It washours before the maniac returned. No one had heard from him, not that they hadtried very hard. Deep down, the four remaining men knew he wouldn’t be back fora while, not with Ray in the state he was in. The only reason he came back atall that night was one text from Michael. Ray’sgoing to be fine. Those five words lifted the guilt off of Ryan and afterhe finished up, he went back to see the younger man. It was half past four whenthe front door of the apartment opened and Gavin padded over from the kitchento greet his friend.

“He was asking for you when he was awake,” The brit saidquietly, sipping at the glass of water in his hands.

“You got him to sleep though right?” Ryan asked, tiredhimself.

“Lindsay drugged him,” Gavin nodded as he spoke. “He wasreally worried that you would do something stupid.”

“Of course he worried about me,” A faint smile graced Ryan’sface as he toed off his shoes and threw his mask on the side table.

“It’s nice that you take care of each other,” Gavin spokeagain just as Ryan was going to leave him.

“It’s a lot more work on his end,” Ryan chuckled beforegoing into the bedroom where he knew Ray would be sleeping.

               Carefully,Ryan sat on the bed and looked down at one of the very few things he trulyloved in life. With a few tears welling up in his eyes, he took the youngerman’s hand in his. With a groan, Ray’s eyes fluttered open and he looked up atRyan tiredly. They didn’t speak as Ryan shuffled in beside him. Ray rolled ontohis good side to give Ryan more room and he cuddled up to his boyfriend lazily.In the dark, he reached up to wipe the tears off of Ryan’s face with his thumbsbefore kissing the man as to reassure him that he was still there andbreathing.

“I love you,” Ryan said quietly, being careful not to wakethe others who were sleeping in the living room. The entire crew had stayed thenight, sleeping on Geoff’s couches.

“I love you too,” Ray smiled widely before yawning. “Can wesleep now? I’m still tired.”

“We can do whatever you want babe,” Ryan wrapped his armsaround the man carefully. “You call the shots.”