Work Text:
"Hello?"
"Hey baby."
Oliver smiled, hearing Ryan's warm voice on the other end of the line. He was lying down in bed, looking through photos and deciding what to post on his story and page. His manager has sent him a couple of shots to choose from, and videos from the game and the locker room that he vaguely remembers getting filmed.
"How's your night going?"
"Just got back to my hotel room a little bit ago. Looking through pics now, they said I should post something," Oliver answered, exiting the photos app so he can focus on his conversation.
"Yeah? Went out with the team?" There's a lilt in Ryan's voice that Oliver quite couldn't place – he's almost certain that he's being teased.
"Yes. But you know, I'd rather have spent Valentine's Day having dinner with you," he answered with a pout, making the other man laugh.
"I can see you pout from here," came Ryan's answer, making Oliver roll his eyes fondly. Of course he can. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there, baby," he added, voice so sincere that Oliver felt his heart melt.
"It's fine, babe, I promise. I'll make it up to you. It just sucks that this game happened to fall on Valentine's Day, of all days," Oliver said with a sigh, leaning back on his pillow to close his eyes. He'd wanted to have a nice, quiet dinner with Ryan for Valentine's this year, but then he got the email about the game and, well, he really couldn't refuse. It's the NBA!
There was a snicker on the other end of the line, and what sounds like sheets rustling. Ryan had a full day of filming today and - he looked at the time, almost 11pm - is probably about to crash into bed after getting the kids to sleep. "Nah, I know you will. Just wish I was able to at least watch the game in person, you know?"
That's the thing – he was supposed to go with Oliver to Oakland for the game. They both knew how it's going to be framed, what kind of questions it'll raise, but for once, they didn't really feel nervous about it. It's just a basketball game, it's not that deep.
With the show's hiatus almost coming to an end, it could honestly look like they're just doing press. Sure, the insinuation that two supposed "just bros" are spending Valentine's Day together could raise some eyebrows – but it's easy enough to dodge around that.
No, the reason why Ryan couldn't join him today was because of reshoots. It has something to do with Eddie's storyline since they have yet to wrap on that. Tim seems to keep changing his mind about some parts here and there so Ryan had to be essentially on call for reshoots and script rewrites.
"Hmmm, yeah," Oliver hummed in response. "Although, you would've just cheered for me being on the bench for majority of the time."
Ryan barked out a laugh. "I'll have you know that I would've made a pretty cheerleader. You know that I'd be proud of you either way, right? Whether you're in the bench or throwing three pointers every shot."
Oliver felt his face warm up a little at that. Because, yeah, he did know, but it's sweet to hear, especially after his performance today. "Well? What did you think of the game?" Oliver asked.
"You were amazing. The game looked... entertaining? It's pretty unconventional and it felt like watching an intense YMCA basketball match with players at different talent levels." Oliver snorted at that because, yeah, that's a fair evaluation. After a beat, Ryan spoke again. "Your leg bothering you at all?"
Oliver shook his head before answering after realizing Ryan can't see him. "No, love, it's okay. I made sure to stretch beforehand and the compression tights helped."
"Yeah? You did some pretty impressive jump shots there, man," Ryan teased. And okay, Oliver knows what he's talking about.
Rolling over and groaning into his pillow, he can hear Ryan laugh even more on the other end. "God, that is embarrassing. Do not remind me!"
"Hey, listen, sorry for laughing. But baby, you looked adorable doing it, missed shot and all. Just look at Twitter! Your fans adored that moment!" Ryan consoled, his voice sounding far away. Oliver wondered if he grabbed his iPad to actually check Twitter again.
Pout once again making its way back in full force, Oliver all but whined into his phone. "Please do not tell me that that moment is now a short clip circulating online. I couldn't even help us win the end! Maybe I deserved to be benched, ugh."
"Awww, baby, stop pouting. I'm scrolling through posts and I can assure you, no one was unhappy about that or you in general." He paused for a bit before continuing to tell Oliver what he's seeing. "Wow, bunch of thirst tweets about you, actually. Looks like you had a good amount of fans over at the game today. Also fans at home cheering for you."
