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None of them are really sure exactly when it starts, just that it starts with Gabe throwing tantrums, and the others not wanting to put up with them outside of the studio. Like Vicky said, enough is e-fucking-nough, even for you Gabriel.
So, by the time ¡Viva la Cobra! is released, it’s a fairly regular thing; Gabe tells one of them he’s feeling “little” (usually accompanied by a blush), and they’ll all work together to figure out what his current needs are, if he needs a behavior check, needs quality time with one of them, or if he just wants to watch cartoons and color pictures of the Teen Titans.
When he’s in his headspace, he calls Vicky ‘mama’ because -as he’d told her one day when he was big- ‘mommy’ is okay, but ‘mama’ is easier to say; she smiles at him, that special smile she reserves for little Gabe, and says she likes it.
He calls Ryland ‘daddy’, because he was the first person he told about it, so he was the first person he associated with that feeling of loved, safe, protected.
Nate is ‘papa’, because when little Gabe asked him what he wanted, that’s what Nate said. When Gabe had been big again, Nate had asked him why he’d let him pick. Gabe had blushed, -something that only happened when anything little was concerned- and said since Nate had got him a special teddy bear to name, he’d wanted Nate to pick his own name. Nate had been surprised, but had pressed a soft kiss to Gabe’s cheek, and took extra care to always make sure the teddy bear was with them no matter where they went.
Alex is his ‘papi’, and the only one Gabe had named when he was big. Alex had found out everyone else had names already, and hadn’t said anything. But he had grown quiet, and when Gabe had asked Nate what was wrong, he’d found out he was-not upset, but slightly hurt. Gabe -little and big- had wanted to cry at the idea of Alex feeling like Gabe didn’t love him as much as everyone else, and had gone to Alex immediately. He’d found Alex in the back of the bus, and had curled up next to him. Alex had raised his eyebrows, but had pulled him into him and kissed his forehead. After a few minutes of quiet, Gabe had asked how he felt about ‘papi’. Alex had tensed, then with a smile that was threatening to break out, said if Gabe liked it, then he did. Gabe had cuddled up into his side again, and Alex had turned on a James Bond movie.
Gabe only needs it about once a week when they’re off tour, -sometimes more, depending on what’s going on- but on tour, almost every minute spent alone in their bus is spent with Gabe either being little, or there being a video gaming spree.
It’s unconventional, sure, but really, what about them isn’t?
-----
A lot of the time, Gabe feels pretty selfish. He’s a six foot four grown man, in a band with his four -fucking amazing- significant others, and he asks them to deal with his fucked up level of neediness. They all insist it’s fine and they enjoy it, and after so many years, he almost believes it, except for how he really doesn’t.
So, in 2014 when Ryland and Alex begin talking about leaving Cobra, the first thing they discuss -or rather, the first thing Gabe asks about- is their relationship.
Would they still be part of their five-some? Yes Gabe, of course. Our relationship isn’t an extension of the band.
Do they promise to have phone sex with Gabe whenever he wants it? As long as it’s at a reasonable hour, yes.
Are they going to share any future music they make, solo or otherwise, with Gabe, Vicky, and Nate right away? Yes Gabe, jesus, you act like we’re pulling a Panic! At The Disco or something.
The only thing Gabe doesn’t ask about, is the ‘little’ thing. A part of him feels like part of the reason they’re leaving, is to get away from that part of Gabe.
A very large part of him, actually.
By the time they’ve figured everything out, and they’ve announced Ryland and Alex’s departure, Gabe’s only been little a handful of times, and when any of them ask why he hasn’t needed it so much lately, he’s just shrugged and said maybe he’s growing up.
He’s not.
He still wants them, wants his daddy and his papi, but he figures he can hold off until they’ve left to wherever the fuck it is they’re going. Ryland has said some things about spending more time with Dan Keyes, and Alex has been talking about a solo project or something, but Gabe hasn’t actually asked.
When they’ve gone, Gabe keeps telling himself, okay, they’re gone, you can be little now. Vicky and Nate will take care of you. It's okay. But.
But.
