It’s Better This Way （30）

Following the heated practice and the stern talking to by Ryan's coach, the four guys finished up a way too expensive dinner at Wagyu, one of the most prestigious steakhouses in Tampa, before making their way back to Ryan's apartment.

The entire dinner had been a complete mindfuck for Ryan, as he struggled to interpret what going out looked like now that Hayes was sober.

"Hey. If I order a drink, is that, like, OK? Or will you…"

"Rook, come on," Hayes had told him. "I'm sober, but the rest of the world isn't. I can handle it. Get whatever you want, baby."

"I just…I don't wanna do anything to, you know, jeopardize your progress."

"Hey: look at me." Hayes had brought his hand to his cheek. "I'm the one that's gotta learn to adjust. You aren't responsible for my recovery, Rook. I am."

The dinner had gone really well, with Ryan and Hayes chatting the entire time, if for no other reason than for the fact that Koski and TK were so intensely focused on each other that Ryan and Hayes may as well have not even been there at all.

"What, uh, the fuck is goin' on here?" Hayes had asked about halfway through the meal. He gestured toward Koski and TK as they flirted, TK feeding Koski something from his fork, both of them continuously finding ways to touch the other one.

"I…have no idea. But they seem into it." Ryan had shrugged. "So, truth time. I may have…um, invited him to, uh, join the three of us. Later."

"Yeah? So, we're havin' orgies now, eh?"

"I mean, would you…wanna?" Ryan had asked shyly.

"Rook," he'd said, taking Ryan's hand, then laughing. "I…whatever."

The four entered the apartment, Koski, Ryan, and Hayes all taking a seat on the sectional as TK went straight to his room. Within a few minutes, he reemerged with his backpack slung over one shoulder. Hayes immediately took notice of the little yellow crocheted chick that was hanging off the zipper.

Awww.

"You ready?" he said to Koski, who stood up.

"Yeah."

Ryan and Hayes both looked at each other, then at the other two.

"Um, can we…" Ryan pointed toward the kitchen, and he and Koski exited stage left, leaving TK and Hayes in the living room. "What are you…you're going? With him?" Hayes asked, trying his hardest not to sound like a jealous girlfriend.

TK nodded. "You and pretty…you and Ryan need to spend some time together. Alone. Besides, he's…really fuckin' hot." Then, remembering that Ryan had been messing around with him, offered, "Not as hot as you, though. Of course."

Hayes just looked at him.

"Hey?" TK said gently, bringing a hand to Hayes's chin, tilting it up, and kissing him softly on the lips. "Spend some time with your man. Don't worry about me. You told me I should kiss some other guys anyway, remember?" He winked, but Hayes remained unaffected. "What is it, baby?"

"I don't…you don't know him. I just don't wanna…I don't wanna see you get hurt, Teek." Though he didn't want to admit it, Hayes felt it was his duty to protect TK, especially knowing what'd happened to him when he was younger.

"I'm fine. I'll text you tomorrow, OK?"

"You're staying?" Hayes raised his voice, his eyes widening.

TK laughed. "Yes, Dad. Is that alright with you?"

Hayes rolled his eyes, taking TK's hand in his. "Call me the second you need somethin', OK?"

Squeezing his hand, TK nodded and turned to head down the hallway toward the kitchen, stopping when he heard Ryan was having a similar conversation with Koski.

"You need to spend time with your boyfriend, Baylor."

"Joss, listen. He's…TK, he's…just please be careful with him, OK?"

Awww.

"What do you mean ‘be careful', Baylor?"

"He's in recovery. Which means no alcohol, no weed, nothing. I don't even want him having too much sugar. You understand me? He cannot fuck this up. He's doing amazing and he's only got a few weeks left. Please don't…"

Koski poked Ryan's chest and pursed his lips. "You care about him."

Ryan nodded. "Very much."

Awww.

TK cleared his throat as he entered the kitchen. "You, uh, ready to head down, baby?"

