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30 Day OTP Challenge
Day Thirteen: Eating Ice Cream
In Which Sam Winchester Gives Good Date
“This is the dumbest idea you’ve ever had,” Dean said, sounding half annoyed and half jealous. “You realize this guy is an archangel, right? He’s probably already done this a million times.”
Sam finished packing the light backpack he’d chosen. “Actually, I think it may be one thing he hasn’t done yet. Even if he has, he didn’t do it with me.” He raised his eyebrows. “Why are you being a jerk about this? Cas told you you’re coming too, right?”
His brother brightened. “Yeah?”
“Dude, it’s kind of essential. I want to do this like normal people, no angel magic.” Dean gave him a significant look and he amended, “Almost none. Just travel and-”
“Travel?” Gabriel repeated, strolling out from behind Dean as if he’d been there the whole time. “Where are we going?”
A flutter of nerves hit Sam. What if this wasn’t such a great idea after all? Maybe Dean was right, maybe he should change his mind and pick something else. Maybe-
“Just tell him, Sammy.” Dean smirked. “He’ll love it, he’s as big a nerd as you are.”
“ I’m a nerd? Dude, you’re wearing your Moondoor t-shirt right now !”
“Yeah, and you’re the one who wants to-”
“Okay, okay, let me tell him,” Sam interrupted hastily. He gave Gabriel a nervous half-smile. “I’m, uh, calling in my date, but I have to tell you in advance there’s no sex today.”
The archangel pouted, just a little. “I don’t get to see your list?”
Dean made a face and waved his hands. “Gross, no, I did not sign up for you two flirting when I agreed to this.”
“Ooh, this is a double date. I get the ‘no sex’ rule now. No offense, princess, you’re very pretty but I’m a taken man.” Gabriel waggled his eyebrows at Dean, who gave the expected sneer. “So where to? Aruba? Antarctica? The moon?”
The moon, wow. Sam was tempted to change his plan right then and there. “Let’s save that for next time, okay? Today…” This was harder staring into Gabriel’s eyes. Sam pushed through his nerves and just said it. “Okay, neither of us had a normal childhood, right? You didn’t have one at all, and mine was kind of… different. So today, we’re going to be kids.” He risked another smile. “That’s your contribution.”
He’d never seen Gabriel honestly surprised before. The archangel went completely blank for a moment before a wide grin stretched his face. “Really? You’re gonna let me de-age you?”
“Just for today,” Sam said, relieved that his plan wasn’t an immediate failure. “About eleven should do it, that way it won’t be weird if we hold hands. Can you-”
Without warning the walls shot upward. After a dizzying moment Sam realized they hadn’t moved- he was shrinking. He got one glimpse of Dean’s smirking face before everything went hazy.
Sam wasn’t sure where Dad was or why Dean was so old, but he wasn’t afraid. He knew everything was okay, that everyone was safe and there were no hunts to worry about. Today was going to be an awesome day. He and his best friend in the world were going somewhere secret.
“It can’t be secret if I’m taking us there,” Gabe said as he climbed into the back of the Impala. “I mean, you have to clue me in sometime.”
Sam frowned, momentarily stumped. Luckily Dean’s boyfriend, who was an honest-to-god angel and Gabe’s brother, spoke up from the passenger seat. “I will transport us, Gabriel. Do we have everything?”
Their duffels were in the trunk, and the money Sam had saved for the trip was carefully folded in his wallet next to the tickets. He patted his pocket. “All set. Let’s go before it gets too crowded.”
“Hold your horses, short stuff.” Dean revved the engine, smiling like an idiot at the Impala’s purr like he always did. “All right, Cas, do your thing.”
Sam twisted to stare out the window. He tried to catch some visible sign of flying, but like always he missed it. Between one blink and another they were driving down a wide road towards a set of parking lot gates, exactly where he’d asked to go. Gabe let out an excited squeal. “Are you serious?”
He’d spotted the giant letters arching over the gates: THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER.
