Name: Heir to the Heathen Throne.
Chapter: Ritual.
Place: Gabriel's coffee shop.
Characters: Gabriel, Samandriel, Anna, Balthazar, Odin & co., Dean, Sam.
Mood: Lonely.
Warnings: My English, same-sex relations, religion.
Songs: I Stand Alone by Van Canto (and other metal).
Ritual; an established or prescribed procedure for a religious or other rite.
Ritual; a horror movie from 2013.
Ritual; activity or several repeated daily.
Gabriel had his own way of waking up each morning, be it to the sound of birds chirping, promising a sunny day, or to the sound of rain falling steadily. It included climbing out of his bed, huddled in warm cocoon of blankets, and not leaving it until he had brushed his teeth and found a set of warm, clean clothing to get him trough the day. Then he would walk those two minutes it took him to get to work and prepare the sweetshop for it's day as well, drinking the coffee either of his two waiters would make him.
Of course, there were exceptions, such as his birthday, sleepovers – staying either over at their family house, or, admittedly, at a 'friend's' – or the mornings when he felt like he had gotten hit with a rubber hammer sometime during the night.
That particular Friday fell into the last category and Gabriel switched off his cellphone alarm clock with an annoyed scowl, refusing to move at all. For a moment it even seemed as if he would get away with it, but then his cellphone started ringing again, this time announcing a call from Anna.
Gabriel gazed at the display; he didn't want to talk to anyone and he certainly didn't want to talk to his cousin. He picked up after several long seconds, realizing that he was a good cousin and as such he will never a) flirt with his relative's crush; and b) leave the girl standing in front of the shop in the cold.
"On my way." was what he muttered into the device, interrupting whatever it was that he redhead was saying. He dragged himself from the bed and pulled a large – probably Lucifer's, come think of it – black hoodie over his pajamas. Taking his keys and cellphone he left his flat and strode around the corner, trying to force himself to at least appear cheerful for the sake of Anna.
When he saw not one, but two silhouettes leaning against the run down wall in front of his shop, he picked his pace up and soon he could recognize the other person as Anna's lanky younger brother; Samandriel. The last time he saw the boy was when he reached Gabriel's middle, so he quickly did the math to realize that he was reaching his fifeenth year.
"We got a company today?" Gabriel found it in himself to smile kindly at the boy, searching his face to familiarize himself with him.
"Mum wanted him to come with me today, so he would get out of the house." Anna rolled her eyes and shrugged, reaching to snatch the keys Gabriel had found and quickly unlocking the front door.
"What, you've been hermiting, Sam?" Gabriel grinned, letting the two siblings walk inside first, before following behind. Samandriel, surprisingly, averted his face when a touch of rose appeared on his cheeks and Gabriel's amusement grew – if he was so easy to embarrass, he would have to introduce his cousin to some of his friends. They'd be delighted.
"No." the youngster shook his head when he took in the interior of the shop. "I got back from England three days ago and mum says I got 'bratty' in there."
Gabriel raised his eyebrow at that and watched as Samandriel, without prompting, started taking the chairs one by one off the tables. "Well, Naomi can kiss my ass." he reacted and joined the work, feeling guilty for letting the boy start while he just watched. "You just take a look around, Anna will tell you what to do. If you want you can come join me in the kitchen 'round noon and then we'll see, yeah?"
Samandriel eagerly nodded and Gabriel left him to tidying the chairs. He snatched the coffee Anna was handing him and disappeared into his save cave, closing the door behind himself.
True to the instructions, he hadn't heard about Samandriel until eleven-thirty, aside of occasionally handing pastries or other sweets to the youngster.
"How're you doing?" Gabriel asked with a flour covered grin, motioning for Samandriel to close the door, as not to allow the room to cool down and ruin the rising dough.
Samandriel stepped inside and handed him the spoon he had been looking for, leaning against the counter that Gabriel kept almost sterile clean. "It's.. busy." he said carefully, watching as Gabriel finished arranging dough onto a roaster, pushing it into heated oven. "I don't understand how Anna can walk around so much. On highheels."
Gabriel chuckled, washing his hands and turning around so that he could fish cream out of the cooler. "She's insane." he said seriously and pulled a bowl of bean ice-cream out of the freezer. He scooped a spoonful of it and handed it to Samandriel, "Taste this. It's supposed to be normal in China."
