Title: Hooked Remixed

Author: OpheliacAngel

Pairing: Dean/Gabriel

Genre: Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Rating: Mature (Just cause I'm paranoid)

Summary: Dean's been strung out on a batch of challenging hunts lately and with a still candy lovin' but also evolving alcoholic Gabriel added to the mix, he's only digging himself a bigger hole. But when it seems there's nothing he can fall back on, he gets a huge surprise that causes him to look twice at his life. Completely AU, though with brief spoilers of some moments in S7.

Long A/N: This is an expanded version of EO Drabble Challenge: Pour, which featured either Dabriel or Dean & Gabriel friendship, I left it up to what the reader preferred. I've been wanting to add onto the 100 words for a while and I also decided to make it romance this time. Hence the 'remixed' version.

This is a birthday present to myself, and because it is that means it is very close to my heart and something I have spent a great deal of time on. I still continue to hate the fact that my bday is April Fools but I keep on learning to live with it. Oh, and I would absolutely love a review… it would so make my day, not to mention year :D

Song Featured: Breaking Benjamin's 'Forget It'

~There's a place I see you follow me

Just a taste of all that might come to be

I'm alone but holding breath you can breathe

To question every answer counted~

His eyes take no longer than a minute to adjust to the light. Dean's hands are shaking, an unwelcome reminder that he hasn't eaten well in days, deprived himself of everything but the sickeningly bitter taste of scotch and sweet, sticky candy. The person who only has this to offer, other than his distracting and annoying presence, doesn't seem to realize that humans can't live this way.

Or just doesn't seem to care.

Gabriel's only been here for a week now, yet it seems like a great deal longer. Long enough to justify Dean's ever lingering thoughts on him, on what he's doing at the moment that should be so much more worthwhile than the hunt he's currently on.

Yeah right, probably sitting on the couch watching reruns of Dr. Sexy and becoming more addicted by the second.

I'm such an idiot.

Sam and him have been doing separate hunts for weeks, and that's one thing he still can't get used to, will never be able to get used to because Sam is a part of him and when that's taken away, well…

It's an understatement to say that the archangel's been keeping him company. In fact, he certainly keeps Dean with his hands full at every available and unavailable moment, forces him to run out and buy more candy and alcohol when he could conjure it up himself. Still, sometimes he doesn't mind, going out because the fresh air does him good and sweet silence surrounds him instead of Gabriel's nonstop yapping about things that don't even matter.

Dean sighs, wipes a bead of sweat off his forehead. His head is throbbing harshly, suffering against the dim yet hard, penetrating light that the light bulbs strung high above him shed. He wishes he had taken someone on this hunt with him, even if it was Gabriel. He actually offers sometimes, not that he enjoys him tagging along or anything, just that sometimes his overly confident personality helps to calm him down and keep his head straight.

Hunting alone, like this, only causes his thoughts to drift onto the topic of Sam.

And he really doesn't want to think about him in a moment like this.

The walls around him are sticky and wet, glistening with something that the hunter doesn't want to think about yet knows he must. It means the thing is dangerously close, that this is its lair like he assumed it was after all. Means his gun will be shooting out silver bullets in the next few minutes if he's lucky.

This place is starting to creep him out a little, giving him a hard time because he really doesn't want to walk any further, go in any deeper. Just wants to get this thing over and done with.

Who cares though? There's nothing waiting for him but an almost empty room plus a talkative archangel that doesn't do anything but lie around all day and claim that Dean would be lost without him. Lost in what way?

His hand brushes the wall to his right and he shivers, the scent of raw meat wafting towards him, telling him he's getting closer to where the thing takes its prey, devours them piece by piece after it rips them apart limb from limb. He remembers when Sam got caught by one of these things a few years back, and even though he survived it certainly wasn't pretty when he managed to find him.

This isn't a good hunt to go on alone and he knows it, tries to convince himself otherwise but who is he kidding? He should have gotten help, if not Gabriel than another hunter would have done.

Then again, he's Dean Winchester and he can handle anything.

Until his hand leaves the wall and he focuses in front of him for only a brief moment before he's slammed against that very same wall, gasping for breath, trying to focus because at this point he can see nothing but darkness and these huge, piercing teeth that come closer and…

Dean gulps and fumbles for the gun that's been knocked out of his hand, "Shit."

And then he falls.

XoxoxO

A deep, bone rattling cough climbs its way out of his throat and brings him to full wakefulness. His hands are shaking harder now, freezing cold and he reaches on instinct for his gun because he can't remember what happened.

He must have blacked out, must've…

"Damn, Dean. Don't wake up when I call your name. It's not like I've been wasting ten minutes of my life or anything like that."

