Chapter Text
Dylan currently had this unspoken thing going on with a cute regular at work.
Well, it wasn’t exactly an unspoken thing, or a thing at all. Dylan was just overthinking and over-romanticizing every interaction they had.
It was the same everyday; the cute regular would come in, order an americano, and then go sit in the corner and put his earbuds in, gazing out the window for half-an-hour. Dylan took this time to occasionally sneak a glance. Dark skin, dark eyes, dark coily hair, and very attractive. Ever since this little tradition started, Dylan would put more care and effort into his appearance, waking up earlier to actually get ready for his shift. He’d stare into the mirror forever, trying to style his hair in different ways. All for that quick 30 second interaction he’d get with americano dude.
Still, it was the highlight of his shift. Dylan got to make up fake scenarios in his head about him and this mystery man. Was his maladaptive daydreaming compensating for not having been in a relationship since the 9th grade because of fear of rejection? Maybe. But was Dylan’s pathetic love life going to stop him from fantasizing about what could be? No. It was a bittersweet feeling, especially when he finally snapped out of his thoughts. The boring reality of Dylan being too much of a pussy to ask him out hit him like a truck every day.
Unsurprisingly, his staring was glaringly obvious, so his co-worker Kaitlyn quickly caught on to his little crush after watching him stare doe-eyed at the guy for 5 minutes straight. She grinned, poking his arm, "He’s pretty cute, but he’s really got that, like, loner vibe down, doesn’t he?"
Dylan snickered, "He really does, very brooding and mysterious. But I cannot read that man at all, I think the most I’ve gotten out of him was a smile when I said his shirt was cool."
"Ah, so he’s a man of few words. Perfectly compliments you."
Dylan hung his mouth open dramatically, "Are you saying I talk too much?"
Kaitlyn pursed her lips, nodding, "That is exactly what I’m saying, you are a very eccentric person. Maybe this loner guy is your other half, the missing puzzle piece."
Dylan rolled his eyes, "I doubt he’s even into guys."
Kaitlyn raised her eyebrows, very doubtful and looking between Dylan and the guy in the corner, who was still blissfully unaware of the café workers gossiping about him. "Yeah… sure."
He gave her a look, "What’s that even supposed to mean? Yeah, sure?"
"Look man, you won’t know unless you ask. Be bolder! What’s there to lose?" Kaitlyn exaggerated with her hands before placing them on her hips.
"Oh I don’t know Kaitlyn, maybe accidentally scaring off the cute customer that comes in everyday and tips me and in turn ruining my daydreams about him because I’ll never see him ever ever ever again." Dylan trailed off, his voice laced with sarcasm.
"Wait a minute," Kaitlyn held up her hands, "He tips you? Oh my god he so likes you."
Dylan guffawed, trying to come up with a reason for his tipping. It wasn’t common for customers to tip café workers, they were all broke college students so it wasn’t like they had much to tip anyways. "Okay, tipping someone does not mean you are attracted to that person, it just means you’re not an asswipe of a human being and possibly a not completely broke college student."
Kaitlyn looked him up and down, "Mhm, whatever you say." She opened her mouth to say more but was cut off by the sound of the door opening, a bell ringing alerting them to a new customer.
"Kaitlyn! Dylan! My favorite coffee people!" Jacob waltzed up to the counter with his arms wide open, as if he expected a hug from across the counter, "You know the dealio, my friends. I need me some coffee. I think it’s uh, it’s a caramel frappuccino with whipped cream " He squinted at the menu before grinning at Kaitlyn and Dylan.
Dylan met Jacob through Kaitlyn. And he met Kaitlyn through work. At first it was this weird ‘work-friends’ situation going on with Kaitlyn since they only ever talked when they had the same shift. But one day Kaitlyn invited Dylan to a hang-sesh at her dorm where he then met Jacob. Dylan’s circle mainly just consisted of those two and any others the socialites decided to introduce him to. As outgoing as he was, Dylan was not too keen on many of the douchebags that went to their college.
Still, his go-to with anyone, regardless of friendship status, was sarcasm and joking around.
"Ooh, bad news man, yeah turns out. Uhm." Dylan smacked his lips together, sucking in a breath "Coffee’s broken so… can’t help ya’ there." He shrugged, indicating he’d already tried his hardest to fix it. And by that he meant leaning against the drip machine and patting it on the top.
Kaitlyn glared at Dylan before turning her attention towards Jacob, "Alright, pause. A frappuccino? That is not something you would order. Who is it this time?" Jacob had an unfortunate love life, getting attached way too easily and every time, without fail, he’d get his heart broken.
Jacob groaned, "It’s for me, I’m stepping out of my comfort zone." He averted his gaze before giving up, "Look, come on just make it for me and quick please. I’m begging you two." His hands clasped together as he pleaded his case.
"I dunno what to tell you man, the coffee’s broken. But… it might unbreak if you uh, tell us who you accidentally caught feelings for this time." Dylan tapped the counter next to him, looking at Jacob expectantly.
Jacob hung his head, sighing, "It’s just this girl from across the state, she’s visiting a friend and super cute and super nice and asked me to get her a coffee and I cannot mess this up." Jacob hurriedly explained himself, running a hand through his hair.
