Talk to Me | Sabriel AU

Looking Up

Gabriel was at his locker, fetching the things he would need for his first block when he heard the new but familiar voice of Sam's behind him as he said a shaky 'hi.' Gabriel smiled and turned, looking at the boy and watched at Sam glance down at the ground shyly, pulling his backpack strap closer to his body.

"Morning." Gabriel said, feeling his own cheeks heating as he gathered the courage he needed to take Sam's hand, kissing him gently on the cheek. With a gentle tug, he pulls Sam along beside him, leading him towards their class and swinging their hands the smallest bit.

"Are you going to continue talking?" Gabriel asked, his voice a bit hesitant. He didn't want to force Sam to talk if he wasn't completely ready. Nevertheless, Sam just nodded, his fingers grasping Gabriel's hand a little tighter as he wrinkled his nose.

  "I...I'm...g-goi-ng to a-ask Bo-bby for sp-speech...." Sam tried to say, trailing off when he couldn't get the last word out, shaking his head. Gabriel's eyes softened and he bumped Sam gently with his shoulder, giving him a warm smile.

"Speech therapy?" Gabriel finished, earning a nod and smile from Sam before the boy looked back at the ground. 

"Do you want me to go with you?" Gabriel asked, getting another nod from Sam and feeling a sense of overwhelming affection rise in his chest. "We'll go after school. Sound good?"

Sam nodded, pausing in his steps to pull Gabriel in a tight hug. Gabriel let out a little noise of surprise, but he only laughed a moment later, wrapping his arms around Sam tightly and hugging him tight. Regrettably,  their hugging was ended short when Gabriel felt someone tapping on his shoulder and turned his head to see a girl standing there nervously, a group of girls behind her standing by the lockers and whispering to each other.

"Um...my friends and I wanted to know if you were dating..." The girl said, looking clearly out of place as she straightened her glasses before glancing at the ground. Gabriel blinked in surprise, but soon a smile spread on his face, and he glanced at Sam.

"Yeah, we are." Gabriel said, watching as Sam's cheeks turned bright red and his smile splitting into a grin. The girl perked up, her eyes wide as she stammered out a 'thank you' before hurrying back to the group. Gabriel didn't even have to look at them as their whisperings became squeals and Sam hid behind the shorter Gabriel in his embarrassment.

"Sorry, Sam." Gabriel said, not feeling sorry at all as he took his boyfriend's hand.

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

The dinner, although not tense, felt incredibly nerve wracking for Gabriel as he glanced at the idle chat between Ellen and Bobby. Neither he nor Sam had worked up the courage to finally voice what they had been thinking about and it was becoming apparent on the lack of conversation on Gabriel's part that something was most definitely wrong.

Bobby was the first one to address the elephant in the room. "Alright, son. What's got you so quiet?" Bobby asked Gabriel, staring at him intently. Gabriel swallowed nervously before setting down his fork, his gaze moving to Sam's nervous expression to his plate.

Well, it was now or never.

"Can Sam...get speech therapy?" Gabriel asked, a heavy silence settling over the four of them. Bobby looked surprise by the request, and Ellen looked like tears had sprung into her eyes as Sam's foster father slowly turned to Sam, scratching at the back of his neck.

"What about it, Sam? Do you want speech therapy?" Bobby asked. Sam looked between him and Gabriel before grabbing Gabriel's hand, taking a deep breath.

"Y-yes." Sam stuttered out, his voice soft and almost scared sounding. Ellen let out a gasp, dropping her fork as she clasped her hand over her mouth. The tears in her eyes before began falling from her lids and she stood, hugging Sam tightly and kissing the top of his head several times.

Sam let out a light laugh and hugged his foster mother before pulling away. Ellen wiped at her tears, her smile spread impossibly large while Bobby took off his cap, using it as a shield to hide the tears Gabriel was sure was there. When Ellen caught his eye, he froze as she hugged him tightly.

"Thank you so much." She whispered, her voice hiccuping with happiness and tears at the same time. "Thank you for letting us hear his voice again."

When she pulled away, she couldn't miss the way that their hands were tightly clasped together. She let out a light laugh, wiping away her tears and patting their hands, her eyes turning to Bobby.

"Our baby boys are growing up." Ellen said, gaining a chuckle from Bobby as the man replaced his hat back on his head, sniffling discretely as he shook his head when he realized what she was talking about.

"I guess that means no more sleeping in Sam's room." Bobby said, his lips twisted in a hint of amusement as Gabriel let out a protest, frowning.

"We're not going to do anything." Gabriel said in argument, but Bobby shook his head, pointing his finger at the both of them.

"These are the rules." Bobby said, but his eyes softened as Sam pouted, wrapping his arms tightly around Gabriel's waist and holding tightly.

"No." Sam said, though it came out as more of a squeak than anything. Bobby's resolution faltered and after a moment he sighed, turning to Ellen for help but finding none as she fawned over the two boys.

"Fine, but you can't sleep in the same bed." Bobby compromised, earning a grin from Gabriel as he pushed his plate away, standing.

"I can work with that." Gabriel said with a grin, tugging Sam up and towards his room to go play video games.