#SamGabeHSAU -
Homeroom is weird. Awesome but weird. It's weird to stare at Gabriel. To meet his eyes and grin. To look at his lips, to remember the feel and taste of them. To worry he is thinking about Gabriel's lips too much and his brain not enough. To stare some more at his lips and then to hide in a bathroom stall until his boner goes away, luckily just in time for math.
God, he can't think of anything but Gabriel. He just wants to see him. To be with him. All the time.
But that's clingy and scary and should not be admitted to. That's stalker territory. Never mind that as best friends they had lunch and dinner together most days. Being more-than-friends (are they boyfriends yet? Sam's not sure) has a whole new set of rules, and he has to be careful. This thing between them could come crashing down with one misstep.
Lunch is still safe, though, right? He takes his paper bag over to Gabriel's table and sort of shyly stands next to him, asking a silent may-I with his eyes. They sat opposite each other as friends. Is it too soon to sit side-by-side? Too much to ask?
"You better sit down before you keel over from hunger," Gabriel says flatly, and Sam plunks himself down in an embarrassed heap.
Gabriel grins at him. "What's up, besides your head?"
Sam slumps. "Nothing." He's been thinking all morning of what to say, so he has a topic lined up. "So do you think I came off OK with your brothers? They're kind of hard to read."
"Don't I know it," Gabriel says, picking up his own empty paper bag and popping it loudly. Three girls at the next table jump in unison, then turn back to glare. Gabriel gives them a wave. "I don't think you have anything to worry about in that department."
"I hope so." Sam pauses. "Michael seemed nice."
"Michael," Gabriel says pointedly, "is a pompous, arrogant jerk who needs to be taken down a peg. Of course, that goes for all of us. That's why I need my daily dose of Sam Winchester. Reminds me there's another way to be besides a bitchy little queen." He levels a gaze at Sam so full of affection that Sam doesn't know what to do with it.
He takes advantage of the surge of confidence. "So when do you think--" He lowers his voice. "When do you think we can go out again?"
"I don't know," Gabriel says. His lips purse into a twisted knot. "Michael is taking me upstate to visit his college this weekend. Some crap about wanting me to get a well-rounded education."
"What about during the week?" Sam says, his cheeks pink with enthusiasm.
Gabriel shakes his head. "I don't know. I have three papers that snuck up on me while I was in production week."
Sam's really trying not to feel bad, but there's an itch at the back of his skull that Gabriel's trying to tell him to back off. His face droops. "All right," he says, resigned. "Sorry."
It's the "sorry" that makes Gabriel look at him funny. "What are you apologizing for?" he says. "I'm the one who left my papers till the last minute." His voice drops, and he leans in close enough that only Sam can see the gleam in his eye. "I didn't exactly plan on getting myself a hot new boyfriend at the time, you know. Trust me, I'd have worked like a dog so we could have more time together. I'm pretty damn mad at myself."
Sam has flushed. "You just said boyfriend."
"Well, sugar daddy has bad implications and love slave is outdated," Gabriel says with a shrug. "Of course it doesn't mean much if we're staying under the radar, but... that's what I'm kind of hoping we are. Do you object?"
Pink has long since faded to deep red. Sam shakes his head so hard he nearly knocks it loose.
"Good. I'm relieved." Gabriel sounds nonchalant, but there's real joy in his expression. Sam has to hold back to keep from hugging him right then and there. He glows for the rest of the day.