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Warning: Contains Boy's Love and vulgar language.

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There was something odd going on, and not the usual kind of odd that often occurred at Café Mal’Chick Lyubov.

Men in frilly dresses carried around cups of tea and delicate desserts all day and night. That was weird.

Women gawked over and even encouragrf these men to dress in drag and serve them on a daily basis. That was weird.

A strange, workaholic man who took joy at the expense of his workers losing their "masculine dignity" in the heterosexual eye of the world, well, aside from being a little funny, was still weird!

But in a peculiar place like this…something strange was going on; our dear, poor Café workers were frightened.


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“It’s unnatural, I tell you,” Christian spat in disgust. “Simply unnatural!”

Lorelei popped another tiny red cherry into his mouth, humming to himself in contentment. “To be fair, Christobella-dear…you think everything that isn’t normal is unnatural.”

Christian snorted in response. “Say’s the man that dyed his hair—what is it, purple?” He quirked his eyebrow at the odd colour, caught between curiosity and disapproval.

“Lilac,” Lorelei corrected, a smug smile tugging at his lips, “and you know it looks good so stop denying it.”

Christian shook his head in complete disagreement. He rapped his fingers impatiently against the counter where the Café hosts and waiters came to pick up and deliver orders. He eyed the abomination sitting in the booth at the far right corner.

Unnatural.

“Lorelei!” Gabriel approached the counter, his eyes scanning the order he had written down in his cutely miniscule notepad. “I need three cherry cheesecake’s and some peppermint tea!”

“Coming!” Lorelei sang, already sashaying through the fancy kitchen to retrieve the desserts.

Christian turned his prideful eyes on Gabriel, his mouth pulled in its famous frown. “Aren’t you disgusted?”

“Hmm?”

Christian gestured to the newest customers off to the far right. “Your customers…aren’t you repulsed?”

Gabriel snorted, repressing a chuckle. Poor Christian, still stuck in the same old mindset. “What’s so repulsing about it? They came for dessert and tea, just like everyone else.”

Christian shook his head. “That’s not what I meant.”

Gabriel bit his lower lip to keep from smiling too much. To be quite honest, he thought this was spectacular. Word about the Café was jumping from crowd to crowd at the cream of the crop when it came to local gossip. Neighbor to neighbor, friend to friend, and now they'd gained a new audience altogether.

“Order up!” Lorelei chanted, ringing the bell as he sat the tray down onto the counter.

“Thanks!” Gabriel picked up the tray, his long midnight black dress flaring out around him as he twirled around to bring the order to his ‘unusual’ customers. “Oh, by the way Christobella!”

Christian turned his frown on Gabriel as he turned back to the other waiter.

“What?”

Gabriel gestured towards his customers. “As unusual as this is, money is still money so try not to waste your time arguing with yourself. Sir wouldn’t be pleased with that. And besides,” his charming grin grew, “you gotta admit that they’re pretty cute. I bet you just wish you could take one of them home with you.”

Christian’s eyes widened considerably. He burned up inside, offended of Gabriel’s teasing words. Lorelei flew into a flurry of laughter, clapping his hands in merry as Gabriel spun around again and sashayed over to his odd customers, trying not to laugh himself silly at Christian’s reaction.

Christian snorted, mumbling curses under his breath as he crossed his arms, his entire stance just screaming defiance and stubbornness. “What the fuck! He has a boyfriend. How can he say that?”

“I think when he said that he meant just you,” Lorelei offered, calming down. “But you know he’s just joking. You make it too easy for him.”

“I’m straight,” he growled. He snapped his fiery eyes on Lorelei, his lips pulled back in a sneer. “And I have a girlfriend. Those…vulgar…thoughts never even crossed my mind.”

Lorelei hummed. “Well, you certainly are making a big deal out of this." He smirked. “Are you overcompensating for something?”

Christian glared at Lorelei. “No!”

“Okay, okay.”

