RageHappy Valentine's Exchange!

“Oh, come on ya little bitch, it’s not that bad.” Michael stated, moving back in his chair.

Valentine’s Day was a day away and the Rooster Teeth office was decked out in red and pink. Heart streamers lined the walls and funny cards were being passed out (what it seemed to be) every hour. Everyone who had someone was either with them, texting them, or on the phone with said special someone.

He hated it all.

Well, hate was a strong word. He was happy that most of his close friends and co-workers had a significant other to spend Valentine’s Day with. And the decorations weren’t too bad. He knew the real problem wasn’t the cards, the decorations, or the stupid love songs.

Gavin has been alone on Valentine’s Day for as long as he can remember, and this year won’t be any different.

He’s in love with his best friend, Michael, after all.

“It’s so pointless, Michael!” Gavin ran a hand through his messy hair.

“How, how is it pointless?! It’s the one day out of the year where couples are allowed to be fuckin’ gross with each other. Let ‘em have it.” He rolled his eyes. There wasn’t a point in arguing. Michael wasn’t wrong.

He never is.

“It just is! All these stupid teddy bears and roses that’ll die in a week. There’s no point to any of it! Just go about your days loving him or her, that’s it! Why does love even GET a special holiday?!” Michael frowned at the Brit.

“Just because you’re so damn bitter about being alone doesn’t mean you should go rain on everyone else’s parade. I’m not with anybody and you don’t see me pouting around the office.” He snapped, removing his glasses to rub his eyes. Gavin sighed.

“I...I know...But it really eats knobs!”

“I know dude, but it’s one year. It won’t kill you to be a little fuckin’ civil.”  Michael started to turn his chair back to his desk to finish up his Rage Quit.

“It hasn’t.”

“What?” He shot Gavin a questionable glance. Gavin’s eyes darted to the ground.

“I’ve never...really...had a Valentine.”

“Really?!” Michael was shocked. He couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t see how Gavin Free never once had a Valentine. He’s got the perfect looks, the perfect smile, the perfect laugh, the perfect sense of humor, the perfect everything....

But that was all just Michael’s opinion.

“Shut up, Michael. I don’t want to hear about how many girls you banged on Valentine’s Day. Just drop it. We have videos to finish editing anyways.” Gavin went to slip his green headphones back on to focus purely on his video and forget the whole thing.

“Gav?”

“What.”

“You’ll find a valentine. Don’t give up, alright?” His voice was hushed, a very foreign tone to the man known as Mr. Rage Quit. Gavin’s eyes widened slightly, and he felt his face become hot.

“Mhm...” He mumbled, quickly turning to his screen. Michael did the same, pulling down his blue beanie a bit. He cursed under his breath at all the people who ever rejected Gavin on Valentine’s Day. Michael wasn’t going to let this happen again to his boy.

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“Hey, happy Valentine’s Day ya prick!” Ray slapped Gavin playfully on the back, earning a small smile from the fellow lad.

“Cheers Ray.” He stated, trying to get as upbeat as Ray.

“Woah dude, who pooped in your cereal this morning?”

“Ah, no one. Just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, that’s all.” Ray shrugged and wandered out of the room, calling out Joel’s name in a strange sing-song voice.

“Even Ray has a bloody valentine!” Gavin plopped down onto his chair and lowered his head to the desk, feeling a headache creeping up on him. “I should have just called in sick...” He thought to himself.

“Ayyyyy my one and only boy!” A very familiar voice broke the uncomfortable silence Gavin was sitting in. He lifted his head from the desk to see Michael holding a small bouquet of roses. Gavin’s heart sunk at the sight, but he threw a smile on his face anyways.

“Who got you the roses?!” He asked, his voice shooting up a little higher than normal. Gavin coughed awkwardly to try to hide it.

“Oh, these? They’re not for me.” Michael lifted the roses to hide the smile that was creeping up onto his face.

“Who’s are they then?” Gavin asked, feeling a bit relieved.

“Yours.” Michael placed the flowers on his desk and turned away, nervously scratching the back of his neck.

“Wh-No! You’re lying. Don’t be a minge pot, Mi-cool!” Gavin whined, nudging the flowers away.

“I’m not you asshole! Just take them, you know you want to anyways.” Michael said. Gavin turned to the flowers and stared at them. They were a dark red, with every petal looking as if someone were to pick the perfect ones for each flower.

“Who did this?”

“I don’t know. Gus gave ‘em to me saying that the person didn’t want you to find out just yet.”

Geoff slipped through the office door, immediately noticing the roses.

“Ooooh, Gavvy’s got a little secret admirer!” He teased, kicking the Brit’s chair. Gavin huffed and turned red as the roses. Michael smiled, seeing Gavin’s eyes light up every time he took a glance at the flowers.

“Well...I’ll figure it out! I got to know!” A smile grew on his face as he jumped up from his chair.

“Michael, stay on the lookout for anything suspicious!” He called, darting out the door to heaven knows where. Michael walked over to his own seat and sat down, placing his backpack on the ground. He looked over to the flowers that sat on Gavin’s desk and smiled brightly.

“Idiot...” He mumbled to himself, forgetting that he wasn’t alone.

“You two are in love with each other it’s gross. Just bang already!” Geoff said, plugging in his microphone wire. Michael snapped his head back to the older man.

“Shut the fuck up, I didn’t do shit for him. Someone got him flowers, I’m happy. That’s all.”

“Michael Jones, you are the worst liar in the world.” Michael groaned in response to Geoff’s sass.

“Let’s just put it this way, Geoffrey. There’s way more to come his way. He’s going to have the best damn Valentine’s Day in the whole fuckin’ world.” Michael turned on his computer and went straight back to work, with nothing but Gavin on his mind.

Michael wasn’t kidding. For the next few hours, gifts appeared on Gavin’s desk. From more roses, to heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, teddy bears holding stupidly cheesy sayings, and even cards with little blurbs of affection written on the inside. All of the items were signed with the same signature: YLLB.

“I don’t get it, Geoff. No one in this office has the initials Y L L B.” Gavin said, setting down a small brown teddy bear on his desk. Geoff walked over to the younger man and his gifts, and picked up a box of chocolates.

“I don’t know man, maybe it’s just a bunch of fangirls from around Austin. Either way, free fuckin’ stuff.” He placed the box on top of the others and walked out of the room. Gavin leaned back in his chair and picked up one of the cards. He studied it for a moment, looking over the penmanship.

“Why does this look so familiar to me...” He mumbled to himself.

“Gavin! Get your scrawny ass out here! You have another gift!” Geoff called into the office where Gavin was. He jumped up from his chair and placed the card back down.

“What is it now?!” He replied. Gavin walked into the main entrance to where Geoff’s voice came from.

“Holy...”

A large light brown teddy bear sat in front of him. It had to be at least 3 feet tall, as it was taller than the front desk. Another box of chocolates sat in its arms, with a red bow tied around its neck.

“I don’t think this is the work of the fans, Gav.” Jack said to the man. But Gavin just stood there, shocked. He’s never had this much affection given to him on Valentine’s Day, why the sudden change?

“Hey uh...Have any of you seen Michael?” Gavin asked the few that stood there. Maybe he knew who it was.

“Nah, I haven’t seen him since lunch, actually.” Ryan replied. Everyone else nodded their heads in agreement. The group finally started to scatter back to their jobs, all except Geoff.

“Dude, there’s a note on the bear, did you not notice it yet?” Geoff said, pointing to the teddy. Gavin glanced at Geoff and walked over, kneeling down to it. A small piece of paper hung off the ribbon, and Gavin untied it to get to the letter. He opened it up carefully, and read aloud.

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Geoff will take you to me

Where (I hope) your dreams come true.

-YLLB

Gavin stared at the note for a minute, re-reading the same four lines over and over.

“You heard the letter. Let’s go Gavino.” Geoff pulled a blindfold out from his back pocket.

“What if you’re just leading me to get murdered? How do I know that this isn’t just a big prank?” Gavin couldn’t help but still be skeptical. His friends were known to pull pranks all the time, but if this was all the work of a couple of his friends...Well, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever forgive them.

“Shut the fuck up and put this on. Besides, if I wanted to kill you I would have done it long ago.” He smiled at Gavin and tossed him the blindfold. Gavin let out a small chuckle and put it on. Geoff walked over to the lad and placed his hands on his shoulders and started to lead him out the door, playfully bumping him into the door first, of course.

“Hey! Watch where you’re leading me! That hurt my nose!” “Yeah, wouldn’t want to damage that schnoz more.” Gavin huffed but continued to walk to Geoff’s car, with the aid of his boss.

“Okay, we’ve been in this car for what seems like forever, Geoff! Where are you taking me ya pleb face?!” Gavin fidgeted in his chair a bit, desperately wanting to rip off the blindfold to see where his current location was.

“Relax! We’re here anyways. You only need to keep that on for another few minutes. I just have to lead you to the room your little lovebird is in.” Geoff responded. He parked the car and quickly got out, heading over to Gavin’s side.

“Alright, go slow so you don’t bust your face.” Geoff placed his hands on Gavin’s shoulders again, and lead him to the entrance of the building.

“Can you at least tell me what kind of building we are in?” Gavin pleaded.

“Apartment. Now shut up and step into the elevator.” Gavin nodded slightly and moved into the elevator, placing one hand on the small railing and the other on Geoff’s arm. He heard the elevator ding as it rose up a few floors, and the sounds of Geoff clicking away on his iPhone made Gavin suddenly grow nervous. Who was this person? A friend, a crazy fan, a complete stranger? Was it even someone? And where the hell was Michael? He isn’t the type of person to just leave and not say a word. Gavin could feel his head start to spin. Maybe this was all Michael’s dirty trick. Just to get Gavin’s hopes up to crush them into the dirt. But Michael wasn’t that mean...Right?

“Alright, we’re here. Open the door but keep that blindfold on.”

“Geoff, I’m nervous.” He whispered, slowly raising a hand to the doorknob.

“Don’t be. I’m sure it’s not an axe murderer.”

“You are full of sarcasm today, Geoffrey.” Gavin turned the door handle slightly, feeling it open up.

“I’m always full of sass when it comes to your stupidity. Now, I’m going to lead you in, You can take your blindfold off but you have to keep your eyes on the ground. Do not move them at all. If you do, your butthole gets kicked in.” Geoff moved Gavin into the apartment room, and slowly removed his blindfold. Gavin rubbed his eyes to adjust them again, but kept looking down.

“What the-” Gavin stopped walking and stared intently at the ground. Red and pink rose petals were scattered on the ground.

“Go on. I’ll be out in the hall.” Geoff slowly closed the door behind him.

“Who are you?” Gavin thought he’d be able to tell by where he was, but the apartment was too dim for him to really see. Plus, he was only allowed to look at the ground anyways. He slowly followed the rose petal trail, keeping his eyes on it. The trail suddenly stopped at the end of what appeared to be the living room. Gavin stopped with it, a puzzled look growing across his face.

“You can look up now, Gav.”

Gavin slowly rose his head up to see Michael standing there. He gasped and covered his mouth with his hands, trying to contain his emotions. He was decked out in a nice black suit, but still had his blue beanie on. Michael extended his shaking arms a little to hand Gavin the final bouquet of roses. Gavin slowly took them, unable to comprehend anything that was happening. A note sat upon the top of them, and Gavin read it aloud.

Will you be my Valentine?

-YLLB

“I can’t believe...This was all..” Gavin just stared at Michael, feeling tears creep up into his eyes. Michael stepped forward and slowly took one of Gavin’s hands.

“Yeah. All me. As soon as you told me you’ve never had a valentine...Well...here I am. The most cliche asshole on the planet.” Michael turned away slightly, trying to hide his reddening face.

“You did all of this...For me?” He looked at their intertwined hands. His heart was beating faster than his brain could comprehend, but it was a good thing.

“Mhm...Fuckin’ bought out half of CVS. I’m glad you stayed so skeptical, I was already nervous that you’d figure out the signature.”

“What does that even mean, Y L L B?” Gavin asked. Michael let out a nervous laugh.

“Your Lovely Little Boy.” Gavin smiled brightly at Michael, his face turning a bright shade of pink. He set the flowers down gently on the small side table, and wrapped his arms around Michael.

“You donut! I had no idea you-”

“I have. For a long time. Seems that this stupid ass holiday was the perfect opportunity to tell you...” He squeezed the Brit back tightly, feeling his own nerves drain out of him.

“Mi-cool you are such a cheeky little bastard! Gavin stated in a shrill voice, still clinging onto his boy.

“I know what I am, asshole! Now you didn’t even answer my question!” He pulled away a bit so he could look at Gavin. Gavin stared at him for a moment, but his response clicked quickly.

“Of course I’ll be your valentine! How can I say no to my lovely little boy?” He gushed out, blushing even more. Michael couldn’t hide his emotions any longer. He cupped Gavin’s face with one hand and wrapped his arm around the man’s tiny waist with the other.

“Happy Valentine’s Day, Gavvy.” He leaned in and connected his lips to Gavin’s. Gavin’s eyes shot open, but soon relaxed to the kiss. He gently placed his hands on Michael’s chest, feeling his quickening heartbeat match up with his own. Michael’s lips tasted like mint and a hint of chocolate, which was the perfect combination for a kiss on this holiday.

Soon enough, the duo pulled away from each other, still staying wrapped up close.

“That was the best gift out of all of them, Michael..” Gavin mumbled. Michael smiled and kissed Gavin’s cheek.

“Then I hope you don’t mind another one.” His voice was hushed, which gave Gavin goosebumps.

“I won’t ever mind.” Michael smiled and leaned in again, squeezing Gavin just a little bit tighter this time.

It was a typical Saturday afternoon for the two boys. Waking up on the couch after an alcohol fueled Friday night in a mess of limbs, and a half forgotten blanket haphazardly throw over the both of them in a sleepy effort to keep them warm through the night. As per usual, Michael was the first one awake. Also per usual, Michael had time to take a shower, make coffee and eggs, brush his teeth and start up the Xbox before Gavin had even started to wake up.

“Coffee is in the pot, breakfast in the oven” Michael said in response to Gavin’s confused early morning groans. Continuing to groan Gavin went to the bathroom for his morning ritual. Michael had finished loading GTA V and had started killing civilians when he felt a kiss to the top of his head and arms curl around his torso.

“Mornin love” Gavin mumbled into his curls before sitting himself down next to Michael. “Having fun?”

“Loads Gavvers, I’d be having more if I could beat your ass in some multiplayer!” Michael replied pausing his game to hand Gavin a controller. He was met with a lewd smirk and a waggle of eyebrows.

“I know some other things you could do to my ass Michael” the Brit leaned in to place a slow, lingering kiss on Michaels lips. Instead he was shoved backwards, nearly off the couch, and found a Xbox controller pressed into his chest.

“No Gavin! Now is the time for blippin’ and glaowin’ and poppin’ some caps in people asses! I’ll mess with your ass later.” Michael yelled as he proceeded to set up the second Xbox for multiplayer. Gavin chuckled to himself as he maneuvered himself into a gaming position next to his boy. Maybe he would win a couple of their games.

“MICHAEL NO!” Gavin cried as Michael proceeded to blow him up for the third time this race, throwing Gavin once again into last place. Though at this pace, he is going to end up in negative fiftieth place before the race is over.

“Suck it bitch! Eat my fucking dust” Michael cackled as he proceeded to win the race. “We have had this game for fucking months, you think you’d be able to fucking play it properly. ”

“Its hard Michael!” Gavin whined as he buried his head in Michael’s shoulder. “Can’t I just watch you play?” Gavin perked up as a thought came to him. “You could record a Full Play! It’ll be top!” Before Michael could respond Gavin had literally leapt off of the couch towards their game collection. He messed around with the games until he found the one he was looking for.

“Banjo Tooie!” Gavin yelled triumphantly when he found the game, turning to Michael with a face splitting grin. “I’ll be the Kazooie to your Banjo!”

Michael looked at Gavin for a moment, before turning away and shutting down GTA V.  By the time he turned back Gavin had deflated and he looked like a kicked puppy. Michael quietly took Gavin’s head in his hands and pulled him into a sweet kiss.

“Gavin. That was the worst fucking line I’ve ever heard. You can’t be my Tooie, thats not how the game works.”

“I meant I’ll always be there for you. I’ll always be the annoying bird on your back that gets you into trouble, and we can go on adventures like swimmie bevs and stuff. You’re my big strong Banjo that saves the day and protects me!” Gavin replied earnestly as he covered Michael’s right hand in his own.

“..Gav, I -”

“The only difference is that we have way more sex than they do.” After staring at eachother for a brief moment they both burst out laughing for a few minutes before again meeting each others eyes.

“Gavin, you are a dumbass. But you’re my dumbass.” Michael accented his last point with a kiss to Gavin’s forehead, then his lips. Gavin responded by placing one of his hands behind Michaels head and pulling Michael closer.

They fell back on the couch, Michael quickly moving his arms as to cushion their fall and keep his full weight from falling onto Gavin. They lay there for a moment before Michael shifted so that they were spooning on the couch, Michael becoming the big spoon behind Gavin. He places a soft kiss on the back of Gavin’s head, and pulling the blanket back from where it was thrown earlier in the morning, and draping it over their legs.

“First we nap, then some swimmie bevs, and then we can Full Play.” Gavin hummed in contented bliss as he turned towards Michael and tried to snuggle in closer.

It was another normal day in the Achievement Hunter office, games were being played, curses were heard all around the building, and Michael and Gavin couldn’t be gayer if they started fucking on their desks. As this was normal behavior, Geoff usually didn’t mind when his essentially adopted son openly flirted with his employees. But, the night prior said British moron had gotten shitfaced drunk at home and lamented about his love for the Jersey boy and his curly hair and his face and so on and so on, and Geoff wasn’t even allowed to get drunk. Now he had to deal with noticing Gavin’s genuine love sick puppy faces he didn’t notice before, and all of the touching, and the fucking pet names and ugh the love in the room made him want to vomit.

“Alright lads, I think thats enough for now” Geoff said, stretching as he got out of his chair, “I am all for a lunch break, Gav you coming with me?”

“Sure thing Geoff! Just going to help my boy clean up, I’ll meet you by the car!” Gavin replied, cheerfully as he started to help Michael carry the numerous cans of Red Bull to the kitchen. Geoff sighed as he walked to his car, waving goodbye to Ryan who was sitting in the kitchen with his packed lunch and Jack who went to find Joel to go get lunch. He was waiting for what felt like hours when Gavin came up to the car, with another person in tow.

