It bothers him immensely to not hold all the cards in a situation, even though he tries not to let it show. If anything, he tends to get cockier and more belligerent when he knows he's losing just to show that he hasn't completely lost it. Even when the Winchesters had him trapped, both in Mystery Spot and in Changing Channels, he retained his sense of cool and snarked at them up until the situation became dire and only then did he show some hint of strain and nervous anxiety towards the situation. Losing his power is one of the worst things that could happen to him- it would destroy a good portion of what he's made of himself. It's hard to be the belligerently cocky, controlled powderkeg when you have no gunpowder to speak of. Note the scene in Hammer of the Gods, when he's bloodspelled to Kali, he is extremely visibly uncomfortable any time he's not speaking. He knows he can't do anything- he's utterly powerless and it scares him. And while he does cover it up better than he might have had the situation not be an elaborate ruse, the fact that Kali still had him by the balls bothered him. When talking to Dean later, he acted like it didn't, although the fact that he was even asking Dean for help in getting his blood back showed his hand and how desperate he'd gotten- he just tries to cover his desperation up with nonchalance, in the hopes that Dean wouldn’t catch wise. He also doesn't like being bossed around by people below his station- as evidenced by his annoyance whenever Dean tries to order him around on multiple occasions.
As he told Dean in Tall Tales, "I don't wanna hurt you and you know that I can." That's Gabe's entire philosophy on dealing with people who challenge him and aren't typically the people he targets. He wants to hurt people who deserve it, but if you don't, then he has no business with you and you either move along or he shows you exactly why he's not a force to be reckoned with. Gabe depends on people knowing he can hurt them, more than just walking around and showing it. He's arrogant. He's an archangel. He doesn't have to show people how powerful he is, because he already expects them to know. It's like walking up to a bear. The bear doesn't have to say, "I WILL MAUL YOU" before you go, "Hey, guys, that bear might just maul us."
For someone who is naturally dominant, he doesn’t believe in outward aggression unless forced to show it. He would much rather be a manipulator, than an enforcer, and unless pushed to that point, he would prefer to work behind the scenes to get back at his enemies, rather than confront them directly. He avoids conflict to the point where he’ll pretend it doesn’t exist until it’s shoved so far in his face that he has to admit it and once it gets to that point, he’d rather run and hide, then actively deal with it, especially if he thinks he's going wind up on the losing end. Sometimes even when he knows there’s more than a likely chance that he’ll win, he’ll try to weasel his way out of a conflict- take his first appearance in Tall Tales, when he attempted to bribe Dean to let him go, so they didn’t have to fight. Even when he confronts Lucifer, he goes out of his way to avoid starting an actual physical altercation with him, beyond throwing him into the wall to get him away from Kali. It's possible that he's actually just not that good at combat and does everything he can to avoid fighting fairly.
4
As he told Dean in Tall Tales, "I don't wanna hurt you and you know that I can." That's Gabe's entire philosophy on dealing with people who challenge him and aren't typically the people he targets. He wants to hurt people who deserve it, but if you don't, then he has no business with you and you either move along or he shows you exactly why he's not a force to be reckoned with. Gabe depends on people knowing he can hurt them, more than just walking around and showing it. He's arrogant. He's an archangel. He doesn't have to show people how powerful he is, because he already expects them to know. It's like walking up to a bear. The bear doesn't have to say, "I WILL MAUL YOU" before you go, "Hey, guys, that bear might just maul us."
For someone who is naturally dominant, he doesn’t believe in outward aggression unless forced to show it. He would much rather be a manipulator, than an enforcer, and unless pushed to that point, he would prefer to work behind the scenes to get back at his enemies, rather than confront them directly. He avoids conflict to the point where he’ll pretend it doesn’t exist until it’s shoved so far in his face that he has to admit it and once it gets to that point, he’d rather run and hide, then actively deal with it, especially if he thinks he's going wind up on the losing end. Sometimes even when he knows there’s more than a likely chance that he’ll win, he’ll try to weasel his way out of a conflict- take his first appearance in Tall Tales, when he attempted to bribe Dean to let him go, so they didn’t have to fight. Even when he confronts Lucifer, he goes out of his way to avoid starting an actual physical altercation with him, beyond throwing him into the wall to get him away from Kali. It's possible that he's actually just not that good at combat and does everything he can to avoid fighting fairly.