Categories > Celebrities > Panic! At The Disco > Cracked nails & Red lollipops [Ryan/Brendon]
Ryan sighed, pulling the broom forward on the dirty tiled floors, sweeping up a pile of dust that had accumulated over the course of a week or so. He hadn’t expected that being an assistant would include having to do custodial services, and he felt another irritated sigh leave his lips as he swept the last of the dirt into the little pan, and dumped it into a pink metallic garbage can in the corner of the room.
Since for some reason, this week, everyone had been basically treating Ryan as their maid/janitor. Brendon popped up behind him, wrapping his arms around Ryan’s neck and nuzzling at his collar bone, murmuring carelessly in his ear, “Go help Will refill the anti-septic bottles, will you?” and of course Ryan nodded, leaning into the embrace for a moment and smiling shyly, before giving Brendon a light kiss on the cheek that made him smile and walked over to where William was.
He was trying to empty the blue liquid into the sink, and talk on the phone at the same time. The hot pink cell was trying to balance between William’s ear and shoulder, and having a hard time at that, but it didn’t deter William from continuing to talk enthusiastically into the mouthpiece, and he almost dropped the glass bottle when his hands slipped. William’s eyes widened, and the previously happy expression he’d been wearing vanished in a snap, to be replaced by rage.
“She said what about me?!” William all but squawked into the phone, this time actually dropping the bottle, but thankfully before it could actually hit the floor Ryan ran over and caught it, but just barely, as it was hanging by the tips of his fingers.
Squinting, William gritted his teeth, face furious. It was rather frightening. He didn’t even seem to notice Ryan’s relieved expression as he up righted himself once more. “How dare she say that to him. He kept looking at me strangely last night! He kept asking me if I needed to go to the bathroom and freshen up!”
Intrigued, Ryan quietly eavesdropped, keeping an eye on how William was reacting. He was almost amazed at how much drama could go on in William’s life, but when he thought about it more, it was almost custom for someone who acted like he did (complete drama queen) to have that sort of lifestyle. So, Ryan was almost always entertained when around him, there was always something interesting to listen to, or to hear William rant about.
Filing up the sink, Ryan let it run till it was half full, and then added some soap until the bubbles almost foamed over the bowl. He dumped the empty jars into the now bubblegum scented water (Brendon’s choice, no doubt), and grabbed a cloth. All the while he glanced over at the fuming brunette, absentmindedly slowing down his movements.
“Yes! I was wondering why he didn’t want to have sex with me...I honestly just thought the boy was shy.” William babbled, now turned away from Ryan, seemingly not even acknowledging his existence.
Ryan didn’t care though; William always seemed to tune out the world around him when he was on the phone.
William raised a thin arm and covered it over his eyes, letting out a growl. “I can’t believe she would sink so low as to do something like this. I mean, come on! A bladder infection? What the hell is that about?”
William suddenly went quiet, but Ryan could still see where his fingers were clutching at the edge of the counter as he listened to the person on the other end. Ryan wouldn’t be surprised if later there were indents from his nails cut into the wood.
Eyes turned steely, William’s lips turned into a thin line. His back was still rigid. “Taking her side, are you?” he asked, voice stony. “Well, fine then. But next time you have a problem don’t come crawling back to me when something goes wrong with your pathetic relationship!” he snapped out dramatically, and then closed his phone with enough force to break it.
Ryan raised an eyebrow and put the final bottle on a towel, letting it dry out. “Something wrong?” he asked, reaching in and pulling the string in the sink, watching the water gurgle and sink down until all there was left was a small layer of hot pink foam. He looked up, eyes curious.
As if just noticing Ryan was there, he turned to him and sighed, looking irritated. “Well...” he looked as if he was contemplating something. “Have you noticed how Keltie has been a little...aggravated with me lately?” he asked, vaguely.
Well if that wasn’t the understatement of the year. Ever since Ryan had started working at P & F Keltie and William had constantly been at each other’s throats. It was as if anything could set them off, even if was something as simple as William mixing the wrong combination of hair dye, or dropping a hairbrush on the floor and getting it dirty, Keltie was always on William’s tail.
