Title: A Boy Like That
Rated: K
Writing Time: 12/25/2013
Pairing(s): Ryder/Unique
Warnings: Sexual questioning, internal Ryder drabbles, transgender issues, slight!OOC (mostly Ryder,) internal Uniqe drabbles, Rynique!friendship and subtle hints at a relationship. You don't like, don't read. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee. If I did, Chris Colfer/Kurt would get much more screen time, the show would be better written (or I'd at least try), Quam, Samtana, Klaine, Samcedes, Blam and Bram would've NEVER happened and Chord Overstreet/Sam would've never left the show after the end of season two! That and Chord would never leave my bedroom but that's another story for another time (and one I'd be too selfish to share ;) So without further ado, on with the smoochies ^^
Summary: Ryder Lynn considers the possibility he was initially too harsh in turning fashionable second-generation diva Unique Adams down when she confessed her feelings.
Author's Note: This was definitely a challenge for me to write! I've never before tackled on the issue of transgender people and transexuality so I hope I didn't make a big offense mess a la Ryan Murphy. If there's something I touched on that was wrong, please let me know so I can fix it ^^ I also know it's a bit short and not the lengthy chapters you're probably all used to reading from me but I'm thinking of maybe writing a sequel (if anyone likes this one-shot, that is ;) that will hopefully be longer. Betaed by me; if you happen to spot some (if any) mistakes, please don't hesitate to let me know via review or PM. Thank You!
Dedication: For clovrboy, who asked me to write this for him and the fans of Rynique ^^ ¡Feliz Navidad, Prospero Año y Felicidad, muchacho! I really hope I did a good job on it :)
So the thing is, Ryder Lynn's not the brightest lightbulb in the bunch. Yeah, he's dyslexic like Sam Evans and quite possibly a little smarter than the bleached blonde, but that's not what makes him stupid. He's stupid because of his initial reluctance to form an emotional bond with someone not predominantly (Hey, cool word!) female. The whole transgender thing shouldn't bother him; he and Katie (aka Wade 'Unique' Adams) managed to hit it off and Unique was Katie's mind and voice the entire time. Isn't it something how Unique managed to get him when others who said they did didn't know the first thing about him?
Does wanting to maybe be something with her make him gay? Because Unique's really a woman trapped in a man's body, does that make him still straight? God, these kinds of questions could drive a sane person crazy. How in the world does she do it, live every day like this with a constant cloud of uncertainty raining down overhead?
Ryder flopped down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling, purple and green botches dancing in front of his eyes taking on the oddest shapes. There was nothing special about the plain white ceiling overhead, but the more he looked at it, the more he felt it would answer all the questions he had burning away inside him. There's no way in hell he wanted to talk to Mrs. Schuester about it; she'd probably tell Mr. Schuester everything and the man would suggest a sing-a-long or something to get him and Unique together.
Wait... together? Who said I wanted to get together with her?
He groaned, reaching up his hands to scrub at his face. There's no fooling anyone, especially himself. He liked her, like, like-liked her. Not Katie (who really turned out to be some chick named Marisa) but Unique, a scared girl who started talking to him online one day and not long after, began occuyping his every waking thought and dreams. But there's no way it could happen, was there? Underneath all the makeup, perfect hair, expensive perfume and great clothes, was a boy. Was he gay for not caring because Unique would one day be a woman, or just indifferent to all that? What was he going to do? How would his parents handle the news? Would they disown him?
Unique was everything he thought about anymore. She was his first thought in the morning and the last thing he saw in his mind before it shut down for the night and let him sleep. He'd replay their online conversations in his head and her Katie's words in Unique's voice. She had every opportunity to expose him for all the things he'd told her but she kept her word that she wouldn't say a thing and didn't. He never really asked anything about her, and that made him feel bad. All he knew (before the so-called scandal came to an end) is that she was easy to talk to and really liked his shirtless pictures. Then again, so did ninety-eight percent of McKinley's female population so it wasn't all that odd that Unique did as well.
Man, his head hurt.
In another part of Lima, a girl sat in front of her bedroom vanity with her head in her hands, starting at her mirror's reflection and contemplated the rampant thoughts running across her mind. Unique never meant to hurt Ryder's feelings by catphishing him for as long as she had. She knew there was no way on God's green earth would he willingly talk to her because of everything below her neck so she thought of the only way she could attempt to. Unique really was repentant for what she'd done and how far she'd taken it, except asking for his school calendar pictures. If he hadn't wanted to send them, he didn't have to; it's not like there was a gun aimed at his head or anything.
