Gill disappeared the day after his birthday, and the next time any of us saw him, he was crashing through the roof of Steven's house, completely naked, and burnt to a crisp. We were all eager to have answers as to what the fuck had just happened, but, unfortunately, we all had to wait until Gill woke up, because he was unconscious, once again. 

It only took a few hours for Gill to wake up, and when he saw the rest of us, he told us everything that had happened without us even having to ask. He told us all about how the sun really was his real mother, and that she wanted him to stay in space with her for the rest of time, but when he refused to do so, saying that he wanted to stay with the people he loved, the sun got upset and threw him back down to Earth.  

After that, Steven took him down to the lab to run some tests on him, and see what he could find out about Gill's biology. Many days after that, Gill informed us all that he was, in fact, not human, and that Steven would like to do some tests on April, Ben, and Ian too, and find out whether or not they could constitute as human or not. 

All three of them agreed to let Steven run some tests on them, as they were all also curious as to what the fuck they were made of. Steven figured that, since Gill's biology was directly related to his powers, he should run certain tests on April, Ben and Ian in relation to their powers. This led to him running broken down version of April's DNA through a gel electrophoresis alongside some plant DNA and compare the two. As it turned out, April was quite literally just a sentient plant. 

When trying to find out what Ben was made of, all Steven ended up having to do was break down some samples of Ben's blood, and look at it underneath a powerful microscope. From there he was able to deduct that Ben was quite literally made out of evaporated water, and the reason he was so light was because of all the the oxygen that made up his entire composition. 

Ian took a lot more time for Steven to figure out, because, while there was a limited amount of things that could just straight up duplicate themselves, there were quite a few things that could regenerate their limbs and stuff like that. So, after determining that Ian wasn't, in fact, a glorified asexual cell and that him duplicating himself isn't him undergoing mitosis, Steven was left to run some tests on Ian, comparing him to a bunch of other animals. 

It took a lot of time, and I was incredibly disappointed to find out that Ian was not a salamander, but Steven finally figured out that Ian was, in fact, made of lightning. Steven told all of us about how lightning branches off of itself, and how when lightning strikes the ground, it makes everything explode around it. Steven theorized that when Ian duplicates himself, he causes his cells to branch off of one another, and explode to create multiple copies of themselves until there is a whole new Ian. Of course, just like lightning striking, this entire process occurred incredibly fast. 

"Does that mean I'm regenerative too?" Ian had asked, seeming curious and a bit distraught. 

"We would have to run some tests to find out for sure, but it's possible." Steven responded. 

"What kind of tests? Like, chopping off my leg or something?" 

"If we do that, and it turns out you don't regenerate, you wouldn't have to worry. Dad's very good at making fake legs." Gill added with a slight chuckle, knocking lightly on his prosthetic leg. Ian grinned a little, apparently amused by Gill's joke. 

***

The discovery that Gill, April, Ben, and Ian were all only humanoid, but not human, was a huge scientific discovery on Steven and Jess's parts. As far as the world was aware, no one else had ever found out what they did, and they were both eager to get the word out. After getting permission from Gill, April, Ben, and Ian, Steven and Jess started writing a paper about their discoveries right away. 

They wanted to get the word out about what the world believed were just mutants, not so that they would be discriminated against, but so that they could be better understood, and therefore accepted. They wanted people to be aware of what the mutants they were able to study, because they lived with them, were made of, and were actually like, so that none of them would wind up[ kidnapped, experimented on, held hostage for weeks, and later forced to fight for their life in a court like Gill was due to his mutation. 

Because my friends couldn't be classified as human, because they weren't human, everyone collectively decided that we all needed to come up with a new name for whatever species my friends were. It took a lot of debating, because a lot of people were pretty set on their name choices, but we finally decided that Gill, April, Ben, and Ian were to be known as 'celestials' from then on. 

I think we really just wanted to make them sound as cool as possible , which I think we managed to do pretty well, but we also didn't want to keep calling them mutants. When people here the word 'mutated' they tend to think of something dark, hideous, and possibly radioactive, but that's not what any of my celestial friends were like. And using the word 'celestial' would make people think of a strong, pure, unstoppable, godlike creature who would protect them, and that's exactly what we needed. 

After Steven and Jess's paper was published, everyone was anxious about what the results would be. None of us thought that a whole lot of people would really read the paper, and definitely not right away, but we were still anxious to find out how the public would react to reading about our friends. I think we were all worried that the public would all riot, or that someone was going to try and kidnap April, Ben, Ian, or Gill again. 

Because of this, Steven got to work on making emergency bracelets for everyone. After Gill was kidnapped the first time, Steven made him a bracelet that only he or Gill could take off of him, and it had a button on the inside of it, that if Gill pushed it, it would release a distress signal to Steven, letting him know that Gill was in danger, and telling him exactly where Gill was. 

Steven made one of these bracelets for every single one of us, letting each of us choose who else was going to be able to get our bracelets off. Steven figured it would be safer for us if only one other person was able to remove the bracelet instead of everyone. Warren was able to take mine off, and I was able to take off April and Ian's, but that's it. 

I, honestly, didn't think Steven's paranoia was as warranted as he seemed to think it was. I didn't think anyone was going to get attacked or anything, and I really didn't think I was ever going to need the emergency bracelet, but I accepted it anyway for the sake of Steven's comfort. 

***

While we waited for the world to end after people reading the paper, we all had time to just sit and relax without anything happening at all. This was very nice. It meant that I got to spend time with Gill and Mike, just enjoying their company, and being happy. It was fantastic, and I was very glad to have two fantastic boyfriends who I could take naps with, and kiss happily. It got to the point where it wasn't at all uncommon to find the three of us curled up together and fast asleep together. 

