#debrielcc

Of course Dean didn’t know that. As far as Gabriel could see, Dean considered him a friend and just that. Yes, they were thick as thieves, much to both of their families chagrin but he had never shown any kind of romantic inclination towards him. It was sad to admit that this crush was very one sided but that didn’t stop him from having fun and enjoying Dean’s company so he was definitely not ready to let him go. Maybe when Dean eventually found someone else he would have to make a choice but not today.

Especially not tonight. Not when Dean’s cheeks were red from running and the cold winds of December and they looked ready to be kissed. Thing that Gabriel did immediately pecking both of Dean’s cheeks while hugging him, following the French tradition, so excited that he didn’t notice how his friend tensed slightly under his hold.

“Oh man, you just don’t know how much I’ve missed you!”

Dean snickered nervously. “Yeah, I can tell.”

“So what brings you here?”

“Ah uh...” Dean seemed to space a moment looking at Gabriel. He blushed and coughed a little. “I thought we could sneak away, there’s a couple of new bands performing at the club I’m sure you’ll like.”

“Awesome! Yeah sure, lemme get some clothes and we can go.”

“Oh and…”

Gabriel turned towards Dean once more, waiting for his words, nodding at him to prompt him into speaking.

“I was wondering if we could, uh, you know… Grab the car?”

“The car?”

“Yeah, you know, The Car.”

“Oh, oh!” Gabriel laughed mischievously while taking off his pj’s and putting in some old worn jeans, a dark Black Sabbath t-shirt Dean had gifted him for his birthday and black leather boots. “Yeah sure! We can sneak downstairs through the service stairs, I bet Mrs. Bell is knocked off with those sleeping pills she gets.”

Gabriel turned to find an awkward looking Dean.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, nothing, uh, it’s good to see you here.”

Gabriel beamed at him.

“It’s good to see you too.”

So they sneaked into the garage to steal Michael’s car. The car, by the way was a classic 60’s cherry red Roadster that Michael kept in mint condition. Gabriel had been impressed when he saw it for the first time, moreso considering the fact that he couldn’t believe his down-to-earth brother was able to have such good taste in cars, maybe it was the ‘classic’ part of it that had called his attention but in the end, Gabriel was not going to complain. Especially when he knew for a fact Michael still left the car keys in the same place at the garage despite knowing his little brother liked to take it out for a ride from time to time. Okay, so maybe Michael was not as stuck up as he looked, Gabriel thought fondly. He was going to miss him if he decided to move after the marriage.

This time, Dean was on the wheel. They zoomed through the open roads for a while and left the car on a parking lot, knowing Michael would kill him if anything happened to it. Soon after the engine was killed, Gabriel took out his kohl stick and began to line his eyes. Dean shifted in his seat.

“Dude, you look good already, leave the makeup for the girls.”

“There’s never enough makeup when it comes to the guyliner Dean, maybe you should try it too.”

Dean snorted, he looked at Gabriel with a glance he was unable to read until he made up his mind.

“Alright then, turn me into a clown.”

Gabriel barked in delight with Dean’s comment while he leant towards him to start the job. They were close enough but Gabriel was more concentrated on not poking Dean’s eye by mistake.

“I knew I’d convince you one day.”

“You just like being pushy.”

“Shut up, you love me pushy.”

Dean stayed silent for a while while Gabriel finished the delicate job. Once he was done he began to put the eyeliner away.

“Yeah, I do.”

The words had been but a whisper but in the middle of the silence of the parked car it had been just as clear as daylight. Gabriel paused his actions and lowered his hands to look, really look at Dean. And it struck him like a lightning to realize that while Dean was undoubtedly handsome, the guyliner he had just placed on him made him ten times more attractive. And this attractive guy was looking at him in a way he knew for a fact he had never been addressed before.

“Dean?”

A car blaring out hip-hop music loud enough to wake up an entire block searching for a spot rushed in front of the Roadster, startling them. Dean coughed a bit.

“Come on, lets go.”

They ran through the couple of streets they had to cross to get to the club. It had been a good thing Dean had convinced him of using his warm lined corduroy jacket instead of the leather one. He had forgotten how cold things got at home.

Once inside the bar they were received by the gang; Charlie and Gilda, Mick, Ash and Jo greeted Gabriel warmly. Meanwhile, Dean took their jackets and headed to the personnel entry door. Gabriel stopped him just a second.

“You gotta work today?”

“Only half the shift, Jessica took Sam to some weird ass French movie, don’t even ask.”

Gabriel snorted, he was sure Dean only thwarted Sam’s chance of getting laid because he was expected to as the older brother. He screamed at him from half away.

“Cut him some slack man, the poor kid will die of blue balls!”

Dean turned around.

“Hey, I give him enough slack at home with the studies for the entrance exams, I won’t budge anymore.”

Gabriel moved his head in disapproval but he was still smiling. That probably had been the exact same answer the younger Winchester must have got. In the end all three of them knew Sam was still gonna get laid because he was not going to watch any movie, he was only not gonna be able to cuddle later.

The club began to fill itself with a lot of new faces, most likely followers of the bands that were going to play that night and sooner than later Gabriel saw the bar filling itself with countless girls that screamed in awe while he saw a bottle soar through the air. He wanted to get near to watch Dean do his bartender magic tricks but the crowd was so tight he wasn’t even able to see him through the people. He was sure the guyliner he had given him was also helping a lot with the charm.

Sighing a bit disappointed he turned back to the conversation only to find Charlie looking at him with knowing eyes.

“What?”

“What? You’re asking me what? Come on Gabe, you’re head over heels for Dean!”

Gabriel shrugged trying to play it cool. “So? It’s not like I’m hiding it anyways.”

“You’re not gonna do anything about it?”

At this point everyone else on the group turned to look at him, by the look of their faces they had obviously been desperate to ask him for a while now.

“Wha—!? Of course not! He’s my best friend! I’m not gonna risk what we already have because of my stupid crush.”

All their faces went down.

“Oh come on man! It’s Dean we’re talking about, he’ll definitely take you!”

Gabriel was about to retort when he stopped for a second.

“Okay, how much did you guys actually bet on me confessing?”

Everyone immediately began to laugh.

“It’s quite some actually, Kali and Bela said both of you are too much of a coward and nothing will happen.” Ash chimed in. “I’m rooting for Dean though.”

Gabriel tried his best to throw a judgemental glare to his friends until something in Ash words clicked in.

“What do you mean you’re rooting for Dean?”

Jo barked a laugh. In fact everyone did.

“Oh. My. God.”

“Are you being serious now Gabe?”

“I can’t believe this!”

“Okay guys come on, he wasn’t around to see what we saw. Actually, it’s because he wasn’t around that we saw it.”

“What? What did you see?”

More laughter.

“Well you see, three months ago, when your brother Michael got engaged—”

“Don’t tell him!”

“Oh come on guys!”

“I’m sorry Gabe, if you really want to know you’ll have to ask Dean.”

