#doolfree

There they were. The weapons deal with Cow Chop was two weeks ago. They were sitting on the curb outside of a bar. Neither of them had anything to drink that night. They hadn't even gone into the bar. It was dark, the street lights were too dim to be helpful. Gavin and Jeremy's legs were close enough to touch. The cab would be another ten minutes, at most.

"Hey, Gav?" Jeremy asked. He looked over at them as he waited for their response.

"Yeah?" Gavin looked back at him expectantly.

"Why does the crew think it's such a big deal that you hug me?" He rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke.

"It's probably because I don't ever hug anyone else. I'm not usually a fan of physical contact," they admitted.

"Is there a reason why you only hug me?" Jeremy felt a raindrop on his knee. He hoped it wouldn't rain too much before the cab arrived.

"I really like you, Jeremy. I don't talk to anyone like I talk to you. I just..." really love you. Gavin didn't finish that thought aloud.

Jeremy spoke up after another he realized Gavin wasn't going to continue.

"Are you sick?"

"Like, mentally?" Gavin questioned. He only nodded in response.

"I am, I have PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder, ever heard of it?" Gavin's tone was nonchalant as their eyes studied Jeremy. He had assumed that there was something wrong with Gavin, but he didn't expect it to be PTSD. He'd only ever heard of war veterans having PTSD. He knew that anyone could get it, of course, but had never actually heard of it happening.

"Yeah, I know what it is. Is it because of what happened to your mom?" That was by far the most terrible thing Gavin had told him about, so it was the first thing that came to mind. Gavin nodded in confirmation.

Before Jeremy could think of what to say next, the cab pulled up. They both stood and quickly slid into the back seat. Gavin gave the cab driver the address to their building as Jeremy shut the door.

Jeremy leaned against them slightly, and frowned when they pulled away from him. Gavin turned and looked into his eyes, then smiled. Jeremy felt better at that and smiled back. Gavin leaned forward, slow enough for Jeremy to pull away if he wanted to. He didn't pull away though, so Gavin kissed him. Jeremy kissed them back immediately. His hands found their waist and he tasted peach as he licked Gavin's lips.

After another minute, the cab driver knocked on the glass separating the front half of the car from the back. They got the hint and pulled away from each other at once. Jeremy let out a nervous laugh as he looked over at Gavin. They smiled back at him, something in their eyes that made Jeremy flustered.

Jeremy looked away from them and licked his lips. He could still taste Gavin's peach lip gloss.

"Sorry," they said suddenly. Jeremy looked back at them and furrowed his eyebrows.

"For what?" he asked. "You didn't do anything wrong," he assured.

"I really like you, Jeremy. Love you, even." Gavin looked into his eyes again.

Jeremy let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "I love you too, Gav."

They leaned in and kissed each other again. They ignored the cab driver when he knocked that time, and Gavin laughed against the kiss.

Gavin was tense, visibly so. Michael asked them if anything was wrong multiple times. They denied it each time, saying they were absolutely fine.

It had been roughly a week and a half since Gavin told Jeremy about their mother. They had told Jeremy even more about their life. Jeremy had told them about his own as well, about how he didn't like his hometown or his family. He seemed to gravitate toward Gavin. It was good, because Gavin was considerably more anxious when Jeremy wasn't near them.

Jeremy had left with Ryan to pick up a new shipment of weaponry.

Gavin started pacing fifteen minutes after they left. After ten minutes of that, they forced themself to sit on the couch and watch television for another half hour. Gavin didn't want to ask when the two were expected to return. Gavin didn't want Geoff to know why they weren't acting normal.

Jack stopped Gavin after they eventually started pacing again.

"Gavin." Her tone was stern and Gavin knew what it meant. She had something important to talk to them about. They didn't want to hear it.

"Yeah?" they asked, feigning confusion. They knew Jack could tell something was up, but they just couldn't sit still. Gavin hoped that no one had made the connection that Gavin was only like this when Jeremy was out. Eventually, someone would figure it out, but Gavin hoped that it wouldn't happen for a while.