“I don’t remember asking Michael to go to lunch Gavin,” Geoff asked, amused as Gavin dragged said man by the arm  towards Geoff’s car.

“But I wanted to go to dinner with my boy Geoff! And you of course and Michael-”

“And Michael can speak for himself.” Michael replied as he pulled his arm out of Gavin’s hands. “And Michael would like to ask to go to lunch with you guys, my favorite boss and my boy!”

“Gavin thinks thats a great idea!”

“Geoff thinks he will consider it if you idiots will stop speaking in the third person.” Geoff rolled his eyes as he opened the door and unlocked the car.

“Gav-I mean, does this mean Michael is coming with us?” Gavin asked hopefully.

“Only if he pays for himself. Now get in my car I’m hungry as dicks dude.”  The boys cheered as they climbed into Geoff’s backseat, arguing over where they wanted to eat. Geoff proceeded to ignore the both of them and drive to Burger King. He vaguely heard Michael start to complain about all the Burger King games he had played in the past, but he was interrupted by Gavin running inside. Something about getting a crown. Geoff didn’t really notice that, what he did notice was the face the Jersey boy made when Gavin touched his shoulder as he ran past. If one of these fucks didn’t make a move today he was going to scream.

When Geoff made his way inside, he found Gavin begging the woman behind the counter for one of the child’s paper crowns.

“You are literally a two year old. Its just paper. Why the fuck do you want that?” Michael was complaining as he tried to get Gavin away from the counter.

“But Michael! Its a Burger King Crown! I could finally be a King!”

“Yeah, King dumbass.” Geoff commented as he walked up to the pair. At that Gavin walked off to a booth and started to sulk, leaving the other two to get his food. Michael turned to look at the Brit before turning back to the counter.

“...So how much for one of those crowns?”

“JESUS CHRIST!” Geoff yelled, “Just suck his fucking dick already ” Michael opened his mouth to reply but Geoff cut him off. “Don’t you dare deny it, I have been seeing you two give each other the most pathetic love sick puppy dog eyes for fucking months now. He obviously likes you too dumbass, now go do something! If I have to put up with it for one more day I’m going to scream!” Geoff’s voice cracked as he neared the end of his rant, and then proceeded to turn to the clerk and make his order like nothing had happened. Michael in the meantime was somewhat shell shocked, his mouth still open, looking like a fish. Gavin, who had overheard most of the speech, had turned bright red and slammed his head down on the table.

First Date

Ray Narvaez jr.

Not even Gavin knew as much about Gavin's massive crush on Michael as Ray did. He'd listened to every word he said about his lovely curls, his great sense of humor and his short temper being super cute, and he knew just how he felt. The difference was that Ray knew that it wasn't an unrequited crush. Ray had listened to everything Michael had said about Gavin's perfect hair, his beautiful eyes and his cute accent. He knew pretty damn well that they were perfect for each other, but he was faithful to both his friends, which was why he'd promised not to tell any of them.

Today, however, he'd let it slip for Gavin that he had a secret admirer. "Really, who?" Ray looked at his shoes. "I'm not supposed to tell you." "Oh come on, you doughnut! It's fine-" Ray cut him off, a little annoyed. "I promised Michael not to tell you!" There was a long pause. "Michael likes me?" Gavin squealed like a schoolgirl and Ray sighed. "Yeah, but you didn't hear it from me. Okay?"

"I promise! What more is there?" Ray stamped his foot nervously. "I'm not allowed to say, Gavin." "Not even a little bit?" Gavin pleaded, "-for love?" Ray sighed. "He's liked you for, uh, maybe four months- longer than you liked him, anyway- and he usually talks about you just the same way you talk about him. I'd say you're pretty much perfect for each other." 

Gavin David Free

"Seven o'clock at my place?" was the last thing he said to Michael before he went home that afternoon. "Sure, dude. Looking forward to it." Michael had smiled back, pulling his hoodie strings so they would be even.

Now, Gavin Free was running in circles in Geoff's apartment trying to make everything perfect. He'd begged Geoff to take Griffon and Millie out for the night, so they wouldn't be back before at least 11:30pm. He went over the details in his head, running his tongue slowly over his upper lip in nervousness.

First, he'd welcome Michael at the door, and lead him in to the living room. No, wait, there was no way the first few seconds would pass that quickly. He would hear the doorbell, and go check himself out in the bathroom mirror before walking towards the door with shaking steps. He would then proceed to open the door carefully, and take a deep breath right before he'd smile awkwardly at Michael and they would know they were in love. Michael would know it was right of him to come, even though he was a little embarrassed in the beginning.

The thing was, however, that this would be like any playdate ever, except this was not play. This was gonna be the real deal, and that frightened him. He sat in the stairs leading from the hallway to the second floor fiddling with his fingers when the doorbell rang. "Oh God." he exclaimed. "Oh God, oh God, oh knobs…" He didn't feel like he had time to check himself out before opening, so he just went over to the door. "Hey, Gavin!" Michael greeted him. "Hi, Mi-coo," he replied, and was shocked that they none of them seemed to instantly fall for the other and leap into their arms. He was already worrying about what he could expect from the night.

Best case scenario; He would get to kiss Michael. Worst case scenario; Michael would go home early and never speak to him again. There was a lot at stake, and regardless of how this went, work on monday would most likely be a little awkward, and their strong friendship would never be the same. "Do you wanna, like invite me in or something?" the boy outside the door smiled, much gentler that usual. "Or maybe we could just chill in the doorway, that's fine too." Gavin snapped back into reality. "Oh, sure, I'll, I-" He showed Michael into the living room.

Michael had brought a bouquet of yellow roses, he looked a bit embarrassed and nervous handing them over. "I would have gotten red ones, but they were all sold out. Who'd guess there'd be a big flower-rush around valentines day?" The first five minutes were pretty embarrassing, Gavin pulling his polo shirt and Michael checking out the apartment even though he'd been there a million times before, almost avoiding eye contact with his date completely.

Michael Vincent Jones

"This is sort of ridiculous, isn't it?" the older of them finally said. "Yeah. How about we both calm down a little and pretend this isn't a date?" Gavin answered. "Well," Michael shrugged and smiled at him. "We could just hang, see what happens…" From there on, the date went much better. Gavin ordered pizza, and they ate while Gavin played GTA on single player lying in Michael's lap. He got himself wasted a few times, before Michael grabbed the controller. "Here, gimme that. You suck at this, dude." He leaned his arms on Gavin's chest, and Gavin wrapped his arms around Michael's, making him die as well.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Gavin leaned his head back and smiled. "Maybe?" "You fucking moron," Michael giggled softly. "Let's do something I hope you don't suck at instead." Michael hadn't had that many butterflies earlier in his life, but somehow he imagined these butterflies surely were more violent than normal ones. These were I'm-in-love-with-my-best-friend-and-I-hope-that's-not-gonna-end-up-costing-me-our-friendship-butterflies, and they tore his stomach up and left his body sink into the couch while Gavin's lips melted into his own.

He'd been pretty chill about the date until the very second he was on his way out the door. He played Peggle with Ray until there was half an hour left, and then he put on a nice t-shirt and some clean jeans. As he pulled his pants up, he realized that if things really were going somewhere, he might have to make sure he was wearing okay underwear too. That was when he logged out of real life and drove to Geoff and Gavin's place with his head on autopilot.

Seeing Gavin at the door made his heart drop and then suddenly pound at a hundred miles an hour. When did he start feeling this way about his best friend? He didn't know. All he knew now, was that Gavin's lips were soft and his breath tasted like beer and pizza, but somehow not sickening. Gavin could never be sickening, and he wondered how they managed to usually pretend there was nothing between the two of them, when they'd ended up lying on the couch face-sucking so easily.

Gavin David Free

He couldn't breathe. This kiss was all he wanted and it felt good, but he was scared for what Michael would say when they would part. He was really scared that Michael would change his mind, give him a long stare and run out of the house, and he couldn't breathe. Michael seemed to let him go for a second, but then he kissed him a bit harder and more passionate. "Hold up, Michael…" Gavin, still lying on his back stretching his head backwards to meet Michael's lips, mumbled and stabbed Michael in the eye with his nose. He pulled away quickly. "Upside down doesn't work." He tried to brush it off, but Michael was holding a hand over his left eye.

"Oh God, I'm so, so sorry!" He couldn't help but laugh, but at least he tried to be discrete. "Fuck, that kinda hurt…" Michael swore quietly and turned to look Gavin in the eye. "You need to be more careful with that thing," he said and booped his nose. He then kissed his nose, and then his forehead. "Do you wanna try again, maybe?" They looked into each others eyes, none of them saying anything until a moment had passed. "I think I'd like that." he answered.

Their next kiss was better than the last one, maybe because it was easier to kiss the right way up. Regardless, he made Gavin kick the xbox controller out of the couch and onto the floor in order to make room for Michael lying on top of him. He got very nervous all of a sudden, when he felt something in Michael's pants. His tongue flinched, and he broke the kiss off with a sudden move. "What is it?" Bollocks. "No, I just, I, you…" He didn't complete his sentence before Michael cut him off. "Come on, you know how it is, right?" He knew exactly how it was, he just didn't expect it.

"I'm very attracted to you, Gav," It was as if he'd read his mind. "And I don't want you to get the wrong idea here, but…" he took a brief pause, long enough for Gavin to start choking on the air he just inhaled. "But I like like you." He was obviously referring to his boner, but Gavin was still a little shocked. "Attracted to me? How?" he giggled. "Like this…" Michael whispered as he started kissing Gavin's neck.

Michael Vincent Jones

What does it mean when somebody lets you kiss their neck? How fast or slow do you kiss them? How close are you allowed to be? Michael had, once again, no idea what he was going to do now. All he knew was that he loved Gavin, and Gavin seemed to like him too. Maybe he loves him? He could only wish. "Michael, I want a love bite." Gavin sounded flustered, but happy. Michael giggled, but kept close to him. "That's not how it works, silly. You get a love bite when you're a good boy." He raised an eyebrow. "Mi-coo, I don't…" he said calmly, sitting up and pushing Michael away from himself just a little. "I'm sorry. I really like you and all, but I think we should go slower, maybe."

Oh God, Michael was so stupid. Of course you don't say that kind of stuff on a first date! Fucking sack of shi- "Do you want tea?" Gavin asked as he got up quickly and walked into the kitchen. "Nah, I'm fine…" There was a short silence, then they both spoke at once. "But I got new types-" "I'm sorry about-" Their eyes met, and Michael sighed. "I'm sorry, Gavin. I shouldn't have said all that, that was silly of me." Gavin almost dropped the mugs. "No, I, it's, yeah, no-" he mumbled, then he disappeared back behind the cupboards. "I'd love some tea, thanks." Michael added.

Gavin David Free

What the hell'd just happened? One second he and Michael were playing video games, the next he tried to fuck him? He liked Michael a lot, and to be honest, he'd thought about him at late hours, but still… It wasn't like he'd ever thought about acting upon his fantasies. He was standing in the kitchen when the fog in his head cleared. Why did he come in here? Tea? Oh, yeah, that was it. That usually helped him out a lot when he was stressed. He grabbed the mugs and filled them with the steaming water from the kettle. "I got green tea and berry mix," He stressed every word more that the last.

"I'm having green tea, but to be fair, the berry one tastes better-" "I'll have the berry one then." Michael mumbled from the living room. It was obvious that he was a little rattled from the incident. "I'm sorry again for what I said. I'm just not used to dating people I already know, you know?" "Yeah, totally." He was beginning to feel a bit more relieved; it was obvious that Michael didn't think it was a problem that he'd freaked out. He took a deep breath as he put the bags in the warm water in each of the mugs. 

The first time they meet in person, they’re in New York and Gavin’s not even paying attention.

He’s carrying a camera tucked under one arm, staring up at the skyscrapers of New York City in awe.  He knows he shouldn’t have wandered off, that Geoff and Griffon are going to be calling him frantically (company asset and all), but he can’t bring himself to care.

How often is he going to get to walk around New York City, the Big Apple, and take in the sights without being hustled into the various shops Griffon wants to visit or into the wide variety of bars where Geoff wants to try just one more drink.

But he’s not paying attention to where he’s walking, and walks straight into a wall of person.  He’s bounced back to the ground, and he prepares for a scathing remark.

“Whoa, mate, you all right?”

Gavin looks up to see a worried, handsome face looking at him, and he flushes in embarrassment.

“I’m fine,” he says, but he gladly takes the hand the stranger holds out to him.  As soon as he’s upright, he checks over his camera before looking over the stranger.

He’s tall, taller than Gavin by a couple inches, and is fairly broad and almost reminds Gavin of a living wall.  He dismisses that thought seconds later, instead picking out the British accent in the midst of the other’s apologies.

“Are you British?” he asks, wanting to retract the words immediately.  The other laughs, the sound rich and warm and giving Gavin a pleasantly buzzing feeling across his scalp.

“I am, from Oxfordshire,” he says, and Gavin could really care less that they’re standing in the middle of the sidewalk blocking the flow of crowded passersby.

“That’s where I’m from!” Gavin yelps, grinning brightly.  “I moved here for high school, though.  Got a nice little job in Austin, Texas, that keeps me here though.”

Dan laughs again, and they go out for coffee to talk.  Gavin eventually makes his way back to the hotel, smile a mile wide and clutching an address and phone number in his hand.

- - - - -

Dear Dan,

I hope that’s okay to start this off, anyway.  I’ve been doing okay; I’m back in Texas with my host family (they’re never letting me leave, I swear), and I finally sat down to write you a letter.  I just…don’t know what to talk about.

Work.  I can talk about work.  I work for an internet company called RoosterTeeth (yes, that’s the professional name of the company), and specifically, I work for Achievement Hunter.  We put out videos about games!  Honestly, the entire thing still feels like a dream to me – I mean, I’m working at a company that I’ve been a fan of almost since its beginning!

Anyway, Geoff, one of the people I live with, says that I’m writing to your military address.  Why didn’t you tell me you were in the army?!  I hope you stay safe, because I want to know more about you.

Wow, that sounded bloody awkward.  Well, I really hope you know what I mean.  I don’t know what else to say, though, so I’m going to leave it here I suppose.

Sincerely,

Gavin

- - - - -

Dear Gavin,

Sorry about not telling you, I guess it just never came up when we were talking.  Besides, how exactly do you expect me to tell someone I’ve never met that I’m headed off to war as soon as I leave the next day?  I couldn’t tell my parents for a month that I’d signed up for the army and was getting sent to basic training in June.

Anyway, well, now you know.  This Geoff must be pretty smart to have figured it out so quickly.  Don’t worry about me, though, I’ve got a reason to make it back when my tour’s up in a year.

You sound like you have to perfect job, though.  I wish I played video games for a living!  Halo is really the only game I’m much good at, but I’ll try anything once.

I’ve gotten an email set up, so it’ll be easier than writing letters back and forth.  I can’t promise I’ll send anything back timely, though, but it’s certainly faster and less expensive than letters and postage.

I dunno; I’m not very good at this either.  Maybe we’ll be able to talk better when we email?

Sincerely,

Dan

- - - - -

“You’ve been glued to your computer all day, Gav,” Griffon says, peering over his shoulder as she moves through the house.  “Waiting on an email from Dan?”

“Yeah,” Gavin says, sighing as he leans back and stretches.  “I’m just anxious.  Dan usually emails me the next day.  I hope something didn’t happen to him.

“He’s in Afghanistan, Gavin, it’s been picking up recently.  You’ve been emailing for three months, but things change in the blink of an eye there.”  She rubs his shoulder comfortingly, and Gavin leans into the touch.  “He’ll be fine.  You’ll see.”

- - - - -

B,

Sorry, the past few days got hectic.  One of our squads got taken out recently, and we’ve been scouring the city we’re in (can’t tell you for security reasons) for anything else.

No, I don’t have anyone special back in England!  That’s something you ask a lad over a pint, not an email!  Tell you what, first thing we’ll do when we meet up again is go out and have a couple.  We’ll talk all night long about who I may or may not have then, but not now!  You’re making me blush in front of my ssquad.

I wish we weren’t so far apart, though.  We’ve only been talking for a few months, but I feel like I’ve known you forever.  Is that weird?

B

- - - - -

B,

Nah, it’s not weird at all.  I feel the same.  We’ve talked about everything under the sun, basically, so I think we could say we know each other.

I’m going to hold you to that promise, B.  Bevs the first night we’re together, and we’ll have a nice long chat.

Hope you’re staying safe, because I want those bevs!

Gav

- - - - -

“I hope you realize it’s painfully obvious that you’re crushing on that boy toy of yours.”

Gavin squawks as Griffon sneaks up behind him, and he glares at her.  It’s only a month until Dan’s back from tour, and Gavin’s been excited since he noticed the date.  “I am not!”

“Yes, you are.”  She sits down next to him.  “The first thing you do is check your email from him, and if you have one, you’re on cloud nine all day long.  If it’s empty, you mope around the house like a lost puppy.  It’s painfully obvious, Gavin.”

Gavin hugs his laptop to his chest, half-heartedly muttering a protest as Griffon smirks at him, pats him on the back, and leaves to go work on a sculpture out back.

He decidedly does not look at his email as soon as she’s gone, and smile when he sees Dan’s email address waiting.

- - - - -

B,

I think I’ve got a crush.  How do you tell?

Gav

- - - - -

B,

Well, usually they give you butterflies, and the best kind of tingling feeling all over.  And they’re the first person you think about when you wake up, and the last when you go to bed.  At least, that’s what I feel.  Everyone’s different.

Dan

- - - - -

“Oi, what’re you doing?!” Gavin yelps as Geoff drags his computer from his lap.

“Putting you out of your misery,” he says, running with the laptop to get away from Gavin’s flailing arms.  He locks himself in the bathroom, and Gavin pounds on the door until Griffon yells at him.

He’s slumped down against the door when it peeks open and his laptop is thrust through the crack.  His sent messages are pulled up, and he reads the newest with ever-increasing dread:

I don’t know if you feel the same about me, but I think I’m in love with you.

- - - - -

Gavin loses sleep that night, alternating between hate at Geoff (the smug bastard only smirked at him all through dinner, not even bothering to take in the panic Gavin feels) and anxiety at what Dan will say.  Will he be mad at Gavin?  Hate him?  Gavin nearly throws up with the nerves, and only falls asleep as the sun is rising.

He wakes up in an hour and frantically checks his email.  Nothing.

