And if we can't be friends what can we be? PART FOUR
Title: And if we can’t be friends what can we be? (we’re doing it way too well)
Pairing: Gabe/William, side Pete/Patrick, Ryland/Victoria; mentions of past Pete/Gabe
Rating: NC - 17
Word count: 10,199
Summary: After finishing high school, William goes off to College to Chicago. He moves in with his sister, Vicky, and his brother, Pete. His group of friends is always around, and William finds himself spending more and more time with Gabe.
“I like Gabe,” he stated, “Not just like, I like him like him. I have for a while now.”
“I know that,” Pete confirmed calmly, and it annoyed Bill.
“And he likes me back.”
“That is where my opinions differ from yours,” Pete said, “I’m sorry Bill, but I think you are getting your hopes high about something that is not really going to happen.”
“Oh, really?” William asked, raising his voice, “What about the fact that I spent the whole afternoon making out with him today?”
Warnings: Pete Wentz, brotherly fights. Alcohol, sex, I don’t know what I should warn you about, if you are here, your mind is probably as fucked up as mine.
Disclaimer: This is as real as Santa. No wait, that sounds mean and sad. This is all fake, Santa isn’t.
Author’s Notes: College AU; though College does not really play any part in my story. I enjoyed so much writing this, that I’m almost sad to finally let it go. It’s the longest story I’ve ever written (in English) so, it’s quite an accomplishment for me.
back to part three
PART FOUR.
*
The next Monday, when he left his last class in the afternoon, Bill found Gabe waiting for him outside the campus.
“What are you doing here?” He asked, but his smile showed he didn’t really care.
Gabe threw away the cigarette he hadn’t even begun smoking and walked over to a car, signaling William to get in as well.
“I wanted to talk to you,” Gabe said as he started driving, “I liked talking to you. I miss talking to you.”
“You shouldn’t have stayed away, then.”
“Pete asked me to. He ordered me to, actually, and he’s been my friend for too long. I couldn’t just ignore what he said.”
“You know the only reason he got mad is because he’s jealous right?” William asked, failing to hide the bitterness in his voice, “He doesn’t actually give a damn about who I’m with.”
“His reasons aren’t really that important, actually. He didn’t, doesn’t feel comfortable with you and me being together, and it’s not fair from me to ignore his feelings.”
“He doesn’t want you,” Bill spat, “He’s with Patrick, and they do love each other. You are just caprice for him.”
“I know that, but I do no longer have feelings for him either. It’s okay.”
William stayed silent for a few minutes. He kept his eyes on the road in front of him, even though he didn’t care where they were going, just to avoid looking at Gabe. Then, he spoke again.
“It doesn’t feel okay, though.”
“I know.”
Gabe stopped the car after saying those words. He turned to look at Bill, cupping his head with his hands and connecting their lips. They kissed for as long as their lungs allowed them to, took a deep breath and then went back to kissing. An instant passed, or maybe an hour or a month, and then they finally broke their embrace.
The drive back to William’s place was quiet. Neither of them felt the need to talk though, so it wasn’t awkward either. They kissed once again before William got out of the car, turning away after a few steps and murmuring: “Don’t be a stranger.”
Gabe smiled, and drove away.
*
When William told Pete that Gabe had drove him home -avoiding the kiss from his story -Pete freaked out. He cursed and yelled and laughed before cursing again, and by the time he was done William didn’t understand anything anymore.
“Pete, I think we need to talk.”
Telling your boyfriend that you like his best-friend-slash-ex-not-boyfriend-but-something probably isn’t the easiest thing to do, but William was sick and tired of hiding his feelings. Once they were both sat on the table and he was sure he had Pete’s attention, he began:
“I like Gabe,” he stated, “Not just like, I like him like him. I have for a while now.”
“I know that,” Pete confirmed calmly, and it annoyed Bill.
“And he likes me back.”
“That is where my opinions differ from yours,” Pete said, “I’m sorry Bill, but I think you are getting your hopes high about something that is not really going to happen.”
“Oh, really?” William asked, raising his voice, “What about the fact that I spent the whole afternoon making out with him today?”
“A kiss doesn’t mean anything, especially to Gabe.”
“Then I guess I imagined it when we had sex on the couch three weeks ago, right? Is sex meaningless for him too? Or is it meaningless when it’s not with you?”
“Shut up William, you don’t know what you are talking about,” Pete’s voice turned wary as he spoke.
“I do, actually, because Gabe told me the whole story. And you want to know what I think?”
“Enlighten me.”
