” Gabe called out to his wife who was currently giving their black and white husky Arwen some ear scratches.

“Okay, I’ll be there in a minute,” Nurgul rose up and started to make her way to the kitchen with Arwen in tow.

“Where’s Luka?” Gabe glanced back at his wife.

“He’s asleep. He tired himself out from playing so much with Arwen earlier but I’ll wake him up before the babysitter is here.” Strolling over to the sink, Nurgul quickly washed her hands and dried them off while her husband worked to take the risen dough out of the bowl. Gabe fumbled around with the baursak dough with one hand as he placed some flour down on the counter. After a minute or two he began to roll out the traditional Kazakh style dough when suddenly Nurgul peeked her head out from behind him to take a look.

“Oh, baby, you should put some more flour on the rolling pin,” Nurgul instructed. She grabbed some flour and dusted it on the roller. Placing her hands on top of Gabe’s, she began to help roll out the dough. Gabe could feel his heart flutter and felt his cheeks growing warm. “Now you’ve got the hang of it.” Nurgul looked up and smiled at her husband who was glancing back at her. She moved her hands away when suddenly Gabe reached out for them.

“Wait, it’s more fun to roll out the dough together,”

Gabe’s words and his sudden action made Nurgul’s heartbeat quicken. “Okay,” Nurgul had the softest smile on her face that made Gabe’s heart melt. He quickly stole a kiss from his wife then continued to work. The couple rolled the dough together in harmony as Nurgul lightly hummed a tune.

Once the dough had completely been rolled out they began to slice it into patterns. Gabe made his baursak pieces square while Nurgul made circles.

“Not doing too bad with making baursak,” Gabe smiled over at his wife who chuckled softly at the flour that had gotten on his orange beanie. Gabe looked confused until he followed Nurgul’s gaze towards his beanie. “Oh shit, did I get dough on it?”

“No, just some flour. Your beanie will survive,” Nurgul moved forward and captured her husband’s lips in a gentle kiss. Gabe could feel his ears grow hot and wanted to cover them with his beanie but his hands were covered in dough and flour. Nurgul didn’t seem to mind his reddish ears though and continued her work. “I think you’re doing a great job,” she commented as she finished up her last few circles.

“Thanks,” Gabe cut the last few squares with his knife then went over to wash off his hands. Arwen looked up from her spot in the corner of the kitchen, her ice blue eyes searching for snacks, but soon saw they were not ready yet and went back to sleep.

Nurgul moved over and looked at the pan that was filled with some oil for frying the dough. Seeing that it was bubbling a bit, Nurgul turned down the heat to medium for a few seconds before she began to place the dough to fry. She was about halfway done with the first batch when the strings to her apron became undone. Nurgul was busy trying to balance all the different things in the kitchen and couldn’t seem to find a second to re-tie her apron.

“It’s okay, Nuri. I got you,” Gabe jogged forward and wrapped his arms around Nurgul’s waist to reach the strings. After a few seconds he had tied them and turned his attention to his wife whose face was extremely close to his. The two were flustered in that moment, both wanting to go in for a kiss but their minds were overloading. Nurgul was quickly pulled away from it though when she could see the dark exterior of the baursak.

“Oh, damn it,” Nurgul refocused on cooking and Gabe soon joined in as well. Luckily for them they had been able to rescue the fried bread just in time before it burnt. After a few more batches the baursak was made and placed in bowls and saran wrapped to be transported over to Javi and Santi’s place.

“Looks like we finished just in time,” Gabe looked up at the clock on the oven.

“That's good. Can you get the cinnamon sugar while I send Javi a quick text that we’re on our way?” Gabe nodded at Nurgul’s words and sharing one more quick kiss the couple went to work on getting ready to go.

“You grabbed everything right, Tenn?” Mariana looked up at her boyfriend as she reached for the items she had placed in the island of the car.

“Yep, I have the drinks and the Switch controllers,” Tenn displayed the custom controllers decorated with a design he and Mariana had made.

“Awesome!” Mariana pocketed her phone and keys then closed the car door before jogging over to intertwine her hand with Tenn’s. It took some maneuvering with all the items Tenn was trying to carry. “Here, let me carry something,” Mariana offered and took a pitcher of lemonade before her boyfriend could protest. Mari smiled and leaned forward, getting on her tiptoes to give Tenn’s cheek a soft kiss. “Alright, ready to win game night?” “Yeah, I think we can win this time,” Tenn smiled softly at his girlfriend.

“That’s the spirit!” Mariana swayed their joined hands back and forth as they walked up the driveway to her uncles’ house. With an energetic knock, Mariana waited by the front door with Tenn. They heard some footsteps before Javi pulled open the door with a big grin.

“Mari! Tenn! You’re finally here!” Javi gave them both hugs before helping them with their supplies as they entered the house.

“Sorry we’re late, traffic was bad,” Tenn apologized but Javi waved his hand dismissively.

“It's all good. In fact, you must have a secret pizza sense I don’t know about, Mari, because you two arrived just after the pizza man left.” Javi smiled teasingly over at his niece.

“What can I say - it’s a gift of mine,” Mariana gave a smirk then placed down the pitcher of lemonade.

“Mari!” Nurgul’s gentle voice called out as she moved her way through the kitchen to give her sister-in-law a big hug. “It’s so good to see you! You too, Tenn.” Nurgul pulled back from Mariana and wrapped up Tenn in a soft hug.

“It’s nice to see you again, Nurgul,” Tenn smiled kindly while he glanced over to see Gabe had made his way over to hug his sister before Mariana began to tease him.

“Ready to get your ass kicked in Super Smash Bros again?” Mariana had a smug expression on her face.

“Yeah right. I’m winning this time!” Gabe returned the expression then looked over at Tenn. “Hey, Tenn.”

“Hey, Gabe. Should we grab some dinner?” Tenn offered. That made everyone’s attention return to the pizza. Soon all of them had grabbed paper plates and were piling their plates high with pizza. Everyone let Nurgul have first pick for pizza since they knew she would gravitate towards the margherita pizza. Once everyone had gotten pizza and salad they began to catch up on life. Santiago had quickly gotten caught up in discussing a fantasy world with Tenn who listened with a gentle smile on his face while Javi gushed about how proud he was of the pudding he and Santiago had made for dessert.

“So, Mari, when are you going to pop the question?” Santiago asked when Tenn had gone to grab some more lemonade.

“What?” Mariana’s face grew warm. “I, well, you see- Is that flour on Gabe’s beanie?” Mariana’s distraction worked for a second as Gabe swore under his breath. He had forgotten to get the beanie cleaned off before heading out.

“Alright, guys, that enough,” Nurgul reached out a hand and rested it on Gabe’s arm which made him seem to calm down from his heated argument with his sister.

“What did I miss?” Tenn sat down next to his girlfriend who wanted to speak up and warn him about what he had just stepped into.

“We were wondering about when Mariana would propose,” Javi said with a smile, making Tenn choke on his lemonade.

“Tenn!’ Mariana patted his back while he continued to lightly cough.

“Oops, maybe that was too much for Tenn to handle,” Santiago gave a teasing smile.

“You two,” Mariana glared at her uncles, trying to come up with a new distraction to get the heat off of her and Tenn. “Remember that time Gabe was getting ready to propose and he messed up his practice speech and asked where the bathroom was in Kazakh?” Mariana’s diversion worked and the table started to all talk at once about that. Gabe tried to defend himself while he pulled his beanie down to cover his ears that had grown red with embarrassment.

“I think it was very sweet that Gabe wanted to ask for my father’s blessing in Kazakh.” Nurgul smiled lovingly towards her husband and soon the conversation shifted again. Javi and Nurgul had gotten up to grab the pudding and baursak while Tenn had offered to help make tea with Santiago. After a few minutes dessert was served and everyone enjoyed the tasty sweets.

“Mmmm, this baursak is really good,” Javi exclaimed and dunked another piece of fried bread in cinnamon sugar before tossing it into his mouth.

“Aww thank you,” Nurgul smiled and took a bite of the chocolate pudding. “This is delicious too.”

“I’m glad. Santi and I have become the masters of pudding,” Javi declared proudly and sent a smile over to his husband.

Everyone continued to enjoy the pudding and baursak. Gabe ended up consuming way too much pudding and rolled onto the couch with a groan as Tenn worked with Javi to set up Super Smash Bros Ultimate.  

“Are you okay?” Nurgul asked her husband while gently rubbing his back.

“Too much pudding,” Gabe’s face was covered with his beanie.

“Sounds fake but okay,” Mariana’s words made Gabe pull up his beanie to glare at his sister.

“It’s not.”

“Whatever you say. Either way you’re losing the match.” Mariana smugly stated as Tenn walked over and sat behind her, softly wrapped his arms around her waist.

“Bold words, but all of you are losing to us!” Santiago dramatically pressed the button to select the game.

The opening song and visuals began to play before Javi worked to set up the first match.  Santiago got first pick for stage and chose Yoshi’s Island. Once that was complete all of them chose their characters. Nurgul immediately selected Jigglypuff and changed it so that her Jigglypuff had a bow on it. Nurgul smiled softly at the sight. Gabe chose Roy and Mari chose Ike while Tenn moved the analog stick towards Rosalina and Luma. Javi and Santiago were the last to select their fighters. Javi decided on Captain Falcon and Santiago went with Yoshi. The stage soon loaded and the fighters were all ready to duke it out.

“You may be wondering why I chose this stage,” Santiago pushed up his glasses with a smug smile. “It's for the home field advantage!” He pressed a series of buttons that made Yoshi get in his egg and roll directly towards Roy and Ike. Gabe and Mari dodged it easily though and before Santiago could redirect the egg it flew off the stage and he lost a life. “Damn it.”

“It’s okay, babe. You still have two lives,” Javi smiled at his husband then used a fire punch directly on Yoshi. Santiago’s eyes grew large and he chuckled.

“Oh, so that's how we’re going to play it!” Santiago charged at Javi. The two were completely lost in their own battle while Tenn and Nurgul were getting in crucial hits that would knock out the others. Gabe and Mariana had ended up losing lives easily too because they had gotten caught up in their sibling rivalry. After some heated gameplay and competitive talk, Tenn had won the first match. Rosalina and Luma struck a cute pose while the rest of the characters applauded begrudgingly.

“Good job, Tenn!” Mariana leaned back and gave her boyfriend a kiss. The romantic gesture flustered Tenn who was just as surprised as everyone else that he had won. Nurgul was the next to pick the stage and choose one of the Pokemon Stadiums. Everyone stuck with the same characters and the rivalry continued. Gabe stared at the screen. A pineapple that would heal him stood before him. The only issue was that Mariana’s character Ike was right beside it.

“Go for the pineapple, Gabe,” Mariana taunted her brother who debated on it before ultimately charging forward. It was the wrong move as Ike lifted up his sword and harshly knocked Roy off the stage.

“Damn it!” Gabe yelled and fell backwards on the couch.

“Ha, ha you always did fall for the simple traps,” Mariana smugly declared before Santiago sneak attacked her. Yoshi made a sound and stuck out his tongue, swallowing Ike before pooping him out in an egg that fell off the stage.

“Hey! Uncle Santi, no fair!” Mariana looked over at her uncle who was rather pleased with that sneak attack.

“All’s fair in love and Super Smash Bros,”

Those words fueled a fire within Mariana. “Gabe, truce! Let’s kick our uncles’ asses!”

“Wait, why am I getting targeted too?” Javi asked while he avoided a sleep attack by Nurgul before tossing a pokeball which let out a Vupix who blew fire at Jigglypuff.

“One, you’re married to Santi, and two, you just attacked my wife so all bets are off!” Gabe did a flurry of sword attacks on Captain Falcon which made Javi panic before getting competitive.

“Oh, I’m gonna teach you how to really play this game!” Javi sent a fire punch at Gabe that sent his character flying up before he used another fire attack that grabbed Roy and exploded him.

Mariana and Gabe tried their best to win. Nurugl and Tenn had already gotten all their lives used up and were watching and cheering on their significant others as they charged ahead to attack their uncles. Sadly for the siblings, Javi won that round and was pretty proud of it too.

“You just wait until we start this match!” Mariana selected the Temple stage and soon the fight continued. Javi had grabbed a mine and tossed it within the temple before using taunts to annoy the others.

“Show ya moves! Show ya moves!” Captain Falcon declared loudly and saluted.

“I’ll show you some moves!” Gabe moved his character forward and attacked only for Nurgul’s sleep attack to reach him. “What the-”

Mariana laughed. “Looks like Nurgul’s sweet lullaby put you to sleep,” she teased her brother who was growing flustered.

“Shut up,” Gabe grumbled before his eyes grew large when Nurgul set up a devastating attack while his character was still asleep. “Wait, Nuri!”

“I love you,” Nurgul said with a sweet smile before Jigglypuff viciously attacked Roy and sent him flying off the stage. “Sorry,”

“It's okay. I love you too,”

“Whoa, your wife kicked your ass,” Javi laughed and hopped forward, accidentally stepping on the spot where he had set the landmine. Within seconds Captain Falcon flew off the stage. After a few minutes all fighters had been defeated except for Mariana and Gabe. The siblings shared a look before they both slammed their thumbs on the analog sticks, making their characters dash forward. It was a close match; both of them only needed one more good hit to win. Mariana set up an attack and was sure Gabe would fall for it but to her surprise he didn’t and made her waste an attack, leaving herself wide open for the finishing blow.

“I win!” Gabe used a harsh sword attack and threw his sister off the stage. He jumped up and cheered loudly as Roy stood with his victory pose.

“This is just the beginning,” Mariana’s words made Gabe sit down and soon the matches continued. Everyone was really getting into the game and having a blast. It was another great family game night together.

[luv4fandoms]

Earth Angel (GabrielXOFC) Part 2.1

Part 2 is finally here!! I had to split it into 2 parts because of Tumblr's limit but the link to the 2nd part can be found below.

I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this story! I loved all of the comments and asks I got on the last chapter ❤. Sorry this one took so long to get out, my mom and I are trying to kinda start a small business so that has been my focus lol. But as I say in all the chapters...

This doesn't fully follow the Supernatural timeline, somethings have been changed (like Gabriel's death in the au world cause it was stupid and I refuse to accept it lol) so just a heads up. This is also inspired by @askpsychocas 's Angel Courting Ritual post (which I use in my story. Askpsychocas if you want me to take those parts out let me know and I will). This story also has a Scott Pilgram vibe lol.

If you would like to be added to the story taglist let me know

Part 1...Part 2.2...Masterlist

Pairings: Gabriel x Original Female Character, (hint at Destiel)

Warnings: Killing, Adultery, Gabe being a charming/fluffy lil sh*t

Word count: (total) 8,724 (this part) 4,199

https://ko-fi.com/luv4fandoms

(From @askpsychocas 's Angel Courting Ritual)

Step Two: Make your intention known.

Sometimes your intended will not recognize your intent straight off. There are a number of ways angels would seek to subtly inform their intended.

Making eye contact is essential.

Make sure your intended recognizes your impressive plumage and strength.

Personal space must be intruded on as often as possible.

If all else fails an angel might simply tell their intended.

Traditional courting outlines this, and if the intention is accepted you may proceed to the next step. An angel may also receive a courting trinket as a sign of intent and goodwill if they accept the courting. Angels can only court one other at a time. Neither the wooer or the wooed are allowed to accept advances, or give advances to another.

Modern courting is more direct, in which an angel would simply ask to go out on a date, perhaps with a smile. Smiling and good humor are not necessary for any courting, but most are apt to use it when trying to woo a human, as they get confused without such things. Exclusivity is not necessary.

Earth angel, Earth angel, the one I adore

Love you forever, and ever more.

I'm just a fool, a fool in love with you.

I hadn't planned on living with the boys, stay a few days sure, then back on the road...But here I am, a week in, still at the bunker and helping them look for a new case. It was actually really easy living with them, growing up with older brothers probably helped, that and the fact Sam and Dean were just easy to get along with. I had met their friend, and Gabriel's brother,Castiel a few days into my stay, a very quiet guy who would randomly appear out of nowhere, which I noticed Gabriel did often as well. The thing was-Castiel didn't have wings,or at least if he did, he didn't show them off like Gabriel. I also noticed that most of the time when Cas would show up, Gabriel would be gone, and if he did show up Cas would excuse himself quickly. Speaking of Gabriel, he had been acting...odd? Or maybe it was normal for him? I noticed that Cas often stood extremely close to Dean a lot, so maybe invasion of personal space was just a family thing? Either way I noticed Gabriel seemed to always find a way to be very close. Reading some lure in the library? Gabriel plops himself in the seat next to me. Looking up some cases on my laptop while on the couch? Gabriel appears out of nowhere right next to me, causing me to almost throw my computer.

