The World Has It's Shine (something to hold onto) 11
Title: The World Has It's Shine (something to hold onto) - part 11
Author: minus_four
Rating: R overall
Pairing: Gabilliam
POV: 3rd
Summary: Around 16 months. “You told Riley tonight was an important show for you,” William pushed the subject, knowing the smile on Gabe’s face meant something.
Disclaimer: This only happened in my brain (as far as I know). Title belongs to Cobra Starship.
Author Notes: Dudes if you read this and don't comment you're gonna make Riley cry, you mean mean people! If this chapter sucks, I blame the fact that I'm siiiiick, possibly dying (except not really lol). But I hear comments have magical healing properties ;) Also, I'm going to start putting Riley's age at the start of the summary to maybe make things a little clearer.
Dedication: thecaley for general amazingness and in the hope that she won't hate me. <3!
One.Two. Three.Four.Five.Six.Seven.Eight.Nine. Ten.
At a little past seven in the morning, Gabe was pretty impressed to be honest. It generally took him a couple of cups of coffee to even wake up properly, but it seemed that Riley was pretty happy just running off his own steam, the infant having been on the go since Sesame Street finished that morning and not really showing any signs of slowing down yet.
Making his way from one piece of furniture to another, Gabe had lost count the amount of times Riley must have crossed the room that morning. Despite the toys scattered around him on the floor, it seemed that Riley was most content just getting himself from place to place, toddling back and forth; checking in with Gabe every once in while but not really paying much attention to him until Gabe’s cell phone rang.
“Hey Ryland,” Gabe answered, using one hand to help Riley climb up onto his lap, the toddler suddenly very interested in what Gabe was doing. William could only hear his half of the conversation from where he was fixing Riley’s breakfast in the kitchen but he looked over the stove, smiling when Riley stood up on Gabe’s lap. Noticing William, Riley waved over Gabe’s shoulder with a big smile on his face before turning his attention to Gabe’s phone.
“Hi,” Riley said into Gabe’s cell. “Hi!” he repeated louder, his tiny fingers trying to take the phone from Gabe, making him laugh.
“Yeah, Riley says hi,” Gabe shifted his cell to his other ear and wrapped an arm around Riley’s waist to keep him where he was, the toddler now trying to climb right over Gabe’s shoulder. “So he’s still coming?” he grinned. “Oh yeah, I love you,” Gabe said, shaking his head. “Yes, in all the inappropriate ways,” he laughed again as he hung up the phone. “And you,” Gabe said to Riley as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “You’re like some kind of crazy monkey! Crazy!” he smiled at Riley who just giggled at him.
“Dada,” Riley smiled, babbling a little more as he pawed at Gabe’s hoodie, stepping from one side of Gabe’s lap to the other, glancing at William over each of Gabe’s shoulders in turn.
“Yeah, Daddy’s over there. He’s making you eggs. You like your eggs, don’t you baby?” Gabe said as Riley shifted his gaze back to Gabe’s face instead, one hand moving from his hoodie to pat at Gabe’s face.
“Dada,” he said again, laughing as Gabe kissed his fingers.
“At some point this is going to get confusing, relu. You know?” Gabe laughed as Riley nodded at him even though he didn’t really know what Gabe was saying.
“No,” Riley nodded again. He liked to say ‘no’ a whole lot just then, though it was pretty funny when he didn’t exactly use it right. “No no no.”
“Okay then,” Gabe glanced back to smile at William who was laughing from over in the kitchen area. “Can you say Papa, Ry? Papi? That’s Spanish. You know, your Daddy just loves it, especially when -” Gabe laughed as William coughed pointedly from across the room. “Papa, Ry? Papa.”
“Paa,” Riley frowned a little as he tried to imitate Gabe.
“There ya go!” Gabe encouraged him, making him smile again.
“Pa!” he said louder, pulling on Gabe’s hoodie.
“Close enough,” Gabe grinned, leaning forward slightly to plant a kiss on Riley’s nose, making him giggle again. “Look at that nose!” Gabe smiled even wider as Riley reached up to touch Gabe’s nose. He was always amazed by how smart Riley was, always learning new things; all the time. “I meant your nose,” he said, kissing Riley’s again as the child sat down in Gabe’s lap, curling into his chest. The action made Gabe frown a little as he stroked a hand over Riley’s soft hair. “What’s up, relu? Huh? You okay?” he asked, the infant hiding his face in Gabe’s hoodie, quietly babbling a little. “Was he alright last night?” Gabe called back to William.
