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Michael wasn’t stupid. He often did stupid things like try to eat wooden spoonfuls of cinnamon, wrestle people in eggnog and attempt to run down a flight of stairs, backwards, but he was far from stupid.
Which is why he started noticing things about his friend and co-worker, Gavin.
Like how he had a creeper thermos with him constantly. He never refilled it at the office and he never poured the contents into anything else, keeping it within reaching distance at all time.
Or whenever someone cut themselves, he would mumble something about going to throw up and then leave the room despite not looking nauseous or making that weird gagging noise he made whenever confronted with his enemy, wet bread.
So Michael decided to investigate.
“Come on, Ray,” Michael pleaded while Ray just sat there, working on his computer. Gavin had left for lunch with Geoff and Jack while he and Ray were still in the office finishing off their jobs. Michael had approached Ray to ask for his assistance in figuring out what was up with Gavin.
“No. I’m not gonna help you and you shouldn’t look into it either,” Ray said stiffly, gripping the mouse a little tighter. Michael frowned in bemusement.
“What’s going on with you man? Is everything alright?” Michael asked and Ray just sat at his computer. But as it was previously said, Michael was not stupid. He noticed the way Ray’s jaw clenched anxiously and the way his back stiffened while he worked. He was afraid of something.
“I’m fine. Just...don’t look into it, okay?” Ray said, giving Michael a pleading look. Michael was really confused at this point. But he didn’t let it deter him. Ray wasn’t gonna help so Michael was just gonna have to find out himself.
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“Hey Michael, wanna hang out tonight?” Gavin asked, leaning against Michael’s desk. The American looked up at his friend. He’d spent nearly a week trying to work out what was up with Gavin but had found. Nothing. Absolutely. Nothing. Gavin always managed to disappear as soon as Michael took his eyes off him. Now he had the perfect chance to get close to Gavin.
“Sure, but my apartment’s getting remodelled,” Michael lied, praying that Gavin would say the right thing.
“You can come over to mine. You haven’t been yet, have you?” Gavin asked, looking a little excited now.
“No, I haven’t. It’d be cool to see it though,” Michael said, trying to hold back an overly excited grin. The Brit was making this so much easier than it could have been.
“Top, come by around 6. I’ll get the pizza,” Gavin said with a smile.
Michael agreed and the pair got back to work. Michael worked out a list of things he wanted to check while he was at Gavin’s but nearly all of them needed Gavin to leave the room. It would be difficult but Michael would find a way to manage.
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Michael didn’t know what to expect, standing outside of Gavin Free’s apartment. The door looked normal; dark wood, brass doorknob and a brass knocker. Michael stared at the door suspiciously nonetheless and reached his hand out, cautiously, to use the knocker, only to jump three feet in the air when the door opened without him touching it. Gavin stood there with a wide grin, a grey button down shirt and a pair of dark jeans.
“Hey Michael, welcome. Come on in,” Gavin said, taking Michael’s wrist in his hand and pretty much dragging him into the room. Michael let out a yelp as he was pulled in but found himself in awe of the apartment once he was inside. His place was nice.
The floors were dark hardwood, the walls a nice deep red and the ceiling was cream. The black leather couches went nicely with the glass coffee table sitting in front of a cabinet with an xbox and large plasma screen tv, a collection of video games sitting on one of the shelves beside the xbox. The kitchen was large with black countertops, a steel door fridge, oven and dishwasher and everything looked absolutely spotless, save for the pizza box sitting on the counter.
“Wow. This is...your place is really nice,” Michael said honestly.
“Thanks,” Gavin said, walking past Michael and grabbing the pizza box, opening the fridge to look through it. “What kind of bevs would you like, my Michael?” he asked while Michael wandered around.
“Um, beer, if you have it,” Michael said, trying to peer into the fridge but Gavin’s body was blocking his view. His nicely toned ass, more precisely, which is what Michael was staring at when Gavin stood upright with two beers in his hand. He kicked the fridge shut, bringing Michael’s attention back up to his face, and handed one of the beers to Michael, leading him over to the couch.
“So, movie?” Gavin asked and Michael nodded, sitting down on the couch with a practically obscene moan when he felt how comfortable it was. Gavin chuckled and sat beside him, setting down the pizza box and sitting back with one arm stretched along the back while the other used the remote to switch everything on, changing to the controller when he got the xbox set up.
“You wanna pick?” Gavin asked, handing the controller to Michael and when the American took it, he draped his other arm along the couch as well, his hand brushing against the back of Michael’s neck. Michael flinched at the feeling, mostly because Gavin’s hand was fucking freezing.
“You alright?” Gavin asked, honestly not knowing what Michael was doing. Michael rubbed the back of his neck and furrowed his brow before shaking his head.
“It’s uh, it’s nothing. You’re just really cold,” Michael commented, relaxing against the couch again. They spent the rest of the night sitting there, watching movies, Michael getting through three beers and half of the pizza before he realised that Gavin hadn’t touched his beer or the pizza.
“Ah, I’m not hungry,” Gavin explained with a smile and Michael frowned again, but went back to watching the movie. After their viewing of the Dawn of the Dead remake, Gavin excused himself to go use the bathroom, leaving Michael with the opportunity to snoop but mostly to get himself another beer, all of the previous ones had been fetched from Gavin with a sort of urgency to keep Michael from getting one himself. So, the first thing he went to was the fridge. He was expecting some sort of weird British food or something going off in there as a reason to keep him away which is why it took him a moment to process what he saw when he actually looked in.
Bags. Not just plastic bags. Blood bags, stamped with different types. There were at least half a dozen just sitting on the shelves with the beers. Michael gasped and stumbled backwards and tripping over his own feet, just to have a pair of arms wrap around his waist to keep him from falling Gavin’s voice whisper in his ear.
“You shouldn’t have done that Michael.”