You Come Along Because I Love Your Face

Gabe had lost track of time; he was too busy doing things for Ryan to keep track of anything, really. All he knew was that there were ten singers left in the competition… and that as each week had past, he was closer and closer to losing his job. He had already gotten plenty of threats from the network, saying that he would get laid off if he didn’t step it up. And Gabe didn’t even need to turn down press anymore; the network was letting Ryan do all of the talking. When Ryan wasn’t busy making him his bitch, Gabe would lay down on the hotel’s floor and drink. He didn’t even have time to hang out with William. And when he did, he was either too drunk or too hung-over to keep the conversation alive. Gabe could tell William was starting to fret over this. He knew that he was the only person William had, and the boy couldn’t afford another person walking out of his life. But Gabe knew, deep down, that it was over. He had never felt any real strong, romantic emotion towards William. Just the same lust he had over any other kid… and even that had died out completely, ever since he started following Ryan’s commands. But it confused Gabe; usually, he’d just screw a kid, and then completely block them out of his life. But something was making Gabe stay with William. Something that wasn’t lust, or romance, or pity, or guilt, or anything of the sort. It was sort of like he cared about William in the most innocent of ways. He didn’t see the boy as just another sex object to fuck and take advantage of anymore, he saw him as a person. A person he wanted to take care of, to love. This was an emotion Gabe had never felt. (Which wasn’t surprising.) And he knew William didn’t see him as a romantic interest anymore, either. He had made that quite obvious this whole time… especially when Gabe was trying to pressure him into having sex. Maybe after this whole mess was over with, he could look after William. William’s parents obviously didn’t give him the proper care, but Gabe could. He was sure William would like that. But for now, he had to make it through the rest of the season without going crazy.

***
“Gabe, get me a new shirt. I got maple syrup on this one,” Ryan pointed at his flower printed shirt, and indicted the spot where he had spilled the syrup. Gabe had to squint in order to see it.
“God damnit, Ryan, no one can see it!”
“Uh, uh, uh, you need to do what I say…” Ryan stretched his words out very slowly, in an annoying sing-song voice that made Gabe want to slap him. Gabe turned on his heel, and headed off to fetch Ryan’s bag full of clothing from the changing room, flipping Ryan off as he went.
“So then, I was all, ‘Gabe, get off of that poor boy!’” Gabe returned from his trek to the dressing room, with the bag in hand, when he caught Ryan talking with Pete and a few random crew members.
“Um, what are you talking about…?” Gabe inquired, almost in a whisper.
“Nothing…” Ryan replied. Gabe grabbed Ryan by the collar of his shirt, and dragged him down the hallway. He heard Pete and the crew snickering behind his back.
“We had a fucking deal! What the fuck do you think you’re doing? You lying son of a bitch!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! I only told a few people. Just for laughs. No one will find out. It’s cool.”
“We had a deal!” Gabe yelled again.
“Shut up, Gabe! No one will know!”
“Easy for you to say, you fucking liar,” Gabe raised his fist, and struck Ryan’s face. He felt the crunch of cartilage beneath his fingers, and sticky, red blood began to ooze from Ryan’s nose. Ryan’s mouth fluttered open in surprise, and he grabbed his face.
“Oh, now you’ve done it,” Ryan ran off, pushing Gabe out of his way.
“I will kill that fucking bitch,” Gabe cursed, and stormed down the hallway. He ran into the dressing room, and pulled out a bottle of wine from his bag—he thought it might come in handy. He plopped down on the floor, and began chugging it from the bottle. He didn’t even care anymore.
After Gabe was completely drunk, he grabbed different things around the room—like guitars, hair straighteners, and anything else at his disposal—and began to break everything he could find. Gabe eventually became too tired to cause any more damaged. He had already shattered the mirrors, ripped the doors off of their hinges, and broken everything in sight. He collapsed in a pile of broken glass, only to soon be up to his feet again after the door opened. Staring back at him was a horrified William; his mouth hanging open, and his forehead wrinkled with worry. Before the boy could run away to seek help, Gabe grabbed onto his arm.
“Let go, Gabe! You’re drunk and you’re hurt! I’m going to go get help,” William tried to break free again, but Gabe only tightened his grip. “Stop it!” William commanded, but Gabe dragged him into the last stall, the stall where Bert and Quinn had been making out. “What are you do—“ William was cut off when Gabe’s lips met his own. “Quit it!” He was beginning to realize what this was escalating into. William’s cries were muffled by more of Gabe’s sloppy kisses. “Why are you doing this?” he asked quietly, but Gabe didn’t answer. He pushed William against the wall, and continued to forcefully kiss him. Gabe’s kisses got harder and harder, and William’s lips started to feel dry and bruised. Then, Gabe pulled off William’s shirt. “I don’t want to do this, Gabe! You’re scaring me. Please, stop,” William was close to tears. “Stop it, and I won’t yell for help. I won’t tell anyone,” Gabe wasn’t listening. He shakily undid William’s belt, and pulled down his pants and boxers. He didn’t want to, but he knew he had to; William yelled for help as loud as he could. Even when Gabe took off his own clothes, and pushed William against another wall, he kept on yelling, even though he was too scared to even make a run for it. But when Gabe finally silenced William with a good slap, and began to violate William in the most unpleasant way possible, William couldn’t utter another word. Just when he thought all hope was lost, he heard the crunch of glass and running feet.
“Get off of him, you filthy bastard,” William heard Ryan’s voice boom, and he no longer felt Gabe’s unwanted body against him. “Come on, someone call the police and fetch some blankets,” Ryan ordered, and William heard more people scamper out. He opened his eyes, and saw that Pete had grabbed Gabe, making sure that he couldn’t run away. He spotted Brendon—who had returned from wherever he went—handing some blankets to Ryan, who then wrapped one around his shoulders. William was too relieved to even feel exposed and embarrassed. Ryan tossed a blanket to Pete, who then roughly slung it around Gabe.
“I’ll watch Gabe with Patrick and Brendon. You go take William somewhere else,” Pete said to Ryan, who did as he was told. Just as William (escorted by Ryan) left the changing room, he saw two police officers rush in. He had to strain his neck in order to see what happened next, even though he knew he didn’t want to.

Ryan let William wear the spare set of clothing he had brought (that he was going to wear after the maple syrup spill), and helped him clean up in the washroom. William looked into the mirror, and saw that his eyes were puffy and red, and that his cheeks had tears and snot running down them. He hadn’t even realized that he had been crying so much.
“I-I didn’t mean to get him in trouble,” William stammered, still in the washroom with Ryan.
“William, don’t you dare blame yourself. Gabe Saporta has gone officially crazy,” Ryan bit his tongue, and rolled his eyes. “You know. Maybe I should’ve stopped your hanky-panky altogether, when I first found out. Something like this was bound to happen.”
“Ryan, you can’t blame yourself either. I actually saw it coming. Gabe always wanted to have sex, but I said no. It’s all he cared about. And, deep down, I just wanted to believe that he was a good guy. I-I thought that, maybe, he cared about me. I thought that, maybe, at least one person cared about me.”
“Having a romantic relationship with a thirty-something year-old man was a bad idea from the start, kid.”
“But I was so star struck! And, I suppose you could call Gabe my ‘celebrity crush’. But after spending some time together, I just wanted to be his friend. But he obviously didn’t…”
“Hey, it’s okay. I promise he’ll be locked up, and you’ll never see that monster again.”
“Ryan, why are you being so nice?” William asked, in all honestly.
“Do you want me to be mean?”
“I guess not.”
“Come on, I’ll drive you to the emergency room to make sure you’re okay,” Ryan extended his hand, and William took it.