Sweet Devil [BL]

Chapter 33. Upset Stomach

Thanks to Misha's nasty prank, Gabriel couldn't swallow anything for the rest of the day. He tried to drink one small glass of milk to alleviate the taste of vomit in his mouth, but his stomach went on a strike. And once again, he had to dash to the toilet to puke his guts out.

The disgusting sight, the strange taste, and the particular texture of the worms.... They seemed to be haunting him. The more Gabriel didn't want to think about it, the more he thought about it. It was a never-ending cycle.

Although Gabriel wasn't a neat freak, he wasn't particularly fond of bugs either. Thanks to his upbringing, he had never played with dirt or insects as a child, too busy with lessons. Also, his mother had a phobia of anything that crawled, and she'd often tell him things like "earwigs slip into your ears in your sleep and devour your brain", "worms can drill a hole in your skin and crawl underneath", and "spiders are vicious things that will bite you to death". Pretty much all bugs were deadly things in his mother's mind, and she instilled that fear into her son early on.

Needless to say, little Gabriel feared bugs just as much as his mother and would run away whenever he caught sight of a spider. The number of times he collapsed to his knees and bawled his eyes out because of ladybugs.....

Putting aside his dark past, Gabriel wasn't as afraid of bugs now that he was older and could rationalize. However, he still had a low tolerance and of course, eating earthworms-flavored muffins was trauma-inducing for him. Well, most people's stomachs would churn after taking a bite of such a disgusting muffin, so his reaction wasn't that exaggerated.

Right...?

Anyway, all that to say that it was currently dinner time, but his stomach wasn't feeling any better. He thus didn't touch his meal, only poking the vegetables a few times with his fork. Upon noticing his antics, Mrs. Brown gently told him, "It's alright if you're not hungry. Don't force yourself to eat."

"I'm very sorry," Gabriel smiled awkwardly. "My stomach is still upset. But I assure you, it looks and smells delicious."

Meanwhile, the culprit was happily eating and even had the nerve to say, "Gaby, you shouldn't waste food. It's what bad adults do!"

Why did this little devil have to rub salt into the wound? Didn't he have a shred of sympathy for his victim? But regardless of how he felt deep down, Gabriel's warm smile didn't dwindle in the slightest, and his emerald eyes were as gentle as ever.

"Gaby?" Masha repeated, a grin stretching her lips. "What a cute nickname!"

Misha seemed to freeze for a second, then innocently shrugged his shoulders. "It's shorter and easier to say. It's also cuter than Gab."

While outwardly smiling, Misha silently called himself an idiot a hundred times. For the past two months, he had been careful not to use that familiar surname as everyone called the teenager Gabriel or Gab, but bad habits were hard to break. Misha had called him this way for many years in their past life, and today his mouth moved on its own, spilling out that old nickname.

Oh, well, it wasn't a big blunder, so he didn't think much of it and quickly tossed his worries at the back of his mind.

"Indeed, it's pretty cute," Masha laughed, glancing at the teenager with some mischief in her eyes. "I like it very much."

And thus, Gabriel's nickname became Gaby on that day, and no one asked for his opinion.

After eating, they started to load the car. Misha tried to help, but he couldn't do much with his thin arms; he felt like an ant trying to lift an elephant. He could only bring one small bag at a time, and even just that was enough to make him huff and puff. His tender white cheeks quickly turned red under the effort, and his face soon beaded with sweat.