'This was a horrible idea and what the hell was I thinking?'

Looking up at the massive roller-coaster had been his first mistake…not like there was much else to do standing in line by yourself since NONE of his friends would even contemplate going on Typhoon with him.

Fergal Devitt really should have listened to his apparently much wiser than he was friends.

From a distance Typhoon just looked like any other mundane thrill ride. All twisty and turny and you probably ended up upside-down at one point or another. Up close…well those twists and turns looked gravity defying…and was that a series of water jets shooting out halfway around the ride? 'The ride never mentioned a splash zone! Good thing I'm not wearing a white shirt…'

Those screams from the current riders were awfully loud.

"You okay there buddy? You're shaking like a jelly mold there."

Fergal blinked in surprise, turning around to face the person who had apparently spoken to him. A slightly taller man stood behind him, ginger hair and beard not doing anything to hide a charming smile.

"Uh…yeah…" Fergal stammered, hitching a thumb behind him in the direction of the ride, "It's…quite a bit scarier up close like this?"

"Yeah, Typhoon's infamous around these parts. Amount of people who skip the queue when they get this close?" The stranger whistled, "Guessin' you've never been on her before?"

"Never even been to this park before today," Fergal admitted, "None of my friends would go on with me, and I just had to be all macho at the worst possible time…not sure if it's worse to suck it up and go on the ride now or…"

"…run off with your tail between your legs?"

"Yeah…" Fergal sighed, "Just the thought of going on there with nothin' but an empty seat beside me…"

"Well, if I may offer a suggestion?" Fergal nodded, letting the stranger continue, "You're not the only one whose friends won't ride with 'em…so, if you wanna save face with your gang…you wanna sit with me?"

"…you wouldn't mind?"

"Nah, ride's like this are always more fun with someone screamin' in your ear beside ya," Fergal found himself on the receiving end of a hopeful grin, "I know it's a bit unusual and all…"

"No, no…actually that'd be really awesome of you," Fergal grinned, offering his hand for a shake, "I'm Fergal."

"Nice Irish name to go with that nice Irish accent," The redhead eagerly accepted Fergal's handshake, "I'm Rami."

"Now that's not a usual Canadian name to go with the accent," Fergal raised a confused eyebrow.

"Oh, well…I'm actually of Syrian descent, so…"

"…you're a Syrian-Canadian, wow, that's kinda cool…where the Hell did the red hair come from that equation?"

"I promise to answer that question later…" Rami nodded his head ahead of him and Fergal, "But we're next, Fergal."

"Shit, already?" Fergal turned around to see that, yes, he and Rami were indeed next in line to go on, "Huh…wow, you just melted all my worries away there."

"Well, people have called me a ray of sunshine before," Rami smiled just as warmly as his nickname would suggest, "Guess they were right?"

"Guess so," Fergal smiled back, watching as the roller-coaster cart ground to a halt beside the exit, gulping loudly as he realised there was absolutely no turning back now, "…we might have to keep putting that to the test though…"

"You'll be fine once you get over that first loop and the adrenaline kicks in," Rami patted him on the shoulder, "Let's go!"

The absolute worst part of roller-coasters was the painfully slow and long uphill part before the first major downwards plunge into the abyss. Fergal risked a quick glance beside him, seeing Rami looking ahead expectantly with a huge grin on his face. The excitement wasn't quite infectious enough to completely quash Fergal's nerves, and in fact the look on Rami's face actually brought on a completely different set of butterflies. Fergal found himself gulping again, turning back around slowly as the cart neared the peak.

"It'll be fine, Fergal," Rami said it so softly that Fergal almost missed it, and he probably would have dismissed it as a whistle in the wind if he didn't feel a hand taking his own in it. Fergal blinked in surprise as he felt Rami give his hand a comforting squeeze, "Nobody would blame you if you closed your eyes for the rest of the ride."

"Got this far…" Fergal muttered, "I'm taking it all in."

"Good man!" Rami smiled brightly at him, and Fergal couldn't help but smile back…

…just in time for the downward plunge to take him completely by surprise. Rami was just slightly too distracting for Fergal's own good…

"OHHHHH SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII…!"

Fergal really hoped Rami didn't mind him suddenly grabbing on to his arm as he screamed bloody murder…

"Oh my God, Fergal, your FACE though…" Rami laughed loudly as he and Fergal exited the ride, "Aww man…totally worth the price of admission."

"I'm glad my discomfort was so entertaining to you," Fergal grumbled, but the effect was dampened quite a lot by the huge grin on his face, "Sorry about grabbing your arm like that on the way down."

"Ehh, I think that experience will be worth the bruising," Rami chuckled, "You enjoyed it though?"

"Yeah! Wow!" Fergal laughed partially in relief, but mostly out of giddy joy, "You were totally right about that first loop thing."

"Oh, yeah, when you threw your hands up and just squealed out?"

"I had totally forgotten you were still holding my hand!" Fergal laughed a little bit louder, "It was like we were doing a mini-wave in midair!"

"Aww, dude, that was amazing," Rami smiled as they cleared away from Typhoon, "Shame it's not one of those rides with the photo ops…I'd love to have a memento of that one."

"Yeah?" Fergal smiled back, a little more bashfully than Rami's exuberant one, "Yeah, that would've been nice…so…uh…you gonna head back over to your friends now…?"

"…uh, actually…" Rami suddenly found the ground he was walking on extremely interesting, "I…may have told a small lie about being here with friends…I just saw a cute guy standing on his own in line and…well…couldn't help myself, I guess?"

"…so you're actually here alone, then?"

Rami looked back up upon hearing the slightly hopeful tone in Fergal's voice, "Yeah…sad, I know…"

"Well…my friends are waiting over by the ice-cream stand…" Fergal stopped briefly, looking between the stand and Rami, "…if you've nothing else better to do today, you could come join us?"

"Really?" Rami failed to keep the surprised gasp inside.

"Sure! They'll all really like you, I bet," Fergal grinned, slipping his hand back into Rami's and mirroring the comforting squeeze Rami had provided earlier, "Besides, you wanna get with me, you gotta get with my friends."

"…Spice Girls, Fergal? Really?"

"Yeah! What's wrong with that?"

Rami sighed theatrically as he let himself be led towards the ice-cream stand where Fergal's friends were waiting, "Looks like I'm going to have to protect you from more than just thrill rides."

"Looking forward to it."

NOTES: Originally written for MisterVaudeville on Tumblr, who posted the Prompt: 'My friend didn't turn up so I'm going on these rollercoasters by myself and oh shit I'm scared please hold my hand or I might jump off.'

Also, yes, title taken from lyrics from "Ride Wit Me" by Nelly. I regret nothing.