Chapter Text
Gabriel’s life was relatively simple in his terms, he owned a cafe in Chicago named “Treatsters”, which he thought was hilarious, of course, despite what Castiel said. If you took the family drama out of the equation, his life was wonderful- running the cafe during the day and wrapping himself up in the warm body of a beautiful stranger at night. Well, some nights.
The shrill buzzing of the oven timer snapped him from his thoughts. He stifled a yawn and went to pull the lemon poppyseed muffins, the smell immediately permeating the air. The muffins were the last on the list of baked goods to be set in the glass display case. He glanced up briefly when the soft jingle of the bell atop the door sounded.
Charlie, as chipper as always, waltzed in the door, announcing her arrival with the usual, “What's up bitches!”
“You know you say ‘bitches’ plural, like there's anyone else in here aside from me.” Gabriel pointed out.
Charlie rolled her eyes, “Well, maybe there would be if you had friends.”
Gabriel set the now empty muffin tin on the counter and glared at the redhead, “Wow, you know I have the ability to fire your ass, right?”
He wouldn't, and she knew that. Charlie is the best employee he has at the moment. The rest of them are teenage brats with half the work ethic and even fewer social skills. Gabriel took what he was given; the cafe had strange hours, and it was hard to find employees in the first place.
“You won't!” She chirped happily, walking into the back and setting her bag down.
“You're right, I'll pour glitter into the air vents of your car instead.” Gabriel shot back.
Charlie let out some sort of indignant squawk in response, and Gabriel rolled his eyes before walking over to the front door and flipping the sign to ‘open’. They had about an hour or two before the usual rush of customers that came in to get coffee and whatever baked goods they could get their hands on before work.
Which also meant there was an hour or two where Charlie would pester him for details about his personal life.
She didn't mean anything by it, and most of the time, Gabriel was able to skirt around the details he didn't need anybody hearing about. Usually, she asked about his love life, ironically enough, despite her knowing he never got into anything serious. She found it entertaining anyway.
“So.. anything exciting happen recently?” She asked, leaning on the counter.
Gabriel snorted, “Do you count the super amazing sex I had last night?”
Charlie rolled her eyes again. “Gabriel, you say that every day.” She deadpanned.
“Doesn't mean it's not true.” He shrugged; it was half true. It certainly wasn't every night.
Half the time, he was too busy with the cafe and by the time he was done with the day, he was too damn exhausted to do much else. It also wasn't very smart to go too deep into the city, not for him, not when he risked everything to get away from what nestled at the center of all those street lights and tall buildings.
He liked to indulge himself once in a while; he wasn't a complete recluse.
“Heads up, here come the corporate drones.” Charlie said, tightening her apron and plastering on her customer service smile, Gabriel followed suit.
The next two hours were a whirlwind of spilled drinks, horrible flirting on his end, and a half-consumed display case full of all the pastries you could think of. They sold everything from cookies and muffins to pies and the occasional cake.
Originally, when Gabriel wanted this place, he had planned for it to strictly be a bakery; however, his brother suggested that coffee would draw out more customers. So he settled for a mix of both, and it worked well for him. He loved getting the occasional custom order for a birthday cake or catering, but he never sold those things regularly.
Sometimes he would sell slices of whatever cake he randomly decided he wanted to make on a whim, but most of the time it was the usual pastries and goodies.
More employees came and went as the day moved along. Charlie had left an hour ago, taking away the only other person he was friendly with and leaving him with the two grumpy teenagers he closed the cafe with most weeknights.
“Holy shit..”
Gabriel glanced at Alex, teenager numero uno, who was standing next to him. He actually didn't mind her as much- at least she was competent.
He followed her gaze, curious as to why she had that reaction.
Holy shit.
Two men had just walked in–well, more like one was being reluctantly dragged and the other was the one dragging him.
No wonder Alex said something, they certainly were a sight for sore eyes if anything. Gabriel had his usual coy smirk plastered on his face as they walked up to the counter.
“See Sam? Pie.” The shorter one, who really wasn’t short at all, gestured to the display case where a couple of slices of pie still sat.
“Yes, Dean, I can see it.” The other one, Sam, deadpanned in response.
“You boys want some pie, I take it?” Gabriel asked.
“I’ll have a slice of the pecan. Looks amazing.” Dean beamed, clearly elated about the prospect of the simple baked good.
Gabriel nodded, typing it into the register before looking up at Sam, “Anything for you, handsome?”
The man’s eyes widened a fraction, and he opened and closed his mouth once before seemingly finding his voice, “No, just a coffee is fine, thank you.”
“Suit yourself.” Gabriel hummed, taking their money and handing Dean the slice of pie he wanted before turning around to pour Sam’s coffee.