"Ohoh, hell yeah, I love guilting people into admitting things! Up top, Kaitlyn." Dylan turned to Kaitlyn and held his arm up, specifically the one missing a hand.
Dylan hadn’t had a left hand since he was 17, almost 2 years ago. It was a pretty traumatic event, but he coped with that fact through humor, always joking about his stump of an arm. He didn’t have nearly enough money for a prosthetic and insurance wouldn’t cover it, but he was fine with that, it only added to his possible jokes.
Kaitlyn's eyes grew wide, the panic growing on her face. "Wh- Dude, what do you want me to do here?"
"High five me, silly!"
"High-five what?"
"Uh, my stump, obviously?"
Kaitlyn seemed a little horrified, lightly tapping her palm against where Dylan’s hand used to be. "Jesus Christ."
Jacob laughed at the two, a wide grin on his face as he rested against the counter on his elbows.
Dylan had a smug grin on his face, happy with the joke he pulled on Kaitlyn. He glanced over at where the raven-haired loner boy was sitting, his face slowly dropping when he realized he wasn’t there anymore. Dylan must’ve been so distracted with Jacob and Kaitlyn he didn’t see him slip out. He frowned, staring out the frosted glass of the café's windows, pointlessly searching for a glimpse of americano boy. "Damn…" He muttered under his breath.
By this point Jacob drew back to stand by the window and scroll through his phone, occasionally very aggressively tapping it, probably responding to texts. Kaitlyn was already on frappuccino duty, leaving Dylan with nothing to do but fall back into daydreams about americano boy.
-
Dylan didn’t have classes on Sundays, so that left him with literally nothing to do besides go to work for a few hours in the morning and then dick around the rest of the day. Today's dicking around included playing a very intense game of Uno with his roommate Nick before heading over to one of Jacob’s frat parties. Kaitlyn invited him so she’d have someone besides, in her words, "an airhead to hangout with".
Of course, most nights Nick wasn’t even at the dorm. Dylan was 90% he had a secret girlfriend or hook up that he wasn’t telling Dylan about. Nick always excused it as him studying late in the library or being at the soccer field for a midnight run. Still, Dylan never pushed for more information. If Nick wanted to tell him something, he’d tell him in time.
"Not to like, brag or anything, but I think I’m winning this game." Dylan stretched his legs out, placing his stack of cards down and drawing the one on top out to play. It was a bit awkward not having two hands to play a card game, but you learn to adjust.
Nick shook his head, "I have lost literally every round we’ve played, I hate this."
Dylan originally wasn’t supposed to have a roommate in his dorm, but Nick moved from Australia to New York a few days before the first semester started, so it was a last minute switchup. Luckily, the two got along really well right off the bat, especially once Nick learned Dylan had a cat in the dorm. He had to jump through so many hoops to get his cat approved to live in his dorm even though she was considered a therapy cat. Dylan got her a few weeks after his amputation and trained her himself. Her full name was Schrödinger Baggage Lenivy, but Dylan mostly called her Bag.
"All things considered you’re doing really well, I mean," Dylan laughed, "You have less cards than you did last round."
"That’s because you hit me with like three plus fours, who has three plus fours??"
He scoffed, "Hey, this is a game of skill, there is zero luck in this- Oh hold on, Uno," Dylan cut himself off to place his second to last card, "As I was saying, there is zero luck. It’s all skill and practice."
Nick glared at him through his 8 cards, petting Bag calmly, who was sitting in his lap and purring, kneading her paws into his thigh, "Yeah, right."
Nick pulled a new card and Dylan slapped his final card down, "Boo-yah, baby! I should go pro, honestly."
"You just keep gloating and see what happens." Nick packed the cards back up neatly in one stack, starting to clean up the strewn about cards on the floor.
"Ehhh, I’ll take my chances." Dylan glanced at his phone, "I do have to get going though, I’m more scared of Kaitlyn than I am of you, Bud." He snapped his fingers, blasting a finger gun at Nick as he stood up and grabbed a jacket for the cold fall air outside.
Dylan bent down by Nick, scratching Bag’s head and behind her ears. "I’ll see you later, you little ugly thing." She purred at the endearing nickname, flopping upside in Nick’s lap.
"Right, well, have fun flirting with frat boys." Nick took over petting Bag, rubbing her stomach and massaging her paws.
"Wow, that is cold. I have higher standards than that." Dylan clicked his tongue, pretending to be hurt and looking back at Nick.
Nick shrugged, "Ya’ never know."
Dylan wrinkled his nose in disgust, throwing one of Bag’s mouse toys at Nick’s head before slipping out the door, tugging his jacket on.
Dylan had no intention of flirting with anyone at the party. Big, giant parties with a shit ton of drunk college-students wasn’t his thing. He liked to be more lowkey, throw a party with a smaller group of drunk college-friends, those kinds of parties are way more fun.
Nevertheless, he’d be lying if he wasn’t a little excited. This is the first big college party he’d be going to freshman year, and maybe it would be a little fun. Dylan opened his phone to double check the address and where he was headed, getting lost on campus in the pitch darkness was not the way he wanted to spend this night. Lucky for him, he could see the lights and hear the music and yelling from a while away, which led him in the right direction.
