This chapter was definitely one of my favorite things I've written. I have one request: Please for reviews to write more that just "write more" or "More please" or something of that source. Please have substance to your reviews. I want to know what you did or didn't like, or what you'd like to see in the future. Thank you. Again, as said in the description, I own no one, just the scenarios.
"Alright! Time for the weekly movie site draw!" Geoff pulls out six playing cards from the pocket of his suit. "Remember the rules: no exchanges, no refusals, and whoever pulls the joker gets to host us at their place this weekend. Michael and Lindsay really pulled out all the stops with that Harry Potter marathon."
"Hey just doing what I can." Michael shrugs, his brown leather jacket hanging on the back of his chair, a bottle of beer in hand. He smiles a little as he thinks of how much his girlfriend enjoyed it. He's the first to pick a card, grabbing the one Geoff directs him to. As he looks at it he isn't surprised that it's not the joker, but a jack of clubs. Geoff always made sure no one was picked twice in a row. He played fair like that.
"So when are you going to ask her to marry you?" Jack asks in a sweetly innocent voice, knowing Michael's been dancing around the subject for a while now. She picks her card and smiles: 7 of diamonds.
All eyes at the table swivel to Michael as he blushes a little. "I, uh, well I've been meaning to... just haven't found a ring yet or know how to yet. I don't want it to be the usual "down on one knee" bullshit. Too fucking cliche for us." He shakes his head.
"Mhm. Was worried you'd try to feed us that "oh we're not ready yet" or "haven't been together that long" bullshit. All ready to chew you out for lying to us." Jack chuckles and takes a swig from her bottle of beer before setting it down and adjusting her colorful Hawaiian shirt.
"Heyooo!" Ray lets out a cheer as he sees he's got the ace of spades, before he adjusts his glasses. It's not that he doesn't like the guys at his apartment, but his place isn't as large as Geoff or Michael's or Jack's, so it's a little cramped. Gavin has an apartment the same size as his, but Gavin isn't sharing with anyone, while Ray's girlfriend Tina lives with him. Ryan, well, no one's ever been to his place before.
"Take it Ray isn't hosting." Michael chuckles, raising an eyebrow at the noise Gavin makes as the Brit draws the king of hearts. The sound is akin to that of a bird being strangled.
Ryan swallows as the final card is given to him. He takes it and sees the red joker laughing at him. Shit. His haunting black and red face paint hides his emotions well, but his heart is racing. He hasn't had anyone over to his place because frankly he doesn't want them there. His home is his sanctuary, where he's just Ryan Haywood and not the Vagabond, the FAHC's hitman and assassin. He shifts in his seat, his black leather jacket suddenly making him feel like he was boiling.
"Alright everyone, lay your cards down." Geoff announces and they lay the cards on the table.
"Ryan! Finally can see where you live." Ray leans back, the back of the chair cushioned by his purple jacket.
"How come we've never been to your place before?" Gavin asks, drinking some of his beer. "Ah bollocks!" He sighs as he spills some onto his royal purple shirt. He stands and goes to the sink to dab off the beer.
"Oh, how much are you gonna pay for your new shirt since you can't wash this?" Michael snickers scathingly. "Since, you know, you paid thirty grand for those fucking sunglasses."
"Oi, you know dry cleaning here isn't reliable, you prick!"
Ryan calms a little as Gavin's idiocy turns the attention away from the fact that he still hasn't answered the question on why they never come over. Team "Nice Dynamite"'s argument is drawing everyone's attention. But it's not meant to last.
"Hate to say this, but Gav made a good point," Geoff shudders mockingly. "Why have we never been to your place before?"
Ryan knows he can't not answer Geoff, the Kingpin. "I just... don't really want anyone at my place... keep it private, y'know?" His almost bashful behavior is surprising to the rest of the Crew.
"Probably doesn't want us to see the torture chamber." Michael laughs.
"It's not a torture chamber!" Ryan protests.
"Alright, sex dungeon," Ray comments with a smirk. Laughter rings from five out of the six in the group.
