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Sam hated being sent home from school even when he was actually feeling sick. Being sent home like this, because someone else was sick and Sam needed to minimize his exposure, sucked ass. Sam felt fine, and he wanted to stay for lunch with Dean and Castiel and then English, where Mr. Wyatt was having them read over each other’s creative writing assignments and look for the structural plot elements. Even if he got stuck with the worst writers in the class as partners, it was still going to be fun seeing their ideas. Nobody in the class was lacking in imagination.
But no, someone had flu-like symptoms, so Sam had to go home. Dean was all for it – with John gone, as usual, Dean got to leave too so Sam would have someone to take him home. Dean would take him out for lunch, buy him ice cream, and then take him home to read or do homework or whatever while he went out and had his kind of fun. Or, if there was a game that night, go back to school so he could play.
There was a track meet that weekend, but it was Saturday. Both Dean and Sam would be able to run in it. Assuming Sam didn’t end up catching the flu-like symptoms, of course. But he felt fine, and dammit, he was going to feel fine tomorrow. He had to.
If he wasn’t fine tomorrow, he couldn’t go on a date with Castiel. Sam had been looking forward to it all week. He’d even set himself up for teasing by writing any idea he had for a date on a popsicle stick. He and Castiel had plans – Castiel’s cousin’s band was playing and they were going to go watch – but, well, call Sam optimistic but this would mean he was prepared for a second date. Dean made fun of him for it, but it was worth it.
It was a pleasant surprise when there was a knock at the door at 3:45. Sam answered. “Cas! Hey!”
“Hello, Sam. I brought you the work you missed.” Castiel handed Sam a stack of papers. “Mr. Wyatt sent a message that the class voted to delay the creative writing analysis until Monday. He suspects it’s less to do with you not being there than several students being unprepared today, but either way, you missed a grammar lesson instead.”
“Thanks, Cas.” Sam hugged Castiel and kissed his cheek. “You gonna stay and hang out?”
“I’d like to.” Castiel followed Sam inside, where Sam took the homework to his room to put with his backpack. “I won’t be able to come to the track meet tomorrow. Dad’s making me spend the afternoon with family, since Gabriel’s coming. I’m sorry.”
Sam’s first instinct was to blow it off – after all, the coach might well tell him not to come since he got sent home from school. It wasn’t necessary, but Sam was a freshman anyway, which meant he usually got put in JV events and no one cared if he missed. Then something occurred to him. “You never go to track meets anyway.”
“No, but…” Castiel smiled at Sam. “I’ve never been dating one of the people on the track team. Speaking of which.” Castiel set down his backpack and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “Math class was finishing the practice SAT test we’ve been working on, which I did about fifteen minutes into the period. I spent the rest of the time brainstorming ideas for your jar.” He handed the paper to Sam. “Feel free to throw out any terrible ones, or repeats.”
Sam took the paper and opened it, looking it over. There were some really cool-sounding ideas on there. “You know what Dean’s going to say.”
“That the nerds deserve each other?” Sam nodded. “One of these days, he might actually get me to believe it. I am so sorry about…”
“Cas, don’t worry about it. You didn’t mean it the way it sounded, you haven’t done it since, just forget it happened.” Sam hugged Castiel. “Wanna help me put these on popsicle sticks? I’ll mark out the duplicates. Or considering we’re both gonna be busy tomorrow… homework?”
“Homework. That way when Dad tries to get Gabriel to ‘help’ me, I can honestly say I have it done already. It’s not that Gabriel’s not smart, it’s that he’s not helpful. He hates schoolwork and will just take the paper, put down bullshit, and say we’re done. Then at the least I have to copy it out so it’s in my handwriting after he’s gone.”
“So basically it’s Dean trying to help me with my homework?” Castiel nodded with a smile. “Yeah, let’s get it done. No one deserves that.”
“So, Gabriel wants to meet you after the show,” Castiel announced when he picked up Sam. “Dad didn’t believe that I was done with my work, made me show it all to Gabriel, and now he wants to meet the kid who’s getting me decent help with my homework for once.”
“Oh, fun. Thanks for the warning. Should I be expecting an attempt to embarrass you, a shovel talk, an interrogation, or all of the above?” Sam wasn’t too worried about a shovel talk. Given the combat training Bobby and Dean had made sure he got, he was confident he could handle Gabriel if he had to, and since the way to avoid having to was to treat Castiel well, not a problem. The interrogation was only mildly more threatening. Sam had survived Zachariah storming over to the Winchester’s house to grill him.
