Functioning Bruises (1/?)

[vivhasarifle]

Title: Functioning Bruises (1/?)
Author: vivhasarifle
Rating: PG-13 for this chapter, but the fic will probably get up to NC-17.
Genre and/or Pairing: Gabriel/Dean, human AU, hurt/comfort, angst, romance, slash.
Characters: Dean, Sam, Gabriel. Brief appearance from Ash.
Spoilers: As long as you know who Gabriel is you’re fine.
Warnings: Very few for this chapter, but swearing, I suppose. This fic overall will mention past underage rape, past child-abuse, mansex, and one of the boys will have a mental disorder, also dyslexic!Dean.
Word Count: 3787
Summary: Dean Winchester has a pretty unremarkable life. He’s working his way through school, hangs out with his law-student brother on week-ends, and loves his car. However, when his little brother introduces him to Gabriel Cummings, Dean finds his whole life turned upside-down.
Notes: This is only my second attempt at writing Gabriel/Dean. I used to dislike this pairing, and only wrote it the first time as a favor to a friend. However, recently I have been UBER drawn to it and have decided to try my hand at it. This is the result. I love human AUs but I know they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, so please, feel free not to read.
Disclaimer: Not mine, just playing.

Dean Winchester sighed into his cell phone.

“Sammy, I appreciate you wanting to spend time with me or whatever, but I gotta tell you, you coming to see me at work isn’t exactly my idea of a good time.”

“I know, Dean, but I really want you to meet this guy I work with, and he’s busy every night the rest of the week. He has weekend's free but you usually work them so -”

“And why exactly are you so eager for me to meet this dude?”

Dean could practically hear his brother making a bitch face.

“Because I think you’ll like him, okay? Plus he’s my friend, and he’s the only lawyer at my job that doesn’t act as if I’m a baby or an idiot.”

Sam was currently interning for a local law-firm until he finished school, but Dean knew that most of the lawyers acted like the interns were scum, or worse yet, personal assistants.

“Besides,” Sam continued, “it’s a Tuesday night so things must be really slow for you, right? You can hang out and talk to me and Gabriel while drunk Eddie passes out over his scotch and soda.”

Dean sighed and looked around the bar that he worked in five nights a week. Sure enough, his only customer was an old man that everyone called ‘drunk Eddie’ (no one knew his real name, but the guy was always drunk and looked like an Eddie so the name had stuck).

“You know me and schedule too well,” Dean said, “so yeah, fine, you guys can head over. But you’re not drinking for free, all right? And you’re going to tip me - well.”

Sam snorted. “I wouldn’t expect any less, Dean. We’ll be there in half an hour, I just have to get Gabriel and then we’ll catch a cab.”

“The lives some people lead,” Dean said, a smirk creeping onto his lips, “all right, Sammy, I’ll see you in a few.” He hung up and looked toward the end of the bar. Drunk Eddie was already swaying.

“Want another one, buddy?” Dean asked, an eyebrow raised. Eddie nodded.

“Yeah...and some fries,” the older man slurred, “and turn on the history channel.”

Dean laughed and switched on the television, flicking until he found the right station. Drunk Eddie fancied himself somewhat of an intellectual, and when the bar wasn’t crowded Dean liked to indulge him by catering to man’s less conventional taste in barroom programming.

“Looks like something on Hitler,” he said to drunk Eddie, who was turning his empty glass in his hand, “should be good. I’ll get your drink in a sec, let me just put in your fry order.”

Dean stuck his head around the kitchen door.

“Hey Ash, an order a fries.”

Ash, the weird kid who worked the kitchen of the bar, looked up from a gadget he was tinkering with. “Yeah, sure thing, cowboy. Slow night, huh?”

Dean huffed. “Tell me about it, but my brother and his friend are coming in a bit later. I’ll make them order food.”

Ash shrugged. “It’s no biggie to me, duderino, I’ve got my computer keeping me busy,” he gestured at the small gadget in front of him. Dean frowned.

“That’s a computer?”

Ash nodded. “It will be.”

Dean’s eyebrows shot into his hairline. “You’re building one? Dude, what are you doing working in a bar?”

Ash looked at Dean blankly. “Where else would I work?”

