Chapter Text
Colt had been surprisingly helpful, all things considered. Ryland was sure in the coming years he would get plenty of crap for his decisions leading up to that day, but for the moment it seemed his twin was more focused on making sure Ryland didn't back out.
Which.
Fair, actually.
But he wasn't. And even if he was he wasn't sure how Colt bringing him extra clothes for the trip would have gotten him to reconsider.
"You brought a bunch of sweaters." Colt was saying, pulling out various cardigans from his suitcase and replacing them with clothes he's picked out. "It's June. You’re going to Mexico. You'll shrivel up and die if you wear them." He held up Ryland's nicest shirt, one of the several button-ups he wore under the sweaters and cardigans now thrown on his bed. "That's just sad. You didn't go buy anything new for the show?"
"I wasn't supposed to actually get screen time, not sure if you remember."
Colt huffed a laugh. "Yeah, that train left the station day one." He paused. "We should do a watch party when the season comes out, don't you think?"
"No."
"Could be fun." Colt half sung, finally happy enough with Ryland's wardrobe that he zipped the suitcase shut. "Try not to burn to a crisp, will you? It's really not a cute look on you."
Ryland shoulder checked him.
Court was talking with Ava when Ryland and Colt finally found them next to the studio car waiting to take them to the airport.
“I’ll still be able to get the Wifi for work?” Ryland asked, having no problem interrupting them.
“Contractually yes.” Ava frowned. “But please keep your laptop out of the view of the cameras whenever they’re filming you and Simon in your room.”
“...Filming in our room?”
“Yes.” Ava opened the door to the backseat and waited for Ryland to get in, his luggage loaded by Colt, who shot him an insufferably smug thumbs up. “I’ll have someone go over it with you both when you get to the resort. Just keep the laptop in your bag when you’re not using it.”
“Okay? Should I be concerned-?” The door shut in his face. He rolled the window down. “Should I be concerned? Ava?”
“The only thing you should be concerned about is enjoying the sun.” Colt leaned against the roof of the car, hand shoving Ryland’s face back in. “It’s half the time you spent in the pods, you’ll be fine.”
Court made eye contact with him from behind Colt. He quickly smothered the small quirk of his lips that was an amused smile coming from him.
“You’ll be fine.” Ava echoed, distracted by the figure walking out the doors of the set. She waved him over, and Simon smiled when he saw them all. It became more amused when he saw Ryland with half his head out the window.
“Enjoying your game of whack-a-mole?” He asked Colt.
Ryland’s head was shoved back again. “Immensely. He’s just got a whack-able face, man. Not my fault.”
“I’ll kill you.” Ryland’s voice was muffled against Colt’s hand. “I mean it.”
“I’ll load your bag, Simon.” Colt offered, taking the suitcase from Simon without waiting for a response.
“Oh. Thanks?” He met Ryland’s eyes. “Is he more excited than we are, or am I imagining things?” He leaned down to half whisper to Ryland.
Ryland sighed, resting his arms in the window frame and leaning back out. “He’s practically giddy.” He agreed. “It’s unsettling. Get in before it gets worse.” He jerked his head at the other side of the car.
Simon’s eyes crinkled as he smiled, hand reaching out to fix Ryland’s glasses before he pulled fully back, walking around the car to get in.
Ryland, who hadn’t noticed his glasses were crooked, blinked before grinning warmly. Head still out the window, he waved for Ava’s attention, which was unnecessary, since she was watching the two. “You’re flying down too, right?”
“Like I could leave any of you alone.” She deadpanned. “I’m flying out with the other couples later.”
“Later? We’re not all going at once?”
She hummed. “You two were last minute, remember? It’ll be hell to keep them all from seeing each other, though.”
Simon, who’d gotten in the car by then, leaned over the middle section into Ryland’s space, front pressed against his back. “They’re not supposed to see each other?”
She rose a brow. “Have neither of you watched the full show?”
