Catch

Gabe had never been in Will's room before. Sure, Will had been in Gabe's room a lot. The two of them had been in Ryan's room a lot while he wasn't there. They had been in plenty of hotel rooms, strangers' bedrooms, various bathrooms - a lot of places. But Gabe hadn't been in Will's room before.

It didn't strike him until he had pushed open the door and had Will up against the wall where he was - and that something was odd about it. Taking a step back, he released the boy from his grip and glanced around. His brow creased slightly in confusion, and he turned his gaze back to Will's face in search of an explanation.

Will's room, under any other circumstances, would be very plain. It was medium sized, with cream-coloured walls, a bed, a chest of drawers, clothes strewn on the ground and a table with various things spread across it. If that was all the room consisted of, it wouldn't have caught his attention at all. Finally being in here would have been an immense anti-climax.

From the ceiling hung dream catchers. Gabe wasn't sure how many, since every time he tried to count he lost the number and had to start all over again. They came in a whole rainbow of colours with different accessories. On some, chimes dangled and clanged together when jostled. On others there were feathers. Some had beads.

There were so many.

Will merely flushed slightly and made himself a little smaller.

Gabe had to admit, this was the last thing he expected to see when he walked into Will's room. He expected posters of an embarrassing band plastering the walls, or lyrics everywhere, or... something he had seen in someone else's room his age. If he walked into a ten year old's bedroom, he may expect to see a dream catcher or two. He never expected anyone to have this many, let alone Will. His very own Will, who had a fixation he was never even aware of.

"Why?"

Will's eyes raised up from the ground, first focusing on Gabe for a few curious seconds, then shifting to take in the dream catcher jungle as if seeing it for the first time.

He swallowed deliberately and shrugged, trying to come off as casual. "They help me sleep."

Gabe blinked and tilted his head upwards again. He chewed at his lip. "There's a lot."

"Yeah, I know."

"Why?"

Will couldn't help but let an expression of annoyance slip onto his face at Gabe's bluntness. He sounded like a child.

"The more there are, the safer I am."

"From?"

"You," Will spat, with a sarcastic edge.

Gabe frowned. "No need to be rude, I was just asking a question."

"Well they're dream catchers. What do you think they're there to save me from?"

Gabe couldn't make himself answer straight away, though he had tried. He got distracted by the look on Will's face, and the way his hand was wrapped around his forearm. Like Will was forcing himself to look up, though he wanted so bad to look anywhere else.

"Since when did you have nightmares?"

"Well, I don't, because they save me."

A snort escaped Gabe unintentionally, and instantly he knew he had done the wrong thing. Will's face seemed to break for a second, though he attempted to compose it as fast as possible.

"Let's go," Will whispered, reaching for Gabe's wrist. "We'll go to yours. It's nicer there anyway."

"Will, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," Gabe said quickly, his eyes widening. "They're real pretty, I swear. I don't think they're stupid. I'm sure they catch your nightmares."

"Don't, it is stupid."

"No, it's not."

"Gabe, look, I don't care. I'll take them down and maybe you can come back another time." Will was hovering in the doorway, still holding onto Gabe's wrist and trying to coax him out. "It's immature anyway."

Gabe couldn't deny that it had struck him as sort of juvenile when he had first saw them. It just reminded him so much of a young child being frightened by nightmares of lions and tigers and bears. Regardless to the fact that he partially agreed with Will's last statement, he couldn't help but feel he had tread on something terribly important. There was part of him inside that honestly thought that if Will took them down, he would be broken.

"Please, Will, please. I want to stay here with you tonight. And I want the dream catchers here too."

Will had exposed his soul. Gabe thought that was the right expression at least, and even if it wasn't it was true. Maybe this was his soul. Hundreds of pieces of it, separated to protect him.

Will sighed. "Fine."

Gabe couldn't resist a cocky smile as he focused on a blue dream catcher a foot away from him, with three metal chimes hanging down from the large circle. The middle was a web of thread, twisted in an intricate pattern. It was so intriguing, he had to admit. Will trudged past him, watching him for a few moments, before continuing past and collapsing on the bed. Gabe inspecting the dream catcher with curiosity. He reached forward, and prodded it with his middle finger.

He heard a sharp intake of breath.

