Chapter Text
I fade into consciousness.
It’s like a slow build, where I don’t realize what’s happening first and then the mist of confusion slowly raises. But my eyes are closed, I can only see darkness.
I can’t move or speak. No way to indicate that I’m alive or awake.
It makes me panic for a moment, and I want to thrash around wildly just to move in some way. It’s scary because I don’t really know what’s happened. Where am I? Is everybody else okay? Am I okay?
I could be paralyzed or about to die.
But I can’t think like that. I just have to calm down. Freaking out like this isn’t going to do anything but scare myself, so I allow myself to relax. Just focus on my breathing and the rhythm of my own heartbeat.
Once I’m about to pick out those noises, I start hearing voices. They sound far off at first, but as time progresses I realize that they’re actually in the room with me.
We must be in my house.
The important thing right now is that I’m alive. That fact alone makes me feel relieved and thankful. It’s pretty fucking annoying that I’m back in a bed, unconscious and almost dead, once again. But at least I’m alive and safe. I have to assume that everybody else is too.
I try to pick out what the voices are saying, but it takes a few more moments of waiting for my brain to catch up with it. I recognize the speakers as Geoff and Gavin, and since there have been no other voices, they must be the only two in the room.
I want to yell out to them and say that I’m okay, but it’s like my body is still asleep. It’s so frustrating.
I feel an hand on my head, brushing the hair out of my eyes gently. It’s comforting, and helps me relax a little more. I know that it’s Gavin, and I want to badly to open my eyes and see him.
"He’s gonna be okay," Geoff tells him.
I’m not sure if that’s the truth or not. He may just be saying that in order to calm down Gavin or lessen his worry. I may not be well at all. I could be even worse off than I was last time this happened. But worrying about it now isn’t going to do anything.
It’s quiet for a few moments, and I only listen to the gentle sounds of Gavin’s breathing because he’s so close to me. I focus purely on that because it helps keep me grounded.
"Why don’t the creepers trust you anymore?" I hear Geoff ask, his voice quiet but still curious. He acts as though speaking any louder will wake me up, but isn’t that what they want? Don’t you usually want unconscious people to wake up?
"Gavin around people," I hear him respond in his normal volume. He wouldn’t understand that he needs to be quiet around a sleeping person. I’m relieved though because this makes it easier for me to eavesdrop.
"What, is it like that thing with birds and eggs? We’ve touched you and now you smell like humans too much?" he asks sarcastically, then scoffs "You are a fucking human. You aren’t actually a creeper, Gavin.”
He sounds almost mad, and I wish I could talk right now. His voice raising like that probably makes Gavin hesitant to respond. Geoff’s angry voice can be scary sometimes, but at least he’s attempting to tone it down for my benefit.
"Creeper…" Gavin whispers, and it’s obviously because he’s a little frightened of the yelling.
"No, you aren’t." he states, "You’re a person, and you belong here with us. You shouldn’t be living out in the woods with creepers and other monsters.”
Geoff’s voice gets calmer again, and Gavin doesn’t sound so scared anymore when he unsurely whispers the words, “…My family”
I hear Geoff let out a loud sigh, “I don’t know what happened with your family. Michael hasn’t told us much. But they aren’t really your family, Gav. They’re just creepers that took care of you. Yes, they probably loved you and you loved them. But it’s not safe for you to be out there.”
"Safe?" he isn’t whispering anymore, and just sounds confused.
"Yeah. I don’t want you getting hurt like Michael has. I care about you two a lot."
It’s silent then. Gavin must be pondering the words or trying to make sense of them if he doesn’t understand. I wish I could open my eyes to see him, or at least talk and help him understand.
This is a big deal. Geoff is finally admitting that he cares about Gavin.
"Listen, I know I’ve been a real asshole to you and I’m sorry for that." Geoff continues once he realizes that Gavin isn’t going to respond, "And you probably don’t even understand what I’m saying right now, but…" he pauses for a moment, "I consider you to be as much a part of this family as everybody else is."