“Yeah, I mean he woke up a couple times but he went right back to sleep after I held him for a little while,” Bill answered, wanting to assure Gabe before he went into overprotective mode and got them both worried for no real reason. “I think he just wants comfort sometimes, don’t worry about it too much, okay? And he’s probably hungry anyway, which is why it’s a good thing breakfast is ready,” he finished, tipping Riley’s eggs into his bowl.
“Ohhh, hear that Ry? Breakfast!” Gabe said, relaxing a little as Riley looked up at him before pulling himself up, smiling at Gabe. “You wanna walk, huh?” Gabe asked, setting Riley down on the floor but keeping the fingers of one hand lightly grasping the back of Riley’s t shirt.
Apparently Riley did want to walk (given the chance, he usually would now he’d started to really find his feet), seeing as the toddler started off towards the kitchen as soon as his feet touched the floor, taking only slightly unsteady steps as he toddled along, Gabe following behind.
“I can’t wait till he gets a little taller,” Gabe said jokingly as they reached William who bent down to scoop Riley up into his arms. “Walking stooped down like that is going to ruin our backs.”
“Yeah, you were bent over for like, a whole minute or something,” Bill said sarcastically, turning his attention to Riley. “Papi is so dramatic sometimes.”
“You like it, then? Papi?” Gabe asked, his eyes searching William’s for any sign of annoyance or discontent. “I mean, you don’t mind?”
“Yeah, I like it,” William smiled, leaning over to kiss Gabe in an act of reassurance. “It’s perfect.”
“Good,” Gabe smiled back, inwardly breathing out a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
“Yeah.” William nodded, handing Riley off to Gabe. “Can you put him in his chair for me?”
“Sure,” Gabe replied, walking over to Riley’s high chair and settling the infant into it. “How about some bread while your eggs cool down, huh?” Gabe reached over to the table and grabbed a soft roll, putting it down in front of Riley. Straight away his tiny fingers went right through the middle of the bread, Riley smushing it in his fist. “If you’re hungry baby, I really think you should eat it, not play with it,” Gabe laughed, tearing off a small piece of bread and offering it to Riley who ate it happily whilst beginning to demolish the rest of the roll, littering it over the tray of his chair. “Messy baby. Who’s gonna clear that up, eh? Me,” Gabe joked, making Riley giggle as he picked up another piece of bread, offering it to Gabe. “No, no, I’m good thanks,” he smiled, guiding Riley’s hand back to his own mouth as William walked over, setting Riley’s small bowl of eggs down in front of him before sitting on his son’s other side.
“Mmm, eggs,” Bill said as he spooned a little into Riley’s mouth, the infant chewing on the food as William put a second spoon in his son’s hand. It took longer and got a lot messier when they let Riley try to feed himself, but there was no other way he was going to learn and he was doing it pretty fast, really. Soon he'd be able to feed himself, no trouble.
“I like how he’s learned how great egg looks splattered on the floor,” Gabe rolled his eyes but he couldn’t keep the smile from his face as Riley got some egg on his spoon and with a look of great concentration his face tipped it right off onto the floor. “You know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you?” he asked, not being serious at all as William laughed before bending down to retrieve the piece of egg, dropping it on the table out of Riley’s reach.
“No,” Riley smiled at Gabe before managing to get a spoonful of egg into his own mouth.
“Good job, Ry!” William encouraged him enthusiastically, cheering and earning a quick snort of laughter from Gabe. “You be quiet,” he frowned at his boyfriend. “You know how much the baby book goes on about praise and stuff.”
“I know,” Gabe smiled. “But you just look so cute and earnest when you do that, I can’t help it,” he laughed again as Bill shot him a quick glare before turning back to feeding Riley some more.
“It’s going to be weird really, when class starts in a couple of weeks,” William interjected a little randomly, though Gabe was happy he brought it up really since he knew Bill was still kind of unsure about the decision. “I mean, I haven’t even really read anything non baby related since I left college, you know? Let alone written anything.”
“You’ll do great Bill, don’t worry about it,” Gabe just tried to let William know he had confidence in him. It was all he could do really, just support him. “You worried the other kids won’t like you?” Gabe teased gently, hoping to get a smile back on William’s face. It worked. “’Cause you know I’ll kick their a- uh, well, you know.”
“Yeah, thanks Dad,” William laughed, rolling his eyes at Gabe. “I don’t think there’ll be too many ‘kids’ there anyway. I’ll probably be the youngest one in the class.”
“Maybe,” Gabe shrugged, “but I know one thing for sure.”
“And what’s that?” William asked, waiting for some kind of joke or teasing response.
“You’re definitely going to have the cutest kid compared to anyone else,” Gabe grinned.