- - - - -

It’s two more days, two more days of Gavin agonizing over the response he might get, before he actually gets a response from Dan.

He nearly cries the first time (and each subsequent time) he reads the two worded-email:

Me too.

- - - - -

The second time they meet in person, Gavin’s waiting anxiously in the Austin airport awkwardly holding a pretty, glittery sign with Dan Gruchy emblazoned across it.

Geoff is the lovely person responsible for his exceedingly embarrassing sign, and luckily he’s waiting in the car with Griffon.  Both of them had declined, saying that he and Dan “need to talk alone”, complete with Geoff making awkward sexual comments that have Gavin as red as a tomato.

And yeah, okay, so maybe he’s really glad that Geoff is waiting in the car.  Griffon wouldn’t be too bad, but she’d just give him that knowing look and make little comments that would make him give a few awkward protests.

The flight Dan’s on is coming in from Atlanta, and it’s crowded as huge waves of people come at him from behind the security gate.  Gavin stands firm, though, and tries desperately to pick out Dan from the crowd.

Dan’s one of the last ones out, carrying a duffle in one hand and dragging his suitcase behind him.  Gavin’s mouth is dry and his hands shake, but he holds the sign up a bit higher (not that anyone could miss the pink-and-purple monstrosity).  Dan’s smiling, though, and Gavin doesn’t realize he’s actually crying until Dan’s right there and asking if he’s okay.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” he asked, wiping his eyes a bit and shuffling in front of Dan awkwardly.

“Well, I…”  Dan doesn’t have an answer either, and instead looks at the sign.  “Did you make that?”

Gavin flushes, glaring at the sign spitefully.  “No, Geoff did,” he says.  “He’s a bit of a twat sometimes.”

“So I heard.”  Dan shuffles a bit before looking around the airport.  “Well, shall we get going?”

“Yeah.”  Dan’s hand slips around his, and Gavin flushes a bit more as he leads Dan out of the airport to Geoff’s car.

He never thought he’d fall in love with someone just by writing letters to them, but he’s really glad he literally ran into Dan in New York just a year earlier.  And if his hand squeezes Dan’s a little in memory, and he gets a squeeze back, well.

The air is stained with the scent of whiskey mixed with the feeling of home. Gavin’s arms were draped around Geoff’s torso as they both started to stir from their deep slumber. Gavin inhaled happily as Geoff brought him closer so he could peck the other’s forehead; the atmosphere was warm and comfortable which meant neither party wanted to get up and go to work. Gavin stirred under Geoff’s grasp as he tried to wake Geoff up in a way that did the job but didn’t make him cranky.

“Get up you donut, we’ll be late!” Gavin said, his voice was laced protest as he threw the covers off of his body and whipped the sleep from his eyes.

Geoff yawned loudly, the words 'I'm going, shithead' escaped from his lips playfully. Geoff wiped his eyes so he would open them, but the man always looked like he was stuck in a limbo of tried and drowsy. What can you do? Genetics deals you a hand of cards and you either deal with what's dealt to you or fold your game.

Birds chirped outside and the only thing Geoff could think was 'Shut up.'

Breakfast was the usual. Orange juice and slightly burnt toast while Gavin tried his damnedest to make scrambled eggs that weren't runny. (And failing.) Morning was nothing special, Geoff drove and Gavin tried not to fall asleep in the rocking car.

But work was something special. There was a sense of family the second you walked into the room, the familiar scent of everyone mixed into the air that was remebeicent of the smell of coffee in the morning. It was a nice smell. Different.  Kinda tickled your nose a little.

Gavin sat down at his desk and Geoff took his seat, they worked separately and only talked to conference on lets play ideas. Bright and early the teasing starts, Ray being the first to chime up above the silence of editing to ask everyone what they’re doing for valentine's day.

Valentines?

Huh.

Skipped Geoff’s mind to be honest, must be the beer.

“Yeah I dunno Ray, Gavin you wanna do something?” “Nah.”

And then the conversation was over with them.

Jack, on the other hand, had a flashy day planned out. He saved up some extra cash and reserved a place for him and Cati at a big flashy restaurant. Top floor, Cati would wear the dress Jack loved so much and Jack would dress to impress; Cati would look out into the stars and get a little lost while Jack got lost in her eyes and when they got home there would be an array of flowers waiting for her on their doorstep and it would be perfect.

Ryan’s going to repair his wife’s old stuffed animal. It was the first gift he ever bought her and it was the only thing that made his wife perfectly upset, the stitching started to come undone and the fur started to darken. Ryan spent weeks trying to find a person who could restore it back to almost perfect. So he’d make his wife dinner and let her open the box, hoping that a spark of joy will course through her veins.

Michael's taking Lindsey to a pet store to give her what she’s always wanted. A pet goldfish. (To quote Michael: “Yeah I’m not dealing with a cat, she won’t let me get a dog, but I’ll totally settle for a fish, or maybe a bunny. I’ll buy whatever.”)

And Ray was going to go home and have a nice long chat with his right hand.

Gavin’s eyelids started getting heavy and he could feel his eyeballs start to dry up as he blinked. He rubbed his eyes to try and make them tear a bit but it didn’t work. Staring at a screen for three hours really started to take it’s toll on Gavin and the Brit was far too sober to deal with his body right now. He got up for bevs and he heard Geoff’s chair back up too. “I’ll get you something.” “You don’t know how I like it,” Geoff mumbled as he walked through the door.

The clinking of glass was muffled over the yelling of various voices, laughter echoed in the office while Geoff’s sleepy gaze never left Gavin’s body.

“What?” he said stupidly, his hands filled with alcohol as he made eye contact with his lover.

“You really don’t wanna do anything for valentines day?” “It’s not that I don’t, it’s just, we don’t have to.” Geoff nodded in understanding, “But like, if I wanted to do something would you be up for it?” “Why do anything? It’s just a dumb day.”

“Whatever you say, buddy.”

They mixed their drinks so Gavin’s was a mix of sweet with a slightly tart aftertaste and Geoff had death in a glass, a liquid fire that burned down his throat but left him feeling satisfied at the end of it.

Geoff didn’t want to do nothing for valentines day though, maybe he wasn’t going to whisk Gavin away in some fancy dinner, but he wanted to do something so he didn’t feel left out.

He had a reason to show Gavin he loved him and he was going to fucking use it.

((So Geoff had this idea right…))

Time seemed to be wrong when Gavin Fucking Free woke up well rested. He stretched his arms upwards like he was a short person trying to grab a top shelf item, and looked to the place where Geoff should have been only to find a little grey elephant in his place. A rose rested in the stuffed animal’s trunk and Gavin gingerly took the flower from it’s place, smelt it and rested it on his nightstand. He opened the note attached to the elephant's ear and read it.

The nose reminded me of you.

Gavin rolled his eyes, whispering ‘oh bollocks,’ before slipping away from his bed and going to the shower.

He let the warm water soak his skin while he massaged soap on himself, a slight draft made his skin erupt in goosebumps as Geoff slunk his arms around Gavin’s waist and pressed his still dry chest onto Gavin’s back.

“Did you like your present?” Geoff muttered into Gavin’s neck, tickling him. “I could have done without the insult but the little guy is cute, you big donut.”   “Insult? You know I love your nose.” Geoff said as he pressed kissed on Gavin’s neck, nipping at the skin. Gavin leaned backwards into the touch and hummed, the feeling of warm water and kisses filled his nerves with a weird feeling of love.  

Gavin tilted his head so he could give Geoff an open mouthed kiss, Geoff tasted like the aftermath of alcohol and Gavin tasted like sleep. Eventually both the men’s fronts where touching as Geoff placed one hand on the middle of the blonde’s back and the other hand was slowly going south to touch Gavin’s ass. The younger responded readily to the advances, slowly grinding his hips against Geoff’s while threading his fingers through the tattooed man’s wet hair.

He broke the kiss first as Gavin wanted to mark Geoff’s collarbone in a hickey, slowly he made his way down, kissing Geoff’s stomach, and then lower, kissing his thigh. Eventually Gavin breathed cold air accidently on Geoff’s cock, making him hiss while Gavin giggled an apology. Gavin took Geoff in bit by bit, making sure to relax his throat because the most unsexy thing you can do is throw up while giving a blow job. Eventually Gavin got comfortable enough to bob his head up and down and Geoff groaned in appreciation, Gavin swirled his tongue around while keeping his hands on Geoff’s thighs so the older didn’t fuck his mouth. He gently moved his thumb in a circle around Geoff’s inner thigh and Geoff couldn’t do anything about but mutter a ‘Fuck, Gavin.’

Geoff reached a hand down to pet Gavin’s hair, a feat that was difficult to do in the shower since his hair was slicked down from the water. The linoleum wall felt too cold against Geoff’s back but it was either lean on it or lean uncomfortably forward while getting head but Geoff didn't wanna dwell on that. He wanted to dwell on the way Gavin felt, how warm his mouth was and how cute it was Gavin worked so hard on his gag reflex to blow him. With every movement of his head and every flick of the tongue Geoff could feel himself nearing the end. Geoff muttered Gavin’s name out as a warming just in time for him to pull away so his hand could do the rest. Geoff came when Gavin kissed his lips and Geoff tasted himself; his cum was quickly washed away, down the drain with the rest of the used water.

And then there was Gavin, still uncomfortably hard and itching for release.

Geoff stroked his partner slowly, Gavin eliciting a quiet hum when Geoff’s hand clasped his dick. He pumped up and down, muttering encouragements because he knew Gavin liked it. Telling Gavin how good he was, how proud he is that he managed to give him head and not gag, how cute he looked when he was wet from the shower.

How much he loved him.

Gavin just nuzzled his head into the crook of Geoff’s neck and hummed happily, occasionally biting Geoff’s shoulder to stop himself from making noise. He sighed a ‘Geoff’ and he picked up the pace, going faster and faster as he kissed Gavin’s mouth. The only reaction Gavin could muster was opening his mouth slightly from the pleasure. The next ‘Geoff’ was more forceful, as the older man decided to leave a bruise on Gavin’s neck. The last Geoff was louder, not a scream but not a whisper as Gavin came.

The water ran cold as Gavin scrambled out of the shower, his face had a nice after sex smile while Geoff was left with dealing with no warm water.

Gavin stepped on a rose. Not the same rose that was tied to his elephant, this one was different. It was white, kinda bent from Gavin’s weight barreling down onto it, but nevertheless Gavin though it was perfect.

He sat down at breakfast and stuffed his mouth with cereal, Geoff flicked leftover water into Gavin’s face while he sat down to eat with him.

“Arent you glad I never listen to you?”

“What you going on about?”

“You know what I mean Gavin, you totally didn’t want to celebrate valentine's day but yet here we are.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Geoff said dismissively, “How many roses did you find?”  

“Two.” “Well theres five around the house dipshit, if you find them all I’ll give you a prize tonight.” “A sexy prize?” Gavin said, wiggling his eyebrows in an obscene manner.

“We just fucked. It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you what it was.”

There was a rose on the kitchen table, which brought Gavin’s count up to three.

Now you have to understand, Gavin HATES surprises. Just tell him what he wants to know and you won’t have to look at his pouty lip anymore. But Geoff has grown immune to Gavin’s whinings, and the brit knows that, so he complies to Geoff’s dumb game and puts the three roses he’s found in a coffee mug on the kitchen counter with enough water to help them survive a night or two.

((Gavin, what happened to the white one?

Ahh well you know))

The fourth flower was a doozy, Gavin went out of his way to overturn every couch cushion in the house, forcing Geoff to clean up Gavin’s awful mess. Destruction was Gavin’s game but when it came to cleaning up he’d be the first to leave. Turns out, it was outside right on top of the grill. An unnaturally blue rose perched in the place where Geoff shines the brightest that isn’t the bedroom, of course. The man was a genius at cooking and Gavin was grateful he didn’t have to cook at all, surely they’d be dead by now if Gavin even dared to touch the stove.

Gavin honestly expected the fifth flower to be in their sex drawer. So Gavin was stuck ruffling through some questionable items, vibraters, ropes, anything really, you name it they had it.

Except for roses. There were no roses in his dirty little drawer and Gavin was starting to get antsy. He had turn the house upside down entirely and he still couldn’t find the damn thing. It was going to drive him nuts if he never did and Gavin didn’t want that.

So Gavin opened the fridge to get some bevs and there that fucker was.

In a beer bottle, another red rose sprouting proudly; Gavin took the flower from the bottle, took a sip and drained the nasty liquid down the drain.

He felt strangely sorry for the rose, but also happy he’d found all of them. So he took his little coffee cup filled with roses and water and nearly dropped the thing in Geoff’s lap.

“Great job,” the man said, “Go get dressed, ’ll drive you somewhere nice.”

Gavin quirked an eyebrow up in disbelief.

“Not to nice. You know me.”

---

The fair is not nice. It wasn’t sex and it wasn’t a dinner but Gavin looked down at the world from the top of the ferris wheel and felt like he was at home. The lights dazzled in front of him and he was around so much happiness that it made his head spin. He clutched Geoff’s arm and nuzzled his face into the other man’s shoulder while Geoff squeezed Gavin’s hand lightly.

“Isn’t it pretty buddy?” “Breathtaking.”

“Yeah i knew you’d like it.”

And for the first time in Gavin Free’s life he was forced to slow down and look. No busy outside world, just him and the most important person in his life looking out at Austin’s horizon while a few hundred people shuffled at their feet.

It was life living life in slow motion, and Gavin loved every millisecond of it.

And when the wheel started turning again he kissed Geoff until they both reached the bottom, because Geoff knew how to take Gavin’s breath away, he knew how to slow the younger one down and mellow him out for a few seconds.

The whole car ride home the air was thick with appreciation and rekindled feeling of nervousness when you’re around the person you love for the first time. Kisses were sweet and with love while Gavin could get used to have a slow motion valentine’s day every year.

Joel's alarm rang at 7:00 AM Friday morning. He smashed the off button on his damned loud wake-up contraption that he called his alarm clock and yawned. He groggily turned over to his right side and all the aggression that he previously felt toward his alarm melted away as his tired eyes landed on his younger Puerto Rican lover, curled up, facing him, and still slightly snoring even though their clock went off. Joel softly smiled at the adorable sight and quietly scooted forward and wrapped a long arm over Ray and gently kissed his forehead. Ray's eyes fluttered open at the contact and he immediately smiled, snuggling into Joel's chest, enjoying the warmth that radiated from him. Ray felt Joel's rib cage rumble with chuckles,

"Good morning." Joel greeted, lovingly carding his fingers through Ray's mussed up hair.

"Mmm mmmph." Ray responded, his face still snuggled into Joel's t-shirt covered torso. Yep, this is exactly how they both loved to wake up every morning. They stayed like that for a few minutes, legs tangled together and the comfortable warmth that they shared almost threatening to make them fall back asleep again, which neither would argue with at all if there wasn't work that day. Reluctantly, the two eventually got up and crawled out of their warm nest of blankets and headed to the shower. After they got dressed for the day they headed to the kitchen to eat breakfast. Ray's eyes widened at what was on the table.

"W-what's...this?" Ray smiled with surprise. A beautiful bouquet of freshly cut roses, a small heart-shaped box of chocolates and an adorable honey-colored teddybear that held a heart that read "I Love You" in white cursive letters. It was simplistic, but it was still very thoughtful and made Ray swoon inside.

"Happy Valentines Day." Joel smooched Ray on the cheek, "I hope you like it." He smiled.

"I...I love it." Ray lovingly gazed at Joel and kissed him right back. "Wait here a second, I got you something too!" Ray suddenly said and excitedly rushed back to their bedroom and dug around in the closet. He came back out with two individually wrapped gifts and a heart-shaped balloon that simply read "Happy Valentine's Day!" Ray handed them to Joel "You told me a long time ago that you liked these...I hope I got them right." Ray blushed.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure it's great." Joel assured with a grin. He tore the wrapping paper off both presents and was surprised at what he saw. A box of Russell Stover's dark chocolate and a bottle of Bordeaux style wine made with merlot grapes, Joel's favorite. He's a little dumbfounded that Ray even remembered, seeing as he's sure he probably didn't mention these things more than once in the time that they knew each other. Joel turned to his younger lover and embraced him, "Thank you so much, I love it." and he genuinely meant it.

The two stood there for a moment. Ray spoke up "I love you so much."

"That's gay." Joel deadpanned. Ray punched him in the shoulder,

"Don't fucking ruin the moment." Ray laughed into Joel's chest, feeling absolutely radiant inside. Joel chuckled as well before finally saying,

Geoff checked his watch again.

11:47

The plane was supposed to land any minute.

His breathing sped up.

What if the plane was delayed or had some sort of problem and crashed in a fiery freak accident?!

Or what if Gavin decided he preferred it in England and purposefully missed his flight?!

More stupid questions flew through his head. Geoff knew all of them were ridiculous, but it didn’t stop the anxiety creeping up his spine.

What if I got the wrong day or time?

He checked his phone again to reassure himself. His stomach was getting upset even though he hadn't eaten anything yet that day.

He paced back and forth trying to take his mind off it. He soon got tired though, having woken himself up early with worry. He slumped into a nearby chair.

Geoff couldn’t stay still for long, however, and his leg bounced up and down unconsciously.

11:52

The plane had landed, but it’d be a while before they deplaned and got out of security. Geoff’s face felt tingly, and he could feel a cold sweat coming on.

He wanted to run to the bathroom, but the fear of not being there to see Gavin come down the escalators changed his mind. He returned to watching the clock, counting down as the seconds went by.

I could have gone and come back by now.

This thought circled his head over and over as the time kept passing.

Geoff looked up as people started trickling out and down the escalator and stairs.

He sprang up and moved so he could see as soon as Gavin started his descent.

No matter how tense Geoff was before, it was nothing compared to how he felt now. His body was failing him, but he just needed to last a few moments longer.

The relief was instant, however, when Gavin’s shoes came into view. Of course Geoff recognized him by his shoes, you can’t live with someone that long and not have every piece of their wardrobe memorized.

Hell, Geoff even knew the sound of Gavin’s footsteps coming up behind him and could tell when he sneezed from across the building.

Time seemed to slow down even further than when he first saw Gavin, but it sped up suddenly when Gavin came tumbling into him for a long-awaited hug.

Geoff buried his face into Gavin’s shoulder to hide the tears that had begun prickling his eyes.

“I’m so fucking glad you’re home.”

*******

“Hey, I’m home,” Gavin yelled into the house.

Huh… It didn’t look like anyone was home.

