Experimental

Re-up of previous fic.

It wasn't the first time that week that Riley was bored.

He lolled about in his chair at his workspace, looking around for something to get on with.

Time was ticking by so slowly. For a Thursday it was dragging, and even though a lot of work had to get done, the unit was up to a full team -- where the term 'many hands make light work' would be appropriate.

He was well aware that the boss wasn't around, and that had been the case for the past thirty minutes that afternoon. Every so often he'd peer up from his screen to have a quick look at the section's door to make doubly certain he wasn't flying back over to his workspace.

"Run out of work?" A familiarly chirpy voice was heard to say behind him before a hand placed itself on his shoulder.

He would've jumped a foot in his chair if it weren't for the fact that he was practically curled up. He sharply peered up to find himself looking into a pair of sparkling green orbs. "R-Ryan," he hazily stated, "you scared me."

The shorter blond-haired male smirked playfully. "Don't worry." He noted. "I won't tell anyone if you don't."

Riley sat up in a more formal position. "You've run out of work too?"

Ryan nodded. "For the past hour." He placed his other hand on his hip. "I don't understand why they don't just let us go home for the day."

"Because we're on contracted hours maybe?" The brunette resentfully turned back in his chair, deciding to go back to absentmindedly completing his half-finished necklace with the paperclips scattered about on his desk.

"But still...it isn't fair. They can't expect us to sit around and do nothing up until the time we go -- can they?"

"Well, they can and they will." He shrugged.

"Got any plans for the weekend?"

He shook his head slowly. "Same thing every weekend." He replied. "We go out on the Friday to get something to eat, do our own thing and go to bed late."

His reply prompted a playful smirk to play upon the blond's lips.

"What's so funny?"

"You're so predictable, Ri." Ryan noted teasingly. "You should live a little."

"I can't," Riley explained, "and you know why."

"I know -- cause of her."

"Her has a name."

They quickly ceased their playful exchange of words when their boss was seen to storm through the door and make his way back to his desk.

Riley brought up one of the programs on his screen and flitted his gaze back to it when Wilmot heavily sat down in his chair.

He resented the fact that he had to have his obese excuse of a boss working directly next to him.

Something caught his eye, and he looked over to see Ryan going away from his workspace and tilting his head towards the department's exit door.

He frowned in confusion. What could he possibly want at that time? Didn't he know that Wilmot was...right there...next to him?

Drawing in a small sigh, he went away from his desk and followed the blond into the male toilets.

"What is it you want?" He asked resignedly. "You do realise that he's come back, don't you?"

"Come out with me." The shorter of the two suggested. "You and me -- Friday night."

"No," the brunette suddenly replied, "she'll suspect something."

He had a point, of course. Amber, his girlfriend of two years, was awfully possessive of him. She simply said it was because she was worried about him -- he secretly put it down to jealousy.

He would never cheat on her, but he was hard-pushed to if she was going to keep suspecting him of doing it in the first place.

"You shouldn't care about what she does or thinks." Ryan stated boldly. "It's up to you -- she's not your mother, Ri. How old are you now?"

He looked away slowly. "Twenty-nine."

"My point exactly." The blond placed his hands on his shoulders. "You and me Friday night. No one else. Just us."

"To go where?" Riley asked in protest. "And do what?"

He smirked to himself. "You know what."

****

"That felt good," Amber relaxed in bed as she went through her afterglow, "too good. You know how to do it, baby."

Riley said nothing but remained lying on his back in their bed and continued to stare up at the ceiling. Sure it felt good, but not as good as it used to be and he didn't know why.

Was he fast approaching that age when things didn't feel as pleasant as they did? Was he losing his attraction to Amber? He wasn't sure.

"Riley?" She inched closer to him, sliding an index finger up and down the length of his sternum. "Honey, are you ok?"

"I guess," he slowly replied, feeling the less exhilarating climax taper off, "just...can't stop thinking."

