Work Text:
The newspaper called it a shark attack, a picture of the cruise ship sinking below the surface plastered across the front page in all its black and white gruesome glory. It was disgusting, honestly, how much they used death-laced disaster to sell. Sam could see people, arms sticking from beneath the dark gray water, reaching for a miracle or a God or dry land. But none of it would come. There were no survivors. They wrote it off. Shark attacks weren’t unheard of, though one big enough to send that behemoth of a ship down to its watery grave must have been quite a sight to behold. Still, they wrote it off. There were other monsters on the land wreaking havoc that they needed to take care of.
The second cruise ship sent panic through the public in waves. This one went down in much the same manner, though this time a camera-phone snapped photo of a creature with too many arms to count and sharp teeth shining in its mouth went viral. This was no shark. And while the public called ‘photoshop’ and foul play, the Winchester’s and Co (Gabe and Cas) took another look. They had a new case.
But they also had a pile of cases on the kitchen table and they all couldn’t go on a month long cruise just waiting for the kraken to attack again. Dean got seasick easily, their attempt at being sailors as children had not ended well, and Cas tended to stick with Dean. Sam packed his bags and took Gabe to the mall to get him some human things, they needed to pass as normal. Angels didn’t get cold, but with the snow outside and the ice-laced winds, he’d need to layer up so as not to draw attention to themselves. They came back in, Sam’s arms laden with grocery bags and Gabe telling stories that had them both doubled over in laughter, and were met with a frowning Dean. Bad news then. Gabe stopped talking instantly, coming up behind Dean and the laptop he was sitting in front of.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked. But then Gabe, who had read the computer screen, was looking up a glint in his eye and Sam knew whatever came next wouldn’t be good.
“It’s couples only,” Dean said.
“What is?” Sam asked, turning to put the plastic bags onto the kitchen table beside the case files stacked to the ceiling. He’d need to go through all of them, take the tags off the clothes and wash it all before they left.
“The cruise. This weekend, the only cruise in a 100-mile radius is couples only. The rest have been canceled because of the attacks,” Dean said.
Sam looked at Gabe who was wiggling his eyebrows with a smirk, though his hand was turning white where it clutched the back of Dean’s chair. Sam shrugged. “Looks like we’re a couple now.”
That was that. They went back out, Gabe coming to Sam with matching t-shirts while Sam got pictures of the two of them they’d acquired over the years printed at Walgreens. They’d each put some in their wallets, on the nightstand. Couple things. They’d need to pass, that was all.
Sam tiptoed to Gabe’s room the night before they left, the anxiety that he’d been pushing away since he found out had grown too high a mountain to shovel away on his own. He found Gabe reading, cotton shirt and boxer clad, looking relaxed in the soft yellow lamplight. He felt part of his anxiety melt away, a landslide tumbling from the mountain into nothing.
“Hey,” Gabe said when Sam knocked on the doorframe, Gabe’s door wide open.
“Hey,” Sam said, unsure what to say. There was something about being around Gabe that made the mountain back into the molehill again.
“What’s up?” Gabe asked. He rested his book against his chest, still open and spine bending.
Sam shrugged. “Kinda nervous about tomorrow is all.”
Gabe nodded. “We’ll be fine.”
“Do you think we can pass as a couple?” Sam asked.
“Sure why not? Hand holding, quick kiss here and there, it’s all nothing. We’re always around each other anyway, so that won’t be an issue. We’ll take turns sleeping on the floor. It’ll be fine, Sam. I promise,” He said, looking at Sam with steady, sunshine warm eyes and Sam was convinced, just like that. They’d be fine. “Want me to read?”
They’d formed a sort of ritual together, on nights when Sam woke sweat-soaked and all frayed nerves and stumbled his way to Gabe’s room. He’d read to Sam, quiet and soft, until his nerves were lulled to sleep and his eyelids drooped, taking him back into the dreams that more often than not were red colored and angry. But, not after Gabe read to him. Not while Gabe’s voice wrapped around his mind. Then his dreams were soft or, better yet, nonexistent.
Sam slid into the empty side of the bed, pulling the covers over his legs to ward off the chill seeping through the open spaces, and turned towards Gabe. Hs voice filled the room, though it was gently so, a caress through the night as it wrapped around Sam and lulled him to blissful sleep.
