Chapter Text
“Babe,” Ryan calls from the bedroom.
“Yeah,” Dan responds from the couch.
“Do you want to go see the fireworks show on the beach?”
“Uh…” Dan sounds hesitant.
“Come on, hon, it’ll be awesome!” Ryan tries. “We haven’t really done anything fun lately.”
Dan appears in the doorway, “yeah, sure. I’ve been dying to get out of the house.”
Ryan smiles, “Great! It starts at 9:00.”
“Let’s go to dinner before,” Dan says, “we’ll make it a date night.”
“OOooh” Ryan coos. “Daniel, how exciting! What should I wear?”
“Something nice.” Dan winks.
“Oh yeah, babe? Like what?”
Dan reaches into their shared dresser and pulls out the pair of silky, red boxer briefs that he had gotten Ryan for last Valentine’s Day. “Like this.”
“Dan!” Ryan exclaims. His boyfriend giggles and waves the fabric in a cowboy like fashion over his head. Ryan jumps up and snatches the pair out of Dan’s hands and shoos him out of the room, “Get!”
Dan chuckles and retreats back to the living room to watch television. Once Ryan is completely sure his boyfriend is preoccupied watching Days of Our Lives, or something like that, he packs a bag with picnic blankets, two extra sweaters and some waters that he grabbed from the kitchen earlier today, then he undresses and slips the pair of underwear on. For later tonight.
--
Dan ends up picking a nicer, newer restaurant along the bayfront that’s a little bit of their regular price range. Ryan is surprised by the choice, “Dan,” he whispers while they walk in through the front area. “We can’t afford this…”
“Shh, I’ve been saving up for something special. It’s fine,” Dan reassures him.
The hosts sits them outside on the back patio and Ryan smiles at the sound of the waves lapping at the sand. The sun is beginning to set and Dan takes Ryan’s hand from underneath table. It was really quite romantic.
“I just want to say,” Dan begins, “thank you for taking care of me these past few months.”
“Oh,” Ryan says.
“I know it's been hard on you and that me getting sick wasn’t our perfect start to our new life here, but as soon as I get better, everything will be fine. Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Ryan smiles.
“And it’ll be just like we imagined, alright?”
Ryan nods his head, a little teary eyed.
“I love you,” Dan says.
“I love you too,” Ryan says back, still getting that same rush that he got every time he said it. Just like the very first time they each said it to each other on their one year anniversary looking out over the Empire State building’s balcony.
Dan orders the shrimp scampi and Ryan gets the chicken parmesan after the waiter’s recommendation. Dan also orders a cheap Pinot Noir, they weren’t some rich 65-year-old yuppies who lived in Napa Valley and most wine tastes the same to Ryan so he didn’t really care anyway.
By the time dinner is over, Dan has had four glasses and is stumbling a little as they walk out of the restaurant but that’s okay, a tipsy Dan makes for very interesting conversation. He’s leaning on Ryan a bit more then what is appropriate for the public as the pair walk towards the waterfront but Ryan brushes the worry off with a chuckle, “I hope you sober up some before we reach the beach.”
“Yeah,” Dan giggles. “Maybe we should stop for a coffee or whatever.” He waves his hand in the general direction of a cafe that the couple passes by and the says only slurring slightly, “but I’m fine though. Really.”
“Alright,” Ryan looks thoroughly amused at his boyfriend’s actions, “hopefully the walk will get your head screwed on a bit more before we get there. Don’t want to embarrass yourself if we end up running into anyone.” Anyone meaning Brendon.
“Ryan, honey, nothing about me is straight!” Dan exclaims loudly and laughs at his own joke. “And besides, who would we run into? We don’t have any friends here, silly.”
“Sure we do!” Ryan protests, “Well, I mean I do, kind of… Do you remember Brendon? The guy I met at Publix?”
“Hmmm… sort of.”
“I saw him at Chick-fil-a yesterday while getting lunch. We had a pretty good conversation.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. He’s queer too.”
Dan narrows his eyes, “ Should I be jealous?”
“No! Of course not!” Ryan lightly smacks his shoulder.
“I’m just kidding, babe.” Dan kisses Ryan’s cheek and smiles, “By the way, how did you manage to find probably the only other fag in the entire fucking city in one outing?”
