Work Text:
It's been four days since Sam last saw the archangel.
This isn't unusual for Gabriel. The man has been known to disappear for extended periods of time without telling anyone since he moved in. His disappearances usually only lasted for a day or two, and he always came back acting like he never left. Still, that doesn't mean that Sam doesn't worry about him.
It was a year ago that the Winchesters agreed to give Gabriel a room in the bunker. Sam was ecstatic while Castiel and Jack welcomed the company. Dean, on the other hand, argued and fought it with everything he had, but after countless hours of conversations that went nowhere and a pair of puppy dog eyes, he conceded. Ever since the day Dean had begrudgingly shown Gabriel to the room next to Sam's, nobody's been allowed in.
It was a mystery, what was hidden behind that door, one that Sam was so eager to figure out. Every time they hung out for the next six months, Sam would ask Gabriel what he had decorated his room with. It didn't matter if they were in a store, in a Norwegian pasture, or in the middle of sex. Gabriel would always respond with something along the lines of “Normal angel things, Samsquatch. Nothing to cause any alarm.”
However, Sam was never convinced it was just ‘normal angel things.’
It was at some point during the seventh month that Sam decided to ask Castiel about these normal angel things. Unfortunately, the angel's response was not as helpful as Sam would've liked.
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean, Sam,” Castiel said with his eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, and head tilted to one side.
“Gabe said he decorated his room with normal angel things. I'm just wondering what that would be.”
Castiel had looked at Sam with growing confusion before his eyes widened in recognition.
“Oh,” he said while returning his head to its normal position. “You mean like how Dean has abundant Western paraphernalia scattered across his walls?”
Sam nods his head. “Exactly.”
“Then, no. I do not know what Gabriel is referring to, as the only normal angel things I can think of are our angel blades and wing oil, which we keep on our celestial bodies.”
Sam sighs before nodding his head and standing up. “Well, thanks for trying, Cas.”
With being no closer to the truth, Sam spent the next four months trying to devise a way into Gabriel's room to figure it out once and for all. Each time, however, the hunter was met with an obstacle. Anything and everything from unpickable locks to magical teleporting doors stood in Sam's way of the truth.
A month ago, Sam stopped trying to figure it out. He recognized that he spent the last eleven months trying to find out what was in the archangel's room with no luck, and so he just stopped. He figured it wasn't worth it anyway, and if it happened, it happened.
Now, Sam hasn't seen Gabriel in four days, and it's beginning to worry him. He's busy pacing the kitchen, going through a mental list of things that could've possibly happened to the archangel, when Dean walks in.
“Whoa,” Sam hears his brother say in a surprised tone. “Any faster and I might have to get the fire extinguisher.”
Sam rolls his eyes as he continues to pace. “What? The one that's at least fifty years old?”
Dean sighs. “Can you stop pacing for a moment and tell me why you're trying to be a makeshift firestarter?”
Sam stops and turns to the doorway with a worried expression. “Gabriel's missing.”
Dean narrows his eyes for a moment before opening his mouth in the shape of an ‘O.’ Then, he walks over to the coffee machine and pours himself a cup, all while Sam is staring at his brother in confusion.
“Dean?”
“Yeah?” His brother asks, then takes a sip of coffee.
“I just told you Gabriel's missing, and you didn't even bat an eye.”
Dean raised an eyebrow. “You do remember I hate him, right?”
Sam throws his hands in the air and turns away from his brother. “I don't think that matters, Dean. What if he got lost somewhere? What if he's hurt and can't fly? What if he's been taken again? What if-”
“Sam!” Dean turns Sam around, takes both of his shoulders in his hands, and looks him in the eyes. “He's fine.”
“What? How do you know that?”
Dean sighed, then released Sam's shoulders. “Because I saw him enter his room four days ago.”
“You…” Sam goes quiet as he thinks about the mystery that is Gabriel's room.
“He's fine, Sam. Now, please stop being a fire hazard. Yeah?” Sam nods, and Dean pats his arm before returning to the table and coffee.
As he stands there watching his brother sip his coffee, Sam can't help but wonder what the archangel is doing in his room that could be worth staying in there for so long.
“I'm gonna-”
“Just go, Sam,” Dean interrupts without looking up. “And make sure you just knock this time? I don't want to have to clean any more pink glitter up after last time.”
Sam doesn't bother replying to that. He's already out of the kitchen and heading towards Gabriel’s room. Once he arrives, he immediately knocks. He waits a couple of seconds and doesn't hear anything, so he knocks again.
“Gabe? Are you there?” Sam asks through the door. A moment later, the door creaks open a couple of inches. He briefly hesitates before gathering the courage to open the door further and step inside, a year's worth of curiosity and wonder buzzing through his veins.
