The Dreamtrap - 16. Chapter 16

- XVI -

Desmond’s eyes closed all by themselves even though he tried to keep them open for a reason he didn’t really know.

“Go to sleep,” Gabriel whispered into his ear, pressing hard against the other man’s singing body. “I have a theory...”

“Mmm...?” Desmond gave up on trying opening his eyes and scooted closer to Rayhe instead, wrapping his arm around his mate’s waist.

“I think that if you fall asleep first...” Gabriel said in a low voice, his mouth tickling Desmond’s ear. “...it will prevent you from getting into my dreams...”

“How does it even make sense?” Desmond tried frowning, but it didn’t work. “Plus, I told you already...” He yawned heartily. “Even if it happens again, I’ll just ignore it...” he finished in a lower, slurring voice, nodding slightly without opening his eyes.

“Extra precautions never hurt anyone,” Gabriel said and kissed Desmond’s temple. “Good night...”

“Night...” Desmond muttered sleepily, not caring about the fact that he would have to get up in less than four hours – the reasons for losing sleep were more than worth it.

...He woke up some time later because he could’ve sworn he heard someone call his name.

“What...?” he muttered without opening his eyes, wondering what time it was right now. “Rayhe, what do you want...? Rayhe...?” he called again when there was no answer.

Finally, he let out a deep sigh and opened his eyes.

“Rayhe, what do you...” he stopped talking the minute he realized that Gabriel (who was snoozing peacefully next to him, his arm wrapped tightly around Desmond’s waist, his leg thrown over Desmond’s hips) never called his name. Desmond frowned, wondering whether he was dreaming, when the entire wall of the bedroom in front of him impatiently shimmered, and after several seconds, it came undone, becoming nonexistent.

Desmond let out a short, irritated sigh, rolling his eyes, and reached for the pillow he had next to him.

“Not happening,” he muttered and plopped the pillow on top of his head. “Get lost... I am going back to sleep.”

With that, he closed his eyes, pressing the pillow harder into his head, determined to tune that pesky wall out completely, when suddenly, air around him trembled with impatient coolness. Desmond frowned at that and pushed the pillow off his head.

“If you think that creating some lame breeze is going to make me...” he started saying, and then he became mute.

Apparently, the wall had decided that if Desmond wouldn’t come to it, it would come to Desmond instead, because suddenly, that transparency became alive and moved forward with smooth, impatient speed.

“Oh, hell, no...” Desmond said helplessly, watching that transparency loom over him like some sort of a tsunami wave, and then he remembered something, and his eyes became wide.

“Oh, fuck me...!” he breathed and rolled off the bed.

He just realized that he was ass-naked, and since it seemed like the bloody wall was about to suck him in without his permission, he’d better get dressed. He reached for his pants, figuring that he would rather cover his ass instead of his chest, when the wave covered him head to toe, and then Desmond blinked, realizing that he wasn’t in his bedroom anymore.

Desmond turned his head and carefully tried touching the transparent wall behind him, wondering if he could maybe go back to his reality even though he suspected it was useless. A few seconds later, he realized that he was right -- the wall could be invisible, but it was truly solid; it was clear that Desmond wasn't going anywhere until this damn new ability of his decided to let him go. He cursed richly and somewhat loudly, squeezing his eyes shut and locking his teeth together, when he realized that now, he was trapped in someone’s (“...Rayhe...?”) bedroom, ass-naked, and without any hope of getting out. He opened his eyes, glancing around helplessly. The room was empty, to his wary relief, and he looked down, expecting to see the lower half of his body in all its naked glory.

To his dumbfounded disbelief, he realized that he was, in fact, fully dressed. He was wearing a pair of dark slacks (he never wore slacks; he didn’t even own a single pair), black leather shoes, and a white shirt with sleeves buttoned at the wrists. Desmond hated the tight feeling around his wrists, so he unbuttoned the sleeves and absent-mindedly rolled them up.

“I guess it takes care of clothes automatically,” he thought, glancing around once again. “Handy...”

