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When Gabriel first met you, F/N L/N, he didn’t pay much attention to you. As far as the archangel was concerned you were just another casualty to the Winchester’s cause. And would likely fall somewhere between when he faked his death in the school hall and the apocalypse.
It wasn’t that he wanted you to die, unlike the Winchester’s the only stupid thing you’d done was hang around with those two knuckleheads and put your life at risk for them. But he couldn’t allow himself to care for what happened to you. Like he’d thought when he first saw you fighting against him alongside your surrogate brothers, you were just another Winchester casualty. That was your fault and responsibility, not his.
-
He never reached out to your soul until the second time he and the Winchester’s crossed paths. You weren’t there when he stuck Sammy and Deano into the endless loop of Tuesdays. But you were there alongside Sam when he begged Gabriel to bring Dean back.
He still didn’t think much of you then, except that it was a miracle, perhaps literally, that the brothers hasn’t gotten you killed yet. Only later when you stuck around in town and waited for him at the same diner he’d had pancakes and strawberry syrup for 99 days, and maple for one did he realise you were special.
It was ironic his soulmate would be human, but he knew as soon as you stood before him in that diner. The pull of your soul against his grace was no lie. It was even more ironic that you had to be fighting for the Winchester’s cause.
He didn’t say anything to you about it of course, Gabriel would bear this burden until the last moment he possibly could, even if the pull was strong. No doubt you felt it already, but would probably dismiss it as something stupid.
Admittedly that was the part that hurt him the most, even when you stood in that diner and yelled at him for ten minutes before leaving in a fit of tears. - he couldn’t comfort you, not now - the denial of the pull you would be feeling hurt him more. Gabriel watched you go with a bitter smile on his face.
-
The third time he met you, he had grown weak-willed. And you had aged more than any person ever should in just three years, all the hope and fight he had seen in you before was gone.
He only admitted who he was because he thought that maybe his title would bring hope to you. But you only appeared more defeated as you finished Sam’s words for him.
“The archangel.”
You said his name for the first time like it was a burden, and Gabriel left the location with that stone on his wings weighing him down.
-
Gabriel wondered in the time between your last meeting and his death, what your reaction would be if he simply came forth and told you who he was to you. He wanted it to bring hope to your drained face. But he knew that would only burden you more.
Gabriel considered fighting against his brothers for a long time, and he watched you often when he mulled over this decision. You defied everything, even when told it was set in stone. No matter how hopeless you felt, you always fought for the better.
He supposed that was why he probably liked you so much, you were defiant, strong-willed, but not afraid to sit in the back of the Impala on long drives and cry. Tutting Dean when he said crying never got anyone nowhere.
You said it helped you think. Gabriel couldn’t help but agree.
-
Gabriel’s confession to you was on the tip of his tongue the night of his death. He promised that once he’d defeated Lucifer, he would tell you everything. He would explain that he only defied his family because you had so bravely done it before him.
He never got to do that.
-
Gabriel was dead for a while, and he was summoned back by Metatron with the party-favour he never got to play with. You were with Castiel when he was forced to trick him into playing opposition to Metatron.
You didn’t speak. And you were not what Gabriel had wanted to ever come back to. He hoped that at least you would be happy when he last had a thought in his head. But you were not. And he blamed himself for that. But could do nothing to comfort you while Metatron had power over him.
-
When Metatron decided his story needed a love interest, Gabriel screamed bloody-murder in the cell he was being kept in. He felt caged and helpless, he wanted to help you but couldn’t. Even if he knew you wouldn’t comply, he didn’t know how far Metatron would go to get you to play along with his sick story.
-
You were the one who found him in the end. After Metatron fell, the angels seemed to forget they had a human running around their fortress who didn’t know how to get out.
“Gabriel?” He jolted upright in his cell, having slouched against the far wall when he ran out of hope. You stood with your hands wrapped around the bars he had rattled against so many times, a look of disbelief on your face.
“You’re…”
“Alive.” Gabriel rose, groaning as he felt his vessels back click. He was weak, those cells didn’t allow much use of his grace. It was all balled up inside of his vessel.
“Alive.” You repeated softly as if you were testing the taste of the word in your mouth. He was sure the look on your face was momentarily one of relief, before falling completely emotionless. Gabriel knew you were tired, he imagined that your soul was a cracked and calloused as your palms.
-
When you released him from his cage, you immediately knew what the warmth that seemed to desperately reach for you was. Metatron has been kind enough to explain it when he’d held you hostage. He claimed that very few angels were lucky enough to get soulmates, and he would count himself lucky to be able to steal one from an archangel.
You knew there was a spell that would bind you to him, but you risked your life burning it. Even if Gabriel was dead you wouldn’t have let Metatron shame his name. And secretly you had hope he was still alive, even when his only answer to Castiel’s question had been a very typical eyebrow raise followed by the flick of his fingers.
But now he was here, and you could feel the hesitation in his grace. Immediately you reached forth and took Gabriel’s hands in yours, and then kissed him. It was warm and kind, and Gabriel must have taken the hint for you immediately felt like you had been lit up from the inside. The archangel healed what damage had been done to your soul in your years of fighting for and with the Winchesters.
When you parted, and Gabriel did his best to look casual about the whole ordeal, you smiled and laughed.
“I swear to God, if you leave me again…”
And he didn’t.