Chapter Text
Screeching tires, flashing lights. A sickening thud and bones crumbling, joints bending at ungodly angles and white chalk outlines on the wet pavement.
Breaths rattled in his chest, painfully shallow. Through blurry eyes, he only saw dazzling flecks of light, waltzing. He could hear muffled speaking, sounds of traffic, and the roar of sirens.
He shook from the pain, and the agony only multiplied when he was lifted onto the stretcher, his limbs returned to their original positions. The pain meant he was alive, but at what cost?
There was a hand on his shoulder, sending a thousand volts of electricity straight through him. He would've preferred death to this.
“...‘Tis alright, dove. Just breathe.”
A voice carefully pulled him out from the grips of a nightmare, gentle and assured. It weaved him a blanket to cushion his fall. Though touch still hurt, he knew it wasn't meant to, and that it would pass.
He blinked tears away as his dozen eyes adjusted to the light. The ceiling was perfectly white, and so were the walls, with nice yellow curtains framing a small window. There was also a poster on the wall, showing a guide on how to call for emergency services.
This place was eerily like a hospital room, was it not? The white surfaces, the bright lights, the medical equipment. The bed he was on that looked very much like a hospital bed. The… Why was there a tube going into his arm? Why was he at a hospital?
“Good, just like that.”
A hand moved to hold his, and he instinctively squeezed it. He didn't yet dare to look and see who it was. What if he could see that the person had been crying? He'll have caused someone emotional distress by getting into this state, and that was a punishable offense.
“Thou hast been extraordinarily strong these past days, my angel. Take thy time.”
Was he a dove, a human, or an angel? Based on the amount of eyes he felt on his own face, he deduced he was an angel. Humans only had two eyes, and birds like doves had a beak. He had a mouth with dry, chapped lips.
He clenched his hands into fists to make sure they worked. He curled his toes, and he moved the countless wings on his head and face. All functional.
The hand in his was so warm and gentle, and the voice that spoke to him was so kind. It wouldn't hurt to have a little look. One little glance, just to get the most important features down, short enough of a look that tear stains would not register.
Though turning his head to the left hurt like a bitch, he pushed through, and he was so glad he did. Before him was a masterpiece of a man. All words escaped his head at the mere thought of trying to describe him, of trying to capture just what made him look so wonderfully divine. To him, this man was more befitting of being called an angel than he could ever be.
“...Hi,” he managed to mutter, his throat so, so dry. When had he last spoken? He couldn't quite recall, and it wouldn't have surprised him if he learned he'd never spoken a word before today.
“Hello, Gabriel,” the man replied with a soft smile. “I am glad to see thee awake at last.”
So that was his name, then. ‘Gabriel’. It did sound like a name an angel would have, so he wasn't too surprised. What he was surprised by, however, was that this man seemed to be fond of him. Him, of all people! He had to be the luckiest angel in existence.
“You're cute,” he said despite his dry-as-hell throat. His attempt at flirting was piss-poor, but it made the other chuckle, which was good. He was succeeding at capturing this man's heart.
He must've been a real flirt before he ended up here, as it came just so naturally to him. Had he gone around bars breaking hearts, or had he been a different sort?
“What’s your… Is there a name you want me to call you by?”
That question made the man fall silent, smile slowly replaced by confusion and worry. It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room, and all that remained was heavy, stifling unease. Absence. What was he forgetting?
“...What’s wrong?” Gabriel blinked a few times trying to make sense of this. “You can tell me.”
“Dost thou not recall my name?”
No matter how he tried, how he grasped at strings of information going by, nothing stuck. From the man's reaction, he knew he was supposed to remember. Hell, they probably had at least a friendship going on, since the man was here by him.
What's an ‘old man’ name? David?
He doesn't look like a David…
“Funnily enough, I… I don't.”
He found it amusing how confused he was, how many memories he'd seemingly lost of his own life. Surely they wouldn't stay lost forever?
“Thou may call me Minos. We cohabitate, which is to say that we are not quite dating yet, but are on the way there.”
Oh, hell yeah! He lived together with this man? He really was the luckiest angel in existence. And the fact that they were almost dating? Even better. He was hitting jackpot after jackpot.
Gabriel couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him. This was… something else, to put it mildly. Fucking insane, to put it bluntly. Hilarious, but also a little sad.
“Have we gone out on any dates yet?” He inquired, and received a shake of the head in response. “Make this our first one, then.”