Gerard stared, aghast. William had kicked Gabe out of the library? Gabe? Gerard knew that he was maybe leaning a bit too heavily upon all the Sophia Heartsease novels he'd nicked from his mother as a child, but he'd been hoping that once Gabe and William just talked again and stared dreamily into each other's eyes, all the obstacles between them would disappear and True Love would overcome.
Possibly that was him projecting a bit, he could admit that -- if a vaguely Veela librarian couldn't overcome the odds, what fucking chance did Gerard, murderous werewolf Auror, have? But Gabe's miserable face in front of him made it a lot more real all of a sudden. If he wasn't pretty sure that Gabe would immediately break his nose or otherwise express outrage and offense, Gerard would have swept him into a huge hug immediately. Fuck, it was so stupid -- William and Gabe adored each other! Needed each other! Why did shit have to be so difficult?
Hell, now Gerard sort of felt like he needed a drink, too.
"Actually," he said tentatively, scratching his head and eyeing Gabe uncertainly. "I mean, if you don't mind fucking around with traditions or whatever, I happen to have a bottle of something alcoholic with your name on it in my rooms. For that staff Santa thing, you know?"