“You haven’t been, have you?” Sam asked anxiously. “It’s only been open a few years and you were gone when…” He couldn’t remember where Gabe had been, just that it hadn’t been fun, so he skipped that part. “I guess it doesn’t matter if you-”
“I haven’t,” Gabe told him with glee. “I haven’t been here yet, Sambo. It wasn’t here before I left, and I’ve been with you since I got back.”
Sam couldn’t stop the stupid grin from splitting his face. “Really?”
“Really and truly. What’s your house? You have to do the Pottermore quiz or it doesn’t count.”
Dean laughed from the front seat, slowing to pay the parking attendant. “Sammy is Ravenclaw all the way. Good balance for the car, since Shortstack there is a Slytherin and Cas is Gryffindor.”
“You are almost correct.” Castiel smiled over the backseat at the younger boys. “When we took the quiz, Sam was sorted into Gryffindor with me.”
“No way, he’s the biggest nerd I know.”
Gabe made a rude noise. “Sam’s the bravest person I know. Of course he’s a Gryffindor. Anyway, you should talk Hufflepuff .”
Dean, who’d ranted for at least twenty minutes when he was sorted, shrugged with elaborate indifference. “Badgers are awesome, dude. All right, where are we headed first?”
“We have reservations at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort,” Castiel told him, pulling the folder Sam had given him from his coat. “Gabriel, today will be Harry Potter World. Tomorrow we will explore the adult areas of the parks.”
That sounded boring. Sam hoped they let him and Gabe run around Diagon Alley again while they did grown-up stuff. He knew better than to press his luck with Dean, though, and they were already doing more than he’d imagined. He’d take what he could get.
The hotel wouldn’t accept check-ins until afternoon. The desk clerk was friendly, though. She let them check their bags into the coat room and gave them passes for early park entry. Sam and Gabe ran all the way to the gates, bouncing on their heels at the end of the line while their brothers caught up. There was so much to see even out here. Sam noticed that the crowd wasn’t too bad this early; they should be able to get a couple rides in before the lines got long.
Then the gates opened, and they were going inside.
Sam liked when people got things right, and the Wizarding World was just right . Everything looked like the books, like somehow he and Gabe had zapped themselves into The Sorcerer's Stone . They went for the rides first to get in before the lines, running from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade to hit every one. Dean, who was looking a little green, suggested they try out some of the shops before he lost his breakfast.
Sam wanted to do the wand experience at Ollivander's. Even if it wasn’t real it was pretty neat. A little kid got chosen to go “try out” wands, each one seeming to cause some kind of magical accident. Sam glanced shyly at Gabe, hoping it wasn’t too cheesy, but his friend was totally immersed. He cheered like all the rest when the girl found a wand that made the whole room light up. The simple happiness on his face made something settle in Sam’s chest. Gabe had as little chance for kid stuff as the Winchesters. This had been an awesome idea.
Out in the main shop Dean and Castiel bought them all cool fiber optic wands. The wands could be used to “cast spells” at dozens of places around the park: making water flow over an umbrella, waking up a flock of creatures at the Menagerie, and other bits of harmless silliness. They spent a good hour and a half hunting up the spell spots in Diagon Alley. Sam and Dean had a short fight over t-shirts; Dean kept picking ones that were way too big for Sam and insisting he’d “grow into them soon” which was just stupid . Finally Castiel suggested they get one normal size to wear now, which settled the matter. (Sam figured he could sneak back tomorrow and exchange the tents for normal human sizes, but no sense tipping Dean off.).
Over in Knockturn Alley one of the park actors pretended to steal Sam’s shopping bag. There was a great dramatic scene where some “Ministry Wizards” chased her down with spells. No one pulled a knife, no one bled or screamed, and everyone seemed to be having fun. The “dark wizard” even staged an elaborate collapse when Gabe pretended to hit her with a Jellylegs Jinx. She was so believable that Sam had an anxious moment where he wondered if Gabe really had jinxed her until his friend shot him a wink. No magic, just acting. Sam relaxed and grinned back as the Ministry wizards carted their prisoner off to Azkaban.
