How many times are you gonna try to shut me out?

I told you once, told you twice, I ain't turning back around

So if you ever try to mess with me, I don't care, I'm not scared

I'm always gonna be the last one standing

Because I'm never gonna give up trying

And now I'm ready to go, I'm here, I'm waiting for you

And I'm gonna be the last one standing

Dean had seen a great deal of things as a hunter that had disturbed and shocked him. But returning back to the motel to discover his younger brother pressing the archangel Gabriel to the wall, his hands on Gabriel's back while the archangel's legs were locked around his hips, shot to the top of the list in two seconds flat. His jaw dropped open in a silent scream, before an incredibly girly shriek escaped him that he would deny making until the day he died. As his eyes popped, his mouth still hanging open, Sam looked away from his gaze, blushing. Gabriel however, grinned and turned as far as he could to Dean and Castiel while keeping his legs curled around Sam, hands locked behind his head.

"Enjoying the show?"

Dean opened and closed his mouth a few times, speech apparently failing him. Then, raising a trembling arm to point at Gabriel, he finally managed to get a grip on himself.

"STOP VIOLATING MY BROTHER, YOU SONOFABITCH!" He roared.

"'Violating'?" Gabriel echoed, his tone airy and lighter than it had been for a long time. "I think you'll find Deano, that to violate someone, they have to be unwilling. And I hate to point out the obvious, but I'm the one being pressed to the wall.."

Sam turned an even deeper shade of red at Gabriel's words while Dean spluttered, still pointing at the grinning archangel. Beside him, Castiel was observing the scene before him with mild curiosity. Since coming to Earth, he had witnessed many acts of kissing, but he had never imagined seeing one such scene involving his brother and another human, particularly Sam Winchester. To him, kissing was just an opportunity for humans to touch at the lips, to share breath and saliva. In his opinion, that wasn't the sort of pleasurable activity anyone should partake in. Gabriel however, seemed to disagree, and that fact both confused and intrigued him. The longer he stood there watching, the more he began to question whether he had misjudged the action.

While Castiel was lost in his reverie, Dean had once more gathered himself.

"You're the one with your legs wrapped around him! He's injured, Gabriel!"

"It may have escaped your attention, but I'm well aware of that." The archangel replied coldly. "I'm being careful not to touch his back."

But Dean's glare was equally cold. "How do I know you're not just using some of your power into making Sam think he wants this?"

Gabriel's amber eyes turned steely; a dangerous sign. He opened his mouth to argue back, but he was interrupted unexpectantly by Castiel, who was surveying Dean carefully. The other three were shocked to see a rather angry glint in his blue eyes.

"Gabriel has done nothing to Sam with his powers, Dean." He said, his voice indicating that Dean should neither cut across him nor argue with him. "He has merely used his power to make a deal with Sam, and to save his life."

"A deal? What deal?" Dean asked, his tone indicating his shock.

"I believe it is up to Sam to tell you this." Castiel replied, flicking his gaze momentarily to Sam. Dean spun on his heel to stare at his brother; Sam was looking as if he wished the ground could swallow him up.

"Gabriel made a deal with me a couple of days back. He said he'd come to me if I was in trouble if I called him. It was the only way he'd be able to find us." He said quietly, his eyes fixed on the floor.

"And lucky we made the deal, wasn't it?" Gabriel added. Sam looked up at these words and shot him a small smile, which Gabriel returned.

Dean seemed to have no response to this. And after a few moments of tense silence, he shook his head. "I don't believe this.."

"Believe it Deano, 'cos it's happening." Gabriel replied with a shrug. "Anywaaay.. I'm gonna go jump your brother now, so feel free to jump mine."

Dean turned to glare at Gabriel and had just begun the process of opening his mouth to shout at the archangel, but all he heard was the snapping of Gabriel's fingers and he was glaring at thin air. Dean stood frozen in that same position for a while, before yelling a series of foul swear words and calling Gabriel every name under the sun. Castiel regarded this behaviour with a deep frown on his face as Dean turned and threw himself onto his bed.

"Why are you reacting so violently, Dean?" He asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Seriously Cas? 'Cos I think your brother is gonna try and bed mine."

Castiel blinked. "I am not familiar with that expression."

Dean groaned and sat up. "It means I think Gabriel's going to try and fuck Sam."

The angel shrugged his thin shoulders and continued to stare directly into Dean's eyes, his voice calm and possessing none of the supressed anger Dean's was. "I believe Gabriel has hidden strange feelings for Sam for a while."

"What makes you say that?"