“Oh, well that’s a given,” William nodded, mirroring his expression as they both just watched Riley poking at his food with his spoon for a little while. “Come on Ry, eat up,” William picked up the other spoon again and offered more egg to his son, frowning when Riley turned his head away, whining a little.
“No,” Riley shook his head, pushing the spoon away.
“Just a little more, baby boy, come on,” William tried again, sighing when Riley just pulled the spoon away from his hand and dropped it to the floor. “Not hungry then, I guess. It’s okay,” Bill stroked a hand over Riley’s head as he started to whimper, rubbing at his eyes. “We’ll just make sure Sheila has plenty of your raisins in case you want them later, yeah?” he said softly as Riley calmed down grasping his fingers around William’s hand with a smile.
It wasn’t too long before the calm was broken again though, as just a half hour or so later at Sheila’s apartment Riley was clinging to William with all the strength his tiny arms could muster. At first the infant just whined when William tried to lift him off his chest and give him to Sheila instead, but when Bill persisted Riley’s fingers just twisted even tighter in the material of William’s jacket as he started to cry.
“Hey there Ry. Hey relu, don’t cry now,” Gabe tried to hush Riley over William’s shoulder as the infant buried his face in his daddy’s neck, the action barely muffling the increasing volume of his cries now turning into a full blown screaming tantrum. “He doesn’t usually fuss this much, it’s weird,” Gabe frowned at William as the younger man went to sit next to Sheila on her couch, hoping to get the chance to pass Riley across as soon as he calmed down enough.
“He has been pretty clingy sometimes lately,” William reminded him, swaying Riley from side to side against his chest.
“He’s getting older,” Sheila spoke up as she tried shushing Riley as well, stroking his head and down his reddened cheeks, “which means he getting more aware of you being gone even though he still knows me,” she sighed at the look of guilt that immediately formed on William’s face.
“We’ll be back in a few hours,” Gabe walked around the back of the sofa so he could crouch down to Riley’s level. “So tranquilo now, Ry, okay? Shh,” Gabe kept murmuring words in Riley’s ear, the infant starting to calm down a little as he stared at Gabe over William’s shoulder, rubbing the tears from his eyes as his cries quietened down to more of a whimper instead. “Well, and you’re staying here this evening too, but hopefully you’ll sleep through, yeah? It’s an important show for me tonight but tomorrow we’ll play with you all day, okay?” Gabe kept talking even though Riley didn’t really understand him, smiling as the infant relaxed his hold on William enough for the younger man to put Riley in Sheila’s lap, straight away giving him his giraffe and his blanket so he could snuggle into them instead.
“Poor baby, getting yourself all worked up,” William bent down to kiss Riley, stroking his fingers down his son’s still hot cheeks before handing him his sippy cup so he could drink some juice as he curled fairly contentedly into Sheila’s chest instead.
“Go on, you’ll be late,” Sheila said, seeing how William was still frowning a little at Riley, a look of worry and self reproach still painted across his features as he bit his lip.
“But… yeah, yeah okay,” William sighed as Gabe came over and put a comforting arm around his shoulder, guiding him back towards the door.
After a couple of moments silence walking down the corridor of their old home, William suddenly spoke up, turning to Gabe with a look of curiosity.
“What’s important about tonight’s show, then?” Bill asked, Gabe’s earlier words to Riley popping up in his mind.
“What do you mean?” Gabe said, but a slight smile started tugging at his lips.
“You told Riley tonight was an important show for you,” William pushed the subject, knowing the smile on Gabe’s face meant something.
“Wasn’t talking to you though,” Gabe stuck out his tongue, laughing when William nudged him as they walked along, putting him off balance. “Come on, I’ll tell you later.”
“You and your fucking surprises,” Bill grumbled with a sigh, shooting Gabe a quick glare before rolling his eyes. “Fine, fine. You have your fun,” despite his best efforts William couldn’t keep the smile from his own face as Gabe snaked an arm around his waist and leaned over to kiss him on the neck.
“Oh now, don’t worry,” he replied, kissing William’s neck once more. “I will.”
“Fuck!” Gabe quickened his pace across the kitchen when he heard William yell, reaching him just as he was reassuring one of the assistant chefs that his hand was fine and these things happen. It only took a glance at the pot of boiling water in the chef’s grip, the guy apologising once more before continuing across the kitchen, and the way Bill was squinting down at his hand cradled against his chest for Gabe to figure out that some kind of collision had occurred.
“C’mere,” Gabe dumped the dirty dishes he’d been carrying into the sink and turned the cold tap on, pulling William’s hand towards him to take a quick look before guiding it under the stream.
