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It was early, and my phone was ringing constantly. I didn't pick it up the first time. And no matter how annoying it was getting while I was trying to sleep, I didn't pick it up the second or third times either. Finally the fourth time it rang, I groaned and buried my head deep into my pillow before reaching over and grabbing my phone from my bedside table, still being half asleep, I ended up knocking off my wallet and several other things that I didn't think I could name without looking.

I put the phone to my ear and mumbled a greeting. It was Brendon.

"Ryan!" He spoke too loudly into the phone. "Ryan, my parents want me over for dinner tonight. Come with." He was begging me.

I mumbled something that I thought sounded like an affirmative answer but Brendon just whined in response. I had a feeling he thought I refused.

"Ryan, please. Please, I can't go by myself. They'll yell at me. Th-they'll fucking kill me." He said, rushing through his words too quickly. It took me awhile to catch what he said because of the pace he said it at. Brendon was scared of his parents. He was irrationally scared of his parents.

"Brendon, what the fuck is wrong with you? They're your parents. They won't kill you." I grumbled. It was too early in the morning to deal with Brendon's dramatics. "And why are you scared of them yelling at you? Shouldn't you be used to that by now?"

Brendon whined again in response.

"Sorry." I said. "I'll come, okay?"

"Thank you Ryan." Brendon replied. I could tell he was smiling now. It was creeping through the telephone connection in some strangely unnatural way. "I'll let you sleep now. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Mmm... yeah sure." I mumbled back. I was sure Brendon purposely called at this time of the morning.

"See you later."

Tonight was going to be fun, I could tell already.

--

"Brendon! You look fine." I said exasperatedly as he unbuttoned and re-buttoned his shirt for the fourth time. This time he missed a button and ended up buttoning each button to the button hole above it. "But now your buttons are screwed." I said going over to him and unbuttoning his shirt so I could put the buttons in the correct holes.

"You know, I really don't like this shirt." He said, pushing my hands away and chucking the shirt on the bed.

I raised an eyebrow at that and dropped my hands to my sides. "You liked it twenty minutes ago, Bren."

"That was twenty minutes ago." He said as if twenty minutes was long enough to get sick of wearing a shirt.

I shook my head and threw myself down onto Brendon's bed. I rubbed my eyes idly with my hands and sighed. "Brendon you're too fussy." I said as I sat up.

"Ryan, I just know what I like." He said coming to sit next to me on the bed and plant a kiss on my cheek.

"You need a shirt." I said, biting my lip and looking away from him so I could see if he had any shirts lying around the room that he might be happy to wear.

"Do you want me to wear a shirt?" He said, running his fingers along my jaw line.

I turned back to him and placed a quick kiss on his soft lips. "What you need and what I want are two very different things."

"So you'd rather me without a shirt?"

I shot him a look and got up off the bed. I wasn't standing for very long before Brendon grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me back down onto the bed, so he could place soft kisses on my neck.

I exhaled sharply before pushing him off me. The sensible part of me was telling me to motivate him, to motivate me. If Brendon's parents had invited him over for dinner then it must be a step in a good direction for the relationship between him and his parents. But another part of me would be so happy just to ditch the meal and spend the rest of tonight here with Brendon.

"Not now Bren." I said before picking up a shirt off the floor and throwing it at him. "Later." I grinned.

A smile spread across his face as he pulled the shirt on over his head. "You better keep to that Ross."

--

They arrived at Brendon's parents' house at 7:30 and Brendon was still sitting behind the wheel of his car, when Ryan had already got out. Ryan was about to close the car door when he realized that Brendon hadn't got out of the car yet.

He leant back down and stuck his head inside the car. "Brendon, get out of the car now." He said slowly.

Brendon's bottom lip was clenched between his teeth and he was shaking his head continuously. His hands were clamped tightly on the steering wheel and his knuckles were turning white from the pressure.

Ryan shut the passenger side door and walked around to Brendon's side and opened the door.

"Brendon you have to get out of the car. You're parents are not scary. They will not kill you."

Brendon was still shaking his head and now he was almost crying. Ryan leant into the car and placed a kiss gently on the side of Brendon's mouth.

"C'mon Bren, I'm here. You don't need to worry."

Brendon let out a broken breath and released his grip on the steering wheel. He looked at Ryan and gave a weak half-smile. Ryan grabbed him by the arm and gently dragged him from the car before shutting the door behind him.

"Right, I'm okay Ry. Let go now." He said tugging his arm out of Ryan's grip.

"Okay, okay. Come on then." Ryan said heading up the path to Brendon's parents' front door.

Brendon wandered slowly up the path behind him and pressed the doorbell hesitantly. He looked nervously at Ryan and shoved his hands into the pockets of his black jeans. Ryan placed a hand on Brendon's back and shot him a concerned look. He was really worried about this. Ryan could tell.

"Brendon, calm down. It'll all be okay." Ryan soothed.

The door opened and Ryan quickly slipped his hand from Brendon's back as Brendon's mother and father were standing in the doorway and Ryan didn't want to get Brendon in to any troubled situations this early in the evening. He knew Brendon's parents could take a touch or a look between Brendon and him the wrong way.

"Hello Brendon." Mr. Urie said as Mrs. Urie enveloped her son in a tight hug.

"It's nice to see you again darling." She said when she pulled out of the hug. She smoothed down his hair, and inspected him as a mother often does. Maybe to see 'how much he'd grown'.

"This is Ryan." Brendon said stepping back and gesturing to Ryan who was hanging back, hesitant to intrude on the little family regrouping. ( [A/N] I didn't feel reunion was the right word.)

"Oh, Ryan, dear. You look so... different." Brendon's mother said. "Come in boys. Dinner is almost ready."

