It was around nine in the morning on the Saturday after your chat with Sarah and Benny when you decided to head downstairs to Francesca's. Of course, this was much later than your usual schedule allowed, but today was the day you'd decided to take your off work for Angel a couple of weeks ago, so you didn't need to open up the shop.

As always when you took a personal day, you scheduled Montell to open and lead the shift. Normally you'd have paired the teens to work with him since it was the weekend, but Eloise was away for an actual cheer competition/performance and Tony had apparently found himself a part of the journalism club at their school. He'd said he could skip their team bonding day to come in, but Tony showing genuine interest in school activities was a huge step for the antisocial boy, so you wouldn't have dreamed of scheduling him. Besides, much like Gran Gran had done when she ran the shop, you'd always stressed to the kids that school (homework and extracurriculars included) was always the priority over Francesca's– no exceptions.

You might've been bummed if it was you who was working the shift and therefore missing out on their company, but even then you'd still be content to know that the two teens were both having fun in their hobbies and enjoying their high school experiences. And anyways, you weren't running the shop, and Montell was probably thanking the stars he didn't have to be in charge of your second and third most unhinged employees.

As for who you had scheduled, that would be your number one most unhinged employee, who was scoping out the shop right as you stepped foot inside.

"I told you already! She's not working today," Montell's voice rang out from the backroom. "If you'd look at the names on the schedule that aren't yours for once then you'd have known, and you wouldn't be wasting my time!"

Oakley scoffed, snapping his head towards you at the sound of your footfall. "(Y/n)! Please, darling, tell me you're not taking the day off all of a sudden? Not when you've scheduled me!"

"No, I'm not working today," you replied as you made your way towards the backroom, nodding politely and exchanging smiles with the couple of customers milling about all while your clingy employee trailed after you. "Please don't make me feel worse about missing a work day more than I already do."

"But-"

"No buts, Oakley! I shouldn't have to keep telling you that. You can work one shift without me. You're a big boy." You finally made it to the back room, the Oakley protesting and whining behind you all the while, and you greeted your other, exasperated-looking employee. "Hey, Montell. I'm sorry to leave you with him. I'll give you my tips from my next shift as a thank you."

"Oh, don't you worry about me, kiddo," he waved you off. "I can take one day of putting up with him when you've spent so many more. The youth have a higher tolerance for abhorrent men these days it seems– or maybe it's just you."

"I know, I know," you sighed. "I'm working on it."

You and Montell engaged in a quick check-in concerning your shop's inventory before you made your way back out to the front to wait for Angel's arrival. Oakley was a maximum of two steps away from you the entire time– an annoyance that you allowed only because none of the patrons browsing your wares seemed to be ready to checkout. You leaned against the customer side of the checkout counter, idly rifling through some cheesy retro stickers for sale while attempting to ignore Oakley's imploring stare from behind the register.

You knew you were wrong for it, but ever since your argument with James a few days back coupled with the video chat that followed it, you'd been a bit more wary of Oakley. You knew he wasn't obligated to disclose his superhuman status, but the fact that he'd hidden it still sat strangely with you. This was mostly because the subject of superhumans had come up in conversation, like when he shared that his past line of work aligned with superhuman rights, and you'd proven to be on the same page with him regarding the mistreatment of supers.

You felt bad that you were distrusting of him, but in your defense, your relationship had sort of been built on mistrust. You knew you probably should've just asked him now, but it felt incredibly rude and intrusive, and you honestly didn't even know how you'd word it. 'Hey, my friend conducted a high clearance governmental background check on you and told me you're a superhuman. Sorry about him, but also is that true?' felt horrendous, and even if you did bring it up, you hardly had enough time to properly address things before Angel arrived. You'd try to forget it for the time being, and push any suspicions to the back of your mind until you knew there would be ample time to have a real, private conversation with him.

Besides, knowing him, he'd probably say something so bombastically stupid that you'd actually forget temporarily in order to be endlessly irritated with him.

