Chapter Text
He was going to do it today. He had to do it today, he couldn't delay it any further. The machine had graciously given him so much extra time. ‘Until it starts snowing’, or whatever it'd said.
Yesterday had been a bad day for a confession, so he'd delayed it. Even before peeking into the grand library, he'd felt an intense aura of… hatred emanating from there. When he'd then mustered the courage to go in there, he'd witnessed Minos sitting on the couch as he always did, externally calm but with an air of vexation surrounding him. Gabriel hadn't dared approach him then.
But today was a new day. He didn't know why Minos had been so pissed off yesterday, but surely it'd passed by now? At least he'd seemed fine at breakfast.
Gabriel gripped the folded-up letter in his hand. He'd made a few revisions, but it was ultimately the same one he'd written before. It still had that rambling bit at the end, and his handwriting wasn't any better. He’d removed the bit about replying with a letter, though. Minos would just have to reply with words, or… Anyway. He'd give it to Minos. He'd give it. He'd… give it? Would he, really? His nerves would probably get the best of him again, he'd completely-
It'd go just fine. And if it didn't, he'd find somewhere else to stay. Though the machine would probably follow him, leaving Minos all alone, which wouldn't be good for any of them. He'd have to chain those two together if he wished to leave.
Minos would be in the library again, maybe. If he wasn't, Gabriel could in good conscience delay his confession for a day longer. Maybe two days.
No, no. He'd promised the machine. Sure, he'd broken a few promises, but that'd been a while ago. He was a changed man now, right?
He forced his legs to move, and his hand to grab the doorknob. He then forced himself to carefully push the door open, quietly close it behind himself, and tiptoe to a shelf. Then, he peeked out.
Minos was seated on the couch reading a book. Gabriel couldn't pick up a hint of anything but serenity, which was a good sign. Though the weather outside was anything but sunny, the rays of light still made him look nigh ethereal, almost like a… ghost? He was technically a ghost.
Don't think about that. Focus on getting the letter to him.
Gabriel shoved the letter into a pocket (his skirt had pockets, it was great), and approached the couch as casually as he could. His hands weren't shaking yet, which was a good sign.
“Ah, thou hast graced me with thy presence once more, angel. What a great continuation to a good morning.”
…Since when had Minos been that verbose? Something was probably off, but Gabriel was too focused on his mission to care.
He sat down next to Minos, not saying a word, and shoved the letter into his hands. Gabriel didn't dare look. Just being here --staring at the floor-- was enough to make it feel like stakes were being driven through his abdomen. One look and he'd throw up.
I’m doing well, I’m doing well…
Repeating those words had little effect, and the silence was making this more nerve-wracking than it had to be. That silence was occasionally interrupted by the rustling of the paper in Minos' grip. Why wasn't he saying anything?
It'd been a minute or two now. Was he trying to figure out what to say, or how to reject him? How to let him down gently, how to crush his hopes and dreams, how to squash whatever feelings he might've had like a bug.
The wait was agonising, more agonising than the twisting of a blade in a wound. His fingers were tingling. His wings were numb. His mouth was dry. His ears were almost ringing.
Gabriel took a breath, and shook his head a little. It wouldn't matter if he got rejected. He had a plan in place, did he not? He'd be fine either way. Now, he just had to behave like was expected of him.
“So…” Gabriel began, forcing the nervousness out of his voice. “Thoughts?”
He almost got his hopes up when he heard Minos take a breath, but he quickly pushed those to the side. There was still a chance for his dreams to be crushed.
…Heh. ‘Dreams’. I don't even know what I want, how can I call them dreams?
“I would request thou give me some time to think about this.”
It felt like somebody had torn open his ribcage and was now squeezing his heart tightly, threatening to crush it. This was a rejection, wasn't it? If he actually felt something similar, he would've said it. It must've been a rejection.
“I require… a day, perhaps,” Minos added. Why was he drawing this out? Did he want to see Gabriel suffer?
“O-oh, okay…” He got up from the couch, swallowing the lump forming in his throat. “Alright. I… I can wait.”