One time I was even baking a pie as sort of a thank you to the boys and when I turned around Gabriel was right there, causing me to jump and almost fall backwards, and of course him making a joke about me "falling for him" when he caught me. Another thing was the fact that Gabriel was always the first one to help if I needed to get something out of storage for the boys that I didn't realize would be as heavy as it was, or anything needing a lot of strength really. I would have joked about not being a damsel in distress, but it seemed he already knew that as he would only help when he knew I would really need it. He also seemed to be almost flaunting his wings more, or at least happily stretching them often, I had noticed that they seemed much fuller than they did back on the hunt, they were still the same beautiful golden color, but they seemed...Healthier? They were impressive really, but I tried not to get caught looking at them, I still didn't know what the custom was since no one talked about them. Another thing Gabe did was a lot was eye contact, which for someone like me who usually never held  eye contact for long, it was different-or maybe it was cause Gabriel had such pretty eyes that one just had to look away from them or you would be lost forever. Either way when I spoke I always seemed to have his full attention,which, after growing up around guys that would just brush you off cause you were both a girl and the youngest, was nice. It took a couple more days before we got a new case, a bunch of women being killed by their boyfriends, fiance, husbands, all of who claimed they didn't remember doing the killings. The case came in from the boy's friend Jody in Sioux Falls,so right away we were loading up our cars and heading out. Jody had emailed the police reports to Sam who in turn emailed them to me, which Gabriel read while I followed the boys. 

"So, first up we have the lovely Mr and Mrs Tucker. Married for thirty years, two kids, and a dog...Is that just the thing to do? Kids leave the nest, the house is empty,it's finally you and your wife again after eighteen plus years and you think, what do we do now? I know! Let's get a dog!" Gabriel laughed.

"One, dogs are awesome" I started with a smile

"Oh don't get me wrong, I love them, used to have a little Jack Russel myself, but it just seems to be what people do" Gabe added

"That is true...I wonder why that is...Dangit Gabe now you have me wondering why old people insist on pushing their love onto animals instead of focusing on this case" I laughed, which caused him to chuckle as well before he turned back to the computer.

"Always ready to be a distraction sugarplum"

"So what did the lovely Mr Tucker have to say for why he slaughtered his wife?" I asked.

"Well, it says here that he said, and I quote, I don't know what came over me, I loved my wife, she was my everything, sure we had our problems but doesn't every couple?" 

"Not problems that are bad enough to kill over"

"Says he doesn't remember the act, just before and after the deed" 

"And all of the men say this?" Gabriel quickly scanned the files before replying

"Yup, everyone is a blank" 

"So we have how many couples?"

"Six, three happily married, one engaged, and two dating" I thought about it for a moment, couples that seemingly had no problems but the woman always ended up dead, at the males hand.

"I can see the gears turning in that pretty little head of yours" Gabriel spoke, breaking the silence of the car.

"Come on" he added, closing the laptop and giving me his full attention. I looked over for a moment and almost wished I hadn't, there he went with the eye contact again-had they always had an almost gold color to them? Like they could match his wings? As if sensing my fascination a grin spread on his face before he spoke again.

"Like a buddy cop movie, you can be the serious one who's all about the job"

"And which one are you?" I asked with a smile, finally able to break my gaze away.

"The loveable comic relief of course!" He smiled.

"Now come on Sugar, you're already thinking something"

"Well for one, these couples weren't as happy as they said they were"

"Duh"

"And it's the men who kill the women"

"Correct"

"As subconsciously I bet, a brutal way to get out of said problemed relationship.

"Ok, I think I am picking up what you're putting down"

"What is probably the number one thing that can put the final nail in the coffin on a man  ending a relationship?" 

"A beautiful woman"

"Exactly my lovely partner, throw in a little supernatural flair to that and we may have men forgetting just what they were doing"

"Don't let anybody ever tell you that you're just a pretty face" he smiled.

"Oh Sweetheart I am so much more than just a pretty face" I replied with a wink, watching as his wings ruffle a bit at the action.

"I also have enough issues to fill Texas" I laughed, watching as he laughed as well, one which I hadn't seen before, this one looked far more..Relaxed.

"Don't we all Sugar, don't we all"

A couple of gas stops later and we were parking outside of the Sioux Falls police station. I had changed into more of a "detective" style outfit consisting of a white button up top, black blazer, black pencil skirt and black heels at the last gas stop. Though keeping my focus on the road after that was hard since Gabriel had also changed, and boy did he pull off a suit. The black button down tucked into black slacks and partially hidden under a black blazer and tie, ZZTop's words never rang so true until that moment, every girl really was crazy about a sharp dressed man. I tried to keep my eyes on the road as much as possible, especially after getting caught twice by those golden honey eyes, but if the extra confidence in his walk on our way into the station said anything it was that he had noticed every glance. 

"There you two a--" a woman's voice spoke behind us but stopped suddenly, I turned towards the sound, noticing a woman who appeared in her late thirties, or maybe early forties.

"Jody, this is Liz and Gabriel" Sam told her while making his way over to her, followed by Dean.

"Oh right, yeah sorry you mentioned them on the phone, it's been a crazy week" she sighed.

"You ok?" Dean asked, his hand resting on her shoulder, she smiled at him and patted his hand.

"Yeah, just...I knew these people, they were all happy...Normal" 

"Nothing out of the ordinary?" Sam asked

"Unless you count Jamie not going to the bakery the night before she...she was forever bugging Cathy about how her wedding cake was coming along" 

"That's why I called you guys, it doesn't look like it's up your alley, but something's not right here" 

"And Claire?" Dean asked sternly

"I told her to stay out of this one but you know how she is" 

"Alright well we're gonna need to talk to the husbands" Sam told her.

"Well we have three of them here, the other two were cases Donna sent over"

"So this thing started someplace else?" I asked, seemingly making the trio remember Gabe and I were still here.

"Over in Hibbing Minnesota" Jody replied before smiling.

"Sorry, I'm Sheriff Mills, Sam and Dean told me about you two" She added, shaking both of our hands.

"Pleasure to meet you Sheriff" Gabriel smiled, and I couldn't stop myself from looking over at him. He really could go from playful to professional if the situation called for it couldn't he? 

"Right well, come on there are already two of the men in the interrogation rooms" she told us before leading the way. Dean and Sam took Martin Cowell, boyfriend to Stacy Young. While Gabriel and I took Jason Smith, fiance to Jamie Wilde. The man seemed regretful enough upon first glance, around mid thirties, black hair partially hiding brown eyes that were red from crying. 

"Hello Mr.Smith I'm Agent Rose and this is my partner--" shit, I realized quickly, Gabriel and I hadn't talked about his fake FBI name.

"Agent Speight" he added, seeming realizing just as soon as I had. 

"I think you may already know why we're here" I stated as we both sat on the other side of the table.

"Because of what I did to--I didn't mean to,"Jason stated, soon falling into tears.

"We just want to understand, we need you to tell us what happened," Gabriel explained,easily falling into his role. After a moment Jason started talking.

"We were out with our wedding planner, she was showing us a venue, this really fancy mansion, hell, it almost could have been a castle" he stopped to collect himself before continuing. 

"Jamie always wanted to be a princess, so this place was perfect, even if it was expensive. We booked it and made our way home--We ate, went to bed...Jamie was still talking about the place" he laughed, seeming to remember how excited she had been.

"The next thing I know, I'm standing over her body..I don't…I don't know what happened" he trailed off into a whisper.

"Did you ever become irritated by Jamie wanting expensive things?" Gabriel asked calmly.

"I mean, she could get crazy but...I guess I kinda knew what I was getting into, Jamie came from a well off family...They always said she was too good for me...Guess they were right"

"Did you ever think about leaving Jamie?" I asked 

"No never I-I mean…"

"Never looked at another woman? Never thought maybe life would be easier with someone else,maybe someone with a cheaper taste?"

The room went quiet for a moment before he sighed.

"There was once, Jamie had been getting crazy with all this wedding stuff..I just...I needed a break. So I said I was going to have a guy's night, and I went out of town, alone. I went to a bar, and met a girl there and...I'm not proud of what I did ok, but I would never have killed Jamie, if I didn't want to be with her I would have just left."

Before I could say anything a knock sounded at the door, Dean peeked his head in and motioned for us to come out.

"So do you think I'm guilty?" Jason asked when we stood up.

"Of killing your fiance, I can't share that. Of being stupidly unfaithful simply because times got hard, yeah, you're guilty of that" I stated before walking out, Gabriel following. 

"You ok?" He asked as we made our way to Dean and Sam.

"Yeah just-long story" I sighed.

"So what were you able to find out?" Sam asked.

"Well he doesn't remember doing the deed as far as killing Jamie" Gabriel told him

"What do you mean as far as?"

"Well he did confess to getting it on with a random girl at the bar one night" Gabe added

"Really?" Jody asked, shocked. 

"They seemed so happy"

"Martin confessed to cheating on Stacy as well" Dean added 

"So we have two unfaithful men" Gabe stated

"I wonder if the others were able to keep it in their pants?" I wondered out loud.

"Right, why don't Dean and I go talk to Larry Tucker, Jody, if you could call Donna and ask them if there is any way to find out if their two cases were ever unfaithful or if anything odd happened before the killings?" Sam asked.

"Yeah I'll get right on it" Jody nodded before heading to her office to make the call.

"Jason had mentioned checking out a venue the day he killed Jamie, maybe we could check that out?" Gabriel asked with a shug.

"That's actually a good idea, maybe someone there saw something or someone suspicious" I nodded, before looking back at the boys who nodded as well. I stopped one of the officers who was walking past to get directions to a mansion in town that could pass as a castle like, lucky for us there was only one. Willington Manor, a spacious 20 bedroom 10 bath home that had a pool,hot tub, tennis court, large outdoor garden, and an extra 20 acres of green grass.

"Ever feel like you're in the wrong line of work?" I asked as we parked in front.

"If only you could have it all right?" Gabe asked as we stepped out.

"If only" 

"Would you really want something like this?" He asked while we walked up the stairs.

"Eh, maybe not this, too many rooms to clean. But this much land would be nice,"

"You seem like a farm girl" he smiled before knocking on the door. 

"Grew up with chickens and stuff but sadly never on an actual farm" I laughed before we heard the door opening, an elderly woman standing there.

"Hello, how can I help you?" She asked

"Hello ma'am, I'm Agent Rose, this is Agent Speight, FBI, we were wondering if we could ask you some questions about a couple that came here a few days ago, they were looking at your home for a wedding venue"

"Oh yes I remember them, such a lovely couple, terrible thing that happened, they seemed so happy" she told us as she stepped aside for us to enter.

"Yes is it, so nothing seemed...Off about Jason while he was here? Nothing that would have raised any flags?" Gabriel asked while glancing around before his attention rested back on the woman, who seemed to blush under his gaze.

'Welcome to the crowd' I thought.

"No he seemed perfectly lovely, seemed very compliant with everything his soon-to-be wife wanted, and between you and me, boy did she want a lot" she told us. 

"Do you employ anyone ma'am?" I asked.

"Oh yes, I have a chief,a butler,  two maids, and two grounds keepers," she replied, her eyes never leaving Gabriel, even as he looked over at me.

"And who all was here when Jason and Jamie was?" Gabriel asked her.

"Everyone was" she told him.

"Is everyone here now?" I asked

"Yes of cour-actually no, one of the maids that worked then I had to let go" 

"Let go? How come?" Gabriel asked.

"Well I caught the little hussie trying to steal some of my jewelry, they were my great grandmother's, priceless heirlooms" she explained.

"You wouldn't happen to have employment papers would you? Or a name and description?" I asked

"I don't have papers, but I can tell you her name was Delilah"

'Probably a fake name' I thought

"and she was about five foot seven, long red hair that she kept up in a bun, pale skin. She was quiet,kept to herself but I noticed her often trying to make advances towards both of the grounds keepers...didn't work for her of course" 

"How come?" Gabriel asked

"Their both gay" she chuckled.

"That will do it" I smiled

"Well thank you for your time ma'am" Gabriel smiled.

"If you think of anything else please contact the sheriff, she knows how to reach us" he added, charmingly, making the old woman grin like a teen.

"Most certainly Agent" she replied watching as he headed towards the door. She stopped me when I went to move.

"Are you two...You know?" She asked, stunning me for a moment.

"Ah, no we are strictly-"

"Well then, don't be afraid to send him my way dear" she replied with a wink, I let out an awkward laugh and nodded before heading over to the door. Once outside I couldn't help but laugh and shake my head while we headed to the car. 

"Care to share with the class sweetheart?" Gabe asked once we got in.

"You are never to be left alone around old ladies" I chuckled.

"Oh? Did I not play the part well?" 

"She asked me if we were together, and when I said no she told me not to be afraid to send you her way" 

"Sharing is caring" he laughed

"No thank you" I replied with a small laugh.

"No threesomes?" He chuckled.

"Na I'm good, I don't like other people touching what's mine" I replied, glancing at him when I heard him inhale sharply. His wings seemingly wanted to stretch out but he held them down. 

"Never pegged you as the possessive type" even his laugh sounded forced right now.

"Not possessive, like I wouldn't tell a guy what he could or couldn't do, I just draw the line at sharing him with someone else" I explained as we pulled up at the motel Dean had texted that he got two rooms at. 

"Can you honestly say you would be completely fine with sharing a girl with another guy?" I asked as I shut the car off.

"Well I mean-" he started, wiggling his eyebrows, which only caused me to roll my eyes.

"If you really loved her, like head over heels"

"If she wanted to-"

"Never mind what she wanted, would you be comfortable watching another man put his hands on the woman you love?"

"No" he answered quickly, the gold color coming back to his eyes for a moment, before it was gone.

"See, we all have that in us, that feeling of wanting someone that is yours, just yours-"

"A mate" he answered quietly, almost as if he didn't mean to say it

"Yeah, a mate...I bet all these women thought they had found theirs...They never would have thought they would get cheated on and later killed by the ones who supposedly loved them so much" 

"If they loved them so much, would they have fully given in to whatever influenced them?" 

"No, I guess they wouldn't have" I sighed.

"This is why it's always us women who end up with a broken heart" I added while getting out of the car, missing the odd look Gabriel gave me. I knocked on the boy's room door, announcing myself, and waited only a few seconds before Sam opened the door.

"So what were you two able to figure o-" I stopped when I noticed a young blonde girl sitting on the bed looking beyond done with the boys.

"Ah Liz, Gabriel, this is Claire" Sam explained.

"Ooooh this is Claire" Gabriel nodded, leaving me completely clueless aside from remembering that the boys mentioned her while talking to Jody.

"Claire was working the case even though Jody told her not to" Dean replied while giving Claire a stern look.

"Ok and what have you all figured out?" She asked, but all of us stayed quiet, unsure if we should share information with the young huntress.

"How about this, tell us what you know and we'll tell you what we know" I stated.

"Liz" Dean started.

"She's a rebellious teen who is gonna work this case whether anyone likes it or not, at least this way she won't be running in blind" I explained, Sam and Dean shared a look, both not wanting to get Claire involved but knew I was right.

"Well it seemed Larry wasn't too faithful either, said he needed something exciting in his life since his marriage had gotten stale" Sam started. 

"Did you talk to Peter Jones? He was Becky Davis's boyfriend, dude was a total creep" Claire added.

"He didn't try to-"Dean started but Claire just rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't anything I couldn't handle, trust me"

"Ok so all of the men were unfaithful, that plays into my theory" I sighed, sitting next to Claire.

"Theory?"Sam asked.

"Sweetcheeks here pretty much hit the nail on the head before we even got to the police station. Theorizes these men weren't happy, subconsciously wanted a way out, and something influenced them to find a way out" Gabriel explained, biting into a chocolate bar he made appear, I had noticed he did that a lot. He handed both Claire and I one, at first she seemed hesitant but then took it with a nod. 

"So you think some supernatural babe is convincing these guys to kill the women they're with?" Dean asked.

"Does it seem that far fetched?" I asked 

"Not compared to some other things we've faced. 

"And I think we may know what she looks like, if she's not some sort of shifter anyways." I stated before eating some of the chocolate.

"The Madame of the mansion our lovely engaged couple were looking into, had recently fired a maid that had been working the day Jason was visiting. Said she was about five foot seven, red hair, and pale-Oh and kept flirting with the male employees" Gabriel told them.

"Wait that sounds like the woman people said they saw Peter flirting with the night he killed Becky" Claire stated

"Yeah it matches with what Jody just sent me too" Sam added while looking at his laptop.

"The two from Donna, both had been unfaithful in the past, and both had witness accounts of them talking to an unknown red haired female the day and night before each of them murdered their wives." 

"So a chick who can influence guys, siren?" Claire asked.

"That would fit," I nodded.

"Not with what Jody just sent, this was found in Larry's house, I bet there is one in each of the houses" Sam stated spinning his laptop around to show us all.

"Is that?" Claire stated.

"A hex bag" Gabriel finished.

"Man I hate witches" Dean sighed.

"Should we call Rowena? Ask her if it's someone she knows?" Sam asked but Dean just shook his head.

"At this point after what she's cause, I don't care if Rowena does know her, she has to be dealt with"

"So how do we lure her out?" I asked

"Well she goes after couples right? Where is there a lot of couples right now?"Dean asked

"The fair is in town right now"Claire started

"But more people show up at night"

"Looks like we're going to the fair"Dean nodded, looking over at Sam who looked terrified.