Castiel paused for a moment, on the brink of telling Dean what he had witnessed inside Gabriel's motel room. Knowing it would do little to improve Dean's already wavering patience however, he chose not to. If Dean learned where Gabriel was staying, Castiel knew the elder Winchester was more than likely to storm over there and drag Sam back with them.

"I have.. Noticed things. Abnormal differences in Gabriel's manner and actions, particularly around Sam."

Silence fell upon them, but it was not as tense as the previous silences had been. Dean had dropped his gaze from Castiel's and was staring at the wall Gabriel had been pinned to, his expression stony. The angel glanced at this spot too, and it triggered something in his mind.

"Dean?"

"What?"

"What did Gabriel mean before he left?"

Dean twitched, and hurriedly turned his gaze from the wall to the floor. He couldn't look anywhere near Castiel at the moment. How was he supposed to explain that? How was he supposed to describe Gabriel's meaning in a way Castiel would understand? But most importantly, how could he do so without his brain becoming jammed with various of images of Castiel? And even as he sat there, he began to imagine the angel lying gasping beneath him, a soft pink hue lighting up his cheeks, his blue eyes shimmering brightly like sapphires..

Dean shook his head wildly and the image disappeared. Castiel's brow furrowed and he frowned slightly as he continued to watch Dean. The hunter was now gripping the sides of his head in both hands.

"Dean? Is something wrong?"

"No. No Cas, I'm fine." Dean replied, a little too quickly. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself, rubbed his face with his hands and removed them, although he still didn't meet the angel's eyes. "He.. He meant that.. It was stupid, really stupid.. Even for Gabriel.." He trailed off, and only just managed to supress a groan when Castiel took a seat beside him.

"Are you sure nothing is wrong, Dean?" The angel asked, continuing to stare unblinkingly at the hunter beside him.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine, Cas. Just.. Just forget about what Gabriel said, okay? It's stupid."

Castiel continued to watch Dean even though the hunter had all but turned his back on him. For a reason he was unable to explain, the simple act of Dean being unable to meet his eyes had caused an unpleasant feeling to settle in the pit of his stomach. He wanted to reach out and touch the hunter, to make him turn around to meet his eyes, but his arm remained pinned to his side. Everything about Dean's posture was screaming to be left alone, to be allowed to sit and vent his anger out in his mind. Castiel had seen him do so many times.

And yet, the thought of leaving the hunter's side was impossible to the angel.

Without speech distracting either of them, both were lost in their own thoughts. Dean was screaming silently for Castiel to move away from him. He could feel the warm heat from the angel's body through his clothes, and the need to turn around and do something he'd come to regret was beginning to get overpowering. Too long he had tried to squash his feelings for Castiel down so that nothing remained. Seeing Gabriel and Sam locked together had awakened something within Dean; he wanted to act on his feelings and he wanted to do it soon. The closeness of the angel was doing nothing to help this predicament. He knew he could not act on his own desires. Castiel did not understand the concept of physical contact; he would not welcome Dean suddenly whirling around and pressing their lips together.

Castiel, like Dean, was trying his best to overcome a mental block. He had accepted long ago that what he felt for Dean was different to what he felt for any of his Father's other creations. Dean was special, if not to anyone else, to him. Castiel did not feel the same level of devotion to Sam or to Bobby; it was reserved for Dean and for Dean alone. He had worked out logically that he loved Dean Winchester, more than he should. And by observing closely, he had seen the same traits in his elder brother whenever Sam Winchester was close by. Castiel did not know if Gabriel did it willingly, but his eyes always strayed to the younger hunter when he thought nobody was watching, he had secretly taken shelter in a motel close by to keep an eye on the Winchesters and he showed co-operation to Sam's requests that were most unlike him. And then of course, there was the scene Castiel had accidentally discovered in Gabriel's motel room. If Gabriel was behaving similarly to how Castiel acted when around Dean, then that left Castiel with only one answer; Gabriel loved Sam. And if anything the scene they had walked in on tonight was anything to go by..

"Dean..?" He whispered, trying to ignore the way his heartbeat had sped up as he contemplated what he was about to do.

More out of shock at Castiel's change in tone than anything else, Dean finally turned to look at him. It happened in all of three seconds. The moment Dean had faced Castiel, the angel leant forwards and kissed the hunter, before pulling away as fast as lightning. Dean blinked mutely, his hand rising to his mouth, all the time fixing his wide-eyed gaze on Castiel. It was the angel this time that averted his gaze.

"Cas..? What..?"

