/AN: Hey guys! Just a few updates really quick before we get into the chapter. So, as of now, the schedule is being altered a bit due to me wanting to get the introductory chapters out of the way before Christmas. I don't plan on posting that week so I'm hoping I could get chapters 3-4 out before then, so I apologize if the story seems a bit rushed right now. When we get to chapter 5 the pacing would be better and the schedule clearer.
Also, something I forgot to mention in my opening page is that this story takes place in 2019, and in this universe Shane is still a Youtuber and still does series', which means that everything from the Bobby Burns series to TMOJP has already happened (more on that will come in later chapters). Another thing I forgot to mention was that there will be some references to certain 'ships' involving Shane... not in the way you might expect but they'll be there, so fair warning. OK, on to the chapter!
Shane had woken up two hours ago, feeling happy, refreshed and well relaxed. He was still buzzed over his visit to the Playground last night and was already planning his next visit. Perhaps he'd get his boys to tag along – a group kill was always fun, and he was sure they'd appreciate it after having not gone in a while as a pack. The last months of 2018 had been spent working his ass off, and while he had taken a break from YouTube for a while, so many things happened in that time span that it wasn't even a break. It was work without the actual work, and so last night was really the first night he felt free.
But now, two hours after waking up from a peaceful sleep (which was preceded by some good sex), he now felt like he wanted to murder someone again.
He was in his office, the phone held up to his ear as he had a heated conversation with someone. "Well guess what? I don't give a shit!" he angrily yelled into the phone. His dark blue eyes looked straight ahead, following a small ladybug that had somehow found its way inside the ventilated room.
"Oh, and that's my fault? You're the one that called it when we first talked!" His fingers drummed against the polished table impatiently, his face twisted in annoyance. "Look, I'm not a damn charity. I don't do shit for free – I don't need you. I have other people lined up that could take your slot." He paused then as he listened, and the ladybug had moved from its spot on the wall to the table, next to the hand that seemed to have a mind of its own as the fingers drummed restlessly.
"What? YouTube is a business you fool – my channel is a business. I'm not here to waste time so stop playing with me before you really get hurt," he stated in, adding the last part in a low, threatening tone.
His eyes glanced over to the fly and he slowly, carefully, raised his hand up, aligning it directly above it. "Well too bad then; either come up with the full sum of forget it. Get back to me tomorrow with your answer." As he hung up he brought his other hand down hard on the table top. He grinned, feeling the mushy texture of the squashed bug under his palm. The poor thing would never be able to go home. It won't see its ladybug family or friends again, and all because of a simple gesture of his hand.
Shane's laughed shortly, pleased with himself. "Stupid insect."
"Well, that's a welcome." He looked up at the sound of the new voice to see his work partner standing at the door. He smirked and jokingly said "Well, it's not nice to see you here stupid insect." "It's not nice to see you either, repellent." Andrew stepped in, closing the door behind him. He took a seat at the table, which was poised to seat at least six people but it was only ever really the two of them. Ryland had his own space because they both refused to share an editing area again.
Shane cleaned his hand off while Andrew got comfortable. He placed his feet on the table top, leaning back and looking at Shane silently for a minute.
"So?"
"So what?"
"You decided on the next move or not?" Andrew specified, playing with one of his two piercings. He had a habit of tweaking the lower sitting one – a bad habit, but who was going to stop him? Shane groaned, rocking back in his chair. "We're going with Seth's bid first; he has something I'm interested in that we could work with, maybe a three-parter at least."
Andrew nodded, digging into his backpack while talking again. "What else?"
"We're cancelling one – Dave doesn't want to pay up in full. I'm not letting a freeloader on to my channel." Thinking about it made his eye twitch with annoyance. Everyone who had the least bit of sense knew that he, Shane Dawson, never did anything if it didn't benefit him in some way. Especially when it came to money… never fuck with his money.
Andrew had pulled out a packet of gum, popping one into his mouth and a moment later blowing a medium sized pink bubble until it popped. "Oh, is that who you were screaming at a while ago? Pah, I thought you were arguing with second base." "Shut up you fool." Shane threw the dirty paper towel at him, missing him by half an inch. Andrew smirked, giving him the finger. His red, untamed bang completely covered one eye, his face clean save for the tiny black line on his left cheek.
Shane did not know what it was for and it had never crossed his mind to ask.
"Anyway, I'll call Seth and tell him – we won't start anything until next week. I still need the rest of the money." Nodding in agreement, Andrew removed another piece of gum, this was a dark purple in colour. "Bet; you still feeling strung from the thing with Jake?"
Shane shook his head in response, a tiny smirk playing on his lips. "I went to the Playground last night and had a bit of fun." Andrew blew and popped another bubble, quickly sucking the sticky mess back into his mouth. "Heh, lucky you. Hope you picked a good one." "I did, and I'm still thinking about it. It feels like I haven't done a run in years." Indeed he was much happier now that he had gotten it out of his system, but now he couldn't help but feel like he would be missing out again due to work.
Ever since he had introduced more long form content on his channel, comprising of several multi-parters, he had blown up more than he already was. He had always been popular in the community, but now he was getting attention outside the realm of YouTube. That in turn caused him stress, and with stress came anger, and with anger came the burning desire to find something to dirty himself with. That something, of course, being the blood of his victims.
The Jake Paul series, which at this time was deemed the best thing he's done so far due to its nature and the content within it, was both the greatest and worst thing for him. It was the best because it had elevated him to god status on the internet -which he naturally deserved anyway- but it was very bad for the people who he deemed as enemies. Being stuck in a hole for months on end, planning, filming, editing, getting everyone together to make the damn thing happen – it had left him deprived, with no real outlet and his bloodlust had tripled as a result.