"It's not that either. Please..." Ryan is visibly upset, even under the face paint.
"Alright guys, leave him alone." Jack chimes in, Ryan giving her a thankful look. "We'll see it this weekend anyway."
"Actually... I took a job for this weekend. Geoff I thought I told you about this a week ago." He frowns. He could have sworn he did.
Geoff frowns in thought, then he sighs. "Yes you did. You're off the hook this time, Haywood." He shakes his head. "Alright new drawing."
Ryan sits back, relief washing through him, as the cards are chosen again, this time Jack gets the joker and she sighs. Her place isn't terrible, but is definitely more feminine than the others. Not to mention they always come and mess some shit up. Usually with Michael drunkenly tackling Gavin for some reason.
"I'll make sure no one tackles anything and knocks over some of your plants, alright?" Geoff assures and she nods, having four plants to spruce things up.
"Thanks boss." She smiles at him in thanks.
The Crew sticks around Geoff's apartment for a couple more hours, before they all depart to go home. Little did Ryan know that Geoff had texted an ally to put a tracking device on Ryan's car, genuinely intrigued and a little worried by his friend's secrecy.
††††††††††††
Ryan lets out a groan as he gets into the shower. His mission had gone well, just a simple hitman job to kill a major member of a gang rival to his client's. The poor fucker never knew what hit him... save the baseball bat that had crushed the man's skull. It had been an instant kill. The memory of it runs through his head as he watches blood and face paint run down the drain. He grabs the soap and washes himself off, getting the rest of the dirt and grime off his strong body.
He finishes his shower and steps out, dries himself off, then gets changed into a set of black sweatpants and a T-shirt. He walks barefoot to the kitchen and starts to prepare dinner, brushing his hair from his face. As he does so, however, a crow flies onto the windowsill and taps on the window to get Ryan's attention. He notices it immediately, then jumps as the doorbell rings.
"Fuck!" He yelps in surprise, before he frowns. Who the fuck could... it... oh fuck no! Did the guys fucking follow him?! No. Absolutely not. He storms to the door and opens it. Sure enough, there stands the Crew. They blink in surprise. "What the fuck guys?"
"Ryan?" Michael asks, surprise clear. "Holy shit I th-"
"Why are you at my house?" Ryan is seething. He feels violated. He asked them not to come. He had at least thought they respected him enough.
"You were being so secretive about it, I was worried that some really bad shit so I tracked you-" Geoff's cut off before he can finish.
"You tracked me?" Ryan's anger is getting worse. His hands are balled into fists and he's shaking with rage. Maybe a couple of the inhabitants within the house could sense that, because soon the padding of massive paws and the jingle of a bell is audible. The Crew try to peek around Ryan to see what it is, but to no avail. Ryan, meanwhile, sighs and turns his head to see the brown Newfoundland dog with an orange tabby padding beside it. The dog barks and Ryan shakes his head.
"No, they're not coming in." Another bark. "I said no!" There's another bark, then a meow, and Ryan caves. "Alright fine, but only because you ganged up on me." He turns back to the Crew, receiving several odd looks. "You guys can come it. Just make sure to close the door." He stands back and grabs the dog by the collar.
Geoff is the first one in, holding open the door. He makes a face as the cat starts to rub up against his legs. "Ugh, going to have to get that off... dammit." He then sees the massive drooling dog and makes another face.
"I hold no sympathy, Geoff. I told you not to co-"
"Holy shit is that a bear?!" Michael cuts Ryan off to kneel and pet the dog, laughing as he receives big, wet kisses from it. He then pets the cat as it goes over to him and rubs against him. Michael is used to cats, as Lindsay has a couple.
"No you dumbass it's a Newfie." Ray comes over and pets the dog as well, as they're soon joined by a squawking Gavin. The Brit seems more attached to the cat, however, as he has a Siamese at home.
"Didn't think you were an animal guy." Jack shakes her head as she comes in last, closing the door. She came in last because she knows someone would have forgotten.
