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Tom and Ryland spent the rest of their day just enjoying each other’s company. Neither of them was really up to braving the public again that day, so they ordered in both lunch and dinner and ignored everything outside the walls of Ryland’s apartment. It was a quiet, comfortable day, and it felt so natural for them to spend it together. Colt texted Ryland a few times “just checking in to make sure Ryder hasn’t murdered you yet” these got an eye roll from Ryland and Tom offered suggestions on increasingly gruesome ways for Ryland to claim Tom was murdering him. Those led to Ryland playfully slapping Tom and then Tom grabbing Ryland’s hand and pulling him in for a hug. Which did seem to be the motivation behind getting Ryland all riled up to begin with.
At some point during the day, they talked about what their current boundaries were regarding intimacy. Despite what drunk Ryland had said the night before, he still had a lot of reservations about being intimate at this stage of their relationship. They settled on a policy of kissing, cuddling and hugs being on the table for the time being, with any below the waist or under the clothes touching being off limits. Tom reiterated multiple times that he wanted to be informed immediately if Ryland felt uncomfortable in the slightest and they set a safe word just in case things got to be too much. Ryland really appreciated the frankness of the conversation. Tom said he always felt consent was sexy and Ryland blushed and pulled Tom in for a kiss.
Tom noticed that after they had discussed their boundaries, Ryland seemed to feel a lot more comfortable initiating contact and he was thrilled at this development. He wanted nothing more than to touch and be touched by Ryland, and he loved knowing that Ryland was feeling the same way too.
As the day drew to a close, Tom started to talk about heading back to his hotel for the night. “I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”
Ryland scoffed at this. “I would let you know if you weren’t welcome. You should stay. I want to fall asleep in your arms.”
“Well, when you put it that way…” Tom followed him into the bedroom and sighed contentedly as they cuddled up together in bed. “God, holding you feels so right.” he muttered, as they drifted off to sleep together.
**********
The next morning, Ryland awoke in a panic. “I forgot to set an alarm! I have to get to the airport for my flight to LA!”
“Five more minutes” Tom grumbled and tried to pull Ryland back into bed with him.
Ryland dodged Tom’s hand as he fumbled in the air reaching for him. “Nope, I still haven’t even packed yet and my flight leaves in less than two hours!”
“You can borrow my clothes. There, packing solved. Back to bed!” Tom sat up as he said this, realizing that getting Ryland to relax while he was panicking was not going to happen.
“I’ve seen the way you dress. Not a single science pun t-shirt to be seen. I could never!” Ryland laughed and continued his frantic efforts to shove way too much clothing into a duffle bag clearly not up to the task.
‘Okay, fine, wear your dorky clothes. But you don’t have to stress over getting ready this instant. I’ll just get us both tickets for later and we can fly back together.” He pulled out his phone to text his assistant that he needed two tickets from San Francisco to LA for that afternoon.
Ryland stopped in his tracks. Wasting a ticket he had spent money on just didn’t compute for him. Maybe he could get it changed over to a return flight instead? He hadn’t booked that yet…
“You okay?” Tom asked. “What did I say?”
Ryland shook his head to clear it and said, “Oh, yeah, I didn’t think to ask when you were going back. I guess that would work.”
“Okay, that’s settled then. Now get back to bed so I can cuddle you some more. It’s been too long since I held you.” Tom said with a wink.
“It’s been like two minutes.” Ryland mock glared.
“Exactly, way too long!”
**********
The look on Colt’s face when he went to pick Ryland up from the airport later that day and saw that Tom was with him was priceless to Tom. Colt pulled Ryland in for a hug and glared at Tom over his brother’s shoulder. “Sorry, no room in my car for both of you. Guess you’ll have to find your own way home, Ryder.”
“Really?” Tom asked innocently. “It’s okay, Ryland and I don’t mind if it’s a tight squeeze.”
Ryland laughed and told Tom to behave. “There’s no need to antagonize Colt. I can see you in a day or two, but for now I’m going to go catch up with my brother.”
“Fine, I’ll get my own ride home. But can I at least get a kiss before you go?” Tom sounded pathetic to Colt’s ears and he made sure to roll his eyes at him for this.
“Nope, way too many eyes. You get one hand squeeze and an ‘I’ll see you later.’” Ryland was getting comfortable enough to be a little bossy with Tom, and it turned out Tom liked this side of him. To be fair, Tom liked every side of Ryland he’d seen so far.
“Alas, I fear I shall wither away without your love, but I will endeavor to carry on in your absence!” Tom said dramatically as he backed away, nearly colliding with a family on their way to baggage claim. Ryland actually giggled at this and Colt realized he was going to give himself a headache if he kept rolling his eyes this much. “You two are pathetic.”
On the way back to Colt’s place, he kept catching Ryland sighing wistfully as he looked out the window. “Wow, you really do have it bad, Ry.”
Another sigh, “I can’t help it. We've only just made the whole ‘boyfriends’ thing official and I miss him already.”
“Yeah, but he’s Tom Ryder. What’s to miss besides some arrogance and the way his ego fills the room?”
“He’s not just arrogant. He’s sweet too.”
“I guess I’ll just have to take your word for it on that.” It was going to take a while before Colt believed “sweet” and “Tom Ryder” belonged in the same sentence. Still, he was glad to see his twin again, even if it did mean having to put up with his annoying new boyfriend.