“I’ve only seen some of the reveals.” Ryland immediately raised his hands as if in surrender, leaning back into Simon a bit more than he strictly needed to.
“I haven’t seen any of it.” His voice was closer when he spoke, close to his ear.
Ava sighed. “They’ll be a welcome party for you all later tonight. That’s when the couples are all supposed to see each other for the first time.”
“I already saw Gina and Hannah.”
“I know. That was before you broke up and then proposed.”
Ryland’s neck heated up. “Hey, I-”
Ava ignored him, turning to Court and nodding. “Thanks, again.” She handed him a set of car keys.
Court nodded, tossing the keys up once and catching them. The trunk of the car shut, and when he glanced back he could see Colt give another thumbs up through the back windshield. Court was behind the wheel by the time Ryland turned his head back.
“Wait, why’s he driving?”
Ryland was ignored.
“I’ll see you both tonight. Try not to start any riots before I get there.”
“No promises.”
He could feel Simon’s laughter against his back.
“We’ll see you there, Ava.”
She nodded, patted the roof of the car, and stepped back as it turned on. Colt waved as the car pulled out, laughing at something Ava said.
Mexico was, to no one’s surprise (but Ryland’s determent) almost oppressively humid. From the first step off the plane, Ryland could feel a heaviness in the air that he had no parallel for.
A crew member was holding a sign with their names at the baggage carousel, which looked handmade, including little stickers around their names of rainbows, hearts, and little palm trees. Some holographic. There were two little stick figures holding hands directly beneath their names that made both he and Simon wince.
“You think we could get to the resort without talking to that guy?” Simon’s face was twisted in consideration.
“It’s… kind of camp?” Ryland tried, tilting his head as if looking at it from a different angle would make it any better. “It’s just.” He held his hands out a little. “The sign doesn’t need to be that big, does it? It looks like what my students make for the science fair.”
“Maybe someone else made it.”
Ryland wasn’t hopeful. “Maybe.”
The two had hardly taken a few steps in his direction when the crew member noticed them, eagerly waving them over, drawing even more attention to his sign than there was before.
He saw someone pull their phone out to take a picture of it.
Ryland winced.
“Hey!” The man grinned, rolling the sign up and sticking it in the water bottle holder in the side of his backpack. “Great me meet you both, my name’s Charlie. I’ve got our car waiting, you both have all your bags?” He shook both their hands quickly.
They nodded.
“Fantastic.” Charlie turned around and began walking, glancing over his shoulder to make sure they were following. “Ava called me ahead to have me explain how the filming and timing of everything is going to work, so I’ll get into that once we’re on our way. But how was your flight down?”
“...Good.” Simon spoke for them, shooting Ryland a befuddled look.
He shrugged back, and both rushed to keep pace with the man.
The air-conditioning in the car made Ryland sink into his seat.
“So,” Charlie began, pulling the car out of its parking spot. “We’ll give you a camcorder, which you two will use to, basically, vlog your mornings until you do whatever activities you’re scheduled for that day. It’ll be mostly dates, like relaxing on the beach or something. There’s usually double dates, but since we’ve got an odd number of couples, there’ll be some triple dates too. There’s the big group party tonight. They’ll be a big group pool part on… day four, I think? Don’t quote me.”
Ryland and Simon shared a look.
“Then one more whole group activity on day six. That’ll be breakfast. All of that will be professionally filmed, of course. And then at the end of the day you’ll have a film crew in your suite to go over the day with you, ask anything that could be unclear from footage alone, that sort of stuff. Then on day seven we head out after breakfast to the apartments. Questions?”
Charlie was tapping on the steering wheel to one of the oddest songs Ryland had heard playing softly on the speakers.
“...None from me.” Ryland finally said.
“Me neither.”
