Chapter Text
“Being raised in an unstable household makes you understand that the world doesn’t exist to accommodate you, which… is something a lot of people struggle to understand well into their adulthood. It makes you realize how quickly a situation can shift, how danger really is everywhere. But crises, when they occur, do not catch you off guard; you have never believed you lived under a shelter of some essential benevolence. And an unstable childhood makes you appreciate calmness and not crave excitement.” – Curtis Sittenfeld
Gavin Free did not like to think of his situation as an unstable household. He didn't like to tell people that his father beat him, or his mother was an alcoholic. He didn't like to admit that he only had two friends, one of them being his own brother. He ignored the questions aimed toward bruises or cuts, lumps spread across his head or arms or legs, and eventually the subject was ignored.
He did not like to admit that, when his brother ran away from home and his mother drunk herself into a stupor, his father beat him nearly to death. After waking up in the hospital, connected to tubes and beeping machines, with his father weeping on his bedside, he wanted to ignore the entire situation.
Of course, given the liabilities the doctors and nurses could assume had they not, he was reported to Child Services. They came to his house and assessed the situation, and two days later he was being taken from his home. His parents were made to attend a facility for eighteen months, while Gavin and his brother would be sent to temporary families offering their homes. They wouldn't tell Gavin where his brother would be sent - he hoped it was better than Austin, Texas.
---
Granted, it seemed to be one of the better places to live in Texas. It had nice weather, and was very well kept. The buildings were tall and up-to-date, but there was also a slew of trees and plants covering most every block in at least one place. He wasn't advised for the flight seeing as he was seventeen, just given a ticket and a general bio on the family he would be staying with; very nice, happily married couple with a single young daughter. Boring as all hell.
When the plane had emptied and he found himself, baggage in both hands, staring at a crowd of people holding signs, he was more than surprised to see a very young, very punky couple claiming him with a simple white sheet of paper. It looked like it had been decorated by a child.
He walked to them slowly, pausing and flinching back when the male went for a handshake.
"Hey, dude, there's no need to worry. You're safe here."
"I was fine back home."
He shrugged, "You'll be even better here. I'm Geoff. This is my wife, Griffon, and my daughter, Millie."
Gavin studied them carefully; he was bearing two full tattoo sleeves and double piercings in his left ear, his wife had short blonde hair in pigtails and bore a nose ring, and the daughter had soft hair filled with colors. Part of him was afraid of the three, but he sucked up his fear and shook the hands extended toward him.
Geoff took his bags while Millie assumed the position of talking to him.
She touched his arm lightly before pointing up to his face, still riddled with bruises and cuts, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, top."
"What?"
"I'm - yeah, I'm okay."
She nodded once, "My daddy told me what happened to you. Don't worry, we'll keep you safe now."
His heart swelled slightly with that, and he grinned down at her before ruffling her hair.
"Thanks, Millie."
Though he couldn't see it, Geoff was smiling.
---
The car ride had been uneventful and Gavin was soon standing in the doorway to his new bedroom. It was big - bigger than he had expected - and already equipped with a lush bed, flat screen and laptop.
"The TV was already in here. The laptop is a gift from us, they let us know you wouldn't be allowed to bring your computer."
"I- You really didn't have to.."
"Nah, don't worry about it. We wanted to."
Gavin wasn't worried about the family, his new family, anymore.
"Geoff! Gavin! C'mon, your food is gonna get cold!" Griffon shouted from the living room, Geoff grinned.
"We better go, don't wanna piss off the Mrs."
Gavin left his luggage unpacked near his bed and followed Geoff to the kitchen. The food was shockingly thorough; brisket, homemade rolls, corn on the cob and other vegetables. Gavin ate two plates before he was pleased, and he looked up to notice the entire table staring at him.
"I think we've finally found your food soul-mate, hon." Griffon smiled.
Geoff looked incredulously at him while the others continued their meal, "Amazing."
