Getting Back Together
Triggers: Angst
Of all the places Gabriel thought he might run into Dean Winchester again, on the middle of the street in California was not one of them. Nor did his bingo card have a spot on it for Dean walking right by him as if he didn't even see him. Blinking, Gabriel trailed after the brunette, his eyes taking in every bit of the man's form from head to toe to make sure that he wasn't imagining it. The time of day was working against him however and with one turn he lost sight of Dean and he blew out a breath as he ran a hand through his hair. He turned around a couple of times to see if he could catch sight of the brunette again but it was fruitless and he shook his head, telling himself that he'd imagined it all, that there was no way that Dean was actually in California.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully with him making a trip to his club and checking a new musical act before settling down at small corner table and sipping a glass of twelve year old scotch. For a Wednesday night it was rather quiet, the new musical act setting a slow and easy tone as people trickled in. He'd just raised his hand to signal another glass to be brought to him when he looked up to see two familiar faces weaving their way through the crowd. Standing a good head above the crowd was Sam Winchester and next to him was Dean. They were looking around the club before apparently finding a place to sit then disappearing. Gabriel felt his heart race and he downed the new glass of scotch before getting up and making his way through the crowd where he'd seen the two men disappear.
Once he'd spotted the table where they'd ended up sitting he started stopping at each table and chatting with the patrons, smiling as he did so. When he reached their table he swallowed as Dean looked up from the napkin he'd been shredding; the man's eyes seemingly luminous in the dim lighting of the club.
"Gentlemen....Sam? Dean?" He said as he hoped his voice didn't betray the nerves that were currently tangling in his stomach. "Fancy seeing you two here. Welcome to Loki's."
"Gabriel?" Sam said before smiling and standing up to give him a hug. "What are you doing here?"
"I own the place."
"What?" Sam exclaimed as he sat back down and motioned to the chair next to him.
"Yeah, I bought this little hole in the wall a couple years ago. Always wanted to be a club owner, and so far it's doing good." He grinned as he sat down; his gaze cutting to Dean quickly before returning to Sam. "It's not much but it's an honest living. But what about you two, I didn't peg you two for big city living."
"Well I live here, I just graduated from Stanford and passed my bar. Dean is here to celebrate, he's still in Lawrence."
"Yeah, can't let the brainaic celebrate alone. He'd probably just end up watching some nerd show on his lap top." Dean cut in, and by did honeyed timber of his voice send pleasant shivers down Gabriel's spine.
"Well it's good to see you both. You're both looking good. So Sammoose is a lawyer I take it and what are you doing Dean?" He turned all of his attention to Dean, his eyes dropping to the man's lips for a moment before flicking back up to the man's eyes.
"I have my own garage. Found out that my Grandma Millie owned a garage at the edge of town, and after looking into it I bought the place and fixed it up and now just do repair work from there."
"You mean that old place that everyone said was haunted and it was a dare to spend the night there?"
"That's the one."
There was a small, sort of smile on Dean's lips and Gabriel felt the nearly impossible to ignore the pull of leaning in to brush a kiss over them however he was pretty sure that the other man would be upset if he did so.
"Well this sounds like a reason for more drinks." He motioned for a waitress and ordered the bottle of scotch he'd been drinking to be brought over and three glasses.
Once she'd gone he turned his attention back to the brothers, and caught Dean staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face while Sam was staring out over the club and dance floor. On a whim he winked at Dean and was surprised to see the brunette duck his head, a light flush on his cheeks. Intrigued now he gently nudged the man's foot, watching the minute play of emotions over Dean's face before there was a tentative nudge back. The drinks arrived a couple minutes later and the three sat in companionable silence sipping the aged scotch before a small dark haired woman sauntered up to the table and asked Sam to dance. There was a moments silent conversation between the brothers before Sam smiled and followed her out to the floor before swallowed up by the other dancers.
Silence now covered the table and Gabriel snuck a couple glances at Dean to see that the man was resolutely staring at the glass in his hand. The small elated bubble in his chest from the earlier small game of footsie deflated and he finished his glass before standing, a forced smile on his face.
"It was nice seeing you again." He said.
"So you're just going to leave again? Guess I should count myself lucky this time that you couldn't do it without me knowing." Dean snorted.
"Dean, I..."
"A damned note Gabriel, a fucking phone call. You didn't do anything. I woke up and you were gone."
"I had to Dean, we'd talked about it.."
"You talked about it, said you might leave after graduation, you never said you were going to, just that you were thinking about it."
"I don't expect you to understand, but I had to leave. Things at the house were bad, and getting worse. I couldn't take the fighting anymore, I needed to get away."
"You still could have left me a note Gabriel! Or a damn phone call to let me know that you weren't dead somewhere!"
Dean's voice was low and his words were growled as he stared at him. Gabriel swallowed before sitting back down, his eyes closing as he he tried to get his thoughts in order. When he finally opened them again, Dean's seat was empty and a quick look around showed the brunette making his way towards the exit. Feeling hurt and angry he pushed himself away from the table and followed Dean outside, grabbing the man's arm when he finally got close enough.
"Now who's leaving without saying anything." He snapped as he whipped Dean around to face him.
"Figured you should know how it feels."
They glared at one another, both of their eyes narrowed at one another before Gabriel reached out and fisted his hand in Dean's shirt and yanked him in for a hard kiss. There was a moments hesitation on Dean's part before his hands found Gabriel's hips and pulled him in as close as he could all while deepening the kiss. People pushed around them, a few wolf whistling and even a few making disgusted noises as they passed but time and place seemed to stop for Gabriel; all that mattered right then was the feeling and taste of Dean on his lips. Breathing became hard and he reluctantly pulled back watching as Dean straightened up a bit and realizing that the other man had grown a bit since they'd last seen one another.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that." Gabriel offered as he took a step back.
"And I shouldn't have let you."
"What now?"
The words hung between them as they both tried not to look at the other; their eyes cast to the ground. Gabriel knew he wouldn't dare ask Dean to leave his garage; that was a dream that the other man always talked about growing up and while he knew that if asked he'd leave his bar here to his second in command he wasn't sure what Dean's feelings actually were. It was on thing to kiss someone back but it was another to make a decision on the fly like this. Not to mention on top of that there were the years of silence between them and all the buried injured feelings by his leaving in the first place without notice that would have to be addressed.
"I don't know, but I'm going to be here for a few more days, Sam wants to show me around the school and his place. So maybe one night you and I can get dinner and talk?"
It took Gabriel a few moments to register what had actually been said, the words bouncing around in his mind before he could even come up with a response. This was not the same Dean Winchester that he'd known back in Lawrence, that Dean did not talk about anything that could even be loosely related to feelings and this had all the markings of what could be classed a 'chick-flick' moment.
"I'd like that."
"Good, uhm..."
They shared a small smile before exchanging numbers and Gabriel returned to the club feeling lighter than he had in a long time and the small bubble of hope that had been present earlier returned; this time a bit bigger as he let his imagination run wild with the possibilities of what could happen.
1 Year Later
Gabriel stood outside of the newly opened club, a wide smile on his face as he greeted the small crowd of people waiting to get in. They were his neighbors and old friends and the raucous sound of their laughter was music to his ears. Next to him Dean stood dressed in all black with an emerald tie as the only splash of color and Gabriel couldn't for the life of himself remember when the other man looked more handsome. A ribbon cut later and the crowd of people flooded inside and music could soon be heard from the street. At a table in the back he and Dean sat watching, their hands intertwined and sipping drinks. While they were still working through some of the rougher parts of their past, their future was looking bright and Gabriel thanked which ever deity was watching over that allowed him this second chance.