Title: Home Is Where The Heart Is
Rating: hard R
Pairing and/or Characters: Sam/Gabriel, Thor
Spoilers: 5x19 Hammer of the Gods (AU: Gabriel is inexplicably alive)
Warnings: none
Word Count: 2,469 words
Summary: Sam likes spending time in Gabriel's home in Asgard. But he hates it when his lover leaves him to face enraged pagan gods after Gabriel had pulled a prank on them.
Notes: Written for mangacrack for the Sabriel's Everlasting Birthday Challenge on livejournal. Her prompt was: Sam always wanted some kind of home, he just never thought he could love Gabriel's own (fucking medieval fortress) among pagans this much
There are some allusions to the movie Thor but it's not necessary to know it because they're not important for the plot.
Thanks goes to my beta webbswoman, who has done a great job despite the holidays and my positively swamping her with fic.
Home Is Where The Heart Is
"Are you sure I should be here?" Sam had asked the first time Gabriel had taken him to Asgard.
The archangel had given him a mock look of surprise. "Of course you should be here! You're my guest!"
Luckily, Sam had trusted him enough by that time to know that nothing would happen to Sam while in Asgard simply because Gabriel wouldn't let anything happen to him. And the first time he had stepped foot into the home of the Æsir he hadn't thought that one day he would feel comfortable there.
Ever since John had forced them to keep moving, Sam had wished for a home. For a while, he'd had that with Jess in Palo Alto. But after her death, it had been just like before, perhaps even worse. For a long time he hadn't cared about it – there had been a lot of reasons to want to keep moving, to get away from bad memories. Then Gabriel had joined their "Team Free Will".
As much as Sam wouldn't have believed it, Gabriel was the one who kept them going in the end. When Dean and Sam were almost crippled by the overwhelming task of stopping the end of the world, and Castiel by depression due to his diminishing grace, Gabriel had pulled them up and pushed them on their way until they felt they could do it of their own strength. And the archangel had taken Sam under his wings, sometimes even literally.
Finally the archangel had taken him to his home for the first time. To start with, it was nowhere on earth. It was in the world of the Norse gods, pagans, and they called it Asgard. Gabriel went by Loki there and although he had played a trick on everyone a time or two and few appreciated Loki's humor, Gabriel was more than able to call in favors from everyone who liked him and even more from those who didn't like him.
Sam was probably the only human who didn't believe in the pagan system to have seen Valhalla, although only briefly (Thor, who had taken over from Odin, had caught them pretty quickly, and politely but firmly explained that Sam couldn't be there as long as he was alive, even if he was Loki's lover). Freyja had been more welcoming but she preferred that Sam not disturb the dead in her keeping.
To be truthful, if Sam hadn't wanted to see Asgard, there really wouldn't have been a good reason for Sam to ever leave Gabriel's home.
It was huge. It looked every bit like a medieval fortress, if those had had running water, better heating and a fully equipped kitchen.
"What do you need a kitchen for? You just snap everything up anyway!" Sam had asked when he saw it.
Gabriel had shrugged and said: "Perhaps I'll need it one day. Just imagine, you standing in the kitchen, baking muffins … wearing an apron and nothing else…" The archangel had winked at him wickedly. Sam had valiantly fought and failed against blushing.
"I don't know how to bake muffins."
"That's okay. I can teach you."
Gabriel's home had quickly become Sam's place to rest and enjoy the serenity and luxuries it afforded. Taking a bath in a hot tub under the sun of Asgard which always shone warmly and brightly while drinking a cup of mead was worth more than any high-priced holiday in the Caribbean. And Gabriel could give wonderful foot massages – which almost always ended with Gabriel massaging something else.
Pagans didn't usually walk in and out of Loki's fortress without very good reason. Gabriel had always liked to have his space. One of the few gods to ignore the rules was Thor – and usually it was Gabriel's fault. So when Sam heard the thunder god's steps resounding through half of the fortress and then the sound of bellowing, he cursed the archangel soundly.
"Loki! Loki, where are you?"
Sam jerked up from his warm bath, quickly realizing that he would have to handle this somehow. Gabriel was, oh so conveniently, not home. He had dropped Sam off and then cited other obligations. Now Sam could think all too well what that reason had been.
He jumped out of the tub and quickly wrapped a towel around his waist. He was just in time, as the door was thrown open violently, and Thor entered. His tall, muscular figure dwarfed even Sam, and if there was one thing the Winchester didn't want, then it was to get into a fight with this god.
