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Sometime after a person turns 18 is when they gain the ability to talk to their soulmates no matter where they may be in the world. Whatever you write or draw on your skin appears on theirs.
Sam had always planned what he was going to say once he turned 18, he was going to write his name and where his soulmate could find him every day until they met.
He wasn't necessarily desperate to meet his soulmate, he just always believed that it could never hurt to try. Maybe one day they would be in the same place and if he didn't say anything then they may miss out. Occam's razor, he was simply finding the simple solution to one of life's biggest issues, love.
There were people who didn't believe in soulmates. His brother Dean for example was one of them. He had never bothered to write to the supposed 'love of his life', not until he was in his mid-twenties and strange symbols and a language he couldn't discern appeared across his body. Naturally, the hunter in him was intrigued and he began writing back until everything led him to find Castiel.
Seeing the love the two shared only made Sam more invested in writing his every day notes to whoever may be on the receiving end of them.
Unfortunately for him, his soulmate seemed to have other ideas around the concept.
They didn't write back often, but when they did, it only served to irritate Sam.
Today was no different.
Sam and Dean had settled into their motel for the night. Dean was sat on his bed, sorting through a duffle bag of guns to clean them, and writing to Cas all up his arms whenever he thought Sam wasn't looking.
Sam on the other hand was sat at the table, his laptop, local death records and research papers pushed back as he balanced his arm on the old stained wood and began writing todays message on the palm of his hand.
He wrote that he was staying in a motel in a small town in Missouri. He didn't want to give too much information away as he wasn't the most popular person in America right now, but just in case they were in town, he might as well try.
Sam watched as messily written words began appearing under his message in black lettering,
"What a coincidence"
Sam ducked his head slightly to hide the blush creeping up his neck. This was the most information he'd ever gotten from his soulmate.
Most messages were usually teasing comments, hints of information that Sam couldn't figure out, or even fun facts about the town Sam was in.
He remembers an exchange the two of them had a year ago now where his soulmate teased him about the fact that Sam must be searching for him with the amount he travelled, he told his soulmate it was for work.
It seemed to kill the conversation as he didn't hear back until after his update the next day.
Eagerly, he swiped the thumb of his left hand over his tounge and started scrubbing at the old message to write his reply back over it,
"Are you also in town?"
This might be his chance, hunt be dammed, this was important!
Just as he finished writing his note, the brothers were interrupted by the sound of rustling wings. Sam pulled his sleeve down and dragged his laptop in front of him, ignoring the papers he sent flying to the floor in the rush.
"Gabriel?" Dean greeted the archangel, his voice laced with annoyance and slight disappointment that it wasn't another angel in the room with them.
"Don't sound too pleased to see me," Gabriel joked, his right hand shoved in the pocket of his jeans as he swiped a cold fry from a bag on Dean's bedside table with his left.
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked, clearing his throat as he did.
He really hoped he wasn't still bright red and that he could attribute the break in his voice to exhaustion or a nasty punch to throat.
"A little birdie told me you two were in town, figured I'd swing by to see if you needed a hand." Gabriel smiled as he spoke, moving his hips on the word 'swing' to add an emphasis that wasn't needed.
"By a little birdie, you mean Cas?" Dean questioned.
"Mhh-" Gabriel hummed as he bit the fry in his hand, "Something like that."
He winked at Sam as he said that.
Luckily, Dean didn't notice, either that or he really didn't want to think about it.
Sam was confused as to why Gabriel chose to wink at him then, but it caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand slightly as the blush rose higher, he couldn't quite pinpoint why.
He quickly turned away and burried his nose back in his laptop.
"Well," Dean coughed out, placing a cleaned gun back into the bag, "Thanks for the offer, but I think we're good here."
"If you say so," Gabriel mused, putting the rest of the fry into his mouth as he walked over to the pile of papers Sam had knocked to the ground.
He reached down and picked one up, humming in amusement as he read it, "Hmm, Dionysus, bit of a dick but throws a great party."
He placed the paper back down on the table before bending down to pick up the rest, the whole time keeping his right hand firmly in his pocket, making it slightly harder to bend fully and pick up all the sheets in one go.
"Thank you." Sam mumbled, not looking up from his screen.
"No problem," Gabriel grinned smugly, "Well, if your sure you don't need my help then I'll be on my way, don't forget to write."
And like that, he was gone again, in the same mix of smoke and feathers that he arrived in.
"Well that was werid, even for him." Dean laughed to himself, moving on to polish a hunting knife he had retrieved from the bag.
Sam hummed in agreement.
He slowly closed the laptop, opening his palm as he did to find that he got no message in response, yet again.
"Still nothing?" Dean sighed, voice laced with pity for his younger brother.
"I don't know what I was expecting," Sam mumbled as he went to sit on the other bed, facing Dean.
"Aw come on man, you know this whole soulmates business is a load of crap," Dean said, swinging the duffle to the floor between them.
"Easy for you to say."
"Hey, I liked plenty of people before I found Cas. And we were gonna bump into him anyways, y'know, destiny, apocalypse, hell and Earth bullshit."