"You haven't spent time outside of work with me for weeks and now you leave me during work too? Why is it that you're abandoning me, then? What tears us apart this time?" he begged.

And there it was! Somehow, you still found yourself surprised by his never-ending dramatics even when you'd just been betting on them to save you from your internal battle. He was just that unserious.

Your narrowed eyes slowly trailed up to his. "It's really not that deep, man. I'm spending the day with Angel." You raised an anticipatory hand, silencing him before he even had the chance to spurt more possessive nonsense. "Don't even try it. You and I have dinner plans coming up anyways, and you're the one who scheduled them so long after you texted me so it's not my fault. Where are we going, actually?"

"Your eagerness is just adorable," he said, reaching across the counter and booping you on the nose.

You shuddered as you leaned back from him. "Don't ever do that again. And I was curious, not eager. Now answer the question."

"Ah ah ah, it's a surprise! All you have to do is let me take control and rest in my care."

"But-"

"Oh? A darling young woman once told me many times: 'no buts', and I think you'd do well to heed her advice, no?"

Ugh. You hated when people used your words against you, and of course Oakley managed to do it in the corniest way. Before you could adequately express your contempt, the shop's entrance bell rang and a golden glow washed over the counter and plants surrounding you. The sudden ambient shift, Oakley's glower, and a few soft 'ooh's and 'ahh's from your customers had you pretty confident in identifying who'd just entered the shop, and your guess was confirmed when you heard his bubbly voice behind you.

"Hi, precious!" Angel greeted, hands clamping on your shoulders and head peeking around the side of your face.

"Hi, Ang," you replied as you turned to face him, subtly creating space between your bodies as you leaned back onto the counter. Thankfully he didn't seem to take notice, his grin still warm and bright.

"I'm so happy we're both finally free!" he chirped. "Today's gonna be so much fun– like the first time we hung out!"

You chuckled as you remembered the day he'd referenced when he'd accompanied you on your errands. It admittedly was lots of fun, and reintroduced youthfulness and excitement into your daily routine that you'd lacked for quite some time. Granted, there were two sides to that coin, and recently his youthful joy sometimes felt more akin to childlike ignorance. You had an almost subconscious penchant to come across as more mature than most people your age– in many ways, you'd been forced to– but Angel's naturally innocent disposition did all the work for you in making you seem older and wiser.

The more you actually thought about it, the less his glaring naivete really made sense to you. He was a fully grown man, a year older than you even, who seemed largely clueless as to how friendship worked. Even after your many talks with him concerning what differentiated varied types of relationships, he was still so clueless about it all. That just felt sorta... off?

You wanted so badly to believe him in his inexperience and guilelessness, and for the most part, you did! But your blind trust in your friends was another casualty of your recent video chat, so you'd decided that in both today and all other future proceedings with Angel, you'd try to discern how authentic he was being. If he somehow genuinely was this clueless then you'd try to figure out just how that was possible, and fortunately, there was probably no better way to understand what made him tick than getting to visit his childhood home and meet his family. Today was looking pretty positive in terms of growing closer to and better understanding your friend.

"Today will be fun," you finally agreed. "Are we going straight to your parents' place?"

He giggled as he shook his head. "There's somewhere I think you'd like to go before we do anything."

"Lead the way," you smiled, his energy contagious. You looked over your shoulder as you followed him, addressing a forlorn Oakley as he watched you leave. "Make me proud today and be kind! I'll see you next week for dinner!"

Any protests or whines went unheard as your shop's doors closed behind you, and you resolved to keep your focus on Angel for the rest of the day. Despite your new vow to take less shit, you still did feel pretty guilty about your rather immature choice to ghost Angel, and you believed that he was being earnest when he confronted you about how you'd made him feel. Today you promised to prove to him that you still cared, so you'd be the best friend you could be to achieve that goal.

"Okay, cutie pie! Hold on," Angel commanded cheerfully, barely giving you a moment to respond before collecting you in his arms and hurtling into the sky.