● ● ●
The last thing it'd expected to find was Gabriel, sitting on the floor in his room, with his knees pulled up to his chest. His door had been locked, but it'd picked the lock instead of busting right through. It knew he didn't want any more things to deal with.
What it'd expected even less was for him to break down sobbing the second it wrapped its arms around him. Had he gotten rejected? It hadn't accounted for this, it'd thought them ending up together was guaranteed. Should it get them to try again?
It'd have to have a talk with Minos. Or rather, he'd have to have a talk with the muzzle of its gun. How dare he break its angel's heart like that?
…It did have to consider that this may not have been a rejection, but that he might've needed some time to put his thoughts in order. It'd assume rejection until proven otherwise.
For now, it'd just… gently hold Gabriel in its arms, carefully stroking his wing like it was made of glass. It'd assume he was done crying, only for him to break down again. It'd reach for a water bottle to give to him, only for him to pull it back into a hug.
Its angel mumbled something incoherent between sobs, possibly an apology. He didn't need to apologise for anything, it wanted to tell him, he’d just gotten his heart crushed.
After a long while, V1 managed to slip free. It brought him the water bottle and tissues, shoved a plushie it'd bought from a terminal into his hands, and gave him a pat on the head (helmet?) before rushing out of the room. It was time to deal with Minos.
It was pretty late at night, but it knew Minos wouldn't be asleep. He never was. It knew why, but that didn't matter right now.
V1 peeked into Minos' bedroom. There was no sign of him, so he must've still been downstairs. Lounge, probably. Or maybe the library? It'd check them in that order.
Lounge one, nothing. Lounge two, also nothing. Library, nope, not a sign of Minos. This game of hide-and-seek was getting a bit frustrating. Where was he when it needed to knock some sense into him? It didn't matter that he was twice or thrice its size and hit like a train, it didn't matter that he could fold it like origami without breaking a sweat, it didn't matter that he was terrifying when mad.
It went through every single room in the palace, only to find nothing, not even a hint of Minos. Who the hell leaves in the middle of the night without saying a word? Did he seriously just abandon them?
V1 decided to do a sweep of the garden for good measure. Surprise surprise, that was where its beloathed (not really) was, sitting in the gazebo, looking more miserable than he did when Gabriel ran off for the first or second time. He deserved to. He deserved to be miserable.
It was dark outside, but the faint glow of his body was enough to reveal him. He couldn't hide from it. Though he wasn't even trying to.
He didn't even look up when it approached. It was half-tempted to pull out a revolver, but refrained since Gabriel might've not wanted them to fight. Its hand was itching to hold some sort of weapon nonetheless.
It pulled out its small monitor. Turning on said monitor sent a jolt of ‘pain’ through its system, a dozen error messages popping up to cloud its vision. Now was not the time for this issue to flare up.
*“Why did you reject him???”
Minos stared at the monitor for a moment, before responding. “Hm? I simply stated I require some time to think.”
Did he now? Gabriel's reaction had implied otherwise, and though he did have a flair for theatrics, this heartbreak seemed genuine. But then again, it had a soft spot for him.
*“In those exact words?”
“Yes, word for word.”
…How did its angel take that as a rejection? Is it not natural for organic beings to need time to think about life-changing decisions? Public marriage proposals had been flawed for that exact reason, it'd concluded. Forcing someone to make a life-changing decision on the spot, with a whole crowd of strangers watching and almost forcing them to accept it even if they weren't ready. Sometimes it was glad humanity was technically extinct.
“He…” Minos paused for a bit. “He interpreted that as a rejection?”
*“Apparently.”
*“He's been crying about it all night.”
The night air felt noticeably colder when it said that, not that the cold affected it in any way. But it did take note of the temperature drop.
“...Is that so?”
‘Is that so’? Yes, it is so! Did he not understand the severity of the situation? He was going to end up all alone for the rest of eternity if he didn't act now, didn't he get that? Gabriel could be in the process of packing right now, yet here Minos was sitting like nothing was wrong, dallying and letting its angel just walk off and probably kill-
It was pretty sure Gabriel was too scared to die to do that. But since nothing was for certain, it had to worry about every possibility.