-----
The next thing Gabe knows, it’s 2015, and it’s been three months since he’s even slept with his blankie, three months since he used a sippie cup, three months since he’s had a time-out, three months since…..since anything.
He’s talked to Ryland and Alex, of course he has, they’re his boyfriends, and he doesn’t want to lose that part of them too.
Yeah, he misses it, -like you wouldn’t believe- and sometimes it’s hard to keep himself from sliding into his headspace, especially when Nate puts in Strawberry Shortcake, or when Vicky buys his favorite snacks.
He stays big though, as much as it kills him, and after several weeks, Vicky and Nate don’t try. Gabe is relieved.
-----
The next time anything happens, is Valentine’s Day. He wakes up in his bed, in his home, with Vicky sitting cross-legged next to him, and staring, a soft smile on her face. He scrunches up his nose at her, then closes his eyes and sighs.
“What’re you doin’ ‘ere?” She laughs, and begins running a hand through his hair.
“Well, it’s Valentine’s Day, and Nate and I decided that we’re giving you a little day, Gabey.”
Gabe’s eyes snap open, and he shakes his head vigorously. “No! I don’t-” He takes a deep breath, attempting to calm himself, then continues carefully, “I don’t need it. I’m fine Vicky, seriously, just, like, get me some new socks or make me a meal or something, those are things I need.”
Vicky gives him a look, and sighs. “Look Gabe, neither me or Nate know why you’re not letting yourself be little, but we all know you need it, and if you keep pulling this shit it’s not gonna be pretty, and you know it.” Her glare dares him to argue, so he sighs, and whines.
“Vicky-it’s not-I’m not-” She reaches over and spanks him once.
“Don’t argue with me Gabe. Do you need a time-out?” Gabe stares at her, meeting her eyes and thinking for a moment, before he looks away and presses his face into his pillow, and nods, feeling ashamed. Vicky shushes him, and presses a kiss to his cheek.
“Alright baby, up. Get in the corner, I’ll get your teddy, k?” Gabe nods again, pushes himself up and out of bed, and lets Vicky lead him to a corner of his bedroom. He sits, cross-legged, facing the wall, and Vicky’s gone all of thirty seconds, before she’s back with his teddy.
“I want you to count to fifty, okay Gabey? Then when you’re done, I want you to come out to the living room, papa and I brought Blues Clues, and we can watch it together, alright?” Gabe nods, and mumbles a quiet, ‘Yes mama.” She smiles at him, and kisses his forehead, before leaving the room.
After she leaves, Gabe clutches his teddy, and begins counting. He makes it to fifteen, before he’s already sinking into his little headspace. Usually it takes until he’s at least up to forty, but it’s been so long since he’s had this, and he guesses that’s what Vicky figured too.
As he counts, he tries to focus on the fact that his mama and papa have Blues Clues waiting for him, and Blue usually means his papa will make blue kool-aid, and his mama probably has his Magenta stuffed animal. But then he’s thinking about how his papi won’t be there to sing the songs -because all of them have pretty voices, but his papi can sound like Steve and Gabe loves it when he does it-, and his daddy isn’t here to convince Vicky to let them make cookies and put blue frosting on them like last time, and before Gabe has even made it to thirty, he’s sobbing into his teddy.
Barely five seconds later, both Vicky and Nate are in the room, and by his side immediately. Nate pulls him into his chest, and Vicky starts rubbing his back. Nate starts rocking him back and forth, and tries to get Gabe to look up at him.
“Gabey, sweetie, what’s wrong?” Gabe doesn’t answer, just shakes his head, and Vicky starts running her fingers through his hair.
“Yeah baby, what’s the matter? You know you’re not in trouble right? We’re not mad at you.” Gabe shakes his head again, and Vicky and Nate share a concerned look over his head. Nate tries to tilt Gabe’s face up, to try and get him to look at him.
“Gabe, come on, if you don’t tell us we can’t help you, we’re worried baby.” Gabe whimpers, and he clutches at Nate’s shirt with one hand.
“I-I-I don’t-I w-want-” He sobs again, and Vicky shushes him.