A few moments of silence passed between them as they both watched Gabriel talking freely with his customers. They watched them laugh at a joke one of the customers made, and both cringed on the inside when they noticed the odd way one of the customers was talking and looking at Gabriel. Their fellow worker didn’t seem to notice. But they still frowned slightly at the sight, suddenly aware of something.

“…It could be one-sided.”

“Yeah,” Christian agreed.

“Maybe he’s just a friend of his. I mean, he’s been there a few times before and he really seems to like Gabriel’s services. Maybe they know each other outside of here?”

“Maybe.”

“…Keep your mouth shut.” Lorelei sighed, worry bringing his eyebrows together in a deep furrow. “You know how Aubrey would get if he found out and interpreted it the wrong way. For all we know, we could be mistaken.” He turned his suddenly sharp, fog grey eyes on Christian. “We don’t say a word until we know what's going on. Okay?”

Christian nodded.


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“Hey Aubrey! I’m home!” Gabriel sang when he entered through the apartment door. He closed the door behind him and knelt down to untie his shoes. “How’s your paper coming?”

“It’s coming.” Aubrey walked out of the living room, rubbing his fatigued eyes with his hand. “My professor is just working my ass to death. How was the Café today? Are there still guys going there?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s actually really common to see them there now,” Gabriel answered as he struggled with a tough knot. “Used to be that only girls went there, but words gotten around town and the locals are checking it out.” Gabriel smiled in triumph as he got the damned knot untied. “You should see some of them, Aubrey. Some of them are so flamboyant, and others are so macho. It’s really funny.”

Aubrey yawned. “Sounds funny,” he agreed, not quite wake.

Finished with untying his shoes, Gabriel approached the sleepy looking Aubrey and embraced the younger man, content to feel the other’s body pressed against his after a long day of work. The content filled him from head to toes when Aubrey wrapped his rms around Gabriel too, burying his head into the crook of Gabriel’s neck.

“You look as exhausted as you sound.” Gabriel commented, resting his cheek on Aubrey’s head. “Have you been sleeping well?”

Aubrey shook his head against Gabriel’s collarbone. "I’m on my sixth cup of coffee," he murmured, pulling back so that he could cover his mouth as he released a deep yawn. “I think my fingers have gone numb from typing all day.”

Gabriel pulled back from Aubrey, concern for his lover etched on his normally calm face. He took Aubrey’s hands into his own, shocked at how cold and tense they felt. He frowned; he didn’t like Aubrey working himself to death like this.

Gabriel raised one of the hands to his lips, brushing them gently against the knuckles. "Did you at least eat today?”

Aubrey was quiet for a moment. “…I think I did. I can’t really remember…”

Gabriel sighed. He lowered Aubrey’s hands but didn’t release them. “C’mon sweetie. I’ll make something for you while you have a nice long bath—you definitely need the rest.”

Aubrey shook his head, pulling his hands out of Gabriel’s. “Can’t. I still have a few more pages to type, edit, then retype.”

“At least let me make something for you."

“No thank you. You have to go to work soon,” Aubrey declined as politely as possible. “I don’t want to trouble—”

“Oh, no! It’s no trouble at all,” Gabriel insisted. “Just leave everything to me. Go back to writing your paper. When the food’s done you can take a break.”

Aubrey let out a faint groan at the mention of returning back to work, but he accepted the offer. As Gabriel left his lover to go back to his torturous and time-consuming paper, he couldn’t help but wish Aubrey didn’t work himself so hard. How anyone could take everything so seriously all the time was beyond him, but it didn’t look like too much fun. Not to mention really time-consuming.

As he gathered the kitchen utensils needed to make Aubrey a delicious omelet, he wondered when the last time that he and Aubrey had made love. Cracking open the eggs, he didn’t think that it was that long ago, but as he chopped up the vegetables and meat to add to the eggs, it dawned on him that perhaps it had been a pretty long time ago…what with their odd work schedules and Aubrey’s University classes taking up much of his time and energy.

As the omelet cooked and sizzled in the pan, Gabriel retrieved the needed utensils, deep in thought. So the last time that'd made love had been at least a month ago.