Gavin sighed and dropped his head down to his chest before shuffling to the couch. He plopped down and turned on his XBox.

Of course they’d be gone. Off on another date night, he supposed. They had texted each other all day, probably making plans for this. He couldn't blame them though. They’re married and have every right to go on dates together. But it still hurt for some reason. Maybe they were getting tired of him.

Gavin shook his head to get rid of that ridiculous thought and sunk farther into his seat.

He had been living with them for years, though. But on Gavin’s end, both Geoff and Griffon felt like his family, and when they did all go out with each other, Gavin never felt like the third wheel. Well… Except for lately.

Now it seemed like he was always getting in the way. He just couldn’t see any reason why they wouldn’t want him around. It’s not like they were gonna bang right in the middle of playing Mini Golf! ...right?

Anyway, Gavin thought the three of them were like 3 peas in a pod. A very weird but lovely pod.

Egg padded up to him, leapt onto his lap and demanded attention. Gavin paused the level of Peggle he was replaying to pet her.

It was at this moment that the front door opened, and in came the Ramseys.

Greetings were said to Gavin, which he did not share back. This caused them both to pause in their movement farther into the house.

“Uh... What’s up, lad?” Geoff asked finally seeing the gloomy expression on his face.

“Nothing,” he shrugged turning back around to the television and cat.

“Gavin. Don’t be like that. Tell us what’s wrong.” Griffon moved to sit down next to him. She put a hand on his knee and glared at her husband to sit down too. Geoff, who had previously wanted to ignore whatever Gavin’s problem was, had been walking towards the kitchen but sighed and sat on the opposite side of him.

“Everything’s fine, really. You guys can leave me and go do whatever you want..” Gavin shifted his knee away from Griffon and shrank back into the crack of the cushions to try not to touch either of them.

“We’re not going to do that ‘til you grow a pair and confess whatever’s bothering you.”

“IknowyouguyshatemebutIreallyjustwantthingstogobacktonormalsocouldyoupleasejust--” Geoff put his hand over Gavin’s mouth to stop the sudden geiser of words pouring out of him.

“I only heard the first couple of words but that’s enough. Now, I don’t wanna hear a fucking peep out of you until we’re done.” He removed his hand slowly while glaring at him, daring him to make even one little sound. Gavin played it smart, however, and just blinked owlishly instead.

“You know we love you, honey. Ever since you stole my number and started talking to me, I knew we’d be friends forever. I mean, yeah, this guy,” she tilted her head towards Geoff. “can be an asshole sometimes-”

“Hey!”

“But we could never hate you.”

“I- ah- you...” he sighed. “Ditto, I guess.”

Gavin looked at Geoff and raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah that’s pretty much it. So you’re free to speak and shit.”

Gavin frowned before speaking, “You guys have just been going out together without me more often than usual and so I just kinda assumed you wanted me to move out or at least stop bothering you so much.” He shrugged and looked away.

“Oh, honey. You should have said something earlier! I know we haven’t been as close lately but I really wish you’d have told me that’s how you felt,” Griffon kissed his forehead.

“Yeah the only reason we’ve been going out is because you’ve been staying at the office so late!”

“What?! I’ve had to stay that late because you keep leaving without me! Today, I had to bum a ride from Michael, well technically Lindsay, but whatever. You know Dylon’s over and they had plans? He said I owe him for that one, Geoffers.”

“Sorry buddy... I guess we’ll just have to talk more clearly about that every night then.” Geoff tried to calm him down again.

Gavin decided that was enough and by the tired look on the Ramsey’s faces they were just as exhausted as he was.

The three of them promised that they’d go out together tomorrow and would continue making plans in the future; Gavin and Geoff also promised that they’d verbally ask each other the ride situation before leaving the building.

All Gavin’s worries solved just like that, and to think he’d been ready to move out!

With his favorite lady curled up with her head in his lap, he snuggled down into Geoff’s shoulder and breathed a sigh of content. The warmth and happiness of being with his family like this won out over the knowledge morning soreness, and he soon fell asleep.

“So, do you actually know where you’re going or are we fucking driving around in circles?”

“Of course I know where we’re going Michael. I’ve got the route planned out on my phone and everything!”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere Gavin! Don’t tell me your route takes us out here.”

Despite his annoyance, Michael couldn’t help the amused smirk that tugged at the corner of his lips as he looked towards his boyfriend. Sat in the passenger seat wearing a pair of dress slacks and a smart shirt, hunched over the screen of his phone with a look of intense concentration on his face, Michael thought that Gavin had never looked more handsome; the light from the phone highlighting the soft contoursof his face and the sharpness of his cheekbones. He returned his eyes to the road as Gavin slumped in defeat, the Brit letting out a sheepish chuckle as he looked up from where he’d been checking their progress.

“We...may have taken a wrong turn a couple of miles back…”

Michael tried not to groan, really he did, and he resisted the urge to bang his head on the steering wheel; the light stirrings of irritation spreading through his chest. “I thought you had the route ‘planned out and everything’. ‘We won’t get lost Michael! I know the way!’”

Gavin pouted, folding his arms tightly against his chest as he glared at Michael. “It’s difficult to see in the dark Michael, I just got the wrong turn. Anyone could have done it.”

“But it had to be you, we’re going to be late for dinner now,” Michael grumbled with a smirk, he sent a quick glance to check if Gavin had been hurt by the comment as he drummed his fingers upon the leather surface beneath them. Gavin merely rolled his eyes with a huff, a smile playing at his lips. “It’s not that important anyway.”

“But I thought-”

“You thought I’d be pissed about being late?” Michael couldn’t help but snigger as he flicked up the indicator. “Since when have we ever been on time?”

Gavin was silent for a moment and Michael could hear the gears in his head turning, thinking back to everything they’d done together in the 2 years they’d been dating. “...We get to work on time,” was his meek response.

“Usually, if we’re not...preoccupied.”

They had a split second warning, in the form of a loud ‘POP’ before the car began to veer violently to the right; gravel crunching beneath the vehicle as it left the smooth expanse of tarmac on the road. With a yell, Michael forced himself to keep his hands on the steering wheel - largely unresponsive to his attempts to turn - and slammed his foot down onto the brake pedal causing the car to jolt to a stop.

“What the fuck?!”

“Was that the wheel?”

Michael didn’t answer, choosing instead to kick open his door, mumbling obscenities under his breath, and get out of the car. He dimly registered Gavin doing the same thing (with a little less kicking and mumbling) as he stomped over to check his front tyres, the night’s brisk chill filtering in slightly through the fabric of his shirt.

“God dammit,” he cursed, taking in the shredded remains of his front right tyre. “God fucking dammit!”

“Hey, it’s not too bad,” Gavin said, crouching down to prod at the rubber shreds. He looked up at Michael with a reassuring grin. “You have a spare tyre, don’t you?”

Michael nodded slightly, stomping around to the back of the car. “Yeah,” he replied, popping open the trunk and staring into its shadowed depths. He reached forward, pulling out the spare tyre with a grunt and dropping it unceremoniously onto the dirt below; just about able to see the dust that rose up at the impact. The same dust that filtered down to its new home on Michael’s smart dress shoes and dark trousers. “Aren’t I glad I let you talk me into getting this.”

“Can I get that in writing?” Gavin chuckled, moving over to pick up the tyre; his hands fumbling as they tried to find a good grip. “And you thought it would be a waste of money, you silly sausage.”

“Yeah yeah,” Michael leant forward, readjusting Gavin’s hands and waiting until the brunet was comfortable. He rolled his eyes at Gavin’s shit-eating grin, and reached into the trunk again to find any of the loose tools he knew were in there; hands grappling in the dark. Gavin shuffled out of sight, towards the front of the car, and Michael heard his voice filter back.

“Do you actually know how to change a tyre, Michael?” 

Michael’s hands froze, his grip slack on something metallic and heavy, and he ducked around the open boot. Gavin was stood, the spare tyre at his feet, staring at their problem with a quizzical look on his face as he brought a hand up to run through his hair. At Michael’s attention, he turned and gestured before him. “Because I have absolutely no idea what to do.”

“How hard can it be?” Michael replied, setting down a jack and a wrench. He stuck his hands in his pockets and shrugged. Gavin grinned and kissed him on the cheek.

“Let me know if you need any help.”

Gavin wandered off as Michael crouched down to pick up the jack, turning it over carefully in his hands with narrowed eyes. The car rocked for a moment and Michael’s head shot up to look at Gavin. “What the fuck are you doing?”

The Brit had pulled himself up onto the hood of the car and was lying back, arms behind his head as he stared up at the sky above. He didn’t turn to look at Michael but instead smiled contently, his eyes wide as he took in the twinkling blanket of lights above. “Stargazing.”

“I’m trying to change a tyre and you’re fucking stargazing?”

“It doesn’t sound like you’re trying very hard,” Gavin closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. Michael dropped the jack and clambered onto the hood beside him, shifting in an attempt to get comfortable and to prevent himself from sliding off. Gavin’s eyes flew open. “Hey, now you’re definitely not trying.”

“Turns out changing a tyre is hard,” Michael replied curtly as he lay back. Gavin turned his head to look at him, his warm hand grasping Michael’s colder one, and laughed. “I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”

Gavin’s gaze returned to the sky and he breathed in deeply before speaking. “So you’re joining me instead then?”

“You seem to like stargazing, it’s about time I tried it.”

“I used to go camping when I was young,” Gavin muttered, looking to Michael briefly. “Me and my Grandad would just sit in this field and look at the stars. You could never see them from where I lived, too much pollution, but there...there were so many of them and they were so bright.”

His eyes closed, hazel orbs shielded from the world, and he raised his free hand to point at a point in the sky where he traced something, a series of lines in the air all connected in a way that Michael didn’t understand, before speaking. “Canis Major, the Dog Star.” His hand moved, bright eyes opening, and he continued; his index finger once again drawing lines in the air. “Gemini, the Twins.”

“Gemini? Isn’t that a horoscope or some shit like that?” Michael interrupted, trying to follow the pattern that Gavin drew and still not seeing the same thing his boyfriend saw. Gavin raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, they’re named after the stars y’know.”

“You learn something new every day,” Michael replied, propping himself up on his elbow to look at Gavin properly. “I didn’t know you liked this.”

“Stars are difficult to see in towns…I don’t get the chance really to do this a lot.”

“I guess we’ll have to take a wrong turn and lose a tyre more often then.”

They were silent for a moment. Michael taking in the side of Gavin he’d never seen before - a side that was almost innocent and childlike, complete with wide eyes and tousled hair - as Gavin lost himself in the starry world above, only managing to pull himself out of his trance to mutter: “We’re going to miss dinner.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Michael assured him, leaning forward to deliver a soft kiss to Gavin’s lips before relaxing once more on the cool hood of the car. Gavin’s hand was warm against his, his presence comforting, and he didn’t feel at all in a hurry to move. “We can always call Geoff to pick us up later.”

There is smoke billowing out the hallways and the windows and the shrill scream of sirens in the background. Someone’s wrapped a blanket around Michael’s shoulders, and he sits on the step of the pavement with his hands buried deep in his pockets, staring at the red glow that’s bathing the whole pavement.

Ray isn’t talking to him.

He’s sitting close, close enough to touch but he keeps that small distance of space between them and stares straight ahead, eyes unfocused, glasses slipping down his nose. “I’m sorry,” Michael tries again, but Ray doesn’t respond, doesn’t turn, keeps staring straight ahead with that blank look on his face and fuck, he’s scaring the hell out of Michael.

The teachers hovering around can’t seem to decide if they want to hug both boys or scold them and curse them to the seventh level of hell. Mr. Ramsey (who’s always been cooler than all the other teachers in school) just shakes his head in their general direction, making Michael feel a pang of regret.

So performing chemical experiments in the science lab unsupervised had been a bad idea.

But if there’s one thing Michael’s good at, it’s bad ideas.

Which means that technically, he’s good at the whole unsupervised chemical experiment thing (not that Ray would agree, and he’d probably tell that to him when he starts talking to Michael again).

He really should’ve stopped when the mixture started bubbling dangerously, the test-tube growing too hot to touch. But he’d been so curious, and didn’t the teachers in school always tell him that he should assuage his curiosity? Keep trying until he finds all the answers he’s looking for?

So he’d put the mixture over an open Bunsen burner flame to the chants of Ray’s “Michael, stop,” only he hadn’t listened, had watched the flames of the burner turn a bright green as it let out a loud whistling noise before it exploded. He loses the test-tube of chemicals in the chaos, but it doesn’t matter, because he can’t breathe past the smoke clouding his vision or see through the fumes choking his lungs. A pair of hands (Ray’s probably) finds him and yanks him away from the site of the explosion, and soon Michael finds that he can breathe again.

Ray looks as disheveled as Michael feels, but he’s always been the more level-headed one, so he punches through the nearby fire alarm (Michael’s set one off before; it resulted in two weeks of detention) as he shakes his head in disbelief.

Michael quickly takes off his glasses and starts cleaning it out so that he doesn’t have to see the look on Ray’s face.

“I can’t believe it,” and Ray’s voice is breathless and slightly croaky (probably from the smoke inhalation) and all parts disappointed. “I told you not to do it. I fucking told you.”

Michael says nothing in response as they speed down the hallways, blending into the stream of students pouring out of classrooms, who clearly don’t give a fuck that the fire alarm is blaring loudly and persistently. Ray, despite them being safely and well-hidden in the crowd, does not slow down, simply grips Michael’s wrist and drags him along, weaving through the students absentmindedly chatting about “That god-awful noise. Do you think they’re going to turn it off soon?”

They are the first out the school doors, and Mr. Ramsey is already in their faces, brows knitted tight with worry. “You two again,” he states, expression unhappy.

“Something exploded in the lab sir,” Ray explains. “We barely got out in time.”

He looks at them and heaves a sigh, turning to the other teachers anxiously talking amongst themselves a short distance away. “Someone get them shock blankets. No one touches them, we can find out the details later.”

Which is how they’d ended up sitting on a small step on the side of the road, blankets wrapped firmly around their shoulders as the adults nearby talk in worried little whispers. Michael tries to get Ray’s attention, he really does, but his best friend is still staring straight ahead, eyes glazed over, resolutely not responding to anything he says.

Maybe it’s best to leave him for a bit, except this has never happened before, so Michael isn’t exactly sure about what to do with a silent Ray. It makes him nervous, jittery, and immensely unhappy. But it is his fault for being such a fuck-up, might as well suck it up and deal with the consequences. (Although the thought of Ray never talking to him again doesn’t sit well in his gut.)

The smoke is cleared out in a matter of minutes, and while the lab is unusable, the rest of the school survives unscathed. Everyone is sent home early, and many a schoolmate passes them by and gives them a small pat on the back and a wide smile. “Thanks for getting us a half-day today!” they call out cheerfully, but soon start staying far away as Michael glares at every friendly wave, emanating an air of go-the-fuck-away. Mr. Ramsey comes back up to them when the fire engines have cleared and there is no more smoke pouring out of every open door and window, tells them that Principal Burns wants to see them in his office, and quietly whispers a “Thank god you’re okay,” as he sends them off. “Please try to stay out of trouble you assholes.” Michael manages a small grin as Ray ducks his head in apology, leading the way to the Principal’s office at the back of the school building. He follows behind, feet all too familiar with this route, and quietly comments that it’s kinda weird all the classrooms are empty today.

Ray still doesn’t say a word.

They reach the office in relative silence, and are met by the tired glare of Principal Burns. He gives them a stern lecture, about chemical safety and how both their faces could’ve been burnt the fuck off (“You guys are really lucky this time”). Michael listens half-heartedly, but keeps stealing glances at Ray, who’s staring fixatedly at the small bobble head on the desk.

It doesn’t last long, and soon Principal Burns is shooing them out of the classroom with two weeks of detention (meant to be spent cleaning up the lab) and two free ice cream coupons (their principal is weirdly awesome like that). He catches up to Ray who is walking quickly down the hallway, and stops him with a hand on his shoulder.

“Dude, wait–”

“Seriously Michael, fuck off.” And they stand there, staring each other down, Ray’s expression hard and unforgiving, Michael’s just daring him to take the punch. It takes a few minutes, but finally, finally, Ray’s shoulders slump. “Fuck you.” (In other words: you asshole, I’ll forgive you this one fucking time; Michael is really good at reading subtext.)

Michael grins in response and waves the coupons in his face. “Wanna go for ice cream?”

“I don’t see why the fuck not,” Ray finally relents, albeit half-heartedly. “Just… jesus Michael. Not again. Next time, you listen to me okay?”

Michael doesn’t bother answering and Ray doesn’t bother forcing one out of him, even as Michael slings an arm around his shoulders and steers him out of the school. It’s a routine they’re all too used to, Michael fucking up and Ray fixing it for him (and you would think that with all the disappointed looks Ray gives him on a near daily basis, being at the receiving end of one would be easier) and then ice cream afterwards, or video games, or the arcade or whatever they feel like doing.

When they reach the ice cream parlor the nice lady behind the counter gives them double portions, and shakes her head at them as they pass her the coupons. “You two get in trouble again?” she drawls, and Ray smiles sheepishly at her. Michael is too engrossed in his chocolate chip mint flavoured ice cream to notice the slight shake of her head however, and pulls Ray towards their favorite seat in the corner of the parlor. He’d brought Ray here once on a girl-watching mission which had turned into a disaster (he’d thought throwing cone crumbs at her would get her attention; turns out girls don’t like crumbs in their hair), so they just sit in silence and watch the cars pass by, a small nagging feeling tugging at the ends of Michael’s nerves.

He turns to tell Ray something, but the thought dies on his tongue when he notices how tired Ray looks, just exhaustion and weariness in his expression, and immediately feels a pang of regret.

“What’re you looking at?” he asks without turning to face Michael. Even so, he can’t help but avert his gaze, afraid that Ray would think him creepy for all the staring.

“Uh, nothing,” he lies easily enough. “Just…your mum knows about today?”

He sighs and looks even smaller than usual. “Not yet, I’m hoping they don’t call her up, but I’m pretty sure they will.” He glances over at Michael, who’s still pretending to not look at him. “What about yours? I know they can get a little bat-shit crazy about all these stunts you pull.”

Michael scoffs at that. “They can go fuck themselves. They were way worse when they were my age. My dad set off a bomb in a bathroom that got him expelled from school; they’ve no right to beat me up over something stupid like blowing up a science lab.”

