He Makes Me Happy (Shyan Fanfic)

Breaking Shane

"Who should go first, Ryan or Ricky?" Robert asked out loud to no one. He leaned back in his leather chair and looked at the contracts. He was only able to get 2 guaranteed months out of them, but it was a start. Ricky would be an assassin because Ricky had seen how adept he was with a wide range of weapons. It would make more sense to keep Goldsworth around for longer, it seemed Shane had a stronger attachment to him. Plus, he could be useful for the time being.

"Or maybe... two birds with one stone?" Robert had an idea. It was risky, but if it worked out he wouldn't even need to get blood on his hands. If Ricky just happened to kill Ryan, that would take care of both of them. For once, Shane's odd moral compass was coming in handy, because he wouldn't tolerate Ricky if he killed that human. 

"You're a genius!" He laughed to himself, getting up from his seat and riffling through a drawer. Ricky already hated that human, all he needed was a little push. Perhaps Ryan was caught cheating on Shane, making Ricky kill him in a protective rage? That would certainly be reason enough for a hothead like Goldsworth to fly off the handle. 

Robert got out a piece of paper and set it gently on his desk. It wasn't time to start the plan just yet, because he needed a solid plan. So far his scheming had gone well, too well. It wasn't time to start pushing his luck. 

He smiled again as another idea came to mind. He scribbled it down before he could forget, the grin not fading from his face. About a month later, Robert would have a company party where you invite your significant others. Shane would bring Ryan of course, and Ricky is never far. All he needed was an actor to make it seem like Ryan was cheating, then all the pieces would fall into place. 

He laughed, it was low and hearty. No one else was nearby so it was just Robert and his plan. Years of trying to get Ricky and Shane back, only to throw one of them away. All in an attempt to bring Shane to his full potential. The heartbreak and fury that would be featuring inside him might just be enough to break those annoying morals he keeps ahold of. 

Before his goal was to get Shane and Ricky back, now he only had one desire. To break Shane. To break everything he loved. To destroy the life he had built and to replace it with what Robert knew would unlock his full potential. 

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It was 3:44, almost an hour since the phone call. Ryan was wandering through the halls again in an attempt to get a feel for the layout. At least, that was the excuse he gave Shane. Really he just needed space to think about what Ricky had said and what he meant by it. Of course, the most simple solution would just be to ask Shane about it, but Ryan knew he couldn't do that. 

Ryan peered into a room, expecting it to be empty like all the rest but was met with a guest bedroom. He entered with caution, still feeling out of place in the large, empty house. At least now he wasn't stumbling around completely directionless. 

The room was smaller than Shanes but it was still quite large. Ryan scanned the room without much thought, but something caught his eye. Under the bed there was to be a half-opened cardboard box with papers spilling out. He kneeled and pulled it out, realizing there was a lot more than he expected. In total, he stacked 7 books and multiple stacks of random paper. 

The books had no titles or cover art, they were just different shades of blue. He opened one up and saw that they were scrapbooks filled with pictures of Shane. He spent a few minutes organizing them chronologically, noticing just how many photos of him there were. Ryan still didn't know all that much about Shane's parents but if this book represented anything they really loved him. 

He flipped through the first book and saw pictures of Shane as a newborn. He quickly noticed a trend that whenever his parents were in a picture, their faces were scratched out. It was an eerie detail that he was willing to gloss over for the time being, but only because the baby pictures were adorable. 

The next book was Shane from ages 5-10, this was when Ryan started noticing more pictures of Ricky show up. They went trick or treating together, he was right next to Shane in all the birthday photos, and it even looked like he was there for all the Christmases. He wondered why Ricky's parents would let him be gone so much? They had been attached at the hip since they were small, it was cute but Ryan couldn't deny the twinge of jealously. No matter how much time he spent with Shane now, it would never make up for all those years he spent right next to Ricky. 

This scrapbook was the closest thing Ryan had to experiencing Shane's childhood, but at least it was something. The trend of his parents' faces being scratched out continued and it seemed to be getting more obvious and aggressive. For whatever reason, he had a feeling it wasn't Shane who was censoring the faces. It was just a hunch, really, because he had no proof. 

"Snooping around, are we?" although the words were playful, the tone was serious and maybe even a bit aggravated. Ryan quickly turned his head to see Ricky leaning in the doorway. Ryan's eyes went wide at the sight of him and he shut the book as he had been caught. Ricky had a blank look on his face but it was evident by the tone of his voice he didn't like what he was seeing. 

"What are you doing here?" The words came out harsher than he anticipated, but that was probably due to the remaining jealously from looking through the scrapbook.

"Shane wasn't answering his phone, I thought maybe you finally snapped he killed him" It was supposed to be a joke, but Ricky knew behind his words there was a hint of truth. Ever since he saw that vial of holy water he had doubted Ryan's intentions. "But what are you doing in here?" 

Ricky took a step closer and Ryan suddenly remember how he felt when Robert stepped closer. He didn't physically flinch but the alarms started to sound in his mind. 

"I just found some baby pictures" Ryan said, gesturing to his collection of relics from Shane's past. 

"Then you're probably wondering why his parents' faces are blacked out" Ricky took a seat next to Ryan and picked up one of the scrapbooks where Shane would be in his teens. He flipped to a page like it was second nature.

To Ryan's surprise, the faces weren't scratched out in this photo. It depicted Shane on his 18th birthday, standing next to Ricky (Of course) and his mom. She was smiling widely at the camera, but his father was nowhere to be seen. 

Ryan didn't say anything but Ricky continued. 

"This was right after we graduated" He explained, smiling fondly at the memory. It was weird to see Ricky being so talkative, so Ryan didn't interrupt with any questions. "We just got our ranks, that was before she found out..." Ricky trailed off, the sense of nostalgia washing away and a deep loathing replacing it. 

"What are ranks?" Ryan asked before he could bite his tongue. Luckily Ricky didn't even pause to consider the answer much.

"All demons get a number, 1-10 that determines how powerful they are, 10 is the highest" Ricky explained. He wasn't sure why he giving Ryan all this information, he wasn't even sure why he started talking to him in the first place. Maybe it had something to do with the revelation that Shane promised he wouldn't love anyone, so he didn't feel as threatened by Ryan. Ricky trusted Shane's word almost undoubtedly. Still, it would be nice to get some verbal confirmation. 

"Oh, I didn't know that" Ryan said. "is it rude to ask people what their ranks are?" 

Ricky laughed in a way that reminded Ryan of a Shane a little bit. 

"No, no, not at all" Ricky forgot that Ryan really knew nothing of this world. Ryan laughed along with him, feeling strangely comfortable. This was a big change from how Ricky was acting earlier, maybe this conversation was an olive branch.