Dean shook his head and went back to the bar, pouring Eddie a scotch and soda before settling down to watch the history channel’s latest Hitler documentary, which claimed that Hitler could have been a vampire.

“Man, this channel’s gone down hill, huh?” Dean looked over, only to find drunk Eddie passed out. Dean snorted. Just another Tuesday.

Eddie’s fries were done a few minutes later, and Dean prodded the man gently until he woke up, shouted “MURIEL!” and then took the fries, gratefully eating one or two before going back to sleep.

Dean chuckled, and at that moment the door swung open and Sam walked in, followed by a shorter man with dark blonde hair. Dean grinned and walked around the bar to hug his brother.

“Hey Sammy,” he said, pulling away and clapping his brother onew the shoulder, “shit, I never get used to the sight of you in a suit.” He turned to the man standing next to Sam and held out his hand. “Hey, I’m Dean, Sam’s big brother.”

The shorter man surprised Dean by breaking out into a mischievous grin and shaking his hand, hard. “Gabriel Cummings. I’ve heard a lot about you. Mostly good things.”

Dean arched an eyebrow and chuckled. “That so, huh? Why don’t you and Sam take a seat and you can tell me all the shit Sammy’s been saying behind my back.”

Gabriel and Sam sat at the bar (on the opposite end to drunk Eddie, who was still snoring peacefully into his fries) and Dean walked back behind the bar.

“So, what are you guys drinking? And by the way, I told Ash you guys were ordering food too, so what do you want to eat?”

Sam grit his teeth. “Dean, you can’t just go around promising stuff for people.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Oh, stop pouting, Samantha, I’m paying. What’s good here, Dean?”

Dean shrugged. “It’s bar food, so it’s nothing fancy, but the mozzarella sticks are made in house, and Ash grills a mean burger.”

Gabriel nodded. “All right, then, one order of the mozzarella sticks, and two burgers, medium rare. You guys have onion rings?”

Dean nodded. “Yeah, you can get them or fries with the burger.”

“I’ll have both, just add a side of onion rings to mine.”

Dean whistled. “I like your thinking.”

Sam snorted. “I knew you guys would get along. Can I sub my fries for a salad?”

Dean and Gabriel looked at Sam.

“No,” they said in unison. Sam sighed, looking defeated.

“Fries then,” he said, dejectedly.

“That’s right, Sammy-boy, no rabbit food today.” Gabriel winked at Dean, and Dean was surprised when he felt a fluttering feeling in the base of his stomach. So this is what Sam had meant when he said he thought Dean would like Gabriel. Dean cleared his throat.

“I’m - uh - gonna go put your food orders in, you guys think about what you want to drink.”

When Dean went to give Ash the orders, the younger man was smirking at him.

“So Sam’s buddy is cute, huh?”

Dean blinked. “What?”

“You’re blushing, big man.”

Dean grunted. “Just shut up and make the food, Ash.”

“Wear a condom!” Ash yelled at him, as he left the kitchen. Dean ignored him and rejoined his brother and Gabriel.

“So, what do you guys want to drink?” he asked, forcing himself to forget his unwelcome feelings and focus on getting to know his brother’s friend.

“I’ll have a yuengling.” Sam said, reaching for his wallet, but Gabriel snorted and looked at Dean.

“I’ll be damned if I’m letting the intern buy his own drinks,” he said, “so here’s my card,” he handed Dean his amex and smirked, “now open up a tab, put his yuengling on it. I’ll have a long island iced tea -”

Dean raised one eyebrow. “Really?”

Gabriel frowned. “Don’t mock me, Deano, I’m about to buy you a drink. Three shots of Soco and lime, and don’t skimp on the Soco.”

Dean smiled a wry smile and diligently made the drinks, sliding his brother’s beer and Gabriel’s long island across the bar as soon as they were done and then starting on the shots. When they were ready Gabriel pushed one towards Sam, another towards Dean and took the the third one for himself.

“To meeting new friends, “ he said, and for a moment Dean could have sworn that the other man was checking him out. He took his shot and smacked his lips, surprised at how good it tasted.

