Courting for Dummies Chapter 2
Courting Gift
Traditionally the Omega must make the first move by showing their interest. This could be as simple as the Omega saying they're interested, or as in Gabriel's case, an actual gift.
Then, it's the Alpha's turn. This should always happy within 5 days, but should be a surprised to the Omega.
It had been 2 days since Sam had accepted the official 'show of interest' Courting Gift from Gabiel, and Sam was stumped.
Knowing that Gabriel wouldn't care what he was given wasn't helping Sam's cause at all, how could he make this special when he had no clue as to what Gabriel wanted?
"You're meant to be Courting the guy, not planning his burial. Smile a bit would you?"
"Dean." Sam whined. "This is really difficult, okay?"
"For fucksake, buy him a lolly pop and get it over with."
"Dean." Sam snapped this time. "This is serious."
"What is so serious that you're snapping at your brother, hmm?"
Sam slumped, looking apologetically to Ellen.
"Sams Courting Gabriel and he's only got 3 days left to present his gift."
"Dammit Dean! Must you?!" Sam snapped again, resulting in a slap across the back of his head from Ellen.
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
"Sorry Ellen. I really want to make this special, but don't know how..."
The scariest grin Sam had ever seen crossed Ellen's face, and he shuddered in his seat, noting that Dean did the same. At least he wasn't the only one scared of their adopted mother.
"Luckily for you, Uncle Rufus has a cabin only a few hours drive from here, and just so happens to be away for a little while, won't be able to make it back for his quarterly visit like he wished, wanted Bobby to go check upon the place for him. It's nice, remote, in the woods. I think there is a lake nearby too. Would give you two some bonding time."
Sams features brightened, and he even sat up a little straighter. That was a perfect idea-!
"- But, you'll have to take Dean and Jo with you."
Sam slumped once more.
"You need a chaperone, and if Dean goes, so does Castiel, which means you're still one chaperone short. Jo can go with you, you can one of the family carriers from the yard, and it will still be a great time."
Well, it would be better than buying Gabriel some sweets, a little more thoughtful. Though he might still buy the sweets too, Gabriel's sweet-tooth was unbelievable at times.
Making memories together, now that sounded romantic, the perfect Courting Gift.
"Okay." Sam nodded his head. "But this has to stay a surprise..."
Gabriel was in a foul mood. Dean had been hiding something from him, not to mention his favourite sweater had gone missing as of last night, and Sam still hadn't given Gabriel his Courting Gift. At this moment in time, Gabriel would settle for it being a phone call.
"Gabriel!"
Kicking out at the person who was trying to communication with him, Gabriel smirked into his pillow at the resulting curses. It was too damn early to be friendly.
"Damn it, Gabriel, get your fat ass out of bed, we're meeting Jo for breakfast, remember?"
Groaning, Gabriel then whimpered out "I don't want to move."
"Stop being a baby. Jo said she'd buy you the biggest, chocolatiest drink she could find."
Sniffing into the blanket, Gabriel announced "I want Sam to do that."
Rolling his eyes, Dean huffed. Getting Gabriel out of bed was key, without him this surprise wasn't worth anything at all. "We could go to the arcade?" Dean offered, tugging at the blankets.
"Dance Dance Revolution?"
"I'll even get Cas to dance with you!"
"Deal!" Gabriel flung the blankets off, cackling as Dean fell backwards with a surprised yell. "Give me give minutes and we'll go." Already running to the bathroom, Gabriel quickly prepared for the day.
"That moron really loves to dance..."
"So Cas actually agreed to DDR with me?"
"Yeah, of course."
"Fuck. How did you manage th- you know what, I really don't want to know." The pair were just leaving their dorm, having taken a little longer due to Gabriel being unable to find his backpack. With everything else that had gone missing, Gabriel had wanted to report it to the Campus Manager. If there was some Alpha Knot Head breaking into dorms to steal things, they needed to be stopped. It was only at Dean's insistence that they would have scented an Alpha intruder that Gabriel dropped the idea.
Causing mass panic was not on today's to do list.
"I asked him is all, get your mind outta the gutter."
"Last time I asked him to dance with me he snapped. And you know how often Castiel actually snaps at people. You must have him wrapped around your little finger."
"Yeah." Dean grinned.
