Two months, twenty nine days

Sam should've never left Gabriel alone in his house.   

After helping the two girls jump rope for half an hour or so, (shut up) Sam learns the hard way that leaving an archangel in a fully equipped kitchen is a terrible, terrible idea.

"Gabriel." He calmly says, the second he walks into the house, before bellowing, "Gabriel!"

"Hey-o, Sammich!" the devil himself, (or at least his brother), pokes his head up from behind Sam's counter island. Flour and sprinkles are in his hair and eyebrows, and his teeth are dyed blue.

"What have you done." Sam growls, taking in the vibrant blue icing smeared on his cupboards and the alarming amount of dirty cupcake wrappers littering his floor.

"Got bored." Gabriel shrugs, offering him a cupcake. "Cupcake?"

"No!" Sam waves Gabriel's hand away, before starting to collect the wrappers and toss them out. "Where did you even get half of this?"

"Found it." Gabriel replies, jamming another two cupcakes into his mouth at the same time. Sam shudders as the bright icing tumbles down the archangel's chin and onto the floor.

"Eww." He mumbles, scraping some of the crumbs into the waste bin. "Why?"

"Why not?" Gabriel holds out another cupcake, eyeing it up for a few seconds, before eating-inhaling that one too.

"How many have you eaten?" Sam questions, afraid of the answer.

"How ma-y come een a kackage?" Gabriel looks immensely focused for a second, before swallowing the cupcake whole. Sam also can't help but wonder if that was some sort of twisted flirtation, or just Gabriel being gross.

"Disgusting." He comments, "And I dunno, like thirty?"

"Then it would seem I ate twenty nine!" he chirps, dusting off his mouth and shaking his flour-dulled hair out. "Want the last one?"

"Fine." Sam holds out his hand to find a green and purple cupcake deposited there. "Mystery Spot, really?"

"Just wanted to know if you'd remember." Gabriel scoops up the bowl and dumps it in the sink.

"Yeah, you killed my brother a hundred times, still kinda fresh in my memory." Sam narrows his eyes at the angel, who grins.

"You know what I'm talking about." Gabriel blows him a kiss and skips over to the front door. "I'm going for a walk, I'll clean this all later!"

Sam watches him go, lost as to what Gabriel meant.

Until.

After a long and grueling hunt, Sam is mentally and physically exhausted. Dean has long since gone out to a bar to pick up a woman, meanwhile Sam is stuck back in their cruddy motel room, alone as ever.

All while he showers, his mind is stuck on the topic of the Trickster they'd just ganked. He wondered how things would've gone if Dean wasn't there, because in all straightness, the so-called Trickster was fairly attractive. And sort of flirty.

Sam shakes his head and steps out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. He grabs his book, and makes for the bed with his clothes neatly folded on top, to find no such thing.

"Dean?" he calls to the seemingly empty room, not expecting a response.

"Nope." A voice responds smoothly from behind him. Sam whirls around to find none other than the Trickster himself, smirking and twirling a lollipop around. "Surprise, Sambo!"

"You're the...Trickster." Sam searches for a knife, or anything within his radius to defend himself, but coming up empty. "Why are you here? We killed you!"

He looks bored as he pops the lollipop out of his mouth. "Hello, Trickster!"

Sam gapes as the smaller man makes his way over to the worn motel dresser, pulling out a faded yellow plaid shirt and one of Sam's green coats.

"That doesn't match." Is all Sam can say as the Trickster trots over to him with the clothes in hand.

"I know." He replies, "The green's for me. I need a new coat."

Sam stands, speechless as the shorter man throws the green coat over his own shoulders, all while eyeing up the Hunter.

"Can you not?" Sam demands, hunching over to cover what the thin, moth eaten towel barely can.

"What?" he smirks, "I like what I see, so I'm gonna look if I want to."

"I'm straight." Sam states, despite his blush.

"And I'm the Easter bunny." He snorts, "Who conveniently doesn't identify as either male or female, so whaddaya say we just don't tell anyone this happened?"

"Tell anyone wha-"

Sam doesn't have a chance to finish his sentence, before the Trickster's in front of him, a single finger on Sam's lips.

"Sound good?" he asks, and as much as Sam wants to scream 'no', he can't bring himself to make a sound, only weakly nod. "Sweet, you can call me Gabe."

"Gabe?" Sam repeats, admittedly liking the name more than he should. "Why'd you tell me your name?"

"Because," Gabe glances down at the uncovered towel which has slipped down. "You're going to need it."

"For what?" Sam squeaks as Gabe's hand travels down his chest, down to his waist, and to the towel, which he takes a hold of. The Hunter bites back a noise of surprise as Gabriel slides his fingers under the rough towel.

"Because," Gabe wickedly smirks, but before he can finish his sentence, a car door slams out front of the motel. His face pales, before he stomps his foot. "Do I get a rain check?"

Sam just watches numbly as Gabe makes his way over to the window to glare at Dean and the woman attached to his hip, giggling in the most annoying way possible.

"Well, that's my cue." He says with a sigh, turning to Sam. "Let's not mention this ever happened to Deano, eh?"

The taller man unfreezes with a nod, seconds before the door handle turns and Gabe vanishes with a snap of his fingers.

Sam blinks himself out of his daze, to himself with a white-knuckled grip on the counter, the mystery spot cupcake completely crushed.

