"Honey, I'm home!" Gabriel called as he walked into the apartment. Sam jumped off the couch, causing pain to shoot through his chest and arm with the rush of blood.

"Gabe? What the hell are you-" Sam started.

Gabe crossed the room and said, "I have a proposition. How about I take you to Starbucks and get you all nice a toasty with some hot chocolate while we discuss continuing to be friends?"

Sam swallowed. Was this really happening? He already felt a small bubble of hope. He was going to destroy Gabe with his mountain of shit. But Gabe was kind of asking for it, wasn't he?

"I don't know," Sam said.

Gabriel grabbed Sam's hand, "I'm not asking for much, Sam. Give me five minutes and some hot chocolate. No holding out on me, remember?" Gabe's hand was so warm in his. His amber eyes were practically smoldering. Much more of this, Sam could probably go out in the Chicago winter with nothing more than a t-shirt and shorts.

"Okay," he said, "Starbucks. Let's do it."

Dean beamed at him from the doorway where he was holding Cas' hand.

"Shut up," Sam said to his brother as he got his jacket. He couldn't fight the smile building on his face.

Dean grinned, "Did I say anything?"

Gabe waited for Sam to walk out the door before following him out himself.

"You weren't planning to ever be friends with me again, were you?" Gabe asked when they left the building.

Sam stopped short. "What? Gabe, I would never-"

"Don't lie to me, Sam. I know you were lying to me when you said goodbye. Don't lie to me now," Gabe said quickly.

Sam backed up against the side of the building and said, "I'm sorry."

Gabriel smiled tightly and took Sam's hand, "Hey, it's fine. We're gonna have a serious talk about it at Starbucks, but it's fine. I know Lucifer did a number on your head. I've known that since you weren't doing shit for your ankle. I don't blame you, but you're insane if you think I'm gonna just let you cut me off like that."

Sam nodded and followed Gabe as his friend pulled him towards the Starbucks a few blocks away. He felt awful. He'd been a horrible friend to Gabe. He really didn't deserve someone so wonderful in his life, but he was starting to think he wasn't getting much of a choice in the matter.

Once they got there, Gabriel sat him down at a table and said, "I'm gonna order our hot chocolates. You better as hell be here when I get back."

Honestly, Sam hadn't been thinking about it until Gabe said it, but he wouldn't do that after being a royal douchebag to Gabriel already. When Gabe returned with hot chocolate, he looked genuinely surprised to find Sam sitting there, which just made him feel even worse.

Gabe passed Sam one of the hot chocolates and said, "So, explain to me why we shouldn't be friends."

He didn't know what to say. He was afraid of loving him?

"I'll hurt you if we stay friends," he said.

Gabe shook his head, "Nope, I don't buy it. And even if I did, I wouldn't care." Sam took a sip of hot chocolate and tried to think of a better answer.

"You deserve a better friend than I can be," he said after swallowing.

Gabriel put his hot chocolate down and stared at Sam, "Seriously?"

"What?"

"Sam," Gabe said, "There is no better friend I could have."

What the fuck was he talking about? Sam just stared at him and kept drinking his hot chocolate.

"Are you-do you seriously not see that-" Gabe stuttered, "You gave me a refuge from my family. Whenever I've needed help or to talk or anything, you're always there. Sure, I've returned the favor, but that's what friends do, and Sam, you're the best friend I've ever had."

Sam could have cried from the words making him so happy, but he didn't.

"I don't deserve you, Gabe," Sam said. How could someone so broken and useless and stupid and disgusting have someone that would say something like that?

"Yes, you do," Gabriel said, "I'll prove it to you if you'll let me."

"How?"

"Let's be friends."

Sam hesitated.

"Don't make me beg, Sam. Please, let's be friends." How could he say no? He wanted to be friends. It was a bad idea. Friends wouldn't be enough for long. It was too soon for anything more, though. Gabe would end up hurt. It was a really bad idea.

Slowly, Sam nodded and said, "Okay."

Gabe smiled widely and it was absolutely infectious.

"You want to take the hot chocolate over to my place?" Gabe asked.

Sam nodded and stood up. They walked back out into the cold.

"I'm sorry," Sam said.

Gabe replied, "It's fine."

"No," Sam said, "It's not. I'm really sorry. I should never have-"

Gabe sighed, "We'll talk about it at my place, okay?"

Sam nodded and followed Gabe to his flat in relative silence. When they got inside Gabe's place, Sam shrugged off his coat and realized how happy he was to see that futon.

"Alright. What were you thinking?" Gabe asked as Sam dropped himself onto the futon.

"What?" Sam asked.

Gabe sat next to him and elaborated, "What were you thinking when you decided you weren't worth my time?"

"I-I don't know," Sam said, "I didn't want you to have to deal with-I'm fucked in the head, Gabe. I'm broken. I know I am, and I didn't want you to try and fix me when there's no point."

"Of course there's a point."

"No, there's not," Sam said, "I'm not saying I shouldn't be fixed, I'm saying I can't be."

"You don't know-"

"Gabe, you don't know-I can't just-"

Gabe reached for Sam's hand, and Sam took a deep breath. It was amazing how easily he could calm down around Gabe.

"Okay, fine. You're broken and can't be fixed," Gabe said, "That doesn't mean anything. You were messed up when we met. I'm here for you, the good, the bad, all of it."