"Don't worry Sammy, I'm sure it's clown free" he chuckled, earning a bitch face from his brother. We each went our ways after that to prepare. Jody picked up Claire, stating she would meet us at the fair later. I went to the room the boys got me to take a quick shower and the boys seemed to have the same idea.

Once night fully fell we headed out to the fairgrounds, hoping we could find this witch fast and end the case before someone else got hurt. But once we got there Gabriel turned to me, a smirk on his lips before he proposed his question.

"Why don't we up the ante? Try to lure her out ourselves while we're here?" 

"What did you have in mind?" I asked.

"Let's make this a date"

I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far! It only gets better from here. And as I said before you can find the link to the 2nd part of this chapter

Here

Also some little facts, I gave Liz the agent name "Rose" because if I would have been born a boy my mom wanted to name me Axl Rose because she was a GNR superfan lol.

Also here is Gabriel in his suit for your viewing pleasure ~_^

Taglist

@sydknee624 @studentdoctorstark @ilearnedthatfromethepizzaman @ambivertedcroissant @sunny-shine44

[moonflower-31]

I Have a Question - Gabriel x reader

Warnings: Just a tinsy bit of language. Nothing you haven't seen before.

Character(s): Gabriel

Pairing: Gabriel x Reader

You couldn't express how mad you were at him. He couldn't take anything seriously. You had wanted to talk to him about something. In fact, you had finally mustered up enough courage to ask him out. But Gabriel being Gabriel, decided to mess with you.

"Oh come on! The slime was funny!" Gabriel insists, cackling at your now green, slime covered hair. You had your arms crossed across your chest, proving you weren't happy.

Sure, you normally would have laughed at this. Gabriel was often like this, and you enjoyed his playful, and often prankster attitude. But right now, when you were trying to be serious, it was getting on your nerves.

"Sure, it might've been funny, a few days ago, but not right now, Gabriel. Im serious, I want to ask you something. And I don't want you to tease me over it." You sighed, one fist tightening a bit on your top.

Gabriel tossed a sweet into his mouth, almost ignoring what his best friend had asked him. "Hm? What is it sugar? You asking for me to take you someplace? I hear Florida is nice this time of year." Gabriel says. You grumbled. It was almost like Gabriel knew what you were going to ask him. And that he didn't want you saying it. Or even asking it.

You were almost to your limit of dealing with Gabriel's bullshit. You had put this all together, and psyched yourself up to confess to him, and he was treating a situation you said was serious like it was any causal discussion.

You loved him. You truly did. But he definitely got on your nerves. There was no denying that. Normally, it wasn't as often an occurance. But right now? You were almost pissed with him.

You pinched the bridge of your nose with your two fingers and sighed. "No, Gabe, please. I'm really serious about this. Its important to me. So please, listen..." You begged, gesturing towards the playful archangel, who had decided hanging off the bed frame was a cool idea. That was, until he lost his balance and fell over the side, landing on the wooden floor beside your bed.

Gabriel let out a wince and a huff, before he got up from the floor, smirking as if the previous didn't just happen. He dusted himself off and walked over to you, smirking to himself before he booped your nose.

You finally lost it. You growled and glared at him, grabbing his shoulder as delicately as your fuming anger would let you. "Please, Gabriel, this isn't a game, or a prank. Why can't you just listen?" You beg, staring into his whiskey colored eyes. He smirked back at you, and then pressed you against the wall, giving you a flirtatious look.

"Why can't I listen? Well, Sugarplum, I'm too lost in those gorgeous eyes of yours." He flirts. And suddenly you're a blushing mess, and you move away from him, out from under his arm that had been pressed to the wall near your face, and towards the door.

This was a mistake. You couldn't do this. He was an archangel. You were human. What were you thinking? He flirted with everything that moved for Chuck's sake! What made you think that the trickster could somehow have the same feelings you did about him? Just because he flirted with you didn't mean he liked you. It was just who he was.

The idea made your chest ache, and you went to go, hiding your eyes from the prying golden ones that was still standing by the wall. Your hand found the knob and turned it. You opened the door and as you began to leave, Gabriel began to speak again.

"Are you really going to leave without asking the question you were dying to ask me?" He asks, wiggling his eyebrows as he looks at you.

The anger in your mind fumed again, and you looked at him, angry. This was all a game to him. You normally would be all for the silliness. But was it wrong to ask for a little bit of normalcy?

"Really? Really? Now you ask me that? After avoiding my question over and over?" You ask. Gabriel smirked as he looked at you.

"I didn't avoid your question, Sugar. You went ahead and asked your question. Why couldn't I listen. Right?" He teases. You rolled your eyes and stepped forward. You had had enough. You grabbed his jacket collar, and pulled him into a kiss, squeezing your eyes shut as you pressed your lips against his surprised ones.

After a few seconds, Gabriel still hadn't kissed back, which drove fear into your heart. You then began to pull back, tears brimming at the edge of your eyes when suddenly a hand caresses the back of your neck and pulls you back into the kiss, sending relief down your back.

Your hands wander to his shoulders and you hold him in place, while the other hand that Gabriel had yet to put on you found your waist, and pulled you against him. He tasted as sweet as candy, which was fitting since that was all he ate. His embrace was warm, like freshly baked bread or cake. And he held you as tight as he could, as if he was keeping you there so you couldn't leave. Not like you wanted to.

You tilted your head, taking his lips into a much deeper kiss for a few more moments before your lungs cried out for air. You pulled back reluctantly and took in a couple gasps of air before looking up into Gabriel's eyes. You huffed.

"Jackass." You playfully insulted, making him laugh. He squeezed his arms around you a bit tightly, and held you close.

"Oh, Sugar, dating me? Im much worse than that. So what was your question?" He asks, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. You rolled your eyes at his insistance and cupped his cheek.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to go out with me. Go out and eat something or go to a movie and gorge out on junk food... just... on a date. As more than friends." You asked. Gabriel smirked.

"Sweetheart, you should have just gone ahead and asked me. Or better yet, told me you wanted to see a movie, but make it a date. I'd still say yes either way." He grinned his shit eating grin, and you sighed, smiling up at him.

Sure he annoyed you, and he was a pain in your ass, but he was your pain in the ass. Your trickster.

[ablogcalledrevenge]

Never Really Over 

(a Gabriel O’Malley x Reader Insert Multichapter Fic, Rated M)

Chapter One

There’s a knock on your door around 7pm on Friday night. You’re not expecting anyone and you freeze on the couch, knowing the episode of Wonder Woman is loud and clear. You grab your gun from the table and shove it in the back of your shorts, the metal cold against your skin. It might be nothing, but better to be safe than sorry. Los Angeles in 1978 was a seedy place and you weren’t an idiot. It’s also interesting to note because you live in a gated apartment complex; no one can get in without you letting them in first. So whoever’s at your door means business.

You unbolt and open the door, see who it is, and immediately slam the door in their face.

 “Hey! Fuck (Y/N), let me in! I gotta talk to you. Open the damn door!” He yells through the wood, not doubt alerting your neighbors. Unfortunately it was now that you regretted living with so many secretive people; they knew not to call the cops. While most of the time that was a good thing, now you wish they would. He deserved a long stay in some holding cell after what he put you through. But you also knew he was stubborn and would probably stay there all night yelling if you let him. So with a sigh, you open the door and let him in.

Gabriel O’Malley steps over the threshold and back into your life like nothing ever happened. Like you’d never told him you loved him, and like he never left you without a word. Like a year hadn’t passed without so much as a phone call. You were a little surprised by how much it hurt to see him, how much you still weren’t over him. It was embarrassing.

He sits down at your kitchen table, quiet and waiting. There is a brief standoff where you just stare at each other. Throwing up your hands, you turn on the stove to boil water for tea. You grab mugs from the cabinet, unthinkingly taking his favorite- blue and green swirled porcelain- without even realizing. 

“You know, you got a lotta of nerve coming back here. Everyone knows what you did to me, you’re not going to find many sympathetic friends.” You say as the tea brews. He doesn’t say anything, content to watch you. You’re annoyed that he caught you in your pajamas. It’s a cute set, a pink satin tank and shorts your sister gave you, but he doesn’t deserve to see it. You should plug him full of lead right now, the absolute nerve!

“Yeah well, I couldn’t stay in New York. Shit happened.” He finally says, as you give him his tea. You could doctor it up just the way he likes, you still remember, but instead you place milk and sugar on the table between you. He doesn’t look bad if you’re being truthful. He looks like he gained a little bit of weight, which was good since he was such a beanpole, but he’d lost a lot of the beautiful color he’d gotten working in LA. Everything else is the same. His hair, his stubble, his clothes, the mole on his cheek you used to kiss for luck. It’s all there and you can feel your heart shriveling in your chest.

“Oh I know. We all know what went down in New York. It’s a fucking mess, is what happened. I mean, I’m all for girl power but you completely dismantled Hell’s Kitchen. Apparently the broads you backed couldn’t even keep themselves together. You stole the Hasidim from the Italians, which was a risky move, and you’re gonna hear about it for sure. But then, the girls start to split; one of ‘em died and the other is trying for Harlem? Yeah, good luck with that.” You snort into your tea. He looks pained at the mention of Claire’s death but it’s true. If she were smart, she wouldn’t have died.

“And now you’ve come crawling back to us. You backed the wrong horse and you know if you show your face in Midtown, they’ll cut your throat. I don’t know what’s more stupid; that you came back at all, or that you thought this would work? Did you expect me to open the door and fall into your arms with gratitude? Think you could just walk into Zayde’s office and get your job back? Are you outta your fucking mind? They’ll kill you when they find out you’re back.” You promise, trying to keep your voice down. The walls between apartments were insulated and people minded their own business, but this was still a touchy subject.

“Look I know I messed up! I was trying to help. They’re my people, some of them family and they needed help. The guys in charge were running it into the ground. You should’ve seen the way they treated their wives, it was disgusting! Believe me, even with all the bullshit, the Kitchen is better with the women in charge. But I got too invested and Cathy told me to leave, so here I am. They’re not gonna kill me, I’m no rat. I just, you know, abandoned the family and broke your heart. Sorry by the way.” He shrugs, looking sheepish but not worried. You see red and stand up from the table.

“Sorry by the way? Sorry by the way! You fucking schmuck! You broke my heart! You left without a word, without a reason. I didn’t know what happened to you or where you were. I thought you’d been taken or killed! And then I hear that you’re in New York, helping the Irish and screwing some married bitch! The same one I’ve been in the shadow of since we met! You expect me to be okay with a sorry?” You accuse, the anger practically steaming off your body. 

He sips his tea and you almost lunge across the table. Your cat tinkles in from the other room and meows at Gabriel, who peers down with a very soft look. Your heart cracks again.

“Since when do you have a cat? She’s cute.” He asks, picking up Magenta and letting her snuggle against his chest. You glare at the traitor, as if you didn’t cry into her fur about the man holding her. 

“I got her about 6 months ago. It helped to have someone around, even if she couldn’t really talk back. I just got really lonely here.” You admit, finger running along the lip of your mug.

“What? You haven’t dated anyone since I left?” He asks, looking genuinely confused. Which surprises you considering he’s here to apologize and possibly worm his way into your heart. But his surprise that you weren’t seeing anyone didn’t add up with the other stuff. Why would he want you to date other people? Maybe to make him feel less guilty?

“No I did, but it was never that serious. I just didn’t feel like getting involved with anyone like that. It felt like I was betraying you, even though you would’ve deserved it.” You can hear the faint sounds of Lynda Carter stopping bullets from the other room. Then a beer commercial starts and you bite your lip to stop yourself from crying. With him in the apartment, it’s like everything is reminding you of before. Before he left for New York and took your heart with him.

“Yeah well, looks like we’re both back to square fucking one.” Gabe scoffs, draining his cup and letting Magenta jump down from his lap. He glances around your apartment, though it hasn’t changed much in a year, before leaning back in his chair.

“So, where am I sleeping?” He asks and you pull the gun from your shorts and point it in his face. You’ve reached your tipping point with him, clearly.

“Un-fucking-believable. If you think you can just come back here and everything will go back to the way it was, you’ve got another thing coming. Now get outta my house.” Your gaze is deadly and your hand doesn’t shake. Gabe gets up slowly and walks towards the door, hands up in a placating gesture. The barrel follows him. He opens the door and steps out of your apartment and into the warm night air.

