self care is listening to rasputin for hours on end while writing fanfiction and crying over your favorite dress being stained from bleach 😭😭😭😭
--

Ryan hates history. This is a known fact. He doesn't really care much for learning about dead people. What good were they now that they're gone?

He sighs to himself and continues staring down at the textbook. He's supposed to be reading some pages for a test tomorrow, but to be honest Ryan's already given up. He's pretty sure he's not even on the right page. But honestly, it's fine. He'll be absolutely fine so long as the bell rings in the next two minutes before he dies of boredom. It feels like forever, but the bell does finally ring and Ryan practically sobs with relief. Oh, how he loathes history.

He's already had his stuff packed up, mostly because he didn't bother pulling out his materials in the first place. This probably explains his teacher's disappointed look as he dashes past him, ready to go home. Ryan is ready to go home and snuggle up with Buddy on the couch and watch movies all night. It seemed like the perfect day to binge watch Game of Thrones.

Of course, though, that's too much to ask for. He slams right into someone and gives a surprised cry at the impact. "Ryan!" The body he ran into calls his name out excitedly, and immediately Ryan knows who it is.

"Ugh... what is it, Jonathan?"

"Ryan, I was fuckin' looking for you! Come on, I want you to meet someone! Please!" Jonathan pleads to him with a pout on his face. "Luke promised me he would let me introduce you guys! So- so you have to come!"

This makes Ryan hesitate. "Are you sure?"

"Yes! Come on, dammit!" Jonathan grabs him by the (bare) arm and pulls him along with no further warning. Ryan wishes he had his hoodie, because that surely would have cushioned the iron grip Jonathan has. He's being pulled along against his will, dragged through the hallways and out some doors Ryan's never seen before.

This is the back of the school, he realizes. Why would they need to be behind the damned place?

"Jon? What- what are we here for?" Ryan isn't sure why his voice comes out so quietly. He just feels like they shouldn't be back here. Only bad things can happen in the area behind a school.

Jonathan just looks at him in disappointment. "I told you, I wanted to introduce you to Luke! Quit complaining and stop struggling!" They walk a little further before Jonathan stops abruptly. He looks around the empty area and suddenly stomps his foot on the ground angrily. "Dammit!"

Ryan looks around in confusion, taking a step away from Jonathan. Not that he could get very far, considering Jon has an iron grip on his arm. "What's wrong?"

"He fucking bailed on us!" Jonathan makes an angry noise (growl? snort? bark? Ryan doesn't know) and stomps away with a cry of, "You better wait here while I find this fucker!"

Now, you see, Ryan is a man of reason. If someone tells him to wait in a place he's never been before, to meet a person he's never met, then sure! By all means, he is willing to wait in a weird place to meet someone. But if the person is the same guy who's at the heart of some terrifying rumours, the same guy who punched the crap out of some random kid in the hall?

Yeah, he's not so sure he wants to stick around for that. What if the guy is scary? What if he's some douche? Ryan doesn't want to get punched again.

The sound of footsteps coming his way push all thoughts from Ryan's head in an instant. He turns to the source of the noise and, to his surprise, there's someone there with his arms crossed.

"Uh.... Hello," Ryan says awkwardly. "Can... can I help you?"

"Yeah," the guy says in an almost bitter voice. "Tell Jonathan that we finally met, a'ight? I have shit to do."

Oh, so this is Luke. The guy who saved him. He's a lot less charming when he isn't punching the crap out of someone, Ryan notes. He's also quite handsome, in that... punk-ish teenage boy way, if that even makes any sense.

(His beard gives him the lumberjack look, like he's about to go cut down a tree with his bare hands. But the leather jacket and shades on his shirt make him look like he's about to ride off into the sunset in some flashy car. It's an odd look to Ryan, but it suits Luke nonetheless. He surely couldn't pull that off, that's for sure.)

"Well... are you sure you gotta go? We were going to get burgers, I'm sure Jonathan wouldn't mind-"

"No," Luke says, cutting him off. "I, uh.... I have business to attend to. More important shit."

Well, isn't he kind? Ryan forces a smile onto his face. "Oh? What, you got a pretty date tonight?"

Luke rolls his eyes. Ryan's not even sure if Luke knows he rolled his eyes, or if he did it on instinct, because the way it was immediately after he asks his question is kinda scary. "Yeah, like my fatass cat is a pretty date."

Ryan finds himself smiling. He's not sure why, but the thought of Luke being a cat person is actually kinda cute. Or maybe he just likes animals. That could be part of the problem, now that Ryan thinks about it. He smiles regardless, shrugging his shoulders and laughing. "I mean, it could be a lunch date sorta thing. I've done those with my dog."

As dorky as it sounds, he's had nights where he makes some chicken or steak and just plops down on the couch with Buddy and watches movies all night. Who's he to judge if Luke just wants to spend some quality time with his cat?

Luke narrows his eyes. "Nobody asked. Just tell Jonathan we met," he snaps. He turns around and begins to walk away.