Gabriel's eyes widened.

A month?!

“Well isn’t this mildly depressing?” he mumbled to himself. They were both still young, only in their early-twenties, and both of them (particularly Aubrey, surprisingly enough) had very strong libidos. A few months ago, all they had on their time schedules was work and free time, which often lead to some, ahem, very relieving scenarios. The thought that it'd been a month since they had last made love just felt so unbelievable. It certainly didn’t feel like a month, but then again, with the both of them so busy, maybe time just crept up from behind and slipped away unnoticed.

The sizzling of the omelet cooking hauled Gabriel back to reality when he realized that it had been in the pan for a little too long.

“On snap!” He quickly turned off the stove and lifted the pan away from the ring of bright red metal fire. He peered down at the omelet in the pan. It didn’t look bad—it looked good enough to eat…but thank God he had remembered about the food before it had gotten too bad. The last time he wanted was to give a sleep-deprived and over-worked Aubrey some food that might disagree with his stomach.

Putting the food on the plate, he smiled his usual charming grin and headed for the living room.

“Aubrey, food’s done—”

He dropped his sentence when he heard the soft breathing of Aubrey sleeping on the couch, head resting on the back of the couch, completely knocked-out.

Humbled by the site, Gabriel resolved to just wrap up the food and put it in the refrigerator. But before doing so, he approached his sleeping lover and pulled a nearby blanket off from a chair and drapped it over Aubrey. He kissed him on the forehead and let his fingers lightly trace along his jaw. Without another word, he left the room.


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“…How long has it been now?”

“Since boys have been coming to our Café?” Lorelei guessed, not looking up where he stared. “A few weeks now, I’d say.”

“No, not that,” Christian hissed. He moved a little closer to Lorelei, mouth turned towards Lorelei ear as he whispered, “Since, you know, those guys have started coming here.”

“Oh!” Lorelei gasped. He turned his attention to the group of boys that had become regulars at the Café. His carefree expression became strained as he watched Gabriel accept the offbeat customer’s offer for a picture or two. “About the same time, I think. It’s been a while.”

Christian’s frown deepened, as did his hands grip on his waiter’s notepad. “And roughly how many times do they request Gabriel as their host?”

Lorelei’s eyes narrowed. “…The same time.”

Christian’s eyes watched all of the boys, but instinctively, he watched only one of the boys that had caught his attention. Something about the way he requested Gabriel as their host whenever they came in disgruntled him. The way he smiled and talked to Gabriel so casually was unnerving. And while Christian knew Gabriel about as well as he did the day Gabriel had started working at the Café, Christian knew and liked Aubrey a lot. Aubrey was an intelligent guy who did his fair share of the work without a single bratty complaint. He also had a lot of common sense, which for a boy of his young age was a rarity. Not to mention it was very admirable for someone his age to be so sincerely calm and mature. While it'd been shocking for him to find out that Aubrey was a homosexual, he hadn’t been against it (though for the life of him he couldn’t figure it out). What Christian also couldn’t figure out was how Aubrey ended up with someone like Gabriel, who was also smart but acted a bit more his age than Aubrey did. Gabriel was more prone to getting sidetracked, especially when “cute, charming boys asked for his attention” as Gabriel had put it a week ago. Even just a few days ago, Gabriel had commented on how cute some of them were.

“Hey, Lorelei?”

Lorelei switched the hand that his head rested on; his bright and inquiring grey eyes peered up at the pondering man. “Yes?”

“When's Aubrey’s next shift?”

“Well, everyone else has been filling in for his shifts lately. Sir gave Aubrey some time off, since his finals are coming up. And he has that huge essay due in a few days,” he recited off the top of his head. He paused afterwards, his curiosity catching up with him. “Why…?”

Christian shook his head. “No good,” he muttered to himself. “Do you know his home address?''

“I don’t—but I imagine that Gabriel would, seeing as he and Aubrey live together.”

Christian narrowed his eyes. “I’m not going to ask him. Anyone else?”