I hear a sharp intake of breath. Gavin recognizes that word ‘family’ and must have pieced enough together to understand what this means.
Only a few seconds pass where I hear loud movement and Geoff letting out a groan. Gavin yells out the word “Hug!” which leads me to assume that he’s tackled the man and has his arms wrapped around him now.
"Love?" Gavin asks, his voice slightly muffled but still happy.
Geoff chuckles, and I can almost picture him ruffling Gavin’s hair.
"Yeah, buddy. I love ‘ya." his voice is kind and soft with affection, and I briefly wonder if Gavin’s still hugging him. I’d give anything to open my eyes and see the two, bonding like a father and son during a fishing trip.
My heads begins to feel groggy. I struggle against it but the exhaustion becomes overpowering, so much that any noises in the room echo in my head and begin to sound as though they’re happening miles away from me.
The bed beneath me feels ten time more comfier, as though it’s just begging me to sleep and dream all of this away. I listen to it, and stop fighting. The darkness doesn’t seem so scary when I can still hear Gavin’s happy giggles echoing in the distance.
Just moments before I fall back into a deep and heavy sleep, I’m able to pick out the words, “Welcome to the family, kid.”
*
I have no idea how much time has passed when I feel my eyelids fluttering open. The brightness that shines in from the windows hurts my eyes, and fills me with a sense of deja vu.
I hurt all over, but it’s more of like a background feeling. I have to actually think about the pain to actually feel it or realize that it’s there. But maybe that’s just because I’m more focused on other things right now.
I notice Ryan, his back is to me and he’s fiddling around with some potions that are on the table.
"Ryan," I croak out. He turns to look at me immediately as I wince at my own voice and cough a little.
"Holy shit, you’re awake!" he exclaims.
"Where’s Gavin?"
I must have looked worried, because he quickly reassures me, “He’s fine. Completely fine. Actually worried sick about you. We all were.”
"How bad of shape am I in?"
"Not as bad as last time," he walks across the room and places a potion in my hands, "Drink that."
I do as he says. It tastes horrible. At least last time it just tasted sour and bitter, but now it’s like I’m trying to drink blended up garbage.
I move it away from my lips and make a face. Ryan grins and puts his hand on top of mine, forcing the drink back to my mouth again. “Just drink it, it’ll help you feel better.”
"I feel fine," I mutter, but I do as he says.
Once the bottle is empty I let Ryan help me sit up. There’s no thick white bandages wrapped around my chest or any of my limbs, so I assume that’s a good sign.
"How are you actually feeling?” Ryan asks, not believing for a second that I’m actually fine.
"My back hurts a little, but other than that just my head. Feels like there was an earthquake in it," I mutter, resting my forehead on my palms. It helps a little, but that might also just be the potion I drank.
"Yeah, there were no physical wounds this time. You just hit the ground really hard. Knocked you straight out."
"Perfect," I smile sarcastically.
Ryan chuckles and puts the empty potion bottle with the others, “You’ve been out for around two days.”
That causes my eyes to widen, “Two days!?”
He makes a sound of confirmation, “Everybody’s been pretty worried. Especially Gavin. He’s hardly left this room, and the only reason he isn’t here now is because Geoff forced him to leave and eat something.”
My heart flutters for a moment. Gavin really cares about me that much? If our positions were swapped and it was him that was unconscious in bed, I wouldn’t leave his side either. Maybe he really does care about me just as much as I do him.
I hope he doesn’t feel guilty. It isn’t his fault that I’m hurt, I just acted without thinking. But I know that if I did think, I still would have done it anyways. Gavin being blown up by creepers and killed isn’t exactly a good mental image, and I have to shake my head in order to get rid of it.
"Hey, guys!" Ryan calls out, I hadn’t even noticed that he’d went and leaned out the door, "Michael’s awake!"
Everybody else at Achievement City has gone through this before. They’ve already seen me unconscious and close to death, it isn’t anything new to them. This is Gavin and Griffon’s first time.