"I'll walk you guys out," Ryan said, leading them down the hallway to the front door and opening it for them. As Koski left, Ryan pointed at him, "Remember what I said. I'll see you tomorrow." Then as TK accompanied him, Ryan grabbed him by the arm. "You? Behave. And hey: if you need to come back, just call. I mean it, Travis. Behave."

He nodded, smirking. "Thank you," he said softly, following Koski out as Ryan shut the door and locked it behind them.

"Yo, they fuckin'..."

"What the hell?" Ryan yelled, throwing his hands up and jumping as Hayes appeared behind him out of nowhere and scared the crap out of him.

"Sorry, Rook. But they fuckin' ditched us!"

"Sure did." Ryan shook his head, then exhaled. "That's gonna be some hot ass sex, though. Holy shit."

"You can say that again," Hayes agreed.

Ryan approached him, grabbing both his hands, lifting them to his face, and kissing each of them separately. "Think we can get them to video it? You know, for like, research purposes?"

"Teek? Absolutely would. Joss?"

Ryan shook his head. "Not a fucking chance."

Hayes shrugged, yawning. "So, now what?"

"I don't know. All I do know," Ryan said, wrapping his boyfriend in his arms and kissing the side of his face. "It's better this way. Don't you think?"

Hayes felt a few tears escape his eyes, as he squeezed his arms around Ryan's ribs and rested his head on his shoulder. "Absolutely, Rook."

???

The scene an hour later: both Ryan and Hayes had changed into sweatpants and were crammed right up against each other on the couch. A half-eaten bowl of popcorn sat on the ottoman next to their feet and Big Hero 6 played on the TV, while Ryan toggled back and forth between watching it and watching his boyfriend crocheting.

"You're like, a fucking wizard with those needles, Hayes. Damn."

"Well, Rook. I had nothin' but fuckin' time in there, man. You saw everything I made. It's actually, like, pretty easy when you get the hang of it."

"What're you making anyway?"

"Another whale for JT. A royal blue one to match the orange one. Isles colors, baby."

Ryan nodded. "And I…got a dick."

"No, you got a pickle. I just made it beige so it looked like a dick."

"Hayes: we both know it's a dick."

"We both know you're a dick," Hayes muttered, continuing his needlework.

A few minutes passed when Hayes's phone buzzed, startling both of them. Hayes immediately grabbed it, thinking it might have been TK.

Instead, who it was caused him to promptly drop his needles, clutch the phone with both hands, and sob.

Ryan sat up, concerned. "Hayes, baby. What's wrong? Everything OK?"

He showed Ryan his screen: there was a picture of the jellyfish next to the Dora the Explorer gift bag and a message.

D: I came back, Morao. And I'm so proud of you. Alan gave me this. Thank you for the jellyfish. Me encanta. I promise I will stay this time, hijo.

"She came back, Rook!" he cried, wiping his eyes. "Get in here," he said, holding up the needles with one hand and his phone in selfie mode with the other. Snapping a quick pic of him and Ryan, he sent it along with a reply.

H: You just made my life, Dora the Explorer! So proud of you. With my novio right now. Watching a movie and ganchillo.

D: Dios mio. The two of you! So beautiful. Behave, Morao. Or…don't. *wink*

Hayes put his phone down, picked back up the needles, and went back to crocheting the whale. "We jumped out a windoooww!" he recited along with the movie, not looking up from his project. They both giggled, as Ryan wrapped his arm around his shoulder, pulled him close, and kissed the top of his head. "This is like, turning out to be one of the best days of my life, Rook," he said softly.

"Samesies."

When it was time for bed, they retired to Ryan's room, where Hayes headed to the bathroom to tackle his new nightly moisturizing routine after TK had busted his balls on FaceTime.

"You're looking haggard. You got crow's feet, baby. You're too young for that shit. Better get on top of that."

"Crow's feet? For real?" He'd stared at himself in the FaceTime window, then winced. "Oh my God, I do! Teek: how the fuck am I supposed to fix that?"

