Will ended up going back to the city on Monday morning. He wanted to stay with Dune, but Vinny and Nicolas were on to him about training. There was a match Friday that they wanted him in condition for. Dune insisted he go get ready for it. Cassie was staying behind in the village with Dune a few more days before coming back.

Campus was busy. Will lingered outside the glass building where his lectures were taking place. The thought of the presentation, and that mountain of assignments, created a tight ball in his stomach. He could work through them. He knew he could, even if it took a few all-nighters. But having to work to Tara's standard and not his own put so much pressure onto his shoulders it was hard to breathe.

Talking with Dune had been cathartic. Maybe, instead of putting up pretences, he should just be more honest? Not with Tara, he didn't know her well enough for that, but he was in a group of over-achievers and he certainly wasn't one... not when it came to academics, anyway. His goal was a pass.

Will ducked into the lecture hall at the end of the class, waiting long enough for his group to be gone. "Professor Heil, hi." He greeted.

"Simmons." Heil nodded with a smile. Will walked with him down the halls, answering questions about classes and volleyball. They stopped outside a classroom. Heil had a knowing look about him. "It isn't possible to drop a class this late into the game."

"Oh, no, I don't want to drop it." Will rubbed the back of his neck. "I was wondering if I could swap groups for the presentation?"

Heil raised an eyebrow. There was only two weeks left before it was due, so Will was asking for this close to the wire. Maybe too close. He winced, but Heil inclined his head. "I can do that. As long as you put in a bit of your own work?"

"I will, Sir." Will breathed out in relief. "Thank you."

"Anything else?"

"No, Sir."

"Good luck on Friday."

Will went to the rest of his classes, rewarded himself with a large cup of coffee, and retrieved his car from the apartment to drive to the gym. Michael gave him the run down of the match, they'd won, but Vinny and Nicolas had seen lots of weaknesses in their game play.

"We haven't had many games together," Will said, "It'll be a while before our teamwork is flawless."

"But my receives. At one point even I was getting jealous of myself." Michael whistled. "Isn't that right Vinny?"

Vinny rolled his eyes. "You were good."

It was a good, tough training session. Will tried not to do too much thinking, but he ended up worrying about the next thing on his list to sort out: Gabriel. He'd been rehearsing what to say the past two nights straight, and none of it sounded quite right. Will knew the problem was him. Gabriel was trying to be in a normal relationship with him, and Will was having a hard time doing the same thing. But, even if he was honest with Dune he didn't want to say that to Gabriel. He didn't want it to be a thing between them. A thing they had to think about. That, to Will, felt like losing.

Outside the gym parked next to his little fiesta was Gabriel. He was sitting against the hood of his car, a book in hand. Will let out a huff. Okay. Maybe it was better that his time to obsess over what to say was cut short? He'd made progress in the first hour he thought about it, but in the twenty-forth? Not so much.

"I didn't mean what I said." Will said first.

Gabriel nodded as he closed his book. "Was the trip home okay?"

He leaned against the front of the car next to Gabriel, putting his sports bag onto the ground at his feet. Sitting close to Gabriel, he was glad he'd decided to shower. "The circumstances couldn't have been worse, but overall, it was fine. I got to see Leah and I think we made up."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"How about you?"

"I'd be lying if I said it was relaxing."

"I'm sorry."

Gabriel turned over his book, running his scarred fingers along the spine. "I know you said you didn't mean it, but, this isn't the first time you've had a bad reaction to us being physical. It isn't even the second time." He let out a long breath. "I don't know what's going on exactly, but for now, I think we should cool off the bedroom activities. I mean, if you're not comfortable just sleeping in the same bed as me, then we shouldn't be having sex."

"It wasn't that I wasn't comfortable."

"I know. But there's something there." Gabriel said. He met Will's eyes, gauging his reaction. "Are you okay with that?"

Will was hardly going to tell him no, lets have sex, after Gabriel said he didn't want to. No, Will chided himself, he's not doing this because he doesn't want him. This was a way to figure out what was going on, and where they stood. What was going on was entirely Will-related, but Gabriel was trying to work through it. That Gabriel hadn't decided to run for the hills made a heavy lump in Will's throat ease.

"I'm okay with it."

He saw the flash of relief in Gabriel's eyes before he smiled softly. He pressed a chaste kiss to Will's cheek. "The other thing that sucked was not being able to contact you."

