Thank you, thank you, thank you! for all your reads and follows and favourites and reviews. Considering this is the first SPN fic that I've ever gotten anywhere with, I'm surprised there was a little following for it. I'm just hoping that I can make this live up to your expectations. So, onwards and upwards, let's get on with the show.
When Gabriel woke up in the morning, he was confused as to where he was. Rubbing his eyes sleepily, he recalled Sam bringing him home, and automatically reached his arm out to the side to feel for him. When he ended up with a handful of sheets, Gabriel remembered that Sam wasn't like the normal people that took him home. Rolling out of bed, he padded up the stairs, running his hand through his hair in order to try and regain some sort of control over it. Letting himself into the bathroom, he quickly relieved himself before regarding his reflection in the mirror. He still had hair sticking up in all directions, and he smiled slightly as he attempted to flatten it back down. The way it was ruffled reminded Gabriel of nights spent with others, just like his mind had wandered when he first woke up. His attempts at restoring order to it were futile, and he headed back downstairs and into the kitchen. If there was one way that Gabriel could repay Sam's kindness, it was with a mean cooked breakfast and coffee.
After a quick scavenger hunt around the kitchen and in the fridge, Gabriel had found everything he needed in order to start cooking breakfast. Putting a pot of coffee on to brew, he heated up some oil in a pan before putting some sausages and bacon on to cook. Opening a can of baked beans, he dumped them in another pan before cracking some eggs in a third. He started humming to himself as he attended the pans, and didn't notice Sam coming to stand in the kitchen doorway. Gabriel was going through some of his dance routines in his head as he hummed, putting some toast on to cook as he strutted around the kitchen. Sam suppressed a smile as he watched the smaller man making himself completely at home in his kitchen. It was only as Gabriel turned a half pirouette that he noticed Sam standing and watching, and he nearly dropped the frying pan he was carrying in shock.
"Jesus, Sam," Gabriel swore, pressing his free hand to his chest as he stood frozen in the middle of the kitchen. "Give a man a heart attack, why don't you?"
"I didn't mean to scare you," Sam mumbled. "It was just that you looked so at home that I didn't want to disturb you." Gabriel's cheeks coloured with a rare blush.
"I felt that cooking you breakfast was the least I could do for taking me in last night," he explained, turning his attention back to the food and dishing it up onto two plates. He gestured to one of the plates for Sam to take, and then picked up his own and headed over to the small table that was situated in the corner of the table, with the pot of coffee in his other hand.
Sam was pleasantly surprised with the level of Gabriel's cooking, though his presence still unnerved Sam to the point of mild hysteria at times. Sam was more than willing to help out a friend in need, though he seemed to pick up on something deeper in all of Gabriel's gestures. Sam wasn't entirely sure of Gabriel's intentions, but he knew that it was an alleyway that he didn't want to find himself going down. After finishing eating with Gabriel, he was left to his own devices, because Gabriel had left in order to retrieve his keys from the club. Sam had offered him a lift, though it was declined, because the dancer insisted that Sam had already done enough for him, and he didn't want to inconvenience him further. Sam had opened his mouth to protest, saying that the smaller man was no inconvenience, though he decided against giving Gabriel a sense of false hope and said nothing. However, Sam now had several hours of time to fill before he had to head back to the club to start getting ready for the evening performances. He found it incredibly difficult to focus on anything, and even having the television on as background noise bugged him to the point that he very nearly just swept it off the stand in order to turn it off when he discovered that the remote's batteries were dead.
Several hours later, Sam rolled up to the club's parking lot and scanned the other cars for any sign of the boss's or Gabriel's. He noted that the boss was there, but Gabriel was not, and for some reason, he was slightly disappointed. Shaking his head in disbelief, he grabbed his bag and headed for the door of the club. Sam never arrived at the club in his bartending outfit, preferring to change once he arrived, due to the nature of his 'costume'. He wore a black bowler style hat and a black tank top, paired with black suspenders and waistcoat, and black trousers. It was a general rule of all of the club staff, bar staff included, that the theme of burlesque ran through the whole club. Sam just liked to keep his privacy slightly, hence changing when he arrived, to avoid the questions of his neighbours. Plus the fact, Sam didn't like setting up while he was in his more 'revealing' outfit, partly because he was one of the only straight male employees, but also because he liked to keep his work clothes fresh for the business hours.
"Did you miss me?" Sam heard from behind him, causing him to jump about a foot in the air. He recognised the voice without even turning though.
"I saw you this morning, Gabriel," Sam replied, continuing to polish glasses with his back to the smaller man. "In fact, you left my house at lunch time!" Gabriel chuckled.
"You can't say that I don't have my uses, Sammy," Gabriel flirted shamelessly. If Sam had been watching the dancer, he would have seen the wink he shot to another bartender. Instead, he froze, dropping the glass he was holding. Luckily, it didn't shatter, and merely bounced off the linoleum.
"You cooked me breakfast Gabe," Sam muttered through his teeth, bending over to collect the fallen glass. Gabriel took it as an opportunity to openly stare at the perfectly formed rear end that was being presented before him.
"I must say, Sam, you have a most splendid posterior. Definitely something I wish to see more of." Sam grasped the newly retrieved glass so hard that it was taken off of him by one of the other bartenders in fear of Sam smashing it with his bare hands. Gabriel chuckled at the affect he was having on Sam, and deciding that enough was enough, left the taller man to calm down.