"You gotta moisturize, baby. How you think I stay looking so fly?"

He leaned in, peering at himself from about two inches back from the mirror, squinting and cocking his head. "Crow's feet my ass," he muttered, capping his moisturizer and setting it down on the countertop, just as he heard a knock on the partially opened door. "Yeah?"

Ryan opened it, but didn't enter. Instead, he leaned against the inside of the door frame, watching his boyfriend.

"I'm almost done, then it's all yours. Teek said I have fuckin' crow's feet. Rook, do I…" He stopped talking as he glanced at Ryan in the mirror. He was holding a small box, the bottom of it lying flat in one hand and the top of it propped open with his other. His face was pale and he looked like he was going to vomit at any second. "Rook?"

"Marry me?"

Hayes turned slowly to face him, creeping over to where he was standing and stopping about a foot away. Inside the box was a dark metal ring. "Rook?"

"So, I, uh…dammit," Ryan said, tears streaming down his cheeks as he laughed. "That didn't take long. Anyway, I've had it for a while now. Here, look." He lifted it out of the box, set the box down next to him, and turned it over to show Hayes the inside. "I had it inscribed with the date we first met at my apartment and our initials."

Hayes, hardly able to breathe now, examined it, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. "TAH. And R…R…B," he read slowly. "What's your middle name, Rook?"

"Um. You don't…know my middle name?" he asked, incredulously.

"Clearly not, if I'm askin'. What's mine then, eh?"

"Alexander," he replied without missing a beat.

"Shit," Hayes grumbled. "I guess you never told me. So, what is it?" Hayes asked, staring at the ring again. "Robert? Roman? Shit, is it actually Rook?"

"It's, um, so it's…Ronald."

Hayes just looked at him, then scoffed, waving him off. "Fuck outta here. Ronald?"

"My middle name is Ronald. It was my mom's father's name."

"Ryan Ronald Baylor." Hayes nodded, smirking. "Can I call you Ronnie?"

Ryan rolled his eyes, picked up the ring box, and started to put it back inside. "OK, you know what? Nevermi…"

"Ryan, stop!" Hayes grabbed his arm. "I'm messin' with you. You really…you mean it? After all this, you still wanna marry my dumb ass?"

"And then some," Ryan said, grabbing Hayes's right hand and slipping the ring onto his index finger. "Figured you could wear it on this hand until we're married, then flip it over to the left. I looked up the rules for guys, but apparently it's whatever you want, so…"

"I mean, I didn't technically say ‘yes', Rook…"

"Oh. My God! Why are you you?" Ryan threw his hands up, exasperated, as Hayes doubled over, squeaking with laughter.

"You're too easy." Hayes placed his hands on either of Ryan's hips, facing him and staring deep into his blue eyes. "A thousand times yes, Ryan Ronald Baylor. A thousand million times yes."

"Yeah?" Ryan asked, tears welling up again.

Hayes nodded, resting his head on Ryan's shoulder as they embraced.

They stood there holding each other for a bit, when Hayes decided he needed to know. "What made you ask me right now? This weekend? Especially after all that went down last night."

Ryan pulled away, grabbed both his hands, and looked at him. "Tonight. Our conversation at dinner was perfect, and then when it was just the two of us here together, doing absolutely nothing? Eating popcorn and watching a kid's movie while you knitted a little animal…"

"Crocheted," Hayes corrected.

"Whatever. It…was perfect. All of it. And I realized that it's what I want. It's all I want. The mundane, simple stuff. The boring stuff that no one else wants any part of. That's what I wanna share with you. Tyler, I don't wanna share you anymore, with anyone. I want you. All of you. And I want you to have all of me. We can do whatever freaky shit you want, but I don't wanna do any of it with anyone else. Is that…can we do that?"

Hayes nodded, staring at the ring on his right hand. "It's so much better this way." He pulled Ryan toward the door that led back into the bedroom. "Now, get in here and fuck your fiancé for the first time ever."