"Why can't you stop moving?" she asked. Her tone was the same, but Gavin perked up, ignoring it.

"Sorry, I've just got too much energy. I'll stop if it's annoying," Gavin lied easily.

"Please do." Jack's tone changed to something more suspicious and she squinted at them. She could definitely be intimidating when she wanted to. Jack could be intimidating when she wanted to be. She was tall with a broad frame and an impressive beard. Gavin only smiled though, they'd known her for years, they knew she wasn't a threat to him.

Five minutes later, Gavin was sitting on the couch again, drumming their fingers on one leg and bouncing the other. Michael was sitting next to them. He turned his head away from the cartoon that was playing, Camp Camp, and looked at Gavin. They was still fidgeting as they watched the screen, not focusing on anything that was currently happening in the cartoon or in reality.

"Gavin. You're a mess. Please tell me what's wrong so I can fix it. If you don't want to tell me then at least tell Jack or Geoff." At the mention of their names, Jack and Geoff stopped their quiet conversation and watched the two younger crew-mates. Gavin didn't notice their eyes as they focused on Michael.

"Just a bit too much energy, that's it. Quit your worrying."

Michael let out a long breath. "Listen, I get that lying is your job and that you really don't like talking about your problems, but come on, Gav. You have to talk to someone!" Michael raised his voice slightly and Gavin frowned at him.

"I've started talking to someone, Michael. Nothing's wrong, Christ." Gavin ran a hand through their hair and puffed out a sigh. Their frown deepened when they realized their would only get greasy if they did it again.

"Oh really? Well it's obviously not anyone in the room, or you'd have talked to them by now. Ryan would have told us if you started telling him anything we didn't know already. You're full of shit, Gav," Michael concluded.

Gavin was about to respond when the elevator that was their front door chimed, alerting them that someone was coming up. Gavin stood quickly and Michael stood with them. Geoff and Jack remained seated, but watched as Gavin walked to the elevator door. Michael stayed by the couch. It was most likely Ryan and Jeremy, why would any of them need to meet them at the door?

The doors opened to reveal Jeremy and Ryan. They were each carrying a duffel bag, and Jeremy smiled when he saw Gavin.

Jeremy walked to Gavin and wrapped his free arm around them in a hug. Gavin hugged him back with both arms. They relaxed in his arms.

Ryan eyed them curiously as he stepped around the two. He only shrugged and turned into the hallway to put the new weapons away.

Jeremy pulled away. "I'm gonna go put these in the armory," he announced, and Gavin nodded.

Michael, Geoff, and Jack all stared at each other. If that wasn't gay as hell, Michael didn't know what was.

"I'm gonna go freshen up," Gavin told them. The three watched them head to their room.

Jeremy and Ryan were back a few minutes later.

"How was the exchange?" Geoff asked, not really paying attention to the two. He'd turned his laptop on and was reading something

"Good. Cow Chop's still new, but they appear to be trustworthy enough," Ryan said. Geoff nodded absently, eyes still on the screen.

"Little J, do you mind telling me what the fuck that was?" Geoff asked. Jeremy stood up straight at the unexpected words.

"Um, what do you mean? Did I do something wrong?" Jeremy could hear the nervousness in his own voice. Geoff sighed and looked away from his screen, to Jeremy.

"I don't even know what you did, really! I haven't seen Gavin hug someone in years and they just hugged you like you just returned from the war!" Geoff's tone was exasperated, but he kept his voice low. He didn't want Gavin to hear him.

"I don't know what you mean. We hug like that a lot." Jeremy avoided the gazes of everyone in the room. Ryan had sat down next to Jack, and they were all looking at him like... he didn't even know what they were thinking of him.

Michael sighed. "Alright, man. As long as Gav is doing alright, just keep doing what you're doing."