“You look real beautiful (Y/N), fuck it’s good to see you.” He says wistfully before you slam the door in his face again. What an asshole. Still, you can’t help but smile at his boldness. Gabriel O’Malley wasn’t a loud man, didn’t care about being in the spotlight, but he was always bold. It was nice to see some things hadn’t changed.

  ~~~~~~~~

  He ends up taking a bus to Tony’s house, happy to still remember where everything is. The house looks the same, pale green siding with blooming flower boxes under the window. It looks like the hydrangeas finally grew, that was nice.

Taking a deep breath, Gabe knocks on the door as the fireflies buzz around him. Shit, it was late, wasn’t it? He should’ve come at a different time. But before he could flee, the door opens.

“Gabey! Oh Gabey, it’s so good to see you! Come inside and eat something, I made stuffed shells. Here, I’ll get you a plate.” Mrs. Petrillo says, ushering him into the house. Even if he wanted to argue, he wouldn’t. You didn’t argue with Mrs. Petrillo. She was 5 feet of pure Italian dynamite and he loved the old broad to pieces.

A huge plate of food is set in front of him, along with wine and bread, and he eats happily as Mrs Petrillo putters around her kitchen. Her house slippers make scuffing noises on the laminate floor and the sound is comforting to him.

“Gabey patatino, how are you? What are you doing back? How was New York?” She asks, sitting next to him at the old diner style table and patting his hand. 

“I’m good Mrs. P, I’m good. New York was… well some good things happened and some bad things happened but I’m doing okay.” He explains in between bites. She makes a sympathetic noise and gives him another slice of bread.

“Hey Ma, who was at the door? Was it… Gabriel O’Malley, you sonuvabitch! You know, you gotta lot of nerve coming back here.” Tony says, entering the kitchen with a grimace. Gabe gives a tight smile in response.

“Anthony Michael, is that any way to talk to your friend? Let him eat before you start yelling in my kitchen.” Mrs. P shoots back. Her son looks abashed for all of a moment before rounding back to Gabe, his gold cornicello swinging on his neck.

“Friend? This chooch fucks off for New York without a word and breaks (Y/N)’s heart with it and we’re supposed to let him back like it’s nothing? Ma, he doesn’t deserve the stuffed shells.” He yells, rightfully so; Gabe thinks as he wipes his mouth. 

Tony’s mother starts yelling about language and hospitality but the sound of Gabe pushing his chair back makes them quiet.

“He’s right Mrs. Petrillo. I’m a real jerk. I did a lot of things wrong. I was trying to help who I thought was my family and I ended up hurting the real one I had here. I made a lotta mistakes, the biggest one being how I treated her. But that’s why I’m back. I want to say I’m sorry, sorry to everyone, and fix things with her. I know it’s a mess, I don’t even have a place to stay or money.” Gabe sighs, rubbing at his forehead.

Mrs. P makes a soft sound of commiseration and hugs him. 

“Don’t worry patatino, everything’s gonna be fine. You can stay here until you get back on your feet. Right Anthony?” She offers, shooting a glare at her son. He glares at Gabe before nodding in concession. 

“I can’t stay mad at you, you leprechaun. Stay here and work on getting your life together.” Tony says, joining his mother to wrap Gabe in a hug. 

For the first time in months, Gabriel feels safe, he feels comforted. In New York, despite the power he had and Claire in his bed, he always felt so antsy. Like he was just waiting for everything to fall out from under him. When it did, well, it was probably a good thing that no one was in the train compartment with him on his way back to California.

“So what do I do Tony? Got any jobs for me? You know I’m good for it.” He finally says when he sits back down at the table to eat and his throat doesn’t feel so tight.

“Well, there is a wedding next week.” Tony says and he grins over his wine glass and Gabriel can’t help but laugh and raise his own glass in agreement.

Chapter Two Coming Soon...

Tagging: @babbushka​, @theold-ultraviolence

Please let me know if you’d like to be tagged in future chapters!

[i-miss-balthazar]

Stacy’s Bridal Boutique

Warnings: Light homophobia, but it’s shut down really quick

Rating: General audiences

Pairing: Debriel

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“Hey Dean-o~” Gabriel hummed, flopping down on the couch next to Dean. Dean quickly changed the channel, and Gabriel scoffed. “Everyone knows you’re obsessed with that show, you don’t have to hide it.” He teased, watching a soft colour tinge Dean’s cheeks, and the hunter faltered for words. “Come on, don’t act like you don’t love good old Doctor Sexy…” Gabriel purred, snapping as his appearance changed to the famous doctor - cowboy boots included this time. 

“What do you want, Gabe.” Dean sighed, stealing a quick glance before averting his gaze.

“I’m bored, Dean. Let’s go do something!” Gabriel urged. Dean let his eyes fall back to the archangel, a soft smile tugging his lips at Gabriel’s imitation of Sam’s puppy dog eyes. 

“Alright, Gabe… what are you thinking?” He asked. Since Gabriel’s return, he and the trickster had gotten very close. What could he say? Gabriel had a good sense of humour, friendly smile, and was easy to talk to. Not to mention how many times the sugar addict had brought home pie… 

“That’s the spirit.” Gabriel wiggled his eyebrows, snapping them to a location. Dean looked around, before giving Gabriel a tired look. 

“No.” He stated. 

“Yes. Come on, Dean-o, it’ll be fun!”

“I am not going to try on dresses.”

“Just one?”

“No.”

“Please Dean-o? For me?”

“They probably won’t even let us!”

“Eh, you’d be shocked.”

“Gabriel, this is a bridal shop! I don’t exactly look like the kind of person who could afford this.” “Lucky you have a sugar daddy.”

“Excuse me, WHAT?” Dean turned to him in confusion. Gabriel laughed brightly.

“I’m teasing, Dee, lighten up.” He tapped his finger to Dean’s nose, and Dean nearly went cross-eyed trying to follow.  “I mean me. I make loads from my time in the porn industry.” Gabriel chuckled. “Try on one dress. We’ll keep it between us, but I’m telling you, once you put it on, you’re like a whole new person.” He laughed.

“You’ve done this before?” Dean asked. Gabriel simply wiggled his eyebrows, tugging Dean into the store before he could say no. 

A woman greets them as they enter, hands clasped neatly and a cherry smile that looks forced on her face. Dean didn’t miss the faint condescending look when she took in their less-than-affluent appearances. They by no means looked like they could afford this place. 

“Can I help you?” She asked, looking down her nose at them. 

“Yes, we’re looking at dresses.” Gabriel smiled, taking the lead because Dean was blushing up to his ears and couldn’t find words if he wanted to. 

“It’ll be harder without your fiance here, but we can show you our selection.” The woman - Marge, as her name tag said - offered. 

“Oh no, we are fiances. The dresses are for us.” Gabriel corrected. She stared blankly.

“Oh.” She responded, her smile falling into a scowl. “You’re those kinds of people…” Gabriel’s expression immediately changed, and he opened his mouth, but another woman’s voice stopped him.

“Excuse me, Marge? Did I hear you correctly?” The woman, with her black hair tied back in a ponytail and a hard look on her face, asked. Marge starts, her face paling as she realized how badly she’d messed up. “You can take your things and go home, that is not the attitude we want representing our company.” The woman sighed, and Marge opened her mouth to object, but a glare sent her rushing off. “I’m so sorry for her… I’m Johanna Stacy. Owner.” The new woman introduced, shaking their hands. 

“Pleasure to meet you, Miss.” Gabriel smiled. “We’re looking for dresses…”

“Of course. Do you know what you’d like? Any opinions on style, or colour?” She asked. 

“I want something unique. Maybe a pop of gold… sweetheart neckline and an a-line skirt, please.” Gabriel hummed. Dean glanced at him quizzically; this was definitely something Gabriel had thought of before. 

“Do you have your measurements?” Johanna asked. Gabriel nodded, rattling off some numbers that didn’t make sense. 

“Stella, can you go grab that dress with the gold lace please?” Johanna called. A pretty blonde looked up from the desk, smiling and scurrying off. Johanna turned to Dean. “How about you?” She asked, and Dean felt like a fish out of water. 

“I’m… Kinda new at this…” he admitted, throwing a glare to Gabriel who just grinned back at him. 

“That’s fine. Come with me, I’ll help you.” Johanna smiled. 

~|~

The experience wasn’t as bad as Dean assumed it would be. Johanna was sweet and patient while he pointed at pictures that looked nice and pretended to know what was going on. In the end Johanna found him a champagne coloured ball gown dress that went off the shoulders with a gentle lace. 

He couldn’t lie, it was weird to be wearing a dress, but as he gazed in the mirror… it looked beautiful. In the strangest way, he felt like a princess. It’s just for fun. He told himself. Just for Gabe. 

When Dean walked out, he was met with the sight of Gabriel in a beautiful white dress, gold lace covering the top and spilling down the skirt in an elegant pattern. He felt his jaw hang open because wow. Gabriel looked absolutely amazing.

“Gabriel…” he began, unable to find the words to describe how Gabriel looked. Dean almost wished he was at an alter right then. Gabriel just smiled in a knowing way. 

“Thanks Dean-o. You look not so bad yourself.” Gabriel hummed. Dean’s cheeks heated up, and he looked down at the brilliant dress, mumbling a thank you. “Come on, beautiful. Give me a twirl.” The archangel smirked. Dean rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t push it.” He warned, and Gabriel laughed brightly, spinning around and making the skirt flow elegantly. Dean smiled fondly, admiring the joyful expression on Gabriel’s face. 

“We’ll take them!” Gabriel declared. Dean went to object, but found the archangel had taken his voice. Johanna offered a smile. 

“Good! You two look stunning.” She praised, and Dean blushed darker. It shouldn’t feel so nice to be in a dress. He decided that he would personally kill Gabriel if anyone ever found out. 

~|~

“Why’d you buy the dresses?” Dean asked once they were in the car, the gowns snapped to wherever Gabriel decided was better. 

“Johanna was really nice. I’d feel bad for just leaving.” Gabriel shrugged. Dean supposed that made sense, the amount of patience that took was incredible. Plus she fired an employee on the spot for commenting on their gender…

“You looked good.” Dean commented. Gabriel always looked good, that didn’t quite sum it up. “Happy, I mean, y’know? I don’t think I’ve seen you that happy in a long time.” He carried on. Come to think of it, Dean wasn’t sure he’d seen Gabriel that happy ever. Gabriel merely shrugged. 

“It isn’t often I get to show that feminine side of myself. Guess I just had fun.” He responded. Well at this point, Dean had taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, and was completely lost. Gabriel must’ve sensed that, because he sighed, beginning to speak once more. “Angels aren’t actually assigned genders, it’s kinda more a ‘pick your favourite’. Most angels just go with whatever their vessel is for convenience sake. I kinda… flow between them. It’s called genderfluid technically. I don’t expect you to understand, but just… yeah,” Gabriel shrugged. Dean hesitated. 

“You’re right… I don’t understand.” He sighed. Gabriel’s gaze fell out the window.  “But I want to. You’re just gonna have to be patient, okay? I’ll do my best, but I might need explaining from time to time.” Dean finished. Gabriel looked over at him, relief dancing in his eyes. He could’ve said thank you. He could’ve tried to explain everything right there. He could’ve told Dean that was all he could ask. But instead, Gabriel snapped them back to the garage of the bunker, so he could safely grab Dean by the front of the shirt and pull him into a deep and passionate kiss. That was the best thanks Dean could’ve ever asked for.

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Representation Week Tag List:

@misha-moose-dean-burger-lover​ @specialagentrin​ @peanutbutterandgrapejelly​ @all-or-nothing-baby​ @petrichoravellichor​ @i-know-like-four-things​ @fantastikitty7​ @is-jus-me​ @hexlorde​

Author’s Note: Couldn’t resist a good rare pair! This is actually inspired by my wonderful girlfriend, so kudos to her too <3 

Dresses used as inspiration, courtesy of google:

Gabriel: 

Dean:

[post-itpenny]

You can never trust a monster

Bright Spaces

Some DBD OC stuff. I apologize if this ran too long. uwu

Thomas has already lost count of how many trials he had been in, a fact he preferred not to dwell too much on.

Instead he chose to look for “bright spaces”, a phrase his grandmother used to use. Finding something good that could lift your spirits in bad times. It was apparently something his great grandfather came up with after they cut wages at the mill he worked at. His grandmother describing how tight funds were when they didn’t have much to begin with.

“Was the Great Depression, everyone was tight. But you find good things in hard times and it’s even better than when you find them in normal times. Tiny treasures.”

For Thomas his bright space was the memories of his grandmother.

For Thomas’ grandmother, her bright space was snow cream.

Thomas has not really thought much about snow cream until a particularly long trial at the Dead Dog Saloon.

At the beginning of the trial Thomas was actually really excited, he was a sucker for the western vibe and it was so nice to see some sun. He knew it wasn’t really the sun of course, there was no warmth here. But it was still nice.

And then The Doctor showed up.

He was on his second hook and had just ducked into an abandoned building as the creep stalked by. Thomas took a moment to catch his breath when he looked up and spotted it on the top shelf.

A bottle of vanilla.

Thomas blinked, processing what he was looking at before swiveling his head around the room. It was a general store- or at least what was left of one.

A little searching proved successful, he found not only the vanilla but a barrel with a few handfuls of what he hoped was sugar and a few empty jars.

The idea of making snow cream in a place like this was absurd… but there was a place to actually get snow so why not?

Surviving the match resulted in his first hatch escape. Some of the other survivors congratulating him and questioning what he had snuck back with him. They all did it, taking things from the trial grounds that is. The current claim to gain was a guy name Steve who somehow got ahold of the “G” from the Gas Heaven sign in Autohaven. Which of course led to a very upset Wraith and a lot of good laughs whenever anyone went for a visit.

Thomas reluctantly shared his plan, childishly worried someone would ask to share in the treat. Thankfully no one did. Perhaps they understand its importance to him.

So Thomas stashed his goods at his sleeping space and for the first time, left to go find a killer’s “home.”

Another thing the others sometimes did, “making house calls” Pandora joked. “Just be careful if you decide to ok? Not everyone likes visitors.”

Thomas gave the redhead a hard look, “you tried to visit that freaky pyramid thing didn’t you?”

She shamelessly grinned and made a comment about cake that left Thomas making curious glances at the killer next match.

The trip to Ormond was a slight trek, following the directions the others had given. As he walked Thomas mused over what his plan actually was. He had nothing to hold the snow in once he got it, so he would have to find something, maybe there was a bowl or vase or something in the lodge. Would The Legion miss it? Despite being around his age Thomas had a feeling they wouldn’t be ok with him just showing up and stealing a bowl.

Come to think of it, finding clean snow would also be a challenge, maybe he could-

Oh….

Well this wasn’t Ormond.

Thomas must have taken a wrong turn, he must have. How else could he wind up in the Village?

Thomas had only come here once, and met the owner much to his dismay considering he died rather quickly. It was maybe his third trial so at least he could give himself some slack for it.

However, it was pretty cool in its own way. His great Grandmother had immigrated to America from a small Austrian village and the winding streets reminded him of the stories of that place passed down courtesy of his grandmother.

Thomas wondered the streets, careful to not stray too far from the road he had walked in on. The place felt like a twisting maze of sorts, empty save for a soft sigh of wind that flowed through alleyways.

And yet-

As Thomas poked around he couldn’t help but feel a growing sense of being watched, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up.

Alright then, guess it was time to go.

Thomas turned back in the direction he had come but only made it a short distance before something caught his eye. Sitting in the window of a house, was a simple wooden bowl.

Thomas looked around, seeing no one he turned back to the bowl, maybe he could-

There was a shill call right behind him. Thomas giving a small yelp of surprise as he spun around to find a crow perched on a stone fence, watching him with its beady eyes.

It was just a bird, part of Thomas really wanted to just tell himself that. But he had already learned the hard way not to take things at face value here.

He gave a small guilty grin. “Y-yeah ok sorry, I’m…. later.”

He all but ran out of the village. Slowing down only once he was surrounded by trees again. Thomas sat down on a fallen tree, looking around to try and get his bearings again. He nearly screamed when he saw her.

The Witch was a very mysterious killer, beautiful and frightening-

And standing about thirty yards away from him.

She was just watching him, or at least he assumed she was as her face was partially obscured by the brim of her hat. She watched him, Thomas staring back feeling very much like a trapped rabbit.

The Witch Gabe a slight tilt of her head, as if in curiosity. Then she was gone, and Thomas sprinted back to the campfire.

It was a strange encounter, and it wouldn’t be the last. It happened again a few days (he assumed days) later. Thomas having tried again to reach Ormond only to miss the turn on the trail he had been following and left to wander in a circle. He saw her much farther away though she must have been aware of his presence as well as she turned in his direction. It was eerie yet nothing compared so many of the other horrors this place held.

“You can never trust a monster.” Thomas would remind himself. Just because she hadn’t done anything yet did not mean she wouldn’t change her mind the next time.

The third time he finally made it, Mount Ormond.

It was easier to find a container than he thought. An old bucket but he didn’t care. He filled it with as much clean snow as he could and booked it back to camp to gather his ingredients. And then leaving for the solitude of the forest.

As he mixed the ingredients together, Thomas remembered his grandmother. The slight rattle in her throat as she spoke that sounded as if she may soon cough.

“I remember one snow I begged mother to let me buy sugar to make snow cream.” She reminisced, looking out the window at the warm sunshine of summer before breaking out into laughter. “Why I was- I was so excited. Back then things weren’t pre-packaged, you told the man what you wanted and how much of it. Then he put it in a paper bag for you. I was running home with this paper bag of sugar and I tripped and spilled it all over the snowy road. I was so upset and trying to scoop it back into the bag!” She laughed again, stopped to really cough this time. “Mother couldn’t be mad at me for wasting sugar because I was mad enough for the both of us!”