“I have a magnet.” Ryan grins and states matter-of-factly.
--
Dan is still having somewhat of a hard time walking by the time the couple reaches their destination and is now complaining about seeing black spots in his vision. Ryan frowns, normally Dan doesn’t get this drunk off of 4 glasses of wine. His tolerance must have gone down because he’s sick.
After finding a good spot on the sand, Ryan quickly lays out the checkered blanket he brought with him in his tote bag and has Dan sit down on top of it. He also takes out one of the water bottles and sweaters and tosses them to his boyfriend before bringing out his own. Ryan’s sweater is blue and it's probably a little overkill for the temperature being a nice 70 degrees but he knew that it would get chilly as the night progresses and as the breeze blows over them. Dan’s sweater is olive green and is currently stuck over his face because he had drunkenly tried to stick the top of his head through the left armhole. Ryan, being the amazing boyfriend that he is, fondly watches Dan struggle for a few more moments before moving to help tug the fabric to where it needs to be.
Dan beams at Ryan, cheeks pink from the alcohol and hair messy from the confusion with the sweater. Ryan smooths the blond strands that are out of place back with his hand. “Thanks, babe,” Dan whispers and leans forward to sneak a kiss to the corner of the brunette's mouth. He then promptly falls back onto the sand.
Ryan blushes and lies down on the picnic blanket as well. There are some stars already visible in the light of dusk and Ryan can pick out a few constellations and key points of the night sky like the Big Dipper, Polaris, and Mars. A second of peace washes over him and Ryan shuts his eyes, he can hear the lapping of the waves on the sand, the chattering of excited families waiting for the fireworks, and Dan’s breathing beside him. For an instant everything is fine- then it’s ruined by a little kid kicking sand into his face while playing tag with her friends.
“Hey!” A familiar voice shouts. “I told you guys to be careful! There are way too many people here to be running around like that!”
Ryan cracks one eye open, “Brendon?”
The other man whips around at the mention of his name. He’s wearing the standard issued red trunks that ended around his mid-thigh. There’s a black fanny pack around his hips with ‘GUARD’ printed in white across the front and a matching black whistle around his neck. Ryan sits up.
“Ryan?”
“I- I didn’t know you were a lifeguard.”
“You never asked,” Brendon smirked.
“That is… that is true.”
Dan looks over at the new arrival, “Who’s this?”
“Oh, sorry! Let me uh, let me introduce you guys.” Ryan gestures quickly across his body to the other two men. “Dan, Brendon. Brendon, Dan.”
“Oh, so you’re the pharmacist!” Dan says and reaches out his hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“All good things I hope!” Brendon takes Dan’s hand and then mouths secretly to Ryan, “pharmacist?”
Ryan waves it off and mouths back, “later.”
Dan smiles between the two of them, “Would you like to join us?”
“Um, yeah- yeah!” Brendon says. “My shift is over in…” he checks his watch, “15 minutes? Can you wait until then?”
Ryan speaks up, “of course. We’ll be here.”
It takes Brendon, 30 minutes to return and he's swapped his work uniform out for a pair of straight-legged Levi 501’s, a Queen shirt, and green Adidas campuses. The shoes seemed to miraculously repel the sand around them. He looks good.
Ryan moves closer to Dan on the blanket and pats the newly opened space beside him.
Brendon smiles and sits down next to Ryan. “The fireworks should be starting around 9:30, I checked with the Coast Guard this morning.”
“You have an in with the Coast Guard?” Dan asked.
“No, I’m just joking.” Brendon replied, “It was the dolphins who told me.”
Ryan snickers. Dan frowns.
“The newspaper this morning said 9:45 and I’m sorry to say, Brendon, but I trust the journalists more than your dolphin friends,” Ryan adds.
Brendon shrugs, “that’s okay. My dolphin friends are pretty chill people, they’re like the stoners of the sea.”
That gets a laugh from everyone.
--
The conversation ebbs and flows during the hour wait for the fireworks show, Ryan is happy to see Dan and Brendon mostly getting along, however , he did notice the changes in both man’s demeanor when either one of them said something that slightly irked the other.
They’ll be more friendly with each other later on.