lore about ryan's relationships with his parents, stepmom, partner, and best friend
word count: 984
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Scott Stevens (Dad) & Jessica & Liz Del Rossi (Mom & Stepmom)
Ryan grew up with his parents, Scott and Jessica, in San Francisco until he moved to Cedar Cove with his dad. His parents always had a really good relationship and Ryan was actually really surprised when they announced their divorce. But then Jessica told Ryan she is a lesbian and he was like oooohhhhh yeah that makes sense then. Scott was really supportive of Jessica's coming out even though it was still difficult that his marriage was ending, but he knew it was what was best. Something that made Jessica feel more comfortable questioning her own sexuality and eventually coming out was actually Ryan coming out to them as gay. He came out when he was twelve and Jessica came out about two years later. They were both super supportive of Ryan, which he kind of expected lol.
Ryan has a really good relationship with both of his parents, but ended up living with his dad during the school year and his mom during the summer. Scott and Jessica got divorced the summer before Ryan's sophomore year of high school and he really didn't want to have to choose which parent to live with, especially when he found out his dad was moving so far away, so he kind of let his parents decide what they thought was best. They ended up having Ryan go with Scott because Jessica is clearly in a very transitional part of her life and Scott thought she deserved some time to herself to really figure things out. Jessica agreed that with everything else going on she really didn't think she would make the best single parent. She does come visit them for Christmas though!
After the divorce, Jessica dates a few women, but none of the relationships get serious enough to tell Ryan about until she starts dating Liz when Ryan is in college. Jessica and Liz meet at a speed dating event at The LG Bean & Tea :) Liz is actually my AOU mc Dexter's aunt :) So Dexter and Ryan are, like, step-cousins lol. Anyway, Jessica and Liz get married after dating for a few years, so Liz becomes Ryan's stepmom! They get along really well and Ryan loves spending time with his mom and stepmom :)
Caleb Mitchell (Partner)
Caleb and Ryan meet on Ryan's first day at Berry High! Ryan immediately thinks Caleb is very cute and develops a crush on him very quickly. But Emma also has a crush on him and he has a girlfriend anyway and he's probably straight (at least that's what Ryan thinks). So, their relationship progresses very slowly at first. Over the course of the fall quarter, they get closer together and Ryan starts to think hmm maybe Caleb isn't straight? But Caleb doesn't actually say anything so he still doesn't know. Caleb ends up asking him to homecoming and Ryan is like ????? is this a date????? is this like just a friends thing????? what is happening????? But then they have their first kiss at homecoming and Ryan is like oohhhhh so he isn't straight okay cool :) Meanwhile this whole time Caleb thought he was being super obvious. Ryan's like "omg you do like me!! i thought you might be straight" and Caleb was like "...you couldn't tell that i had a massive crush on you this whole time????" At homecoming is also when Brian finds out Caleb and Ryan are seeing each other and um instead of apologizing like he'd planned to he's just super homophobic about it 😃 It's rough. I've been meaning to write a fic about it actually. Ryan is able to calm Caleb down a bit after that whole ordeal, but the rest of the night is kind of ruined :(
When it comes to their extracurriculars, Caleb does sports and Ryan does cheerleading and Ryan loooooves cheering for Caleb!! Ryan also does theatre, dance, and gymnastics and Caleb loves coming to his performances/meets/etc. and cheering him on :) He always gets Ryan pink roses because that's his favorite flower.
They end up going to the same college after graduation, where Caleb is on the football team and Ryan is on the cheerleading squad again :) I haven't decided what Caleb studies in college, but Ryan is a dance major :) After college he works as a dance teacher for a while before saving up enough to start his own dance studio :) He also gets an MBA before opening the dance studio :)
They get engaged right after they graduate college and get married a few years later (wedding planning takes a while because Ryan wants a very extravagant wedding LMAO). I haven't decided the specifics but they do have kids at some point to :) Somewhere between 2-4 idk yet
Emma Hawkins (Best Friend)
Emma and Ryan meet on Ryan's first day at Berry High, as per canon :D They get along really well and become friends pretty fast, mainly because Ryan literally doesn't know anyone else. They decide to join the cheerleading squad together and since Emma isn't as experienced as Ryan, he helps her learn the audition routines and improve some of the cheerleading basics :) They hang out allllll the time and have tons of sleepovers!! They love giving each other makeovers at their sleepovers lol and then they, of course, do a fashion show for Scott. They also do a fashion show for him when they come back from their trips to the mall.
They end up going to different colleges, so they facetime each other at least once a week, but usually more like once a day LMAO. Emma likes to go see Ryan's dance performances when she can though!! And when she does, she'll spend the night at Ryan's place too, so it's like their sleepovers in high school again kinda.
*Since Ryan, Phoebe, and Preston don't make their first appearance until later books, I did Beginning of Series vs. First Appearance vs. End of Series for them :)
