Chapter Text
Ryan remembers the day Gabe Chen arrived in Haven Springs like it was yesterday, and he remembers it with a smile.
The town has always been small and homey, a place where everyone knows everyone and everyone watches out for everyone. No man left behind, no jar left empty of sugar, that sort of thing. So when a stranger rolls in on a bus and all but collapses halfway down the bridge, it doesn't even take an hour to become the talk of the town. Ryan had been the one to find him, out on his way to take a walk.
"Hi there, are you... new to town?" Ryan had said with a friendly smile. The stranger looked unwell, uneasy, like he might a strong breeze would topple him. "Do you need anything? A drink, or something to eat, or..?"
"I'm..." turned out it didn't even take a breeze, unless that sigh of a word was stronger than it sounded. Ryan saw the signs in time to close the distance, his arms extended just in time to stop the stranger from face planting. As it was he crumpled into a heap in Ryan's arms, which certainly didn't go unnoticed by Riley or her grandmother.
When the stranger wakes up, it's not in a hospital or a cell, it's on the second floor of the local bar. A sort of... recreational room that's barely used, and closed off to the public. Ryan sits up from his relaxed position as soon as the blanket thrown over the man shuffles. His bird encyclopedia is set aside with barely a second thought when faced with a human in potential danger.
"Hey, woah... take it easy," Ryan says, his hand settling gently on the man's shoulder as he looks around: clearly confused, and maybe even a little afraid. "You're still in Haven Springs, just upstairs in the Black Lantern. You didn't seem like you were hurt so I thought bringing you to a hospital would be dramatic. I did bring you this, though," a bowl of chili is lifted from the counter, aluminum foil removed just before being extended in offering. The man sits up, eyes shifting from the food, to Ryan, then back to the food.
"So..." He starts as he takes the bowl and spoon, black eyebrows raised in skepticism. "What's the deal? You serial killers or something? Am I about to chow down on the last guy who rolled into town on the bus, or what?" Ryan just stares at him for a few seconds, slack jawed. What does he even say to that?
"N-no? I mean, it's beef. And if we were hypothetically serial killers, why would we feed you? Wouldn't it have made more sense just to kill you before you woke up?" The stranger laughs, and there's something about the little crinkle in the corners of his eyes that makes Ryan feel like he just saw something he shouldn't have. Maybe he was expecting someone a bit slower on the uptick when it comes to jokes, but Ryan's pace is anything except slow.
"Dude... everybody knows if you're gonna eat someone, you have to fatten them up first," and Ryan snorts a laugh back in response at that.
"Ah, then wait!" He says, hand extending to catch the man's attention. "Before you start eating... I'm Ryan Lucan. There. First thing I did was introduce myself, which pretty much proves that I'm not gonna eat you."
The man shrugs the blanket to the side, crosses his legs up on the couch comfortably, and pauses. He sits for a few beats, with a look somewhere between distant and amused until he finally comes back to Earth.
"Ryan... I'm Gabe. It's nice to eat you, I mean... fuck," and they're both laughing at that.
"Nice to eat you too, Gabe."
Maybe somehow, even back then, Ryan knew how he felt about Gabe. Maybe he'd already silently declared them best friends and fallen in love. And even now, after years of Gabe loving someone else, of sitting on the opposite side of the table and smiling like it didn't gnaw at him in moments of weakness not to be something more... Ryan wouldn't ever take back that day. He wouldn't ever give up those laughs. All the jealousy and envy in the world couldn't pry Ryan from Gabe's side. They'd be together forever, in whatever capacity kept that warm, bright smile on Gabe's face... because that's all that mattered to Ryan.