His head shoots up and immediately an agonizing pain explodes like fireworks within it, causing huge white stars to dance in front of him, obscuring the person who spoke from his view momentarily but he doesn't need to see him. Still knows who it is and still wonders what the hell he's doing here.

"Gabriel, what…?"

His vision clears but his head is still throbbing and come to mention it, his leg is too, in a way that he doesn't quite like.

The archangel lifts up a small vial filled with an iridescent liquid that Dean recognizes as unicorn blood. Extremely hard to find yet he supposes it wouldn't be for someone like Gabriel. The bullets should've been dipped in that, he assumes as he focuses back down on his leg, the pain starting to rise.

"Figured you would overlook that small detail. You should be happy I caught it, Deano, otherwise you'd be lying in a puddle of your own blood right now."

"Yeah well", Dean pushes himself up on his bruised and heavily exerted, shaking elbows, wincing with every pained movement, "if you had shut up for a second maybe I could've caught that stupid detail."

"Whatever gets you through this, big boy."

Gabriel's grin, while annoying, actually strangely makes the current situation a little less awkward and a little less hard to deal with. Until his arms start to snake along to his back and legs that is.

"Whoa", Dean pushes away but there's nowhere to go but the cold wall that doesn't want him anywhere near, "hands off."

The archangel scoffs and with a sinking feeling Dean suddenly starts to realize that he isn't getting out of here on his own. Damn archangel finally gets what he's probably always wanted, Dean's embarrassment at having to get carried out of this damn tunnel. It still doesn't stop him from swallowing and getting really pissed off though.

"Fine, Dean." Gabriel sits back and crosses his arms, "I'll just sit over here and watch you make a damn fool of yourself. It's your choice, I'll wait till you beg me to help but I'd rather not."

Dean shifts his leg experimentally and shivers as the pain sifts throughout his entire form, knows it must be broken or crushed or something that's just so fucking great that he doesn't know because he can't think straight at this point at all.

He looks up at Gabriel and glares at him but there's also no denying the uncertainty in his own eyes. Dean desperately doesn't want Gabriel's help but what choice does he have? He can't exactly make it out of here on will alone.

Besides, it doesn't look like the archangel's gonna do anything stupid anyways.

Unless he gets the bright idea to drop me or something.

He looks away from him, wanting to pretend that this situation doesn't exist and he's back in that damn hotel, listening to the archangel munch on piece of candy after piece of candy and swallow glass after glass of his precious scotch.

"Fine", he gives in, promising himself that he won't glance up again. Not till he's back and maybe not even then. Possibly never again.

Gabriel waits another moment before his arms are back with a surprising gentleness and slowness that doesn't set Dean on edge like he thought he would.

"Just hurry up", he growls.

Gabriel winks, "You got it, Deano."

XoxoxO

He wonders how the hell Gabriel figured out how to drive his baby and if he should even be letting him drive her at all, since there's probably a huge risk of crashing and neither him nor her making it out of this alive. He wonders if Gabriel would do something like that, then figures that if he wanted him dead he wouldn't in a million years go to all this trouble.

Or maybe he would because the archangel is known for taking his sweet ass time on everything that crosses his path.

"Just stop worrying and let me drive."

Dean turns to him, wincing as he accidentally moves his leg, "You're not in my head or anything like that, are you?"

Gabriel shrugs, "Would it make you feel better?"

He decides to just look back outside the window cause with Gabriel no word or time is ever right. Most of the time words don't even need to be said because they don't change anything. Gabriel will always be that same mysterious archangel that at the same time pisses him off and relaxes him as much as he does want to deny it.

He'll always be that presence that is there when he expects him the least, yet mainly shows him with his poker face how much he doesn't care and how Dean is only a waste of time. Someone to stay with until he gets the motivation to leave.

Still, sometimes he wants to know what runs through his head.

And yet he may never get that chance.

"Stop thinking about dying, it's not doing anyone any good and you're only making my head hurt like that damn thing back there stepped on it."

Dean lets his head sink against the window, closes his eyes.

Maybe he just knows me a little too well is all.

He can almost picture Gabriel's sweet and easygoing smile.

Almost.

XoxoxO

About two weeks earlier…

"You oughta take it a little slower. That stuff can really hit you."

As proof, Gabriel's eyes bulge out of his face and it causes Dean to laugh and shake his head at the same time. The bottle of scotch he placed on the table not even five minutes ago is empty now, a mournful little object that Gabriel stares at pleadingly. No more liquid appears like Dean thought it would, maybe he really has lost some of his mojo after all.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

"Doesn't matter, I still want more."

"Sure you do", Dean rubs a tired hand over his face. "And I'd like a hot redhead right about now with a slice of blueberry pie on the side. Unfortunately, neither of those things are coming to me anytime soon."

