August & Gabriel

Stars in the palms of his hands

author's note:
little one-shot i wrote abt my babies. i had a proper story started but lost momentum there, so. i'll just make do this way whenever the brainrot hits.

also, mild CW for alcohol and cannabis
use, explicit language, and throwing up (neither particularly graphically described though.)

also also: the image is my art, u can
see more of that on my instagram
(if you didn't come from there already.)

•

Stars in the palms of his hands

Noise all around them. The chattering of some ten, twelve people, the music coming from the portable stereo, the clanging of bottles and bristling of flames, none of it carried away and diffused by the late autumn air.
August wasn't originally going to come along to this party when Lillith invited them.

"They are your friends, I won't know anyone." "They are cool people, you'll love them." 
"You know I'm not a party person." "It's barely even a party, we'll just sit around a fire and hang out."
"I'll just sit around by myself again 'cause they'll wanna just talk to you." "You can ask Gabriel to come along."
And August didn't want precisely this offer to convince them, but when they brought it up with the boy the next day, and he was beaming with excitement, they couldn't help but be relieved.

And now they sit alone, bottle of water in their lap, feeling the noise and smells and heat slowly crawling beneath their skin, making their heart race. Something to focus, they just need something to focus on. Across the round of mismatched chairs, a yelp grabs their attention; Gabriel has stood from his spot next to a pretty girl whose name August has already forgotten, gesturing wildly with surprise across his face. August hears fractions of his voice, interrupted by almost obnoxiously loud hiccups. They grin. Gabriel has never had the hiccups. He's told them back when he first heard August have them, was so fascinated by their sound, the way he is about everything new, that he didn't want to accept how annoying they could get, how your throat starts to hurt after a while, how you can do nothing to get rid of them except forgetting you ever had them.

August watches Gabriel tell a story they've probably heard before, open himself up to Lillith's friends the way he opens himself up to every soul he meets, giving himself so freely, it almost seems made-up. His body is shaken with every new hrks and he presses his palm flat to his chest and laughs at them. He's sat back down, dizzy, and takes another, two more sips of his beer.

Lillith comes up behind them, drops a bag of crisps into their lap. "You seemed a bit out of it earlier, so I got you a little something", she says with a smile. "But looks like you're good now." A nudge of their arm and a glance into Gabriel's direction and August blushes into the sleeves of their cardigan. "Shut up. But thanks", they add sincerely. They open the crisps and offer them to their friend before grabbing a handful for themselves. "He just got his first hiccups." "What? As in, he's never had them? Not even as a baby or something?" August grins and shrugs nonchalantly. "Apparently not. At least he told me so." "Maybe he's lying about it to be quirky." August laughs. "Yeah, maybe he's secret service and assigned with getting close to me 'cause I saw that weird meteor." Lillith frowns in amusement. "How would they even know that you saw it. Not like you posted about it anywhere or anything." "I don't know", they say, putting on a face of fake suspicion, "but they got their eyes everywhere..pigeons, Instagram sexbots, fake post boxes - so why not even extremely handsome and adorable silly goofy teenage boys?" "Fair point. It is suspicious how sweet and pretty that guy is - and that's me saying that." August nods. They still feel odd talking about Gabriel as a romantic interest with Lillith, blush every time she mentions his name, says anything about him. But they love her for entertaining their little crush and treating Gabriel as her friend, even though they have never once hung out without August there.