Miki stumbled to the side, barely even noticing Cage's shove. She pressed her hands to her cheeks and let out a silence squeak. "Cage, you didn't tell me she was this adorable!!!"
Silver's face fell and she deflated a little, disappointed at him pulling away and avoiding her. With a sigh she sat up, no longer leaning into him. "Gabriel, I–" she pushed her hair behind her ear, but she didn't know what she wanted to say.
“You what?” He asks quietly, “you trust me?” He meets her eyes, looking on the verge of tears. His cheeks and nose are red from the cold wind and his lips are dark and chapped.
Don't. I’m not worth trusting.
Robin gives Miki a smile, not really knowing how to respond to the compliment. She turns back to Kissa who glares. She puts out her hand. “I’m Robin, nice to meet you.”
Kissa shakes her hand. “Hm. Pleasure.”
She ran her hands through her hair, exasperated. "Yes, Gabriel! Of course I do! Gabriel, I love you! I don't care what you've done or what you think you are or anything. I will always love you and trust you."
"Where did Cage find you??" Miki squeaked, her voice almost gone. "I didn't know humans came as cute as you are."
Look, now you’ve got her worked up.
He gives an unconvincing nod.
“I’m sorry.” He whispers.
Im sorry I don’t trust myself.
Robin gives a small chuckle. She unbuttons her coat and Cage takes it from her, hanging it up. She looks around with her eyes, still standing in one place. “Wow,” her eyebrows raise in awe, “Ben got a really nice place for you all!”
Cage smiles. “Right!? Oh, speaking of Ben, he might not be here tonight. Not by choice, he just might not be able to make it.”
She gives Cage a small nod. “Of course. I hope he does make it though. You two are always fun to be around.”
Stirs the soup. “We gonna eat??”
She looked at him, watching his face. "I just wish you liked yourself a little bit better, Gabe." She said, her voice quiet now. "You're not an awful person."
"Do you like cake? We're having cake too. But I have to finish making it." Miki returned to the kitchen and started working on her cake again.
Robby turns her attention to Miki. “Oh yes, I love cake. I can help make it.”
Cages eyes widen and he gasps. “Yes! Make some cake with us! And I’ll set the ice cream out to thaw!” He opens the freezer and pulls out the ice cream tubs, setting them on the counter. “They’ll take a while because I froze them solid.”
Robby blinks, looking over the ice cream. “You made these?”
”You’re not an awful person”
Gabriel wipes his face.
Stupid tears.
He presses his forehead against hers, holding his breath, biting his lip and closing his eyes tightly.
"Gabriel," she breathed, barely a whisper, as she lifted her hands, gently cupping his face. Her fingers stroked his hair and with her thumbs she brushed the tears off his cheeks. Her own eyes filled, mirroring his. "You're not." she repeated, her voice shaking, throat closing up. "You're a beautiful amazing person who is very, very special to me."
"Yes, he did!" Miki cried, radiating excitement. "We made them yesterday! They're all disgusting except for the donut one." she haphazardly dumped ingredients in the bowl, not even using measuring cups.
Cage beams, taking an apron from the drawer and tying it around Robin. “You’ll love em, I’m sure!”
She gives him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Of course I will!”
She turns and looks over Miki’s shoulder. “Are we not measuring?”
He rubs his forehead against hers gently and just a little.
I’m not sure.
“Why?” He whispers.
Miki shrugged. "Ehhh, I just eyeball it. I know what it's supposed to look like. See? That's like… about a teaspoon. Or close enough." she said as she poured vanilla into the bowl straight from the bottle.
Silver pressed her lips together, silent for a moment. "Gabriel, I don't love you because you're a good person or because you deserve it. You don't need to earn my love, or anyone else's. You don't need to be 'good enough'. I just love you. You're… I never had any family before, aside from Miki." Tears slipped down her cheeks and her voice trembled, from her own emotions now more than his. "And now I have you and Ben and Vi and everyone else and… even Kissa is family. I don't care what you are or were. You're my family. And you…" she sniffed, removing one of her hands to wipe her nose. "You're even more special than all of them because I love them to death but I've never loved anyone the way I love you. I… I would do anything for you, Gabriel."
Robby gives a small nod, despite not understanding at all. “Aaah, okay.” She turns, finding the drawer with wooden spoons, and pulls one out.
Kissa stares in disgust. “Eck, it’s gonna be as gross as your ice cream.”
Why me?
Are you sure?
He wraps his arms around her, locking his hands behind her back and under her wings.
I don’t deserve you. Any of you.
"You wanna put these away for me? I'm done with all of those." Miki said, waving toward the ingredients she'd already used. She finally finished putting everything in the bowl and helped herself to a wooden spoon from the bowl Robby had pulled out, mixing it all up.
Silver closed her eyes, taking a deep, slow breath. His touch made her want to melt into him and never come back to herself. "I just wish I could make you like yourself." she whispered. "I would do anything for you but I can't make you like yourself and it hurts."
Robby nods, and Cage picks up a few, showing her the cabinets. “How have you been lately?”
