Gabriel and the Conquest at Winchester Manor (or the Attempt Thereof)
Chapter 1: Strange Behavior
"Hey, Gabe… where did you put the cans of beans at?" Sam Winchester asked as he absentmindedly maneuvered his way from the pantry back into the kitchen. He hated Thursdays. Thursdays were the night that he had been assigned to cook dinner… and he hated cooking dinner.
The problem wasn't the act of cooking; it wasn't as if he was lazy. No, he had done plenty of things in his life to prove that was not the case. The problem was the hunters, the angels, the humans, and other various creatures that they had adopted along the way.
Nobody liked the same thing. Everybody was picky.
And Dean was the worst offender.
"I dunno." Gabriel's chipper voice piped in, as he suddenly appeared before the hunter, making the tall creature yelp and jump back a couple of feet. Cans of vegetables and loads of bread splayed everywhere, causing the hunter to wince and bite his lip. He waited for the inevitable crash, which would by no doubt cause all of the other hunters to come rushing out, guns drawn. But it never came.
"Sammy?" Gabriel tried, and the taller male carefully opened one eye, and then the other. He glanced around, expecting to see food everywhere, but that was not the case. Instead he saw the food in a nice neat stack on the counter, awaiting his presence to be prepared.
"What…" Sam stammered, cocking his head and earning him a raised brow and a smile from the angel.
"Really, Sammy-Cake?" He started in his mocking, yet not demeaning tone. "How long have we all been living at the compound together, and you're still not used to me?"
"Wha—" Sam furrowed his brow and tried to fit the pieces together.
"He is an Arch Angel, Sam Winchester." A steely voice entered the conversation. "Do you think that he cannot catch falling groceries?" The hunter glanced up to view the creature to whom the voice belonged, and saw Uriel, an angel that arrived when Balthazar finally joined their group. Sam didn't know much about him, except for he struck Sam as serious, but Castiel insisted that he was the funniest Angel in the Garrison. Sam didn't see it, perhaps his jokes were simply funnier in Enochian.
"Oh, right… angel. It's just hard to get used to." In all honesty, Sam should have been used to it. Castiel had moved to the compound 2 months ago, and that should have been plenty of time to adjust, but there was a difference between Castiel and Gabriel.
Castiel didn't really… express his powers and ability openly, unless on a hunt. Whereas Gabriel used any opportunity he could to show off. Gabriel had only joined the compound a week ago, being the last Angel to join their little group. You could say that he liked to drag his feet. Sam and Gabriel had known each other a lot longer than a week though, when the hunter thought back on all that they had been through together… and all that they had done.
The two had been dating for a year and a half now; it was strange, being so committed to a person who didn't even seem to have that word in his dictionary, but it made Sam happy, and it wasn't complicated, and that's what the hunter needed now, more than ever.
"Awwwww, don't play that card, Sammo." Gabriel started, shaking the taller man out of his head and back into the conversation at hand. The smallest angel reached an arm up and laced it around the hunter's neck. Sam furrowed his brow. Gabriel wasn't nearly tall enough to do that, but he chalked it up to "angel" seeing as that's what he had just been told a minute ago. "—you've know me plenty long enough. You knew I'd catch those cans for ya." He continued, as Uriel shook his head and walked off, back from whence he came.
"What are you getting at, Gabriel." Sam started impatiently. "—and make it quick, I have to make dinner tonight." The angel merely waggled his brows and shrugged.
"Who says I was making a point. Maybe I just like talkin' to ya." The small creature replied offhandedly, releasing the hunter and coming around to the front of the window that separated the kitchen and the dining room. It was like a pass through at a restaurant, but higher class.
"Well, if you don't have a point to make, and you aren't here to help me… then why are you here?" Sam asked, blowing the bangs from in front of his eyes with an impatient huff. Everyone wanted help when it was their night to cook, but if it was Sam's, everyone made themselves scarce.
Gabriel laughed and rolled his eyes.
"God, Sammers, you sure do know how to butter a guy up." Sam stopped what he was doing and gave the angel a pointed look.
"Are you ever going to run out of nicknames, Gabriel?" The hunter mused, returning his attention to the cans of chili that he was opening with a rusty, but still useful can opener than Bobby had added to their stockpile of goods.
"Probably not, Blue-eyes."
"I'm pretty sure that's reserved for Castiel." Gabriel frowned, thoughtful.
"Okay, I'll give you that." Sam laughed softly, searching around the cupboards for a pan big enough to feed the multitude that now lived at the compound. Helpful or not, at least Gabriel was company.
