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“Hey lollipop, I’m having a problem.”
Sam rolled his eyes at the nickname, Gabriel went out of his way to think of weird things to call him. After all these years they didn’t bother him anymore, but that didn’t make them any less silly. He put another piece of tape on the edge of his present, making sure it would hold it together before he looked up. When he did, he couldn’t help the laugh that escaped. Gabriel was standing in front of him wrapped in tape. How he’d done this to himself was anybody’s guess. But it looked like the tape was wrapped around his one finger and then it reached up and wrapped around his wrist. It seemed to snake up his arm to his shoulder. He’d probably shook it, because it had wrapped around the back of his neck and was falling down his opposite shoulder.
“How?” He finally managed when he could stop laughing. Gabriel just shrugged.
“I hate tape!” He said and Sam motioned for him to come stand in front of him. He slowly started untangling his husband from the evil clutches of the tape all the while smiling. When he was finally done Gabriel glared down at him.
“What?” Sam asked innocently. He’d freed Gabe, so why the face?
“It’s not fair.” He said gesturing to the present on the table. “How come you have to be perfect at everything?”
Sam glanced back at the present too and shook his head. “Just because I can do this doesn’t mean I’m perfect.”
“You’d never be attacked by the tape monster.”
“Please don’t say that in front of the kids. I don’t need a repeat of the boogeyman incident.” Sam said grabbing Gabriel’s hand and pulling him into his lap, kissing him gently. Gabriel kissed him back but pulled away quickly.
“Teach me how to do it right.”
“Baby, you’re not that bad at it.”
“Really?” Gabriel pushed out of Sam’s lap and walked around the table and snatched a crumple of wrapping paper from the floor. He threw it into Sam’s hand and he saw that it wasn’t a crumple of paper, but was actually a wrapped present. Who’s present he had no idea, he couldn’t even recognize the shape of the thing to wager a guess. He smiled at it though. Gabriel had tried his best and that was important, even if he didn’t think so.
“This looks-”
“Like crap.”
Sam turned it over in his hands. “Why did you tape the bow onto it like that?”
“Because it wouldn’t stay on. It kept falling off.”
“Did you take the piece of paper off the sticky part on the bottom?”
Gabriel blinked then grabbed the present from Sam and threw it onto the floor behind him. “Son of a bitch.”
“Hey! That better not be one of my present’s you’re throwing around.”
“It’s Dean’s.” He pushed Sam’s arm out of the way and plopped back into his lap. “Now show me how to do this.”
Sam brought his hands around Gabriel and pushed the present he was working on away to start fresh. “Alright first you pick a present. Then you have to measure the size of the box so you know how much paper you need to use. You don’t want to use too little, because then it’s not fully covered, but too much and it looks like a bulky mess. So like this.” Sam grabbed the ipod for Cas and cut a strip of paper for it and placed it in the middle. “Now you fold one side of the paper over and tape it to the box itself so it stays.” He grabbed Gabriel’s hand and showed him what he meant then grabbed the other side of the paper. “Now fold this side down and tape it there. Just a little piece of tape is all you need.”
Gabriel grabbed the tape gently and pulled but ended up with a long strip anyway. He growled his frustration and turned to show Sam. “See! Every damn time!”
Sam kissed Gabriel’s cheek and grinned. He pulled the tape out of his hands and rolled it up and threw it in the trash next to him. He then pulled a smaller piece and handed it to Gabriel to use. Gabriel placed the tape on the paper. Sam grabbed the side of the paper and picked up the scissors.
“Okay now look. This is too much paper to fold over without it reaching the other side. So we just cut it a little to make it more presentable.” Sam cut it on one side to show Gabriel. Gabriel took the scissors and cut the other side, a little less straight than Sam had but enough so it would work. Then Sam grabbed the paper and folded it into a point before wrapping it around the side of the box and taping it in place. Gabriel did the same with the other side and smiled when he was done.
“Ha! Take that present!”
Sam picked up a ribbon and in one swift motion wrapped it around the box and tied it into a perfect bow. Gabriel grabbed another ribbon and another present and shifted off Sam’s lap.
“Okay I think I got it.”
Sam went back to wrapping the presents being extra careful to wrap the Bratz doll for Charlie carefully. Could they have put it in a more difficult shaped box? They worked together in companionable silence with just the backround of Christmas music from the TV when he heard frustrated noises coming from his left and he saw Gabriel wrapped up in more tape. This time the roll had completely ripped itself from the holder and was just flopping around sticking to every part of Gabriel it could reach.
“I thought you were doing ribbons? How are you fighting with tape again?”
“I wanted to try rewrapping Dean’s present and this is the thanks I get! More tape attacks!”
Sam laughed again. “Why don’t you worry about the ribbon and I’ll do the wrapping. Here let me just.” He pulled the tape from Gabriel again and couldn’t help but lean down and kiss his nose. He looked so cute.
“These damn rolls of tape have it out for me!”
“Don’t worry I’ll fix it.”
Sam threw away the ruined tape and reached for another roll. When he came up empty he frowned. “Didn’t we have a whole bag here with tape and ribbons and stuff?”
“I told you I was at war with the tape.” Gabriel said embarrassed.
“And just how many rolls attacked you?”
Gabriel rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, maybe, I don’t know. 8 or something?”
“8 rolls of tape?” Sam asked incredibly. Only Gabriel could get into a fight with 8 separate rolls of tape.
“It’s not my fault!” He swore and Sam couldn’t help but lean over and kiss him again.
He let himself enjoy it for a few minutes, just feeling Gabriel underneath him, letting go of his frustration, when he pulled back and rubbed his thumb over Gabriel’s lip.
“Your fault or not, you owe me tape. Now hurry up and go get it before the kids get home from school. I have to be done this today so we can stash the presents in the attic.”
“Fine. But Dean’s not getting any presents!”
“Don’t blame Dean for your tape skills.”
“Oh I blame him.”
Gabriel stood up, kissed Sam one more time and headed out of the room to go to the store. Sam picked up a roll and pulled it until he found a piece that wasn’t fuzzy with Gabriel’s clothes and cut it. He could make this work until Gabriel came back. He heard the door open and close and he laughed again. There really was never a dull moment with Gabriel, Sam grinned, and he wouldn’t trade a minute of it.