“Want what baby? What do you need?” Gabe cries for another minute, then just as Nate’s about to ask again, he speaks again.
“I-I w-want p-papi a-and daddy! Th-They l-left a-and i-it was ‘cuz of m-me a-and I tried to-to s-stop, I t-tried mama I t-tried, but they d-din’t s-stay and they left me.”
Gabe starts crying into Nate’s shirt again, and Nate and Vicky are just staring at each other in shock. They’d known Gabe was upset about Ryland and Alex leaving, they’d all been, but they thought-
Ryland and Alex had both said Gabe hadn’t asked either of them about this. He’d asked them if they were breaking up with the rest of them, if they’d have phone sex, he even asked if they were still going to take their annual trip to Disney World every year. But he hadn’t asked about this. He hadn’t asked, and they’d all assumed that meant he’d be okay without Ryland and Alex being that for him.
Obviously, they’d been wrong.
They both shake themselves, then turn back to comforting Gabe. Vicky shushes him, and pulls him back from Nate, so he’s pulled to her chest instead.
“Baby, you didn’t-oh sweetie, they didn’t leave because of you. They didn’t even really leave honey, they just left the band, they’re still your daddy and papi.” Gabe shakes his head, and clings to his teddy again.
“No. They l-left because of m-me, I know it. I was-they didn’t-mama I’m tired.” Vicky sighs, and looks at Nate. He shrugs at her, and nods, and she nods back reluctantly.
“Alright baby, time for a nap then. We’ll get you your blank-” Gabe cuts her off, shaking his head.
“N-No blankie. Don’ wan’ it.” Nate’s eyebrows scrunch, and he gives Vicky a confused look.
“Why not sweetie? You love your blankie.” Gabe shakes his head again.
“No, i-it’s. Pap-Alex gave it t’ me.” Vicky sucks in a breath, but nods anyway.
“Okay Gabey, you can sleep with your big boy blankie, how’s that?”
He nods, and they untangle themselves, and get Gabe tucked in bed again. After Gabe falls back to sleep, teddy clutched tight to his chest and Vicky and Nate on either side of him, Vicky shoots Nate a concerned look.
“Nate-what do we-how do we even-” She stops, and just gives him a helpless look. Nate sighs, and begins toying with Gabe’s hair.
“I don’t know Vicky, I don’t-I didn’t think he’d taken it this hard.” His jaw sets, and he sighs frustratedly. “I thought he was fucking okay. He’s supposed to tell us when he isn’t, that was the whole point with this thing.”
Vicky sighs too, and they both fall silent. They don’t speak again, until nearly half an hour later, Gabe begins to stir. Nate looks down at him, and brushes hair out of his face.
“Hey Gabe? You okay? Are you big now?” Gabe nods.
“Yeah, ‘m big now.” He looks apologetically up at both of them. “I’m sorry. I have no idea what the hell that was all about.” Vicky scoffs.
“Don’t bullshit us Gabe. We all know what that was about, and we’re talking about it.” Gabe huffs.
“There’s nothing to talk about. I’m fine and everything’s good.” Nate rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, obviously. Which is why you need to talk to Alex and Ryland about thi-”
“No!” Nate and Vicky both startle, and Gabe looks sheepish for all of ten seconds, before he’s frowning. “I’m not talking to them about it. Unlike what you guys seem to believe, I’m a fucking adult and I can make my own damn decisions.”
Vicky and Nate both looks slightly hurt, and Gabe sighs, bringing a hand up to run his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-sorry. But please don’t say anything to them?”
Vicky sighs. “Gabe, you know we can’t just-”
“Please Vicky?”
Vicky deflates, and looks at Nate, before nodding reluctantly. “Fine. But if anything like this happens again, the first thing I’m doing is calling them.”
Gabe nods, looking relieved. “Thank you Vicky. It won’t happen again though, don’t worry.”
-------
It’s been a year since Alex and Ryland left, nine months since Gabe’s been little, and a month since he talked to either of them. He’s ignored their texts, calls skype calls, their twitter messages, everything.