Thomas didn’t have a spoon, so he mixed everything with his hand. Fingers numb as he scooped up the first bite to eat. It tasted nothing like the snow cream his grandmother had made. But he cried while he ate it.

There was a rustle of fabric. Thomas looked up and found The Witch hardly standing ten feet from him.

Thomas turned bright red. He must have looked ridiculous sitting in the forest, crying and eating snow. She stood there watching him as she had in the past. She was close enough now that he could actually see her face, hidden under veil and hat.

There was no fight or flight instinct, he was just too tired now.

“Hey,” Thomas mumbled with a small yet awkward wave.

The Witch tilted her head in acknowledgment.

This time it was Thomas that left first. Gathering up his belongings and moving what was left of the snow cream to the now empty sugar jar. She watched, yet did nothing. When he stood up to leave she had already blended back into the shadows. Thomas made a slight detour, deciding to leave the jar of leftover snow cream in the middle of the road that makes the start of the village. He moved on with a shrug, maybe she needed a bright space too.

[archangelgabriellives]

Gabe x reader: Reader complains that her life is boring, so Gabe decides to take her on a trip. To the Jurassic aera. Bonus points if they ride on a triceratops. Or to the medieval, in the middle of a battle, in full armor. Gabe would protect her of course.

Look, I know this and a few other of your prompts have been sitting in my inbox, but I finally finished this one. I like the fun tone I got here. Hope you like it!

~~

“Oh my god, Gabriel. I’m so booored!” 

Your voice was muffled, face pressed deep into the cushions of the ratty couch in Dean’s man cave. To say it’s been slow in the monster hunting business would be an understatement. It feels like forever since you’ve left the bunker for anything other than a food run. 

“Well, what do you want me to do about it?” Gabriel questioned lightly, ripping a page from the TV guide to throw it at  you from the armchair across the room. You felt the paper ball land on your back, jostling the pile of paper balls that had landed there before and sending a few others tumbling to the floor. 

“Aren’t you an archangel?” You turned your head, batting away another paper ball he tossed at you. “Can’t you, like, snap up anything you want? Take me on a trip or something.”

Gabriel laughed at your pouty face. “Demanding little minx, aren’t you?”

“You know you love it,” you snarked back.

Through his full laughter was a snap of his fingers, and suddenly the couch underneath you vanished. Long grass softened the blow of your landing, and the warm sun on your back kept your annoyance for your archangel at bay. You stretched out comically, rolling over to your back and crossing your arms behind your head.

“Yes,” you grinned lazily, “this is what I’m talkin’ about.”

“Don’t get too comfy, sugar,” Gabriel smiled as his shadow fell over you. “Plenty more to do today then get ants down your back.” 

Gabriel outstretched his hand to you and you took it so he could haul you off the ground. With a gentle push to his shoulder to turn him around, you leaped onto Gabriel’s back, legs and arms wrapping around the archangel.

“Onward, steed!” you crowed, landing a quick kiss to Gabriel’s cheek. 

“Your wish is my command.”

After a short walk over a few picturesque foot hills, the pointed tops of fabric tents came into view. The sound of flags blowing in the summer breeze filled the air, and as Gabriel cleared the last hill, the small tent camp was fully revealed. The valley was spotted with deep reds and mossy greens of the canvas tents, and people wandered everywhere. You marveled at the scene as Gabriel walked you closer.

“Moondoor?” you read as you passed under the banner that welcomed you into the main circle. “Oh! Did we go back in time!!” The medieval dress of the villagers sent your excitement into high gear, and you could only clutch at Gabriel’s shoulders with elation.

“Hardly,” came a voice on the right, a redheaded woman striding over, a sword at her side and the moon insignia displayed brightly on her leather vest. “We only time travel every other weekend here.”

“Charlie!” Gabriel called as he felt you sink dejectedly on his back. He playfully slapped your thigh, letting you know he was going to let you down. With a deeply disappointed groan you slipped off Gabriel’s back, obviously sulking as you stood next to your archangel. “Still keeping your underlings in check, I see.”

“Hey, I look good in a crown,” Charlie declared with a smile. 

Gabriel pulled her into a hug, “Good to see you again, Charles.” He was rewarded with a slap to the back of the head for his troubles. You raised an eyebrow at that, this girl had some balls to slap a freakin’ archangel like that. “This is Y/N,” Gabriel said as he threw an arm across your shoulders, tugging you closer and kissing your temple. Maybe he could feel the jealousy rolling off you and wanted to nip that in the bud. “Love of my life, right here.”

“Geez, get a room, you two,” Charlie laughed as she held out her hand to you. “Charlie Bradbury. Queen of Moondoor and all around geek. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Y/N,” you said as you shook Charlie’s hand. You got the feeling that this woman was good, that she was a friend, and with Gabriel shoveling affection towards you, any resentment you felt melted with Charlie’s smile beaming at you. 

The three of you walked for a bit, Charlie showing off Moondoor. You could tell she was so proud of her ‘kingdom’, and even though Gabriel had only taken you to Michigan and not the distant past, this was still an amazing trip. 

You had been in mock battles, eaten delicious food made over a fire, had an impromptu make out session hidden in the trees with Gabriel. All in all it was turning out to be a pretty perfect day.

But there is always some asshole that has to ruin it for you. 

Standing together in a clearing, you, Gabriel and Charlie were talking about nothing. A group dressed in plain tunics and trousers were walking by. None of you were really paying attention to them when-

SLAP!!

Gabriel jumped, the whack to his ass throwing him for a bit of a loop. 

“Joshua!” Charlie snarled at the man that had walked by. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” 

Joshua smirked as he turned back to the three of you, but before he could speak, you stepped up in front of Gabriel, a look of fury burning in your eyes. 

“Do you know who you just touched? That’s my boyfriend!” 

Gabriel smirked behind you, a snap of his fingers and your simple period outfit became a full battle regalia, a shield hanging on your arm and a very real looking sword in the other. “You get ‘em, baby,” the archangel cackled, massaging your shoulders as he locked his own fierce gaze on Joshua, who was now understandably shaking in his leather boots.

Joshua looked to Charlie, hoping for some support, but he wouldn’t find it in his queen.

“You deserve this, Josh,” Charlie mused. “And when Y/N is finished with you, I never wanna see you here again. You earned yourself a lifetime ban from Moondoor,” she added, then looked back to you. “He’s all yours.”

You raised your sword, advancing on your prey. “I’ll teach you to touch anyone in that way.” The tip of your blade rested under Joshua’s chin, and he swallowed fearfully.

“N-No,” he whimpered, “I- I get it. I won’t.” 

“You better. ‘Cause I have ways of seeing things, and I’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

Joshua’s gaze jumped to Gabriel, and the archangel pointed two fingers at his eyes and then at Joshua in the international symbol for I’m watching you. He jolted on the spot, and the fear in his eyes grew as he looked back to you. 

“Now get the hell out of here before I split you down the middle and leave you for the coyotes.” 

Joshua turned on his heels immediately, running off and never looking back.

“My hero,” Gabriel swooned dramatically as he draped himself on your back, hugging you and kissing your cheek.

“Mmm” you hummed, the adrenaline cooling off in your veins, “I’ll always defend your honor, sugar lips.”

Gabriel laughed, reaching around to twist you in his grip, pulling you close and kissing you passionately. 

Next to you, you heard Charlie groan. “Just get a room already.”

~~

Gabriel x Reader tags

@nobodys-baby-now @booknerd1324 @tvshowobsessedhuman @thewhiterabbit42 @hankypranky @feelmyroarrrr @loch-ness-moron

Everything tags

@doctor-zyre @ourloveisforthelovely @authoressskr @superwhoavengelocketc-blog @mscrazycatbitch @emmii4 @redberrysweets @space-time-paradox @tgpanther @anxietywontmakethewordsgo @I4life @l4life @acarpouschimerical @warlockwriter @geekymagicalpotato @mir567 @azlinh @justa-crayon @turkeycleverness @shaylybaby2032

[andyquhyn]

prompt list #4 (spotify version)

(based on my top 2019 songs from spotify, can be used as dialogue or just as ideas! also please don’t roast be about my songs rip)

Make It Alright by WILD: “Whatever we can get through is what makes us survive.”

Good Nights (feat. Mascolo) by Whethan: “We were perfect as fuck, making dreams about our lives up in the stars.”

Burn The House Down by AJR: “Way up, way up, oh no, we gon’ burn the whole house down.”

Only Got Eyes For Her by Ezra Jordan: “I’m going out my mind, thinking ’bout the one I should’ve never left behind.”

Passenget Seat (feat. Kora) by Clueless Kit: “You know this is who we are, this is what we do, driving in circles til’ we find something new, the only person I enjoy sitting in the car with is you.”

seasonal depression by mxmtoon: “We’re all just trying to get by, searching desperately for bits of blue in the sky.”

There’s Still A Light In The House by Valley: “When she crash, she brings a storm in, I kinda like the way it pours.”

RUNAWAY by half·alive: “I find that everything I am is everything I should be, I don't need to run away.”

Choke by I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME: “If I could burn this town, I wouldn’t hesitate, to smile while you suffocate and die.”

Almost (Sweet Music) by Hozier: “Be still my foolish heart, don’t ruin this on me.”

Happy Man by Jungle: “It all could be different, time to do something new, I’ve given everything, I want to be a happy man too.”

Not What I Meant (feat. Lewis Watson) by dodie: “Will I have grown a little empire, or made a fucking mess?”

Be Mine by Ofenbach: “And if you wanna fight, let’s start the show, ’cause I want you to be mine.”

Sanctuary by Joji: “Not anyone, you’re the one, more than fun, you’re the sanctuary.”

Casio by Jungle: “When all your dreams are gone, and you’re still holding on, you waited far too long.”

Wildflower by Dutchkid: “I never knew that I could love like this.”

Arms Unfolding by dodie: “But here I am with arms unfolding, I guess it isn‘t quite the end, oh, partner in crime, I’m going to try to fall in love with you again.”

Preacher Man by The Driver Era: “I’m ashamed of the dark places I have been, fix my soul so I don’t lose a love again.”

prom dress by mxmtoon: “I keep collections of masks upon my wall, to try and stop myself from revealing it all.” 

Blame It on Me by George Ezra: “When I dance alone, and the sun’s bleeding down, blame it on me.”

Surround Me by LÉON: “Baby take me outside, kiss me in the moonlight.”

Work by Charlotte Day Wilson: “’Cause people come and go, but I think you should know, that I think this will work.”

Glory by The Score: “I’ll be written in the stars.”

Take Me With You by Wingtip: “Our hearts don’t break, they just rearrange.”

Cold Cold Man by Saint Motel: “You're the only one worth seeing, the only place worth being.”

Runaway Kids by HARBOUR: “We’re the runaway kids, let’s escape, we’ll get there some day.”

Monster by dodie: “Two ugly creatures, two sinister preachers, blind to the past, like a couple of monsters.”

Runaway Goliath by Mantaraybryn: “Are you just gonna stay in the shade when you were made for light?”

HandClap by Fitz and The Tantrums: “You’re like a drug to me, a luxury, my sugar and gold, I want the good life, every good night, you’re a hard one to hold.”

Swim by Valley: “Swim with me, get to someplace better, I’ll be waiting on you forever.”

home ft WALK THE MOON by morgxn: “I’m going back home to the place where I belong, there’s nothing like it.”

arrow by half·alive: “I know that I can’t run forever, but I can’t stand still for too long, this heart is afraid to beat slowly.”

NASA’S Fake by Raffaella: “Jesus Christ, gimme a break, is there a pill I can take?”

Better Not (with Wafia) by Louis The Child: “You know it in your gut you’re healing, from every time that you’ve been hurt before.”

Side Effects by The Chainsmokers: “It’s 4AM, I don’t know where to go, everywhere is closed, I should just go home, my feet are taking me to your front door, I know I shouldn’t though, heaven only knows.”

All My Friends (feat. Tinashe & Chance the Rapper) by Snakehips: “My eyes are black and red, I’m crawling back to your bed.”

So Close by NOTD, Felix Jaehn & Captain Cuts feat. Georgia Ku: “Have you ever wondered if you loved me harder, where we’d be now?”

I’m Good by Wafia: “Finally got back everything I gave to you, every part of me that I left in your room, now I really don’t care what you do, or who you do it with, I really don't care, I think I just quit.”

dream of you by mxmtoon: “I had a dream about you last night, and you said your last goodbye, I woke up to wipe my tears, although I said I’d never cry.”

Colder Shoulders by Gabe Fleck: “I can’t hide from what is destined for me.”

Last Dance by Rhys: “Oh if all we ever had was an illusion, and if we gave it every chance.”

Send Them Off! - Whethan Remix by Bastille & Whethan: “I’ve got demons running round in my head, and they feed on insecurities I have.”

Bad Days by Chance Peña: “All I know is the weight on my shoulder won’t hold me down.”

Crimes by Gallant: “And honestly I can’t keep overlookin' all your crimes.”

Check It Out by Oh The Larceny: “I’m gonna light it up.”

It Ain’t Wrong Loving You by HONNE: “Don’t care what they say, I will have my way, ’cause it ain't wrong loving you.”

wish you were gay by Billie Eilish: “I can’t tell you how much I wish I didn’t wanna stay.”

my ted talk by mxmtoon: “I’m fooling myself over something I don't know.”

Never Been In Love by Will Jay: “I’ve never been in love, and it’s all good.”

I Believe in Us by WILD: “Don’t think about the fear that much, we’re gonna be alright.”

Pure Gold by half·alive: “Wait, for the tides of change will come.”

blame game by mxmtoon: “I put my heart into us, and I was the one to crack it in two.”

Genesis by Daniela Andrade: “But first I gotta let go of the things I tried to be.”

Save Me From Myself (with NoMBe & Big Gigantic) by Louis The Child: “So won’t you save me from myself right now, right now, ’cause I feel like someone else, somehow.”

You And I by LÉON: “But in my head, oh, you say, say you still want it, that you’re done with being lonely now.”

Blue Hundreds by Holy Mattress Money: “What’s electric more than two lovers?”

I Like (the idea of) You by Tessa Violet: “I like the idea of you, wonder how it’d be to love you.”

Green by Cavetown: “I hope you feel happy, that’s all I want.”

Superlove (feat. Oh Wonder) by Whethan: “I’ve been looking at your face, it’s dangerous, making me so goddamn crazy.”

She by dodie: “I;d never tell, no, I’d never say a word, and oh, it aches, but it feels oddly good to hurt.”

Debbie by Your Smith: “What did you get me into? This always happens when I listen to you.”

Prophet by King Princess: “I can only think about you, and what it’s like to walk around you.”

Tell Me by Spencer Sutherland: “Tell me where your heart lies, and I know where your heart lies.”

Juice by Lizzo: “It ain’t my fault that I'm out here makin’ news.”

If I’m Being Honest by dodie: “Could you love this? Will this one be right?”

mime by Isaac Dunbar: “And now all I’ve got is broken bones and cheap skin to hold me.”

Maybe by half·alive: “Realize I’m at war in my own mind.”

Alps by Novo Amor & Ed Tullett: “I would break every inch of my love.”

Waiting for You by The Aces: “It’s getting frustrating waiting for you, I think you know what I want.”

Your Voice by Moira & Claire: “Your voice keeps playing inside my head like a song I can't get out.”

From Eden by Hozier: “Babe, there’s something tragic about you.”

Beige by Yoke Lore: “Let me go under your skin, and let me find the demon that drives those heavenly limbs.”

still feel. by half·alive: “Trying to recognize myself when I feel I’ve been replaced.”

Someone That Loves You by HONNE & Izzy Bizu: “Whoever said it was easy must have had it pretty good.”

Find Someone by A R I Z O N A: “Picking wings off of angels has always been my religion.”

Do It All The Time by I DON’T KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME: “We’re taking over the world, a little victimless crime.”

Sick in the Head by Jackson Penn: “My love for you is deeper than the ocean.”

Boys by Lizzo: “Baby, I don’t need you, I just wanna freak you.”

bad guy by Billie Eilish: “Bruises, on both my knees for you.”

CAN’T GET OVER YOU (feat. Clams Casino) by Joji: I can’t get over you, and before I die I pray that I could be the one.”

Rather Be (feat. Jess Glynne) by Clean Bandit: “But as long as you are with me, there's no place I’d rather be.”

Chateau - Acoustic by Angus & Julia Stone: “Don't be scared of what you don't already know.”

Blue by Samuel Larson: “We swear that this is love, but we keep feeling smaller.”

Boys Like You by dodie: “You thought you could charm me, and, damn it, you’re right.”

Cherry Wine by Hozier: “Open hand or closed fist would be fine, the blood is rare and sweet as cherry wine.”

Wait by NoMBe: “Let’s make it last forever, ’cause the night’s still young.”

Rivers and Roads by The Head and the Heart: “Been talking about the way things change.”

Human by dodie: “Will you share your soul with me?”

Dinner & Diatribes by Hozier: “That’s the kind of love I’ve been dreaming of.”

Show Me The Way by Penguin Prison: “I’ve never been anyone that I want.”

The Fall by half·alive: “I’d jump off and into your arms, but if I can’t trust the fall.”

I Wanna Get Better by Bleachers: “So now I’m standing on the overpass screaming at the cars, hey, I wanna get better!”

Work Song by Hozier: “No grave can hold my body down, I’ll crawl home to her.”

Talk Too Much by COIN: “Honey, come put your lips on mine and shut me up.”

Low by JR JR: “All the looks are saying, nothing in life is free.”

What You Know by Two Door Cinema Club: “I can tell just what you want, you don’t want to be alone.”

Burned Out by dodie: “I am burnt out, I smell of smoke.”

California by The Lagoons: “I’ve been on the run, just to get a moment with you.”

Radar (feat. HONNE) by Whethan: “Tight on my grip and I won’t let you slip away.”

ok ok? by half·alive: “Felt it rippin’ me apart, to find my place among the stars.”

[nothingeverlost]

Fic: Flashback (Penny for your Thoughts)

Like any good mama I am not above bribing my kids.  This is for @halfwayinlight meeting a self care goal.  She asked for Rumbelle or Belle&Archie.

Penny verse, after Belle returns but with references to trauma and recovery.

---------------------

It wasn’t the same apartment.  It wasn’t even the same city, but the moment Archie stepped up to Belle’s front porch with a pizza box in hand he froze.  When he and Belle had made plans he’d been excited.  He hadn’t thought of anything except spending time with his best friend.  Watching their favorite show and eating pizza just like old times.

The last time he’d shown up for a marathon she hadn’t been at home.  The last time there had been sirens and light and crime scene tape.  The last time she’d been held by a serial killer.  The last time she’d been gone for seven years.

