Legal Disclaimer: I own my stuff, but not the original source material. That belongs to whoever. Also, the opinions and interpretations I use here may not reflect the same in said whoever that owns the source material. Look, I'm just a poor college librarian. Suing me isn't going to get you anything but tears.

Warning: This work may be offensive to some readers. Additionally, previous warnings continue to be relevant, including Sam's misgendering of Gabriel in his head. Feel free to back out if need be.

Author's Note: It's been a long week. "But Gwen, it's only Tuesday." Yeah, but it's been like Mystery Spot Tuesday.

Submitting Info:
Stacked with: Hogwarts (Post Term 16); MC4A (Fall Year 5)
Individual Challenges: Red Dress; Young Again; Red Lights; Red Bull; Red Wave; Happy Birthday; Bi Rainbow; Hunter MC; Hunter MC; Nonhuman MC; Nonhuman MC; Criminal MC; Military MC; Neurodivergent; Immortal MC; Immortal MC; Shifter MC; Booger Breath; Claimed; Zed Era; Old Shoes; Above Average Natural; Endings; Feathers & Such; In a Flash; The Real MC (Y); Two Cakes (Y); Eating Cake (Y); Green Ribbon
House: Slytherin
Other Hogwarts Challenges: 365 [212](Tremble); 1000 Prompts Challenge [966](Magnitude);
Other MC4A Challenges: FaB [5A](Monster); Set [3D](March); Chim [Up]("The Village" - Wrabel; Life/Death; Sienna); Fire (Impala); Hang [Phrase 1](n/a); Soup [O](Outsider);Garden [Endless (Trickster)]; Harvest [A&B (Cuddling; Talking); Items (Tie); Relationships (Guardian Angel); Settings (Hotel/Inn)];
Representation(s): Team Free Will as Fam; NB Gabriel; Profound Bond; Canon Apocalypse; Chim Song Prompt
Primary & Secondary Bonus Challenges: Shiver & Shake; Sitting Hummingbird; Second Verse (Persistence Still; Found Family; Nontraditional Family; Sneeze Weasel; Middle Name; Mother Hen; Nightingale; Spinning Plates; Unwanted Advice; Car in a Tutu; For the Vine; Lovely Coconuts; Younger You; Lyre Liar; Most Human Bean; Muck & Slime; Rock of Ages; Corvid Brain); Chorus (Odd Feathers; Pear-Shaped; Pocky Pockets; Wabi Sabi; Machismo; Peddling Pots; Rediscovery; Mouth of Babes; Tomorrow's Shade; Eternal Boredom; Larger than Life; Unicorn; Bast's Blessings; Creature Feature; Wind Beneath; Abandoned Ship; Head of Perseus; In the Trench; Turtle-Duck); Demo 1 (Inky Shadow; Queen Bee); Demo 2 (Toto's Tribute)
Tertiary & Generic Bonus Challenges: T3 (Terse; Thimble); SN (Rail; Intercept); FR (Satisfaction); O3 (Oath); RoIL (Exuviation; Satisfaction); Once (Moses Supposes; Santa Fe; Inchworm); War (Obstruction; Sanctuary; Ennui); TY (Ntaiv; Avasa; Kulonbozo; Enfant); Wings (Scintillate)
Word Count: 838 words

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Revelations of Youth
Part 07: Convened
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"What the actual fuck?!" Sam erupted. For the first time, he was grateful that he was stuck to the chair. He felt like he was going to pass out in shock. He lifted a hand to cover his eyes, staunchly ignoring the sudden tremble in it. His stomach churned threateningly as well. The sour taste that flooded his mouth had a copper tang to it that reminded him painfully of demon blood that promised the sweet lie of not being as powerless as he felt right then.

What had he done in the last few hours that could have possibly given the kid version of his brother that impression? How could a kid come to a conclusion that anyone would want to do that to them? If Sam's memories were accurate, Dean was only around eight. Kids that young, even ones that grow up to be slutty man-whores like Dean, don't really know what sex is. For good measure, Sam repeated his disbelieving question.

"Okay," Gabriel replied. His eyes were still focused on Sam. The angel stayed protectively between the far bed and Sam. Yet he had sheathed his blade again, and there was something looser about the set of Gabriel's shoulders. Both those things made it easier for Sam to breathe through the instinctual panic of being the focus of such a powerful being. Gabriel lifted one hand and began ticking off points. "First off, kids know a lot more about things than you're giving them credit for. Even I know that, and I'm not even human."

Gabriel shook his head as he rolled his eyes. Sam hunched his shoulders. Something about the tone that Gabriel had used made him feel almost as small and young as Dean currently was. It was as if Ellen or Jody were snapping at him. (Or Dean, a small voice inside him suggested, but it was easily ignored.) Gabriel shook his finger at him before holding up two fingers.

"Second off, those are very rude things to think about anyone, but your own brother?" The archangel shook his head again as he rocked onto the balls of his feet a couple times. Gabriel's lips twitched into a half grin for a moment before disappeared behind a mask of sternness. "You should be more sex positive, Sammy. You never know who you might be offending with that kind of language. And inter-species relations are fraught enough without being deliberately insulting."

The angel waved one hand dismissively through the air as he took a few steps backwards. With more care than Sam had ever seen him use, Gabriel sat on the bed with his back to the headboard and his legs stretched out along Dean's side. Then he began to run his fingers idly through the fluffy spikes of Dean's hair.

"Now," Gabriel declared once he was comfortable, "it looks like we've got a lot ground to cover and since talking is torture for you Winchesters, I say we loop in Castiel before we get down and dirty with it. What do you say, Samsquatch?"

"It's not torture—"

"Castiel," Gabriel interrupted. Sam had never realized that eyes that were a gilded sienna could be so cold. All the while, the angel kept up his calm petting of Dean's hair, like he was a Don of some mafia family. "Cassie, Casio, Castillio. We need to talk about your favorite monkeys, Castiel."

For the second time in twenty minutes, there was the sound of flapping wings and the feel of a breeze despite being inside. When both had faded away, Castiel stood near the center of the room. His trenchcoat had a few scorch marks on it, one of which was still smoking slightly. His bland suit was rumpled and at some point his tie had gotten turned around so that the bottom of the knot was facing up. He had his angel blade out, as if he was expecting an attack of some sort.

To be fair, it had sounded like Castiel was catching a great deal of flack among the angels for siding with the Winchesters. Judging by his appearance, some of that had been very recent. Sam could barely think about the implication of Castiel dropping out of a fight because Gabriel had wanted to talk about them. That was an idea with too great a magnitude for Sam to handle after all the other shocks in the last twelve hours.

Castiel looked over Sam quickly before moving onto Gabriel. Sam could tell when he caught sight of the boy sleeping next to Gabriel. Somewhere in the few moments that Sam had been distracted by Castiel's arrival, Dean had rolled over on his side to curl into Gabriel. His forehead was now pressed against Gabriel's thigh while one hand clenched a handful of khaki fabric. Even from across the room, Sam could see the silvery shimmer of drying tear tracks on Dean's cheek.

"Good of you to make it, bro," Gabriel greeted cheekily. "Now that we're all here, we can get this meeting started."

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To be continued
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