It’s not that he doesn’t want to talk to them, it’s just that. Well. He doesn’t want to talk to them.
Gabe knows that Vicky hasn’t told either of them about what happened on Valentine’s day -or as he’s dubbed it, the Valentine’s Embarrassment- because they haven’t had any ‘talks’ and he’s grateful.
He’s nowhere near ready for the “we’re sorry, but after all these years, and being friends with Pete Wentz and Ryan Ross, we’ve decided that this thing of yours, is too fucking weird for us” talk.
So he’s living his life, as an adult, twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. He’s packed away all his toys, the kid dishes, the -stupid fucking made of lies- blankie, and, after sitting on the edge of his bed and holding his teddy in his hands and just staring at it as he cried silently, he wiped his eyes angrily, then packed that away too. The things are all packed firmly in a box, taped securely, and shoved way in the back of the closet of his guest room.
He did that three months ago, and now has tried to fill the emptiness in his apartment, by letting it get to be a mess. Gabe normally hates when his apartment is a mess, it messes with him, throws him off balance, and he doesn’t like it.
It isn’t bothering him now, probably because he’s already so off balance, that what’s a little more imbalance, really?
He’s brushing his teeth, mostly on auto-pilot, at around midnight one night, when his doorbell rings. He’s surprised, because Vicky is supposed to be out with friends, Nate had already been over today, and Pete is currently on tour, so who the fuck else would be ringing his doorbell at midnight, on a fucking Wednesday night?
He rinses his mouth, throws on a shirt and grabs his phone -he lives in LA, and he’s learned to be at least a little cautious- before walking over to the door. When he looks out the little peephole, his eyes widen, and his breathing picks up.
What the hell are Ryland and Alex doing outside his door, at midnight on a Wednesday night, after three weeks of absolutely no indication that Gabe wants anything to do with them.
He doesn’t realize how long it’s been since he looked, until he hears Ryland through the door.
“C’mon Gabe, we know you’re there, and we know you know it’s us. Open up.” Gabe takes a deep breath, then unlocks the door, and slowly opens it. When Ryland and Alex take in his face -scared, exhausted, and maybe slightly overwhelmed- both of their faces soften. Alex steps forward first.
“Gabe what’s wrong? It’s just us.” They both push their way in, and Ryland, after closing the door behind him and looking concerned, adds,
“Yeah Gabey, what’s the matter? You haven’t talked to us in weeks, what’s up? Are you okay?”
They’re both staring at him, concern and love written all over both of their faces, and Gabe is so so so so so overwhelmed, because this is the first time he’s seen either of them since New Years’, and he’s missed them so much and-
He opens his mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a sob. They both look taken aback, and Gabe’s hands are shaking, but he brings one up to his mouth and turns away from them. He doesn’t run to his bedroom, but it’s a near thing.
Gabe has no idea if either of them are following him -doesn’t dare to hope- just collapses onto his bed and curls up, gripping his pillow and pushing his face into it, crying into it just like he used to with his teddy.
A moment later, the bed on either side of him dips, and he cries harder. He has no idea why he’s crying really, just that he’s overwhelmed, and kind of embarrassed, and he has no clue how to fucking handle this. He finally realizes that Alex and Ryland are speaking softly, and he has no idea how long they’ve been doing so, but he’s just now calming down enough to make out the words.
“Gabey sweetheart, oh my god what’s the matter?” That’s Ryland, to his right, so that means he’s the one petting Gabe’s hair.
“Ssshh daddy and papi are here.” That’s Alex, and he’s rubbing Gabe’s back soothingly, then he’s off the bed, and Gabe hears him moving around the room. “Shit. Ry, do you see his teddy? Where...I don’t see his blankie either.”
Ryland makes a confused noise above him, and then he’s shifting, like he’s moving around, though he doesn’t stop touching Gabe. “I dunno, I didn’t even see any toys in the living room, did you?” Gabe hears Alex leave the room, and then Ryland’s got his hands over Gabe’s -which still have a death grip on the pillow- and he’s rubbing Gabe’s fingers.
