Jace Herondale (uniquetake) wrote in worldsapart_ic, @ 2019-04-10 20:44:00 |
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Clad in tight dark ripped jeans, combat boots, white v-neck t-shirt and a casual dark leather jacket Rhys looked very much the picture of relaxation as he waited for Ryder to arrive. Hopefully things wouldn't be awkward but they seemed to have cleared the air in their recent text exchange and there had definitely been some crossed wires.
He'd secured them a booth and had ordered himself a beer to nurse as he waited.
Rhys might have looked like the very picture of relaxation but Ryder certainly didn't feel like that. He'd panicked that half an hour wasn't enough time to get ready for work let alone to go and meet a guy he hadn't spoken to properly for a while and who he was still pretty sure was mad at him.
But still, he'd arrived ten minutes early in a dark shirt and grey open sweater, fitted jeans and converse and then realised that he didn't want to be the first to arrive - since that might make him look too eager - so he'd hung around downwind and across the road for a little while, wandering in a couple of minutes late.
He grabbed himself a soda, glancing around for Rhys like he hadn't clocked the guy the moment he walked into the venue and lifted his drink in greeting before he walked over and slid into the booth opposite, trying not to look as anxious as he felt. And probably failing.
"...Hey."
Rhys glanced over as Ryder joined him at the booth and smiled. “Hey, how’s things? With your sister I mean?” They hadn’t really talked all that much since well the disagreement and that had unfortunately happened right after Rhys had talk Ryder down from the figurative ledge.
He sipped at his beer and waited.
Ryder sipped at his drink and then put it down, shrugging a shoulder. “She’s okay, doing her big-sister thing.” But thankfully also giving him space which he really appreciated. “It’s been good to get to talk to her a bit, you know? Just...” he waved his hand. “You?”
“I can imagine,” Rhys agreed. He might not have siblings but he had packmates and they were as good as. “I’ve been looking after the pack in my dad’s absence but now that he’s back I can return to business as usual.”
Ryder nodded, “I have no idea what that means but it sounds important and stressful.”
Rhys chuckled and lifted his eyebrows. “It is both of those things but as my dad’s second in command it’s something I gotta do.” For when he eventually took over as Alpha which in itself was surreal to think about.
So far he was on his best behaviour, no flirting, just chatter.
Ryder felt his eyebrows lift. “So you’re like the boss? I’m assuming the position comes without a pay check huh.” Because it seemed like there were just so many things he still didn’t get about being a werewolf.
“Pretty much.” Rhys lifted his arm and rested it across the back of the booth. “I mean eventually my dad’ll retire and then I’ll take over but that’s a long way off.” His dad was after all fighting fit.
He considered something for a moment. “Hey, I’m hungry. You wanna order some food?”
Ryder nodded as if he understood but he really didn’t. Who wanted extra responsibilities? Who wanted them without a say in the matter?
“Shit, yeah, I don’t think I’ve eaten all day,” he admitted sheepishly, which was backed up by a low rumble from his stomach.
Rhys' eyebrow arched into an unimpressed line. "You really suck at this whole self care thing." He tipped his head to catch the attention of the nearby server and offered them a winning smile as they approached.
"Can I get the special with a side order of fries?"
"I was busy," Ryder protested with a slighty pout, though he was distracted when the server appeared and he offered her a small, though no less charming, smile. "Uh, can I get the foot-long without onions or mustard and fries, please?"
His eyes flicked to Rhys, almost daring him to make a comment, as the waitress walked away.
And oh how tempting it was, to make some sort of sexual innuendo, but Rhys was on his best behaviour and he kept that particular thought to himself. He'd feel that one later, he really would.
"Too busy to eat?"
"More busy enough that I forgot," Ryder said with a shrug of his shoulder. "Besides, loving alone it gets boring cooking for one and shit, so mostly I just grab whatever I'm feeling at the time."
Ryder tsk'ed quietly as he sat back and took a sip of his drink. "Self care, more important than you think, Ryder." Not that Rhys could talk considering he hit things when he had shit to work out but they were not talking about him so...
"Kira'll be all over you if she ever finds out."
Ryder laughed and rolled his glass between his hands. "Yeah, well last time I tried to practise proper self care I broke my hand. Apparently there's a right way and a wrong way to punch a sandbag, go figure."