He’s gratified that Ray merely smiles and shakes his head at that, returning his attention to his ice cream, because his parents were going to beat him up for all the shit he’s pulled today, and he’ll have to find some other lie for the bruises that are going to be on his arms tomorrow. For now, he shoves the thought of that future aside and focuses on the ice cream melting in his mouth, chucking a piece of napkin at Ray when he spots a giant drip down the front of his shirt.

“Quit eating like a fucking baby,” he says, before Ray shoves his ice cream into his nose.

“You quit eating like a baby,” he retorts and dodges Michael’s swipe at his ice cream cone, bolting out of his chair and out the door, Michael immediately following in hot pursuit.

So maybe it was the wind in his face or the passerby that gives them strange looks (even though they didn’t give a fuck) that makes Michael laugh hysterically, eyes streaming with tears as he rounds the corner and finds Ray grinning, a little short of breath as he hurriedly stuffs most of his ice cream cone in his mouth.

And it’s when they’re standing in a dirty, dank alleyway that Michael looks up at Ray and feels an odd thumpthumpthump in his chest that makes him stop short. But before he can think about it Ray has pushed his ice cream into his face again and is peeling around the corner of the alleyway and onto the crowded sidewalk, so Michael pushes the weird thumpthumpthump aside and chases after him, breathless as he races after Ray down the sidewalk.

The rest of the afternoon is spent playing tag like they’re ten years old again, with not a care in the world as they chase each other through the neighborhood (except now they’re fence-vaulting and overturning rubbish bins and causing much more damage than they used to). And for one blessed afternoon, Michael feels like he’s just him again, without the terrible record at school and the terrible grades to match. Even when he gets home and his mum is screaming at him it doesn’t wipe the grin off his face, and he lets her words fly past his ears without so much as a nod in her direction.

Ray comes over the next day, and they spend it like every other Saturday afternoon, playing fucking video games. His mum adores Ray, feeds him endless cups of lemonade and her famous homemade cookies as soon as he walks through the door. Michael just sticks his tongue out at her when she turns her back to them, walking out to the kitchen to grab another plate of freshly baked cookies (“For Ray. Michael Vincent Jones, I better not catch you eating these!”). As quick as lightning, he snatches one from the stash Ray's hoarding and stuffs it in his mouth as Ray looks on in horror.

“Those are mine you asshole!”

“Yeah, well,” he manages through a mouthful of cookie. “She never gives me any, so I gotta steal some from you.”

They spend the rest of the afternoon messing around on Dead Space as Michael tries to steal more cookies from Ray. Which means he actually has to lean over Ray’s lap as Ray knees him in the stomach in self-defence. Which, to be honest, is really kind of distracting, because Ray is a steady warm heat under his stomach that's exposed from all the jostling and play fighting, and when Ray suddenly stills and looks down at him in confusion, Michael finds himself blindsided by the thought running through his head.

Wow.

And it's ridiculous because he doesn't even know what that means, just that Ray is looking at him in this confused way and Michael finds he can't think straight anymore. “I–uh I need the bathroom,” he stammers after way too much staring and locks himself in the toilet, quietly willing Ray to just go home and not wait for him to come back out.

He never thought he'd ever say this, but he's thankful that his mum steps in when he's spent nearly an hour locked in the bathroom, staring absently at the mirror above the sink and worrying his bottom lip. She sends Ray off, promises to check on Michael and when he hears the click of the front door, he collapses into a boneless heap on the bathroom floor.

She opens the door without ceremony (he fucking forgot to lock it, again) and stands in the doorway, an imposing figure with her hand on her hip. “Michael Vincent Jones,” and he immediately knows he's not going to like what she says next. “The men in this house were not raised to be cowards.”

“What the fuck do you mean,” he bites back, all teeth and sharp edges.

She is completely unimpressed by it. “I mean that it's time you got your head out of your ass and do something about you and Ray.”

Well shit. Hearing it out loud starts the panic stirring in his gut all over again, and he lunges forward to close the door and lock out anymore words she may have to say. Except she a Joneses mum, and she's dealt with a lot more bullshit than his (he has five older brothers, she's a pro at dealing with their shit) so she stands her ground at the entrance to the bathroom (the entrance to hell) like a devil guarding the gates to fucking Hades.

After a moment of blind scuffling where Michael tries to squeeze past her or kick her away or make her fucking stop, he gives in and slumps back against the bathtub, running his fingers through his hair, and trying to manage the thoughts speeding through his brain at ungodly speeds. Fuck this. Fuck his mum, fuck his feelings, fuck Ray. (And yes, he'd like to fuck Ray very much, but no, his brain is not doing this, not now, because it's really not a good idea–)

“How long have you known?” he says instead, and even he's surprised by how tired and drained and resigned he sounds when he asks it.

She offers him a small, sympathetic smile and leans down to run her fingers through his hair briefly. “Quite a long time now,” before finally (finally!) leaving him alone with his messed up emotions pumping through his veins. “Tell him,” she calls back when she's quite a distance away, startling Michael from his self-pity. “I'm pretty sure the interest is reciprocated.”

“And what about the part of you that isn't sure,” he mutters morosely under his breath. Because this was Ray they were talking about, who is actually nice enough to put up with Michael, and listens to him bitch about teachers and school and the system, who gets him out of messes and is there to pick him up and believe in him even when no one else will. And he can't fuck that up, not with stupid feelings and emotions and sappy things like wanting to fuck Ray thrown out into the open. He can't fuck up the first friendship he's ever had that's more than not wanting him to beat them up in school.

It's in this state, half collapsed against the bathtub, head throbbing with one too many thoughts running through his mind, that he has the most brilliant plan in the history of brilliant plans, ever.

(Except its going to be a bad idea, he's the king of that, and it's going to turn out so badly but it would totally be worth it.)

The two of them are going to have so much fun, so much platonic fun, that Michael will be able to trick his brain into thinking he only likes Ray as a friend, that all feelings towards him are merely friendship and nothing more. They were (are and will be) best friends in all the time they've known each other, and by doing normal best friend things, he'd remind his brain about how non-crush-y his feelings for Ray are; he'll trick his mind into thinking that he only likes Ray as a friend.

It's brilliant, so simple and absolutely effective. It renews him with vigor and gets him up on his feet, fills him with a sense of determination as he runs into the living room and picks up his phone, sending Ray a quick text.

His mum pokes her head out from the kitchen and asks “Finally decided to get your shit together?”

Michael grins at her. “I've figured it out. Can't go wrong with what I've planned.”

She shakes her head and vanishes back round the corner. “Ray's a simple kind of guy, there's no need to plan something elaborate for him. Just ask him out to dinner, buy him a carnation or something and you're set.”

He shakes his head and dials in the number of the kid whose dad owns the toy shop two streets down. “If my plan works, I won't have to.”

Ray is waiting outside their classroom when Michael gets to school, and he grins as he holds up a plastic bag. “You said ‘Got something fun and exciting planned’. I took the liberty of not questioning you till your fingers bleed from all the typing,” Ray says, eyeing the bag suspiciously. “Am I supposed to be happy about what's in that bag?”

“Very,” Michael says with a maniacal grin before clearing his throat self-importantly. “I have a proposition for you Mr. Narvaez, and would appreciate if you ask no more questions and simply follow my lead.”

Ray sighs and shakes his head. “Oh my god, this is going to end terribly,” he groans, “I'm going to have to save your sorry ass again aren't I?”

“We'll see,” Michael finishes with a conspiratorial wink, as the first bell of the day sounds and they head into their classrooms.

Break finds them pressed up against each other in a locker –in a very distracting way in Michael's opinion– as they take turns breathing through the tiny vent, peering through the slits and waiting for the girls to empty out of the locker room. “This is a terrible idea,” Ray hisses at him as the last few girls, chatting loudly and obnoxiously, walk out of the room. “We're gonna get fucking expelled for this.”

“Only blowing stuff up in the bathroom gets you expelled,” Michael reminds him, before catiously pushing open the door of their locker, forcing himself away from the nice warm heat that is Ray.

“Well, we blew stuff up last Friday, and today we're in a girls locker room. I think it's close enough,” he grouses as he follows closely behind.

Michael pays him no heed. “Quick! Grab a handful and chuck them into the nearest lockers. They're gonna be back in half an hour and I want us to fill as many lockers as we can.”

By the the time the girls return to the locker room, the two of them are safely in the hallway, leaning against the door and holding their breaths.

The first shriek scares the shit out of them, but also gets them cracking up, and they bolt out of the hallway and into the nearest classroom, clutching each other for support.

“I'm gonna hate you,” Ray manages between breaths. “I'm gonna hate you when we're found out and have to attend another three weeks of detention, but it will be completely worth it.”

And his smile is bright and so earnest and so happy and young again that Michael's breath catches in his throat and he barely has time to choke out a “Gotta use the bathroom” before he runs away. Again.

The rubber snakes in the girls' locker room don't work. Clearly, because Ray is smiling all soft and fond at him when he's a mess of feelings and insanity and too many fuck ups in life. Ray deserves better, he tells himself as he stares himself down in the mirror. Ray deserves much better; he deserves to have a pretty girl who'd hold on to his arm and follow him around school and laugh at his jokes, who is as good as Ray at everything she does, who is beautiful and wonderful and brilliant. Someone who doesn't get him into trouble the way Michael does, who doesn't get as many disappointed looks from Ray, who doesn't make him tired and worried and stressed out all the fucking time.

Basically, Ray is too good for him.

He repeats this like a mantra as he walks back to find Ray exactly where he left him, a faraway look on his face as he lounges against the lockers. Ignoring the twinge in his chest when Ray looks at him with a lopsided grin, eyes still blown from the excitement and adrenaline of the prank they pulled earlier, he raises his right hand in a fist.

“Thanks for being a great friend,” he says, and means it. (This is probably the closest he'll ever come to saying something remotely like “I love you”.)

Ray's smile widens, although it doesn't really reach his eyes, as he returns the fist bump. “No problem you asshole. Someone's gotta be there to save you when you fuck up.”

Michael laughs and reaches up to ruffle his hair affectionately, smile softening as Ray ducks and swats away his hands. Yeah, he couldn't lose this, couldn't ruin something as important as this friendship. So for now, he's contented with exactly where they stand with each other.

(Except occasionally, it still hurts to see Ray watching a pretty girl pass by or blow off their Saturday afternoons for someone he finally has the courage to ask out, although he can't help but notice that all the girls he dates are beautiful, fiery redheads, and chooses not to comment, because the days that Ray ditches him for girls are still far and in between, and he wants it to stay that way for as long as possible.)

An announcement comes in one day about the plastic snakes found in the girls' lockers, and Ray shoots him a small secretive smile as he sniggers quietly behind his hand. Principal Burns “implores the culprits to turn themselves in” and chastises them “for behaving so childishly”. Mr. Ramsey notices their smirking and narrows his eyes at them.

“Please don't tell me it's you two again,” he sighs, and he sounds strangely resigned about it.

Ray struggles to keep a straight face as he sits up in his seat. “No sir, it wasn't us. This is news to us too.”

“Hilarious news, really,” Michael adds from the other end of the classroom, and shoots Ray another grin. There is another tired sigh from their teacher, but he doesn't add another word, merely shaking his head as they burst into another round of giggles when Principal Burns describes the incident as “traumatizing and emotionally scarring for many”.

It makes Michael deliriously happy when Ray blows off his girlfriend for him today, watching her throw an angry glare at Michael and a sad pout in Ray's general direction before storming off. Michael can't help the immense sense of satisfaction in watching her go, as Ray starts talking animatedly about the prank they pulled.

“It's the greatest thing ever,” he says, grin wide and eyes dancing with excitement as they head into the canteen. “And we weren't even caught this time!”

Michael finds his good mood infectious, and feels a sudden pang of affection for Ray that he doesn't even try to fight anymore. “Know what we could do later tonight?” he asks, interrupting Ray's rambling.

The momentary puzzlement, and sudden swallow Ray takes as he considers that statement doesn't escape Michael's notice.

So he hurriedly amends that “I want to set off fireworks in the field. I just thought it'd be fun if we did it together you know. It'd be pretty cool.” Something unfamiliar flickers over Ray's features and Michael sharply wonders if he'd fucked up somewhere along the way, but Ray's expression evens out quickly enough and he has that fuzzy-feeling-inducing-lopsided-smile that he's awfully good at, and Michael smiles helplessly in response. “So I take it you're in?”

Everything goes as planned. Everyone else has left long ago and they have the whole field to themselves. They set off firework after firework in the darkened night sky and whoop loudly and unabashedly at each explosion. “What if we're found out?” Ray yells above the noise. Michael sets off another one that explodes into showers of green and blue.

“It would still be totally worth it!” he yells back through another cackle in the sky, cheering loudly at the red and yellow that color the black of the night.

He turns to pick out another one (bigger, louder, brighter), when his eyes meet Ray's and he holds his breath for a moment. Ray blinks owlishly at him, and suddenly pulls back.“I– uh–”

But Michael doesn't want to hear excuses, hear about how he's sorry for staring or sorry for making things awkward (“That was nothing Michael, sorry for being weird”) because for one blessed moment, he'd thought that Ray was looking at him because he liked him, however remotely. So he sets off the loudest thing he can find and tries to ignore the hurt thumping like a rhythm in his chest or the frustration boiling and bubbling furiously beneath his skin.

He watches the fireworks explode overhead and loses himself in the moment.

It's easy to pretend nothing happened when they run out of fireworks and Michael says that he probably should be heading back and “Won't your parents be worried sick?”

“Nah,” Ray says with a small shrug. “Mum's pulling an all-nighter and Dad's back at the bar. I'm all alone tonight.”

Michael offers him a sympathetic smile (he knows what it feels like to be all alone from when he was in middle school and the house would be too huge and too empty when he gets home) and walks him to his front door, both boys good-naturedly shoving and teasing each other the whole way back. “See you in school tomorrow,” he says as they part ways, and suddenly has the overwhelming urge to kiss him good night (which he politely tells to go fuck itself).

“Yeah,” Ray breathes back with a small smile, waving as he closes the door behind him, leaving Michael still staring at the closed door, heart in his throat.

He is fucked. So, completely, fucked.

Ray meets him the next afternoon and they head down to the nearby arcade to beat the high scores on some (most) of the games. Mostly, Michael stands back and watches Ray thrash the hell out of game after game, and soon, there's a small crowd gathered, watching as he plays the fuck out of one of those dance machines Michael will never be good at.

“Dude you should totally give it a shot,” Ray tells him when he's finished beating the high score of every single fucking song, slightly short of breath, hair a mess and glasses slipping down his nose.

Michael scoffs, completely unimpressed. “No fucking way, you know I suck at those things.”

But Ray's attention is elsewhere, and Michael notices the redhead sauntering past them in tiny shorts and a too small t-shirt. Instead, he swallows past the jealousy and casually comments that “She's really hot, you should totally ask her out.”

The rest of the afternoon is spent trying to help Ray pick up the redhead chick, except she's a stubborn one, and scoffs at all their cheesy pick up lines, until Michael, having seen enough of Ray's miserable face, finally resorts to striking a deal with her.

“If he beats you in that stupid dance machine thing, you go on one date with him. Just one.”

She eyes the both of them sceptically, before her lips quirk up in a smirk. “Deal.”

Ray wins her (no doubt there) but it's a close fight, and she looks duly impressed by his skills (which she definitely should, because Ray was amazing; Michael may or may not be a little biased).

Michael inches away from them, doesn't want to hear the plans they're making (because then he might be tempted to stalk them and that won't end well). Finally, he slinks out of the arcade, alone, and heads back home.

Something delicious is cooking in the kitchen, and he follows his nose to find his mother baking up a storm, pots and pans scattered all over the area.

She looks up as he enters, and immediately furrows her eyebrows in confusion. “Where's Ray?”

“On a date,” he replies as nonchalantly as possible, dipping his finger into the cookie batter and stuffing it into his mouth, narrowly missing his mother's rolling pin.

“Oh,” and she sounds genuinely disappointed. “The carnation didn't work?”

Michael takes another finger-ful and tries his best to look cheerful. “Yeah,” he lies easily enough.

She sighs, a little sadly, and pats him on the head, leaving white streaks of flour in his hair. He doesn't complain, and sits around the kitchen, watching his mother finish baking her cookies. For the first time in a long, long while, he gets a whole plate of them to himself.

Pretty soon, Valentines' Day is around the corner, and when Michael wakes up one morning, he is surprised to find redhead waiting outside his house. His mother shoots him a knowning look before heading into the kitchen again, leaving Michael shuffling awkwardly at the doorway.

“Uh,” he says first, because he's an eloquent son of a bitch.

“We broke up,” she says instead, just as eloquently, expression pinched and clearly unhappy. “You're free to have him all to yourself now.”

Michael is a little stunned (to say the least), and carefully fists his hands in his shirt and doesn't say a word.

“He's completely in love with you,” she continues, apparently unaware of his discomfort (or maybe she knows, he can't say for sure and he doesn't know which is worse). “Wouldn't stop talking about you every time we were together, I got sick of it, so I broke it off. He didn't even look too upset about it.”

Michael is still resolutely ignoring her, trying to stem all the pent up hope that is suddenly bursting into his veins.

She continues talking for a bit and then leaves. He doesn't know how long he stands there, staring at an empty porch, until his mum is taking him by the shoulders and sitting him down. “Carnation, Michael, go get one from the nearby store. Tomorrow is Valentines' Day, you have the perfect opportunity to make it happen.”

He finally tears his eyes away from the pattern of the carpet and looks up at her, the slight smile on her face. He finally finds it in himself to grin back. “Yeah,” he says and takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I'll make it happen.”

Remember how Michael is the king of bad ideas?

Well, this really just kind of proves it.

He'd bought the flower and had this huge thing planned where he'd take Ray to some secluded corner of the school and officially present him with the flower and Ray would say yes and then they'd be dating or something. Except, the flower starts wilting less than halfway through the day so he rushes to the bathroom to feed it water (he's still figuring out the details) and who should he find there but Ray.

They end up staring at each other for a couple of minutes, both just kind of waiting for the other to offer an explanation.

Ray breaks the silence first. “So uh, she must be pretty cool huh.”

And Michael feels the sinking in his gut as Ray tries (and fails) to force on a smile, and he can't (he can't) take all the pining and the waiting anymore, so he ends up thrusting the flower into Ray's face.

“Michael? What are you–”

“Be my valentine?” he blurts out instead, feeling his face heat up. “I could, uh, take you to nice restaurants, and hold hands with you too, if you're into that kind of stuff.”