“Almost certainly the embarrassing me. He’s probably going to apologize for me missing the track meet. He tried to convince Dad that we could catch up and watch a track meet at the same time, but you know how he is about his plans. Other than that, I have no idea. Gabriel is unpredictable. Also, if he offers you anything, you might not want to take it. It’s likely drugs.”
“Oof, yeah, Dean would kill us both if you brought me home high.” Unless they brought him some, too. Even that wouldn’t work if Castiel had gotten high, because Castiel was driving and Sam was in the car.
The show itself wasn’t really to Sam’s taste. Archangel played death metal, and the lyrics were in a language Sam didn’t recognize. He could still recognize their talent. For one thing, it took a lot of talent to go on stage wearing mechanical golden wings on a harness, black leather pants, and nothing else – and make it work.
“Gabriel’s got a few sets of wings he rotates through,” Castiel told Sam between songs. “The golden ones are the crowd favorite, but he prefers his teal wings, and for any shows in June he breaks out rainbow wings. Personally, I’d rather have black like the others are wearing, but it works for Gabriel.”
“Those have to get heavy.” The harness would distribute the weight, at least, but even so, Sam could only imagine how glad he’d be to get them off after a show. At least it made for a cool finale, as Gabriel attached a couple ropes to his harness and was lifted in the air, soaring above the crowd as he growled about… whatever he was growling about.
It was not at all surprising when Gabriel came out to meet Sam without the harness and wings. He hadn’t bothered to put a shirt on, which was probably just as well as he was still dripping with sweat despite the towel wrapped around his shoulders. “Heya, Cassie! This your boy?”
Castiel rolled his eyes. “This is Sam Winchester. Sam, my cousin Gabriel.”
“So, of course, I heard about the accident and you getting sent away and all, sorry that your dad sucks. Glad you came back and found Cassie. He needs someone like you around to make sure he doesn’t end up a complete shut-in with an apartment full of books, cats, and guinea pigs.”
“Guinea pigs?” Sam asked, raising an eyebrow at Castiel.
“From the time I was four until… much later… I asked Dad every week for a guinea pig. I never got it.” Castiel glared at Gabriel. “I am not a shut-in. Even before Sam, I had Dean and Charlie, and those two would never allow it.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Sam, want a cupcake?” Gabriel snagged a tray of cupcakes and held it out.
Sam took one look at it and passed. The fancy leaf design in the icing told him all he needed to know. “I have to be careful about what goes into my body. Thanks for the offer, though.”
“Cas? No, wait, on a date, you must be driving. Bad idea.” Gabriel took a huge bite out of a cupcake. “I like him, Cassie. Don’t screw this up.”
“That wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been,” Castiel said on the way home. “It’s a shame Gabriel can’t stay longer. I would love to see what happens if you get him, Dean, and Charlie in the same room.”
“I’m not sure the room would survive,” Sam deadpanned. “What language were they singing in? I didn’t recognize it at all.”
“Enochian. Gabriel taught himself in high school because he was bored, and he makes up words when he needs them since it’s not something spoken on Earth much in the past… long while. They sell booklets containing the lyrics and translations for all their songs.” Castiel smirked at the look on Sam’s face. “Like I said, Gabriel is plenty smart enough to help me with my homework. However, like Dean, he has other priorities for where to apply that smartness.”
Dean was staring out the window when Castiel dropped Sam off. He caught Sam’s eyes and pointedly turned away from the window. Castiel looked between them. “What was that about?”
“We’re later than he expected, so he was worried about us, but any yelling can wait until after we’ve said goodnight. He doesn’t want to watch us kissing.” Sam bit his lip and looked at Castiel. “Are we kissing?”
“Can we? Please?”
Sam took that as a yes and leaned in, gently brushing his lips against Castiel’s. It was nice, more than nice enough to go in for a second, firmer, kiss. “Thank you for tonight. Would you like to do it again soon? Baseball game on Monday?”
“I’d love to. Should I come in for the yelling, or can Dean wait and get me tomorrow or Monday at school?”
Sam rolled his eyes. “I’ll handle Dean. Don’t worry. Thanks again.” Sam went for one last kiss before heading inside.