“Well…Dominic or Sir probably would too—seeing as they run the place,” Lorelei answered with an investigating gaze. As though suddenly turning his mind’s radio station onto Christian’s and entering the same mental wavelength, Lorelei rose from his slouch, his scrutinizing gaze wavering between Christian and Gabriel, who now posed for a picture beside the same boy that Christian observed. “…I could go ask…?”

Christian let out a sigh. "Good."


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His head rose when he heard a thunderous knocking at his door. At first thinking that he had imagined it, Aubrey went back to editing his essay. His fingers were flying over the black keys of his laptop, the white screen quickly filled with hundreds of words. He was snapped out of his working daze when that same knocking came again. Aubrey glanced at the clock—nine PM.

“Odd…” he mumbled to himself, barely audible even to himself. Gabriel usually got off at eleven. And he never knocked; Gabriel knew that the door wasn’t locked. Getting up from his computer chair and quickly stretching his stiff and aching body, he went to the door.

“Gabriel, you know the door is—Oh!” His sentence was cut off when he saw that his guest wasn’t his lover but in fact a co-worker.

“Evening Aubrey.” Christian stated politely. Unlike at the Café, Christian looked like your everyday man you’d see walking by. Normal clothes, no make-up. Not even a false smile for anyone he saw. “May I come in?”

“Oh, yes.” Aubrey stepped back, opening the door wider for his guest. “Please excuse the mess…I haven’t had time to clean lately.”

Christian stepped inside wordlessly, his hands shoved deep into his pockets. He eyed the somewhat unkempt apartment mutely; watching out of the corner of his eye as Aubrey closed the door. He turned to face the younger boy with as stern an expression as he had when he had knocked on the door.

Aubrey noticed the odd atmosphere that Christian had brought with him, and instantly he didn’t like it. The look he had was almost frightening and uneasy. It made Aubrey feel even more tense and uncomfortable than moments before.

“Aubrey—”

“Did something happen?” Came the rushed interruption. An only mildly controlled panic sped up Aubrey's words. “Is Gabriel all right? What happened? Where is he?”

“Easy now.” Christian raised his hands, motioning for Aubrey to calm down. He had never seen the boy look even one bit out of control—it was odd to witness that sort of reaction coming from him. “Gabriel’s fine. He’s at the Café, still working. Nothing has happened…or as far as I know.”

Aubrey’s sky blue eyes almost seemed to darken with apprehension. “…What?”

Christian rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“Look…lets go to the living room. You might wanna sit down to hear this.”


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“So, like a total fucking douchebag, the guy cuts me off! Out of nowhere!” The man drawled on, all eyes on him as he told his story. “Thank God I didn’t even scratch the paint! But man, did I have a few choice words for him. But before I could even get a word out, the bastard starts screaming at me! Right there, in the middle of the fucking road!”

“What an ass,” Commented another of the guys, obviously disgusted by the arrogance of the stranger in the story. “Really, where’s the respect these days?”

“Went right out the window, along with everything else in the nineties,” replied the first man, a sneer plastered on his lips. He glanced quickly over his shoulder at the waiter off getting their order. He turned back to his friends, leaning over the table as his husky voice lowered into a deep, dark whisper. “How much you guys wanna bet he’s free for tonight?”

“Pfft!”

“Yeah right, Joel. Get over yourself. Like you’re even in his league—did you see that smile? Talk about handsome!”

“Now, now.” The man reassured them. “If I was able snag a quick lay with James Masterson, then surely I can get this guy.”

The other boys looked skeptical but intrigued. All of them snatched a glance at the handsome waiter as he cheerfully conversed with the chef. Looking back to each other, albiet still somewhat doubtful, they agreed that it sure would be one hell of a hook-up if Joel snagged the waiter.

“So?” Joel chortled, an eyebrow cocked at the other boys. “Anyone wanna bet that I’ll get lucky tonight?”

Within the minute, a couple of crumbled up ten-dollar bills were tossed onto the table in a pile. Some were against, others agreeing.

The bet was on.


