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"Watch the shoulder asshole," Ray hisses out between clenched teeth as he glares at his masked companion, the same companion that had shoved him up against the wall onto his still healing shoulder. Now that the bullet was out, the skin had started stitching itself back together but it would be another hour before it closed completely and then another twelve hours before the pain disappeared completely.
It was supposed to be a simple job, just robbing a minor bank branch, but the cops had been tipped off, had known that the Fake AH crew was going to be there, and they had known where Ray was going to be set up across the street. The Puerto Rican had been giving his team cover to retreat when suddenly there was a searing pain in his shoulder and his vision went white with pain. He had vaguely felt himself falling, then there police surrounding him, two big burly guys dragging Ray to his feet and forcing his arms behind his back. He tried to struggle but he was weaker than the cops restraining him. There was a reason his job was the sniper. He was the best at long distance, but his up close skills were lacking, especially when going hand to hand with someone while unarmed, let alone against half a dozen cops.
They were all patting themselves on the fucking back already, throwing insults and racial slurs at Ray, telling him how they were going to have lots of fun back at Los Santos Prison with him. Ray rolled his eyes, knowing that even if he was arrested, it wouldn’t be for long. The only thing that really pissed him off was they were taking his favorite bright pink rifle and talking about keeping it as a trophy, hanging it up in the office somewhere. Then one of the pigs threw out that Ray must be a fag for having such a pink rifle and that he didn’t want no fag's ugly rifle displayed in his office.
While yeah, he was correct about how Ray loved to take it up the ass, he was still planning all of their slow deaths for insulting his rifle. His baby was the prettiest rifle at the ball, regardless of wether her dad liked to suck dick or not.
They dragged ray down the stairs, ripping out his earpiece and patting him down for weapons while a few also groped him unnecessarily which, ew, but they remove the knife he had at his ankle and the hand gun he had tucked into the back of his jeans. They were outside now, shoving Ray's face onto the cold metal of the police cruiser waiting outside, and slapping cuffs on him. He was shoved into the car, landing on his injured shoulder because the cops were fucking assholes and probably did that on purpose.
Once his vision clears from the pain and the dizziness of losing so much blood, he manages to sit up and get to work on the cuffs. It easy work for him but he's got nowhere to go, the doors for the back not having a way out from the inside and the back was separated from the front with a metal grate.
The homophobic cops climbed into the driver's seat, sneering at Ray for getting out of his cuffs but just turns back to the front while Ray attempts to figure a way out, trying to kick the door out or see if the windows would break but nothing gives. They only manage to drive about ten feet before the windshield is shattering and the cop is slumping in his spot. Ray feels sastisfaction for a second before the car is jerking to the left and crashing into the building. They hadn’t been going fast, but Ray is still thrown forward into the seat and his vision darkens at the edges as the pain in his shoulder flares up on impact again.
Swearing loudly, Ray turns to look at his shoulder, blood soaking most of his sleeve and ruining another hoodie. Outside there is more shooting and more cops going down, and after a second of silence, the back door is opening and Vagabond appears just as Ray was digging into his shoulder to get the bullet out.
He tastes blood in his mouth as he bites down on his tongue a bit too hard but he is able to fish the metal out and the wound started to feel better almost instantly as it was now able to start the healing process. In the front seat, the dead cop's body fades away until it disappears.
Vagabond was on him now, his own rifle thrown over his shoulder as he kneeled in front of Ray, cold blue eyes looking into Ray's, hands coming up to cup Ray's face. Ray gave him a pained smile, knowing exactly what the silent man was asking. "Don't worry, I'm good. Thanks for saving my ass dude."
Vagabond nodded swiftly and then was hauling Ray out of the vehicle, and Ray was getting sick of being manhandled and dragged around with a bullet wound to the shoulder. The motion further jarred his injury, causing Ray to hiss in pain but he ignored it for the most part and followed Vagabond to the getaway bike. He could bitch all he wanted later after they lost the heat and made it to safe territory.
Vagabond thrust his pink sniper rifle into his good hand and Ray wanted to kiss him. His other crewmates would have left it to recover later, but Vagabond had stopped to grab it for him. They ducked behind the car as more LSPD showed up, bullet ricocheting off the cruiser. Ray took out most of the cops, giving them enough time to make a run across the alley to Vagabonds bike. He used the building for cover as he took out a few more cops while Vagabond started up the bike. Ray hopped on and they rode until they lost the cops, and then they kept riding a while longer until they got where they were now, in an abandoned old hospital in the ghetto, Vagabond having once again hauled him off the bike and slamming him into a wall.
