Roosterteeth Short Stories

Michael had been living in this hospital room, room number 182, for the past few months now. At first, he found every little thing in the room that could bother him; the white walls were too bright when the sun hit them just right. The bathroom was too far away, and if he needed to use it, he had to call a nurse to help him (that was in the beginning, though, when he didn’t have to many wires.) Of all the hundreds of things that bothered him, the most painful one was that he couldn’t see Gavin as often.

Now that he’d been here for so long, he didn’t mind it all too much. He started to see the good in everything. He was able to change the channel whenever he so pleased, he was able to be lazy all day and just sleep the day away if he wanted, and if he ever wanted anything, no matter how insane the request may be, a nurse would be right by his side to bring it to him. Plus, he could see Gavin more.

The hospital made some arrangements and moved another bed in the room. The lads even put down the arm rests and pushed the beds together, to make it feel at least a little bit more like home. They were even given permission to put up some pictures and move an XBox into the room so the two could spend the day playing games.

But still, no matter how much it felt like home, the two couldn’t escape the elephant in the room; Michael was still sick. Nobody knew he was sick up until a few months ago, and as soon as they discovered what he had, he was put into treatment. He had cancer in his lungs, even though he didn’t smoke. He had his dad to blame for that. His entire childhood, Michael was practically living off cigarette smoke and not oxygen. Of course, having grown used to it, he never thought anything else of it. Even when they would talk about second-hand smoke in class, Michael never thought anything of it. He figured that since he had been around it all his life, his lungs would have grown immune to lung cancer. Sadly, he was wrong.

Michael sat on the edge of the plastic covered bed in the doctor’s office. Every move he made emmited a sound from the cheap paper and blue plastic he sat on. It was annoying as hell. But he wasn’t all that worried. Gavin, was completely opposite.

He was sitting in one of the small, plastic chairs in front of Michael. He couldn’t even bear to look up at him. Every time he did, he just felt scared. What if something really was wrong? What if he lost Michael, his Michael, for forever? Gavin honestly had no clue what he would do if that happened.

Michael and Gavin had been together for a while. Almost two years. And for those two years, they spent every day together. At first, it was just at the office, then they eventually moved in together. After a while, Michael even started going on trips to England whenever Gavin had to go for something, whether it be to help with a movie or just to go and see his family and friends.

"I’m scared, Michael." Gavin finally grew the courage to look up at his love and confess what he was really feeling.

Michael hopped off the bed and over to Gavin. He lifted the smaller boy, swung around to sit on the chair that was momentarily unoccupied, and then sat Gavin on his lap. Michael ran his fingers through the light-brown hair. “Don’t be.”

Those two words, small and simple, made Gavin feel a thousand times better. Even though they both knew that something was wrong, Michael’s words made both of them feel a bit more at ease.

When there was a knock on the door, Michael swiftly jumped back up to his original spot on the bed, but not before kissing Gavin’s forehead. Every time he did that, Gavin’s stomach filled with butterflies. And even now, when the doctor walked in to give them the news, Michael’s lips didn’t fail to do what they always did.

"Hello, boys." Doctor Patillo spoke as he quietly shut the door behind him. The other two just grunted their small replies before the doctor opened his mouth once more.

"So, Michael, your test results came back. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it seems as if you do have lung cancer." But Gavin was out the door before he could even finish his sentence. As soon as he heard ‘bad news’, he knew. So he ran. He ran out the door, down the hall, and onto the sidewalk before collapsing. It couldn’t be happening. Not to him, not to Michael. Michael was such a perfect boy. Why would someone like him deserve something as awful as this?

Once Gavin was gone, Michael chased after him. It wasn’t hard to find him (Gavin wasn’t the fastest person.) When he found Gavin outside, he pulled the smaller boy up and into a hug. They didn’t need to speak. Neither of them had anything to say. So instead, Michael just held Gavin as close to his chest as he could and ran one of his hands over tan hair. “It’s okay, Gavin. I promise. We’ll get through this. I promise.”

They didn’t like to talk about everything that was going on. After they found out, they made plans for the week after, then it never came up again. Yeah, Gavin only ever saw his boyfriend in a hospital with wires nearly suffocating him, but they still ignored the fact. It only made them angry and upset, and usually ended with Gavin crying.

The first time the subject came up after that week was in the hospital beds. It had been a normal day, well, as normal as it could be. The two had spent the day resting in bed, controllers in hand. And the day was coming to a close, the way it did every night; Michael was propped up against his pillows watching the news, and Gavin was laying his head on his chest, sleep threatening his eyes.

"Hey, Michael?" The smaller of the two mumbled.

"Hmm?"

"I’m scared, Michael." This was the first time his illness ever came back up into conversation. Gavin had overheard the nurses in the hall earlier, when he had gone down to the cafeteria to get some food. He heard the patient in room 182 was getting sicker each day, more so than usual. Gavin tried not think too much of it, but as he lay on Michael’s chest, he couldn’t help but think about it. What if this was the last time he ever got to talk to him? What if Michael never made it out of the hospital? What would Gavin do with his days? His past few years had been filled with almost nothing /but/ Michael. If he were to disappear…

Michael hated thinking about it just as much as Gavin did. He couldn’t bear to think about what Gavin was going to do once Michael’s time on this Earth was done. Every night, he prayed that when he woke up, he had never met Gavin. Not because he didn’t love Gavin with all his heart, because he did, but he didn’t want someone as perfect as him to deal with this. “Don’t be. I love you, and I’ll always be here. Don’t be scared, Gav.”

Again, just like the first time Gavin had heard those words flutter from his boyfriend’s mouth, his instantly felt calmer. It almost felt as if nothing wrong was going on. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe, just maybe, whenever Michael said those words, time stopped for a few minutes. Because both times he’s said them, that’s how Gavin felt.

That night, Gavin fell asleep with much more ease than he had any other night. And so did Michael.

Michael passed away in his sleep that night. Gavin woke up to a loud beeping noise from a machine, the one that told you when someone’s heart stopped working. Of couse, when he woke up, he was terrified. He was in tears for weeks after. It’s been a few months now, and he’s feeling a bit better. Everyone at RoosterTeeth put together the money to get a plaque for him and it sits outside the door of the Achievement Hunter office. His names comes up every once in a while, but not in the let’s plays. The one time it slipped, Gavin had to leave work for the day. It made him think of when Michael used to occupy the desk right next to his, when he would yell at Gavin whenever he was angry, even if Gavin wasn’t the real culprit.

Gavin falls asleep with ease every night, cuddled with one of Michael’s old, dirty shirts that still smells like him. He falls asleep, thinking of the last words Michael ever spoke to anyone. “Don’t be scared, Gav.”