Ryan nodded, eager to finally find out why the two hated each other so much. He turned his attention towards William, placing his slightly bony hands on his hips. “Yeah, she mentioned a couple things that had me wondering.”
William nodded, slipping his phone into his pocket. It was a wonder how he managed to do that when his jeans were so tight they were nearly painted on. Ryan looked away from William’s jeans as the boy continued.
“Well, it all started last month or so. Keltie had just been telling – no, she was more like gushing over this new boy she had met at the coffee shop earlier that day.” as William said this he walked over to the coffee machines lining the walls and picked up a cup, turning away from Ryan and pulling the lever marked ‘French vanilla’ and waiting as it filled his paper cup up with the steaming brown liquid.
He picked up the sugar, grabbing a spoon, hesitating a little before dropping a small amount of the white crystals in. “It was like she had met her soul mate, and she kept ranting on and on about how good looking he was, and how much she liked him, how charming he was, how funny he was, how nice his ass was...” he paused, turning back around and stirring his coffee, then licking the spoon and throwing it in the trash. His eyes were lowered, but Ryan could see the irritation they held. “It just, after a while it was starting to get on my nerves.”
Ryan nodded, although he wasn’t completely sure why William would get mad.
“So, after listening to her ramble on and on about him for another who knows how many hours, I decided I needed to go and see this supposedly perfect boy. So naturally I asked Keltie exactly where she had met him, and she told me that he was a regular down by Starbucks on Aspolk Street.” William paused again, and took a hesitant sip of his coffee. When he was satisfied that it wasn’t going to put his tongue in flames, he gulped it down. Immediately after he finished he went back over and refilled his cup, this time without even bothering to add the sugar.
“Turns out everything she said about him was true.” William admitted sulkily, “Perfect ass...” he murmured, taking a couple larger sips from the cup, eyes glassy.
He noticed Ryan staring at him blankly, and he came back from dream land, coughing into his palm.
“Oh, right. Well, anyways, after I had introduced myself, we started talking. Long story short, I subtly slipped in the subject of Keltie, because let’s be honest I needed to find out whether or not this guy had any interest in her at all. Turns out the bastard only wanted a piece of ass.” William rolled his eyes. “So his seemingly wonderful personality was most likely just a cover way to meet hot girls, but what straight guy isn’t like that?” William finished off his now third cup of coffee in a hurry, and quickly refilled it. He didn’t even seem to notice he had finished off the entire pot in less than five minutes.
Ryan nodded, putting in an agreeing “Mmhmm.” Just to make William happy, and for him to continue, in which he did right after he was sure he still had Ryan’s one-hundred percent full attention, eye contact and everything.
William was starting to get fidgety, the coffee buzzing in his bones, and Ryan vaguely got the message that William was stressed. But somehow through his anger, the brunette still managed to look a bit hurt. His eyes were what gave it away.
“So how did that make Keltie angry with you?” Ryan asked, gently pulling William’s coffee away from his fingers and depositing it in the trash despite William’s loud whine, then plopped himself down in a hair chair in front of one of the mirrors and spun around in it, glancing at William through the reflection when he stopped.
Ryan knew that William loved it when he let him do his hair, so Ryan handed the boy a brush, and watched in amusement as the hair dresser visibly brightened, picking up a piece of tangled hair and running the comb through it easily, leaving it smooth.
“Angry? Oh...I’m pretty sure she was more than angry with me.” William said, spraying water on Ryan’s hair until his whole head was damp. He then ran the brush through the rest of Ryan’s hair, and Ryan shivered as the tips of his wet locks brushed against his neck. He pulled a face at his reflection. He looked like a wet dog. William gave him an amused smile, and pulled a towel around Ryan’s shoulders so that he didn’t get any more water on his clothes.