The banter between everyone went down to some gossip about the general whereabouts of everyone in life now. In the end most of them were able to see each other only on vacations now that they were studying in College so it was a good time to catch up. A few hours later, Dean joined them with a bucket of beers for everyone. Everybody cheered.

“Hey guys, what did I miss?”

“Hey, Dean, why don’t you tell Gabe what happened when we heard of the Payne engagement?”

Gabriel turned to Dean honestly curious, he really didn’t know what reaction to expect given the fact that none of their friends had wanted to spill the beans but he still got a bit startled when he saw Dean’s usually laid back features stiffen and his entire face turning red. Gabriel tried to ask him with a look but he distinctly avoided his gaze. Feeling a little taken aback by Dean’s avoidance Gabriel snickered nervously.

“It’s okay guys, it’s obviously not something that funny.”

Dean looked troubled for a second before he stepped in to try to help Gabriel feel better.

“No, no it’s okay I… uh, I dropped some bottles.”

“You... dropped some bottles?”

“Yeah, because they announced it on the news, remember?” Ash chimed in and went to imitate a news host voice “Exciting news for today folks! A new engagement has been formalized between the Payne and the Byrne households!”

“And just like that, Dean dropped the bottles!”

“Okay?”

“Don’t you get it Gabe? He dropped the bottles because of the shock!”

Dean fidgeted looking extremely uncomfortable while everybody held gloating faces.

“...Is it that weird to imagine Michael getting married?”

Everybody groaned, Dean deflated as if he had avoided a landmine.

“Guess I’m just weird! Now let’s drink guys, I need to wet my throat a bit.”

Dean was a bit too forceful but nobody complained. The rest of the night went by without an issue and Dean drove Gabriel back to his place. Once inside his room, Gabriel proceeded to remove their eyeliner, which proved to be harder than putting it on since Dean was doing a very poor job at staying still, every time Gabriel approached him, he stepped back.

“Damn it Dean, if you’re not going to let me do it then do it yourself!”

It seemed like that helped Dean snap out of whatever it was that was making him go back. He steeled himself and looked at Gabriel.

“I… I’m sorry.”

Gabriel sighed and went back to removing Dean’s eyeliner, he finished the first eye and moved to the second while Dean seemed to rummage something. He opened up the moment Gabriel was done.

“I thought it was you.”

“Huh?”

“The one getting married. I thought it was you.”

Gabriel looked at Dean blank for a second until it dawned on him what he was trying to say. Mick’s words came back to him and hit him like a train.

“Don’t you get it Gabe? He dropped the bottles because of the shock!”

Gabriel’s eyes widened in realization. Did this mean that Dean actually liked him? Maybe it had just been the shock of hearing about your friend’s marriage but then he wouldn’t have dropped the bottles, right? He stayed silent, he didn’t even know what to say, what if he was thinking way too much about this? What if Dean had really just been shocked because they were friends? What if…?

Gabriel’s train of thought halted and crashed when Dean leant towards him and kissed him.  

With a started noise and a sigh, Gabriel dropped everything and rushed to hold Dean’s face between his hands. Enticed by Gabriel’s actions, Dean moved forward and roughed him to get closer to him. Opening their lips and searching into each other’s mouths, gliding hands through their chests and biting softly each others lips, the kiss quickly heated up the moment they took each other’s shirts off when Gabriel’s door opened and in came a fairly drunk Lucifer who groaned at the sight, startling them.

“Oh for fucks sake Gabriel, get a room!”

Gabriel quickly deadpanned at his brother’s remark.

“Lucifer, this IS my room.”

Lucifer blinked a couple of times and looked around.

“Oh… well... lock the damn door next time!”

Giving Castiel's shoulder a manly pat, he walked up towards the Archangel and his own brother. Sam was working on carefully getting the stitches out of Gabriel's lips, talking to him as he did so and the angel watching his every movement suspiciously. As he went up to them, Dean really looked at the Archangel. His dirty hair. Dirt-strained and bloody face. The stitches that kept his lips sealed shut and the rags around his thin body that seemed to serve as 'clothes.' But most of all, it was the way how Gabriel held himself.

The Gabriel Dean was more familiar with, walked around with a great deal of confidence and sass as if he already owned the place. And now? Now the Archangel was nothing but a former shell of his glorious self. Bought down to his knees and broken in ways that the hunter couldn't imagine.

Dean was definitely going to slaughter Asmodeus. And he would make sure that the demon suffered for what he had done.

"Gabriel?" Dean asked when he stood behind his brother, looking down on the both of them.

Gabriel did not seem to acknowledge him. All his attention was focused on Sam's hands and the knife by his face. In a way, Dean couldn't blame him. Sammy was holding a knife after all.

"What happened to you, Gabe?" He could hear Sam ask. But the Archangel stayed silent, even after his stitches were removed and some of the dried blood on his face was washed away by a washcloth.

"Gabriel," Dean tried again, "do you remember who we are?" The angel finally looked up at that, meeting his eyes, and Dean felt like he got punched in the guts by a baseball bat. There was so much pain and fear in those whiskey-colored eyes that were once brights and sparkling with mischief but were now dull and lifeless.

Gabriel shuffled away from them, averting his eyes and making himself smaller on the chair as a small whimper left his lips. Dean noticed that he was shaking.

"Let's just... give him a moment," Castiel spoke up, having joined them. "I will give him a room. Let's give him some time to settle in and calm down. He's not going to talk now." The Seraphim kneeled before the Archangel and started speaking to him in a hushed tone.

Dean took hold of Sam's shirt and dragged him away from the angels. Some family moments were just private, the elder Winchester brother knew. Sam seemed to understand as well for he followed Dean without a word.

"What do you think?" Sam asked him once they were out of earshot, looking at the angels' way with a concerned frown. "Will he be alright?"

"I believe he will be eventually."

I have to.

~~

It had been more than a day now and Dean was growing restless. Gabriel had yet to speak, or even leave the room they've given to him. Castiel was the one who looked after him most of the time; trying to take care of him and looking after him in a way only a brother could. He had been unable to heal Gabriel. Angels couldn't just heal an Archangel, but he had definitely tried, which Dean hoped did not go fully unnoticed by the Archangel in question.

"You know," Sam spoke up in amusement, "if you're just going to be pacing around all day and grumbling like an angry bear, you might as well try talking to him and see if you get through."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dean immediately spoke up, his defensive side getting the best of him. Sam just gave him a knowing look and Dean broke under his gaze. "FINE!!" He gave in, throwing up his hands before he stalked out of the room they had previously occupied.

Still somewhat fuming at his brother and the 'assumptions' he always made, Dean didn't realize he stood in front of Gabriel's door. Suddenly nervous, he gulped and knocked on the door - just to alert the Archangel of his presence. Dean did not want to startle the poor thing too much. After he knocked, he carefully opened the door and stepped inside the room before he would lose all of his fleeting courage. "Gabriel?" He asked, looking around the room. He noticed the Archangel sitting behind his bed - the only reason Dean saw him was that the top of his head poked out - and he carefully went over. He sat down on the floor, against the wall and faced Gabriel, being sure to keep his distance.

