Mid-November Thursday Night
There was a knock at Gabriel's bedroom door. He sighed. He had just gotten home from basketball practice and just wanted to hurry through his homework and sleep. The coach was running them as much as possible.
"Gabe, honey?" Saraqeal opened the door and walked in.
"Yeah, mom? Sorry, but is this going to take long? It was a long practice and I've got homework that I need to do."
"Oh I just had a question. Is Sam coming back over?"
"Um…I'm not sure. We've been working at school a lot before practice starts." They had gotten an 'A' on their first project and had been working hard on their last one. Sam really had to keep Gabriel on track sometimes, but they could usually laugh when they were done.
"Oh, okay. I do miss seeing him." Gabriel rolled his eyes. He was pretty sure that his mom had a crush on Sam, too.
"Yeah, I know mom. I'll bring him back one day."
"Sweetie," Saraqeal sat in the chair at Gabriel's desk. "Is there something you need to tell me?" Gabriel looked at his mother, confused.
"Like what?"
"Well, I know that you and he have kind of become closer friends since you started that project, and then the couple of times you've brought him over, you just…you look at him differently than you do Michael or Shamus." Gabriel was shocked. Was it really that obvious to other people that he liked Sam? Did Michael and Crowley know? Oh God, hopefully not.
"Well, Sam and I just have a different kind of friendship, I guess."
"So you two are friends then?"
"Well, we text sometimes and we talk during class, so I guess we're getting back there."
"Well good, good." Saraqeal stood up and began to walk out of his room, but just before she actually walked out of the room, she turned back around and locked eyes with her son. "Honey, one last thing?"
"Yes, mom?"
"You know your father and I will love you no matter what, right?" Gabriel stared at his mother for a while and then finally answered.
"Yeah, I know that."
"No matter what. At all. If you know, you were to say fail a class, or wanted to quit basketball, or anything like that."
"Um…yeeeeah? Yeah, I think I got it, Mom."
"Well, good. Now get some sleep. I love you." She blew him a kiss.
"Love you, too, Mom." Gabriel smiled. She walked out and shut the door to his room. The smile on Gabriel's face faded. What was he supposed to do with that? Suddenly come out to his parents? And come out how? It's not like he wasn't attracted to girls, it was just that, he was more attracted to Sam. Sam made his heart beat faster and made him smile, even when he was having a terrible day. Gabriel lay back on his bed, closed his eyes, and exhaled. Wasn't this love thing supposed to be easy? Weren't they just supposed to look in each other's eyes and admit it and then everything would be okay? Stupid romantic comedies. Gabriel wrapped himself up in his blanket, grabbed his headphones and turned on his iPod. Screw homework, Gabriel needed some time to think.
"Sam? Are you okay?" Sam looked up from his history textbook at Castiel. Dean had to go over to Bobby's to figure out something or other, so Castiel and Sam were alone.
"Um…yeah? Why?"
"You seemed really quiet at dinner." Castiel shrugged. His mostly black hair was starting to gray, but for the most part he looked the same as always.
"Just got a lot on my plate." Sam looked back at his textbook. "Finals coming up soon and…"
"What about Gabriel?"
"What about him, Cas?"
"Well, you two seem to be getting back on the same page, which is good right?"
"I…yeah? I mean…" Sam finally looked up from his book and sighed, his eyes resting on Castiel's blue ones. "It's like the more time we spend together the harder I fall for him and I just…can't tell him." Castiel smiled and chuckled slightly. "That's amusing somehow?"
"No, it's just that sometimes it amazes me how different you and Dean are."
"What do you mean?"
"Dean is the furthest thing from shy that I've ever met. He told me pretty quickly how he felt. You've been holding onto this for years and…" Just then the door opened.
"Cas? Sammy?" Dean called.
"Your ears must've been burning." Castiel replied when Dean kissed the top of his head. Dean rumpled Sam's hair as he walked into the kitchen.
"What did I do this time?" Dean asked as he opened the fridge.
"Just talking about how different you and little Sammy are."
"Sammy?" Sam raised an eyebrow at Castiel. "Cas, haven't we talked about that?"
"Sometimes the situation calls for it." Castiel shrugged.
"Anyway, what makes Sammy and me so different?"
"Well, Sam has been after Gabriel for years, whereas it took you what? Two days to kiss me?"
"Well, you didn't exactly tell me no. As a matter of fact I think you invited me into…"
"Okay! Not to be selfish, but can we not talk about your guys' sex life?"
"Sorry, what Cas said is true though. Why haven't you just laid it all out there and told him?"
"Because this isn't some chick-flick that just magically we admit our feelings and everything is all happy-go-lucky."
"Well no, but you could still tell him. Honestly Sam, what's the worst that could happen?" Castiel raised an eyebrow at him.