“I had to tell Keltie about her precious boy being a total asswipe after I met him, but I had no idea how she would react. Honestly I was just looking out for her. ” William’s features softened, and he set the brush down. “I didn’t want to see her get hurt. I know too, what sort of guy he is.” The way William was talking, quietly and with a touch of sadness, shocked Ryan, who was used to William’s upbeat attitude and flirty ways, but he kept his eyes on the mirror.
“He’s the type of guy who would sweet talk a girl just to get her into bed with him, and then abandon her the next day, without a number or a note.” William sighed, picking up a pair of scissors and opening and closing them experimentally.
Ryan frowned. This seemed to be a rather sombre topic for William, and he instantly felt concerned. Had this sort of thing happened to William before?
“And what did she say when you told her?” Ryan asked.
William shook his head, and closed his eyes for a second. “She kind of blew up at me. She looked really mad...” he bit his lip, picking up a bottle of leave in conditioner and squirting some into his palm. He rubbed his hands together and then ran them through Ryan’s hair. “She got the wrong idea too, said I was just jealous that she had found the perfect man and I hadn’t, that I wanted him for myself. She...she called me a slut, but I knew she wasn’t joking this time.”
Ryan looked at William through the mirror. He really did look troubled, and Ryan felt immensely bad. His first impression of the boy had almost been exactly that. He had thought William was a slut when he first met him. He wasn’t so sure now though. He was actually learning to like the flirty hair stylist.
“You’re not a slut, William.” Ryan murmured sincerely.
William released his lip from his teeth, and met Ryan’s eyes in the mirror. He smiled softly, and put his arms around Ryan in a friendly hug. “Thanks. It means a lot to me.” He said, giving Ryan’s upper body an extra affectionate squeeze.
Ryan blushed, but he smiled as well.
“Well then! Ryan, since I like you so much, I’m going to give you a complimentary hair cut!” William exclaimed, smiling. He picked up the scissors, tapping them on his chin for a moment. He tilted his head to the side, then his eyes brightened. “I know just the look. Brendon won’t be able to resist you now!”
~
Brendon had told him to go squeegee the windows. Ryan didn’t really think that cleaning windows had anything to do with being an MA, but he didn’t mind too much. Yet, anyways. Besides, it was hard to say no to Brendon when he had his arms around Ryan’s waist, and was showering his face with kisses as he asked.
Ryan had blushed; skin warming at the attention he was receiving. He nodded, looking into Brendon’s eyes. He kissed the tip of the boy’s nose. “Okay.”
Brendon smiled brightly, pulling Ryan closer and rubbing his thumbs over Ryan’s hipbones. He planted a kiss on the corner of Ryan’s mouth, leaving it there longer than it would be to be completely innocent.
“Thanks, baby. I like the new hair, by the way. ” he said affectionately, before pulling away and leaving Ryan a blushing, fluttering mess. His heart was pumping wildly.
Brendon had called him baby.
Ryan bit his lip to keep from grinning like a fool, and sent Brendon a shy wave. He turned towards the streaky windows, and picked up the squeegee. He brought a stool over and got up on it, then leaned over and started cleaning. Halfway through, he absentmindedly started humming. He couldn’t help it; he was in a good mood.
~
“Where’s Ryan, and what did you do with him.” Spencer said, looking over Ryan suspiciously.
They were in a diner close to Spencer’s apartment, having gone out to lunch after Ryan’s work. It was tacky, with red and white chequered tables and bright red booths. Cheesy forties music played on an old jukebox in the corner, and the waitresses were wearing rollerblades and curly blonde wigs.
All of this would have annoyed Ryan to no end on a regular day, but lately he couldn’t stop smiling. He had a boyfriend, he had a really fun job, he got kisses every day...why wouldn’t he be happy?
Ryan tilted his head to the side, smiling confusedly at Spencer. “What are you talking about?” he asked, picking up a greasy French fry and popping it into his mouth.
Spencer just kept looking at him. He looked stunned. “You’re...you’re acting so...”
“What?”
