Work Text:
It all started with that stupid prank. Ryan had come up with the idea during one of his bouts of insomnia. He jumped out of bed at 2 a.m. and ran downstairs to find an old xbox controller to pull apart.
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jack asked with the camera pointed at Ryan as the man worked.
“Uh, I’m cutting a hole in Gavin’s desk that will go right under the monitor. And in it I’m going to insert this little gadget that I wired up. It’s a play on the on the beeper prank only I’ve used the vibration motors from an Xbox 360 controller so that when it goes off every minute or so it’s going to do this in his desk.” Ryan flicked a tiny switch which caused the box to vibrate. A smirk crossed his face.
“Y-you’re an evil genius…” Jack said sounding both impressed and a little scared.
“I hope so...either that or I’ll set his desk on fire.” Ryan continued to cut the hole in Gavin’s desk, relishing in his own slightly insane, intelligence.
Gavin lost his mind as Ryan expected. Ryan returned to the Achievement Hunter office, diet coke in hand, when he heard the lad pounding his desk. The entire office cracked up as Gavin dismantled his desk, searching for the small vibration. Ryan laughed along with the rest of the guys completely enjoying the torture he was causing Gavin. Eventually the lad moved his monitor and found the Gavin Annoyance Device. A round of applause filled the office as he exclaimed at the size of the device.
“Who is the one person in this room smart enough to make that?” Geoff asked Gavin. It was obvious. Ryan made things like this all the time. He knew he would be caught so he made a joke.
“Uhh, I gotta go.” Ryan said. Gavin stared at him then slowly lowered his head to his broken desk. A small smile crossed his face, but Ryan could see something else there, too, something dark.
The day went back to normal. The office recorded a video, did some editing, teased Gavin, same old, same old. But as the day went on, Ryan could see Gavin slowly deflating, looking more and more down...upset…destroyed...it was hard to tell. One minute Gavin would be joking around with Michael, the next he’d have this dead look in his eyes. Ryan’s stomach sank. He was smart enough to figure out that it was his fault. He didn’t expect Gavin to take the prank so hard, it was just a joke. But with the rest of the guys joining in, teasing Gavin, ostracizing him, it must have taken a toll.
Lunch time came and Gavin stood up, not saying anything as he half ran from the office, hand running through his hair in obvious frustration
“Shit.” Ryan cursed under his breath. He quickly got up and jogged lightly after Gavin. He was out of the room quickly enough to see Gavin slam the bathroom door furiously. Ryan walked up to the door and knock lightly.
“Hey, Gav. You alright?” Ryan heard a frustrated sigh from the other side of the door followed by a sniffle.
“Just leave me the hell alone, Rye Bread.” The nickname made Ryan’s heart sink. Gavin had attached so much malice to the name Ryan usually loved.
“Gavin, I’m sorry. It was just a joke.” The older man rested his head on the bathroom door. He’d made a mistake and he hated himself for it. He heard the lock on the door click and suddenly the door opened causing Ryan to stumble slightly.
“It’s always a bloody joke, isn’t it? Did you ever think that maybe I don’t like being the butt of every single joke?” Gavin yelled, his voice echoing down the halls of the Rooster Teeth building. Ryan stared at his co-worker. Gavin’s eyes were ringed red, the aftermath of tears in the corners of his eyes. He hadn’t realized that the constant teasing had such an effect on Gavin.
“I-I didn’t. I’m sorry. I really am. I didn’t realize this stuff bugged you so much. I’m sorry.” And he really was. All he wanted to do was make it up to the lad. He wanted to hug him, hold him, make him feel better, yet here he was causing Gavin pain, making the boy breakdown in tears. It made him sick.
“Yeah, I know you didn’t. No one does. Just leave me alone.” Gavin started to walk off towards the exit of the building, but stopped when Ryan grabbed his arm.
“Let me make it up to you. Please. I feel terrible. What can I do to convince you that I’m sorry?”
Suddenly Gavin’s eyes changed, once bright green from crying, now dark green, almost black and terrifying. A smile crept over the boy’s face. Ryan was suddenly so scared of the lad and what he would be forced to do, but at the same time he was prepared. He wanted to make things right with Gavin. Ryan would do anything.
“Well, I might have an idea…” The shit-eating grin the lad usually wore was back on his face, all signs of hurt disappeared. What had he gotten himself into?
************
“Now you just read off the clipboard and look pretty for the camera, Rye Bread.” Gavin winked and zoomed in on the man’s face.
Ryan sighed and began his speech. “I, Ryan Haywood, am a mingy little knob. As you may have seen in the Behind The Scenes video titled Good Vibrations, I put the Gavin Annoyance Device in said lad’s desk. I have been dubbed a mingy little knob based on these events and I am henceforth swearing never to use my insanity and genius to prank Gavin again.”
Gavin gave a thumbs up from behind the camera and looked away to talk to someone behind him. Ryan took this opportunity to hold up the next page on the clipboard which read ‘SIKE!’ and bolted out from in front of the camera to stop the recording before Gavin could see.
“I’ll go upload this really quick, Gav.” Ryan said, his trademark smirk appearing on his face. He’d let up on Gavin for a while. He’d make it up to him for real later, but he already had another idea for a prank in his brain. It wasn’t anything as mentally destroying as the Gavin Annoyance Device, he wouldn’t do something like that again and risk losing Gavin. He wouldn’t let that happen. Not now that the idea of losing Gavin made him sick to his stomach. Not now that seeing Gavin hurting had awoken something inside him that made him want to keep the lad safe at any cost. Not now that he was feeling something that he hadn’t felt before for Gavin all because of a stupid prank.