Gabriel - Bad Date (Patreon)

“This is not how I wanted tonight to go.” There was sweat on Gabriel’s brow as he sat on a small stool next to my clinic bed, fingers steepled together as he breathed evenly through his nose. I wanted to reach out to him and take his hand in mine but I had been told not to move while the rest of the medicine pumped into my body.

So instead, I gave him a weak smile. “It’s the thought that counts.” Even I winced as I said one of the most cliché lines to have been created. Gabriel was not one to believe such a sentiment. “How were you to know that I was going to take an ice skate to the head.”

His eyes narrowed as his fingers twitched. “Your head wound came from you falling. The ice skate hit you across the shoulder.”

Right. I was a little fuzzy on the details.

Gabriel had been planning the night for weeks. A date to celebrate our anniversary even though neither of us knew when that was. He had it all planned out down to what I was to wear that evening, pampering me and showing up at my door with a dozen red roses like something out of one of Bella’s cheesy romance novels. Then, taking me by the hand, he had led me to a picnic in the gemstone forest before taking me to the ice district to skate along the frozen river. Apparently, it was tradition this time of year and it was said that whoever skated the length of the river, would receive good luck until the next new moon. It made it a popular attraction for most Night Market members and so we were not the only ones on the ice.

It had started out fine. I have never worn a pair of ice skates before and my knees wobbled like a new born lambs, but Gabriel was strong and sturdy and held me as my feet slipped all over the ice. Most of our trip had been spent with him skating behind me, hands on my hips, as the two of us skated achingly slow down the river. I had just decided that I felt confident enough for him to move away when I slipped out from under myself. Careening down the river, I flapped my arms trying to catch onto anything to break my fall. What I had caught, was an ice skate to the shoulder while someone was mid twirl.

I had gone down the second the blade bit through my skin, staining the blue ice a deep purple and slamming my head on the ground.

I didn’t remember much else until I woke up in the good doctors lab at the edge of the graveyard, Gabriel sitting next to my bed like a statue, his eyes never leaving mine.

“It was a nice date,” I told him softly. And it had been. Until I almost died.

“That was not a date. It was a massacre.”

“We’ve seen massacres, Gabriel. I don’t think this really counts.”

It was clear that he disagreed. Given that I was hooked up to several machines, I didn’t know how well I would be able to argue with him in this state.

“The physician has said that you can leave tomorrow. I do not agree with his statement. We will be getting a second opinion.”

Victor was the only physician I had ever used within the Night Market. He delt with the strange and often times incurable. The fact that I was a supernatural entity that they all walked upon didn’t phase him, it excited him.

“I don’t think Victor is someone to distrust,” I told Gabriel slowly. “If he says I can go home tomorrow than that’s probably a good sign.”

Gabriel’s jaw clenched tight. “It’s inaccurate.”

“Gabriel,” I laughed. “I have a shoulder wound and maybe a concussion. I’m being pumped full of medicine. I’m good.” I wiggled my fingers back and forth, indicating I wanted him to reach out and take my hand. When he unclenched his fingers, they popped. One, warm, dark hand fell over my own, covering the area where the needle went into my skin with careful ease. “How about when I go home tomorrow, we try our date again?” I asked. “We could do something on the sofa together? Maybe another picnic. A game? Or you could read to me.”

“That sounds far too strenuous.”

“Gabriel, I am literally going to be sitting and doing nothing.”

His eyes turned fierce, the very specific pitch of anger he got when he was worried about something etched into each word. “You should be doing more than nothing. If there was a word to accurately describe the amount of nothing you should be doing, I would use it.”

“I think that word is dead.”

“That is not funny.”

“It’s kind of funny.”

His eyes had this interesting way of pitching themselves into further darkness when he was upset. Like a cloudy night sky where the stars were hiding. Part of me found it sexy. The other part of me knew that I only thought that because I had this man in my bed every night.

“Hey,” I told him gently. “I am doing okay. I’m sure once this bag of goo is done dripping into me, I’ll be right as rain.”

“That is the most inaccurate colloquialism you have ever picked up,” he muttered. Then, as if he realized he hadn’t done it yet, he jerked forward awkwardly, placing a kiss on my lips. I could feel the frustration behind him. “I hate that you got hurt,” he told me. 

I glanced at him through hooded eyes, knowing he was using the proximity to me to suss out any pain. “I know,” I told him. “But, I want you to know, it was still a very good date.”

“Your expectations are too low.”

I laughed. “Well, then we should work on raising them. Looks like you are going to have to plan another date for when I get out of here.”

Sighing, he scooted his chair closer, gently pushing one arm under my back and having the other lay across me. It resulted in the strangest and most uncomfortable position for him to hold me in. He still rested his head on my stomach though and I smiled as he held himself still, afriad of hurting me.

“I’m never planning a date again. You have a knack of getting hurt when I do.”

“It’s only happened three times.”

“That is not the argument you think it is.”

I scooted down onto the bed, positioning us more comfortably. It wouldn’t matter what I said. Gabriel was not going to be happy until he could assure himself that I was okay. A feat that would not be achieved in a hospital bed. So, I resigned myself to the arduous task of snuggling down with my boyfriend.

Whether he liked it or not, this was still a pretty good date.