FicWad

The rest of the week was fairly easy for Ryan, since his job basically consisted of chatting with Brendon while he did clients nails. The rest of the first day however, Brendon had taken a horrified look at his chewed upon digits, and quickly marched him over to his booth. Then he proceeded to clean up Ryan's nails and then massage his fingers (“You're so tense Ry! No wonder you bite your nails!”Brendon gasped, smoothing lotion over Ryan's hands.) and Ryan had to remind himself not to think of how good Brendon's fingers would feel in a whole other place on his body (Or in....winkwink).

He'd quickly memorized Brendon's orders from Star bucks from the first day, and it was to his advantage since nearly every day he would get to see Spencer and chat with him, but that was only if he wasn't flirting with Scotty, a bubbly blond boy who wore the brightest shade of pink eyeliner Ryan had ever seen.

Ryan once asked him what kind it was and Scotty's eyes had sparkled while he said “It's MAC eye pencils, in Perky pink!” he had then tilted his head to the side and smiled like a kid on crack. “Oh em gee! You know, I think Lusty lavender would look so hot on you! 'Coz hon, you could totally pull it off.”he then waved his hands flamboyantly and twirled Ryan around, as if for emphasis, then looked over at Spencer, who was handing an old lady her earl gray tea.

“He'd look hot with lavender eye pencil don't you think?” something in Scotty's eyes looked like they were testing Spencer, and Ryan fought the urge to laugh, seeing Spencer nearly spill the hot liquid all over the old lady, who 'eeped' in surprise, and bustled away with her tea again.

He stared at Scotty for a second, then smirked. “Doesn't he already look like a girl enough?” and Ryan rolled his eyes, since he knew for a fact that Spencer was only joking, (he did it too much for his own good anyways, and it only hurt Ryan when he knew that people meant it when they teased) and he sat down on a bar stool and looked at Scotty.

“I don't even know why I'm still his friend.” he muttered, though his voice was affectionate so Spencer knew that he didn't mean that either.

Scotty widened his eyes and put his hands over his chest dramatically. “If you think he's too much of a girl, what does that make me ?” he challenged.

Spencer sputtered, the smirk slipping from his lips like water. “I-Wha-Uh....” was his intelligent response, as he scratched at his neck uncomfortably.

Scotty shook his head in mock disappointment, then he grabbed his mocha and flounced off towards the door. Before he left though, he turned his head back around and pouted at Spencer. “And here I was going to ask you out, but seeing as you're so mean, I don't think I will anymore.” he teased, though when Ryan looked at Spencer it didn't look like he got it that he was just joking, since he started blinking fast, then opened his mouth, closed it again, then blushed and ran off to hide behind the cookie counter.

Scotty winked at Ryan, then walked out the door, no, fucking sashayed out the door, a smug smile in place.

Of course when Ryan confronted Spencer about his affection for a certain blond later he denied his little crush,telling Ryan “I'm not gay! And plus, he's the one who always comes here, pretty as a girl and flaunting it everywhere, also, I need to know my regulars coffee orders.” When Ryan told him that memorizing his coffee order didn't need to include staring at him with longing eyes until he left, Spencer just narrowed his eyes and 'accidentally' spilled Ryan's latte all over his new pants, leaving him with a big green stain that was impossible to get out, and looked like diarrhea when it dried.

That of course, made reason for everyone to laugh at him wherever he went the rest of the day. Though luckily, Brendon had an extra pair of pants with him at the salon. Ryan had first thought perplexedly that Brendon was joking (I mean, who keeps extra pants at work?) but Brendon had assured him that he wasn't kidding, and gave him a pair of jeans.

What Brendon didn't tell him, or what he just didn't notice, was that there was a big rip in the jeans (though that's just how they were made) and whenever he'd bend over to pick something up, he'd show off a nice piece of thigh to whoever was looking. Of course that gave even more reason for William to tease him, since when he saw him he smirked and slapped Ryan on the ass, to which Ryan yelped and jumped almost ten feet in the air, then proceeded to have his backside covered with a sweater, and he made sure to glare daggers at Brendon's head while he soaked his clients nails.

Brendon smiled innocently. “I thought you'd have noticed! Besides, you have good legs, you should show them off.”

Ryan blushed, yet again, and turned back towards the shelves, picking up a sparkled gold polish that Brendon had requested. He rolled it between his palms as he walked over. “I do not.” he mumbled half-heartedly, placing the bottle next to Brendon's fingers, then he sat down on one of the chairs and rolled it up next to them so he could help out.

Brendon took the lady's palm in his own, unscrewing the cap one-handed and applying the first coat to her fingernails. “Don't deny it Ryan.” he said, then finished off the lady's pinky nail. He smiled charmingly at her, telling her she was free to go to the nail-dryers and wait.

“So, um...” Brendon smiled sheepishly, and replaced the cap to the polish. He looked at Ryan and bit his lip. “About your paycheck. I, um, I know I was supposed to have it with me to give it to you today...” he trailed off, and started wiping down the table with a cloth, spritzing it with water first.

“You don't...have it?”Ryan blinked, then cocked his head to the side. He felt the familiar rising panic that he was about to be fired, so his voice came out slower than usual.

“No. No, I did have it actually, all ready for you to take it. But then Sofie had to come along, and sadly I'd forgotten to feed her yesterday.” his face twisted a little. “ And apparently she was hungry enough for paper. So when I got back to the table to take it, the check was gone, and Sofie was making these weird hiccuping noises, you know, kind of like when a baby needs to burp or something. And that was my last check in my check book Ry, and I didn't have anymore, and now I need to go get another one. I don't even have any spare cash on me! I just use my visa, and....and.....” he'd been talking at nearly a mile a minute, and an apologetic spark was in his eyes. “And now I don't have it for you.”