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“So…those customers pay well?” Lorelei inquired, pouring the hot water from the fancy kettle into several teacups. “They sure seem to like you a lot.”

“Well…they do give good tips.” Gabriel smiled. “But I don’t think they like me all that much. At least not beyond anything superficial. I know they like how I look.” He resisted the urge to glance back at the boys, feeling a little uneasy about talking about this aloud. “They kind of give me a weird vibe. You know?”

Lorelei paused and glanced up. “A weird vibe?” he repeated back, just to make sure he was hearing this right.

“Yeah.” Gabriel hugged himself in an attempt to comfort. “I mean they seem nice enough and I will admit that they’re pretty cute…but damn are they obnoxious.” Gabriel said the last part in a whisper, not wanting other customers to hear although at this time only those particular customers were here. It was a weekday and normally things quieted down after dinner time, what with customers having school the next day, work, or some sort of previous engagement that would prevent any late visitors. “They sure like to complain a lot, anyway.”

Lorelei hummed, deciphering the information in his head. He finished up the desserts for the “obnoxious guests” of Gabriel’s. “So, you don’t like them at all than?”

“God no,” Gabriel mouthed, looking almost horrified. “I can be nice, and I am nice to them. I do what they want--within reason--because they pay so damn well—but that’s it. If I had a choice I’d avoid them.” He explained quickly. “But I don’t. A job is a job and I can’t complain, seeing as they’ve really done nothing wrong. If they want me to serve them, even if it's everyday, then I'll do it.” He took the desserts from Lorelei, a smile on his face that Lorelei had once thought real but now realized was completely fake. A false smile that used only for the customers, even when Gabriel said that he’d prefer to not be around them.

Lorelei just nodded, feeling relieved and yet troubled all at once. He cursed himself for not realizing earlier. He knew Gabriel better than that and yet he had assumed something that he knew Gabriel was incapable of ever doing, especially when it was so obvious how much Gabriel loved Aubrey (and vice versa). He watched with a disconcerting look as Gabriel smiled at his customers and brought them their orders.

Lorelei just hoped that whatever Christian told Aubrey, things wouldn’t get too out of hand.


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“Here you go, boys!” Gabriel sat the cups of tea down onto the table, smiling at every single one of the boys sitting at that booth. He flashed a wink at Joel. “Just as you ordered, I hope.”

“Thanks Gigi,” Joel replied, returning the wink back to the waiter. He took his cup of tea into his hands and raising it to his smug looking lips. As their waiter went about setting down the plates of lemon pie on the table, Joel tipped the tea cup just a little too much, the hot contents pouring down all over his shirt and a little bit on his jeans. He yelped in surprise, bolting up in his seat as he hissed in pain at the hot tea dripping down.

“Oh my!” Gabriel gasped, pausing what he was doing. “Are you all right?”

“Fine,” Joel hissed, clenching his tea to emphasize the pain. He smirked inwardly as he watched his handsome waiter use a nearby cloth napkin to dab at his shirt, trying to get off as much hot tea as possible.

“I am so sorry this happened,” Gabriel apologized, frowning a little. “I’ll get you another cup of tea in a moment—on the house.” He stopped dabbing at the man’s shirt, assessing the damage, then looked up at Joel. “Are you sure you’re okay? That was really hot tea.”

“I’ll be fine,” Joel lied right through his teeth. While the tea had been scalding hot, it had been worth it to watch an equally hot waiter fuss over him. “You missed some, though.” He gestured below, then watched the waiter glance at the spot and frown. Surprise crossed Joel's face when the waiter handed him a new napkin.

“I’ll be right back with your tea,” Gabriel said in a “strictly business-like fashion. He turned to leave when Joel grabbed his arm from behind. Gabriel balled his fists up, his jaw clenched at the unwanted touch, but he kept his voice as even and calm as possible. “Excuse me sir, but—”

“You’re paid to do anything here, right?” Joel hissed, displeased. “I told you what to do—why aren’t you doing it?”

Gabriel tried to snap his arm out of the man’s grip, but the man's vice-like grip refused to release him. His heart began to race and pump with adrenaline, especially when he met the man’s gaze and realized that he was completely serious.