“Hey, Gabey, can you be good for daddy and let go of the pillow? I bet your fingers hurt from holding it like this.” Gabe whimpers, and shakes his head. “C’mon baby, let go for daddy, I wanna see your face, daddy needs to make sure you’re okay.” Gabe inhales shakily, then slowly relaxes his grip on the pillow. When Ryland gets the pillow pulled down enough that he can see Gabe’s face, he leans down and smiles carefully at him.
“Hi, baby, how you doin’?” Gabe’s bottom lip wobbles, and he brings up his hand to wipe at his eyes.
“H-Hi Ryland. ‘m okay.” The smile on Ryland’s face falls a little when Gabe calls him Ryland -not daddy what the actual fuck happened- but he quickly fixes it. This is about Gabe, not him.
“That’s good baby, do you need a drink? Are you thirsty?” Gabe’s about to answer, when Alex enters the room again, carrying the box Gabe had stuffed all his little things in, and looking troubled.
“Gabe, what’s this?” Gabe doesn’t answer, and Alex sets the box on the bed. “Seriously Gabey, why’d you hide all your toys? And your blankie? What about the teddy papa gave you? You love her.” Gabe shakes his head and inhales shakily.
“Not anymore. I don’t-” He stops, and swallows, then continues quietly. “I don’t need that anymore.” Ryland and Alex are both shocked into silence, and they both just stare at him for a minute, before Alex breaks the silence.
“C’mon Gabe, we know that’s not true, you love being little, and you can’t tell me that back there wasn’t a little thing.” Gabe shakes his head stubbornly, and sits up.
“It wasn’t. I just-I’m tired, and I’ve had a bad day, and seeing you guys was a surprise.” He looks up at Ryland, since he’s right across from him, and tries to look convincing. “I haven’t need that in months, just ask Vicky, or Nate.” It’s silent again for a few minutes, and then Ryland is storming out of the room, phone in hand. He looks actually upset that Gabe doesn’t want to be little, and Gabe almost feels bad, but then he realizes it’s probably because he’s just mad no one told him Gabe didn’t need that, so he could’ve come back sooner.
The thought makes him want to cry again, but he pushes it down, and turns to Alex, who’s holding up the blankie he gave Gabe, and looking at him sadly.
“You really don’t need this anymore?”
And this is definitely not something Gabe was prepared to deal with, because Alex gave him that blankie, and it was shoved at the way bottom of the box, and Alex actually looks upset, it almost breaks Gabe’s heart to nod his head yes. But he reminds himself that Gabe needing that was one of the reasons why Ryland and Alex left in the first place, and Alex is probably only looking sad just to make Gabe feel better. So he nods, and Alex nods too, then leaves the room to go after Ryland.
Gabe whimpers, then curls back up into bed, and pulls the blankets over his head. He hates himself a little for it, but he sucks his thumb into his mouth too, because he’s sure if he doesn’t he’s going to wind up crying.
-----
When Alex finds Ryland, he’s in Gabe’s kitchen, and whisper-yelling angrily into his phone.
“-the fuck wouldn’t you say anything?! He’s obviously fucking upset but he keeps telling us he doesn’t need it! What the actual fuck Nate?!”
Nate’s yelling on the other end, though he isn’t bothering to be as quiet about it. Alex still doesn’t know what he’s saying though.
“I don’t give a shit! Gabe’s hurting, and it’s our fault, don’t you think we have a goddamn right to know?! He fucking cried when he seen us for god's sake!”
There’s more yelling, and then Ryland just hangs up. He’s silent for a minute, and then he slams his phone on the counter before pushing himself up to sit on it.
Alex cautiously moves over to him, and sets a hand on his knee. “So, what the hell is going on?” Ryland sighs, and brings his hands up to rub at his eyes.
“He hasn’t been little since Valentine’s day.” Alex gapes, then nods.
“Well that explains the crying then. Why’s he saying he doesn’t need it though? It’s obvious he fucking does!”
“According to Nate, the last time he was little, he cried the entire time about how he wanted us, and he thinks we left because of him wanting to be little!” Ryland sighs in frustration, and gestures angrily. “He thinks we're fucking angry and freaked out by this Alex!”
