Silver's eyes widened before she gave a confused frown, then realized Ryder was referring to Cage, not her. Miki snorted. "Yeah, well, in case you didn't notice, Gabe's like half your size. You really should teach him how to eat. I've seen him eat like… five times in the past two years." she took out a cup of yogurt and peeled the top off. "And trust me, it ain't for lack of trying. Silver buys him food all the time but he probably feeds it to his animals."
Gabriel’s face flushed and Ryder laughs, ruffling his hair. “His secret is he only eats animal poop so he has to feed- ow!” Gabriel elbows him in the stomach.
“Ryder!”
Ryder laughs, bending over a little.
Cage jogs down the stairs. “Ew?!”
Ben stares, watching them.
another child.
i dont need another.
Silver's mouth dropped open and she stared at Ryder in horror. "That's disgusting. And he does eat stuff sometimes. He eats fruit."
"Cuz he's a bat." Miki muttered under her breath. She caught sight of Ben and came over to him, biting her lip. "Hey." she sad quietly. "I really didn't mean to come back so soon. I know it's probably smart for us to… take a break from each other. I'm gonna be staying at Dio's, so I'll make sure Mango Idiot comes back with me and doesn't stay here forever."
Ben gives Miki a small, irritated glare, but doesn’t respond. He looks Ryder over.
Ryder leans against the island counter. “Okay okay, so I know Kiss and Vamp, but I need names. You’re..” he points to Sil and squints. “Ummmmm….. I wanna say Rocky but that sounds wrong.”
Kissa rolls her eyes. “She’s irritating, thats what.” She mumbles.
Silver blinked, mouth still open, but now in offense instead of horror. "Silver." she corrected.
Miki watched Ben for a moment before inwardly rolling her eyes and returning to the kitchen. Well, I tried. "Yeah, I told you about her, Mango Man. That's my sister. She and Gabriel are a thing."
"Miki!" Silver hissed, glaring at her sister and trying–and failing–to not blush.
Gabriel stays invisible, wishing double-invisible was a thing.
No don’t say that to-
Ryder gasps and puts an arm around Gabriel, stroking his hair.
“How dare you.”
Kissa rolls her eyes.
Cage pulls himself up onto the counter, swinging his legs back and forth. “I’m Cage, by the way. Not… not blondie.”
Silver pressed her lips together, glaring at her sister across the room. She yanked on Miki's hair, and Miki yelped, grabbing her head. "Well! It's true! You two certainly don't act like siblings like Cage and I do! I figured he should have a warning since he's so attached to them. If he saw you and Gabe kissing without knowing, who knows what he would do."
Silver ground her teeth, her face red with anger now. I am literally going to kill my sister.
Ben clears his throat, not liking where the conversation is going. “Ryder, is it? Borrow a pair of Gabriel’s pants, youre getting water all over my floor.”
Ryder turns to look at Ben, looking as if he only just noticed him.
This one is the stressy one. I can feel it in my hollow bones.
He gives Ben a short nod, accompanied by a wink and jogs upstairs with Cage who promises to find him something.
Ben looks over the group in the living room.
“Kissa. Is he going to destroy my house?”
She nods. “That’s why he’s staying with Dio.” I
Miki raised an eyebrow over her yogurt. "Wait, he destroys houses? Cuz Dio's house was like, perfect, considering he's outnumbered two to one by Kavis. Not that Lackey really makes a mess. I'm not sure Lackey even sleeps to be honest. I think he just stands around weirdly and eats trail mix."
Silver eased off the couch once Ryder was gone upstairs and approached where she last knew Gabriel was, surreptitiously reaching out until she found his hand.
"What sort of a Kavi is he?" she whispered to him. "Is he normal?"
Gabriel turns silver invisible and nods. “Yeah. He’s good. He’s louder and nicer than regular Kavi but that’s it.”
Kissa sighs, “he’d tear this house apart. There’s already so many people it’s hard to keep clean.”
Ben nods in solemn agreement.
"Okay." Silver whispered. She rested her cheek against his shoulder. "He seems really crazy."
Miki finished her yogurt and tossed it in the trash. "Hence why I offered to make sure both he and I stay at Dio's at least 20% of the time."
Before Gabriel has the chance to say anything else, Ryder comes running down the stairs with Cage, wearing a pair of Ben’s pajama pants.
Violet covers her mouth, trying to contain a giggle and cage scratches the back of his head. “Gabriel’s pants were like tights and I thought you’d rather see this than that.”
Ben rolls his eyes. “Don’t stain them.” He reluctantly demands.
Ryder beams, “got it!”
(Clarification: we all know ben would not wear the usual jammie pants [fluffy or covered in pictures] so let me just go ahead and say that they’re most likely satin/silk and white/black.)