You squeaked in surprise as your bodies soared through the air, your eyes wrenching shut and your arms clinging tightly to Angel as wind accosted your face. Before you knew it you were stationary again, and you opened your eyes as you were gingerly placed back on the ground. Angel chuckled at your dumbstruck demeanor, trying to suppress his laughter when he met your gaze.

"I know I said I like flying with you, but you've gotta give me a warning next time, bud," you rasped, hands on your knees as you attempted to recover from the surprise flight.

"Aw, I'm sorry... but your shocked face is just too cute!"

"Angel. You can't just do things because you think my reactions are cute," you grumbled, rolling your eyes. "Terrorizing me cause I'm 'cute'... It's not even– how is being terrified cute? ...think everything I do is cute... doesn't even..." You paused as you met his gaze again, realizing he was still giving you that look that told you he was inwardly fawning over you, and you stood up straight to send him a proper glare. "You're unbelievable."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry... don't be mad, please! You didn't even see where I brought us but I think you'll forget you were ever even upset."

"Yeah, well it better be pretty fucking good," you warned as you turned around, your grouchiness immediately disappearing when you realized you were standing in front of your favorite coffee shop– the fancy one that was too expensive for you to frequent regularly. "All is forgiven. You remembered that this shop's my favorite?"

"Course I did!" he answered with a proud grin. "I committed the place and your order to memory the time I followed Megistos here, back when I had a crush on you."

"Aw, it feels like we were entirely different people back then," you commented offhandedly as you opened the door and entered the shop, mind primarily focused on the liquid gold that awaited you. Angel murmured something behind you, and you turned to ask him to repeat himself.

"Oh, I just said it doesn't feel all that different!" he replied bashfully. "Like, I still feel all warm and fuzzy around you now like I did back then. If anything I just feel it even stronger since we're best friends now! But I think that's how most people feel around you." You tilted your head curiously but he maneuvered you into one of the shop's large, plush chairs before you could question him and made his way to the register. "You wait here while I order!"

Your eyes followed him as you mulled over his words. You never imagined your demeanor or presence was necessarily one that made people feel 'warm and fuzzy' inside, but it was a sweet sentiment nonetheless. You then wondered if you made Piper feel warm and fuzzy, which embarrassingly made you feel warm and fuzzy– and also incredibly flustered.

Thankfully Angel returned with both of your drinks before you melted into a puddle of bashfulness, and as he took the seat across from you, you busied yourself with your drink. Taking a large swig, your mind drifted back to Piper and you imagined introducing him to this shop. The thought of sharing your favorite places with him somehow felt better than the coffee tasted– an impressive feat.

He'd probably joke about the expensive pricing, but you'd laugh and argue that it was worth the indulgence every once in a while. You looked at the menu and found the tea section, recalling his preference for tea, and you tried to guess which of their offered selection he'd order. Since you'd been texting him more often since he invited you to the farmer's market, you had half a mind to snap a picture on your phone and ask him what flavor he'd like, but a sigh from across the coffee table reminded you that today was about Angel. No more teenage daydreams about a crush when you were in the company of a dear friend.

However, Angel's sigh surprisingly wasn't due to your lack of attention, but rather something on his phone. You curiously watched him pout as he typed furiously, waiting to see if he would bring up the cause of his apparent annoyance. After a few minutes of your sipping and his brooding, he dejectedly placed his phone down with a groan.

"What's wrong, sunshine? You look so cute when you're annoyed!" you teased, hoping to lift his spirits a bit.

His eyes shot up to you and widened like he'd forgotten you were even there. "I'm sorry, precious, I didn't mean to ignore you. It's work stuff, but I won't answer anymore! It's our day today," he said before his jaw dropped in shock. "Aw, you said I'm cute– wait, you're a hypocrite!"

"Sorry not sorry," you giggled with mock maliciousness. "If whatever's on your phone is urgent it's okay, though. Megistos isn't making your life hard again, is he?"

"No! He's fine! Well, he's definitely been extra grumpy lately, but this isn't about fieldwork, really. It's PR."