Just as they stepped outside a car horn sounded, and Gabriel could only stare at the rather beaten people carrier parked outside. What was more shocking, was Sam in the drivers seat, waving at Gabriel like a buffoon. Throwing a look of suspicion over his shoulder to Dean, Gabriel slowly walked over to the car.
"Surprise!" Sam clambered out of the vehicle, arms wide as if to show off his magical van. Which looked like it might fall apart at any given moment.
Quriking an eyebrow in question, Gabriel leant to the side to look around Sam at the people carrier, clearly unimpressed. "Don't tell me you paid money, like actual, real, money for that thing."
Sams arms dropped, and he pouted. "No."
"Oh-thank-Jesus."
"This is the first part to your gift..." The kicked puppy expression could do nothing to make this experience any less dire. "-It gets better, I promise!"
Well, Sam had gone to the trouble of robbing a car graveyard for him. "Fiiine. But only because you're sorta attractive in the right light." Letting out an undignified squeak when he was pulled into a hug, Gabriel playfully slapped at Sam's shoulder.
"Great! Castiel and Jo are already in the car-"
"-Dean!" Gabriel hissed. "We were never going to DDR were we?"
Grinning, Dean slapped a friendly hand on Gabriel's back, yanking open one of the doors and slipping into the back-seat of the car.
"Surprise."
The car wasn't too bad on the inside, no suspicious stains at least. There were two seats in the front, three in the middle and what looked like space for two extra seats in the back, all though they were missing – probably sold for scrap at some point. It made the boot big enough that you could hide a dead body in there, Gabriel knew because he had checked, worried about killer zombies on their road trip.
With Sam and Jo up front (arguing about whatever it was two nerds argued about), it was up to Gabriel to play buffer in the back, sat between Castiel and Dean to stop rather intimate activities from taking place.
"You two sicken me." Gabriel gagged, catching the pair making bedroom eyes at each other once more.
"If you let us sit together you wouldn't have to see us."
"And up with you pregnant? No thanks." Despite the punch to his arm, Gabrie cackled, waggling his eyebrows in a suggestive manner at Dean.
"All round and fat with babies-" Dean was shaking Gabriel by the collar now, but it only made the Omega louder in describing Deans future pregnancy.
"Cut it out guys, don't make me pull over!"
"But Sammich~" Gabriel whined, slapping at Dean's hands and leaning as far into Castiel as he could. "I'm only telling the truth, plus if these two start going at it in the car we'll break down for sure!"
Sam rolled his eyes. "For the last time, we wouldn't all fit in the Impala."
"Dean could've sat in Castiel's lap!"
"Nah, Sammy can't drive my Baby, won't let 'im."
"Then I would have sat in Sam's lap." Gabriel countered with a wiggle of his head.
The car swerved, tires screeching against the road and horns beeping around them, Omega's clinging together and Castiel's knuckles white as he gripped his seat.
"Sorry! Sorry.." Sam's whole face was flushed, and Jo was laughing so loudly Gabriel was surprised they hadn't all gone deaf.
"Damn it, Sam!" Dean scolded, but was unable to keep the grin off his face. "Stop thinking with your knot and keep your eyes on the road." Untangling himself from his hold on Gabriel (the panic had gotten the best of him, okay?) Dean huffed, folding his arms over his chest.
"I changed my mind." Gabriel pretend whispered to Castiel. "You can sit next to him. All this negative energy is clogging up my pores."
Castiel snorted in amusement, and even Dean had to laugh at Gabriel's comment. At least the mood was brightened.
"How in the hell did he manage to fall asleep?"
Dean shrugged – as much as he could anyway, with Gabriel clinging to his arm. "To be fair, he's not had his morning coffee, and non of us have eaten yet." Though they had needed to stop for 30 minutes when the drivers wing-mirror starting to flap in the wind. That was also when Gabriel had given up and said that Dean could sit next to Castiel, now though Dean suspected it was so Gabriel could curl up against him and not worry about kicking Castiel in his sleep.
"I'm surprised we had yet to hear about the lack of sugar from Gabriel himself."
"Nah Cas, he's trying to appear all grown up and mature for Sammy."
"But why?" Sam asked in confusion. "We've all been friends since we were kids, I know that Gabriel isn't mature already."
"Oh yeah – remember that time he'd convinced you he killed Dean?" Jo offered.