Gabriel scowls at him and only looks further at the bottle like it's the most important thing in his world.

Dean stares down at his diner made hamburger, pushes it away because he doesn't think his stomach can handle it right now. Settles for a sip of his ice cold water to clear his parched throat and loves how it doesn't taste like the whiskey he's been drinking constantly lately.

The archangel sets his empty glass down, eyes Dean with wide and curious eyes. Probably still an effect of the scotch though.

"You should get some more sleep. You look like death warmed over, Dean."

He glances back at him, "So you can go out and raid the liquor store? Yeah, I don't think so."

Gabriel merely shrugs and starts digging through his fifth bag of peppermints, the loud crackling noise of the bag causing several other customers to look in their direction. Dean pretends that he's not here right now, ordering food that he normally loves but doesn't even want, sharing a table with a candy lovin' and becoming alcoholic archangel as if this was all normal or something.

No wonder why Sam ditched him and Gabriel decided to move right in to attempt to keep him company.

Keep me company my ass. All he wants is a place to stay where he doesn't have to be alone and have someone to go out and buy him whatever he needs. And I'm falling for it more and more everyday too. What a sucker I am.

"Hey, Dean."

A headache starts to form, no surprise there.

"Gabriel, just don't. I've had enough of your bullshit for one day. Go bug the waitress if you want something else."

"Fine, just thought you might want to know that someone's breaking into your car."

Damn good for nothing archangel.

XoxoxO

By the time he manages to get outside he's chasing after his baby and only praying that his legs can keep up with his frantic mind as his car starts to speed away from him. He doesn't stop running though, even when his baby goes out of sight and his body is far past the point of breathing properly.

It isn't until his body collapses on the sidewalk that he realizes it's hopeless. His baby isn't coming back to him and it's his own fault for looking out the window the entire time but being too distant to notice that his most prized possession was being taken away from him under his very nose.

He's really pissed at Gabriel but somehow can't manage to direct that rage at him for very long, instead drops his head in his hands and lets his furiously thumping heartbeat slow down before he starts the long walk back to the diner.

It's closed by the time he gets there, parking lot empty save for a beat up truck that has no keys and he's not even sure if it could run anyway. He tries to hotwire it but his hands are shaking so badly that he just says to hell with it and starts walking the even longer walk back to the motel room, wondering where Gabriel went and why he's even caring because he's the one who just ran who knows how many miles and he was probably just watching him from the diner window and laughing his ass off.

Dean settles on the small couch after looking throughout their entire room; bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room and all for any sign of the archangel to prove that he was here at all while Dean wasn't.

No trace, no sign, nothing. And certainly not something he should be concerned over at the moment.

He tries to flip through a few channels but he's just not into watching TV and he shuts it off and worries about where his car is now, how far away she is and if he'll ever even see her again.

Gabriel comes back to his motel room later that night.

"And where the hell have you…" He's cut off as some very familiar keys are dropped suddenly into his lap. Dean fingers them slowly, carefully, recognizing them as his baby's and no other's.

True enough, when he gets off the couch and hurries over to the large window… there she is. Shining proudly and in all her glory, no scratch in sight on her and leaving no trace that she was even stolen. It's almost like a dream.

His eyebrows rise at her shimmering beauty that far surpasses how Dean remembers her from earlier that night.

Did he take her to a car wash?

"You can thank me later, Deano."

Dean can only smile and love him unconditionally for that one brief moment as he watches his beloved Impala, back safe and sound and it's all due to the sympathy of one archangel who actually did care about something after all.

XoxoxO

Gabriel's peck on his check sends him back to a reality that he hates to be in almost as much as he loves to be in because otherwise it's thinking of Sam and everyone else he's ever lost.

"Thanks, Dean."

He looks at Gabriel closely as he slinks away, tries to remember if he's ever thanked him for anything before. Dean clears his throat and looks away, further unpacking the grocery bag on the counter of the small kitchenette in the motel room.

"No problem. There was a sale on M&M's this week, buy two get the third three, so I got us some."

Gabriel settles on the couch and breaks open his favorite candy of all: lollipops. "Awesome."

His eyes stare at the bag before him, thinking, wondering if he should ask. Would it ever matter anyway?

"Gabriel?"

"Yeah?"

Nah, it isn't really worth it after all.

"Nothing."

Nothing at all.

XoxoxO

"You okay?"

"Yeah", Dean rubs a hand over his tired, sunken in face. He must have fallen asleep when Gabriel left the couch, since he's stretched out across it and there would have been no room for him. "I'm just peachy."

