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The day had worn on long enough, Ryan was tired. He’d had enough of the lad’s crazy antics and staring at just-too-bright screens all day, the hustle and bustle of the studio getting to him a bit. He was just ready to go home and sleep, maybe relax with a book or something, but mostly sleeping. As he was packing up his things, someone’s voice interrupted his thoughts of what he’d do when he got home. “Hey, Ryan, what’re your plans tonight?” Geoff’s cheery voice intervened, and he paused, looking up with a little smirk. “Probably just going to head home and read a book, take a nap. Just relax. You?”
“Something probably similar to you.” The moustached man replied, stopping to think for a moment before asking, almost.. nervously? “You don’t think that maybe instead of going home to be all alone, you’d want to maybe, uh, go out with me..?” He seemed startled by his words, though, and quickly added, “I mean, like, not on a date but like just to get something to eat and hang out a bit, um, if you want?” He looked up, a small, nervous smile on his lips.
Ryan pondered this for a minute, before shrugging. “Sure, why not?” He finished packing his things before waiting at the studio’s main door for Geoff. When he arrived, he fixed him with a questioning look. “So, do I just leave my car here and go with you, do we both drive..?” The tattooed man seemed to have thought about this as well and shrugged. “Whatever you wanna do, that’s cool with me.” Ryan nodded and slung his bag over his shoulder, tilting his head towards his boss. “I’ll just ride with you, then.” Geoff nodded and together they headed out.
Once both in the vehicle, Geoff glanced over at Ryan. “So, where to? Got any ideas or favorite places?” Ryan took a moment to think, nodding and giving the address of a nice Italian restaurant he’d been to a few times before. “Hm,” The darker-haired man hummed, smiling slightly. “I think I’ve seen that place before, never been though.” Ryan chuckled softly. “You’re missing out then. They’ve got some of the best lasagna I’ve ever had.”
That made Geoff laugh, and Ryan couldn’t help but laugh as well. A little bit of short-talk happened on the drive between the studio and the restaurant, and it wasn’t long after they’d arrived that they were seated and their food and drinks ordered. Ryan went with a spaghetti bolognese while Geoff took Ryan’s word and ordered the lasagna. “So..” The blond murmured shortly after the waiter had left. “Why’d you up and ask me if I wanted to go out tonight? You into me Ramsey?” He questioned jokingly, face paling just slightly when Geoff looked nervous and seemed to be scrambling to find an answer.
“i-I-” Geoff stuttered, but Ryan interjected. “I didn’t mean.. I was joking..” He glanced away, chewing on the inside of his lip for a moment. “Sorry.” Geoff shook his head, though, looking at Ryan. “Nah, I’m sorry. I guess I didn’t really think this all through entirely before asking..” He admitted quietly, and the blond rose an eyebrow. “So you’ve been thinking about this before now?” He again prodded but quickly took it back with the small glare Geoff leveled on him. “Excuse me for being awfully distracted by this extremely good looking guy that I work with, sue me for having a crush-”
“You have a crush on me?” Ryan again asked with a sly smirk, and Geoff stopped, face flushing a bit. He went to say something, the blond relaxing a bit into his chair when suddenly the waiter appeared with their food and drink, leaving just as soon as he’d come. It was because of his interjection that the conversation had been dropped and a semblance of mildly awkward silence fell over the two, Geoff slightly embarrassed and Ryan smug. “You wipe that smirk off your face right now or I’ll-” The moustached man was again cut off as Ryan intervened. “You’ll what?”
His boss huffed, and that’s when Ryan decided he’d stop being such a prick to the other. “Hey, okay, I’m sorry, I just..” Giving a soft sigh, and running a hand through his hair, he took a moment to think. “I guess I’m just trying to joke and get you flustered because I..” He stopped, cheeks getting the faintest tint of pink to them. “I like seeing you that way..?” His voice rose slightly out of nervousness, a weak smile on his lips. Geoff smiled then, blush having faded mostly. “So you’re just acting like a dick to try and shove it back in my face?”
With a small chuckle, Ryan nodded, shrugging slightly. “That’s one way to put it, I guess.” Geoff smiled back slightly, looking down at the table to begin eating, Ryan following suit. It was that way for a short while, both of them eating their food and again returning to small talk until they’d both finished. It was then Geoff began digging in his pockets, but Ryan beat him to it. As the waiter had walked by the last time, Ryan had asked for the check, and when he came now to place it on the table Ryan easily took it from the man, nodding him away and flipping it open to see the totals.
“What are you doing, Ryan? I asked you out to dinner, didn’t I?” Geoff frowned slightly, a tinge of whininess in his voice. “Geoff, there will be plenty of other dates you can pay for, alright?” He smirked, writing a few numbers down on the receipt before sliding his card inside, waiting for their waiter to come back and give it to him. At the mention of there being more than just this one dinner, Geoff’s eyes lit up and the blond resisted laughing.
Once they were all finished there, they both returned to Geoff’s car and sat there for a moment, the owner of the aforementioned car just sitting for a moment. “We going to head back to the studio so I can get my car..?” Ryan asked quietly, and Geoff nodded, seeming to have snapped out of a haze. Turning on the car and putting it into gear, he pulled onto the fairly-empty streets, it only being 8 PM.
It wasn’t long until they were back at the studio, the car ride having been mostly silent. “Thanks for dinner, Geoff..” Ryan started, slightly nervous, glancing over at the other man. Geoff looked to meet his eyes, smiling slightly, a small almost-twinkle like shine reflecting in his eyes from the light outside the car. “Sure thing, it’s not a problem.” He replied smoothly, the calmness of it startling Ryan to be more tense.
Taking another moment to just take in his boss’s features and the way he looked, something jumped inside of him and the question came out of his mouth before he could understand that he was talking. “Can I kiss you..? You kiss me? Just.. Can we kiss?” The darker haired man blinked for a moment, the once easy-looking smile on his lips turning into a slightly turned-down line, eyes taking on a deer-in-the-headlights look, eyebrows raised slightly in surprise.
After a moment, Ryan quickly apologized and excused himself, slipping from the car and running to his own, starting it and driving off as fast as he could. When he arrived home, to his quiet apartment, a heavy emptiness seemed to settle inside him as he stepped through the door, frowning at the feeling. ‘What on earth was I thinking, Geoff would never.. I mean, maybe I was taking this all the wrong way, maybe he just meant it all to be closer friends- why did I ever think he meant this as a relationship?’
Silently changing for bed, he laid down under his covers and closed his eyes, trying not to let himself dwell on the subject, instead just trying to push it away and hope for a dreamless sleep to wash over him.
All he did was dream of Geoff, and when he woke up in the morning he felt worse than when he went to bed.