Angel and Gabriel || Hard Talks

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

Angel goes to tell Gabriel about this thing she's doing with Clint. Gabriel reacts...in the expected manner. Set before (and is the reason for) this post.



Angel took a deep breath as she made her way down the hall, the glass bottles in her bag clinking along at her side. She wasn't looking forward to this conversation. But it needed to be done.

She stopped in front of Gabriel's door, knocking and trying to put on a happy voice. "You home, Gabriel?"

"One second!" Gabriel's voice called back. A minute later, he answered the door in a pair of running shorts, his bedhead fully evident. "Hey," he said, looking at her a little blankly. He tilted his head, taking her in. "Did we have brunch plans? What time is it?"

"Nah, no brunch plans. But I have alcohol." She held up the bag. "And if you're not totally trashed-" and don't totally hate me, "by the end of this conversation we can totally make brunch plans."

Gabriel, still a little disoriented, squinted at the bag. He looked up at her a little quizzically, then stepped aside to let her in. "I feel like I just got home, like 2 hours ago. You sure this isn't a fever dream? Or another time loop?"

"I mean, I don't feel like I fever dream. But how would I know?" Angel pondered, tilting her head. "And also I'm only fifty percent certain this isn't a time loop since, same thing, how would you know? Might as well roll with it and see if we reset."

"Fair enough." Gabriel flopped back onto the couch, wincing as his back hit a throw pillow. He reached underneath him and pulled an empty water bottle out from underneath the cushion. "So," he said, looking at her and taking her whole appearance in. "You okay? You look..." He waved a hand. "I mean, the booze, at, like, noon."

"Yeah, um..." Angel shifted a bit. "See, I have this thing I have to talk to you about, and you're probably gonna hate me and I figured if I brought alcohol you would at least like...show me to the door instead of throwing me out the window."

"Oh." Gabriel sat up a little straighter. His eyebrows lifted sightly. "Okay." He had a small pit in his stomach, though he couldn't fathom why. Probably hunger. "You're not, like, selling information about me to Warren, are you?"

"Dude if I was I'd probably be like, driving a Porsche around or something ridiculously expensive." She put the alcohol down on the table, taking a deep breath and just cutting straight to the chase. "I'm um....I'm sort of dating Clint."

Now, Gabriel was sitting up straight. He blinked a few times, his jaw dropping slightly, and then his eyes went to the bottle. After a protracted silence, he looked up at Angel again. His expression was still a bit blank. "What does 'sort of' dating, mean?"

"I mean we like..." She flapped her hands about a bit, as if that were somehow an adequate explanation. "I texted him about those fish he was giving away and next thing I know we're..." More hand flapping, "and we're going out for food and stuff."

"Oh." More silence as Gabriel considered the hand flapping. "So you're... like..." He ran a hand through his unkempt hair, making it somehow untidier. "Oh."

"I just...wanted to tell you," Angel said quietly, shoving her hands into her pockets. "So you didn't end up hearing it through the...mansion grapevine or whatever."

"The grapevine knows?" Gabriel's eyes narrowed. "How long has this been going on?"

"I don't know if the grapevine knows." Angel shrugged, raising her eyes to look at Gabriel. "I dunno...the fish thing happened last week but that was just like...I dunno. Since Friday, I guess, for real."

"So, like, a week." Gabriel couldn't keep the edge out of his voice. "So you hid this from me for, like, a week?"

"Between last week and Friday absolutely nothing happened." The edge was returned. Angel felt bad but at the same time she wasn't going to take crap from Gabriel. "I figured hey, nothing else is gonna happen, no reason to make Gabriel feel like shit over it. If I was hiding it I wouldn't be here talking to you."

The two of them stared at each other for a bit before Gabriel sighed and looked at the booze again. "Whatever. I mean," he added dismissively, "he's kind of a slut. So."

"Alright, then." Angel took a step back, hands in her pockets. "I'll leave you to your alcohol."

"Take it," he leaned forward and pushed it toward her, the bitterness still lingering in his voice. "I don't want your guilt alcohol. And it's not like I have any reason to be mad. He's not... mine. He's a stranger. Which everyone's been saying all along." It was a fair point, which he probably should have left alone. But Gabriel wasn't feeling rational. "And you've made that abundantly more clear. Maybe I should be grateful."

Angel eyed him for a long moment before stepping forward again and snatching the bag up. "Fine. And it's not guilt alcohol because I don't feel guilty. I didn't do anything wrong. I just figured it would be a dick move to let you hear about it through rumors or whatever. But you're not gonna jerk me into an apology because I'm not sorry."

And with that she turned to walk out.

Gabriel sat on the couch, his arms crossed again, watching her leave. The sight of his closest friend (possibly his only friend) reaching the door finally elicited a sigh. "Don't be," he finally said. "I'm sorry, I'm — I don't know why I'm..." He put his head in his hands. "I'm so fucked up that I can't be alone in a room with the guy, even though he's not the same guy, and I just..."

Angel paused, turning back. "It's weird." She wasn't made of stone after all. She didn't understand per se how Gabriel felt but she certainly could see why he felt that way. "It's really freaking weird."

"But don't let it, like..." Now it was Gabriel's turn for some hand flapping. "I don't know. I have to get over it."

To be honest, Angel didn't have an answer to that. Because yes, yes he did. But at the same time...it wasn't nearly that easy. "I hear alcohol is good for that."

"Do you now?" Gabriel smirked a bit. "Therapy's not bad either, but I don't feel like dealing with Charles today."

"Therapy's probably better for your liver, it's true," Angel agreed. "But not nearly as much fun."

"True." Gabriel nodded. His smile went away. "But I think maybe later. Since I just woke up, and, like... you know. Not an alcoholic."

"Yeah, 'course." Angel rocked back on her heels. "Look, I know you're not happy and I won't force my company on you. But if you....ya know. Want company and you don't totally hate me, you can always call. Friends come first and all that."

"I appreciate that." Gabriel nodded, stopping himself before he told Angel she was just about the last person with whom he wanted to sort any of this out. "Seriously, though, I mean, you know I love you. I don't hate you."

"Well, good to know. 'Cause I love you too." Angel rocked back on her heels. "I'll talk to you later. Try and stay out of trouble?"

"Yeah." Gabriel gave her a small smile. "You too."

Comments

[xp-northstar.livejournal.com]

They were. I mean, they were awesome, but goodness. I like that Angel and Gabriel are still friends. :P Cause I was kind of worried there for a minute.