Falling Together
Chapter 1: Appreciable Differences
...
A/N: ...Sorry, you were expecting a chapter of something else, weren't you? Well, I've been getting back into Gabriel DropOut lately and have found an appalling lack of fanfiction about it... particularly on the shipping front! There are a few fantastic examples, and I suggest you look for them (I'd link them, but I suspect that would go against content guidelines). Thus, this is my small way of trying to correct that. As for anyone who cares, please note this will be a mish-mash of elements from both the anime and the manga. Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause.
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"Chisaki...?"
"HYAAAAAAAAH!"
Tapris tripped in shock, falling to the ground with a soft squeal. Shifting to glance over her shoulder from her new position, she was surprised to find a short, pale-skinned girl standing over her, short black hair combed over one eye and a vaguely nonchalant expression on her face. The girl wore a black hoodie similar to the one her revered Tenma-senpai wore, along with a gray headband and gray pleated miniskirt alongside a pair of black socks and simple gray tennis shoes.
"Geez, Kurona-san!" Tapris whined. "You can't keep doing this to me! I'll seriously get a heart attack!"
Instead of responding, the young demon merely continued staring at the fallen angel before kneeling down and extending her hand. Blushing at her own klutziness, Tapris accepted the help and rose to her feet. Kurona looked the angel up and down before turning to the brick wall Tapris had been peering out from behind a moment ago and, pointing at the wall, asked, "What were you doing?"
Blush deepening, Tapris began frantically waving her hands as she replied, "U-uhm! I wasn't d-doing anyth-thing at all! Certainly-ly not spying on my senpai's ho-home or a-anything demonic like that! No, I-I was, uhm, uh..." Glancing around frantically as though she would find inspiration for the perfect excuse, the angel wavered in place for a moment before finally declaring, "I-I just happened to overhear that Tsukinose-senpai was going to visit Tenma-senpai's house, and I w-was just curious as to what they would do!" Nodding furiously, she concluded, "Yeah! That's it!"
Cocking her head to the side, Kurona silently stared at the angel, penetrating Tapris with her single eye. Shifting uncomfortably under the demon's leering, Tapris stuttered out, "W-would you like to do it too, Kurona-san?"
Nodding, Kurona waited until Tapris had resumed her original position next to the wall before leaning against her, the demon laying her head onto Tapris's shoulder for a better view. The angel's blush deepened once more as she thought to herself, isn't this too close!? Before she could pursue the thought further, however, Vignette came in to view. The pair stood perfectly still, afraid to tip their hands and give their hiding spot away to the older demon.
...
Vignette paused, glancing around for a moment. That's weird, she thought to herself, I was sure I could feel someone watching me for a moment. Shrugging it off as idle imagination, she instead turned her attention to the reason she had come out today: helping Gabriel clean up her room.
I swear, the demon thought, it seems like that incompetent angel hasn't picked up a single thing since she was corrupted...
Sighing in discontentment, Vignette shook her head before flexing her fists, a determined gleam in her eye. Well, I can't keep her apartment clean all the time, but I can at least clean it today!
This bold declaration carved upon her heart, Vignette advanced along the final stretch of her journey, fully aware that her trials would begin the second she knocked on the door.
...
Perking at the sound of knocking echoing quietly through the house just slightly penetrating through her headphones, Gabriel decided to ignore it as a trick of her mind. After a long moment of silence, the knocking resumed, louder this time. Turning to glance at the door, Gabriel rubbed her chin as she tried to figure out who had come to her house. Let's see... she thought, I'm pretty sure I didn't buy anything off the internet, and I shouldn't have to sign for anything in the mail... Satania mentioned being busy today, there's no way Raphiel isn't stalking her, and Vigne...
Gabriel's blood ran cold.
Vigne was going to come over and give me a hand with the cleaning. And she told me to get started without her.
Quickly taking stock of the room-assorted empty instant meals strewn about, half-read books and magazines strewn about, clothes laying wherever she had taken them off-she nodded with an air of certainty.
I'm doomed.
The insistent knocking had turned into insistent banging, and the incompetent angel realized that she had only a few moments to save herself before Vigne simply came in and destroyed her for not only ignoring the door but neglecting her cleaning as well. Stumbling to her feet, Gabriel couldn't help but think, man, what a pain before stumbling unsteadily towards it, legs still shaky from long disuse. While she didn't have a chance in heaven of even starting to clean before Vigne came in, if she could just get to the door in time, Gabriel could make some attempt at an excuse for not noticing it before and cover up the fact that she hadn't even tried to start cleaning.
Rushing along the hallway, the failangel couldn't help but smile to herself as she neared the door. Hah! Made it just in time!
As she reached for the knob, however, the lock turned, and the door began to open.
...Or not...
...
Gabriel bowed before Vignette, a noticeable bump forming on the angel's head. "I'm sorry, Vigne-sama!" She said from the floor. "I will forever bear the mark of shame from this oversight! May God in Heaven strike me down for it!"