"I guess your right, I mean, they barely want to talk to me, maybe they don't believe in soulmates. I'm just gonna focus on the hunt, there are bigger things at stake right now." Sam begrudgingly concluded as his turned in his bed and shuffled so that he was leaning against the headboard.
"Thats the spirit Sammy!" Dean laughed as he threw himself onto his own bed.
This continued on for a few weeks, writting, vauge responses and then nothing.
Sam was getting tired of it and Gabriel's constant inerruptions only served to annoy him more.
He had asked Gabriel once why he kep showing up unnanounced.
They were walking through the halls of a derelict factory, Dean and Cas were searching a different floor, "Like Scooby-Doo" Dean had justified excitedly.
"I just get the feeling you want to see me." Gabriel smiled, hands clasped behind his back, swining his torso as he walked beside Sam.
"Yeah," Sam answered unamused, scanning his EMF reader side to side, "and why's that?"
"A little birdie."
"Of course." He huffed annoyed.
That was the only answer Gabriel seemed to have and decoding what that meant only added another thing onto the pile of stuff Sam had to deal with. It was best not to enertain it, whatever cryptic meaning the archangel had was non of Sam's concern.
Gabriel's presence was sometimes a welcomed suprise however, as Sam found out one night after a particullarly bad hunt.
It had been a couple weeks since the hunt at the factory and Sam and Dean were in Illinois fighting the very angry spirit of a woman who had been killed in her house. While Dean was off grave hunting for a simple salt and burn, Sam was trying to keep the woman busy.
Unfortunatly for him, keeping her busy meant being flung across the room by a force a lot stronger than him, sending him sliding across a dusty dining room table, knocking the ornate decorations off as he clambered to the ground.
"Need some help?" He heard from over his shoulder.
He'd never been happier to see Gabriel standing over him, arms crossed over his chest, tapping his foot on the hardwood floor beside Sam's head.
"If you don't mind." Sam grumbled through gritted teeth, wincing at a tug in his side as he struggled to his feet.
Gabriel offered Sam his hand, helping him up before pulling him suddenly closer as a lamp flew past where Sam's head was just moments ago.
"Good spot, thanks." Sam laughed.
"Don't mention it," Gabriel shrugged, "Dean's found the corpse so what do you say we leave while he finishes up?"
Sam nodded slowly, barely being given time to react before the room around them was gone and they were stood in the middle of their current motel room.
"Thanks." Sam grumbled as he made his way to the table and sat down onto the chair with a heavy thud.
"Don't mention it," Gabriel muttered, a small blush painting his nose as he wiped the dust off his clothes with the back of his hand.
Sam pulled out a pen and uncurled his red, raw fingers.
"I'm in Illinois today" Sam wrote on his palm.
He was tired and battered and bruised but he'd never miss a day to talk to his soulmate. He needed to let them know he cared.
He stared down at his hand through half-lidded eyes, not expecting much. He leant his head back over the back of the chair and huffed. He wanted to close his eyes and drift off where he sat when a small movement caught his eye.
"I know." Were the words that wrote themselves slowly across the grooves of his hand.
Sam's breath hitched as he sat up straighter.
"A little birdie told me"
He stared at those words, reading them over and over again like they may change if he just kept trying.
It has to be a coincidence, a very big coincidence.
Sam raised from his chair, not entirely sure on what he was doing. He locked eyes on Gabriel who was now stood in the middle of the motel room, hands balled in fists by his side and a cheesy grin plastered across his face.
He faked a look of confusion as he watched Sam step closer to him, "You doing alright there Sam?" he asked, fully aware of the answer.
Sam pulled Gabriel's hand towards him, prying his fingers open to reveal Sam's own handwriting dancing along the lines of his palm.
His eyes flew open with shock, a pinkish blush rising up his face as he traced each letter with the gentle glide of his fingertip.
"Took you long enough." Gabriel laughed, all too pleased with himself.
The look of shock and admiration on Sam's face was quickly replaced with anger as he threw Gabriel's hand back down.
"You've known this whole time," he yelled, voice breaking slightly on the words as he pushed them through a tightening chest, "The whole time and you never said anything!" He pushed Gabriel's chest as he spat out the last word, not hard, just enough to make a point.
"Hey, I've been dropping a lot more hints once I confirmed it was you sending me all those updates." Gabriel shrugged, unfased by Sam's reaction.
"Confirmed?" Sam's voice rose higher, "I wrote down my name!"
"In my defence, I've been around quite literally since the dawn of time, you're not the only Sam Winchester out there."
Gabriel laughed again at his own comment.
It didn't last long however as the crash of Sam's lips on his cut it off abruptly. He felt Sam's hands cup his face and relaxed into the taste of his mouth that mixed with the sweetness of Gabriel's own.
Sam broke apart, still keeping his hands on Gabriel's face, framing his features perfectly between his fingers.
"I hate you so much right now." He sighed.
"Really?" Gabriel asked, eyebrows raised as he held back a chuckle, "'Cause I have to say, I'm getting some really mixed signals right now."
"Shut up." Sam comanded halfheartedly as he shook his head and leant back down to kiss Gabriel again.
Gabriel would never tell Sam, but as the ink rubbed off Sam's palm onto Gabriel's cheek and reapeared onto his own, Gabriel fully understood that he loved just how unperfect the perfect man could be.