The front-lawn was littered with people dancing, talking, and drinking. God be damned if the cops didn’t eventually show up, it was already 9 P.M. Until then, Dylan would enjoy himself as soon as he found Kaitlyn. He pushed through the crowd, mumbling "excuse me" and "sorry" every now and then. Dylan finally stumbled into the foyer. It wasn’t hard to find Jacob in the crowd though, he was loudly yelling and clambering atop a dining table. Dylan smiled, shaking his head. Jacob was the definition of a himbo.
"Hey big guy, what’cha doin’?" Dylan yelled at Jacob, who in turn looked around wildly before breaking out into a big grin when his eyes landed on Dylan.
"Dylan! My man, I was looking for you!" Jacob climbed, or more like fell, off the table and scrambled over to grasp Dylan’s shoulders, "There's someone that Kaitlyn really wanted you to meet!" He was talking way too loudly and slurring his words slightly, the smell of alcohol quickly overcame Dylan.
Dylan grimaced, "Yeah, yeah, cool, maybe in the meantime you can stop yelling?"
"Oh shit!" Jacob cleared his throat, "My bad, come on, they’re somewhere in here." Jacob kept one arm on Dylan’s shoulder, guiding him through the dining room to the corner.
Kaitlyn was leaned against the door frame in the corner of the room, one leg propped up on the wall. She was talking to someone next to her, but Dylan couldn’t see just yet. A sly grin crept onto her face. She made eye contact with Dylan and wiggled her eyebrows. Dylan furrowed his brows and scrunched up his nose, he had no idea why she made that face. That was until he had a full view of who she was just talking to.
None other than americano boy, who was sitting on the floor with one leg stretched out and the other propped up to rest his arm on. Dylan nearly choked on air when he saw him, he had to place his hand on Jacob’s back to steady himself. He got so nervous that his legs nearly gave out on him, it felt like his muscles had just been replaced with jello. The unspoken work crush guy was the last person Dylan would expect to see at this party.
Not that this was an unwelcome surprise. In fact, this might just be Dylan’s one chance to get to know this guy better, and maybe slip him his number, test the waters a bit. Dylan still didn’t even know if they were gay or not.
"Oh uh, hey Kaitlyn, and uh… Kaitlyn’s friend." Dylan nodded towards the guy on the floor. He realized he never actually got his name the several times he ordered coffee. Dylan always just labeled his order as "americano - 12 oz".
Kaitlyn pushed herself off the wall, "Dylan!" She pulled him in for a quick hug, shoving Jacob off to the side, "This is Ryan! He’s actually Jacob’s English tutor." She shimmied her shoulders, pulling back from Dylan and squeezing her hands shut.
"Yeah, yeah, you’re the uh, alluring mysterious americano guy that’s always in our café." Dylan winked at Ryan, who had now moved off the floor to lean against the wall. He took just a moment to sweep his eyes over Ryan’s outfit. He looked good, even in just a simple dark T-shirt and dark wash jeans. It suddenly made Dylan very aware of the fact he was not dressed well by any means. When it came to fashion Dylan was a bit lost.
Ryan nodded, his expression seemingly unchanged, "Alluring, huh?"
Dylan shrugged, "Extremely. I mean, I gotta hand it to you, you really nailed being the handsome coffee drinking introvert." Dylan was laying the compliments on thick, "Assuming that’s what you were going for?"
Ryan chuckled at that, it was light and airy, but still with a deep rumble. It made Dylan’s heart skip a beat. "Thank you, yeah, that’s basically my entire personality." He responded nonchalantly, so he was funny, a score in Dylan's book.
Kaitlyn scoffed, "Bullshit, as if you weren’t just telling me about the podcasts you listen to."
"Podcasts, huh?" Dylan raised his eyebrows, leaning a little more towards Ryan. He was weirdly interested in what Ryan listened to. He always thought his earbuds were blasting something like heavy metal.
Ryan rubbed the back of his neck, shifting his weight to his other foot, "Uh, yeah, just some like, paranormal shit. Like ghost stories I guess."
"Well now my interest is piqued, cute and into horror stories, please continue."
Kaitlyn pulled Jacob closer to her and whispered something in his ear. Jacob’s eyes grew wide and he slapped a hand over his grin, giggling like a school-girl. Kaitlyn tried to suppress her own grin. Ryan and Dylan both shot the two a weird look, but Kaitlyn brushed it off.
"Hey, you know, I haven’t had a drink yet," Kaitlyn cleared her throat, "So, I think Jacob and I are gonna go find some booze, why don’t you two just…" She puffed up her cheeks, looking away for a moment, "talk?"
Dylan narrowed his eyes, he knew exactly what stunt Kaitlyn was pulling. But he couldn’t help the smile that grew on his face. Kaitlyn was, without a doubt, the best wing-woman. She’d gotten Dylan 2 guys' number the first week they met at work – not that those relationships worked out. Jacob was just kinda there, still all giddy and grinning. The two slunk off, Jacob trailing after Kaitlyn and briefly turning back to give Dylan two big thumbs up.
"Oookay," Dylan dragged out, "That was a little weird, not gonna lie, but uh, please, continue." He turned his attention back to Ryan, smiling when they made eye contact.