“So, Gabe,” he said, setting his shot glass down, “no offense but how long have you worked at the law firm? You look kind of young to be a lawyer.” In fact, the man looked like he was the same age as Sam. Gabriel laughed.

“Well you don’t waste any time, do you? I’ve been with the firm three years, and I’m twenty-six.”

Dean was surprised. Gabriel was two years younger than him, and he was already a hot shot lawyer. Dean, in the meantime, was twenty-eight years old and was still in school, and worked in a bar to pay his tuition. Now, as well as feeling embarrassed about his attraction towards Gabriel, he also felt embarrassed about being so behind him career-wise. Dean shook his head.

“Wait, that means you passed the bar at twenty-three, is that even possible?”

Gabriel waggled his eyebrows. “Sam, you never told me your brother was so good at math.”

Sam snorted. “Yeah right, he almost flunked college calculus when he -”

“Shut up, Sammy,” Dean growled, fixing his brother with an ugly glare.

“Meow,” Gabriel said, smacking his lips as he finished off the last of his Long Island, “calm down, boys, there’s enough of me to go around. Anyway, Dean, I passed the bar young because I started college when I was sixteen.”

“Sixteen? That’s crazy. shit, I feel inadequate as fuck right now.”

Gabriel shrugged. “Don’t. It wasn’t because I was uber smart or anything. I got my GED when I was sixteen and started junior college the same year. I was in foster care, you see, and my education was so messed up that eventually I just gave up and took my GED, because there was no way I was going to finish high school. Junior college seemed like the next step. I was two years away from aging out, and I didn’t want to be caught with my pants down when the time finally came.”

Dean let out an audible breath. “Shit, man, I’m sorry.”

Gabriel smiled. “It’s totally fine, Dean. Don’t be sorry for me, I’m one of the the lucky ones. Most foster kids don’t really end up making successes of themselves.”

Sam shook his head. “Wow, so you were always really driven, huh? Even when you were a kid?”

Dean could only stare. What had Sammy been thinking? Dean could tell by the mischievous look in Sam’s eye that his brother wanted to set him and Gabriel up; his insistence that Dean meet the man was evidence enough, and of course there was the fact that Dean’s brother knew his type and Gabriel was definitely it. Still, Gabriel was clearly way out of Dean’s league.

“So Dean,” Gabriel interrupted his thoughts, “Sam says you’re in college. What’s your major?”

Dean cleared his throat. “Uh, I’m a business major...but I have a minor in creative writing.” Dean blushed. Usually people looked at him with a mix of pity and indulgence when he mentioned his interest in writing.

Gabriel propped himself up with one hand. “You like to write? What? Poetry?”

Dean shook his head. “Mostly short stories. I’m not good at writing poems.”

The corners of Gabriel’s mouth twitched. “You’ll have to let me read some of your stuff sometime.”

Sam rolled his eyes. “Good luck. Dean won’t even let me -”

“Yeah, maybe.” Dean interrupted, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.

Sam looked at Gabriel and Dean and grinned, smugly. “I knew you guys would get along.”

Now it was Gabriel’s turn to roll his eyes. “Yes, thank you, Yentl. You’ve done well.”

Ash took that moment to saunter in and drop off the food. He looked at Gabriel and gave Dean a thumbs up.

That’s it, Dean was officially mortified. So not only did Sam want to set them up, but Gabriel was in on it. Dean felt like he was in a particularly cruel reality TV show. Gabriel looked at him and his brows softened.

“I’m sorry, Dean, I didn’t mean to embarrass you. Sometimes your brother is too persuasive for his own good. He talked you up so much I didn’t think about how this might make you uncomfortable.”

Dean’s mouth twisted. “Talked me up, huh? Me, the twenty-eight year-old dude who’s still working on his undergrad degree and who works in a bar. Yeah, I get the attraction.” Dean sighed. “Why don’t you guys leave? I’m humiliated enough for one night.”

Gabriel huffed, and then to Dean’s surprise he turned around and faced Sam.

“Sammy, why don’t you head on home? I want to talk to your brother alone.”

Sam’s eyes widened but he nodded and stood up, waving a quick goodbye to Dean. Dean watched as his brother walked out of the bar, and then turned back to Gabriel, his face burning.

