“To love and be loved...

I’m sooo glad you asked for this!! I saw that one and I was like o h that’s Shane. This got so fucking long compared to what I was planning to write lol. I hope you like this, thanks for the prompt Nini!

[Read on AO3]

Dread settles over Ryan as soon as they pass the entrance of the haunted house. It’s something new and albeit a bit expensive, only available for about a week in this part of LA, a special little thing to put everyone in the mood for Halloween that’s approaching rapidly.

So when Shane brought up the idea that they should check it out Ryan agreed without hesitation. He loves everything spooky, after all. Loves the adrenaline rush of watching a classic horror movie, or walking into a dusty old place with a history he was spilling over, deep in hours upon hours of research.

Still, appreciating the scare after he’s safe and sound in their hotel room, or stumbling into Shane’s arms lately after the shooting of a particularly difficult to deal with episode is very different from experiencing the damn thing right at the moment with all of his senses and nerves on fire and on edge.

He scoots closer to Shane, just barely, like he’s being all smooth and nonchalant, like the place doesn’t scare the living shit out of him already, but he still has some pride left, goddammit.

“They weren’t kidding in all those ads, huh?” He asks just to break the silence as Shane takes his hand. He reads Ryan so well, he always does.

I hadn’t heard this song before but I’ve been listening to it CONSTANTLY since. So thanks for ruining my life, Jess ♥

*

Shane’s been watching them over the rim of his glass for the past two drinks. Sara had been itching to dance when they’d arrived at the bar and Ryan had kindly obliged, letting himself be dragged out to the dance-floor with a hand in Sara’s own. She keeps throwing smiles in Shane’s direction and he can’t stop wondering if tonight is the night. Maybe it’s the night they take Ryan home with them.

They’ve been talking about it for months now, shifting slowly from a half-formed joke to an ill-advised idea. Shane likes the thought of getting his two favorite people, but he knows — somewhat ironically now — that it’ll be a delicate dance.

(warnings: mentions of breakups. alcohol. brief sex mention.)

-the night the big blowout happens, late march, ryan leaves the apartment because he doesn’t know what else to do. for a while he sits in his car to gather his thoughts, but then he keeps looking up and seeing the light on in the apartment. knowing she’s up there, and knowing she doesn’t want him anymore— fuck, it’s the worst feeling in the world, so he turns the key in the engine and starts driving

-somehow, he ends up outside shane and sara’s complex

-he could have gone anywhere but he came here, because he needs… something

-shane opens the door and takes one look at ryan and he knows (because he knows ryan’s relationship has been on the rocks for a while now. he just opens the door wider to let ryan in)

-sara’s in the kitchen, about to open a bottle of wine. when she sees ryan, she stops, and she pulls out some whiskey instead (it’s leftover from christmas, and now she’s glad she didn’t throw it away)

I’m sorry, anon, this isn’t what you asked for at all, but I was thinking about first dates and then they released Tourist Trapped and my brain melted. Please forgive me.

*

Ryan can feel Shane’s gaze on him. He waits, checking his blind spot and signaling to merge into the stop-and-go traffic on the 5 before glancing over.

There’s a pink tinge to Shane’s nose from a day in the sun and he’s sprawled in his seat like the exhaustion is finally hitting. Shane doesn’t avert his gaze and eventually Ryan has to look back at the road.

“What?” he asks, turning his signal off, though he’s not expecting the way Shane begins to laugh. He glances away from traffic just long enough to catch a flash of Shane’s grin. “What?” he repeats and Shane rubs the bridge of his nose.

“I had fun today,” Shane says, which isn’t the answer Ryan’s expecting.

4. An accidental brush of lips followed by a pause and going back for another, on purpose.

Thanks for requesting this anon, I hope you like it! 

[Read on AO3]

Ryan barely registers that they’re back in the hotel, everything is happening in little snapshots ever since he came out of that cursed as hell building. It’s like he saw himself from a third-person perspective for most of the time. He barely even recalls anything from his time alone in there.

He hopes most of it is useable footage at the very least. He remembers a little snippet, him talking to Shane, telling him how fucking scared he was. Shane getting a hand on his back and sitting him down while the crew started packing up, offering him some water.