Ryan hummed, "Nothing that cool, just shares some urban legends about this town upstate."
"No, no, that sounds cool, what’s it called?" Dylan shuffled a little closer after being continuously shouldered by people walking through the dining room. This helped him better judge how tall Ryan was. He was shorter than Dylan, but still tall. He also had a freckle on the side of his mouth, cute.
"Bizarre yet Bonafide, there’s really only a few episodes out."
The conversation continued from there, spurring into new directions and topics. When talking, Dylan mostly led the conversation. Ryan listened, it wasn’t like he was uninterested, he just wasn’t much of a talker, which Dylan figured as much. It was nice for a change, to have someone genuinely listen to you. Ryan still had stuff to say, like when they talked about the worst professors at the school and ranked the top 10 best horror movies of all time (Dylan swears by American Psycho but Ryan was adamant the best by far was Silence of the Lambs).
The pair clicked together, and Ryan was grateful for someone to talk to at the party. Kaitlyn was nice, he liked her enough, but she was just very apprehensive the whole conversation, like she was waiting for something.
With Dylan, Ryan could just chill and slowly sip away at his solo cup filled with obviously spiked punch. And with Ryan, Dylan could not-so-subtly flirt and talk about his interests.
"So, what are you majoring in?" Dylan asked.
"Ah, you know, boring shit. English with a minor in Journalism."
"Nah, not boring at all, dude. Literature’s sick, and it’s fitting for you, you’re totally the type to like writing." Dylan said, "Plus, English majors are the hottest ones of us all." He feigned a dreamy sigh, batting his eyelashes.
Ryan bit the inside of his cheek to hide his smile, "I… have no response to that." Dylan just grinned, "But, since you now know my major, I gotta hear what you do."
"Physics. Gonna try to get a masters in quantum science."
Ryan snorted, "Ok."
"Wh- No, no I’m being for real! I am actually majoring in Physics. I know I don’t look the type, but uh, this devilishly handsome man is actually a nerd." He motioned to himself with his hand, flowing up and down his body.
"Oh." Ryan blinked, "That’s really cool, I totally thought you were joking. Sorry man."
"Ah, don’t sweat it. I’ve gotten that reaction a couple times when I tell people, they think I joke too much to actually be serious at times."
"Well." Ryan hesitated, "It’s hard to see you being serious, but I’m starting to get the picture."
"Oh yeah? Maybe you’ll just have to see me in action, but be warned, you will fall in love with me." Dylan stated, nodding his head wisely, "It’s hard not to."
"Heh, might have to take you up on that offer. Not like I have anything better to do in my free time."
Dylan gasped, "Think you can fit time in your very very busy schedule for me?" His voice hitched up at the end, fanning himself with one hand.
"Don’t go assuming, I am a busy man, I choose who to spend my free time with carefully."
"Right, and tonight you decided to spend it at a frat party, which is totally your scene."
Ryan sighed, shaking his head, "Jacob basically forced me to come, I was tutoring him upstairs when the party started. Turns out he had an overlapping schedule today. So he dragged me downstairs and begged me to stay." Ryan sipped his drink, "And then uh, your friend, Kaitlyn?" Dylan nodded, "Mhm, she came up to me and just started talking, I guess."
"Yeah, that’s what she did with me at work. I was too scared to actually talk to her at first. Then she called me a ‘fucking idiot’ for spilling coffee on myself and then laughed at me, and now we’re best friends forever!" Dylan reminisced, "She’s a doll, really."
"I’m sure she is." A lapse of silence fell over the two. Not awkward or anything, but it was hard to think of a new topic to cover past that. It wasn’t like Dylan to keep silent for long, he was thinking.
"So… did you like my little doodles on your napkins?"
Ryan seemed a little shocked, "That was you?"
Dylan made a mix between a confused and judgmental face, puckering his lips a little, "... Yes? Literally who else would it have been. I made your coffee. And gave it to you."
"I- Okay look, man, I didn’t know for sure. But I liked the doodles, they’re not half bad."
"Heh, thanks." Dylan was proud, he tried his best on those drawings, "I was quite the art kid in high school."
He grinned, "I bet you were the school's ASB president or whatever, that one kid who did everything and went to every club."
Dylan clicked his tongue, "Nah, I was mainly known as the gay kid, and then the gay kid who lost his hand." He snickered to himself, "But, I was actually on ASB, I did the announcements over the loudspeaker for like two years?" Ryan had a hard time telling when he was being serious-jokey or jokey-jokey.
Ryan paused, not sure how to answer, "Oh."
"Very relatable, I’m sure."
"I… think for a small group of people, maybe?" He hesitated before continuing his answer.
Dylan chuckled. Making people uncomfortable with amputee jokes was his favorite pastime. He only felt a little guilty about it at times. He was going to ask Ryan another question before Jacob came barreling through the door frame on their right, nearly knocking over a chair with some overflowing cardboard boxes on it.
"There you two are! Wow, you have not moved at all." Jacob’s shoulders slumped, "Uh, we are, currently, well, about to, start playing truth or dare with some people upstairs, and Kaitlyn really wanted you two," He interrupted himself with a giggle, "She wanted you two to come up and play too."
