She gives them a small wave with her hand and heads back into the laundry room. In a few moments, Kissa exits the laundry room, her pants stained and her arms a little bloody. She looks up at Gabriel as he slowly becomes visible.
“I’m disgusting.” She whispers.
He ruffles her hair. “You always were.”
Miki gave them a disturbed look. "No wonder Kissa calls us rude names if you raised her on those lovely compliments."
Silver got off her stool and ran water in the sink for Kissa. "Here. There's a rag and soap you can use."
Kissa growls and goes to hit him but he slips back into invisibility. She doesn’t bother to hunt him and instead turns to sil, taking the rag and scrubbing her arms. “That guy weighs a ton. Like a literal ton.”
"Well, yeah, have you seen him?" Miki said. "He's like a powerlifter. Except he doesn't lift weighs."
"Actually, I think he does." Silver responded absently, watching Kissa and holding the soap for her while she monitored the water temperature to make sure it didn't get too hot.
“He probably does.” She sets down the rag and pulls her hair back into a pony tail with great effort, straining from the weight of holding it up every now and then. She sighs once it’s finally up and takes her socks off. “Gabriel, I’m gonna wash my pants!” She calls.
Still invisible, he rolls his eyes and heads up the stairs.
She unzips and takes off her jeans, turning the water to cold.
"whOA WHAT'S GOING ON" Miki yelled, holding her spatula in front of her eyes. "Why are we stripping???"
Silver groaned and shoved her sister. "She warned us, Miki, shut up. How else is she gonna get cleaned up? She can't take them into the laundry room." Silver plugged the drain for Kissa and grabbed a bottle of dish soap instead of the hand soap they had been using. "Do you want like a brush or something to scrub the blood out?"
Kissa shakes her head, dipping the pants under the water, “I just use my knuckles, it works best that way.”
She tilts her head a little to see Miki. “What, you don’t like my legs? They’re really nice.”
Miki peeked out from behind her spatula. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with them, they were just revealed very suddenly and I got scared."
Silver rolled her eyes. "Like you've never stripped in front of me, Miki."
"That's different! It's not right in the middle of the kitchen!"
"There's no one else here!" Silver cried. "It's the same as when you change in front of me in our room."
"But it's the kitchen." Miki whispered again.
Kissa rolls her eyes, scrubbing at the stain with her knuckles, getting most of it out. “It’s not like there’s guys around. I mean except Cage but he’s passed out and will be for a very long time.” She blows her bangs out of her eyes.
"It's okay. I'm over it now. Your legs just shocked me for a minute there."
Silver ignored Miki. "Do you… do you want me to get your hair out of your face?" she asked Kissa.
Kiss shakes her head, “if I say yes you’re gonna shave me or something.” She says, a slight laugh to her words.
“What were you guys doing out here anyways? And why with the dozens of pancakes?”
Silver snorted. "Oh my word, no. That would take forever. Your hair is like… four miles long. It's really pretty, it's just really long too. I was gonna braid it or something."
"I was hungry." Miki said. "I woke up when Ben came in and I started helping him and then Silver found us. It got too crowded in the laundry room and Silver was yelling at Ben, so I dragged her out here and started making these."
Kiss shrugs. “Whatever. You guys are weird.” She finishes her pants, laying them across the island, and leans against the counter. “Guess all the girls are staying up.” She sighs. “Literally all of us.”
"Yes. We are. I thought you knew this." Miki said, and then laughed. "You're right. All the girls are up and I think all the boys are asleep. In various forms."
Silver eyed Kissa's pants. "I wonder if I could dry those."
"What, with your brain?" Miki asked.
Kissa looks over Sil, unconvinced. “I doubt it. Ben might be able to, but you? You’d prolly just make em float.”
Silver raised an eyebrow at her. "I have air, Kissa. I'm not just a telekinetic. I can dry them with air." She focused on Kissa's pants, lifting them off the counter and making the air around them pass through the material and around it, forcing the water to evaporate faster.
Miki watched them, holding a pancake in one hand and her spatula in the other. "Now we have floating pants. This night just keeps getting better and better."
Kiss rolls her eyes. “I didn’t forget you had air, Sil. My insult went right over your blonde head.” She dusts her shirt off and takes a pancake, yanking her now mostly dry pant out of the air on her was up the stairs. “Get some sleep, losers.”
Silver planted her hands on her hips. "I didn't miss your insult, Kissa. I just decided to prove you wrong." Silver gave Kissa's hair a hard yank and snatched a pancake off Miki's stack. "You're WELCOME for drying your pants, by the way."
Kissa gives a small gasp from the hair yank and turns to stick her tongue out at her at the stair railing. “I didn’t say ‘thank you’ cause I could’ve done it faster.” She huffs and continues to her room.
