So nice to see you [M]

[Ryland Ren]

There it was. Viva Gelato. Ryland didn't exactly miss the key element to Aldon choosing this place in particular. This was where they went the night before their first time together. It was like the sixth date, if Ry remembered correctly. He made Aldon wait a while; the bastard was so used to just getting whatever the hell he wanted when he wanted it.

Ryland didn't want to give in. He didn't want to be another fool falling at his feet. He saw how it went with him. Just working alongside him and his brother at that accursed theater was enough for him to see that. God, Aldon flirted with everybody who looked remotely like his type. Ryland used to be so annoyed by that. It took him some time to realize why. By then, it was too late. He had been dragged into his web.

Letting out a sigh, Ryland looked back down at his phone, palms feeling slightly tingly with anxiety and anticipation. Why was this so much like an earlier meeting? The one last week, when he finally--finally!--met Christian. When he could finally put a face to his confidant, to the person he shared everything with. The person he'd bared his soul to.

And yet here he was.

Aldon used to have that part of him, until Ryland realized he was leaving his secrets in the hands of somebody who couldn't care for them with delicacy. It wasn't like Aldon was a despicable person. He was just... he was so... hard to handle sometimes.

Why the hell am I here again?

He still had time to turn on his heel and leave. He could just text Aldon that something came up. He didn't even have to give a reason. But the honesty in Aldon's tone at the end of their conversation stopped him from doing that. Instead, he ran an agitated hand through his hair and stuffed the phone in his pocket before crossing the street and entering Viva Gelato.

It didn't take long to locate that familiar golden head. Despite everything, his  traitorous heart let out a little jump. Ryland ignored it and headed over to the table where Aldon had indeed ordered that monstrosity of a sundae.

"I can't believe you really did it," he said, slack faced as he took a seat across from Aldon. Then he half smirked. "Okay, yes I can."

[Aldon Huang]

Damnit.
He'd said—typed?—more than he meant to.

See, Aldon wasn't exactly the type. The touchy part of touchy-feely? Yeah, no problem. The rest... not so much.

Like a foregone conclusion, Ryland brought out that side of him that he hated to expose: the sensitive side that everybody was so sure didn't exist in Aldon. Not that he was blatantly evil or anything, but he didn't deal in feelings and emotions. He didn't even get angry; everything brought out the same response. Laugh. Smile. Make a joke. Diversionary tactics. Anything to get away from the root of the problem that bothered him.

Hey, he got by. Over the years it was an artform. If nobody got to know him, they couldn't turn around and stab him where it hurt. Kinda hard to hurt somebody when you didn't know where their weak points were—it was the perfect plan.

Knda.

Sorta.

Except plans had a habit of going awry and the wrench in Aldon's turned out to be the guy walking in through the door towards him.

He struck a casual pose behind the mountain of ice cream, one arm slung over the back of the seat, one leg crossed loosely under the table. If he looked relaxed, however, inwardly he was anything but. A more observant person would have noticed the way he tensed; the sudden shift of his entire attention focused on the door, like a dog that suddenly caught sight of a squirrel... or a wolf that scented a fox.

Even though his heart rate accelerated and while his mouth suddenly went dry at the sight of him, Aldon still managed an easy smile. There was a little something extra come-hither-ish about the look in his eyes, though, in the way his lids hooded and his gaze flicked over Ryland's figure as he approached and sat down, perfectly impassive.

Was he, though? Perfectly undisturbed and unperturbed?

Aldon liked to think not. Maybe Ryland had gotten better at playing the game. Or maybe he had gotten worse.

"Well yeah, it's me we're talking about here," he said after a moment, abandoning some pretense in favor of leaning into the table. Not that he was trying to get closer to Ryland or anything. He just... wanted to be closer to the heap of ice cream. "Nothing should surprise you anymore, Ry! So... did you bring my jacket?"

[Ryland Ren]

Oh stop it, he wanted to say because Aldon was putting on the bedroom eyes. Ryland didn't have time for bedroom eyes. Honestly, he shouldn't even have time for an ex. His life was moving forward and it was all glorious. Soon he would graduate and he could work somewhere, maybe start out as an assistant vet and move his way up. Maybe he'd have his own practice one day.

The real end goal was that--his own practice, where he could treat shifters without suspicion. He couldn't help having a soft spot for his own kind, especially now that things were becoming especially rough for them. Hunters were always a real danger, the usual kind but now the supernatural kind were joining in. It made for more than uncomfortable existence. It made it feel like they didn't belong. Not here. Not anywhere.