"Are you trying out Chinese recipes, then?" Samandriel questioned, smile tugging at his lips and thankfully sounding much less shy than he had been just few minutes ago. "Should I worry about the stray cats?"
"If I say 'yes', will you take them all home with you?" Gabriel asked with a wide grin, taking a moment to imagine Anna, the ever dapper lady, wake up in a bed with twenty flea-carrying cats.
Samandriel seemed to be thinking similarly, because he grimaced and shook his head, "Probably not, no. It's.. different. Probably wouldn't go well with coffee."
Gabriel nodded his head and pushed the ice-cream back into the freezer, "See? That's constructive. Go ask Anna if she knows how to make proper tea. Ask Baldy, too, he should be back in a bit.." Gabriel waved his hand in the general direction of the door, already too invested in his next project to notice if Samandriel said anything in reply, or not.
The day was calm, once again. Usually, he would peek outside into the world of the living in the time it took the sweets to bake or settle down, but this time he was more then happy not to. No matter how much was he telling himself that it wasn't because of yesterday, he wasn't very successful; not when he realized that out of all the sweets he had made, nothing was even resembling of a pie.
At half past four was when he was next shaken out of his brooding, this time by a person much ruder and louder than the polite teenager.
"Hi to you too, Balthazar." Gabriel rolled his eyes when instead of a greeting, all he heard was the sound of something crashing down to the floor. "Pick whatever you assassinated and see yourself out."
"Now, you sound like you're not happy to see me." Balthazar returned cheerfully and crouched down to gather the cookies back into their rightful place. "'sides, with Sammy manning the desk, I thought I'd go and have a chat."
Gabriel turned around at that, for that moment abandoning washing his dishes. "Haven't he left with Anna at the end of her shift?" he asked, curious.
Balthazar shrugged, "Nop. Said he'd rather stay here and make coffee than argue with Naomi. Can't blame him. Back to the more important things – what got you all dark and broody this time?"
"You." Gabriel shot back quickly, turning back to the cooling water in which he was rubbing his dishes clean, "The world. People. Wars. Peace. But mostly you."
"You flatter me." Balthazar leaned casually against the counter, stealing a cherry from one of the cupcakes. "Heard Anna touched something she shouldn't have."
Gabriel kept his dignified silence, only scowling at his now cherry-lacking pastry. He could feel his cousin watching him carefully and made sure to keep his face stoic and unchanged.
Balthazar sighed after almost two minutes of the sound of water splashing, "We've all watched you moon over the guy for months, Gabe. Ignoring that he's not even that hot, why don't you just ask him?"
"What for? To have him turn me down, 'cause he's not even into guys?" Gabriel asked bitterly, shaking his head. He rinsed the last bowl under cold water and set it on a towel to leave it to dry. "And he's not. Unless you didn't notice, Anna's a girl."
"I know that." Balthazar rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Into her or not, he was here half an hour and didn't look at her once. You know where he looked?"
"His stupid book?" Gabriel hazarded sarcastically, very well knowing the male's habit by now.
Balthazar shook his head quickly, something like victory shining in his eyes, "Towards your stupid kitchen, you idiot."
Gabriel narrowed his eyes and grit his teeth, "Could mean two thousand things and none of those pleasant." he snapped and pushed away from the counter, tidying the kitchen almost violently.
"Think about it." Balthazar shrugged, not at all bothered by his irritation. "And you've got a phone in the outer world."
"'Phone'?" Gabriel asked, looking at the door connecting him with the evil outside with distrust. "I've got my phone here." he quickly looked at the shelf where he kept his personal belongings just to make sure and therefore missed the amused look his cousin sent him.
"As in someone wants to talk to you. I'd go, if I were you. It's a guy. Not your type, since he actually smiled, but all in all rather nice to the eye."
Gabriel's blinked at him, still quite not getting what was Balthazar saying, but he rubbed his face and hands clean and allowed the younger male to steer him out of his kitchen.
Leaving his save place was just as scary as he had imagined and Gabriel vowed to get trough the 'someone wants to talk to the cook' scenario as quickly as possible and return, never to leave again.