Jeremy was still confused. As far as he knew, he wasn't doing anything.

Gavin returned several minutes later. Their hair had more gel in it, and their gold eye shadow stood out more with their brown eyeliner.

Jeremy was sitting on the couch next to Michael, who was playing Minecraft. All of the Gents were sitting at the dining table as they discussed the weapons they just picked up. Gavin saw that there was enough room between Jeremy and Michael, so that's where they sat. "Christ, Gav. Scared the shit outta me." Michael said, not looking away from the screen.

Gavin rolled their eyes and looked at Jeremy. "Are you bored? Do you want a controller?"

"I'm fine, I'd rather just watch. What were you doing before I came back?" Jeremy asked.

"Waiting for you to come back." Gavin's tone was light and they smiled, hoping it'd come off as a joke.

Jack, Geoff, and Michael seemed to freeze simultaneously. It dawned on all of them why Gavin was acting so strange while Ryan and Jeremy had been out.

Jeremy laughed. "Sure you were." His tone was sarcastic as he raised his eyebrows at Gavin.

Jeremy was sitting on the couch in the main room, talking with Jack, when Gavin and Geoff returned from their coffee run. Jack had been telling him about one of their heists, and how they each almost died five times over. Jeremy was fascinated.

"You telling him about my heist?" Gavin asked as they set one of the beverages they were holding on the kitchen counter. There wasn't a wall between the kitchen and the living room, so Jeremy could see the entire area that wasn't part of the hallway where the bedrooms, meeting room, and armory were.

"Yeah," Jack told them as she stood. Geoff set the two coffee cups he was carrying down and pulled a key chain out of the front pocket of his jeans. He set the keys on the counter.

Gavin walked around the couch to Jeremy and held out a cup of coffee to him.

"I didn't know what you liked, so I just got you the same thing as me," they told him.

"Thanks, Gavin." Jeremy took the cup from them and they smiled in return. Gavin walked to the counter and grabbed one of the drinks Geoff had put down, then pulled a Diet Coke out of the fridge. After a minute, they started toward the hallway as they spoke.

"I'm gonna bring Michael and Ry their drinks." They announced, then disappeared into the hallway.

Jeremy took a sip of his coffee. It was a little sweeter than he liked, but it was alright. He looked at the television, which was muted. A news anchor was on the screen along with the headline: "shooting in downtown Starbucks, 3 casualties." Jeremy turned his head to Geoff quickly. He was talking to Jack about something.

"Was that you guys?" he asked. He desperately hoped the answer wasn't yes.

Geoff looked at the television screen, and then laughed. Jeremy cringed.

"Yeah, the barista recognized Gav. It happens sometimes, because Gavin's always the one on the screen. They're the face of the Fake AH Crew. So, we shot the barista, and then two guys blocked our exit,  we had to shoot them so we could high-tail it outta there," Geoff explained.

Jeremy turned back to the screen and grabbed the remote. He turned the television off.

Gavin rushed out from the hallway several minutes later, winded, their hair more disheveled than before. They laughed breathlessly and sat on a bar stool next to where Jack and Geoff stood. Jeremy took a sip of his half empty coffee.

"What happened to you?" Jack asked as Gavin took a deep breath.

"Tickle fight with Ry. After I gave Michael his latte, I walked in on Ryan cleaning the chunks of bone and shite off of his bat, so he tried to show me what was in the bucket, but I wasn't having that. So, that turned into him leaving the bucket behind and just tackling me. I tried tickling him first, but I forgot that he's not bloody ticklish. So, he tickled me instead. I was only able to escape by hitting him with a pillow." Gavin tried to fix their hair as they told the story.

Jeremy felt sick thinking of what was in that bucket. The fact that it wasn't even alarming to any of the others in the room made him feel sicker.

"That's what you get for not knocking," Jack said. She threw her arm around Gavin as they grabbed the coffee they hadn't had the chance to drink yet.