“Archie?”  He still hadn’t managed to knock, didn’t know how long he’d been standing there, but the door swung open.  Belle had changed since the office, wearing a Doctor Who shirt they’d found at Comicon years ago with jeans.  She was frowning.  “Sweetheart, come in and tell me what’s wrong.”

He felt Belle take the pizza from him, the lack of weight and warmth throwing him even more off balance.  He could see the lights on in the apartment, but at the same time he could see the dark of an apartment he once peered into, straining to hear the sound of a ringing phone.

Why was it suddenly so hard to get enough air?

“Archie you need to look at me.  Focus.”  Hands were warm on his cheeks.  He blinked, everything moving too fast for a moment before Belle’s face came into focus.  She wasn’t wearing shoes; he had to look down at her.  “Good.  Now take a breath with me.  In.  Hold.  Out.”

One of her hands moved from his cheek to the side of his neck.  Feeling his pulse, the rational side of his mind told him.  Mostly he just tried to mimic her breathing.  

“We’re going to go inside now, Arch.  Just a few steps and then you can sit down.  Are you ready?”  When he nodded she slid one hand down to his forearm, guiding him into the apartment she’d only signed the leave on a few weeks ago.  There were still a few boxes in one corner of the room.  The couch was new, and that’s where she led him.  His knees were very glad to not have to hold him up anymore, and he fell onto the cushion rather inelegantly.  Belle knelt on the cushion next to him.  

“I’m sorry.”  It was supposed to be a fun night.  A relaxing night after a long week.  A celebration.  

“Don’t make me scold you, Archibald Hopper.  You know you don’t have anything to apologize for.”  Her hand was on his shoulder.  It occurred to him that she hadn’t stopped touching him.  “Can you tell me what happened?”

“You weren’t here.”  There was a bitter taste in his mouth.  He closed his eyes and counted each breath.

“I’m right here, Arch.  I’ve been home for almost an hour.”

Archie shook his head.  If he’d been more focused he would have stopped himself.  She had carried enough burdens, she didn’t need to worry about him.  It was seven years ago and anything that had happened to him was nothing compared to what she’d experienced.  “The last time.  It was your turn to get the pizza.  I was late.  If…”

“Oh Archie.”  She wrapped her arms around him.  For at least a minute she didn’t say anything, just held him tight.  His neck grew damp, the only way he could tell she was crying.  When she pulled back she used the backside of her hand to wipe the tears away.  “I’m glad you weren’t here, Archie.  I’ve had nightmares about it.”

“Maybe if…”  Belle shook her head before he could say anything more.

“He didn’t want you, didn’t want any man.  If you’d been here I would have had to watch him kill you.  How could I have fought for so long if I had that image in my head?  And how would I have been found without you doing your computer magic?  You saved me, Archie.  You and Gabe and David and Emma and Graham.  You saved me from Jones and then you continued to save me.  Even when I didn’t know how to use my voice I could call you and just listen to you talk.  You were my lifeline, Arch.”

“I was so scared I’d never see you again.  The pictures…”  You couldn’t manipulate photos without looking at them.  Really looking.  There had been three dead women in the weeks before Belle’s disappearance and seven the first time they’d known Hook to be active.

“None of those women were me.  I’m still here and that son of a bitch isn’t.  He’s dead, Archie.”  She squeezed one of his hands.  “If anyone should apologize for this it’s me.”

“Never.”  Archie shook his head viciously.  “None of this is your fault.”

“I couldn’t talk about it, not at the beginning.  I couldn’t even breathe when I thought about it.  But it got better and I still didn’t talk to you, not about what happened.  You didn’t have to carry all this.”  Her palm rested against his chest.  “I should have been looking closer.”

“I talked to someone.  We all have to see someone, after, but I kept seeing them.  I thought I’d worked through it better than this.  But tonight it was like nothing from the last seven years had happened.”  Their whole team had been ordered to see a psychologist.  Not even David had attended more than the required four sessions.  Rumor was that Gabe had walked out of all of his well before his hour was up.  Archie had kept going back.

“The brain works in funny ways.  It’s the first time I’ve had my own place here.  You, me, pizza, Doctor Who.  It’s an echo of what happened.  But we’ve changed it, Archie.  I answered the door this time.  This time we’re going to eat pizza and watch our show.  There’s ice cream in the freezer and hot fudge so we can get a nice sugar buzz going and stay up way too late because we have a lot of episodes to catch up on.  Okay?”  

“Yeah.”  For the first time Belle wasn’t touching him, but he was okay.  She came back with pizza and sodas, sitting on the couch close enough that their legs touched.  They made it through three and a half episodes before his eyelids started to get heavy.  He meant to suggest that he should head home but Belle nudged him towards the pillow.  He vaguely felt her tuck a blanket around him.

He didn’t have any dreams.  Or nightmares.

II

Gabe was finishing up the last of the dishes long left soaking in the sink when his phone rang.  The fact that ‘Belle French’ appeared on his screen made him more than glad to abandon the chore.  “Hey.”

“Hey yourself.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be watching some annoying Scotsman in a wee blue box?”  He purposefully allowed his accent to thicken; it usually earned him a laugh.  When she was closer it sometimes got him a kiss.

“Archie fell asleep on the couch.  He was exhausted.”  There was a hint of concern in her voice.

“Not coming down with something, is he?”  Gabe checked all the locks downstairs and set his alarm system before heading for his bedroom.  

“Recovering from something, I hope.”  She didn’t seem to plan to elaborate.  Archie deserved her confidence, though, so he didn’t ask.

“So what are you doing with the rest of your evening?”  He wasn’t sure why she called, but loved listening to her voice.

“Well since I’ve been denied more of my Scottish time traveler saving the universe I thought I might convince my other favorite Scottish hero to tell me a bedtime story.”  She sounded more relaxed than she had a few minutes ago.

“And you were hoping I’d have his phone number?” he teased.

“You’ve been my hero since I was a kid in college, Gabriel.  I had a photo of you on my wall, did I ever tell you that?  I cut it out of the flap in one of your books because you were pretty and I loved your brain.”  From the sounds over the phone she was moving around pillows and getting ready for bed.  Gabe pulled back his own silk sheets.  Soon, he hoped, they’d be sharing a bed instead of talking on the phone while in separate ones.

“You desecrate a book for me?” He hadn’t heard that confession before.  Gods, how he loved the woman. 

“I had a crush.  Now will you tell me a story?”

“There’s a story my aunts used to tell me about a loch in Scotland…”

[ourloveisforthelovely]

Rocking the Boat 13

Supernatural AU 

Link to Chapter 12 

Words: 2,385

Pairings: Gabriel x Reader/Dean x Cas 

_______

Arriving back at the bunker, you were still scratching your head about the conversation with Chuck. How in the world did he go from being MIA to breaking one of heaven’s oldest rules? Chuck was not about to just go contradict himself because he wanted to be a grandparent! Any idiot would know that! Chuck had a motive and what it was scared you! 

Dean was sitting at the table with Gabriel when you walked in. They both looked up totally surprised to see you. Gabriel’s eyes immediately fell on Chuck. The fact that Gabriel didn’t automatically start cussing Chuck out, told you that Chuck hadn’t clued his youngest son on the fact daddy was home. 

“Y/n, who is that?”

Gabriel asked with a sneer in Chuck’s direction. You knew exactly what the archangel was thinking. 

“It isn’t what you think, Gabriel. This is Chuck. He has some stuff to tell you all.” 

Dean groaned before standing up. This was the last thing that he wanted to deal with! Every time Chuck came around all hell would break loose.

Gabriel stood up and looked between Chuck and yourself. The jealousy was flashing in his eyes. If he got too angry too quickly it would be bad! The last thing that you wanted was for Gabriel to lose his temper then try to attack Chuck. That would NOT go well! 

You quickly walked across the room and wrapped your arms around Gabriel’s waist. The archangel was stunned! This was the last thing that he expected you to do! Gabriel was expecting to have to do some major romance to charm you over He stood motionless for a moment before holding you back. Gabriel had been in the mindset that he would never get to hold you again. 

Dean, meanwhile, watched the two of you before shrugging and turning back to Chuck. He had expected that you would take Gabriel back eventually but this was quicker than he expected too. The less that he had to look at the two of you all over each other was just fine with him.

“What can we do for you, Chuck?” 

Dean asked tiredly. Chuck smiled. 

“It's good to see you all! Before I get started, Gabriel do you recognize me at all?”

Gabriel looked up and rolled his eyes. 

“Some scrawny little guy that was about to get punched?” 

“Gabe!”

You hissed under your breath. Gabriel’s amber eyes had not deviated from Chuck’s smiling face. Chuck, meanwhile, was grinning like a fool. 

“Earth to Chuck!” 

Dean snapped. Chuck gave Dean an innocent smile before focusing his attention on his youngest son.

“It's good to see you! It's been a very long time.” 

Gabriel frowned. 

“No offense but I have no damn clue who you are. I drink a lot so that may explain that.”

Chuck’s cocky little grin turned into a concerned parental look of contempt. You looked between the two with a wince. 

“Gabriel, please stop talking.”

You muttered to your obviously ready to fight boyfriend. If he took like two seconds to read your mind, he would know that you had zero interest in Chuck. You sighed. It didn’t take you being Gabriel’s girlfriend for well over a year to realize that he was feeling threatened...and for no reason. 

Chuck’s sly grin returned as he said something in enochian. Gabriel became instantly tense in your arms but tightened his grasp on your body.

“Gabriel!”

You squeaked when his grasp became a little too tight for your liking. Chuck even began to look concerned. 

“Gabriel, I wouldn’t do that.” 

Gabriel relaxed before focusing everything that he had on Chuck. 

“Hi...dad.”

Gabriel finally managed to say in a cold sneering voice that made you shiver. Chuck either totally didn’t get his son’s coldness or chose to ignore it. 

“It's good to see you, son.” 

Gabriel scowled even harder. 

“I wish that I could say the same. So why are you here and not visiting Michael? I’m sure he is still holding out for your return.” 

Gabriel walked away from you and sat down on the couch. He put his feet on the coffee table and kept his watchful gaze on Chuck. 

Chuck was honestly stunned by Gabriel’s cold welcome.

“I thought that it would be best to visit you first. I am sure that Michael will be just fine. Michael and Raphael will be just fine for a bit longer.” 

Gabriel laughed bitterly at that. 

“Raphael won’t be doing much of anything.” 

“Why is that?”

Chuck questioned. Gabriel rolled his eyes. This was just a great example of how absent of a dad Chuck really was.

“I don’t know...instinct...intuition...the fact that he’s been dead for years now.” 

Chuck’s smile faded. 

“That’s too bad ...I could have used him too.” 

Gabriel gave his father a small shrug. 

“If you need something then I suggest you go and find Michael because I am not doing jack fucking shit for you.” 

Chuck laughed before turning his attention to you. Immediately that sick realization that this was how Chuck was going to tell Gabriel about you being pregnant. You had hoped that Chuck would tell Gabriel gently. That was all going up in flames now! 

“You already have.”

Gabriel frowned. 

“Excuse me? I haven’t seen you in over a million years. What the hell did I do for you recently?” 

Chuck grinned and motioned to you. 

“I think that it is time to tell all of you why I am here. I decided to change some of my rules. Like you can wear brown with black now...polka dots with stripes...Y/n is pregnant.” 

Christ….really? 

That was the best thing that you could think when Chuck said that. You had expected him to gently tell Gabriel and your family. Not use it as a follow up to wearing stripes with polka dots. 

After a moment, you dared to look up. Sam and Dean’s mouths hung open. Cas, who hadn’t moved from the table, was squeezing it so tightly that it cracked. You nervously turned to Gabriel. He was staring icily at his father. You hadn’t seen this expression on Gabriel’s face before. This was sheer fury! 

Maybe it was the foolish girl in you or something else but you hoped that Gabriel would at least smile when he was told this information. The sensible side in you, however, knew otherwise. Neither Gabriel nor yourself had even discussed having a child. The topic of a nephilim was a big no-no that hadn’t even been thought of. You both knew what happened to poor Kelly Kline. Neither of you wanted to repeat that. It didn’t matter how good of a kid Jack was. Another nephilim was just not going to happen. 

“What?” 

Gabriel snapped. He held a hand up silencing Chuck, who was about to repeat his previous statement. 

“Call me crazy but I thought I heard you say that Y/n was pregnant.”

“Oh, that is what he said. Gabriel, you ass, you said that you were stopping that from happening!”

Dean said coldly.

“Oh, I was.” 

Gabriel muttered as Chuck held his hand up.

“Don’t get mad at Gabriel. I just reversed what he did.” 

Dean was beginning to tremble.

  “Sam, go find the colt. I have some business to take care of.” 

Chuck snapped his fingers freezing Sam in place. He held his hands up with a cheeky smile. 

“It's too late. Come on guys, this isn’t a big deal!” 

“ISN’T A BIG DEAL!” 

Gabriel and Dean both yelled at the same time. Both gave each other a small shrug before turning to Chuck. 

“Look, I have this all under control. Nothing is going to happen to Y/n! She is going to be safe throughout the whole thing. You have my word. Besides, Gabriel can sit here and watch her every moment of the day. Between my good graces and Gabriel keeping an eye on her...Y/n will be happy as a clam.” 

You rolled your eyes. 

“I don’t know about that…”

Neither Chuck nor Gabriel seemed to pay attention to your comment. Chuck smiled again. 

“Well, I think that is all that I have for today. See you all soon! Bye!”

Chuck disappeared in an instant. Everyone in the room was left in uncomfortable silence. Dean was the first one to speak. 

“Gabriel, how do we get that thing out of her?”

Gabriel’s amber eyes rolled to Dean. Without even speaking a word, the two found something to agree on. This wasn’t about to happen...not to you! It could happen to some other person's family member..

“Oh, I am going to find a way.” 

You finally found your voice and decided to come into the conversation. 

“No, you are not! This isn’t your choice! This isn’t your decision!”

Dean put a hand over his face while Gabriel’s mouth dropped and pointed at the spot Chuck had been standing in. 

“Don’t tell me that you are on board with that nut job!” 

You crossed your arms over your chest. The last thing that you wanted to do was argue with Gabriel but this needed to be said. 

“I never said that I was on board with him. I was just as shocked as the two of you were but you heard Chuck. It's happening!” 

The lights in the room began to flicker as Gabriel’s rage began to build. 

“Are you bat shit crazy?! You know what happened to Kelly! Look at Jack! Do you want that for another child! Do you want that for me? What about me Y/n? I don’t get a choice in this?!” 

You pressed your lips together and took a deep breath.

“It's my body, Gabriel.”

Gabriel was beside himself! Stunned, furious, ready to burn the world down was a few of the feelings that were going through him at the moment. Did you hear what you were saying? Did Chuck hear what he was saying?! Gabriel didn’t know which thought to think at the moment. There was no way that his father, in a sane mind, would think that this was a good idea! Gabriel had sat through too many lectures on nephilim! He had seen his father order nephilim and the angel that sired the being be killed. Now here Chuck was all giddy over being a grandpa? No, that didn’t just happen! There was some ulterior motive that sent Gabriel’s worry into high gear! 

“Its my child too, Y/n. I don’t want this...there is something wrong with my father and it isn’t good...Sugar, he doesn’t just change his mind on a rule that has been around since the dawn of time…”

You held a hand up.

“I’ve made my mind up, Gabriel. You or anyone else here isn’t going to change it either.” 

Gabriel’s mouth fell open and he resembled the destroyed archangel that he was when tortured by Asmodeus. Cas quickly stepped into the conversation. 

“I think that we should stop this conversation for the moment. Emotions are too raw right now.” 

Gabriel laughed bitterly.

“My feelings aren’t going to be changing anytime soon.” 

“Go get some air.”

Cas replied. He chose not to argue further with Gabriel. It was going to be a lost cause and you didn’t need to hear it. The last thing that Cas really wanted was for Gabriel to say something he couldn’t take back. 

“Later.”

Gabriel muttered before disappearing. You looked at the place where he had been standing in for a moment before turning to Sam and Dean. Sam was still sitting at the table clearly trying to take all of this in. Dean’s eyes were on you. He had that worried parent expression on his face that drove you nuts. 

“Dad?”

Dean swallowed before looking up. He didn’t know what to say. The last thing that he wanted to do was follow Gabriel’s example but he did want to shake you. He wanted to shake you until you saw exactly what was going to happen. 

“Is this what you want?”

You nodded. Dean swallowed. 

“Great! Cas, we are going to lose her just like we did her mother.” 

Dean didn’t wait for you or Cas to reply before turning and walking out of the room. You were slightly surprised. Dean never mentioned your mother. She seemed to be a taboo subject that neither himself nor Cas talked about. The little that you knew about your mother came from Cas. Asking Dean about her would have been a step in the wrong direction. Dean preferred to pretend that she didn’t exist. You figured that the process had eased the pain of her death.

Cas put a hand on your shoulder. 

“I’ll talk to him.”

Cas followed in the direction that Dean stalked off in. This left Sam and yourself alone. Sam hadn’t moved from his place. You looked at your uncle carefully. His eyes were focused on the book in front of him. Sam took a breath before looking up. 

“Is this what you want? What you really want? This isn’t something to spite Gabriel and Dean with?” 

You shook your head. Call it your dark sense of humor in the making but you wished that this was some sick joke. Gabriel wouldn’t be pissed at you and Dean probably wouldn’t be in his bedroom downing booze. 

“No, it isn’t. I do want it, Sam. I guess this is where you are going to tell me that I am stupid and making the most awful decision ever.” 

Sam cleared his throat before standing up. 

“No, I’m not. We’ll figure it out, Y/n. We always do. I’ll talk to Gabriel when he gets back.” 

You nodded. Gabriel probably wasn’t going to be the slightest bit willing to speak to you at the moment. While you understood his worry, you wanted him to talk to you. When the two of you weren’t speaking it was always difficult. 

“Thanks, Sam. I’m going to go lay down. I think that I have had enough action for one day.”