Alex is quiet a moment, then he squeezes Ryland’s knee. “I think we need to fix this, we caused way more hurt than we thought we did.” Ryland nods, and they head back to Gabe’s bedroom.
When they reach the room, Gabe has the blankets over his head, though judging by his uneven breathing, isn’t asleep. They both share a look, then quietly move over to the bed, and sit on either side of Gabe. Alex tugs at the blanket softly.
“Hey, Gabe? You still awake?” Gabe’s silent, but he shifts a little, and then there’s movement, like he’s nodding his head. They both smile fondly, and Ryland pokes at where he’s guessing Gabe’s forehead is.
“You wanna let us see you? We need to talk babe.” Gabe sighs, and then pulls the blankets down, turning his head to look at both of them cautiously.
“What do we need to talk about guys? I already told you I was tired.” Ryland rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, that’s bullshit and we all know it Gabe. We’re talking, because you’re clearly miserable, and neither of us want that.” He gestures at himself and Alex as he speaks, and Alex nods in agreement.
“Yeah, we just want to talk.” He looks pleadingly at Gabe, and Gabe sighs again. He can never say no to any of his boyfriends or his girlfriend, and apparently even time and distance can’t change that.
Gabe bites his lip, and nods reluctantly. “Okay, I guess we can talk.”
Both Alex and Ryland sigh in relief, and they both move, kicking off their shoes, and climbing under the covers on either side of Gabe. Once they’re settled in, with all of them sitting up, and Gabe positioned between them so he can see both of them, Ryland speaks first.
“Okay Gabe. Here’s the deal. We’re gonna ask you questions, and you’re gonna answer every single one of them, truthfully. Got it?” Gabe goes to argue, but when Ryland raises an eyebrow at him, he glares, but nods. Ryland smiles.
“Alright, so I just got off the phone with Nate, and he said you haven’t been little since Valentine’s day. Is that right?” Gabe’s jaw clenches, and looks down at his hands. Ryland’s about to ask him again, but he nods.
“Okay. And why haven’t you?” Before Gabe can answer, Ryland interrupts. “And be truthful. I don’t want this bullshit about you not needing it anymore.” Gabe huffs, then deflates.
“I didn’t-it didn’t feel right.” Ryland nods, and Alex reaches over and grabs Gabe’s hand, rubbing his thumb soothingly on the back.
“Why didn’t it feel right?” Gabe looks at him, like he’s trying to find a way out of answering, but Alex just nudges his shoulder with his own. “C’mon Gabe, you know we’re gonna find out one way or another.”
“It didn’t feel right because you guys weren’t there.” Ryland opens his mouth to ask another question, but Gabe continues in a rush. “But I swear I don’t need it! I don’t-I haven’t had it in like, nine months now, a-and I’m fine, it’s okay, I swear!” Ryland’s mouth snaps shut, and Alex huffs in frustration.
“Gabe! That doesn’t make either of us feel better! We don’t want you to be ‘fine’ without it, because we enjoy doing it for you!” Gabe just gapes at him, and Alex sits up straight again, still holding his hand. “Don’t you get it Gabe? We like being your daddy, and your papi, we like watching those cartoons with you, and we like caring for you. Half the time, when we’re talking about you when you’re not around, we’re planning for the next time you’re little!” Gabe’s staring at him, shell shocked, and Ryland’s nodding.
“Yeah Gabe, we never thought this was weird, or a burden, and we most certainly didn’t leave the fucking band because of it. Gabe, we love you, and we never want you to feel bad about things you need.”
Gabe can feel a lump forming in his throat, and he swallows it down forcefully before he speaks again.
“S-So, you didn’t leave because of me?” They both shake their heads firmly, and Gabe feels like a ginormous weight has been lifted from his shoulders. “And you-you guys like being my daddies? You don’t actually mind?” He clears his throat. “Not that-I mean, if you guys didn’t like it, it’s not that I would actually give a shit.” He tries to look nonchalant, but Alex and Ryland just roll their eyes.