"You're lucky he cleaned the bucket out last week. It smelled so bad the day he cleaned it out. I almost threw up." Geoff winced when he thought back to it. Jeremy just sipped his coffee.

The rest of that week went by quickly. Jeremy watched Gavin more than he watched anyone else. He felt like time went by slower when they weren't in the same room as him. He felt more relaxed when they were around and he felt happier when they were speaking to him. He noticed the concerned glances that Geoff gave them and that Gavin was pointedly ignoring the glances.

One night, after Jeremy was introduced to the members of B-team, he left his room to get a drink.

He saw Gavin sitting on the couch, looking out the window.

"Hey," Jeremy greeted as he walked up to the couch.

Gavin jumped violently at his voice and looked at Jeremy, startled. They visibly relaxed after they registered who was in front of them.

"Hi, Lit'le J." They smiled as they spoke, but the smile didn't reach their eyes. Their arms were crossed loosely and one hand was slowly rubbing up and down their arm. Jeremy's eyebrows furrowed and he stepped closer.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Never better. Why?" Gavin's smile fell despite their words.

"You just don't look... okay," Jeremy said. Gavin cringed slightly.

"It's just quiet. I don't really like it. Too lonely," they admitted.

"Oh," Jeremy paused for several seconds, "Can I sit?"

Gavin pulled the blanket off the arm of the couch and nodded. Jeremy sat, then Gavin laid the blanket over both of their laps.

"Thanks." Jeremy turned to look at Gavin. It wasn't cold, Jeremy actually felt too warm. The blanket didn't make sense, it wasn't needed.

"No problem." Gavin smiled once more, but it still seemed forced.

"So, I've been wondering." Jeremy paused to get Gavin's full attention. "Are you and Geoff related?"

Gavin shook their head. "Oh, no. Geoff knew my father and after a family crisis, he took me in. I've been with him ever since. Jack eventually joined up with us, then Michael, Ryan, and now you."

"Why do you not like the quiet?" Jeremy wondered aloud. They were both whispering, he wasn't sure if Gavin had heard his question. It took a full minute for them to respond.

"The crisis that I mentioned. My brother killed my mother. When my brother was sent to prison, my father stopped talking. It was always quiet in my house, so I don't like when it's quiet anymore." Jeremy didn't know what he was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn't that. Gavin had tears in their eyes. Jeremy wasn't sure what he would do if they started crying.

"I'm really sorry, Gavin." He had no idea what else he could have possibly said to that. To Jeremy's surprise, Gavin leaned forward and embraced him. He hugged them back at once.

"Listen up, everyone! This is Jeremy Dooley. He's from Boston, still new to LS. He's good with cars and hand-to-hand combat. As of today, Little J's gonna be part of the main crew."

Geoff patted Jeremy on the back. They were standing in front of the planning board in the meeting room. Ryan was eyeing Jeremy up behind his mask, sitting to the left of Geoff's seat at the head of the table. Jack was sat across from Ryan, to the right of Geoff's chair. She smiled at Jeremy, and he smiled back at her.

Michael was on Jack's right with his feet on the table. Jack turned in her chair and swatted at his legs until Michael begrudgingly put his feet on the floor. Gavin looked up from painting their finger nails and smiled at Jeremy when he met their eyes.

"Jeremy, this is Jack Pattillo. Part-time getaway driver and full-time mom of our crew. She'll treat you better than anyone else here will." Geoff smiled at Jack, and then turned to Michael.

"This asshole is Michael Jones, our explosives expert. Don't make him angry, or he'll start yelling and he won't get any work done for the rest of the day. Which means that Gavin won't get anything done either because they'll be too busy sucking each other's dicks in the supply closet." Gavin rolled their eyes as they waited for their top coat to dry.

Michael grumbled something under his breath, and Gavin laughed as they high-fived each other.

"What was that?" Geoff asked, and Michael waved him off.

"It was nothing, dad."

"Anyways," Geoff turned to Gavin, who was lazily blowing on their nails. The wet top coat made their golden nails pop.

