**Gabriel**

"You can't just kiss me to shut me up North, it doesn't work like that!"

I look up at the stairs leading down to us in the game room, and see a pissed off Sang followed by an equally pissed off North. Oh God, what did he do this time?

"I wasn't trying to shut you up Baby." North tells her.

She whirls around on him once she gets to the last step and starts poking him in his chest while speaking.

"Then what exactly were you trying to do? Because you weren't exactly trying to hear me out! You can't do things like that North! You can't just play with my emotions to get the answers you want!"

I look around at the rest of the guys in the game room and see everyone's attention focused on the arguing pair. Victor, Nathan, and Kota have stopped their card game. Luke's paused our video game. And Silas has woken up from his nap. The only one's who aren't trying to figure out how North screwed up this time, are the Doc, and Mr. B, but that's because they aren't here.

"That's not what I was doing. You weren't listening." North bellows back.

"No, you just didn't like that I disagreed with you!"

"Kota, mommy and daddy are fighting again." I whine, trying to get Sang to giggle.

"I'm done with this." Sang tells him, and walks away. Uh oh.

If there's one thing you don't do to North, it's ignoring him and walking away. He has this thing about silence.  

"Sang, don't walk away from me." And here it goes.

Sang ignores him and comes to sit by me and Luke.

"Sang!" North calls out. "Get back here."

"Hey Cupcake, did you know that the Chinese invented ice cream in 3000BC? Think of how far the world of ice cream has come since then." Luke tells Sang to try and cheer her up. "I bet they only had like 3 flavors back then."

"That's nice Lucian." She tells him in a monotone voice.

"Not now Lucian!" North bellows at the same time.

Sang gets on her knees to turn around on the couch to look back at him and yells, "Don't yell at him!"

"Oh, so you'll listen to me yell at my brother but not when I'm trying to help you?"

"You weren't helping me North you were helping yourself. And Lucian's done nothing to warrant your anger so shut it!"

"Then get over here and talk to me!"

"No!"

Sang turns back around in her seat and crosses her arms, sticking her lip out.

"Oy, Trouble! Stick that lip back in!" I tell her while pushing my finger at her lip.

"Damnit Sang, talk to me!" North calls to her, still stuck at the bottom of the stairs.

"No!" Sang calls out again, turning her head away from me and into Luke's shoulder.

"Kota, check it out. Peanut's regressing." Nathan chuckles out, trying to lighten the mood.

"Shove off Nathan!" Sang's muffled voice tells him.

"Hey, don't scream at me, it's North you're mad at remember?"

"Would you like to join him?" Sang glares in his direction.

"No thank you." Nathan visibly shrinks. "Kota make it stop."

Kota gets up from the table, while Nathan and Victor look after him, and walks over to Sang, crouching down in front of her. Come to think of it, I'm surprised Victor wasn't the first person to say something about "his princess" being upset.

"Sweetie what's going on?" Kotas asks her while redirecting her attention away from a fuming North.

"North's being a jerk." She mumbles while averting her eyes.

"I was not-"

North stops his protests with a glare from Kota.

"You wanna tell me what happened Sang?" Kota asks her while smoothing out his features.

"He wasn't listening to me."

"That much I gathered. What were you saying that he wasn't listening to?"

"North wants me to get an apartment in Charleston for when school isn't in session. I told him that it wouldn't make any sense for me to have a whole apartment to myself when I won't even be there a majority of the time. I was trying to tell him that I can't afford it, and I won't ask any of you to spend that kind of money when it would be a waste, when he decided that he'd had enough of hearing my voice and chose to shut me up with his mouth."

"North?" Kota looks to North with a tilt of his head. "Why didn't you listen to what Sang was trying to tell you before you cut her off? She has valid points."

"Because she was saying it's a stupid idea. Like she doesn't want to be around us during breaks from school."

"That's not what I was saying." She tells him. "You weren't listening."

"Sweetie what did you say?" Kota asks her, redirecting her attention again.

"I said that it would be a waste in time and resources. I never said it was stupid. I'd never call you or your ideas stupid." Sang says to North, looking less angry than before. "Any of you." She says while looking each of us in the eye.

"We know Sweetie. North just has a funny way of showing it."

"He yells because he cares." Luke tells her, "Or so I've been told."

Sang giggles and the tension in the room deescalate a little.

"Sang Baby." North calls out to her. "Will you please come talk to me?" Kota moves back a bit so Sang can get up and walk over to North, where she left him on the stairs. "I'm sorry Baby, I didn't mean to make you feel like I wasn't listening."

"It's ok North Star. Just don't do it again."

"I'll try Baby. Do you still like me?"

"Yes. Do you still like me?"

"Too much."

He pulls her into a hug and remain tension vanishes.  

"So! Who want's ice cream?"