Gabriel woke up on Thursday and he got ready for work as usual, showering, dressing, all that.
"Good morning, Meg," he sang, bursting through the back and coming out into the area behind the counter. He went right to the register to get his first task of the day finished.
"Have you ever wondered why they picked me to be on the morning shift?" Meg deadpanned, looking unimpressed and tired as she made sure the bagel warmer was on and ready for use.
"Nah, I've always figured it's because they know how well we work together. We're like... Batman and Robin," Gabriel guessed, counting the money in the register and making sure it matched yesterday's ending total.
"I think Batman and Robin's relationship is healthier than ours," Meg finished setting the last dozen bagels into the warmer, already sliced into halves.
"So the Joker and Harley Quinn, then? Is that what you're saying?" Gabriel shut the money drawer and signed the sheet on the clipboard next to the register, verifying the totals matched.
"If you're making a pass at me right now, then no, that's not what I'm saying." Meg grinned, hopping over the counter to start taking chairs down from the tables.
"Don't worry, you're not really what I'm looking for in a partner right now. You're too," he paused his sentence and moved to the panel of light switches on the other end of the counter.
"Too what?" Meg raised an eyebrow, suddenly more awake and interested.
"I don't think we'd really work out because I'm so obviously a man who's tough and in control, and you couldn't handle that, so I mean. Personality clash." He flipped the first two switches, lighting up the hallway with the bathrooms and cleaning supplies closet.
"Oh, yeah, Gabriel baby, you're such an alpha, I'm so aroused right now," her voice flowed languorously.
"Shut up and turn the OPEN sign on before we accidentally start banging across the cream cheese counter," Gabriel flicked the rest of the lights on. He could at least feel assured that Meg didn't take any of their joking as actual flirting, even when it seemed to border heavily on flirting. Which was most of the time.
"Do you happen to know how to get to West Side Chiropractor center of arts or whatever it's called?" Gabriel asked Meg towards the end of their shift together. "I looked it up last night and forgot to actually write down the address, not that that would help me. I prefer directions because '27th avenue northeast' means jack to me." Gabriel leaned over, one hand resting on the counter.
"You're literally like an idiot child, Gabriel." Meg freely insulted him because there was no one else around.
"Yeah, yeah, and you're the strict and mean step-mother, we've discussed this dynamic before, now please, mama, tell me how to get to the place." Gabriel straightened as the back opened again and Gadreel entered.
"It'd probably be easier for me to just lead you there, I pass it on my way home anyway. Knowing you, you'd find a way to fuck up even if I gave you explicit directions," Meg replied.
"Is that how we are supposed to talk to our coworkers?" Gadreel looked at Meg with his eyebrows raised. He was huge, but he was such a sweet guy, even Meg sort of felt guilty being mean to Gabriel, but not enough to apologize to him.
"Sorry, Gadreel. I forgot you actually respect other people, unlike me and unlike that little rat behind you."
"Oh gee, thanks for the apology. I feel very loved," Gabriel shook his head, and then Michael also appeared.
"What's going on?" Michael asked, looking back and forth between the other three.
"These two are insulting one another and using profanity. Like they usually do," Gadreel shrugged.
"Well, see you around," Meg turned to go, and Gabriel followed, muttering something like "Wait for me, you curly haired tyrant."
"Bye," Michael and Gadreel both waved. Gabriel looked back over his shoulder briefly to return the wave as he passed through the door between the front and back sections of the bagel shop. He left, quietly hissing "Why you gotta walk so fast?"
Gabriel situated himself in his car and rolled the window down. Meg was parked next to him, and she had her windows down too.
"So just follow me, I'm seriously hoping you're capable of doing that," she called to him. He didn't have time to shoot anything back at her, because she put her car in reverse as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Gabriel sighed and backed out, turning and tailing Meg across the small lot and onto the road. She turned left and went down the same street for a few blocks, took a right, and after one more block, she slowed and poked her head out the window again.
"Well, this is it. I'm just gonna head home now, I'm trusting you not to get lost."
"As always, I appreciate the vote of confidence," Gabriel answered in closing before looking out for a spot to park. Meg's car was out of sight before he was out of his vehicle. Chiropractors have a doctor title, so they're usually kinda old. Which I don't think I'm totally cool with, but whatever.
Gabriel strolled up to the front desk, pushing his train of thought off the tracks to greet the receptionist.
"I'm Gabriel, I think I'm scheduled for today."
"Last name?" The woman behind the counter had crystal blue eyes and jet black hair. Her tone was friendly.
"Novak," he smiled.
"Thank you," she lifted a folder off the counter. "Oh, this is your first time here. Well, you're scheduled for 4:15, and you're a little early, but that's no problem. Have a seat and we'll call your name in a bit."
