Fandom: Glee
Characters/Pairings: Ryder, Jake, with mentions of Ryder/Marley, and Ryder/Jake bromance
Words: 440
Summary: Ryder may not be the smartest person in the world, but he's pretty sure this has been the dumbest thing he has ever done.
Warnings: Spoilers for 4x14 "I Do"
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notes: initially conceived as a ryder/jake fic to dump all of the "extremely heterosexual" vibes i got from 4x14 into, this fic took a turn around somewhere and became the little character piece you now see here. here's to hoping you'll enjoy it anyway, and that i get around to writing that ryder/jake fic someday
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Ryder may not be the smartest person in the world, but he's pretty sure this has been the dumbest thing he has ever done.
Marley was just being nice. She had just given him that Valentine gift as a friend—which was way more than he had been hoping to get in the first place anyway—and he… he just had to ruin it by letting all his dumb feelings in the way.
Now, not only will Marley never consider going out with him, but she probably won't ever speak to him again either.
And Jake… Oh God. He hadn't even thought about Jake. Well, he did, briefly, when we leaned in and thought about how wrongwrongwrongthisisallsowr ongican'tdothis and did it anyway.
Yeah… Jake was probably gonna kill him, wasn't he.
"Hey," speak of the devil, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "You got a minute? I need to talk to you about something," and Ryder swears, swears his heart got caught in his throat, beating loud enough for the world to hear: heknowsheknowsohgodohgodhekn owsohgodheknows. He totally knows.
And now... "And now?" And now, he might as well have admitted his guilt instead of squeaking like a cornered little mouse.
Jake merely looks at him strangely in response, his eyebrows furrowing in either concern or suspicion. Ryder gulps and prays for neither. "Dude," Jake says, shaking him playfully. "You okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Ryder attempts to smile. "Yeah… mine. I mean—fine. I'm fine. Totally fine."
"Okaaay," Jake concedes, not entirely convinced. "If you say so."
"Uh yeah," Ryder coughs, attempting to change the subject. "So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Ah, right. Well, you see, I was planning a little something for Marley. You know, to kinda make up for the whole awkwardness at Valentine's. Aaand, I was wondering if you could be my coach again," and Jake just looks at him, all hopeful and best-friend-y, as if he didn't just totally kiss his girlfriend moments ago, as if he wasn't lying to him this very moment, as if he was still the guy who deserved to be his friend.
God, if Ryder wasn't so touched, it might have made him throw up from the guilt. "Wh-what are friends for, right?"
Jake smiles at him, bright like a police officer's headlights. "Thanks a lot, bro," he says, punching him on the arm. "I knew I could count on you. I'll text you the details later, okay?"
"Yeah, sure," Ryder sighs, sinking into his locker as Jake walks off into the hallway. "You can count on me, all right…" to ruin absolutely everything.