big man in town | sabriel

6 | twelfth avenue

gabriel.

i woke up to my usual 8am alarm feeling refreshed. no work today, thank god. i contemplated going back to sleep but when my cat, munchie, jumped on my bed and started screaming in my face i decided it was time to get up. i yawned and rolled out of bed, stretching as i got into my slippers. my giant bedroom was well lit with the white light coming in from the windows. i peeked outside onto the busy street down below. all the people looked like ants from this high up.

i walked out of the room in my robe and made my way into the kitchen. i poured some food into munchie's bowl and proceeded to make human breakfast for myself. i scrambled up some eggs with sausage and when i finally sat down to dig into it, it was still warm. i poured myself a glass of orange juice and enjoyed the blissful silence.

there was nothing better than living alone.

once my dishes were clean and my fatass cat was content i walked back into the bedroom to get dressed for the day and brush my teeth. i chose one of my casual suits. black slacks, a white button down, and a black blazer. i left the top two buttons undone and checked how i looked in the mirror. i smoothed down a stubborn piece of hair and combed my short beard in the bathroom.

"munchie, do i look okay?" i asked him. he didn't reply because he's an asshole.

i was going to see if sam winchester was working today. maybe meet him properly for the first time, who knows? god, i felt like a school girl with a crush. whatever. i don't need to prove myself to anybody.

i texted my driver where needed to go and he pulled up five minutes later. the traffic wasn't too bad, so we arrived in about twenty minutes. i got out of the car and soon realized that it was warmer than i anticipated. i took off my blazer and folded it over my arm, sweat already glistening on my forehead. i hoped sam would be out today, i was going through a lot of effort just to be seeing someone that might not be there.

i started walking down twelfth, really taking in the scenery around me. it was one of the nicer parts of the city, big buildings towering over the bust streets. there were lots of little shops and there were trees planted along the sidewalk.

after a little while walking, i spotted him. he had a table set up in front of an empty alleyway and had four canvases lined up on small easels, as well as two standalone easels with bigger art pieces next to him. one of them was a newly finished piece, and the other one was still in progress. he had a small palette in his left hand and his right one was working away, concentrating. i tried not to focus on the way his gray tee shirt was tight and showed off the muscles on his back, but it was hard.

i started to consider just watching and admiring him from afar, but i decided against it. i had already weirded him out once, maybe i should fix my reputation. i slowly walked up and started looking at the art on the table from right to left.

the first one was a silhouette of two men kissing with a sunset-looking background. very cliche, but cute nonetheless. the second one was a realistic looking eyeball that had dollar signs in the pupil and had a single tear about to roll out of the corner. probably symbolic of his experience chasing law school, i reckon. the third was a nice looking black car going down a paved road, two male silhouettes in the windows. i liked this one a lot, but decided to keep looking.

the last one was my favorite. it was glistening with a fresh coat of paint. the focal point was a shotgun, not too realistic but not super cartoony either. it was pointing at nothing in particular, and it was set on a purple watercolor background. it honestly would look great in my office, i had to have it.

"uh..." i turned to see sam staring at me. he obviously recognized me as he continued talking. "aren't you that guy from the other day?" i looked back down at the painting, the sun beating down warmly on the back of my head.

"how much for this one?" i asked, ignoring his question. he answered automatically, like he was trained.

"five bucks." he said, using a nearby towel to wipe sweat off his face. i gave him a disapproving look.

"only five? come on, pal. this is worth at least thirty." i fished a twenty and a ten out of my pocket and handed it to him. he didn't take it.

"dude. that's six times my normal price. i'm not taking that." he threw the towel around his shoulder and put his hands on his hips and holy fuck it was hot. i rolled my eyes and sighed.

"fine. how about in compensation, you let me take you for some coffee?" i asked. he seemed taken aback and blinked at me a couple times.

"uh." he scratched his head. "like now?" he asked.

"like now." i confirmed with a smirk.

"psh, um, okay." he finally said. he was flustered and i liked it. he took the money i handed him and put the art i bought in a bag. he also bagged all his other stuff up and i helped him carry it down the road. we began the search for a good coffee shop.

"here?" i asked. it was a small shop with brick walls and the sign read 'freedom in a cup'. he nodded, obviously focused on something else, and we walked in.

we sat down across from each other in a small booth near the corner, and i immediately made an order for a chocolate cupcake and a mocha. sam ordered a caramel macchiato and i started to stare out the window.

"tell me about yourself." sam spoke up. i turned my attention away from the window.

"what do you wanna know, kiddo?" i asked.

"well." he started, sarcastically. "you could start with your name."

i paused for a moment. my name. i repeated in my head. he waited patiently, a curious look on his face. if i wanted to separate this from work, i should probably give him my real name. it's no big deal, right? 

"you can call me gabe." i finally said. he didn't seem impressed with my response time.

"uh huh. sure. well, gabe, my name is sam." he reached over the table to shake my hand. his hands were splotched with white paint, but i didn't mind. his handshake was firm. 

"that really is my name, you know." i said after we shook hands. "it took me a while to respond because i was trying to decide whether to tell you a fake name or a real one. i went for the latter. only special people get that privilege, so don't disappoint me." i winked playfully. the waitress brought our food and i started unwrapping my cupcake. sam was watching me intently. 

"what do you do for work?" he asked. i swallowed a bite of cupcake.

"can't tell you." i said, reaching over for a sip of my coffee.

"okay... do you have any siblings." he asked. i sighed. i wasn't really supposed to talk about that either, since they work for me.

"do you?" i dodged, as if i didn't already know. 

"yeah." he caught on to the way i didn't answer my question but he didn't draw attention to it, thank god. "an older brother." dean. i already knew about him, this was boring. sam kept talking thankfully. "what can you tell me?"

"i have a cat." i answered. "his name is munchie, he's an asshole." i said, and then something amazing happened. sam laughed. his laugh was loud and it rang through the air like music to my ears. if you could've snapped a picture of me, i would've had cartoon-like heart eyes for sure.

"how did you find me?" he asked. 

"i was just enjoying my day off and i spotted you. i recognized you and made my way over to see if you were any good or not. you are, by the way." i complimented. he blushed and i felt myself melt. good fucking lord, this kid was driving me crazy.

we talked for a while, sharing small pieces of information and laughing every once in a while. finally sam checked the time on his phone and i knew what that meant. "do you have to get back?" i asked. he looked up and nodded, taking the last sip of his macchiato before tossing it into the nearby trash. he took out a napkin, scribbled something on it, and handed it over to me. i knew it was his phone number before even looking at it.

"it's taken me ages to find a cute guy around here. so you know, don't disappoint me." he mimicked my earlier words and threw me a wink before grabbing his art supplies from the booth next to him and heading out.