Dylan and Ryan turned to look at each other, sharing a look. Dylan tilted his head, truth or dare didn’t sound like that bad of an idea. It could be fun, albeit stereotypical for a college party.
Dylan turned back to look at Jacob, "I am totally down and definitely not just because there’s a slight chance, small chance, I could kiss Ryan."
The raven laughed, shaking his head.
"No? Okay, compromise, your number?"
Ryan huffed, "I dunno, big parties and big party games aren’t my thing."
"Nahh, it’s chill, I swear! Just a few of us." Jacob stressed, Kaitlyn was really on his ass to get both of them upstairs.
Ryan frowned, "Maybe in a little? You both can start without me."
"Woah, woah, I may be an absolute party animal, like unleash the beast party machine, but I don’t ditch people, especially handsome loners."
Jacob bit the inside of his cheek, smirking at the duo. He was a little disappointed the two didn’t want to play, and he wasn’t excited to go about explaining that to Kaitlyn, but he wasn’t gonna push them to do anything. Besides, Dylan totally had this in the bag. Jacob stepped back, putting his hands up, "Well, it won’t be too hard to find us if you change your minds." With that, he did a half-jog, half-walk back upstairs through the foyer.
Dylan studied Ryan’s face, he was staring blankly ahead, mindlessly cracking the same knuckle over and over again, lost in thought. Ryan finally seemed to sense the staring, meeting Dylan’s gaze.
"You stare a lot." He stated dryly and matter-of-factly.
"What can I say, it’s hard to tear my eyes off of you," He slumped against the wall, letting his head roll to his shoulder, still staring at Ryan.
Ryan softly smiled, but broke eye contact, tracing the cracks in the floorboards with his eyes and swallowing a lump in his throat. "I, uh," he sighed, not sure how to word what he was trying to say. Dylan sat back up when he saw the apprehension from Ryan, "Just to like, let you know, I’m not really into one-night stands or hookup culture."
Dylan let out a mixture between a laugh and a relieved sigh, resting his hand over his beating heart, "Jesus, dude, I thought you were about to say you weren’t into guys and I was just wasting my time." Dylan chuckled, closing his eyes for a moment, opening one to check on Ryan, "You do like guys, right?"
"Huh? Wait, what? I mean, yeah, but-"
"Believe it or not," Dylan adjusted the way he was sitting, pulling himself up more so his back was flush to the wall and grunting, "I don’t just want to get into your pants." He blinked, "Sorry if I made it seem like I was just a horny fuckboy, I know I can come off kinda strong."
"Ah," Ryan’s eyes roamed around the room, not focusing on anything in particular, "So you’re just flirting?"
"Flirting to flirt, and to hopefully get your number, but baby steps, Ryan, baby steps."
He nodded, resting his previously tensed muscles. "Might take some more of your delicious coffees for convincing."
Dylan was amused, "Right, because americano’s are so yummy." He said sarcastically.
"Don’t judge what you haven’t tried." Ryan was opening up a bit more, once again actually responding to Dylan’s jokes with his own witty comeback.
"Eh, too late." Dylan didn’t know what he was missing out on, Ryan loved the bitterness of americanos, "Speaking of drinks, you want me to grab you some more punch? Maybe a beer? I need a drink to withstand this shitty music." Ryan had mostly tuned out the noise of the party, choosing to focus on whatever Dylan was talking about. But Dylan was right, it was shitty music.
"Oh, uh, yeah sure a beer sounds good. Thanks."
Dylan winked at him, taking the now empty solo cup out of his hands to throw away. Dylan slinked through the room and out of Ryan’s view, heading off to the cooler to grab some beer bottles in the kitchen.
Ryan stood up, his knees cracking and buckling like they hadn’t moved in years. They must’ve been sitting and talking for at least an hour, Ryan had lost track of time. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. The house wasn’t as packed as it was earlier, most people had filtered out to the backyard to hang out in the pool. Originally, spending his night at a frat party was the last thing Ryan wanted to do, and he was planning on sneaking out whenever Kaitlyn stopped talking to him. And then Dylan showed up, and for whatever reason Ryan was enjoying himself, especially now that he knew Dylan wasn’t looking for a hookup.
Ryan drew in a breath, the smell of alcohol and sweaty teens hitting his nose. What a great reminder as to why he hates parties. He waited impatiently for Dylan to return, already overwhelmed with the number of conversations he could suddenly hear. He awkwardly shuffled closer to the living room on his left, through to where Dylan had left a minute ago.
To Ryan’s relief, he spotted Dylan pushing through the crowd, holding two open beer bottles by the necks in one hand. Ryan flashed a smile his way, taking one of the bottles and tipping it back for a sip. He contorted his face, it was strong.
"Miss me?" Dylan joked.
"Actually, a little. You’re kinda my only company here."
"Ah, good thing you’re my only company too."
"Well, you have Jacob and Kaitlyn."
"I see those bozo’s way too much, it’s no big deal." Dylan brushed off his comment, he much preferred spending time with Ryan right now.
Ryan made an ‘mhm’ noise, taking another swig from the strong bottle.
Dylan cleared his throat after drinking, "I’m not normally an alcohol person, but you’ve really gone and drawn out my inner wolf, I’m feeling dangerous tonight."