A few months ago, such a position would have had Ray's heart racing, his body flushed with anticipation as the Mad King himself cornered Ray against the wall, body pushed against his to hold him in place, but that feeling was minor now and just made Ray feel guilt more than anything else.
Until a few months ago Ray and Ryan had been dancing around each other for over a year, the sexual tension between them noticeable to all around them. The crew had a betting pool going for when it would all come to a head, to when they would finally fuck, but they really didn't know the whole of it. They didn't know that Ray had been trying to get Vagabond's attentions.
Ray had also noticed the tension between them, would have had to be deaf, blind, and fucking braindead to not notice, and had started egging on Vagabond, started playing with him, and he finally thought things were going to move forward, but Vagabond pushed him away again and again until Ray grew fed up with whatever the fuck was going on between them. So Ray went out, tried dating, and a few months ago he met a really sweet, really fucking hot, grade school teacher from Georgia.
The guy was almost too good to be true, certainly too good for Ray.
They met in a GameStop, Ray finding the guy standing in front of the DS Games, where Ray was heading to pick up the new Pokémon game, where he found the guy glaring down the display for said game. It was a weird first meeting, the guy had panicked when Ray had asked if Pokémon had killed his grandmother or something, which was super confusing since his face wasn’t known to the public like Geoff's or Michael's, so no one ever really looked at him twice, but he didn’t really get to say much to Mr. Hot Dad because the guy was stuttering out an excuse and fleeing the shop. Ray had just written it off as weird and gone about his day, forgetting about the guy until they ran into each other a few days later at a bar.
The guy still seemed super nervous around Ray, ready to bolt, but he soon relaxed as they got further into a conversation. They had talked for a good couple hours before Ray decided YOLO and asked the guy back to his place. The guy, whp Ray learned was named Ryan, had stared at him for a full minute, looking pretty damn unsure, and Ray was about to give up but then man nodded. Ray practically whooped, scoring such an attractive hunk wasn’t a common occurrence for him and he had to resist practically dragging the man back to his place.
What happened that night was some of the best sex he had ever had in his life, as well as an encore experience in the morning. The one night stand turned into a second night stand, turned into dates, turned into going steady. It was fucking bizarre for Ray to be in a steady relationship with someone, let alone a dorky, hot teacher who thought Ray was a cashier at GameStop. Ray constantly worried about things crashing and burning horribly for him, expected it to happen sooner rather than later, but three months later and Ryan has never really questioned the scars on his body, nor did he attempt to visit Ray at his fake job. He also didn’t throw a fit when Ray had to cancel dates or if he would be hours late to meet him due to a work situation or some made up family event. It was perfect, almost too perfect.
Then the crew found out, and that was fucking fantastic. Most of them seemed confused when Gavin dropped the bombshell, having caught Ray out with Ryan for lunch the day before. The tension was suffocating in the room as Ray tried not to look at Vagabond, who he had been growing distant from lately. The whole room seemed to be trying not to stare between the two, and Michael looked like he wanted to strangle Gavin for his lack or tact, but Vagabond just came up to Ray and squeezed his shoulder as if he was congratulation him, and then walked out of the room.
The tension in the room was still there but considerably less, and Ray turned to glare at Gavin who squeaked and hid behind Michael. The tension was broken when Geoff started complaining loudly about who was going to get the money now.
Ray's teacher boyfriend wasn’t brought up again and he was glad for that.
Back in the present, Vagabond growled down at Ray, the closest he ever got to speaking were the occasional growls or grunts and the even rarer snorts of laughter, snorts only produced by Ray's commentary of shitty games or of Gavin and Michaels stupid antics. Ray didn’t back down, he wasn't even sure what his friend was so pissy about. He hadn't been the one to tip off the cops and it wasn’t like a bullet wound was a big deal for them, they were immortal, so he wasn't sure what he did wrong and was about to voice his complaints but Ray hesitated as he caught a hint of panic in the masked man's eyes that made his heart twist.
Ray tried to push Vagabond off of him but the man crowded closer to him, being much stronger than Ray even if he had use of both arms, and Ray turned his head to the side, refusing to look at him. This thing between them was supposed to be over, he had Ryan now, Vagabond knew that, and Ray loved Ryan, he was the best goddamn thing to ever happen to him, but his body was still reacting to Vagabond's and Ray hated himself.
Fingers were gripping Ray's jaw in a bruising grip and forcing him to face the masked man again and before he could shout at Vagabond to leave him the fuck alone, lips were crashing against his, vagabond having slipped the mask up just past his nose while Ray was turned away.