Gabriel watched him warily, shuffling away slightly as he curled more into himself. "I won't hurt you," Dean reassured him, looking away to stare at the wall on the other side of the room. "I just came here to talk, really." The corner of his lips curled up, "And don't worry about not wanting to talk back. You can just stay quiet if you prefer." As he expected, Gabriel said nothing. But Dean didn't found himself caring much about that. In a way, a strange way, it was nice. "I guess I mostly just wanted to say 'thank you', you know?" Aware of the Archangel's gaze on him, Dean continued talking, ignoring the nerves he suddenly felt. "I don't know how much you remember, or if you even remember us at all and I'm possibly making a fool out of myself here... but we haven't forgotten the sacrifice you made for the sake of humanity. I haven't forgotten. Just," he gulped, "thank you, Gabe."

He forced himself to meet those whiskey-colored eyes with his own, and when he did, an idea formed in his head. Dean grinned and Gabriel's expression turned doubtful. "I've decided," the hunter spoke as he jumped up to his feet. The angel pressed himself closer against the wall at the sudden movement. "We are going out. We're going to do something fun, the two of us." His smile widened.

"I just need you to trust me," Dean added, holding out his hand. "You once seemed to trust us and believe in us. I'm asking you to do the same thing now." After what felt like an eternity, but was most likely only minutes, Gabriel reached out doubtfully, his hand shaking, and he took Dean's outstretched one.

~~

What am I even doing?

Taking his eyes off the road, he glanced towards the frightened Archangel in the passenger seat of his car, who nearly jumped through the roof with every bump or twist the car made. It was already a miracle in its own that he even convinced Gabriel to get in Baby, but then what? With the state he was in now, Gabriel appeared to be even afraid of his own shadow and Dean was not sure where he could take him without traumatizing the poor thing even further. Loud places were off the list - he was fairly certain that Gabriel wouldn't appreciate that, so he could cross off going to a strip club, bar, or even an amusement park. He was also doubtful about going to the cinema - movies could be pretty loud and unpredictable sometimes. And angels did not need to eat, so it would be rather pointless in Dean's mind to go to a snack bar or restaurant. It did not leave much to choose from.

Where would one take a traumatized Archangel?

As they were driving down the road in complete silence - he didn't want to risk startling Gabriel with music, nor could he exactly make small talk with someone who refused to speak - an idea started to form in Dean's mind. He shot a sideways glance at the angel, who had placed his head against the window and watched the clouds cross the sky blankly. He wasn't sure if Gabriel would like his idea, but it was better than nothing and the hunter couldn't think of anything that could go wrong or end up scaring the angel.

He decided he might as well wing it.

~~

They pulled up next to a lake. Ignoring Gabriel's questionable look, for now, Dean stepped out of the car and went to the trunk. He was aware of the passenger side door opening and the angel quietly stepping out and looking out over the clear silver lake. Shaking his head lightly, Dean opened the trunk of his car and took out two fishing rods. He and Sam have gone out fishing a couple of days ago and Dean had yet to take the rods out of his car. Now he was glad he hadn't done so yet.

Taking the rods, he closed the trunk and went back towards Gabriel, who was still looking at the lake. At least he appeared to be more relaxed than when he was at the Bunker though, Dean noted. When he stepped on a branch, Gabriel's head snapped up his way. Giving the Archangel what he hoped was a charming and reassuring smile, Dean held up the two fishing rods in an almost child-like enthusiasm. "I'm not sure what you exactly went through in Hell and all that... but I figured you could use some peace and quiet for a while. So we are going fishing." He threw one of the rods Gabriel's way, who managed to catch it with a startled expression.

"You do know how to fish, don't you?" Dean asked, raising a single eyebrow.

Gabriel looked away.

"You don't?" It honestly baffled Dean. "Let me get this straight. You are older than the universe itself... but never went fishing?"

A tiny shrug came from Gabriel, who looked down at his feet.

Taking some pity on the angel, Dean decided to make it a bit easier for him. "Don't worry about it. I can teach you. It's pretty simple," he grinned, part of him actually looking forward to being able to teach anyone. He and Sam learned how to fish around the same time, and Castiel wasn't particularly interested and seemed to feel sorry for the fish, so he had never been able to reach anyone.

Gabriel watching him with large eyes, Dean mentioned the angel closer, who warily did so - eyes flashing around as if he expected some kind of fearful monster to jump out of the bushes every moment now. "The first step, obviously, is to get closer to the water," Dean said, hoping that if he just kept talking the angel would lose some of his build up tension. He carefully sat down on one of the rocks around the lake's edge, folding his legs underneath himself as he prepared to throw the rod out over the lake. Gabriel perched down on one of the rocks a little bit away from him, holding his own rod tightly and gaze watchful. In a way, he reminded Dean of a feral hawk who had landed amidst civilization. He proceeded to softly explain to him how it worked, turned towards him as he showed the angel how to do certain steps. Gabriel did not talk, but Dean did get the idea that he was listening. He hoped that the angel appreciated the time off.

"Okay, Gabriel," Dean announced, "watch me do this, alright?" Holding the handle loosely in his hold, he pulled back and threw out the line. Watching it fly through the air, it eventually landed in the lake a couple of yards away. Water splashed up in the distance and Dean grinned. Not too bad.

He sat down slowly, eyes focused on his line and gave Gabriel a quick glance. "Give it your best shot," he grinned encouragingly.

Gabriel poked out his tongue slightly and attempted to copy Dean. At his first try, the hook got stuck in his clothes - which prompted a scream from the terrified angel. With his second try, the rod flew out of his hands and nearly fell into the lake. The way of how hopeless Gabriel looked prompted a small laugh from the hunter, which resulted in the angel giving him a heavy glare and squaring his shoulders. In a flash, Dean saw the proud warrior he had once been. Gabriel took the rod again, shot a heavy glare at the lake as if it was his greatest enemy, and he threw out the line again. This time, it actually went well. Not as far as Dean, but not too bad for a first timer.

"You've done a great job," Dean said with a small smile, feeling like he had to say something. The angel's triumphant grin seemed to make it worth it though.

"And now," he continued, shifting around to make himself more comfortable, "we wait."

~~

Dean wasn't sure how long they've sat there. As the two of them sat quietly by the lake's edge, the sun had traveled quite some distance across the still clear sky. But it was not boring, a tranquility hung over them and it seemed to have a somewhat calming effect on Gabriel - who was watching the lake intently - and Dean had always enjoyed fishing. They hadn't caught anything yet, but Dean didn't found himself minding all that much. Being used to the busy and stressful life hunting bought him, he took the most out of the few quiet moments he got.

Unexpectedly, he felt a pull on his rod and the hunter's eyes widened. Jumping to his feet, aware of Gabriel's eyes on him, he attempted to pull the fish in, but it appeared to be rather strong and was fighting back with willpower that surprised the human. A grunt left his lips and he narrowed his eyes. I'm not about to lose against a damned fish.

