10th April 1912

2:30 pm

Sam tried to keep his eyes fixed on the horizon, but they kept on trying to go back to looking at the oddball man next to him. He was intrigued by this Gabriel Novak, the strange yet funny man was refreshing to talk to after the somewhat boring first-class men and woman he'd spent the day conversing with. Despite the weird informalities and odd behaviour, Sam found himself liking Gabriel, he could definitely see himself becoming friends with the shorter man. He glances at Gabriel and saw that he was still looking out across the water, eyes content and not seeming to care that half his body was still covered in coal dust.

Sam, for the first time in his life, started to feel as if his 'sickness' wasn't so bad. Maybe the world was wrong in the way they saw men who liked other men. Because Gabriel was making Sam feel more in their short time of knowing one another than any girl had in his entire life.

"So, Sammy, tell me about yourself, because I'm curious about how you came to be a first-class passenger when you're so different, which is a good thing by the way."

Laughing, Sam meets Gabe's eyes, ones that reminded him of sunlight through a glass of whiskey. "Well, my workplace sent me on this trip, apparently I have been chosen to spend a month or two in America to help set up a new office."

Gabriel grinned, "oh, so you're one of those big-shot businessmen, I'm surprised."

Sam finds himself laughing, oh how nice it felt to be able to be himself for once. "Yeah, I don't think so, the title 'lowly assistant to a big shot law firm' might suit me better."

"My, that is a mouthful," Gabriel bursts out laughing.

Sam's brows furrow momentarily, but then he was laughing as well, his eyes crinkling happily. Both men failed to notice how they seemed to subtly move closer to each other.

"So, are you from Britain? Because I could have sworn I heard a distinctly American twang in your accent."

Sam pursed his lips, shaking his head. "Well, my family is actually from America, Kansas in fact, but we moved over to London when I was 14 because our parents died so, so my Uncle, Lord Singer paid for us to be closer to them."

Gabriel looked like he wanted to say something, his mouth opening and closing several times before he decisively snaps it shut and looks up at Sam curiously.
"So, moose, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you? Because you are rather tall."

"Or maybe you are just really short," Sam grins teasingly, pushing his parent's death to the back of his head as he nudges the shorter man. "But to answer your question, I am 21."

"Wow, I feel so old now," Gabriel laughed. "25 in case you were wondering, and I must say, it has been a pleasure meeting you Mr Winchester."

"Likewise, Mr Novak," Sam couldn't stop grinning, he hadn't felt this relaxed and at peace with another person in years. He closed his eyes, turning his face to face the sea so he could feel the warmth from the last of the sun's rays.

Peace was the only word he could use to describe this moment. He could feel eyes on him however and opened his own to find Gabriel looking pointedly at the water below them, a light blush on his cheeks.

Had Gabriel been watching Sam? If so, then why was he blushing? Inexplicably, Sam felt a blush grow on his own cheeks as he thought about this. For some reason he found himself hoping Gabe had been looking at him. Subconsciously running a hand through his hair, Sam scoured his mind for something else to say as they watched the sun touch the horizon.

"So, do ya have a girl waiting for you back in London?" Gabriel asked, absently running his finger along the smooth wooden railing.

"Uh, no, I'm unattached," Sam could have cursed himself for saying that in such a rush, but for some reason, just like how he'd hoped the shorter boy had been staring, he was always wanting to make sure he knew this.

"Oh, that's cool, surprising but cool," Gabriel coughed. "I'm the same, too busy with work y'know?"

Sam nods, hiding his small smile.

"What about family? You were saying earlier about them, what are your brother's like?" Gabriel seemed hesitant to breach this topic again, maybe he was afraid to bring up Sam's parents.

"Well, Dean is your typical protective, older brother that spends all his time worrying about Adam and I like a mother hen, I love him though because he's always done everything he could to help me, and I haven't always been the easiest little brother to him, but he still tries and for that I'll always be thankful, as for Adam, he's so young and innocent to the harsh reality of the world, Dean and I try our best to protect him but I'm scared it won't be long before something happens and he's forced to grow up too fast."

