twentysomething

Title: Took The Midnight Train

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing: Alwaysagirl!Sam/Gabriel, background Dean/Cas

Summary: ""Sam, you're always saying you think we should do more duets," Mr. Shurley says- leaving out the critical part of that advice- so they can learn from each other- not kill each other. "I think it'll work out really well."

Sam bites back her response of "yeah, well you're an alcoholic who writes terrible books," because she's sort of snotty and too smart, but she's not a total bitch. And she actually likes Mr. Shurley. Just not when he's trying to ruin her life. Mr. Shurley just absently reaches up to pat her shoulder and turns back to the arrangement he's working on."

Length: 2300 wordsish.

Warnings: GLEE CLUB.

Notes: So, I just got my computer back, and I have a big day tomorrow. This means you should expect some fic spam. This is from my dreaded gmail drafts folder- I wrote it for merelyn while bored at work, months ago, I think, because things we love= Glee + SPN, and well, TRAGEDY ENSUED.


Sam stares at Mr. Shurley.

"I can't sing with him," she says, crossing her arms over her sweater, tragically obscuring the sailboat pattern, but he has to know she's serious. Mr. Shurley looks like his life is super hard most of the time, so Sam feels a little bad making it more difficult, but she didn't ask Ms. Rosen to like, not be in love with him or something.

"Sam, you're always saying you think we should do more duets," Mr. Shurley says- leaving out the critical part of that advice- so they can learn from each other- not kill each other. "I think it'll work out really well."

Sam bites back her response of "yeah, well you're an alcoholic who writes terrible books," because she's sort of snotty and too smart, but she's not a total bitch. And she actually likes Mr. Shurley. Just not when he's trying to ruin her life. Mr. Shurley just absently reaches up to pat her shoulder and turns back to the arrangement he's working on.

And because there is no God, Gabriel is leaning against her locker.

"So, babe. The Boss." Gabriel waggles his eyebrows at her and she wishes he was sort of dead.

"Just so you know, Gabriel, I in no way requested that we be partnered for this assignment, in fact, I actively asked Mr. Shurley to reassign us." Sam puts her books precisely back into her locker after shoving it open- and Gabriel off of it. Although, this is probably how she got that "Ice Queen" reputation and no one will date her.

"Yeah, well, I didn't ask for you to wear skirts that short, but apparently God is Good," Gabriel says with a grin that makes him look like he can see through it. Sam pretends she's not blushing- violently- but she can't help the reflexive way she tugs it down and presses her hands against the sides like a breeze is going to come by. Gabriel gives her this look she really can't decipher.

"C'mon, Sammy, is it really going to be that bad?" he asks, almost quiet enough that she doesn't hear it in the crowded hall. She can't control her damn mouth so all she says is, "Don't call me Sammy," rather that what she was going to say, which was, "Maybe-" but not what she should say- which was, "Yes."

Gabriel just snorts and shakes his head- walking off before she can say anything else, and Sam- unexpectedly- feels like a jerk.

"What's his problem?" Dean asks from behind her, and Sam does not jump. She makes herself shrug.

"That's just what he's like, Dean." She follows Dean out to the parking lot and carefully doesn't look at the dumpster although she can hear the clanging and groans. Dean is complaining that he has no idea what to do with Cas as his partner, because they can't sing a love song to each other, and Dean doesn't know what the hell else his duet is. Sam makes sure she's looking out the window before she rolls her eyes, because Cas probably knifed someone to get them to sing "Alone."

"Well, at least Cas sounds like a girl, just close your eyes," Sam finally snaps, because it's just so sad- Dean is painfully straight and Cas is painfully in love with him. Dean makes a face.

"That's a bitchy thing to say," Dean says after a moment, like the thought doesn't sit easy and like he's irritated on Cas's behalf- which is beyond ridiculous. She doesn't mumble that if Cas was a girl, Dean would be all over that, because it's neither here nor there, but she wants to. Sam is so sick of swallowing her words, of never saying anything. And she knows everyone says she doesn't shut up, that she needs to think before she just says stuff, but Sam is keeping so much back, she's choking on it.

