Title: Through a Glass Darkly

Rating: PG-13

Warnings: Angst

Summary: Gabriel's not seeing himself in the mirror anymore. Slash.

A/N: This was inspired by an image off 'Infinity On High' by Fall Out Boy in which one of them is looking in the mirror and sees the other, but this is NOT RPS.

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Gabriel stops in front of the mirror for a second on his way out the door to work, and in the mirror he sees surprised green eyes and pale skin instead of his own dark visage, and nearly has a heart attack.

When he jumps back, heart pounding, all he can see in the mirror is the wall behind him, old family pictures and ugly vases.

He steps back closer to the mirror, heart in his throat, and sees himself, walking forward slowly until he seems to hit an invisible barrier, and then he sees the other face. The man has pale skin with flush that looks like it goes all over, blonde hair hidden under a hat.

Then he's gone - a flurry of movement, and Gabriel's left staring into his own dark eyes matched with too dark circles, the wall behind him doomed to forever have pictures of distant relatives hanging on it forever.

He stands in front of the mirror in his hallway for a long time.

He never shows up to work that day.

---

Gabriel doesn't see anything until almost a week later, when he's almost forgotten it. He looks up into the dirty, cracked mirror in the club's bathroom as he's washing his hands, and he sees him again.

The man's staring back at him, looking as bewildered as Gabriel feels. He looks about as old as Gabriel, with another hat settled firmly onto his head. Gabriel reaches hesitant fingers out towards him, and the man copies his gesture. The reflections of their fingers touch, and Gabriel tells himself he's not disappointed as he feels only cool glass.

Then the door slams open, muffled dance beat becoming louder in a rush of noise as the two men who barged in stare at Gabriel in confusion.

The man in the mirror lets out a silent gasp, face flushing, jerking his fingertips away from the mirror, and all Gabriel can see it himself.

---

Gabriel has now gained:

1)3 new mirrors in his house (two of them in his bedroom)

2)a new friend (he hopes)

3)a new found appreciation for hats and lips made just for kissing.

---

Gabriel knows he isn't in some fucked up movie; the green-eyed man isn't his own reflection.

He knows the man isn't just him, because he's never there at ass o'clock in the morning when Gabriel can't sleep. When Gabriel sits by the mirror all night, chin resting on his knees, eyes red-rimmed and dark.

He leans his forehead up against the mirror, palm pressed flat against the cool surface until it's light out and the man is looking back at him, Gabriel's own fairer reflection.

---

And one day the man's not there. All Gabriel can see in the mirrors are himself and the walls of his house, and one day turns into twofourfive. And he stays awake all night in front of the mirror, cursing his own reflection.

---

He hears the paper hit the front door and walks past the mirror in the hallway to get it, eyes never leaving his reflection.

And right on the front page, the 48 inch type like a shot in the chest: a young man was shot and killed tragically in a convenience store bathroom, bullet splintering the mirror behind where he stood.

He doesn't even look at the name; the smiling picture sends him running back to the mirror, as if hoping what he read was false, that they printed the wrong picture or something -

All he can see is himself - all bloodshot eyes and shaking hands.

---

He's draped old, slightly yellowed white sheets over every mirror in the house except the one in the hall. As he raises the sheet, he sees the man, looking out at him with pleading eyes, mouth moving soundlessly.

Gabriel slams his fists against the glass, as if hoping they'll go through and the man in the mirror will grasp his wrists and pull him through, stumbling, into someplace other than this dusty hallway. The glass cracks but doesn't break, and suddenly the man's image is cracked and spider-webbed. The man's hand comes up, every movement distorted by the cracks, and when Gabriel's hand comes up, almost on its own accord, the man collapses fully against the mirror, and Gabriel goes with him.

Gabriel thinks he can almost feel him.