Title: Brilliant and Bruising
Author: OpheliacAngel
Pairings: Dean/Gabriel
Genres: Romance/Family
Rating: Teen
Summary: Not that Dean ever asked Gabriel for any of this, but it is sort of nice sometimes. Now it's time for him to return the favor.
A/N: Written for SPN Rare OTP Fic-a-Month Challenge for February's prompt of 'romance/romantic.'
Dean once heard someone say that all guys were romantic at heart and that girls were more pragmatic. When it came to Gabriel, that was more than true. But Dean wouldn't exactly call himself a romantic. Sure, archangels didn't have birthdays and Gabriel, despite his self-absorption, didn't seem to have one either, but he still wouldn't think of taking Gabe out for a romantic night on the town after they ate at some fancy restaurant. Candles, roses and massages never quite came to Dean's mind like they did to Gabriel's.
Get Gabriel hooked on something - or someone - and he went all out until Dean was rivaled at the lack of a burn out.
No, Dean, he was an easy guy to please. Give him a case of beer or a bottle of whiskey, an apple pie and fuel for his baby and he was the happiest guy in the world. Gabriel would no doubt give him every item on his suspiciously short list, and throw in a marathon of Dr. Sexy even if it wasn't scheduled on TV. A small nap with Gabriel was next, because yes, Dean needed his beauty rest. This could be argued, but Dean loved this gift the best, snuggling with an over-sized teddy bear, arms thrown over him and squeezing Dean tightly, protectively and a soft, taut stomach pressed up against his backside. Then he would throw in a blow job or two or three or four or five. Just for good measure, he claimed.
Just because I love you, he never said.
Really, Dean couldn't complain. Still, he couldn't always wrap his head around it, and he suspected that was exactly how Gabriel wanted him, blown out, pliant and needy, not able to think past the next slice of pie or the next time Gabriel's mouth would be covering his own, hot and heavy, brilliant and bruising.
He knew Gabriel liked to be romantic, liked to take him out to dinner and book some lavish room in a five star hotel, even though that wasn't what Dean needed. It was Gabriel's way of making sure that Dean was always well-taken care of, that he always felt loved and needed.
Gabriel wasn't doing it all for himself anyway, and it had taken Dean a good while to realize that. The archangel liked to think he didn't care about anything else but his own perfect self, but he cared a lot about a lot of things, and one thing that always caused Dean to do a double take whenever he saw evidence of it was the size of Gabriel's heart. He was giving and caring and he wanted to do good.
It took Dean's breath away.
Another thing about Gabriel was all the planning, there was never anything spur of the moment. Sure, there was if Dean demanded it, but Gabriel never wanted to leave anything up to chance. He would spend months planning for Dean's birthday, picking out the pies he would whip up and the restaurant and the room, and planning out the day up to the very minute, leaving some things up in the air in case Dean didn't want to do something but putting them on his list nonetheless. Whatever they didn't get through they would only pick it up the next day.
He would never say it, but Dean wanted to explode in happiness.
It was infuriating when Gabriel acted like he didn't mean a damn thing to Dean. It was even more frustrating when he was completely oblivious to Dean's gratitude and joy whenever he got to spend even one damn minute with the archangel. He would brush it off and change the channel, candy bar hanging half out of his mouth.
Dean knew Gabriel did it on purpose. He was like Dean, not wanting things to affect him, not wanting to overreact. But Dean was happy, all the freaking time, and he hated to admit it to the world but it all had to do with Gabriel.
Gabriel, who was so big in Dean's world but yet so small, small enough for Dean to wrap arms around and pick him up right off the carpet and carry him to bed, despite the exasperated protests: 'winchester, it's my job to carry your ass to bed, not the other way around,' small enough to hold in his arms possessively when Dean could no longer pretend to be sleeping.
And sure, if you ever asked him then Dean would say that sometimes he felt guilty, felt guilty for not spending hours planning out a day with Gabriel every once in a while, just as a special occasion, but then he figured that most of the time Gabriel just wanted to curl up on the couch with him and eat everything in sight anyway. And what was wrong with that? Truth be told, most of Dean's good days were a result of spending all day in bed watching corny action flicks - with Gabriel sneaking in a romantic comedy or two - and fighting over the popcorn and leftover M&Ms.
Dean never took for granted how lucky he was to have Gabriel. Everyday with the guy was a new adventure, a new way to be happy and to just let loose. Hell, he could still hunt and he did, but his life wasn't just about hunting anymore. Gabriel was always there when he got back, there to give him a bone-deep massage and feed him an endless array of chocolates in bed. When he got headaches Gabriel would get real quiet and curl around Dean until his head stopped pounding a hundred beats per minute, and when he got stomachaches from the archangel's showering of food on him, Gabriel would rub his belly until they went away.
He would always return the favor but he never had to. Gabriel was there to take care of him always, being his all-powerful archangel, and Dean had never quite felt so loved and protected before.
Dean might as well give up on hiding anything from Gabriel, but that didn't matter so much as he prepared the room, hoping Gabriel wouldn't be an asshole and pop in before he finished. The velvety red tablecloth was thrown over the small oblong table and he lit the candles dispersed throughout the room quickly, moving to the two on the table lastly. He adjusted the silverware and plates and then stepped back to survey his handiwork, smiling broadly on how nice everything looked. When he was satisfied, he stepped over to the mirror and adjusted his tie and ran his hands down the arms of his sleeves, hoping to eliminate any wrinkles in the fabric.
He wanted to look good for Gabriel, wanted to be the only eye-candy he needed, and he already knew he was but there was nothing quite like doing it right, at least for once. Gabriel would appreciate this, Dean knew he would.
And he would finally understand just how much he meant to Dean.
There was no tell-tale flutter of wings resonating throughout the darkened, candlelit room, Gabriel was too quiet and much too sneaky for that. "What's all this?"
Dean whipped around and smiled nervously, trying to read the look in Gabriel's golden eyes, trying to determine if he was surprised or merely faking it. There was that small part of him deep down that was also trying to gauge whether Gabriel hated it or not. Sure, it was amateur, but it the best Dean could do in a short amount of time and with virtually no experience with these so called romantic matters.
"Happy Valentine's Day, Gabe!"
Gabriel's neutral expression didn't change, and Dean was really starting to get freaked out. This had been a bad idea, a very bad idea. What the hell had been running through his head? "I thought you didn't like Valentine's Day? Pansy ass money-making holiday ring any bells?"
The nervous smile faded, as slow as Dean could make it. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and he started to stutter. Goddammit. "Well, I... you know... I thought that this would be sorta... nice. After all you do for me I... uh, well... it was the least I could do. Plus," he moved shakily over to the bed, hand reaching underneath one of the pillows and pulling out a box of chocolates. "I know how much you love chocolate. Especially when it's heart-shaped.
The next time Dean managed to glance over and up at Gabriel, he was grinning from ear to ear. Well, at least he had managed to do one thing right. Maybe he should just stick to buying chocolates from now on. Then, the remaining tendrils of doubt were vanquished from his mind by Gabriel's voice. "Kiddo, you try too hard." In one split second, all the anxiety lifted off his shoulders and he felt like a pretty awesome boyfriend again.
Dean beamed.
Just for good measure, Gabriel always claimed, especially now as he pushed Dean down onto the bed, the chocolates spilling out onto the carpet, left forgotten.
Just because I love you, he never said.
But just like Gabriel's mouth pressed tightly into his skin, leaving behind bruises and teeth gracing him with love bites, Gabriel's love was there and it was brilliant and bruising and it was one thing in Dean's life he could be proud of.
FIN