Gabriel hummed, "you sound like a great older brother, I try to be good to my little brother Samandriel but sometimes I'm scared it's too late, that he's already seen too much of the real world."

"He's got a great older brother, I'm sure he'll be just fine," Sam places a hand on Gabriel's shoulder without realising it, smiling at the older boy.

Gabriel just smiled back, and Sam was taken aback by how beautiful the man was as the afternoon sun made his golden hair glow and whiskey eyes gleam brighter. 'God forgive me, but I think I'm going to hell for this man.'

Gabriel was staring at Sam, unmoving as the two became locked into some sort of staring contest, it was as if the two had stepped into their own personal, invisible bubble.

Of course, this was quickly ruined when the door was flung open and an exhausted looking man stepped out into the fresh air.

"Gabriel!?"

"Oh! Balthy, hey!" Gabriel reluctantly tore his eyes away from Sam to greet his brother.

"Wha- How was work?" Sam couldn't have been certain, but he was pretty sure that this 'Balthy' had an amused look in his eyes as he looked between the two men that were probably standing closer than they should be.

"Great, I only wanted to throw myself in the furnace once every ten minutes," Gabriel snickered.

'Balthy' chuckled and looked at Sam, "Who is your friend?"

"Oh! Right, Balthy this is Sam, Sam Winchester," Gabriel looked up at Sam with a smile. "Sammy, this is my older brother Balthazar."

Sam smiles politely as he shakes Balthazar's hand, "nice to meet you, Mr Novak."

Balthazar laughs warmly, "please, I can't be bothered with all those formalities, just call me Balthazar."

Sam relaxed, he was really liking the Novak's and their friendly personalities.

"Say, Sammy, you should come to the party that's on tonight, it won't be like your usual, first class parties but I reckon you'd enjoy it," Gabriel wriggles his brows at Sam, causing the taller man to laugh.

"I'd love to, when is it?"

"It starts after we've set sail again from Cherbourg, I can come by before it starts if you want," Gabriel says.

"I'd love that, I might finally feel less like a fish out of water," Sam tugs on his suit.

"That's the spirit!" Gabriel cheers, slapping Sam's shoulder.

"I'll see you tonight then?" Sam smiles almost shyly.

"Definitely, unless... maybe you want to hang out while the ship's stopped? I'm not needed to work then because the ship's not moving so the engines don't need as many hands and..." Gabriel snaps his mouth shut to stop himself from continuing on with his babbling.

"I'd like that, anything to escape that stiflingly boring atmosphere," Sam waves a hand towards the general direction of first class.

Balthazar fails to muffle his laughter, "and here I was worried you were another money hogging, suit wearing sheep."

Sam rolls his eyes humorously when the sound of the door opening again prevented him from replying.

"Samuel! There you are, are these... people annoying you?" A short man dressed smartly stepped out onto the deck with a look of distaste.

"Mr Macleod," Sam greeted formally, his tone considerably less genuinely warm than it had been minutes before. "I'm, I just needed air and these two gentlemen were simply out here at the same time."

"Of course, I'm sorry for the disturbance but we were just wondering if you wanted to join us for afternoon tea?"

Sam sighed internally as he nods, "lead the way."

Mr Macleod smiles smugly at the Novak's, before turning on his heel and leaving the deck. Sam following close behind, but the taller man paused on the threshold of the door to glance back at the brothers. Smiling apologetically, he looks at Gabriel. "I'll meet you here around 6'o'clock?"

Gabriel nods, smiling brightly, and with that Sam turned and hurried after his companion.

Gabriel was still smiling absently at the door when his older brother nudges him with a small smirk.

"I like him," Balthazar said, almost as if he was implicating something.

"Oh?" Gabriel was still watching the closed door.

"You seemed to get on well too, good on you brother," with that, Balthazar left to get some sleep before the party, and Gabriel stood there for a few minutes longer before following suit.

~~~

A/N:

Hey all, so I've finally had time to go through this and I've edited/changed a few things to fit with my original idea, so if something doesn't make sense after reading the first version, thats why!

Thank you guys for reading this :D

Peace out, Wayward readers