Sam's suspicions were keeping him up despite it being past midnight, staring at the wall beside his desk with furrowed brows and his fingers tracing light patterns in the sheets. Gabriel was a mystery and the longer he spent around the smaller teenager, the fewer things added up. There was something that was being hidden from him, but he was going to find out what.

Slowly, Sam sat up, as if moving too fast would wake someone up and reveal what he was planning to do. With careful movements, he slid from his bed to his desk, glancing at the window once and seeing that Gabriel's lights were off. Looks like he finally managed to get some sleep.

He opened his laptop, staring at the loading screen as it took a minute to wake back up. He felt a little guilt stirring in his chest and making him glance towards the window again. He knew there was something that Gabriel didn't want him to know, but...after the snow incident, he wanted to know what made Gabriel look so upset.

His laptop hummed to life as it pulled up the start screen, typing in his password before moving over to the browser and opening it. He pressed his lips together, his fingers pausing over the keys, debating what to search to find what he was looking for. He started with Gabriel's name, only finding a few social media accounts, though not much, if anything, was actually posted on them. He scrolled through, his brows furrowing at what a few of the posts said. It sounded nothing like Gabriel, stilted, and clearly fake. He switched to another website, finding close to the same thing, and he glanced towards the window again.

He scrolled to the day they went on a date, finding a series of different posts meaning nothing. That was enough evidence for Sam to conclude that this wasn't really Gabriel posting. Gabriel hadn't shut up for two weeks about that date.

He went back and typed in 'Lowell,' the last name that Gabriel had accidentally put on his card on their date. He was honestly surprised when a news article popped up, not really expecting anything. He clicked on it, seeing an article posted nearly seven months ago. In the pictures were a man and a woman, one with black hair and one with dark brown, the man wearing a slightly quirky smile and biting his tongue while the woman had curly hair, falling around her in beautiful waves, not smiling, but managing a regal serious expression. 

'Danielle and Phil Lowell found dead in their home on June 8 after a presumed break in. Police have linked the crime to the recent serial killings in the Southeast area of the United States. Gabriel Lowell, son of Danielle and Phil, is currently in critical condition at Tulane Medical Center.'

Sam stopped reading, his eyes wider than he thought they could ever possibly be. Fear washed over him, his throat feeling tight as he looked towards the window again, his stomach doing flips. His hands shook a little as he closed out of the browser, but sadness was slowly taking its way over the shock of it all as he grabbed his jacket, barely pulling it on as he moved over to his window, tugging it open.

He climbed out into the snow, a shiver crawling through his spine when his bare feet touched the cold powder, sticking to his pajama pants as he tapped on Gabriel's window. After what seemed like years, the light finally flicked on, and Gabriel pulled back the curtain, looking at Sam with confused but sleepy eyes.

He pulled the window open, allowing Sam to climb in as he yawned and stretched, closing it behind the teen, "What are you doing here?" Gabriel asked, looking at Sam as he rubbed his eyes with a closed fist.

Sam didn't say anything at first, not sure what would be appropriate. Instead, he opted for a hug, pulling Gabriel to him and holding him close, his heart aching for the smaller teen. Gabriel hugged him back, slightly hesitant and confused.

"Why are you hugging me in the middle of the night?" Gabriel asked, sleepily nuzzling against Sam's chest. Sam shrugged, petting the back of his hair before looking down at him, smiling at the cute sleepiness of Gabriel.

"I just wanted to," Sam answered with a slight shrug, going for the first thing simple that popped into his head. He wouldn't mention what he found out to Gabriel, not yet.

"Well, hug me horizontally. I'm tired," Gabriel commented with a slight whine, grabbing Sam by the sides of his shirt and pulling Sam onto the bed, curling contently under him. Sam smiled, twisting them to the side and holding him closer until his back was against his chest.

Sam allowed himself to relax with Gabriel in his arms, his eyes feeling heavier when his body seemed to catch up that Gabriel was safe. He was just beginning to doze, his thumb rubbing up and down Gabriel's side subconsciously, when he felt the boy wriggle against him. Sam peeked open one eye, frowning a little in confusion when he saw that Gabriel's ears were bright red.

"I thought you were going to sleep," Sam commented, his hands tightening a little around Gabriel's waist. The boy fell still, only for him to start wriggling again, little squeaks leaving him and making Sam sit up a little.

"Gabriel?" Sam called out, only to still completely when Gabriel flipped over, hugging Sam tightly with a smile straining his cheeks, his fingers clasping to the back of Sam's shirt. Sam couldn't speak, his eyes wide with surprise as Gabriel wriggled closer, his mouse ears bumping against Sam's nose.

Sam relaxed, lying back into a more comfortable position before he reached up, pushing the hoodie back from Gabriel's head. He kissed the top of his head, closing his eyes as Gabriel nuzzled closer, enjoying the feeling of Gabriel's hair as it slid through his fingertips.

When they fell asleep, Sam's chest was filled with warmth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing Sam was aware of when he woke was his phone was going off against his leg, a sigh leaving his lips as he moved to fish it out of his pocket, only to realize that he couldn't move his arm. The second thing he realized was Gabriel sprawled out against his chest, pinning Sam's arm under the smaller teen's back with one leg making its way between Sam's.

Shit, that's Mom's ringtone.

Sam practically threw Gabriel off of him when he realized, the poor boy falling off the bed with a thump and whine as Sam pulled out his phone, holding it up to his ear and waiting for his mother's impending breakdown.

"Where the hell are you?! You know how worried I was when I found you gone?!" Mary shouted, nearly making Sam go deaf as he held the phone away from his ear. Mary continued to shout, but he was slightly distracted as Gabriel's head appeared beside the bed, a growl leaving the smaller teen. Sam held up one finger, giving what he hoped was an apologetic face.

"Mom, I'm sorry. I should have asked, but I'm just over at Gabriel's," Sam answered when Mary finally calmed down long enough for him to get a word in. She sighed heavily at his words, and when she spoke, some of the anger seeped from her voice, though she was still obviously pissed.

"What did I say about going over to your boyfriend's house, Sam? Not unless Castiel or Dean can keep an eye on you," Mary huffed, though Sam was watching as Gabriel pulled out the nerf gun from his drawer, dutifully loading it with darts. Sam frowned, but he realized that he needed to answer his mom.

"We're not actually boyfriends yet," Sam supplied lamely, his focus one-sided when Gabriel pointed the nerf gun at Sam. Sam's eyes widened and he didn't have a chance to dodge as Gabriel shot him five times before he deemed himself satisfied. He placed the gun down, smirking at the glare Sam gave him before climbing back into bed, getting comfortable in Sam's lap with his chin on his chest.

"Whatever you are, you need to get home. Now, Sam," Mary huffed before hanging up. Sam stared at his phone for a moment before looking at Gabriel, who was stroking along Sam's chest gently with his fingers.

"I need to go, Gabe," Sam finally said, getting answered with a shake of Gabriel's head, "My mom's pissed. I don't want to keep her waiting."

"You have to make it up to me for waking me up, you little shit," Gabriel growled, though his eyes held a bit of mischief. Sam sighed, but he flipped them over, one hand keeping him up while the other cupped Gabriel's jaw, kissing him gently before he was up and hurrying out of the bedroom towards the front door.