“Perfect. Can I just say,” Oh god, what now? “I’m glad I’m in your crew this season. I’m in your crew, by the way. But last season the couple I was filming was, like, really conservative, and I had to listen to them shit-talking the other couples the whole time. It was awful, ‘cause I just kinda had to nod and smile, it was a mess. I was so happy when they broke up.” He breathed for the first time since he’s started talking again. “And neither of them ever shut up. Can you imagine? It was so annoying.”
A glance at Simon showed that he entirely could imagine. Ryland tried to cover his laugh in a cough.
“Anyways,” Charlie spoke again. “There are some water bottles and snacks in the bag back there for you both.” He paused. “Long story short.” Simon looked at him disbelievingly, though he could Simon wasn’t actually annoyed by the younger man, just in shock of how much he could talk. Which was really saying something, since he’d been listening to Ryland ramble for the past two weeks straight. “It you need anything, let me know. I’m no producer, but I can make sure the camera suddenly goes out of focus if it catches something you don’t want it to.” He glanced back in the rear view mirror. “I’m obviously not supposed to do that,” His eyes went back to the road, head bopping to his music. “But Ava mentioned the two of you didn’t exactly sign up for the whole reality TV experience, so I’ll try to make it as bearable as possible.”
His smile was so genuine, and Ryland couldn’t help but feel a confused sort of fondness for the man with the ugly sign.
The resort suite was truly larger than anyone could possibly need, several different areas and a closed off master bedroom. The rest was open plan: a kitchenette, dinning space, living space, a TV bigger than anyone could actually need.
He and Simon had hardly changed into what they were going to wear to the party when Charlie ushered them to get some shots of them on the beach. Since they were the first to arrive, it only made sense to get some staged B-Roll of them while they could.
“This’ll free up your time later, trust me.” Charlie muttered as the camera began rolling. “You two can just sit there talking, we’re not micing wither of you until the party, so don’t worry about the audio.”
“Alright.” Ryland hesitantly sat down in the sand.
When Simon sat down next to him, Charlie spoke again.
“If one of you could, like, put your arm around the other that would be great.”
Simon breathed a laugh, holding his arm up in compliance. Ryland ducked under it, reaching up to lace his finger’s with Simon’s, letting the weight fall onto his shoulders.
“Perfect!” Charlie called.
“He’s eager.” Ryland said quietly, lips quirking up.
“He’s funny, though.” Simon considered, the younger man animatedly talking to another crew member, arms gesturing wildly as he spoke. He made to step forward, seemed to forget he was in sand, and nearly toppled over, arms windmilling to keep his balance.
Ryland breathed out a soft laugh. “He’s… passionate.”
It wasn’t the first time they’d gotten to speak since seeing each other for the first time, but it was the closest they’d gotten to being alone, even with a camera on them. At least no one was listening to them, and the crew wasn’t paying much attention to them then anyways, more focused on whatever Charlie was doing.
Ryland let himself lean into Simon, pressing a gentle kiss to his cheek. Simon turned to smile at him, eyes warm in a way he never could have imagined even twenty-four hours before. “I am so excited to relax after everything.”
“Me too.” Simon’s voice was soft, like Ryland had heard it countless times before, fondness evident, and visible. “Do you know what Ava told me?” Ryland hummed in thought. “She told me that from yesterday on we were going to be the most boring couple here.”
Ryland laughed. “God, I hope so!”
“Well, as long as you don’t break up with me again…” Simon leaned closer.
Ryland’s smile softened. “Am I ever going to be allowed to live that down?”
“No.”
When Simon kissed him, it was to the sound of waves washing in, pushing out.
Ryland and Simon, despite being the first couple to get to the resort, were the last couple to show up to the party.
There’d been a planned order, apparently, for each couple to join one at a time, give time for the cameras to get people’s reactions to the reveals.
The party was at one of the poolside bars, lit up with twinkling lights that made the night look kinder than it was. Already, Ryland could hear everyone’s voices drifting, laughing loudly. That, too, softened the nights edges.
