Gavin loved his job as a camera operator. He worked for his favourite film company, Rooster Teeth Films, he specialised in high-speed photography, and he got to go to all kinds of amazing movie premiers. He even got to meet some of the coolest people on the planet like famous film stars, other talented directors and he had an endless list of brilliant extras and crew members he'd enjoyed hanging around with for the length of the shoot, some of which he'd actually stayed in contact with.
Take Michael Jones for example, the daring and fearless stunt-double. Or Geoff Ramsey, an extra turned lead actor who was most famous for his voice-acting. Or Jack Pattillo, the best set designer Gavin had ever met. Or Ray Narvaez Jr, the creative and unique props master who worked on Gavin's last film with him. But those people he'd gotten to know through working with them on an almost daily basis because he needed to film them or get the best angles of their sets and props. He'd never really taken an interest in people he hadn't needed to interact with.
Well, that was the case until he first saw met the IT guy. It had been a brief meeting, Burnie had introduced them just in case Gavin had any tech-troubles and needed it sorting out, although he doubted that would happen very often. The man had smiled and taken his glasses off to shake Gavin's hand and inform him of where he would be if he was needed.
But immediately after that, he was required on the set. They were recording a slow-motion scene and Gavin was necessary for it to be shot - he did specialise in high-speed photography after all. And it would be kind of silly to shoot a scene without the head cameraman.
A mere two days had passed since then and Gavin had found himself strangely happy when he discovered that one of his typically temperamental cameras had completely stopped working. So he took the piece of equipment down to the IT office and stumbled over his words as he explained to the IT guy, Ryan was his name, that it would be really amazing if he could fix the camera.
Ryan was more than happy to take the camera, claiming that he'd have it fixed before lunch. He must have spent all morning working on the camera, putting everything else aside to fix it because when Gavin returned just as they took a break for lunch, Ryan handed him the newly fixed piece of equipment. Ryan said that it was a very fidgety camera and the fix may not be a permanent one so if it breaks down again, he'd be glad to lend a hand.
From then on, Gavin couldn't help but admire the handsome IT guy who stayed in his office with Kdin, Lindsay, Caleb and a couple of other computer experts. Ryan would always welcome Gavin into the room with a smile and he'd occasionally let Gavin stay with him if it was a quick repairment.
So because of Ryan's friendliness and just because Gavin was a clumsy fool and insanely indiscreet, Gavin found that a lot of equipment just happened to break fairly often, resulting in numerous trips down to Ryan's office. Even when Gavin was pretending that there was a fault in a camera's system or something Ryan would play along and smile at Gavin before laughing along with him and taking the 'broken' piece of equipment, repairing it in about fifteen minutes while he made small talk with Gavin.
Basically, Gavin loved this movie in particular. Just because he may or may not have fallen for the hot genius Burnie had hired to be the IT guy.
"God dammit!" Gavin cursed once again, jabbing the button on his phone in an attempt to open an app, any app. Something had glitched in his phone and no matter how many times he'd turned it off and on again, it still wouldn't open anything. Not the camera, not his photo album, not even Flappy Bird worked. All of his attempts were futile so turning to Ryan again seemed like the most logical idea.
"What seems to be the problem this time, Gavin?" Ryan asked, smiling as he saw the British cameraman standing in the open doorway about to knock. Gavin smiled sheepishly and began to explain his issue.
"It just won't work! I've tried everything I can think of and it still won't do a damn thing." Gavin exclaimed, handing the phone over to Ryan and running his hands through his hair exasperatedly.
Ryan hummed as he stared at the unlocked phone in thought for a few seconds before pulling out a connection lead and plugging the phone into his computer. "If I back this up to my PC then restore it to factory settings, when I restore it again from the back-up it should hopefully work."
Gavin smiled in awe of how quickly Ryan came up with the solution. He took the offered seat and waited patiently as Ryan plugged the phone in and completed the task with pretty much no difficulties. The room was relatively silent and Gavin finally took the time to survey the room he'd visited so many times in the past couple of weeks. Usually there'd be more people but only Kdin sat at his desk tapping away on a computer.
The IT office was actually pretty cosy and before Gavin knew it, he was imagining himself spending more time there. He imagined walking into the set at his usual 5am start, stopping off to see Ryan to hand him a coffee (white with two and a half sugars, Gavin had overheard him tell Caleb his order) before laughing at one of the many cat videos playing on Lindsay's computer.
Ten minutes and an embarrassingly extensive daydream later, Ryan had an accomplished smile on his face as he unplugged the phone from his computer and handed it back to Gavin.
"Here, try it now." Ryan said, his handsome grin widening even further when Gavin stood next to him and tilted the screen to show him each app opening flawlessly.
"Oh, there's one more issue with it that I need to fix." Ryan stated, taking the offered phone back and tapping away at it almost instantly. He smirked as he handed it back and Gavin could see the mischievous shine to his bright blue eyes. "I added my number in there. You break your shit so often you should probably have me on speed dial."
"Thanks, Ryan." Gavin said, blushing and unable to contain his pleased grin. Ryan had just given Gavin his number. Ryan Haywood, The Ryan Haywood had just taken Gavin's phone and added his number to it. This day could honestly not get any better.
