Chapter Text
He's the golden boy.
He's aware that he should be stronger.
It's hard to feel strong with blood dripping down your chin.
Gavin tries to wipe the blood away, but only smears it across his face, pale bony hand coming away with it's knuckles decorated in his blood.
Today had been stressful, not that his crew knew.
He kept his perfect masks up.
To everyone they encounter, he's smooth, he's charismatic.
'Gav!'
Geoff is looking for him.
Not surprising.
They expect him to be nearby, happy, and bouncing about.
They act as if his perfect golden boy mask is the only mask, unaware the happy lad act is just another mask.
At night he's unable to hold any mask up at all.
Gavin uses a rag to wipe the blood of his face, washing his hands and checking his teeth for blood.
He's tempted to wash his teeth again, unsure if the smell of blood and vomit has been washed away.
Leaving the bathroom he bumps into Ryan, the older male is easily much heavier than Gavin, they both quickly apologize to each other anyway, but Ryan pauses.
Gavin is shocked into stillness as Ryan raises one hand, and wipes something from the corner of Gavin's mouth with one steady thumb, 'Is that blood?'
The Brit is too baffled to respond.
'Probably fell on his ridiculous big nose again,' Michael interrupts them with a laugh.
It's easy to lie and pretend his nose bleeds are a result of his own clumsiness.
Gavin laughs it off and follows Michael into the living area, already mentally putting his mask on.
'Gavin fell on his stupid nose again,' announces Michael to Geoff, Geoff chuckles and takes a swig of his drink.
There's no doubt in Gavin's mind that Geoff is at least mildly drunk.
The older male loops one arm over Gavin's shoulders, tugging him in close, 'You're alright, you fool,' the drunk informs him.
A quick glance at the clock tells Gavin it's late, he's surprised Geoff is still here, Geoff doesn't typically stay in the penthouse with them, preferring to spend the nights with his wife.
Geoff seems to notice this, 'Yeah, I was just about to head out, wanted to say goodbye to my little gavvy-wavvy,' he ruffles Gavin's hair with the hand that isn't over the lad's shoulders, 'Griffon wanted me to invite you over for the night.'
The Ramsey's still viewed Gavin as their sort-of son ever since taking him in when he was a teen.
'No thanks, tell Grif I said hi, I'm going to work on the system firewall,' explained Gavin with a grin, 'I also really want to take a crack at hacking the presidents twitter.'
Ray rolled his eyes from where he was perched in front of the TV, he'd been working on one achievement for the last few hours, but apparently was bothered by this fact, at his feet Jeremy was perched, seeming far too interested in the very little progress Ray was making.
'Alright, call me if you need anything,' Geoff hugs Gavin closer for a moment before releasing him and heading for the door, he pauses at the door to call out a goodbye to Jack before leaving.
Gavin silently retreats back to his room, unwilling to hold up his little act for much longer.
He's honestly just tired, that morning they'd met up with another Crew, negotiating some sort of alliance. The Fake Achievement Hunter crew was strong alone, of course, but Geoff felt it was time they built some bonds with other crews in the city.
None of the others had protested this, and as the usual face of the crew, it was up to Gavin to talk, Geoff at one side, and Ryan over his shoulder looking vaguely threatening.
After that they had hit up a bank, it had been a relatively difficult heist, Gavin had almost blown himself up with a grenade, luckily Michael had been fast thinking.
No doubt the crew would be staying low for a while after that one.
With a sigh, Gavin flopped onto his bed, intent on sleeping.