The edges, that Charlie had let slip, were all set up from the crew. Easy access to alcohol, small appetizers spread out, nothing really filling enough to keep up with the amount of alcohol they were expected to consume. Another edge, the other’s hardly had time to get changed for the party when they arrived, all to keep them from having time to decompress like Ryland and Simon had.
It made him a bit sick to his stomach, but he couldn’t exactly do anything about it. They were all there on contract, at the end of the day.
Someone gestured for them to walk down the steps leading to the party.
Raucous cheering came from the group, likely prompted by the crew there, but Gina and Hannah’s cheering was plenty genuine, likely not dialed up for the cameras at all.
They’d made it five minutes into the party before Ryland wished they could have skipped it. Which was five minutes longer than in took Simon, who was less than pleased when he found himself immediately separated from Ryland to talk with his original group.
From opposite sides of the bar, Ryland smiled at Simon, who smiled back, despite looking like the conversation he was in was one he’d rather not be apart of.
“-and the whole resort is gorgeous.” Carrie was saying, though Ryland couldn’t say what she’d been talking about before then, doing his best to filter it out.
“It is.” Dee sighed happily. Benny and I were looking around on our way down, I’m so excited to try the sauna out.”
“You don’t think being outside is bad enough?” Ryland joked.
Dee laughed a bit harder than she would have fully sober, leaning on Lou as she did. “It’s Mexico, Grace. Did you expect snow?”
He rolled his eyes good-naturedly.
Lou, happy as he was to help hold Dee upright, took her drink in one hand and Ryland’s water in the other, switching them. He didn’t bother asking, and Ryland accepted the switch without complaint. She needed the water more than him, he was sure.
“C’mon. Let’s get you some food.” Loud laughed. “And then to Benny.”
The two split off to track down a tray of appetizers.
“What about you, Gina?” Carrie asked. “What do you think about Hannah? Was she what you expected?”
“Oh, even better.” She breathed. “I already loved her, but she’s so fucking hot, too. Total full package.” She glanced over Hannah’s way with a dreamy smile, then caught sight of Simon. “But Gracie, you have to tell me about Simon!”
Ryland risked a sip of whatever Dee had and found it stronger than anything he’d willingly drink. He tried not to gag, and accepted his new drink with a grimace.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything! Did you think he was going to be as hot as he is?”
Ryland felt the back of his neck and the tips of his ears flush. He let himself laugh over the question, finding Simon’s eyes across the party. He was nodding along to something on of his group members were saying.
“I had no idea what he looked like.”
“So the arm was a surprise?” Carried took a sip of her own drink, eyes expectant.
Ryland’s smile sharpened before he remembered Simon didn’t want him saying anything about the woman’s words. “No.” He swallowed down what he actually wanted to say. “He told me about his amputation early on. But that doesn’t really say anything about how he looks.”
“True.” Gina agreed. “I mean, look at those muscles. He looks like he could bench press me.”
“You think so?” Ryland imagined it for a moment, himself instead of Gina.
“And speaking of muscles,” Gina continued, interrupting Ryland’s very pleasant thought. She reached out and squeezed Ryland’s upper arms. “Who do you think you are, hiding these beneath those cardigans? You look like a private trainer, Gracie!”
“I don’t think I’d go that far.” He laughed.
“I would.” Gina disagreed, smiling widely in a way that was both genuine and laughable. “You look like you could bench press me.”
“You’re really caught up on being bench pressed, I’m coming to realize.”
Gina threw her head back and laughed.
Sometime closer to midnight than Ryland would have preferred, Ryland got the nod from Charlie that meant they were allowed to go back to their suite for the night.
Gina hugged him goodbye, then pulled Hannah over so she could do the same, which was less awkward than he would’ve expected it to be.
Noel, as well, pulled him into a hug, Lou at her side smiling.
“It’s so great to put a face to the name.” She said as she pulled away. “Lou was telling me about your group on the way over, since I didn’t talk to some of you that much in the pods.”
“Oh, um, same.” Ryland smiled bemusedly.