That was really what he wanted, though. Ryland just wanted to slot himself into a world where he belonged. Sometimes it was really that easy. Most of the time, it wasn't.

Ry picked up a hardy plastic spoon and he brandished it like a weapon as he looked over Ice Cream Mountain. Seriously, it was like a real mountain. Foxes could dig a den inside it and raise a brood in there. Carefully, Ry stuck his spoon into the mess of a sundae and tasted it. Not that it tasted new and exciting. He'd been here before.

Cold, creamy gelato coated his tongue as Aldon asked his question. Quickly, Ry swallowed. He wanted to put the spoon down or maybe bring it down on Aldon's knuckles.

"Do I look like Iike I have it?"

[Aldon Huang]

Oh? Ryland didn't have the jacket. He didn't have anything and still came down to the gelato place.
Aldon didn't think he had to say it--that maybe Ryland was the one holding on to an excuse to see him. Instead, he scooped some ice cream too, directly from the place that Ryland had taken his spoonful. Like an indirect kiss. Only Aldon didn't say that either because he had a feeling that if he did, Ryland's annoyance would indirectly kiss his face--by way of his fist.

Smiling a little bit like he'd just discovered that the sun shone for him alone, he swallowed the mouthful and tasted nothing except the unspoken confession. Ryland came down here just to see him. That had to mean something. Only a damn blind man would miss that giant neon sign.

"I dunno. Maybe you had it hidden behind all that righteous indignation..." But under the table he gave Ryland's foot a gentle and playful nudge, to show that he was only teasing.

"You look good, Ry." And he sincerely meant that, even as his ankle brushed Ryland's.

[Ryland Ren]

Ryland eyed Aldon with some suspicion. He caught that Look! That smile! What was he thinking? But he felt like he was the one being baited now so he didn't ask. It seemed like he did a lot of that lately when it came to Aldon--just kept his mouth shut. For good reason, he supposed. If he opened it, he didn't know if either of them would like what came out.

He lifted his head imperiously. Excuse me? Righteous indignation? That was playing right into his hands, though. Grrr... He quelled his rising indignation with another spoonful of impossibly sweet gelato. He hoped Aldon wasn't expecting this to end the way it did when they were dating. It wouldn't. It couldn't. Ryland had a boyfriend now. Somebody who (hopefully) wouldn't turn out to be filthy heartbreaker.

"Ah, no!" Ryland threw a stern stare at Aldon, swiftly moving his foot (and his ankle) away from him. "No flirting."

[Aldon Huang]

Yep. Head tilt. Eyes narrowed. Lips pinched.

That comment struck a nerve, as surely as Aldon was sitting there and--by the way--he couldn't really believe that he was sitting there, opposite Ryland, after a year of radio silence.

Aldon took the coward's way out and they both knew that. He didn't know why he kept doing that. Kept jumping head-first into relationships and then getting cold feet. Maybe if he jumped in feet first...

That was the thing, though. Whichever way he approached relationships, he couldn't stop himself from getting scared. Antsy. Restless. It was no reflection of Ryland's suitability as a partner; it was Aldon. It was that whole messy business in eleventh grade and the fact that he just couldn't stop looking for the signs--the ones pointing to hurt.

Aldon still grinned unapologetically as he felt the air by his ankle swoosh with Ryland's retreat. He didn't chase but he did look briefly smug.

"You call that flirting?" That wasn't even his best performance.

[Ryland Ren]

Firmly. No. Flirting. NO. Flirting. Ryland wasn't going to flirt back, no matter what game Aldon played with him. (Although it was hard sometimes because it was so easy to fall into old habits.)

How long had it been? A year? Maybe longer? Ryland had to cut off all ties with Aldon after their last nasty breakup. By then, they'd been together on and off too often. One minute, they were great together and the next Aldon was acting shifty, not showing up, growing distant. It was weird how Aldon could do that--how he could smile and look so approachable but at the same time, he built up a wall that nobody could hope to break through. Ryland really tried, though. He was just tired of having his heart battered around. He needed something stable. He thought Aldon did too but he wouldn't let himself, for whatever reason.

"You know what I mean."

Calling a little ankle brushing flirting was a bit much--it made it sound like Ry was some prudish little virgin that didn't know how to flirt. Or didn't know the real meaning of the romance game. So yeah, Aldon just made him feel pathetic, like he somehow forgot to be with another man in his absence. Trying to steer the conversation elsewhere, he looked at the mountain between them and idly scooped up some more.

"This thing is an affront to mankind."

