Chapter Two
Sam stumbled when the scenery around him changed from a clearing in a patch of woods to the living room of a large apartment. The motif was mostly black and white, with a few red pieces (like the cushions on the extra-long couch to a red rug on the tiled floor) for accentuation. There were shelves with trinkets and bottles and boxes and jars, and everything was a little chaotic looking.
Sam looked around curiously, and at first was a bit underwhelmed by the normality of the living room. There was the couch, a red reclining chair, a very impressive home theater system with a huge flat screen mounted on the wall. There were bookshelves and shelves everywhere, though, and Sam's eyes widened in awe when he realized the books were first editions of exceptionally rare magic spell books and ancient encyclopedias.
The myriad of jars and boxes could have held any number of rare spell ingredients. Sam's weariness from the fight with Dean was replaced with the urge to leaf through all the books and see what was inside all the containers.
"Usually you wait until the third date before you rifle through someone's personal affects, Sammy," Gabriel teased, and Sam turned to see Gabriel had already removed his jacket and shoes, and was holding two mugs of steaming liquid. The earthy, grassy aroma confirmed his suspicions they were tea.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean any disrespect," Sam apologized, feeling like an even bigger idiot than letting Gabriel see him cry.
"Disrespect? Hardly! It's actually sorta nice to think my old junk is interesting to someone," Gabriel said with a grin. He motioned at Sam with the mug of tea. "Now, ditch the jacket and those boats you call shoes, and let's relax."
Sam nodded, and as Gabriel sank into the cushions of his couch, Sam pulled off his shoes and placed them under the coffee table, and hung his jacket over the back of the recliner. Moving a little stiffly from caution, he gingerly sat on the couch next to Gabriel, expecting to hear the springs creak or pop under his weight, but instead it felt like he was sitting on a cloud. It actually made him sigh happily as he leaned against the back.
"Wow, if the couch is that impressive wait until you see the bed!" Gabriel said with a wink, making Sam's eyes widen in both curiosity and embarrassment. Is this really the same Winchester who is such a dom in bed? Gabriel thought to himself with a little chuckle. It looked like Sam was an enigma wrapped in a mystery when it came to matters of the bedroom.
Gabriel handed the hunter one of the mugs and he took it suspiciously, breathing in the scent and trying to determine if something was wrong with it. "It's safe Sam," Gabriel assured him, taking a sip. "We've already established that we're into each other vis-à-vis sex, what exactly would be the point of slipping you a ruffie?"
"Sorry, Gabriel, can't be too careful," Sam said, and he finally took a long drag. Sam was used to coffee, so the tea tasted strange anyway, but without sugar or cream it was very bitter on his tongue. He swallowed it quickly and tried not to make a disgusted face.
Gabriel laughed, and with a snap there was a little jar of sugar with a spoon, several packets of artificial sweetener, and a little jar of cream. "You could just ask, knuckle-head," the archangel said with some affection in his voice.
Sam doctored the tea to his liking, and soon both where drinking the tea quietly. It was the longest time Gabriel had stayed silent in Sam's presence, but he was probably trying to give the hunter some time to think.
"I know you're a coffee kind of guy," Gabriel said, "but I figured since this isn't for late-night lore research session, I thought tea might help you relax a little."
"I appreciate the sentiment," Sam said sincerely. "You don't strike me as a tea-drinker, though?"
"I'm not. But, with enough sugar, anything is palatable," Gabriel admitted, and Sam leaned over to see his liquid was clouded with swirling sugar.
Sam tried to ignore the fact that Gabriel had just made something for Sam because he wanted to help him relax, and not for himself. He smiled at the thought.
Sam heard a little clicking noise of something scurrying over the tiled floor. He tensed up, his hunter's instincts kicking in as he readied himself for an attack.
He was certainly attacked…when an overenthusiastic Jack Russell terrier jumped up onto the couch next to Sam. The hunter let out a surprised sound that turned to delight when the dog waddled up to Sam and started nuzzling him and licking his hand.