Ryan can't stop him from walking away. He watches for a second, then smiles and calls out to him. "Hey, Luke!" When Luke stops walking (he doesn't even turn around, what a dick) Ryan smiles, even if he can't see it. "Thanks. For, you know.... That."

Luke is silent. There's a brief moment of awkward silence before Luke nods his head. "Yeah. No problem. I'll... I'll bring your hoodie back."

Ryan isn't sure if he's just excited about his hoodie being returned, or if it's how Luke pretty much saved his life (aka his pride), but he feels himself grinning widely for some reason. He's not sure why, but he's happy so it doesn't really matter. This went a lot better than he expected.

Luke isn't even gone for a full minute before Jonathan comes back, ranting loudly to an amused looking Evan. Bryce isn't that far behind, smile on his face while he looks down at his phone.

"I didn't find him," Jonathan says sadly. "But I found Evan and Bryce... and they say we gotta go help the student council decorate the hallways with spooky stuff."

"What? Why?" Ryan frowns at this. He's kinda short compared to them. He's horrible at decorating things. Why let him help?

Evan smirks. "Because I highly doubt you have anything better to do."

"Trust me," Bryce sighs. "He said the exact same thing to me. And I wanted to go home and play Dead by Daylight..."

"That's a lie," Jonathan laughs. "You just wanna sleep and play with your kittens. Maybe you'll cry over The Walking Dead again."

"Shut up," Bryce grumbles. "That's a perfectly valid plan."

"I mean, it's no better than my plans for tonight," Ryan chuckles. He follows the group into the school and down a hall. Since Evan seems to need the help so badly, Ryan decides to stick around. Plus, Evan isn't all that wrong about the plans...

"Did you see Luke anywhere?" Jonathan asks Ryan with a curious look on his face. "I gotta- gotta smack him when I see him... Can't believe he fuckin' ditched me again."

"Actually I did," Ryan admits. "He dropped by and said hello."

It's almost as if Ryan just pressed a button, because whatever had been going through Jon's head immediately morphs into an excited grin. "Really? That's fuckin' great, man! So you're gonna be friends with him, right?"

"Uh... Sure!" Ryan laughs awkwardly.

"Good," Jonathan says happily. "You guys are gonna be best damn friends, I just know it."

-

"Where were you guys?! You just left us for no good reason!" A girl in a cheerleader outfit stomps over to Evan with two plastic pumpkins in her hands. "Malika had to leave, you took way too long! Get over here and help me hang these up!"

Ryan watches in amusement as Bryce rushes over to hold a ladder up for her. Evan tosses some weirdly shaped skeletons at Ryan, and some tape to Jonathan. "Go stick these up around the doors. We don't really have anything else to hang them up with because someone misplaced half our supplies. I'm gonna stay with Ava and Bryce."

"Shutch the fuck up," Jon groans. "It's a damn accident! Delirious is innocent!"

Ryan is a bit confused. "Who's Ava?"

"I'm Ava," Ava announces. "I got kicked out of cheer practice with Malika for showing off my mankini."

"Mankini?" Ryan raises an eyebrow. He's more confused than before.

Ava just grins in response, setting the pumpkins down on top of the ladder and beginning to pull off her shirt. "Yeah. My manly bikini. You wanna see?"

Bryce glares up at her. "No, we don't. Put your shirt back on, you freaking weirdo."

"Fine," Ava pouts. "You two have fun with your bone."

The two of them walk away together. Jon leads Ryan down to a different section of the hallway, where they're out of sight from the others.

"Ava's kinda weird at first, but she's nice," Jon says thoughtfully. He sticks some bones to a door in a square. "She comes over to play games with us sometimes. Bryce is good friends with her, but honestly? I don't- I don't think anyone can resist Bryce."

"Evan sure can," Ryan laughs. He takes three of the paper bones and tapes them together, then onto the wall next to the door.

Jon snickers. "Maybe, but nobody who's human can. Not even Luke, and he's the most stubborn guy I know."

This makes Ryan think. Is Luke just an ass to him, or is he actually like that with everyone? He sure did act like a dick to Ryan. "Is he always like that? When he showed up, he seemed kinda snappy."

"Like he was about to punch someone?" Jon laughs as Ryan nods. "Yeah. But he has a soft spot for some people. He just acts tough because people think of him like that. Trust me," Jon says, taping more of the bones down into a pair of circles. "You'll grow to love him. Just give him a chance. He does have your hoodie after all."

"True," Ryan sighs. "Also, are- are you making a dick?"

Jon grins. "Maybe. You wanna leave after I finish my masterpiece?"

"Yes." Ryan would love to leave. "I would like that very much."

"Good," Jon says. "Pizza?"

Ryan smiles. "Yeah. Pizza."

---
alternate ending: ohm amd delirious get caught making dicks with decorations and get in trouble. goodmigbt yall irs 1 am and i cant type for shit anymore