So, this is my first attempt at a Sabriel, and the companion piece to my DCBB last year (Coming Out). I'm still writing this one but it's kind of taken a life of its own. As of right now, it's 11 chapters and 20k words longer than the Destiel counterpart. Some scenes will repeat, but mostly they do stand alone. I hope you enjoy it, and if there's anything that doesn't work, please let me know in the comments!

As with the DCBB, I'm having trouble uploading this from anything but my notes (it won't let me copy and paste from my word documents for some reason? Only my Scrivener files) so there may be typos and inconsistencies. I'm sorry about that. I hope you enjoy it despite that! FC x

"Look out, look out!"

"Where?"

"Ther-oh."

There was an explosion on the screen, and one of the pixelated characters 'died' in the game. Sam threw his controller down in frustration as Jess carried on the game, using an automatic to spray the enemies with bullets, rolling over and hurling a grenade while pausing behind a wrecked car.

"Oh shit, one of them got through!" Sam pointed at the screen, and Jess changed her weapon to a smaller hand gun. She aimed for the man on the screen who got through, and a pounding on Sam's bedroom door made her miss. The 'game over' music played, but was drowned out by the voice on the other side.

"Sammy, you know Mom's rule! Dad's at Uncle Bobby's, bet he comes home with a new-old shotgun."

Sam sighed, and clambered to his feet.

"Dean's home," Jess acknowledged, as Sam stepped over a pile of laundry and opened his door, sticking his head out. Sure enough, his older brother was home from college, some nerdy-looking guy beside him. Sam was surprised. Sure, Dean had told their parents that he was bringing someone home, but they had all assumed it was some girl he couldn't easily shake. He only addressed Dean's criticism. For now, anyway.

"We weren't doing anything. It's bull that I get all these rules just because you got caught sleeping your way through the cheerleading squad."

Normally, Dean would gloat over the accusation, proud of his achievements. He would ask Sam how many chicks he'd scored with, whether he had sealed the deal with Jess yet. But this time? Dean cringed, and his dark-haired friend gave him a sideways glance. And then Dean confused Sam even more.

"Maybe, but they think Jess is a nice girl."

Sam scowled as he realised that Dean was trying to be condescending, to show off to his new friend by humiliating Sam. But two could play at that game. He nodded at the other guy.

"Who's that, your boyfriend?"

"Big comeback, short stack." Dean breezed back, not offended at all. College was really starting to change his big brother. The friend sized Sam up, and looked at Dean again without saying a word. Sam focused on him.

"He say anything?"

Dean looked at his friend for an uncomfortably long time, before slowly turning back, looking slightly dazed, talking without his usual swagger.

"Bigfoot and Sasquatch are favourites. There's some kid who calls him Moose too. But Giganotosaurus and Godzilla are acceptable."

Typical Dean, Sam wanted to think. But there was still something off. It was typical of Dean to give some choice insults for his friends to have something to say to Sam, but he was lacking his usual delivery. His friends seemed to notice what Sam did.

"My name is Castiel."

He seemed reasonable, Sam decided. Mature, far more than his brother was. But Sam still wanted to get back at Dean.

"So what are you, the guy he's cribbing off this semester? Or his wingman?"

He leaned casually against his doorframe, while Dean walked into his own room. Sam could see Castiel was dying to follow Dean, but that he didn't want to ignore Sam's question. Instead, he stood up straight and answered formally.

"We met a week in to this semester, we haven't really spent much time apart since."

It was a reasonable response, but Sam wanted to bait him, to get a normal reaction from Dean.

"So you're both." He said bluntly as Dean came back out, taking Castiel by the arm and trying to pull him away from Sam. Sam addressed Dean once more. "Mom put the airbed in there for you. She said Castiel better be getting your bed, or so help her Dean Robert Winchester, you are a dead man."

"Mom loves me," Dean retorted breezily.

"Castiel? Ignore my brother. You're having the bed."

Dean merely rolled his eyes and tugged on Castiel's arm, successfully making him move a few inches.

"Of course he's sleeping in my bed. What do you take me for?" He gave another tug on his friend.

"Come on Cas, we'll grab our laundry and leave it downstairs for Mom, then see if we can grab some cookie dough."

Castiel looked to Sam as he began to disappear into Dean's room.

"It was nice to meet you. Please excuse me."

Sam leaned forward to call out.

"I like your boyfriend better than you!"

He expected the door to slam behind them, or for Dean to yell out about Sam's own sexuality. But Dean surprised him again. He stuck his head out of his own bedroom door.

"Yep, I do too."

The door closed softly, and Sam looked back into his own room, wanting to discuss Dean's unusual behaviour. But Jess was absorbed in a new game, single-handedly taking on 'the enemy'.