Gill, Mike, and I weren't the only ones who were enjoying living in domestic bliss for at least a little while though. I had gone down into the lab one day in search of Warren to ask him to spar with me, and was delighted to find Steven and Jess in the middle of a joyful looking kiss. I left them alone for a moment, but then cleared my throat, making my presence known, and startling Steven and Jess apart. 

"How long has this been going on?" I asked, my voiced dripping with amusement. 

"Um...a few months." Steven muttered, a bit sheepishly, and blushing lightly, but otherwise just happy. 

"And you guys weren't gonna tell us?" 

"We wanted to wait until everything calmed down. We didn't want to risk upsetting anyone." 

"Upset us? This is amazing! You guys have been pining after each other for, like, three years now! This is fantastic! Congratulations you guys!" I walked forward and pulled Steven and Jess into a tight, happy group hug that they had no choice but to endure. "Are you ok with me telling the others?"

"Actually, we would like to tell them ourselves. When we're ready." Jess responded after I let her and Steven go. 

"Understood. My lips are sealed." I replied.

"Thanks Ty."

I wanted so badly to tell at least Gill and Mike about Steven and Jess finally being a couple. Those two had been helplessly in love with one another since long before I had died, and it got to the point where Warren and I had a bet going on when, if ever, those two would finally just admit it to each other and get married already. I was pretty sure I had won, and I wanted my money. 

I also just wanted to be able to make jokes about Steven and Jess being mushy and a gross couple, even though that would be far from the truth, and I wouldn't really be one to talk anyone, considering the fact that, at any given point in the day, I could be found sitting on either Gill or Mike's lap, telling them how much I love them. 

However, as much as I wanted to tell everyone I saw that Steven and Jess were dating, I was going to respect the fact that they didn't want anyone else to know yet. I knew that everyone would be supportive of Steven and Jess, and no one would be even remotely upset, but it was their choice whether or not they wanted to tell people, so I didn't say anything about them to anyone. 

***

When something regarding the paper did finally happen, it was big. Someone came and knocked on the door, and claimed to be a professor who had read Steven and Jess's paper, and was hoping he could talk to them about it. Steven was all too happy to accept, and invited the man into the kitchen, giving him a glass of water, and saying that he was going to go get Jess. 

I sat in the kitchen too, listening as Steven, Jess, and the man, who said his name was Alan, talked about Steven and Jess's paper. There was something about Alan that I just didn't really trust, and something about him put me on edge. So I watched him closely, just in case. In the end, I was right about my suspicions, but I never would have known if Gill and Mike hadn't come into the kitchen in search of something to snack on. 

I watched in interest as Gill's eyes widened at the sight of Alan, and he immediately pushed Mike back out of the kitchen, and rushed to Steven and Jess, pulling them back and putting himself in between them and Alan, getting into a defensive stance, and  ready to attack Alan if he needed to. 

"Get out of here. Get away from my family." Gill growled, apparently recognising Alan from somewhere, and thinking that he was bad. 

"Gill, what are you doing? Alan was just wanting to talk to us about our paper." Steven said, trying to get Gill to just walk away, but Gill wouldn't budge. 

"You can't trust anything he says. He's a bad person who does bad things." Gill argued. 

"Who is he Gill?" I asked, standing from my seat, and preparing myself to attack Alan too, if I needed to. 

"He worked for Peter. He's the one who held the camera and made the videos that got sent to Steven." I was fully aware of Peter filming Gill while torturing him when he was kidnapped, and most of the people in that house had seen bits and pieces of the videos when we had accidently ran into Steven while he was watching them. Even just the parts I had seen made me want to puke. 

"I have to say Bitch, I'm surprised you recognized me." Alan spit. Gill tensed up more, and was clearly about to punch Alan in the face. I was rushing forward to punch him too, but before either one of us could get to him, Steven stepped out from behind Gill and punched Alan in the face himself, surprising us all. 

I watched in shock as Steven cradled his hand, because he obviously hadn't punched Alan right, and had hurt himself a little. Gill rushed forward to grab Steven, pulling him away from Alan who was obviously pissed, and nursing a swollen, and bleeding lip. Alan growled angrily, and made a move to attack Steven, but Gill was quick to step in first, and push Alan down. 

Alan slid backwards a little bit, but then just stood right back up. He didn't get the chance to actually do anything though, before Gill was grabbing him by the back of his neck, and practically dragging him out of the house effortlessly. Gill physically threw Alan out of the door, making him hit the pavement roughly, cutting up his hands and face pretty good. 

"Don't you ever come here again, and definitely don't talk to my family again." Gill growled, making it very clear that Alan would suffer more than just some scrapes and bruises if he didn't listen to Gill. 

After the front door was closed, Gill immediately turned to Steven, asking him if he was ok, and fussing over his injured hand. Steven was quick to assure Gill that he was perfectly fine, and that his hand didn't even hurt that bad anymore. After that, we all focused our attention on the fact that someone who worked for Peter had been in the house. 

"You don't think Peter is coming after us, after me, again, do you?" Gill asked Steven, sounding incredibly anxious, and sparing a glance to where we could all see April, Ben, and Ian talking blissfully unaware of the situation with one another through the doorway into the next room over. 

"I don't know Gill, but if he is, he won't get very far with his plans." Steven responded, pulling Gill in to a tight, loving, protective hug, and gently rubbing his back to soothe his nerves.