He recognized the room immediately; it was the same one he visited last night, except this time, it didn’t have any toys lying around, and the walls were posters-free. Desmond considering getting out of the bedroom and doing some exploring (might as well), when he heard someone’s voice, and then there were footsteps. He hissed an obscure profanity and dove behind the large plush chair, having no desire to face Rayhe or whoever it was that was about to come into the room.

“Maybe I’ll be able to sit this one out,” he thought gloomily, making sure that the chair hid him completely, including his shadow. He really didn’t want Gabriel to see him in yet another dream – Rayhe would be pissed in the morning, he knew that. Not that he blamed him... Desmond remembered Gabriel’s remark about him visiting some of Desmond’s dreams, and sighed silently. He would be pissed too if he were Rayhe, he thought darkly, cursing this new ability of his, which turned out to be impossible to ignore. “Should’ve talked to Tess,” he thought, gritting his teeth, and then the door opened, and someone walked inside.

Desmond carefully looked at that someone from behind his chair. Yeah, he thought. It was the same kid he talked to last night, except now, he was older. It seemed that he was fourteen or maybe fifteen years old. Now it was much easier to see Gabriel’s features in him; it was Rayhe, all right.

“Why is she pestering me?” the kid said angrily in a harsh half-whisper, talking to his reflection in the window before yanking the frame open. “Can’t she see that I don’t give a crap about her...? Goddammit...!”

That last ‘Goddammit...!’ sounded identical to grown-up Rayhe’s intonation, and before he realized it, Desmond snorted out loud. The kid immediately whirled around, and Desmond closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, mentally kicking himself.

“Who the hell are you?” the kid demanded sharply after seeing Desmond’s crouching figure. “And how the hell did you get here?”

Desmond sighed and got up, thinking that he would have to deal with very gloomy Rayhe in the morning after they woke up.

“You don’t remember me?” he asked mildly, and the kid’s eyes narrowed.

“No,” he said as sharply as before. “Who the hell are you...?”

Desmond took a step forward, and the kid immediately jerked backwards, hitting his shoulder on the window frame.

“Don’t come anywhere near me!” he warned, his voice ringing with badly hidden fear. “I don’t know if you are just a robber or if you are after something else, but don’t you come near me...!”

Desmond sighed again and slowly raised his arms in what he hoped looked like an ‘I-am-harmless’ gesture. The kid’s posture didn’t relax a single bit and his eyes darted out of the window for a second or two. He looked like was about to start screaming for help, which was probably the case, and Desmond quickly said:

“Please, I am not here to hurt you or to rob your house, okay? This is...” He paused for a second. ‘This is’ what? “This is an accident...” he finished carefully without taking his eyes off young Gabriel’s face.

Now the kid snorted.

“An accident?” he repeated in a low voice. “Yeah, right... An accident is what’s going to happen to you when you drop your soap in prison shower...! You’d better stack up on lube...!”

Desmond blinked at the amount of poison in the kid’s voice.

“You’ll be popular,” young Rayhe continued meanwhile with an energetic nod. “With your ridiculous hair, you are going to have quite a few admirers, princess...!”

Here Desmond frowned.

“What’s wrong with my hair?” he asked with genuine interest, thinking that grown-up Rayhe never mentioned anything about disliking his haircut or rather the lack of one.

“Please!” the kid snorted again. “It is simply ridiculous! Makes you look like a sex-change surgery went wrong!”

Desmond blinked again, more rapidly this time.

“Really...” he muttered.

“I would never even look twice at someone with such ridiculously long hair as yours,” Rayhe said with the same poisonous authority. “Well, maybe I would...” He gave Desmond a nasty smile. “To ridicule your ass off...! Now, tell me how the hell you got here or I swear to God, I am going to...”

He never got to finish that sentence because the door of the bedroom suddenly swung open, and some girl burst in. Gabriel’s face immediately changed expressions; now he looked as if he just ate a very bad lemon.

“Some people knock before walking into someone’s room,” he muttered.

