Peter throws a party

Peter smiled. The sounds of laughter and conversation permeated the room. He heard a knock on the door and he went to answer it.

"John! Kevin! How are you? Glad you could make it. Drinks are in the kitchen, foods on the table." He moved out of the way to let them in.

The party was in full swing and everything was going great. Peter looked around the room, smiling. Then he saw Gabriel.

Gabriel stood against the wall, his face showing his panic. Every time someone put a cup down on the coffee table and not on a coaster, Gabriel flinched. Peter could see him twitching right now to start cleaning up. He made his way over to him.

"How's it going Gabe?" Peter grinned.

Gabriel swung his head to look down at him. "It-it's going good." Gabriel's finger's twitched again as he saw someone knock the potato chip bowl off the table.

"Gabe, it'll be ok. Just relax and enjoy. You know most everyone here. Go mingle!" Peter gave the tall man a shove.

Gabriel gave him a dirty look before he headed out into the crowd. Peter shook his head.

Peter mingled, saying hi to friends, stopping for short times to talk. He wandered into the kitchen to get something to drink. Calvin was there, talking to Gabriel.

"I'm telling ya mate, it's not that complicated." Calvin said.

"I know you think it's easy, but it's not." Gabriel answered, jaw clenched.

Oh, oh. This doesn't look good. Peter stepped between the two men. "Calvin! When did you get here?" Peter gave him a kiss. Calvin frowned at him.

"A little while ago. I was just telling yer friend here he needs to loosen up and ta take the stick out of his arse!"

"Excuse me." Gabriel said tightly, walking away.

"Calvin, we've had this conversation. I know that Gabriel's a little uptight, but…"

"Yer brother is little uptight. That git is wound tighter then the clocks he works on."

Peter sighed. "Come on, I've got some people I want you to meet." He grabbed Calvin's arm, dragging him into the crowd.

Thirty minutes of listening to Calvin make snide remarks about everyone there and Peter needed a break. He wandered off to talk to some other people, leaving Calvin talking with Noah.

"Hey Mavin! Where's June?" He clapped his hand on the cop's meaty shoulder.

"Home. She wasn't feeling good. Great party." He lifted his cup up in salute.

"Thanks man, glad you could come. I hope June's feeling better soon."

"So do I." Marvin sighed. "The baby is keeping her up most nights. She can't sleep or even get comfortable. She keeps saying she feels like a beached whale. One more month to go. Hey, you might want to talk to Gabriel, I think he's feeling a little put out." He poked his chin towards the tall man.

Peter turned towards Gabriel. He was at it again. Peter watched as he started lifting cups and setting coasters underneath them. Gabriel then wandered over to the garbage can, taking the full bag out and replacing it. When he picked up a scrubby and started cleaning the counter off, Peter huffed out a breath. He strode towards his friend.

"Gabe!" Peter snapped.

Gabriel jumped. He hid the scrubby behind his back as he turned around. He looked at Peter guiltily. 

"Peter! I-I didn't see you there." A blush crawled up his face.

"Gabe, I've had this conversation with you ten times today!" He grabbed the scrubby from behind Gabriel's back. Gabriel looked down at the floor. Peter sighed. "Look Gabe, this party is for you too, you're supposed to be having fun. Not cleaning!" He threw the scrubby in the sink. Gabriel whimpered.

"But Peter, I was just trying to make it easier for later. So we wouldn't have so much to clean up." His hands inched towards the sink.

"Too bad. This night is cleaning free. You promised, remember?" Peter grabbed him by the arm, pulling him away from the sink.

"But I didn't think you were serious!" Gabriel exclaimed, looking back towards the sink. Peter kept dragging him out into the crowd. He went up to the nearest person.

"Claire! Glad you came." He gave her a peck on the cheek. "Gabe, you remember Claire, right? You guys should talk." He gave Gabriel a 'stay put and behave' look. Claire chuckled before turning to Gabriel, asking him how work was going. Gabriel brightened up and started telling her all about the newest watch he was working on.

Claire flashed Peter a 'You owe me' look. He smiled and nodded, wandering off into the crowd.

An hour and a few drinks later, he was having the time of his life. The party was getting louder and everyone seemed to be having a good time. He came up behind Calvin and wrapped an arm around his waist. Calvin growled at him, but didn't move away. Peter just gave him a lopsided grin.

"Like I was saying," Sally continued, giving Peter a nod "I think it's so cool that people are starting to care about the earth! I really think that everyone should do what they can for the environment and stuff. My boyfriend and I are going around, explaining how we're killing the earth with all of the toxins we're pumping into the air. How people shouldn't smoke and drive and stuff."

"Get me away from her before I ring her bloody neck." Calvin growled at Peter out of the side of his mouth.

"Excuse me Sally; I really need to borrow him for a little while." Peter gave her his most charming smile and pulled Calvin away.

" Finally! I dinna think she'd ever shut up!" 

"She's not so bad." 

Calvin just snorted at him. He was just leaning in for a kiss when there was a crash behind them.

"Shit. I'll be right back." Peter headed for the noise.

By the time he got to where he had heard the crash, he found Gabriel there, cleaning the broken vase off of the floor. Gabriel looked up at him.

"I wasn't cleaning! I just needed to…clean…" He looked back down at the floor.

"It's ok Gabe, this time you should clean up. We can't leave broken glass on the floor."

"Peter," He started to ask "when is the party going to be over?" Gabriel was looking frustrated.

"Not for a while Gabe. Come on, you're having fun aren't you?"

