#rydejin

shyanara, 2.5k, rated G. 

ryan moves in with shane and sara because his roommate is moving to europe and he can’t afford his rent anymore. those few weeks work beautifully for all three of them.

DAISY CANFIELD WILL HAVE HER REVENGE ON LOS ANGELES

Alternatively, Zin has run out of prompts, come submit yours! <3

Sara likes to think of herself as perceptive. 

Ok, maybe she gets a bit distracted when there’s a dog around, or if she’s too hungry, but more often than not, she knows how to read the people around her. She observes, and she watches, and sometimes can even tell what someone is about to tell her because, come on, it was just so obvious. 

That’s how she knows Shane has a thing for Ryan.

He always has. Or at least, ever since Sara first met them. Ryan was kind, and he was a bit too worried about not wanting to give her the wrong impression, which mostly meant he would slap her shoulder when laughing like they were best bros drinking a beer at Joe’s. She dismissed it as an age thing, and sure enough, as they got more comfortable around each other, and as Ryan peeled off the layers of college from his demeanor, the slapping stopped (thank God) and he stopped looking anxious when it was just the two of them in a room.

Ryan was the one to introduce Shane to her, since they were doing the whole “we’re both new here, let’s hang out together and see if we can survive our first month”. Now, that had been a different thing. Shane had the sweetest eyes, and his jokes were so outright ridiculous that Sara couldn’t help but get interested a few months in. A year later, they had their first proper date. 

As she sips her beer, watching how the three pairs of feet look right at home atop the hideous footrests that Shane insisted would go with the couch (they don’t), she remembers going to that date with about 10% of hope and 90% of certainty that it wouldn’t work out. She had seen Shane around Ryan, and she knew, even then - when they had known each other for what? Seven, eight months? - that there was something there. He liked Ryan, in the most innocuous and cute way but also with something else that Sara recognized in the way she liked Shane. It wasn’t just a friendship thing.

Shane was into Ryan, and Ryan, bless his soul, was none the wiser, it seemed.

At this point Sara has completely lost the plot of the movie they’ve been watching. It’s a good one, and Ryan has been yelping every ten minutes with the occasional jumpscares, but she’s just lost in thought. 

“Why the fuck hasn’t she left already? That thing’s gonna kill her and her daughter,” Ryan complains. He’s hugging a pillow. Sara smiles to herself. 

“She’s respecting her daughter’s wishes. Good parenting, good for her.”

Shane sounds as he always does during horror movies that don’t involve blood: almost bored. He likes them, he always tells them, it’s just not that scary. 

(He can’t watch more than 10 minutes of Saw, though.)

Ryan nudges Shane with his shoulder, and the domino effect means that Shane ends up nudging Sara, on his other side. She mumbles something about wanting to watch the movie, which is bullshit - she’s paying attention to them, and more importantly, to how close they all are on that small couch. 

It’s been four full years since she met them, and she knows. She knows something shifted in that fratboy she befriended in a backward baseball cap. That guy would’ve balked at the prospect of watching a horror movie thigh to thigh with his male best friend. This guy, on the other hand, welcomed it. He’s leaning into Shane, from what Sara can gather from the corner of her eyes, and she bets it’s because he’ll hide behind his shoulder the next time there’s a shadow on the screen. 

And God, she can’t help but smile. 

She hopes Shane has been paying attention, too. She hopes, with all her heart, that her brilliant but honestly kinda dumb when it comes to relationships boyfriend realizes how much closer Ryan is to them - to him - now. Not just, you know, sitting next to him on the couch. Actually close. To the point that Sara has been waiting for some kind of move to happen soon between them, but so far, neither has tried to say or do anything. She wonders for a second if they did but never told her about it, and decides that no, that’s just not who they are. 

They’re dumb, that’s what they are. 

“Well, that was something,” says Ryan as the credits start rolling. “We should watch something with lots of babies and dogs now so I can sleep at night.”

Shane laughs, and starts to get out of the couch, all legs and arms, until Sara says, “I think you should go on a date. The two of you.” 

Her boyfriend pauses mid-movement, perched on the edge of the couch, and turns to look at her. Ryan frowns, already on his phone, “Why? What’s the idea?”

“Not for a video,” she explains, and that makes Ryan look up, surprised. “Like, just the two of you. Shane and Ryan. Date. A romantic one.” 

There’s a moment of silence as they both just stare at her. She’s trying really hard not to laugh, because honestly, their faces. So dumb. Jesus.

“Why-- Why would we-- What do you mean?”

Sara gives Ryan a reassuring smile, trying to calm the panic she can see blooming on his face, “I mean that you, Ryan, and you,” she turns to her boyfriend, who’s still staring at her, “Shane, should go on a date together. I don’t know, watch a movie or something. Although that’s kinda boring, we do that every week already... Maybe visit the observatory! Or, you know, do something for you guys, just go out together to a nice, fancy place to grab something to eat.”

