Kingdom Come

Chapter 1- In Which Gavin is An Absolute Bother

Chapter 1

Michael

They all knew each other's story. How they had gotten into the business, how they had fallen in with Geoff, how their lives had supercharged with danger, crime and more blood then one could drink. Even Ryan at one point had broken down and told them where he came from and why he was well, the way he was. The knew everything about each other. Except Gavin. Not even Geoff knew his whole story. Just that he had fled England after some incident, the nature of which was unknown. Gavin had told him he "just needed a fresh start," and completely shut down when pushed further.

Sometimes, when he was drunk, or in more rare occasions, high, he would answer some questions about his childhood and upbringing, but even when completely inebriated he was vague and reserved. Michael knew Gav had had a friend called Dan when he was in school. Ray knew he had a job as a cameraman at one point, and had quite liked it. Ryan knew he had a family cat called Lloyd, and that he had once broken a kid's nose for picking on the aforementioned Dan. Finally, Jack knew that he had a girlfriend named Meg when he was eighteen. They knew nothing after that, until he joined the Fake AH Crew at the age of twenty two. He was twenty seven now,

One night, about three years after Gavin had joined the Fake AH Crew, he had been sitting on the roof of their collective apartment building with Michael, smoking a little pot and flicking the ash out into the night, talking quietly about their lives. Because they were tired, weary even, and because they were a little high and because they felt so comfortable with each other, when Michael softly asked him why he never talked about life before the Crew, Gavin finally answered.

"I'm always the butt of the joke. I always cock up but it's funny and you all laugh. And I laugh with you, and continue being this goofy bloke with no cares or worries, you know?" Michael nodded, and trusting himself to speak, Gavin avoided eye contact, "Wasn't always like that. I think it's a coping mechanism. But it is me. And it works." He paused, glanced quickly at Michael, and then back out over the city. "Can't go back. Just gotta keep going forward. I have to keep going. If I go back, I am dead."

Michael wanted to hear more, wanted to ask more questions, but Gavin coughed and took the blunt they had been sharing back from Michael and took a drag, signaling the end of the conversation.

When they finally went back inside and went to their separate apartments, Michael lay awake for at least an hour, trying to decode his friends cryptic statements. If I go back, I am dead. Michael felt the phrase resonate with him. He had grown up in a loving family in New Jersey, and had a pretty sedate life as an electrician before he had moved to Los Santos and fallen in love with the way any automatic weapon kicked into his shoulder, the thrill he got from careening at breakneck speed around the city robbing and killing. Before they had all lost their minds. If I go back, I am dead. He imagined going home, seeing his mother and father. He couldn't. He could not face them knowing he had taken other people's lives.

But there had to be more to Gavin's story. There was more pain in his eyes than the guilt of his current lifestyle could bring. He was very good at hiding it, but Michael had seen it in full that night on the roof.

After that Michael found himself defending Gavin more often, even when he did fuck up spectacularly. He was just a smidge gentler with him when they had their play fights, and kept a closer eye on the brit when they were on a job. Not enough for Gavin to notice, he didn't want to make him feel like he was treating him differently, he still shouted abuse at him daily, still cursed his name over the coms when he bollocksed up a job, still playfully sideswiped his car when they were driving in tandem.. The balance between banter and praise was why they worked so well as friends and as gang members. He was content not knowing Gav's past, he could see that reliving it would destroy him, but Gav had been with the crew for five years, Eventually it would come out, Michael knew, like everything else did. The six of them knew everything about each other. Well. Almost. Everyone had their secrets, after all.