For the weeks they'd had whatever it was between them, it had been wonderful. For the first time in her life, she'd felt like a normal girl who had a nice boy interested in talking to her and spending his time (albeit cyber time but hey, semantics) with her. Sure, she was mostly a sounding board but that was okay, at least he felt confident enough to trust her with his inner most thoughts. She never meant to hurt him; all she'd wanted was a handsome guy like Ryder to talk to her and treat her like a girl, not a freak. Funny, the more things Ryder told her, the more guilty she felt about leading him on like she had. Now there's no way he'd ever be her friend, let alone boyfriend. Well, she didn't have to worry about that. There was no way Ryder Lynn would ever be seen on the arm of the school transsexual, not now, probably not even fifteen years into the future when all her parts were corrected and she didn't have to worry about being bashed for being a boy walking around town in a dress.
"Lord, child, what am I gonna do?" Unique asked her, her reflection merely mimicking her words.
She should've listened to Marley and told Ryder what she'd done before she lost control of the situation and lost Ryder for good. He'd hugged her when they won Regionals and the look in his eyes when he let her go told her it had been a mistake. That had hurt; understandable, expected, but it still hurt. Looks like he might actually make do on his promise to quit Glee club and never speak to her again.
What have I done?
A chirp filled the room and Unique's face fell from her hands. Her cell phone was still in her purse but the text alert was as familiar to her as breathing: it was Ryder's. Nervously, Unique got up from her seat and picked her bag up off the floor, hands shaking as she reached in for her phone.
{Hey} was all the text said when she unlocked her phone and slid her thumb across the screen.
Unique felt like her eyes were deceiving her; how could Ryder be texting her? He hated her for what she did.
{Hey Ryder} she texted back, knees threatening to give out underneath her if she didn't sit down soon.
Why did she text him? He hated her, everyone knew it, so why was he sending her messages?
The phone pinged in her hand with Ryder's response and she nearly dropped it out of her hand. She opened his text.
{Are you busy? Can we talk?}
He wants to talk? With me? What do I do?
Thinking that made her roll her eyes. What was she gonna do? Easy, she was going to talk to him since Ryder was taking the initative and reaching out to her.
{I'm not busy. Call me :)} she texted, hoping he wouldn't be creeped out or think she had other motives with the smiley emoticon she sent him.
Her phone began running, and with only a sliver of apprehension did she accept Ryder's call.
"Hello?"
"Hey," Ryder started, his voice like music to Unique's ears.
"Hey," she answered, feeling like a dork for how uncool she must be coming on.
Unique heard the boy smile on the other line and it filled her heart with hope. "So... what's up?"
Ryder inhaled deeply and slowly let the breath escape him. "I wanted to apologize for everything I said in Glee club."
"You don't have to," Unique omitted. "I was the one behind the catphishing."
"And you already apologized. I'm sorry for all the mean things I said. I was just freaked."
"You had every right to feel that way," Unique assured him.
"But I didn't have any right to treat you the way I did," Ryder countered. "For that I'm sorry."
"...Thank you," Unique's voice wavered, the diva willing herself not to cry on the phone.
"Come on, please don't cry," Ryder begged, sounding sad.
Unique held the phone away from her as she quickly took a moment to calm herself down, fanning her face with her free hand and gently dabbing the corner of her hand under her eyes.
"Okay, I won't cry," Unique said into the cell's mouthpiece as she composed herself.
Ryder breathed a sigh of relief.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Unique asked after a semi-awkward moment passed.
"I wanted to know: could we be friends? I know I was harsh earlier but I didn't mean any of it. I was just angry and shocked and now I'm embarrassed about what I said. Do you think we could move past all that?"
"Do you want to move past it?" Unique questioned, needing to know so she didn't get her hopes too high.
"Yeah," Ryder smiled, feeling his heart beat faster and getting confused as to why it was. "I don't want to talk on the Internet but I still want to talk to you. I want to try and be friends, Unique."
Unique's breath caught in her chest. "That's the first time you've called me Unique."
The brown-haired jock chuckled. "It's your name, isn't it?"
"Yeah," she answered with the shyest hint of a smile stretching on her face. "You've just never used it before."
"Well, I'm going to use it more often," he said, smiling despite all his confusion.
There was a muffled voice in the background on Ryder's end and then his voice was back in her ear. "Hey, I need to get going. Can we talk some more tomorrow? About anything?"
"Sure," Unique nodded, even though Ryder couldn't see.
She heard him smile again before he said goodbye and the line disconnected. Unique ended the call on her end and put the phone down, smiling. She still seriously doubted a boy like that would be her boyfriend now or anytime in the near future, but she could settle for being his friend. After all, she really did like Ryder.
Author's Note: Okay, that's it. Yes, it's short because it's supposed to be a little one-shot. I'm thinking I'll maybe write a sequel; like what happens the next day and all that but for now, I hope you like the little light of Rynique I lit. This was me getting my feet wet in a brand new (to me, from a writer's perspective) ship so please be nice? Hopefully it didn't suck as much as I think it did but then again, I am my own worst critic. Thoughts and opinions would be much appreciated ^^
Chris Colfer's a love, Chord Overstreet is sex on legs! I'll stick with the love... for now ;) Please review and show me some ^^