Gabriel Fluff

Gabriel had fallen asleep mid-sentence. Coming home, he had unhooked his sword from his belt loop and hung it on the wall as he always did. Next was his coat. Three buttons that he undid with deft fingers. His shoes normally would have been to follow, and then he would have changed into clothes that were eerily similar to his uniform, in order to go into the kitchen and cook. But tonight, he only got to the buttons of his coat before collapsing onto the couch, face-first into my lap.

He muttered something to me about it being a long day. He may have even attempted to tell me what happened. The damning sounds of his snores rose before he could form the words and I was left stuck on the couch with an unconscious Gabriel in my lap. 

I didn’t dare move. Sleep for Gabriel was few and far between. If I needed to stay here the entire night, I certainly would. The idea of having an angel in my arms was not entirely unappealing itself. Yet, Gabriel was only blessed with an hour. One singular hour before his eyes opened, and he was blinking in confusion.

“Did I fall asleep?”

“Almost instantly.” I brushed my fingers through his hair, marveling at the way he looked sleep rumpled. I hadn’t been sure Gabriel would ever look that way. “Go back to bed,” I whispered. “You obviously need it.”

“I need to cook dinner,” he protested. It was weak at best, considering that he didn’t even twitch in movement.

“I’m not hungry.” He hummed in disapproval, the small crease between his eyes becoming more pronounce. “If you want, I can cook for you,” I told him. It would allow him another hour of napping on the sofa. More, given that I was not the best cook. I would only need to slip my legs out from beneath him.

“No.” His arms came up to wrap around my knees, holding me close.

“No?”

“Your lap is comfortable. I’m not moving.” 

The warmth that spread through me was one of contentment.  “Eventually I will have to move.”

“I am the Warden of this market and therefore the law. I demand that you stay.”

I raised a brow at him, rolling my lips in my mouth and trying not to laugh. The man was deadly serious. This was not a joke. As the Warden, he felt it was within his jurisdiction to order my stillness. As the Night Market, I would always outrank him.  “Do you forget that you tried this when you wanted my name?”

“You were far more insolent then.”

“It’s a miracle you fell in love with me.”

At that, his eyes opened, and he looked up at me with open sternness. The look that had felled many and had simply endeared him to me. “It is not. Do not devalue yourself in such a way. I have fallen in love with you because you challenge my way of thinking. Because your intellect is as skilled as my own. Because you are warm and caring and your heart is in the correct place. I did not fall in love with you because of your insolence, that is true. But it is a part of you that I accept.”

I snorted in laugher. “Oh, thank you, kind Warden. I am glad you can overlook my faults.”

His lips pierced together as he shifted onto his back and looked up at me. “I am not overlooking them. You are far too stubborn at times. Your care has brought you pain and has complicated situations where swift death would be easier. You also click your tongue when you disapprove of something you see within the market and change it without even a single thought. These are all traits that I do not overlook. They are ones that I accept. Because of my love for you.”

Taking his face in my hands, I leaned forward, placing a soft kiss on his lips. “Stop talking.”

He squirmed, his frown deepening. “Did I offend you?”

“No,” I said genuinely. “But your version of romance is something to be desired. And I’m going to laugh at you, which will make you even more confused. And right now, I just need you to get some sleep. You are delirious.”

“Am not,” he pouted.

“And defiant.” I traced my fingers down the ridge of his brow, across his cheeks, towards his collar bone. His eyes were drooping with each pass. “Sleep,” I told him. “If my lap is comfortable, let me be your bed.”

“You are amenable to that?”

“I would love nothing more than that.”

He looked as if he was going to protest. He even opened his mouth to say something. But as my fingers swiped across his brow once more, he let out a long sigh, the tension from his body melting away. One hand came up to rest across my heart, and a small smile ghosted across his lips at the steady beat that he felt.

“You are a wonder, prisoner 47b.”

“And you are exhausted, Warden.”