Ryan stifled a laugh, "Yeah, your alpha presence is almost too much for me."
"Almost?" Dylan raised an eyebrow, "Sounds like I’m not trying hard enough then."
Another stretch of silence came over the two as they slowly sipped away at their beers. That was until Dylan smacked Ryan’s arm lightly, motioning his head towards a hallway off to the side of the room, where no people were.
"You wanna head somewhere quieter? You just look a little overwhelmed."
Ryan gulped, nodding, "That'd be nice, there's just a lot of people in here. Sort of forgot they were here."
"Mm, right," Dylan understood, "Too distracted by my charming nature and good looks."
"Your ego is unmatched, Dylan."
Dylan grinned, "I try."
They made their way into the lone hallway, which was adorned with some pictures of a bunch of guys, it was probably their photo wall. Lamenting all their greatest feats, like catching a fish and posing shirtless with it.
"Cozy." Dylan shimmied his shoulders, referring to how thin the hallway was.
"Quieter." Ryan added. The sounds from the rest of the party were diluted once the door to the hallway was closed.
"Very true, quieter was much needed."
Ryan just hummed in response, drinking more beer. Dylan watched his lips part to take another swig, he sucked in a breath, getting a bit distracted. He reluctantly pulled his eyes away. Ryan was hard to judge, Dylan didn't know when was too much and how far he could go with his flirting, or if his staring made Ryan uncomfortable.
His mind wandered back to Kaitlyn and Jacob. He'd just seen Jacob maybe 15 minutes ago, but he hadn't seen Kaitlyn since the start of the party. Dylan had also completely forgotten about his phone. He placed his beer down on a shelf and grabbed his phone, unlocking it.
The only notification he had was a text from Nick, letting him know he was crashing at someone else's dorm. Dylan scoffed, he totally had a secret girlfriend. Or he was a major player.
"Dylan?" Ryan caught his attention, drawing his eyes from his phone to look up.
"Hm?"
"I asked when your next shift was."
"Oh," Dylan turned his phone off, "Sorry, roomie texted. I always have early morning shifts with Kaitlyn. Mainly just to catch this cute guy that comes in and orders coffee." Dylan leaned against the wall opposite Ryan, "Kinda scheduled my shifts around him, actually."
"Really? Who?" Dylan genuinely couldn't tell if Ryan was kidding or not.
Dylan deadpanned, grabbing his phone back off the shelf, "Take a guess, sweetheart."
The corner of Ryan’s eyes crinkled, "I'm kidding, I figured it was me."
"Oh darn it, have I been too obvious?"
"Not at all, don’t worry. Maybe if you keep up the compliments I might give you my number."
Dylan tilted his head downwards, slightly, looking at Ryan with half-lidded eyes. He was a little flustered and not too used to people flirting back, at least he was pretty sure Ryan was flirting. Giving Ryan a sideways glance, he wrapped his arms around himself, "Don’t write a check that your ass can’t cash."
Ryan, unwavering as usual, quipped, "My ass has got quite the back account, thank you."
Dylan exhaled out of his nose as a half-laugh, looking away, "So that’s how you afford those americano’s everyday and still tip me."
He shrugged, "Good service."
"Good incentive, wouldn’t want to leave you unimpressed with my amazing coffee making." He looked back at Ryan, "And just to make sure that I haven’t weirded you out too much, like we’re still gonna have this unspoken thing go on?"
"Unspoken thing?"
"Yeah," Dylan’s voice jumped, and he lifted one shoulder up, shifting his gaze up to the ceiling, "The whole coffee shop thing. Y’know, where you come in, order a unique drink from the very cute barista, then go brood mysteriously in the corner while I watch you from afar."
"Like a stalker?"
"No! Like an admirer, thank you."
Ryan pursed his lips, "I always just listen to my podcast and totally zone out."
"I’ve caught you staring a few times." Dylan teased.
"Maybe… once or twice, sure."
"Like what you see?"
"Don’t flatter yourself, I spend way more time staring out that window than staring at you."
"You could change that."
"Mmm, smooth."
"Wh- You could! I like to think I’m not half bad."
"I guess so, I am still willingly hanging out with you, so that has to mean something." Ryan’s monotone voice had a hint of flirtation behind it. Dylan was guessing the alcohol had loosened him up a bit.
Dylan bit down on his bottom lip, "I’m liking flirty Ryan. But I’m still holding you to that promise you’d give me your number."
"Technically, I didn’t promise anything," Ryan took another drink of his beer, scrunching his face up, "I don’t know why I keep drinking this, it isn’t good beer. Why’d you get shitty beer?"
"It was either that or Bud Lights, and I hate Bud Lights. That and it’s significantly harder to hold two cans in one hand than two bottles." Dylan waved his left wrist around.
Ryan’s face flushed red, "Jesus… yeah okay, fair point."
The two talked for a little longer, Dylan was showing Ryan this game on his phone he’d somehow gotten over 500 hours in on. Ryan was a little concerned, especially upon seeing Dylan’s screen time and calling him an iPad kid, which Dylan vehemently denied. That conversation then divulged into Dylan going on a rant about Newtonian mechanics, which Ryan only half-understood at times.
