Work Text:
Brothers
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The third time Gabriel goes to visit the Winchesters in the bunker is seemingly on a whim, no one asked him to show up he just did, though he seemed to have come at a bad time, as Sam was out shopping and Castiel was elsewhere, still trying to track down Bartholomew and Metatron, so it was just him and Dean.
Needless to say the older Winchester was less than happy to see him.
"The hell are you doing here?" Dean asked him sounding rather grouchy that his afternoon nap on the sofa in front of the TV, had been interrupted by a loud fluttering of wings which could only be one of two people; finding out it was Gabriel and not Cas, put him in a bad mood.
"Dean-O! Is that anyway to treat a guest?" Gabriel asked sounded affronted the other a hadn’t even said so much as a hello to him "I thought Cas might be here, ya know considering how you two tend to be glued at the hip and all, but I guess he’s out"
"He’s got bigger issues to deal with than his douche bag brother" Dean grunted with a huff as he sat up still eyeing the blonde with a look of distrust "So you can go fly off back to wherever you came"
"And why would I do that? I thought you’d want to have some company!" the short Archangel said with a grin as he whipped up a bowl of popcorn with a wave of his hand and flopped down on the sofa next to him "Well that and I thought we could have a little chat, just you and me, as one big brother to another" He said with an easygoing smile but there was a look in Gabriel’s golden eyes that said plainly, refusal was not an option right now.
Dean raised an eyebrow at this and swallowed thickly, as he tried his best not to show that he was just a little bit intimidated; sometimes he forgot that past all the sarcasm and wit, past Gabriel’s short unassuming appearance, that the blonde was very, very dangerous one of heavens most powerful weapons. “What do you wanna talk about?” He grunted trying to sound annoyed rather the nervous.
"About you mostly…and Castiel" He said as he took a few pieces of popcorn and put them in his mouth and chewing, his golden eyes watching Dean for his reaction to this "You know, about how close you two are" He commented hinting further about what he meant.
The elder Winchester visibly tensed up, bottle green eyes narrowing a little at that and opened his mouth to protest but Gabriel waved a hand and the human found himself unable to talk, just like back at the Elysian fields hotel “Ah ah, don’t even try to deny it alright, I don’t want to hear your lies, I know EXACTLY what is going on, even if Cas is still naive and you are too damned scared to admit how you feel” He said softly with a sigh as he rolled his eyes at Deans indigent glare as if that denied everything.
"Let me make something perfectly clear Dean, you love my brother and he loves you and you, are an utter idiot if you think he doesn’t…so I’m going to say this once" He said as he leaned in close to Dean, his golden eyes almost glowing in the dimness of the room, as the taller male felt a strange pressure weighing down on him "If you hurt my brother or abuse his powers, I’ll do worse to you than I did in TV land, I won’t kill you you, that’s FAR too easy and I’m sure I don’t have to tell you I can get real imaginative real fast" He said softly before he pressure was gone and Gabriel broke out into an easygoing smile all seriousness faded from his face as if it’d never been there.
"Now I know you won’t do something like that, I just figure had to do the big brother thing" He said simply "I swear though if you don’t get your head out the sand I’ll do it for you, it’s the 21st century, swinging both ways is not such a big deal anymore" he said before he waved a hand, obviously finished with saying his piece and finally allowing Dean to talk.
The taller human coughed a bit and glowered at the archangel as he rubbed his throat “The hell man!?” He growled “Look whatever you think me and Cas have…he’s family now, and as much as I HATE it, by extension that means you are too, that doesn’t mean I-” he broke himself off “What me and Cas have is not like that okay?”
Gabriel gave him an unimpressed look “Dean you can’t lie to a being that can see and read your soul” He said stressing each word as he watched the other “Souls always speak the truth even when the rest of you doesn’t and Cas can sense it too, why do you think he goes beyond and above for you? He’s special, hell angels like us…were not supposed to feel or get angry or CARE, but we do, and what you and my brother have is something to be cherished” He said popping some more popcorn into his mouth still watching the other as Dean got up and started to pace, obviously irritated at what Gabriel had been saying.
"No it isn’t, okay damnit it isn’t! I’m not…" He broke off obviously struggling to deny what the other was saying; past all the anger and irritation at this conversation, the archangel could sense the shame and the fear underneath it all; all the speculation of what his parents would think if they were alive, what his friends would think, what his BROTHER would think; he was a classic case of someone scared to come out of the closet, who should have come out and been himself in his early teens or his twenties, but repressed it for so long that he wants to believe that part of him doesn’t exist.
Gabriel sighed softly setting the bowl of popcorn to one side “Look, I get it…you’re afraid but at the end of the day, what are you so damned scared of? What your dad would think? Well he’s dead up in heaven and not giving a shit about what gender you prefer, your mom? She would love you regardless, from what I’ve seen that’s what moms do” He said calmly “Your brother? I doubt he’d care so long as you were happy, so who are you really scared of Dean? The public? Fuck the public, they don’t know you so why should they matter?” He said simply
"…" Dean said nothing to that because Gabriel was right, he was scared for little to no reason but he couldn’t shut off his instinct to just squash down any attraction to the same sex, hell the one and only time he’d admitted he had a crush on a guy, his dad had given him a black eye and a bust lip and told him real men didn’t like other men, they liked women and nothing else.
"Look talking as someone who has his fair share of both genders, who you decide to love shouldn’t matter to anyone but you, if anyone else has issues with it? Well your Dean Winchester, the man who monsters are scared of, and you have guns" He pointed out with a mischievous grin.
There was silence for a long moment”…Why are you doing this” Dean asked weakly.
The blonde pondered how to answer this before he shrugged “Why not? besides I’m the messenger Dean, someone had to give you a wake up call, figured it might as well be me” He said simply “You can’t deny how you feel forever, one day your going to wake up at 50 and realize just how much of a fool you've been and realize how much damned time you’ve wasted torturing yourself over your feelings, your life is short and precious Dean-o, so spend it with someone who makes you happy” Gabriel stated “For once in your life don’t think about what your dad would think or your brother, just do what what you know is best for you” He said simply.
"…just like that?" Dean asked looking small and almost fragile despite his height as he slumped back into his seat.
"Just like that, talk to Cas ask him how he feels, you won’t be disappointed with the answer" He said simply as he patted the other on the shoulder.
"…you’re still an asshole" Dean said with a weak laugh which was full of relief and maybe just a little light-heartedness.
"Yeah I’m still an asshole, but I’m an adorable, advice giving asshole, and you put up with me, it’s more then most people do" He said with a soft laugh as he patted the sofa pulling the bowl of popcorn back into his lap "Now shut up and watch some Dr sexy with me"
Dean rolled his eyes at this but he did as he was told feeling like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders, not that he’d ever admit to the other, but he stayed watching TV with him until Sam returned.
Watching his brother and the archangel sitting there together like they were friends and laughing at the exact same joke on TV was more then a little eerie, but the taller Winchester would prefer that to them trying to kill each other, so he lets them be as he puts the groceries away.
When Sam finally joins them, he sits next to the blonde and swipes a handful from the bowl of popcorn that never seems to get close to emptying no matter how much they eat and and thinks that if Cas were here it’d feel like they were all a family…a weird oddball family granted, but a family non the less.
And for Sam this suited him must fine
-TBC-