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Gabe presses his feet against William’s stomach, scraping his toes against the soft skin there. William doesn’t look up from his book, doesn’t react at all except to mumble “cold” and tug Gabe’s sleeve to bring him closer.
Gabe adjusts himself, trying to make it so every part of him is touching some part of William. It’s hard because he’s a little taller and they’re both wearing clothes but he thinks he makes it work. He sneaks a look at William, wondering when he’ll get tired of Gabe and tell him off for being too clingy.
But William just catches his eye and puts his book down. “Hey,” he says, smiling crookedly.
Gabe can’t help the grin that overtakes him. “Hi,” he says, pressing his nose against William’s. Then, because he’s incapable of shutting up and doubly incapable when William’s involved, “Do you think I’m too clingy?”
William wrinkles his nose in concentration. “Hmmmm,” he says. Gabe hits him lightly on the forehead, to speed up the thinking process. William laughs and swats his hand away.
“Sometimes,” he starts, “I wake up at night and it’s a little hard to breathe because you’re so close to me. Or I ache a little. And - I think if it was anyone else, I wouldn’t like it. Or I would be annoyed. But it’s you and it’s adorable and it feels good.”
Gabe thinks about it, his brow furrowed. “Sometimes,” he says carefully, “I wish we could stay alone like this forever.”
“Really?” William asks. There’s a strange look in his eyes that Gabe can’t read.
“Well. I don’t know. I think you’d get tired of me. Or my voice, anyway.”
“Hm,” William says. And then he’s kissing Gabe and, for the first time in a while, Gabe’s brain shuts up.
They don't talk about it for a while until William comes home breathless and beautiful. “You’re late,” Gabe says. “Ten points from Ravenclaw.”
William ignores him. “Look,” he says, holding out an ornate hourglass. Gabe reaches out for it but William shakes his head and leads Gabe outside.
“Where are we going?” Gabe asks. “I’m not even wearing shoes.”
“Shhh,” William whispers absently, whirling Gabe down the stairs to their apartment. His hand is tight around Gabe’s wrist.
They stand on the sidewalk and Gabe tries not to think about how many people must have pissed there.
William turns the hourglass upside down. Gabe watches curiously as the first grain of sand hits the other end.
And then the world around them stops moving.
“What,” Gabe says faintly. The cars on the street are frozen. There’s a baby stuck mid-cry and a piece of gum hanging in the air, barely connected to it’s owners mouth by a trail of still saliva.
William smiles triumphantly. “It’s been in my family for a while. My uncle was hoarding it, sort of, but he’s an asshole so I stole it.”
“How,” Gabe tries to say, but the words get stuck in his mouth and he ends up gesturing frantically. William shrugs.
“I’m not sure,” he admits. “But it works, doesn’t it?”
Gabe smiles, burying his head in William’s hair. He says the only coherent thing he can - “I love you.”
They try not to use the hourglass too much but sometimes it’s difficult to resist. The memories of them, alone, nestle in Gabe’s brain like beautiful fairytales.
At the beach, when the sun is setting and the tide is coming stronger. Scuba diving and surrounded by a frozen flurry of fluorescent fishes. In the middle of streets flooded with people. Ferris wheels for teenage make out sessions.
Alone, at home, in the space between the sun and the moon. Curled against each other, talking quietly and knowing the world is theirs alone.
The first day it snows, Gabe drags William out of the apartment. “The world’s already frozen!” he tells William delightedly.
William laughs. “Did you force me out here just to tell me that?”
“No,” Gabe says, scooping up a clump of snow and hitting William squarely on his face.
William narrows his eyes. “Gabriel Eduardo Saporta,” he declares. “This is war!”
Gabe laughs and dodges the first snowball. The second one clips his ear and the third one hits his nose. And, by the look on William’s face, he’s just getting started.
Gabe puts his hands up in defeat. “Truce?” he asks.
William smiles sweetly before lobbing one more snowball at Gabe. “Truce,” he agrees.
“Bilvy, you’re evil,” Gabe grumbles, cuddling up to William for warmth.
William just stares at him, biting his lip thoughtfully.
“Come on,” he says quietly. “I want to show you something.”
William drives silently for a while, his brow furrowed in thought. Gabe knows better than to disturb William when he’s being adorably pensive so he stares out the window until he drifts off.
When he wakes up, William is looking at him expectantly. “Come on,” he says quietly. Gabe blinks, a little disoriented, before realizing with a start they’re parked by a river.
Gabe watches the snowflakes drip into the slowing river. They’re near a forest and he can hear the chirps and chatters of the animals inside.
William points at the sky, where geese are still flying ahead and away.
“Thought it was a little late for migration,” Gabe comments wryly.
“Global warming,” William says offhandedly and Gabe laughs.
“Bill, it’s not a catch-all,” he starts. And then he stops because William is taking out the hourglass.
“Gabe,” William says softly, turning the hourglass upside down and taking his hand. “Gabe, I love you so much.”
Gabe opens his mouth to say he loves William too but William holds up a finger. “I love you so much, snow stops falling.”
Gabe watches as the snowdrops suspend themselves in midair.
“I love you so much, rivers stop flowing.”
The river besides them is frozen.
“I love you so much, birds stand still in the sky. So much that the world stops spinning, the stars stop burning. So much - so much that I can’t imagine a life without you.”
And then William’s on one knee, holding up a ring.
“Oh,” Gabe says, feeling like he did when time froze for the first time.
William smiles weakly. “Leaving me hanging a little, Gabey.”
“Yes,” Gabe says, before leaning down to kiss William. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, “ he breathes against William’s mouth, pulling away only to yell “yes” as loudly as he can.
William smiles his crooked smile and presses his forehead against Gabe’s. And they stay like that, kneeled against the snowy riverbank, lips pressed lightly together, until the snow falls and the river flows and the birds fly and the world spins and the stars burn again.
But even though the moment is broken and life is moving on, Gabe can’t help thinking the world is theirs and time freezes even without the magic.