“Of course we don’t mind it, and you would so give a shit. If the last year has shown anything, it’s that you literally could not give more of a shit.” Gabe blushes, but shrugs with one shoulder.
“I’ve missed you guys so much.” His lip is wobbling, and his eyes are brimming up with tears. “I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything, I should have-I don’t know why I didn’t.” The next second, they’re both hugging him, and Ryland is speaking.
“Gabey, it’s okay, we should have said something too. This isn’t all your fault, we all fucked up, but now I think we should fix it, huh?” Gabe doesn’t reply, just nods quickly, and then he’s being pushed down so he’s on his back, and Alex is leaning over the other side of the bed, and oh god. There’s his blankie, and his teddy. Gabe lets out a quiet sob and makes grabby hands at the objects.
Alex’s face softens, and he hands them over to Gabe. “Sssh, it’s alright baby, papi and daddy are here now, we’re gonna take such good care of you.” Gabe continues crying, though it’s less violent than before, and now just seems to be relief fueled, and then he’s being wrapped in their arms, both of them cooing softly at him and rubbing his side and the side of his face comfortingly.
It takes several minutes for him to calm, but neither Alex or Ryland stop comforting him until he does, and he’s so happy right now, he just wants to stay like this forever.
-----
After nearly forty five minutes of Gabe feeling littler and littler, he’s started to talk more, and is in the middle of telling Alex what he wants to watch, while Ryland is filling his sippie cup with water. He’s happier than he’s been in months, and when Nate and Vicky walk through the door, he’s almost bouncing with excitement.
“Mama, papa! Look who came back!” They both stop in surprise, then Vicky is walking forward and wrapping Gabe in a tight hug. He wiggles, and scrunches up his nose at her. “Mama what’re you doing? Daddy and papi are here! You should hug them.” Vicky laughs, louder than is probably normal, but it’s so soaked in relief, no one can hold it against her.
“Okay baby, mama will go hug daddy and papi now, you go back to your cartoons, okay?”
Gabe nods, and flops back onto the couch, taking the sippie cup from Ryland with a small “thank you” before his attention is firmly on his chosen show.
Vicky and Nate both turn their attention to Alex and Ryland, who are both giving them sheepish looks. Ryland speaks first, and it's directed at Nate.
“I'm sorry I yelled at you before, I was just-I was worried and I didn't know what was going on-” Nate shakes his head.
“No I understand. We-” he nods at Vicky. “-should have said something, Gabe’s been absolutely miserable, and even if he asked us not to say anything….we still should’ve.”
Alex sighs, and rolls his eyes. “Look, we all f-” he winces, and glances at Gabe, before continuing, “-screwed up. We’re in a polyamorous relationship and failed to communicate, that’s like, the biggest mistake we could’ve made, especially since one of us is in the mentality of a five year old most of the time, so let’s all accept that we’re all sorry, and make sure the one person who was actually hurt, is okay. Sound good?”
Everyone nods, looking relieved, and Vicky starts taking her shoes off. “Alright, now that everyone’s done acting like idiots, Ry, we’re making mac ‘n cheese. You two-” She points at Nate and Alex. “-are on Gabe duty.” They both mock salute, and Vicky drags Ryland into the kitchen.
Later, when everyone’s full on mac ‘n cheese and they’re piled together on the couch, Gabe somehow touching all of them in some way and the Avengers playing, Vicky leans down and kisses Gabe’s forehead.
“You okay now baby?” Gabe nods, smiles up at her, and brings a hand up to tug at her hair playfully.
“Mmhmm, I have my mama, and my papa, and my papi, and my daddy, I’m okay now.” She smiles fondly, and begins playing with his hair.
“Yeah, it’s all okay now Gabey, we’re all here.” He nods, then turns back to the movie. Vicky sits back up, and Ryland wraps his arm around her shoulder, and pulls her into him before pressing a kiss to her temple. Vicky sighs happily, and relaxes back into the couch.
Yeah, it’s unconventional, but it’s pretty nice, and none of them would ever have it any other way.