Raphael knows they function better together. It why he still believed Gabriel would come back, long after he gave up any belief their Father ever would. And having his little brother back, that means a lot to him. Even if almost all the Host were his younger siblings, no one could deny the archangels were special to each other. There was a fondness to how Raphael called them 'Brother' that just wasn't there with anyone else.

Maybe he should have gone after Gabriel. Maybe he should have looked harder, looked longer, found him, and held on. He'd been afraid of what Michael might do, afraid of Gabriel hating him. So he hadn't. But now? Now how he'd fight.

He shifts a little as Gabriel leans in, not away, but adjusting, settling so that they are fit together in a way that doesn't pin either of them in. "Why do you eat things that taste like plastic?" But he did bite the head off one and chew it. There was a faint flavor of cherry, as much as chemicals ever really tasted like fruit, but he squeezes the body between his fingers a little, softening it up.