Thor ground to a halt when he saw Sam, who was still dripping water onto the floor.
"Greetings to you, Samuel, consort of Loki! Tell me, where is your mate? I have harsh words to say to him!"
Dean would probably laugh at the way the god spoke, his archaic language and behavior. But Dean wasn't naked and faced with an infuriated Thor. While Sam didn't think Thor would make him pay for whatever Gabriel had done again, he didn't want to rely on it.
"I'm sorry, Thor, Loki is out. Business, he said."
"I see. He left his mate behind on purpose then, to face my anger while he runs like a coward."
Sam was tempted to agree. But instead he asked: "What has he done now?"
"He stole my mighty hammer Mjölnir! It has not left this plane for I would know so it must be hidden somewhere!"
"Well, I'm not sure where he would hide it."
"Of course not. You're human, the power of a demigod is much greater than yours." Thor even managed to avoid making it sound as if he thought Sam was a powerless idiot. "But I can feel Mjölnir. It must be here somewhere!"
And thus the thunder god started snooping around. Sam, unsure of what to do, followed him.
"You should dress," Thor said after he had gone through the third room of an approximate fifty. "I have heard that humans are susceptible to sickness."
Sam gave an inner sigh of relief. He didn't particularly like traipsing around half-naked while a dressed god searched his lover's home. Even if he did want to strangle said lover at the moment.
"A good idea. I'll be back in a moment."
A moment was an exaggeration. First, Sam had to walk back to the tub, where he had left his clothes. He was almost dry by now, so a quick rub-down did the job. After he had put on some clothes, he sent a mental prayer to Gabriel, urging him to come back. Of course the archangel didn't bother to answer. Sam jogged back to where he could hear Thor rummaging around.
The god had reached their kitchen.
"What do you need these objects for?" He asked, pointing in the direction of the microwave and coffee maker.
"Uh…. it's to heat up food and to make coffee."
"Coffee?" Thor threw him a questioning look.
"A… a drink," Sam stammered. Really, Thor didn't know what coffee was?
"I may have heard of it after all," the god said. He opened a cupboard, giving a pack of lollipops a suspicious look. The next door he opened, however, was not without consequences: a tidal wave of Skittles swept out, raining down onto the god until he jumped back.
Sam gave a sigh. "Loki."
Thor picked up one brightly colored candy and gave it a strange look.
"You can eat it," Sam tried to explain. "Loki loves these things. They're very sugary."
The god popped one into his mouth, carefully chewing on it. He didn't look as if he appreciated the taste that much.
"I'm sorry for the mess," he said.
"Don't worry about it. I'll make Loki clean it up." Sam sighed. "I'll go look upstairs, perhaps I can find your hammer."
"If you do, don't bother trying to pick it up. Only gods can carry it."
Sam nodded his understanding and left the kitchen; upstairs, another twenty five rooms or so were waiting for him.
He looked through the unused guestrooms and their shared bedroom but couldn't find anything. He had his doubts that the hammer was really here, although Thor had said that he could 'feel' its presence. Perhaps, Loki had him fooled there too and thought it was amusing to have Sam deal with an annoyed god of thunder.
A thought came to Sam then. Gabriel probably knew that Thor wouldn't blame Sam for the missing hammer. So where better to hide it than with the Winchester's possessions?
They usually shared a bedroom, but Sam also had a bedroom of his own. Sam hadn't used it since he and Gabriel had become lovers but now he was seriously considering kicking Gabriel out of his bed for the stunt with Mjölnir.
In his bedroom, he opened the closet and the drawers without finding what he was looking for. Finally, he went down to his knees and looked under the bed and – there it was.
Despite what Thor had said, he attempted to move the hammer anyway. He didn't want to have to call the god into his private bedroom, but he quickly found that he would have to: just like Thor had said, the hammer would not move an inch.
He found that Thor had moved on to upstairs and showed him to his room. When the god handled the weapon, it looked as if it weighed no more than a shotgun did to Sam. He gave the human a grateful look:
"Thank you for your help, Samuel. You're a good man. When you see your consort, tell him that I shall speak to him."
Sam nodded dutifully and showed the god out. To himself he swore that Gabriel would get a lecture from him first. But despite the unpleasant cause of Thor's visit, he found that he did not mind the visitor himself so much. Although he had not often had business with the other gods, he was surprisingly comfortable around them.