Ryan’s smile finally lowered a bit, till it was just a lift at the corners of his mouth. He swallowed and picked up his coke glass, taking a sip from the straw. He was distracted though, wondered what Brendon was doing, if Brendon was thinking about him. He pictured the wide brown eyes and the way the boy’s laugh sounded like.
He was smiling ridiculously again.
Spencer tore his eyes away from his friend’s for a moment as he pondered, fingernails tapping his glass. Then all of a sudden it clicked. The laughing, the constant smiles, the dreamy look Ryan got at moments, the way Ryan’s cheeks got red whenever he said something about Brendon. It all added up to the same thing. Ryan was in love. His fingers stopped their movement abruptly.
“You’re in love, aren’t you?”
Ryan choked on his straw, coughing as he felt his drink going down the wrong tube. He almost dropped his glass in shock. He stared at Spencer with wide eyes. In love?! Surely he hadn’t heard that right.
“W-what?” he sputtered. The look on his face was comical right now, eyes wide, mouth open in shock, blinking rapidly. Spencer would’ve laughed if he wasn’t shocked himself.
Ryan licked his lips, setting the glass down. What was going on? Was he in love? He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. He had to think logically for a minute. He tried to think of something, something that would tell him whether or not he had more than just an extreme likeness for Brendon. He made a list of yes or no questions in his head that would help.
Did Brendon make him happy?
Ryan wasn’t stupid, he knew the answer to that one. Yes.
When he was around Brendon, did he feel different?
That one was a definite yes. Almost everything Brendon said to him, or if he looked at him, would make it feel as if butterflies were flying around in his stomach. His palms would sweat and his heart would start beating faster. It was an amazing feeling.
Did he care about Brendon?
Of course he cared about him. He couldn’t stand it when the boy was sad, and always tried to make sure it never happened. His throat would feel tight and his insides would twist when he saw Brendon’s smile slide off his lips. He never wanted to see him hurt. Ever. Ryan just loved being with Brendon, no matter what. Needed to be around him.
Ryan’s eyes widened dramatically, and he could feel his breathing picking up. He felt as if he was going to hyperventilate. His fork dropped from his fingers and landed on the plate with a clatter. He suddenly felt as if he were about to faint.
“O-oh my god.”
‘I’m in love!’
Since for some reason, this week, everyone had been basically treating Ryan as their maid/janitor. Brendon popped up behind him, wrapping his arms around Ryan’s neck and nuzzling at his collar bone, murmuring carelessly in his ear, “Go help Will refill the anti-septic bottles, will you?” and of course Ryan nodded, leaning into the embrace for a moment and smiling shyly, before giving Brendon a light kiss on the cheek that made him smile and walked over to where William was.
He was trying to empty the blue liquid into the sink, and talk on the phone at the same time. The hot pink cell was trying to balance between William’s ear and shoulder, and having a hard time at that, but it didn’t deter William from continuing to talk enthusiastically into the mouthpiece, and he almost dropped the glass bottle when his hands slipped. William’s eyes widened, and the previously happy expression he’d been wearing vanished in a snap, to be replaced by rage.
“She said what about me?!” William all but squawked into the phone, this time actually dropping the bottle, but thankfully before it could actually hit the floor Ryan ran over and caught it, but just barely, as it was hanging by the tips of his fingers.
Squinting, William gritted his teeth, face furious. It was rather frightening. He didn’t even seem to notice Ryan’s relieved expression as he up righted himself once more. “How dare she say that to him. He kept looking at me strangely last night! He kept asking me if I needed to go to the bathroom and freshen up!”
Intrigued, Ryan quietly eavesdropped, keeping an eye on how William was reacting. He was almost amazed at how much drama could go on in William’s life, but when he thought about it more, it was almost custom for someone who acted like he did (complete drama queen) to have that sort of lifestyle. So, Ryan was almost always entertained when around him, there was always something interesting to listen to, or to hear William rant about.