*“Fix it. Now.”
Minos hesitated to respond. This wasn't like him, was it? Did it have to shoot him to get him to act?
“Right now?”
*“Yes, right now. Immediately.”
…It probably would have to shoot him in order for him to act. Time was of the essence, yet he'd rather wait things out instead of fixing the issue? It wanted to call him a coward to his face, but it preferred staying alive.
“I… require until morning. May I have that, at the very least?”
Another request? Did he never run out of those? It hoped this would be the last one he'd have for a while, so it begrudgingly granted him this wish.
*“Fine. Until morning.”
● ● ●
He hadn't had the energy to leave that night, nor did he have any now. He was practically glued to the bed, curled up beneath the covers, facing the wall.
The sun must've been pretty high up in the sky already, but he didn't care. He'd missed their usual breakfast time, but he didn't care. He'd gotten blood on his favourite shirt, but he didn't care. Last night had been the worst time to run out of bandages.
Worst of all, it'd caught him. Not in the act itself, but in the process of cleaning and wrapping up the mess. He should've been faster.
It'd finished up treating his injuries for him, tucked him into bed, and cleaned up everything including the tool used. He was starting to suspect that it cared.
…Why didn't it confiscate it? Everyone else would've.
Was it because it was afraid he'd resort to using something even more harmful, something that'd have a higher risk of causing infection or even death? Probably. It always thought logically like that.
A knock at the door. That'd been the third one in the past half an hour, and the person behind the door never changed. The machine never knocked, obviously.
“...Angel? I-”
“Why won't you just leave me alone?!” He hated how his voice broke towards the end. “I’ve… I’ve told you, I don't want to talk to you!”
He knew Minos just wanted to apologise, to somehow make things better, but that was impossible now. There was no use fixing the shards of a shard. Crushed to smithereens, only for those smithereens to get crushed into more smithereens, and so on and so forth. It was pointless.
The door opened, before quickly slamming shut. That was the machine again, he assumed, closing the door in Minos' face like he deserved.
The machine waved a hand in front of his face to alert him to its presence. He was aware it was there, but he appreciated the gesture nonetheless. It then lightly placed a hand on the shoulder that wasn't wounded, sat down on the edge of the bed, and peered over at his helmeted face. He wasn't taking it off, even if he trusted the machine now.
“Machine? Am I… in the wrong?” He asked quietly, afraid Minos might overhear him.
It shook its head and patted his shoulder. He couldn't help but still feel bad, like he should go and apologise to Minos. Like he was overreacting.
“...Really? I’m not sure if-”
His own purrs interrupted him. The machine began gently stroking his currently grey wing, which he knew was just to distract him. He would've considered it a vile trick, but he found himself melting into the touch, nearly forgetting all his troubles in an instant. His wings faded from sorrowful grey back to a neutral blue.
“Stop that,” Gabriel sighed, and pushed its hand away. “...I need to wrap this up.”
He crawled out of bed, wincing as the bandages shifted slightly, tearing some injuries back open. Probably. He didn't care whether they healed or not right now.
Then, he did his morning stretches, ignoring the fact that Minos was probably still waiting behind the door. Gabriel could take his sweet f*cking time getting up if he wanted to. He wasn't procrastinating.
After that, he changed his shirt to a clean one, choosing one of darker colour so that potential blood stains wouldn't show. He preened his wings meticulously, making sure all the feathers were in order. He'd have to look presentable if he wanted to take this rejection with dignity befitting of an angel.
Taking a deep breath, Gabriel then opened the door and marched right past Minos, not even giving him a glance. He needed breakfast in order to deal with the f*ckery that would follow.
A pair of footsteps followed, and the machine quietly appeared next to him. Of course he'd follow. Despite the (un)righteous fury brewing within him, he kept his head held high. He'd probably cry otherwise.
He poured himself a cup of coffee from the thermos --why did Minos even bother, he wouldn't get a ‘thank you’-- and made himself a half-assed sandwich. Gabriel then sat down at the table, doing his best to ignore the person he didn't want to see sitting opposite of him.