Dean knocked on the door before the sun came up, not surprised to find Sam and Gabe tangled around each other, the book splayed open on the nightstand and the lamp still on. He woke them up, then retreated to start the coffee. It was time to go. Sam detangled himself from Gabe who, in his sleep turned into an octopus all arms that wrapped and legs that tangled to find warmth. Angels may not get cold, but they sure liked to burrow into heat. At least Gabriel did. Sam couldn’t speak for the rest.
They got ready, both apart and together. Sam poured two coffee cups, two sugars in one, just a bit of cream to the other, and set Gabe’s mug on his nightstand to cool until he emerged from the bathroom dripping wet. Sam got in the shower after Gabe, the bathroom suffocatingly steam filled, but the water still warm. Gabe knew how much Sam liked his water hot and turned his own to cold halfway through so there would be some left, though Sam didn’t know that. He just figured the water pressure was amazing here. He didn’t know any differently.
They brushed their teeth side by side, nudging each other with their elbows and trying to tell stories through toothpaste full mouths. A game they played each day that usually ended in spitting laughter. There was a reason the mirror was covered in dried toothpaste, their laugher impossible to hold in sometimes. Sam cleaned it every once in a while, though it never stayed so for long.
At the door, they said their goodbyes to their brothers and loaded their suitcases. Gabriel emerged in a Santa themed Hawaiian shirt that had Sam laughing until tears streamed from his eyes. Sam opted for just a black V-neck sweater. Gabe pretended to struggled with the luggage, a flair of drama that had Sam rolling his eyes, and he loaded it easily once Sam was back inside to make sure they grabbed everything they needed. He was already in the passenger seat when Sam came out, phone charger in hand.
“We’ve already got two of those,” Gabe called.
“I know, but just in case,” Sam said, tucking it into the pocket of his bag. He’d also grabbed another book Gabriel’s favorite, spine battered and pages thin. Just in case.
The two-hour drive went quick, though Gabe grew more and more silent as they drew near. Sam reached over, wrapped his hand around Gabe’s and squeezed. They’d be fine. Gabriel smiled at him, squeezing his hand back and starting to talk. “Did I ever tell you about Cassie as a fledgling?”
Sam had heard it all, some of it twice over, but he shook his head anyway. Gabe’s voice filled the car with life and their hands were still tangled together when they arrived. They unloaded the car, and the rest of it was a blur. Sam remembered going through it all, getting their tickets and waiting in line and all that, but the only thing he remembered afterwards, when they’d found their room and the ship had taken off, was Gabe’s hand in his.
Gabe flopped onto the gray-sheeted bed, his bag left unopened by the door. Sam sighed and unpacked both of their stuff while Gabe read off a list of available activities and the schedule for the day. “Rock climbing, couples massages, game night, dancing competition, snorkeling, ooh Sammy they’ve got cake baking we should do that.”
“Sure,” Sam said. He was up for whatever Gabe wanted, though he wasn’t so sure about the dancing competition. They’d cross that bridge when they got to it, the competition was a week away.
That night was a welcoming dinner and time to mingle, so Gabe changed his sweatpants for tight dark jeans that Sam found himself staring at a little too long, while Sam changed into a collared shirt, his V-neck a bit too casual for the situation at hand.
“Like what you see?” Gabe asked, laughing when he caught Sam staring at his ass.
Sam wanted so desperately to say yes, yes, of course I do, but he didn’t. He couldn’t. They were actors and he couldn’t be anything but. He rolled his eyes and spit back a response. “Maybe I do, maybe I don’t. Maybe I’m remembering how much of a fit you threw when I had you to try those on.”
It was Gabe’s turn to roll his eyes, though he grabbed Sam’s hand and led them out of their whitewashed room and to the wooden-covered dining room, chandelier lit and sparkling. They found their nametags at a round, cream-cloth covered table, with two other couples. One elderly couple, Tina and Rory, kept to themselves, hardly sparing a hello. The other couple was younger, a redheaded girl named Charlie and her girlfriend Gilda. They were bright and fun and Sam loved them immediately. They hit a small snag, before dinner even started when Charlie asked how they met.
“Oh, uhh, it’s a long story,” Sam said, looking at the table.