But instead of actually doing something, she does what she always does- Sam lies on her bed and puts in her headphones and sings along, as loud as she can, letting it all out until Dad and Dean bang on the walls to get her to shut up.

---

Sam reminds herself that she's a professional- if she's going to turn her talent into a marketable product, her deportment has to be beyond reproach.

Even if that means working with Gabriel.

She's not sure what it is- the stupid, lazy, "laid-back" attitude he brings to everything, like he just doesn't care, or the way he looks at her like he knows what color her underwear is- but he just gets under her skin like a splinter. But the important thing is that- when he does bother to sing- his voice is more than passable and he certainly has stage presence. Sam draws every eye on stage to her- but that's because she's six feet tall and built like an amazon- and well, she keeps it there with her voice. But Gabriel makes you want to watch him- if for no other reason, so you can be prepared for the explosion.

So, if she can get him to focus long enough to actually do some work, she suspects there could actually be a decent, if not successful, performance in their partnership.

That being said, she was probably a bit of a bitch to him yesterday- and always. So, based off her observations of his behavior- like Jane Goodall- she thinks that the quickest way back in to his good graces is through his stomach.

"What?" Gabriel says blankly, staring at the tray Sam is holding out toward him. Sam frowns, because cupcakes with "SORRY : (" are pretty straightforward in her opinion.

"I've been- really kind of rude to you," Sam forces herself to say. "I wanted to apologize. I saw you stealing the cupcakes at the bake sale, I thought you might like these. I baked them myself." The longer Gabriel stares at her, the more convinced she is that he's going to slap the tray up into her face and there will just be one more cardigan ruined by artificial food dyes. But instead he just looks at her, strangely solemn and takes the cupcake with the colon on it, licking across the frosting- and she isn't surprised that he eats the frosting first.

"Okay," he finally says, and Sam realizes she's been staring at him frenching a cupcake, practically. "You wanna rehearse?"

---

Sam wishes she had a better reason for why, three hours later, Dean walks in on them making out in her room, but she really doesn't have one.

They'd been arguing about how to break the song up into solos, and what to keep together and then Sam had been pressed back against her pink bedspread, slapping Gabriel's hands away from her breasts while still shamelessly grinding up into him.

So now, Dean is gesticulating angrily and Gabriel just looks smug and Sam doesn't know what insane switch in her head flipped so that now, rather than thinking "why," she thinks "yes-" but she's not even embarrassed. Sam glances at her clock, which may be her saving grace.

"Dean, isn't Cas expecting you at his house to rehearse your duet?" Sam prompts and Dean swears and kicks Gabriel out- and Sam supposes she got lucky that Dean came home and not Dad. Gabriel unrepentantly makes "call me" fingers behind Dean's back and Sam feels warm and goofy and strangely happy.

And which is why, ten minutes later Gabriel is back and this time, Sam locks her door.

---

That night, at dinner, Dad tells Sam she looks different- did she do something with her hair?

Sam muffles her laughter in her sandwich.

---

They didn't have sex. But Sam touched a penis last night- even if it was just through jeans, and she let him peel back all her layers and he touched her breasts and Sam is stupidly happy looking. It makes Dean twitchy and pissed all day and when there is a pair of tickets to a monster truck rally jammed in her locker door, Sam just smiles- it's not her thing- but Sam never does anything- so maybe it could be.

And even through the haze of probably make-out related endorphins, Sam knows she should be more cautious- Gabriel has dated his way through a slew of the Cheerios- girls every variety of too hot for him. Sam doesn't want to make a mistake, here. She wants to trust Gabriel, even if it's dumb, even if she knows she shouldn't.

And their duet sounds really good.

---

They're going on the second day of club meetings- their truck rally date night- and Sam doesn't want to think about all the ways this could go wrong- she just wants to sit in the back of the room, next to Gabriel, stealthily slipping her hand into his behind Jo and Lisa's backs.

And he lets her, which means a lot more than the Snickers she'd found in her locker after lunch.