“Listen, I -”

“So what exactly are you so embarrassed about? Is it your brother’s clumsy attempt to set us up? Or is it because you’re a little older than the average college student?”

Dean felt tongue-tied. “I, uh -”

“Because I’ll have you know, that when Sam first started talking about you I expressed an interest in meeting you, and that was before I found out you were gay. You being gay was just an added bonus.” Gabriel winked. “How about another Long Island, by the way?”

Dean cleared his throat and set about making one.

“And as for the college thing, I, of all people, know what it’s like to have an unconventional experience with education, and I’m sure there’s a good reason for you still being in college, am I right?”

Dean nodded and handed Gabriel his drink. Gabriel took a sip.

“Ah, that hits the spot,” he beamed, “you are way too good at this. Anyway, don’t get me wrong, if you’re just not feeling it with me, well, I’m not one to hang around where I’m not wanted. If, however, you’re feeling something other than irritation towards me, I should let you know that the feeling is mutual, and I’d really like your number.” Gabriel leaned back as much as the bar stool would allow and grinned at Dean. “So,” he finished, “what do you say?”

Dean blinked. “Man, you can really talk.”

Gabriel shrugged, nonchalantly. “I’m a lawyer.”

Dean bit his lip. “Yeah, so...I’d like that...if you took my number, I mean.”

Gabriel chuckled. “Awesome,” Gabriel pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket and handed it to Dean, “put it in there.”

Dean smiled, shyly, and tapped his number into Gabriel’s iPhone. When he handed it back Gabriel’s fingers lingered over his for just a little longer than they needed to.

“So,” Gabriel secured his phone back into his pocket, “do you want to tell me why you’re still in school?”

Dean sighed and pulled a glass down from where they hung over the bar, then poured himself a triple whiskey. Gabriel whistled.

“That bad?”

Dean shrugged and took a sip of his drink, wincing a little as it burned on the way down.

“Not really,’ he said, sighing, “I just don’t talk about it a lot.”

Gabriel looked at him. “You don’t have to tell me, you know.”

Dean shook his head. “I want to tell you...it’s just, trying to figure out where to start, you know?”

Gabriel scoffed. “Oh, believe me, I know.”

Dean picked up his drink and walked around the the other side of the bar, sitting next to Gabriel, who nudged him gently with his elbow.

“Go on,” the shorter man said, smiling gently, “I’m all ears.”

Dean took a sip of his drink. “Sammy’s always been the smart one of the family,” he said, toying with the glass in his hand, “so no one was really surprised when he wanted to go to college. My dad was actually really proud, which kind of surprised me, because whenever I talked about college, he told me that I was better off thinking practically, and joining the family business with him,” Dean looked at Gabriel, who was paying close attention, “my dad’s a mechanic,” he clarified.

Dean rubbed his eyebrows. “I always thought that meant that he wasn’t big on the idea of college, you know? That he just wanted to keep Sammy and me close...but when he was so happy that Sam got into Stanford, I realized that he didn’t want me to go to college because he thought I was too dumb.”

Gabriel let out a sound of disgust. “Jesus, that’s awful.”

Dean shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong, my dad is a good father, and I love him, a lot. He just wasn’t all that perceptive sometimes.”

Gabriel arched an eyebrow. “If you say so.”

Dean swallowed the rest of his drink. “See, school wasn’t all that easy for me. I also got a GED instead of a diploma, and I had to take it twice.” Dean paused and stared at the bar. “God, this is embarrassing.”

“Hey,” Gabriel put a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not judging you, okay?”

Dean let out a breath he felt like he’d been holding forever and nodded. “Yeah, okay. So...when Sam told Dad he was going to law school straight after college I thought, hey, while we’re breaking out big news...” Dean trailed off.

Gabriel made a sympathetic noise. “You came out?”

Dean shot Gabriel a wry smile. “In hindsight, it might not have been the best time.”

Gabriel laughed. “So, what did Papa Winchester say?”

Dean grimaced. “It wasn’t like, a big, dramatic blow-up or anything like that. Dad was just totally shocked. He kept saying ‘are you sure?’”

Gabriel snorted. “Oh my God.”

