Interlude

The Lounge was a lively place, but for once Oscar didn’t mind. Back in the motel, if a room was full of humans being loud or boisterous, he had to avoid them at all costs. They couldn’t find out he was there, or he’d be in danger.

It wasn’t the same in the Lounge, where they all knew he was around and they all seemed willing to look out for him. He could walk across the open floor safely, and the most he’d get was a hello from a Dean or a Jacob standing high overhead. He could explore as much as he wanted, and even go get food whenever he felt like it.

When he got a strange feeling in his core that he had to leave, he didn’t like it at all. His eyes strayed to the tall doorway and he frowned.

Beyond this strange place, he would be alone again. Left behind just when he thought he might get to leave his motel and not be afraid anymore. He’d go back to hiding away from everyone and hoping he might find enough crumbs to eat every day.

He didn’t want to leave. It was just like his Dean had mentioned so early on, when others first started arriving. He didn’t want to leave.

Oscar glanced around to see what the others were doing, but no one else seemed to notice anything amiss. With a sigh, he found a space under one of the tables and huddled down. Maybe, if he didn’t come out for a while, it would be like he had left, without actually going anywhere. Maybe.

A pair of shiny black leather shoes and black slacks ambled towards the table. They definitely didn’t belong to any of the Deans or either of the Jacobs. Those guys all wore jeans. Oscar wasn’t the only one, in fact, watching the progress of those steps with rapt attention.

The bartender never came out from behind the bar, it seemed. Until now.

Oscar huddled even smaller as the steps came towards the very table where he hid. He tried to scoot around the base to put something between them, but stopped just as the footsteps did. As he watched, the man knelt down so he could see under the table.

Golden eyes that usually lit up with some hidden mischief fixed on him right away, and Oscar froze. There was almost pity there. He was so surprised that he didn’t even argue or try to squirm away when a hand reached under the table to scoop him up. He clung to the bartender’s thumb as he was lifted up, out from the shadows.

“Hey, champ,” Gabriel greeted him, smirking at the kid. Even to him, a head shorter than any of the other human-sized folk in the Lounge, Oscar was small when seated on his palm. “You got a job to do.”

Oscar huffed quietly and pushed himself to his feet. He felt like it hardly made a difference at all; he still looked so tiny on a hand. Whoever was still watching from other tables could probably hardly see him.

“I … I don’t want to,” he admitted, his voice breaking in the middle. His eyes stung and his vision blurred, but he tried to keep it together. He really tried.

The bartender’s eyebrows went up and he shrugged in a ‘what can you do’ manner. “I know it, kid. I put together a pretty sweet place to hang out. But right now you gotta go.”

Oscar took a steadying breath and some quiet tears raced down his cheeks. He couldn’t quite find the words to explain just how lonely he would be if he left. Here, he had multiple copies of his only friends in the whole world, and then some. Here, he was warm and safe and fed.

“I don’t wanna leave,” he echoed. He didn’t even try to brush away the tears this time and he sniffled. “Why can’t I just stay here?”

Gabriel sighed and his invisible wings shifted uncomfortably. He was all about playing pranks whenever possible. He reveled in the kinds of things humans could come up with on their own, and when it called for it a playful nudge was always ready. And, when he thought they needed to be taught a thing or two, he was right there with a lesson tailor made to them. Just desserts, like a cake with their names iced on the top right before he tossed them into a wormhole (to name one of his simpler examples).

This kid … as far as he knew, there wasn’t a lesson he needed to be taught. He’d definitely earned a chance to stay in a place as awesome as the Lounge, but…

“Sorry, kid. I don’t make the rules … well, I did. But they’re like that for a reason.”

Oscar stared imploringly for a second longer before ducking his head and brushing at his eyes. It only made room for more tears to come, as he all but gave up on his argument. He didn’t have it in him to fight hard like the Winchesters did.

“Woah, woah, buddy,” Gabriel said, interrupting the kid’s crying and ignoring the others completely. “I didn’t say you couldn’t come back, now did I? You just gotta go take care of something and then,” he snapped the fingers on his other hand, “you’ll be back and your friends will be waiting.”

Oscar didn’t look up, but he nodded anyway. He knew the Lounge would welcome him back, but he wished he didn’t have to go. Not back to what he had in his actual reality.

“I’ll getcha to the door, kid. You just gotta walk through it,” Gabriel told him gently. Oscar swayed on his hand as he moved, but Gabriel had steadier hands than any human alive. He knelt smoothly by the door to let the kid step off, never once jostling him on the way.

Oscar stood in front of the huge door while the bartender stood back to his full height and pushed it open with one hand. No one could really tell what was beyond that threshold. It was just outside the Lounge. Nothing more, nothing less.

Oscar glanced over his shoulder to see the others in the room one last time before he faced forward and walked through it.