Adam and Jess do a pretty fair job with "Sweet Caroline-" it's cute and everyone claps along, but Victor and Jo doing "No Air" is a little painful- they have no chemistry. Which she supposed isn't their fault, but everyone is doubly inclined to want them done- because Dean and Cas are next.

The thing is- Dean and Cas do have chemistry- in boatloads. They sound good together- really, really good, and to give Dean credit, he's really going for it, and Sam finds herself wondering if he took her advice. But as good as Dean is, Cas is pouring his heart and soul into it and Dean- holy crap- Sam thinks Dean might have gotten slapped in the face with a clue by four. When they sit down, Dean is wearing his "serious thoughts" face and Cas looks like he's on the edge of aneurysm.

But when Dean pulls Cas aside after rehearsal, they're still inappropriately close, like always, so Sam just kisses Gabriel until he offers to drive her home, because Sam thinks Dean might be a little busy.

---

Dean knocks on Sam's door late that night, and watching his face, he cycles through about five different ice-breakers- ranging from "why didn't you tell me," and "so, I might be a little gay," but Sam just smiles at him.

"Are you happy?" she asks and Dean blushes bright red like this is way too gay for them to talk about- even though Dean is the gay one now- but nods.

"Uh, yeah. He, Cas. He's nice, you know?" Dean says and Sam rolls her eyes.

"I'm glad you found sweet, young, homosexual love. But you don't have to tell me about it, I am aware that it might kill you." Sam replies, letting him off easy, and Dean grins.

"You know he's not good enough for you, right?" Dean prompts after a moment and after she figures out what he's talking about she just shakes her head.

"I don't know, I'm pretty high maintenance," she points out easily and Dean tugs her hair. They may not have really progressed emotionally since they were five, but it works, more or less.

---

Their duet goes off with out a hitch- it's flirty, it's cute and it's good, even if Mr. Shurley smiles at her like he knew all along. Dean even tells her he likes it better than the Springsteen version. And Sam's excited about that- she's happy, it's nice, but there is a ticket for a monster truck rally stuck in the clear facing of her binder that she's so much more excited about that she wonders if this is what normal girls feel like all the time.

---

Gabriel never shows up.

---

Dean was making noises about Dad's shotgun, but Sam isn't upset so much as she's furious- and not even at Gabriel- she's furious with herself for thinking that she was safe- that she was the exception to the rule. Sam feels so stupid.

She should have guessed that it was convenience- desperate Sam Winchester, if you have to do a project with her, you might as well get some action, right? She's thinking that Fiona Apple might be the way to go, or maybe Kelly Clarkson, because they really know what it's like-

There's a tap at her window.

"Your brother has a gun, you know," Gabriel says, looking a little rattled. Sam thinks about slamming the window shut in his face, but he wedges an arm in there first. "Look, Sam, just listen, please,"

He's never said please before.

Sam hesitantly backs up and sits on her bed, watching Gabriel clamber through her window, warily.

"I've got an excuse," he offers and Sam just stares at him evenly, arms crossed. "My mother had to work late and I had to babysit my little sister- who flushed my phone down the toilet." She's opening her mouth to call bullshit, but he whips out a ziplock bag with his water-logged cell in it.

"I hope you used a rubber glove to reach in there," Sam finds herself saying and Gabriel laughs.

"I might have made my little sister do it," he admits. Sam frowns.

"Why wouldn't you call me from your land line?" Sam asks, clinging to mistrust. Gabriel shrugs nonchalantly, but there's something sheepish about it.

"Like anyone in our generation knows phone numbers. I had it saved in my phone," Gabriel explains. Sam has to admit that's true, the only numbers she has memorized are for home and Dad's garage. Gabriel crowds up in her personal space and it's hard to think- or stay mad, for that matter.

"I am sorry, Samantha," he says, serious eyed and so near. Sam doesn't really like her full name, but she likes hearing him saying it.

"You'll just have to make it up to me," Sam suggests. Gabriel's smiling like he has a few ideas.