“Its fine,” William winced a little as the cold water hit his hand, though it immediately started to sooth the scalded skin as he kept it running for a while. “Just, distract me or something, okay?” he said as Gabe pressed a kiss to his temple, expecting Gabe to make some joke or something. He certainly wasn’t expecting what Gabe did say.
“Pete Wentz is coming to the Cobra show tonight,” a huge smile spread across Gabe’s face at finally saying those words to William after forcing himself to wait, just in case.
“Pete Wentz,” William repeated in shock, completely forgetting about his hand. “The Pete Wentz?”
“How many Pete Wentz's do you know of?” Gabe grinned, enjoying the look on Bill's face.
“Holy… I mean, wow. This is - I mean, this is big, right?” William asked, his expression quickly changing from dumbstruck to almost stupidly happy, matching Gabe’s.
“Yeah, it’s big,” Gabe nodded. “This could be… this could be it for us, you know? Assuming he likes us, anyway.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” William shut off the tap and flicked cold water from his hand into Gabe’s face, laughing. “He must have liked the demo, right? And you can just switch on the old Saporta charm and he’ll be signing you in a second,” he added, lips curling into a smirk but really only half teasing at the most. Gabe really did have an electric personality which he used to win over customers and crowds alike.
“So you’re basically giving me permission to prostitute myself to Pete Wentz?” Gabe raised an eyebrow, teasing his boyfriend right back.
“I didn’t say that!” Bill feigned annoyance, but even as he slapped Gabe’s shoulder he was laughing himself. “Hey, when did you even find out he might be coming, anyway?” he frowned a little at Gabe, trying to figure it out.
“Couple days ago,” Gabe replied with a slight shrug, “but I didn’t want to say anything in case he like, cancelled or something. You know?”
“Though that’s why you wanted Sheila to take Riley tonight, so I could come,” William smiled, saying it more to himself in realisation than to Gabe. “I can’t wait,” he grinned, curling a hand around Gabe’s neck so he could pull the other man into a kiss, right there in the middle of the kitchen, ignoring the wolf whistle of a fellow waiter as they pulled back. The other staff were well used to Gabe and William’s numerous and pretty frequent displays of affection. “God Gabe, in like, three hours or something you could be pretty much signed. It’s just so…”
“I know,” Gabe smiled, sliding an arm around William’s skinny waist as he leaned forward, letting his forehead rest on Gabe’s. “It’s like, eleven months ago now, I told you I was going to make it someday… remember?” he said quietly, his lips almost touching William’s as he spoke.
“I don’t know,” William laughed, pulling back to look Gabe in the eye. “I was mostly preoccupied with trying to figure out if you were actually gay or just really friendly. Oh, and how long it would take you to run once you found out I had a baby at home,” Bill finished, his words completely honest as he thought back to when he and Gabe had just met.
“Silly Bilvy,” Gabe shook his head, smiling as he pulled William that bit closer to him until their lips met again.
The sound of Gabe’s cell phone ringing caused the two of them to jerk apart, Gabe keeping his arms around William as the younger man smiled before sliding one hand into Gabe’s jeans pocket, fishing out the phone and checking the ID.
“It’s Sheila,” William frowned at the display before looking up at Gabe.
“Answer it then,” Gabe said, trying to keep his own features neutral whilst reminding himself that Sheila calling them when they’d be at her place in twenty minutes anyway didn’t necessarily mean anything, that it was probably just -
“What?” William stepped back, away from Gabe’s hold as his fingers closed a little tighter around the cell, panic evident in his tone as he spoke again. “Oh God, I mean, what happ- Yeah, yeah of course. Right now, I’m coming,” Gabe watched as William ended the call, the younger man’s chest starting to visibly shake with quickened breaths as he ran a hand through his shoulder length hair before finally making eye contact with Gabe again. The mixture of pain and pure fear in those dark brown eyes was enough to make Gabe’s stomach twist, enough to make him almost forget to take his next lungful of air.
“God Bill, what -”
“We have to go, right now,” William was almost crying as he started towards the door, moving to walk right past Gabe and through the door to the rest of the restaurant and the way out.
“Hey,” Gabe reached out a hand, putting his palm flat on William’s chest to stop him; make him look at Gabe. “Just - please, Bilvy.”
“Riley,” William’s voice cracked on that one word as he shook his head, not knowing what to do, how to deal with this, how to cope with that feeling. “Sheila, she - There’s something -” he took a shuddering breath in a futile attempt to calm himself down, stop himself from shaking against Gabe’s fingers, before William finally choked out the words. “He’s in the hospital.”