-
Once all the plates were clean and off of the table, Gavin was distracted by a very strong smell of chocolate. He had time to take one loud, dramatic sniff before Griffon emerged with a plate of steaming brownies. Gavin ate three before Geoff suggested they retire to the living room for family time - Gavin hoped it entailed television.
"All right, I hate to get all father-y right away, but we gotta talk about some stuff."
Gavin grimaced slightly, trying his best to not speak out of turn.
"Okay, for starters, school." Geoff said, pulling a few sheets of paper off of the side table. "It's a really nice school, I swear. It's called Bowie and it's probably one of the less douchey schools around here despite having the same name as, well, y'know."
Gavin smiled a bit, "All right."
"You'll be starting on Monday, I know it's really soon but it's kind of mandatory for you to start as soon as possible. My friends' kids go there, and they're not total idiots. Here's your schedule, it's pretty basic but you can get it changed on Monday.
"There's no uniform or anything, so you're pretty golden on that. I imagine you're still pretty used to the prospect of school, you were in one like a week ago, but I'm not sure how different it is over there."
"What do you mean?"
"Just, in general I guess? I don't know how schools are over there, and I don't know how you treat teachers or other kids but it's a pretty lax system here."
Geoff waited for Gavin to nod, and continued when he realized he wasn't going to.
"Okay, anyway. I'll drive you to school, it's on my way to work, but you have two options for a way home: wait outside for about forty minutes until Grif can pick you up, or walk the two blocks to my office and hang out there for a while until I can take you home."
"Uh, I think I'll go with the first option. Offices aren't high on my list of fun places to be."
Griffon laughed, coming out of the kitchen with a tray of tea. "You may want to try out one day at his office before you decide on that, sweetie."
Gavin was confused, and his face wore it well, "Where do you work?"
"Roosterteeth," Geoff smiled when Gavin's ears nearly perked, "I take it you know about us?"
Gavin swallowed quickly and stared wide eyed at Geoff for several seconds before speaking, "So, let me get this straight. You're Geoff Ramsey? Like, Achievement Hunter Geoff Ramsey?"
"Geoff Lazer Ramsey." He smiled smugly, "Yes."
"I don't believe this!" Gavin nearly jumped up onto the couch, moving a little closer to Geoff in excitement before realizing his proximity and pulling back quickly, "You don't just work for Roosterteeth, you helped create the entire company! I can't believe I didn't recognize you! I mean, I had never actually seen you, but you have the exact same voice as him!"
"That's because I am him, dipshit."
Gavin gave a goofy smile, jumping lightly in his seat, "I think I'll try my hand at coming to work with you."
---
Monday came much quicker than Gavin had anticipated, and though he was fully prepared in terms of supplies, he wasn't sure he was ready for this. He had never transferred schools before. He had gone to the same schools in his small town forever, never switching to a school a town over let alone an entire continent over.
Geoff drove him by the office before dropping him off, making sure he knew the route to the building and leaving him with a short "See you after school, make lots of friends!"
He had only been there four days and Geoff had already, very seriously, assumed the role of his father. He was happy for Millie, she got to grow up with him and, though he was completely weird, he was the coolest and nicest guy ever.
Gavin sighed when he saw his new school, it didn't look too much different from his old one. He spent twenty minutes getting his schedule rearranged to his liking before heading off to his first class.
Pre-calc.
Nobody really talked to him. He noticed a few recurring faces throughout classes, and several people whispered too loudly about his battered being. When lunch came, he grabbed the brown paper bag (decorated very lovingly by Millie) and sat at an empty table near the edge of the cafeteria. There weren't many people there, and he kind of figured that most students ate in the halls or went somewhere for lunch.
He had set out a large brisket sandwich, a juice and a bag of chopped celery when someone appeared in front of him. The boy was kind of dark, his hair was pitch black and he wore glasses underneath caterpillar eyebrows. He was wearing a Sailor Moon shirt and he had a tray of school lunch in his hands.
"Hey, mind if I sit?"
"Not at all."
He slipped into the chair less-than-gracefully and picked at some of the food on his plate. "I'm Ray. Ray Narvaez Jr., you're new here, right?"