Yet sadly for Dean, he seemed to have noticed the fact that the rocks had gotten slightly damp over time. Placing his feet on just the wrong place, and with the fish tugging against the line, he lost his footing and slipped. Eyes widening, a high-pitched shriek came from him as he fell face-down in the freezing lake.

It appeared he had lost against the fish after all.

Gasping for breath and pushing against the water with his limps, he shook his head and mentally cursed out all the Gods he could think of. That was when a clear sound reached his ears.

A laugh.

Looking up in shock, Dean's eyes fell on Gabriel. Still perched on the rock, rod now abandoned, the Archangel has thrown his head back and was laughing loudly. It was the first time he had made a sound that was not a whimper or a terrified shriek, and Dean was almost in awe. A mischievous smirk forming on his face, he hit out at the water and splashed it right at the angel.

The cold water hit the Archangel square in the face, who shrieked in shock and jumped back. For a second, Dean feared he had moved too fast and had startled the poor thing. However, a smile slowly formed on Gabriel's lips, and faster than Dean would be able to eat a pie if he were to be starving, Gabriel had jumped in the lake as well and Dean got water splashed on him too. "Oh, two can play at that game!" He called out-wide eyed.

Then they started a water fight. Neither of them willing to lose and go down without a fight and a similar fire burning in both of their eyes. Nevertheless, the most important thing to Dean perhaps was that Gabriel seemed to be having fun at the very least and the walls he had built around himself were coming down.

Dean yelped when a larger-than-usual wave appeared out of nowhere and picked him up before crashing him back onto the shore. He just managed to put his hands in front of him so his face wouldn't split open on the rocks. Scraping his hands open, he winced slightly when some blood trailed down. Wiping his hands off his pants he turned to face the angel, whose head was the only body part visible over the rippling water surface. That, and his earsplitting grin. The man couldn't help but smile back, but something seemed to show on his expression for Gabriel's face fell.

The Archangel disappeared in a flutter of wings, the water surface rippling slightly, and reappeared right next to Dean as he looked down at his hands with large eyes. "It's alright," Dean said, "this is just a scratch. I've had much worse. It has even already almost closed up." Yet Gabriel did not seem to hear and shrank back further, making himself as small as he could. Dean swore he could see a shimmer of wings appear around him, transparent and glowing in the light of the sun as they wrapped around the shivering angel. Delicate as broken glass.

"Gabe, it's fine. It's doesn't really hurt." He tried again, reaching out towards him. Without really thinking about it, Dean took Gabriel by the shoulders and pressed him closer, holding him tightly in a hug. At first, Gabriel tensed up completely with a choked cry, but he soon grew numb and simply leaned against the hunter. "When was the last time you've had a hug?" Dean muttered, simply holding him and rubbing his back where he knew his invisible wings were hidden.

As Dean expected, Gabriel didn't reply. But he had at least stopped shaking, so the man called it a win.

"How about we'll just head back then?" Dean tried. "We can watch a movie or something if you want," he offered, barely noticing the angel nod against his chest. Dean patted his shoulder one last time before he let go of him and stepped back. Gabriel looked rather lost, so he gave him a reassuring smile. "Go ahead and wait in the car, I'll get the rods." He added.

Silently, the angel did as he was told and headed back towards the Impala. Opening the door, Gabriel stilled for a second as his shoulders hunched up. Dean frowned and was about to open his mouth and ask if he was alright, but Gabriel beat him to it. "Thank you," the Archangel whispered, voice raw after having been unused for so long. Then the angel quickly jumped in the car and shut the door rather loudly, leaving Dean gawking at where he previously stood.

"You're welcome," Dean whispered, not even sure if the angel could hear him at all.

~~

Gabriel didn't talk again during the journey back to the Bunker. Instead, the angel looked ahead at the road before them, seemingly unaware of Dean's near-constant gaze on him - who was still surprised at having heard him talk in the first place. Dean knew that Gabriel wasn't there yet, but he could definitely see some improvement compared to yesterday.

"If you ever want to do something like this again," Dean started to say, looking back at the road, "just let me know and I'll take you, alright?" He could feel Gabriel's gaze on him and from the corner of his eyes, he could see the angel nod. Then a random thought abruptly entered his mind.

Did I just took Gabriel out on a date?

Hands tightening around the steering wheel, Dean's mind raced. He might not have asked Gabriel out officially, but they had fun and went out with only the two of them, so it still counted... right?

A light chuckle came from the angel next to him and Dean scowled. "Were you just reading my mind?" He asked, narrowing his eyes skeptically.

"No," Gabriel flat out denied.

Angel and man shared a look before they started laughing. "You totally were," Dean stated, feeling himself go red around his ears.

Gabriel did not deny it again. Instead, he said, with a shy smile, "I won't mind going out with you again sometimes."

Dean nearly choked on his spit, barely managing to play it off by a cough. "Cool," he nearly choked out. Dean has never before felt such a sudden urge to slam his head through the wall as he did at this very moment.

According to Gabriel's amused look, the Archangel knew perfectly well the effect he was having on Dean. "Cool," Gabriel repeated, definitely mocking him. Dean scowled at that and Gabriel laughed again. Slowly, Dean's lips curled up at the sides and he simply shook his head. Angels, you gotta love them.

At least he's smiling and talking again.

~~

The moment Dean parked the car, he turned around to face Gabriel but only to discover that the Archangel had disappeared. Blinking, he looked up to see him standing outside the Impala and looking at him. Dean stepped out himself and faced Gabriel, suddenly nervous.

Where is courage when you need it the most?

Gabriel was the first to speak. "Thank you for today," he whispered softly, the wind gently moving through his golden hair. "It was fun." Then he stepped in front of Dean, and before the hunter could react, he stood on the tips of his toes and connected their lips in a kiss. Their lips barely touched, yet it was enough to send him over the edge. Before Dean could process what was happening, Gabriel's tough was gone again. The Archangel winked at the startled human and then he was gone in a flutter of wings, leaving Dean behind to touch his burning lips in shock.

After what felt like forever, his legs finally worked and listened to the rambling commands of his brain as he numbly walked towards the Bunker's front door. Before he could open it, the door opened on its own and Dean was left facing Sam. He tilted up his head.

"Did you ran a marathon or something?" Sam blurted out. "You're rather out of breath and red in the face." Then realization seemed to settle in and a smirk formed on his face. Dean started to grow uncomfortable. "I knew it!"

"Sam!" Dean hissed out, not feeling like dealing with his brother's fangirl side. Actually, Dean never felt like dealing with fangirl Sam.

"By the way, I think that Gabriel went back to his room," Sam added, still that stupid smirk on his face. Dean felt like punching him. "Cas mentioned something like that. Go to your boyfriend." Sam's smirk widened when he spoke that last word.

"He's not-" Dean stammered, shaking his head as he composed himself. He wasn't about to let Sammy win this one. "Says the guy who was most likely fucking Cas when I was out."