Gabriel sat in the dressing room backstage, regarding himself thoughtfully in the mirror. He wasn't necessarily vain, but he did enjoy spending time on his appearance. He especially needed to for his performance, as though the girls were the main focus of the show, he couldn't be seen to be letting them down. Most of his performance outfits followed the same theme as that of Sam's work outfit, though with more glitter. And with more eye makeup. Gabriel wasn't averse to the makeup, as he saw it more as part of his costume, than something that he would use in real life. However, he was pretty useless at putting it on, and often had to enlist the help of one of the other dancers to avoid injury by eyeliner pencil. He had nearly taken his eye out on so many occasions, that he had seriously considered getting eyeliner tattooed onto his eyelids in order to forgo the daily routine. The major deciding factor which turned him against it was the fact that he wasn't overly keen on being seen outside the club with permanent dark eyeliner. Sighing, he picked up his eyeliner pencil from the dressing table in front of him and started to apply it as best he could.
Taking his position on the stage for his next routine, he could see Sam behind the bar serving a customer as quickly as he could, before moving to one end of the bar where he was slightly hidden from view. Gabriel chuckled slightly; amused by the fact Sam felt the need to hide from his view every time he was on stage. It had been the same all evening, and Gabriel believed that Sam thought it was going un-noticed. He thought that if Sam knew that his hiding spot may have been seen, that he would have chosen a new one. Gabriel was not fooled though, as he seemed to be able to pick Sam out with just a glance in the direction of the bar. He liked to blame it on the fact that Sam stood a good few inches taller than the rest of the other bar staff, but Gabriel knew that he was lying to himself. He had been drawn to the taller man ever since he had first laid eyes on him in the club. The only problem was that Sam was adamant that he was straight, even though Gabriel could tell that Sam was not being one hundred percent truthful with himself. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, Gabriel could not get Sam to even acknowledge the slightest notion that they were interested in each other.
Sam could see Gabriel watching him from the stage, and he gulped slightly. He thought that he would be hidden from view from where he stood at the far end of the bar, but he'd been mistaken. It was unfortunate for him that his height gave him away slightly as well, and he mentally cursed his genes before stepping back up to his post and serving a waiting patron. Even without looking up at the stage, he could feel Gabriel's eyes upon him, and he turned his back slightly as he shook up another cocktail. As he poured it into the waiting glass, he glanced up to the stage to catch a fleeting glimpse of Gabriel watching him again. He couldn't escape those piercing golden eyes, and yet he seemed to not want to either. Shaking his head to rid himself of the feeling, he continued to serve the seemingly never ending tirade of customers.
After the show, and as Sam was wiping the bar down before closing time, he saw Gabriel approaching him with what seemed like a pained expression on his face.
"Can I talk to you?" he asked Sam, his usually cheerful demeanour sober. Sam nodded an assent and tossed the dishcloth he was using under the bar.
"What's up?" he asked, turning his attention to the stack of washed glasses stacked by the small sink, and began drying them one by one.
"I still feel bad about imposing on you last night, and was wondering if you wanted to go grab a bite to eat, or something," Gabriel said, his eyes focused on the worn wood of the bar, rather than on Sam. Sam raised an eyebrow at the smaller mans seriousness, but made no comment on it.
"Sure, Gabriel," he replied. "Though it was no problem. Just let me finish up here and then I'll grab my stuff and we can go." Sam knew that he would be cutting it fine to finish drying the glasses and change his clothes before the club was due to be locked up, but he also knew that he shouldn't leave the glasses in the state they were in. Making a quick mental calculation, he decided he was just going to have to brave going outside of the club in his works attire. And unluckily for him, it had been a day where he had not brought a jacket due to the muggy nature of the weather. Silently cursing his decision as he continued to dry the glasses, he could feel Gabriel watching his hands as he dried each glass, and he subconsciously started to almost showcase his hands working over the glasses.
When Sam was done and had grabbed his things, Gabriel led them over to his car and gestured for Sam to get in the passenger seat. Sam obliged, with the agreement that Gabriel would drop him off back at the club so that he could pick up his car after eating. Sam marvelled at the leather interior of the car. Thinking back to Gabriel's reaction to his house, Sam assumed that the car was Gabriel's most prized possession, and he wasn't far off the mark. Gabriel wasn't one for huge fancy home comforts, but he did like a nice car. As Gabriel drove to a place where 'they have to best noodles in the whole of the country', Sam watched the flickering lights of the city glide past his window. He barely had the time to appreciate the night lights, considering he was either working or driving while they were turned on. It was nice to just sit back and relax for a moment though. Glancing across at Gabriel, he could tell that the smaller man had done the same.
Updates will probably be sporadic and very infrequent, though I will try and keep chapters +wards of 2k words. I've got a vague plan, and this will probably span to about 10 chapters and an epilogue, but we'll just have to see where inspiration takes me. What do you guys think will happen next? Because even if your guess is wrong, you could actually inspire me to include your guesses! Also, I've got another semi worked on story, as well as about 15 starter paragrpahs for other SPN fics, most to all of them AU, so expect all sorts of food for thought from me in the future. Anyway, I've lost the point, this has rambled enough, and it's time to post my chapter and got to sleep because I have to get up soon.