#gavin centric

He won't wake up to an empty house. He won't have to find a way to live on his own without them, again. It's not like they've done anything to instill the fear that they'll leave- well, except Jack. But Gavin's been trying to forget that whole event since it happened. The feel of their skin, the steady beat of their hearts, and just their touch reminds him that he's not alone.

Unfortunately, this fear also makes him a little irrational. He always wants to know who's going to be gone when. Always wants to know when they'll be home and where they'll be. Gavin knows the boys are sick of it but he honestly can't help it. Nor can he can explain it. They'll just laugh at him, he's sure. It all comes to a head one day when he's bothering Geoff for the listing of their work schedule. Michael finally gets fed up and yells at him. He yells and yells and then he stomps away. Gavin tries to stay calm and remind himself that Michael will be back but he starts to tap his foot. Every five minutes he stares at the door, but Michael doesn't come back.

The british man stays up all night, sitting on the couch with his knees pulled up to his chest, waiting. Michael doesn't come home. Ryan joins him sometime in the night, and it's only the man's presence that lets him fall asleep when the sun is up. When he wakes up, Ryan is gone and he is alone on the couch. His throat feels full and he dry swallows air and bites back tears as he gets up, checking around the house.

No one else is home.

Gavin stumbles back to their bed and buries himself in the blankets. He sits criss cross and holds a pillow in his lap, arms wrapped around it like it's a person. There's tears falling down his cheeks and he knows that there's a terrible sniffling and choking sound that comes too but he can't hear it. He can't hear anything but his own voice inside his head, telling him that he'd been warned. That he knew they'd all leave. That they'd all grow tired of him and just disappear. That it would always happen, that everyone would always leave him.

Ray found him still like that, rocking back and forth, about an hour later. They'd just gone to get lunch and no one wanted to wake Gavin since he hadn't slept last night. That's all it was. But clearly, all it was didn't matter or make any logical sense to Gavin. When Ray joined him under the blankets, Gavin put the pillow aside and pulled the Puerto Rican closer. He kept apologizing for whatever he'd done and hid his face in the man's neck. Ray shook his head and softly told Gavin it was going to be okay, but he was confused. He didn't understand why Gavin was freaking out so much. It wasn't the first time they'd left him to sleep after all.

When he tried to leave to get Geoff, however, Gavin freaked out and held tighter to him. So he used his cell to call the man instead. Geoff laughs and they moved lunch to on the bed under the blankets. Ryan complains there'll be crumbs later, but smiles as he says so. When Michael dips his head under the blanket however, he finds himself being pulled into the fortress by one crying, apologizing brit.

Geoff went first and only came back with bloody knuckles. From that, he learned that the asshole was pretty good at dodging because he nearly punched a wall. So quick reflexes, he mentally noted as he kissed the bandages over each knuckle. He'd soothe the pain, for now.

Ray was next, which was only surprising because he thought the man would be first. He came back with red finger prints around his throat and Gavin felt the silent rage build. The asshole was hurting his people. He smoothed the pads of his fingertips over the hurt neck gently, making Ray laugh with some stupid off hand comment. He learned the fucker had a good grip.

Jack came next, and came back unhurt. Gavin kissed him in pure relief, refusing to leave the man's side in case he was lying about being unhurt. He'd done it before and nearly ended up in the hospital. The brit hated the hospital, nothing good ever happened there for him. So he stayed with Jack, listened to the story, and learned the asshole favored his right.

Ryan was the only one left, and he also came back unhurt. But Ryan wasn't the physical violence type unless he had to be. Instead, his mad man had sat next to the bitch at a bar, learning all about the man and hitting him right where it hurt most. Emotional scars that would last a life time. Gavin stayed up with Ryan that night, singing softly to the insomniac as the cuddled because his boy deserved a damn reward for being protective of Michael.

They were out on the town, the six of them, when it happened. The bitch walked up to Michael and started to yell. Ryan and Ray grabbed Michael, pulling him away and back. Jack held Geoff's arm. But no one held Gavin. So he stepped forward and upper-cut the fucker. It was a solid hit with the feel of jaw bone crunching under his knuckles. He moved closer to the man's left, knowing that any hit from the right side wouldn't hurt as much. When the bitch tried to turn away to give his left arm room to draw back, he lashed out with his leg and hit the man in the ribs. Gavin wasn't the best fighter, but he was enraged because this fucking asshole thought it would be a good idea to touch any one of his boys.

The man coughed and spit out both blood and a tooth. When he rounded on Gavin, he managed to land a good punch to his stomach before the Brit moved. He could hear both Geoff's and Michael's shouts of rage but it didn't hurt that much. Just lost a little wind was all. Besides, now that the fucker was closer he was able to get a better right hook to the man's jaw. It connected, and he could hear the wonderful sound of bone dislocating.

When the fucker stumbled, Gavin stepped forward and could feel his boys coming to his side. Almost all of them looked ready to pull punches, but he just smiled. He had this. The dickhead spit out more blood before turning in surprise to the lot of them. Six against one just wasn't going to work in his favor, but none of them moved forward. Gavin just continued smiling down at the man, daring him to stand or move. When it was clear he wasn't going to, he squatted down and leaned forward to whisper.