"Here, Cupcake." Gabriel snapped his fingers and a giant soup pot appeared on the stove, ready to be used, and definitely big enough. Sam smiled softly; there were perks to dating an Arch Angel.
"Thanks, Gabe…" The angel smiled at the use of his nickname, and pulled a bar stool up so that he could watch his love cook.
Sam dumped a couple of cans of chili into the pot and then looked around the counters.
"Dammitall" Sam snapped, colliding his fist with the counter, causing Gabriel to jump. "Where are the beans?" He breathed.
"Right!"He said instantly remembering why he was called in here in the first place. Gabriel snapped his fingers and the misplaced cans of beans appeared before the hunter. Sam sighed.
"So you did know where they were?"
"Nope. Angel" the creature restated, making a circling motion with his finger pointed towards himself. Sam couldn't hide the soft smile that crept onto his face in that moment, then again, he didn't really mind it showing. Gabriel may have be a pain in the ass sometimes, but he made Sam happy, and really, that's all a hunter could hope for in their short lives.
"Well—" Sam backpedalled, trying to wipe the smirk from his lover's face; Gabriel had seen the dreamy look in the hunter's eyes, and knew he had done well. Sam couldn't allow such smarmy behavior in his kitchen. "If you're just going to sit there… at least make yourself useful." Sam tried, setting cans of corn, peas, and a couple of carrots to be chopped, up on the small counter before the Arch Angel. Much to Sam's delight, there was no argument. Gabriel was being rather agreeable tonight; especially since anything cooked on days Sunday through Friday were always "gross" in his opinion. Saturday was the one day that they all had to endure an 8 course meal filled with nothing but different variations on chocolate, candy, and anything sweet. Most people felt nauseous just thinking about Saturdays.
"Anything I can do to help, love." Sam smiled softly, but raised a brow.
"Hey, Gabriel…" He started, waiting for the Arch Angel to raise his head and meet the hunter's eyes.
"Hmh?" He asked gently, continuing to open the cans as he looked at his lover.
"What's up with you tonight?" Gabriel cocked his head, pouted out his lips, as if thinking.
"I'm not sure I know what you mean, Sammers." Gabriel crinkled his brows together, faking innocent. Sam could read people, almost as well as he could hunt a creature; it came with the territory, and he knew for a fact that his Arch Angel was lying right now.
"Gabriel…" Sam warned, picking up his wooden spoon, which dribbled chili and bean concoction, and brandishing it at the angel. "Tell me the truth. You know I can tell when you're lying…" A smirk appeared on the Arch Angel's face and he laughed softly.
"Or…" He started, coming around the wall, and into the kitchen. "—maybe I know that you think you can tell when I am lying, and am therefore messing with you, when really nothing is wrong at all…" As Gabriel had been speaking, he had walked Sam back, further and further until he was pinned between the counter, and the world's tinniest Arch Angel.
Sam gulped; Gabriel could be right. He could very easily be messing with the hunter. Gabriel was pretty adept himself, at reading people, and knowing how to mess with them. He kinda made a habit of it.
"… true…" He started, the angel's shimmering golden eyes boring into him, as if he could read the hunter's soul. "—but I think I know you better than anyone else, Gabriel…" this erased the smirk from the creature's lips, and he narrowed his eyes, watching the hunter with precision.
"So what?" He asked, a hint of defense cropping into the normally jovial voice. It was true. Gabriel tended to keep everyone at arm's length. He would taunt and tease, toy with, and even show affection, but getting down to the knitty and gritty of emotions and relationships, that's when it got hard for him.
"Calm down, Brave heart. I'm not trying to unravel the chords of your psyche or anything…" Sam spoke softly, watching as Gabriel's expression began to relax. "I'm just saying… you're acting differently… and I care about you… and want to know what's up." There was something about the tender quality that appeared in the hunter's voice when he was reassuring the angel, which took them both by surprise.
"Don't worry, Sam." Gabriel used the hunter's actual name. For once. "Nothing is wrong. I'm just thinking about something… I wanna say something to you… a big something." The angel absentmindedly chewed at his bottom lip, which was red enough already, he had obviously been thinking a lot lately. It was a nervous habit that Sam wasn't sure even Gabriel knew he had. "I just want what I say to come out right… and …at the perfect time." He nodded once, satisfied with his explanation. Not too much information given, but not too little either. He obviously thought he was being perfectly clear.
Sam sighed internally. The angel hadn't given him anything. He was just as confused, if not more so. But, such was life with Gabriel the Arch Angel/Trickster.