"You have a dog!" Sam said in surprise, putting his tea on the coffee table before them so he could let the dog smell his hands. When the dog started licking them frantically, Sam grinned and started to pet and rub the dog all over his long and stout shape. His entire body swayed side-to-side in his excitement, almost falling off the couch.
"Rascal, you're stealing all of Daddy's attention," Gabriel said in a stern tone, but the dog ignored him. He rolled onto his back, letting out a happy bark when Sam started scratching the soft underbelly in earnest.
"Well, you'll never get rid of him now, Winchester," Gabriel said in mock sadness.
Sam looked at Gabriel with a rare, genuine smile on his face. His fight with Dean was forgotten, his troubles with the angels and demons, his destiny as Lucifer's vessel, it was all forgotten. For a few minutes Sam just enjoyed the feel of a fuzzy and loving dog under his fingertips and Gabriel's smart-ass commentary from the other side of the couch.
Finally, Rascal decided he'd had enough love and bounded off the bed to disappear down a hallway that Sam had missed before. He also noticed a small kitchen behind the living room, and suddenly his stomach rumbled loudly. He hadn't eaten almost all day.
"Well, Sam, sounds like you're sticking around for dinner!" Gabriel said cheerfully. He snapped and the tea mugs disappeared, then he made his way towards the kitchen. "Got anything in particular you're craving tonight, kiddo?" Gabriel asked.
Sam stood up and walked the few steps into the kitchen, looking around but not noticing any groceries or anything, really. "Um, well, what do you have?"
Gabriel held up his hand, ready to snap. "Anything you want!"
"Don't you ever make food yourself?" Sam asked curiously.
Gabriel shrugged. "Once in a while the urge strikes, hence the kitchen. For the most part, I whip up what I want when I want it. Beats having to wait for it to cook."
Sam nodded. The tea had been nice, and he was getting pretty hungry. "How about a nice garden salad, with some garlic bread sticks?"
"Not exactly a mind-blowing first choice there, Sam, but we'll get creative later," Gabriel teased. He snapped his fingers, and there was suddenly a table and two chairs on either side.
On one side was a huge plate with the biggest and more colorful salad Sam had ever seen, full of every kind of vegetable he could think of, and even fruits. In the middle of the table was a basket of fresh from-the-oven breadsticks, golden in color and smelling delicious, especially with the hint of garlic. There was a glass of water and a beer, and Gabriel motioned for Sam to sit.
"Enjoy, Sam!" Gabriel said, and they sat in their seats across from each other. Sam noticed Gabriel actually had a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, which where the size of tennis balls.
Sam started at the food warily, able to hear Bobby's voice in the back of his mind. Don't eat food from a supernatural bein' ya idjit! Didn't you pay attention to Persephone and Hades?
Gabriel noticed Sam's frown. "Kiddo, I get it. You're a hunter; I'm technically a villainous Trickster. I suppose it's too much to ask to just break bread and have a nice little meal together?" Gabriel honestly sounded a little saddened by the idea.
The hunter in question opened his mouth, and instead of saying yes, he instead said "Sorry, mind passing me the garlic bread?"
Everything was delicious and fresh; the vegetables were crisp and cool, the beer cold, and the breadsticks warm and fluffy inside, the garlic coating left a nice bite of flavor on his tongue.
Dinner wasn't exactly a quiet affair. When Gabriel wasn't talking a hundred miles an hour, he was slurping his spaghetti noodles as loudly as possible.
"Gabriel, that's not polite," Sam admonished the archangel.
Gabriel slurped a noddle extra loudly for that, and made a face at the hunter. "In Japan it's considered polite to slurp loudly, to show the chef you enjoyed the meal."
"Yeah we'll, this isn't Japan. Wait, is it?" Sam asked, suddenly curious where Gabriel would actually settle down.
Gabriel simply wiggled his eyebrows, giving Sam his standard non-answer for everything.
Sam swallowed his latest bite (and a little bit of nerves) before asking "Gabriel, where've you been all this time? Why didn't you come back?"
