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Ryan sighs.
This wasn’t ideal.
Ryan swears he’s usually good with improvising his way through life, but this time around, the circumstances really took the best out of him.
It was hard enough to cope with the change of not spending every full day with his boyfriend anymore once the high school days were over, and equally as hard to figure out how the hell they were going to do this whole new adult life.
They did it, though. Colin started his university program studying marine biology, and Ryan is doing some low-effort jobs to earn money to pay rent. They have their small apartment. Everything’s fine.
There had, of course, been the silent question of whether Ryan’s decision to quit high school and pursue comedy was the right one, and it didn’t look like it for a while, but he had finally booked a regular show so things seem to be on the up.
It might be in a strip club but hey, everybody starts somewhere.
But life’s truly got a sense of humor because his first independent show just so happens to be on the day they were supposed to be celebrating Christmas with Colin’s family.
Of- fucking -course.
Colin being the sweetheart he is, assured Ryan that his family doesn’t mind postponing the main meal and that he can just arrive the day after.
It sounds alright, but there’s a couple of problems with it, you see.
Firstly, he usually needs Colin to be at his best, and now he has to perform his first show without him, and he has no idea how it’s going to turn out.
And secondly, who knows what Colin’s family is really thinking.
They’ve been dating for the majority of high school so he’s met them numerous times before, and they’ve always been nothing but nice to him, but that was before he made the seemingly unwise decision regarding his career path and-
Realistically speaking, if your son is studying marine biology at university with a future in that field, would you like him to date a high school dropout doing comedy in strip clubs?
Ryan sighs again.
There’s too much going on inside his head, and he’s about to perform in a bit and should focus on getting in the zone-
“Ryan?” a voice brings him out of his head for a moment. “You’re on in ten.”
“Thanks,” Ryan replies, reaching for his drink of… Whatever it is they gave him. He doesn’t really care. He mulls the liquid over in his mouth, trying to focus himself. He can overthink later, now it’s time to perform.
He gazes over the audience, trying to mark people he could work with during his set. Once he’s observed the entirety of the club, he returns his gaze to where he started and meets a pair of eyes he would recognize just about anywhere, but ones he’d expect to see the least in the given circumstances.
“No…” he manages to get out, his legs taking him forward on their own.
Ryan’s eyes mark the warmth and slight wetness in his boyfriend’s eyes before pulling Colin into a hug. It’s not a very pleasurable one for the shorter man, he assumes, as he’s definitely squeezing him a little too tightly, but Colin also does nothing to pull away, so he figures it’s okay.
He has to squeeze his eyes shut for the duration of the hug to avoid any tears from spilling, but he still feels the wetness of his eyes when he pulls away just enough to look at his boyfriend.
“What…how-” Ryan stammers as Colin turns his hands around so that he could run his thumbs over Ryan’s hand in a soothing manner.
“Family celebrations can wait for a day. This is your day, and I want to be here for you.”
“But I’m not.. I mean this isn’t…”
Colin turns his head questioningly, not stopping the movement of his fingers, which calms Ryan down enough to finish his train of thought.
“Don’t take me wrong, I’m so happy you’re here. I just… I didn’t realize it was so important for you to be here. I mean, we don’t even know if it’s gonna take off well… And we’re in a strip club, out of all places. I just… I didn’t expect-”
Colin steps closer and signals for Ryan to bend down so that they could rest their foreheads against one another.
“Of course I was gonna come, you big dummy. You’re my boyfriend, and I’m proud of what you do. I can’t wait to see you showing everyone how it’s done.”
He pulls Ryan into a hug, there, one that’s much more loving and calming than the first one. He rubs his back and Ryan’s eyes trail to the club manager who holds his right palm up in silent disclaimer. Ryan nods.
“I’m up in five,” he says to Colin, reluctant to let him go.
Colin reaches out his hand to rub Ryan’s arm reassuringly. “You’ll do amazing. Then we’ll go home and catch the first train tomorrow to see my family. Or the second one. It doesn’t matter. They’ll understand.”