_____

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[unityghost]

Keeping Time

Part 23 of Post-Asmodeus Sabriel Feels. Yes, I need a social life. This story contains non-graphic references to pretty screwed-up violent scenarios. I am, in Gabriel's words, a "sadistic beast."

This story is based on the following suggestions:

1. Hi. Long time stalker of your stories here and I really should've dropped a review long ago. Love this series so much and I get excited when I see you post it. You mention Sam's trauma and how it relates to Gabe... This fic makes me want a scene where Gabe is able to help Sam through a nightmare or flashback. He might feel less useless or indebted to Sam as well as proving he can power through some of his stuff to help Sam. (WinchesterKarma67, Fanfiction.net)

2. "Now I really just want to see Sam get triggered hard core in front of Gabriel, and Gabe trying really hard to take care of him the same way." (Kim, Archive)

Thank you guys for the suggestions! I'm not taking any prompts or requests at the moment, unfortunately, because I have quite a few.

Thanks for reading!

“I feel weird,” said Gabriel.

Sam sat on the edge of the bed and peered down at him. “How so?”

“I feel almost …” Gabriel lifted his head from the pillow. “Well-rested?”

Sam’s face brightened. “Nothing bothered you last night?”

“I don’t remember dreaming at all.”

“Gabriel, that’s great! But listen, when was the last time you had anything to eat?”

Gabriel snorted. “Maybe you can forget about the fancy overpriced CBD flaxseed bar you force-fed me before bed, but I can’t.”

“I thought we could have breakfast together. That’s why I came in to wake you up. We can go before everyone gets out of church for brunch.”

“Well, just because I didn’t puke up your hippy-dippy vegan brick at 3:00 A.M. doesn’t mean I’ll be able to eat. Don’t let your expectations get out of control.”

“I’m not going to get mad if you can’t have anything. I promise.”

“Yeah, I know; I just - anyway, sure, let’s go. Give me a second to make myself presentable.”

Although Gabriel was definitely better this morning, watching Sam exit the room gave him the same chill he experienced in his most desperate moments, the same feeling that perhaps Sam wouldn’t come back - or that when he did, it would be to scold Gabriel, to yell at him for being too attached and endlessly helpless. That was when the fear crept in, so that Gabriel almost began to hope that Sam would leave him alone.

Sam had given Gabriel so much, and still there was the voice in Gabriel’s head, punctuated by kicks to the ribs, stomach, and face: Spoiled rotten; always on your knees whining for more! Because nothing is ever enough for your greedy ass!

Gabriel gritted his teeth and shoved himself from the bed.

There was breakfast with Sam to look forward to. Asmodeus would not be allowed access to this morning.

Once he and Sam were winding through the quiet backroads that led to the diner, Gabriel felt a little more relaxed. But it was inevitable that sometimes - more often than he’d like to admit - these episodes of fear and shame crept out of nowhere and held him in their grasp for the rest of the day.

Sam glanced at him from the driver’s side. “Something wrong?”

Gabriel shook his head, trying to clear it. “‘Course not. Why?”

“You looked kind of upset.”

“Nope, that’s just my resting bitch face.”

Sam was quiet for a while. Then he said, “You know, if something’s bugging you, you can tell me.”

“You’ve made that clear, and somehow I’ve come to believe you.”

“I’m just saying … even if things are going okay. Even if you got a good night’s sleep, or started feeling stronger, or anything like that … I don’t know, I just don’t want you to think you have to be all right even at the best of times.”

Gabriel stared through the window, watching the scenery glide past. “Well, sooner or later, I will be.”

“Of course you - ”

“Sam!” Gabriel shrieked.

Sam slammed on the brakes with a cry of alarm. A boy aged about eight or nine stood frozen in front of the Impala, ogling Sam and Gabriel through the windshield with a combination of shock and satisfaction on his face.

Gabriel turned to glance at Sam, who was already throwing open the door to yell, “Are you out of your mind?”

The boy gave a nervous smile.

Sam glared at him. And there was something strange in his eyes, something Gabriel couldn’t quite identify.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sam demanded. “You could’ve gotten killed!”

“I won,” the child declared. “I won the dare and I probably would’ve won even higher if you’d kept on going. I definitely would’ve made it across. Which makes me a champion.”

Gabriel continued to scrutinize Sam’s expression, trying to figure out what lay beneath the incredulity.

Mouth set tight, Sam heaved himself out of the car and strode over to the child, who suddenly looked far less self-confident with Sam towering over him.

Gabriel’s breath caught. He could see the same terrified fury that came to life whenever Gabriel alluded to a desire to hurt himself.

Gabriel unbuckled his seat belt, pushed open the door, and stepped out of the car. “Sam, come on, he was just being stupid.”

“I was being brave,” the little boy objected. “I’m a - ”

“Not a champion, pal. A crackbrained prepubescent nimrod. Go home and meditate on the tender line between courage and recklessness.”

The child opened his mouth to respond, but Gabriel grabbed Sam by the arm and dragged him back to the Impala. To the child, he added, “Get your butt home, Evel Knievel.”

Once the two of them were seated again and the child had slunk away, Gabriel turned to Sam. “What’s up, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Sam spat.

Startled, Gabriel leaned away from him. “Did I - ”

“No.” Sam’s face softened. “No, you didn’t do anything. Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s okay; I’m totally fine. Let’s just keep going.”

Gabriel stayed pressed into the door. “You’re not fine. You’re worrying me.”

Sam waved a dismissive hand. “Adrenaline rush, that’s all. You getting hungry yet?”

“Is that a joke? When am I ever hungry? Look, if you’re freaked out by this whole thing, we can go back; you can cram another organically-sourced monstrosity down my throat.”

“No, no, I’m gonna be fine. I mean, I am fine.”

“Sam.” Gabriel reached out to him and Sam jerked away.

“Don’t, Gabriel.” He took a shaky breath. “Just don’t.”

Gabriel wrapped his arms around himself. “All right. Okay. Let’s go if you want to go.”

Sam closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. “Just - don’t touch me right now, all right?”

“Okay. I’m sorry. I didn’t - ”

“Didn’t know, I know. I’m not pissed at you, all right?” When Gabriel didn’t move forward again, Sam snapped, “Just sit up, Gabe. I’m not gonna hit you or anything.”

Gabriel swallowed, heart pounding. Hating himself for his fear, he leaned further backward, tempted to open the door and flee.

Sam’s expression shifted into one of alarm. “Wait, wait, I know, I know, I’m sorry. It’s okay. You’re okay.” He held out his hand, waiting for Gabriel to accept it. After a few moments, Gabriel stretched out shaking fingers and allowed Sam to grip them.

“It’s okay,” Sam repeated quietly. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just - I’m sorry. I don’t know where my head is right now.”

Gabriel tried to even out his breathing. “You’re probably more discombobulated than I am, huh? Could use some food?”

Sam gave a faint smile and released Gabriel’s hand to take the wheel again. “Probably, yeah.”

Neither of them said anything more until they had walked through the doors of the eatery and taken a booth together.

Gabriel gazed down at the sloppily cleaned silverware, swallowing against the tightness in his throat, revolted by his own panic.

“Hey.” Sam’s voice was soft. “I was a little freaked out, that’s all. No one’s angry. Not at you. I promise.”

Gabriel’s hands had begun to shake. He lowered them to his lap so that they were hidden underneath the table. “What happened, Sam? What did that do to you?”

“I told you, it was adrenaline.”

“Don’t try to sell me that crap; you face way worse than that at least once a week and I’ve never seen you react like this.”

“I was …” Sam avoided Gabriel’s eyes. “It was nothing.”

Gabriel leaned closer to him and lowered his voice so that only Sam could hear. “He’s not here, you know. Whatever you thought you saw back there, it had nothing to do with Lucifer and everything to do with that little squirt being a dumbass.”

Sam didn’t seem surprised by Gabriel’s intuition. “Reflex. Hard to fight.”

“Understood. Look up at me, macho-nacho.” Sam didn’t. “All right, I can’t decide if you need caffeine, chamomile, or Corona, but let’s get you something to bring you back to the present.”

“I’m all here.”

“You’re miles away. I have eyes, ears, and common sense. Can you tell me what - ”

“Boys.”

The two of them looked up as a young waitress with sharp features and red hair hair cropped short slid menus in front of them. “Anything to drink, fellas?”

“Coffee for me,” Gabriel told her, “And lemonade for my partner in crime. As you can see, he’s showing all the classic signs of low blood sugar. Shaky, spacey, practically see-through.”

The waitress frowned. “Well Jesus honey, you need me to get a doctor on site?”

“No,” Sam said hastily. “No, I’ll be fine. But uh, lemonade would be great. Coffee too.”

“Copy that. I’ll have it right out.”

As she hustled toward the kitchen, Sam turned to face Gabriel. “You don’t have to worry about me, okay?”

“Let me feel your pulse,” Gabriel replied.

“What?”

“Let me feel your pulse and then look me in the eye and tell me I shouldn’t worry about you.”

“You should eat something is what you should do.”

“I’ll eat anything you want me to just as soon as I’ve got some indication of how I can bring you out of this.” Sam didn’t answer, and Gabriel’s tone grew desperate. “I know, Sam. I know what it’s like to be trapped in your own head. And I can’t - ” Gabriel cleared his throat. “I can’t watch you go through it. I mean, I know I’ve seen it before and I promise this has nothing to do with me not being able to handle what you talk about. In fact, you don’t have to talk about anything. I’m not asking for that. I’m asking what I can do. Because I know I can do something.”

“Look, Gabe - ”

But it was then that the waitress placed a tall glass of pink lemonade in front of Sam, followed by a donut drenched in powdered sugar. “On the house,” she told them, and then set down two mugs of coffee.

“Many thanks,” said Gabriel. “He’ll be up and at ‘em as soon as he guzzles that down.”

“Let me know if you need anything else,” she said, and left them alone once more.

Sam took his butter knife and cut the donut in half. “Here.”

Gabriel accepted his piece. “I’ll eat this if you tell me what I can do to help you.”

“What do you think you can do?” Sam sounded frustrated again. “I just have to let it pass. And I’ll be fine. I will. This happens all the time.”

“Oh, that’s reassuring. Listen, I used to think the same thing: let the pain run its course. And it works, am I right? It works when you do nothing to intervene. But when somebody steps in, it doesn’t have to last for hours on end.”

“It’s not going to last for hours.”

“It’s already gone on too long.”

“So what do you want from me?” Sam was edging toward anger. “Do you want me to tell you everything? The way you hate when I ask you to do the same thing? Huh?”

“That isn’t what I meant. Sam, I … I’m not … ”

He’s not violent. He’s afraid.

Gabriel took a deep breath.

He won’t hurt me. Not in front of all these people. No. No, not ever.

“It’s just,” Gabriel muttered, “I know I can’t fix it, but I want to make it better.”

Sam gave a derisive laugh. “‘Better’?”

Gabriel stared down at his half of the donut, suddenly sick to his stomach. “I don’t want to see you struggling, especially not over something like what happened to me.” He raised his eyes. “You understand, Sam?”

Sam continued to glare at him. Abruptly, Gabriel got to his feet.

Sam looked startled. “Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. I uh, I thought - I thought you might - I don’t know.” He sat down again. “I thought you might want me to leave.”

“No.” Sam sounded bewildered.

“Then stop.” Gabriel’s voice shivered. “Please. Please.”

Sam shut his eyes, trying to calm himself down. “I’m sorry. It isn’t you, I just …”

“Have a temper you try to control around me. An effort that doesn’t go unnoticed. Look, Sam - not to thicken the already lavishly decorated soap script we have going, but I care about you. I care about what’s ravaging your brain. Because if anyone knows how much those memories suck, how fast they can drain the life out of you and make you feel totally gone and like no one else is there, and everything is dark and broken - you’ve got me for that, even if you don’t want to talk. It’s like when I don’t want to say anything to you. That doesn’t always matter, does it? What matters when I’m like you are now is that you’re the only one who doesn’t seem like some contorted, sinister version of himself. And I’m the safe one here when everything else feels like it did in Hell. When things feel different, and gross, and untrustworthy, and some twisted parody of what’s supposed to be safe. It’s me, Sam. I’m here to keep you safe. Exactly the way you do for me.”

Sam shook his head. “That’s not your responsibility.”

“No, it’s not. I know that. I know because you’ve already told me thousands of times and I trust you enough to assume that you’re probably onto something. But do you really believe that after everything you’ve done for me - when you find me on the bathroom floor in the middle of the night too weak to even keep my head over the toilet bowl, when you lie in bed with me just in case it happens again, when you let me hold your hand where other people can see - you think that after all of that, I’m callous enough to let you bleed out on your own?”

Sam folded his hands on the table. His fingers twitched. “What if it hurts you?”

“Then don’t give any specifics if you don’t want to; just let me - let me - I don’t know, can I come over there and hug you?”

That took Sam by surprise. “Yeah, sure.”

Gabriel moved around to the other side of the table and wrapped his arms around Sam, who returned the embrace and, after a moment’s deliberation, rested his head on Gabriel’s shoulder.

“You are unyielding and unreasonable,” Gabriel told him, “And it’s stupid that you care about others more than you care about yourself. It’s stupid that you can give me what you do and still think you should just hole up in your room and panic without anyone there to wait it out with you. How would you feel if any of us put ourselves through that? You know I’ve done it, and frankly I can’t imagine Dean hasn’t too. And Castiel? There’s no conceivable way that my brother hasn’t taken his fair share of breakdowns and crammed them into a moldy cabinet somewhere no one ever thinks to look. And if you’re in pain, if you’re hurting because of what happened to you, don’t lock yourself away from me.” He strengthened his grip. “Just let me help you, Sam.”

Sam didn’t reply, and neither of them said anything for a few minutes. Gabriel didn’t try to pull away: he knew what it felt like to have to let go before he was ready.

Then Sam muttered into his ear, “Just tell me when you think you it’s too much, all right?”

“You got it, Sam.”

At last, Sam eased himself upright. Where his face had been pale before, he now looked flushed and feverish. “All right. So …”

Gabriel waited.

“Are you sure?” Sam asked again.

“I’m sure.”

Sam hesitated, perhaps sifting through the potential repercussions - both for himself and for Gabriel - of explaining what was wrong.

Then, in a slow, cautious tone of voice: “I’m not really sure what I thought I’d be. In terms of life outside hunting, I mean. But in my head I - the idea of having a normal life after college, with a wife and kids and … and just forgetting everything else - I didn’t know if I wanted it; sometimes I think maybe I was just jumping from one extreme to the other. You know - the life of a hunter versus the life of some corncob-pipe husband and dad.” He paused. “But that’s the thing. I really did spend a lot of time thinking a lot about what it might be like to get married and have kids. Just get the chance to be a - a person, you know?” Sam picked at a sticky splotch on the table. “Maybe it wouldn’t have been the best thing for me. There’s no way of ever figuring that out now. And no need to wonder, I guess; no point in missing what I never had, and what maybe I didn’t really want after all. But …”

Sam stopped again, and this time he seemed to be wrestling with the urge to cry.

Gabriel didn’t intervene. Sam could be the one to decide if he wanted to say more.

“Most days,” Sam went on when he was ready, “I don’t think about it. I can’t. Because it won’t happen, ever. It’s too late for - for - crap - ” He used the heels of his hands to wipe his eyes. “Yeah, sorry, um - it’s just - Lucifer knew. He could get inside my head, easily. He could see everything.” Sam swallowed. “And he showed me what it might have been like - me, and the woman I loved, and … and the kids we might’ve had.”

Gabriel’s chest tightened. That shouldn’t have been taken away from Sam.

“He’s nothing if not thorough,” Sam continued. “Didn’t exactly make me believe it was really happening. I never thought I was out and free or it had all been a dream or whatever. He was with me the entire time, just letting me watch things play out. The life I thought I wanted. The life I thought I probably would’ve had. It took a while. I just stood and watched. I couldn’t stop watching. Because there she was, and the kids too, and I … just in those few minutes of watching them, I got to know them so well.” He took in harsh breaths through his nose.

“Easy does it,” said Gabriel. “Here.” He offered Sam the glass of lemonade. Sam accepted and took a few sips before going on.

“I remember exactly what they looked like, and their names too. There were three of them. Um - and - you know, I thought he probably just meant to torment me with, ‘Look what you missed out on; look at all the mistakes that erased this from your life. Look at every idiotic decision you made that took you away from what you never even deserved.’”

Gabriel recoiled. “Is that what he said to you?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Yes, it does; did he trash-talk you like that?”

“Well, he wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk about the weather. So anyway, I figured that was his goal: to force me into bystander status for what might’ve been mine. But then - then he - we - ”

“Wait.” Gabriel gripped his shoulder. “Wait. Slow down. You look like you’re about to have an aneurysm. If you don’t want to say what happened then you don’t have to. I get it; spilling the truth can make things worse, not better. So don’t push yourself.”

Sam’s face had taken on a peculiar mix of terror and weariness. “I’ve never brought it up before. Now’s as good a time as any, right? And for my sake, I guess, I’m glad you understand. Not sure anyone else could.”

“I do. And I know going over it, out loud - sometimes it’s the worst thing, and sometimes it’s the best.”

Sam shuddered in Gabriel’s grasp. “Yeah, so anyway, he - um - it wasn’t just dragging me down a would-be memory lane. It ended with him - with - ” Sam squeezed his eyes shut. “When I was afraid maybe I was gonna hurt that stupid little kid - ”

Gabriel slid his hand off of Sam’s shoulder. “Oh no. Sam, no.”

“ - I thought about the knife in my hand, and what it felt like to - ”

“No, Sam - oh God - ”

Sam shrugged a shoulder to discreetly wipe his face on his sleeve. “Too much?”

Yes, Gabriel wanted to say, but not because it brought up memories for him. It was simply that he couldn’t stomach the image of Sam being coerced into something so depraved, something that would break him over and over again for the rest of his life.