You took a loud, pointed sip– at least James wasn't only being an asshole around you. Angel's words interested you though, as James never really liked to get into the flashy side of hero work with you. He thought it was all performative and not what being a hero was about, and you mostly agreed. You understood the importance of positive public opinion concerning heroes, but the press tours, brand deals, and social media presence aspects of it all felt ingenuine and sometimes borderline propaganda-esque.

You were largely detached from superfan culture anyways, apart from a few cheesy magazines you kept– partially to embarrass James and partially to admire how he looked in his hero costume. And you probably should lock those away for now, honestly... but besides those, you weren't even really aware of many other superheroes at all. You didn't watch their fights and you didn't show up to meet and greets. You did live in the 'hero capital" of your country so you couldn't avoid them entirely, but you ultimately just treated them like glorified law enforcement and let them do their thing.

"What about PR? Megistos never talks to me about that stuff," you said, not missing how pleased Angel looked to hear your last sentence.

"See? I'm the better best friend 'cause I'd talk to you about anything you ask!"

"Sure, Ang," you quickly dismissed him, the subject of best friendship a bit too sore for you to get into. "You were saying?"

He deflated at your question. "There's this huge gala the Commission is putting on, and since my stats are looking really good right now I was one of the few sidekicks invited."

"Oh... isn't that a good thing to be rewarded for being good at your job? And what does PR have to do with it? Megistos told me it wasn't going to be televised or broadcasted."

"What?" Angel cried out in obvious despair. "He already told you about the gala? So I'm not the first? I just wanted one win..."

You suppressed a groan, starting to clock a pattern of heavy dramatics in most of the people you allowed in your life.

"Sorry to burst your bubble," you said. "But the day's not over yet, so I'm sure you'll get your win at some point. Back to your problem with PR."

"Oh yeah. Megistos was right, they aren't broadcasting the event, but they are inviting a few bigger journalist publications to attend and take pictures and conduct interviews that they'll release the next day, so appearances are still super important! My problem is that my PR manager owes another PR manager at a different Commission office a favor– and he's cashing it in now..."

He slumped down further into his chair and hid his face behind a throw pillow as you tried to follow his words.

"I'm still not seeing the issue."

He muttered something that came out incomprehensibly muffled.

"I got none of that."

He repeated himself into the pillow again, and your patience dwindled.

You reached across the table and fought to wrench the pillow from his grasp. Somehow you managed to wrangle it away from him, secretly quite proud of yourself for besting a superhuman physically. Was he trying that hard? No. You doubted he'd ever use his chiseled stature against you at all, and certainly not in a play fight. But did that mean you couldn't celebrate the win? Also no!

"Try again," you instructed firmly as you quelled your growing ego and forced your face into a neutral expression rather than a smug grin.

"They're trying to make me bring another newer sidekick as a date," he finally confessed, meeting your gaze pitifully. "And also they want me to go out with her for a while. Six months to a year, or shorter if one of us gets promoted to hero."

Angel's despair suddenly made much more sense, knowing his long and rough history with dating. Even if he wasn't being forced into a real relationship, the idea of someone being with him for PR had to feel pretty shitty now that he'd reflected on his past partners doing essentially the same thing on a smaller scale.

"Gotcha. Did your manager say why the sidekick wanted to go with you? Or why you specifically, anyways?"

"My manager's in it for my potential promotion, the other manager is doing it so that his sidekick can get into the event, and the sidekick wants to do it for her personal, different reasons."

You had a feeling that those 'different reasons' were far from friendly or pure, and your heart sank for Angel.

"Do you have to take her with you?" you tried. "Megistos isn't taking a date."

"Cause he's the biggest hero in the world! His PR manager listens to him, but I listen to mine. Getting promoted to being a fully fledged superhero isn't just about actually saving people and catching villains, it's about your personal brand too. Maybe it was different for him because he's got a ton of different powers and he's the strongest, but sidekicks like me need to have our PR managers' favor if we want to be positioned to move up the ranks. The further I move up, the closer I'll be to being an actual hero like Megistos."