Ryan breathed out a sigh of relief, and was about to tell Brendon not to worry about it since he could wait, but Brendon must have misinterpreted his sigh as one of annoyance, since he bounced on the balls of his feet a little and put a finger to Ryan lips, which were already parted slightly, instantly shushing him. “I'll make it up to you, I promise.” he smiled mischievously then, and Ryan accidentally licked the finger that was still pressed against his lips (a nervous habit. The licking of the lips thing not the licking Brendon's fingers thing) and blushed when Brendon's finger trailed across his mouth slowly, then dropped back to his sides.

“That's why you're coming out to dinner with me! Anywhere you want, I'll pay.” Brendon said, his mischievous smile still in place. “Then we can get ice cream for dessert, and then see a movie after, if you want too.” he then laughed. “I'll even walk you home, the gentleman I am.”

Ryan was shocked, because this sounded suspiciously like a date. His heart pounded a little harder than before and a little jolt of nervousness and excitement ran through him as he thought about it, and before he could stop it he blurted out “I'd love too.” and then Brendon beamed at him, and bounced on his feet once more, taking Ryan's wrist and pulling him out the door exclaiming “I have a date with Ryan Ross!” extremely loud and exuberantly, enough so that a rather burly looking man sitting on a bench waiting for the bus turned to look at them, startled.

His eyes narrowed then as he looked at the both of them, then down at where their hands were clasped, and he sneered behind his thick glasses. Ryan had a sick sort of feeling he knew what the man was going to say, as most Americans weren't as open minded as he would have liked.

“Fucking queers.” the man spat viciously at them, then got up from the bench (though not without some difficulty, probably couldn't get his big ass up off the bench.) and walked away from them.

Ryan frowned, and his fingers tightened their hold on Brendon's. He felt an anger bubbling through him towards the man as he felt Brendon's fingers go limp in his hold, and his happy 100-watt smile slowly fall from his face, leaving only an imprint of it, just a slight lift of his lips, barely there.

It was as if Ryan's body had a mind of it's own, since before he could even think of what he was doing, he squeezed Brendon's hand once, then murmured “I'll be right back.” softly, then let go and walked coolly (he tried not to think of how the man could probably squish him like a fly for what he was going to say) over to where the man was, now across the street, back turned away from Ryan.

“Excuse me, sir.” Ryan tried his best to keep his voice firm, but it cracked slightly when the man turned around, and glared at him with so much hatred that Ryan was astonished. All that just because he was gay! He felt his intense anger rise within him even more so than before, and his fists clenched at his sides. “You have no fucking place to say things like that about us.”

The man just growled lowly, and he cracked his knuckles. “I don't live here so I can watch some fucking pansies. Take it somewhere else, or better yet, go burn in hell.”

Ryan's gaze turned even more steely, he wasn't even afraid anymore, his anger was overwhelming him so much that he gritted his teeth. It was weird though, usually he just ignored it when people made rude comments, since it happened all the time, but maybe this time it was because it wasn't just him that was being insulted. It was Brendon , and no matter how annoying (but cutely so) he could get sometimes, he didn't deserve to be treated like that.

“Well then, maybe since where you live right now has so many pansies you should go find somewhere else to live. Besides, I absolutely hate to live around homophobic assholes like you, who only think about what's morally the correct way to live. Man loves woman, woman loves man.” Ryan smirked then, though their was no humor in his eyes. “But news-flash honey ,” Okay so maybe it amused him a little when he saw the man's eyes widen till they were nearly popping out of his head. “Where I live, here, we're open minded and caring. Obviously that's something you know nothing about.”

With that Ryan turned away and walked briskly towards Brendon (he really needed to get away fast to make sure he didn't become a knuckle sandwich), who's jaw was hanging open widely. Ryan smiled sheepishly when Brendon had gasped “I didn't know you had that in you Ry!” his face then broke out into a large grin and he swooned and batted his eyelashes teasingly. “My hero!” he cried, throwing his arms around Ryan and nuzzling the side of his neck with his nose.

Ryan laughed and wrapped his own thin arms around Brendon, so they criss-crossed on the small of his back. He brought one hand up and petted Brendon's head softly, in which Brendon purred, opening his eyes and staring into Ryan's with those tempting dark chocolaty hues.

Ryan was amazed at how many emotions could flit through those orbs, if it was either happiness (which it was most of the time) they would be bright and twinkly and warm like the sun, or if it was surprise, in which his eyes would be wide and owlish, and his pink lips would be parted into a shocked “oh”, or if it was seductive, his eyes would go dark and playful, his eyelids would lower, and his mouth would curl into a catlike smirk (something that made an electric shock shoot up Ryan's spine and the hairs on his arm to rise whenever he saw it) and even when he was sad and hurt, his eyes would go dull, lose their spark and bubbly-ness, and his lips would be in constant frown. But most of all when that happened, he would lose his childish innocence, and he would be serious and non-playful, and just non- Brendon period. That was a side of him that Ryan wished he'd never have to see.

Ryan moved closer to Brendon, so close that he could see Brendon's eyelashes fluttering as he blinked, could feel his breath on his lips as he breathed out. When Ryan's gaze drifted to Brendon's lips, he found himself leaning forwards, pulling Brendon towards him, their lips only inches apart.

Brendon's eyes widened, and he looked panicked for a second. “Ry, what-”

Ryan cut him off by pressing their lips together, and Brendon gasped softly. Brendon's lips were very soft, and warm, just like Ryan had imagined. All those days (seven, to be exact) of looking at them and fantasizing about what they'd feel like on his own, and how they would look if they were kiss swollen and panting, and now it was happening for real. And it felt so much better than what he'd first thought. So much better.

One thing was wrong though.

Brendon wasn't kissing him back.