“Come on, don’t be shy,” Charlie goaded, toothy grin flashing.
“I saved his life a few times,” Gabriel said and left it at that, all flair and drama.
“You can’t leave us hanging,” Charlie scolded. Gabriel looked at Sam, eyes shining and launched into a story.
“So, I...heal people for a living,”
“He’s a doctor,” Sam cut in hurriedly.
“Right a doctor. And Sam here, with his tall frame and lack of coordination, tends to get himself into situations that end in blood. I’d stitched him up a few times over the years, fixed a few broken bones and what not. One day I’m sitting there, inches from his face stitching a gash over his eyebrow just here,” he reached out, brushing his thumb over the scar on Sam’s eyebrow that Gabe did, in fact, heal, though the cut was weird and left a scar, “and he blurted out that he loved me.”
“Not true and you know it,” Sam said laughing. He turned to Charlie and Gilda. “My face was numb, the gash on my eyebrow wasn’t the only injury that day, and I said I would love some food. It didn’t come out right.”
Which was true. He’d knocked a few teeth out and apparently angels don’t do teeth, so Gabe had numbed it, healed his eyebrow, and drove him to the nearest dentist the following morning. Sam, in his delirious state, mumbled something about loving food right about now. It came out a jumbled ‘I love you’. Gabe still teased him about it and each time Sam flushed to his ears. His love was a source of laughter and that was fine. More or less.
Charlie and Gilda laughed at their story, though. They’d passed their first test and the lights dimmed, the host taking stage and microphone and launching into his welcoming speech. Gabe played with Sam’s hand under the table, though Sam didn’t think anyone could see. Just in case, Gabe mouthed when Sam sent him a questioning look. Nerves tingled to life up his arm, ignited at Gabe’s warm fingers against his skin. He played it cool, though his body grew warm, his collared shirt suffocating. He unbuttoned the top two buttons, flashing a bit too much skin. Gabriel choked beside him, on his water he assured Sam, though his water hadn’t been anywhere close to his hands. Sam shrugged. Gabe didn't offer any other explanation so they left it at that.
Dinner passed quickly, a steak and potato feast, a nice change from the burger and fry lifestyle they'd been living for years. Sam nudged the asparagus toward Gabe, a silent plea for him to eat something green that want sugar filled for once in his life, and Charlie melted inside. They were so damn cute. When desert came and Sam took a bite and nudged the rest to Gabe, which he devoured in seconds, she had already decided they were the cutest couple on the planet. It took a long time to become so in tune like that. She and Gilda hadn't even hit that point yet and they were months into the relationship.
Sam and Gabe mingled for the least amount of time that was still socially acceptable and then snuck to their room, the silence a blessing while the waves lulled outside. There was no sign of the monster, but the other two cruises were well past halfway when it attacked. They had time it seemed.
“I'll sleep on the floor,” Sam offered after they’d both eyed the single bed and didn't say a word.
“Nah it's fine, Sammy. We sleep in the same bed all the time.”
They both knew, there on the cruise ship crawling with couples, the implications were different. This was no longer comfort seeking in the middle of the night. The weight of that hung over Sam while he looked between Gabe and the bed, Gabe and the bed and the floor. Back and forth. Gabe just shrugged, sick of the heavy silence while his own heart hammered in his chest, and turned towards the wall. Sam could decide.
Sam did decide. With a heart beating like the ocean, crashing against his chest in much the same way it crashed against the boat just outside, he scooped his pillow and sheet off the floor and slid onto the empty space in the bed. Gabe hummed, after Sam had settled himself, turning towards Sam even through his soft snoring.
They awoke sweat covered and wrapped around each other, Gabe’s hair tousled and Sam’s in a similar fashion. They decided to head to breakfast anyway. They’d overslept and breakfast was almost over and Sam knew how grumpy Gabe got without breakfast.
They stood in line together, silent but brushing each other with each step without even thinking about it, and goosebumps broke out across Sam’s arms, the cold from the door chilling him each time it swung open. Gabe shrugged off his scarf and wrapped it around Sam’s neck with a dimpled smile and a kiss to the tip of Sam’s nose. Sam flushed red and prayed Gabe thought it was from the cold.