Angel's earnestness and determination took you off guard, sharp contrasts to his more typical carefree demeanor. He wasn't being asked to give a speech like James, but this event was clearly just as monumental for the sidekick as it was for the fully fledged superhero. You even understood him somewhat yourself as the event was additionally important for Francesca's, which gave you an idea– once you were sure would help out Angel and would piss off James. A win-win.

"What if you took me as your plus one?"

The blond sat up straight in his chair, already teeming with excitement at your offer. "Really?"

You nodded with a smile. "Sure. I actually was already asked to go to represent the shop, but I can ask someone else to attend on Francesca's behalf while I attend with you."

"You're the sweetest girl in the– wait," he paused with a sad sigh, his mood fluctuating faster than you could keep up with. "The managers wouldn't go for it. They wanted the media pull of two young sidekicks going together, not me and a random civilian... not that I think you're a random civilian! You're the most important civilian to me! The most important person in my–"

"I know, sunshine," you chucked lightly. "But I think you're forgetting that I'm Megistos' alleged secret love affair. Unfortunately, I'm no longer just a random civilian to the public, but it's okay, 'cause we can work out my misfortune for your favor. I'm sure rumors also got kicked up about you and me since you were my bodyguard and we got so close. I'll probably get you more press attention as your date than a new sidekick would, somehow. Besides, I'd love to be your plus one. It's my honor as your best friend."

"I love you," was all he managed to whisper as he stared at you, the warm light he was accidentally emitting a physical confirmation of his appreciativeness and relief.

"I love you, too, Ang. Hey, there's your win: I'm going with you instead of your grumpy, old ass boss." You reached for your drink, only to realize it was empty, which also meant that you'd been lounging in the shop a bit longer than you'd expected. "Should we have left already? When were your parents expecting us?"

Angel snapped out of his dazed stupor and abruptly stood up. "Anytime is fine, but we can get going now! Want another drink for the road?"

You smiled abashedly, wordlessly answering his offer. Before you knew it, you were sipping your second boujee coffee of the day as you gazed out the window of a conveniently empty train car, Angel coaxing you from above as he stood in front of your seat.

"Can I please take a picture?" he implored, phone already positioned to snap a photo of you. "You're so adorable from up here with your little drink!"

"No," you replied sternly. "And don't call me adorable. Oakley ruined the word for me this morning."

"Oakley ruins everything," he whined. "You should fire him! He's– he's a virgin loser! And fire Piper too, he sticks around too long after his shifts."

Your head snapped to the man, floored by his words. "Angel! Being a virgin does not make someone a loser- why do I have to keep telling people that? Oakley has many faults but that is not one of them. You just– you cannot say that about him. Especially not behind his back. And I'm not firing Piper either, you goon."

"Tony and Eloise call him that all the time behind his back!" he argued.

Those little shits. You knew you'd already caught the boy calling Oakley that, but now the girl was saying it too? And they'd also influenced Angel? Despicable.

"Oh, so now we're basing our morality off of Tony and Eloise? Does that make logical sense to you? Honestly?" you asked dryly. "Besides, they are teenagers, you are an adult."

"He's still a loser."

As valid as the claim was, you couldn't allow yourself to shit talk any of your beloved employees any further– Oakley included– so you attempted a subject change. "Why are we on the train, actually? I thought you just fly everywhere."

"I felt bad about earlier," he answered with a nervous chuckle. "But also because my parents live a couple towns over, closer to the beach, and while I don't mind flying for that long I think you'd get uncomfortable. Trains are the only transportation service that fits all of me comfortably. Oh, no... do you dislike bullet trains? Should I have just flown you instead? I'm so sorry! We can–"

"No, no, you're all good," you reassured, cutting off his anxious rant before it got out of hand. "We're probably almost there so there's no need to worry now anyways, I was just curious. But you grew up on the beach, huh? Fancy."

