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The first time Ryan Howard tells Kelly Kapoor he loves her, his head is pounding so much and he’s so hopped up on cold medicine that he doesn’t entirely realise what he’s saying before it comes out.
His head leans against Kelly’s chest while she intermittently presses kisses to his hair, and he clings to her shirt as she gently strokes his arm, his eyelids growing heavy.
“Hey, Kel?” he mumbles, his voice muffled by the fabric of Kelly’s t-shirt.
Kelly looks away from the window she’s staring out of and lifts Ryan’s chin up slightly to hear him a little clearer. “Hm?”
“Love you,” Ryan tells her, probably only a third awake at this point, not fully processing the words he’s saying.
Slightly surprised, but definitely pleasantly, Kelly gives a small (but 100 percent genuine) smile, trying her best not to scream out of happiness. She’d always expected that she would’ve been the first to say it, and although she’s not entirely sure whether Ryan’s in the right state to really mean it, she gives herself the benefit of the doubt and pulls him in closer.
“Love you too, baby.” she says, and Ryan can practically hear the grin on her face. She cups a cool hand around Ryan’s jaw and kisses his flushed cheek, before tucking a knit blanket around his shoulders and letting him fall asleep.
And that’s when Ryan knows he definitely meant what he said.