I do love a good cliche! I have this guy set at just having turned 35 a couple days ago, so ideally they'd be around the same age, no more than a year or two apart. Right now I have him from Canada, but since that was to fill a line at another comm and I am working on revamping him, that is subjected to change within reason! Basically they would have met in grade school and hit it off right away - they were always welcome at the others house after school, spent summers together, etc. i imagine as they entered their teen years they would still have been close. Ryan was a total devil may care, no fucks given, let's do this adventure sort of guy and was always talking his friends into doing stupid shit with him. however, he did start abusing drugs amd alcohol so whether they stayed close as always or kind of drifted during that era is up for debate. I'd also had in mind the best friend would be the godfather of his daughter.