[Aldon Huang]

No flirting.

Except--yes flirting.

Who was Ryland trying to kid here? It wasn't flirting but his comment just made it so and Aldon wasn't so dumb that he didn't know what was going on in that pretty little head of his. What went on every time he came back, begging to be forgiven. Wasn't like this scene hadn't played out before, like a bad daytime soap opera.

He studied Ryland for several long moments, taking in the stubborn set of his jaw, the would-be hard look in his eyes. Something softer still lingered there. Aldon wasn't despised, for all of Ryland's prickly responses. If he was, they wouldn't be here right now, would they? Aldon was perceptive and... well, he knew Ryland as surely as Ryland thought he knew Aldon. The only difference was that Ryland really laid himself bare, and Aldon... pretended to.

It would have been infinitely easier had he not felt anything for Ryland. That was the problem--he did. In the moments when he let his guard down, brief as they were, he felt it. It was in the soft way that Ryland's lips pressed against his cheek, surprising him when he had his head down over his phone (playing some stupid mobile game); it was in the gentle brush of a hand over his arm just because. No reason needed to want to be close, to drift naturally towards each other sometimes without knowing it. Aldon would look up and suddenly--Ryland was there. He didn't consciously follow him around but Ryland often dominated his center of vision, even before they dated.

He wished that he could be trusting, that he wasn't always scared of the uncertain future. But he was also scared to admit that, to show another person that kind of weakness, and so the charade had to go on. Even Roe couldn't talk sense into him and Roe was pretty good at taking Aldon to task for all the bullshit he spewed and all the bastard things he did. But not even the voice of reason could do anything for Aldon.

"Oho! Are you not manly enough to take this on?" He, too, brandished his spoon like a sword. The words that couldn't be said hung thick in the air but unless he wanted Ryland to get up and walk away, it was better not to say anything at all. That suited Aldon just fine, though; he wasn't so keen on revisiting all of his past (and present) wrongs.

"Bet I can eat more than you!"

[Ryland Ren]

"Because this right here is the epitome of manliness," Ryland said, pointedly looking at the colorful mass between them. It came in a delightful and stomach churning bright colored swirl. Ryland only moderately liked sweet things so there was no way he could take on this mountain and win. Just a few spoonfuls would be enough to sate any desire for sweetness he might have for weeks.

He shook his head, still in disbelief that Aldon once conquered that mountain. It really did make him sick afterward but not the way it would have made Ry sick. Aldon had been more queasy than anything and he swore that Ryland's touch made it all go away. He was good at that, though. Saying things that pleased Ryland and made him feel all foolish and special. Then things soured and it was hard to remember what they were holding onto again.

"I'm not taking that bet," he said after one more spoonful, "because I'll lose."

And who knew what Aldon would demand in return.

Catching the eye of one of the girls who worked behind the counter, he asked for a glass of ice water. He desperately needed it now to get rid of that sickly sweet taste in the back of his throat.

"I don't know how you can handle all this," he said, poking the side of the sundae with the edge of his spoon. He looked up at Aldon. "When's the last time you were here anyway?"

[Aldon Huang]

"It takes a real man to be secure in his sexuality when confronted by... uh... this."

The philosophical statement went slightly South as he trailed off, looking at the mass of bright and cheerful colors. Well, Aldon was secure! He was plenty secure. He was the most secure thing this side of Fort Knox, thanks.

While Ryland backed out of the challenge like he knew where it would lead, Aldon squared his shoulders and worked his jaw. "I have an iron stomach, of course!" Had to loosen those muscles in preparation for--a highly damning question. His jaw tightened again, albeit for a millisecond. Then he grinned and went for a big scoop.

"Why do you wanna know?"

He was here just last week, sitting at their usual spot by the window and looking wistfully outside. Ryland didn't show up, of course, but he had hoped...

Not that it mattered what he hoped. Aldon knew when he was being stupid. Yet, he couldn't help himself sometimes. Everything carried a memory. Did Ryland look at popcorn and remember the times Aldon snuck handfuls out of the machine at the theater, because he forgot to bring lunch? (Only to get violently sick later, because he ate too quickly to avoid getting caught by the manager. He didn't really have an iron stomach; far from it, in fact.)

Did Ryland look up at the sky when it was cloudy and remember Aldon's insistence that it would not rain, only to be completely drenched in ice-cold snow on their first ever picnic date at the park? And cheese? Did Ryland ever manage to look at cheese the same way again after The Incident?

Aldon couldn't really do any of that. He could pretend to, though, and filled in the empty spaces with new people but it just wasn't the same.

