“Oh. Um… hello,” Bryce says awkwardly, smiling at the two strangers that had approached them. “Do you want the cheeseburger? It's a little cold, and there's no pickles or mayonnaise on it but it's pretty good.”

Ryan quickly pushes Bryce's hand (and cheeseburger) back onto the table and gives the two strangers a suspicious look. “Who the fuck are you guys?”

To his surprise, they both slide into the booth besides them. The one next to Bryce, the taller one with some weird helmet on, grins and plucks Bryce's cheeseburger out of his hand. “I'm Tyler, that asshole is Craig, and we're friends of Luke's,” he explains with a grin.

Craig laughs and nods. “Yeah, Luke keeps denying that he's worried about you two. I think it's a bit cute, honestly, how in denial he is. We mentioned going to see you two and he went all big brother mode on us,” Craig says, an accent clear in his voice.

“Yup! So, pretty boy, what's your name, huh?” Tyler grins at Bryce, who simply giggles and smiles brightly.

“I'm Bryce, nice to meet you!” Bryce, being Bryce, speaks as happy and bubbly as ever, with the tiniest of blushes dusting his cheeks.

Tyler smirks and remarks that Bryce “has a pretty name for a pretty boy” and for some odd reason, the comment makes Ryan's blood boil. He bites his lip and refrains from glaring at Tyler, instead resorting to shoving chicken nuggets into his mouth.

Craig sees Ryan's anger, however, and laughs. “See? I told you he would get jealous!”

Ryan attempts to defend his dignity but is cut off by Tyler's laugh.

“Yeah, yeah, that gay shit doesn't matter right now. We're here to talk to you guys about business, not boyfriend troubles.” Tyler sets a cheeseburger wrapper down on the table, then gives the two teenagers a glance.

“So, how do you guys know Luke? Why did you guys come after him? Are you guys dating or not? How's Brock doing? Does he still have his dog?” Craig immediately begins spitting out question after question with no chance to answer.

Bryce's eyes light up at the chance to talk (because if there's anything Bryce loves, Ryan's noticed, it's talking to new people) and he begins to answer every one of Craig's questions.

“Well, I'm Luke's cousin and Ryan is his friend! We're here because we were looking for him or our other friend Jonathan that ran off too! When we came here we ended up at Brock's place and he's super nice and he's doing pretty well! He says he's the top of his class in med school or something like that, isn't that great? And no… I don't think I ever saw a dog while there, no,” Bryce says. It amazes Ryan how Bryce can hold that much air (and enthusiasm) in his skinny little body.

It also occurs to him, Craig, and Tyler that Bryce  completely ignored the dating question. Ryan is thankful for this, however, because he has absolutely no idea how he would explain the whole “not dating” thing to them after his little jealousy act earlier.

Thankfully, nobody mentions it. Instead they all slip into easy, friendly conversation, staying around for another half hour or so. When the time came to leave, Tyler and Craig offered to walk them back to Brock's place.

Ryan and Bryce (mostly Bryce) gladly accepted the offer.

Stopping outside Brock's door, Tyler pats Ryan's back, leans in and whispers softly, “You know he's not as oblivious as he seems, right? He sees the way you look at him. Keep an eye on him, the one reason Luke himself isn't coming to drag you kids back home is because there are asshats after him.”

He doesn't get the time to process any of what Tyler says. He and Bryce are both pushed into Brock's apartment roughly.

“Bye, guys! Hope your relationship works out!” Craig's high pitched voice is still heard behind the closed door, along with the sound of footsteps.

The two walk into the living room, where Brock is still fast asleep, the movie having ended long ago. Ryan takes the remote, shuts off the television, and quietly guides Bryce into the guest room. “Come on, Bryce. Let's get some sleep, yeah?”

Bryce smiles tiredly and nods while flopping down on the bed. “Yeah. Sleep sounds nice.”

Ryan makes himself comfortable in bed, and turns off the lamp. The two lay in comfortable silence for a while, before Ryan speaks up.

“I didn't know Brock had a dog.”

Bryce gives a small giggle, startling Ryan. He rolls over to face Ryan a little better and shrugs. “I didn't either. But hey… you learn something new every day right?”

Ryan nods. Bryce smiles at him, and then the two of them were left sitting in a comfortable silence in the dead of night.