fic: the curious incident of gabe in the night-time
Title: the curious incident of gabe in the night-time
Pairings: Gabe/William
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 2205
Summary: The five times Gabe Saporta has found himself awake at five in the morning.
Disclaimer: I admit it! I made it up! Also: Don't google yourself.
Notes: Written for "Participant Ten" for the e5chat fic exchange. ♥
"Bill," a voice whispers, barely catching his attention. "Hey, Bill," it repeats.
William squints into the bright light, then jolts awake when his eyes focus on Gabe, inches away from his face. "W't'fuck dude?" he mumbles as he checks his phone. "It's like five in the morning." He turns his face into his pillow and waits; maybe he's still dreaming...
"Hey, hey," Gabe continues, and William realizes Gabe is very much awake.
"Go to bed," he says with a bit of whine, turning to face the wall. After a moment, the curtain closes on his bunk, and William thinks he may need to apologize in the morning.
In the next moment, he is asleep.
******
Almost two weeks later, when William has almost forgotten, it happens again. "Hey, you awake?"
William's pretty sure that the way he jumps at the sound makes it obvious that no, he wasn't awake, so he doesn't respond. He blinks up at Gabe and waits. Gabe stares at him for a long time, or so it feels to William's sleep-addled mind, so William finally answers. "What?" He prides himself on keeping the whine out of his voice this time.
"I can't sleep."
"Yeah."
Gabe says nothing.
"I can sleep," William points out.
Gabe pouts. "Don't be an asshole. Can we, I dunno, do something?" he asks in a stage whisper. William wonders how long it will be before someone else wakes up and starts throwing punches.
He throws an arm over his eyes. Why do best friend duties only come up at the worst times? "Is there another option? I might have some soothing beach sounds, maybe some rainfall..."
He hears someone rolling around in the bunk across the aisle. Fuck, he's going to have to get up.
"Shove over," Gabe demands, pushing at William's side.
"What?"
Gabe doesn't answer, but starts climbing in and squeezing into the small space beside William. He suddenly realizes that "do something" might mean more than their bandmates are willing to put up with.
"This isn't really made for--"
"Shhh, you'll wake Sisky."
William rolls his eyes, but scoots over to let Gabe get comfortable.
"Goodnight!" Gabe whispers with a huge grin that William kind of wants to slap off his face. He doesn't, though, because the grin softens, and Gabe tilts his head forward to give William a soft kiss. His tongue darts out to run across William's top lip, then he pulls back, asking for nothing else. William waits a few seconds, confused, but Gabe leaves it at that.
"Whatever," William mumbles, sliding an arm around Gabe's waist.
******
One night, when they are far enough past the halfway point of tour that interviewers have started asking about their plans for after the tour, Gabe stumbles back onto the bus with a huge box. A box full of cans of Red Bull.
"Thirsty?" William asks, arching an eyebrow.
Gabe drops the box on the floor and presents a separate bag, which holds several bottles of vodka. "We're going to have a dance party," he tells William like it's a big secret and he's gracious enough to let William in on it.
"Vodka and Red Bull?" Ryland says excitedly as he enters the lounge. "Is it my birthday?"
Nate follows him in and they begin pulling cups out of cabinets, so apparently they're starting now. William walks up to Gabe, clasping his hands behind Gabe's neck. "Save the last dance for me," William says.
Gabe's hands settle on William's hips. "Only you, babe."
Eventually everyone turns up in the lounge and they do, in fact, have a dance party. William watches Gabe invade everyone's personal space, including his own. He suggests songs every so often and helps Sisky cheat when a few of them settle down to play poker. Gabe stays still long enough to try to change it to strip poker and to refill everyone's drinks, and then he runs off to play an old Spice Girls song.
As the time when people usually go to bed comes and goes, the dance party starts to dissolve into a let's-play-Guitar-Hero party. Gabe shushes everyone so that he can make an announcement.
"Alright everybody, this is going to be our last song for the night. I want to dedicate this one to my best friend in the whole word, you know who you are." He's looking right at Jack the Camera Guy when he says it, but he's right, William knows.
A familiar beat fills the room, and several people burst out laughing as Samuel L. Jackson says the familiar words. I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane! Gabe bounds over to William and pulls him close, leading them in a slow dance. William can only laugh. No one else could pull this off. Only Gabe.
