#SamGabeHSAU -

Let's move back to Sam for a second. Where has Sam been since the beginning of rehearsals? Well, nowhere. He's been pretty listless, lonely, even with his friends there to keep him company. Doesn't help that Jess is avoiding him nowadays, and while Sarah and Maddy both treat him well, when she's around what can they do but be on her side? They have that whole gender solidarity thing going on, and the jokes about Sam being "one of the girls" dried up the night he went to bed 5'2" and woke up 6'3".

So Sam's dicking around after school, alone, moping, and on the weekends he calls Gabriel and gets a Gabriel-shaped zombie on the horn instead. And he rolls over, losing all energy himself.

"What's the matter with you?" Dean asks, pausing in his doorway. You can tell Sam's exhausted when he doesn't close his door.

"I'm boooored."

"So get up and do something."

"Don't wanna."

"Do your laundry or something. God, your room smells like a barnyard."

"You sound like Mom."

"Shut up, I do not." Dean strides through the door and sits down on the foot of Sam's bed, his usual I'm-about-to-be-brotherly position. "The hell's wrong with you? You've been hyper as hell for the past three months and now you're an earthworm again. What gives?"

Sam looks up from his pillow. "None of my friends are talking to me," he says.

"Why? Did you do something?"

Sam shakes his head. "Naw. Well, I broke up with Jess."

Dean shrugs. They've already been over that. Sam won't talk about it and that's the end of it. He's not gonna ask. "So what, the rest of the Breakfast Club's pissed at you?"

"No!" Sam sits up. Outrage is enough to spur a sign of life. "It's just awkward."

"Well, screw them." Dean's usual attitude to anything. "What about your friend Gabe? Did he ever get that part?"

Sam visibly deflates. "Yeah."

"So, what's he doing?"

More deflation. His head sinks over his knees. "He's too tired. He's rehearsing all the time and so even when he's not..." Sam trails off.

"Sammy?"

A whimper.

Dean claps him on the rounded back. "Come again? I don't speak whiny bitch."

"Jerk." Still muffled.

"Mm-hm."

"I just--" Sam rolls onto his back and stares at the ceiling. "I don't know. Is it weird to actually miss him?"

Dean's eyebrows fly up, but he holds back whatever smartass comment's in his head. "No. You should just corner him and give him hell if he's ignoring you, though, dude. That's just rude."

"I don't want to give him hell," Sam says. "I wanna talk to him again."

"Oh." Dean scrunches up his face, thinking hard. "In that case, try bringing food?"

-

Sam's halfhearted about bringing the sandwiches, but the minute he sees Gabriel's face, he makes a mental note to thank Dean. And maybe next time he'll bring sandwiches. Or fritters from the Baking Angel. Or subs from the Roadhouse, or burgers from The Green Room. By the time Gabriel actually makes it off stage, Sam has a whole calendar of menus planned. He'll have to save some of his allowance, but this is so clearly worth it.

Over the sandwiches Gabriel talks about rehearsal, about playing a role and learning dance moves and everything he's been up to. By the time he's done, Sam's tired just from hearing about it. No wonder Gabriel's been so drained. Sam watches him, watches the way he glows, and feels his heart doing a heavy soft-shoe in his chest. He restrains an urge to reach out and just touch Gabriel's glowing face. To dip his fingers into those dimples, see how deep they go. It's exciting and terrifying and Sam's addicted to it, this feeling, this friendship that's more than any friendship he's ever felt before.

He gets to know the other theater kids, too. Pam is sassy and flirts with him. Vic is super-serious and looks slightly suspicious of him all the time, but is a good guy. Jo is all-around sweet. Innocent, adorable, everything a good ingenue should be. It's Jo who finally asks, casually, as Gabriel and Vic have an on-stage fight, "So are you guys dating or what?"

Sam says "no," of course. Reflexively. Defensively.

But the idea doesn't freak him out like it used to. And that in itself is a surprise.

There are changes happening inside him, that much he knows. Doors opening. With the question, one more opens. They're not, but could they be?

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