Sam did not react the way he had hoped. Instead, the taller Winchester merely shrugged. "You're not wrong about that. Cas is quite good in bed with that thing he does-" Sam started to say.

Dean did not want to hear more about the sex-life of his brother and best friend and clamped Sam's mouth shut. "Don't traumatize me," he nearly begged before stalking away, Sam's amused laugh following him as he went and Dean's face reddened even more.

Boyfriend, huh?

Tags: @luciferstempest @gabrielsbackbitches @jgvfhl @staycejo1 @blakechaos08 @qslucid @lucifer-in-leather

Challenge account tag: @debrielcc

The wool was a nice mix of delicate golden with strikes of copper. He wanted something different than the untreated white but kept it leaning over the pale tones following the teacher’s advice and bought quite a bunch to have some leeway in case he screwed up on the process. Dean and Gabriel poked it for a while and tried using it as a pillow until Sam kicked them out of his room and sent them for groceries before they could destroy the nicely gathered fibers.

Sam began his spinning task the following day, he gathered a bunch of fiber on the distaff and rolled a bit of yarn together, doing the beginnings of a thread strong enough to hold on to the spindle with a knot and began to turn the fibers in between his deft fingers. Everything went great for a couple of hours until he saw something weird and stopped. He double checked and sighed in annoyance while standing up and heading to the kitchen.

“I hate you guys!”

“What? What did we do now?”

“You placed your stupid heads on top of my wool and now it’s got your hair all over it!”

“Oh come on Sam, it can’t be that bad.”

“I already found two of your hairs Dean! And only god knows how many Gabriel left that I didn’t catch because of your stupid hair colour!”

“Hey! I like my hair colour!”

“Alright, alright, we’re sorry man, you want me to buy you more yarn?”

Sam huffed.

“No, just… don’t get anywhere near it again.”

Dean and Gabriel nodded at Sam coyly in the most mollified gesture they could, it wasn’t like they could do much to appease the younger hunter after messing up like that and proceeded to keep up with their chat after Sam left them again to their beers. Hopefully, Sam wouldn’t find anymore hair in his batch. And just like with everything in their lives, they didn’t realize something odd was happening until the weird things started.

It had been just a graze. Both men reached for the same book and moved away as soon as their hands touched.

“Sorry.”

“Oh, no, sorry, didn’t see you there.”

Dean chuckled.

“Yeah”

Both men smiled at each other awkwardly before Gabriel pointed at the book.

“You were gonna grab it?”

“Right, uh, as long as you don’t need it?”

“Not at all Dean-o! I can grab another one.”

Fair enough, thought Dean with a shrug taking the tome of The Silmarillion he had eagerly been wanting to read but never managed to because he either focused on a hunt or on the complexity of the book. Now that they were older and taking things a bit more slow seemed like the perfect time.

“So… you like Tolkien”

“Of course I do, he’s the best!”

“Have you ever seen the illustrated edition of The Lord of the Rings? That Alan Lee is something else.”

“Oh man, I’d kill to get a hold of that one before I die.”

“Well, you don’t have to kill anyone, you just gotta ask.”

Gabriel winked at him nonchalantly. Dean blushed.

“Yeah I… I wouldn’t want to impose like that...”

“Oh come on Dean-o it’ll only take a bit of grace, nothing that I’ll miss.”

Dean looked at Gabriel timidly, he was going to answer something back when Castiel walked in the room.

“Sam says that he wants to eat out, if you don’t have food ready.”

Both men turned towards the newcomer startled.

“Oh… Uh, there’s nothing prepared, tell him that we can go whenever he’s ready.”

Castiel nodded and moved away while the other two men stayed still for a second trying to process something that was alarming them subconsciously.

“Uh… Gabe?”

“Ya?”

“Did we just...?”

“Flirt?”

Dean blushed and gave out a nervous laugh while scratching the back of his head. “Ok, uh, that’s a pretty strong word you know?”

Gabriel mimicked Dean’s forced smirk. “Right, haha, uh… sorry?”

Both men turned away from their eyes, they only wanted to get away from each other’s presence that suddenly was way too much to stand. Castiel came back.

“Sam says in five.”

“In five! Perfect! I’ll have Baby running!”

With that, Dean ran towards the garage, leaving the angels behind.

“Did Dean seem a little bit too eager to leave?”

“Eh, he might be pretty hungry, you know how humans are with their physical needs.”

“Gabriel?”

“Yeah?”

“Are you ok?”

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s just… your grace seems a little bit altered.”

Gabriel blushed. “Of course I’m fine! Now come on, we need to get to the car.”

Dragging Castiel by his side to stop him from talking, Gabriel moved them both.

Sam had taken to spin outside the bunker in the nice early autumn weather and Castiel joined him mostly to look at him in awe. Sam felt extremely flustered the first days, especially after Castiel told him that whenever he looked at him spinning he felt like Sam shined.

This also meant that the more time Sam and Castiel spent together, the more Gabriel and Dean had to deal with each other. Alone. Which had never been a problem before, they had always been extremely compatible but with each metre of yarn Sam spun, the stronger they felt the attraction and with each passing day it became harder to be able to stand in the same room and not throw themselves at each other after a while.

Touching accidents like the one in the library always made way to awkward flirting which, when discovered, forced both men to walk away from each other embarrassed and frustrated. With ardent looks from across the room, soon enough they were effectively dancing out of their reach while thinking longingly of the days they threw themselves in the same bed to drink beer and watch porn together. Now that thought alone was something none of them wanted, it was a sure way to get other parts of their anatomy reacting as well.

Dean rinsed his cup of coffee and sighed leaning over the sink.

“You okay bucko?”

Gabriel’s tone from the other side of the room was worried beyond normalcy, he couldn’t stand Dean looking so down but he was afraid of getting any closer to his friend without doing something really stupid. He had caught himself glancing ardently at Dean’s plump lips more than once and it seemed like the more he tried to pry away the unwanted thought it came back in doubles.

“Something’s wrong. This is wrong.”

“You think it’s a curse?”

“Don’t you?”

Gabriel sighed.

“You still haven’t found anything in those books though.”

“How do you…?”

“I’ve watched you, watched the tomes you left on the table the other day. Read them too, nothing at all. So uh maybe… maybe it’s a different thing?”

“What do you mean?”

The gruff in Dean’s voice exposed that Dean had already guessed where Gabriel was going and the angel was trying to choose his words carefully but no matter how he worded it, it wouldn’t make it any less awkward.

“I mean that maybe... maybe we do like each other?”

“Dude I don’t like you!”

Gabriel felt a pang in his chest, and despite his usual trickster face something must have shown up because he could clearly see Dean’s regret at spurting his words so bluntly.

“I mean… I, I do like you but not like that.”

Dean looked away, face completely red. Gabriel stood and approached him. He was an archangel for heaven’s sake! He should be able to be more assertive and approach this man without feeling like his heart was about to jump out of his ribcage. He cornered Dean against the sink.

“Then in which way do you like me?”

Dean looked back at Gabriel defiantly, he was so damn close to him now. How was this idiot asking him to give a proper answer when he was unable to even process a word?