Next was Benny, or Bennett, as he introduced himself, who Dee was engaged to. They shook hands before the couple walked off together. Ryland tried to act like he’d remembered talking to Bennett at some point in the pods. He couldn’t.
The last member of Simon’s group was Carrie’s fiance, a man named Charles who Ryland could only remember a few things about their conversations in the pods. Mostly surrounding his interest in NFT’s.
When he and Simon were finally able to walk off, they barely got out of hearing range before Simon was leaning up to whisper in Ryland’s ear.
“That man is the most obnoxious person I’ve met here.”
“I can only imagine what being in a group with him would be like.” Ryland agreed, laughing softly, not daring to look behind them at said man.
Charles followed them up, speaking into a walkie-talkie, since apparently a camera was already waiting for them in their suite.
The camera made the room feel smaller, but Ryland couldn’t say he wasn’t used to its presence at that point, so he wasn’t as bothered as he’d expected himself to be as he and Simon kicked their shoes off and settled on the couch to go over the party.
“Do we still have to do the confessionals?” Ryland asked, forehead resting on Simon’s shoulder.
“Yeah. We can get those done now, and then we’ll set the camera up in the doorway and get some footage of you both getting into bed for the night.”
“You’re filming that, too?” Simon asked, hand coming up to run through Ryland’s hair.
“It’s an essential shot.” Charlie was apologetic as he said it. “We’ll do the confessionals where you are since the cameras already focused, so if one of you could step out of frame, or into the other room, we can get out of your hair sooner rather than later.”
“I’ll go first.” Ryland offered, feeling Simon press a kiss to his forehead before heading to the bedroom to get ready for bed.
Later, when Charlie and the camera were gone, Ryland hesitated for a moment before getting into bed, Simon already under the blanket.
“We can take turns on the couch if it’d make you more comfortable.” Simon offered immediately, noticing Ryland’s pause before Ryland himself did.
With a fond smile, Ryland pulled the blanket up and got in, letting himself get comfortable next to Simon, holding his arm out in invitation.
When Simon reached back, letting Ryland’s arm wrap around him.
“Goodnight, Si.”
“Goodnight, angel.”
He was relaxed enough he fell asleep in minutes, nose pressed into his fiance’s hair, holding and held.
Ryland had been used to Ava prompting him during his confessionals, so he was thrown off a bit by Charlie’s sudden silence.
“Um. What exactly do you need me to talk about.”
Charlie blinked. “Oh.” He thought for a moment. “Everything, really. What did you think of the other couples, how are you feeling now you’ve spent more time with Simon, if the two of you are planning on having sex tonight-”
“What?”
“Yeah, it’s a big thing in the show, the viewers want all the details, you know how it is.” Charlie shrugged.
He really didn’t, was the problem. “Right.” He swallowed, shifting on the couch. “I got to talk with Hannah a bit, which was nice. Her and Gina are cute together. The other’s seem nice enough, mostly. And I’ve been having a great time with Simon, I’m really glad to be spending more time with him.” He hesitated a second on the last question. “...Physical intimacy isn’t super important to me. So. No.”
“Are you always this… factual during your asides?”
“What do you mean?”
Charlie paused, the shook his head to himself, smiling. “Don’t worry about it. Ava told me not to worry about getting anything big from these, so it doesn’t really matter anyway.” He shoed Ryland from his seat, calling for Simon to take his place.
“Okay.” Charlie said as Simon sat down. “Same questions. What do you think of the other couples, how’s everything going with Grace, are you two planning on sleeping together.”
Simon let out a half-laugh. “That’s direct. Alright. The other couples are nice. For the most part. I’ll have a better answer to that after I get to talk to them more, but everyone seemed happy together, which is the goal, I’d assume.” He glanced behind the camera at Ryland. “Ryland’s the best part of this all, obviously.” He tuned back to the camera. “And like Ryland said, no. Our friendship, our relationship is fulfilling as it is.”
Ryland’s cheeks hurt from his smile.