Filing up the sink, Ryan let it run till it was half full, and then added some soap until the bubbles almost foamed over the bowl. He dumped the empty jars into the now bubblegum scented water (Brendon’s choice, no doubt), and grabbed a cloth. All the while he glanced over at the fuming brunette, absentmindedly slowing down his movements.
“Yes! I was wondering why he didn’t want to have sex with me...I honestly just thought the boy was shy.” William babbled, now turned away from Ryan, seemingly not even acknowledging his existence.
Ryan didn’t care though; William always seemed to tune out the world around him when he was on the phone.
William raised a thin arm and covered it over his eyes, letting out a growl. “I can’t believe she would sink so low as to do something like this. I mean, come on! A bladder infection? What the hell is that about?”
William suddenly went quiet, but Ryan could still see where his fingers were clutching at the edge of the counter as he listened to the person on the other end. Ryan wouldn’t be surprised if later there were indents from his nails cut into the wood.
Eyes turned steely, William’s lips turned into a thin line. His back was still rigid. “Taking her side, are you?” he asked, voice stony. “Well, fine then. But next time you have a problem don’t come crawling back to me when something goes wrong with your pathetic relationship!” he snapped out dramatically, and then closed his phone with enough force to break it.
Ryan raised an eyebrow and put the final bottle on a towel, letting it dry out. “Something wrong?” he asked, reaching in and pulling the string in the sink, watching the water gurgle and sink down until all there was left was a small layer of hot pink foam. He looked up, eyes curious.
As if just noticing Ryan was there, he turned to him and sighed, looking irritated. “Well...” he looked as if he was contemplating something. “Have you noticed how Keltie has been a little...aggravated with me lately?” he asked, vaguely.
Well if that wasn’t the understatement of the year. Ever since Ryan had started working at P & F Keltie and William had constantly been at each other’s throats. It was as if anything could set them off, even if was something as simple as William mixing the wrong combination of hair dye, or dropping a hairbrush on the floor and getting it dirty, Keltie was always on William’s tail.
Ryan nodded, eager to finally find out why the two hated each other so much. He turned his attention towards William, placing his slightly bony hands on his hips. “Yeah, she mentioned a couple things that had me wondering.”
William nodded, slipping his phone into his pocket. It was a wonder how he managed to do that when his jeans were so tight they were nearly painted on. Ryan looked away from William’s jeans as the boy continued.
“Well, it all started last month or so. Keltie had just been telling – no, she was more like gushing over this new boy she had met at the coffee shop earlier that day.” as William said this he walked over to the coffee machines lining the walls and picked up a cup, turning away from Ryan and pulling the lever marked ‘French vanilla’ and waiting as it filled his paper cup up with the steaming brown liquid.
He picked up the sugar, grabbing a spoon, hesitating a little before dropping a small amount of the white crystals in. “It was like she had met her soul mate, and she kept ranting on and on about how good looking he was, and how much she liked him, how charming he was, how funny he was, how nice his ass was...” he paused, turning back around and stirring his coffee, then licking the spoon and throwing it in the trash. His eyes were lowered, but Ryan could see the irritation they held. “It just, after a while it was starting to get on my nerves.”
Ryan nodded, although he wasn’t completely sure why William would get mad.
“So, after listening to her ramble on and on about him for another who knows how many hours, I decided I needed to go and see this supposedly perfect boy. So naturally I asked Keltie exactly where she had met him, and she told me that he was a regular down by Starbucks on Aspolk Street.” William paused again, and took a hesitant sip of his coffee. When he was satisfied that it wasn’t going to put his tongue in flames, he gulped it down. Immediately after he finished he went back over and refilled his cup, this time without even bothering to add the sugar.
“Turns out everything she said about him was true.” William admitted sulkily, “Perfect ass...” he murmured, taking a couple larger sips from the cup, eyes glassy.
He noticed Ryan staring at him blankly, and he came back from dream land, coughing into his palm.