Ray just kind of stands there and looks shocked at the whole thing, and Michael grows more nervous with each passing second of silence.

Oh fuck. He's fucked it up. “Uh,” he stammers out, feeling dread open a yawning chasm in the pit of his stomach. “Or we could not? And you could pretend I never fucked up like this? Like just forget I ever said anything, I should've known you aren't into dudes or me or anything, no pressure, let's just forget this ever happened–”

And suddenly Ray's kissing him, all lips and tongue and teeth. It's messy, it's far from perfect, but Michael kisses back with all he's got, until they're pulling apart for breath.

“Well fuck me,” Michael breathes, hands holding on to Ray for support.

Ray offers him a dry smirk (which just looks kind of sexy with his flushed cheeks and swollen lips). and says “I intend to, one day,” which makes Michael's face heat up even further. “I've been waiting to kiss you since forever.”

Michael smiles a little at that and leans in, pressing their foreheads together. “Thank god I wasn't the only one.”

Ray laughs, a happy, breathy sound. “But the fancy restaurant thing? It sounds boring as fuck. Could we do movies and popcorn and making out on your couch instead?”

“Fuck yeah we could,” Michael replies, laughing along as well.

The bathroom door suddenly squeals as it's opened and they jump apart as though burnt. They turn to see Gus the janitor watching them with an unhappy expression from where he's standing. The three of them stare at each other in awkward silence for awhile, before Gus sighs and waves them on.

“Please don't leave a fucking mess everywhere,” he calls over his shoulder, shaking his head as he trudges out of the bathroom. “Fucking finally you two,” he adds just as the door closes, leaving both boys giggling as they link hands and lean in for another kiss.

“Worth it?” Michael asks Ray one more time, just to be sure. Ray smiles at him, big and bright and beautiful, and Michael doesn't even have to fight the wave of affection he feels when that look's directed at him (and only him).

     The thing about high school is there’s this divide amongst adults as to whether it’s the worst or best time of your life. This camp is split infuriatingly evenly to make an informed decision. The worst part of knowing that this debate exists is that you hear about it as a teenager and so are experiencing that which you must later decide on to be your best or worst years. Considering however the people you hear that “best years” argument from are careers counsellors and guest speakers at “stay-in-school” affairs. You know, the ones with the booths and the “young professionals” and the forced attendance that the students who most need reaching out to somehow still manage to get around.  

     For JJ his last 3 and a half had been neither the best nor worst, they’d been average. Doing well to please his teachers but not showing off about it to draw the ire of his peers, he’d had as good a ride as one can have when your come out the closet as something other than cookie-cutter heterosexual at one of many scholastic events. 

     In short his last few years had been mixed. While there had been those who stood up to say something against or do something to him having the parents he did and the friends he had it didn’t last long. 

     For one thing there was the Ramsey-Pattillo foster family of ragamuffins, scoundrels and all round well-liked lads who all had their own brand of righteousness regarding their friends. The steady and solid adult forms of Geoff and Jack casually telling him, as he loitered in the kitchen waiting for Ray, that if he “got any shit at school then he knew who to fucking call” and “honestly JJ you can tell us or the boys anything” from Geoff and Jack respectively. The surge of gratefulness had just counteracted the awkwardness of his friend’s parents talking to him and he’s mumbled his thanks in a blush and fiddled with his headphones until Ray had appeared.  

     That was one half of the family...then there was the boys themselves. While admittedly Gavin might be useless in an actual fight no one crossed Michael and as for the elder brother Ryan? The less said about what he would do to anyone who threatened his family, chosen or legal, the better. 

     Ray insisted most of that was only hearsay and that Ryan was actually just as much a fool as any of them, 

     “He just hides it better...under all his muscles and shit,” were his exact words as JJ casually brought it up during one cramming session. He’d been stretched out on Ray’s bed, discreetly enjoying Ray’s’ particular brand of teenage boy pheromones while Ray worked on the correct way of expressing his gamer score as a quadratic equation. 

     Relieved JJ had smiled until Ray added with an afterthought, “although he did give me a black-eye for upsetting Gavin once so I guess maybe it’s true...he’s just super gay for Gavin though which is kind of weird seeing as we’re legally brothers but you know” JJ had spluttered, mainly thinking about how Ryan might try and damage him as an accomplice in this possible slander. “I’m just kidding” Ray had grinned seeing his distress, the stoic face transformed with a sudden and joyful grin. 

     JJ smiled at the memory then stopped himself. He had been gazing into space as he leaned against his locker although space was actually occupied by the garish poster urging all students to get “them and their loved one to the Valentine’s Day dance!” Better put a lid on that kind of behaviour, smiling placidly at an advert for a valentine’s dance while nodding to music that wasn’t even playing was just calling for ridicule. JJ shifted self-consciously even though the few other people in the hall-way weren’t paying attention to anything other than their own lives. 

     Now he’d noticed it he turned his attention back to the poster. Not because he wanted to go, absolutely not, no, never in a million years. Purely because it was there, yes, that’s why he looked at it. It was emblazoned with read but wonderfully gender neutral no doubt thanks to the appearance of a bemused Geoff at an equality meeting by the board members. Arryn and the LGBTQA society had approached him about it, at first cautious and then no nonsense which he’d appreciated more and he’d shown up and sat down. Apparently there had been a staring match for the ages which JJ was sorry he’d missed. He’d been on the receiving end of a Ramsey stare before and the idea of watching others squirm as he had delighted him. He was positive however that the board of directors were not asked by Geoff, “so...you which of my darling sons is it you want to bang?” 

     He remembered he’d been drinking a coke as the question had been asked. It had burned as it exited his body through his nostrils. Geoff had watched him choke then grinned and left the room. 

     They were a fucking weird family, JJ thought, weird but good. Just then Ray turned into the corridor. About fifty other students moved with him but JJ would be lying through his beautifully straightened teeth if he noticed anyone other than Ray. 

Fuck. 

     There was his heart doing that stupid fluttering thing it did whenever his friend appeared. JJ had long since accepted and embraced that fact that he was gay. What he didn’t exactly expect to do was have all these...feelings...for his best friend. He was not coming-of-age film protagonist material! He had a happy family! He was as comfortable with his sexuality as any 17 year old can be with any part of their being! He...ok he had a pet mouse, great hair, a few odd hobbies and some bizarre friends but other than that he really wasn’t the “falls in love with your best friend type”! 

     He dragged his eyes from where they’d dropped to the hike and shift of Ray’s walk to his friend’s face. 

     Ray smiled in greeting and JJ felt his stomach drop. 

     Yes...absolutely lifetime movie bait. 

      “Hey!” he chirruped as Ray reached him. He turned to open his own locker tip tapping a rhythm on the dial as he raced through the three digit code. 

    “How long have you been waiting?” Ray asked as JJ overshot his second number by six clicks and had to start over. JJ shrugged not honestly knowing, 

     “About five songs?” he said, “I mean one was seven minutes long so I don’t know how accurate a time-keeping system it is.” 

    “And you haven’t opened your locker yet?” Ray asked, right eyebrow making a slow trek up his forehead as he looked at his friend. Again JJ shrugged and Ray put a hand on his heart with gave an almost coquettish flutter of his eyelashes. “Oh were you waiting for me? That’s so sweet!” 

    JJ laughed as at last his fingers obeyed habit and wrenched open his locker. Whatever he’d been thinking of responding was swallowed in the cloud of paper hearts that billowed out of his locker. He stood dumbfounded as hearts all colours of the rainbow cascaded over him. The gasps and whoops of their fellow students accompanied the soft scratching movement as the paper moved against each other in their path downwards. 

    “What the fuck...” Ray said slowly. Some student, it sounded suspiciously like Michael and to be honest in their school it was hard to think of anyone whose voice could even be confused for Michael’s, shouted “get it boy!” A few people were sending their significant others looks so pointed they could probably be used by Cupid to pierce some fresh hearts. 

    “Hello? Earth to JJ?” Ray called, hands over his mouth as though he were imitating a bird call, “Step away from the light, come back from the land of rainbow hearts we need you!

   His brain was too overloaded with the whoosh of colour that had flooded from his locker to immediately react but eventually his brain woke up. 

   “Wow they did the anime thing and everything!” He said at last, a grin growing to match the cheer in his voice. He turned excitedly to Ray, “how did it look did it look cool? Man that must have taken someone ages.” He rambled on a few sentences more appreciative of the effort someone had gone to with filling his locker with the paper hearts. He trailed off as Ray was looking at him with a fond expression on his face. “What?”

    Ray laughed his full body uncontrollable laugh at the confusion on JJ’s face. “You’re so damn...JJ,” he wheezed, “it’s the week before Valentine’s Day, some asshole fills your locker with hearts and you’re talking about how cool it looked. Someone digs you dude.” 

    JJ stared at the hearts now mostly lying at his feet although some still lingered in his locker, one might’ve been in his hair though it had been getting long recently.  

   “But who?” He asked incredulously. 

   “Now you’re asking the right questions. Literally everyone else would ask that first” Ray laughed. He averted his gaze from JJ’s searching one and indicated the hearts on the floor shifting from foot to foot. “Do they say anything on them?” 

    The shrug rolled up his body but JJ stopped it actually happening as he noticed that one of the ones stuck inside his locker, trapped by his American History book did have writing on. “Shit they do,” he pulled it out careful not to rip it. The green paper was thin and delicate to his fingertips. Whoever had cut it into a heart and the hundreds others must’ve taken great care to do so. JJ felt his stomach to a roll and his ears grow hot. 

    “Be my player 2?” he read incredulously. He plucked another from inside the locker, it read the same. Kneeling down to search the floor, wary of damaging them under-foot he found they all read the same. A familiar heat next to him indicated that Ray was knelt down searching too. 

    “Hey this one says, ‘do you like Mexican?’” Ray exclaimed squinting at a purple one. JJ scrabbled for it with a plea to the same effect and Ray let him have it without contest. 

It was blank. 

    “No it doesn’t” JJ said slowly raising his head to meet Ray’s eyes. “There’s nothing written here I just...what do they mean like the food?”

    “Like the people?” Ray replied with a suggestive eyebrow wriggle that failed on his hotly blushing face. JJ stared at him, mind doing cartwheels as it raced through “could it be? I think it is! What if he’s joking? But what if he’s not? He probably is though....BUT. WHAT. IF. HE’S NOT?”

     Ray looked down and coughed before his red face took on a sheepish expression, “...I made that one up...I...um...I had all these plans to like...draw it out and make you go crazy for like a week but you looked really um...really flustered and shit so.” He made to move and JJ’s hand shot out to hold him down to the floor.

     He didn’t care how odd they must look, teenage boys kneeling together on a carpet of paper hearts in the middle of a crowded hallway. Ray looked at where JJ’s hands held his arm and went on in the hitching almost monotone he talked in when nervous, “fuck I just, you came out last year and I couldn’t believe my fucking luck because you’re wow but then I freaked out because,” he coughed, “we’re friends and shit but then I talked to Geoff and he told me to calm down and helped me pick the paper and Christ man,” some of his humour was back although that might have been hysterics as he gestured at the paper hearts they knelt on, “cutting hearts is fucking tedious. I had all these plans of writing individual messages and shit on them but then I realised I’m really not that creative and then maybe I thought I could write it on the ones that were your favourite colour but I don’t know what the fuck that is and man I just...” he trailed off into a harsh breath and looked up defiant. 

    JJ met his fierce gaze with undisguised incredulity that was swiftly turning into the most manic joyful expression his face had ever had to create. His cheeks hurt from how much he wanted to and tried to smile. Ray continued to stare, unchanged and handsome at what must have truly been a sight to behold. The rushing sensations from his heart to his brain roared with the jubilation in his brain as he said that words that his mind had scarcely dared to consider, 

     “You like me,” he said simply. Ray looked taken aback and seemed to blush again as JJ almost sang, “You really like me!” 

    “...no shit.” He coughed as JJ finally released his arm from the death grip. JJ suddenly realised why Ray wasn’t nearly as happy as he was in their crouched moment, 

    “Oh I really like you too!” he cried hands whirling as he tried to pluck some similar romantic gesture from the air. “No man...is it not obvious I’m really yeah, Geoff figured it out straight away like how...” his hands fell to touch and tap the multi-coloured covering they stood on. “...was I not the most obvious thing in the world if your dad noticed within 5 minutes of me announcing to the world I was gay?”

    “To be honest I think that’s more a Geoff-ego thing of assuming anything he had a hand in being a gift to the world than you being super gay for me,” Ray said matter-of-factly. “He is genuinely upset if someone doesn’t think we’re the best thing since whatever the modern version of sliced bread is. It’s kind of endearing.”

    “You’re taking my confession a lot more casually than I took yours,” JJ said still internally having a meltdown and wanting to do jumping jacks simultaneously. His heart was having a fucking field-day. 

   Ray cocked his head to one side, “I mean I did see you sniffing my bed one time and you were kind of obvious around Geoff about how very gay you were for me.”

     At that JJ motioned violently at what they were kneeled on and then scooped up some of the hearts in silent question and pelted Ray with them. He laughed and there followed a short scuffling heart-fight that meant more than a few suffered tears. 

     “You two are literally sitting on a bed of rainbow hearts discussing who is more gay for the other,” Michael’s unmistakable drawl cut through the world of slightly dirtied hearts that JJ and Ray had lost themselves in. “Would you please either swap saliva or run off to the bathroom to have illicit hand-jobs or some shit?” He glanced around at the rest of the now-bored student body. Watching JJ and Ray chat on the floor was hardly something new and they’d gone back to the regular hustle and bustle of the school day. “Hold up,” Michael said, “I think some members of the hockey team are coming, if you time the lip-locking right you might cause one of the dumber ones to think he needs to punch something and I’d rather have detention than English right now so could you do this for me please guys?” 

    Ray gave a bark of laughter as JJ flushed this time and they nervously turned to face each other again, now conscious of how their knees brushed and their general proximity. JJ noticed these things in relation to Ray most of the time anyway but now...it had an extra frisson to it. His heart was hot and heavy in his ears as Michael continued to babble in the background about how he’d plant one on Ray because “fucking heart of darkness man it’s worth a split-lip to stop reading that colonial piece of shit”. Ray’s gaze drew him in, flickering from JJ’s eyes to his lips which he subconsciously wet and back up. 

    The flash of devil-may-care that rises up in humans at these moments is exhilarating and JJ embraced the dizziness of it as he leaned forward to press his mouth to Ray’s. There was a beat of both of them motionless in time and then Ray pressed back and the slide of their mouths though clumsy and not without a breathy laugh from one of them was glorious. Ray, almost shyly considering his usual brashness, licked his way into JJ’s mouth and he opened it willingly pitching forward to deepen the kiss. His hands slid up to hold Ray in a movement that seemed so natural he wondered why he’d ever been scared to it before. 

     The distinct cry of “fags” reminded him sharply exactly why he’d been scared but there came rushing as Michael launched himself at both the offender and his ticket out of an hour with Joseph Conrad. They broke apart to see the fight begin and then Ray tugged him to his feet and they were running from the scene, hand in hand and heart in heart. 

      They only stopped running as they burst out into the sunshine of the early Texas afternoon, stopping to breath heavily as young men who spend all their time playing videogames are prone to doing after exercise. They got their breath back only to lose it again by stumbling into each other and laughing giddily as they clutched at each other, pressing nervous, eager and new kisses to any part of each other’s faces they could reach. JJ had time to briefly thank the health and safety gods that their quad grass was springy as they managed to fall over each other into it. As Ray rolled on top of him to kiss him with an openness the other boy rarely displayed all JJ’s thoughts of how he could repay Michael for his sacrifice vanished. 

    The kissing was cut short by another short laughing fit from Ray. While his laugh was a glorious thing it was the one point in their entire time of knowing each other JJ didn’t want to hear it. He frowned as Ray pulled back. 

   “Is this the part where I ask you to the valentine’s dance and we wear matching ties?” he asked his face perfectly serious. JJ replied equally serious, 

    “You mean so we can then be hounded by assholes until we have to dance outside the gym to our own song?”

    “Hey you always have double-headphones it could totally fucking work,” Ray said face breaking from the clearly mock-serious to earnest. JJ snorted and conceded the point by fishing both pairs of headphones out of his pocket. 

    “So you’re going to do all the clichés before you take me on a date? What was the plan here Ray?” he teased settling back on his elbows. Ray rubbed his chin with its shadow of stubble thoughtfully before he replied, 

   “Nah haven’t you seen the films? We’re allowed one kiss and one of our sets of parents has to react badly.” He held up a hand to list, “Then one of us has to go back to girls for a bit,”

   “I’m sorry...” JJ interjected, “when have either of us ever dated girls? A history of heterosexuality has to exist as a pre-requisite for that particular trope!”

   “Point taken,” Ray mused ceasing his listing to kiss JJ again. God that was good, JJ thought wrapping his arms around the shorter boy. Ray broke it off again, “besides, I already totally asked you on a date.”

    JJ blinked at him in the sunlight, “...be my player 2 was an actual proposition? Like...play Halo with you?” he asked his voice strained as he tried to keep the incredulity out of his voice. Ray looked unrepentant. “That’s only what we’ve been doing for the last 3 years of our friendship!”

   “Ok yeah,” Ray insisted, “but now it’s different! Now we get to make-out whenever we win a death-match.” JJ had to admit that was an added bonus. This whole thing was so new and perhaps it was the continued tension, the hearts, the realisation, the kiss, the mostly avoided fight, that kept him so collected. 

He grinned suddenly bashful again at having the boy he’d spent so many months pining after straddling him on a fucking quad. Perhaps not lifetime movie, although noticing how nicely the afternoon sun dancing through his...boyfriend’s? Yes. His Boyfriend’s hair might just be classed as such. 

     “It’s a date,” he said, his heart doing a skipping flip flop that stuttered into almost nothing as Ray smiled and leaned down to whisper,

    “Excellent, just wait until you see what I’ve been thinking out as the added bonus for if either of us gets a head-shot.”

Happy Valentine’s Day!

And Then Dan Got Married

The Four times Gavin and Michael met before Dan's wedding and the One time they fell in love. 

1. Engagement. Gavin never really liked weddings. Besides the free booze and the inebriated and slightly lonely girls there was nothing about them that he liked. The suits were uncomfortable and the small talk he had to make with distant family or complete strangers was excruciating to say the least. Not to mention the ceremonies were boring. 