Sam took the coffee cup from Gabriel once it was ready and gave him a small nod before the two walked over to a booth and plopped down, Dean immediately digging into the pie with a smile. Gabriel snorted when a dramatic groan fell from his lips after the first bite.
Gabriel tried to make his staring subtle; he’d never seen these men before, and he certainly would remember if he had.
Especially Sam. The man had to be at least 6’3, and he seemed to be the exact opposite of the usual attractive, tall man with a side of inflated ego. If anything, the charisma seemed to belong to the other one, Dean. He was clearly all charm.
Gabriel sighed and went back to work, keeping an eye on the two as Sam pulled a laptop from his bag and they went to work on something. Slowly but surely, the cafe got emptier as a half hour ticked by.
He just finished wiping off the counter when Sam walked up to him, “Could I get a refill on this?”
“Anything for you,” Gabriel replied cheekily, swiping the cup from his, frankly too big, hands and filling it back up. “Let me know if I can get you anything else, and if you don’t see me, just ask one of the two grumpy teenagers that work here. They’d be happy to help.”
“Even if they’re grumpy?” Sam asked, arching a brow.
“Yep! Pretty sure just about anybody would be happy to get you whatever you needed,” Gabriel replied, winking.
Sam sputtered again, his cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink, “Thank you, uh..” The man glanced down at the small metal name tag pinned to Gabriel’s apron, “..Gabriel, I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Sam!”
Both men turned towards the source of the shout, Dean was sitting in the booth, gesturing for Sam to go over to him. He looked annoyed.
“Yeah, yeah.” Sam waved his hand dismissively at him, glancing down at Gabriel. “Sorry, my brother doesn’t have an inside voice.”
Gabriel huffed softly, “It’s fine, have a nice rest of your day…” He let his sentence filter away as the other man jumped in.
“Sam.”
“Sam.” Gabriel parroted back with a smile, despite already learning the man's name, nodding at him before turning back to his previous task.
Sam walked back toward the booth, and Gabriel watched as they had a very heated, hushed conversation before making their way towards the door.
Right before he followed his brother outside, Sam turned to look back, giving Gabriel a small smile. Gabriel waved at him as he ducked under the doorway to leave.
Holy shit was right.
Gabriel turned back around to see Alex watching them leave. He smirked and ushered her back towards the dining area, “Alright, that's enough with the heart eyes, tables won't clean themselves.”
“Ugh, come on, don't be such a stickler.” She groaned.
Another couple of hours later, the cafe was completely cleared out. The lights were turned off, every surface was as clean as Gabriel could manage, and everything he needed to bake for tomorrow morning was prepped and sitting in the fridge.
He startled when the bell jingled. It shouldn't be making noise at all: the door was locked. He glanced at the doorway that led out to the main area. He couldn't see the front door from where he was in the back.
Gabriel quickly and quietly grabbed a chef's knife from the block and slowly crept out. He had a gun hidden under the counter, but there was no way he could get to it, so his next best option was the knife.
“Gabriel.” Came the familiar low voice.
Gabriel breathed a heavy sigh of relief, which quickly turned to annoyance as he fully stepped out from the back and turned towards the familiar figure standing near the counter.
“God damn Castiel, would it kill you to let me know you’re going to break in?” He asked, knife still clutched in his hand.
“I didn't break in, did you forget I have a key?” Castiel asked, his tone just shy of monotony.
Gabriel huffed, setting the knife on the counter before crossing his arms and leaning back against the linoleum. “That's not the point, I assumed it was someone else.”
“Me and your friend Loki worked very hard to hide you well, I doubt it would ever come to that.” His little brother stated matter-of-factly.
Gabriel hummed. He wasn't convinced, but he dropped it. “Why are you here?”
“Am I not allowed to come check on you?”
Gabriel laughed, rolling his eyes. “Castiel, I haven't seen you for months, you only come here when you want something.” He didn't hide the resentment in his voice. Castiel knew how he felt.
His brother looked taken aback for a moment before he regained his composure, “Hell is moving in on our territory, it's becoming an issue.”
Gabriel scoffed, “I care why?” He wanted nothing to do with any of that, it was the entire reason he ran.
“Because we need you, you’re the–”
“No.” Gabriel cut him off, he wasn't going back.
“Gabriel.”
“Castiel.” He shot back, “I don't care, if all you came here to do was ask me that, then you can leave. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, it tends to do that to uptight assholes,” he snarked.
Castiel scoffed, “You’re right, I apologize. Have a nice night, brother.” He turned and left without another word, his obnoxious trench coat trailing behind him as the door clicked shut.
Gabriel locked up without another word, checking around the cafe one last time before shutting off the lights and leaving. He wouldn't go back; Castiel and the rest of his family would just have to manage without him.
He left for a reason. Nothing would change that.