The day had started out so well for Gabriel. He had gotten up in the morning, walked his gorgeous dog Hershey, gorged himself on strawberries for breakfast and then drove to his fabulous job of educating the younger populace on how to build, fix and drive cars. It was very fulfilling.

Okay, so maybe he hated getting up in the morning and maybe Hershey had dragged him all across the neighborhood in pursuit of a squirrel and maybe the strawberries weren't as sweet as they could have been, but he really did love his job.

Except for today. Today his job sucked.

You see, as well as being the school's mechanics teacher, he also taught Driver's Ed during his free periods. And today, he had the ultimate displeasure of testing Dean Smith.

Gabriel honestly didn't know what had gone wrong. Dean had aced all of the written tests, taken all of the classes and had even learned how to parallel park like some kind of parking god, but somehow, he managed to completely fail the practical test.

The kid done fucked shit up.

The test had gone fine at first, but then a squirrel had run into the road and Dean had swerved to avoid it, smashing into a mailbox and going up over the curb and onto the sidewalk. He had nearly run over ten people, smashed some poor kid's bike and then managed to get back onto the road.

But by then, he had completely lost control of the car and apparently forgotten how to brake. They had run three red lights, two four-way stop signs and then narrowly avoided driving into a pre-school before Dean eased his foot off of the gas pedal.

When they finally made it back to the school parking lot, Dean was white as a sheet and Gabriel was on the verge of a panic attack.

He stumbled into the teacher's lounge to get something to calm his nerves, surprised to find only Sam Winchester there. The history teacher, dressed in his usual plaid shirt and jeans raised a single eyebrow as Gabriel entered.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," Gabriel answered, though his voice was a lot higher than normal and his hands were shaking more than a massage chair and he was sure he looked like he had just seen a ghost. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Sam didn't look convinced.

"Okay, if you say so," he said. "Because from here, you look like you're about to pass out."

"Nope, nothing wrong. I just need tea. Lots of tea."

"Right." Sam watched as Gabriel went over to where the coffee and tea stuff was kept and grabbed a pack of the most soothing stuff he could find. After a few seconds of watching Gabriel dump sugar into his mug, Sam spoke up again. "Did something happen while you were testing?"

And Gabriel snapped.

"Yes!" he shouted, making Sam jump. "Oh, my God, yes! I almost died, Sam! That bastard Dean Smith and that fucking squirrel almost killed me and I am not okay!"

Sam got up and moved quickly to where Gabriel was standing.

"Okay, Gabriel," he said in a soothing tone, but Gabriel was having none of it. He had just flipped his shit and Sam was gonna listen, dammit!

"I literally saw my life flash before my eyes and it was filled with nothing but strawberries and sugar, and that is not how I am gonna be remembered!" Gabriel yelled. He could feel his heart beating extra fast from the adrenaline still pumping through him, but he couldn't bring himself to calm down. "If some teenage dick is gonna take me down, it is not gonna be because he drives like a kid on a sugar-high trying to kill himself in MarioKart!"

He was panting hard after his little rant and it wasn't because of all of the air he had used. His eyes were wide and he was hyperventilating and borderline hysterical as he started pacing around the room and fuck was that him that just whimpered like that?

"Wow, okay," Sam said, watching as Gabriel speed-walked around the table, running his hands through his hair and breathing so hard Sam was surprised he hadn't passed out yet. "Gabriel, calm down."

Gabriel didn't appear to have heard him, so Sam walked around the table and grabbed both of Gabriel's wrists. Gabriel's panic-filled eyes snapped up to meet his and he let out a little whimper.

"Gabriel," Sam said in a firm tone, "calm down, okay? Just focus on my breathing. Copy what I'm doing."

He took a slow, deep breath to demonstrate and smiled a little when Gabriel copied him. They stood like that for a few minutes until Gabriel's pulse wasn't beating so fast and he could control his breathing.

"Thanks, Sam," Gabriel said, sitting down heavily in one of the chairs and rubbing at his eyes tiredly.

"No problem," Sam said. "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"Another question, smartass."

Gabriel chuckled. "Go ahead."

"Do you have panic attacks often?"

Gabriel let out a puff of air and leaned back in his chair.

"No," he said. "This would be the first time."

Sam nodded. "Are you still going to teach Driver's Ed?"

Gabriel groaned. "Don't mention that job of devil's spawn right now, I don't know if my heart can take it."

Sam laughed and Gabriel cracked a small smile. The bell rang and both of them looked up to the speakers in the ceiling.

"Will you be okay to teach your next class?" Sam asked, looking back at Gabriel.

"I hope so," Gabriel replied. "Guess I'm about to find out."

Sam wrinkled his nose. "I don't want you passing out in the middle of a garage surrounded by no one but immature sixteen-year-olds wielding welding torches."

"Your faith in me and my class is astounding, Sammy, really," Gabriel said dryly.

"No, I'm serious, Gabe," Sam said. "I don't know much about panic attacks-"

"Join the club."

"But I think it'd be a good idea for you to take the rest of the day off."

Gabriel glanced at the clock. "I've only been here for three hours."

"Who cares?" Sam got up and pulled Gabriel to his feet, steadying the man as he swayed a little.

"Okay, maybe rest isn't that bad of an idea," Gabriel admitted, rubbing at his eyes with one hand. Sam grinned.

"Great," he said. "Let's get out of here. I just finished my collection of every Marvel movie ever made and I've been looking for someone to watch them with."

Gabriel squinted up at Sam suspiciously. "Sam Winchester, are you asking me out on a geek date?"

"Maybe." Sam grinned widely down at Gabriel and the shorter man rolled his eyes.

"You're such a dork." When Sam's smile wavered a little, he added, "You're lucky I am, too. Let's go, Moose, I've been wanting to see the second Thor movie anyway."

Sam laughed and led the way out of the teacher's lounge. They drove off in Gabriel's car, since he was still iffy about letting other people behind the wheel while he was in the car.

The marathon lasted the rest of that day, all of Saturday and half of Sunday and they both had goofy smiles on their faces the whole time. It was almost enough to make Gabriel forget about his near death experience at the hands of Dean Smith. Almost.

Because, really, could Sam blame him if he flipped out when he saw that squirrel in the road?