“Oh, right. Well, anyways, after I had introduced myself, we started talking. Long story short, I subtly slipped in the subject of Keltie, because let’s be honest I needed to find out whether or not this guy had any interest in her at all. Turns out the bastard only wanted a piece of ass.” William rolled his eyes. “So his seemingly wonderful personality was most likely just a cover way to meet hot girls, but what straight guy isn’t like that?” William finished off his now third cup of coffee in a hurry, and quickly refilled it. He didn’t even seem to notice he had finished off the entire pot in less than five minutes.
Ryan nodded, putting in an agreeing “Mmhmm.” Just to make William happy, and for him to continue, in which he did right after he was sure he still had Ryan’s one-hundred percent full attention, eye contact and everything.
William was starting to get fidgety, the coffee buzzing in his bones, and Ryan vaguely got the message that William was stressed. But somehow through his anger, the brunette still managed to look a bit hurt. His eyes were what gave it away.
“So how did that make Keltie angry with you?” Ryan asked, gently pulling William’s coffee away from his fingers and depositing it in the trash despite William’s loud whine, then plopped himself down in a hair chair in front of one of the mirrors and spun around in it, glancing at William through the reflection when he stopped.
Ryan knew that William loved it when he let him do his hair, so Ryan handed the boy a brush, and watched in amusement as the hair dresser visibly brightened, picking up a piece of tangled hair and running the comb through it easily, leaving it smooth.
“Angry? Oh...I’m pretty sure she was more than angry with me.” William said, spraying water on Ryan’s hair until his whole head was damp. He then ran the brush through the rest of Ryan’s hair, and Ryan shivered as the tips of his wet locks brushed against his neck. He pulled a face at his reflection. He looked like a wet dog. William gave him an amused smile, and pulled a towel around Ryan’s shoulders so that he didn’t get any more water on his clothes.
“I had to tell Keltie about her precious boy being a total asswipe after I met him, but I had no idea how she would react. Honestly I was just looking out for her. ” William’s features softened, and he set the brush down. “I didn’t want to see her get hurt. I know too, what sort of guy he is.” The way William was talking, quietly and with a touch of sadness, shocked Ryan, who was used to William’s upbeat attitude and flirty ways, but he kept his eyes on the mirror.
“He’s the type of guy who would sweet talk a girl just to get her into bed with him, and then abandon her the next day, without a number or a note.” William sighed, picking up a pair of scissors and opening and closing them experimentally.
Ryan frowned. This seemed to be a rather sombre topic for William, and he instantly felt concerned. Had this sort of thing happened to William before?
“And what did she say when you told her?” Ryan asked.
William shook his head, and closed his eyes for a second. “She kind of blew up at me. She looked really mad...” he bit his lip, picking up a bottle of leave in conditioner and squirting some into his palm. He rubbed his hands together and then ran them through Ryan’s hair. “She got the wrong idea too, said I was just jealous that she had found the perfect man and I hadn’t, that I wanted him for myself. She...she called me a slut, but I knew she wasn’t joking this time.”
Ryan looked at William through the mirror. He really did look troubled, and Ryan felt immensely bad. His first impression of the boy had almost been exactly that. He had thought William was a slut when he first met him. He wasn’t so sure now though. He was actually learning to like the flirty hair stylist.
“You’re not a slut, William.” Ryan murmured sincerely.
William released his lip from his teeth, and met Ryan’s eyes in the mirror. He smiled softly, and put his arms around Ryan in a friendly hug. “Thanks. It means a lot to me.” He said, giving Ryan’s upper body an extra affectionate squeeze.
Ryan blushed, but he smiled as well.
“Well then! Ryan, since I like you so much, I’m going to give you a complimentary hair cut!” William exclaimed, smiling. He picked up the scissors, tapping them on his chin for a moment. He tilted his head to the side, then his eyes brightened. “I know just the look. Brendon won’t be able to resist you now!”
~
Brendon had told him to go squeegee the windows. Ryan didn’t really think that cleaning windows had anything to do with being an MA, but he didn’t mind too much. Yet, anyways. Besides, it was hard to say no to Brendon when he had his arms around Ryan’s waist, and was showering his face with kisses as he asked.