Around 3:30 AM, William notes that he is more than a little intoxicated and not at all tired, and he's not the only one. It dawns on him that this was Gabe's plan all along, to keep people awake with him. He spends the rest of the night (morning?) convincing people to keep playing games, joking around, and generally letting Gabe hang all over him. He loses track of the time, but he's pretty sure that none of them fall asleep before 6.
******
William recognizes the signs - basically, Gabe looking more and more like shit - a few days before the tour ends. He skips the night's festivities to take what he calls a nap, and then at 3 AM, his alarm goes off.
He stumbles out into the lounge, and sure enough, Gabe is there. Alone. He hasn't even put on pajamas, and there is an open can of Red Bull on the table beside him.
"Hey!" Gabe says excitedly, pausing his video game - MarioKart tonight, apparently. "Everything cool? You disappeared kinda early tonight." He pats the couch cushion, and William takes the invitation. He tries not to give in to the pull of sleep again.
"Somebody's gotta babysit you," William mumbles, letting his head fall onto Gabe's shoulder. "Uh, I think that made more sense in my head."
Gabe laughs. "I think you're still asleep, dude." He pokes William in the side, and William makes a half-hearted attempt to shove him off. "D'you wanna play?" Gabe offers.
Not really, but he came out here to be supportive, so he accepts. Gabe is up, grabbing another controller, and back in a flash.
By the third track, William is starting to wake up, and also starting to kick Gabe's ass. "You're definitely cheating. Are you even on the right track? How did you get there?" Gabe starts pulling one hand away to poke William when he can, which only slows him down more, but he achieves his goal. William starts giggling - it tickles, okay - and he drives right off the side of the cliff.
"Victory!" Gabe shouts (quietly, people are sleeping), but William's driver is dropped back onto the track in plenty of time for him to win the race anyway.
They play every track once, and some of them backwards, before Gabe gets bored with it. "Tired of losing?" William challenges, but Gabe shrugs and doesn't take the bait.
"We could play something else," Gabe says.
"You gonna tell me why you haven't been sleeping?"
When Gabe just rolls his eyes, William pokes him. "Seriously."
"Seriously," Gabe repeats, mocking. "It's not some big thing. I can't sleep, so I stay out here until I pass out or other people wake up. I don't need to talk about it," he emphasizes, waving his hands around.
"Fuck you," William says. "You're the one that keeps waking me up. I'm allowed to ask." He stands up, but doesn't leave.
"Aw, don't pout, c'mon. Let's play something else." Coming from Gabe, it's practically an apology.
William turns to stand in front of him, then spreads his legs and straddles him on the couch. "I know a game you might like," he suggests.
Gabe's face lights up like a fucking Christmas tree. William simultaneously wants to laugh and take advantage of his enthusiasm, so he does both. Gabe opens for him immediately, his tongue exploring William's mouth like he's been wanting to do this for weeks, like he didn't just do this two days ago. His hands get with the program next, sliding past the waistband of William's pajama pants to slide over William's ass, and oh, they didn't do this two days ago.
"This game," William begins, but it gets lost somewhere in Gabe's mouth. Gabe pulls back to lay kisses along William's jawbone, so he begins again. "This game has one rule." Gabe makes an inquisitive noise as his teeth find William's collarbone, and then bucks his hips up justthere so that William has to swallow a gasp. "You have to be quiet," he finishes.
"How quiet?" Gabe whines. William just shakes his head and puts one finger over Gabe's lips. Gabe sucks William's finger into his mouth and stares at him in silent challenge as he sweeps his tongue across.
William pulls his hand free to work on the button on Gabe's jeans, while Gabe slides his fingers teasingly around the waistband of William's pants and waits. As soon as he has the waist worked down low enough, Gabe pulls at the fabric of William's pants and then brings their hips crashing together. William bites his lip and focuses on staying quiet. He pulls Gabe's right hand up to his mouth and licks, then guides it back down. Gabe gets the idea, wrapping his hand around them both and using the other to guide William's hips. The friction is amazing, but he wants to help, so he presses the heel of his palm to Gabe's lips until Gabe opens and licks all the way to his fingertips. He falls into Gabe's rhythm, leaning forward to bite at his lips as they move together. Gabe makes a low, quiet noise at the back of his throat, and William stills his hand, squeezes. Gabe's eyes fly open and he sees William's stern look. He just smiles and bucks his hips into William's grip, and William moves, keeping their eyes locked in a challenge. They lean forward in unison, continuing their heated kiss from earlier, but this time they both keep their eyes open.