Dean let out a snort of laughter, but was silenced with a glare from Sam. Right. Not funny. (Though it really was).
"He wants to impress you, stupid." Jo rolled her eyes, flicking some hair over her shoulder as she turned to face Sam. "Gabriel went from 'I don't give a fuck about Alpha's' to 'Look at me Alpha I'm so obedient and cute' overnight. He wants to make sure you're going to stick around."
"Yeah." Dean added "Took me forever to get him out of bed this morning too. He was convinced you'd already changed your mind and weren't going to give him the courting gift. I had to promise Cas would DDR with him just to get him to move."
"Something I will not be doing, thank you Dean." Castiel piped up.
"Aww come on Cas, I promised him." Dean added a little whine into his voice, batting his eyes up to Castiel, who scoffed in response.
"And in return?"
"I'll make it up to you." Dean purred.
Jo and Sam groaned in Unison. "Dude, gross. Not in the car."
"Well, call it personal experience, but nobody gets that angry unless they're talkin' about their own family." Dean was older. Haggered and grumpy. This was a dream, Gabriel knew because he'd had it before, often in fact.
"So which one are you? Grumpy, Sneezy or Douchey?" Sam was tall, very tall and his words were like knives cutting into him.
"Gabriel, okay? They call me Gabriel." As always a sense of relief flooded him, the name seemingly unfamiliar on the vessels tongue. It had been centuries since he'd uttered that name. "So, boys, now what? Stare at each other for the rest of eternity?"
"Well first of all you're gonna bring Cas back from wherever you stashed him." Always worried about Castiel, that was the Dean Winchester Gabriel knew.
"Oh am I?" His sarcasm was clear, angering the Winchester.
"Yeah. Or we're going to dunk you in some holy oil, and deep-fry ourselves an archangel!" It was more a promise then a threat, and Gabriel snapped his fingers, Castiel appearing injured, breathing hard, but still alive.
"Cas, you okay?"
"I'm fine. Hello Gabriel."
"Hey bro. How's the search for Daddy going? Let me guess: awful." The joy Gabriel had felt at seeing Castiel switched to anger, hatred. He'd already tried looking for their father, searched for millennia, countless planets, era's, and had come up with nothing. If an Archangel couldn't find him, how could a regular Angel, and one as misguided as Castiel?
"Okay, Gabriel. How does an Archangel become a trickster?" The fire was growing hotter around him, and was singing the tips of his wings, unseen to the Hunters eyes.
"My own, private, witness protection. I skipped outta Heaven, had a face transplant, carved out my own little corner of the world. 'Til you two screwed it all up."
"And what'd Daddy say when you ran off and joined the pagans?"
"Daddy doesn't say anything about anything." It wasn't clear from his tone, but there was so much hurt inside of him, admitting that their father had just left them, alone and with no guidance.
"Then what happened? Why'd you ditch?" Ever curious Sam.
"Well do you blame him? I mean his brothers are heavy-weight douche-nozzles." The same badmouth Dean.
Anger bubbled up inside of him, and he was unable to control his outburst. Not that he could ever control this dream, like a broken record playing over and over. "Shut your cake-hole. You don't know anything about my family. I loved my father, and my brothers. Loved them! But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't bear it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again.
"Then help us stop it!"
'Sam' his insides cried 'I want to help, I do!' "It can't be stopped!"
"You want to see the end of the world?"
'Dean, so naive. I've witnessed it a thousand times over already' his mind offered. "I want it to be over! I have to sit back and watch my brothers kill each other, thanks to you two! Heaven, Hell, I don't care who wins! I just want it to be over!"
"It doesn't have to be like that!" The edges of the warehouse were starting to fade out, and Gabriel was fighting, he needed to know what happened next, why did it always have to end there?
"There has to be some way to, to pull the plug!"
No!
No Gabriel didn't want to leave yet!
"NO!" Gabriel jerked, fighting against the hold on him, punching the sucker square in the jaw.
"Ho-LY SHIT, GABRIEL!" That was Dean's voice. His Dean's voice. Blinking open his eyes, Gabriel saw Sam clutching at his jaw, ducking out of the car and staggering a bit. Dean was crawling in through other side, checking Gabriel over to make sure he was okay. "Dude, what happened?"