But it’s easier for Griffon, because she’s able to be told that I’m going to be okay. She understands English, and it isn’t confusing or scary for her. I’m worried that they tried to explain my condition to Gavin but he didn’t understand any of it. He just witnessed me in the creeper accident, then sleeping for two days straight. It must have terrified him.
"And here comes Gavin," Ryan snickers, and I can hear the boy screaming and running toward the house. I hear him before I see him.
"Michael!" he yells, "Michael!"
"Gavin!" I holler back, mainly just to amuse him.
Ryan moves out of the doorway and Gavin takes his place. He stands there for a few moments, just staring at me, awake and sat up in bed. Not asleep or in pain.
He lets out a squeal and then runs at me, jumping onto the bed and into my arms. His face buried into my neck, and he squeezes him as tight as he can. The warmth that spreads through my body at him being so close to me makes me want to stay like this forever.
I eventually have to pull away from him once I realize that everybody else is coming into the house too. “Get off of me,” I say with fake annoyance. He hears the affection in it and doesn’t take it to heart, but he does move away a little so that he isn’t choking me anymore.
"Head bad?" he asks.
I nod a little, not wanting to lie to him. “Head bad,” I confirm.
He frowns, and then kisses the top of my head before crawling off my lap and sitting down on the chair next to the bed.
I see everybody smirking at the exchange between us, and I roll my eyes at them. If only Gavin waited until we were alone to be adorable. But I can’t deny the amazing feeling that spread through my scalp as his lips met with my hair.
I push that from the back of my mind.
"Good morning, guys," I grin at that, "Did I miss much while I was gone?"
"Not really. Just us threatening to leash Gavin if he didn’t stop freaking out." Geoff mutters, a smile on his face.
"Do you remember much of what happened?" Ryan asks. He comes close and moves his finger back and forth like he’s trying to hypnotize me. I realize that he’s testing my vision and begin following it with my eyes. He nods in approval once he notes that my vision is still intact.
"Not really. I remember the creeper flashing, running to Gavin, and then hearing the explosion." I shrug, "Not very much after that though."
When Ryan gets up, Griffon takes his place. Sitting on the edge of the bed so that she can pull me into a hug. It’s nice, but not nearly as nice as Gavin’s. Her’s is more motherly and careful, which I still appreciate.
"You had us worried sick," she glares at me once she pulls away.
"I’ve been through worse," I smile, "No creepers gonna take me down."
"Except Gavin." Ray says, and Jack elbows him harshly in the sides. I laugh along with everybody else though. Maybe I’m just in a good mood because I’m so relieved that everything worked out okay.
This could have all ended really badly. Me running out to save Gavin wasn’t a guarantee that he’d survive this. What if I didn’t push him far enough and he still got damaged from the explosion? I don’t even want to think about him being unconscious in a bed for two days.
As they continue to tell me what happened while I was sleeping, how worried they were, and when I should be healthy again, I causally look at Gavin every so often. He just sits quietly in his seat, not contributing to the conversation at all. His eyes are watching me, but I can’t look at him long enough to place the emotion within them.
Once they’ve told me everything and I have an understanding of my health and what’s happened, I thank them all for taking care of me. They really are my family, and I love them unconditionally.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Geoff waves, rolling his eyes but I can see the affection behind it, "No need to get sappy."
I chuckle and look back over to Gavin, who’s still watching me. It’s like he’s scared I’m going to break and die if he looks away.
"Hey, guys?" I ask, still looking into his eyes, "Do you think Gav and I could talk for a bit?"
"Go ahead." Ray says with a smirk, and doesn’t move an inch from where he’s standing.
I glare at him, and point at the door.
"Come on," Griffon smiles, "Let’s leave these two alone for a bit."
They all begin to shuffle towards the exit, all saying their goodbyes and telling me to feel better.
"No banging while you’re still injured," Ray comments as he leaves through the door. Griffon’s the next one out after him, and I’m only able to see her hand raise, the soft smacking sound that follows, and Ray’s "Ow!" after they’re both out of sight.
I laugh, too amused to be annoyed at his words.