Charlie and Gilda waved them over, Charlie with a knowing smile at their rumpled appearances but otherwise silent. Halfway through the meal, Gabe had whipped cream on the corner of his mouth, left from his pancakes and Sam stared at it while Gabe talked. Stared and stared. He had the strongest urge to lick it off, but that wouldn’t be appropriate even with their pretend couple situation, so he reached out and wiped it with his thumb. Gabe went silent, eyes on Sam as Sam hesitated then licked it from his thumb.
The rest of breakfast passed uneventfully, Gabe’s cheeks flushed the entire time and Sam smelling Gabe each time he inhaled from the scarf beneath his nose. It was intoxicating, to say the least.
Activity of the day was rock climbing and Sam and Gabe took the opportunity to scope out the area, eyes straining for glimpses of the tentacled monster they were searching for. But, standing on the deck, no buildings around to break the wind and sea spray, Sam was frozen to the bone within minutes and they retreated to the rock wall with the other couples to have their go for appearances sake.
Gabe was amazing, carefree and daring as he spidered his way up the wall, the wings on his back and Sam’s careful spotting preventing any fear of plummeting towards the earth from slowing him down. He swung from one handhold to the next with graceful ease and Sam and Gabe won a free massage by beating all of the other couples in the race with minutes to spare. Gabe cheered from the top, lit up from behind by the afternoon sun. He was stunning, and Sam’s breath caught.
Gabe came down with a daring leap and Sam lowered him to the floor with ease. Gabe threw his arms around Sam, pressing a smiling kiss to his cheek in celebration. They had their picture taken by the company and their massages were scheduled for the last day of the cruise. Sam prayed they’d all be alive to cash that in. A glance at the ocean told him waters were clear. At least for now.
Back in the room, Gabe tossed his book aside and huffed. Sam glanced up from his own book.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked.
“I don’t know, I can’t get into this book or something.”
Sam remembered the book he’d packed last minute and fished it from its mesh hiding place. “Here.”
“Where’d this come from?” Gabe asked. Sam knew what he was really asking.
“Knew it was your favorite, figured you might want it.”
Gabe stared at Sam open mouthed for a minute too long while Sam pretended not to notice. They went up onto deck and curled together on the lounge chairs, a blanket tossed over them both while they read.
“Thanks, Sammy,” Gabe said suddenly, book open but page still the same as ten minutes before.
“Of course,” Sam said, catching Gabe studying his face from beside him. Gabe smiled and Sam did too. They went back to reading. This was the most relaxed Sam had been in months, years even, and he couldn’t find it in himself to even think about the work sitting at home. That was a different world at this point.
The stars came out, their afternoon spent doing absolutely nothing, and they stargazed. An attendant brought them hot chocolate and Gabe told Sam stories about the stars. There was no argument about the bed that night, they fell into bed, moonlight shining through the water-spattered window, with the ease of rain falling to earth.
It wasn’t until the next night that disaster struck. And it wasn’t in the multi-armed slime-covered form they expected it to be. They were at dinner, the entertainment for the night some sort of Newly Wed style game show on the stage. The host, a skinny guy named Garth, wore a suit and three cushioned couples chairs sat in the center of the stage. There was even a sigh, professional looking and glossy, hanging from the curtains in the background. The whole nine yards. Sam had hardly glanced at it after he’d walked in, the food a much more interesting topic to focus his attention on. Fettucine Alfredo and breadsticks, warm and delicious captured his attention. With Gabriel beside him, he was all shades of oblivious happiness.
But then the host was drawing names and Sam went momentarily deaf. No, they hadn’t said Sam Winchester, no way in hell. But Charlie was nodding and cheering and Gabe had lost all color from his face and they were zombies walking to their stage, a perfect place to enact their doom for all to see. They couldn’t say no, but they would make fools of themselves up there. A catch-22 if Sam ever saw one. Gabe squeezed his hand and pasted a smile on his face, flopping into his seat with a dramatic sigh. Sam was in shock, but Gabe was all jokes and laughter rang from the audience as the host did introductions and the rules portion of the night. Sam had to answer the questions first, luck of the draw he supposed, and Gabe was gone with a wink and a ‘keep my seat warm with those long legs and nice ass of yours’ that had chuckles from the host and the people watching Sam’s silent destruction.
