Work Text:
Gentle wind brushes against Gabriel's muscular build, the sun providing some warmth; it's very nice out here. While the atmosphere was soothing, it surely wasn’t helping his situation. Why didn’t he just say no to V1? If he had just politely declined, he wouldn’t have to sit here dumbfounded.
V1 stares at him, his posture resembling that of a shrimp, and his elbows rest on his knees with his fishing rod swaying against the water, creating ripples that reflect the warm hues of the sunset. “GABRIEL, YOU ARE NOT FISHING.” They poke at him with the tip of their rod.
“Oh,” Gabriel freezes up when V1 takes notice of his scheme. “You’re right, I… am not.” He shifts uncomfortably, fixing his posture and holding his rod somewhat correctly. What an idiot you are, Gabriel.
“WHY?” V1 tilts their head to the side, leaning towards Gabriel. They had his heart racing already, not just ‘cause they were very endearing, but it was because of them being oh-so curious. Gabriel obviously didn’t want them to know he wasn’t… capable of fishing. V1 keeps on staring at him, just inches away from his face. By now, he’s a burning shade of red underneath his helmet, unable to hold his embarrassment any longer.
“I wasn’t one to partake in…” He huffs, “human activities,” Gabriel admits, looking ever so shameful. It wasn’t that big of a deal anyway — he always seemed to exaggerate things. V1 nods in acknowledgment to his response, “Sorry, machine. I must admit I do not know how to fish.” They seemed satisfied with his answer. V1 pulls away and shifts back to their original spot. “You don’t mind?”
They shrug; they can’t say they care too much, but it’s nice to have company. Although they must admit that they are disappointed that they don’t have a fishing partner. But who's to say they can’t teach Gabriel how to fish? V1 runs their digits along his forearm, dipping down and grabbing ahold of his hand. Gabriel stiffens up from the affection; it was rare for V1 to show affection, though it was not unwelcome. His hand practically engulfed theirs, for some reason that made his heart pump just a bit faster.
“WATCH,” V1 gives his hand a quick squeeze before letting go. They move their right arm to the small windlass near the bottom, with their feedbacker moving right underneath, resting under the reel. V1 swaps their gaze to Gabriel, who actually seemed to get a hold of the fishing rod. They give him a nod once he faces their direction.
Gabriel followed V1’s directions; luckily for him, he was especially talented in following orders. V1 throws him a thumbs up with one of their free arms, the closest thing to praise he’ll ever get from this machine.
“YOU LEARN FAST,” Even with their limited facial expressions, V1 still manages to mimic a smile with their optic, “GOOD FOR US,” their shoulders bobble awkwardly, “HA, HA,” V1’s voice was one that only an angel could love. It was distorted and screechy; Gabriel had grown accustomed to it and even found it endearing. He returns their mock laughter with a chuckle of his own.
V1 shifts gears in an instant, elbowing him to get back on track. They spun the reel, brought the rod back, and threw it forward, successfully casting the rod into the water. Gabriel stares in silence for a moment and gives his best attempt at doing the same. He pushes down on the reel and spins it carefully, leaning further back — the dock creaking under his weight, and flings the rod forward. Sure, his attempt was —
“SLOPPY,” Attitude much. “BUT IT’LL DO,” V1 keeps their eye closed for a moment after. Gabriel is left confused; he follows V1 and slouches his posture. Are they waiting for a bite? Maybe. He got ready to wait for a while until he was disrupted by a smack at his side, “GET UP. PAY ATTENTION.”
“Ah, apologies,” Gabriel begrudgingly rose back up, straightening himself. That led V1 to lean on him — slowly letting their weight rest on him, causing him to still and pause his breathing. More affection from V1? That’s a new thing he wouldn’t mind getting used to.
V1 nuzzles into the crook of his neck, “IT’S OKAY,” Gabriel sighs out a smile beneath his helmet. He wouldn’t mind staying like this for a little longer, even for only a moment. Well, that moment was cut short when he felt a sharp elbow into his stomach, “YOU’RE STILL NOT PAYING ATTENTION,” Oh yeah — the fish. “DUMB ANGEL,” V1 teases with their gaze narrowed, giving his head a knock. “YOU CAUGHT IT, SEE? PULL,” They point to his hook in the water; there was, in fact, a fish on it. V1 lifts themselves off of Gabriel to reel in their own, not even bothering to show him what to do — he could make an assumption, right?