People sitting for ages in a stuffy church and crying over two people who will probably end up getting a divorce and being miserable anyway just wasn't his idea as fun. So he was less than thrilled when his best friend Dan told him he was getting married. And he was even less excited when Dan asked him to be his best man. 

"Best man? What about your brother? Or Tom? You've been friends with him for way longer than we've been friends." Gavin screeched incredulously, Dan chuckled. 

"B, you're my best friend and I want you to be my Best Man, that's the end of it" Gavin adjusted the phone and sighed. "Besides" Dan continued "What kind of crap stag night do you think they'd throw me?" He said with a laugh. 

"Absolute bollocks" Gavin muttered thinking of Dan's brother and his bachelor party. "Colin's was the worst" Dan hummed in agreement. 

"Look B I'd love to but I won't be able to get home for planning or whatever very often, I can't leave the states that much the visa people would be weird." 

"Well, that's actually fine, Sarah's from Dallas." Dan said enthusiastically. 

"Seriously?" 

"Yeah! B, I'm moving to the US!" 

Gavin sighed and took a swig of his beer, that conversation was over three hours ago and he was still mourning his freedom. Not that he wasn't happy about Dan moving to the America and from what he'd heard about Sarah she was nice. He just didn't think he could pull off the whole best man thing. He guessed he didn't really have much choice, 

"Idiot Dan" he mumbled finishing off his beer and pulling out his phone to see if any of the girls he'd recently hooked up with were free, he needed something to release his already high stress levels and keep him mind numbingly occupied until Dan showed up. 

2. Suits. 

"She wants us in black with white shirts and black ties, simple, elegant and stuff you know?" 

"As long as I don't have to wear a top hat and carry a cane I'm happy." Gavin said with a yawn, he and Dan were on their way to their first suit fitting and Gavin was mentally preparing himself for having some weird old man feel him up with a tape measure. "Who's meeting us there?" 

"My brother sent his measurements; he can't get away from work to fly over. So it's me, you and Sarah's brother." He said confidently as he mentally ticked off the meager list. 

"What's her brother like anyway?" 

"I dunno, he's from New Jersey, I've only met him like once." Dan shrugged. 

"Well why does he have to be in the wedding party if you don't know him?" Dan laughed and shook his head, looking at Gavin fondly. 

"B, he's my fiancé's brother, it's like, what you're meant to do when you get married." 

"How do people know what to do? Is there a book or something you can only buy when you decide to buy a few diamonds and slap them on a girl’s finger?" 

"Well let's hope it comes out as an audio book or you'll never get through it" Dan said, pulling into the car park and clapping Gavin on the shoulder. Gavin clicked off his seatbelt and scrambled out of the car, following Dan through the doors and cringing at the array of expensive and uncomfortable looking suits. 

"Daniel!" A short balding man made his way over to them and shook Dan's hand vigorously. 

"Joe! Good to see you mate. This is my best man Gavin." Gavin shook Joe's hand and tried not to outwardly cringe as the man’s sweaty palm made contact with his own. 

"Wonderful! The other groomsman is already here and getting measured, we should have you guys out of here in no time!" Gavin raised his eyebrows at Dan who simply smiled and pulled him by the arm through to the fitting rooms. He heard Sarah's brother before he saw him; it was kind of hard not to. 

"That was my fucking leg!" The loud voice was attached to a slightly short man, the first thing Gavin noticed was the hair, thick and curly and reddish-brown in colour, then he saw the freckles, peppering his face and bare shoulders. He realized a moment too late that he'd been openly looking a guy he hadn't even met over and quickly drifted upwards to look at his eyes, covered by a pair of thin rimmed glasses. The man was looking at him with a furrowed brow and a slight smile. 

"Michael! It's good to see you." Dan exclaimed, making his way over and shaking Sarah's brother’s hand. 

"You might not see me for much longer I'm gonna bleed to death from being turned into this guys fucking walking pin cushion." He said angrily, he smiled at Dan though and nodded at Gavin. "I'm guessing you're the best man?" 

"Yeah! This is my best mate Gavin" Dan said pushing Gavin forward. 

"Hey" he said softly, shaking Michael's hand, he watched as the other mans eyes looked him over quickly and his smile grew. 

"British too. That’s not going to be very annoying" he said dryly. Gavin decided then and there he liked Michael. But it was absolutely nothing to do with the way his hand still tingled moments after they'd shook them, or the way he shivered when their eyes met. No, nothing to do with that at all. 

3. Cake. 

So far the whole best man thing hadn't been too hard, Gavin just kinda turned up every few days, trying on his suit or helping Dan lick envelopes with a few bevs, nothing too hard. He was planning the stag night in his head, the words alcohol and strippers the primary thoughts that drifted in and out. Everything had been pretty easy going, until Dan called him urgently one day, things kind of changed after that. 

"B please do me this favour." He pleaded, sounding hurried. 

"Dan it's your wedding cake how am I supposed to make any decisions?" 

"Everything's decided on we just need you to go and take some photos and taste it for us. We triple booked ourselves and these dance lessons are non-refundable." Gavin burst out laughing. 

"Dance lessons? You're joking?" 

"Shut up, it was Sarah's idea and I'd rather not look like a spiffing idiot in front of 200 people." 

"Okay fine I'll go eat the fricken cake. But if I have to take photos of this I get at least one photo of you dancing." Dan sighed. 

"Some best man. Fine whatever. Thanks Gav." 

"No problem B. So where is this place?" 

"Michaels already on his way to pick you up so don't worry he should be there soon." 

"Michael? You didn't say anything about him..." 

"Listen Gavin I have to go, I'll call you later okay? Thanks B!" 

"Wait no, Dan-ugh" Gavin hung up and tossed his phone next to him on the couch before rubbing a hand over his scruffy face. He sat still for one moment before jumping up and rushing to the bathroom, pulling out his toothbrush and shoving toothpaste on it while simultaneously fixing his slept on hair into place. He looked at his shirt in the mirror and sighed, he hadn't done any washing in a while so he had to make do. At the sudden knock on his door he stood stock still for at least a full ten seconds before quickly spitting out his toothpaste and wiping his mouth. 

"Just a second!" He called, grabbing his wallet, phone and keys before pulling the door open. Michael was smiling already and Gavin was annoyed to see he had dimples, how the hell had he not noticed that before? 

"Hey Gavin, you look a little out of breath there buddy you okay? I wasn't interrupting anything was I?" he smirked as he looked over Gavin's shoulder into his apartment. 

"Uh, no?" He replied, stepping forwards and shutting his front door. Michael simply laughed and shook his head. 

"Come on Gavino, we got cakes to eats!" He exclaimed, leading Gavin to his car. The car ride was actually fun, not awkward like Gavin thought it might be. Michael was just, a funny guy. He made Gavin laugh and it didn't take long until he made Gavin feel comfortable enough to completely be himself. It felt nice, the last person Gavin had done that with was Dan. 

"How the fuck does that even work?!" Michael exclaimed, voice hoarse from laughter. 

"Well, you've got like two hands and two feet but if you swapped them around with each other they'd be the same right?" Michael laughed as they pulled into the cake shop parking lot and walked inside. 

"There's so many things wrong with that fucking sentence." 

"No there isn't!" 

"Can I help you?" Michael stopped giggling and looked at the petite girl in an apron appraisingly. 

"I think you can. It's the Gruchy wedding? We're here to taste some cake." She smiled and led them over to a table. 

"I'll bring it out for you!” Gavin watched as Michael’s eyes followed her. 

"Jeez be more of a sleaze." Michael blinked at him innocently 

"What?" 

"You're totally checking that girl out!" He said, voice pitched high. Michael laughed and shook his head, eyes traveling quickly over Gavin's features. 

"You couldn't be more wrong." He said softly. Gavin swallowed as they looked at each other, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as Michaels eyes bore into his. 

"Gavin I-" 

"Okay! So this is the same cake we'll be making for the wedding! Feel free to take photographs and taste however much you'd like" both men jumped as the bakers voice broke through whatever trance they were in. Gavin watched as she walked away before turning back to Michael sheepishly. 

"Uh is it a bad time to say I'm not too keen on cake?" He offered with a smile. Michael shook his head as he cut two slices of the white cake. 

"I don't think you have a choice, best man." He said, shoving a plate in front of Gavin. 

"You're definitely right about that" Gavin muttered as he shoved a spoonful of cake into his mouth. 'In more ways than one' he thought. 

4. Stag Night. 

Okay so Gavin had gotten a little stressed. Mostly he was spinning out because more people than he'd actually booked for had turned up the day of Dan's Stag Party and he'd had to beg the pub around the corners function room owners to let him change the amount last minute. And also when he realized three hours before that these things usually have decorations. 

"You're stupid." 

"Thank you Barbara you are so lovely!" He said, smiling at her as he got into the passenger side of her car. She shook her head. 

"Decorations are one of the things you just don't forget when throwing a party, how did you manage to?" He shrugged, looking out the window and sighing. 

"I've just had a lot on my mind." And it was true. He'd met Michael Jones; brother of Sarah Jones, a total of two times and each time had him blushing like a schoolgirl. He wasn't so surprised at that part because he did tend to internalize his attraction to people and feelings in a way that made him always tend to do the freaking out thing in the privacy of his apartment. He was surprised however that it was a dude. 

"I have a question" 

"Uh huh" 

"Have you ever had a thing for someone, except they aren't really the kind of person you'd usually have a thing for?" Barbara frowned slightly but nodded. 

"Definitely have been there. Oooh is Gavin in looooooove?" She said, grinning at him and poking him unkindly in the ribs. 

"No calm down, I just. I think I like someone, but they’re different." He said quietly. 

"Is she actually capable of a conversation?" She teased. He rolled his eyes at her and took a deep breath. 

"No, but she is actually a he and he is doing my bloody head in" Barbara was quiet for a second before she burst out laughing. 

"Hey! Why are you laughing like that for? I just told you a big secretive thing and you're making fun of me." He pouted crossing his arms. 

"No, I'm, I'm sorry I just, I fucking knew it" she wheezed, gasping for air. 

"What?" 

"Gavin you have an absolutely unhealthy obsession with talking about dicks." She said slowly and informatively. 

"That doesn't mean I'm suddenly attracted to guys." He yelled. 

"Except you are." He snapped his mouth closed and thought to Michael, and his stupid freckles and his stupid dimples and his annoying laugh and voice and sighed. 

"Just one guy. I'm so not ready for this." Barbara grabbed his hand with her free one and squeezed it sympathetically. 

"No matter what sex or gender you are, no-one’s ever ready. But sometimes you just have to run into these things head on and embrace them, or you'll always be thinking what if." He squeezed her hand back and laughed. 

"Now you're laughing at my mushy stuff!" She said incredulously. 

"No I just, I think I'm gay and now I'm going to pick out straws with boobs on them, I'm just overly confused." 

"Well at least some things never change." She grinned, "Gavin Free Master of Confusion" 

"You got that right" he mumbled, shooting her another thankful smile and a squeeze of the hand. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Gavvers this is fucking top mate I swear you are a fucking legend!" Dan had his arm around Gavin's shoulders for the umpteenth time that night. His sentences had gotten closer and closer to Gavin's ear, the words slurring together more and more every time. The lads were having a good night. Everyone was drinking something and Dan had just gotten a rather embarrassing lap dance from a very well endowed stripper Gavin had ordered. So everyone was in high spirits. 

"Making you my-hic! My best bloke thing was a-hic! Fucking tippers idea!" He yelled, bopping Gavin on the nose before someone else, maybe Dan's brother pulled him away for another round of shots. He was going to be in bad shape tomorrow. 

"He's right" Gavin felt all his nerves fizzle as the voice appeared close to his ear. He turned his head slightly to find Michael perched on a bar stool next to him. 'That fucking smile.' It lit Gavin's stomach on fire every time he saw it. 

"What's he right about?" Gavin asked, surprised to hear his own voice was slurred. He'd forgotten he'd also been doing a lot of shots. 

"This Bachelor Party, it's fucking aces." Gavin looked at him with amused eyes before leaning in to be heard over the music. 

"Thanks but it's a Stag Do not a Bachelor Party" Michael rolled his eyes, the smile on his face growing wider. 

"Well excuse me governa’!" he mimicked in a high pitched British accent. 

"I don't sound like that!" Gavin shrieked, finishing the last of his beer and slamming it on the table. 

"Yes you do, you sound like an asshole." Michael said, punching Gavin lightly in the shoulder. 

"You're an asshole" Gavin said, before putting his face close to Michaels and flaring his nostrils. 

"Gavvvverss! I just have to say you are my best mate and I love you okay? I do" Gavin stumbled under Dan's sudden crippling weight and nearly fell off his barstool when he felt two hands wrap around his stomach, keeping him in place. He wondered briefly when he and Michael had gotten that close but quickly put the thoughts on hold when his brain caught up and realize Michael was touching him with his hands and if that wasn't the nicest thing he'd felt in months. 

"Okay B I love you too" Gavin said, realizing now that he was sandwiched between Dan and Michael, his back slowly being pressed up against Michael's front as Dan leant more of his weight on his smaller friend. 

"Just remember okay that you are a fucking B, B" Gavin giggled loudly at Dan's words and shook his head 

"Your soon to be wife is soon to be trying to kill me for getting you this drunk." Dan kept talking at Gavin about Sarah but even though Gavin was sure what he was saying was poetic and absolutely not garbage from a drunken trash can, he wasn't listening to a word of it. Instead he'd picked up on a strange puff of air intermittently frequenting his neck. He shivered and realized he and Michael were now really close and basically on one barstool and wasn't that Gavin's barstool a few feet away? And god he wanted to close his eyes and let his head fall back because he was absolutely sure that Michael was pressing feather light kisses to his neck and it was quickly overwhelming every one of his senses. He shivered almost violently and felt Michael tense with laughter behind him. 

"You okay Gavino?" He felt Michael whisper against his ear and that was it. He needed to get Dan somewhere else as soon as possible because he needed to have a word with Michael and also because Dan was incredibly close to Gavin's crotch where he was beginning to get an erection and that was something he didn’t need to share with his best friend. 

"Paul!" Gavin called, suddenly leaning up as he snapped his fingers at Dan's brother. "I think it's time to get him home to his fiancé." Gavin said, nodding at Dan who was now facing down on Gavin's shoulder mumbling random words into his shirt. Paul smiled and hoisted his brother over his shoulder.   

"I’d have to agree with you, it's nearly closing time anyway I think, you alright to get home?" Gavin felt Michael's hand close around his wrist where it was hanging uselessly at his side and nodded. 

"Absolutely, see you in a few days!" He said cheerfully, before getting up and turning to look at Michael. He was not disappointed. His pupils were already blown and his bottom lip was red in a way that had Gavin thinking he'd been biting it. He groaned. Michael laughed gleefully. 

"Wanna get out of here?" 

"You have no bloody idea." He grabbed Michael's wrist and dragged him, out of the bar and across the road in the general direction of his apartment. 

"Okay whoa, calm down buddy" Michael teased, pulling on Gavin and spinning him around to face him. "And where exactly are we going." He asked with a raised eyebrow. 

"My flat." Gavin replied. He didn't want to stop and chat about it he just wanted to do it and he stamped his foot impatiently. 

"But there's something I want to do first." Michael murmured, and when did they get that close again? He could probably count all the freckles on Michael's nose from here, 1, 2, 3, 4-oh. When their lips met it was different. Obviously because they were boy lips and boy lips while similar to girl’s lips were still resolutely not. Also because when he felt Michael's lips on his and his hands on Gavin's waist it was like there were thousands of tiny sparks shooting off into the night sky from every part of him. They kissed softly at first, testing the waters, finding which way was comfortable; Gavin was absolutely a tilt to the right kisser and was glad to find Michael was the opposite. He could taste bourbon and spearmint and something else that wasn't gross but instead filled him with even more warmth. 

It was a lovely sweet kiss but Gavin decided he wanted more. He fisted his hand into the front of Michael's shirt and pulled him closer and closer, opening his mouth slightly and swiping his tongue over Michael's bottom lip, moaning in surprise and delight at the feeling of the older man’s tongue against his own. Michael shuffled them over to a conveniently close alleyway without breaking their stride, he didn't stop kissing Gavin when he pushed him against the wall, and he didn't stop when he rocked their hips together and felt Gavin moan into his mouth. 

A moaning sound, Gavin barely registered it, until he realized it was his own voice. His own moans of pleasure. His own dick incredibly, painfully hard against someone else's, his own mouth sore and overworked from kissing. 

"Wait." He said, gasping for air. Michael stopped instantly. Of course he did and Gavin ran a hand haphazardly through his hair. 

"I'm I, this is too fast I just." Gavin started to mumble, he watched as Michael lowered his hands from Gavin's shoulders back to his sides 

"Well we can stop it's okay dude. I mean we've both had a lot to drink and there's always tomorrow" Michael said with a wicked grin. Gavin blinked at him and shook his head 

"No I mean, I, this is bloody. I'm not into blokes okay? So this isn't something I should be doing." He watched as Michael's face instantly changed from playful to calculating. 

"Well you should tell that to your dick because a few seconds ago I think it was starting to enjoy itself." Gavin shook his head again. 

"I'm sorry Michael I just...I can't do this. I'm not..." He trailed off and pushed himself off the wall, shaking his head and walking away from a disheveled looking Michael. "I can't" he whispered with one last look he turned and ran. 

"Idiot, big dumb stupid dumb idiot prick" he mumbled to himself as he entered his apartment. He'd just had the seriously worst case of bitching out he'd ever seen and he was more than disappointed with himself. He threw himself onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling. It was just too much, all at once. The touching and the kissing and the crushing feeling that he didn't think he could be touched by anyone and have it feel anywhere near as good as it did when Michael touched him, which of course only freaked him out more. 

"What have I done?" He whispered out to the ceiling above. The ceiling didn't answer, but of course Gavin had been expecting that. 

5. Wedding Bells. 

"You look beautiful Sarah" Michael beamed at his little sister in her ivory dress, she did look stunning. The picture perfect bride. And he knew he was gay but did he have to get emotional at weddings too, talk about stereotypes. 

"I'm still gonna cut off Dan's kneecaps of he ever hurts you though" his sister laughed at him and nodded, wiping away a tear. 

"Of course you are." He smiled softly at her 

“I'm so happy for you." He whispered, and she nodded. 

"I know." 

