Chapter 10
Levi
Levi liked to wake up slowly, luxuriating in the comfort of his bed or the bottom of the ocean, reaching out to feel the dreams of those around him. This was not one of those mornings, however.
Levi’s eyes flew open like a huge rock had been chucked at him by a mischievous octopus. (Yes, that had happened, and Levi had been quite a grump about it.)
Gabriel sat straight up in bed and then looked over at him, a horrified expression on his face.
“Now, Buttons…” Levi started, but he didn’t get any further.
“You! And I! We…” Gabriel sputtered.
Was it wrong to think the angel was kind of adorable when he was sputtering?
Levi sat up and pulled Gabriel into a hug, despite the angel’s stiff body. “I’m sorry, Buttons. I thought you knew. I never would have done anything that made you uncomfortable, and I would never keep anything from you. I’m sorry.”
Gabriel seemed to ease a bit in his arm, although the angel wasn’t actively hugging him back.
“You’ve made me uncomfortable on purpose before when you’ve said… things,” Gabriel muttered.
Levi laughed. “Yeah, but that’s a good kind of uncomfortable, isn’t it? You’re just not used to flirting, so it embarrasses you, but sometimes a little of that kind of embarrassment is good. If you really didn’t like it, you would tell me, and I would stop. I would never cause you harm.”
Gabriel grumbled a bit, but his body eased even more.
“We…” Gabriel started, but he trailed off.
“We had a wonderful, fantastic, amazing dream, we both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and we experienced more transcendent moments. So we did exactly what we talked about,” Levi finished.
Gabriel was quiet, and eventually, he pulled back a bit. Levi reluctantly let him go.
“It’s a wonder humans get anything done at all if sex is so transcendent. I can’t imagine doing that sort of thing to give a message,” Gabriel huffed.
Levi felt a spark flash through him. He didn’t care for the idea of Gabriel having random sex with humans, not that his angel would do that. Gabriel was entirely too shy for that sort of thing, and Levi, who didn’t have an ounce of shyness in him, loved that Gabriel was only his.
“Don’t worry, Buttons—you don’t need to go around having sex with people to give them messages. Although some humans enjoy pleasure with multiple partners, some prefer a single partner. Some humans also find the experience more fulfilling if they are emotionally attached to their partners.”
“I thought we were finding ways for me to deliver messages better, though,” Gabriel muttered.
Huh. Yes. That was what they were doing. Levi took a moment to think, but he came up with an answer soon enough.
“Well, yes. We’re experiencing things that humans enjoy so that you have a reference point. That doesn’t mean you’ll actually do all those things with humans. Plus,” Levi answered, a flash of inspiration hitting him, “it’s important to know what motivates humans and what they find pleasurable.”
“Why?” Gabriel asked.
“Well, if you know what motivates them and what they seek out, then you can better communicate with them.”
Gabriel hummed in agreement, and Levi was hit with another bolt of inspiration.
“In fact, humans often enjoy cuddling after sex or when waking up, so we should probably do a bit of that before breakfast.” Levi scooted back into laying down, pulling Gabriel with him.
Gabriel snuggled in again, then asked, “Breakfast?”
Levi smiled. “Yes, Buttons. Humans eat breakfast every day, even if they ate in dreams.”
Gabriel hummed a bit, and Levi just continued cuddling him. The angel still smelled of woods and forest, but there was an underlying hint of salt sea air to it as well. Levi thought he smelled a bit like home.
Eventually, Gabriel shifted a bit, and Levi could feel that stiffness coming back. He wanted to keep the angel nice and relaxed, so he softly said, “Ready for some breakfast?”
Gabriel hummed in agreement, asking, “Will there be more of that drink, as well?”
Levi chuckled. “Sure, Buttons. Whatever you want.”
Levi made pancakes, and he threw blueberries in some and chocolate chips in the others. His angel had quite the sweet tooth, and listening to Gabriel moan and seeing the pleasure on his face while he ate made meals so much more enjoyable.
Once their plates were clear, Gabriel sighed.
Levi just knew his angel was about to go into work mode, and he wasn’t quite in the mood for that yet.
Yes, they would get to the messages, but if anything were urgent their tablets would have been pinging.
Or the messages would have been scrawled across his windows, ruining his beautiful view.
The leadership team, and most afterlifers, for that matter, were not subtle when they had something they thought was important.
“Alright, Buttons. First order of business is to make our list,” Levi announced.
Gabriel looked slightly confused. “Our list?”
“Yup. Our bucket list. Transcendental moments. Things humans enjoy. We’ll make a list of things for you to try.”
“Yes, that’s an excellent idea,” Gabriel answered, and the angel looked rather gleeful as he made a pen and notepad appear.
Because of course Buttons liked lists. He even went so far as to try and divide it up into categories.
“Shall we have sea, land, and air items? Or perhaps we should focus on human senses and have a category for each?” he asked, starting to make columns.
It was really kind of cute, and Levi was tempted to let him go ahead with the categories, but… “I think too many things might overlap into different categories. Let’s just start with a long list, and we can divide it up later if you want to.”
The notepad the angel had been making sections on was suddenly blank, because of course Buttons wouldn’t have cross-outs on his list.