Dylan stopped talking when he thought he heard his name being called in the distance. He stared blankly at a spot in the wall, trying to see if he could hear it again. And sure enough, he heard a faint yell of "Dylan!" in the distance, it sort of sounded like Kaitlyn.
His eyes met Ryan’s and he raised his eyebrows, silently asking if it was ok to check out where the noise was coming from. Ryan was the first to push off the wall and make his way into the foyer. Taking that as a yes, Dylan followed right behind, almost running into his back when he abruptly stopped. He had to stop himself with a hand on Ryan’s shoulder, swerving to his left and smoothly letting his arm wrap around Ryan.
Ryan barely batted an eye at this, more focused on Kaitlyn, who was in front of them.
"Heyyy- Oh, okayy get it, damn Dylan." She grinned seeing Dylan’s arm around Ryan, "Sorry to draw you two out of hiding, but I was gonna head out and you haven’t been answering your phone."
Dylan was confused, he was just on his phone maybe 10 minutes ago, and he put his phone on vibrate for once. He reluctantly removed his hand to pull his phone out his back pocket. Sure enough, his phone was not turning on at all.
"Aww, fuck me. Phone’s dead."
"Eh, Jacob probably has a charger somewhere, but he’s very passed out. Kinda funny, he passed out on this blonde, I think it was the girl he was talking about this morning." Kaitlyn suppressed a smile, covering her mouth with a finger, "Still, most people are filing out now cause someone threw up in the pool… and the front yard. Plus the beers are all gone, so… not much worth being here for."
Dylan glanced over back at Ryan, "I can think of a few worthwhile things."
Kaitlyn had a smug look on her face, she knew they would hit it off. Still she was dead tired and ready to go home, "Okay, well, I hate to be that person but you did promise me you’d walk me back to my dorm?"
"Oh. Yeah, I did promise that."
"You really don’t have to, I can make it there fine. I’m not that wasted."
"Not exactly what I’m worried about, but I won’t bail on you. Ryan could join us," Dylan spoke before thinking, "Assuming he wants to?" He turned, asking Ryan.
"Got nothing better to do, yeah, sure."
The air outside was brisk and the wind nipped at any exposed skin on the trio. Ryan was suddenly regretting his choice to not wear a jacket to Jacob’s. He thought he’d only be over there an hour at most. Lo and behold, here he is finally walking home 4 hours later.
Kaitlyn was a few steps ahead of the boys, trying her best to avoid each crack in the sidewalk. Dylan and Ryan walked side-by-side, with Dylan on the outside of the sidewalk, closer to the road. The denim fabric of Dylan’s jacket brushed against Ryan’s arm, it was a welcome warmth to his bare skin, and Ryan found himself inching a bit closer to Dylan.
This didn’t go unnoticed by Dylan, who was unable to stop a goofy grin from taking over his face. "You cold?"
"Never."
"Are you sure? Cause I’ve been told I’m a very warm person."
Ryan didn’t respond, instead opting to wrap his own arms around himself. Forever stubborn ‘til the end. Dylan shook his head, already pulling his jacket off and draping it over Ryan’s shoulders. Ryan glanced up at Dylan, offering a small smile in return, pulling the jacket tighter around himself. He did a double take upon noticing the edge of a tattoo peeking out from Dylan’s shirt.
Ryan stopped walking, tugging on Dylan’s sleeve, causing him to stumble backwards, tripping over his feet and shooting Ryan a confused look. Ryan said nothing, just pushing Dylan’s sleeve cuff up to trace the tattoo with his finger. It was a half-realistic, half-geometric drawing of a wolf. He looked up at the taller brunet, raising his eyebrows.
"You have a tattoo?"
Dylan’s face burned, eyes widening and his lips parting. The feeling of Ryan’s hand on his arm was messing with his heart and brain. And the fact he literally just traced his tattoo with a finger made him want to combust right then and there. He stuttered over his words, trying to come up with a response to a simple question. "Yeah, it’s uhm, yeah, I do."
Ryan turned his head to the side, giving the tattoo another once over. His hand was resting on Dylan’s lower bicep, his fingers slightly gripping into the skin. Ryan nodded, pulling back, his fingers brushing against Dylan’s skin. "It’s cool, I like it." He turned on his heel, continuing to walk and leaving Dylan having to speed up to catch his pace.
Dylan felt like he was going to barf butterflies, which wasn’t exactly the cutest way to word it, but his stomach was bubbling with alcohol and that giddy feeling you get around your crush. Dylan stuffed his hand in his jeans pocket, looking over at Ryan every now and then to make sure he was fine. Ryan was huddled up in his jacket, which was maybe the best thing he’d seen all year.
Kaitlyn was obliviously trotting along, now way ahead of them, but they were almost at her dorm building, which was only 2 buildings down from Dylan’s place. All the dormitories on campus were coed, it wasn’t gender separated or anything like that. Dylan didn’t know if Ryan lived on campus or not, but he was still walking with them, so it was a safe bet he did. Still, Dylan felt inclined to ask.
"You live on-campus?"
"Mhm, building 3, floor 2."
Dylan widened his eyes in surprise, "No shit! I live on floor 3. How have I never bumped into you?"
"Wait really? I had no idea you were in my building, what's your room number?"