In terms of personal connection, Jake was a lot like him, both in personality and business sense; he absolutely adored his tactics on controlling his team and funding himself, and Jake in turn admitted respect for Shane for what he has, had and will do. Somehow, interacting with the kid made him even more sadistic than he already was, and it showed very clearly in his personal life. "Oh, and when I came home I fucked Ryland until he passed out." Andrew paused briefly in the middle of unwrapping another piece, moving his head so as to get his long, bushy bang out of his eye. He snickered. "I bet he loved that." "He did. But I'm better now and that's all that matters."
The office was dark, the deep red curtains doing much to keep the annoying sunlight out. Shane couldn't work in bright settings. In fact, every room in the upscale mansion was dark or painted in some dark colour – the walls and furniture in his office were black. It was literally his favourite room in the entire house. It was one of the only places where he could find a more muted form of peace, for true peace for him came from pain and suffering.
Andrew chewed a couple times, touching his chin and taking his feet off the table, leaning forward. "Garrett wanted you to check him when you're free; said it was important." At the mention of his friend's name, Shane inwardly sighed. "Doesn't he have a phone?" he inquired, not understanding the sense in going over there when they could simply text. "He said it's something he needs to talk to you about in person." Crumbling up the gum wrapper and dropping it on the floor, Andrew scratched at his unruly bang, kicking back and resting his feet on the table.
Shane either did not notice or did not care to tell him off at the moment. Shane clucked his tongue and in a low voice muttered "Wonder what the hell he wants this time." He could never tell when it came to Garrett Watts– the man was an enigma by his own right. On one hand, it could be something that he would not even care about in the slightest – on the other hand, perhaps he had gotten some vital information on something. Watts was, after all, a very capable eye and informant. He knew everything about everyone and everyone's mother.
"Fine, I'll go. Just hope for his sake that he isn't going to be wasting my time like others are." "He wouldn't dream of it."
Later that afternoon, Shane headed over to Garrett's house. He lived in one of the sketchiest parts of LA; everything was always either too clean, too dirty, too loud or too quiet. There was never an in-between, which was fitting because the twenty-nine year old couldn't be described as having any type of middle ground. He was always either calmly relating some information on something, or he was pulling your teeth out by the roots.
That was his boy alright.
Driving into the small parkway in front his house, Shane adjusted his dark sunglasses, taking a cursory glance at his surroundings. There were some little kids running from an older boy with a Taser, a couple were having a quarrel over what appeared to be some ugly looking-flowers (he laughed when the woman hit the man over the head with them) and some dog tearing into what looked like a finger. "What a beautiful day!"
He exited his car and approached the small house. As he walked up the gravel path, he looked down and noticed the pin thin wire strung between two metal poles at ankle length just before the gate. It came right before some jagged rocks on the ground, all purposely placed to meet someone's face when they fell over.
That'll cause a nasty accident for someone. Stepping over it, he made his way to the front door, pushing it open without notice. The very second he did, a knife came soaring at him at full speed. Shane quickly moved out the way and the knife struck the door, causing a small crack in the wood.
He looked at it with slight impression and said "You've gotten better at that." "You think? I was hoping to stick you this time," a deep voice rumbled behind him. Garrett stood as tall as a tree, his highlighted hair overlapping one light gold eye. "I'll stick you to a train track," Shane countered casually, watching as the man moved towards the knifed door. "We wouldn't be friends if you didn't." Garrett grasped the knife with one hand, yanking it out effortlessly.
The shattered heart tattoo on his bicep flexed with his movement, his muscles bulging slightly. "You want to try again?" He looked at Shane while stroking the knife, touching the tip with a finger.
"Later. Besides, it smells like you've already been up to it in here." His nose scrunched up in disgust and he removed his sunglasses. "Seriously, what's that smell?"
Garrett shrugged, scratching at his scarred cheek. "Had someone over." The taller man moved into the living room, which was literally right as you entered the house. He preferred small places, saying that it helped him concentrate more.
He plopped down on a small couch while Shane seemed to silently judge the place based on the look on his face. Despite being here a few times already he still wasn't used to it. "Did they leave in a body bag or have you finally graduated to necrophilia?" He stepped into the scantily decorated room, sitting in the chair adjacent to the home owner. Garrett shrugged, his blue tank top shifting just a tad off his shoulder. "Whatever comes first; a body's a body after all." "I wish you said that when we visited that graveyard with Drew."
Shane cracked his neck, not wanting to dwell too much on that memory. Garrett scoffed and argued "I wasn't touching that shit – if I wasn't responsible, then what's the point?" "The point was the thirty bucks I lost because of you." "As if you didn't steal it back twenty seconds later." Still holding the knife, the younger man directed his attention to the center table. "Anyway, you're here for a reason so let's get on with it." He picked up his phone that had been sitting there, fiddling with it for a few seconds before holding it out.
"You asked me about something a couple weeks ago. Here's what I got." Taking the phone, Shane looked at the displayed image and text next to it. As he read, he got increasingly happier. "I knew you wouldn't disappoint me," he stated, his voice thick with dark intent.
"Yeah, well now you know why I needed you to come here… can't have that shit accidentally being sent around." "I'll take care of that; for now I just need to lay low a bit, play my cards right." "You think he'd take the bait?" "He's not smart so I'm not worried. Oh, this is going to be fucking amazing."
This was the best development he's gotten regarding a certain situation that was on-going between him and some people. He needed to be extra careful with this – he wanted to really savor it, for it was far too good to rush. Yes, I'll take my time on this. The end would be a lot more satisfying for me. A thrill of victory went through him just thinking about it.
I hope you're ready for me. Your time is up.
Oooh, seems like something's already happening. Who do you guys think they are talking about? What was the 'situation' he had with them? And what do you all think the series with Seth will be? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z! Ha, kidding - hope you guys liked this one. See ya later!