"You named this guy Mogar?" Michael checks the tag on the collar. "After me?"
Ryan, having been a little overwhelmed as the Crew all came in, rubs the back of his neck a little awkwardly. "Yeah, I uh, have an animal named after all of you. The cat's name is Ruby, after Lindsay."
"Not sure how I feel about that to be honest." Michael chuckles. Mogar seems instantly attached to his namesake.
"When you say "animals", how many do you mean?" Jack asks warily.
"I have a few." Ryan shrugs, then he goes into the next room, greeted by a cacophony of noises. "Okay I have some guests. Please behave." He says. The Crew exchanges looks before they enter the next room.
It's easily similar to a zoo; it's a large room that looks like the ceiling of the first floor was knocked out so the ceiling is vaulted high up. On the walls are perches for various birds. The walls have cages and tanks of all shapes and sizes, and there's animal upon animal in the room. There's a patio door that's open to a large yard, filled with animals as well. Behind the fence lies a pond with something floating in it.
"Holy shit." Geoff breaks the stunned silence as he looks around the room. "You realizes half of these are illegal to own?" He says as he sees several birds of prey, what looks like a puma, a wolf, and a couple foxes.
"When have we sone anything legal, Geoff? And I rescued most of them from shady black market animal vendors or from carnies." Ryan shrugs and goes to a perch where a red panda is napping. "This one here, I found someone trying to sell him on the black market to make some money off the fur. Shut that down quickly and brought him here. His name is Pat." Ryan looks t Jack as he says this.
Jack frowns as Ryan seems to be addressing her, so she goes over to the red panda and looks a little closer. The color of the fur matched her hair. "Aww he's so cute!" She says as she pets him. "And you said you named him Pat?" She checks and Ryan nods, a small smile on his face. The little guy certainly likes to sleep, not unlike herself. "Like Patillo?" She grins as he nods again.
Ryan beams as he sees Jack so happy, then he chuckles as a little sugar glider plops onto Mogar's back.
"What this?" Michael crouches to look at the small animal, but it jumps onto his shoulder. "Aww it's cute!" He stands to show it off, but it dislikes its perch and it leaps, gliding to Gavin and landing on his head.
"Agh! Wot the 'ell?! Get it off!" Gavin starts to flail a little, but Ryan leaps over and grabs Gavin's arms to stop the movement. The sugar glider takes the opportunity to leap over to Jack and Pat. "Ryan get off!" Gavin protests.
"I didn't want you to hurt it!" Ryan snaps.
"Awwww Michael you're right." Jack says a little louder, in order to stop the argument. "It is cute."
"What is it?" Ray asks. He watches it glide over from Jack and onto his shoulder, where it crawls into the hood and curl up.
"That's X-Ray, a sugar glider. I actually bought him." Ryan explains, letting go of Gavin then heading into the kitchen to grab some food for the animals and bringing the bag out, muscles clear as he carries the heavy bag. He starts to dish out the food and the beasts flock to the bowls.
"Wot did you name after me, Ryan?" Gavin asks, a little excited after seeing the cuteness of Pat and X-Ray.
Ryan sets the bag of food on the kitchen table and seals it, then he takes Gavin to a small cage with a little black mass. He picks it up and hands it to Gavin. The Brit makes a little bit of a disgusted and disappointed expression as he sees the star nosed mole. "This is Vav." He offers it to Gavin.
Gavin, less than excited about the distinct not-cuteness of the feelers on the mole's face, holds out a hand and Ryan puts the mole in there. "He... he isn't very cute..." Gavin says, disappointment in his voice.
"He's better looking than you so you have no room to talk." Michael calls over, Mogar following him. "Ryan, I have to ask: how do you keep things so peaceful around here?" He's noticed most of the animals should be killing each other.
"Not sure... guess just raising them together makes them all chill with each other. Most were babies or fairly young when I rescued them." He shrugs and picks up the bag of food, putting it away, before he grabs what looks like a sack of raw meat. He starts to walk around, feeding the carnivores. He doesn't seem too bothered at sticking his hand in a bag of bloody meat. "I had to train them of course." He heads outside.