"Why, you wanna sneak in later?" Dylan winked, causing Ryan to shoot him a dull look, "Kidding, it’s 307."
Ryan hummed, "203."
"Might just have to hang out more often now that we know we’re basically next-door neighbors."
"It’s compelling, I’ll admit." Ryan gave him a warm smile, a site Dylan could get used to.
"Finally falling for the barista?"
"Like you said, baby steps."
The two kept walking, stealing occasional glances when they thought the other wasn’t looking. Kaitlyn turned around,whisper-yelling at them, "Hey, lovebirds!" She did an awkward jog to come closer to them, pointing her attention at Dylan, "I just had a killer brain thought, you should drag Ryan along to the next movie night on Wednesday, I think it’d be fun. Right, Ryan?"
Ryan hesitated before answering, and Dylan scoured his face for any indication of what he was thinking. After a moment, he replied, "I like movies." Simple and straightforward answer.
"Great! Then it’s settled, Dylan, you know the details already so just text them to Ryan. I am dead tired and going to be very hungover in a few hours so, goodnight, losers!" Dylan didn’t realize they’d already arrived right in front of Kaitlyn’s building. She trotted towards the door, unlocking it with her keycard and pulling the door shut, turning around to stick her tongue out at the boys through the glass door.
"She’s quite the character." Ryan noted.
Dylan looked at Ryan, amused, "She’s extra proud of herself tonight for playing wingwoman with us."
"Mm, I see." Ryan finally pulled his arms through the jacket sleeves, the cold breeze still nipping at him.
They continued walking a few buildings down to the third dormitory, unlocking the door and heading in together. Ryan held the door open for Dylan, who responded with a very delighted "Thank you!!" and a little curtsy to add effect. Dylan first dropped Ryan off at his room, leaning in the doorway to his dorm.
He peered inside, looking around. It was surprisingly clean, way cleaner than his dorm. There were some band posters hung on the wall, an electric guitar on a stand in the corner, and no clothes on the floor, save for a laundry basket with a few T-shirts. It looked like he had a roommate too, but no one else was inside. Dylan smiled to himself before meeting Ryan’s eye. Ryan stood a few feet inside his room, the jacket still wrapped around him.
"You look good in that," Dylan tilted his head to the side, letting it rest on the grooves of the doorframe, he clicked his tongue, "I might let you keep it for a little if I get something in return."
"And what might that be?"
"Your phone, hand it over, sugarpie."
Ryan scoffed, ignoring the nickname, "For what?"
"Uh, to put my number in it, duh?"
Ryan was about to tell him to just use his phone, but remembered it was still dead from the party. He shrugged, wasn’t like Dylan could do any harm, he pulled out his phone and unlocked it, handing it over to Dylan.
Dylan pushed himself off the doorframe, navigating to the contacts app and adding in his number, sending himself a little text so he’d have Ryan’s number too. He double checked the contact name he put in for himself before giving Ryan his phone back.
Ryan looked up from his phone, an unimpressed look on his face, "Really? You put your contact name as ‘super cute barista omg omg i really want to jump his’ and it ends there."
"Wow. I cannot believe you read that out loud… you like it? I think it’s fitting."
Ryan seemed to actually contemplate it. Not like anyone but him would see, and it was a pretty funny contact name. He sucked in a breath, "At this point I kinda have to keep it, you are a super cute barista."
Dylan raised his eyebrows, "Yeah? What about the second part?"
"Don’t push your luck."
"Fair enough."
"Can’t say I’m not interested in you, though… text me later?"
Dylan beamed, "So my flattery did eventually work? You can only resist my charm for so long." Ryan groaned, but tried to cover up his laugh. Dylan glanced at the clock in the hallway, 12:43 A.M. which wasn't terribly late. "I’ll send you Kaitlyn’s room number as soon as my phone’s charged. See you tomorrow?" He mentioned the last part with a hopeful look, watching Ryan.
Ryan smiled, "I wouldn’t want to skip out on our unspoken thing."
Dylan sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, rocking on his feet. He still had some repartee in him, despite how flustered he was. "Right then, try not to miss me too much."
"Shut up." There was no hate or annoyance behind Ryan’s voice, he said it with a laugh, shaking his head.
"Alright, just don’t come crying to me in the morning about ‘Oh Dylan! I missed you and your handsomeness and your cool tattoo so much! Please take me back!’" Dylan mocked Ryan, raising his voice up high-pitched, his voice cracking several times.
Ryan huffed out another laugh, "Go to sleep, you idiot."
"Fine, fine!" Dylan backed out of the doorway, standing in the hallway and taking his time to look Ryan up and down one more time. Ryan stood unwavering, just watching Dylan shamelessly check him out. "You do look really good in my jacket, I might start drooling."
"Goodnight, Dylan." Ryan started closing the door, the smile still ever-present on his face.
Dylan didn’t move for a few seconds, having to take a moment to process the entire night. His heart felt like it was going to explode and he scrunched up the fabric of his shirt in one hand, trying not to squeal from excitement. He couldn’t wait to see Ryan again in the morning.
He eventually did make his way back to his room, closing the door behind him and taking his shoes off before flopping onto his bed. He replayed the night over and over in his head before he drifted off to sleep, a soft smile on his face.