Elijah rose his brow. "He isn't usually like that? He was an ear for me a lot. Though I think he doesn't want to see me any more. He seemed very upset that we were close. " He sighed heavily and closed his eyes. "But he did help you, so don't hate him. Please?"

Anthony was unimpressed. But he was too tired to try and argue, so he just gave in. "Fine," he said, pretty reluctantly. He's still gonna keep on hating him, of course, but he's now learned to keep quiet about that hate when in front of Elijah. "I still don't like him, though."

Elijah sighed and still felt bothered about what happened yesterday. "Thank you. I don't think... I'll see him again. But I don't want him to be hated. He really is usually very nice.'

Anthony looked away from Elijah for a moment. The urge to tell him how much of an asshole the man actually was was strong, but he decided to just let Elijah think what he wants. "So why do you even like him if he hates you, now?"

Elijah looked away for a long moment before deciding to tell him the truth. "Well.. he knew the truth.. I .. told him in confession about.. who I was, inside. And for a little while, I even had.. one sided feelings for him. He was the second person in my entire life I could be honest with and he accepted me. I wasn't kicked out of the church or treated like filth. It was such a big deal for me at the time. It's just proof that he is a good guy. So.. I can't hate him for what's happened."

[cw: homophobia


Anthony frowned a bit as he listened to that story. He didn't give a shit about the 'unrequited love' thing, but rather he was just very confused about how here, Gabriel seemed to be some sort of amazing and accepting saint. "Oh." That was very contrasting with what happened to him. "When I told him, he said that I'm filthy and disgusting and a sinner and going against the natural order and God's will."

Elijah stared at him in shock and confusion. "That.. doesn't sound like him at all. He was very kind to me and told me how God was forgiving. Perhaps.. something changed." He thought hard, up until that moment, Gabriel had still been kind to him. He couldn't have forgotten about it so why? He scratched his head as he was very confused but sighed heavily. Perhaps he had forgotten. "Maybe it had slipped his mind, and that's why he didn't want to speak to me. Something must have changed his mind. "It made sense. "I guess that guarantees it. I won't return to church since he clearly has made his feelings known.

Anthony conveniently (though, in his defense, also accidentally) left out the fact that they were arguing at the time and were really pissed off at eachother. "I don't know," he shrugged. He didn't actually care that much about this whole thing, he just thought it was weird how differently Gabriel acted with them. "I think he just hates me." He didn't really know how to respond to Elijah's declaration of not going to church again. So he just chose to kind of keep quiet about it.

Elijah shook his head and sighed. "I don't think I'd known him to hate anyone, but then.. He always seemed so kind and forgiving before. I didn't even know he could be angry.. "He found himself starting to cry as he felt the heartbreak of losing a man he still thought of as a friend all over again. It was confusing and painful and he felt embarrassed to start tearing up in the presence of Anthony so he buried his face in his hands. "I.. I'm sorry.'

Was Elijah crying? Oh, no. Anthony suddenly felt very guilty. He shouldn't have said anything. "It's okay," he tried to comfort him. Anthony took a moment to sit up, and then just leaned forward to hug Elijah. It was painful and uncomfortable, but he didn't want Elijah to feel bad. "please don't cry." He felt incredibly guilty.