William reaches the edge first, throwing his head back and feeling the cry catch in his throat. Gabe pulls him through it, then follows, failing quite spectacularly to silence his moan. William is too sleepy and sated to really care, and probably no one heard him, so it's fine. "Game over, I win," he mumbles into Gabe's lips, feeling the pull of his smile.
"Just because I break the rules doesn't mean I don't win," Gabe counters. William shrugs; he really doesn't care if anyone won or who it was. He wanders off long enough to get tissues, which only minimally clean them up, but it'll have to do for now. He prods Gabe to stretch out on the couch, then lies on top of him and surrenders to the pull of sleep. Before he is completely gone, Gabe's arm twitches, which always happens when he's asleep. William smiles into his neck, and then falls asleep.
******
The tour ends, and William finds himself struggling to stick with a "normal" schedule during the hiatus. He's in front of his TV, watching a show on the Game Show Network around that time that balances between late night and early morning when his phone rings.
"You too?" William asks in lieu of a greeting.
"I can't sleep, man," Gabe says. His voice is scratchy, so he probably hasn't tried to use it in several hours.
"Did you call me to talk about it?" William asks, smiling.
"Yes," Gabe says in fake earnestness. "It's like I can't breathe when you're not here, Billvy. It's like I can't eat."
Of course, he says this with his mouth obviously full. "It sounds like you're coping."
"It's like I can't eat, though. Like all the pizza in the world won't fill this hole you left in me."
"There's a joke about holes in there somewhere, but it's far too early to make it."
"It's never too early for jokes about -- holy shit! You didn't tell me Name That Tune was on! I fucking love this show."
"Gabe," William starts to protest, but then Gabe shouts the answer to the next song, and they both start singing the songs that come up.
William finds himself singing a really old, really slow song when Gabe interrupts. "Fuck, I'm falling asleep." He sounds so surprised that William has to smile.
"Hang up before you drive up your phone bill, asshole," William tells him.
Gabe laughs. "Fuck you," he says. After a pause, he adds, "No really, next time I see you..."
"Yeah, uh huh, sweet dreams," William responds. He pauses, and then says, "No really, think like chocolate..."
Gabe makes an appreciative noise. "I might find myself in Chicago next week..."
William laughs quietly. "I'll buy the Red Bull."
THE END
Pairings: Gabe/William
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 2205
Summary: The five times Gabe Saporta has found himself awake at five in the morning.
Disclaimer: I admit it! I made it up! Also: Don't google yourself.
Notes: Written for "Participant Ten" for the e5chat fic exchange. ♥
"Bill," a voice whispers, barely catching his attention. "Hey, Bill," it repeats.
William squints into the bright light, then jolts awake when his eyes focus on Gabe, inches away from his face. "W't'fuck dude?" he mumbles as he checks his phone. "It's like five in the morning." He turns his face into his pillow and waits; maybe he's still dreaming...
"Hey, hey," Gabe continues, and William realizes Gabe is very much awake.
"Go to bed," he says with a bit of whine, turning to face the wall. After a moment, the curtain closes on his bunk, and William thinks he may need to apologize in the morning.
In the next moment, he is asleep.
******
Almost two weeks later, when William has almost forgotten, it happens again. "Hey, you awake?"
William's pretty sure that the way he jumps at the sound makes it obvious that no, he wasn't awake, so he doesn't respond. He blinks up at Gabe and waits. Gabe stares at him for a long time, or so it feels to William's sleep-addled mind, so William finally answers. "What?" He prides himself on keeping the whine out of his voice this time.
"I can't sleep."
"Yeah."
Gabe says nothing.
"I can sleep," William points out.
Gabe pouts. "Don't be an asshole. Can we, I dunno, do something?" he asks in a stage whisper. William wonders how long it will be before someone else wakes up and starts throwing punches.
He throws an arm over his eyes. Why do best friend duties only come up at the worst times? "Is there another option? I might have some soothing beach sounds, maybe some rainfall..."
He hears someone rolling around in the bunk across the aisle. Fuck, he's going to have to get up.
"Shove over," Gabe demands, pushing at William's side.
"What?"
Gabe doesn't answer, but starts climbing in and squeezing into the small space beside William. He suddenly realizes that "do something" might mean more than their bandmates are willing to put up with.
"This isn't really made for--"
"Shhh, you'll wake Sisky."
William rolls his eyes, but scoots over to let Gabe get comfortable.
