Chapter Text
Dean leaned against the pool table, jabbing the cue ball and sending its target spinning off to the other side of the table. He scowled, taking a long drink of his beer.
"Dean," Cas said, appearing at his side with a frown, "how did you miss that? I know you --"
Before he could finish, Gabriel seized his wrist and dragged him off to the bar. Dean met Sam's eyes across the table, and they burst out laughing.
"Dude," Sam said in a low voice, coming across the table to take his next shot, "I like Cas almost as much as you do -- OK, well, almost-almost as much as you do -- but you gotta admit, he's not so good for subtle pool hustling."
"Nah," Dean agreed, taking a messy shot at the four ball. "Bet Gabe'll help, though."
"Seriously, Dean?" Sam said, shaking his head. "I mean, not that we're paragons of morality to begin with, but archangelic hustling?"
Dean shrugged. "Well, we are in a place called Shark's Lounge. And we are Winchesters."
--
Several hours later they slipped out of the bar with their wallets nicely lined and fewer bruises than a night of hustling usually incurred.
Dean and Sam had moderate success with their usual game, but Gabriel had commandeered an empty table. Waving some bright pink drink with an umbrella in it and feigning grandiose inebriation, he began loudly proclaiming he could sink any shot anybody told him to. Soon a crowd had gathered, tossing ten and twenty-dollar bills on the table, clapping and cheering as Gabriel sank more and more ridiculous shots with his usual charisma. Even the bartender sent over a couple free drinks in appreciation for the enthusiastic business.
"Damn, dude," Dean declared, throwing an arm over Gabriel's shoulder, "gotta take you out for our nights of dirty pool more often."
Gabe threw him a smug smirk. "Hel-lo?" he said, gesturing at his face. "Trickster?"
Dean laughed and shoved him away. "Yeah, can't deny, kinda prefer this brand of your tricks than a few others we've seen."
"Well, you know," Gabe said amiably. "Gotta switch it up a bit." The other three rolled their eyes, but Gabriel's grin just grew wider. "And in exchange for my services, I demand we get rooms at an actual decent motel for a night or two."
"Gabe," Sam said with a sigh, "we really don't need --"
"I know we don't need," Gabriel interrupted. "But if you guys -- inexplicably, I might add -- refuse to let me blink us off to the French Riviera or Rio for a real vacation, let me at least have a beachfront view. And preferably a waterslide."
Sam looked unconvinced, but Dean's face had brightened up. "And hey, maybe I can finally teach Cas how to swim. Kinda got distracted last time," he said, slipping his hand under the hem of Cas' shirt and pulling him closer, and Sam made a gagging sound.
"You don't know how to swim, Cassie?" Gabe said curiously.
Cas shrugged. "I never had occasion," he said. "And as I doubt I am physiologically capable of drowning, it never seemed to be of import." He paused. "However, attempting intercourse in a public pool seems far less hygienic than in the ocean," he added, then scowled as Dean, Sam and Gabriel burst out laughing.
"Cas, baby," Dean said, giving him a reassuring squeeze, "I may not have many standards when it comes to sex, but even I don't wanna fuck in a Florida motel pool." He shuddered. "Probably wouldn't even wanna get in it if I thought too hard."
Sam wrinkled his nose. "Can't you guys, like, cleanse the waters or something angelic like that?"
"Why, Sammy," Gabe said in mock horror, "are you saying you do want to fuck in the pool? 'Cause if so --"
"Jesus Christ," Sam groaned, rubbing his eyes. "Just don't wanna get an STD without even having the ST part."
"Don't worry, Sammy-boy," Gabriel assured him, "I'll keep the creepy-crawlies off you," and Sam stuck his tongue out at him.
--
They argued over hotels as they gathered their bags, taking turns browsing the laptop. ("You do realize," Gabe grumbled, "that I could have us and our bags in nice empty rooms with a snap of my fingers." "Inconspicuous, Gabe," Sam reminded him.)
Dean put his foot down at getting oceanfront rooms at the massive resort on the boardwalk.
"I am not spending that much money on a fuckin' motel room, dude," he said.