Silver stared at Ryder and thanked the stars that Gabriel had turned her invisible. We should buy him his own clothes if he's doing to be hanging around, she thought, making a mental note to ask Miki to buy some the next time she went shopping.
Miki raised an eyebrow. "Gabriel's shirt and Ben's jammies. I didn't think this could get any better. Where are your wet clothes? I'll put them in the dryer with mine so we don't have to witness that–" she indicated his current attire. "For any longer than we have to."
He laughs, shoving Miki a little. “Upstairs bathroom.”
Gabriel gives Ryder a once over then turns himself and Silver visible. “Where were you all this time?”
He shrugs. “Around. I found a lot of people to bunk with but it only usually lasted about a month before they didn’t like me anymore.” He shrugs.
Kissa blinks, pouring him a cup of apple juice and pushing it towards him. “Why?”
Ben scoffs. “Hmm I wonder.”
Silver jumped a little when she realized everyone could see them, but she didn't move from Gabriel's side. Miki smacked Ryder's hand away and climbed the stairs. "Probably cuz he ran them all out of mangos and almonds. I'd kick him out for that too."
Ryder turns to Gabriel, whispering, “whats her name again?” Pointing his Thumb towards Miki.
Kissa stares over Ryders large, well groomed wings.
Ah his are so much better kept than mine!
“Miki.” Gabriel whispers back.
Violet heads into the kitchen, pouring Ben a cup of coffee. Kissa takes her arm, in a gesture that almost looks like she’s showing her to Ryder. “This is Violet. She feeds us.”
Violet takes her arm back, amused. “You forget all the times I’ve treated your wounds.”
"You freakin' kidnapped me and dropped me in a pool and you can't even do me the decency of remembering my name?" Miki cried. "This is why I'm friends with Cage, not you. Cage never forgets me."
Silver glared at Kissa. "She's not a fridge, Kissa. She's our mom."
Ryder jumps when Miki calls and looks over the stairs.
Geez, she’s not gonna lose her hearing till she’s 150.
He turns his attention to Violet, giving her a charming, sharp smile. “You don’t look a day over 45.”
Ben’s mouth opens in horror and he glares, but Violet cover her mouth to chuckle.
Gabriel whacks him in the back of the head. “She’s not really their mom, idiot!” He hisses.
"Hey!" Silver yelled. "Blood doesn't always make a family! Violet's the best mom I've–well, most of us–well, ALL OF US have ever had!"
Miki grabbed Ryder's clothes and ran downstairs. "Our family is special, Ryder. Age means nothing here."
Ryder blinks, then whispers to Gabe again.
“They just adopt a bunch of family?”
Gabriel rolls his eyes, “I’ll explain later, just roll with it.” He whispers back.
Ryder looks back to Violet. “Uh, sorry. I’ve lived with humans for a while but y’all are still confusing.”
She waves the thought away. “No need to apologize. You’ve been here only a few minutes and you’ve done amazing lightening the mood.”
For some reason, even though he didn’t know her, he took the compliment as the highest of praise and beamed.
Ben sighs. “You live with Diablo?”
"Can we not forget the fact that he threw me in the pool?" Miki said, returning from the laundry room. "That does not count as lightening the mood."
Silver edged closer to Ryder, peering up at him, still clinging to Gabriel's arm. "What does his house look like?" she whispered.
"Rich." Miki said, without looking at her.
Ryder looks over Silver, his eyes lingering on her hair. “It looks like a…. house? What is that question even supposed to be?” He whispers back.
Gabriel looks up to Ben, who is clearly is irritated by being ignored. He (Ben) takes his coffee from violet and heads into the basement without a word. She stays upstairs, watching the kids.
Cage runs his fingers through Ryders hair, wondering at the ashy roots and pure whiteness of the ends.
"Nooooo." Silver rolled her eyes and turned to Miki. "What color is it? How big is it? Is it full of sushi?"
"I actually didn't see any sushi at all." Miki said. "Then again, I was only there for like five minutes before Mango Man grabbed me and yeeted out. But it was fancy. Like fancy and rich but sorta cozy."
Silver rested her cheek against Gabriel's shoulder again, staring into nothing. "I wanna go see it." She said dreamily.
Kissa whacks Cage’s Hans, making him gasp. “No touching” she mouths possessively.
Ryder sighs. “His house isn’t as rich and modern as this. It’s boring. No hiding pla- OH WAIT, Gabriel you have animals shOW ME.”
Gabriel jumps a little, “Ryder, hush.” He hisses. “No. You can’t go into my attic.”
"NO." Silver said, snapping out of her revere and staring Ryder down. "No, you can't go up there, you'll scare them."
"Oh yeah oops." Miki said. "I told him you keep animals in the attic. Granted, he did ask me point blank if you 'still hid animals' so apparently this is a common thing with Gabriels? Get used to it, Sil; you're gonna have more animals than kids."