[Ryland Ren]

Despite himself, Ry laughed. Yes, yes. It took a Real Man to remain secure in his masculinity when confronted with heaps of colorful gelato. He turned his head away as he laughed, then turned his gaze downward. Stupid Aldon. It wasn't just what he said but how he said it. Ah, he missed this. Even as he felt that warm familiarity in his chest, like settling into bed after a long day--that comfort, that feeling of being safe and home--he tried to refocus himself. That wasn't what this was.

Honestly, he didn't know what this was.

He shook his head. Nope. Nu-uh. Aldon didn't have a stomach made of iron. Or if he did, he was really good at convincing Ryland of the opposite.

Momentarily frozen, he wished fervently that he hadn't questioned Aldon on when he'd last been at Viva Gelato. He should have known the question would rebound back on him. Why should he care or want to know? It had been a long time. A year. In that time, who knew what Aldon had been doing? He said he had somebody now and so did Ryland.

So why care if he was here?

"Just curious," he said, maintaining a neutral tone. "I haven't been here since... us."

There were some places he actively avoided when things broke off between them. Viva Gelato was one of them but there were a host of others, too. Deep down, he half hoped to run into him but he knew where it would lead so he stayed away. Things were getting weird. Too serious. Ryland studied Aldon for a moment, then... he shot a spoonful of gelato at him, aiming for his nose.

"That's for the nachos."

[Aldon Huang]

"Ah."

Then Aldon was defi-freaking-nitely never telling Ryland about him coming around to their old haunts. Only once in a while, though. Only when the edges of his memories of them grew too sharp to ignore.

"Hm." He didn't have much to say to that. It seemed like there wasn't really an appropriate response. Good for you for trying to get over me? No, Aldon wasn't as big of a man to say that. It wasn't what he wanted, they both knew that. Besides, Ryland decided that he wanted nothing more to do with Aldon, so admitting that he longed for Ryland would be too damning for the both of them to handle at the moment.

SPLAT!

Aldon blinked. Something cold and wet trickled down his cheek. "Did--" he began, stupidly staring at Ryland and into his mischievous little face. "Did you just--" The wetness slid over his chin and dropped onto the table.

"Oh you. You are so dead! I wore my best shirt for you!" But Aldon was grinning even as he cried out indignantly, grabbing a maraschino cherry to pelt Ryland with.

[Ryland Ren]

The look on Aldon's face was just too much--Ryland burst into a fit of laughter and even pointed at poor Aldon's now creamy face. Aldon just let it drip down his face, which really just made it that much more riotous. Plop went the ice cream and Ryland laughed harder.

"You--your--"

A cherry came hurtling at him and he raised his hands and ducked, trying to avoid it with a helpless shout of, "no!" The cherry managed to slip between his fingers and struck him on the upper cheek. Right under the eye! He blinked that eye a few times, scrunching up his face before looking quickly downward and trying to catch the cherry. It dropped to the floor before he could catch it to lob it back.

"Nuh-uh, you don't get to pay me back for paying you back!" He straight up stuck his spoon into Mount Gelato and shoveled a great glob of it in Aldon's general direction, even as he half hunched a shoulder as if in preparation for a new onslaught of cherries.

[Aldon Huang]

"You little f--AAAAHH!"
The mass literally just plopped into his lap and it was SO COLD. It was COLD and WET and Aldon leapt up like he had live fish in his pants, sending most of the ice cream to the floor. Then as he did so, as he rose, he violently caught the edge of the table with his... most sensitive area and he sat back down hard with a winded groan and a wheeze.

"...ow..." Aldon whined in a tiny voice, and then slid over side-ways to curl up on the seat with some ice cream for a pillow, what there was of it that hadn't fallen to the ground. People were beginning to look over at the commotion but Aldon--with both hands between his legs--wasn't in a competent state to feel ashamed for making a miniature scene.

"...ow..."

[Ryland Ren]

No inevitable onslaught of cherries. Actually... it seemed like Ryland's shot hit a pretty sensitive spot, which then ended up even more abused. Ryland half laughed and half cringed, not really believing it was happening for a half a second.

Then--man down! Aldon was curling up like a wounded puppy and Ryland widened his eyes and straightened up. Both hands grabbed onto the table and he leaned forward, trying to get a better look at Aldon all curled up.

"Wh..."

Whoops. It was meant to be a little fun and games to alleviate the weird tension between them. Instead, he ended up physically assaulting Aldon somehow.

"Are you okay?"