When he hears the door of the pool house open his head whips around so fast he could swear his neck made a cracking noise. Seth knows Ryan won't mind that he's hanging out there, waiting. He's been waiting all day, bumming around, not really focusing on anything for more than a few minutes. He hopes his being in the pool house doesn't seem really lame and desperate. Or creepy.

"Ryan, hey," he says getting up. "I figured you'd be home earlier. I was just hanging out, and uh, waiting." He decides to just tell the truth here rather than claim to be there for any other reason. He knows Ryan will accept it.

Ryan nods slightly and grunts as he brushes past Seth. Seth gapes at him, surprised at the lack of greeting. He didn't expect Ryan to be all over him (though maybe he HOPED for it), but he expected more than just a barely there acknowledgment.

"Are you, um, mad I'm in here or something?" Seth asks, not really sure what to make of the reaction. Maybe he was wrong about Ryan not minding his being there waiting for him. He's learned direct questions work well with Ryan. His short responses suited them. "You want me to get out or something?"

"No," Ryan says flatly, walking into the bathroom. "Stay. Just give me a couple minutes, alright?" He shuts the door without waiting for a response.

Seth plunks down on the edge of Ryan's bed and tries to figure out when things went wrong. He hears the sound of the shower turning on. Everything was fine when Ryan left that morning for work. Wait ... morning. It was well after ten now. No wonder it had seemed like he'd been waiting so long. And if hanging out all day waiting for Ryan to get home had sucked he was pretty sure working a double shift must have been worse. Thinking back, Seth thought Ryan looked tired when he'd come in. Not that he'd got a really good look since Ryan had just headed straight past him.

Seth hears the bathroom door open. He hadn't even noticed the shower being turned off. Ryan comes out, a dark towel casually wrapped around his hips. Seth looks up from the edge of the low hanging towel, up Ryan's glistening chest. When his gaze reaches Ryan's face he isn't sure whether to comfort him or laugh at him. Ryan is obviously trying to keep his look blank but failing miserably. Pout isn't a strong enough word to describe his expression. There's a towel just sitting on his head, not even wrapped around it. It's just sitting there like he was going to dry his hair and forgot about it. Or didn't have the energy to bother.

"Bad day?" Seth asks.

Ryan sort of grunts and nods in response. Looking more closely Seth sees that Ryan does indeed look tired. Exhausted really. And while he knows it's wrong to take advantage, he's also sure he can't let such an excellent opportunity pass him by.

"Well, normally I can wrangle at least a couple word response from you. What happened at work? And did I really just say WRANGLE?" he asks as Ryan slowly drags himself to the dresser.

Turning mournful eyes to him Ryan says, "Crabs. Lots and lots of crabs."

"Wasn't that like a title of a Friends episode?" Seeing Ryan's total lack of reaction to his comment Seth adds, "I'm sure there's a fascinating story full of adventure and hot chicks in there somewhere. Although ... crabs ... ew. Yeah, never mind." Suddenly the whole thing makes him think more of an episode of Temptation Island.

Ryan shoots him a look that was probably supposed to be a smile, but succeeds only in looking slightly less bummed. He sighs deeply before yanking on a pair of pajama pants. Seth isn't sure how Ryan manages to go from wearing a towel to pants that quickly considering how slowly he seems to be moving. It bothers him more than it should that he missed the impromptu peep show in the blink of an eye. He wonders just how Ryan swapped the towel for pants without revealing anything.

Ryan turns to face Seth, leaning against the dresser, arms crossed, towel still sitting (presumably) forgotten on his head. "Look, Seth..." he begins.

"It speaks. In full sentences maybe even." Seeing Ryan's glare he says nothing else and apologizes for his interruption by making a zipper noise and pretending to zip his mouth closed.

Ryan continues, "There was no adventure and not too many good looking girls either. Maybe you're thinking about YOUR day."

"MY day?" Seth says, totally confused. His day had been all kinds of boring.

"Maybe you're thinking about your novel, hmm?"

"Oh, right," Seth says. He vaguely remembers mentioning to Ryan that today he was supposed to be using his "me time" to work on his (still non-existent) novel. "Oh, yeah, LOTS of adventure and hotties."

"Did you even write one sentence?"

Seth wonders when Ryan got so good at knowing what he does or doesn't do.

"Not so much. But hey," Seth points to his head, "It's all up here. Just working out the finer points."

"Well, as long as it doesn't involve crabs," Ryan says, smirking.

"Jest all you want now but when I give you a signed copy you won't be laughing."

"Mmm hmm. I'm sure I'll enjoy reading it to pass the time between playing shuffle board and cleaning my dentures," Ryan says.

Seth sneers at him and nods. He's sure he'll be done before they're that old. He has to admit he's surprised to hear Ryan talk that way. Teasing is nothing new, but there's something about Ryan's reference to being that old that Seth finds deeply reassuring. He wonders just how much Ryan's plans for the future have changed since they first met.

"Come here," Seth says, patting the bed beside him.

Ryan pushes himself away from the dresser. He plunks down beside Seth and Seth is pretty sure Ryan has no intentions of getting off the bed again that night. That meshes nicely with his plans.

He reaches over and starts rubbing the towel over Ryan's hair. And, just like he expected, he sees Ryan stiffen when he reaches over his head for the towel, sees him tense up for a moment before relaxing a bit and just letting Seth dry his wet hair for him.

After a little while, when Seth is satisfied that Ryan's hair is mostly dry, he tosses the towel away onto the floor. He sees Ryan watch it land and could swear there's a flash of something like fear in his eyes but it's gone before he can be sure he even saw it. Seth shifts position just a bit, leans against the back of the bed. He reaches to pull Ryan back against him and again encounters tension. But unlike the flash a moment ago, it lasts long enough that Seth can't deny it's there.

He hates that Ryan always tenses up like that. He knows he shouldn't be offended, after all Ryan does that least with him of anyone. When Ryan knows it's coming, Seth can feel him sometimes manage to stay relaxed. But it pisses him off when he thinks about what must have happened to Ryan to cause such an automatic reaction to being touched.

He knows that sometimes Ryan loves being touched. They've had times when neither could keep their hands off each other. Thrusting, and moaning and running their hands all over one another's bodies - Seth knows Ryan enjoyed it as much as he did. And that was a hell of a lot. But when it comes to times when they're not deep in the midst of making out Ryan has that same reaction every time: his body tenses and he sometimes even pulls away from being touched. Seth wonders how much of this Ryan is even aware of.

But tonight it lasts only for a moment before Ryan willingly slumps back, half laying on Seth, his head resting on Seth's stomach. Seth smooths out the damp hair with one hand. He sees Ryan's heavy lidded eyes drifting shut and a little half smile playing on his face.

He wants to ask Ryan what happened to make him like that, what makes him still react like that with everyone, even him. He wants to ask, but he won't. For tonight he's just glad to feel Ryan relaxed beneath him, happy his friend's exhaustion took the edge off his normal reaction. For now that's enough.

End

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