"Really? The worst that could happen is that he freaks the…freak out and then he decides he never wants to talk to me anymore." Sam looked from Dean to Cas and back as if daring them to question his logic.
"Well, high risk, high reward." Dean shrugged and put a plate of food in the microwave and leaned against the counter, waiting for his food. Sam sighed.
"Look, guys, if I could do it I would, but I just…it scares me. Can I just go back to my homework now?" Dean and Castiel exchanged a look.
"Yeah, go ahead." Dean grabbed his plate after the microwave went off and then sat down at the table. Sam pretended to read his history book while Dean and Castiel talked about their days. After about twenty minutes, Sam decided he could go up to his room and study in more peace. Once in his room, Sam sat down at his desk and stared at his textbook. He read the same sentence about five times before finally giving up. Plus, that chapter didn't need to be finished until Monday. Sam heard his phone beep and looked at it. There was a text message from Gabriel.
Gabe: Hey
Sam: Hey what's up?
Gabe: Just had a weird talk w/ my mom
Sam: Weird how?
Gabe: Just weird…can we talk in the morning b4 school starts?
Sam: Uh…yeah? About anything special?
Gabe: Not really…Chem mostly…around 715?
Sam: Yeah sounds good
Sam wasn't sure if he would be able to sleep.
The next morning Gabriel was sitting on the hood of his car. It was oddly warm for this time of year. He kept checking his phone to see if Sam was late or had texting him canceling, but he never did. Sam pulled up at 7:15 and Gabriel smiled.
"Hey, Sam." Gabriel waved as Sam got out of the Impala.
"Hey, Gabe. What's going on?" Sam asked as he stood in front of Gabriel.
"I was just thinking about our chemistry. You know, our project?" Gabriel smiled.
"Yeah, what about our project?"
"How close are we to being done?"
"Should only be like one or two more of our little sessions."
"Oh, okay, cool, cool." Gabriel nodded and looked away. He wasn't sure where to go from here. "Do you want to um…sit up here with me?" Gabriel asked as he scooted over. Sam smiled and when those dimples popped out, Gabriel's heart liquefied. Sam nodded and then sat up on the hood of Gabriel's car.
"So, now what do you want to talk about?"
"Well, did you have fun at Homecoming?" Sam laughed. Homecoming had been a couple weeks previous, but the two hadn't really talked about it.
"Yeah, actually. Jody and I went together." Out of the corner of his eye, Sam saw Gabriel's face fall slightly. "We just went as friends though. Jessica had Brady, Kevin had Channing and we figured we could have fun if we go together." Gabriel nodded, happy that Sam had corrected himself. "Did um…you have a date?"
"Uh…yeah I did. Madison was going with Crowley, Ruby went with Lucifer, a few other guys went with their girlfriends in our group."
"That wasn't really an answer to who you went with."
"Oh, um, I went with Tessa." Tessa was part of the cheerleading team along with Madison and Ruby.
"Tessa's nice. She's in my history class." Sam tried to swallow down the anger that was bubbling up in his throat. Sam cleared his throat.
"Yeah, she is. We just went as friends as far as I know anyway."
"What do you mean as far as you know?" Was there a slight hint of jealousy in Sam's voice? No, Gabriel was imagining that.
"I mean, we talked about it and we want to just be friends, but I guess the girls want us to be more."
"Well, isn't it about what you want?" Sam finally looked at Gabriel. The two locked eyes. Gabriel slowly nodded.
"Wh…what I want?"
"Yeah, I mean, what do you want?"
"I…I don't know what I want." Gabriel whispered.
"Come on," Sam bumped his shoulder into Gabriel's. It was small, but the touch still sent electricity through both of their bodies. "I bet you do."
"Sam, I…" Just then there was a honk as Kevin drove up and parked his car next to Sam's.
"Oh, there's Kevin." Sam jumped up off the car. "Um…hey are you busy tomorrow though?"
"I've got practice at 10 in the morning, but after that I'm free."
"Okay, do you want to come over afterwards? We can wrap up our project and maybe just hang out afterwards?" It was Gabriel's turn for the heart melting smile and nodded.
"Should be around one or two, is that alright?" Crowley pulled up and parked on the other side of Gabriel's car. He was blaring some song and Gabriel rolled his eyes. Did his friend's have like a little radar in their heads to ruin moments with him and Sam?
"Sounds good. I'll see you in chem." Sam waved and walked over to Kevin's car. Gabriel watched him and sighed. There was no way that Gabriel was going to be able to keep his feelings secret for long.
Sam and Kevin walked into the school.
"So, how'd that go?"
"He's going to come over tomorrow after his basketball practice."
"Finally! Jess will probably burst she'll be so happy."
"I don't know if I'm going to tell him."
"Yes, yes you are. You are going to tell him and you two are going to fall in love and that's it. End of story."
"You're worse than the girls."