Vigne, for her part, seemed a bit embarrassed by her own reaction to Gabriel's slothfulness, but she nonetheless remained resolute. Pinching her nose for a moment, the demon eventually said, "Well, as long as you're ready to start, I'll overlook it... but seriously, Gab, at least answer the door sometimes... sheesh..."
Jolting in place, Gabriel realized that she only had a few moments to think up an appropriate excuse to avoid having to clean. Well, I guess I could try to trick her into going shopping... she considered, or maybe I should try to get her to cook lunch...? Yeah, it's been a while since I last had something other than instant food, so that seems good...
Raising her head from the ground, Gabriel began, "Hey, Vigne..."
"Yesss, Gab~?"
Gabriel cringed as she realized that Vignette had already produced her pitchfork, a dark shadow falling across her features as her horns took form on the sides of her head. Apparently, the demon knew her well enough to recognize when Gabriel was trying to worm her way out of something.
"Actually, nevermind..."
...
Vignette glanced across the room at Gabriel, now sporting a second bump forming on top of the first. With a sigh, she thought to herself, honestly, that failangel is such a hassle to watch over sometimes. Considering this for a moment, she couldn't resist adding, she is kinda cute this way, though...
Blushing slightly, she returned to her cleaning with greater aplomb.
As she picked up Gabriel's clothes, however, she took note of what appeared to be a bag of candy sitting on the table. Curiously picking it up, she glanced over the colorful packaging before reading its name. 7 Color Drops, huh...? She thought. I've never heard of these before... I wonder what they taste like?
Glancing across the room, Vignette saw Gabriel tottering around aimlessly. How does she plan to get this place clean that way, huh!? She fumed. Turning once more to the candy, Vignette thought, well, I am pretty curious now... and if it's only one, there's no harm, right? Plus, it's kinda like comeuppance for all her laziness, right? Right!
Determination filled her, Vignette opened the package, fished out a piece of candy (red? Maybe it tastes like strawberries...? she thought), and popped it into her mouth.
Not bad, she thought. Plus, stealing a piece of candy! This has to be demonic, at least a little bit!
What she didn't notice was that Gabriel was staring at the demon, horror etched on her face.
...
Those are those emotion candies I confiscated from Satania, right!? Gabriel thought to herself, furiously trying to figure out how to keep things from escalating. Alright, so I have to figure out which one she took, and who they're directed at, yeah? Let's see, that manual said that if the emotion requires a something to focus on, it will focus on the person they received it from... and since Vigne took it from me, that means I'm the target. Okay, now I just have to figure out which one she took...
As Gabriel puzzled over this, Vignette suddenly realized that the failangel was staring at her. Suddenly, feelings of guilt and remorse set in, and Vignette nervously fidgeting in place for a second before saying, "U-um, sorry, Gabriel, I found some candies of yours and to, well, get back at you for how you were acting today, I decided to eat one... but I guess they must have been pretty important to you... Sorry..."
An out! Gabriel realized. She's given me an out! Now all I have to do is get the candies away from her and then ask her which one she ate. Operation Gimme Candy, go!
Coughing in an attempt to appear nonchalant, Gabriel extended her hand and said, "Eh, it's whatever. Just give it back, okay?"
Nodding, Vignette returned the candies and Gabriel mentally pumped her fist. Stage 1 clear! Now, I just need to get through the rest without her catching on.
"S-so, Vigne," Gabriel said, cursing her blundersome tongue, "Which one did you eat, anyway?"
Blinking in confusion, Vignette stroked her chin for a moment before raising her index finger with a bright smile on her face, saying, "Ah, it was red! Strawberry, I think? The flavor was hard to place."
Gabriel screamed inside, offering a forced smile and an awkward "oh, is that so," to Vignette. Alright, red. I ate that one, too; that was...
Her blood ran cold.
That was love.
The angel's panic began escalating. Aw, crap! Any second now, she's gonna start being all creepy and touchy and lovey, right!? She thought. AAAAAAH, this is gonna be SO AWKWARD! Okay, I just have to keep her occupied for the next few hours and keep her from macking all over me...
"Well, sorry about the candy, Gab. We should keep cleaning, though." With absolutely no further ceremony, Vignette returned to picking up and cleaning the apartment.
For what felt like a full minute, Gabriel stood absolutely still waiting for anything to evidence a change in the demon.
...nothing's happened.
...
Gabriel slowly cleaned up her portion of the room, shooting the occasional glance at Vignette. Picking up the package of 7 Color Drops, the incompetent angel pored over it, trying to understand what was going on. I'm glad that nothing happened, but... WHY didn't anything happen!? She pouted, irritated and confused by this inscrutable turn of events. It's not expired, the instructions were followed, the candy was eaten, so everything should be working, right!?
"Hey, Gabriel!"
"GAH!" Gabriel shouted, jumping as Vignette suddenly tapped her on the shoulder. The demon cocked her head in confusion, surprised by the angel's intense reaction.
Blinking for a moment, Vignette eventually shrugged and said, "Uh, it's about time we broke for lunch, Gab... What did you want to eat?"