"If Gabriel acted on his feelings for Sam in that way, then it is only logical that I do the same." He spoke quickly.

Dean felt his jaw drop for the second time that evening. Then, his mouth split into a wide smile and he reached across, gently grabbing Castiel's chin. The angel started, but allowed Dean to pull his head around to face him once more. The sight of Dean's smile seemed to calm the angel, and Dean felt him relax slightly in his grip.

"I like the way you think, Cas.." He whispered, leaning forward and, far gentler than he had ever kissed before, pressed his lips to Castiel's. The angel felt tense once again beneath the contact at first, before he relaxed.

They pulled away again after a few moments. Castiel was still very new to the whole experience of kissing and touching; Dean didn't want to put too much onto his shoulders at once. At first, he felt a stab of panic. Castiel's expression was contemplative, as if considering whether or not he regretted what had just happened. Then, after a few moments of prolonged, almost painful silence, the corners of the angel's mouth twitched upwards into a smile.

"That is much more enjoyable than I imagined." He said.

Another thing Dean would deny until the day he died was the giddy rush of happiness this simple statement brought.

The first thing Sam did when his feet hit a solid surface was to drop Gabriel; the archangel landed on bent knees and settled himself down onto the bed as Sam glanced around.

"Where are we?"

"My motel room. I've been staying here for about a week now." He replied.

"A week?" Sam repeated, turning away from the window and fixing Gabriel with a curious stare. "That's about the same time we've been staying at our motel."

Gabriel felt a faint blush spring up in his cheeks, and looked away from Sam. "Yeah. Strange coincidence, that."

But by now, Sam knew the archangel far too well to be fooled by his blasé tone. Grinning slightly, he approached Gabriel, his smile growing wider when he saw that the archangel only looked resolutely down at his feet to avoid eye contact.

"Gabriel, have you been following me?"

The archangel groaned, before turning his vision towards the ceiling. "He had to be brainy, didn't he? Why Dad? Why did he have to be smart?"

Sam laughed, and Gabriel forced a smile. He finally looked back to Sam; or more precisely, his bare chest. He only noticed he was staring when Sam cleared his throat, still grinning. Gabriel's eyes flicked to meet Sam's instead, and he bit his lip somewhat nervously. Sam spotted this, and the grin faded from his face immediately.

"What? What's wrong Gabriel?"

The archangel sighed. "I've got to tell you something, Sam." His voice suddenly serious.

Sam froze, his insides turning to ice. Was Gabriel about to tell him this had all been some elaborate joke? That this was just another one of his Trickster plots that really wasn't funny at all?

"You need to know that I love you, Sammy." Gabriel's voice was still serious, but it had gone deathly quiet.

Sam remained transfixed, staring silently down at Gabriel. His heart had leapt into his throat and was thumping painfully fast and he could feel his stomach lurching uncomfortably. His head swimming with sudden light-headedness, he felt his mouth open slightly in shock. He just hadn't been expecting Gabriel to say that.. Gabriel who was pure, who was perfect, telling someone dark and defiled like he –

"Don't you dare finish that thought." Gabriel snarled menacingly.

"But.." Sam started, but Gabriel shot to his feet and was in front of Sam's face in an instant, cutting him off. Despite his short build, his anger seemed to make him grow.

"You think you're dark or defiled? You have more love in you than most humans I've ever met! You're always willing to sacrifice anything you have to save the people you love, and I think I'd know all about that wouldn't I? Remember the Mystery Spot? You give everything your all, and you never stop to think about yourself when there's someone else in danger! Yes, you've made mistakes but who hasn't? It just makes you human! And to have gone through everything you've gone through and still be yourself, still be you; that's amazing! And guess what Sammy? You've made an archangel fall in love with you, and believe me, that doesn't happen often!"

Sam's brain stalled, at an utter loss for words. Then, he smiled, and took a deep breath.

"Well.. I think I might love you too, Gabriel."

It was Gabriel this time whose mouth fell open. "Seriously..?" He asked, his voice slightly weak, all of his anger evaporating on the spot.

Sam nodded, before bending down and pressing his lips to Gabriel's. He felt the archangel smile against his mouth before he was kissing Sam back, his hands locking onto the hunter's sharp hip bones. As they broke apart, Gabriel grinned and glanced down at Sam's still bandaged body.

"What..?" Sam asked, somewhat uncertainly.

"Nothing. I just can't wait for these to come off.." He met Sam's eyes again and winked, producing a bar of chocolate in his hand. "Boy Sammy, are we gonna have some fun.."