''Excuse me, but I really must be going now. Please, let go,” Gabriel tried to reason. He heard the faintest chuckling in the background from the guy’s friends. He cursed the situation and hoped that Lorelei saw what was happening.

“No, you really don’t,” The man spoke, his voice dark and low. “I think you can stay a few minutes longer and finish the job.”

“No, I can’t,” Gabriel snapped. “I won’t ask again, sir. Let. Go.”

The man stepped closer towards Gabriel, invading his comfort zone with a striking and scary dominance. “I don’t have to do anything,” the man responded, even more intimidating than a moment ago. “You, however, do. It’s part of your job. Now then, you little bitch.” His grip intensified. Gabriel winced at the man’s nails as they dug deeply into his skin. “Do. Your. Job.”

Gabriel brought his other fist around and rammed it right into the man’s stomach, glaring at the customer as he doubled over from the sudden contact.

“Get out.” Gabriel turned to the other boys, who stared and gaped at the scene, taken completely off guard. “You, too. All of you get out.”

Without a single protest, the other boys hurried out of their booth, grabbing their money as they fled the scene, some of them already trying to claim the money as theirs while others denied them that anything had even happened.

Gabriel turned his attention back to the impudent man who knelt down on the floor, hugging his sides and glaring daggers up at Gabriel.

“Fucker,” Joel growled. “What the hell did you do that for?”

Gabriel heaved a deep sigh while he rubbed the hand he had used to punch the customer. “The same could be said to you. Please, just get out. I won’t ask again, because next time I’ll be getting the manager.”

Joel snorted, but without another word he got up from his knees and left the Café without looking back.

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. Some night this was. He’d be lucky if he didn’t get in trouble for assaulting the guy, though he was sure that, after the look that the man gave him, the man wouldn’t come back looking for trouble.

“Gabriel!” Lorelei called. “Everything all right over there?”

“Yeah, everything’s fine.” Gabriel turned and smiled towards his friend. “Just cleaning things up, is all. But I don’t think they’ll be coming back.” That was for the best, though. He rubbed his aching hand and glanced around the Café. “It’s getting late Lorelei…about closing time, too. There's no customers left. I think it’s safe to say we can close up for the night now.”

Lorelei nodded, deciding not to prod. He'd heard some commotion out there earlier while out back, putting away things for the night. But when he had come back, everything seemed to be fine; the boys were gone and Gabriel seemed relieved. Hopefully that meant the end that problem.


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“Ouch…I think I punched him too hard,” Gabriel muttered to himself on the long walk home. He didn’t regret showing the arrogant customer who was boss, but his hand sure felt the unpleasant aftermath. If there was one thing Gabriel sure as hell hated, it was unpleasantness. “No more fights for me.”

“Gabriel!”

Gabriel halted. He looked around the dark street, lit up only by the few and far in-between golden yellow streetlights. Moments later he saw something move in the shadows, then felt that familiar uneasy rush when he thought it might be the mean-spirited customer, out to seek revenge for humiliating him in front of his friends. But to his great relief, it wasn’t him at all.

“Aubrey!” Gabriel’s face broke out into a large, natural grin. After a long, hard night at work, it was nice to see his lover so soon afterwards. His smile faded though when he noticed how unhappy Aubrey looked. In fact, he looked almost…upset.

“Aubrey?”

“Is it true, Gabriel?”

Gabriel blinked, confused by the harsh tone Aubrey spoke in. “Is what true, Aubrey?”

Aubrey shook his head, his gaze diverted. “Have you been…” he stopped, unable to finish it. But he had to ask. He had to be sure. “Are you involved with someone else?”

“What? No!” Hurt and frustrated that Aubrey could ever think that, Gabriel asked in a strained voice, “Whatever gave you that idea?”