He even made some conversation, but he mostly just stared, listened to Shane’s rumbly voice talk about God knows what. It’s probably the only reason he didn’t just fucking blackout on the spot.

Then he remembers walking into the hotel, Shane still by his side, the chatter of their crew breaking the quiet of the hotel lobby.

Shane unlocking the door to his room.

and they were roommates

-=-

Ryan strikes a pose; mug of coffee held tight to his puffed out chest and his other hand on his hip. He clears his throat.

Shane looks up at the sound. “And what are you supposed to be?” 

Ryan grins. It’s the one that makes Shane’s stomach turn over, the one that says Ryan has a plan and that Shane is gonna come along whether he wants to or not. The one that precedes all of Ryan’s best (worst) ideas, and the one that usually ends with Shane adding another item to the things he has to drink for when they play Never Have I Ever. 

“I’m the ghost of finals past,” Ryan says. 

So I actually love mundane AUs the MOST of all AUs but honestly, I want to see more of Neighbor AUs:

· AU where Ryan keeps throwing stuff over the fence into his Tall Hot Neighbour’s yard because he wants an excuse to go over and talk to the guy but Shane thinks he just lives beside some particularly rambunctious children so he just keeps throwing everything back until one day Ryan just says fuck it and throws a paper airplane with his number on it while he knows Shane is out in his garden.

· AU where they live in apartments next to each other, and Ryan listens to his neighbor who sings in the shower every morning, and Shane listens to his neighbor trying to learn guitar. They don’t see each other’s faces for MONTHS until one day they take the elevator together and walk to their apartment doors. It’s a big “Oh. it’s you.” moment when they both realize.

· AU where Shane’s elderly neighbors pack up and move to Florida and a hot young hunk moves in next door with plans to renovate the house and tame the garden. He’s noisy, and he’s up until all hours of the night sanding and drilling and keeping Shane awake. But maybe Shane doesn’t mind so much when he gets to drink his coffee on his porch and watch Ryan mow his lawn shirtless on a Sunday morning.

· AU where Shane is tired of his neighbor setting off his smoke alarm constantly, so he teaches him to cook.

· AU where Ryan shares a balcony with a perfectly nice dude, but Perfectly Nice Dude’s cat keeps sneaking into Ryan’s apartment to sleep on his bed, and Ryan is allergic and has to keep bringing the cat back. Perfectly Nice Dude becomes Incredibly Nice Dude and starts leaving allergy meds and care packages for Ryan as an apology (and maybe he keeps letting his cat escape because he wants an excuse to keep talking to his cute neighbor).

· AU where there’s a power outage, and Shane invites over his cute neighbor (who doesn’t keep candles in his apartment) so they can make wok popcorn on his gas stove and watch a movie on Shane’s phone. It turns into an impromptu sleepover.

· AU where they address one another by their apartment numbers because they don’t know each other’s names yet. Shane eventually asks Ryan out and belatedly realizes he still doesn’t know his name, so he has to go around the building and find someone who can tell him Ryan’s name. Bonus points if Ryan is Apt. 69. (Nice)

UMMM?? Where’s the rest of this, nonnybae?? YOU FORGOT TO SEND THE REST!

Brain: how about we draw something new

Of course the answer is right in front of their faces.

They take Ryan out for lunch, because that is a perfectly normal and reasonable way to request that a person demolish your girlfriend.

you know, you’re one hundred percent right

Sweet & Saucy Summer | A buzfeed creation challenge

Come join us in celebrating rare buzzships & summer, from June 1 to 30, 2020!

Create something (fic, fanart, graphics, etc.) for any rare buzfeed ship, with a summer theme. Mention @rarebuzzships​ in it (IMPORTANT) and use the #sweetsaucybfsummer, which i’ll be tracking. You can also DM me your post to make sure I see it because tumblr tends to be wonky. Also add your fics to our Ao3 collection!

All creations will be reblogged and added to a round-up post.

Reward:

Everyone who joins will earn a custom moodboard based on one of their fills

Take a look at our Ship List for ships you’ve never considered before (and also to know how to tag your rarepairs)

Take a look at our Prompt Tag for inspiration.

what if i can’t join?