"Will? What's wrong?" Gabe asked, startled as he noticed Will was staring at him with eyes as wide as a deer's.

"Y-you touched it."

Fuck. "No I didn't," Gabe responded quickly, taking a hurried step back and arming himself with an innocent smile.

"You did, the chimes are moving!" Will's voice was rising in pitch, and he seemed bordering on hysterical.

Gabe was confused, he had to admit.

"Well - so what if I did? Why does it matter?"

"You released all the nightmares!" Will accused. "Fuck, fuck!"

"Will, don't worry about it."

Will slowly lay himself down on his mattress, trying to control his breathing. Gabe watched his stomach rise and fall rapidly before shaking his head.

"Will, it'll be fine. It's just one little dream catcher, you've got so many others."

"I can't go to sleep tonight," Will mumbled to himself, forgetting Gabe was there.

"Yes you can." Time to be brutal. "Will, this doesn't mean anything. They don't catch nightmares. They don't do anything. They're just pretty, they're just decorations. You won't have a nightmare tonight, just like you haven't any other night."

Will shook his head quickly, but didn't offer anything else. He glanced around the room with a slightly dazed expression, his eyes first pausing on the various dream catchers hanging from the roof, then on Gabe, who was looking at him with dark eyes.

“Will,” he said, carefully. “Are you alright?”

“Why wouldn't I be?” Will responded quickly, pushing himself back up into a sitting position. He ran a finger down the side of his jaw, then shrugged. “I'm fine.”

Gabe arched an eyebrow and took a few steps closer to Will. Once in front of him, he grasped both of the man's forearms in his hands and inhaled quickly. “Are you alright?” he asked again.

Will fixed Gabe with an aggravated scowl and rolled his eyes. “I'm fine.”

There was silence for a few moments as Gabe continued to inspect Will closely with his head tilted slightly. When Will didn't falter, he sighed and took a step back.

“Well, that's good. Because, really, it doesn't matter. We'll sleep here tonight, you won't have any nightmares, okay? It doesn't matter.”

When Will didn't respond, Gabe went on, and now he managed to lift his lips into a smirk. “See, I'm sure that tonight you'll have sweet dreams.”

Gabe sat down beside Will and pushed himself back so that he was leaning against the wall with his feet dangling off the end of the bed. Will, who was sitting in the middle with his knees pulled up so that he could lean his elbows on them, glanced at him doubtfully.

“Believe me?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, I believe you.”

A few hours later, both of them were slumped over like puppets and gentle snores could be heard in the darkness. Will's fingers twitched and his brow furrowed before a low murmur escaped his lips. His mouth quirked into a frown and he made another noise, this one slightly louder and more agonised.

Gabe woke up when Will's fingernails dug into his skin and made him jerk into consciousness. At first he was confused, met with a blurry vision of hundreds of bats hanging from the ceiling, but as he blinked they morphed into the shadows of the many dream catchers that dominated the room.

He was about to fall back into slumber when Will's body jerked against him and made him alert once again. He recoiled from the motion, frightened, and tried to peer at Will's face in the darkness.

“Will?” he whispered, hoarsely, unsure if he really wanted to wake the other man. “Are you alright?”

He paused for a few moments, all too aware of how quiet the room was, until Will whimpered.

“Will, wake up,” he said, louder this time. He shook the boy's shoulders, at first gently, then more violently when he didn't respond. “Wake up. Come on, please?”

At last, just as Will's lip pulled up in disgust, his eyes fluttered open and he began to blink repeatedly. Almost instantly, tears filled his eyes and his mouth fell open, and he gaped at Gabe soundlessly.

“What – what, are you alright?” Gabe pulled Will closer to him, scrutinising his face for any clue of what had caused this.

Will sniffed and began to tremble slightly in Gabe's arms. “Gabe,” he gasped, sounding almost relieved, before fear began to leak into his voice. “G-Gabe, I had a n-nightmare.”

“It's alright, it's over now,” Gabe said quickly, glancing once again at the dream catchers he had woken up to. He swallowed and hugged Will tighter.

“W-will you stay up with me?” Will asked in a small voice. “I, uh – I don't wanna go back to sleep.”

“Yeah, 'course.” Gabe wiped what may have been either sweat or tears from Will's cheek with his thumb. “And – and tomorrow, I'll buy you another dream catcher, yeah?”