"Goodnight!" Gabe whispers with a huge grin that William kind of wants to slap off his face. He doesn't, though, because the grin softens, and Gabe tilts his head forward to give William a soft kiss. His tongue darts out to run across William's top lip, then he pulls back, asking for nothing else. William waits a few seconds, confused, but Gabe leaves it at that.
"Whatever," William mumbles, sliding an arm around Gabe's waist.
******
One night, when they are far enough past the halfway point of tour that interviewers have started asking about their plans for after the tour, Gabe stumbles back onto the bus with a huge box. A box full of cans of Red Bull.
"Thirsty?" William asks, arching an eyebrow.
Gabe drops the box on the floor and presents a separate bag, which holds several bottles of vodka. "We're going to have a dance party," he tells William like it's a big secret and he's gracious enough to let William in on it.
"Vodka and Red Bull?" Ryland says excitedly as he enters the lounge. "Is it my birthday?"
Nate follows him in and they begin pulling cups out of cabinets, so apparently they're starting now. William walks up to Gabe, clasping his hands behind Gabe's neck. "Save the last dance for me," William says.
Gabe's hands settle on William's hips. "Only you, babe."
Eventually everyone turns up in the lounge and they do, in fact, have a dance party. William watches Gabe invade everyone's personal space, including his own. He suggests songs every so often and helps Sisky cheat when a few of them settle down to play poker. Gabe stays still long enough to try to change it to strip poker and to refill everyone's drinks, and then he runs off to play an old Spice Girls song.
As the time when people usually go to bed comes and goes, the dance party starts to dissolve into a let's-play-Guitar-Hero party. Gabe shushes everyone so that he can make an announcement.
"Alright everybody, this is going to be our last song for the night. I want to dedicate this one to my best friend in the whole word, you know who you are." He's looking right at Jack the Camera Guy when he says it, but he's right, William knows.
A familiar beat fills the room, and several people burst out laughing as Samuel L. Jackson says the familiar words. I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane! Gabe bounds over to William and pulls him close, leading them in a slow dance. William can only laugh. No one else could pull this off. Only Gabe.
Around 3:30 AM, William notes that he is more than a little intoxicated and not at all tired, and he's not the only one. It dawns on him that this was Gabe's plan all along, to keep people awake with him. He spends the rest of the night (morning?) convincing people to keep playing games, joking around, and generally letting Gabe hang all over him. He loses track of the time, but he's pretty sure that none of them fall asleep before 6.
******
William recognizes the signs - basically, Gabe looking more and more like shit - a few days before the tour ends. He skips the night's festivities to take what he calls a nap, and then at 3 AM, his alarm goes off.
He stumbles out into the lounge, and sure enough, Gabe is there. Alone. He hasn't even put on pajamas, and there is an open can of Red Bull on the table beside him.
"Hey!" Gabe says excitedly, pausing his video game - MarioKart tonight, apparently. "Everything cool? You disappeared kinda early tonight." He pats the couch cushion, and William takes the invitation. He tries not to give in to the pull of sleep again.
"Somebody's gotta babysit you," William mumbles, letting his head fall onto Gabe's shoulder. "Uh, I think that made more sense in my head."
Gabe laughs. "I think you're still asleep, dude." He pokes William in the side, and William makes a half-hearted attempt to shove him off. "D'you wanna play?" Gabe offers.
Not really, but he came out here to be supportive, so he accepts. Gabe is up, grabbing another controller, and back in a flash.
By the third track, William is starting to wake up, and also starting to kick Gabe's ass. "You're definitely cheating. Are you even on the right track? How did you get there?" Gabe starts pulling one hand away to poke William when he can, which only slows him down more, but he achieves his goal. William starts giggling - it tickles, okay - and he drives right off the side of the cliff.
"Victory!" Gabe shouts (quietly, people are sleeping), but William's driver is dropped back onto the track in plenty of time for him to win the race anyway.
They play every track once, and some of them backwards, before Gabe gets bored with it. "Tired of losing?" William challenges, but Gabe shrugs and doesn't take the bait.
"We could play something else," Gabe says.
"You gonna tell me why you haven't been sleeping?"
When Gabe just rolls his eyes, William pokes him. "Seriously."
"Seriously," Gabe repeats, mocking. "It's not some big thing. I can't sleep, so I stay out here until I pass out or other people wake up. I don't need to talk about it," he emphasizes, waving his hands around.
"Fuck you," William says. "You're the one that keeps waking me up. I'm allowed to ask." He stands up, but doesn't leave.