And as Colin holds his hands and looks up at him with so much love, Ryan thinks he might do just fine tonight.
…
The next day, Ryan barely has time to overthink the visit before he’s enveloped in a hug by Colin’s mom.
“It’s been too long, dear!” she exclaims, trying to reach up as much as she can to match Ryan’s height.
“It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Mochrie,” he says when she pulls away, giving her a polite smile and then turning to Colin’s dad standing nearby. “And you, Mr. Mochrie,” he nods to the man, who extends his arm towards him immediately.
“It seems to me you’ve grown even taller, young man,” he says as he shakes Ryan’s hand. “It’s good a thing we’ve passed some tall genes onto our son as well.”
Ryan chuckles a little at that, but he’s still somewhat wary of where the conversation might spiral. Especially with the apology on his lips.
“I’m really sorry we had to postpone the dinner because of me, if I could I would’ve-”
“Oh don’t mention it, dear,” Mrs. Mochrie immediately says, guiding Ryan over to the coat hanger. “We’re glad you could’ve made it at all. I heard your first show was a big success?” she proposes, and Ryan immediately looks over at Colin who’s currently hiding his rapidly reddening face in the scarf he has yet to take off.
“Well, it was alright for the first show,” Ryan starts carefully. “It definitely helped to have Col there. I don’t think I could have made it without him.”
Mrs. Mochrie chokes on her next words so her husband takes over for her.
“We can’t wait to hear all about your first show over dinner. I hope you took videos, son.”
Ryan’s about to say something, but Colin beats him to it.
“You bet I did. Might not want to play them with Caleb and Cee in the room though.”
Ryan closes his eyes in embarrassment but soon hears the sound of Mr. Mochrie’s laugh, which is somewhat similar to Colin’s.
“You’re right, I forgot about the nature of the club. Well, gotta wait ‘till the youngsters are in bed, then. For a little adult chat.”
He smiles at Ryan then, genuinely, and as Ryan’s eyes pan over to Mrs. Mochrie, who still seems to be holding back tears, he thinks that this went more easily than he had expected.
Like, much more easily.
“Where are the youngsters anyway?” Ryan asks, finally getting out of his outer garments.
“Cecilia’s out with some friends and Caleb’s went to run an errand for me. He should be back at any minute now. Do you guys want to wait for him with lunch? I’ve only got some soup because I cooked so much for the main meal, but I thought-”
“Soup sounds great,” Colin interrupts Mrs. Mochrie’s little ramble, which also reminds Ryan of his boyfriend. “Can I take Ryan to my room? As we’re waiting for Caleb anyway. I’ll show him his room while we’re up there.”
“Of course, dear. We'll call you back in time.”
And so they go upstairs.
They briefly peek inside the guest room they cleared out for Ryan but end up in Colin’s.
“Your family’s really supportive,” Ryan says once they put their things down.
“Of course, they are.”
“But like, even with my gigs, that’s not-”
“Ryan,” Colin says, stepping closer to Ryan and gently taking a hold of his hands. “Stop bringing yourself down. It’s a job like every other. You’re only starting out, so of course it’s going to take some time for it to really get somewhere, but you did amazing yesterday, and I’ve got every right to be proud of you. And so does my family.”
Ryan just looks at his boyfriend for a second before finally nodding, bringing his head down so that they could bring their foreheads together.
“You didn’t actually take any videos, right?” he murmurs before planting a soft kiss on Colin’s lips.
Colin giggles as he pulls away. “I definitely did.”
Ryan sighs. “I just hope it wasn’t the Dolly Parton impression part.”
The look on Colin’s face tells him enough.
But as embarrassing as that realization is, he somehow can’t bring himself to mind.
No matter what roads he took in life, he’s still accepted here.
Which might be the entire point.
He’ll be alright as long as he has Colin by his side.