"Dean, it's not even our money," Sam pointed out. "Unless you're worried about overspending on the dime of, uh… 'Louis McCormick'," he said, rifling through the credit cards in his wallet. "Or 'Thomas Wilson'."
"Don't care, man, that's just wrong. It's the principle."
Gabriel pouted but didn't push it.
"What about this?" Cas called, squinting at the screen. "I believe it's slightly farther away, but it has a pool, and a waterslide, and something called a 'lazy river'… uh, 'Dennis from Kentucky' appears to have given it five stars?"
Dean snorted, but perked up at the mention of a lazy river. "Not sure what that is," he said, "but sounds like it's up my alley." He tossed a final t-shirt into his duffel and zipped it, then came over to look at the screen. "The Cove," he read. "How much is it?"
"I don't know," Cas said. "How can you tell?"
Dean sighed and shook his head, and Cas frowned at him. He pulled the laptop over to him, dropping an apologetic kiss on the angel's head.
"Here, watch," he said. "S'pretty much the same for all motels, y'should know how to book a room."
"I thought you just went to the front desk," Cas asked in confusion.
"Usually we do, yeah, 'cause we never really know where we're gonna be," Dean said, putting in the dates. "But sometimes you get a better rate if you do it online, if you can. Plus then you don't have to worry if there's anythin' available." He clicked on the Check Availability button. "$60, really? For a room?"
He glanced over at Sam, who shrugged. "This place was $35, Dean. Does it really matter for a night or two?"
Dean made a face, but his face lit up when he clicked over to the photo gallery. "Dude," he said, clicking over the pictures of the oceanfront pool. "This is like a kid's wet dream. I'm sold. Holy shit, that waterslide is two stories?"
"Someday we'll get you to a real waterpark, Dean-o," Gabriel declared, but he came over to check it out. "OK, that does look pretty fun, for a hotel pool," he admitted. "How is that only $60?"
"Only --" Dean spluttered, but Sam interrupted.
"It's kind of similar to Vegas, but like... on a smaller scale," he said. "Supply and demand, for one thing. The supply is saturated, so it's not worth spiking the price too much for better amenities. And they want you to have money to spend, while you're here."
"Didn't know you were an econ professor," Dean muttered, earning a pillow chucked at his head.
Finally they booked two rooms in the name of the unfortunate Mr. McCormick, tossed their bags in the Impala and hit the road.
"Can't believe you make the angels sit in the back," Gabriel sulked.
"Nobody drives Baby but me," Dean said.
"Or me about once every five years," Sam added. "And I'm like a foot taller than you, Gabe. Suck it up."
"Oh, I plan to," Gabe returned, accompanied by a rare snort of laughter from Castiel.
Finally they got checked in, this time getting rooms a safe, out-of-hearing-range distance from each other, with an agreement to meet back out on the pool deck despite the late hour.
Dean pushed open the door to their room, looking around dubiously. It was slightly more spacious, and the television looked as though it had actually been made in the 21st century, but otherwise identical to most other standard motel rooms across America.
"S'nice enough, I guess," Dean grumbled. "Still don't see why --"
He stopped as Cas drew the curtains open, revealing huge windows overlooking the Atlantic. The ocean stretched out in front of them, dark and endless, with stars scattered across the blue-black sky. Below them the pool shone neon aqua, bright and garish and somehow comforting, in contrast to the infinite sea.
"Oh," Dean said softly.
Cas twitched the windows open, and instantly the parabolic roar of the ocean filtered into the room, bringing with it a smell of salt and honeysuckle.
Dean stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the angel, staring out over the sand.
Suddenly a shriek came from the deck, and they looked down in time to see the small but distinct figure of Gabriel taking a running leap off of the concrete and cannonballing into the pool four floors below them.
"Jesus Christ!" floated Sam's voice, and squinting, they could make out Sam's gangling form, still fully dressed and dripping.
Dean met Cas' eyes in the window reflection and burst out laughing.
"We should probably go join 'em before I decide to just keep you here all night," Dean said, smoothing his hands over Cas' ribs.
"That would be… acceptable," Cas murmured, tilting his head back.
Dean growled, then took a step back. "Later," he promised, tugging gently at Cas' hair. "Kinda embarrassed to admit it, but that does look pretty fun."