Ryan had blushed; skin warming at the attention he was receiving. He nodded, looking into Brendon’s eyes. He kissed the tip of the boy’s nose. “Okay.”
Brendon smiled brightly, pulling Ryan closer and rubbing his thumbs over Ryan’s hipbones. He planted a kiss on the corner of Ryan’s mouth, leaving it there longer than it would be to be completely innocent.
“Thanks, baby. I like the new hair, by the way. ” he said affectionately, before pulling away and leaving Ryan a blushing, fluttering mess. His heart was pumping wildly.
Brendon had called him baby.
Ryan bit his lip to keep from grinning like a fool, and sent Brendon a shy wave. He turned towards the streaky windows, and picked up the squeegee. He brought a stool over and got up on it, then leaned over and started cleaning. Halfway through, he absentmindedly started humming. He couldn’t help it; he was in a good mood.
~
“Where’s Ryan, and what did you do with him.” Spencer said, looking over Ryan suspiciously.
They were in a diner close to Spencer’s apartment, having gone out to lunch after Ryan’s work. It was tacky, with red and white chequered tables and bright red booths. Cheesy forties music played on an old jukebox in the corner, and the waitresses were wearing rollerblades and curly blonde wigs.
All of this would have annoyed Ryan to no end on a regular day, but lately he couldn’t stop smiling. He had a boyfriend, he had a really fun job, he got kisses every day...why wouldn’t he be happy?
Ryan tilted his head to the side, smiling confusedly at Spencer. “What are you talking about?” he asked, picking up a greasy French fry and popping it into his mouth.
Spencer just kept looking at him. He looked stunned. “You’re...you’re acting so...”
“What?”
Ryan’s smile finally lowered a bit, till it was just a lift at the corners of his mouth. He swallowed and picked up his coke glass, taking a sip from the straw. He was distracted though, wondered what Brendon was doing, if Brendon was thinking about him. He pictured the wide brown eyes and the way the boy’s laugh sounded like.
He was smiling ridiculously again.
Spencer tore his eyes away from his friend’s for a moment as he pondered, fingernails tapping his glass. Then all of a sudden it clicked. The laughing, the constant smiles, the dreamy look Ryan got at moments, the way Ryan’s cheeks got red whenever he said something about Brendon. It all added up to the same thing. Ryan was in love. His fingers stopped their movement abruptly.
“You’re in love, aren’t you?”
Ryan choked on his straw, coughing as he felt his drink going down the wrong tube. He almost dropped his glass in shock. He stared at Spencer with wide eyes. In love?! Surely he hadn’t heard that right.
“W-what?” he sputtered. The look on his face was comical right now, eyes wide, mouth open in shock, blinking rapidly. Spencer would’ve laughed if he wasn’t shocked himself.
Ryan licked his lips, setting the glass down. What was going on? Was he in love? He took a deep breath, trying to calm down. He had to think logically for a minute. He tried to think of something, something that would tell him whether or not he had more than just an extreme likeness for Brendon. He made a list of yes or no questions in his head that would help.
Did Brendon make him happy?
Ryan wasn’t stupid, he knew the answer to that one. Yes.
When he was around Brendon, did he feel different?
That one was a definite yes. Almost everything Brendon said to him, or if he looked at him, would make it feel as if butterflies were flying around in his stomach. His palms would sweat and his heart would start beating faster. It was an amazing feeling.
Did he care about Brendon?
Of course he cared about him. He couldn’t stand it when the boy was sad, and always tried to make sure it never happened. His throat would feel tight and his insides would twist when he saw Brendon’s smile slide off his lips. He never wanted to see him hurt. Ever. Ryan just loved being with Brendon, no matter what. Needed to be around him.
Ryan’s eyes widened dramatically, and he could feel his breathing picking up. He felt as if he was going to hyperventilate. His fork dropped from his fingers and landed on the plate with a clatter. He suddenly felt as if he were about to faint.
“O-oh my god.”
‘I’m in love!’
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