It meant the world to him that his sister was so happy, so finally happy to be at this stage in her life with someone that she loved unconditionally and completely like Dan. So obviously he was happy. But he also felt a little empty too. He didn't often do what he did with Gavin, didn't put himself on the line and throw himself out towards the rocky waters of dating only to be told all the lifeboats and preservers were taken and he was on his own. He didn't often set himself up to get hurt. So he was angry more than anything. He'd fallen so fast, faster than he'd thought was possible and fast in a way that made him feel bad when he'd lost his shit at his sister when she'd called to tell him that after three months she was engaged to some guy he'd met once. So it hurt, because he liked Gavin, a lot, liked his stupid sense of humor and his dumb brain that came up with the most absolute garbage and his huge nose. He hated the way he loved the sound of his name rolling off of Gavin's tongue and he hated that he knew what Gavin's tongue felt like against his own. Because it wasn't going to happen. And he was the idiot for letting it get as far as it did. 

"I'll be back okay?" He squeezed his sister’s hands and excused himself, heading out the side door of the church for some fresh air that would hopefully help ease the crushing feeling on his lungs. 

"Oh, sorry I, sorry." That voice. He looked up and saw one big fucking nose and two stupid green eyes and rolled his own. 

"Oh no you have nothing to be sorry about" he said sarcastically. Gavin frowned and looked down, shoving his hands into his suit pockets which he of course looked fucking fantastic in. 

"Listen Michael I'm sorry I jus-" 

"What the fuck ever Gavin I don't wanna hear it. I don't give a shit okay? I'm the bad guy here that fell for the guy going through a fucking sexuality crisis. No you have nothing to apologize for this is all on me" he said venomously, walking past Gavin into the large garden next to the Church. 

"No I wasn't, that wasn't what it was. Well okay maybe it was a crisis of sorts but I'm no-" 

"What? Not what Gavin? Not gay? Because what we were doing the other night, felt pretty gay to me" he interrupted, watching through slitted eyes as Gavin walked closer to him. 

"Michael please I just-" 

"Micool please" 

"Ugh now you're mocking me? Real mature, just let me finish for god’s sake!" Michael sighed, crossing his arms and turning to look across the Churches gardens at the pond glimmering in the afternoon light. 

"Okay yes I freaked out but that wasn't because I suddenly realized I was straight it was because I suddenly realized that I am very not that and it freaked me out and so I ran away because I'm an idiot and I was being a prick and I'm not good at apologizing but I just, I really like you. And I like how I feel when I'm with you, and I like who I am around you. And I just hope I haven't really bollocked it all up." He gasped, realizing he hadn't had much air in the past few minutes. He watched Michael for a moment before tapping his foot impatiently and walking over to the other man,  pushing his shoulder. 

"Listen Michael that wasn't very easy for me to say so if you're just going to ignore it I-mmph!" 

He was cut off by an already familiar pair of lips attaching themselves to his own and he instantly felt all the tension leave his body. It was over as quick as it began and he stumbled back, held back in place by two strong hands on his shoulders. 

"God you talk some absolute shit." Michael said with a smile before leaning in to kiss him again. It was soft and curious and beautiful and everything and Michael and Gavin both knew it would be hard to stop. 

"You're joking!" They froze each turning slowly in the direction of the sudden voice with sheepish smiles on their faces. 

"No you're actually joking right? You're having a laugh I'm not actually seeing this right now." Dan said, looking from one to the other quickly. 

"Uh, sorry B" Gavin said, shrugging slightly. 

"I'm not really sorry at all." Michael murmured, looking at Gavin and smiling softly. 

"Bloody hell, you're out of the wedding party, both of you. On my wedding day, B you're such a little..." Dan's voice trailed off as he entered back into the Church and Gavin laughed against Michael's shoulder. 

"Okay, first things first. A wedding." 

"What?!" 

"No, shut up, that's not even legal here, your sister’s wedding you mincey little prick." 

"What did you call me?" 

When you laid you head down on your desk, you only intent was to give the sharp pain in your neck a little break. Once your head hit the cool, smooth wood you couldn't bring yourself to sit back up. It was only your 2nd week working for RoosterTeeth, and you hadn't fully adjusted to Texas life and the chaotic work schedule you had. The past few days you'd been so desperate to impress everyone and make a smashing first impression, you hadn't actually stopped to get to know everyone despite the emails from Burnie saying "Such and such and I are going some place tonight. Come and get to know everyone! They're all curious about you. It couldn't hurt to stop working so hard for a night?" and signing off with a kind bit of fatherly advice from the man who got you the editing job in the first place.

You had sworn to yourself that tonight would be the night you go out for 'bevs' with Gavin, Michael, and Lindsay like they'd Lindsay had been asking. However, falling asleep at your desk in the middle of a new RT Short project kept you from any such plans.

About 2 hours had passed, and when no response came from you about tonight, Burnie sent Brandon in to check on you. Finding your hunched over, relaxed body he couldn't help but chuckle. That small noise registered within your sleeping mind, and changed the state of your dreams to something a bit more adult.

Your knees went weak as you felt the scruff of his beard against your neck as Brandon kissed and sucked his way down. He slid his hand up your shirt, pushing you firmly between himself and the wall. As he reached your breast he quickly pushed underneath it, the speed of his motions and warmth of his hand making you moan softly.

Brandon took a step back as a moan escaped your sleeping body. He had leaned in to touch your shoulder and wake you softly, but instead found he was interrupting a moment between you and your dreams. He turned to leave when he heard another moan, slightly louder than the last. But this time, it was a name. His name.

“B-Brandon…" you all but cried out as his fingers went swiftly under your skirt and circled around the entrance to your pussy. You leaned forward and kissed him eagerly, feeling him flick at your clit with his thumb as he gingerly slid a finger inside you. You bucked your hips slightly, rocking into his touch and wordlessly begging him for more.

"More, please." You breathed between assaults on his lips and neck. "I want more, I was you, please…"

"Fuck me." 

As you spoke, the sudden outburst of coherent speech from you woke you up with a start. The first thing you saw was your screensaver - a photo of you and your best friends from home. The first thing you noticed, however, was a tight feeling in your crotch. Your body was flushed and you could feel that you were a little bit wet. Clearing your throat, you saved the project and shut down the computer, before spinning your chair around to grab your coat to go. 

"OH my God! Brandon don't…Warn a girl before you just pop up in places." You exclaimed, nervous tugging at your hair, terrified he could see through you and see how out of sorts you were.

"I've actually been here for a few minutes now," came the response, with a smirk. "In fact, I noticed you were asleep. On the job. That's not the best impression to make so early on in a new job, is it?"

You looked down at your knees. "Right. Right, I'm so sorry. Please don't tell Burnie, I just wanted so badly to stand out."

Brandon stepped closer, close enough so that he could lean into your ear and you could feel his hot breath against you tender skin. 

"How about" he whispered "Burnie doesn't find out. And in the meantime," Brandon purred as he back you into your chair. You landed softly, eyes locked on his as he leaned down to eye level. "In the meantime, why don't you tell me a little more about that dream you were having."

You swallowed hard. "Dream? How did you know?"

"When someone moans your name while they're asleep" he stated, calmly getting on his knees and spreading your legs. "You just assume what they've been thinking." With a grin he added "You really think I didn't see the way you looked at me when we first met? I noticed that blush, the way you pulse stared racing when you shook my hand. Believe me…" he slid your skirt upward until it bunched at your waist, exposing you dampened red panties. "I see everything."

Leaning forward, he placed kisses along your inner thigh. You nervously looked around, extremely aware that someone could walk in at any moment. Brandon looked up at you, through you legs, and nearly grinned.

"If it weren't for the fact I have a meeting in 10 minutes, I would ask you for so much more than just this." He slid up your body, his hand brushing you warm, wet self. As his eyes met your's, he kissed you softly but with an urgency that implied he'd wanted to do that for sometime. Your eyes fluttered shut and his fingers danced along the edges of you panties, his tongue gently roaming your mouth.

It was you who broke the kiss when you phone went off.

"Sorry, it's Geoff…" you bit your lip and stood, keeping Brandon pressed up against you. His hands moved to your waist, holding you where you were.

"So I'll go to my meeting, and you'll go see Geoff. Then I'm thinking I should drive you home. You know, just to make sure you get to bed."

With a wink Brandon separated himself from you, turned on his heel, and casually walked out the door and to the hall like nothing out of the ordinary happened. You brushed yourself off and stumbled towards the door, slowly regaining bits of your composure. As you crept down the hall, breathing slowly to lower your racing pulse, you made your way to the Achievement Hunter room. You knocked at heard a small "S'open", and walked in to find Geoff sprawled out on Ryan's couch. Everyone was headed to the meeting with Burnie, so Geoff was the only one in. 

The world in which everyone lived in was a bit different to what we know.

Not everyone meets their true love first thing, horrible break ups happen and heartache ensures.

But thankfully, somehow no one has to worry about that anymore.

In this world, everyone has what people like to call, their Home, or as it’s best known as, their soul mate.

When you’re at the age of 16, the right age to be able to date, you visit your local tattooist and book a special appointment. There’s one special tattooist in every store, and these special tattooist are gifted in a way where they know what tattoo to give you.

You see, the way you know you’ve found your Home is that you both have matching tattoo’s, and these special tattooist examine and read your skin to get the exact tattoo as your Home.

And right now, on Michael’s 16 birthday, he was sitting in the tattooist chair, sweating like crazy and sticking to the leather chair.

“Oh my god, I can’t do this.” Michael says, facing towards his best friend. Lindsay looks down at him with a soft smile and grabbed his hand.

“You’ll be fine, Michael! Just think how exciting this is! You’ll finally be able to start finding your Home, the one place where you’ll always be welcome!” She says excitedly, practically jumping up and down on the spot.

Michael can’t help but to crack a smile at his friend. He could share her excitement, but unfortunately he couldn’t get it out as she did.

Their attention was soon brought to a tough looking man with a tired smile who walked up to them.

He smile widened when he saw Michael’s nervous face.

“Michael, yes?” The tattooist asked. All Michael could do was nod, the ability to speak being taken away and replaced with the words, It’s happening, It’s actually happening, to run on repeat in his mind.

The tattooist nodded and settled down on a leather stool next to his chair.

“How you doing, Michael? I’m Geoff, the person who’s going to change your life.” The tattooist, Geoff, grinned down at the boy.

Michael could have sworn he shat his pants right then and there. Michael gave a nervous laugh as his reply, his tongue too tied and Geoff understood.

Geoff’s lazy, laid-back demeanour quickly changed into a more serious expression as he started preparing his equipment.

“Okay, so do you know what I need to do? And are you okay with it?” Geoff asked, slapping on his gloves and inking up his gun.

Michael recalled back to what his mum had said, her head off in the clouds and her smile small but holding a lot of emotion.

“They take your hand and close their eyes, trying to get a feeling from you. They’re able to gather information from their fingers tips on your skin and the image appears in their mind, and it stays until they’re done.”

Michael nodded and for good measure, spoke a small, “Yeah.”

Geoff nodded and the hum on the tattoo gun started getting closer to him and he closed his eyes. He could feel Lindsay’s soft hands and gentle touch replaced with calloused fingers and a firm grip.

He heard Geoff intake a breath and Michael did the same.

He didn’t feel very different, not like he was expecting. He didn’t feel any sort of rush of emotion or tingles, just impatient.

Geoff rubbed at Michael’s hand, almost as if he was massaging it but after about five minutes, he was done.

Geoff let go and Michael slowly opened his eyes.

“Okay, you ready?” He asked.

Michael nodded for the last time, knowing there was no backing out now.

~

The tattoo didn’t hurt at all. He knew how much they usually ached (from the somewhat-illegal and well hidden one on the top of his arm), but he didn’t feel anything other than a slight pressure.

He supposed it was different, the needle or the ink he thought. But he didn’t have much time to think about it because Geoff was done soon enough and it was a little surprising.

As Geoff snapped off his gloves, Michael took a peak at his hand and examined the ink on his knuckles. He made a face, he never thought it would be somewhere so obvious.

He made a fist and turned his face to look at it.

The letters TND and a small stick of dynamite stared back at him, glowing. That was also different than a normal tattoo, the ink. You could tell which one was the Special one. For example, when he looked at Geoff’s hand, he noticed the small gleam on the small lightning bolt on his hand.

Just as Michael thought that, a beautiful woman walked in from a door near them that read, ‘STAFF ONLY’, and the first thing he noticed (other than how gorgeous she was) was the slight but very noticeable gleam that came from her hand.

She leaned over the back of Geoff’s chair to steal a kiss from the man, who hummed happily and pressed his lips back.

Michael looked away and then didn’t know where else to look, so his gaze locked on Lindsey’s.

She smiled softly at him and her fingers gently brushed the back of his hand.

“Does it hurt?” She asked, her voice soft. Michael, again, lost his words and simply shook his head.

Her fingers brushed over the glowing ink and delicate skin. She lifted it up and held it in front of her face. She gently stroked each knuckle before smiling wide and giving his hand a very tight squeeze.

Michael gasped at the sudden pain and flinched back, taking his hand.

“Bet it hurts now, right?” Lindsey laughed, raising her eyebrow.

“You little shit!” Michael called out, gathering the attention of Geoff and his soul mate.

The woman smiled widely at them. “Can I see yours?” She asked Lindsey. Lindsey replied with a small giggle, and “Oh, I don’t have one yet. But I will soon.”

“Well, hopefully Geoff remembers your face so he knows what to tattoo.” The woman said, shooting a wink at the two of the kids, who in-turn, blushed and looked at each other with small smiles.

~~

Michael soon grew angsty and little upset when Lindsey’s birthday rolled around and the art on her skin was not at all similar to his. People didn’t generally have to wait that long to find their Mate, and it seemed like everything else was all ready for them to fall into place, but now this silly crush he’d been getting was ripped away so suddenly.

He inspected her skin, much like he had done to her, and he couldn’t help but smile at the cat face looking back up at him. He looked up at her and she was grinning down at him.

“What do you think?” She asked. Michael laughed and let go.

“I think it’s perfect.” She smiled wide and pulled him into a hug.

~~

It was quite a few years later, about 10 actually, that Michael actually met his mate. But neither of them realized because the other always wore that stupid sweat band and Michael always wore his gloves that Lindsey gave him so neither of them ever really saw their tattoo’s.

When Michael first met Gavin, it was under odd circumstances to say the least. He’d obviously heard about him before, I mean, he was always hearing about how much trouble it was to get him up here with his visa, so it was odd seeing him for the first time.

Now, Michael’s no stranger to his occasional homosexual thoughts so he had no problem thinking, damn, that guy is really cute, but what he did have a problem with was the feeling of, wow I need to be around him right now, all the time.

Michael remembers shaking his head, thinking what the fuck, before Gavin squawked his way over and grabbed his hand and shook it. He was a little shocked at the feelings of his hand on and over his knuckles and he never wanted to let go so he kinda just stood there for a moment before saying his name. Gavin then chuckled out, “I know. I’ve seen your videos. They’re top!”

Thus started Michael’s stupid pinning, and then that lead to his self-loathing of, I can’t even have him, I’m sure he’s always got a mate, why does this always happen to me.

It was one particular day, about a year later, that Michael came to work on a Thursday and all he could do was apologize to Geoff profusely that he just couldn’t do that rage quit. Geoff did get a little upset, but after he explained his problem, he understood. The only reason Michael felt comfortable telling Geoff was because he was the one to tattoo him. He hoped Geoff would have heard a case like this before, but alas, Geoff just shook his head with a sorry smile.

Michael’s mood just went further down, his last chance at finding help was diminished and he found he kinda just laid on his desk for the majority of the morning. That was until Gavin touched the inside of his wrist and Michael’s head snapped up, and even through the gloves, his tattoo shined a little brighter, but it again when unnoticed.

Gavin gripped his wrist and pulled him up and out of the chair. Michael followed, far too sad (or maybe just whipped) to yell at Gavin that he had work to do. He also knew that Gavin would see thought the lie because they sat right next each other, so it would be a little stupid to lie.

Gavin didn’t let go of his wrist, not even when he sat them down at a table in the break room and not when he sat their arms down on the table.

“What’s wrong, little Michael?” Gavin’s words slurred into a comforting tone as his fingers dragged down the skin of Michael’s inner arm and Michael’s shoulders slumped and his eyes felt heavy.

Michael wanted to tell him that nothing was wrong everything was fine, but he couldn’t find it in himself to lie so he leant further forward and rested his head on Gavin’s arm.

“It’s dumb and stupid.” Michael ended up slurring back, grabbing blindly in the air until his hand met Gavin’s. Fortunately this type of affection was common between them, so Gavin just wrapped their hands tighter.

“It won’t be dumb, and even if it is, I won’t laugh.” Gavin replied.

Michael was silent for a moment, weighing the pros and cons before sighing and muttering his answer into Gavin’s arm.

Though, because Gavin did not have ears on his arm, could not hear a word of it.

“What was that?”

With another sigh, this one more annoyed, he lifted his head and spoke, “I haven’t found my soul mate and it’s stupid but I’m just really upset about it.”

Michael felt his cheeks heat up and he could bet they were red so he ducked his head back down onto Gavin’s arm.

Gavin didn’t find his words for a while, but he started stroking Michael’s hair, so at least he knew his silence wasn’t a bad thing. Thought, it didn’t mean it wasn’t annoying.

“So, you don’t know who your soul mate is?” Gavin asked softly.

“Nah.” Michael replied. He closed his eyes, letting himself relax but he wasn’t able to do it for long as Gavin’s next words sent his head up to look at him.

“Me neither.”

Michael opened his mouth to say something but his hands started tingling and he looked down and his tattoo was glowing quite harshly through his glove, even so that Gavin noticed and went to tug at it, to pull it off but then Lindsay and Barbara came barrelling in, shooting nerf guns as Miles  recorded and laughed in the background.

~~

That was when Michael thought that it wasn’t just him pinning on Gavin, but maybe they were soul mates. He always blushed and thought how dumb it sounded when even he thought about it, but a certain glow always accompanied those thoughts so one day Michael sucked it up and left his gloves at home one morning.

This did not go unnoticed by Lindsey, who would not stop asking questions about it and eventually told her in a loud voice. She was unfazed and just tugged at his hand and led him through to Gavin and locked them in a room, in which Michael could not tell.

Michel had no words as he looked to Gavin. He just had this feeling of right, and belonging so all he could really do was push out his hand towards Gavin and he waited for him to take it.

Gavin gave a small gasp and held out his own arm. Michael looked up at where his wrist band would usually be and gave his own small gasp. Even though he as expecting, it was still a nice surprise.