Author: minus_four
Rating: R overall
Pairing: Gabilliam
POV: 3rd
Summary: Around 16 months. “You told Riley tonight was an important show for you,” William pushed the subject, knowing the smile on Gabe’s face meant something.
Disclaimer: This only happened in my brain (as far as I know). Title belongs to Cobra Starship.
Author Notes: Dudes if you read this and don't comment you're gonna make Riley cry, you mean mean people! If this chapter sucks, I blame the fact that I'm siiiiick, possibly dying (except not really lol). But I hear comments have magical healing properties ;) Also, I'm going to start putting Riley's age at the start of the summary to maybe make things a little clearer.
Dedication: thecaley for general amazingness and in the hope that she won't hate me. <3!
One.Two. Three.Four.Five.Six.Seven.Eight.Nine. Ten.
At a little past seven in the morning, Gabe was pretty impressed to be honest. It generally took him a couple of cups of coffee to even wake up properly, but it seemed that Riley was pretty happy just running off his own steam, the infant having been on the go since Sesame Street finished that morning and not really showing any signs of slowing down yet.
Making his way from one piece of furniture to another, Gabe had lost count the amount of times Riley must have crossed the room that morning. Despite the toys scattered around him on the floor, it seemed that Riley was most content just getting himself from place to place, toddling back and forth; checking in with Gabe every once in while but not really paying much attention to him until Gabe’s cell phone rang.
“Hey Ryland,” Gabe answered, using one hand to help Riley climb up onto his lap, the toddler suddenly very interested in what Gabe was doing. William could only hear his half of the conversation from where he was fixing Riley’s breakfast in the kitchen but he looked over the stove, smiling when Riley stood up on Gabe’s lap. Noticing William, Riley waved over Gabe’s shoulder with a big smile on his face before turning his attention to Gabe’s phone.
“Hi,” Riley said into Gabe’s cell. “Hi!” he repeated louder, his tiny fingers trying to take the phone from Gabe, making him laugh.
“Yeah, Riley says hi,” Gabe shifted his cell to his other ear and wrapped an arm around Riley’s waist to keep him where he was, the toddler now trying to climb right over Gabe’s shoulder. “So he’s still coming?” he grinned. “Oh yeah, I love you,” Gabe said, shaking his head. “Yes, in all the inappropriate ways,” he laughed again as he hung up the phone. “And you,” Gabe said to Riley as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. “You’re like some kind of crazy monkey! Crazy!” he smiled at Riley who just giggled at him.
“Dada,” Riley smiled, babbling a little more as he pawed at Gabe’s hoodie, stepping from one side of Gabe’s lap to the other, glancing at William over each of Gabe’s shoulders in turn.
“Yeah, Daddy’s over there. He’s making you eggs. You like your eggs, don’t you baby?” Gabe said as Riley shifted his gaze back to Gabe’s face instead, one hand moving from his hoodie to pat at Gabe’s face.
“Dada,” he said again, laughing as Gabe kissed his fingers.
“At some point this is going to get confusing, relu. You know?” Gabe laughed as Riley nodded at him even though he didn’t really know what Gabe was saying.
“No,” Riley nodded again. He liked to say ‘no’ a whole lot just then, though it was pretty funny when he didn’t exactly use it right. “No no no.”
“Okay then,” Gabe glanced back to smile at William who was laughing from over in the kitchen area. “Can you say Papa, Ry? Papi? That’s Spanish. You know, your Daddy just loves it, especially when -” Gabe laughed as William coughed pointedly from across the room. “Papa, Ry? Papa.”
“Paa,” Riley frowned a little as he tried to imitate Gabe.
“There ya go!” Gabe encouraged him, making him smile again.
“Pa!” he said louder, pulling on Gabe’s hoodie.
“Close enough,” Gabe grinned, leaning forward slightly to plant a kiss on Riley’s nose, making him giggle again. “Look at that nose!” Gabe smiled even wider as Riley reached up to touch Gabe’s nose. He was always amazed by how smart Riley was, always learning new things; all the time. “I meant your nose,” he said, kissing Riley’s again as the child sat down in Gabe’s lap, curling into his chest. The action made Gabe frown a little as he stroked a hand over Riley’s soft hair. “What’s up, relu? Huh? You okay?” he asked, the infant hiding his face in Gabe’s hoodie, quietly babbling a little. “Was he alright last night?” Gabe called back to William.
