Firefly for Jellybean pls
firefly – muse a checks on muse b in the middle of the night
Busy, busy, busy. Work, work, work. That’s all Raphael ever saw Jeliel do. Well, that and smoke weed with him sometimes. But that was it. There was always some new flower that needed reminding of what the rules were, or branch that was getting a little unruly. There was always new soil to till and new sprouts to welcome out of the ground.
Raphael was busy too, but the big difference here was that he caught as much sleep as he could. Either for Grady’s benefit or just because he liked it. It felt good to snuggle up in some blankets and shut off for a little while, at least while he could. but Jeliel apparently never slept.
Of course Raphael didn’t realize this fact until he asked to crash at the greenhouse one night. His apartment building was being treated for roaches and the management had kindly asked the residents to “find other living arrangements” for 24 hours so they didn’t accidentally get poisoned by the bug bombs.
Jeliel looked surprised at the request. A little awkward and put out. “Oh, I uh... Don’t have a bed. I suppose you could sleep on the couch?”
Raph’s cocked his head to one side. “You have a couch but... no bed?”
Jeliel nodded briefly, expression unchanging. As if it was the most normal thing in the world. “Yes. I just made it.”
“You made... your cou--” Raph stopped the questioning short when he saw Jeliel cross his arms and flash one of his famous scowls. “RIGHT okay, thank you, I’d love... to sleep.... on your homemade couch.....” Couldn’t help but giggle a little as he slipped past the frustrated angel and into the greenhouse itself. Then, as he reached the living area in front of all the plots, Jeliel heard an actual squeal.
“OH MY GOSH IT’S SO CUTE! Are these pillows filled with gRASS JELIEL I’M GONNA DIE.”
Jeliel shook his head and rolled his eyes. Muttering under his breath, “Heaven help me, what did I agree to?”
But, as the hours went on, Jeliel found himself not actually regretting his decision to let Raph stay. The Archangel was big, but very gentle around the plants. He even spoke to a good number of them, saying hello or singing little melodies in angelic to them. Asking what kind of bugs they’ve been seeing. Admiring their growth and always complimenting Jeliel on it, which he wasn’t really used to but... tolerated.
It wasn’t altogether horrible to have someone appreciate your hard work.
Around 2 in the morning Raph declared that he was ready to “crash” and Jeliel left him to it. Raph settled back on the couch and closed his eyes and soon drifted off on the cozy little grass pillow and blanket of vines.
When he woke up, thirsty and looking for water, it was still nighttime out. He’d kind of assumed Jeliel would just sleep in some kind of hammock or something but he didn’t see the man anywhere. After getting something to drink he went to look for him. Tiptoeing his way through the greenhouse, brushing aside leaves and clinging branches until he found the gardener on a stool under a particularly tall banana tree. Working diligently on something.
“Hey. Hey dude? You... gonna sleep?”
When Jeliel looked up his eyes shone in the dark, surprised for a moment but then stoic again. “No... no, I don’t sleep.”
Raph ventured closer. Saw that Jeliel was working on some kind of basket. “...But why not? It’s fun!”
“Pfft. Fun. I have no time for fun. There’s always work to do. And when there isn’t work to do there’s plenty of things I like to keep myself occupied with. Why, the hours I spend in dreamland could be used making this basket to keep the new crop of pears in.”
Raph scrunched up his face and sat down beside him. Kinda... confused. “That still sounds like work.”
“On the contrary.” Jeliel huffed and continued to weave. His hands moved in a graceful, practiced pattern that they remembered from years of study. Thread in, thread out, thread in, thread out, loop over, pull tight, repeat. “This is my fun.”
Raph continued to watch him for a minute or two. Taking in the concept and the slight bit of gruff pride in the other angel’s voice as he said that last statement. “If... HEY dude, if I try making a basket would you try sleeping? You know, just for kicks?”
“My boy, I never do anything for ‘kicks’. But...” He eyes Raph for a second and then took up some long, wide leaves from the ground by his stool. Handed them over. “Let’s see if you can even make a suitable basket, then we’ll go from there.”