Once they started brainstorming, they came up with a few ideas easily, because they thought about things humans did for vacation or to relax.
They included seeing some of the “wonders” of the world, visiting museums, reading a book, seeing a play, hearing a musical concert, playing video games, and trying new foods.
Then they were both a bit stumped. Levi didn’t imagine sinking ships was something he should encourage, and having sex with other people certainly didn’t need to go on the list for Gabriel.
Yes, he’d like them to explore what the two of them would like to do, but Buttons was in too much of a business mode for sex talk at the moment.
Gabriel was staring at the paper. “I’m not quite sure what else humans like to do…”
“It’s ok. I’ll google it,” Levi responded, because surely the internet would have some good ideas.
They were sitting next to each other at the table, and he made a tablet appear and started typing.
Gabriel leaned over to look at the tablet, and Levi scooted his chair a bit closer so that the angel could read the page better.
Yup, that was definitely the only reason their thighs and arms were now touching.
Gabriel had a faint pink tinge to his cheeks, but he cleared his throat and just looked at the tablet. They both read for a moment.
“It says a ‘transcendent experience’ is supposed to draw humans closer to god. We’re already close to god, so things like praying don’t seem very productive,” Gabriel said.
“Yeah, but maybe yoga or meditation would work. Stargazing is on here as well, and you could add that to our notes. Let me try searching ‘bucket lists’ instead.” Levi typed in the new phrasing.
They were both silent as they scrolled through the extensive list, which included articles, links, and images.
Finally, Gabriel spoke. “Surely humans can’t want to do all of those things. They have such short lives.”
Levi hummed in agreement. “Yes, maybe that’s why they want to do all those things. At any rate, we can just pick the popular ones that come up in a few lists.”
They ended up adding a few things that made humans happy or made them feel strong emotions: climbing a mountain, skydiving, dancing at a club, visiting an amusement park, camping, going in a hot tub, taking a road trip, going on safari, white water rafting, snowboarding, surfing, caving (or spelunking, as some humans called it), and a family barbecue.
“But… we don’t have family to have a barbecue with,” Gabriel said about the last one.
“I’m sure we can find one and just join in.
Some humans are good about that sort of thing.
I just met a nice human a bit ago. We can ask him if he has a family.
” Levi was thinking of Mike and Ari, who had come to him for information a few months ago.
Ari was a demon, but Mike was human and seemed nice.
Surely the two of them would be willing to pay him back for answering questions by inviting them for a family meal.
“Alright then. What should we do first?” Gabriel asked.
“Well, I think we can combine some of them. Lots of humans apparently climb Mount Everest, and that’s considered one of their wonders, I think,” Levi mused.
Gabriel nodded his head and stood up. Levi stood up, as well, and he was pleasantly surprised when Gabriel enfolded him in a hug. Aww, wasn’t that sweet of Buttons. He was really coming out of his shell. Hugs ought to be added to their list as well. They were certainly pleasant moments.
Only a second later, Levi was, quite literally, freezing his tentacles off.
He pulled away from Gabriel a bit to look around.
Oh.
“It’s rather… chilly, isn’t it?” Gabriel asked.
Levi (just barely) managed not to give him an exasperated look. “Buttons, you transported us to the top of Mount Everest. Yes, it is a bit chilly.”
“But… how do humans survive?” Gabriel moved, walking a few steps, then adding, “And what’s with all these colored… things sticking in the ground? It looks quite messy. Does no one clean up after themselves?”
With a wave of Gabriel’s hand, the mountaintop was pristine, all the little flags gone.
“People put the flags there because they’ve accomplished something amazing. They climbed up Everest. Humans die trying to accomplish this. It’s a way for them to leave their mark.” Levi waved his hand, making all the flags appear again.
“But… why would they risk their life in order to feel more alive? That doesn’t make sense.
” Gabriel looked at the flags distastefully.
“And humans don’t need to leave their mark everywhere.
I’m sure the next people who make it here would rather see a pristine, beautiful piece of nature.
” With a wave, the flags were gone again.
Levi didn’t hide his exasperation this time, waving his hand again to bring back the flags. “The next people will leave flags, too, and they’d be upset to see their friends’ flags removed.”
Gabriel huffed, crossing his arms sullenly and glaring at the flags. “Can we at least… organize them or something? There’s no rhyme or reason to their placement. They’re not even color coded.”
Levi couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him.
“Oh, Buttons, humans like to be messy sometimes. But perhaps a mess isn’t very transcendent for you personally.
That’s why people try lots of things. Not everyone likes climbing mountains, and not everyone likes the cold.
Plus, the humans actually climb the mountain. They don’t just arrive here.”
“What difference does that make?” Gabriel asked.
Levi was totally willing to have this conversation, really he was, but he wasn’t in the water, and he didn’t care for the cold outside of the depths. Snow was blowing in his face, and he thought Gabriel had a thin sheet of ice clinging to his form.
Levi walked over to his angel, wrapped his arms around him, and said, “Take us home, Buttons, and I’ll explain it there. I’ll even make you some hot cocoa while I do it. You’ll love it. It’s very sweet.”