dream of demons while you sleep

<div align=center>William smiled a little, genuinely, for once, and pecked Gabriel affectionately on the forehead. Gabe was being sweet, William liked it when he was like this, he wondered if he was the only one that actually knew this side of Gabe. He was egotistical and rude the majority of the time, but in the presence of William he was more or less constantly on his best behavior. It was cute, really, like a dog trying to please his master. William reached one, wet hand up, and affectionately patted Gabe on the head. "I love you a lot." He admitted softly, "at least I'm pretty sure I do." It felt like love to him, at least.

William shuffled back from the stream of water when Gabe turned it back on, thanking him softly. He wanted to curl up in the water and go to sleep, it was warm and it made him feel clean. "Thank you for being my rock." He mumbled, yawning softly and leaning back against the edge of the bath. It was cold on his skin, and he winced a little. "Cold." He squeaked, tensing up a little, "get in the bath with me." He demanded, not that there was really enough space for that.</div>

<div align=center>It was more or less because of Gabe, this was the part of him that William liked best. The part that was sweet and didn't make stupid jokes and was a proper boyfriend. William's idea of love was disillusioned in his current state, he was all about romance and fairy tale love. He liked gifts and flowers, Gabe didn't often bring him things like that but for the most part he trailed after William and tended to agree with him on whatever he said. Gabe put up with far more than William did, if you looked at is as a whole. Bill's constant nagging and constant down periods were a lot for one person to deal with. But Gabriel seemed to be okay with it, and he went along with what William said and curled up next to him when he was feeling sad.

"Oh." William scrambled over the edge of the bath, deciding all of a sudden that he was done with the water, and shuffled across the bathroom to wrap himself in one of the towels that was there. He would have liked to go back to sleep, but he was a tad frightened that he'd dream again and wake up scared and flustered, and besides, they couldn't exactly get back in it for a little while. "I want to get dressed."</div>

<div align=center>A frown crossed the boy's face very briefly and he tucked a single strand of hair behind one of his ears. "I keep having bad dreams." He murmured, pulling his knees to his chest and nestling himself into the towel. "That was the worst dream I've ever had though." His voice dropped a few tones, until it was barely audible. He hadn't wanted to talk about it earlier, but his demeanor was calmer now and he'd stopped crying. His eyes flickered up to meet Gabe's, "I don't really know what it means." He'd never really looked into dreams and all that, he didn't really understand how they could mean things or anything like that.

William didn't mind borrowing Gabe's things, he did that often enough anyway. Gabe didn't really mind and if William returned them, he always returned them clean and ironed. It was cute, he probably would have made an awfully good homemaker. He was frightened to say anything more about what had obviously been a nightmare. It sounded childish in his head, he shouldn't have been scared of nightmares, not as his age anyway, at least that's what he thought. Shame was not something William liked to feel. "Am I childish?"</div>

<div align=center>William shook his head, his lips forming the word no, but it was devoid of any sound. Perhaps the way he'd reacted suggested that it had been the first he'd had, which made him feel even worse, he felt as though he nine years old all over again. Bill felt tiny, and there was nothing he could do about it. He bristled when Gabe asked him if he wanted to talk about what his dream would be about, he was more or less terrified to even think about it. Bill hadn't told Gabe about what had happened all that time ago. He was scared it'd frighten him.

He nodded, confirming that he did remember. Everyone is scared of something. William was scared of everything. Everything that was even slightly threatening he balked at and ran away from. "I'm scared of hurting people." He mumbled softly, "I'm scared of death." His voice dropped even more and he hid his face in his hands. He didn't want to talk about that, he was petrified of that and it wasn't his own death he was talking about. "I'm scared of the dark." He continued, "I'm scared of myself." He shrunk into himself a little more, his face still hidden.</div>

<div align=center>William shook his head, "you don't understand!" He retorted, bristling up just a little, though not in so much an aggressive way as it was fearful. When William looked in the mirror he didn't ever see himself as he should have done. He saw a caged animal. Anything could make him lash out right now. He felt like a loaded gun and everyone around him was playing Russian Roulette. He had to keep such a firm hold on himself that it was beginning to get difficult, he was beginning to lose his grip, and when he lost it, he was terrified as to who everything boiling up in his head would be unleashed on. Please not Gabe. Never Gabe. Anyone but him.

He slammed a fist against the wall, and tensed up again. "Not mine!" The tears came all over again and William found himself shivering helplessly in the corner of the bathroom. It's not other people hurting me I'm worried about. Gabe couldn't save William from himself. No matter how hard he tried. William was constantly alone in his own head and there was absolutely no way to pull him out of it. He didn't resist when Gabe pulled him close though, he probably needed the comfort right now.</div>