"Oh, I don't know about that... It's not on the beach, it's more like a suburb by it! Nothing too crazy but still my favorite place in the world!" he explained giddily. "Since I was homeschooled most of my life, I spent most of my time there. I miss it all the time. I can't wait for you to see it."

"One of my other friends was homeschooled too, and I always wondered what it was like," you said, thinking of James. "Did you enjoy it?"

"I loved it growing up! Lots of superhumans homeschool when they're younger since they're still learning not to use their powers, but my parents wanted to keep me at home for longer, like until I graduated. I had a tiny rebellious phase around sixteen or seventeen, so they let me go to a hybrid private school my senior year as a compromise."

"Why didn't they want you to attend in-person schooling? Were you bad at containing your powers?" You wouldn't have been surprised, seeing how often he would emit light accidentally. Even though the law only prohibited intentional usage of powers, his accidental usage now could point to even worse issues when he was younger.

"Nope! I'm a prodigy, remember?" He sent you a cheeky grin that you returned with a playful eye roll, but then his mood suddenly did a 180 as he began to ponder your question, as though the answer physically pained him. "They wanted me to stay home because they thought that people would use and extort me. Which did happen... I kinda messed things up with them because of it all."

You frowned at his words. "How did you mess things up? I don't see how you being used is your fault."

"Well... Mom and Dad are still my best friends, okay? I love them a lot. Like you. And I'm a better person now so I wouldn't screw things up with you like I did with them. Please remember that," he urged.

"Of course," you responded slowly, unsure where he was taking things. "I believe you, Ang. Why wouldn't I?"

Angel looked away almost shamefully, only making you more confused. "My tiny rebellious phase... it sort of didn't end?" He exhaled deeply before looking at you dead on. "I haven't seen my parents in person or really talked to them since my high school graduation."

"Uh, okay..." you nodded slowly as you processed his words. "What, but you text them every day, I thought. What do you mean you haven't talked to them? You... lied? Or..."

"No! No, I didn't–I wouldn't lie to you! We do text every day, just very superficially. It's complicated. Families are just complicated."

You knew that much to be true. Not that you had a complicated relationship with your parents at four years old before they died, and not even that you had a complicated relationship with Gran Gran when she became your guardian, but you had seen how confusing family dynamics could be through the Bartell family. The subtle tensions that festered into glaring conflicts, the unspoken grievances that everyone knew not to address– you'd seen how it affected both James and Sarah in different ways.

"I bet. So... I mean, where are you and your parents at now? What are we walking into today?"

"I'm not sure," Angel replied quietly. "I didn't realize that my parents were sort of right about people using me until I got closer to you, and I've been too embarrassed to admit that to them. I try to give myself some grace, since growing up Mom and Dad always said that when we love someone else sometimes the things we do might hurt them for a bit or not make sense to them."

"How does that give you grace?" you asked, not loving the implications of his parent's words and not really tracking with his logic at all. You didn't want to openly question his parents now– not when he was attempting to be vulnerable with you– but alarm bells were still going off in your mind as you waited for an explanation.

"I guess because that's what I thought was happening with my partners? I thought they were hurting me and using me out of love. Even when I was defying my parents, I was still applying their rules and ideals to my life," he laughed bitterly. "And I honestly do still believe Mom and Dad, it's just that my partners weren't hurting me out of love, and only my parents saw that. Senior year they'd always break up me and my partners somehow, which would make me so angry. But once I became an adult and moved away they couldn't really come between me and the people I got with anymore. That's when things... things really got out of hand, then."

"Were you ever in a relationship that was actually healthy? Once you moved away and learned to be your own person, I mean."

"No. Looking back now, I don't think I ever was. I still resented my parents silently and I think that's partially why I serial dated even when I hated who I was with– I knew it would frustrate Mom and Dad. I didn't understand why they were upset then, cause I still couldn't see just how bad my relationships were, but it was more about making a point than actually doing things for my own happiness. I guess I was faking happiness and fulfillment to Mom and Dad while doing everything they hated, not understanding that the thing they hated most was my suffering. I'm sure they saw right through it too, which must've hurt even more. I was ignorant and, well, that's what I mean when I say I really messed things up."