"But you don't have to be."

"You misunderstand. I want you. I want this. The good, the bad, all of it."

Sam hugged Gabriel tightly with his one functional arm. He wasn't sure if Gabe meant what he wanted him to mean, but regardless, it was amazing to hear.

"Thank you," Sam said.

Gabe hugged him back.

"What are friends for?" Gabriel said against Sam's shoulder.

Yet again, Sam wasn't sure how Gabe felt about him. Half the time, he'd be saying something that was way too loving and intimate for just friends, then the other half, he'd say something that made it clear they were just friends. Sam didn't really care right now, though. He just wanted Gabe in his arms.

After the hug got too long, Gabe broke away and asked, "So, now that we're on the same page, what do you want to do?"

Sam shrugged, "Do you have HBO? I've been wanting to watch Game of Thrones if you're interested."

Gabriel laughed, "Do I have HBO? What kind of-of course, I have HBO." He grabbed the remote and put on the first episode.

As the coolest title sequence Sam had ever seen started playing, Gabe gently pulled Sam so he was lying against Gabe's chest. Sam loved being this close to him. He was so comforting. Slowly, Gabe started running his fingers through Sam's hair, and God, it felt good…and thoroughly confusing.

At the same time, though, his broken arm started throbbing painfully. Sam groaned.

"Sam?" Gabe asked.

Sam sighed, "I forgot to take my pain medication today. It's been pretty hectic lately, and it must've slipped my mind."

"So, we should go to your place and get your meds," Gabe said.

Sam nodded and reluctantly got up off the futon.

"You don't have to come," Sam said, "It's really cold out and I wouldn't want you to-"

Gabriel got up and grabbed his jacket.

"Let's change the channel, shall we? I get that you don't want me to have to do anything for you, but please, tell me it's occurred to you that I might want to," he said.

Sam smiled at Gabe when a loud bang came from upstairs. Muffled shouts and more banging started resounding down into Gabe's space. Sam watched his friend's expression grow dark. He looked like he wasn't mentally here anymore. Sam held Gabriel's hand. He needed to get his friend out of there.

"Gabe," Sam said, "Let's go. Let's go to my place and hang out, okay?"

Vacantly, Gabe nodded and followed Sam outside. It was freezing out but it was much less tense without Gabe's family's shouts and fighting in the background.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that," Gabe said quietly.

Sam shook his head, "It's okay. I know they fight, and it's not like I could I hear what they were saying. Let's just go."

Gabe nodded. They walked quickly to Sam's apartment, prompted by the cold, brisk wind if nothing else.

Before they got inside, Sam said, "I should let you know, Dean and Cas are a little weird."

"They seemed fine yesterday," Gabe said.

"Cas got mugged and needed stitches and Dean kinda feels responsible since he kicked Cas out."

"He did what?! Cas got-why didn't they-what?" Gabe sputtered.

Sam said, "Yeah. They're working through it. I just figured you should know before we go up."

Gabe nodded, eyes still wide, "Yeah. Thanks for the head's up."

Everyone was either out or in their rooms, but the apartment seemed pretty empty. Sam quickly grabbed his pill bottle and took his meds, wishing he had a stronger placebo effect so his arm would stop throbbing faster.

"So, do you have HBO?" Gabe asked from the couch.

Sam replied, "No. We have Netflix, but we don't have any premium channels."

"Shame," Gabe said, "We'll have to watch Game of Thrones next time we're at my place. You'll like it."

"Okay," Sam said.

He sat down next to Gabe on the couch. Sam was still trying to wrap his head around Gabriel being here. Why was he here? Why was he so convinced Sam was worth his care?

"How's your arm?" Gabe asked.

Sam sighed, "It's not too bad. Throbs sometimes."

"And what about...?" Gabe asked, gesturing to Sam's torso.

"It's a little better," Sam answered.

"Can I see?" Gabe asked, "I just want to know if I should get you some more IcyHot or ice packs or something." Sam was halfway sure that Gabe just wanted to get Sam's shirt off. He didn't know quite how he felt about that.

"Sure," Sam said, "But not out here."

Sam led Gabe over to his room and sat on his bed. Carefully, he used his one functional arm to maneuver his shirt over his head and off. The bruises had gotten better; it was mostly a mass of green splotches with occasional purple marks where the punches had been a little harder. The worst was over his fractured rib.

Gabe sat next to Sam and gingerly trailed his fingers over the bruising.

"That is a lot better. You could probably still use some IcyHot on that one spot..." Gabe said.

Sam's mouth ran dry at Gabe's touch. He was so caring and so amazing. How did Sam get so lucky to get a friend like him?

Gabe blinked a few times too quickly that made Sam notice something was wrong.

"Gabe?" he asked.

Gabe said, "Sorry. It's hurts seeing you like this. I'm glad you got away from Lucifer, it's just hard." Gabe cared so much. Sam wanted to say something, do something to keep Gabe from worrying about him. He put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"It's not going to get worse than this," Sam said, "I swear." Gabe looked at him, and the look in his friend's eyes broke him. There was so much open affection there. His heart thudded in his chest. There had to be a way to show Gabe how much he cared, how much he appreciated him, how much he loved him, something.

Slowly, softly, Sam reached over and kissed Gabriel.