Shamefully, that wasn't the only time that had happened and had been interrupted, but Sam always pushed them off as freakishly realistic dreams. The only giveaway that they were real were the missing coat and candy hearts with suggestive sayings left in the most random places.

Shaking his head, he wipes the crumbs off his hands and dumps the rest of the cupcake into the overflowing trash can, trying to ignore the awkward hard-on he's now dealing with.

Dammit.

Gabriel said he'd be back later, so that should give Sam some time to fix his awkward situation. Besides, he didn't make the mess of all the kitchen utensils so why is he cleaning it?

*   *   *

Gabriel comes back about ten minutes after Sam is finished...cleaning up, to find the Hunter watching some program on TV about murder mysteries.

"Having fun?" the angel asks, panting a bit.

"Sure," Sam agrees, "did you run?"

"No, why?"

"You're out of breath." Sam points out.

Gabriel immediately sucks in a breath and holds it. "I don't run, for the love of dad I'm just adjusting to my temporary period of gracelessness."

"And you're winded from walking?"

"Like I said, I don't exercise." Gabriel pauses, his eyes raking up Sam's body. "But I should, I like the results."

Burning up with embarrassment, Sam just points at the kitchen. "Clean."

"Woah, okay Samsquatch, what's got your panties in a twist?"

"You."

"Wow, harsh." Gabriel slips off his shoes and pads into the kitchen to pick up the first pan. "I think I deserve a little more respect."

"No." Sam darkly says, focusing on the completely inaccurate crime scene on TV.

"Excuse you, I'm your elder and should be treated like so."

"You act like a two year old." Sam dryly replies.

"I'm keeping in touch with my youth; is that such a crime?"

"When you're Gabriel, yes it is." Sam switches the channel to find some gooey movie about two lovebirds. Eww.

"What's wrong with being Gabriel?" the angel pouts. "Am I not hot?"

Sam just flips the channel again, adamant to not let Gabriel know that yes, he is fairly attractive and sort of, maybe, is boner-worthy in Sam's books.

"Sam?"

"No."

Yes. A little.

"Are you going to pretend that what happened didn't happen?"

"Yes." Sam focuses strictly on the television. "They were dreams."

"Hate to say it, but they weren't." Gabriel smugly replies, scrubbing off the last of the plates.

Sam just stares in awe at how bold the angel is. Sure, they kinda were a one-night thing for a year or so, but after the whole apocalypse and his death, things just fell apart.

"Shut up."

"You're not denying it again." Gabriel saunters over to Sam, a barely visible smirk on his lips. "Y'know, we'll be stuck here for a month minimum, might as well pass the time."

"You're blocking the TV." Sam sighs, pushing Gabriel to the side, trying not to notice the way electricity seemingly crackles between his fingertips and the bare skin of Gabriel's exposed hip. "And fix your shirt."

"Why?" Gabriel pulls his riding up shirt higher. "You like?"

"No," Sam growls, "I like this show, but you're blocking the way."

"Spoilsport." Gabriel sighs, flipping down onto the couch beside Sam, making sure their knees touched. "Why are you being difficult?"

"Hmm?"

"Well, no offence but normally you'd practically jump on me."

"That was four years ago." Sam sighs, "I've changed." He says, instead of what he's thinking, which is more like: I don't want someone simply for pleasure, I want someone to love. A real partner, not someone temporary.

"Did you meet someone?"

"No." Sam's thankful when Arizona suddenly stands up and jumps between the two of them, snuggling down. He runs his fingers through her soft fur. "I can't. Not as a Hunter."

"Why?" He frowns a little, "Dean and Cas seem to be doing fine."

"I think you're getting the real and fake world messed up again." Sam points out, "They're just friends."

"That's what you think..." Gabriel raises his eyebrows in almost a comical way. "You don't have angel radar, and let me tell you, boy oh boy, is Cas a foul mouth."

"Why."

"Every single time Dean takes longer than usual in the bathroom..." Gabriel lifts his hands to demonstrate an obscene gesture that Sam's sure he's tried once or twice. "Yeah, friendly reminder that sixty-nineing with an angel is a no-no in dad's book."

"Well that sucks." Sam casually responds, all the while wishing for some brain bleach.

"And did you know that Dean does in fact, breed with the mouth of a goat, and that-"

"Gabe." Sam growls. "Just no."

"Gabe." He contentedly sighs, scooting over to lay his head on Arizona's side. "I like that name. Only you use it."

Sam doesn't reply, instead he continues to pet the dog, occasionally hitting softer hair and intertwining his fingers in that, Gabriel smiling whenever he does.

"It's a clean name, y'know."

"What is?" Sam asks.

"Gabe." The smaller man looks up. "Only you've used it, it hasn't been tainted by any bad memories yet."

"How?" Sam wonders aloud, "I'm the most impure person ever."

"You're not." Gabriel assures, pulling a hand across Arizona to rest it on Sam's knee. "Your soul is one of the brightest I see."

"Sure, sure." Sam stops messing with the angel's hair letting his hand rest on his shoulder instead, almost like they were more than old partners.

Because maybe, someone deep and dark in Sam, he wants it to be just as badly.

---

Really really really hate it when people end chapters like that, so I'm gonna end my chapter like that