"Go." he heard Balthazar laugh into his ear and almost stumbled as he was pushed towards the table in the corner, from where he could hear laud chatter. His eyes lit up slightly when he realized that the crowd of seven people, few of them sitting rather rudely with their feet on the table, were actually Odin's group and not some random clique of lunatics.
"Hey! Loki!" Gabriel heard and then he was suddenly blind, face squished against someone's chest, hugged tight enough to get winded. He patted the guy's shoulder and chuckled.
"Odin. Hey yourself, you weird-o." he sounded a bit muffled and was running rather low on oxygen, so the large male released him. It wasn't a victory just yet, either, because then he was forced to make the round of honour, hugging all of the guys and pecking Freya, Mokysha and Kalí on their cheeks.
He was offered a chair in between the twins, Freyr and Freya, and found that he didn't quite mind when they both shifted their chairs a bit too close for social norms.
"We were told you were getting depressed over a guy." Freya said with her usual charm and tact, earning himself the attention of her brother and those sitting closest. Rest of the group thankfully followed Mokysha's lead and started anew on a topic of Epica/Eluveitie tour, to spare Gabriel some of the embarrassment.
Kalí leaned closer to the center of their conversation, laying her palms on Freya's shoulder to find balance, "A guy, Loki? How pathetic." she said in amusement, her throaty voice and foreign accent charming him for several seconds. When she smirked and rested her chin on the palms, each breath washing over the skin behind Freya's ear, Gabriel swallowed.
"Now, Kalí, sweetie, I never said I was gay." he rolled his eyes, turning to face the girls and running their eyes very slowly over the place where Kalí's chest pressed quite firmly against Freya's side. "Pan. Probably."
Freyr chuckled and Gabriel shifted back on his chair to not be facing only the two girls. "That doesn't seem like being depressed to me." he noted cheerfully and then quickly reached to get his drink, taking a sip as if trying to wash down the fact that yes, he had said that aloud.
Gabriel patted his knee, "Thank you!" he exclaimed. "See, Frey? Not depressed. Your brother agrees with me."
Freya rolled her eyes, leaning forward in slight annoyance and almost causing Kalí to fall off her chair with the sudden shift. She pointed her finger at Freyr, whose eyes widened a fraction and was shaking his head in hopes of shutting her up, even before she opened her mouth, "He would agree with anything that comes outta your face, Loki. It's called 'brain-death' or 'being smitten' and unfortunately, he's got a bad case."
Gabriel took in a breath, almost bursting out laughing, but he managed to swallow his mirth when he realized the male next to him was silent, staring down at his shoes, and a rather unflattering mixture of pale and red.
"You know.. If I had a sister like you, Frey, I'd have probably killed myself at the age of five." Gabriel said lightly, still heroically battling his amusement. Well, on the other hand, even that kind of a sibling would be better than his own set of siblings, but he didn't say that aloud.
Just when he was struggling to find something that would, hopefully, ease Freyr's mind, he caught a loud sound of something breaking from the direction of the bar and jumped up, trying to see what it was.
However, the accident was blocked by the bar and his two cousins, standing side by side like norns, equally horrified grimaces on their faces.
"Well folks, thanks for the visit." Gabriel said, genuinely grateful for it, "But I've gotta go and see what happened. See you 'round." he waved, not having time to give a proper goodbye and was off, ready to face whatever catastrophe with a small on his face.
"Talk to me, Sammy."
"I told you, Dean, I'm fine."
"No you're not. What's up with you? You look like someone whose puppy got kicked."
"Just shut up. For once in your life."
"No can do. Tell me."
"..Just.. I think I shouldn't have said that to the girl.."
"She didn't seem pissed."
"No. Not her. Her colleague, though.."
"The gay-pride guy? V-neck and winking?"
"Please don't tell me how you know about the winking.. Yeah, that one."
"What did he do, spill your coffee?"
"Put sugar in it. And something sour. And I think I was the only person who didn't get a smile."
"Did you tip him?"
"Shut up. Yeah, I always do.."
"Maybe he just doesn't like you."
"Real helpful. Thank you."
"Well, either ignore it or apologize. Or find another coffee to go to."
"It's closest."
"Well then.. I'll go with you, huh? Just like in first grade."
"Fuck you, Dean!"
A/N, leave a comment, be a dear. I could use someone telling me what do they think; another opinion than my own would be greatly appreciated.
Smile.