Gavin doesn’t pay any attention to them as they leave, his eyes on me and a small smile on his face. He’s slightly bouncing in his seat, which tells me that he’s trying to be patient but isn’t doing a very good job at showing it.
As soon as the door closes behind Ryan, who was the last to leave, he begins talking at a mile a second.
Normally this wouldn’t be a problem, but he’s talking entirely in creeper. I can only tell that he must be speaking about me and how worried he was judging by the stressed and panicked expressions on his face.
"Gavin! Gavin!" I yell, reaching my arm out to put on his shoulder. My attempts to calm him down succeed because he stops hissing and just looks at me. "It’s okay. I’m fine."
He studies me for a few moments, hesitating on calling me out on the lie. Just because I’m not feeling one hundred percent right now, doesn’t mean that I will forever. I trust Ryan and his potion skills. This kind of thing has happened before and it lead me to meeting Gavin.
I can’t really see any kind of downside to getting hurt like this if it means getting to spend more time with him.
I’ll be healthy again soon. Gavin doesn’t need anymore reason to worry about me when I’m going to be okay again within a few weeks.
"Michael okay?" he asks softly.
I smile and nod a little, “Yeah, Michael okay.”
The grin that spreads across his face makes me forget all about the pain I’m feeling. It’s like as long as Gavin is happy, then I can be happy.
When I saw that creeper flashing next to him I didn’t even think about the consequences when I ran to push to him out of the way. All I cared about was his safety. If he died or gotten injured from that, I never would have been able to forgive myself.
Now he’s a part of the family. He isn’t alone anymore. He lives here at Achievement City with us and everybody loves him.
Well, maybe I love him a little more than the others.
As I look back at him, I see the affection and relief in his eyes at my safety. I realize that he cares about me just as much as I care about him.
He isn’t just some moron that doesn’t know our language. He has thoughts, feelings, and emotions. He wants to love and be loved in return by those he trusts. And that’s what we have isn’t it? I love him with all my heart. I’d be willing to do anything for him.
Maybe I was just an idiot this entire time for not letting him know that.
The consequences of throwing Gavin out of the way of that creeper could have been bad. I could have died, but Gavin would have lived. He would be alive and healthy. Maybe this is a lot like that. Telling Gavin the truth about my feelings for him has consequences too, but I’m willing to chance it. Sometimes you just can’t think things over and you have to do whatever your heart is telling you.
“I love you.” I state quickly, hoping that he won’t understand. But it’s basically impossible because he’s heard those words before. He’s heard Geoff and Griffon say it to each other, and I’ve even explained to him what it means. My only hope is that he doesn’t know how serious that word is.
But judging by the look on his face, he does. Maybe sometimes I don’t give Gavin enough credit.
“Michael… love Gavin?” he questions, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Uh, Yeah.” I look down, not wanting to look him in the eyes or let him see how red my cheeks are.
He’s silent for a few moments, not necessarily thinking it over but instead just looking at me in shock. I sit there, nervous energy twisting up into a painful ball that rests in my stomach. My mind keeps flooding with excuses that I can use to brush this off once he says he doesn’t feel the same way.
Maybe I’m not so confident in telling him anymore. The silence makes me regret every saying those words out loud.
But relief courses though my veins when a hug grin spreads across his face and he leaps at me, wrapping his arms around my neck and resting in my lap.
I don’t even pay attention to the pain that runs up my back. Only Gavin who’s squeezing me as tight as he can, and is burying his face in my shoulder.
“Gavin love Michael!” he cries happily, and throws his arms around my neck. “Hug!”
I let out a loud laugh at that, squeezing my eyes shut as I hold him closer to me. When his grip loosens I reluctantly let him go but it proves to be beneficial because he automatically grabs my face and brings his lips to mine. Even better than that first kiss a few days ago.
I can feel his smile against my mouth, and it makes me want to just hold him in this tight embrace forever. To help and protect him for the rest of my life and never let him feel alone again.
When we finally move away from each other he doesn’t shout, but softly murmurs the word “Kiss,” with a content and slightly dazed look on his face.
“You idiot creeper boy,” I smirk before pulling his face back to mine again.