Ryder & Cooper || Hit Me With Your Best Shot
“Never.” Ryder raised his eyebrows; he had to admit that he was competitive, even if it was just an air hockey game. It was a part of his nature, “I gotta say, you’re a pro, my brother. You’re a tough one.” The brunette tapped his friend’s back, happy that they could finally spend some time together.
Hearing the other’s offer, he nodded, “I’ll have a strawberry one! It’s a classic.” He smirked, following his friend to the bar. The arcade, games, milkshakes…it was a perfect spot for them.
Seeing the candy they sold at the bar, Ryder chuckled. Luckily his possibly future brother-in-law made sure he did his workout right so that he could enjoy all the goodies, “Chocolate’s a good one too. Do you wanna get anything else?”
“I’ll be up for the hoops. Get ready to practice your basketball skills.” Ryder replied, taking a seat at the bar, “Hey, but before that, I kind of wanted to talk about something. You know, a small chat between the games or something…” He said, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. He knew he had nothing to worry about, it was Cooper after all, but a part of him had always been stressed, and he couldn’t help it.
The comfort shown in a small tap on his back was enough to secure him in the environment. Brown eyes flitting between machines and trailing over other members of the arcade. He preferred settings like this, the dim lighting and shadows that crossed his face made him indistinguishable from another patron.
A question that had the same reaction as a kid in a candy shop with the chance to get anything he wanted. Frozen with his mouth slightly ajar, he drifted over the menu and then affirmed the selection by viewing what was on display. His milkshake was placed on the bar, which dragged his eyes to the cup and a choice was made. “There’s enough sugar in that to keep me going for the rest of the week, I think I’ll stick to that or I won’t sleep,” decided the naturally hyper man. He had to take a moment to be the responsible adult he attempted to be.
“Dude you’re just picking games I ace -- your boy played basketball in High School. Now if you’d have chosen Street Fighter, you might have won,” he jeered confidently, a small smirk in the corner of his mouth.
Like a knife in the atmosphere, the entire mood shifted.
It was the phrase everyone dreaded “we need to talk.”
Cooper had heard it many times in his life and it usually associated bad news. His Mom “needed to talk” about rehab. His agent “needed to talk” about work. Jesse “needed to talk” about a break. He felt his heart skip over itself.
His face was too much of a give-away. For a man bundled up with anxiety, that drove him to overthink every glance, word and feeling, he jumped the gun. He always presumed the worst in order to prepare himself for that fall.
In a flash he’d wiped that looked off his face and replaced it with a neutral one. He was an actor after all. “Uh, sure,” he nodded and forced a smile that didn’t even try to reach his eyes. “You wanna go grab a seat?” he offered, passing the man his milkshake as he spoke. Exchanging money with the cashier, he took his own and followed him over to a huddle of couches around a Nintendo set up.
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