La Maison 5: Darkness (Complete: mxm BDSM)

Chapter 5.3

A/N: okay, sweet angel-pies... just remember that I love you

There is a content warning at the bottom of the chapter if you feel the need

The morning was a strange repeat of the day before. Gabriel opened his eyes sluggishly, his limbs feeling heavy. It crossed his mind he probably didn't actually need two of the pills. Maybe Sawyer's recommendation came of what he needed, and he was much bigger than Gabriel with a lot of dense muscles. He reached for his phone, biting his lip when he realized he'd slept for twelve hours again.

He shifted listlessly onto his other side, letting out a yelp when he saw Henry still in bed beside him. Henry never slept so late, so maybe he was here on purpose, so they could talk, and sort all these misunderstandings out...

Gabriel peered closer. Henry hadn't woken when he'd made a noise, and he was really the lightest sleeper. He looked peacefully asleep, eyes closed, hair fluffed against the pillow. Except...except, when Gabriel forced his still sleepy eyes to focus, there was nothing. No sound of the huff of sleeping breath. No movement under eyelids or t-shirt.

The adrenaline hit him with force, allowing him to scrabble up onto his knees, leaning over Henry. He was seeking those things harder now. Surely he was mistaken – it was just the grogginess of the pills tricking his senses. But even the bright sparks in his mind now weren't allowing him to conjure up things that simply weren't there. Henry wasn't breathing. He wasn't asleep.

He barely heard the 911 operator, questions coming through a fog of uncontrolled emotion. He managed to drizzle out the address, and Henry's name and his own. He sat on his knees, drowning but unmoving for an unknown length of time, staring at what used to be the man he loved. He knew he was gone. Henry had never accepted silly, childish posturing so there was no point in hiding behind fantasy now.

When he heard banging on the door, Gabriel moved in a daze, opening it without a single thought to safety, wordlessly pointing the jumpsuited techs towards the bedroom. They were shouting staccato instructions at each other, but Gabriel stood in the living room – facing the bedroom but not seeing anything but vague blurs moving past, pushing things into the room and out again.

He came to only when someone stood right in front of him, a firm hand on his biceps.

"Hey, sweetie, can I call someone for you?"

"Where are you taking him?"

"He didn't make it," she said with a little surprise in her voice – as if she thought Gabriel had expected he'd miraculously come back to life between his call and now.

"I know. I- I suppose I'll have to organize some things."

"Are you his next of kin?"

"I think I'm on all his details. He does- didn't speak to anyone from his family."

"Okay, here." She held a clipboard, waiting for him to numbly sign his name before handing him a business card, and he had to suck in a sharp breath to stop the mildly hysterical giggle that threatened him out of nowhere. A business card. As if this were some kind of transaction. She might ask him for a Yelp review next. But he took it without looking at the thick black writing, and she smiled weakly before disappearing out of the door.

So much for her checking he was okay and had someone with him. But she was busy. It wasn't her job – not like Henry had made it his job to take care of Gabriel. To make sure the darker side of life didn't touch him.

There was only one person Gabriel knew who seemed willing to take on that role now, and he'd unlocked his phone and dialed Sawyer before he had chance to think too hard.