The Gateway

Gabriel

Waking up the next morning to his roommate standing over him wasn't exactly what Adam was expecting... The man in his early twenties ran a hand through his curly blond hair. He had a nice even tan and well defined features that were only accented by the stubble on his face. Gabriel had the body of a model yet had a tendency to hide his well defined body under various articles of clothing that were too large for him. His green eyes shone with concern and he bit down lightly on his bottom lip as he noticed the open bottle of painkillers that was currently spilled on the floor.

     "What happened this time?" Gabriel asked gently, picking up the bottle and setting it back on the bedside table. His voice was soothing and he had a tendency to draw people in without realizing it. Adam knew that he paled in comparison both physically and mentally.

"Juste un autre mal de tête. (Just a headache)" Adam mumbled, his voice cracking a bit from dehydration. His back popped as he sat up in bed and stretched. A quick movement of his wrist showed none of the pain from last night.

"English please?" Gabriel asked with a smirk, standing up and putting his hands in the pockets of the grey sweatshirt that he wore today. It wasn't uncommon for the Frenchman to forget that Gabriel didn't understand him.

"Sorry Gabe." Adam stood up and ran a hand through his tangled brown hair. It wasn't unusual for him to have incidents like this. The nightmares also just seemed to tag along for the ride.

"Does anything hurt?" Gabriel asked softly, running his warm fingers over Adam's wrist gently.

Adam had never quite understood why Gabriel always looked after him even though he didn't have to. The blond haired man had been quick to offer Adam a place to stay right after they ran into each other at the coffee shop where Gabriel had worked. Gabriel had known when he took Adam into his home that he was currently in and out of jobs as well as struggling to find a place to stay full time. Now, a few years later, the two were like brothers.

Adam brushed Gabriel's hand off of him with a chuckle, "I'm fine Gabe. You just worry too much."

Gabriel smiles lightly. "Well I'm allowed to considering that you're always doing stupid stuff."

"No I'm not!" Adam whined and proceeded to tackle Gabriel to the floor as the two of them wrestled playfully. Gabriel always seemed to go easy on him despite Adam's annoyance and assurances that he could hold his own without being babied by him. Today though, Gabriel's movements seemed more choppy, the smile on his face forced.

After a brief struggle, Adam managed to wrap his arms around Gabriel's neck to hold him in place. The two of them were breathing a bit heavily as Gabriel tapped out.

"You're getting stronger..." Gabriel mumbled to himself as he pulled himself to his feet. For once, the smile he wore faded away completely and his eyes became a bit unfocused.

"Gabe...?" Adam stood up after him and rested a hand on his shoulder, jolting Gabriel out of his trance-like state. He jumped before smiling once again.

"G-Good job Adam." He said wearily, glancing around the room at a stack of papers that had been knocked off of an oak desk in the corner of Adam's room. Drawings of the demons that had been haunting Adam both in and out of consciousness, a curse that he could not seem to escape from, constantly dragging him down to hell with them. Whether he was insane or not was still unknown to him.

Gabriel bit his lower lip nervously before picking up a sketch that rested at his feet. A demon, dripping with a black, blood like substance, stared back at him from the paper. It's claws were extended as if it was trying to break free of the paper and on its face was a look of pure agony and fury. Gabriel was quick to scoop up the papers with shaking hands, his heart pounding.

"Y-You're getting pretty good at drawing these things, Adam. They almost look real." Now Adam knew that something was wrong. In all the time that he had known Gabriel, he had never once acted with such fear and uncertainty and to be honest, it was starting to scare him more than the demons ever had.

"You don't have to clean those up for me Gabe. Just leave them there for now. I'll get them later." He reached for Gabriel's hand and gently tugged the drawings out of his grasp before placing them on the desk, his wrist starting to throb once again.

Gabriel glanced up at Adam for a second, managing to avoid eye contact. For some reason, Gabriel would never look him directly in the eyes, his gaze always a bit off centered. At this point, he never tended to notice it, always focused on more urgent problems such as getting a job and surviving another day with his visions of demons becoming more frequent.

Seconds later, a clean t-shirt hit him in the face as well as other assorted articles of clothing. Gabriel stood by the door now, his familiar smile back once again. Whatever had happened earlier seemed to be over.

"Get dressed please. You're coming to work with me today." Gabriel's hand lingered on the silver door handle for a few seconds before he walked out of the room, his footsteps becoming fainter as he closed the door behind him. Minutes later, the familiar scent of coffee began to fill the small apartment.

***
First of all, I'm so sorry for not updating sooner! I've been really busy with school lately as I'm doing state testing. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed that chapter! ^^

-AngelOfDeath1819