Author's note: Thanks so much to Larkafree, Maknatuna, Maddy Love Castiel, Treeni, CherylB1964, kb18142, Keefer, random yet lovable, FireChildSlytherin5, XxZessxX, keacdragon, PercyJfan1802 and Chichi-10018 for last chapter's reviews!
Special thanks to Treeni for beta reading!
6
"What do you say?" Gabriel asked as they were standing in the doorway of the guest room. He was pretty sure that the boys would have nothing to complain about. The archangel was a huge hedonist and enjoyed a lot of the things life had to offer, so he had furnished the apartment accordingly. There was no use creating an environment that would bore him or the Winchesters too easily. Bored children were difficult children after all and to be fair about the same could be said for Gabriel.
"It's really cool," Sam answered, looking around the fairly spacey room the adult showed them. If the younger Winchester said that they had stayed in motel rooms that had been smaller than this guest room, he would be exaggerating, but not by as much as most people would think. He didn't care so much about the size of the room, anyway. The well filled bookshelf was the focus of the younger Winchester's attention and much more important, if somebody had asked him.
"There's only one bed," Dean huffed, looking for the inflatable bed – or mattress; please don't let it be a mattress – that had to be somewhere around. Alright, they had passed the living room by on their way to the guest room and the couch there looked nice enough to sleep on, but the idea of one of them having their own room and the other one sleeping on the couch bothered the older brother.
"Wow, keen perception there, Dean-o," Gabriel commented, grinning like he knew of some great joke he wasn't sharing with the brothers. In fact, that was exactly what was going on, too.
"There is a second room," the archangel announced, crossing the hallway to open another door that led to a nearly identical room. The big difference was that there was a small TV and various magazines lying around. "Long as you two don't kill each other over who gets to stay where, I'll let you choose."
Sam and Dean exchanged a measuring look before they quickly shook their fists three times in an impromptu game of 'rock, paper, scissors'. The older Winchester's scissors, lost against his brother's rock; but when the younger brother turned around to go back to the room they had seen first, Dean made a victorious gesture, anyway. It was just great when the things each one of them wanted went together as perfectly as they sometimes did.
"You two make yourself at home, I'll be in the kitchen," Gabriel stated, watching with a fond smile as the boys went to inspect their rooms enthusiastically. It looked like he had done something completely right, which was a pretty good feeling.
Once in the open kitchen, which Gabriel had made sure was attached directly to the living room, the archangel started with the preparations for making strawberry milkshakes. So, what if he thought that Dean would like to have one too once the pre-teen was done checking out his room? Gabriel had admitted a while ago, if only to himself, that there was no chance he could keep himself from getting a little too attached to the two boys. However, he could keep the Weechesters and the normal Winchesters separated as firmly as possible in his mind. As long as the sympathies he had for the children, weren't going to carry over to their adult selves, everything was alright. At least, that's what he continued to tell himself while scooping out ice cream.
"Uh… Mr. Gabriel?" Sam spoke up reluctantly, just as the archangel finished putting all the ingredients for a world-class milkshake into the blender. The kid was stepping from one foot to the other a little nervously and he looked uncertain about what he was going to say. All that did, was make Gabriel curious to learn what that kind of strange behavior was about.
"Just Gabriel will do," the archangel clarified. He put a halt on the milkshake project, in favor of giving his full attention to the eight year old. Whatever it was, couldn't take that long and was important enough for the kid to get antsy about. That didn't mean that Gabriel had to switch to serious mode yet, however.
"Or do you want me to call you Mr. Sambo?" the archangel asked with a playful wink. He was fully prepared to go through with it, if the younger Winchester for some reason actually chose that that nickname variation was preferable. Chances for that had been very slim even before Gabriel saw the all too clear reaction the kid was giving him.
Sam scrunched up his nose in distaste immediately. He had a feeling that the adult was nowhere near the end of the stupid nicknames he could think of giving to him, so he'd have to be very careful there. However, the younger Winchester hadn't come to talk to the adult about names or titles. There was another topic Sam felt he had to bring up. He had taken a look at all the books in the room he was going to be staying in and that had reminded him or something very important.
"My textbooks weren't in my duffel bag," Sam explained, trying not to show how much the absence of his schoolwork actually bothered him. He really didn't need another person who'd call him a nerd! His older brother did more than his fair share of teasing, all by himself. Dean only did it to get a rise out of him and the younger Winchester knew it, but his older brother wasn't the only one who called him a nerd and it hurt a bit to hear it.
"They're probably in the trunk of the car," Gabriel suggested with a shrug. He had a feeling like he'd have to use the trunk of the car as an excuse for a lot of missing things the boys would be looking for. As long as he didn't let either one of them take a look inside, it was a pretty damn good excuse, too. They were basically living in that car, after all. He could will just about anything they asked for into existence and just claim he got it from the Impala that way.
"We… we're not going to school while we're here, right?" the younger Winchester asked with a sigh. He somehow managed to give his voice an undertone that said 'I know, I shouldn't talk to an adult like this' at the same time as his eyes said 'This is not okay'. It was actually quite impressive. Gabriel had to bite back a grin, thinking of how even tiny Sam's intelligence and love of knowledge was huge. It was a trait that was actually quite admirable.
"You won't be here long enough for that to make sense," the archangel replied as honest as he could be about the matter. Of course, there was also that little issue about the Winchesters actually not being children and getting them enrolled at any school putting them at a greater risk of being found.