"I guess." Gabriel shrugged as he dumped the pieces of glass into the garbage.

Peter noticed the newest person to join the party. "I think I see something that will make the party more enjoyable for you Gabe." He waved his hand at the other person who waved back.

Gabriel looked up. A huge smile brightened his whole face up and he headed towards the person.

"Jordan!" He cried out, giving the other man a huge hug.

Jordan laughed. "Hi Gabriel. How are you holding up?"

"Better now that you're here." He gave Jordan a big kiss.

Peter shook his head. He headed back into the crowd.

The party finally broke up when the police pounded on the door. Peter apologized for the noise and thanked the policemen for coming. He started herding people out the door. Sighing with relief, he shut the door on the last person. Turning around, he saw Calvin sprawled out on the couch.

"You could've helped you know."

"Why? Not my party." Calvin finished off his beer.

Peter just rolled his eyes. His glance fell on Gabriel who looked panic stricken, his breath coming out in pants. Jordan had a hand on his shoulder, whispering into his ear. Peter couldn't guess why Gabriel was so upset.

There were empty and half-filled paper plates littering every piece of furniture in the living room. Cups overflowed the various garbage cans. What looked like a piece of cake was smeared on the wall. Ground up potato chips littered the floor. Part of a sandwich was shoved in between two books. Pieces of clothing hung from various lamps. How did I miss that fun? In the kitchen, guacamole dip and chip dip dripped down the counters. Someone had spilled a drink on the floor and had walked through it. Ice cubes quietly melted on top of the table. Empty and nearly empty alcohol bottles lined up along a counter and something was caked on the stovetop. And it smelled like someone had gotten sick in the sink.

It had been a great party!

Peter notice that Gabriel had closed his eyes, his hands clenched in tight fists. Jordan whispered more urgently in his ear. Gabriel gave a sharp nod and headed for his bedroom. Jordan walked over to Peter.

"It was a good party Peter. Gabriel's feeling a little…overwhelmed. Maybe if you could clean up a little before you go to bed?" Jordan looked Peter firmly in the eye.

Peter suddenly felt guilty. Maybe he should clean up a little, to make Gabriel feel better. He nodded his head, looking at the floor. Jordan patted his shoulder and went into Gabriel's room.

"Well, guess that's my cue to leave." Calvin got up from the couch, heading for the door.

"Oh no you don't! You're going to help me clean up." Peter grabbed his arm.

"Why would I do that?" Calvin frowned, looking down at the hand on his arm.

"Because. If you don't, you're not getting any loving for a long, long, looooong time." He breathed in Calvin's ear. Calvin gave him a dirty look, but started picking up the paper plates. Peter grinned, heading into the kitchen.

He threw the empty bottles into a garbage bag. He dug around under the kitchen sink, finding Gabriel's bleach and bucket. He started to put the bucket into the sink to fill it with water, when he realized that whoever had puked in there hadn't cleaned it up. He reached back under the cupboard and grabbed Gabriel's gloves. He started scrubbing.

Calvin had finished picking everything up in the living room and even had managed to scrub the cake off of the wall. He joined Peter in the kitchen; sitting at the table and watching him sweat and scrub the stove top.

"Why ya doing this again?" Claude asked, watched Peter's whole body move as he scrubbed.

"Because Gabe is my friend and my roommate and it's not fair to him." He blew his bangs out of his eyes. What the hell is this stuff? He added some more cleaner to the stain and started scrubbing harder.

"Don't see the point." Calvin grumbled.

"You wouldn't. Gabriel's put up with a lot of my shit and I'm just trying to pay him back. That includes dealing with you." He glanced over at Calvin, grinning. Calvin ignored him.

Looking over the kitchen, he saw it was as clean as he could make it. He'd have to finish it in the morning; hopefully Gabriel wouldn't be too upset. Maybe Jordan would help keep him calm. He placed all of the cleaning supplies back under the sink.

"C'mon, let's go to bed." He headed towards his room, Calvin following.

Peter came stumbling out of his room. The bright light coming from the window shot daggers into his eyes. I'm not doing that again. At least not until next weekend. As he blindly entered the kitchen, he nearly fell over Gabriel.

"Gabe, what are you doing?" Peter caught the handle of the fridge and got his balance back.

"Sorry Peter, I was just scrubbing the floor." Gabriel sat back, looking up at Peter.

Peter looked around the kitchen. It was spotless. Gabriel threw the scrub rag into the bucket. He got up, dumping the nearly black water into the sink before rinsing both bucket and sink out.

"Gabe, you didn't have too, I was going to finish up this morning." Peter said, frustrated at his friend.

Gabriel shrugged. "It's okay, I couldn't sleep anyways."

"How long have you been up?" Peter could see the dark circles under Gabriel's tired looking eyes.

"A while. I think I woke up about 4."

Peter gave Gabriel a dirty look. The party had ended at 2 and Peter and Calvin had gone to bed about 3:30. It was now 10. 

"So you've been up most of the night and morning cleaning? Damn it Gabe, we talked about this!"

"I know, but you threw the party and I thought it was only fair if I cleaned up." He put his supplies away.

Peter sighed. It wouldn't do any good to argue with Gabriel, it was just the way he was wired. 

"Go back to bed, Jordan's probably wondering where the hell you are. I'll make some breakfast later. I won't make a mess, promise." He said as he saw the worried look cross Gabriel's face. He pushed the taller man back into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Peter shook his head. "Now, where did I put that pancake mix?"