"Just… Just a bad dream." Gabriel offered with a little smile. Dean frowned at him, concerned.
"I've seen you wake from bad dreams, you don't usually punch people in the face."
"Uh yeah, about that. Is Sam okay?" Castiel and Jo were crowding around Sam, Castiel prying the Alpha's hands away from his jaw so he could take a look.
"Sammy'll be fine. He's a tough kid. What I need to know is, are you okay?"
"Really Dean. I'm fine."
The same couldn't be said for Sam. The poor guy was still clutching what must have been a bruised jaw - his shoulders were tense, hunched over slightly, his eyes squinting in pain as nimble fingers pressed into his face.
On the plus side, he didn't seem to be bleeding, so at least Gabriel hadn't ruined his pretty mouth.
Clambering out of the car, legs wobbling from the lack of use for the past couple of hours, Gabriel shuffled over to Sam, his hands held out like he was approaching a scared animal. Punching an Alpha just wasn't done unless you were looking to start a fight, and honestly? Gabriel was terrified that this would mean he'd just accidentally refused any further flirting Sam might have put his way.
What Gabriel hadn't expected, was the chuckle from Sam.
"You have a mean right hook, you know that?"
"Huh?"
Sam slowly straightened out, raising to his full height and rubbing at his jaw, moving it to get some feeling back. The grin on his face was wide, and there was a sparkling in his eyes that Gabriel hadn't seen before. "You nearly dislocated my jaw"
"Why do you sound happy about that?" Gabriel's eyes narrowed, and he pursed his lips. A short laugh fell from Sam's lips, and Gabriel could finally recognise the gaze directed towards him. It was warm, open, and- Gabriel flushed. "Urg, you Alpha's and your bloody need for strong mates."
"You totally could have floored me." There was a giddy amusement in Sam's voice.
"I still might." Gabriel shook his fist, though his demeanour was ruined by the grin on his face. "Don't wake a sleeping Omega okay?"
"Got it." With a teasing salute, Sam sauntered back over the car, grin on his face as he started to pull the bags from the back.
"Seriously?" Dean questioned, eyebrows raised as he watched the rather overly joyed Alpha pick up as many bags as he possibly could, a sly glance being sent Gabriel's way before Sam was carrying everything to the front door of the cabin.
The flush still hadn't left Gabriel's face, and he had to use his hand to fan some cold air at his heated flesh.
"Stop encouraging him."
"I can't help it. I didn't know he'd get all worked up over a punch to the face."
Dean narrowed his eyes at Gabriel, before huffing out a laugh, glancing back to Sam. "Yeah. Well. Guess he has a thing for short asses who can pack a punch." Turning his heavy gaze back to Gabriel, Dean pointed a menacing finger at him. "Don't think you're getting out of telling me about that dream. But I'll drop it for now, because some Alpha knot-head clearly wants to impress you-" Dean's gaze flickered over to were Sam was now tapping his foot, gazing over to them with narrowed eyes. "-and he gets prissy when something doesn't go his way."
Taking in a shaking breath, Gabriel walked past Dean and finally took a good look at the cabin. It actually didn't look too bad, the wood was clearly solid, there were no holes in the roof from what he could see, and even the stairs leading up to the door were firm beneath him.
"It belongs to Bobby's friend Rufus, but he can't make it this year, wanted someone to check in for him." Sam offered, holding out a hand for Gabriel to take, his fingers twitching when Gabriel hesitated.
Slipping his hand into Sam's was one of the most wonderful feelings Gabriel had ever felt. It was like the breath was stolen from his mouth, and warmth enveloped him from where their skin touched. "Yeah?" he breathed.
"Yeah." Sam sounded just as breathless, and the pair stared at each other, loosing the world around them as honey met chocolate.
"God-damn it guys, can you not do that on the front porch?" Dean shoved past them, and Sam huffed in irritation, before turning an award winning smile on Gabriel.
"So, surprise! This is my gift to you, a weekend in a cabin with me-"
"And myself, and Dean, and Joanne-Beth." Castiel added, slipping past the pair.
"'Jo' is fine, thanks Cas." Jo was the next to slip past, waggling her eyebrows suggestively at the pair.
Sam sighed, his shoulders slumping as he watched Gabriel bounce into the cabin, closely following Jo and joining the small group with a boisterous laugh.
This was going to be a long weekend.