“I think you are jealous. You are jealous that Gabe finally found someone that isn’t you. You don’t like him, really, but you enjoy knowing that he likes you, well, liked you,” William almost yelled as he said this, “You don’t want Gabe, but you don’t want to let go of him either.”
Pete didn’t reply. He weighed William’s words for a while, and then finally got up and left the apartment.
It was about twelve a.m. when Bill got tired of waiting for his brother and went to bed. When he woke up the next morning, Pete was back in the apartment, but didn’t say anything about the night before. In fact, he acted as though nothing had happened.
William had been expecting for Gabe to call him or to text him or to at least show him that he was alive and hadn’t been eaten by mutated cobras, but after a couple of hours of staring at his phone, he gave up.
That afternoon, he and Vicky went to the movies and he forgot his cell phone, which caused him to spend the duration of the movie twitching in his seat nervously. He drank his whole jumbo sized soda and ended up having to stand up almost four times to go to the bathroom.
On the cab back home, when Vicky asked him what he thought of the movie, Bill realized he hadn’t actually paid any attention to it. His head was on his phone, back in the apartment, were someone may or may not have been calling him.
He had four missed phone calls when he found his phone, apart from a message. The thing was, he never knew the code to pick up the messages, so he couldn’t hear it. He knew it was from Gabe though, since all the phone calls were from him also.
‘Can’t pick up messages, what’s up?’
He regretted it the second he pressed the send button, already imagining himself like an idiot waiting for a reply that wouldn’t come. A beeping noise interrupted his worries, and he rushed to read the text.
‘You told Pete we had sex.’
‘I know.’
‘But it’s not true.’
‘Oh, really?’
‘Smartass. I’m serious, you shouldn’t have said that.’
William frowned, because he hadn’t been expecting Gabe to get on Pete’s side, but still replied.
‘He shouldn’t have gotten in the middle of this’
‘In the middle of what?’
‘Okay, fine, whatever. Good luck with your life Gabe.’
His eyes burnt a little, but he wasn’t as girly as to cry because Gabe didn’t want him. It was a hard punch to his pride though, to know that Pete had been right. It hurt, but not that much anyway
‘Can I pick you up now?’ Read the reply he got a few minutes later.
He typed ‘y’ as fast as he could before storming towards his bathroom. It was the quickest shower in the story of his life, abut still he wasn’t ready when someone knocked on the door.
He rushed towards the entrance like his life depended on it, but Pete got there before him and opened the door. Awkwardness filled the room.
“Oh, Gabe, hey, how’s your ankle?” Pete looked clearly surprised to see him, but not in a bad way.
“Sore, but getting better,” Gabe showed his bandaged foot.
“Are you sure you can drive?” William asked, interrupting the uncomfortable moment between the other two.
“Oh, so you two…” Pete trailed off, but there was no thread of hurt or jealousy in his voice.
“We’re going out for a walk, except he can’t walk, so we’re actually going by car,” William explained, “We need to talk.”
Pete nodded, then showed a shy smile and retrieved to his bedroom.
Once in the car, things got awkward. William wasn’t sure what exactly they were doing or where they were going. He was pretty sure, though, that Gabe was taking him somewhere to talk about why they couldn’t be together.
“You know, I’m not a kid, I don’t need you to take me out just to tell me things aren’t gonna work out. I’m not a girl,” he suddenly said.
“Do you even know where I’m driving you?” Gabe asked, slightly annoyed by William’s assumption.
“Yeah, well, no.”
“Then shut up,” He said, and turned left on a corner “My apartment’s two miles or so away from here.”
“Oh.”
“You must know I’ve never done relationships,” Gabe said in a low voice.
“And you already know I don’t sleep around.”
“It’s not gonna be easy,” Gabe went on, “For you to be with me. I’ve never tried being in a relationship.”
William wanted to say something back, he really did, but when he opened his mouth to talk, no sound came out.
“I want to try, thought,” the other male added, and then neither of them spoke again.
The drive to Gabe’s apartment was the longest William had ever experienced. His heart was bumping frenetically against his chest, so hard he was sure Gabe could hear it, and he couldn’t make up his mind whether he was nervous or anxious.
He didn’t pay attention to the building, once they got there, and he was thankful that the elevator was broken and they walk their way to Gabe’s apartment. He walked in first when the door was finally unlocked -which took a while because Gabe couldn’t find his keys.
“So, this is your place.”
Gabe closed the door and walked towards William, standing behind him and placing a hand on his waist and another one over his chest. The boy turned in his arms, and their lips met. Everything from there was a complete blur.
William lost complete control of where his hands went, touching, teasing and scratching. Limbs were everywhere, and they pressed their bodies together like their lives depended on it. Their breaths were heavy and their faces blushed and both of them were grinning like idiots. That was, when their lips weren’t busy making out.