He tugged on his ear, and then rubbed underneath it. "My sister's probably gonna have all that... stuff now she's back in my life."
He wet his lower lip and looked at Rhys, wondering if he'd somehow managed to screw up something that - to his surprise - had been going quite well and he'd been enjoying. And if he were honest, he really had missed Rhys over the past couple of weeks. Far more than was probably socially appropriate and he didn't know how to deal with that.
"You been visiting Baxters, I take it?" Rhys asked because it was definitely a werewolf friendly place and would be one of the places he would have recommended to Ryder if he hadn't already found it. "And you'd be surprised at how hard those sandbags actually are."
He rubbed his fingers through his hair and stilled his movements when Ryder mentioned his sister. "That's not a bad thing. Family's important. I mean don't get me wrong it has to be the right family not that nutjob of a dad you told me about but it sounds like your sister really cares about you."
Rhys noticed Ryder looking at him rather intensely. "What?"
"Yeah, I go a few times a week," Ryder admitted. "Mostly in the mornings when I can't sleep, but I dunno, been going there a lot more as of late." He rubbed the back of his neck again and chuckled, dryly. "Yeah, they pack a mean punch. If I can't stand up to a sandbag then I'd have no hope in the arena where you fight." Besides, Ryder wasn't... Ryder wasn't really a fighter.
He nodded. "My- Yeah, Colbie's somethin' else. We used to be real close but then my dad- well, he jumped on this damn bandwagon and everythin' went to hell after that. But she's a good person, real good lawyer, too." She wanted to meet Rhys, he knew that much, but held that bit back. "Ain't got no other family that I'd wanna associate with." Or friends, really, though he was working on that bit by bit.
Blinking out of his reverie, Ryder made eye contact with Rhys. "Huh?"
Rhys shook his head. "Nothing, I just thought I caught you looking at me really intensely there for a while but it was probably my imagination." He glanced over when he smelt food and sure enough there was their food on its way and as it was placed on the table he gave an appreciative smile. "Thanks."
The server shrugged. "Not a problem. Anything else I can get for you?"
"Could I get a refill?"
Ryder legitimately flushed, looking like he'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar when Rhys called him out for staring because that is exactly what he'd been doing. By the time he opened his mouth to say something, to respond in the affirmative, all he was able to do was nod and shut his jaw, leaning back as food was slid onto the table in front of them.
"Uh- yeah, me too, please. Just another soda."
The server nodded, smiling again at Rhys before walking away to get them both another refil on their drinks and Ryder rubbed his hand over his face. "I- uh- I'm sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about," Rhys assured Ryder with a smirk. "I mean I do see my face in the mirror every day and it is pretty stare worthy." Not one hundred percent serious there because he was self assured and on occasion cocky but never quite that arrogant.
He reached over to grab the cutlery.
"It's a pretty good face," Ryder agreed with a smile that was almost bashful. He rubbed the side of his face. "That's why you have a hangover."
His other hand had already reached out to pass the cutlery over, and so as Rhys reached out to do so, Ryder had done much the same to hand it over and their fingers brushed, a spark shooting up Ryder's arm that had his eyebrow quirking a little and he bit the inside of his lip.
"But I wasn't apologising for starin' at you, for the record."
Rhys like Ryder felt that spark but decided to play it off especially as it would seem Ryder was doing the same. "No?" He asked, turning the blunt blade over in his fingers. "So what were you apologising for?"
He cut into his food and watched Ryder closely.
"For somehow bein' enough of an asshole that you decided not to talk to me for a while?" Ryder offered weakly. "I just- I ain't ever really had friends or anyone else around for that matter save my sister and I ain't used to it. Or, apparently,-"
He cut himself off and jabbed his fork into his fries. "I- shit, I didn't mean to insult you or nothin', that's all. I like hangin' out with you." He looked down after that admission, immediately, eyes on the food that he speared.
Rhys' eyes watched Ryder closely before he just shifted, reaching across the table to catch Ryder's wrist in his hand where he squeezed. "I like hanging out with you too so how about we consider that water under the bridge and move forward?"
He belatedly realised he'd touched the other for too long and withdrew, curling his hand back around his fork which he used to eat a mouthful.
