I really liked the concept, but I don't understand how Ryan hurt Gabe. In the story, it says Ryan knows that William will have to hurt Ryan and then become Ryan {who is now Gabe,} but I don't see how Ryan hurt Gabe, I just...don't get it.
One of them has to hurt the other and Ryan knows he can't hurt William.
I really liked the concept, but I don't understand how Ryan hurt Gabe. In the story, it says Ryan knows that William will have to hurt Ryan and then become Ryan {who is now Gabe,} but I don't see how Ryan hurt Gabe, I just...don't get it. I did like how much there was to this--all the descriptions and explanations and story--that was wonderful. I liked that dialogue didn't dominate. My favorite lines:
Four if you counted Gabe, but no one was.
And he realized then that no matter what Ryan was wearing, what he wasn’t, whether he had just come out of a shower, if it was right after sex, no matter what . . . Ryan would never be exposed completely to William. Ever.
It took William a moment to remember how to understand words.
This one is really hard to some up. It's, like... beautiful in that really morbid way.
There was nothing after supper on Sundays, nothing but upstairs.
And if he would have realized what that meant at that moment . . . well, it really wouldn’t have mattered much. It wouldn’t have stopped anything. Not really.
Ryan and William went to wash their hands after they were done eating and Ryan pulled his gloves on after he buttoned his jacket, telling William to button his or he’d catch a cold and he did not want to stop at Target to pick up Sudafed, thank you very much.
I rather like it. It's slightly over 4500 words and a oneshot. Let me know what you think please.