"Enjoyment should not be embarrassing," Cas said firmly. "Is, uh, the same attire appropriate as in the ocean?"
"S'fine," Dean assured him. "I mean, maybe not if it were like, the middle of the day, but s'fine now."
Cas nodded and began stripping down to his boxers. Dean couldn't resist ogling him for a moment, then turned away to do the same.
Finally Dean grabbed the room key and snagged a couple spare towels from the bathroom, and they padded out to the elevator.
On the deck Sam had finally tossed his wet clothes aside, but he was still standing on the edge of the pool with an expression of amused exasperation, and Gabriel was nowhere in sight.
"Where --?" Dean began, but at that moment Gabriel shot spinning out of waterslide tubes snaking up to the second floor and splashed into the pool. He emerged, grinning, and pushed his hair out of his eyes.
"Cassie! Dean-o!" he exclaimed. "C'mon, help me drag Sam-moose onto the slide."
"Think I'm more of a lazy river person than a two-story-drop person," Dean mumbled, but he let himself be led along. They got to the stairs, and Gabriel immediately scampered back up. Dean, Sam and Cas exchanged glances, then shrugged and began climbing.
Near the top the stairs diverged, leading to two separate tubes; Cas and Dean went to the left, and Sam followed Gabe to the right one.
Sam and Dean looked at each other, standing at the top of a waterslide in Florida, flanked by an archangel and a seraph -- and instantly cracked up laughing.
Gabriel stared between them, then glanced over at Castiel, catching his eye. He tilted his head at the brothers and mimed shoving Sam, and to his surprise a small smile spread over Cas' face.
Gabriel lifted three fingers, wiggling them, then lowered one, and Cas nodded. He put down his middle finger, and then as soon as he put down the last he and Cas shoved Sam and Dean down the slides, their indignant yelps echoing back through them. Cas dissolved into the first open, unrestrained laughter Gabriel had heard from him over their long, long lives.
"He's good for you, Cassie," Gabriel admitted as he got his breath back.
"I'm sure many in Heaven would disagree," Cas said, standing up. "But I believe he is. And Sam… he's good for you as well." He paused. "I'm happy you're here, brother," he said.
"You too, little bro," Gabriel said, giving him an honest, affectionate smile. "Race you down?"
Cas cocked his head. "I don't understand how you --" but Gabriel had already launched himself down the tube again, and Cas sighed. He clambered in hesitantly, then let go, and found himself whooshing down the slide before tumbling into the water.
Dean doubled over laughing, watching the unflappable angel spinning and flailing into the pool. He waded over, hauling Cas upright.
"Y'all right, little angel?" he said, steadying him.
Cas took a deep, gasping breath, and concern began to snake through Dean's stomach until Cas wiped the hair out of his and stood up, the expression on his face like the one Dean first saw when he was somersaulting through the ocean.
"Yes, Dean," he said, straightening up. "I enjoyed that very much."
They stared at each other for a long moment. The light from the moon and the pool and the hotel flickered over skin, and Dean distantly imagined grinding against Cas in rhythm with the waves -- but then a gush of chlorinated water broke over his face and he sputtered, wiping his eyes.
"Settle down, Dean-o," Gabriel said, grinning. "You kids can go back to your room soon, but I demand a game of chicken, and I call your moose of a brother."
He ducked down and swam over to Sam, then hoisted himself onto his shoulders in one fluid motion.
"Jesus, Gabe!" Sam yelped, floundering in the waist-deep water before finding his balance.
Dean eyed Cas, then put his hands on his shoulders.
"Duck a little," he instructed, then hopped onto Cas, locking his legs behind his back.
"Dean, I --" Cas spluttered, staggering, and Dean wrapped his arms around the angel's neck.
"S'okay," Dean said, smoothing the hair out of his eyes as Cas steadied himself.
Sam chose that moment to launch himself and Gabriel at them, and Dean shrieked, but Cas dodged away, ducking them both underwater and emerging to see Sam and Gabe nearly crash into the edge of the slide.
"Cas," Dean gasped, as Sam and Gabe teetered and then toppled into the water, "don't ever change."