"I'm going to pick up a phone this week."

Gabriel hummed. "Well, I happened across this." He went to the back seat of his car and came back with a bag.

Will peered inside, then cast Gabriel a wry look. "You happened across it? Did you happen to fall into the three store?"

"If you don't like it I kept the receipt."

Will shook his head as he took out the box. He smiled though. If Gabriel bought the phone, before they'd had this conversation, than that had to mean the thought of breaking up wasn't there. Or, at the very least, it wasn't seriously considered.

"I was thinking," Gabriel said, "We haven't been on any dates recently."

"We have," Will used the car bonnet as a table as he set the phone up. "They keep getting crashed by other people."

"And you keep making new friends."

Will hummed.

"So," Gabriel dug around in his pockets, and showed off two tickets. 'Dublin on Ice'. "You ever been ice-skating?"

He shook his head. "Have you?"

"Nope, you want to give it a go?"

Will shared a smile. "Shouldn't you have asked that before getting the tickets?"

"If you said no, I was just going to give them to Charlie and Natalie."

"They can buy their own."

Gabriel grinned. He kissed Will again, this time it landed on the corner of his lips. "You up for it tonight?"

"Sounds fun." Will got the phone powered up, and called Gabriel to make sure it was working. "I'd better let Leah know I have this before she buys me one."

Gabriel let out a breath of amusement. "So, either way you had no intention of buying your own phone?"

Will elbowed him. "I'm surrounded by generous people. I'll follow after you in the car."

"You know where your going?"

"Yeah I can meet you there."

Will caught Gabriel's hand as he moved away. Gabriel cast a questioning look over him. Will focused on the relief shivering through his veins. "Thank you for hearing me out. And thanks for being like this." Really, this entire thing could have gone completely differently. Will hadn't salvaged the situation; Gabriel had.

Gabriel studied him with a sober expression. "Did you expect me to break up with you?"

"I was afraid you would." He admitted with a grimace. "I'm really sorry for saying that. It was plain nasty, and I don't even know why... and I lashed out at you."

"Next time, try telling me how you feel." He said seriously. "If I'd known you didn't feel good I would have come over. Or if I'd known the dinner was important to you I could have left Henry. Just, let's talk a bit more? Communicate. I want to finish the conversation we were having the other night as well. But, after we get to just hang out for a while and relax around each other."

Will nodded, then turned a suspicious look toward him. "You're good at this. I thought you said you didn't do relationships before me?"

"I called Charlie's girlfriend, Natalie, for some advice. She recommended we just spend time together before having any big serious talks. She says it always goes better after Charlie reminds her that he's not always a total idiot."

Will raised an eyebrow. "You want to remind yourself I'm not a total idiot?"

Gabriel's smile was faint. "I don't need reminding. But it sounded like a good idea to me. I thought you might have an easier time if we didn't jump straight into the serious stuff."

That made sense. Gabriel wasn't brushing over the conversation that needed to happen, he was delaying it for Will's benefit. What he said to Gabriel loomed larger, and he felt even guiltier about it. Gabriel was accommodating and going out of his way to make things easier for Will, even though the problem was caused by him to begin with. "Thank you."

Gabriel squeezed his fingers a final time. "Meet you there."

Will waved as Gabriel pulled away, and went to the boot of his own car. He was brainstorming, trying to figure out something he could do for Gabriel. He needed to do a proper thank you. A proper apology. It didn't feel enough to just say it. He bent to his sport bag searching the pockets. Maybe they could go to a boxing match together? Or maybe he could get in contact with Gabriel's sister and surprise him with Sarah? Gabriel always loved having his niece around.

"Shit." Will cursed. He called Gabriel, who answered with an amused, "Hello."

He cringed, "I'm going to be another few minutes. I can't find my keys, I'm just running back into the changing room to check there."

He searched his locker, under the benches—he even checked the showers. Nothing. The clerk behind the front desk told him nobody handed anything up to her, and let him know she'd call him if she came across any keys. Will ruffled his hair. They'd been in his pocket. They lived in his pocket. There was no reason for him to have taken them out.

Will went back to the car giving it a final walk around before collapsing onto the sidewalk in defeat. He called Gabriel again.

"No luck?"

"None."

"I'll come get you."

"Thanks."