Work Text:
30 Day OTP Challenge: Day Eleven: Wearing Kigurumi
In Which Family Always Finds Each Other, Even In Alternate Timelines
“What are we wearing?”
Two sets of eyes turned reprovingly towards Sam, one green and one amber. He sighed and said, “Forgive my impertinence, your majesty, but what the hell are we wearing?”
Charlie Bradbury beamed at him from under the hood of her tiger onesie. “They’re called kigurumi. Footie pajamas, basically.”
“Okay, wrong question. Why?”
“I had to think of something you couldn’t possibly have with you.” Charlie was actually bouncing in her chair. “Otherwise how was I supposed to believe this? I mean, it’s not every day I meet actual pagan gods. Like, whoa.”
Gabriel smirked over the rim of his goblet. It was his idea to reveal himself as Loki, arguing that he knew Charlie had issues with the Church. “The new pope’s not bad, but the church is still a hidebound mess,” he’d whispered as they waited for the Queen’s Council to clear out. “I’m already springing the ‘not your human convention-buddy’ thing. Let me soften the blow a little with some trickster magic.”
Which is how they ended up sitting in a nest of pillows, surrounded by the increasingly unlikely things Charlie had asked for as proof when Gabriel dropped his news. Sam was pretty sure he was getting diabetes from the monstrous three-person banana split. Still… he hadn’t seen Gabriel laugh so much and so freely. It was a good look on him, and the stupid fox kigurumi looked kind of adorable. Sam loaded up his spoon. “So about the program. Can you make it work?”
“Mmhmm.” The redhead nodded and swallowed her ice cream. “I mean, I have to take a look at it of course, but I’ve never seen a program I couldn’t make sit up and beg. It’s kind of my thing.” She threw a napkin at Gabriel. “You have chocolate sauce on your nose, your Holiness.”
“I’m not the Pope,” Gabriel grumbled. “Loki is fine.” He aimed his spoon at her in mock threat. “And don’t go treating me differently either or I’ll make sure you never get tickets for the autograph line. Ever.”
“Oh no, you’re not getting off that easily,” Charlie said with a wicked grin. “I have, like, so much fan art to show you. So much, and when I tip off a few of my Thorki friends that you have a giant hunk of man following you around with hearts in his eyes there’s gonna be more.”
That made almost no sense. “Thorki?” Sam repeated. “What’s that?”
“You know, Thor slash Loki. Like together? It’s called a ship. Not my ship, of course, I’m Cherik all the way.” She blinked. “Wait, you’re not actually Thor, are you?”
Sam huffed out a laugh and pushed back from the sundae. “No, I wasn’t lying. Sam Winchester is actually my name… but, uh, maybe don’t spread that around? Some people might recognize that name and you don’t want to meet those people.”
She gave him a strange look. “Okay, I need an explanation.”
“Long story short?” Gabriel flicked a grape into one of the antlers on Sam’s fuzzy hood. “There are people who hunt monsters. Not all monsters are bad, but most hunters don’t know that and they kill any of them they can find. Sam’s got a rep for bucking the system. Someone killed him for it once.”
“Like, killed him killed him?”
She sounded scared now, eyes wide, and Sam swore inwardly before giving her what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “It didn’t stick. You get used to it after a while.”
“Wait, it happened more than once?” She dropped her spoon. “Level with me, guys. Am I gonna get eaten by monsters for this?”
“Not likely,” Gabriel said with a dismissive wave. “And if you do I’ll bring you back. Pinky swear.”
Sam shot him a surprised look. Bringing normal people back from the dead was a huge deal, something he’d been told required negotiations with a certain junk-food loving Horseman, but Gabriel had promised. He kept his promises. Either he knew he could keep Charlie safe or he’d already gotten a pass from Death.
Whichever it was, Gabriel’s words seemed to comfort her. The hacker drew a shaky breath and held out her hands. “Well, I can’t ask for better protection than resurrection. Kind of hoping I don’t have to take you up on it, but… gimme the thing.”
Sam passed over his laptop, ducking to catch her eyes. “Hey. It’s all right to be afraid,” he said gently. “But you aren’t in the line of fire here. None of the Leviathan even know you’re helping us.”
“Let’s keep it that way.” The fear eased from her expression. Charlie ran a finger over the laptop case, smiling a little at the My Little Pony stickers Dean had stuck to it. “Leave this with me. I’ll see how much I can get done before the battle tomorrow, but it’ll probably take me a few days. Unless, um, you need me to develop a sudden plague and go home now?”
Sam’s first impulse was to ask her to leave early, but- “Ash always said it needed time to collect information,” he said slowly. “And we do have others out searching, so if the Leviathan try anything big we’ll know. I guess it could wait just a little.”
“Great, because this is my first year as queen and I’d hate to let everyone down. I’m already short six warriors due to unexpected chili complications.” Charlie saw their curiosity and winced. “Don’t make me relive it. It was really gross and we had to send someone out for more toilet paper and bleach. The bathroom trailer here will never be the same.”
“Sounds like an adventure.” Dean would laugh, anyway. The thought of his brother gave him pause, and on impulse he asked, “What time is the fight?”
“Noon. It’s not actually all that long, but there is an unbelievable amount of set-up and then we do a formal surrender for the loser’s army. There’s feasting afterwards.” The woman squinted at him suspiciously. “You can’t fight. It wouldn’t be fair, you’re a god.”
