Runner-Up - 5. Chapter 5

After having walked Ryan back to the store, Kyle slowly walked to Berri enjoying one of the last warm sunny days before winter comes in.

At home, he took the time to pick up the mess from the previous night and did the dishes. Once that was done, Kyle knew that he should take the time to do his homework and readings, but he really didn't feel like doing any of that. He instead put on one of his feel good movie to watch and relaxed.

Kyle was happy to see Ryan get back home at the end of the afternoon.

As soon as Ryan closed the door behind him, he jumped in his arms, kissing him. Kyle was starting to undress him when Ryan objected.

"Let me get in and go to the bathroom first."

"Alright, but hurry up." Kyle pouted.

It was a good thirty minutes later when Ryan finally came out of the bathroom and joined Kyle in the living room.

"So, what did you do this afternoon? Got some of your reading done?" Ryan asked.

Kyle sighed, as he understood that he wouldn't get what he wanted, at least not right away.

"Not even, just watched some movies and that's about it."

As Ryan was just sitting there silently, Kyle continued the discussion.

"It was a long day?"

"Yes and no. It was going all good until my last customer. He's definitively the annoying kind of customer. The one that is ungrateful for everything you will do and that's going to make you feel shitty if you're unable to help."

"Awww" Kyle got closer to hold his partner.

"But otherwise it was a good day. I was happy to get to see you during my lunch. Also, David texted me this afternoon."

"So?"

Kyle was now curious to find out if David had followed his advice and more importantly if his boyfriend had agreed.

"Well, as you said, he asked me if I wanted to go to the unity with him and his friend tonight."

"And? What did you say?"

"I told him that yes, I would go with them. Is it still alright with you?"

Kyle almost wanted to be selfish and tell his boyfriend that he'd rather have him stay home, but he knew he couldn't do that.

"Of course you still can go. Besides, I was the one that told David he should ask you, remember?"

"Yeah, alright!"

"What time are you guys meeting?"

"I'm gonna meet him at his friend's place for ten."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Ya, it's an apartment on Gauthier street, right next to the Lafontaine Park."

Kyle knew where it was.

"Really! I know where that is, my cousin had an apartment there for a long time. You'll take the metro to Sherbrooke station, then you can either walk about 10 minutes or take the twenty-four."

"Yeah, I've already checked that, or I can stop at the Papineau station and walk there."

Kyle stuck out his tongue at his boyfriend long enough for him to notice.

"What?! You were telling me things I already knew! Well aside that your cousin had an apartment there."

"Okay, sorry 'bout that."

"It's alright sweetie."

"So, I'm guessing that you'll be leaving by nine thirty. You know, that still leaves us lots of time together. Umm, I wonder what we could possibly be doing during all that time!"

Kyle leaned closer and started to give multiple kisses on his boyfriend's neck.

"Well, we could sure have dinner, watch some TV and such."

Kyle wasn't completely sure whether or not his boyfriend was actually teasing or not. In all cases, he decided to stop and get up.

"If you say so, I'll go find out what we can cook for tonight."

"Hey! No! Stay!" Ryan pulled him back on the couch. "You've started something, you need to finish it!"

"Then, I guess dinner can wait a little."

It was already nine, Ryan just came out of the shower, freshly clean and was now standing naked in front of his large closet, looking for what he would be wearing that night for clubbing.

When he noticed that the water was no longer running, Kyle went into the bedroom and walked up to a sight he was used to seeing, that still made a big effect on him.

"You don't have to make it look like you're actually wondering what to wear for tonight."

That was one of the main differences between the two of them. Without saying, Ryan didn't know how to dress nicely, he never really thinks about it. He just puts on what his hand lands on and doesn't second guess himself. As opposed, Kyle would think about what others might wear, and will dress accordingly.

"You're right, let me just hurry up and get dressed," Ryan said while taking out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

Kyle got closer and ran his hands over his boyfriend's bare chest.

"Well you don't have to hurry up so much."

"Actually, I'd need your help. Chose which underwear I should wear."

It was with pleasure that Kyle rummaged through their underwear drawer to find a pair of purple trunks with white trim that he particularly liked.

"Wear them, you always look really good in them."

After Ryan put them on, Kyle enjoyed running his hand on his boyfriend round but small butt.

