"Tell me exactly what he said." Jess demands down the phone.
"You mean what Lucifer said?" I ask.
"Yes!"
I sigh deeply. "He asked me what I wanted with his brother, and if I liked him or not."
"So he was asking you if you fancy Gabriel! It's obvious, Sam."
"It was really scary, Jess. I thought I was going to get bashed up."
I hear her snicker from the other end. "Calm down, I'm sure he's just a protective older brother. But you know what this means, right?"
"What?"
"It's likely that Gabriel has talked about you at home, an probably told Lucifer he likes you. Lucifer was probably just checking if you liked him back so you wouldn't lead him on or anything."
"Am I the only one who would find it a bit weird if my older brother got involved in my love life?"
"Well, it would be weird with your brother, Sam."

I have double Art with Gabriel first up. He's already waiting outside the classroom when I arrive.
"Hey." I greet him.
Gabriel jumps at the distraction from his moment of staring blankly into space. "Oh hey! Ready to be the next Picasso?" He grins.
"Uh, no."
"Well, a man can dream." he places a hand on my shoulder and looks into the distance like a wise old wizard.
"Okay Gandalf, shall we go inside?" I say when I notice the teacher arriving with the keys to the art building.
We take a seat at our usual table, Gabe sitting across from me. All I can think about is my conversation with Jess. So now I know that Gabe likes me but I have no idea where to go from there.
"Hey?"snaps his fingers. "You okay?"
"What? Oh, yeah. I'll get us some paint." I jump out of my seat and head to the other end of the room.
I am being way too weird about this. It's not really fair on Gabe. I am a hopeless idiot. I bring the paint back to the table and place some in front of Gabe. I decide I should just jump in the deep end.
"Gabe," I start. I'm not even completely sure what I'm going to say to him.
"Yeah?" he looks up at me with all his attention.
"Uh, I forgot." You lame idiot. You stupid, stupid idiot.
"Okay then." Gabriel laughs softly.
No. I can't be like this. I've got to stop being an unreasonable jerk and do something.
"Doyouwannahavedinnerwithme?" I ask quickly, the words tumbling out my mouth.
"What?" Gabe chuckles.
"Um," I clear my throat. "Do you maybe... want to... have dinner with me?" I look down nervously, scratching at a bit of blue paint from the table.
"Yeah, that'd be great! When?"
"Well, how about tonight? It's Friday."
"Sure; it's a date!"
I can feel my cheeks flush. They should name a colour after me: 'Blushing Sam pink'.

I get home from school and find my dad in the living room.
"Dad?" I say, very surprised to see him.
"Hey Sam." he replies wearily.
"What are you doing home this early?"
"I got fired." Dad takes a swig of beer from the bottle in his hand.
"Oh," I can tell he isn't in the mood for talking, so I go upstairs. I run into Dean in the hall.
"Hey Sammy, wanna see a movie tonight or something?"
"I can't, I've already got plans."
"With who?"
"Gabriel."
"What are you guys doing?"
"We're going out for dinner." I tell Dean this because he knows I like guys as well, and he's okay with it; he lets me live my own life, but dad doesn't know. I can't imagine him taking it well.
"So you two..."
"We like each other, yes."
"That's nice Sammy, but what are you gonna tell dad?"
I frown. Why did he have to get fired that very day? "I don't know, Dean. Do you think he'd notice I'd left if I just went out without telling him?"
"I dunno, maybe. I think he'll probably be drinking all night, so you might be able to get away with it."
"Okay, well that's the plan I'll go with."
I go to my room to try to pass some time before I get ready to go out.

