With his hands gripping the top of the black stall, his eyes locking on the words 'suck cunt' written in neon blue, he thought of breakfast. It was a rather anticlimactic thought given his current physical state but while he was almost entirely disconnected from the encounter the girl - the woman - sounded like she was enjoying herself. She squawked rather than moaned, perhaps that's what did it. He made up his mind to stop by his brother's for a bit of three a.m. breakfast and reached around her waist to help move things along. The woman slumped, almost hit her head on the toilet, then finally started breathing again.
"Oh my god!" she groaned, breathing haggardly and using the disgusting looking wall to push herself into a standing position. Gabe quickly tucked himself into his pants, not wanting her to see that he had not finished. He was not in the mood for another round. "I need that," she whispered still leaning against the wall covered in bodily fluids. She looked at him with a sort of dazed smile, saw that he was dressed, and scampered to do the same.
"Do you have a ride home?" he asked, pretending to be adjusting his belt. It really wasn't her fault that he found this encounter to be so anticlimactic. It was a common pattern for him. He did all the work to get something done and, in the end, he would find that he didn't even want it anymore. It was a feeling he had come to depend upon.
"Erm, yeah. I'll - I'll just call my flatmate, have her pick me up," the woman stuttered. He had made her feel awkward maybe because he had dressed so quickly. He nodded, knowing that whatever he wanted to say to make her feel better would only wind up making things worse, and left her in the stall, not looking back.
Gabe Pevensie's life was fucked up and he knew it. He knew it since he was 11 years old. He knew it as he left the pub he couldn't remember the name of, drunk and completely flaccid. He knew it when he stepped off the curb and sent himself through the suffocating tunnel to apparate on his brother's front porch at three a.m. with only breakfast in mind. He knew it especially now because this same brother was the brother that became a therapist and because Jason Pevensie thoroughly believed in the shit he spewed he had taken on Gabe as a patient putting his license at jeopardy. Why the hell would he do that if he wasn't completely fucked?
It was a question that Gabe repeatedly asked himself whenever he thought of his brother. He never managed to summon the courage to actually ask Jason though. It was an answer he already knew and one he didn't want to hear so the question remained unspoken.
Gabe stumbled through the door, tripped over his nephew's shoes, cursed, and made for the kitchen with his stomach grumbling.
Step one: fried eggs.
Perhaps in his drunken state, Gabe didn't realize how much noise he was making. Or maybe he didn't realize that Jason, Mr father of the year, Mr successful career, Mr white picket fence with a trophy wife, would be sound asleep at three a.m. and be alarmed at the irregular noise level for the time of night but when Jason came bursting into the kitchen, swinging a bat, Gabe's mind went straight to the gutter.
He caught the bat before it hit his head, not registering the pain in his palm, grabbed the attacker's throat and held him firmly against the wall. His hand slapped the wall searching for something, he sputtered trying to form some words. Gabe tried to think of a way he could take out his wand without releasing his attacker or the blunt weapon he had come at him with. He slammed the attacker's hand against the wall trying to get him to release the bat.
The lights came on and Jason's face, purple under the force of his hold, stared back at him.
"Fuck!" Gabe yelled, throwing "Jason" against the wall. The bat clattered to the floor, "Jason" slumped, coughing and gasping for breath. "Get out of my head," Gabe growled, taking his wand in hand.
"I'm not. It's Jason! It's Ja-" he coughed violently. The sound of Gabe's sizzling egg came back. It was burning by the smell of it. Still, he couldn't move. He could scarcely breathe. What had he done? That could have been anyone. It could have been Jason's wife or his kid.
"What happened, Gabe?" Jason asked gently, on his feet now. He was looking at Gabe steadily neither angry or pitying. Gabe thought he was going to vomit.
"I…. I'm sorry," he said, already backing away. "I have to go."
"No, Gabe," Jason reached out to him. Gabe turned and walked quickly. "Gabe. Gabriel!" Jason caught his arm but Gabe stood stubbornly with his back to him.
"Tor, it's alright. Go back to bed," Jason said, calmly. Tori, Jason's wife, stood at the top of the stairs, hidden behind a wall apart from her face. It wasn't until she was gone did Jason release his arm. "Do you need air."
Gabe inhaled sharply through the nose, held it for a moment, then released slowly. Jason wasn't going to let him go so easily. This encounter required another session.
"I'm not in the mood, Jay," Gabe said firmly but for some reason, he didn't move forward. It would be so easy now to walk out that door. Jason would never be able to catch up to him.
"I'm not leaving you alone tonight," Jason returned, just as firmly. "Not after that. Besides you smell. Like sex and booze. It's only going to get you arrested."
Gabe chuckled at the thought. The Muggle police would never be able to hold him and the Ministry didn't care as long as he kept his wand to himself. Still, he turned away from the door and let Jason clap him on the shoulder.
"Scared the piss out of me, you know that," Jason said, intending to joke but it only made Gabe feel guiltier. "Being a wizard didn't make you forget how to use a phone?"
"Being a wizard made phones obsolete," Gabe muttered.
Jason made some crack about muggles being self-sufficient while he made Gabe his breakfast. He told him about Tori's work at her office - they worked with rats and that's about where Gabe tuned out. He told him about his son, Jack, starting school - apparently, he disliked his teacher because she wouldn't let him colour during nap time. He talked about his work with the AGLP - he was frustrated because they were reluctant to accept his help but was confident he'd wear them down eventually.
"To be fair, I don't think they doubt me personally. I think they're just scared. They've gone through a lot, you know?" Jason paused to look over his shoulder at Gabe. He was checking to see if Gabe was really listening. He was but he didn't know how to tell him that, he didn't even know what he AGLP was. Then Jason started reading Gabe's facial expression, except Jason reading facial expressions wasn't like normal people reading facial expressions. Jason could read people like any good legilimens and better than any average one. Gabe looked away which was probably more telling than the blank stare he initially wore.
"So, you haven't been to work for a while," he prompted. Bing! Bing! Bing! Ten points for Jason Pevensie. "Why's that?"
The reason why he hadn't been to work was the same reason why he hadn't seen Jason in, oh, four weeks now. Two weeks ago, he had been chained to a bed on the Lestrange estate. Two weeks ago, he had been tortured daily for information. Two weeks ago, he had been surprised that Dumbledore had sent a rescue team for him. Why waste the resources, the muscle? He was an essential member of the Order. He was family and friend to many members and none would stand by and let this happen. He needed to take some time off to recover. He could take as much time as he needed because they had some new recruits coming in so they could spare him for a bit. He'd be welcomed back with open arms when he was ready. Gabe spent the next two weeks holed up in his flat blasting Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb repeatedly. His neighbors hated him.
"I needed some time off," Gabe answered evasively. It was enough of the truth to not be a lie but not enough to stop his brother's questions.
"That's good," Jason said, sounding genuinely pleased. Gabe looked up at him in shock. "You recognized that you need time off and you took it. That's good. I might even say that that's progress."
Gabe looked back down. He hadn't taken time off. The time off had been forced upon him.
Jason drummed the table rhythmically, yawned, and started putting the pans in the dishwashing machine.
"We'll talk later, yeah? You can sleep in the guest room now that it's finished. Just make sure you compliment Tori in the morning," Jason said.
"Will do," Gabe said, taking his cue. He wondered if he'd be able to sleep at all. The adrenaline from the bat attack had completely burned through his buzz and Jason didn't drink.