Title: Hiss
Pairing: Gabe/William
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1192
Summary: Gabe is a Parselmouth.
Disclaimer: I admit it! I made it up! Also: Don't google yourself.
Notes: For 500wordexchange.

The first time Gabe talked to a snake, he thought it was the coolest thing in the world. He was 11 years old and it was the best day of his life, or it would have been if not for his parents. He ran inside to tell them, and his mother looked at him in horror. There was a lot of yelling, and then that night, his father sat him down to explain how his gift was special. It was so special, in fact, that he shouldn't tell anyone about it.

Gabe had been miserable for weeks after that. He did what his parents told him, because if he did they often rewarded him, but he wasn't happy about it. The only thing that managed to cheer him up was his first year at Hogwarts as it loomed closer.

He kept his promise to his father until fifth year.

"Oh man, wait til you see it," William said as Gabe following him back to the Ravenclaw common room.

Gabe rolled his eyes. "Whatever it is, it had better be good. You've been talking about it ever since we got on the train. And during the sorting. And the feast. I'm pretty sure your fellow Ravenclaws are going to murder you for sitting with us, by the way," he said, eyeing them as he and William walked through the common room.

William made a dismissive gesture as they got to his room. "They won't give me any trouble. They think if they do, I'll sic you evil Slytherins on them."

Gabe snorted. "That's what I like about you, Billvy. You don't care what people think." They shared a smile, and Gabe added, almost as an afterthought, "You pretentious fuck."

William shoved him away and then made an excited noise, rushing over to his bed. Gabe followed, sure it was going to be some stupid thing that he'd have to pretend to care about for an hour until he could convince William to do something else. But then he saw the cage, and the beautiful, six-foot long black snake curled up inside it.

William beamed at him. "Isn't he gorgeous? My father had to write five letters before they'd let me bring him. I named him Eustace."

Gabe stared at Eustace through the glass, mouth hanging open. He was such a gorgeous creature that Gabe almost forgave William for the horrible name. William kept rambling about how he was going to feed him and take care of him, but Gabe interrupted to ask, "Can I hold him?"

William stopped and stared at him for a moment, long enough that Gabe started to wonder if it was a weird question. But then William smiled like it was the best idea ever and said, "Yeah!"

Eventually, they decided to move Eustace to Gabe's room, because the Ravenclaws caused a fuss. One day, after a particularly trying day at Transfiguration in which Maja changed the mouse into a teacup early and then wouldn't stop flirting with William, Gabe slipped out of class early and headed back to his room. Fuck the points he might lose his house; he hated the system.

"Oh, Eustace. I am so royally fucked," he said, dropping back onto his bed dramatically.

Eustace hissed his concern, uncoiling to raise his head.

"I love Maja, she's like my soul sister, but if she doesn't stop trying to take William away from me, I'mma have to slit her throat. It's bad enough that he doesn't think of me like that, but to have to watch them--"

There was a gasp, a crush, and a hiss, and Gabe bolted upright on the bed. He thought at first that William overheard his words, and was about to start up a cover story, but then he saw that William was staring at Eustace in shock. A cold feeling washed over Gabe when he realized what he'd done. He remembered all his father's horror stories about what had been done to Parselmouths who had been discovered in the past, and he realized with a pang that none of those torture stories even compared to the thought of losing William.

"You can speak Parseltongue?!" William shouted, nearly tripping over the books he'd dropped.

"I can explain," Gabe tried, but William just spoke over him.

"--does he say back? Does he like it here? Am I a good owner?"

William climbed up onto the bed as he spoke, propping himself up against the pillows. "Ask him if I'm a good owner."

Gave shifted to sit up next to William, staring at him. "You should be more freaked out by this."

William gave him a less-than-amused look. "What kind of friend do you think I am?"

"But everyone thinks Parseltongue is evil!"

"Everyone thinks I must be evil, hanging around in here all the time. And I already know how evil you are," he said decisively, pushing his hair out of his face. Gabe smirked a bit, staring at William's fingers and thinking he didn't know the half of it. "Besides, everyone knows Harry Potter was a Parselmouth."

"Harry Potter was a douchebag."

William laughed, but he held to his previous request. "Go on, ask him if he thinks I'm awesome."

Gabe sighs as if he's put out by all this, then turns his attention to Eustace. "Can you move your head up and down so Billvy will think he's a good owner?"

Eustace hissed his lack of appreciation for having to do tricks, but did it anyway.

"That is so cool. I can't believe you didn't tell me sooner. Say something else."

"He's ordering me around too," he told Eustace. "He's going to be insufferable from now on."

Eustace's resulting hiss carried a hint of amusement. Gabe started to ask, "What are you--" before he caught William's expression.

Gabe finished his sentence slowly, "laughing at," feeling his tongue sliding along his teeth as the hiss escaped. William stared at his mouth intently, licking his lips subconsciously, and Gabe felt his confidence returning full-force.

William started when he realized he'd been caught staring, shifting away for a moment, before Gabe caught his wrist.

"You like that?" Gabe said, leaning in further. William swallowed thickly, eyes back on Gabe's mouth, and that answered Gabe's question.

He pressed forward the rest of the way and claimed William's mouth. William responded instantly, his hands going to Gabe's shoulders and his tongue sliding in and along Gabe's teeth.

When William pulled away, they were both breathing heavily. Gabe uttered a quick spell to close the bed hangings and pulled on William's wrist until he took his cue and climbed on top of Gabe.

"I only got Eustace because I knew you loved snakes," William admitted, hair falling in his face as he stared down at Gabe.

Gabe stared at his mouth, reddened from where he'd bitten it, and felt his tongue slip around the s's as he said in Parseltongue, "Shut up."

There's no way that William understood him, but he obeyed anyway, pushing against Gabe as he leaned down to kiss him again.

Okay, so maybe being a Parselmouth wasn't so bad.

THE END

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