She smiles, sliding the flour into its cabinet. “Great. The library finally hired me, so I can have the schedule I need with school.”
Kissa flops onto the couch. “Boring.” She mumbles.
You can’t fix it. I’m sorry.
“I’m sorry.” He whispers again, though it’s quiet enough it’s hard to hear.
His cheeks turn a deep red and he touches his nose to hers.
"Ooooohhhhh, you work at the library??" Miki asked, grabbing a cake pan and greasing it. "You just keep getting awesomer and awesomer."
"Stop," she whispered again, stroking his hair. "Please, Gabriel, stop apologizing for everything. It's okay." His entire aura was surrounding her, smothering her, and she never wanted to come up for air.
“Yes! I just got hired, act-“
The back door opens and Violet walks in. Her teeth clenched in worry, she shoves her phone into her pocket and takes a deep breath, closing the door behind her.
Cage, Kissa and Robin pause, staring.
But- But theres
Oh shut up already, Gabriel.
His chest heaves as he tries to even out his breaths.
You'll startle her!
Dang right I will.
He presses his lips against hers, slowly, the freezing wind catching up his hair.
Miki spun around, spoon in hand, and stared at Violet. Awkward silence screamed for a few seconds before she swallowed and handed her spoon to Cage, approaching Vi. "Hey," she said gently. "What's going on?"
Silver gasped, her eyes flying open for a moment before slamming shut again. Her grip on him tightened and she froze, afraid to scare him into realizing what he was doing.
Violet rubs her temples, staring at the ground in front of her feet. “He’s- well, it’s fine. Don’t worry. Is Robi-“ she looks up, all eyes on her and let’s a fake smile cross her lips. “Robin, Love. So good to see you again.”
Robin shyly smiles back. “Violet, if there’s a problem, please don’t let me get in the way.”
Vi bites her lip and her and Cage simultaneously say, “It’s fine.”
Having used all of his courage to actually kiss her, he’d forgotten it would take a little to stop too.
His face flushes a deep red.
Ah, okay.
He pulls her closer, deciding it was better to make themselves comfortable.
"Vi," Miki said, voice low so Robin and Cage couldn't hear. "If you need to go do something or go be in your room, we'll be fine. Or if I can help…" she peered at her intensely, not an ounce of levity left on her face. "If you need me then you tell me, okay?"
Silver fought against a grin, realizing it would take more courage for him to pull away and look her in the eye after this than to just not stop. She wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning into his kiss, having absolutely no complaints about this lasting longer.
Violet shakes her head, just barely. “He’s on his way. I’ll just- I’ll be in my room.” She whispers.
She heads up the stairs and Cage watches while Robby tries not to stare and starts to stir the mix again.
(This kiss is gonna last forever)
At least this isn’t awkward yet.
She’ll pull away eventually.
The wind whistles and Silvers phone bings with a text.
Miki watched her go until she was out of sight, then turned and skipped back into the kitchen. "Okay, let's heat up the oven!" she set the cake pan next to the bowl. "You wanna pour it in, Robby?" she asked.
"GAH!" Silver yelped as her phone vibrated in her back pocket, jerking away from Gabriel and twisting to grab it. Her cloak hindered her movement and she slipped off the branch. "AH GABE!" she screamed.
Reflexively, his wings arch behind him to catch the air just in case he falls, and he grabs her arm, putting his other hand on her lower back to keep her seated on the branch. He stares, his violet eyes wide and his mouth barely open, showing his pointy teeth.
“Y- you alright? What is it?”
Kissa heads upstairs and movement in the kitchen resumes.
Robby pours the mix in the pan. “So Miki, what do you do?”
Silver let out a breath as her heart calmed down, still holding onto him. After a second she snorted, erupting with giggles. "My phone vibrated." she managed to say. "And it tickled my butt."
"Me?" Miki said. "Oh, I work at same cafe Cage does. We're both waiters." she set the oven to 350.
Robby smiles. “How sweet! I should stop by sometime to see you both.”
Cage beams. “Omg yes I would love that. My boss would not, but I would.” He giggles.
He pulls her back so she can balance herself and let’s go of her arm.
“Oh.”
What??
"Just come by on his break and you'll be fine." Miki said, popping the cake into the oven when it beeped. "Okay, let's eat soup now!"
Silver settled herself on the branch better, still laughing. "I'm sorry," she leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I ruined our moment." She reached back and pulled her phone out to read the text.
Cage pulls the bowls out of the cabinet and sets them beside the soup, dishing Robby and Miki both out a serving. He sits down with his own bowl. “Mmmm! This is actually good!”
Gabriel sits still, watching as she checks her phone.
It’s a text from Ben-
I’m on my way home now and just wanted to know how things are going. Violet is going to stress all her hair gray, please go tell her I’ll be fine.
"Well, duh." Miki said, grabbing a box of crackers from the pantry. "Vi made it with her mom powers, it has to taste good."
Silver frowned, panic flashing across her face. "Why is he only now coming home?? He left at like 10 this morning. He should have gotten back at like 2. At the latest." Her heart raced again and she typed a text back You're still gone?? What happened?? Are you okay?? Why will Violet stress??