The machine was perched on the backrest of Gabriel's chair, which wasn't making him nervous at all. He took a sip of coffee, ignoring the thing looming over him, before biting into his sandwich. It was as sh*t as he'd expected.
“Gabriel-” Minos began, but quickly got interrupted. He didn't get to ruin this perfect silence.
“Shut up.”
Gabriel continued savouring his horrible sandwich and almost lukewarm coffee. Everything tasted like ash right now, no matter how much he tried to convince himself of his breakfast's tastiness.
I bet he put sawdust in the dough to ‘add flavour’. He's the type to do that.
There most definitely wasn't sawdust in the bread he was eating, it was just his taste buds being weird. He just found it easier to blame someone else today.
“Angel, may I-”
“Do you ever stop talking?”
He almost immediately regretted saying that. Seriously, had he forgotten how a person was supposed to act? He still wanted things to go back to normal, didn't he?
Gabriel, Gabriel… You're still an angel. Act like it.
“...Sorry,” he sighed, swirling his coffee around with the straw. He felt like he was constantly ‘poking the bear’. Surely Minos' patience wasn't infinite, it was only a matter of time until he got what he deserved.
● ● ●
Now Gabriel was being the unreasonable one. It’d gotten to read the response Minos had written to its angel's letter, and it was… not bad. In fact, it was exactly the thing he'd wanted, except that it was conveyed through an unnecessarily large amount of words when one would've been enough.
But the problem was Gabriel and his unwillingness to accept the fact that he'd overreacted. While yes, Minos could've been more clear in his request for more time, Gabriel also had to have realised that forcing someone to make a decision on the spot was inhumane.
Its angel was sitting outside in the garden, and though the weather had grown colder, he'd refused to wear a jacket. Apparently it was cold enough to snow, as the occasional snowflake floated down from the artificial sky.
V1 had been tasked with delivering Minos' letter. It had also tasked itself with getting Gabriel to wear a jacket so he wouldn't catch a cold, which it'd assigned to be its main mission. Love could wait, its angel's health came first.
It discovered Gabriel in the same gazebo it'd found Minos in last night, just staring at the floor. He gave it a glance when it approached, but then went right back to zoning out, wrapping his wings around himself.
This jacket had two decently sized holes on the back for his wings, which was why it'd chosen this one. It definitely wasn't the fact that it was his colour, blue. Well, technically it was both its and his colour, but that specific shade was his.
It put the letter aside for a moment as it put the jacket on him. He had started trusting it to not break his wings when it sometimes grabbed them a little more firmly, like right now when it was attempting to wrangle them through the holes on the jacket. It couldn't imagine life with wings that couldn't be tucked away completely.
“...What’s that?” Its angel nodded towards the letter as it zipped up his jacket for him. A little curiosity was good, that meant he hadn't completely given up on existence.
V1 then put gloves on him, even though he probably would've done it by himself. This was an excuse for it to inspect his hand. His fingernails had been cut and filed a few days ago, it seemed, but the skin around them was dry and a bit torn. There was also a hint of dried blood under his fingernails. It'd have to get him something else to pick at.
After making sure he was warm, it handed him the letter. He grabbed it eagerly, his gaze glued to the paper, almost inaudibly repeating every word written. It sat down next to him, and waited for him to finish reading.
By the end, Gabriel's wings were entirely pink. It assumed that was good, especially since his helmet was also gaining a pink hue, meaning he was very much blushing. He was so expressive even without a visible face.
He was practically melting into an angel puddle, which was becoming slightly more alarming the longer he just stared at the letter. V1 gently pried it from his hands.
“How… How should I react? How should I go on from here?” Gabriel leaned against its shoulder. The acceptance of his love confession seemed to have turned all his bones into jelly, which it deemed to be an abnormal reaction.
It pulled out its monitor, its audials crackling painfully for a moment. Ugh, what was wrong with this f*cking thing? The products it bought from the terminals usually were of good quality, what was this thing's problem?
*“I don't know. Go kiss him.”
“...Kiss him? Oh, I don't know if I… I don't even know how to go about that.” Gabriel let out an awkward chuckle.