"Can I have my books then?" Sam requested in that resigned tone that made him sound much older than he actually was. It also spoke for discussions like the one they were having being commonplace among the Winchesters.
"Let me clarify that, kiddo," Gabriel stated, trying to keep the amusement out of his voice. It didn't work as well as he would have liked, though. "I just told you you don't have to go to school, so you want your textbooks to study?"
There it was, the moment Sam really didn't like. So, maybe it was a nerdy thing of him to do, maybe he was a dork, but he still wanted his textbooks, dammit! "Gotta keep up somehow," the younger Winchester mumbled, looking at his shoes unhappily.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. You've got a hungry brain to feed, I'm all for that!" Gabriel was quick to reassure the boy, stepping away from the kitchen counter to place his hands on Sam's shoulders, before giving them a pat and turning towards the door. "I'll go get them for you right now, alright?"
The younger Winchester nodded quickly, giving the adult a smile that didn't quite show off his dimples. It was a good enough start, anyway. Gabriel left the boy with the instruction to go ahead and work the blender, or get his brother to do it, whichever he thought was best.
The rest of the day passed very quickly and blissfully uneventfully. Sam was happy enough with the used textbooks the archangel had handed to him and Dean hadn't found anything to complain about since he had discovered that Gabriel had a premium cable subscription. Between the boys doing their things and a couple of meals and snack breaks time nearly seemed to fly by.
"First shower's mine!" the older Winchester exclaimed sometime after dinner. The archangel immediately suspected that something was fishy when Sam never even tried to give a token protest against his brother claiming some privilege for himself. Dean didn't seem to notice, though.
"You need help there, Sambo?" Gabriel asked with a smirk a few moments later. The younger boy had started to look through the kitchen cabinets immediately after his brother had closed the bathroom door. It was pretty obvious that he was looking for something. Chances were that whatever it was, the archangel would gladly help him.
"I… uh… no, I'm good," Sam stammered. He was a little embarrassed from the attention he had drawn to what he was doing. He knew that his plan was childish, but Dean had started it when he had played that stupid prank on him in the morning and the younger Winchester couldn't let him get away with that! It was an unspoken rule of brotherhood that he had to get his revenge!
Gabriel shrugged lightly and went back to watching the Dr. Sexy marathon he had discovered earlier. He was sure to learn what Sam had been up to soon enough. The archangel also thought that he could trust that the younger Winchester didn't have any plans to demolish the entire apartment. Plus, a little prank war between brothers was something the trickster god could get behind for sure.
Sam kept stealing glances toward the adult to make sure that he wasn't being watched too closely or too critically. He didn't want the surprise he had in store for his older brother to end in an argument with Gabriel. The younger Winchester liked the adult by far too much to want to upset him on purpose. It looked like Gabriel really was completely unconcerned with the things he was doing however, so that was a good sign.
The younger Winchester worked as quickly as he could to make sure that his brother didn't surprise him while he was still caught up in the preparations. Giggling to himself, Sam went back to the kitchen to get a glass of orange juice and then waited just around the corner for his brother to come out of the bathroom. The younger Winchester had grabbed the glass so he could act like he had only just went to get something to drink and was on the way back to his room. That way he'd be able to be close by when the trap he had set snapped shut.
"Shower's free," Dean called a minute later, grinning at his little brother. If the older Winchester hadn't been quite so relaxed from his shower, he might have realized that his brother was watching him a little too closely and that he looked like he was trying very hard to maintain a casual, albeit slightly unnatural, poker face. As things were Dean pushed the door to his room open, not suspecting that anything was up until the little bucket full of cold water was emptied right over his head.
"Second shower was yours too!" Sam snickered, giving an undignified yelp when the older boy lunged at him. He barely managed to evade his older brother and ran back toward the living room. There was no use denying that he was hiding behind Gabriel, but Dean had used Castiel as a human shield against Sam in the morning as well. The fact that the archangel was clearly amused and trying not to laugh too hard at the dripping wet preteen, made the younger boy feel even better about his successful prank.
The older Winchester threw a murderous glare that promised revenge toward his baby brother. He didn't say anything and just went to the bathroom to retrieve a towel, however. To Gabriel's big surprise, Sam immediately hurried to get another towel to dry the floor with. Pranksters who knew how to clean up behind themselves were the archangel's favorites, especially if he had to live with them. Having Coyote, Dolos or Anansi over for a visit was entertaining as hell, but the cleanup afterward usually was a bit of a drag, even if he could just snap things clean again. One snap never was enough, with the stuff those guys could come up with however.
The evening found a peaceful end after that. Surprisingly enough, it looked like even twelve year old Dean had a weak spot for Dr. Sexy. Sam didn't show any sort of interest in the TV program, but he still went and got a book he wanted to check out and sat on the couch with the other two. This was the closest to a normal family evening the Winchesters had had in quite some time, even if they had had to exchange their dad for a babysitter to make it possible to begin with.
"What? Don't I get a good night hug?" Gabriel asked when it looked like both boys were about ready to retire to their rooms and go to bed. The request might have looked seriously strange – Dean sure looked like he thought the adult had gone insane, keeping his distance as he simply waved 'good night', which would have to do – but he had a very good reason for it. Too bad he couldn't exactly share it with the children.
As he had hoped, Sam gave him a quick hug, giving Gabriel the possibility to let just a tiny bit of his grace flow into the kid. If everything went as planned, the younger Winchester wasn't going to have any nightmares that night.