Sam was all nerves, waiting for the first question. He’d have to make up stories on the spot with no way to communicate them to Gabriel behind the curtain. They’d give themselves away and they were only on day 3. The host read the first question and Sam was surprised. He knew the answer immediately.
“What’s your spouse’s favorite food? Mr. Winchester, you’re first.”
Sam smiled, answer tumbling from his lips a bit too fast. “Candy.”
“Ah so a sweet tooth on him then?” the host said with a smirk.
“Explains his taste in men,” The old lady Tina from their table piped up from two seats over. Tina and Rory had been called as well. The audience laughed and Sam flushed, all eyes on him now. The guy in the middle blurted ‘water’ and the audience went into an uproar of laughter. They moved on, Sam much more relaxed than before.
Question two was his spouse’s favorite animal. Sam froze, glad to be last this time instead of first while his mind raced. Then he had it, a laugh escaping from his lips.
“Mr. Winchester, what’s so funny over there? I assume you’ve got your answer?”
“Yeah, Gabe’s favorite animal is a moose.”
“And the laughter is from?”
Sam paused. “I shouldn’t say.”
“Come on, Sam, we’re all friends here.”
“He’ll kill me, but Gabe always calls me Samoose. Because, you know, I’m big and tall like a moose.”
“Ah, and what do you call him?”
Sam blurted the first thing that came to his mind. “Angel.”
He flushed while the audience sent him a chorus of awws. The rest was mostly easy, things like Gabe’s favorite side of the bed and his favorite book. Sam hit a small snag on question five.
“When was the last time you got your spouse flowers?”
Sam frowned, a memory surfacing that he didn’t even know was still there. Two weeks ago, on his way home, a man had knocked on his car window, red roses plastic wrapped and in a wicker basket in his arms. “Rose for your rose?”
In a extremely strange turn of events, the guy turned out to be a demon. Sam cursed to himself, ganked the damn thing with only minor scratches on both him and his car, and was left with a basket of plastic roses in his car. He decided to carry them inside and left them on the counter. What else could he do with them? Gabriel had come inside soon after.
“Oh sweet roses, who from?” he’d asked.
“For you, from me…sorta.”
“Huh?” Gabe asked, picking one up to inhale the fake rose smell.
“Uh there was a demon pretending to sell them, I was left his basket.”
Gabe had shrugged all casual like, though the roses still sat on his bedside table beneath his lamp, spotless and a pop of color in his otherwise muted room.
Sam said two weeks ago and hoped Gabe would remember. Sam was relaxed up there, each answer easy on his tongue. When asked what his favorite picture of them was, he pulled it from his wallet and the audience melted. Sam breezed through the end and Gabe was soon by his side again, all jittery energy and smiles.
By some miracle, they got every single answer right, even the flowers one. Gabe was his usual, charmingly sarcastic self with the host and he’s sitting inches from Sam, warm and bright and Sam lost his breath. Why hadn’t he seen this before? In retrospect he had, he’d been wanting Gabriel forever, but now it was close and real and here and he couldn’t hold it in anymore. He slid his hand into Gabe’s and tried to fight the doubt overwhelming him.
They end up with a perfect score, even after they switch turns and Gabe kissed Sam there in front of everyone, a bit too enthusiastic and a bit too tongue heavy for their very public spot on center stage. Sam melted into it before Gabe turned to the audience beaming, Sam’s hand raised in his. He knew then it was just for the crowd and Sam’s heart broke just a little. And by a little he meant a lot. Pieces of it lodged in his chest, a sharp ache anytime he looked at Gabe. But he pasted a smile on his face and went through the end of the show, careful not to touch Gabe nor his own lips which were tingling and traitors still.
“Suck it Tina and Rory,” Gabe said, and everyone laughed. Sam laughed too, forced and sharp, and slid his hand from Gabe’s and kept it by his side. He didn’t much feel like pretending anymore.
They won the honeymoon suite and the attendants move their stuff into a room with a heart-shaped bed and a bath big enough for two. All reminders that Sam wouldn’t have Gabriel after the cruise was over. He went to bed, a spell of disappointed silence draped on his shoulders. Gabriel didn’t comment, only looked at Sam with a frown and crawled into bed too. Gabriel had kept his mouth shut, his own disappointment at Sam’s obvious rejection to their kiss weighing him down too. It was a heavy sort of silence while both of their hearts bled. When Sam woke up, Gabriel’s side was empty, though a steaming mug of coffee sat on the stand with a scribbled promise he’d be back later.