Gabriel didn't answer for a moment; he simply shrugged until he finished his meatball. "Didn't really think Dean wanted me around after almost catching us, Samikins. After all, that guy actually knows how to kill me now—space seemed like the best thing. So, I've been working. But, if you're that much of an exhibitionist you should've told me—we could have worked something out sooner!" Gabriel said with a raucous laugh, making Sam sigh.
He didn't mention the fact that he was giving Sam space too—Sam could've easily changed his mind about being with the Trickster after Dean walked in on them. Gabriel didn't want to be around while a hunter sorted out the multitude of morality issues associated with sleeping with the enemy. So, he gave Sam space to figure out how he wanted to play things.
"You mean, you've been playing Trickster, killing people?" Sam asked, though there was a hard edge to the question.
"There's other things going on in the world besides me giving assholes their just desserts. And I don't always kill them," Gabriel pointed out. "Just the real dirt-bags."
Before Sam could bring up anything else about Gabriel less-than-illustrious career, Rascal came back and Gabriel started throwing chucks of meatball at the dog whenever he completed a trick. ("Sit, roll over, do the hokey-pokey").
"Why do you have a dog?" Sam asked curiously between bites of salad.
Gabriel leaned down and scratched behind the dog's ears. "From a job, actually. He was the runt of a little from a notorious puppy mill. When the guy running it tried to kill this little guy by throwing him and all his rejected siblings in a river, he slipped and drowned instead. The dogs managed to survive, but this little guy…he was barely a week old. Didn't even have his eyes open yet, did you, boy? So, I took him in."
Sam smiled as he watched Gabriel play with the little dog. Eventually, Rascal managed to run off with an entire meatball in his mouth, trotting proudly down the hallway to a little doggie bed where he collapsed and started chewing it apart.
"Little ingrate!" Gabriel said in a playfully threatening tone. "This is the thanks I get for letting you live here with free room and board?!"
Sam was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe, and it felt really good to laugh at nothing. He looked down at his salad, only half eaten but he was stuffed and content.
"Finished?" Gabriel asked, and Sam nodded. With a snap, the food and dishes were gone. "Magic, gotta love it," the archangel said with a grin.
"You're an enigma," Sam said, and Gabriel looked at him curiously. "I mean, you kill people for a living, yet here you are, taking in stray puppies and trying to cheer up a guy who's tried to kill you in the past. What gives?"
Gabriel laughed. "Like you said, guess I'm an enigma. A dashingly handsome and brilliant enigma, mind you, but one just the same. And I don't kill everyone! Most of the time they're just stupid and get themselves killed. Monsters aren't black and white, Sam. You understand that better than most."
"Yeah," Sam said quietly, looking a little saddened suddenly. "Just wish Dean would see that too, you know?"
"Speaking of your asshole brother, it's been over an hour since your argument with him. Do you think he's been in time out long enough?"
"He's probably at a bar," Sam said automatically.
"So…he won't miss you for a little while longer?" Gabriel asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.
Sam laughed at Gabriel, but he felt a little thrill of desire run through his body as well. "I suppose I have some time," the hunter said nonchalantly.
"Glad to see you could make some time in your busy schedule for me." Gabriel said with a smirk. He stood up and walked purposefully to where Sam was sitting, and grabbed the hunter behind his head and brought him into a passionate kiss. It took Sam a couple seconds to get with the program (he was still getting used to the idea that he was kissing Gabriel, an archangel, who was the Trickster), but once did they both ended up panting slightly when they broke apart.
"Speaking of enigmas, there's something I'm having trouble figuring out," Gabriel whispered in Sam's ear, licking the hunter's neck and making him shudder. "Are you a top or a bottom? Because right now I'm getting some mixed signals. Not that I mind, certainly makes things more interesting when your more flexible on those sorts of things," Gabriel said. He was starting to ramble, so Sam leaned forward and kissed him quiet with a slightly rougher kiss, even nipping the angel's lips throughout.
"I'm whatever keeps you quiet, except when you're saying my name uncontrollably," Sam whispered into the archangel's ear; Gabriel's face flushed in carnal delight.
"So, you're tall, handsome, smart as hell, and sexually flexible? I think I hit the home run!"