"Yeah, I'm Gavin. Gavin Free."
"British, huh? That's weird. Why'd you transfer over here?"
"Got, uh, sent away I guess?"
Ray nodded a few times, taking a bite of his sandwich. "How is it? The school, I mean."
"It's all right, not much different. Nobody seems too interested in talking to me."
Ray paused before setting his food down, "Hey, would it be okay if I invited some of my friends to eat with us?"
Gavin perked up slightly at the thought, never having eaten with a group, "Yeah, of course!"
"I'll be right back." He left his tray, which Gavin hoped was a good enough sign that he wasn't just ditching him. It took a minute or two, but he soon returned with several people trailing behind him. They all sat, and the table was soon decently full.
"Okay," Ray started, "This spunky chick is Lindsay Tuggey, she's crazy but she's a total thug so watch out. This nervous looking one is Caleb DeNacour, he's weird and he cheats at video games but we love him anyway. This blonde chick is Barbara Dunkleman, she's gonna make a lot of puns but she's pretty cool other than that. This anime guy is Monty Oum, the small one is Kerry Shawcross and the one who looks like he could probably model is Miles Luna - they come in a set. You already know me, Ray, the handsome one with the great sense of humor, and that idiot over there is Michael Jones. He's gonna yell at you, but don't worry. He's never actually mad, he's just a huge bitch."
"Shut the fuck up, Ray."
"I rest my case."
They bickered back and forth for a little while before everyone eventually jumped into Question Mode.
"Why did you move here?" Barbara asked, her attention fully on him.
"I got sent away to live with a, um, I guess they're kind of like a foster family? But not with a bunch of kids."
"So they adopted you?" Kerry chimed in.
"No, not like that. I'm stayin' with them for eighteen months while my parents do this class thing."
"That's weirdly nonspecific." Caleb.
Gavin gave a short nod and shrugged. He was fine answering questions about this type of stuff, he had practiced what he would say a million times. It wasn't until he noticed Michael staring at him that he got nervous - it wasn't that it was a rude kind of stare, it was just so rawly understanding.
"What's school like in the UK?"
"Pretty similar to here, really." He shrugged, "Just a bunch a gits."
Everyone laughed. "How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Junior or senior?"
"Junior."
Ray perked up, "Oh, cool! We're all juniors except for Miles and Lindsay, they're seniors."
"Really? What happens to the trio when you graduate?"
"I uh, actually was thinking about trying to get a job here."
"Here? Like, in the school?"
"No, no. In Austin, though. I wanna work for this company called, uh, Roosterteeth."
"We all want to work at Roosterteeth, Miles. Stop acting so special." Ray joked.
"Oh," Gavin said simply, "That's cool."
"What class do you have next?"
"Uh," Gavin took a second to remove his schedule from it's crumpled position in his pocket and check, "Anatomy."
Ray's smile faded a bit and he snapped his fingers like a cartoon character, "Damn, I was hoping we'd have next period together. Let me see your schedule."
He only spent a maximum of seven seconds to look over his class list before hitting Michael on the arm, "Hey dude, he's got like almost the exact same schedule as you."
Michael smiled, "Cool. Maybe you can help me get through anatomy."
"I'm telling you dude, it would be the easiest thing in the world if you would actually pay attention."
"It's boring as shit, though."
"I think it's pretty cool. I mean, it's crazy, right? Human bodies and all that." Gavin piped in.
Michael smirked at him through a questioning look, "What the fuck are you talking about?"
"No, no think about it! Like, it's really amazing. What if your legs knew they were legs? But they don't!"
The entire table had their attention on him then, and Ray laughed, "Dude, even I have no fucking clue what that means."
"Well, it's just. Would they keep working?"
"Yes."
"But what if they just like, realized that they were legs? They would just be like 'nah, not keeping up with this anymore'."
"You're a fucking idiot." Michael said through a grin.
The attention was brought away from him with a simple topic change, courtesy of Lindsay, about an upcoming assembly.
Gavin felt as if, for the first time in years, he had found a happy place.