Castiel had never before experienced snow.
Gabriel had guessed as much, seeing as his little brother had been stationed on Earth for a rather short period, a very long time ago, during a time when most of the Host's focus had still been on the promised land. When he had restored Castiel's grace upon joining Team Free Will, his suspicions had been confirmed and, well, that just wouldn't do. After all, Gabriel was Castiel's big brother, or at least the only archangel left that still considered Castiel a brother. He could hardly let the kid go on to fight Lucifer and possibly die without at least first knowing what snow was like. And Dean and Sam, Gabriel knew, couldn't say with any honesty that they didn't want one more white Christmas in their lives.
So it came to be that, on Christmas morning, the area surrounding Bobby Singer's house was covered with nearly a full foot of snow.
"Holy shit," Dean said eloquently, staring out Bobby's kitchen window. His jade green eyes were huge, his jaw practically on the floor. "Seriously, holy fucking shit."
Sam, who was frowning slightly but still looked very pleased, opened his mouth as if to say something, left it open for a moment, and then closed it again, shaking his head. He turned to Gabriel. "What did you do?"
Gabriel flashed his trademark Trickster smile, the one that never failed to make Sam roll his eyes in a half exasperated and half affectionate way. This time was no exception. Chuckling mentally, he replied, "Let's just say Demeter has always been a fan of Loki's." Before Sam could say anything in response, Gabriel reached out and grabbed Castiel's arm. The younger angel turned away from the window to look at Gabriel, the expression on his face one of almost awe-an expression Gabriel remembered from when Castiel was very young, when archangels like Gabriel and Michael and Lucifer and Raphael were the ones the fledglings looked up to, not just the ones who gave the orders. Gabriel missed those days.
He brushed aside the feeling. "Come on, little brother," he said lightly, not allowing the smile to leave his face. "It's about time you got a lesson in playing in the snow."
As it turned out, Dean seemed to need a little more help than Castiel, at least when it came to what Gabriel called 'snow tag'-a game somewhat like tag in which whoever was It tried to tag all but one person, who couldn't be tagged until everyone else had been tagged and were 'frozen' at the same time. The player who was the ultimate target of the It player was allowed to unfreeze the others, but the other players were not allowed to help them.
"God, you really have had a lot of time on your hands, haven't you?" Dean's tone was incredulous, as was the look on his face-or at least, what was visible of his face underneath the (possibly excessive) snow gear Gabriel and Castiel had convinced the Winchesters to wear. The angels didnt need any of it themselves, but even Castiel was visibly amused by the sight of Sam and Dean all bundled up.
Gabriel mock-menacingly pointed a finger at Dean. "Leave Dad out of it."
Dean rolled his eyes, but Sam came to Gabriel's defense. "I think it sounds like fun," he said with a shrug. He glanced over to the porch, where Bobby was watching them from just behind the screen door, and added loudly, "Though I think it'd be more fun if Bobby would play with us!"
"That's 'cause you're a damn idjit, boy!" Bobby yelled back, fond irritation in his voice.
Sam and Dean exchanged a look, and burst out laughing. When they finally stopped to catch their breath, Sam caught Gabriel's eye and grinned, looking almost like a Trickster himself. "Cas is It first," he announced cheerfully. Gabriel had to resist the urge to laugh himself. "And Dean's the one he's after," he added. Before either of their brothers could protest, Gabriel grabbed Sam and started running as fast as he could without using his wings. "Catch us if you can, boys!" he called over his shoulder.
What followed was the most insane wild goose chase Gabriel had ever witnessed. While Dean certainly did his best to keep away from Castiel and close to Gabriel and Sam, none of them made it easy on him. In the end, Gabriel and Sam had both been 'frozen' and were several feet from each other when Castiel flew to Dean and hit him in the face with a snowball.
"Oh, so that's how it is, huh?" Dean growled through a mouthful of snow. "Okay then." And with that he pushed Castiel backwards into the snow, immediately instigating a wrestling match.
Gabriel, watching them, groaned, putting a hand over his eyes. "Ugh," he muttered as Dean tackled Castiel. "My little brother is so whipped."
Sam shot him a look. "What makes you say that?"
Gabriel moved his hand away and raised an eyebrow at Sam. "You mean, besides that Dean is walking around with Castiel's handprint branded onto his shoulder?"
Sam snorted at that. "Well, yeah, besides the obvious," he answered.
Gabriel grinned. "Just-I mean, do you really think Dean could hold Castiel down like that if Castiel didn't want him to? Yes, I'll admit, Dean's a strong guy, but he's not angel strong."
Sam stared at him speculatively for a moment before, quite suddenly, he deftly jumped the space between them and pushed Gabriel to the ground, straddling him. "Are you saying," he whispered, his voice so low and intimate it made Gabriel's pulse race, "that I couldn't do this if you didn't want me to?"
Gabriel let out a breathless laugh. "Definitely not."
Sam paused briefly, though it didn't seem to Gabriel to be out of hesitation. "What about this?" he asked, his voice still a whisper, just before he leaned down to kiss Gabriel.
The feel of Sam's lips against Gabriel's was almost shockingly pleasant. Gabriel had kissed a lot of people, but he had never before wanted it like this, not really. Of course, Sam wasn't the first person he'd ever wanted, but he was the first person that Gabriel had ever fallen in love, real love, with. It changed things.
Gabriel returned the kiss as much as he could, considering Sam was on top of him, and just barely managed to refrain from dragging Sam back down when he pulled away. "Yeah, no, that would never work if you-" he started, but then he noticed the mischievous smile on Sam's face. Gabriel's eyes narrowed, and with no warning whatsoever he flipped them so that he wason top.
"No way," he finished, grinning. Sam just laughed, pulling Gabriel down for another brain-meltingly hot kiss.
Out of nowhere, a loud voice interrupted their moment. "Dammit, Sam, are you trying to make me want to scratch my eyes out?" Dean practically yelled. Gabriel reluctantly pulled back to glare at the older Winchester. "'Cause it's kind of working."
Sam sighed loudly. "Jesus Christ, Dean," he said in an annoyed but still somehow affectionate tone, not taking his eyes off Gabriel. "Can't you just distract yourself by kissing Cas for a little while? We're kind of busy."
Gabriel was still laughing at the look on Dean's face when Sam pulled him back down to kiss him again.
That year might not have been Gabriel's best Christnas-far too many interruptions for that-but it definitely made the top ten. After all, it wasn't every year that he got to introduce his little brother to not only one but two of the better experiences humanity had to offer.
Although, of course, Dean still nursed one hell of a grudge against Sam for his snide comment, and Sam still teased him mercilessly for being so clueless about his own feelings, not to mention Castiel's.
Damn crazy Winchesters.