Dean chuckled. “Oh, it got better. After that was the hours of ‘but...you just don’t seem the type!’”

Gabriel sighed. “Wow. Do you guys still talk?”

“Oh yeah,” Dean got up to pour himself another drink, “we talk about once a week. He’s still not totally comfortable with it, and honestly I don’t know if he ever will be, not a hundred percent anyway, but he tries.”

Gabriel smiled and held out his glass. “That’s good...mind if I get another Long Island while you’re back there?”

Dean took Gabriel’s glass. “Sure.”

He finished up the drinks and walked back around the bar, taking his seat next to Gabriel.

“So anyway, after all that happened...I realized that I’d spent most of my life trying to make Dad happy, which is fine, you know, ‘cause I love him, but I wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I decided to go to college. I did the first two years at the local junior college and...that’s when I realized.”

Gabriel frowned. “Realized what?”

Dean grimaced. “Well, they make you take these tests -”

“Placement tests. I had to take them too.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah., those. Well, after my scores came back...average in math, freakin’ terrible with reading and writing, they said I had to do developmental English classes before I could take any of my gen eds.”

Gabriel groaned. “God, I remember those. I had to take developmental math.”

“Really?” Dean was surprised, he assumed that a complete brainbox like Gabriel had never had any trouble in school.

Gabriel shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, my education up to that point had been really patchy.”

“Ah, I got you,” Dean took a large gulp from his drink, and prepared for the plunge, “so anyway, I started my classes. The first English teacher I had was a nightmare, and I failed the class, so I had to take it again. Still, I knew better than to take her again, so I took another teacher, Ms. Harvelle, and she was awesome. I mean, a total hard-ass, but really cool. So, she asked to see me one day in her office hours, and I was nervous, like crazy nervous because she hadn’t given me my essay back when she handed out everyone else’s.”

Gabriel raised his eyebrows.”That sounds ominous.”

Dean picked up his glass. “Right? That’s what I thought. Only, she was nice, really nice. And she told me she was sending me to the learning center to take a few tests...I got the results a few days later -” Dean faltered, and gripped his glass so hard that his knuckles turned white.

To his surprise, Gabriel reached over and took his hand. “What?” the other man said, his voice soft.

Dean cleared his throat. “Severe dyslexia,” he said, “the people at the learning center said they had no idea how I had gone my whole life without being diagnosed. They told me I only had a third grade reading level.”

Gabriel’s grip on his hand tightened. “Hey, it’s okay.”

Dean nodded. “Yeah...Ms. Harvelle was real nice about it too, told me that now that I’d been diagnosed it was going to be a lot easier to deal with it. She even tutored me privately in her office for a whole year, and it took a long time, but I finally passed all of my developmental classes,” Dean grinned, smugly, “I even got A’s.”

Gabriel chuckled. “Nice.”

Dean sighed. “So yeah, that’s the college story. It’s also why I’m kind of weird about showing people my stories...Ms. Harvelle was the one who convinced me to take creative writing, she said I was really good at it, and if I’m honest, I love it but...” Dean smiled, sheepishly, “the first drafts are always pretty rough. I mean, I think the stories are good, but I can’t spell worth shit and I write things backwards a lot...most people think it’s pretty dumb that I’m a creative writing minor.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I think it’s incredible. You’re taking something that could be your greatest weakness and making it a strength, hell, not only that, you’re making it a passion. How many people can say they’ve done that?”

Dean bit his lip. “Yeah...I guess you’re right.”

Gabriel laughed. “Well, that’s convenient, because I know I’m right.”

The kiss took Dean by surprise, but he leaned into it anyway, enjoying the soft pressure of Gabriel’s lips on his. The other man smelled delicious, like expensive aftershave with just a hint of sweat, and his mouth tasted like alcohol and sugar. Dean moaned when Gabriel’s tongue pushed its way into his mouth, and was rewarded when Gabriel shuddered and moaned back. Dean grabbed Gabriel’s neck and deepened the kiss -

Drunk Eddie groaned and Dean and Gabriel sprung apart, caught each other’s eyes and laughed.

“I forgot I was at work,” Dean said breathily, and Gabriel grinned lecherously.

“When do you get off?”