"What about?"

He shrugged. "Work mainly." He felt his eyes get heavy from the stroking but they didn't want to close. "And Ryan."

"What is it about Ryan that you like?" She asked with a hint of repulsion.

She didn't hate the younger male, but she did find him a bit eccentric. That was what attracted her to Riley -- he was levelheaded and predictable; a bit like her.

"He wants me to go out with him tomorrow night." He explained with as little enthusiasm as he could.

He knew full well she wouldn't approve of it and he was sure that she was probably thinking of him leading him astray. "Come on, Amber, he's the only real mate that I've got within work. It wouldn't seem fair."

"Riley, he's quirky." Amber noted bluntly. "He goes out every Friday night and gets completely off his face. He probably rolls back into his place after and gets sick. What kind of friend would let you do the same?"

"He isn't always like that." Riley rolled onto his side with his back to her. "I knew you wouldn't understand."

"I do understand, honey, but I don't want you to end up sick. You know too much drinking is bad for you."

"Even when it's just the once?" When he didn't hear any protest from her, he carried on. "I haven't been out for a long time. Why not let me do it?"

****

Friday morning.

Riley came into the work's toilets, noticing that Ryan had come in early and was doing something to his eyelashes.

He raised an eyebrow at the blond's ministrations but tried to think no more of it. "You're in earlier than usual."

He didn't so much as jump or flinch and he peered over at him. "Hey, Ri." He greeted casually, not at all put off by the fact that the brunette had caught him doing something out of the ordinary. "So are we on for tonight?"

He nodded slowly. "It took a lot to convince her, but she let me go."

"Good." A playful smirk crept across his lips. "I'm pleased about that."

Riley disappeared into one of the cubicles and locked the door.

"I wanna make you feel good." Ryan went on, as he finished wiping the thick mascara off his eyelashes. "And now I can take you to those places where I can do that."

"So we're going on a pub-crawl?"

"Sort of," he replied, "but classier."

The taller male felt a buzz of heat pulse through him after the blond had said he wanted to make him feel good.

He knew he meant to cheer him up, but his thoughts turned to something else. Him and Ryan -- it sounded odd and he shouldn't assume that he felt anything towards him.

"I'll pick you up at seven tonight, then." Ryan suggested.

"B-but if we're going on a pub-crawl," Riley suddenly stated, "wouldn't that mean that you'd be...drinking?"

He nodded, smirking slightly. "Don't worry," he reassured him amusedly, "I've got this all planned out."

****

Riley had no idea what to wear later on that night.

What he had was mainly dark, and he knew full well that Ryan was the sort not to stray away from bright colours.

They would make a right pair -- both dressed to clash.

It suddenly made him question why the blond liked dressing so vividly -- even at work the odd splash of colour showed up, and it didn't seem to bother him that as what they did was such a messy job the clothes would've got marked with oil.

He stuck with black, as did everyone else -- but Ryan was not a conformist.

A pair of brightly set headlights flashed across the road outside, and he inwardly berated the other male for driving even if he was intending on drinking.

Ensuring he was set to go, he left his place -- not expecting to see a shiny white limo had pulled up.

The driver wasn't even Ryan, but he opened the back door for him to get in. He dimly thanked him, and got a massive shock when he noticed the short blond had made himself comfortable in the back of the limo.

"Told you I had this all planned out." He teased, taking hold of his wrist and pulling him further towards him.

He was dressed in a long, sparkly green t-shirt paired with extremely tight black jeans. He wore a pair of long, almost thigh-high black boots and had caked on a fair bit of make-up, which made Riley wonder where he got that.

He'd also applied some gel to his fine blond hair and had worked it through the ends to make them spiky.

"I hope you're feeling up for it." The blond spoke darkly.

"Up for what?" The brunette frowned, inwardly hoping that Ryan wasn't planning on going to any places dressed like that.

"You'll see."