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Description
Rating: PG-13, I guess? Mild language and some violence-y things
Summary: Ryan never thought he was crazy, but working at AH has started to make him reconsider that assessment...
One (Maybe two) shot

Ryan had never considered himself crazy… not even a little bit, to be honest. He was just a normal guy with a wife and kids who happened to play video games for a living. Sure, when his thoughts wandered, they didn’t always wander into rainbows and ponies, but no one was perfect. No, Ryan was completely sane… at least that’s what he had thought.

It started slowly at first, his inhibitions stripped away like peeling paint by the promises of virtual reality, where nothing was real and anything could happen. He went on killing sprees in MMOs, camping experienced players and watching as they went to pieces in chat, cursing him with caps-locked misspellings. He didn’t notice the sly smile that spread over his face as he struck a killing blow until Geoff pointed it out to him one day: “Dude, you look like a fucking psychopath. What’s with the grin?” But Ryan just brushed it off with a light chuckle and a shrug of his shoulders. It was just a game, after all.

When Gavin called him a lunatic for putting the pixelated cow that had been inhabiting his minecraft house into a hole, Ryan did the same. He’d known the viewers would get a kick out of it, and the expressions of shock and slight horror on his coworkers’ faces… well, that was just an added bonus.

From then on, he thought it best to embrace the character of “Crazy Ryan Haywood” and would slip on the mask for a little while every Let’s Play. The audience ate it up, and Ryan couldn’t help but smile a little as he read through the comments. In actuality, it was fun to pretend to be insane every once in awhile. You could say or do practically anything and it would just come off as another part of your mystique… being crazy made you interesting.
Later, Ryan wondered if that was what made him slip into the facade more and more every day. He couldn’t deny that he secretly loved the attention, he was only human after all, but there was always a possibility that nagged constantly at the back of his mind, one that he refused to acknowledge. What if he loved being “the Mad King” because that’s who he really was? Surely not, he convinced himself. He’d never really wanted to harm another human being, in fact, it was rare that he ever even got angry. But you’ve been curious, a small voice at the back of his mind replied.

Ryan just gritted his teeth at it, and continued working, but the impulses began to build up inside him, until they bled through from video games into his everyday life. Soon, his house contained an impressive set of kitchen knives, much too large for the amount of cooking he did, and always kept immaculately clean. He got nervous whenever his wife touched them, however, and always made sure they were out of his children's reach. He wasn’t a bad person, he told himself, as he surfed through gory pictures on Reddit, he just happened to find the way peoples’ limbs twisted and the pained expressions on their faces… interesting. Intriguing, even. But never enjoyable… not really. He wasn’t a bad person, he was perfectly normal, Ryan repeated as he deleted his browser history with a few guilty keystrokes.

At work, the feelings were less bothersome. The mask he had so carefully created forced him to let out the impulses he tried to keep bottled up at home. He escaped back into virtual reality, his old friend, and let them take over. In fact, he grew comfortable with them. Holes were for trapping things, animals were for stabbing, and blood… well, blood was beautiful. Fascinating really. The color entranced him, its warmth captivated him, and he couldn’t quite help wondering what it would feel like to cause its release.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was when he woke up one day with it covering his hands.

Description
Rating: PG-13, I guess? Mild language and some violence-y things
Summary: Ryan never thought he was crazy, but working at AH has started to make him reconsider that assessment...
One (Maybe two) shot

Ryan had never considered himself crazy… not even a little bit, to be honest. He was just a normal guy with a wife and kids who happened to play video games for a living. Sure, when his thoughts wandered, they didn’t always wander into rainbows and ponies, but no one was perfect. No, Ryan was completely sane… at least that’s what he had thought.

It started slowly at first, his inhibitions stripped away like peeling paint by the promises of virtual reality, where nothing was real and anything could happen. He went on killing sprees in MMOs, camping experienced players and watching as they went to pieces in chat, cursing him with caps-locked misspellings. He didn’t notice the sly smile that spread over his face as he struck a killing blow until Geoff pointed it out to him one day: “Dude, you look like a fucking psychopath. What’s with the grin?” But Ryan just brushed it off with a light chuckle and a shrug of his shoulders. It was just a game, after all.

When Gavin called him a lunatic for putting the pixelated cow that had been inhabiting his minecraft house into a hole, Ryan did the same. He’d known the viewers would get a kick out of it, and the expressions of shock and slight horror on his coworkers’ faces… well, that was just an added bonus.

From then on, he thought it best to embrace the character of “Crazy Ryan Haywood” and would slip on the mask for a little while every Let’s Play. The audience ate it up, and Ryan couldn’t help but smile a little as he read through the comments. In actuality, it was fun to pretend to be insane every once in awhile. You could say or do practically anything and it would just come off as another part of your mystique… being crazy made you interesting.
Later, Ryan wondered if that was what made him slip into the facade more and more every day. He couldn’t deny that he secretly loved the attention, he was only human after all, but there was always a possibility that nagged constantly at the back of his mind, one that he refused to acknowledge. What if he loved being “the Mad King” because that’s who he really was? Surely not, he convinced himself. He’d never really wanted to harm another human being, in fact, it was rare that he ever even got angry. But you’ve been curious, a small voice at the back of his mind replied.

Ryan just gritted his teeth at it, and continued working, but the impulses began to build up inside him, until they bled through from video games into his everyday life. Soon, his house contained an impressive set of kitchen knives, much too large for the amount of cooking he did, and always kept immaculately clean. He got nervous whenever his wife touched them, however, and always made sure they were out of his children's reach. He wasn’t a bad person, he told himself, as he surfed through gory pictures on Reddit, he just happened to find the way peoples’ limbs twisted and the pained expressions on their faces… interesting. Intriguing, even. But never enjoyable… not really. He wasn’t a bad person, he was perfectly normal, Ryan repeated as he deleted his browser history with a few guilty keystrokes.

At work, the feelings were less bothersome. The mask he had so carefully created forced him to let out the impulses he tried to keep bottled up at home. He escaped back into virtual reality, his old friend, and let them take over. In fact, he grew comfortable with them. Holes were for trapping things, animals were for stabbing, and blood… well, blood was beautiful. Fascinating really. The color entranced him, its warmth captivated him, and he couldn’t quite help wondering what it would feel like to cause its release.

Maybe he shouldn’t have been as surprised as he was when he woke up one day with it covering his hands.