“Yeah, I mean he woke up a couple times but he went right back to sleep after I held him for a little while,” Bill answered, wanting to assure Gabe before he went into overprotective mode and got them both worried for no real reason. “I think he just wants comfort sometimes, don’t worry about it too much, okay? And he’s probably hungry anyway, which is why it’s a good thing breakfast is ready,” he finished, tipping Riley’s eggs into his bowl.
“Ohhh, hear that Ry? Breakfast!” Gabe said, relaxing a little as Riley looked up at him before pulling himself up, smiling at Gabe. “You wanna walk, huh?” Gabe asked, setting Riley down on the floor but keeping the fingers of one hand lightly grasping the back of Riley’s t shirt.
Apparently Riley did want to walk (given the chance, he usually would now he’d started to really find his feet), seeing as the toddler started off towards the kitchen as soon as his feet touched the floor, taking only slightly unsteady steps as he toddled along, Gabe following behind.
“I can’t wait till he gets a little taller,” Gabe said jokingly as they reached William who bent down to scoop Riley up into his arms. “Walking stooped down like that is going to ruin our backs.”
“Yeah, you were bent over for like, a whole minute or something,” Bill said sarcastically, turning his attention to Riley. “Papi is so dramatic sometimes.”
“You like it, then? Papi?” Gabe asked, his eyes searching William’s for any sign of annoyance or discontent. “I mean, you don’t mind?”
“Yeah, I like it,” William smiled, leaning over to kiss Gabe in an act of reassurance. “It’s perfect.”
“Good,” Gabe smiled back, inwardly breathing out a sigh of relief. “That’s good.”
“Yeah.” William nodded, handing Riley off to Gabe. “Can you put him in his chair for me?”
“Sure,” Gabe replied, walking over to Riley’s high chair and settling the infant into it. “How about some bread while your eggs cool down, huh?” Gabe reached over to the table and grabbed a soft roll, putting it down in front of Riley. Straight away his tiny fingers went right through the middle of the bread, Riley smushing it in his fist. “If you’re hungry baby, I really think you should eat it, not play with it,” Gabe laughed, tearing off a small piece of bread and offering it to Riley who ate it happily whilst beginning to demolish the rest of the roll, littering it over the tray of his chair. “Messy baby. Who’s gonna clear that up, eh? Me,” Gabe joked, making Riley giggle as he picked up another piece of bread, offering it to Gabe. “No, no, I’m good thanks,” he smiled, guiding Riley’s hand back to his own mouth as William walked over, setting Riley’s small bowl of eggs down in front of him before sitting on his son’s other side.
“Mmm, eggs,” Bill said as he spooned a little into Riley’s mouth, the infant chewing on the food as William put a second spoon in his son’s hand. It took longer and got a lot messier when they let Riley try to feed himself, but there was no other way he was going to learn and he was doing it pretty fast, really. Soon he'd be able to feed himself, no trouble.
“I like how he’s learned how great egg looks splattered on the floor,” Gabe rolled his eyes but he couldn’t keep the smile from his face as Riley got some egg on his spoon and with a look of great concentration his face tipped it right off onto the floor. “You know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you?” he asked, not being serious at all as William laughed before bending down to retrieve the piece of egg, dropping it on the table out of Riley’s reach.
“No,” Riley smiled at Gabe before managing to get a spoonful of egg into his own mouth.
“Good job, Ry!” William encouraged him enthusiastically, cheering and earning a quick snort of laughter from Gabe. “You be quiet,” he frowned at his boyfriend. “You know how much the baby book goes on about praise and stuff.”
“I know,” Gabe smiled. “But you just look so cute and earnest when you do that, I can’t help it,” he laughed again as Bill shot him a quick glare before turning back to feeding Riley some more.
“It’s going to be weird really, when class starts in a couple of weeks,” William interjected a little randomly, though Gabe was happy he brought it up really since he knew Bill was still kind of unsure about the decision. “I mean, I haven’t even really read anything non baby related since I left college, you know? Let alone written anything.”
“You’ll do great Bill, don’t worry about it,” Gabe just tried to let William know he had confidence in him. It was all he could do really, just support him. “You worried the other kids won’t like you?” Gabe teased gently, hoping to get a smile back on William’s face. It worked. “’Cause you know I’ll kick their a- uh, well, you know.”
“Yeah, thanks Dad,” William laughed, rolling his eyes at Gabe. “I don’t think there’ll be too many ‘kids’ there anyway. I’ll probably be the youngest one in the class.”
“Maybe,” Gabe shrugged, “but I know one thing for sure.”
“And what’s that?” William asked, waiting for some kind of joke or teasing response.
“You’re definitely going to have the cutest kid compared to anyone else,” Gabe grinned.