Sam shrugged and got ready, the room eerily silent around him without Gabe. He didn’t feel like going onto deck so he hung around the room. He picked up Gabe’s favorite book and read it himself to fill the silence. Gabe had read it to him a few times and Sam couldn’t separate his voice from the words. He shut the book before long, unable to handle it.
He was curled in bed, a mix between wanting to cry and punch something, unable to focus on the words but instead only on Gabriel, when the boat shook too violently to be a wave and too suddenly to be anything but the monster they were there to kill. Sam found his knife quickly, though he wasn’t sure how much good that would do, and raced up stairs to deck, eyes searching for Gabriel. People around him screamed, sobbed, some jumping overboard as a tentacle reached up and crashed through the wooden floor of the deck sending splintered wood flying through the salty air. It hadn’t yet punctured the underside, though, and Sam knew he needed to act fast to keep these people alive.
He frowned before picking up the nearest thing to him, a mug on a table beside him, and he hurled it at the creature. It struck its soft flesh with a thud, and a screeching roar shook the sea into a frenzy of water. Sam kept going, grabbing things blindly and hurling them at the thing. One of its arms reached up and wrapped itself around Sam’s body, squeezing the air from his lungs. He panicked, trying to wiggle his way from its grasp while it carried him over the deck and plunged him beneath the surface of the ice-cold water. He fought for air, but the water had none to give him. A dark figure cut across his fading vision, but he couldn’t follow it. Water flooded his throat, his chest, all of him. He became it. Then he became blackness.
He woke to warm hands on his face, a choked voice calling his name. Gabriel hovered above him, hair dripping and hands healing his body while he whispered something over and over again. Prayers, Sam thought. He strained to hear it better. Not prayers, after all. Just Sam’s name over and over again, though to Gabriel that was a prayer. A prayer to the only thing he loved. There was power in that, Gabe knew, and he hoped it was enough.
Sam opened his eyes slowly, soaked and shivering. The cold caught him once again and this time it was both inside and out. Winter was not a time to be plunging into the ocean.
“Gabe,” Sam croaked, not sure what else to say. He struggled into a sitting position, his chest lacking the pain that should be there. Gabe was a miracle worker, but it surprised Sam every time.
“Sam, I’m so sorry about the kiss, I shouldn’t have done that in front of everyone, especially when you didn’t want it. God I’m sorry about everything. I should’ve been there with you, could’ve stopped this from happening but instead I was pouting and I'm so sorry. God I almost lost you and I love you, I’m such a fucking idiot.”
Sam did a double take. Gabriel rambled in front of him, all babbling and downcast eyes and fists at his sides, but a smile slid across Sam’s face. “You love me?”
Gabe froze, then fell into an extremely forced version of relaxation. “I mean, yeah you’re pretty cool I guess.”
“Well that’s good because I love you too.”
Gabe slowly, ever so slowly, let his eyes find Sam’s and they were filled with so much hope, so much light, so much warmth, Sam couldn’t help but pull him into a kiss. Gabriel fell on top of Sam, sending him falling backwards until his back hit the splintered deck again, and Gabe’s arms were everywhere.
“What do you say we trade these clothes for something a bit warmer?” Gabe whispered against Sam’s neck and Sam laughed and agreed.
They made good use of the heart shaped bed and the bathtub more than once, the captain waiving all fees until they could reach shore. The boat was a bit battered, the people shaken, but it stayed upright and no one had died. That’s what mattered.
The next morning, they were wrapped around each other like so many mornings before, but this time there were no clothes in between their warm skin. They brushed their teeth together and there was still toothpaste laughter, only this time Sam pressed toothpaste sticky kisses to Gabe’s mouth and cheeks and nose. Afterwards, after the whole trip when they were back home and in Gabe’s bed, Gabe’s only question was why hadn’t they been doing this the whole time. Sam had no answer but kissed him again and again and again. It didn’t matter. They were doing it now and Sam hadn’t ever felt like home more than when he was with Gabe.