"If you want I could also show you how to fix that problem with your temperamental camera." Ryan offered and Gavin could've sworn that he knew Gavin was dying inside because today just got infinitely better and Ryan's next sentence almost had Gavin squealing with joy. "I'm free after work today, how about we get a coffee and I could show you how to sort out that camera?"
"…That sounds amazing, I-I'd love to. I mean, it'd be great to actually tame that bloody camera, it's ridiculous. But it'd be good to hang out as well." Gavin accepted the offer but cursed himself silently when he couldn't control the blush or stammer he'd developed in the past fifteen minutes. Well, that's what Gavin gets from hanging around hot tech guys who offer to take you out for coffee.
"Great, I'll stop by the break room at six-thirty. That's when I clock off." Ryan declared, winking at Gavin and almost causing his legs to turn to jelly as he tried to leave the room without tripping or knocking anything over. He managed to leave the room and head back to where he was needed for filming a scene but he found himself grinning like an idiot for the rest of the day.
When Gavin finally packed up the last camera, leaving it in the usual room for camera equipment, he discovered that his nerves hadn't subsided. Even as he walked the short distance towards the break room, his fingers were tapping incessantly on his leg and he was probably far too nervous for what was only to be a simple meeting to teach Gavin how to keep his camera under control.
He had said camera in its case in his left hand and he found himself grinning widely as he strolled through the open door and into the break room, immediately being welcomed with the sight of Ryan emptying half a packet of sugar into a steaming cup of coffee.
"Hey Ryan." Gavin said with poorly disguised excitement in his smile, walking over to the empty table nearest to Ryan and setting down the case.
"Evening, Gavin. How do you take your coffee?" He asked, casting a quick side-glance over to Gavin who almost simpered pathetically at the attractive sight.
"Uh… Milk and three sugars please." Gavin answered after a brief pause, nearly forgetting how to speak for a second there.
Ryan made the coffee, setting it down on the table in front of Gavin before taking a seat next to him. Which Gavin absolutely didn't smirk at simply because of the fact that the table had room for at least ten and Ryan just had to sit down right next to him.
"So, how about I show you how to tame this camera?" Ryan suggested with a broad smile, to which Gavin nodded, prompting Ryan to open the case and spend the next half an hour explaining and showing how the camera keeps breaking and how to fix it.
After Gavin finally thought he understood what Ryan was trying to show him, the conversation somehow drifted onto the film they were working on.
"It kinda reminds me of Halo what with the costumes they're all wearing." Gavin said, referring to the odd armour-like things the main characters wore.
"Man, I love that game." Ryan confessed, an almost boyish smirk on his face.
"Really?" Gavin was simultaneously glad that he had something in common with Ryan and glad that he now had someone to enthuse about the game with. Michael was more of a Zelda fan and while Geoff liked Halo, he was too fucking good at it for Gavin to even begin to challenge him. Although they still had hours of fun completing the co-op campaigns and other collaborative elements of the game together.
"Yeah, Four is definitely my favourite. The storyline wasn't as good as Three but the multiplayer VS is great fun."
"That's so awesome! We should totally play some together." Gavin suggested eagerly, bringing Ryan to chuckle at his sheer enthusiasm and the amount of energy he had for this time in the evening.
"Definitely. But for now, we should probably leave before we get locked in here." Ryan said amongst light laughter as he left their empty mugs in the sink before holding the door open for Gavin and his camera case.
They continued to talk casually as they walked out of the darkened warehouse studio, but Ryan stopped Gavin by holding onto his hand just before they parted ways. Gavin gave him a confused look, but watched with curiosity as Ryan quickly pulled out a felt pen from his pocket and wrote two letters and a word neatly onto the back of Gavin's hand.
"BM Vagabond, it's my gamertag." Ryan informed with a smile full of admiration, tucking the pen back into his pocket but not letting go of Gavin's hand.
"Thanks Ryan, I'll add you when I get home," Gavin couldn't help but grin widely, so he bit his lip in an attempt to calm himself.
"I had a fantastic time, maybe next time we could go to a proper coffee shop instead of the Walmart home-brand stuff they get here." Ryan commented, and Gavin could have sworn his heart skipped a beat.
'There's going to be a next time!' His brain squealed with joy, almost showing on his exterior but he managed to cover it up with a pleased smile and a nod.
Gavin almost froze in surprise when Ryan leaned forward, kissing Gavin softly yet briefly on the cheek before pulling back and dropping his hand. "I'll see you tomorrow, good night Gavin."
"G'night Ryan!" Gavin gave Ryan a quick wave, watching in awe as Ryan unlocked his car and got in it, before he began the short barely two-minute walk to his apartment. Somehow Gavin managed to walk home safely without skipping giddily or losing himself in his daze, but nobody could blame him for being on cloud nine. He even fell asleep, happily drifting off into a slumber as his mind flooded itself with how amazing that evening shared with Ryan had just been.
He already had part of his to-do list ready for tomorrow; and that was add BM Vagabond on Xbox Live.