"You shouldn't drink anymore of this", Gabriel holds up the half empty bottle of whiskey dangling from Dean's outstretched and going numb quickly hand. "It certainly isn't helping you sleep."

He looks over at the clock, his eyes squinting to read the red numbers: 12:30 p.m. "Easy for you to say when that's all we have around this place."

"Well then", he pushes Dean's legs over a little so he can sit on the end of the couch, "guess you should actually buy something besides two items when you go to the grocery store next time."

Dean really doesn't want to think about this, let alone talk about it right now.

"I would, only that the last money I had just ran out. Alcohol is pretty expensive, Gabriel, in case you haven't realized. Especially the stuff you've been drinking. Not to mention, when I'm done buying that for you there really isn't much money left. So why don't you just lay off me a little and go eat some candy or something?"

He flips over on his side, expecting Gabriel to take that as a sign to leave him alone. Unfortunately, that isn't quite how things work out. Instead, the archangel pushes his legs further to the back of the couch and scoots closer to him. Dean can't even escape Gabriel's penetrating stare when he closes his eyes, it burns into the current stark white hue of his face and the exhaustion written there.

"You should take the bed tonight."

Dean cracks open one of his eyes in utter amazement, almost thinks of accepting before deciding against it. "No thanks, it's probably just better if you have it."

So I don't pay for it later.

He really doesn't care all too much about the bed, it's the fact that Gabriel offered it to him for the night that truly puzzles him. He hasn't gotten the one lousy bed that the motel offered to give them, despite their sort of suite-like room, much at all since Gabriel decided to show up unannounced and cocky as ever. Now he gets it because he claims that the human looks tired? Since when did he start caring about that and how the hell hadn't he noticed it sooner?

Is the archangel actually going soft on him?

There is complete silence for the next few minutes. Dean doesn't open his eyes again, Gabriel doesn't move from his position, and the former still knows the latter's eyes are on him, digging a hole into him in order to find a way to his soul. It's uncomfortable but Dean's too tired to feel anything but the safety that an archangel like Gabriel always seems to provide so effortlessly.

"Take a picture", Dean finally mumbles. "It'll last longer."

When he wakes up at dawn the next morning the bed is completely empty and has been made for the first time in what must be a week. Gabriel's sleeping on the floor and… wait a minute. Since when do archangels sleep? Gabriel only ever took the bed all this time because he liked how soft it was, he never actually slept in it, which kinda pissed Dean off until it became so normal that he just stopped being pissed.

Anyway, his form is close enough to the couch which makes him close enough to Dean. He wonders how long he stayed there, not to mention why he didn't just take the bed like he knows he wanted to.

Dean gets up slowly, sighs softly as he realizes still how tired he is. He very carefully steps around Gabriel's form and makes it to the nice, plush bed, complete with pillows made to sink your head into and sheets that are the most heavenly he's ever had on his body. Usually, he's one for sleeping without the covers, but this morning he decides to go for a change, pulling the sheets up over him until they reach his neck and then snuggling into their warmth.

He falls asleep wondering if Gabriel will make fun of him for this.

Then again, being Gabriel he probably saw it all along.

XoxoxO

Back in the present time

Gabriel must have mojoed him out so he wouldn't complain about getting taken out of his baby and carried, yet again, to the motel room, because the next time he opens his eyes his back is stiff from lying on a couch for what must have been at least six hours.

Not to mention, he's got the worst headache he's had since forever.

At least his leg doesn't hurt anymore though, Gabriel probably did something about that too cause he was bored or managed to feel sorry for him for one little thing. He's just happy he can put weight on it.

"You know", he says when he catches sight of Gabriel sitting on the floor, flipping through TV channels while munching on a Babe Ruth, "you're supposed to wake a person up every hour or so when they have a concussion. Not dump them on a couch and pray that they survive the night."

"Didn't get the memo." Another bite out of the already half-eaten candy bar and munching followed soon after. Munching that annoys the hell out of him.

Well, at least he didn't undress him.

"I'm taking a three hour long shower. Don't bug me for more of your shit, it's either in the cabinets or the fridge."

Gabriel doesn't even nod, just presses what looks to be the next channel button before taking a swig out of the nearest of the three bottles of scotch adorning the floor. Every time he sees it with his own eyes, which is basically every second, he knows it's his fault, his carelessness, his stupidity that led them both into the situation they've fallen into. Dean fingers the last twenty dollar bill in his back pocket before heading to the bathroom and stripping.

Dean lets the scalding water run down his back, peeling off old skin and allowing new to form, cleansing him of the dirt from last night's hunt and giving him another day, another chance, another try at his pathetically depressing life.

And what does he do with it? Nothing.

Nothing much at all really.

Except grab a bag of M&M's and start chowing down.

To be continued…