Monday morning hit the Dunphy house like a minor natural disaster.
Luke couldn't find one shoe.
Phil accidentally made coffee without a mug underneath the machine.
Alex was trying to finish howork at the kitchen counter.
And sowhere in the middle of all of it, Claire realized she was making enough breakfast for one extra person automatically.
That thought made her pause briefly.
Interesting.
"You're doing the face again," Phil said while wiping spilled coffee from the counter.
"I don't have a face."
"You absolutely have a face."
Claire ignored him while reaching for another plate.
Before she could think too hard about why.
The front door opened a second later.
And there he was.
Gael stepped inside carrying coffee trays while Haley followed behind him wearing one of his hoodies and sunglasses despite being indoors.
"We bring caffeine," Haley announced proudly.
Phil gasped dramatically.
"My favorite rich teenager."
"Dad."
"What? He arrived bearing gifts."
Gael handed Claire one of the coffees naturally.
"No sugar."
Claire blinked once.
"You rembered?"
"You complain every ti Phil orders for you."
Phil looked deeply offended.
"I improvise love."
"You improvise diabetes," Claire corrected.
Gael laughed quietly while Alex imdiately stole one of the extra coffees from the tray.
"You're becoming suspiciously useful," she inford him.
"That sounds ..."
"It's cautious admiration."
Haley pointed triumphantly.
"Ha! She likes you."
Alex rolled her eyes.
"I tolerate him "
"Still flirting," Haley answered instantly.
Gael hid a smile behind his coffee cup while Luke wandered into the kitchen holding only one sneaker.
"Why are rich people always here now?"
"Because your sister kidnapped emotionally."
"That checks out."
Claire turned away quickly to hide a laugh.
The weird part was how natural this already felt.
Gael leaning against the kitchen counter while Phil rambled about real estate.
Haley stealing pieces of his breakfast.
Alex arguing with him over tech companies before school even started.
"You know what, you fit this kitchen suspiciously well." Phil said suddenly while pointing at Gael with a banana.
"Phil," Claire warned imdiately.
"What? I'm being positive."
Haley grinned into her coffee.
"He basically lives with us and also not with us."
Gael raised an eyebrow.
"That sentence made no sense."
"You sleep here like twice a week, and I sleep at your place the other five."
Luke pointed dramatically.
"So he's your outdoor cat."
Silence.
Then Alex nearly choked laughing.
"Oh my God."
"That is exactly what this is," Haley admitted.
"I hate how accurate that feels," Gael muttered.
Even Claire laughed at that one.
The kitchen settled into overlapping conversation again after that.
Backpacks.
Coffee cups.
Phil losing his phone twice in ten minutes.
Normal chaos.
Gael watched it quietly while Haley argued with Luke over toaster waffles.
Still surreal sotis.
Not because these people were fictional once.
Because they'd beco familiar so quickly.
"You're quiet," Claire said while passing beside him toward the sink.
"I'm waking up."
"That's the first normal teenager thing you've said."
Gael looked at her suspiciously.
"That sounded judgntal."
"It was observational."
Their eyes t briefly before Haley interrupted by climbing halfway onto his back dramatically.
"We're late."
"You're always late."
"Exactly. So we should continue the tradition."
Gael laughed as she stole his sunglasses off his shirt collar.
Everything with her had beco physical in these small unconscious ways:
touching his arm while talking,
stealing his clothes,
curling against him whenever he stood still long enough.
And the dangerous part was how instinctively he responded now.
Claire noticed that too.
Not in so loaded dramatic way.
Just as another sign that the relationship had settled into sothing real.
"You two are disgustingly coupled," Alex announced.
"You're just jealous because nobody touches you voluntarily," Haley replied.
"That was unnecessary."
"It was hilarious," Luke added.
Phil pointed between Haley and Gael proudly.
"You know what I like? You guys actually look like you enjoy each other."
"That's generally how dating works," Mitchell's voice said suddenly from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
Mitchell stood there holding Lily's backpack while Cam balanced an aggressively decorated tray of muffins beside him.
"Oh good," Claire sighed. "More people."
"Rude," Cam answered while walking inside. "We brought baked affection."
Lily imdiately spotted Gael.
"You're Haley's boy."
Gael blinked once.
"…That's probably accurate."
"I like your car."
"That's definitely Phil's influence."
"Correct," Phil confird proudly.
Within seconds the kitchen beca even louder.
Cam complinted everyone's posture.
Mitchell stole coffee.
Lily attempted to take Luke's waffle by force.
And sohow Gael ended up standing in the middle of it all while Haley leaned comfortably against his side drinking his coffee instead of hers.
Again.
Automatic now.
"You know," Mitchell said while watching the scene carefully, "it's weird how unsurprised I am seeing you here this early."
Gael smirked faintly.
"Just weirdly normal already."
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