"Sure thing," he gave her one last smile and went to the waiting area, idly picking up a magazine. He paged through it, skimming the articles and passing his gaze across the photos and advertisements. Rinse and repeat. He absently went through three magazines before the same lady who helped him check in said "Gabriel?"
He rose and she led him to the back, opening a door and motioning for him to go in. "He'll be with you in a moment," she closed the door and he hesitantly took a seat on the backless bench, eyeing the death-trap-torture device in the center of the room. To his left, there was a desk with a laptop, clipboard, and a rolling chair. He took a few deep breaths and thought about how irrational it was to be nervous about this. Plenty of people go to chiropractors and he had yet to hear about anyone dying because of it. His eyes swept the room again, dismissing the certificates hanging from the wall to examine the table in the corner. There was a machine and maybe something like electrodes connected to it? He couldn't tell, and it didn't do anything to help his nerves. He closed his eyes, refocusing.
The door opened, and a giant of a man came inside. He wasn't old or in a lab coat or anything like Gabriel had expected. Actually, he was really young, now that Gabriel looked closer. He was wearing casual professional clothes, a dark blue button down with the sleeves rolled to his elbows and black dress pants. His hair was longer than what people normally considered professional, and he couldn't totally stop himself from thinking of Dr. Sexy. Who knew real doctors could be attractive? All of these observations and questions passed through Gabriel's brain pretty rapidly, and he snapped out of it quickly when a hand was offered to him with the words "Mr. Novak, nice to meet you, I'm Sam Winchester."
"You can call me Gabriel," he accepted Sam's hand and gave it a firm shake, a grin sprouting on his face.
"So, what's troubling you?" Sam had taken a seat in the rolling chair and had a pen poised to write notes on his clipboard.
"Well, my dog likes to chew on my belongings, my coworker, whom I share a shift with, is almost definitely satan's daughter, and also I was really sick last week and I fell asleep in a lot of weird positions so now my back is pissed off at me."
Sam beamed at Gabriel after the initial expression of disbelief from Gabriel's first problems off, and then he nodded. "Most people come here because of back pain. Where exactly is it bothering you?"
"Oh, right," Gabriel twisted so Sam could see his back. Since his dumb joke hadn't made Sam actually laugh, he decided his mission was to make him laugh for real before the appointment ended. "Right here for sure," he reached a hand over the opposite shoulder and put it between his shoulder blades. "But sometimes it's around my shoulders, and I have some on the lower right. Kind of just below my rib cage." He went back to a regular sitting position while Sam finished scrawling on his clipboard.
"Those are all pretty common areas people come in for. How long has this bothered you?"
"Pretty much just the last week. I can't really think of anything prior to this week."
"Okay. Well, I'll have you step so you're facing this," he stood up and held his hand out, presenting the intimidating looking table for Gabriel. "I promise, it's not as awful as it looks." Gabriel stepped forward confidently. "Now, I'm just going to lower it, and it'll go down slowly, and I just want you to relax. I know that can be kind of difficult for most people the first time." Sam's voice was almost shockingly soothing.
Gabriel let himself lean against the table as it began its descent into a horizontal position. It stopped; he was flat on the table, his face squished between two cushions, and his forearms on the designated rests below the headrest. He used some self control to take a breath and let a majority of the tension escape his body, and he felt Sam's hand covering the center middle of his back, pressing down lightly. The heat of Sam's hand was seeping through the fabric of Gabriel's t-shirt.
Then his hand was gone, and a few seconds later it was replaced with something blockier. Gabriel heard the flip of a switch, and then he thought of a car buffer, because whatever Sam had on his back was vibrating and rotating, and Sam was running it from his tailbone to the base of his neck, and around his shoulder blades and ribs. Sam shut it off and returned it to wherever he had retrieved it from before putting his hands on Gabriel's back again.
Sam started asking Gabriel something about where he worked, and Gabriel was about to answer when suddenly the pressure increased sharply and rapidly, and then it was gone and Gabriel's back had made some cracks and pops in a couple different places. That was an effective enough distraction. The other places on his back were done without Sam talking, and Gabriel wasn't about to open his mouth to answer.
"If you could turn over onto your back, that would be perfect," Sam directed him. "And you never got to say where you work."
"Well I didn't think it would've come out very clearly while you were doing all that. I work at a bagel shop a few blocks from here," he repositioned himself onto his back, looking up at the ceiling. Sam rolled his chair behind the table, so he was at Gabriel's head.
