[Worst Case Scenario] 6th Avenue Local
I am SO loving this Worst Case Scenario Challenge. Based on the prompt Ryan/Colin/Brad, surviving a fall onto subway tracks.
Title: 6th Avenue Local
Author: Sun Green
Pairing: It's mostly friendship, actually. Maybe a little Ry/Col if you're looking for it.
Rating: PG
Summary: Ryan's reunion with Colin doesn't go as planned
Word Count: 1103
Disclaimer: Please, if I did own them, you think I'd have all this time on my hands to write fics about 'em?
Light from the Metro Card machine’s neon sign cast a bluish glow over Ryan’s face as he eyed the two men in front of him. Colin and Brad stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the platform, snickering over some in-joke that Ryan hadn’t heard, and wouldn’t have understood if he had. He exhaled heavily. The whole evening had been like this.
Ryan leaned against the machine, its’ electronic heat taking the edge off the chill of the late night air. If only it could help with the smell, he reflected briefly, wrinkling his nose against the urine odor that permeated every subway station he’d ever been in. But he forgot about his discomfort with the surroundings as Brad, choked with laughter, playfully punched Colin’s shoulder. “Crap!” he shouted, in the same tone that Colin always used both onstage and off. Ryan scowled. Get your own jokes, Brad, he thought irritably. Back turned, Brad didn’t notice his glare.
Ryan shifted his gaze to Colin, and his anger changed into something else. He couldn’t quite put a name to it, but the feeling gripped him just as forcefully as his annoyance with Brad.
It wasn’t Colin’s fault that Brad had ruined their evening, Ryan reminded himself. When he’d called to let him know he’d be in New York on the same date he and Brad were playing their show at the Nokia Theater, Colin had sounded pleased. He immediately insisted that Ryan come to the show and that they would get together afterward and “do the town”. Ryan had hung up with a smile on his face, eagerly anticipating seeing Colin again. It had been way too long. It was always too long, these past several years - but that never mattered. As soon as they saw each other, they would immediately slip back into the comfortable familiarity that defined their relationship. For weeks, Ryan had looked forward to their reunion with the giddiness of a child at Christmas.
Only this time, it was different - because of Brad.
Ryan had barely been able to disguise his disappointment when he’d gone back to Colin’s dressing room after the show, only to find Brad dressed and ready to join them for dinner. Ryan had glanced sideways at Colin’s face as they’d set out, but Colin gave no sign of being surprised or annoyed that Brad was tagging along. He’d clearly been expecting him to - had invited him, maybe. Ryan tried to swallow his hurt - didn’t Colin want time alone with him to catch up?
The three of them sat in the restaurant together, talking and laughing in almost the old way. It hadn’t been bad at first, Ryan acknowledged. He’d known Brad for nearly as long as Colin, and though they’d never been as close, they could always find things to talk about. Still, as the evening wore on, Colin and Brad seemed to have more and more things to say to each other, while Ryan found himself falling silent for longer stretches at a time while the other two made jokes and reminisced over things he knew nothing about
Cut it out, he commanded himself during a particularly long-winded Brad monologue that had Colin doubled over with laughter and Ryan picking at his food and wondering when Colin and Brad had gotten to be such buddies. You’re not in grade 6, for Christ’s sake. Just then Brad made a particularly loud, vulgar sound that had other diners shooting disapproving looks at their table and Colin giggling raucously even as he shushed him. Ryan hid his scowl behind his wine glass. Even if Brad’s acting like it… Setting the glass down, he glowered across the table at Brad before trying to catch Colin’s eye. Neither of them appeared to notice.
Afterward, Ryan hoped to go back to the hotel and crash in his room with Colin and a bottle of Jack Daniel - just the two of them catching up, the way this evening was supposed to have been all along. Instead, as they left the restaurant Brad suggested - demanded, really - that they head down to the East Village to go to some club he liked. Colin had agreed immediately, and followed Brad to the nearest subway station without so much as a glance at Ryan. He either assumed Ryan was in agreement - or maybe he just didn’t care, Ryan thought suddenly. He had simply stood there for a moment, then reluctantly trailed behind as Colin and Brad clattered down the concrete steps, still joking about something that had happened on their tour bus the night before.
Now Ryan shoved his hands more deeply into his pockets against the cold, watching Colin grab Brad in a playful headlock. He studied Colin’s laughing face as a heavy weight pressed down on the pit of his stomach.
When had it become Colin and Brad instead of Colin and Ryan?
Blaring horns and a flash of headlights signaled the train’s approach from down the tracks, and Ryan roused himself to move to the end of the platform. As he did so, Colin and Brad simultaneously stepped closer to the yellow line, so instead of ending up alongside them, Ryan was a foot or two behind, staring at their backs. Resentment bubbled up in him and he narrowed his eyes at the black wool of Brad’s coat. It was nearly identical to Colin’s - the one he’d been wearing for years. Ryan snorted derisively. Was Brad going to copy everything that Colin did?
As the train screamed down the tracks towards them, Ryan’s gloved fingers unclenched, and he slowly drew his hand out of his coat pocket. He watched with a detached fascination as it reached forward, as though of its’ own accord, hovering just behind Brad’s black wool-clad back. Another inch or two, just a light push, and Brad would hit the tracks just as the train pulled in on top of him. His hand lingered there for another moment as he imagined the scene. The screech of brakes hit too late…Colin’s horrified shout… sirens… but nothing from Brad except silence and blood. Nothing from Brad ever again.
He dropped his hand as the train came to a halt. The doors slid open with a mechanized bing-bong and an unintelligible voice babbled gibberish over the intercom. Still jostling each other, Colin and Brad boarded the train. Ryan watched through the dirty windows as they moved through the car hunting for empty seats. They never looked back as the doors slid shut with another bing-bong and the train pulled away, leaving Ryan standing on the deserted platform, shivering slightly in the cold.