“There you are!” the girl said with clear satisfaction, completely ignoring his words. “I was looking for you...!” She quickly glanced around, a small frown forming on her forehead, her eyes sliding over Desmond’s rigid form without pausing for even a second. “Who were you talking to?” she asked in a low voice.

Gabriel’s eyes darted towards Desmond, his expression dumbfounded. The girl followed his gaze and frowned deeper.

“Your chair?” she asked in an even lower voice. “Seriously?”

“She can’t see me!” Desmond thought in astonishment. “Holy hell... This is not her dream; therefore, she can’t see me...!”

“Don’t you see...” Gabriel started saying, and Desmond quickly interrupted him.

“She can’t see me,” he said, and Gabriel’s eyes darted towards him for just a second. “Don’t try to prove her wrong,” he continued as quickly. “She will never believe you... Telling you, the fact that I am here is nothing but an accident...!”

Young Rayhe bit his lip without saying anything, clearly realizing that Desmond was right about the girl never believing him, and he forced his gaze to focus on the red-haired intruder, who was still wearing the same puzzled expression.

“I was talking to...” Rayhe paused for a second. “...myself,” he finished with a slight nod. “Don’t you ever do that? I thought everyone talks to themselves once in a while... Especially if they think that nobody is eavesdropping on them,” he added pointedly.

“I wasn’t eavesdropping,” the girl rolled her eyes, her posture much more relaxed now. “I was looking for you, and then I heard your voice! I didn’t even hear what you were saying...!”

Young Gabriel drew a slow, deep breath, his eyes darting towards Desmond for a fraction of a second – a move the girl never caught.

“What do you want?” he asked evenly, and the girl gave him a bright smile.

“Well,” she said, her fingers getting hold of a long strand of her richly-red hair. “I was wondering where you went, and then your Mom said to go look for you upstairs...” She smiled again, more shyly this time.

Rayhe’s expression remained the same – bad-lemony and gloomy.

“Okay,” he said somewhat tightly, restraining himself from looking at Desmond yet again. “You found me, great...! Now what?”

“Well...” the girl blinked at his indifferent hostility. “They finally opened up that section of the park... You know the one...” He face became pinker, and her fingers tugged on that hair strand with more force. “Since it’s spring and all... So, I just wanted to ask you..."

Suddenly, Desmond wondered if he could still hear thoughts while dreaming. He intently looked at young Rayhe, concentrating on his mind.

“...blind?” he heard almost immediately. “I don’t like you, leave me alone! If you were Daphne, then it would be different, but you are not her, are you? Hell, no...! Just leave me alone... God, what do I have to do just so you finally leave me the hell alone?”

“...if we could hang out there, maybe,” the girl finished, clearly oblivious to Gabriel’s feelings towards her.

Young Rayhe growled loudly in his mind, and Desmond sighed.

“Just tell her that you are not into girls,” he said, and Gabriel’s eyes darted towards him for a second yet again. Desmond shrugged. “This way, you are not going to humiliate her too much, and you’ll be able to get out of this,” he nodded, and now, Rayhe’s expression became almost uplifted.

“Ghost or not,” Desmond heard a second later, since he never released his hold on Rayhe’s thoughts. “But that sounds like a good idea...! Crap, what if she says this to Daphne though...?”

“She might,” Desmond agreed, and Gabriel blinked at that, managing to keep himself from looking at him yet again. “But you can always tell Daphne the actual reason you said it... Believe me...” He sighed again. “Girls are a hell of a lot more understanding than you give them a credit for... If you tell Daphne that you made up such a major lie because of her...” He sighed again. “Rayhe, you won’t have to say anything else, okay?”

Young Gabriel blinked yet again after Desmond used his last name.

“...guess he wasn’t lying about the accident,” Desmond heard. “I suppose, he is just some unfortunate ghost that ended up in the wrong point of destination...”

Desmond was okay with that; Rayhe obviously thought he was a ghost, which suited him more than fine.

“Elizabeth...” Young Gabriel said and took a deep breath, looking very hesitant.

