A/N: After mention that Gabriel back flipped off the platform for his first flight, well I had to actually write the scene because the image wouldn't leave my mind, so thus this snippet was created
Summary: In which Gabriel can't wait to fly and takes to daring lengths to replicate the feeling
4. Gabriel Jumps First and Looks Later
Gabriel had always wanted to fly. Ever since Dad had sat the four of them down, him, Luci, Raph, and Mike, to tell them that one day they'd take flight, it was all Gabriel could think about.
He longed to feel the wind rushing fast and cool against his face, sweeping his hair back, flitting against the downy feathers of his wings as he moved along the currents. He wanted nothing more than to twirl aimlessly above the Heavens feeling weightless as he moved across the sky.
The only thing stopping him was the fact that their wings weren't fully formed yet. Still in his adolescence, his wings weren't as strong, they needed to grow more, muscles form and strengthen with the sinewy bones, and right now they were fragile, more for show than any practical usage.
Not that that stopped Gabriel any in his pursuit to capture that weightless feeling and surge of excitement he was certain flying would bring. It started off simple enough, like most things do, only where Gabriel was involved those things tended to grow to dangerous proportion very quickly, this was no different.
Running out of Dad's office after having a lecture on the beauty of rivers, Gabriel rushed out the door taking the steps two at a time in his haste to get to the garden for an intense game of hide and seek with his brothers. If he hurried, he'd get to best spot in the grove behind the Tree of Life, so maybe it wasn't the best spot, but he enjoyed swooping in before Michael staked claim.
Trying to speed up the process, he jumped down off the last three steps. There was a jolt through his body and Gabriel was certain he felt a fluttering in the pit of his stomach, almost like longing as he was briefly off the ground. Stopping his sprint and backtracking up the three steps once more, Gabriel took another leap.
The feeling was back, a tug in the center of his being as if it urged him to continue, that if he jumped high enough, he just might fly. Every bit of his instincts told him that this was a good thing; the feelings of excitement that bubbled up through him were enough to have Gabriel forgetting all about the garden and instead spending his day jumping down the steps to recreate that feeling of floating if even for the briefest of seconds.
He'd just been given his taste of what was in store when he was able to fly, and boy did Gabriel want more.
The stairs quickly grew stale and Gabriel found himself seeking out higher places to jump from. His logic stood that if a foot's decent could create such euphoria and an almost teasing sensation, then surely the higher the jump the greater the feeling. It made sense in his mind no matter how many times Michael rolled his eyes of Raphael scoffed.
And sure enough, with each new increase of height, the surge of excitement seemed to grow in proportion, filling his being with a glorious feeling of contentment. He felt sated…for the time being, eventually he would up the ante when that nagging feeling of banality returned.
His brothers, for the most part remained indifferent to his quest to seek out a greater thrill. Lucifer would occasionally make suggestions or accompany Gabriel to watch his attempts of early flight, but Raphael and Michael would just roll their eyes at his antic mumbling about him being dropped as a fledgling or something.
"You're going to hurt yourself Gabriel, your wings are still forming," Michael would tell him time and time again.
Not that Gabriel ever paid any attention to him, if anything the more Michael chastised him on his escapades, only served to push Gabriel to find something more daring. That was about the time that the archangel started adding flips into the mix. First was a front flip, it was easier to manage, but soon even that grew stale and Gabriel felt daring enough to try a back flip.
The first attempt wasn't all that great; luckily it was from a tree onto grass and not from the pearly gates to the cold concrete walkway. Still he didn't give up, especially not after Michael had sighed looking down at him as if to say 'I told you so', if anything that just made him more eager to prove his brother wrong.
Perhaps he should have stopped while he was ahead, but he'd never been one for planning things out. That point being proven by the fact that he was standing on the edge of the roof to Dad's office looking down at the pool Lucifer had helped set up below.
"Gabriel don't you dare jump," Michael bellowed standing off to the side of the pool.
"Don't worry, his head will break his fall," Raphael laughed from a few feet over.
"That's what I'm afraid of," Michael mumbled.
"You ready bro," Lucifer called out from behind the pool, and if that wasn't just what Gabriel needed to push him onwards.
Stepping back Gabriel inhaled holding his breath before exhaling and running forward with a front flip angling for the pool. The pool wasn't deep enough and it stung when he smacked the bottom, but unlike Raphael had predicted, his head did not break his fall, his ass did though and boy did that hurt.
Still he simply spit out a stream of water and let out a laugh as he pushed himself up, so what if he was walking funny for the rest of the week, that jump had been the most thrilling yet.
Butt still sore from his latest venture into a gravityless world, Gabriel was excited when the four of them were summoned to Dad. He'd noticed his wings were no longer the weak extremities they once were, and secretly he had taken to flexing them and flapping them to see if he could get any height. It hadn't really done anything, but he was certain if he'd done that during a jump he could have flown, but then again he was waiting on the call from Dad.
So when the summons happened, Gabriel was just about bouncing off the walls with excitement. Michael rolled his eyes, "relax Gabriel, besides we'll likely be taught in order of creation, so you have to wait little brother."
That was a personal challenge if Gabriel ever heard one. "Yea sure," he replied nodding his head, all the while thinking just how he should make his first flight.
They were told to go to the far edge of Heaven, where the clouds finally ended giving way to the blue expanse, and there would be a building and platform of some sort. They'd know what to do when they got there, it was ingrained in their minds just the same that loving God was to them.
"Wow," Gabriel breathed out as he caught sight of the towering platform.
"Yea," Lucifer mumbled next to him, "that's definitely higher than anything you've jumped off."
"Yet, anything I've jumped off yet," Gabriel grinned.
"So I guess we'll just go one at a time," Michael spoke hesitantly as he looked at the platform.
"Me first," Gabriel shouted as he took off to the platform leaving his brothers behind him. Jumping off the edge, Gabriel twisted his body into a backflip pulling his knees to his chest and grinning brightly at Michael who was glaring at him, his face bright red as he shook in anger at having been sidestepped.
Letting go of his legs and extending his arms outwards Gabriel unfurled his wings doing what felt natural and angling them as he flapped them against the wind currents. That feeling of soaring was back in his chest and this time it didn't fade after a few seconds, but rather it extended through his entire being as he felt the wind blow across his face.
Letting out a shout of glee he spun through the air delighting in the way his wings stretched out and how his hair waved wildly as he twisted round. That once persistent tug of longing at the pit of his stomach was no longer there, but now fully sated.
Moving in front of the platform Gabriel laughed waving at his brothers "are you guys just gonna stand there all day?"
Lucifer jumped next and then Michael, still pouting, moved in front of Raphael and took his jump. Grumbling Raphael went last and Gabriel had to smile at the look of shook that passed over his face when he fell a good 30 feet before he managed to get his wings to cooperate and actually start flying.
Spinning through the air Gabriel smiled, this is what he'd been waiting for since that first meeting with Dad, and it was even more glorious than he'd imagined.