"Oh, I think I know which one you're talking about. I haven't been there much, and when I have gone, it's always after work and it's because I'm too tired to make a proper dinner," the entire time he had been speaking, he had Gabriel's head in his hands, carefully and slowly moving it to Gabriel's left, and then he jerked just right, and another set of cracks sounded through the room. Jesus he's good at this. "So, do you enjoy working there?" Sam began shifting Gabriel's head to the left.
"It has its perks, like insurance, and I get to smell like a bagel most of the time. It's better than some of the places I've worked."
"Yeah? I know I had some not-so great jobs while going through college," he cracked the other side. Gabriel was extremely at ease. "But it seemed like customer service was not high on my list of favorites."
"It's not so bad. Really, the person I work with is much ruder than any customer I can possibly imagine." Gabriel's tone made it clear he said it with affection.
"What's so bad about this coworker of yours?" His hands were no longer on any part of Gabriel, and he wasn't moving anymore.
"Oh, we go back and forth. It's a lot of mutual bullying. We've worked together for three years now." Gabriel tilted his head back to try and see Sam's face, but Sam was standing up again.
"In that case, I'm sure you two are pretty good friends. Do you ever have any problems with your hips?" Sam moved to stand to the left of Gabriel.
"What?"
"Do you feel crooked when you walk, do you keep things in your back pockets while you're sitting down, do you generally sleep with your hips twisted in any sort of unnatural way?"
"I'm not really sure how I sleep. I don't think many people have seen me sleep, and anyone that has hasn't bothered to report that to me. Has anyone ever farted while you were cracking their back?"
"What?" Sam's shoulders shook subtly and that same sunny smile started to split his face again.
"Nothing. You could check them out if you'd like, but I can't really say I have any known problems with them." Gabriel silently whooped in triumph; he was pretty sure his appointment was coming to a close, so Sam's soundless laugh was going to have to do.
"Alright, well, flip over onto your left side," Sam instructed. Gabriel did as he was asked. Sam gently took hold of Gabriel's wrists and crossed Gabriel's arms in front of his torso, so he was hugging himself. He lifted up Gabriel's right leg and bent it 45 degrees at the knee, setting it on top of his left leg. Then he leaned over and covered most of Gabriel's lower body with his own body and pressed down until his hip popped. "That's not bad. Now we'll just do the other side to make sure you're even."
"And now for the last time, back on your stomach." Sam told Gabriel once he finished adjusting his hips. Gabriel moved over again.
"This is the most physical activity I've done in a while," he joked before putting his face back between the cushions. He was plenty active during the work week, considering he was almost constantly on his feet at work.
"Have you ever considered yoga?"
"Not really, no." Gabriel admitted truthfully.
"Fair enough. Maybe some other time," Sam was audibly moving things on the table with the only other frightening-looking object in the room. He lifted up the back of Gabriel's shirt and set something cool and somewhat gel-like in texture on the bare skin of his back, and in the end, he thought he had about six of them. Three on each side of his back, below his ribs, right in the middle, and towards the tops of his shoulder blades. Gabriel's uneasiness took on a physical form, and his muscles all tightened, unsure what to expect.
"Tell me when," Sam said evenly, pressing a button. A soft thrum started in the gel pads attached to Gabriel's back, hardly noticeable. Alright, that's not so bad. Sam tapped the button, and the intensity went up slightly. He pressed it four more times before a quiet grunt made its way out of Gabriel's mouth, and he stopped.
"Usually that's a good indication it's at the right level, or a little too high. How are you feeling?"
"This is good," Gabriel nodded as best as he could; he was still quite tense from his uncertain anticipation.
"Okay, well, the receptionist will be back to remove these when the timer's up. I will be scheduling you for one more session in about three weeks just to see where you're at, and if you're doing fine, just call in and cancel it at least 24 hours ahead of time. It was nice to meet you, Gabriel."
"Nice meeting you, too," Gabriel let himself relax after the door closed again. The pads on his back tingled, and he enjoyed it more after he stopped trying to lay rigid and stiff. He wasn't sure how long he was laying there when the timer started to go off and the tingling stopped. The door opened and the same blue eyed lady entered and detached the pads from his back. Gabriel got up after they were off of his back and she hit the button to make the table return to its original vertical position. He marveled at how much taller he felt and how new his back felt. Was this how your back was supposed to feel regularly?
She took the papers with Sam's handwritten notes off of the desk and led him back to the front of the clinic.
"That will be twenty dollars," she informed him, reclaiming her seat behind the front desk. She accepted his card and swiped it. "Dr. Winchester would like to schedule one more follow up appointment, will the second Monday of next month at 5 work for you?"
"That should be fine," Gabriel nodded enthusiastically, wondering if he would feel this great after the second time.
"Fantastic, we'll see you next time, Mr. Novak," she smiled and Gabriel mock saluted her before leaving.