Gabriel returned when Sam was already lying in bed. Sam hadn't been able to avoid their shared bed even for one night, so he lay there, reading a book.
"Hey, big guy! How was your day?" The archangel asked cheerfully.
"Fantastic." Sam kicked him in the thigh. Hard.
"Oww! What's that for?"
"That's for hiding Thor's hammer in my bedroom."
Gabriel laughed. "Oh, he found it, did he?"
"Actually, I found it. And you're sleeping on the couch!"
The shocked look on the archangel's face made Sam want to laugh.
"Oh come on! Because of one little prank?"
"You stole a god's weapon and then left me to deal with him. So yes, I'm making you sleep on the couch for 'one little prank'."
Gabriel narrowed his eyes. "I don't need sleep," he argued. "The only reason I sleep is you."
Sam didn't budge. "That's great. You can not-sleep on the couch then." He turned his eyes back to his book, ignoring the angel sitting next to him.
"I'll give you a blowjob," Gabriel teased.
Sam didn't even twitch. But of course the archangel was not so easily dissuaded. Next, he slid his hand ever so slowly up Sam's thigh, as if the human would not notice it. He did, of course, and he resolutely slapped Gabriel's hand away when the archangel reached the crease of Sam's thigh and threatened to grope his crotch. Gabriel pouted.
"No," Sam only repeated. "Couch!"
Gabriel still didn't comply. Instead he moved closer to the Winchester and gently started kissing Sam's neck.
"Come on," he said, his warm breath raising goose bumps on Sam's skin. "I knew Thor wasn't going to do anything to you. He likes you."
He does? Sam wanted to ask but didn't. "It was still a low move."
"Gotta have my fun somehow. And if I don't pull a few tricks now and again, they'll start thinking that I'm not Loki."
Sam didn't turn his head to look at his lover's face, but he could practically feel Gabriel smile.
"How do you know your cover hasn't been blown yet?" He argued. "Kali knew and told the other gods at the hotel."
"All the gods except Kali are dead."
"And what makes you think she didn't tell everyone else?"
"Kali wouldn't do that to me."
Sam rolled his eyes. Apparently, not even being stabbed would make Gabriel think less of the Hindu goddess. Gabriel chuckled and gently nipped his earlobe.
"Jealous?"
The Winchester pushed his elbow into Gabriel's ribs, almost throwing the archangel off the bed. Gabriel scrambled and managed to remain just barely on the mattress.
"No," he denied. It was not entirely true.
"You sure?" Gabriel teased with a grin.
"Absolutely. And you're still sleeping on the couch."
Gabriel pulled a face and Sam turned back to his book. At least until Gabriel snapped his fingers, removing his clothes. Sam had always been bad at ignoring a naked archangel.
"I hate you," he griped, not meaning it at all. He did mean the kiss he forced on Gabriel's mouth, his fingers tangling tightly in the archangel's hair, all the while knowing that he only had power over Gabriel as long as his lover permitted it.
And Gabriel did permit it. He returned the kiss eagerly, sliding his hands under the Winchester's shirt and stroking over his skin before moving down and unzipping Sam's jeans. He slipped a hand into Sam's boxers for a quick squeeze, just enough to tease but not to fully arouse. Sam's hips jerked in response but the small gasp he made was smothered by the archangel.
"Want that blowjob after all?" Gabriel teased when they broke apart.
"You had better deliver," Sam growled.
"Don't I always?"
Gabriel snapped his fingers again, this time to remove Sam's clothes. They pressed against each other skin to skin, hands and mouths working each other to arousal, caressing as they knew their lover liked it until swollen cocks dripped with precome. And only when Sam thought he was close to dying all over again because it was all too much, Gabriel took pity on him and drew him into his mouth, giving him the pleasure he craved and – finally – relief.
Gabriel didn't have to spend the night on the couch after all.
The next day, Thor paid Sam a visit again. Predictably, Gabriel was gone. So Thor invited Sam to dine with him among other gods and ancient heroes, and the Winchester couldn't resist. He still found some of the Asgardians' habits strange. Throwing a goblet on the floor to indicate that you wanted another drink was simply unheard of on earth. But, despite all the differences between the pagan world and earth, he found that he considered Gabriel's fortress home; and he never wanted to give it up.
Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it. Reviews are always welcome.