"I'll be right back," he muttered. Jess nodded, and Sam wondered if she'd even head him. He followed the smell of baking into the kitchen, where Mary was using an ice cream scoop to place cookie dough onto a baking tray.

"I just met Castiel," he said conversationally.

"He's a lovely young man," Mary sounded like she was agreeing with him.

"Yeah, sure. Dean shut them both in his room."

Mary scooped another couple of cookies before answering.

"I don't think its like that, Sam. They're friends. I did hope when Dean said he was bringing someone home …"

"Mom, Jess and me have to keep our door open to play video games. And Dean doesn't have to bother with the rules? The ones he caused?"

Mary sighed.

"Fine. Go and tell Dean to open his door."

Sam grinned, and ran up the stairs again, pounding on Dean's closed door.

"Mom says you have to keep it open too! She said Castiel seemed too nice for you to mess up."

He strode back into his room, and sat beside Jess as she achieved an objective. She held up a hand for a high five, and Sam slapped it gently, then sat back and watched Jess take on yet another wave of enemy soldiers.

They played for another hour, until Mary called up the stairs that dinner was ready. Jess closed the game down, mid-objective, and Sam groaned.

"Sam, your mom's cooking beats any video game."

"But we were winning."

"I was winning," she corrected, scooping her golden curls to one side and shooting him an innocent smile. She then held out a hand and Sam helped her up, following her down into the kitchen where John, Mary, Dean and Castiel were already sitting at the table, waiting for them. They slid into their seats, and Sam immediately started piling his plate with food.

"So, what were you doing up there so long?" Mary asked, smiling at Jess, who was sitting next to her.

"Playing Call of Duty."

"You should see Jess with a bazooka," Sam stuck in, before stabbing his fork into his dinner. "I wouldn't mess with her."

Sam stuffed a mouthful of string beans in his mouth, and caught the confused look on Dean's friend's face.

"She's lethal," he said around his mouthful, addressing Castiel's expression. It didn't clear, and Dean bent his head closer to Castiel's.

"It's a video game, a violent one. I'll show you sometime."

Castiel gave him a quick glance, and returned to his meal without any further acknowledgement. Sam didn't understand Dean's friendship with this guy at all. He must have gotten it correct earlier on, and Dean was using the guy to get better grades and pretending they were friends. Sam wouldn't have put it past his elder brother, he had done it to Sam for a while when he was prepping for SATs. He tried to swap an exasperated look with Jess, some non-verbal communication about how Dean and Castiel were, but Jess was deep in conversation with his mother about flowers or something, and he concentrated instead on his food.

It was when Mary cleared away their dishes and brought over the pie that she had made for dessert - a favour to Dean, since he was obsessed with the stuff, though Sam wasn't exactly sure why - that things took an interesting turn. Dean cleared his throat, and sat up a little straighter, careful to only make eye contact with Mary.

"So, I guess you're wondering why I brought Castiel home."

"No, it's nice to see you make a friend," Mary smiled back easily. Sam watched as his big brother took a deep breath in.

"Yeah. Um. That's the thing," he looked at Castiel, then back at his mother, oblivious to Sam watching him carefully. But Dean was acting strange, rubbing his neck, his face turning slightly red like he was embarrassed. Sam had never seen Dean acting like it before. He remembered what they had said upstairs in the hallway, when Sam had announced that he preferred Castiel, and Dean had agreed with a grin. But Sam hadn't just said Castiel, he had referred to him as Dean's boyfriend. And Dean hadn't spluttered an insult back.

"Don't get me wrong, I mean, there's friendship there too," another quick look at Castiel, who looked back seriously, not giving anything away. "But um, well," He took a deep breath in. "Castiel's my boyfriend."

Sam sniggered, but quickly sobered up when he realised that no one else was laughing. Jess was looking down at her slice of pie and poking it with a fork, Mary was looking at Dean, her gaze flickering over his face as though she wanted to be sure that he was sincere, and Castiel was giving him a small, warm smile, like he knew what it cost Dean to even say that. Sam didn't have to turn his head, however, to know how John was reacting. There was a deadly silence, and a tension radiating from the seat separating Sam from Dean, and he knew that their father wasn't going to accept Dean's boyfriend easily.

"No." John managed to make it sound like Dean had asked permission to go out with Castiel. Dean seemed to notice this too, and he turned to his father finally, sounding like a whining child.

"No? What, you suddenly control who I go out with?"

Sam wanted to snort with suppressed amusement again. Dean had always been allowed to do what he wanted, the privilege of being the elder brother, and it was strange yet satisfying to see an occasion where Dean was actually being told he wasn't allowed something. But Sam remained quiet, not wanting their father to redirect his anger at him.