Brendon and Ryan followed Mr. and Mrs. Urie into their house, shooting looks at each other almost every five seconds. Brendon didn't want to be here and now Ryan was beginning to feel uncomfortable, even though Brendon's parents had been nothing less then welcoming.

They all sat around the dinner table and soon enough Brendon's mother brought out the meal, which smelt delicious and looked as much too. They began to eat in silence and not much was said for awhile; just idle compliments about the meal Mrs. Urie had prepared for them.

"So, Brendon, have you found yourself a girl yet?" Mr. Urie asked, raising his glass to his lips as he waited for Brendon's answer.

Ryan's hand slipped from his fork in shock of the question and in worry for how much this would probably stress Brendon out to answer. "Sorry." Ryan muttered quietly, picking up his fork again.

Brendon drew in a sharp breath and clung on to his cutlery a little tighter. "No, dad. I haven't."

"When are you going to Brendon? You're too damn fussy, that's your problem." his father continued as a frown worked it's way onto his face.

"Excuse me." Brendon said curtly as he pushed back his chair and headed for the kitchen. He pushed open the door and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

"Stan." Brendon's mother scolded.

Ryan pushed back his chair and breathed and 'excuse me' before following Brendon into the kitchen.

Brendon was leaning on the kitchen sink, staring out the window and at the deserted street outside.

"Brendon..." Ryan began quietly, walking up behind him and wrapping his arms around the shorter boy's neck. "I'm sorry."

"Why, Ryan? You didn't do anything. I should've expected dad to start something like that." Brendon sighed and turned around so he could face Ryan and wrap his own arms around Ryan's waist.

"Are you going to tell them the truth Brendon? Or do you think that'd be a bit too much?" Ryan asked as he nibbled gently on his lower lip in thought.

"It'd be too much, but they need to know. I mean I don't want to lie to everyone about how I feel about you." Brendon replied. "But it's gonna suck if they don't accept it." Brendon closed his eyes and angled his head up to the ceiling and exhaled sharply. "At least I'll have you, hey?" He said opening his eyes to stare into Ryan's own deep brown ones.

"Yeah, Bren. You'll have me." Ryan smiled and leant in to press a gentle kiss on Brendon's lips.

Just at that moment the kitchen door opened and both of Brendon's parents entered the room with shocked looks plastered across their faces. Brendon shot Ryan a stricken look and they quickly stepped away from each other.

"Mum, dad, this really isn't what it looks like. I swear." Brendon tried. He knew it was exactly what it looked like, it was just the assumptions that his parents would draw from this that he was worried about.

"What else is it supposed to look like Brendon?" His father growled angrily. "Don't explain, either of you. Just get the hell out of my house. I don't want a flaming queer for a son." He shouted, pointing violently at the door.

Brendon's face fell and Ryan grabbed his hand swiftly and they ran out of the Urie's house and onto the front lawn. Brendon stopped Ryan and turned back to face the house. His parents were both in the front hallway, watching Brendon from the door.

"I'm sorry you can't fucking accept me for who I am!" He shouted back to them, tears were now spilling down his cheeks from anger and hurt.

Ryan grabbed his hand again and they walked briskly towards the car. Then Ryan quickly extracted the keys from Brendon's pocket and claimed driving duties before Brendon could protest.

--

Ryan drove them both back to Brendon's little apartment a little way across town. He parked the car and they both made the climb up to Brendon's place. Since Ryan had the keys, he opened the door while Brendon stayed slumped against the wall just beside the door.

Ryan still had a hold of the keys in the lock of the door when he reached his other hand up to stroke Brendon's cheek. "Bren, it's okay." He said.

Brendon pressed his own hand over Ryan's and gave a weak smile in reply. They both entered the apartment and Brendon wandered into the lounge room and Ryan headed to the kitchen to make them some tea. Tea fixes everything.

He was just about to grab the mugs from the cupboard when he heard a loud thud from the lounge room. Panic ran through him as he realized it could only be Brendon.

"Brendon!" He yelled, slamming the cupboard closed again and running into the lounge room. Brendon was sitting in the middle of the floor with his one knee pressed to his chest and the other leg laying half bent in front of him. He was still crying.

"What happened?" Ryan ran over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder and another on the side of his face, so he could inspect Brendon's eyes for an answer even before he spoke.

A soft tear-choked laugh escaped Brendon's throat. "I forgot I moved my sofa." He said weakly. Ryan could tell he was trying to shrug it off but he was so close to tears that this simple explanation just made Ryan worry more about him.

"Brendon, who gives a shit what your parents think?" He said suddenly, sitting himself down on the floor beside Brendon. "I said you'd still have me and I meant it Bren, okay?" Ryan said, staring into Brendon's eyes, urging him to believe him.

"I love you Ryan. I hope you know that." Brendon said quietly, fidgeting with the hem of Ryan's shirt.

"I know you do Bren. I hope you know I love you too." Ryan said, wrapping his arms around him and pressing a tender kiss to Brendon's lips.

They laid down in the middle of Brendon's living room, on the hardwood floor which must have been uncomfortable, but really all the comfort they needed, they had in each other's arms.

Brendon continued to gaze intently into Ryan's eyes. Maybe he was searching for so many answers he
thought he needed. But he realized an answer wasn't what he needed. Acceptance wasn't what he
needed. All he really needed tonight, for always, was Ryan Ross.

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[A/N] This is the final chapter for this fiction. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I also hope
that you'll be kind enough to review. Thank you. =]

My formatting is a little screwy on this chapter and no matter how many times I try and fix it, it doesn't seem to want to co-operate with me. Sorry.