Chapter Text
It wasn’t hard to see, Ryan was an attractive man; many people made comments on it, stating how it was pretty obvious that if he hadn’t been a model in this life, he surely was in a past life. The blond would usually just shrug them off with a little laugh, but it was still obvious. He was handsome as fuck. Geoff himself knew that, and that’s why it made it hard to ask him to hang out with him. Which is why he didn’t ask him to hang out with him.
He was just afraid that he’d let it slip that he thought the other man charming, not just because of his looks but his attitude, knowledge, and overall his personality. The way he could be nerdy and geeky about the silliest things but also extremely serious, as well as funny or just generally happy. He was genuine with all his words and actions, never did anything just to do it. Everything had a meaning, whether or not the meaning was good or mischievous, that was determined by the recipient.
Sadly, Geoff lacked the courage, or careless-ness to just outright ask the other man out for lunch, alone, or to hang out sometime somewhere. He himself didn’t believe that he and the blond were close enough friends to just be hanging out, even though he’d known him for quite a while. It wasn’t long before he would find himself lost rambling about the other man to Jack or Gavin if they would go out for drinks. He’d usually catch himself before anything slipped, but still- it would bring some questions up.
Questions like, ‘Why’re you always on about Ryan?’, ‘What’s up with you constantly bringing up Ryan?’, ‘Do you like him? You so like him! You so totally have a crush on Rye-bread, Geoffrey, I’m going to tell him!!’ It would be then that the moustached man would try his hardest to steer conversation in another direction, or put his foot down and say he’d fire the person he was talking to (Gavin) if they told. Good for the other person (Gavin), they knew when and when not to spill secrets, and thankfully they wouldn’t speak a word about this one.
Luckily, he and Ryan had been spending a bit more time together, and Geoff saw things heading in a good direction. He himself wasn’t even sure if he wanted a “real relationship” with the other man, but he wouldn’t mind getting a chance to see how things would play out if they went on a date or would hang out more often. After one hectic day, Geoff saw an opportunity to ask, as everyone else was out for some other work or had already headed home. “Hey, Ryan,” He said, making Ryan look over at him.
“What’re your plans for tonight?” He smiled, trying not to seem too interested in what he was doing, but a bit of excitement spilled over and shone in his smile and eyes, leaking slightly into his tone, making it cheerier than usual. “Probably just going to head home and read a book, take a nap. Just relax. You?” Ryan replied smoothly, leveling his gaze on Geoff. A bit of heat rose in his cheeks as he tried to reply just as cooly.
“Something probably similar to you.” He nodded to himself slightly, although he titled the gesture more towards the blond as if to be agreeing with his plans for the night, not reassuring himself that ‘You’ve got this Geoffrey, you can do this.’ With a weak smile, he tried to push down his nervousness as much as possible. “You don’t think that maybe instead of going home to be all alone, you’d want to maybe, uh, go out with me..?”
His eyes widened though, as he realized what his word choice could have implied. “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 hadn’t realized his gaze had drifted from the other until he found himself looking up from the floor with a somewhat nervous smile. Ryan fixed him with a calculating look, before shrugging, a small smile on his lips. “Sure, why not?”
Geoff sighed internally in relief, closing his eyes for a moment to just relish in the fact that he hadn’t been rejected right off the bat. As the other man went to packing his things again, Geoff too finished putting his things in his bag. Once they were both done and had all they needed, Geoffrey met Ryan at the doors. “Ready to go?” The moustached man questioned, calmed a bit from earlier. “Yea, just one question.. should I just leave my car here and go with you, or do we both drive?”
The tattooed man gave a small shrug. “Whatever you wanna do, that’s cool with me.” Ryan nodded, adjusting his bag on his shoulder, tilting his head at the darker haired man. “I’ll just ride with you, then.” Geoff too nodded now, and they headed towards his car. Once both inside, he looked over to the blond. “Where to? Got any ideas or favorite places?” Ryan took a moment to think, then nodded. “Yea, here..” He then proceeded to rattle off directions to a nice Italian restaurant.
“Hm, 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 the blond couldn’t help but laugh along- it was contagious. ‘This is nice,’ The darker haired man thought, ‘this is good. This means progress, and progress is also good. I’ve got good feelings about this. God, is there some other word I can use than “good”? I’ve got great feelings about tonight, there.’