A Night At The Movies

[vega-pleiades.livejournal.com]

Title: A Night at The Movies
Author: Vega
Pairings: Ryan/Colin, one mention of Greg/Ryan
Ratings/Warning: PG-13 for swearing
Summary: The Improv All-Stars tour bus has broken down in a small town in Georgia. Ryan and Colin, having nothing to watch on TV and sick of poker, go to a small local theater to see a teen movie. Of course, everybody knows what goes on at showings of teen movies. Answer to one of Lethargee’s challenges.
Disclaimer: The following story is fictional. It does not intend to portray the real people in it in a libelous or slanderous manner. It also does not suggest that the people in the story are homosexual. Please, please don’t sue me. I’m just a fan of Whose Line, and I have no money. You would just be wasting your time. Also, not all Southerners are hicks. Just thought I’d throw that out there.



~

“Two, please.” Ryan said to the teenager behind the booth, handing him some money. This particular boy had rather severe acne, a snaggletooth mouth, and was wearing overalls with no shirt. In short, he looked like the perfect caricature of a Southern hick. And that was in fact what he was. The teenager squinted at the tall man, who was standing in front of a shorter, very bald man.

“Y’all ain’t queers, are ya?” he asked, with a perfect Southern accent to match his appearance. Ryan raised an eyebrow.

“No,” he said, slightly confused. Colin smiled a little.

“That’s not what you said last night!” he said melodramatically. Ryan turned around, and laughed.

“You’re just a phase I’m going through.” Ryan teased. Colin mimed looking shocked. The teenager did not find this very amusing, but passed two tickets through the glass barrier in spite of it. Ryan took the tickets, and he and Colin entered the lobby.

“And they all like that here?” Colin asked, as they passed the snack counter.

“I wouldn’t know. We’ve never been here before.” Ryan replied.

“I can see why.” Colin said, laughing slightly.

The theater had only one movie showing that night, a teen movie. Colin wondered to himself why Ryan enjoyed them so much. Perhaps he liked them purely because they were so bad. Or maybe it was for the experience he had seeing one, throwing popcorn at the couples who invariably ended up making out at them and laughing when they didn’t notice. Or maybe it was a combination of both.

Ryan was always surprisingly cynical about love. Even up to when he married Pat, he maintained that love was, in short, worthless. This always worried Colin, who believed whole-heartedly in the power of love.

He was also secretly in love with Ryan. He had been for more than sixteen years. He believed he was extremely good at hiding this fact, despite the jokes made by Greg, Brad, Wayne, and the others. He did not cry at Ryan’s wedding, he even married Deb and had Luke with her, whom he loved very much. This did not change the fact that he loved Ryan too.

But even before all of “it” happened, as Colin referred to those events, he still never acted on his feelings. He couldn’t. If Ryan didn’t love him, and even if he did, there was always the horrible possibility it would never be the same between them. Colin was not willing to risk his friendship for his own happiness. No, he was happy enough being Ryan’s best friend, married and with children.

“Colin! I asked you if you wanted anything from the snack counter!” Ryan said, snapping Colin out of his reminiscing.

“Huh? No, no, I’m fine.” Colin responded quickly.

“Good, ‘cause neither do I.” Ryan said, leaning back in his seat and put his hands behind his head. Colin looked around the theater. It was rather big, which made sense since it was the only one. There was only one other person there, another hillbilly sitting about 2 rows above them who could have passed as the older sibling of the teenager outside. The chairs were rather old-fashioned. They didn’t have any armrests, and were all packed tightly together. The result of this was that Colin’s thigh was pressed against Ryan’s. A powerful swooping sensation flooded Colin’s stomach. Ryan didn’t seem to notice or even care. Or if he did, he was doing an awfully good job of pretending.

“This theater doesn’t have any lights.” Colin pointed out nonsensically. Ryan looked at him.

“Guess not,” he said. “How do you think the guys are doing at fixing the bus?”

“What I think? I think that they’ve already called a repairman, but he’s never worked with anything more complex than his ’57 Chevy truck.” Colin said wryly. Ryan laughed.

“Yeah, I think so too,” he said. “I’m glad we came, even if this movie is going to suck.”

“Me too.” Colin said, but with a meaning that went completely unnoticed by Ryan. There was silence for a bit, as they watched the previews.

“Colin?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah?”

“I need to tell you something.” Ryan said. His voice was a little shaky, which got Colin’s attention.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Pat and me are getting a divorce.” Colin was stunned.

“What? Why?” he asked, startled.

Ryan was silent for a while, as the movie played in the background.

“Because I don’t think I love her,” he said, after some consideration. “I love someone else, and I can’t be with her anymore.”

“Who?” Colin asked, with an unnoticeable tinge of bitter jealousy in his voice. His mind had immediately jumped to Greg. Greg, who had been on Whose Line with Ryan longer than he had, who was Ryan’s second best friend, who would be the only person Ryan could possibly love besides Pat.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Ryan nearing his ear and whispered, “I love you.”

That pleasant, swooping sensation in his stomach had returned, increased tenfold, and causing him to shudder. Ryan pulled back a little, and a million thoughts went through Colin’s mind in the span of a second.


~Colin's Thoughts~
Don’t do anything. You’ll wreck it; your friendship will never be the same. But I love him! He loves me! No, don’t do anything rash. What about Deb? What about Luke? No, I’ve done this for too long, I’m tired of it. And what about the consequences in the morning? What then?~

Ryan looked heartbroken for a minute, and Colin decided. Consequences be damned. He pulled Ryan to him, and kissed him.

They fell back onto the chairs next to them, entirely ignoring the mindless teen movie playing in the background. Colin made a small noise in the back of his throat, and somehow pulled Ryan even closer. They could have kissed for hours, days, or years. Neither of them bothered to wonder how long it had been. The only thought that passed through Colin’s mind was “I should apologize to Greg later”.

He wound one leg around Ryan’s, and gasped into his mouth. It was clear Ryan was enjoying this quite a bit. They pulled apart, but still in the same position.

“You want to get out of here?” Ryan asked, panting.

“What about the movie?” Colin asked.

“Fuck the movie,” he replied nonchalantly. They sat up, still partially entwined, and saw the hick two rows behind glaring at them as if they were unnatural freaks.

“What’s the matter?” Ryan said. “Haven’t you ever seen two men make out in a movie theater?”

The man’s glare turned to confusion. Ryan grinned, detached himself from Colin, and stood up. He and Colin exited the theater into the moonlight town, barely able to keep their hands off each other. Every few minutes, Ryan would pull Colin into an alley and they would kiss passionately for several minutes before running back to the bus.

Ryan fumbled with his keys to the bus, with Colin still half-kissing him. He got the door open, and they went in to see Greg, Drew, Chip, Jeff, and Brad all asleep on the couches and chairs. It appeared they had been waiting for Ryan and Colin to come home, but had fallen asleep. Ryan signaled for Colin to be quiet, and walked silently through the sleeping bodies. Colin followed, startled only when Drew snored loudly. Ryan opened the door to his bedroom, & pulled Colin in with him.

The door lock clicked shut.