“Dean?”

It was a plea, Gabriel’s trembling voice was not even half of what he had hoped to deliver. He took another step towards the man and even when Dean tried to lean away from him, they were now only inches away and Dean’s ability to process anything at all was stalled. He felt Gabriel’s hands glide upwards over his chest and hold the fabric of his flannel shirt and he couldn’t help drawing in a startled breath while realizing just how much Gabriel really wanted him and Dean began to reach forward until Sam entered the room followed closely by Castiel.

“Hey guys I was thinking...”

Sam froze in the middle of the steps into the kitchen. Dean looked at him in panic while Gabriel closed his eyes most likely silently cursing the interruption. Surely, the hunter moved away from Gabriel’s grasp and ran away from the place, half bumping shoulders with his brother in the middle of his hazed retreat. Sam looked at his brother escape into the hallway still stunned but when he turned at Gabriel and looked his sour glance he felt personally attacked.

“What the Hell Gabriel? What were you doing to Dean!?”

Gabriel looked bewildered. “Me!? I didn’t do a thing to him!”

“Then explain why you were manhandling him like that?”

“Oh for fucks… I was not manhandling him! Besides who even uses the word ‘manhandle’ these days?”

Sam was taken aback before sending Gabriel a bitchface. While they fought, Castiel approached Gabriel.

“Brother are you alright?”

“What? Of course I’m alright!”

“Are you sure? Something looks odd with your grace.”

Gabriel was turning to retort frustrated at Castiel when something hit him. His eyes widened and he pointed at Castiel.

“Wait a second, you said something like that before… What was it?”

Castiel looked into his memory.

“When I told you your grace looked altered?”

“YES! That’s it! Can you check it up for me Magpie?”

“Uh” Castiel looked sideways to Sam “Are you sure you want to do that here?”

Gabriel turned at Sam and had the sense to look a little skittish.

“Okay yeah, maybe not here, my room?”

Sam frowned at the angels while they stepped away, he realized there was something odd going on but didn’t say much. He wondered if it was wise to ask his brother about what had happened but decided to have some food ready to appease him when the interrogation started and went to prepare something. Soon enough Dean saw his brother come into his room with a soft knock, a chicken salad sandwich cut in two and a couple of beers.

“Hey”

Dean eyed him in suspicion looking at the food “What do you want?”

“Nothing, nothing uh… I just wanted to know if you were alright with what’s going on with you and Gabriel...”

Sam immediately saw his brother blush but he still frowned defiantly.

“What did he tell you?”

“Uh, he didn’t say much really but if he’s bothering you in any way I—”

“He’s not bothering me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Dean huffed annoyed but still took half of the sandwich he was being handled. Sam took it as a win, if his brother hadn’t been okay with talking about it he would have kicked him away already.

“It’s not like that, it’s just… Things have been a little tense but we’ll get over it. We have to get over it.”

“You have to get over what?”

When Dean literally ignored Sam’s question to focus on munching his sandwich and drinking beer in denial Sam’s head began to work and looked back into the scene where he had found them together and he could have hit himself with how obvious the issue had been.

“Is Gabriel hitting on you?”

Dean choked on the beer he was drowning and had to be helped to sit on the edge of the bed by a suddenly slightly scared Sam.

“If you want me to kick him out I’ll—”

“No! Dammit Sam it’s not—” cough “I don’t... I don’t want him to leave!”

“Okay but why?”

Dean looked at his brother like a deer in the headlights. Sam’s eyes lit up in comprehension.  In any other kind of situation Sam would have been gloating about the turn of events but with the way his brother was reacting at the moment he wasn’t sure how to feel about the whole ordeal, it was more like having a heavy stone in his stomach.

“Oh my god, you like him.”

Dean frowned and turned away from Sam’s eyes.

“I don’t like him! Not in that way anyways...”

“Then why—”

“I don’t know Sam! I don’t know I just… Look, it’s weird as fuck, I won’t deny you that but it’s not… I don’t… ” Dean’s shoulders dropped in defeat while he sighed “I don’t know, maybe it’s just a phase. We’ll get back to how we were before. We have to.”

Sam sighed as well, Dean was being way too hopeful about this but he didn’t want to destroy his brother’s optimism.

“Okay, okay uh, you know I’m here no matter what, right?”

Dean scowled at him, he had gone back to his usual no chick-flick moments now and Sam knew he was not going to get anything else out of him.

“Uh, wanna finish your sandwich?”

Sam motioned the tray with the piece that Dean had hastily placed back in the middle of his choking attack. Dean eyed it for a second before going back for it while Sam sighed relieved, wondering if Castiel would be able to find out anything wrong with his brother after going back through their conversations and starting to suspect there might be something else going on there.

Unlike his other brothers, it had been ages since Gabriel had shown his wings to anyone. In fact it was quite recent since he had started to let Castiel see his grace like any other normal angel would. He used to blame his need to hide as a Trickster for that. Once the door had been locked, Gabriel sat on the mattress and expanded his wings for him and heard the seraph gasp.

Castiel had never seen an archangel’s wings so close in his life. The covers were full of soft golden contours and filled with sparkling downy while the larger primary and secondary feathers were broad and shimmering grace in an undulating pattern that let out ripples of energy like a pond that has been touched by a falling leaf. If Gabriel would ever use them around his body It would almost look like a regal cape. His halo a blazing ring of condensed light that let out the same ripple effect in between strokes of light.

“You okay back there?”

“Uh. Yes. Sorry… Gabriel you are beautiful.”

Gabriel blushed and quickly shut Castiel up before urging him to begin searching his grace for whatever it could be possibly altering him. Castiel moved a hand towards the wings first but was struck once more by the majestic view in front of him. Sensing the doubt, Gabriel motioned his wings back until they touched Castiel’s hand. Effectively bringing him back to reality. Purposefully, Castiel worked his hands into the wings and despite knowing he had to look for what was messing with Gabriel’s grace, he began to preen Gabriel’s feathers, there was no way he would miss the chance of meddling with an archangel’s wings. Castiel was wondering when the last time Gabriel had this done to him had been when he heard a long groan of satisfaction from him.

“Fuck Cas, stop doing that, you’re killing me!”

“I’m sorry brother, it won’t take long.”

It did take long. By the end of his search, Gabriel was a puddle in the middle of the bed, wings shining twice as hard as before and Castiel had found an odd golden thread literally sewn to the base of Gabriel’s wings. He had had to tune his grace to it because it had not been visible at first even when he had clearly felt it tangle in his finger. Leaving his brother sleeping peacefully, Castiel picked up the thread and followed it, walking along the hall he kept going until the thread torn in two. Choosing one path he landed on Dean’s door. He knocked.

“Yeah?”

Castiel opened the door and saw the man reclined on his bed reading. He was looking at the seraph waiting for him to talk but raised an eyebrow when he saw the angel enter and walk towards him apparently following something he obviously couldn’t see. Castiel looked at his hand and then at Dean’s back.