The bed felt soft against his bare back when William was almost thrown at it. Gabe straddled him, taking advantage of his position to take Bill’s pants off, before attacking his neck and leaving various hickeys. Their erections rose with desire towards the other, waiting for the next move.
Playful fingers started playing with the hem of Bill’s underwear, making his cock twitch just from anticipation. All the clothes left were removed, and a hand wrapped around his erection, stroking it softly.
A loud moan escaped William’s mouth as Gabe began to jerk him off, and that moan was followed by another, and another, and another, until he was almost crying of desperation under the man’s touch.
The hand was replaced by a mouth, and William was pretty sure right then that he could give up everything else in his life and just stay in that exact position. Gabe sucked on the tip and his thoughts were flushed down the toilet, as his mind became a mess of incoherency. He stopped caring about how, when and where, only thinking yes and more.
Bill was convinced his heart broke the moment Gabe removed his mouth from his erection, but changed his mind almost immediately when he felt something pressing on his entrance, trying to gain access. Gabe kissed him again, helping him relax, and his free hand started toying with his balls, which felt pretty damn good. Then the hand was replaced by lips and it was three fingers instead of one, and William got almost to the point of pleading.
He wrapped his legs around Gabe’s waist when he entered him, and they moved together, synchronized for a while, until they both lost it. William bit on Gabe’s shoulder as he spilled their stomachs with cum; Gabe almost yelled as Bill’s muscles clenched around him too tight, and he dig his fingernails in his back as he came as well.
“You know,” Gabe said a few instants later, still a little out of breath, “You are way too good for your age.”
William smirked before turning around and pressing his lips to Gabe’s.
“Should I take you home?” The older male asked.
“Later,” Bill replied as he closed his eyes.
“Yeah,” Gabe closed his eyes as well and surrounded Bill’s waist with one arm, “Later sounds good.”
*
The sun had already set by the time they woke up. Bill had three missed phone calls from Pete, and Gabe had five from Vicky.
‘I’m taking him home later, don’t be creepy’ Read the text Gabe sent Victoria, the lack of seriousness contrasting to Bill’s text to Pete, which was a lot more apologetic and a lot less daring.
“Should we shower first or do you want to go home now?”
It wasn’t the tone in Gabe’s voice, or the promise of warm water against his skin that convinced him to say yes. It was the look on the man’s face, not lustful but hopeful, maybe even sweet.
There was nothing sexual about the way Gabe touched him or kissed him while they were on the shower. It was different, a whole new side of what they had been experiencing previously. They played with soap lather and laughed as they rubbed each other’s back. They kissed and broke away and never once stopped touching, even if the contact was minimal.
Getting off the shower, William dressed himself with the jeans that he had long lent to Gabe and never quite got back. He chose to wear Gabe’s purple hoodie, though, because it felt nice.
“Your hair looks funny wet,” Gabe said as he entered the living room, still wearing only a towel.
“You could get dressed you know, it’s only like four hours later than my curfew.”
“Shut up, you don’t even have a curfew.”
William laughed and moved towards Gabe, kissing him lightly, “Still, clothes, now.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were in the car and heading back to William’s place.
“You know, you totally stretched my jeans,” William complained, causing Gabe to chuckle.
“It’s not the only thing I stretched,” He added giddily, and William almost choked before laughing himself.
William felt a knot on his stomach as he and Gabe took the elevator to the apartment. His hands were a bit shaky, which Gabe noted and made fun of, and it took him three tries to open the door.
He kissed Gabe goodbye while they both stood on the doorframe, and when he moved back and opened his eyes, he realized Pete was standing next to them with a shy, yet definitely there, smile.
“Hey, don’t leave,” he said, his eyes fixed on the floor.
They walked in the apartment, and the fact that they were holding hands made the whole deal a bit embarrassing for William.
Vicky and Ryland were on the kitchen, making dinner, and Patrick and Mike sat on the dining table, playing cards.
“Oh, you are here,” Mike said, “It’s nice to finally know the reason I got locked out of my apartment.”
“You locked him out?” William asked, laughing, and realized he didn’t even know Mike and Gabe lived together.
“He’s a nosy bitch sometimes.”
“Like you would know,” Vicky added, “You spend all your time here anyway.”
“Yeah, well, it was his turn.”
Bill and Gabe sat on the sofa together, close but not too close, and Pete joined them on an armchair next to Patrick.
William glanced over at Pete, who was looking at Gabe at the moment. The three of them shared a look, nodded, laughed, and then smiled.
And everything was good.
*
A/N: y se acabó.