"This is Gavin Free, the bane of my existence. They're the mouth, the actor, the drama queen, but mostly just the looks. They sit on my lap in meetings with other crews and fuck up heists. They're almost as good as Jack when it comes to flying, but they only fly when Jack's out of commission, which is rare." Gavin waved at Jeremy casually and Geoff turned to Ryan.

"Last but not least, is-- Ryan, take off the fuckin' mask, dickhole. You're scary enough with just the face paint." Jeremy sighed gratefully as Ryan pulled off his mask. He looked far less intimidating without it. The face paint was still unsettling, but better than the alternative.

"Anyways," Geoff repeated, "this is Ryan Haywood. You've probably heard of him. He's known as the Vagabond to the public. He's the creepy nerd that can barely speak despite his theater major."

Jeremy's eyes were wide. He'd heard of the Vagabond, but he'd never seen a picture of him. He'd heard of the ruthless killer who never left any of his victims alive. The man that wouldn't let you die quickly or quietly.

"Sorry to scare you, I won't hurt you unless Ge- shit, Geoff tells me to."

Everyone started laughing, aside from Jeremy. Geoff grabbed Jeremy's arm as he howled at Ryan. Jack's shoulders shook with her silent amusement. Michael was doubled over, giggling like a toddler. Even Ryan was laughing at himself, embarrassed. Jeremy was smiling as he looked at everyone. He would be okay here, he could tell.

When his eyes landed on Gavin, his breath caught in his throat. Gavin's eyes were closed and they had a hand covering their mouth as they laughed beautifully. Their shoulders shook, much like Jack's, and they collected themself quickly. They cleared their throat, not noticing Jeremy's lingering eyes, as the noise died down and Geoff let go of Jeremy's arm.

"Ryan the Geoff guy," Gavin whispered. Michael let out a few extra laughs at that before they were all quiet again.

Jeremy inhaled finally and looked away from Gavin, back to Geoff.

"Alright. Jeremy, since you're gonna be living here from now on, how 'bout you let Jack show you to your room? Gavin decorated it and since they weren't the one paying for it, it's almost as over-the-top as their own."

Jeremy nodded as Geoff spoke and Jack stood. Soon, everyone else in the room was standing as well. Michael and Ryan walked into the hallway. Jack made her way to Geoff and Jeremy, and Gavin approached them a moment later.

"Geoff, you still coming with me on the coffee run?" they asked.

"Yeah, it's not like you can drive yourself, asshat." Geoff punched Gavin's shoulder lightly, smiling at them.

"Shall we?" Jack asked. Jeremy nodded at her.

"Yeah, lead the way," he answered Jack. She turned to leave and the two left the meeting room with Jeremy taking up the rear.

Jeremy's room was huge. It was at least four times bigger than his old room in his childhood home.

His bed was huge, it looked bigger than a king-sized bed. Was it a California king? He didn't know. To the right of the bed was an open door that led to a bathroom. He could only see the large, glossy sink. There was a mirror above it, and Jeremy could see Jack standing behind him, smiling. He assumed that she was pleased with his response.

There was another mirror on the wall opposite his bed. The mirror took up most of the wall, and there was a counter with a mini bar built into it. Next to the mini bar was another open door that led to a closet. He could see several outfits hung up. He'd have to check them out later.

One entire wall, the wall opposite of the door, was just one big, glass window. A couch was pushed against it, covered in pillows and with a red blanket draped over one side.

There was a red rug in the middle of the room, and it stood out against the white carpet. There was artwork on the wall to Jeremy's left. He was positive he'd seen the painting before.

"What do you think?" Jack's voice made Jeremy jump slightly.

"This is amazing, I- how much did this cost?" he asked.

"It was only a couple hundred grand. We only stole the Klimt because Gavin wouldn't settle for anything under fifteen mil." She shrugged as she told him this and Jeremy felt faint.