“Oh, well that’s a given,” William nodded, mirroring his expression as they both just watched Riley poking at his food with his spoon for a little while. “Come on Ry, eat up,” William picked up the other spoon again and offered more egg to his son, frowning when Riley turned his head away, whining a little.
“No,” Riley shook his head, pushing the spoon away.
“Just a little more, baby boy, come on,” William tried again, sighing when Riley just pulled the spoon away from his hand and dropped it to the floor. “Not hungry then, I guess. It’s okay,” Bill stroked a hand over Riley’s head as he started to whimper, rubbing at his eyes. “We’ll just make sure Sheila has plenty of your raisins in case you want them later, yeah?” he said softly as Riley calmed down grasping his fingers around William’s hand with a smile.
It wasn’t too long before the calm was broken again though, as just a half hour or so later at Sheila’s apartment Riley was clinging to William with all the strength his tiny arms could muster. At first the infant just whined when William tried to lift him off his chest and give him to Sheila instead, but when Bill persisted Riley’s fingers just twisted even tighter in the material of William’s jacket as he started to cry.
“Hey there Ry. Hey relu, don’t cry now,” Gabe tried to hush Riley over William’s shoulder as the infant buried his face in his daddy’s neck, the action barely muffling the increasing volume of his cries now turning into a full blown screaming tantrum. “He doesn’t usually fuss this much, it’s weird,” Gabe frowned at William as the younger man went to sit next to Sheila on her couch, hoping to get the chance to pass Riley across as soon as he calmed down enough.
“He has been pretty clingy sometimes lately,” William reminded him, swaying Riley from side to side against his chest.
“He’s getting older,” Sheila spoke up as she tried shushing Riley as well, stroking his head and down his reddened cheeks, “which means he getting more aware of you being gone even though he still knows me,” she sighed at the look of guilt that immediately formed on William’s face.
“We’ll be back in a few hours,” Gabe walked around the back of the sofa so he could crouch down to Riley’s level. “So tranquilo now, Ry, okay? Shh,” Gabe kept murmuring words in Riley’s ear, the infant starting to calm down a little as he stared at Gabe over William’s shoulder, rubbing the tears from his eyes as his cries quietened down to more of a whimper instead. “Well, and you’re staying here this evening too, but hopefully you’ll sleep through, yeah? It’s an important show for me tonight but tomorrow we’ll play with you all day, okay?” Gabe kept talking even though Riley didn’t really understand him, smiling as the infant relaxed his hold on William enough for the younger man to put Riley in Sheila’s lap, straight away giving him his giraffe and his blanket so he could snuggle into them instead.
“Poor baby, getting yourself all worked up,” William bent down to kiss Riley, stroking his fingers down his son’s still hot cheeks before handing him his sippy cup so he could drink some juice as he curled fairly contentedly into Sheila’s chest instead.
“Go on, you’ll be late,” Sheila said, seeing how William was still frowning a little at Riley, a look of worry and self reproach still painted across his features as he bit his lip.
“But… yeah, yeah okay,” William sighed as Gabe came over and put a comforting arm around his shoulder, guiding him back towards the door.
After a couple of moments silence walking down the corridor of their old home, William suddenly spoke up, turning to Gabe with a look of curiosity.
“What’s important about tonight’s show, then?” Bill asked, Gabe’s earlier words to Riley popping up in his mind.
“What do you mean?” Gabe said, but a slight smile started tugging at his lips.
“You told Riley tonight was an important show for you,” William pushed the subject, knowing the smile on Gabe’s face meant something.
“Wasn’t talking to you though,” Gabe stuck out his tongue, laughing when William nudged him as they walked along, putting him off balance. “Come on, I’ll tell you later.”
“You and your fucking surprises,” Bill grumbled with a sigh, shooting Gabe a quick glare before rolling his eyes. “Fine, fine. You have your fun,” despite his best efforts William couldn’t keep the smile from his own face as Gabe snaked an arm around his waist and leaned over to kiss him on the neck.
“Oh now, don’t worry,” he replied, kissing William’s neck once more. “I will.”
“Fuck!” Gabe quickened his pace across the kitchen when he heard William yell, reaching him just as he was reassuring one of the assistant chefs that his hand was fine and these things happen. It only took a glance at the pot of boiling water in the chef’s grip, the guy apologising once more before continuing across the kitchen, and the way Bill was squinting down at his hand cradled against his chest for Gabe to figure out that some kind of collision had occurred.
“C’mere,” Gabe dumped the dirty dishes he’d been carrying into the sink and turned the cold tap on, pulling William’s hand towards him to take a quick look before guiding it under the stream.