You called out his name softly, trying to pull him from the mental spiral you recognized him falling into. He mustered up a smile as he ruffled your hair.

"You know, I stopped dating when I met you because you were the first person not chasing after me. You weren't demanding of my money or body, you just showed me kindness because you're kind. And getting closer to you is the closest I've actually felt to being happy or fulfilled, funnily enough. I'm not all the way there, but I definitely owe you a lot for how genuinely good I feel these days." He began to giggle as he gazed down at you, and while you were glad to see his mood pick up you were still slightly jarred by how fickle his emotions were running. "I have a feeling that the secret to my happiness has to do with you. That's why I never wanna leave your side and why I get so sad when things are weird between us. I want us to be everything to each other."

You stalled for a moment at that last sentence, but you attempted to maintain your soothing demeanor, clearing your throat awkwardly. "Um, I'm glad. So where are things with your parents today, then?"

His eyes clouded over yet again. Were you reading into things, or were these mood swings abnormal?

"Well, the closer you and I got, the less details I shared with my parents about my life. Even once I realized things, I still didn't want to admit I was wrong cause I was so wrong it was embarrassing. All they ever wanted was for me to be happy, (Y/n). They were the ones who had loved me all along, and I rejected it." He ran a hand through his hair anxiously. "Sorry. To answer your question, they don't even know about you and they probably still think I'm dating a ton of awful people. But we're on surface-level good terms. I have no clue how they'll react to me or to you."

"Damn," you blurted, immediately regretting your impersonal and short response. Although, truly– what more could you say? Angel had just revealed some incredibly heavy baggage and familial trauma, and the potential resolution to his years-long conflict with his parents all rode on the visit you were about to pay them. So yeah, damn.

Angel's features twisted with panic. "No no no, wait– do you think less of me now? Should I have not said anything?"

You shook your head softly, a strange, tight feeling stirring within you that you fought to push down to soothe Angel. "No, sorry. That was just a lot to process. I didn't realize my question was gonna elicit that deep of an answer, but I'm glad you felt safe to share with me. You don't need to worry about my opinion of you, you were just a sheltered kid turned rebellious teen. It happens. If anything, I'd question your parents' actions before yours. I'm not a mom, but I can guess that when you coddle and shelter your kid excessively they might grow up to be even more curious about the world. It sounds like they struggled to accommodate that curiosity and things just went downhill from there. Maybe you fucked up, but your parents also fucked up. And your exes fucked up, too. You've been healing from your exes, and you and your parents are hopefully gonna heal today. I'm gonna be with you the whole time and everything's gonna work out. It'll all be fine, okay?"

"Okay, yeah. It'll be good" he nodded, saying it to himself more than to you. "Yeah. My parents are good people and you're a good person. You'll love them and they'll love you, especially once I explain things to them."

You weren't too sure his parents were 'good people' nor that you'd 'love' them, especially after all he'd revealed to you about their questionable parenting style and god-awful words of wisdom, but it didn't feel like the time to point that out. You also weren't sure they'd love you either, considering how they apparently loathed every other person Angel had introduced to them. They sounded pretty possessive and protective of their son, which might not bode well for you.

All that being said, your conversation with Angel wasn't sitting right with you at all. His parents seemed vaguely terrifying, and their ideologies about love they'd passed down to their son were incredibly convoluted and seemingly off-base. You now had a hunch why Angel was as stunted as he was in certain social situations, and as more of his flawed thinking surfaced, you began to wonder if he was just as responsible for the recent bumps in your friendship as you were.

The train soon came to a stop, the speakers announcing that you had arrived at your station. You took a deep breath as you stood from your seat, secretly quite anxious now that you knew what you were getting into. The upbeat tone of your hangout had understandably shifted at some point during the train ride, and the air around you felt thick and heavy as you began to think about the daunting second half of the day.