Vagabonds lips slotted against Ray's perfectly, moving against his and expertly licking into his mouth like they had done this a million times, like it was meant to be, and Ray's eyes snapped open (he hadn't noticed when they even slipped shut) as he realized that they actually had done this before. His hands pushed Vagabond away, their lips disconnecting with a popping sound as he stared up at Vagabond slack jawed in shock.
"Ryan?!"
Vagabond had the gall to look sheepish, looking away and smiling meekly. The exposed lower jaw was the same strong chiseled jaw of Ray's teacher boyfriend, there was no denying it. Unless Ryan and Vagabond were weird secret identical twins, but Ray highly doubted it. He also cursed himself for the brief flash of desire he got at the thought of a threesome with the nonexistent twins.
"I- What the fuck!?" He wasn’t really sure what else to say, but he once again pushed on the other man's chest, who dropped the smile and stepped back from Ray, giving the Puerto Rican a bit more breathing room as he tried to wrap his head around what was going on. He reached up and finished removing the skull mask from Ryan's head, and Ryan finally looked at him with familiar blue eyes surrounded with smudged black paint, and Ray isn't sure how he hasn't managed to put two and two together yet.
"Uhm… Surprise?" was the first thing Ryan said to him, the humor he was going for falling short and the silence thick between them.
"Surprise? This is more than just a surprise you dick, this is like 'hey I got pregnant with someone else's kid so I'm going to claim to be a virgin with a magic baby so you don’t suspect anything' level shit, Rye. Were you planning on letting me in on your big secret or would you have waited until the paternity tests came back false?"
"That's an interesting way to interpret that, I was thinking it was more of a Mr. and Mrs. Smith like thing except I know who you are and we're on the same team." Ryan hesitated, seemingly searching Ray's face. For what, Ray didn’t know. Ryan heaved out a sigh, "I was going to tell you, I just, hadn't worked up the courage to yet."
"Courage? Mr. I'm-a-crazy-murdering-psycho who fucking laughs in the face of danger is scared of telling the guy he's fucking that he just so happens to be said murder happy psycho who's in the same crew?"
Ryan glared at Ray, crossing his arms over his chest as a form of defense from Ray's cruel words, no matter how true. "With how well you are taking it now, yeah I fucking was. Danger is nothing Ray, that’s a thrill, something I do for fun, what we have going between us is different from that… it's, I don’t know, something else, and I don't want to lose that." he trailed of lamely, now glaring at the ground in frustration. He wasn’t good with words, didn’t speak very often except when he was with Ray as Ryan, not as Vagabond.
Ray also huffed and crossed his arms to mirror Ryan's posture, but the tension in his shoulders was relaxing as he processed the words. "I don’t get it Rye, I went after you, quite blatantly I might add, and you pushed me away. Instead you make this fake persona and approached me as a civilian and what, planned to live happily ever after with me like that? With a lie?" The words came out harsher than Ray had intended but fuck, he was kinda pissed and a whole lot of confused right now.
"I-" Ryan floundered for words. "It wasn't fake."
"What do you mean it wasn't fake?"
"The persona, it wasn't fake. I really was a teacher in Georgia before I became," Ryan gestured towards himself, "this."
Ray's eyes almost bugged out of his head, his jaw dropping, "No fucking way, seriously?" Ryan nodded.
"Big scary Vagabond was once a first grade teacher who dealt with hellion kids all day yet loved his job?" Ray snorted a laugh, "and the story with the glitter and that one kid, Jeremy, that was all true?"
Ryan groaned, not wanting to think about that. He still sometimes thought he found glitter somewhere on his person from that day. "That’s way too horrible to make up."
Ray cracked a smile, hesitantly taking a step towards Ryan. "What happened? How did you go from that, having a teaching job you loved, to this?"
Ryan shot Ray a wry look. "Have you seen how much I enjoy murder?"
Ray laughed, "Suppose 'I know over a hundred way to kill you' is a terrible skill to put on your résumé when applying as an elementary teacher."
"Yeah I don’t think adding that to my relevant skills list would work out very well for me." Ryan shuffled his feet, one arm coming up to absently scratch the side of his nose. "I… I really liked teaching. It was fun. But the call, the urge to kill was getting too much and people notice when their neighbors go missing in such a small town. They know if something odd is going on. So I moved over here and started my new career."
Ray nodded, taking the information in. Los Santos was an excellent place to go if Ryan wanted to live the life of a criminal. "Why the second identity though, why not before, when I was throwing myself at you, at Vagabond?"