"Aw, don't pout, c'mon. Let's play something else." Coming from Gabe, it's practically an apology.
William turns to stand in front of him, then spreads his legs and straddles him on the couch. "I know a game you might like," he suggests.
Gabe's face lights up like a fucking Christmas tree. William simultaneously wants to laugh and take advantage of his enthusiasm, so he does both. Gabe opens for him immediately, his tongue exploring William's mouth like he's been wanting to do this for weeks, like he didn't just do this two days ago. His hands get with the program next, sliding past the waistband of William's pajama pants to slide over William's ass, and oh, they didn't do this two days ago.
"This game," William begins, but it gets lost somewhere in Gabe's mouth. Gabe pulls back to lay kisses along William's jawbone, so he begins again. "This game has one rule." Gabe makes an inquisitive noise as his teeth find William's collarbone, and then bucks his hips up justthere so that William has to swallow a gasp. "You have to be quiet," he finishes.
"How quiet?" Gabe whines. William just shakes his head and puts one finger over Gabe's lips. Gabe sucks William's finger into his mouth and stares at him in silent challenge as he sweeps his tongue across.
William pulls his hand free to work on the button on Gabe's jeans, while Gabe slides his fingers teasingly around the waistband of William's pants and waits. As soon as he has the waist worked down low enough, Gabe pulls at the fabric of William's pants and then brings their hips crashing together. William bites his lip and focuses on staying quiet. He pulls Gabe's right hand up to his mouth and licks, then guides it back down. Gabe gets the idea, wrapping his hand around them both and using the other to guide William's hips. The friction is amazing, but he wants to help, so he presses the heel of his palm to Gabe's lips until Gabe opens and licks all the way to his fingertips. He falls into Gabe's rhythm, leaning forward to bite at his lips as they move together. Gabe makes a low, quiet noise at the back of his throat, and William stills his hand, squeezes. Gabe's eyes fly open and he sees William's stern look. He just smiles and bucks his hips into William's grip, and William moves, keeping their eyes locked in a challenge. They lean forward in unison, continuing their heated kiss from earlier, but this time they both keep their eyes open.
William reaches the edge first, throwing his head back and feeling the cry catch in his throat. Gabe pulls him through it, then follows, failing quite spectacularly to silence his moan. William is too sleepy and sated to really care, and probably no one heard him, so it's fine. "Game over, I win," he mumbles into Gabe's lips, feeling the pull of his smile.
"Just because I break the rules doesn't mean I don't win," Gabe counters. William shrugs; he really doesn't care if anyone won or who it was. He wanders off long enough to get tissues, which only minimally clean them up, but it'll have to do for now. He prods Gabe to stretch out on the couch, then lies on top of him and surrenders to the pull of sleep. Before he is completely gone, Gabe's arm twitches, which always happens when he's asleep. William smiles into his neck, and then falls asleep.
******
The tour ends, and William finds himself struggling to stick with a "normal" schedule during the hiatus. He's in front of his TV, watching a show on the Game Show Network around that time that balances between late night and early morning when his phone rings.
"You too?" William asks in lieu of a greeting.
"I can't sleep, man," Gabe says. His voice is scratchy, so he probably hasn't tried to use it in several hours.
"Did you call me to talk about it?" William asks, smiling.
"Yes," Gabe says in fake earnestness. "It's like I can't breathe when you're not here, Billvy. It's like I can't eat."
Of course, he says this with his mouth obviously full. "It sounds like you're coping."
"It's like I can't eat, though. Like all the pizza in the world won't fill this hole you left in me."
"There's a joke about holes in there somewhere, but it's far too early to make it."
"It's never too early for jokes about -- holy shit! You didn't tell me Name That Tune was on! I fucking love this show."
"Gabe," William starts to protest, but then Gabe shouts the answer to the next song, and they both start singing the songs that come up.
William finds himself singing a really old, really slow song when Gabe interrupts. "Fuck, I'm falling asleep." He sounds so surprised that William has to smile.
"Hang up before you drive up your phone bill, asshole," William tells him.
Gabe laughs. "Fuck you," he says. After a pause, he adds, "No really, next time I see you..."
"Yeah, uh huh, sweet dreams," William responds. He pauses, and then says, "No really, think like chocolate..."
Gabe makes an appreciative noise. "I might find myself in Chicago next week..."
William laughs quietly. "I'll buy the Red Bull."
THE END