“Its fine,” William winced a little as the cold water hit his hand, though it immediately started to sooth the scalded skin as he kept it running for a while. “Just, distract me or something, okay?” he said as Gabe pressed a kiss to his temple, expecting Gabe to make some joke or something. He certainly wasn’t expecting what Gabe did say.
“Pete Wentz is coming to the Cobra show tonight,” a huge smile spread across Gabe’s face at finally saying those words to William after forcing himself to wait, just in case.
“Pete Wentz,” William repeated in shock, completely forgetting about his hand. “The Pete Wentz?”
“How many Pete Wentz's do you know of?” Gabe grinned, enjoying the look on Bill's face.
“Holy… I mean, wow. This is - I mean, this is big, right?” William asked, his expression quickly changing from dumbstruck to almost stupidly happy, matching Gabe’s.
“Yeah, it’s big,” Gabe nodded. “This could be… this could be it for us, you know? Assuming he likes us, anyway.”
“Don’t be an idiot,” William shut off the tap and flicked cold water from his hand into Gabe’s face, laughing. “He must have liked the demo, right? And you can just switch on the old Saporta charm and he’ll be signing you in a second,” he added, lips curling into a smirk but really only half teasing at the most. Gabe really did have an electric personality which he used to win over customers and crowds alike.
“So you’re basically giving me permission to prostitute myself to Pete Wentz?” Gabe raised an eyebrow, teasing his boyfriend right back.
“I didn’t say that!” Bill feigned annoyance, but even as he slapped Gabe’s shoulder he was laughing himself. “Hey, when did you even find out he might be coming, anyway?” he frowned a little at Gabe, trying to figure it out.
“Couple days ago,” Gabe replied with a slight shrug, “but I didn’t want to say anything in case he like, cancelled or something. You know?”
“Though that’s why you wanted Sheila to take Riley tonight, so I could come,” William smiled, saying it more to himself in realisation than to Gabe. “I can’t wait,” he grinned, curling a hand around Gabe’s neck so he could pull the other man into a kiss, right there in the middle of the kitchen, ignoring the wolf whistle of a fellow waiter as they pulled back. The other staff were well used to Gabe and William’s numerous and pretty frequent displays of affection. “God Gabe, in like, three hours or something you could be pretty much signed. It’s just so…”
“I know,” Gabe smiled, sliding an arm around William’s skinny waist as he leaned forward, letting his forehead rest on Gabe’s. “It’s like, eleven months ago now, I told you I was going to make it someday… remember?” he said quietly, his lips almost touching William’s as he spoke.
“I don’t know,” William laughed, pulling back to look Gabe in the eye. “I was mostly preoccupied with trying to figure out if you were actually gay or just really friendly. Oh, and how long it would take you to run once you found out I had a baby at home,” Bill finished, his words completely honest as he thought back to when he and Gabe had just met.
“Silly Bilvy,” Gabe shook his head, smiling as he pulled William that bit closer to him until their lips met again.
The sound of Gabe’s cell phone ringing caused the two of them to jerk apart, Gabe keeping his arms around William as the younger man smiled before sliding one hand into Gabe’s jeans pocket, fishing out the phone and checking the ID.
“It’s Sheila,” William frowned at the display before looking up at Gabe.
“Answer it then,” Gabe said, trying to keep his own features neutral whilst reminding himself that Sheila calling them when they’d be at her place in twenty minutes anyway didn’t necessarily mean anything, that it was probably just -
“What?” William stepped back, away from Gabe’s hold as his fingers closed a little tighter around the cell, panic evident in his tone as he spoke again. “Oh God, I mean, what happ- Yeah, yeah of course. Right now, I’m coming,” Gabe watched as William ended the call, the younger man’s chest starting to visibly shake with quickened breaths as he ran a hand through his shoulder length hair before finally making eye contact with Gabe again. The mixture of pain and pure fear in those dark brown eyes was enough to make Gabe’s stomach twist, enough to make him almost forget to take his next lungful of air.
“God Bill, what -”
“We have to go, right now,” William was almost crying as he started towards the door, moving to walk right past Gabe and through the door to the rest of the restaurant and the way out.
“Hey,” Gabe reached out a hand, putting his palm flat on William’s chest to stop him; make him look at Gabe. “Just - please, Bilvy.”
“Riley,” William’s voice cracked on that one word as he shook his head, not knowing what to do, how to deal with this, how to cope with that feeling. “Sheila, she - There’s something -” he took a shuddering breath in a futile attempt to calm himself down, stop himself from shaking against Gabe’s fingers, before William finally choked out the words. “He’s in the hospital.”