“Huh,” Desmond thought with slight amusement. “I guess your acting abilities developed way before we had to face Salamander...” [1]

“Elizabeth...” young Gabriel repeated with very sincere hesitation. “Liz...” He looked at her without shifting his gaze. “Look...” He closed his eyes for a few seconds, as if he were about to plunge into some deep, unknown depths right then. Desmond just watched him with silent amusement.

Gabriel took a deep breath and opened his eyes, looking very determined.

“Liz,” he said again without looking away. “I know what you are trying to do, and I hate myself for doing this, but...” He closed his eyes briefly, opened them after several seconds, and quickly said:

“Liz, I am not into girls, okay?”

The girl looked at him with the same slightly puzzled frown as she was wearing when she burst into Rayhe’s bedroom, as if she was trying to translate his words into a language that she understood. Then she blinked, her expression slowly becoming embarrassed, and her cheeks became even pinker.

“Oh...” she said finally, and Desmond could hear Rayhe’s laughter in that young head of his. “God, Gabriel, I didn’t know...” She coughed. “God, Gabriel...” she said once again. “I’m sorry...! It’s just...” She squeezed her eyes shut for a second or two. “Your Mom never said anything, so I...”

“I never told her,” young Rayhe shrugged with sincere discomfort. “To be honest, I only figured it out not too long ago... I mean,” he shrugged again. “This is something rather personal, don’t you think? Not something you would start sharing with your parents, right...? I mean...” There it was, yet another sheepish shrug. “It’s almost as bad as walking in on your parents going at it...”

Liz blinked at that very rapidly.

“You walked in on your parents?” she asked with a tight frown, and young Gabriel shook his head too soon not to look panicked.

“No,” he said immediately. “Just an expression... I mean, it’s as embarrassing, right? I mean, that’s what I would imagine, anyway... None of their business...”

“Bloody hell...” Desmond heard. “I was about to gouge my eyes out...! ‘We are wrestling’ my ass...! I was eleven, not stupid...!”

“Oh...” Liz said, clearly relieved. “Well...” She coughed. “Sorry for not being able to realize it without you spelling it out for me...” She coughed. “Yeah...” She nodded more firmly. “Sorry...”

“Don’t worry about it,” Rayhe said quickly, mastered a sincere smile and shrugged. “You didn’t do anything wrong; it’s just...” He shrugged again.

“Yeah...” she said, looking quite uncomfortable now. “Well, I’ll wait for you downstairs then... Your Mom said to tell you to come down for dinner in fifteen minutes.”

Gabriel glanced at the clock and nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’ll be there...”

He looked like he was about to say something else, but Liz gave him a quick, uncomfortable wave and left the room, carefully shutting the door behind her. Young Rayhe took a deep breath and looked at Desmond.

“Thanks, I guess,” he said in a low voice, and Desmond nodded, looking rather thoughtful.

“So,” he said suddenly, and Gabriel looked at him with a silent question. “My hair seriously looks that awful, huh?”

Rayhe blinked and then slowly shook his head.

“Not really,” he admitted. “It’s just...” He shrugged and turned towards the open window again. “I never cared about long hair, even on girls...” He shrugged again. “You look fine, I suppose... Why do you even care?” He looked at Desmond with slightly narrowed eyes. “You are a ghost! It’s not like you can change the way you look...!”

Desmond was about to say something when he felt a familiar splash of cool air around him. He glanced at the wall on his right and saw that it started to shimmer. “Show’s over,” he thought and nodded to himself.

“I gotta go,” he said, and Gabriel blinked at that. “See you... in the morning,” he added inaudibly.

“Where...” Gabriel started saying when the wall rippled with a final shimmering wave, and Desmond stepped through it, confirming young Rayhe’s suspicions of him being a ghost.

The minute Desmond stepped through that transparent wall, everything around him spun for a few seconds, and then the world became pitch-black. “Just like the first time,” Desmond thought before falling into nothingness.

[1] Refers to the events described in Specter’s Gamble.