Neighbors. A Sabriel Fic.

Chapter 18

Ever since Gabriel had broken his arm, he hadn't been going through his back door to get to Sam's house. Figuring he shouldn't risk harming himself any further he went all the way downstairs and back up.

He had to work soon, and was bringing Copernicus over to Sam's like he always did.

It'd only been a day since their stupid little argument, and Gabriel wasn't exactly looking forward to going over there even though it hadn't even been that bad.

"You should move in with me." Sam said when he opened the door.

Gabriel almost dropped his cat. "What?"

"I've been thinking about it ever since you left, and it'd be cheaper and it's not like you don't practically live here anyway so it wouldn't be that different."

"I-I don't know."

"You have a while to decide, I just figured it wouldn't be so bad. And I really don't want you to have to rent a motel, especially when there's enough room here."

Gabriel stood there with his mouth open slightly, "I need to go to work." He said shoving Copernicus into Sam's arms and turning towards the stairs.

Sam shut the door and placed Copernicus on the floor with a sigh, "Maybe I should have started with sorry." He said aloud.

Gabriel entered the Gallery and sat at the front desk with his head in his hand. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, and overreacting wasn't going to help him. He was almost positive saying no would end their relationship, and he didn't want that, but moving in together was a step farther than he'd ever done with anyone before.

"What's got your panties in a knot?" Stella asked sitting next to him.

He shook his head breaking his focus, "Huh?"

"What's wrong? You're not your usual chipper self."

"I'd think you would be tired of hearing about my personal life."

"Nah, I like being your fairy god mother and making everything better. So tell me what happened, do I need to kick some Moose ass?" Gabriel laughed,

"No, we just had a tiny disagreement, and then he asked me to move in with him."

"So do it." She said.

"It's not that easy Stella. He knows I didn't renew my lease. It feels like charity and I don't want that."

"Sam loves you. I haven't talked to him in a while, but I'm fairly certain he actually wants you to move in."

"What if I don't want to."

Stella squinted, "You don't?"

Gabriel shrugged, "I don't know."

"Gabe, I can't tell you what to do. But I think you should do it. What do you have to lose?" She asked getting up from the desk and going into the back room to get more pamphlets.

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Sam was sat at the dining table in Gabriel's house when he got home drawing with intense concentration. He kept blowing his hair out of his eyes and licking his lips. Thirty minutes later he looked up, aware of Gabriel's presence for the first time.

"You seemed so into whatever you were doing, I didn't want to disturb you. What were you doing?"

"C'mere." Sam stuck his hand out. Gabriel got up from the couch and was pulled into Sam's lap. "It's for you."