The first thing he hears as he creaks the door open wider is tiny splashes, then laughter. Then, as the door opened all the way, Sam couldn't believe what he saw.
“So this is what you meant by normal angel things?” Sam asks as he stands there in the doorway, simultaneously confused, angry, and amused.
“Hiya, Samshine!” Gabriel says, waving from across the room. The archangel is lying on his side at the edge of a small, splashing pool in the middle of his floor. “Come in, come in!”
Sam takes a step deeper inside the room and closes the door behind him. Then, he feels something soft on his back pushing him towards the archangel and the splashing pool.
As he gets closer, Sam realizes that the pool itself isn't slashing, but the creatures within it.
“Samsquatch, I want you to meet Luci, Peanut, Mika, Jessie, Alfred, and Snickerdoodle.” With each name said, Gabriel had pointed at the corresponding platypus splashing in the pool.
“You have platypuses in your room,” Sam says almost monotonously as he's trying to process that the whole mystery behind Gabriel's room is six platypuses.
“Made them myself!” Gabriel said, grinning.
Sam's eyes widened. “You…made them?”
“Why of course I did, Sam-a-lam. It's the only thing dear old dad let me do. And keep for that matter.”
Sam takes one look at the archangel, then at the happy, playful platypuses and starts to laugh. It wasn't one of those half-assed laughs, no. This was a full belly laugh. The kind that would make your muscles hurt.
“What's so funny?”
“You've…You…” Sam takes a deep breath and stops laughing. “You've been keeping platypuses in your room? For how long?”
Gabriel shrugs. “Roughly a year. They're still too young to be released into Australia.”
“Is this why you don't let anyone in your room?” Sam asked as he took a seat next to Gabriel.
“Mostly. I also just didn't see a reason why anyone would want to be in here.”
Sam turned to Gabriel. “I wanted to be.”
“Your room is nice, Sam. There's no need for you to be in here.”
Sam tilts his head and asks, “Are you not in here?”
Gabriel looks at Sam, confused. “Yes, but I don't see how that has anything to do with wanting to be in my room.”
Sam rolled his eyes and chuckled. “And here I thought Cas was the dense one.”
“Hey! I'm not dense!” It's then that one of the platypuses, Snickerdoodle Sam believes, swims up to them and places their bill on Gabriel's hand. Sam watches as the archangel scratches the bottom of the platypus’s chin, eliciting a happy noise from the semi-aquatic mammal.
“I don't know,” Sam says, smiling. “You're being pretty dense at the moment.”
“How can I-” Gabriel's reply gets cut off by lips being pressed to his. When Sam pulls back, Gabriel is looking at him with adoration and embarrassment.
“Oh,” was all the archangel could manage to get out before returning to the platypus pool.
“Yeah,” Sam said, while running his hand through the archangel’s hair, causing faint purring to come from the man. “I like you, you idiot. You somehow keep forgetting that bit.”
Gabriel turns his head and smirks. “Well, kid, when you get to be my age, forgetting things isn't uncommon.”
Sam rolls his eyes, smiling. “You're an archangel created by God himself and can remember when the universe was created. I don't think that applies to you.”
“Fine,” Gabriel sighs, turning away to break up a fight between Luci and Mika across the pool without moving an inch.
“H-How did you…” Sam stammered in disbelief.
Gabriel rolled his head to the side with a smirk. “Wings, Sam. How do you think you got over here so quickly?”
Sam chuckled before sighing. “It makes sense. You know, you making platypuses. I mean, who else could've come up with such a chaotic creature?”
“Thank you, Samshine. That means a lot.”
Sam runs a hand through Gabriel’s hair once more before grabbing a tuft of it and lightly pulling it, causing the archangel’s head to move and a small gasp to escape his lips. “No more disappearing for three days without some kind of a note or something. Especially if you're in here.”
“Aww. Were you worried about me?” Gabriel asked, genuinely.
Sam rolled his eyes and let go of the archangel's hair. “Maybe.”
“I promise I'll let you know in some way, shape, or form if I will be gone for multiple days.”
“Thank you,” Sam says before kissing Gabriel's forehead.
As the day went on, the two of them watched and played with the platypuses until Sam's phone lit up with a message from Dean saying that they needed to head out soon. So, Sam reluctantly removed his arm from around the archangel and got up from the edge of the pool.
Just as he's about to reach the door, he hears, “You're welcome in here anytime, Sam. No need to ask.”
Sam turns his head, and from over his shoulder, he says, “Thank you, Gabe,” before returning to the door, a smile on his face and leaves to help Dean load the Impala.