"Ryan, why do you wear the face paint and mask at everyone else's house but your own?" Ray asks, unable to stop petting X-Ray.
"It scares the smaller animals, like the smaller rodents." Ryan says simply, going to the edge of the pond that's just over the fence and tossing a few raw steaks in the water. The something moves over and huge jaws clamp around a piece of meat.
"Makes sense... is that an alligator?!" Michael goes to the fence, watching it. "How the hell did you get that?!"
"Oh, that's Edgar XII. And have you ever heard of gator jerky? Someone wanted make some, homemade. I had someone tip me off about it and I saved it." Ryan turns to go back inside, the bag empty. As he starts to go, however, he slows to a stop as a small antelope-looking animal strides across the yard, all sorts of animals cowering away from it, even though the larger carnivores should want to snack on it. Ryan gives it a small bow.
"What the hell?" Geoff sees this display of fear and respect to the antelope that couldn't be larger than a foot big. "What is that?"
"His name is King. He's a dik-dik." Ryan straightens and goes over to Geoff. "He kind of runs the show, which makes since as he's named after you, Kingpin." He goes inside to throw the bag away.
Geoff looks at the dik-dik and raises an eyebrow. Such an absurd name. As he watches it, however, the beast makes eye contact with him. Geoff can sense the kindred spirit from where he stood and he nods. Yeah, he likes the little guy. "So why do they fear him? He's so small!"
Ryan comes back and shrugs. "Don't know. Just sorta happened. Probably has blackmail on a few of them, and knows how to make their lives hell." He chuckles.
Geoff laughs as well, and King comes over to him. Geoff crouches down and reaches out to pet him, King moving his head up to nuzzle Geoff's hand. The connection was made instantly. "His little horns are so cool. Will he damage anything with them?"
"Ryan why is there a cow in a hole?" Michael interjects.
Ryan comes over to the poor trapped beast. "That's Edgar. Must have been wandering and a sinkhole opened up. I've been trying to get him out for ages, but it's too steep." He shakes his head. "I keep him fed and watered."
"You sick bastard." Michael shakes his head, but his tone of voice marks that he's just teasing. "We could help you sometime."
"Free Edgar 2017!" Ray laughs.
"You know, I think I'm warming up to this little guy!" Gavin says as he giggles a little. "The little feelers tickle!" He puts the mole in the chest pocket of his shirt.
"I knew you'd like him. Just be mindful that he likes the dark." Ryan nods.
"Are you letting us take them home?" Jack asks. She's holding Pat like a baby, the little paws over her shoulder and she is holding his little butt in place, tail draping over her arms.
Ryan smiles as he sees the sight. "I don't see why not. The smaller ones should be easy enough to hide in a vehicle, and Michael won't have an issue if anyone sees a dog."
"Wot about my bike?" Gavin asks, worried for his new little friend.
"Keep him in a pocket or a little pouch or something and he'll be okay." Ryan nods. "Same with you Ray."
Ray gives a thumbs-up. "Alright. You've shown us the animals you've named after us... you said before you had an Edgar and an Edgar XII. So are there ten other Edgar's?" Ray raises an eyebrow.
"Well... there's more like thirty Edgar's." Ryan gives a small chuckle. "I wasn't feeling too creative one night and named one of the cats Edgar II, and it's kinda snowballed from there." He points to the wolf. "That's Edgar VI, the snakes over there are III, IV, and V, the puma is XVII, and XXX is Doolz's buddy." He walks over to a cage holding a couple chinchillas, one with distinct blue dye on its head.
"You named one after Jeremy?" Geoff asks, King at his side. "Why? He's in the B-team. We see him more in bars and strip clubs than on the job."
"Did you dye his fur?" Ray pops over.
