One Day, Robots Will Cry

Soon after the small tiff, William fell asleep with his arms wrapped around Gabe's rib cage. Gabe held onto his much to skinny friend, still fighting tears. So, all those things he said were true, but what did he do to deserve it all thrown in his face? William was drunk, tequila wasn't the best idea. He knew the exact buttons to push.

As badly as the blows had hurt, Gabe still held onto William and stroked his hair.William wasn't just his best friend, but a lost puppy with a broken leg that needed to be cared for. Except in William's case, it was a broken heart.

It was after 3 in the morning and infomercials were on the TV. From the beginning, he should've known alcohol wasn't the greatest idea. But, William was never mean before, just got really upset like at the beginning of the fight. He would cry over everything and Gabe would pick up the pieces as best that he could, being just as drunk. Both of them would be drunk enough, that afterwards, they would sing bad 80's karaoke.

He ran his fingers through William's soft brown hair.

"Gabe..." William said quietly.

"Si, niño." Gabe responded moving his hand.

"You can't sleep sitting up like that," William said getting off of the other boy, "get comfortable." He looked at the clock, "Holy hell, it's 3:36. I'm sorry I fell asleep like that..."

"It's okay, cariño, you're pretty toasted," Gabe said standing. He stood up and stretched before removing his belt and his shirt. He curled up on the right side of his bed and motioned for William to lie down too.

William crawled under the covers and curled up facing away from Gabe. "I don't know what came over me earlier..."

"You were drunk and in a pissy mood. No hard feelings," Gabe replied.

"I know you don't like to open up about stuff..." William said.

Gabe sighed, "Not really."

"What makes you want to drink with all the damage it's caused in your life?" William questioned, then turned on his back.

Gabe narrowed his eyes, "I don't know..."

"You know, you're only sixteen," William said, "if you quit now you'll never become addicted."

"I'll quit...after the party tomorrow," Gabe grinned.

William rolled his eyes.

"Oh, lighten up, monada," Gabe said. He got under the covers with William and grabbed his arm.

William turned his head and smiled. "Just be careful..."

"Oh Dios, what's gonna happen? It's at Jessica's house," Gabe said.

"Still, people could crash, like they have before," William said, "Drug dealers, gang bangers..."

Gabe let out a small laugh, "Jesus, William, you always think of the worse. It'll be alright."

"Remember the last party you went to?" William said staring at the ceiling.

Yes, of course he did. It was nearly 4 am and Gabe was down in the basement, alone, smoking weed. Some asshole pulled a knife on him. Having no money, he had to give the guy his shoes. "That was being at the wrong place, at the wrong time."

William lifted his eyebrows, "And the one I went to."

Gabe bit his lip, as the memories of that one returned. William had of course, been drinking, he got in one of his depressed moods and wondered outside to the backyard. These three jocks thought they were cool and decided to taunt William, one of them put his cigarette out on William's arm. They shoved him around until Gabe and Pete came to the rescue. It resulted in the guys having to be hauled off by about six different people, after punches were thrown.

"Bad luck?" Gabe offered.

"We're living in bad luck," William said.

Gabe rolled his eyes, "Seriously, niño..."

William smiled a little, "I just want you to be careful."

"Yes, mamá..." Gabe said.

"Hey, I just care. Don't taunt me for caring."

Gabe smiled, and kissed William on the cheek. "Quit worrying."

"I think I'm going to make a habit out of coming over here on Fridays. Then, we can make a habit of not drinking every Friday..." William said.

"Yeah, you're right," Gabe said.

William turned facing Gabe and nuzzled his face into his neck. "How can you keep all that stuff bottled up?"

"Like you said, alcohol..." Gabe muttered.

"Unhealthy...If you ever need anyone, you have me..." William said in a sort of groggy, dream-like voice.

"Well, if I ever need to get it out, I'll come to you," Gabe said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, of course, monada. Whatever makes you happy," Gabe said and kissed William's forehead.

"I understand if you don't want to be all affectionate and stuff in public," William said quietly.

"It's never you. Just remember that," Gabe said, "It's me..." he mumbled at the end. "I'm way to stuck on my image to show how much I care about you."

"You're being very...honest..." William yawned.

"Yes, well, it's nearly 4 am, I get that way late."

"I know," William said.

Gabe let his arms fall around William as he slowly drifted into a dream state.

Suddenly they were at school. Gabe's arm wrapped around William's hip as they walked down the hall to class. Pete looked at him disgusted at breakfast. People stared at then and whispered like they couldn't see, gawked and gossiped like it wouldn't get back around to them. The constant chatter he couldn't take it. Mr. Wright addressed him as 'faggot' more then twice throughout the class. Nothing else was able to be understood.

In the locker room, a bunch of jocks cornered William and took turns punching him in the stomach. 'Faggot' they kept repeating, as Gabe stood in the background, his eyebrows furrowed. 'Gabe...' William's voice said weakly, 'Gabe...Gabe...'

"Gabe!" William exclaimed shaking his friend.

Gabe's eyes shot open, and he was back in his room. William was lying next to him, looking at him with wide eyes. "¿Qué?" Gabe questioned sharply.

"You were shaking and talking..." William said, "I couldn't understand you, you were mostly speaking Spanish."

Gabe ran his hands through his hair. Good. "Was I? Gees, I don't even remember what I was dreaming..." he lied.

William looked oddly at him.