When You Do Your Very Worst (It Feels the Best) 002
Summary: William's moved to Cambridge to live with Adam and he meets Gabe at his new school.
Disclaimer: If this were real, would I even be here?
"William," Adam called. Will had abandoned the glaring because it was doing nothing. He'd turned back to his notebook, only his words were sloppy and resentful now.
William's head snapped up at the call of his name and he hoped Adam was calling to a different William. He may not have hung out with Adam for the past two months, but there was plenty of talking through the door to him, so William knew his voice.
Adam was there, his arms still around that boy. Adam was sitting on the pinic table and the Latino boy was sitting on the actual bench. Adam waved William over and William knew he couldn't just ignore him. Adam was a very persistent person. With a sigh, William stuffed his books back into his bag and hiked the sleeves of his sweater up to his elbows on his way to Adam's table.
There were a few other people there too. William couldn't really call them preps because they all had the same dress code, but they had that attitude that would get them labeled that way. William wondered why Adam hung out with them. Then he wondered if Adam and his obviously boyfriend were like them.
"William," Adam greeted warmly. William stopped with at least two feet between him and Adam. "This," Adam turned his gaze down to the tall Latino boy. "Is Gabe," he finished, trailing his fingers from Gabe's shoulder to his neck and back. Gabe sneered and looked William up and down appreciatively; ignoring the polite nod William had given.
"How do you know Adam?" Gabe asked.
At the same time Adam said, "Why don't you sit," and patted the spot on his other side.
William sighed, relieved he wouldn't have to sit beside Gabe. He sat up on the table beside his cousin thing and returned the smile Adam sent him.
"W- We're, uh . . . cousin . . t- twice re- remove-"
"It's a long story," Adam supplied, smiling down at Gabe again, silently telling him not to make fun of William's stutter. It wasn't like he could help it.
Someone called Adam's name and he looked up to greet them. Gabe leant forward and smirked knowingly at William.
William swallowed, audibly if it hadn't been so loud in the quad. The second bell rang and many of the students hurried to get to their third period class. William checked his schedule again, he had break this hour. Adam didn't, apparently, because he was packing up his books. William's schedule told him he had lunch after this hour and the fact that Gabe wasn't moving except to hand Adam a book told him this was Gabe's break too.
Fuck.
"William, you have break now?" Adam asked, smiling curiously. William nodded reluctantly. "Great! You can keep Gabey company," he grinned, clapping his hand down on William's shoulder. William forced a smile and nodded.
"Sure."
"Good," Adam smiled. He released William and William resisted the urge to run the other way. Adam turned to Gabe and hugged him quickly, kissing him chastely. William didn't mean to stare, didn't even want to, but he did. When Adam pulled back Gabe was smiling blissfully and William thought Gabe didn't look to scary that way. Adam removed his hand from Gabe's neck, blushing slightly as he glanced at William. "See ya," he murmured to the two boys, squeezing Gabe's hand one last time before heading toward the halls. William watched Adam go and when he was inside, stared at his shoes.
"Hey," Gabe said rather softly; he'd scooted over so he was sitting beside William's feet. William looked up surprised. "I won't tell Adam about your offer if you don't," he smirked.
William blushed deep crimson and Gabe grinned. "I- I won't," he mumbled. "S- Sorry," he added. "Bad day, I guess."
"First day at a new school, I get it," Gabe said. "I don't even like it here. Hell, I'd leave if I didn't have Adam, y'know?"
No, William didn't know, but he nodded anyway. "I've got lunch next," William said, attempting to not let an awkward silence occur. "What about you?"
"Same," Gabe smiled. "We're both sophomores, so our schedules will be pretty similar," he explained. "Though you weren't in my Geometry class first hour, though?" he mused aloud.
"I'm in Calculus," he explained, smiling lightly.
"Ah, you're smart, then," Gabe chuckled. William shrugged and Gabe climbed up to sit on the table beside William. "So we have to be friends, okay?"
"Alright. . ."
"Adam hasn't let me over to the house all summer because you were there," he laughed. "He thinks we won't get along."
William immediately wants to make a sarcastic comment because, hello, hadn't they just had a shout at each other in Biology. "I can get along with anyone," William defended quietly. "Adam. . . We just don't know each other. . Like, at all," William explained.
"Yea?" Gabe looked over to him curiously. "Why's that?"
William sighed and began to tell Gabe his story. How he lived in Barrington all his life until last year when his Dad got sick of him and swore that if he wasn't out of his house soon that he'd start beating him. So William's mother sent him to live with Adam, here, in Cambridge.
Gabe sympathized, which William didn't think looked right on the tall boy. Then he told William about Adam. He told William that Adam always has cheerios for breakfast and he doesn't go anywhere without his cell phone, that Adam only takes showers every other day, that he hates any green food or candy, he afraid of spiders like you wouldn't believe, and that he, duh, is gay.
William changes the topic immediately because he does not want Gabe asking him if he's gay too because, fuck, William just doesn't know the answer to that.
Their lunch bell rang and they moved easily toward the cafeteria, still talking about Adam and William. After they'd gotten their food and made their way back to the quad to eat, William realized they hadn't said a word about who Gabe was, besides Adam boyfriend of almost six months.
"So . . . What about you?" William asked hesitantly.
"Hmm?" Gabe looked up with his sandwich still half in his mouth.
William smiled amusedly. "We've talked about me and Adam; what about you?" he asked again.
"Oh, I'm nothing," Gabe said quickly, setting his sandwich down. "Just Adam's boyfriend," he mumbled.
William knew Gabe wasn't 'just Adam's boyfriend,' but he didn't press the subject. He ate his ham sandwich in silence and watched the students around them, wondering who Gabe really was.