After they finished lunch at the Leaky Cauldron they had to make a stop back at the hotel to check in and drop off bags of swag. Gabe bitched about the walk, but really they needed the time to finish the foot-high ice cream cones from Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlour. Sam wanted to admit defeat halfway through his cone. Gabe was eyeing it with interest, though, so just to be contrary Sam finished it off. The stomachache was worth it to see the despondent expression on his friend’s face.
It wasn’t as funny when he vomited seven flavors from the top of the Dragon Challenge. Dean bought him another shirt to change into. Sam counted that as a win.
By the time they stumbled into their suite in Cabana Bay that night, everyone was exhausted. Dean was muttering darkly about never having children. Even Castiel looked tired as he ordered Gabe and Sam to their bedroom. Sam couldn’t summon the energy to protest. He just flopped onto one of the double beds and closed his eyes. “That’s it,” he groaned. “I’m finished. Leave me here to die.”
“Lightweight,” Gabe said as he sprawled beside his friend. “You only yakked once, that was hours ago. Don’t you want dinner? I bet they’d bring us a pizza if we called the front desk.”
Pizza sounded amazing. Sam peeked out into the living room that connected the bedrooms. It was empty, meaning their brothers were behind the other closed door being gross. There was no other reason the TV in there would be so loud. Dean would for sure want to get some boyfriend time in while Dad wasn’t around. Sam didn’t worry about that much, though: it slipped easily past his more pressing interest in pizza. Except- “Dean has my wallet,” he admitted. “He got mad about the Honeydukes stuff.”
The six hundred dollars of candy had been Gabe’s idea. The archangel pouted, then brightened. “We’ll charge it to the room!”
One extra-large Veggie Lover’s later, Sam had officially yakked twice. Then three times, because Gabe threw up across his bed and Sam was a sympathetic puker. They dragged the fouled blanket into a corner of the living room, hosed themselves off in the shower, and curled up side by side on Sam’s bed to watch cartoons until they passed out.
It was, all told, a perfect day.
Sam woke smiling. He didn’t have to look down to know he was big again. He opened his eyes to find Gabriel watching from inches away. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself,” the archangel said, pushing hair from Sam’s face. “I hope I’m not ruining your big plans. Dean said today was an adult day, so…”
“It’s fine.” Sam leaned into his touch. “I had a blast, but one day was enough. Did you-”
Gabriel kissed the question right out of his mouth, leaving the taste of pistachio ice cream and exasperation. “Don’t even ask. You know full well that little stunt put you miles ahead in the date game. I took you to Spain and you gave me a happy childhood memory. I can’t compete, Sammitch. What could I do that would even come close?”
Sam gave himself a moment to bask in smugness before facing reality. “Were you serious before? About the moon? Because that would probably be better.”
“Than yesterday? Impossible. The moon’s just dust.” Gabriel kissed his nose. “Trust me, Samuel Nebuchadnezzar Winchester, you win all the boyfriend awards. I’ve been alive millennia and no one has ever made me feel as special as you did.”
Sam didn’t know what to do with the surge of emotion. It was way too early to blurt out what he wanted to say. Instead he pulled Gabriel against his chest and breathed into his hair until he could speak again. “Hey Gabe?”
“Mmm?”
“You know my middle name isn’t Nebuchadnezzar, right?”
“Sure it is.”
“Seriously, I don’t even have a middle name.”
Gabriel wriggled around to smirk at him. “How do you know? Have you ever seen your birth certificate?”
“Of course I…” Sam broke off as he realized he had only seen the fake one Dean gave him for college. His certainty wavered. “It can’t be Nebuchadnezzar. Dean would have told me… wouldn’t he?”
The archangel bounced out of bed. “Wow, look at the time. I’d better check in on Raphael before our fun grown-up day at the park. Save me a donut, okay?” He snapped himself away before Sam could protest.
Which he wasn’t going to do. Because his middle name was not Nebuchadnezzar, damn it. Of course it wasn’t. That was the most ridiculous thing Gabriel had ever said. It wasn’t even worth worrying about.
It wasn’t worth waking Dean up, either, but that didn’t stop Sam from pounding on his door ten minutes later- just to be sure.