He couldn't be this clueless. Hadn't he read the fanfiction (of some random characters being in a relationship or something) provided by the palace terminal? Maybe he'd just forgotten.
*“Just smack your faces together.”
*“Like this.”
V1 bonked Gabriel's helmet with its optic, which had the effect of making his wings puff up and turn a shade more pink. What? This didn't count as a ‘kiss’, it was just an example.
“Y-you… kissed me? Just like that?”
Great, he was dumber than a brick. It often liked that about him, but not right now. He needed to understand that it wasn't competing for his heart or vying for a chance to bed him. It'd already secured what it wanted, that being access to his blood.
*“It’s not a kiss. Just an example.”
“...An example. Right.” Its angel sat up straight. “So, I just have to smack my face into his? But didn't the… work of literature you provided describe there being ‘tongue’ involved? What's that about?”
…Did it give him the more explicit one by accident? That one didn't have any scenes of the characters ending up in bed, but it did have people making out ‘sloppy style’, as the terminal had described it.
*“That's for people who have mouths.”
“I… have a mouth. Several, in fact.”
He what now? Several..? It'd always assumed there wasn't really anything under his helmet, that there was a substance similar to Minos' face goop in there that absorbed everything (including plastic lawn chairs).
“Well, there's the main one, but I can also have more if need be. Though those require energy to manifest.”
Oh, that was an angel thing. It'd read a lot about them having an infinite amount of eyes, mouths, and/or wings. Quite fascinating, really.
*“Then shove your head into his face hole.”
*“I don't care. Your choice.”
V1 stood up and gestured for him to follow. He immediately got up as well, following it back towards the palace so obediently it was starting to suspect he was actually a dog. He should act like that around Minos.
…That’d probably make him really concerned for its angel's sanity. No self-respecting angel would follow a random machine's orders to a T.
● ● ●
So… He was supposed to bonk Minos' (remnants of a) face with his helmet, right. That was really the only method available, since he wasn't yet comfortable with showing his face. Though that day might never come, who knows. Surely Minos would care about him all the same.
Gabriel was sitting on the opposite end of the couch from Minos. They were in the main lounge, with the machine perched on the armrest on his side, nudging him towards the other.
He slowly inched towards Minos, who was currently reading some book about who-knows-what. Plants, probably. That didn't matter, since Gabriel was on a mission.
…I’m going to f*ck this up.
But despite expecting the worst, he inched forward until he was sitting right next to Minos, spending most of his brainpower on trying to stop his wings from fluttering. They'd give away his nervousness immediately.
I’m going to ace this, alright? At worst, he’ll think it's silly, and we'll live happily ever after.
An arm wrapped around his shoulders and pulled him closer, like it was normal for them to do this. Nothing about this was normal or usual in any way, whether it was down here or up in Heaven, the latter of which definitely wouldn't accept this. Unless things had changed.
Gabriel took this opportunity to bonk the side of (what remained of) Minos' face. Not too hard as to hurt, but not too lightly for the other to consider it maybe a mistake. This was very intentional.
This action made Minos freeze. Not literally, that would've been weird, but ‘freeze’ as in ‘he didn't quite know what to say or do’. Gabriel wanted to shrink and disappear between the couch cushions. This was more than embarrassing, more than humiliating, more than… His gaze was focused on his own hands, which were tightly gripping the hem of his skirt. Stars, he wished he could vanish on the spot. If only teleporting wouldn't knock him out cold for a day.
His chest hurt. This felt even worse than losing to the machine the first time, this was… humiliating? Yes, humiliating. He'd just humiliated himself in front of two people whom he very much cared about. Great.
“Did I… not do it right?”
Pathetic, he must've looked pathetic right now. He even sounded pathetic. Why did he have to be like this..? Why couldn't he at least fake confidence anymore?
“...‘Twas perfect, angel.” Minos scritched Gabriel's wing, which was definitely cheating when it came to making him happy again. “Quite lacking in confidence, but otherwise perfect.”
Alright, he'd done well. His next one would have to be flawless, though, to make up for the first. Maybe some other day.