I dress reasonably casually, as we're not going anywhere particularly fancy, but I make sure I still look smart. I straighten up my collar and try to neaten up my hair before slowly creeping downstairs and heading for the back door. I unlatch it and am about to step out when-
"Where do you think you're going?"
My heart sinks and I turn to face dad. "Out."
"Where?"
"I'm going out for dinner." I feel like I have serpents thrashing around my chest.
"With who?"
My heart's beating really fast and it's gettig harder to breathe. Why did he have to be home tonight?
"A friend."
"Who? Jess?"
"No... Gabriel."
"Gabriel? A guy?"
My eyes sting, but I try to hold back the nervous tears so I don't look weak in front of him. "That's right."
"What, so you're gay now?"
"Yes, I am." My voice sounds so small.
"What the hell, Sam? Didn't I bring you up right? What the hell are you thinking? No son of mine should be going out with other guys; if I wanted that I would have had a daughter!" his eyes were manic and his chest was heaving. Everything was falling apart.
"I'm glad you think so little of me. Maybe I should start dressing like a girl to make it easier for you." I am laying on the attitude, but I feel so small, like I've shrunk into the size of an ant; like I will be stepped on any moment.
Dad steps forward and I think he's going to hit me when Dean comes running in.
"Step away from him." he glares at dad in a way I've never seen before.
"You don't give the orders around here, boy."
"Oh, I do now. How dare you raise your hand at Sam." Dean's face is screwed up in rage.
"Do you know what he is?" Dad asks of Dean, as if Dean knowing would make him agree.
"What? He likes dudes? So what? You're going to hit your son for that?"
Dad is fuming.
"Go Sam." Dean says to me. I look up at him hopelessly. "Go!"
I pull open the back door and step outside. All the tears come out, running hot down my face. My throat's swelled up and my whole face feels heavy. Everything is ruined. I don't know what to do. Where am I supposed to go? I sure as hell can't go back in the house. I start walking down the street, my head hurling thoughts around furiously. Where do I go? Then I think of the answer: I go to see the person I was supposed to see that night in the first place.
I knock on Gabriel's door, already feeling terrible about having to tell him that the night was ruined. Gabriel answers the door with a smile that immediately drops when he sees my face.
"Sam? What's wrong?" Gabriel steps outside and closes the door behind him.
I don't know what to say to him. I don't want to dump all this on him, but I just don't know who else to go to.
"Sam?" Gabriel places his hand on my shoulder when I don't reply the first time.
"My dad found out... that I'm gay." I wipe a tear from my cheek, feeling so incredibly embarassed. "He hates me."
Gabriel's face is lined with shock and concern.
"I think he would have hit me if Dean didn't step in." My voice wobbles and I wish the ground would just swallow me up.
Gabriel pulls me into a tight hug, and I rest my chin on his head, taking staggered breaths.
"I'm sorry tonight's ruined." I say quietly, but Gabriel pushes me back so he can look at my face.
"It's not ruined Sam. I'm here for you, no matter what. How's this: we go get some take out, come back here, and if you don't want to go home, you can stay here. How does that sound?"
I nod in reply.
"Good. Come inside for a sec, I'll get you some tissues."
I follow Gabe inside his house and wait in the kitchen. I look through to the living room where Gabriel just went. Lucifer is sitting on the couch reading a magazine. Gabe mutters a few words to his brother who nods, then looks over at me, looking concerned. Gabe comes into the the kitchen and hands me a box of tissues.
"It's all good for you to stay here if you want to." Gabe smiles reassuringly.
"Thanks." I try to return the smile, but fail.
"Now, let's go get something to eat, I'm starving."

We go to a Chinese take-out place and order our food. We take it back to Gabriel's house and sit at his kitchen table, unpacking the feast we had purchased.
"Are your parents home?" I ask.
"I don't live with my parents. It's just me and my brothers. Michael's the oldest, but he's always busy, so Lucifer's the one who takes charge."
"I'll have to thank him for letting me stay."
"Nah, he's not good with that kind of stuff. Anyway, what's happened to you has happened to us too. Our dad went nuts, that's why we don't live with him anymore."
"So is it just you, Lucifer and Michael?"
"Nah, I've got a little brother too, Castiel. He's a little nerd, but he's a good kid. He'll probably be down here soon for his nightly warm milk."
Within a few minutes of Gabe saying this, a boy with dark brown hair and stunning blue eyes, wearing black slacks, a white shirt and a loose blue tie appeared in the kitchen.
"Hello." he says with a smile, looking at me.
"Hey, you must be Castiel."
"That's correct." Castiel opens the fridge and takes out the milk.
"Told ya." Gabriel says quietly to me with a grin.