“I’m sorry Dean, could you lean over a little?”

Dean did as asked and turned at his back wondering what the hell Castiel was looking for over there. The seraph placed his hand over the same place where Gabriel’s wings would have started and pulled at the invisible thing on his hand. Dean definitely felt something pulling from him and jerked back surprised.

“The Hell!?”

Castiel hummed and moved away from the hunter.

“Thank you.”

He walked back to the hallway, invisible thing still in his hand. Puzzled, Dean moved away from his bed and followed Castiel who walked up to the division of the thread and turned towards the remaining end. This time the thread lead them to Sam’s bedroom. Castiel knocked once but still opened the door even when no one answered. Finally he saw it, the end of the invisible thread tied to the spindle. Taking it in his hands, Castiel walked to the Dean-cave, knowing Sam was watching a documentary and paused it without a second thought.

“Cas?”

“I’m sorry Sam but can you remind me where did you get this spindle?”

It took them an entire day and a bunch of files splattered over the table for Dean to finally find the document containing all the information pertaining to the object.

“The Tools of the Fates. Clotho’s Distaff, The Spindle of Lachesis and Atropos Scissors. This spinning set was confiscated from a three witch coven in 1575 in Scotland, it is said that it’s power is so large that it can twist the fate of every human being in the universe...”

“Guess we can include heavenly beings now. Eh?”

Dean’s voice faded while he focused on each paragraph of the paper, Sam and Gabriel behind him reading as well.

“Ok I don’t get this, it says that it allows the witch to twist the fate of their target but how on earth did Gabe and I ended up like this?”

Sam’s eyes lit in comprehension and let out a very soft “Crap” that everybody heard none-the-less. With everyone’s gaze on him, the poor boy blushed ashamed.

“I got tired of looking for your strands of hair so I kept on spinning without looking for it. The yarn I’ve been making, it’s got your hair entwined.”

Dean and Gabriel looked at Sam completely startled.

“What the hell man? You’ve been doing fucking voodoo on us?”

“I didn’t know!”

“Okay nevermind that, where are the scissors? Bet my ass that we can undo this with those.”

“What? No! That’s my yarn!”

“It’s not that easy Dean-o look at this first.”

Gabriel held Dean before he could get away from the table. The hunter turned back and read the pages he was being handled.

“After some experimentation, it was confirmed that the spell is triggered by cutting the thread with Atropos Scissors in the middle of the spinning process. The curse becomes permanent and up to date no spell has been found to unbind it… Wait does that mean that—”

“We have to wait until Sam is done with the yarn he bought or else we’ll be all over each other forever.”

Dean threw his arms in frustration he turned around and pressed his fingers over his frown. He counted to ten and breathed deeply before turning back towards his brother.

“We’re not leaving this place until you’re done with that yarn.”

Fuming, the man left them to get a beer. He definitely needed one.

Some days passed, Sam had already chastised his brother away at least six times and was barely going back into the zone when he saw Gabriel appear in front of him.

“Sigh… No Gabriel, it’s NOT done yet.”

“Touchy much?”

Sam glared at him.

“I didn’t come because of that. Unlike your brother I can be patient.”

Sam raised an eyebrow at him, gruffed and turned back at his work. He assumed that whatever it was the archangel wanted to tell him, he could just say it out loud.

“I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry.”

This time Sam stopped. “What?”

“I’m sorry, for this.” Gabriel motioned the air around them. “I mean, you only wanted to have a hobby and we fucked that up.”

Sam coughed a bit surprised and turned back to his work more relaxed. “It wasn’t anybody’s fault, we didn’t know that this was going to happen.”

“Are you still gonna use that spindle after we’re done with this? For what I read on the file it works like a normal spindle as long as you only work with yarn.”

Sam laughed “Nah, I’m gonna buy a normal one. I don’t want anything weird happening again because of this.”

Gabriel hummed and sat by his side to look at him in a way that reminded Sam a little bit too much of Castiel, enthralled with his work. And even though Sam didn’t mind it, something felt a bit off.

“You’re not going back to Dean?”

“Are you kidding me? If I stay more than an hour in the same place with him I want to eat his face.”

Sam laughed heartily, the mental image should have been gross but for some reason Sam found it funny. Gabriel smiled at Sam’s gesture but his eyes soon left for the horizon and he sighed after a while, hugging his knees.

“I miss him.”

“Dean?”

Gabriel nodded. “I love drinking beer with him, and playing pool and watching porn together but right now I can’t do that because if I get careless and kiss him maybe we won’t be able to go back to what we had before...”

Sam paused his spinning work, the eyes of the angel before him were glazed and he was bearing one of the saddest expressions he had ever seen.

“I don’t want to lose Dean like that...”

Sam stood still, falling into one of those rare moments of realization where time seems to slow it’s flow. With just a brief moment of vulnerability, Gabriel had shown that despite being under a spell at the moment, the archangel undoubtedly felt more love for his brother than what he let out on a daily basis. Sam sent him a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry Gabe, just hang in there a bit. I’ll be done in a couple of days.”

Gabriel nodded. He stayed the rest of the day keeping Sam company.

Meanwhile Dean was mindlessly sharpening some of his blades when out of nowhere he sighed profoundly. Castiel turned from his book.

“Dean? Are you alright?”

Dean’s shoulders fell while he deposited a sharpened blade down and picked up another one.

“Yeah”

Castiel kept his gaze on him for a while until Dean dropped the blade over the table frustrated.

“No, I’m not.”

“What’s the problem?”

“Nothing! Everything’s peachy.”

Castiel patiently waited once more, Dean sighed again and dropped himself over the table with another sigh.

“...I miss Gabriel.”

“Do you want me to call him?”

“Yes... No! Well... wait no, No!” Dean groaned “You see? That’s exactly the problem! I shouldn’t need you to call him because he should be here already but he can’t be here already because all I want to do as soon as I see him is drag him to my room!”

“And you don’t want to… drag him to your room.”

“No! I mean, I do right now, I really do but that’s because of the spell so I know I can’t do that. I shouldn’t do that.”

“Is it because you’re straight?”

“It’s because it’s Gabriel you idiot! I can’t do something like that to him! How could I see him straight to the face ever again!?”

Castiel was perplexed by the amount of emotion Dean had managed to fill Gabriel’s name with his voice. With the amount of time Dean and Gabriel had been sticking together Castiel had supposed they did get along well but he hadn’t realized just how much Dean actually cared for his brother up until that moment.

“Don’t worry Dean, Sam will finish the yarn soon.”

When night came, Dean spent a good half an hour trying to find a position to sleep, rolling around the bed, thinking of nothing else but Gabriel.

“Stop it.”

Dean bolted upright.

“Gabe?”

“Stop it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Stop praying to me! I can’t tune you off and it’s driving me crazy! I also want to come cuddle with you.”

“Shit… I’m sorry Gabe it’s just—”

“I know, I know it’s not your fault but please stop, I’m begging you here!”