Ryder glanced up when Rhys reached across the table and took hold of his wrist, he sort of felt like his brain shorted out and he just nodded dumbly for a moment, eyes wide at the edges before he cleared his throat and rubbbed underneath his ear. "Y-yeah. And maybe we can do somethin' like this a bit more often? See each other outside-a me workin'?"
Hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained and all.
Rhys glanced up and met Ryder's eyes, a small smile catching on the edges of his lips. "Yeah, we could do that." He definitely wasn't going to complain. The complete opposite in fact. "Maybe we could hit up the ocean at some point, I get the feeling you've not hit up the beach since you got here and trust me you are missing out."
Ryder snorted. "What makes you think I ain't hit up the beach?" he asked, though it was the truth, he really hadn't. He'd run near the beach but never actually gone out onto it. Too many people, too many sensations. Too much sand.
"I dunno," Rhys said with a wave of his fork in Ryder's direction. "Just something about you doesn't scream beach bum to me so I will remedy that." He adored the beach but probably the ocean more because he loved how free he felt in the waves.
Ryder chuckled, which became a bright laugh. "Yeah, I'm definitely not a beach bum," he said, shaking his head and rubbing the side of his neck. "I love the idea of swimmin' and shit but..." But he'd never really learned and the idea of learning in the ocean terrified seven different shades of shit out of him. "You're never gonna turn me into a beach bum though, 's impossible."
Rhys snorted quietly and knocked his tongue against the back of his teeth. "I think you underestimate how persuasive I can be when I really want to be." He leaned forward and wigged his fingers. "Give me your phone."
Ryder rolled his eyes, though he found he was already shifting on the spot to get his phone and holding it out for Rhys to take. "You've already got my number, Rhys..."
Rhys rolled his eyes as he flipped through Ryder's calendar until he found an empty date where sure enough he inputted the location of a beach and a time to meet him before offering it back. "There, your first experience of the beach here in LA has been planned. Be there or you know miss one hell of a day, your choice."
Ryder snorted, taking his phone back and looking in the calendar to see the date that Rhys had put in. He took a breath, lips curled up into a small smile before he just chuckled and slid it back into his pocket.
"Sure," he relented, though it was hardly difficult with Rhys grinning at him. "Do I need anythin' specific?"
"Swim wear," Rhys shared though paused to tip his head to look at Ryder thoughtfully. "Or not. Entirely depends on what you're feeling." His eyebrows wiggled because well Rhys was Rhys and there was very little that could keep him down for long.
Ryder laughed. "Public nudity outside the full moon really isn't my thing," he confessed with a half-grin. "So shorts it is."
Rhys smirked and shrugged his shoulders. "Each to their own." He was hella comfortable in his own skin naked or otherwise but then he'd been born and raised as a wolf and nudity wasn't a new concept to him so it made sense as to why he felt the way he did.
Ryder pulled his drink closer to himself and lifted it to his lips, taking a sip. "Why ain't I surprised in the least that public nudity doesn't phase you?"
"I was born naked, we all were," Rhys pointed out as he tipped his head to take a casual look around. "Nothing to be ashamed of." It was definitely difficult to be ashamed or worried about the naked form when you spent how many days out of a month basically naked and running around on all fours. Of course he could appreciate the experience wasn't the same for everyone.
"I think that acceptance probably comes with more time than I've had to get used to the whole... naked in random places shit," Ryder retorted with a shake of his head. "Y'all have been doin' this your whole life. I've only had, like, two years. 'sides, kinda hard to enjoy wakin' up after a full moon when you feel like roadkill an' someone's stolen your shit."
Rhys chuckled and offered Ryder a slow understanding smile. "Give it time, you'll get there. It'll be better once you find a pack. You won't have to worry about your shit being stolen and yeah you will feel like shit right after but you'll have a lot of people around to help things feel better."
“Yeah, I’ve heard that before, kinda feels like a moot point, man, I’ve not had a full moon yet where I haven’t woken up having had the shit beaten outta me for whatever reason.” He shrugged. “But this is depressin’, tell me about you plans for our beach da- day.”
"Uh uh," Rhys said with a shake of his head as he smirked over at Ryder. "It's gonna be a surprise but as long as you have swimwear and a towel you're set." He grinned a moment later. "Trust me, it'll be fun."
“So. Swimming?” Ryder asked with a slow grin. “Well, I cant wait.”