“It doesn’t matter what.” Aubrey bit his lower lip, his tense form betraying his usual calm demeanor. “I know I’ve been busy lately and haven’t had that much time for you—”

“Aubrey—”

“—and that it’s probably my fault for this happening, but how could—”

“Aubrey!” Gabriel snatched Aubrey’s hands into his, ignoring the ache in his hand as he did so. He repeated his lover’s name again, this time in a softer tone. “Aubrey, I could never.” He shook his head, wishing he could show Aubrey how much it hurt to be accused of infidelity, especially when it wasn’t true. “Never, ever.” Oh, how he hated this unpleasantness. “What did you hear? There has to be some sort of misunderstanding.”

“…I was told about these guys at the Café," Aubrey said, his shaky voice revealing his hurt and bitter feelings of betrayl. “I was told you were acting friendly with them, and they were being awfully familiar with you."

Gabriel shook his head. Not the bratty boys again. “Aubrey, I was nice to the boys but that was it! It’s my job to be nice to who ever comes to the Cafe for our services. And yes, they were nice to me too—but trust me, they were bratty. And after tonight they probably won’t come anymore.”

Aubrey stared at long, hard moment him, but then exhaled deeply. He looked a little relieved, albeit still a little confused and hurt. Gabriel wished that his lover wasn’t so paranoid. “Trust me. I totally emasculated the guy in front of his friends.” He erupted into laughter. “You should’ve been there.”

Aubrey cocked an eyebrow. “Emasculated?”

Gabriel nodded. “Absolutely.” He held up his aching hand, winking at his lover. “Fist of steel, baby.”

Aubrey took Gabriel’s fist into his hand, but flinched when Gabriel nearly yelped in pain. Aubrey smiled at his lover’s oddly pleasant attitude, even after just being accused of cheating. “Some fist of steel," he muttered, looking the hand over. “Does it really hurt that much?”

“Why would I make that up?”

Aubrey shrugged. He pressed a light kiss to the sore hand. Although Aubrey didn’t look upset anymore, he still looked trouble. “…Gabriel?”

“Yes?”

“…I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions. Can you forgive me?”

Gabriel nodded. “Of course!”

“You won’t ever cheat on me, right?”

“Of course not!” Gabriel wrapped his arms around Aubrey, holding the tense boy against him. “I love you, Aubrey. I could never betray you.”

“Do you promise?”

Gabriel nodded against him, almost swooning at Aubrey’s familiar scent. “I promise.”

“Cross your heart?”

“Cross my heart.”

“...Really?”

Gabriel sighed, on the verge of laughing again. “Really, really.” He pulled back. Cupping Aubrey’s face in his hands, he pressed a light kiss on his nose. “I promise for the rest of my life—for forever and a day—I will always love you and will never deliberately hurt you.” His voice took a bit more of a serious and vulnerable tone. “You own my heart, so don’t you dare ever break mine.”

Aubrey leaned foreword and brushed his lips against Gabriel’s. “I won’t. I promise you won’t.”

Gabriel grinned at the opportunity to also be a paranoid lover. “Promise?”

Aubrey’s eyes narrowed as if he had just read Gabriel’s mind. “Yes, I promise.”

“Cross your heart?”

“I promise, seven times over, to always love you and to never break your heart,” Aubrey sighed, as serious as Gabriel had been with his answers but somewhat exasperated as well. He wrapped an arm around Gabriel’s side, holding him close. “Can we go home now? It’s cold out here. I’d much rather spend time with you indoors.”

Gabriel smiled, keeping an arm wrapped around Aubrey’s side as well as they began to walk home. “Certainly, lover-boy. And if you have the time, I can promise you a long night of fun.” Gabriel winked at Aubrey, repressing a smile when Aubrey flushed a deep red.

“I guess my essay can wait a night.”

Gabriel grinned devilishly. “Excellent.”

Although he knew Aubrey was excited and embarrassed by the not so vague details of what would happen later, he caught out of the corner of his eye Aubrey smiling; a bright and relieved smile that revealed a glowing happiness. Gabriel smiled the same way and leaned over to plant another kiss on Aubrey's cheek. Suddenly the dark night seemed just that much clearer.


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