“Okay,” Gabriel breathed. “Okay, listen. Let’s do the math here: the kid that ran in front of the car? He’s an idiot. Like all children have been since the beginning of time. Take my word for it, Sam: that much has never changed. He didn’t get hurt. Not at all. And more importantly, this has nothing to do with Lucifer. He isn’t here. Okay? He’s not. I’m here. Right here.”

Sam nodded, eyes lowered and full of tears.

“Sammy, you got stuck with the annoying archangel, not the bully. Here, have some more of this.” He nudged the glass of lemonade toward Sam, but Sam shook his head.

“Do you get it too?” Gabriel asked. “Feeling like you gotta throw up?”

“Sometimes.”

“Do you want to go home?”

Sam blinked, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

“Come on, you.” Gabriel guided him to his feet. “I would offer to drive but frankly I don’t know if I remember how.”

Sam wiped his eyes. “It’s fine. I can drive.”

“Are you sure? Because we could get Cas over here. ”

“I don’t want him to see. Can we keep this just between us?”

“I never assume otherwise. But you know they’d understand, right?”

“Yeah, but this just … isn’t the right time.”

Gabriel wondered if that time would ever come.

Sam left a handful of bills on the table. The waitress caught Gabriel’s eye, glanced at the nearly-full glass, and frowned.

“Hold on,” Gabriel said to Sam, and went over to her. He lowered his voice. “Poor guy just ain’t feeling well. Stomach virus or something. Gonna get him home and resting stat.”

She looked crestfallen. “Wish there was something I could do.”

“Hey, you were a real help. Thank you. And don’t worry, I’m pretty sure he caught it from me. The least I can do is show him a little TLC.”

She smiled. “Make sure he stays hydrated.”

“Don’t you worry. I know exactly how to get him back on his feet. Learned it all from him.”

The drive back home was slow, but smooth. Sam was being careful, Gabriel realized, afraid of another near-tragedy with an impulsive child.

Then, just a few minutes from home, he pulled off to the side of the road and sucked in a shaky gasp of air.

Gabriel leapt out of the car and scurried around to the driver’s side, opened the door, and helped Sam lean forward to vomit on the pavement.

He kept his hand on the back of Sam’s neck while Sam choked, heaving deep breaths and spitting out bile. When Sam raised his eyes to meet Gabriel’s, neither of them spoke.

Gabriel returned to the passenger side and climbed in. The remainder of the drive was silent.

Once they were back in the bunker, Gabriel gestured for Sam to follow him. “Come into my room. Let’s hang out.”

A little uncertain, Sam did as Gabriel asked. When they reached the bedroom, he said, “You don’t gotta take care of me in here. Or anywhere else.”

“What a relief. I thought I was contractually obligated.” Gabriel sat on the bed. “ Christ on a crabcake, Sam. If your room can be my recovery chamber, then mine can be yours.”

With some reluctance, Sam closed the door and sat next to Gabriel. They were quiet.

“It’s okay, you know,” Gabriel said at last. “That kid is gonna be fine. You didn’t hurt him.”

Sam swallowed. “Um. No. Honestly, I … no.”

“No what?”

“No, it’s … it’s not okay. It really just …” Sam’s face was pale, his features tight and nervous.

“I know,” Gabriel answered softly. “I just meant that it’s more okay than it used to be.” He paused. “But I know the feeling. That you’re not really out. That maybe it would’ve been easier just to stay.”

At this, Sam looked perplexed. “What?”

“Because then you can avoid having to calculate what’s real and what isn’t. Drains a lot of energy, doesn’t it? Sam, you’ve seen how I get when someone even blinks at me the wrong number of times. ‘They’re gonna scream at me. They’re gonna start beating the living shish kebab out of me and then they’ll - ’”

“Stop. None of us would do that to you.”

“And that’s the crisis right there, isn’t it?” Gabriel squeezed fistfuls of the bedcovers in an attempt to steady himself. “Trying to disentangle the new truth from the old truth. With Asmodeus, things were simple: all it took was a couple of footsteps from outside the cell and I knew exactly what to expect. But now? When I hear you, or Castiel, or Dean, or Jack - any one of you guys could waltz past my door in the middle of the night and it takes effort to really feel that it’s you, even when I'm perfectly aware that there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ve got Winston Smith syndrome, Sam. I just can’t make two and two equal five. It’s all a tangle of ‘you’ll be fine’ and ‘no you won’t’ and ‘you should hate yourself’ and ‘no you shouldn’t.’ And then … and then questions. ‘Why not hate yourself?’ ‘Because Sam’ll be mad if you do.’ ‘Why can’t you just accept that you’re safe now?’ ‘Because - ’” Gabriel took a shivery breath. “‘Because you’re not.’”

“Gabriel - ”

“Anyway, what can I do to make this better for you?”

“You’re making it better by letting me spend time in here.”

“‘Letting’ you. It’s a real drag but I’m a giver.”

Unexpectedly, Sam smiled. “You seem comfortable.”

“I what?”

“You seem to enjoy switching roles.”

Gabriel held up a hand. “You lost me. Because only a sadistic beast would enjoy watching you suffer. Lucifer is somehow the first to come to mind.”

“That’s not what I mean, Gabriel. I know you.”

“You know me better than anyone should have to.”

“What I’m trying to say is I know how badly you want to be useful. How you feel like you have to repay us for letting you stick around.”

“Also the fact that you’ve had to buy extra bags of coffee to make up for so many sleepless nights.”

“Like I’ve always said, none of us wants you to feel that way. Like you need to make up for being in pain. I just wanted to tell you that I think …” Sam took a moment to reflect on how to phrase his thoughts. “I think this is what you’re really good at. What you seem to be at ease doing. I just thought you should know that even if it doesn’t matter to me what you can do, this is the best thing you could ever give us. The best thing you could ever give me.”

Gabriel wasn’t sure how to reply. So he said, “I’m just glad I can play my part. I don’t care what you knuckleheads tell me; I’m in no position to keep bellyaching to Nurse Winchester without doing something to thank you.”

“Sure. Right. Because that’s the most important thing to all of us. You know, keeping around our all-purpose tool that I guess we’ve accidentally grown attached to.”

“I think I’m supposed to laugh.”

“I’m not serious, if that’s what you’re asking. All I’m trying to say is, this is something to remind yourself of when you’re … when you get how you get about your role here.”

“Hmm. Well. I’m just sorry you caught on to the fact that Mary Poppins in my secret identity. In any case, Sam, I’m only taking a leaf out of your CV. I know what works for me. I don’t know how to help you, not really, but I’m also not going to watch. I don’t think I could live with myself if I had to stand outside your door waiting for you to recover.”

Sam sighed. “I’ll be okay. I will. Really. I’m just … I’m not right now.”

“Hey, listen.” Gabriel moved his hand, hesitated, and then took Sam’s. “If all this torture - not the before, but the after - has taught me anything, it’s that ‘right now’ is the most important time of your life. And mine. And part of your ‘right now’ is that you’re out of there. So am I. We’re both safe.”

Sam didn’t reply.

“I’m the last person to take advice from,” Gabriel continued, “But it’s not that I don’t understand your tips about telling myself over and over again that everything’s okay. I just haven’t got the choreography down.”

“Well,” said Sam, “Sometimes the best way to learn the ropes is to teach someone else.”

“All right, we’ve spent enough time on me. Tell me what you need.”

Sam stiffened and slid his hand away. “I don’t need anything. I mean - you’re doing more than enough, so don’t worry.”

“There has to be something. When you ask me that question, sometimes I hold back.”

Sam hunched his shoulders. “Gabriel …”

Gabriel waited.

Sam met his gaze. “I just need those kids to be okay. I need to change what happened.”

Gabriel almost replied with But you can’t before realizing that that would be anything but helpful.

Sam didn’t need a reality check. Sam didn’t need to be reassured that none of it had actually taken place - not when he already understood that. Sam didn’t need to be told that things were all right now, that he was safe.

Because they weren’t, and he wasn’t.

“You know how it is,” Sam barreled on, “When you see a little kid and they don’t have any idea about anything? Have you ever had to watch a kid learn about death?”

“I once infiltrated a Catholic School disguised as a nun so that I could teach the headmaster a thing or two about kicking some dude out for wearing nail polish to Mass. And let me tell you, they give those rascals quite the G-rated version of Heaven. And the PG-13 version of Hell - they get some things right, and some things wrong, and if they have anything to say about it the kids are all headed to Hell for the wrong reasons. And don’t even get me started on the purity club and its abstinence-only community outreach.

“Anyway, yes, I watched the kids grapple a little. It’s confusing even if you’re given the black-and-white edition of the afterlife: you die and get to play mahjong with Jesus, or you spend the rest of eternity like I thought I was going to. But kids learn, Sam, and they work with what they’re handed. Except … I know it’s probably not the same watching your own kids learn about death by actually dying. Going from zero to sixty like that, in the most hideous way. You wanted to protect them, and I get it. I just hope you understand you did nothing wrong.” He couldn’t wind an arm around Sam’s shoulders without having to stretch a little, so Gabriel took him by the waist instead.

“No,” said Sam, and Gabriel let go. Sam’s cheeks were flushed with the effort of holding back what Gabriel knew, from experience, would force its way out by any means necessary. “I just - I don’t want you to have to - ”

“It’s all right.

“I, um - I want you to trust me, and if you know I get like this - ”

“What is it you always say to me?” Gabriel’s voice was gentle. “‘Don’t do that Gabe; you’ll make yourself sick trying so hard to keep yourself in one piece.’”

No response.

“Sam,” Gabriel pressed, “No matter how many times you try to hide because you don’t want me exposed to whatever depraved shenanigans you think your own feelings are, it makes me trust you more. I like that you don’t try and stick to a list of signs and symptoms and potential treatments when it comes to helping me. You understand me and everything going on with me because you’ve never escaped either. You’re not a spectator, not an analyst; you’re part of whatever twisted team you and I have been forced to play for.”

Sam looked up at him, jaw tight.

“I trust you,” Gabriel repeated. “I trust everyone here. But I’ll never be able to trust the others as much as I trust you. I hate that you’re like this because you’re the last person to deserve it, but it doesn’t make things worse for me, Sam. It just makes you more … whatever it is you’ve been for me.”

Sam held his gaze for a moment, and then his face crumpled.

“Okay,” Gabriel muttered, pulling him close, “It’s all okay. It is. Or it will be. I’m right here.”

“Nothing’s going to make it okay,” Sam moaned. “Nothing except going back and not hurting them.”

“Ah shit, Sam, I know.”

Sam let out a sob and strengthened his grasp on Gabriel enough that it hurt, but Gabriel wasn’t going to tell him that. “How can I miss what I never even had?”

“Grief plays dirty, Sam. Makes you think you’re crazy.” Gabriel pulled away, taking Sam by the shoulders. “You’re not crazy. Wanting something doesn’t make you crazy.”

Sam gave a strangled laugh. “How is it that applies to me and not to you?”

“It does apply to me! Wanting things makes me - makes me - not crazy. Greedy, and … and spoiled and demanding. Anyway, you’re not crazy for wanting it. For missing it. You’re not, Sam. Especially if it was just around the corner. And if you wanted it then, and you thought it was within reach - ”

“Don’t.” Sam closed his eyes. “Sorry, um, I don’t - I can’t - ”

“Okay. Okay. It’s okay.” Gabriel hugged him again. “I know what that’s like, to feel like the only thing that’ll fix what’s wrong is to change what happened. Because it is. That’s not make-believe, Sam. It’s where my mind goes every time you talk about Lucifer. The way he got to fiddle with justice - it’s disgusting. I don’t know why or how or even when he made the stupid choices he did, but evil is evil even when it comes to anyone you thought you could call family. At the end of the day, the only real loose end is how Sam Winchester wound up as target practice. It’s not fair. And if I can’t fix it I don’t know what to do with myself.

“But that’s the thing, Sam: I can’t fix it. Sure enough, Sam’s tone hardened. “You didn’t deserve any of it.”

Committed to avoiding the debate they’d had countless times, Gabriel went on, “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to accept a reality in which my own brother could manhandle your existence like that. I can’t accept a reality that involves my father turning a blind eye to the ending you got.”

“It wasn’t an ending. I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“When I think about how you might not have been, I just …”

“Like you said: it’s right now that’s important. And right now I’m a mess but I’m not gone.”

Gone. The word made Gabriel’s flesh crawl. “I need you here.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Gabriel shivered. “Right, yeah, no, of course. How are you feeling now?”

“I’m … I’m not really sure, to tell you the truth.”

Gabriel broke away again. “I think you should have something to drink. Seeing as you puked up what little of the lemonade you managed, huh?”

“I guess.”

“You want me to go get you some water? Some tea? Some … anything?” Then, feeling desperate: “It’s not enough; I know it’s not enough. I want to give you enough. Son of a bitch, Sam - I want you to be - ”

“I’ll be okay. I’m just not right now. You’ve been there.”

“I’ve been there, and I’m never okay!” Gabriel was tired, he realized, despite how energized he had felt this morning; and the exhaustion was making him weak, giving him a headache, bringing tears to his own eyes. “And you’re not either, and I don’t know how to make that stop, and I hate that I don’t know what to do to help you. To really help you, to - to make you not feel like I feel every day. The idea of you going through that makes me want to scream and start throwing things at the wall. It makes me want to hurt something, Sam. Thinking about you, having to go deal with what I do - those memories of Asmodeus hurt like nothing else has ever hurt, and you’ve seen that, and - and watching it happen to you just slaughters me.”

“There’s no need for you to - ”

“To watch, right, whatever. I’m not saying it doesn’t suck to sit behind home plate. But what did I tell you it would do to me to step away and let you rot inside just for the sake of protecting me? That’s a special kind of torture, Sam. It’s every bit as heavy as the pain of being held prisoner and tormented and abused - losing who you are, or who you could have been - taught that you’re worthless, that you’re nothing but a freak, that you’re only good for what they can do to you - ”

“Easy, easy, calm down.” Sam rubbed his back. “Don’t worry so much about me, Gabriel. Of course it gets bad. Exhibit A, right? But this is just an off day, I promise.”

Gabriel gritted his teeth, although any effort to maintain control of himself had been wasted; and he hated that Sam had to see him like this when Sam was the one suffering, when Sam was the one who needed the chance to let go of what he felt so compelled to hide.

Voice hoarse, Gabriel said, “When it comes back to haunt you again and again - I mean yes, the present is what matters. But sometimes the memory feels like it’s part of the present, and … and I wish I could give you something different. Not just help, not just comfort. You deserve more than that.”

“So do you, Gabriel.”

Gabriel wanted to object, but he knew Sam would try to convince him otherwise. “You don’t belong to him. And the future you could’ve had doesn’t belong to him either. Whatever you wanted or needed or regretted or missed - he could play with it, but it was never his to keep.”

“Yeah, well … it doesn’t feel that way. Hey, listen, not to change the subject but - ”

“So don’t.”

“- I was wondering how you’ve been feeling lately. You’ve gone sort of quiet the last few days.”

“Quiet as in there’s been no encore since last week’s midnight performance?”

“You haven’t said much. Is there anything you want to talk about?”

Gabriel looked away. There had been so many nightmares, so many instances of waking up sweaty and nauseated and confused and wanting Sam. But after that episode of rousing the entire bunker with frantic screams for help, he was determined to leave them all in peace. It was nothing short of miraculous that the previous night had brought no horrors to the surface. “Not right now.”

“Are you sure? After that last dream you had, you seemed to kind of shut down.”

“Nobody’s shutting down, compañero. A glitch here and there isn’t a big deal.”

Sam surveyed him. “All right. Just … let me know.”

Gabriel pushed himself to his feet. “I’m hydrating you. Per the Sam Winchester manual of rehabilitation. Wait here.”

“I can do it myself.”

“Nope, no, shut up and stay sitting. That’s an order, not a request.”

Gabriel moved to the kitchen and pulled a glass from the cabinet. He gazed down at it, reading the scratches and chips and smudges.

He gripped it tight.

It was then, leaning up against the sink, empty cup in hand, that Gabriel found himself sobbing uncontrollably.

He was anything but eager to dwell on the distant past. He knew that if he were to study an old version of himself, he would either grieve for what he could never be again or be forced to grapple with the notion that there had not been a time in which Gabriel was worth anything at all.

Despite this, he remembered how differently he’d felt all those years ago, before he’d really known Sam - and, perhaps, before he’d really known Lucifer. He remembered how simple it was to scrawl in the margins of another person’s destiny in order to smooth the edges of the bigger picture. He remembered that it made sense to push for resolution.

That Gabriel couldn’t have imagined a future stained with the kind of torture Asmodeus had put him through. That Gabriel couldn’t have recognized how Sam would help him deal with the aftermath, and that his ability to coax Gabriel out of his worst moments came partly from the atrocities of which that Gabriel couldn’t have imagined his own brother capable.

The Gabriel of today, the Gabriel of right now, was desperate not to believe that anybody could have broken Sam on purpose. Of course having a family member as the culprit added an element of disappointment and disgust, but not confusion. Gabriel had long been aware of Lucifer’s wickedness and appetite for violence.

Ultimately, it didn’t matter who had tortured Sam: that anyone had done so was too much for Gabriel to accept.

There was no stopping the tears, not at this point. Not after everything they had just discussed.

Gabriel was sick of tears. No matter how many times Sam insisted that there was nothing wrong with being fragile, Gabriel hated himself for his own weakness.

Now he would bring Sam the water, and Sam would be astonished by what had happened between Gabriel’s coming and going. Sam would try to soothe him, and Gabriel would allow it.

Sam was right: these stories were more than Gabriel could take on alone.

He wondered, filling Sam’s glass with trembling hands, if he could be there for Sam without Sam having to reciprocate.

Not yet, Gabriel suspected, and hoped that, before long, the answer would change.