"He's still a friend, isn't he? And I didn't do that. I was messing with some face paints one day and the little guy came over and he got some on his head. I can't wash it out because chinchillas can't get wet. He went over and rolled in dust to try to get it off, but that just dried the paint more and I managed to get the big chunks of paint out of his fur, the the blue just never went away." Ryan shakes his head. "On a different note, I have a bearded dragon named Dragonface for Kerry and a golden eagle named Gryphon."
"You named it after my wife?" Geoff raises an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Different spelling, and frankly Geoff your wife is badass. She could kill us with her bare hands." Ryan points out.
"He's not wrong." Michael agrees, the other Lads nodding in agreement.
"She is pretty terrifying." Jack says, petting Pat, loving the red panda already.
"I know this! Why do you think I do my best to spoil her and never piss her off?" Geoff laughs. "You're off the hook this time Ryan."
"Only did it to compliment her." Ryan raises his hands defensively. "Gryphon is a really strong hunter. And he can be vicious at times."
"Are all the animals male?" Jack cocks her head to the side, hand still running through Pat's fur. "From what it sounds like, all of them are."
"All but Ruby." Michael points out, the cat now on his shoulders.
"Most of them are male, yes. Keeps things a little less messy during the mating seasons. I don't come home to animals fucking." Ryan chuckles and shakes his head. "And be careful with her, Michael. She just had kittens a month ago, so she's still rather delicate." He nods.
"Awwwww li'l kit'ens!" Gavin beams at the thought. "Could I take one to give Smee a friend?" He asks Ryan.
"Sure, when they're a little older. I don't think they should be separated from their mother yet. And you'll have to be careful they don't eat Vav." Ryan glares at Gavin.
"I won't let anything happen to him!" Gavin shakes his head and absentmindedly puts a hand over the pocket holding the mole.
"If we take them home do. we get food and shit for them?" Ray asks, honestly having no idea what sugar glider's eat. But he knows that Tina will adore X-Ray. It's small and cute. Women love small and cute things.
"Ah, yeah." Ryan jogs to his food supply and he grabs a couple things, before going off and coming back. He makes three trips to get everything. He brings out the food and a little perch for X-Ray. He grabs Pat's little hammock as well as bamboo. "Geoff, King will eat a lot of fruits and berries, but don't give him grass." He informs him, before he goes back to get Mogar's dog food and a dark tank full of dirt. "Gav this is for Vav. He's basically blind, but the feelers on his face will help him see. Also, the tank is full of little insects and worms for him to eat."
"Thanks!" Gavin goes to the tank and looks at it. "But how will I get it home?"
"We drove you here dumbass." Michael rolls his eyes, picking up the bag of dog food. "Holy shit this is fucking heavy." He grunts, and sets it back on the table. "Damn this guy eats a lot."
"He also likes to run around a lot, so make sure to take him on walks." Ryan nods.
"I think he'll be taking me on a walk!" Michael laughs, Ryan joining him.
Jack grabs Pat's things and she checks her watch. "I think I'm gonna head out. Thank you so much." She uses her most-freehand to wave and she leaves, Ray grabbing X-Ray's supplies.
"Shit I came with her! Jack wait! And thanks Ryan. You have the best place. And this was much better than a movie!" He waves and dashes after the redhead.
"Guess that's our cue to leave. You ready boi?" Michael asks Gavin, who nods, picking up the tank again. "Thanks Ryan. I can guarantee that Mogar will be spoiled." He laughs and heads out, hefting the food.
"Thank you. And sorry for being a prick before. I really do like the li'l guy." Gavin apologizes before he heads after Michael.
Ryan waves and smiles. "Well Geoff, you heading home? I could send Gryphon after you if you want him."
"Nah I think he could stay here. I'll ask my Griffon first and see what she thinks. I don't know about King... ah fuck it. You said they're trained to hide in cars?" Geoff takes his keys from his pocket.
"Yeah. But you have tinted windows anyway." Ryan points out. "And that makes sense. Have a good night, Geoff!" He smiles a little broader as he watches his leader leave, the little dik-dik following behind him. Ryan may not have been happy at first that they came uninvited, but he couldn't ask for better friends than those five.