Subtly shrinking away from the demon's touch, Gabriel stammered out, "U-uh, I'm in the mood for, uh, whatever, so just make what you want... probably not much to make, though, fridge is pretty empty..."
With a bright smile, Vignette replied, "Well, let's go shopping, then!"
Forcing another smile to match Vignette's, Gabriel offered a small "Yay..." in response.
"Alright, let's get going! Oh, but you should get dressed first, Gab."
"WHA!?"
...
Gabriel trudged along, discontent seared on her features as she watched Vignette bounce around the market district, enthusing over sales and wavering over what to purchase and what to make for lunch. Checking her phone, the angel noted that it had been two and a half hours since the demon had eaten the red candy. Okay, this is starting to get annoying, Gabriel thought. It's definitely been long enough for the candy to start working... so why hasn't anything changed? With a sigh, she added, well, I really wouldn't mind it being a dud, but... I'm just afraid it's gonna suddenly kick in out of nowhere and I'm gonna have to deal with that...
"Hey, Gab!"
Blinking out of her thoughts, Gabriel glanced up and noticed Vigne waving her over to a nearby stall. Coming over, she found Vignette fretting over vegetables, her brow furrowed in concentration. "I'm trying to decide if I should get some carrots or some leeks," she said, "I was thinking about making some sort of soup, but I didn't sure know what to get. What do you think?"
Shrugging, Gabriel answered, "Eh, I don't really care; you're pretty good at cooking, and you know what I like pretty well. You always pull through and make something good, so it's not like you could..." Gabriel trailed off, considering her own words. Huh, Vigne really always does go out of her way to make stuff the way I like it...
Smiling and oblivious to Gabriel's distraction, Vignette said, "Alright. Just give me a minute to finish up here, and then we'll go back to your apartment, alright?"
Gabriel answered with a nod, still carefully watching Vignette.
...
"Alright," Vignette said as they entered Gabriel's apartment, "I'll start on the soup. Try to keep working on cleaning while I make it, okay?"
Nodding, Gabriel wandered over to her trashed room and sighed, thinking, honestly, if she were in love with me, wouldn't she cut me some slack once in a while? Sighing, she amended, Well, not really... I guess she would still want me to at least try and take care of myself. Grumbling, she concluded, man, love sounds like a drag.
"Alright! Gab, lunch is ready!"
Turning to Vignette (and taking longer than she would like to admit to stare at the demon in the apron she had somehow dug out of the cupboards) Gabriel said, "Ah, yeah, alright... thanks, or whatever..."
...
Glancing at her phone and then at Vignette, Gabriel thought, Alright, according to this, the candy should be fading in 3... 2... 1... aaand now!
Vigne paused. She raised her face to the sky. She took a deep breath.
Here it comes, Gabriel thought, here it comes!
Vignette sneezed. "Geez, Gab," the demon said, "the dust is so thick over here, you could sneeze from looking at it too hard!"
A moment passed. Two. Then three.
"SERIOUSLY!?" Gabriel cried to Heaven.
...
"Alright, it seems like that's all we'll be able to do today, Gab," Vignette said as she opened the door to the failangel's apartment. "It's not really done, but we can pick it up again some other day, alright? Just try to keep this place up in the meantime!"
Waving the demon off, Gabriel replied, "Yeah, yeah, I know... see you in school tomorrow, all right?"
With a smile, a nod, and a wave, Vignette left the apartment.
And left Gabriel to her thoughts.
Damn it! I just don't get what was going on today! She thought as she flopped onto the floor in front of her laptop. Yeah, sure, it's crap off the Hell Shopping Network, but still! I actually know this stuff works from first-hand experience, so why didn't anything happen?
Reaching into her hoodie, Gabriel produced the instruction manual and the package from her pockets, reviewing each in turn.
Well, according to this, it should still be good for another hundred years, so it didn't expire... Turning the package over to look at the back, she mentally grumbled, gah, freaking Satania with her crappy sort-of-works, sort-of-doesn't products...
Flipping through the manual, Gabriel continued her exasperated complaints. Guh, everything in this says that everything should have worked. I should've had to fend her off with a stick, so why didn't I? When is the monkey's paw part gonna start kicking in?
Reading through the final page, however, Gabriel noticed a small block of text that had managed to escape her notice previously and read over it:
WARNING: This product WILL NOT AFFECT individuals already experiencing emotions of an intensity equal to or greater than emotions engendered by this product directed at the target of said emotions. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Reading this, Gabriel relaxed immensely. Aaaaaah, so that's all it was, she thought. Kinda hard to work through when it's written in legal mumbo-jumbo like that, but it's basically just saying that it didn't do anything to Vigne because she already loves me, right? Okay, that makes everything that happened today a lot easier to get.
Remaining confusion cleared up, Gabriel turned to her laptop, opening one of the many MMOs she spent her time in. She clicked once or twice, ready to begin yet another few hours of grinding for fantastic loot and rewards. Or she would have, had her mouse not suddenly fallen silent and her finger not gone still.
Bolting up, Gabriel cried once more to Heaven, "WAIT, WHAT!?"