"Definitively good in them," Kyle confirmed.

Ryan thanked him with a languorous kiss.

“I do need to get going.”

Ryan reached for the jeans he left on the bed and put them on.

“Alright, I’ll restrain myself until you get back, or at least, I'll try."

“It's not like it really matters, you’ll be sound asleep by that time."

Kyle stuck out his tongue.

“You never know, I might wake you up when I wake up to go to work.”

Ryan looked at the time on his cell before rapidly putting on his shirt and then his jacket. Kyle walked him to the door.

“Promise me one thing.” Kyle requested.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Make sure to enjoy your night, but don’t get too drunk.”

"I can promise you that I will enjoy it. For the not getting too drunk part, we'll have to see about that." Ryan laughed before heading for the elevator.

During the evening, Kyle thought more than one time to text his boyfriend to check up on him. He however decided against it. He simply watched some TV for the rest of the evening before going to bed early.

Kyle felt a mix of disappointment, anger and worries the next morning as he woke up, extending his arm, only to realize that he was alone in the bed. He tried not to think about it too much as he got dressed and left for work.

Deep down, he knew that if Ryan didn't come home for the night, there was most likely a very good reason for it. The fact that Ryan hadn’t come back for the night and didn’t advise him, kept coming back in his head on every down time between his breakfast and lunch rush.

Kyle realized that he could always send a text to his boyfriend or even to David and get some news, but he thought that they most likely stayed up very late and was still sleeping. He promised himself that he would wait until his lunch break before starting to bug anyone.

When his break finally came, it turned out that he didn't have to bug anyone as a text was already waiting for him as soon as his cell connected itself to the network.

'How's work for you?'

As happy as he was that he wasn't completely forgotten, Kyle was disappointed that it was David who contacted him first and not his boyfriend.

Walking down the hill to get to his usual food court, Kyle answered.

'Morning! Work is relax, just like any Saturday. How was it last night?'

Before putting his iPhone back in his pocket, he thought about texting his partner himself. He ended up deciding against it, wanting to see how long it would take for Ryan to come to him.

Kyle barely had time to walk a little more than a block before he received an answer.

‘It was fun. Music was good, cute enough guys. We left at 2:45. I woke up about an hour ago, but Ryan is still sleeping.’

The good thing is that now Kyle could stop wondering where his boyfriend was. However, it still didn’t explain why he didn’t come back nor why he didn’t let him know.

Kyle didn’t feel like getting angry at David. As such, he chose his words very carefully as he responded to the text.

‘Ryan is still sleeping?! He stayed overnight in your room?’

David realized at that point that Ryan had probably messed up. He tried to navigate carefully and avoid being collateral damage. He didn’t waste any time to explain himself.

‘Yes, he was supposed to let you know this morning at 3 something when we got to bed. Didn’t he text you or something?’

‘No, he didn’t tell me…’

Kyle had arrived at the food court. Despite having basically lost his appetite, he ordered some food, sat down and tried to calm himself.

‘Kyle, I’m sorry, I really thought that Ryan had warned you.'

Maybe he should have been to some extent, however, Kyle wasn't able to be angry at David for having spent the night with his boyfriend.

'Well, he didn't. I'll wait to see what Ryan will be saying about it.'

At this point, Kyle was trying to be rational about it, believing that there was a valid reason for Ryan not warning him that he wouldn't be coming back for the night.

As Kyle got back to his desk, he managed to forget about any frustration he might have against his boyfriend and finish his day. After having done a little of social with the people he was working with, he drove back home.

When he walked in the living room and saw Ryan playing video games, he remembered why he was somewhat pissed at him.

As Ryan noticed that Kyle had arrived, he paused his game, got up and immediately tried to figure out where he stood with his partner.

“Kyle, I’m really sorry!”

Kyle didn’t want to make it that easy. He wanted to make sure that his boyfriend really understood what he had done wrong in his eyes.

“Sorry about what?” he replied calmly.

“I’m sorry for not coming back home last night after the club.”

It kinda pissed him off more to know that Ryan didn’t really get what was bothering him the most about what had happened.

“You know, I probably get the fact that you decided to stay with David for the night. I can understand that. That’s not the problem. I had to wait until my lunch time to find out where you were…and it didn’t even come from you.”