Gabriel raises his rod sharply, reeling in his catch. “Machine? Is this right?” He glances over to V1, who is simply staring at him, deadpan as usual. They make a so-so signal with their hand — very helpful, machine. He pulls the fish off the hook, setting his rod aside. Gabriel feels a sense of pride as he turns to V1 to show off his catch. It wasn’t a big fish — it was actually pretty small compared to his hand. Nonetheless, he was still impressed by himself.
V1 didn’t seem to think the same, though, “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO THROW THE FISH BACK,” Gabriel’s pride starts to fade, “WHY ARE YOU HOLDING IT LIKE THAT — LIKE IT’S ONE OF YOUR SWORDS.” He scoffs and tosses the fish, aiming for V1’s optic, earning faux laughter from them. “HA, I’D LIKE TO SEE YOU SPAR WITH THAT.”
“I didn’t know! You didn’t tell me this.”
“I LIKE SEEING YOU CLUELESS,”
Gabriel huffs and crosses his arms. “You have ill intentions, machine,” V1’s optic squints. They lean closer to Gabriel and gently tap their face into his helmet, mimicking a kiss; they’re surprisingly good at being expressive despite only having a big yellow eye for a face.
“IT’S OKAY, WE CAN EAT,” V1 sets their rod down, they shut their eye, pretending to stretch as if they need to. “I’M HUNGRY,”
“Of course you are,” Gabriel lifts himself off the dock, his backside aching from being forced to sit with a straightened back on stiff wood. He offers a hand for V1, even though they don’t need it; the gesture is appreciated.
V1 insists on holding his hand on the walk to the campfire, which Gabriel thought was very charming, but they did walk at a faster pace than his own, so it felt like he was being dragged towards the campfire instead. The bitter smell of the fire was nice; the aroma of burnt wood and smoke was comforting — for Gabriel, at least, he didn’t know if V1 had a sense of smell. They take a seat on a log next to the fire, Gabriel’s knees reached his chest when he sat, leaving his hands to rest on them. As for V1, they held their hand out into the fire, letting the fish cook. He wondered how much heat it could take before they start to overheat — something like that, he wasn’t really educated in the robotics or mechanical aspect, except for a small repair job that was taught to him by V1.
“How’d you find this place? Never in my time of watching over hell have I seen… ‘this’ before.”
They shrug, “I DON’T KNOW. I HAD FREE TIME.”
“I didn’t know you had free time. Seems like you’re always busy.”
“I DIDN’T EITHER. BUT NOW, I HAVE TIME.”
“Hm, how so?”
“I DON’T NEED TO HUNT FOR FUEL NOW THAT I HAVE YOU.”
Gabriel smiles beneath his helmet. He scoots closer to V1 and wraps his arm around them, leaning his head atop of theirs, “The fish is burning.” V1 snaps back to reality and refocuses on the now slightly burnt fish; they frantically try to rub the char off.
“SORRY, FORGOT ABOUT THAT,” V1 hands the crispy fish to Gabriel, who takes it and slips it under his helmet to take a bite; almost half of it is gone. Technically, as a divine being, he doesn’t need to eat, but it does provide him with some energy — and a dopamine boost.
“You are very human, machine.” Gabriel takes his arm off of V1 and instead positions it in front of them, offering them his blood, which they willingly take.
V1 gives his helmet a backhand slap in response. “DON’T INSULT ME LIKE THAT,” they glare at him with their optic squinting at him. Gabriel laughs at their reply, but it’s cut off by a groan as V1 slices his skin with its knuckleblaster. “THAT’S WHAT YOU GET,” Yet, they try not to make this a painful process by letting their hand rest on the wound, even though they want to dig their fingers into it. V1 hums as the blood is absorbed into them; they weren’t too low on fuel, but the feeling of having blood flow through them felt rewarding.
Once V1 feels replenished, they move their hand to his and squeeze it. Gabriel raises his head off theirs and repositions his arm to hold V1’s waist; it was just a scratch anyway, it’ll heal fast. Gabriel takes another bite of his fish, spitting out some bones in the process — and it’s gone already.
Both of them sit in a comfortable silence. Gabriel stares at the fire while V1 has their eye closed. He wonders what V1 thinks about; do they even think? Maybe they’re clearing useless footage, they did tell him that they log almost everything, did they record this moment too? Perhaps they did, he wouldn’t know.
“I LOVE YOU,” V1 nuzzles into the crook of his neck again; they seem to like that spot. Gabriel squeezes their waist and hugs them closer.
“I love you as well.”
Maybe he did make the right decision to say yes.