No one says anything, and she drops her head against the couch, sighing, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said anything, but God, how long until one of you works up the courage to actually talk about it?”

Ryan glances at Shane, and it’s so cute how he looks at Shane for guidance, for help. Shane himself is looking at Sara, and then down, and she swears she can hear the engines turning inside his head. 

“It’s not a bad idea,” he says, finally, and Ryan gawks. “Unless you don’t want to.” 

He shifts and sits on the footrest instead, which allows him to look at Ryan. They stare at each other and Sara wants to high-five herself but also just stay there, watching in awe as her two favorite idiots figure out how to form sounds with their mouths.

“I-- Are you sure?” Ryan asks. “I mean,” and he glances between Sara and Shane. “You’re kinda together?”

“We’re a hundred per cent together,” Sara quips. “But look, we’re all kinda together here. A hundred per cent, too, and you know that. This would just be adding a new part to it. A new layer, I don’t know.” 

“You know why I never mentioned anything about it, right,” Shane asks her, and he looks so worried she uses her sock-clad feet to nudge him on the sides.

“I do, baby. But this is not about me right now. In fact,” she stands up with her beer, picking up her laptop from where it has been lying on the coffee table. “My job here is done, I’m gonna let you guys figure it out yourselves now...”

“Why? You can stay.” 

She kisses the top of Ryan’s head when she walks around the couch, and laughs when he makes a confused face, “It’s alright, next time you can include me. Just have this one for yourselves.”

And as she excuses herself from the living room, turning the rest of her beer down, she is happy to hear Ryan suggest a ferris wheel ride, to which Shane replies, “Oh yeah, that won’t be awkward at all, and totally discreet, too.”

He gets a “Yeah, and what do you suggest, Mr Mojo?” in return.

"You look like you have the Rachel."

Sara rolls her eyes, sending Shane a small glare as she always does, with his quips. When he shrugs in reply, she swings the camera to Ryan and asks him.

His mouth drops in surprise. "Woah!" he says, squinting at her. "I like it, it looks good!"

And her reaction to that is... weird. To say the least.

Her belly flutters, pleasantly, and she's sure she's blushing. But as soon as the words register, suddenly it sinks so fast, her entire digestive track gets whiplash. She hopes the sudden change doesn't show on her face.

She swings the camera back on Shane. "Ryan loves it."

Shane back tracks. "I didn't say it wasn't good!"

"Shane."

"Wait--" Ryan suddenly pipes up, having walked closer, still squinting at her. From this distance, Sara can see him up close, can see the lines of worry that crease his forehead under his cap brim and the five o'clock shadow he's rocking (really well, mind you-- she likes her men unkept). Sara uses the camera as a wall between them. She doesn't trust her face around him just yet. "Is this going to be a thing now?"

It's said in a... disappointed sort of way. A complete 180 from his previous positive exclamation. In turn, Sara squints up at him, unsure of what exactly to think. He's still looking at her, frowning now, instead of smiling, and she can venture far enough to say he looks visibly upset.

"No, just for this video." she tells him, lifting a hand up to mess with her locks. "I'm personally not feeling it, if I'm being honest."

And with that, Ryan smiles. A soft one, small but no less brighter than his others. "Oh, ok." He says, nodding to himself then laughing. "Sorry I just... I like your curly hair so much better. It's more... you."

Sara blinks. Oh, she's definitely red in the face now.

Shane takes the camera out of her hands. "This is going to fall." he says, in his best TJ impression. It's so left field, Sara lets out a laugh before her brain can catch up, and, surprised by it, Ryan does too. They both look at Shane, and Shane looks at them, smiling too dopely, it's obvious he's more than just enjoying this. Sara wants to kiss him. Or lightly smack him. Either which is good right now.

From inside the studio, the actual TJ calls, "Ryan, can you check this sequence please? We might cut it out, the lighting is off."

Ryan clears his throat. "I'm gonna," he says, jerking a thumb behind him. "Yeah."

Sara nods. "Yeah." she says, nodding. "Yeah, ok."

Ryan disappears behind the door, and Shane returns her camera.

"So when are we gonna ask him?" he asks, grinning so wide it must hurt. Sara flushes. "C'mon, if that wasn't any obvious already I don't know what is."

"Pace yourself, young Madej." she tells him, shaking her head. "You're gonna give him a stroke."

Shane smirks. "He gave you a heart attack."

"And yesterday, he gave you lung failure." she retorts. "Don't lie. I saw you two in the pantry. You're so obvious, Shane."

At this, Shane is affronted. "I am not."