You wordlessly followed Angel out of the train and through the station, attempting to steel your nerves and calm whatever that earlier feeling was that still stirred within you. Normally you'd keep it suppressed due to how negative it felt, but after talking to Sarah and Benny you realized you needed to give your feelings a voice more often, even when they were uncomfortable or negative.

What was the feeling, even? It was hot and it bubbled in your chest, only building when you focused your gaze on the pair of wings you were following at an annoyingly fast pace-

Ah. You were growing annoyed. It wasn't a new emotion to you or anything (obviously– you spent at least one day a week with Oakley after all), but now it was focused on Angel, which was new.

You couldn't say you were entirely surprised, however. The more you processed your train conversation, the more you were feeling blindsided by his last-minute trauma dump. Things had been going so well before he poured his heart out to you, but as guilty as it made you feel, his choice to tell you the actual context of your hangout halfway through it was starting to irk you. It wasn't that you didn't want to listen to and be there for him, but him dropping it all on you at the last minute along with his quick justification of his parents' beliefs felt inconsiderate and overwhelming.

After practically chasing Angel through the station to the exit, he came to a pause on the pavement. Thankfully, this time when he swept you off your feet he had the decency to warn you that he was about to fly, and soon enough you were both gliding through the air as his wings propelled you to his parent's residence. Like always, you were back on the ground sooner than you could fully process the fact that you were in the air, and you stood before a home.

A large, visibly expensive home, that you realized as you swiveled your head around, seemed to reside in a pretty affluent gated community. You looked back at the nearly futuristic, sleek mansion before you with wide eyes. Even the front door was fancy– large in size and made of perfectly clear glass panels, fingerprints and smudges as impossibly nonexistent as a doorbell or handle. It didn't make sense to you, nor did it seem particularly safe, but maybe that didn't matter when in these kinds of neighborhoods.

Overall, the house was a strange combination of jarring asymmetricality and sharp angles. You didn't love the style personally, likely due to the tax bracket you found yourself in, as it was obnoxious and impractical in a way that only rich people ever seemed to appreciate.

"'Suburb' my ass," you grumbled, both further irritated and intimidated. You peeked to your side to find Angel looking down at you contemplatively. "What?"

"You've been weird since we were on the train."

"Have I?" you asked flatly, knowing he was likely alluding to your silence and sour expression.

"You said you'd show me today that you loved me and that you'd be there to support me," he began with an edge of something you couldn't quite place. "But you're moping and grumbling and acting hostile. You're not being fair."

You bit back a scoff. "Fair? Cause you waiting to drop all that on me ten minutes before I meet your parents was fair?"

"You asked and I answered!"

"What? So you wouldn't have even told me if I didn't ask? That would've been even more messed up!"

"What should I have done then? Why're you being so mean to me?"

"I'm not being mean, Angel," you sighed, realizing that if he was gonna act like a little kid then you once again needed to be the mature one. "I'm just... I'm not happy with how you went about things today, and I honestly have a few concerns about us. We can talk about it after."

A few moments passed as you both stared at each other, you waiting for him to knock on his fancy ass door and him waiting for god knows what.

"Can I hold your hand?" he finally asked.

Your brows pinched together in hesitancy. "What?"

"I asked if I could hold your hand."

"No, we already talked about–" you paused in surprise when he grabbed you by the hand anyways, his grip gentle but firm. "I didn't say you–"

"I need this, (Y/n)," he cut you off, voice seeping with desperation as he pleaded with you. "I'm really nervous and you're making things worse. You're supposed to be comforting me today so just hold it, please."

Your mind stalled for a moment, struggling to process the fact that he'd blatantly disrespected your boundary while you also fought the too-familiar guilt at what you'd thought was a reasonable response to what you'd gone through today. Once you came back to your senses, you attempted to wrench your hand from his tightening hold to no avail, even using your free one to try to pry yourself away. You were annoyed earlier, but now you were starting to get angry.

"Angel, let go! I didn't say you could–"

You stopped mid-struggle when the door in front of you began to slide open, and deep down you knew that your day was only about to get more exasperating.