Silver rolled her eyes. "I'm never helping you do anything ever again!" she yelled after her. Miki shook her head and finished making her pancakes, then found a container to store them in. "Why are you surprised, Sil? She's a monster. You know this."
(TIME SKIP TO LIKE 10:45am because everyone slept for forever obvi)
Ben blinks open his dark eyes, reaching a hand up to rub his head. He pauses and squints at the room around him, daylight pouring in through a window.
What… am I doing on the laundry room floor?
He goes to move his other arm but pauses when he notices Violet pressed against it asleep.
What is going on??
He presses his eyes shut, rubbing his side.
I feel terrible.
-
Gabriel perches himself on the balcony and stares down at the people scattered around sleeping below. He smiles, his cheeks turning a warm pink, at the sight of Silver snuggled up on the couch.
Silver lay on her stomach, wings draped on the back of the couch and the floor in front of it. Most of her body was obscured by a blanket and three pillows. Miki was sprawled out on the floor near Cage's chair, a half eaten pancake still in her hand.
Laying his head back down, Ben sighs, not having the heart to take his arm from Vi and wake her.
What time is it?
He goes to rub his burning chest but take his hand back with a light gasp after touching it.
Augh! What??
-
Gabriel lets the air catch the skin of his wings as he jumps from the balcony and glides to the floor. He silently lands near the couch.
Silver stirred in her sleep, giving a little gasp and turning her face so she could get more air and not be smothered by her pillows. Her wings moved, pulling up a little, but slowly relaxed and sank to the floor again.
Violet stirs, blinking her eyes open.
Ben turns his head to raise and eyebrow at her and she blinks sleepily. "How're you feeling?"
She mumbles, propping herself up and rubbing her eyes with a yawn.
Ben sits up, putting one arm around himself and groaning. "Like I was ran over. What happened?"
She sighs, "That's what I asked you last night before you passed out."
"So that's why we're in the laundry room? You just…stayed in here?"
She nods, yawning again. "They're all angry with you. I wasn't about to leave you down here alone."
He closes his eyes, recollecting things slowly. "I left. I came back hurt. Miki-"
"Nononono, you missed a part." She sits completely up and glares. "Between you leaving and coming home."
His face flushes a deep red and he looks to the left.
-
Cage yawns, rolling off of the chair and hitting the floor with a thump. He groans and rubs his back. "I'm so sooooore."
Miki started awake as Cage landed beside her and let out a yelp. "Wah! Oh, hi, Cage. You finally awake?" she asked.
Silver groaned and lifted her head, try to push wild strands of hair out of her face and failing.
Cage sits up and arches his back. "How was I even sleeping?? My back hurts so bad man."
-
"Well, Benjamin?"
He swallows and plays with his fingers in his lap for a second before answering.
"Someone saw me."
She re-positions herself so she sits cross-legged beside him, listening. "Who?"
"I was hot." He continues, ignoring her question. "I wasn't on fire, but I was hot enough that I pulled over."
She swallows hard, a knot forming in her throat.
He presses his eyes closed, starting to burn a little, and he covers his face with his hands suddenly. "I didn't- I shouldn't have gone out! It was stupid."
She puts a hand on his back. "And you wont do it again, Ben. What happened, Love?"
Miki rubbed her eye. "Well, I think Gabe just dropped you on the chair and we forgot to move you so… Sorry."
Silver made a sound that indicated how displeased she was about being awake and burrowed her face back into her blankets, turning to face the back of the couch and away from them.
Cage stands, his legs making cracking noises as he does so. He points to Miki. "I SOUND LIKE AN OLD MAN AND IT'S YOUR FAULT."
-
He cools slightly, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his legs. "It was about forty minutes west of here, out in the middle of nowhere, so I had planned to just sit down and cool off."
She waits for him to continue, rubbing her wrist on the back of his shoulder.
"A car pulled over, asking if they could help. I guy got out, but he wouldn't leave or back away. I tried to fight him off, but I couldn't see well and was trying not to explode. He cut me." He rubs the cut on his side. "I ki- disarmed him. Had him on the ground."
She blinks, listening intently.
"Another man was in the car. He tried ramming me with it, but it didn't him me too hard before he- um, he stopped."
Not needing him to fill in the obvious blanks, she leans her cheek on his shoulder. "Was there anyone else?"
"No."
"Nobody followed you?"
He finds her hand, squeezing it lightly. "No one, I'm sure."
"I'M SORRY." Miki wailed, sounding truly remorseful. "Ben was hurt and we didn't want to tell you!"
Silver whined loudly from beneath her covers and flapped her wings until one of them hit Miki in the face.