"It's a phase." John sounded like he wasn't going to budge, no matter what kind of tantrum Dean threw.

"No it's not. Dad, you don't know anything."

Sam knew, just as well as Dean did, that that was probably one of the worst things to say to John. He'd clearly already decided that neither of his sons would be anything other than straight and it wasn't up to Dean to say any different. He waited for the blow out.

"You think I never experimented in my lifetime? It's a phase. And fine, you go through a phase where you get a tattoo or wear black and listen to Marilyn Manson for weeks on end, you're really only hurting yourself, but this gay thing hurts your mother, and that's not okay with me."

Sam thought his dad had actually played a smart hand there. It was well known how close Dean and Mary were, mentioning that she would get hurt was one of the best ways to hurt Dean. But something had obviously happened during Dean's time at college, even in the last few months he had been there, because he didn't push it any further. And Castiel left the table without excusing himself like Sam would have expected, with Dean following moments later, both of them heading out of the kitchen door into the backyard. There was a loaded silence, and Mary placed her fork gently on her plate.

"John-"

"You can't be okay with this?"

"It must have taken a lot for Dean to decide to bring him home and tell us about their relationship. You could try to understand a little more."

"Sammy? Could you take Jess somewhere else?" John growled. Sam knew it wasn't even a request, but a command. Part of him wanted to stay and defend Mary. Not because he completely agreed with her, but because he too cared about his mother, and didn't want her upset because of John's temper. But Jess took the hesitation away from him.

"I should probably head home anyway, it's getting late. Thank you for dinner, Mrs Winchester."

"You're welcome, Jess. We'll see you soon?"

Jess nodded, and stood up, poking Sam so that he would stand up too.

"Sure. And happy Thanksgiving."

"Happy Thanksgiving." Mary smiled tightly. Sam followed Jess out into the hall, grabbing his jacket and holding it out for her to slip into. They walked outside together, where they could see Dean and Castiel in the distance of the junkyard, sitting on the cap of a Volkswagen Bug and kissing gently.

"It's cute but weird, isn't it?" Jess tilted her head and watched as Castiel drew away from Dean and spoke to him, too softly for their voices to carry over the distance. Sam turned around and wound an arm around Jess, leading her down the driveway.

"It's weird, for sure."

"Do you think your mom and dad are going to argue about this all night?"

"I hope not. It's not going to make any difference anyway, Dean always gets what he wants."

Jess pursed her lips, and slipped out from under Sam's arm.

"What?" he complained.

"Just," she pulled her hair over to one side, fussing with it as they carried on walking. "I don't think its like Dean wanting an extra cookie, or the biggest piece of pie, or the latest video game. There's something about his boyfriend that makes me think this is serious."

"Dean doesn't know how to be serious," Sam smirked. Jess twirled a lock of hair around her finger.

"Maybe Castiel's made him grow up. Look," She turned around and put her hand on Sam's chest, peering up at him with a calm expression on her face. "He's there for Thanksgiving, and Dean's going to want to spend all his time with him. Why don't you make the effort and get to know Castiel? You might learn what Dean sees in him."

She reached up on her tiptoes and pecked Sam's cheek lightly, and then walked up to her house, waving at him as she disappeared inside. Sam watched her go, and instead of turning around for home, he carried on walking. His mind felt crowded with what had happened with Dean, with him bringing home his boyfriend and thinking it would all go normally. With how their parents were most likely going to argue all night, and Dean would remain in the scrapyard until he was dragged in. How there was going to be an atmosphere all Thanksgiving, and when Dean went back to college with his boyfriend there would be a bunch of new rules in the house that would dictate exactly what Sam could and couldn't do.

He didn't get it. He couldn't understand how his parents could always punish him for Dean's actions, and how he had to abide by so many rules that he wouldn't have broken anyway. He was a good person and he worked hard at school. He had a nice girlfriend who wouldn't do anything like the many, many girls of Dean's past and had barely let Sam kiss her so far in the two years they had been together.

And Dean! Dean was always boasting about who he had banged and where he had done it and how many people he'd had at once. And now he was pretending to be all mature and trying to impress Castiel who, Sam had decided, wasn't really much. Yes he was polite and total Mom Bait, but he was quiet and seemed the complete opposite to Dean. It must be a new way of acting out, Sam decided, or else it was a phase just like John said. A college experiment, like Sam had heard about at the college fair he had attended. It was the only real way to explain why Dean had suddenly gone from Kansas' answer to Casanova to one of the Village People. He just felt sorry for Castiel, who clearly had no clue that he wasn't going to last. In the mean time, Sam decided to make himself scarce for the rest of the evening and see if his friend Brady wanted to hang out.