And listen. That honestly warmed Oliver's heart. He knows his fans, especially the Buddie fans, can be intense, but overall, they do mean well. "I think I heard some screams when I came in earlier and some even waved at me, so yeah, some were present in the game."
Ryan was quiet for a few minutes that Oliver wondered if the line disconnected. He looked at his phone and saw that the call was still ongoing so did Ryan fall asleep?
"Babe? You there?"
Ryan cleared his throat before answering. "Yeah, I'm here. I'm just reading your interview with that journalist from Today, actually. This article must've dropped while I was filming..." he trailed off, probably still reading the article or the reactions that came with it.
Yeesh, that article. Oliver probably said more than he should have, if he's being honest with himself. What can he say? He felt like being nice today and was ready to go against the "Demon Stark" jokes for once. After almost three months of waiting, he thought the fans deserved a little win.
"Oh you didn't hear about it earlier? I already got a cryptic message slash warning from Tim that I have yet to reply to," he said with a laugh. "But honestly? I'm happy to have said what I said."
He can almost see Ryan's nod before he heard his answer. "No, yeah, I can't blame you. I had to be so vague about my interview with Jeff from Forbes that some fans even said I spoke like a politician. I can't even be upset, it was a pretty accurate observation." Oliver snorted at that. He saw the reactions from the fans regarding that article, and the positive feedback made Ryan glow for days.
They both know how hard it is to find a middle ground in interviews where they don't want to lead fans on by saying something they can't promise will happen, but they also can't just leave fans hanging by not giving them anything.
And sure, maybe he did say more than he should've in his interview earlier, but can you blame him? One of the first articles he saw when he woke up is an article from some publication's Valentine's special: about how Buck "needed to couple up" with Tommy.
Some fans were celebrating that – obviously not the Buddie fans – and tagged him anyway they can. It pissed him off first thing in the morning. He already had to wake up in a hotel bed by himself, hundreds of miles away from his boyfriend on the morning of Valentine's Day, and seeing that article just felt like another punch in the gut. He forward it to Ryan who sent an angry frowning face and rolling eyes emojis as a response.
So yeah. He was a little vengeful this afternoon. In hindsight, he wasn’t really saying anything new, right? He basically just reiterated what the basketball episode was about. The only "new" info was that it would potentially be revisited in the future. It truly wasn't his fault that some fans lacked basic comprehension the first time around.
He told Ryan as such and they shared a laugh at that.
"Yes, but babe, you know you need to be careful with what you say! Come on, let them feel surprised. They'd love it more that way."
"Maybe I'm just excited over the fact that I can finally kiss you on screen very soon," he answered, teasing.
He heard Ryan hum. "That is a pretty good thing to be excited about. I'm still surprised it took us this long."
"Who took this long, me and you, or Buck and Eddie?" Oliver joked. They've had this conversation a tons of times before and it turned into a little inside joke between them.
Ryan huffed before letting out a yawn. "You know what I mean, dumbass," he answered, his voice and breathing starting to sound heavy where Oliver knows is a sign that he's about to pass out soon.
"I know, love. You sound beat, you turning in to bed now?"
Another yawn sounded right before a click of what he knows is Ryan's bedside lamp. "Mhmm, just about. You going to bed soon? What time is your flight tomorrow?"
"I just need to post something and sort through some pictures but I'm going to bed right after. I feel exhausted," he let out a yawn of his own. "I leave at 8am here and should be there right before 10. You good to pick me up?"
"Always, you know that. Good night, babe. I love you," came Ryan's sleepy response, his voice starting to even out.
"Night, babe. Love you too, see you tomorrow."
Oliver hung up the call, knowing Ryan is most likely on the edge of sleep. He was going to check his photos app again to look over the pictures from his manager until he remembered Ryan saying something about thirst traps from the game. Logging on to his Twitter burner account, he started scrolling to see what the fans have cooked up from today.