"That was partially your fault, you weren't supposed to be at that GameStop or that bar when I was there. I thought you had figured it out ot was me when you found me in the GameStop. That’s why I took off like that. Then you found me at the bar and we talked and you had no idea it was me and then you invited me to your place and fuck, Ray, all those times you offered yourself to me I really fucking wanted to go for it, but I couldn't. No one knows who I am, who Ryan Haywood is, and that’s the way it has to stay. If this all falls through, I can still go back to teaching someday."
"You know," Ray drawled," you could have totally fucked me with the mask on you know. I'm totally into that." Ray waggles his eye brows at Ryan and snickers as Ryan's face flames a bright red. In his wildest dreams, Ray had never imagined that the man beneath the mask was anything but dangerous, definitely not this blushing dork in front of him. If Ryan hadn’t left his sight since the fight, Ray would swear they planned a body switch at some point.
"Maybe later," Ryan mumbled, and now it was Rays turn to blush, his dick twitching in interest. He was so fucking on board for that. "I didn't do that because it's not just a quick fuck for us Ray, it never was and never will be."
Ryan's eyes held Ray's in a piercing gaze, and Ray knew he was right. It never would be just a casual thing for them. They were already too invested in each other, even before they got together. Ray had been so fucking hurt when Vagabond rejected him each time, and getting with Ryan the teacher had been Ray trying to move on from him.
Ray's tongue darted out to wet his dry lips as he held Ryan's gaze, noticing the flicker of movement as Ryan's eyes flicked down to watch his tongue. "So, where do we go from here Rye?"
"That's up to you… I still want to do this but if you don’t then I'll back off."
Ray rolled his eyes. "Asshole, you just said this would never be just a casual thing, and might I remind you that I was the one throwing myself at you and you said we couldn't so of fucking course I'm up for doing this. It's you who ever said no."
Ryan winced, "Yeah I know."
Ray stepped forward and leaned into Ryan, careful of his shoulder. "No more secret identities though, and if you have a secret twin then I demand a threesome."
Ryan laughed at that and wrapped his arms around Ray, pulling him into his chest. He leaned down and buried his nose in Ray's soft hair, the faint scent of his generic brand shampoo barely there under the fading scent of blood.
"I thought they had you," Ryan admitted softly into Ray's hair, and Ray tilted his head and pulled back, looking at Ryan confused. "I know we come back if we die, but goddammit Ray I still don’t want to watch you die. What if someday you just, don’t come back?"
Ray reached up and slipped his fingers into Ryan's hair, cupping the back of his head and pulling him down into a kiss. Ray pulled back after a second and rested his forehead against Ryan's. "I'm not going anywhere, Rye. R&R connection, am I right? Can't have one without the other."
Ryan leans down and kisses Ray again, things heating up pretty quickly as Ryan backs Ray up against the wall, hands sneaking up Ray's purple hoodie, fingers gripping his hips while he moved to Ray's neck, sucking a dark mark into his skin. Ryan pulled his hands away from Rays hips and leaned down slightly to grip Ray's ass and haul him up, Rays legs curling around Ryan's waist to help keep himself up. Ryan had lost his jacket and was working on getting Ray's pants unzipped when Ray jolted in his grip and ripped their mouths apart. Ray panted as he reached behind him and pulled his phone out of his back pocket, squinting at the display. His glasses has also been abandoned at some point when they had gotten in the way when they were kissing. "It's Geoff."
Ryan slowly set Ray down and picked his jacket back up and then Ray's glasses, cleaning the lenses with his shirt. Ray answered the call, letting Geoff know they would be headed back to the penthouse soon. The call ended and Ryan handed Ray his glasses, Ray thanking him.
They righted their clothes and got back onto Ryan's bike, heading back to the penthouse. The ride back was quiet but comfortable, Ray laying his head on Ryan's shoulder with arms looped around his waist.
All eyes were on them when they entered and Gavin jumped up from his position on the couch and pointed at them. "It's about bloody time!" Ray and Ryan glanced at each other, Ryan's face once again hidden behind the mask and Ray laughed while Ryan just shrugged in a 'what can I say' kind of motion.
"Pay up dick heads!" Geoff cheered, gathering money from Jack and the two lads, Michael glaring at Ray as he did so.
Ray just laughed at his friends and took Ryan's hand, dragging him inside and closing the door behind them.
When he was later asked what had happened to the hot teacher bloke, Ray just shrugged and said he found someone he liked better.