“I’m sorry I should have texted you that I wouldn’t be back home.”

“You damn right should have,” Kyle said before heading for the office, closing the door behind him.

For a moment, it had crossed his mind that maybe he was overreacting a little about it. Ryan had already presented his excuses, maybe he didn’t really need to ignore him and punish him anymore.

But, Kyle wanted to make sure that Ryan would remember. He therefore took the opportunity to get ahead in his class readings.

A couple of hours later, Ryan knocked on the office door before entering quietly.

"Kyle, are you alright?"

Kyle dropped his marker and looked at his boyfriend who was now standing right next to him.

"Yeah, we are."

"You know, I'm really sorry. I won't keep you in the dark like that ever again," Ryan promised.

"Thanks, but really, I'm fine."

"Are you getting hungry?"

Kyle hadn't noticed that it was already past five.

"Maybe a little, not that much. Why?"

"Feel like going to a restaurant with me?"

"You're paying?"

Ryan answered without any kind of hesitation.

"Naturally."

"Then I can't see how I could refuse that.”

Ryan reached down and stoled a kiss from his boyfriend.

“You tell me where you’ll want to go and at what time.”

Ryan was about to walk out of the office when Kyle stopped him.

“Ryan!”

“What?”

“Let me go change and we can leave?”

“That’s alright.”

As Kyle had said, he took a quick shower, got dressed and was now ready to leave for the restaurant.

Kyle still hadn’t decided on a place to go as they got down to the garage and into the car. Ryan had enough time to wait and ended up deciding. They went to a small pizzeria not too far away.

While they were waiting for their order, Kyle realized that with everything that had happened, he never got to ask about the previous night.

“Tell me, how was it?”

“How was what?”

Kyle wasn’t sure if his boyfriend was actually kidding or if he actually didn’t know what he meant.

“Do you really want a head slap?”

“Oh! At Unity!”

“Well, yes!”

“It was really fun actually. The music was good, there was a good ambiance. The most important, the drinks were good.”

Kyle wanted to get more details about the mysterious guy and was hoping that Ryan had found out what was the deal with him.

“What about that guy that David didn’t want to go to the club alone with?”

“Mike's actually kinda nice. It sure helped that he’s a very hot blond boy. He’s actually very well equipped from what I’ve seen by the way.”

“How would you know that?”

“I went to the bathroom with him once at the club. I might have looked over.”

Kyle playfully kicked him on the shin under the table.

“Alright, so what’s the deal with David and him?”

“What makes you think that there’s anything there?”

Kyle gave him a look and was about to give him a second kick when he saw the waitress coming with the pizza, so he restrained himself.

“Because I’m not stupid and I can just feel it.”

“Well, I can feel it too, but I haven’t figured it out either. It’s like David was shielding himself from Mike. It’s hard to really explain.”

“You haven’t tried to ask them?”

Ryan laughed at the suggestion.

“Yeah! That wouldn’t have been awkward at all. I feel some tension between the two of you, what happened?”

“You know what I mean. You could have fished for some piece of info here and there over the course of the night.”

“Sorry, I was too busy trying to enjoy myself to think about that.”

“That’s alright-”

Ryan cut him.

“But, I did find out some things!”

Kyle really wanted to go ahead and slap him silly.

“They went on a date once. I don’t know what happened, but they stopped it there. I tried to ask David while we were in bed, but he avoided the question. I’m sure you’d be able to have him tell you.” Ryan continued.

“Oh?”

Kyle wasn’t sure why his boyfriend thought that he’d be able to get a different answer than what he had gotten.

“Don’t be that naive. You know very well that you’re much closer to David then I will ever be. A night out didn’t change anything to that.”

Kyle wasn't able to deny it. He did feel that he had a better affinity with David than Ryan could have. At least, he was glad that his boyfriend wasn't unease about it. He didn't want David to just be his friend.

The lovers took their time at the restaurant. When they got back to their condo, it was too late for Kyle to be able to do anything major yet, it was still a little too early to simply go to bed right away.

They ended up on the couch with the TV on, watching the last period of the hockey game. After the game ended, Kyle watched a little of the after-game show before heading for bed as he was working the next day too.