Gabriel raised a finger. “Actually, he’s not. Sam’s six and a half feet of pure, studly human. He has a brother too.”
“Why not? We’re still down four people but at least now we’ll make a decent showing.” She reached out to pinch his onesie. “Wear something a little more badass, okay? You’re big, but you’re too cute to pull off plush and fuzzy in battle.”
A horn blew outside, more enthusiastic than tuneful. “Lord Sauvignon of Orc Crest to parlay with the Queen!” someone announced. Then, less certainly, “Charlie? You’re kind of late for the Laying of Terms.”
“Crap!” She waved frantically at Gabriel, hissing, “Clean this up! And get here by ten thirty tomorrow so I can find you tournament-safe weapons. You and your brother better be good, Winchester.”
He bowed to hide his grin. “I think we can keep up. Right, Loki?”
“You’re the best,” Gabriel agreed as he snapped. The tent flickered once, then returned to its previous layout. Even their costumes were the same. He caught Charlie’s wistful expression and ruffled her hair. “Don’t worry, I left the PJs in your trunk with the laptop.”
“You’re a prince, Lucky. I mean Loki, oh man, how did I never see through that?” Charlie moaned. She shoved the door flap open and flashed a bright smile at the man in the orc costume waiting there. “Lord Sauvignon, apologies for keeping you waiting. I was just negotiating with some allies from the north who are just leaving.”
The man looked at Sam, then Gabriel, and raised his eyebrows. “I thought the Kingdom of Purr was neutral. If there’s a change you have to tell the Field Marshall.”
“Defectors,” Charlie told him. “We’ll have them in Moondor colors, don’t worry. About the terms?”
Sam stepped aside to let the orc and his herald push into the tent, then followed Gabriel out. People were looking at them now that they were leaving the queen’s tent. Some of them waved or sketched bows. Sam returned their friendly greetings, enjoying the relatively rare sensation of feeling normal. He put an arm around Gabriel to pull him close. “Lord Sauvignon? Kingdom of Purr? These are names?”
“Don’t judge,” the archangel said with a grin. “I think it’s fun, and Dean is going to eat this up with a spoon.” He leaned up to kiss his partner’s jaw. “Speaking of eating things up, should we check on our brothers?”
Sam shook his head fervently. “It’s only been an hour. I usually leave Dean for two or three when he has a date over.”
“You really think they’re pants-free right now? I know my brother.”
“And I know mine.”
Gabriel stopped, tilting his head. “Care to make it interesting, Sammitch?”
Betting on his brother’s love life wasn’t the most interesting pastime- Dean generally got whoever he was aiming for- but the wicked curl to the archangel’s lips made Sam pause. “What do you have in mind?”
“How about we check on our brothers, and whoever is right picks our next date?”
That sounded suspiciously tame. “The next date, huh?”
“Well, that and the post-date entertainment.” Gabriel skimmed his hand into Sam’s hair, pulling just a little. “Apparently you’ve got a list.”
“Apparently you’ve been breaking the ‘no mind-reading’ rule again.”
Gabriel sighed and loosened his grip to a soothing pat. “I told you, you’re hard to block out,” he said. “And you’re even louder when we’re touching. Archangels aren’t made for finesse, Sam-a-lam.” He stuck his hands in his coat pockets. “If it bothers you I could give you some space.”
There was an insecure edge to his voice for the first time since the Outer Limits Inn. Sam stopped, crowded him up against the nearest tent wall, and kissed him until the tension melted away. When he pulled back he was pleased to see Gabriel’s smirk back in place. “That’s a no on the personal space, then?”
“We’ll have to talk about the mind-reading thing at some point, but right now? It’s a no.” The hunter bent for another kiss, tasting sour apples and yellow gummi bears. “Come on. Let’s go traumatize ourselves so I can start planning that date.” Gabriel checked to be sure no one was looking, then snapped them back to their motel room.
Their very empty motel room.
Before he could get too worried Sam spotted a note tucked under a beer bottle. He read it, then held it up. “Told you.”
Gabriel squinted at Dean’s messy scrawl. “‘Live Wire’? That’s it? What does that even mean?”
“It’s one of our codes,” his partner said with a grin. “Dean stole it from the AC/DC song. Live wire means we’re on a hookup, everything’s fine and we’ll meet up in the morning.” He leaned back on the bed and took the ridiculous antlers off, feeling pretty good about life in general. “You can track them down if you don’t believe me.”
“I’ll take a rain check. Barging in on Baby Bro’s deflowering is a dick move even for me.” The archangel hopped up to make room for himself along Sam’s side. “So. What’s in store for us tonight?”
Sam handed him the remote and closed his eyes. “I won a full date, Gabe, not half a work night. We have to be up in the morning.”
“Sounds like someone has a marathon in mind,” Gabriel murmured against his neck. “You know we’ll probably be doing the fake war thing all day tomorrow, and Dean never says no to an after party. How long am I supposed to wait for my date?”
He sounded petulant, like someone had stolen his candy. The hunter’s smile widened. “I thought this was supposed to be my prize.”
“Technically, but-”
Sam lunged up and sideways, trapping Gabriel between braced arms. “I said I’m not picking anything.” He rolled his hips teasingly. “But you can.”
Blue lit Gabriel’s eyes for a moment. He arched upward to meet Sam's increasingly interested body. “Goody. As it happens, I’ve been making a list of my own.”
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