Gabriel was literally kneeling by Dean’s bedside now, he had his head between his hands and was grabbing his hair in desperation. Dean understood perfectly well why. Right now the spell was making them ache for each other so much it was practically painful to not be at each other’s side. Feeling his mouth dry he reached one of Gabriel’s hands. He was scared of what he was about to propose.

“Stay”

Gabriel took quite some time to look up at Dean.

“What?”

“You heard me, stay, I… we can spoon and maybe, maybe that’ll help.” Dean could feel his face burning now but he was also desperate to feel Gabriel close to him.

“But what if we… uh...”

“Let’s just hope we’re strong enough.”

Gabriel bit his lip for a moment and then moved into Dean’s bed, changing into his pajamas with a snap knowing that Dean hated to see him put his boots over his mattress. Dean moved aside to let him in. This was way too weird for him, not only because it had been ages since he last had someone by his side at bed but because it was a guy. Once Gabriel laid by his side they stood looking at each other awkwardly. Dean broke the eye contact focusing on any other place that wasn't Gabriel's face.

“Okay so uh, turn around so I can spoon you?”

“And have you rubbing at me with a morning wood in the morning?”

“Goddamnit Gabe I’m not a teenager.”

Dean shoved Gabriel’s shoulder while he giggled. Despite everything, Dean smiled. This is what he had been missing all these days, an idiot making stupid jokes with him by his side. Because he loved his brother like he would never love anyone else but there was only so much they had in common and he needed someone like Gabriel ready to pick up the slack. After a moment, Gabriel turned around and felt Dean’s arms surround him and fuck if he didn’t feel like this was everything he needed in the entire world to be happy. With a sigh he grabbed Dean’s hand and pulled the hunter closer. He heard him sigh as well.

Gabriel knew they should be angry about this, about being forced into an intimacy that none of them had ever needed nor expected of the other but at the moment all he could think about was that fuzzy warmth filling all his pores. This was what content felt like. This was what home was supposed to be.

Both men sighed, one falling into slumber and the other softly caressing the hand he had tangled his fingers with, when he was sure Dean was asleep, he kissed his hand softly and closed his eyes to rest, carefully monitoring Dean’s breath and wondering how it was that a human being could be so fascinating.

The following day Dean woke up and held Gabriel even closer while stirring up. He nudged his nose against Gabriel’s head in a cuddly manner before he froze, realizing what he was doing.

“Morning”

“Sorry Gabe”

“It’s okay, it feels good”

Dean flushed with embarrassment.

“We still shouldn’t be doing this.”

“I know.”

Both men sighed.

“I don’t wanna get up.”

“Me neither”

“...What time is it?”

Gabriel moved to grab Dean’s phone on the nightstand.

“7:10”

Dean looked at Gabriel’s back with a longing ache before nudging at his back again, defeated.

“Five more minutes?”

He felt Gabriel’s hand holding warmly to his arm.

“Five more minutes sounds great.”

They stayed in bed almost half an hour more. Sam was already starting the coffee when Dean came into the kitchen.

“Hey”

“Hey, it’s still your turn to do breakfast.”

Dean’s only response was a grunt. Sam turned to look at him and he saw his brother’s deflated stance grabbing a pan and sloppily placing it over the stove. He didn’t need to ask what was going on to see how bad he was taking the spell. He could also bet that if he saw Gabriel, he would be in the same state. Sam was torn between reaching to his brother and comfort him or make fun of him but finally desisted of both since he realized he wouldn’t be really happy if the same thing had happened to him.

The last three days that took Sam to finally get the yarn done passed by without a problem, well if you take away the soft fleeting caresses and the sad beaten puppy looks both Dean and Gabriel constantly wore next to each other. They were trying to avoid Sam as well mostly because they didn’t want him to feel guilty but the younger Winchester still managed to catch them from time to time. The last day he was sighing as well.

“Just a little more.”

“Yeah...” Sam answered blandly.

“I mean, it could be worse, you could have ended up like that with your brother.”

Sam chortled nervously.

“That would have been disastrous”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe it’s different with soulmates.”

Sam nodded at Castiel in deference.

“You know? I would have never imagined those two really loved each other like that.”

Castiel hummed in approval.

“It’s not a romantic love but it’s still love nonetheless.”

“Platonic Love.” Some minutes passed by in silence. “Do you know why they call it that way?”

Castiel nodded.

“Back in the times of Greece, it was expected of pupils to have sexual intercourse with their professors in order to be allowed to study with them, Plato saw this as unethical and debated that the pupils should not have to be forced to engage in such behaviour to earn knowledge and that the professor should be above the simple carnal desire to provide them of such. Truthly speaking, the term was never used by Plato himself and these days it generally refers to an affectionate relationship into which the sexual element does not enter to be fulfilled.”

Sam looked at Castiel impressed. “You know I’m kind of surprised you know the term so well.”

Castiel shrugged. “I just find the concept of love fascinating.”

Sam nodded. Before he had noticed it, he was holding the last threads and twisting them together. Overjoyed, Sam picked everything up and went into the bunker followed by Castiel looking for his brother. He found Gabriel cuddled on the couch hugging a napping Dean. They had started watching a series but it had obviously not been interesting enough.

“Wow, sorry to interrupt.”

Sam teased Gabriel mostly because he couldn’t help a bit of uneasiness run through his gut seeing the archangel holding his brother so close with a smile.

“Don’t worry kiddo, you got the yarn ready?”

Sam nodded. Castiel left to get the scissors, leaving the task of waking Dean up and finding the thread binding both men to Gabriel.

“Huh.”

“What?”

“Nothing really, Castiel said that the thread was attached to the spindle as well but now it’s only attached to us. That must be the way the spells are triggered. If the thread snaps earlier than when it’s supposed to then it rebounds and tangles itself making it unbindable. It's actually pretty interesting...”

Castiel arrived moments later with the scissors and handed them to Sam.

“Ok, are you ready?”

“No, I wanna do this.”

Sam passed the scissors to Dean. Gabriel held a section of the thread between both hands to help Dean guide his movement.

“Right there Dean-o. Don’t need to move more.”

Giving a serious nod to Gabriel, Dean closed the scissors with a snap. Both men let out their breath. After a moment, Dean looked at Gabriel puzzled, Gabriel returned his silent question shrugging. He had seen the thread snap nicely and disappear but apart from that nothing had changed.

“So… uhm… Ho do you guys feel?”

“I feel… Nothing? I don’t really feel anything different.”

“Not me either, it just feel like always.”

Suddenly both men got hit with the realization.

“Oh my god”

“We feel nothing.”

“We feel nothing at all.”

“I don’t want to smooch you!”

“And I don’t want to fuck you!”

“Yes!”

“Awesome!”

Both men cheered and hugged each other overjoyed. Sam snickered looking at them go all buddy buddy once more. If he had to be completely honest, he liked them better this way despite all the potential pranking that could come with such a hectic bromance.

“Wait a second, you wanted to fuck me?”

“Shut up. You’re ruining the moment.”

“I mean, it’s just that I happen to know this place in Nevada where—”