Still so Young - Desperate for Attention
Chapter Twelve.
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Brendon
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They sat in silence for a while before finally Ryan pulled out his ipod, “I’m going to sleep.” He spoke, putting in his earbuds and turning to face the window as he reclined his seat.
Brendon layed back in his seat for a while, but he kept getting freaked out and sitting up to look quickly out the windows. After what seemed like forever, he finally felt tired enough to not care about what was outside, and he layed back successfully falling asleep.
…
…
Brendon woke up and had to squint and hold a hand up to see properly. It had to be early, at least six, the sun looked like it had just risen up over the earth and was intent on shining as brightly as it could directly into Brendon’s windshield. At least he lived through the night. He glanced over to see Ryan still laying on his side, only now his knees were pulled up to his chest and his earbuds had fallen out of his ears. Brendon was going to shake him awake, but he caught sight of Ryan’s reflection in the window and stopped short. He looked really sweet when he wasn’t making rude comments. Maybe, Brendon won’t wake him up. Brendon started the car and was shocked to see that it was already 10am, Brendon thought he was fucked if he ever got stuck anywhere without a clock based on how much he failed at tell the time from nature. Although, nature never really liked him anyway. He turned the car around, going back the way they came which was, he will admit, much easier without Ryan arguing with him.
He successfully got back to where they were originally lost, and he turned back on the ‘natural’ curve of the road to go back. He had to hesitate at a few of the forks in the road, but he got more confident as he started seeing familiar territory. He almost let out a little cheer as he got back onto the road that they were originally on, the one with the Dairy Queen, but he thought twice about when Ryan moved in his peripheral vision. He glanced over and saw his eyes still closed, but he had stretched out on his back. Brendon settled for doing a weird little dance consisting of him awkwardly shimmying his shoulders while trying not to swerve on the road. He ended that quickly and tried to pretend it never happened before getting back onto the main road. The wreck was long gone by now and there was no sign of it.
Brendon sighed and picked up his phone. He really should call his parents. He picked his up to find it had died over night. He groaned, tossing it in the backseat before glancing over at Ryan. His was in the pocked of his pants. Brendon stopped at a stoplight and found himself slowly reaching over grabbing the end of the phone that was sticking out and starting to pull it slowly. Almost there. The easier solution would be to wake Ryan up, but really, that’s not how Brendon Urie thinks. He finally got the phone out and was lifting it with careful fingers, and he made a quiet ‘aha!’ noise before he glanced up at Ryan’s face and jumped, dropping the phone. Ryan was staring at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I was just-”
“The light’s green,” Ryan cut Brendon off grabbing his phone off the floor. Brendon hit the pedal a bit too hard and the car jolted forward.
“I was just getting your phone,” Brendon explained wide eyed pulling over into the gas station, “I swear.” He glanced over at Ryan to see he had put his seat back up and he was smirking, “I swear!” Brendon repeated.
“Mine’s dead,” Ryan shook his head, “You know that.”
“What?” Brendon squinted, “Mine’s dead. How would I know that yours is dead.”
“We tried to get service last night,” Ryan rolled his eyes, “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying!” Brendon defended lifting his hands off the wheel for a second to hit them back against it.
“Mhm,” Brendon could see Ryan’s smug look out of the corner of his eye, “You just wanted in my pants.”
“Now you sound like Gabe,” Brendon rolled his eyes shaking his head, “So, so full of yourself.”
“Don’t change the subject.” Ryan squinted, “I don’t like being manhandled.”
“Then me and you could never possibly work out, baby.” Brendon turned to wink at him, and he angled his head away, smirking when there was no response.
“Too bad, I thought getting us lost was a sure fire way to win your heart.” It’s spoken with the same monotone that Ryan always has, and Brendon twists his neck so quick he swears he pulled something, but seriously? Ryan now had his head turned, but he had a slight suspicion that this boy was trying to play his game. His game! And the part that really bugs Brendon is that, Ryan’s really good at it.
“You’re not my type.” Brendon spoke, cursing himself at the weak retort, but it seemed to do its trick anyway as the redness spread up Ryan’s neck. “Shut up,” Ryan mumbled. Brendon:1 Ryan:0.
Brendon almost did his silent victory dance again, but he decided he’d rather not have Ryan see that.
- - -
Ryan
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They finally got silent after Brendon returned from putting gas in the car. Ryan’s been having an internal debate about whether he really wanted to go home or not. Finally, glancing at the clock Ryan got an idea.
“Shit,” He cursed making a show of slapping a hand to his head, “My dad left for work hours ago, he probably thought I was in bed still, and he always locks up the house behind him. I won’t have any way to get in.
Brendon was silent for a moment before he glanced over, “You said your dad worked on the weekends.”
Ryan glanced down, “Yeah, but, uh, he has a lot of meetings this week, because he’s training some interns. He has to go in everyday this week to help them get the hand of it.”
“Oh,” Brendon muttered, “Well, we could go to my house, or I could drop you off somewhere else I guess.”
Ryan really, really wished that Spencer lived closer, but he was at school anyway.
“No,” Ryan shook his head, “Your house is fine.” But it really wasn’t.
…
They didn’t speak again until they got into Brendon’s neighborhood.
“My mom is going to flip. Just warning you.” Brendon said, not taking his eyes from the road. He pulled into his driveway and the front door was ripped open and a girl a little older than Brendon stalked out of the house.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Brendon cursed repeatedly before slowly opening his door and standing up. Ryan followed just in time to see the girl shove Brendon hard, “You complete moron!” She snapped, “I have been home for 24 hours, missed Mark’s final game, where he scored 16 points, mind you, and on top of it, Mom and Dad have been nagging-”
“That’s enough, Kara.” A man from the door way snapped and the girl did this groan thing before walking over to another car and slamming the door, quickly backing out of the driveway. Ryan would’ve been more worried if Brendon hadn’t had a huge grin plastered on his face, and this is such an inappropriate time to be turned on by Brendon, even if it’s only the slightest bit, he’s about to meet his parents for fuck’s sake!
“Where were you?” The man asked, and Ryan had expected something a lot worse, but the man was genuinely concerned, and his tone was so gentle it was scary.
“I was on my way home and there was a wreck on the Snyder, so I tried and back way and ended up really really lost for seriously hours on end. Both our cellphones were dead by the time we decided to call someone. I am so sorry,” Brendon shook his head, and the guy had a smile on his face. Ryan was very taken back.
“How’s Will?” Brendon asked nervously, biting his lip, and seriously. It had to be all the sunlight that made him look so attractive at this instant. That was definitely it.
“He’s fine,” Brendon’s dad sighed, “Your mother finally got him to sleep a few hours ago.”
Brendon groaned dropping his head into his palms, “I was worried about him,” He sighed.
“We were worried about you,” His dad laughed clapping him on the back, and Ryan flinched, “Come on inside.”
“Dad, this is Ryan,” Brendon introduced suddenly, and Ryan almost flinched again, “Ryan this is my dad.”
“Call me Boyd,” The man smiled holding out a hand, and what a name. Though Ryan isn’t one to talk, his name is George. Ryan shook it and smiled a small smile back, following them inside.
“His dad won’t be home, so I said he could come back here.”
“You’re welcome anytime,” Brendon’s dad smiled, and Ryan tried to return it again, finding it more difficult this time. He entered the house and took it in. There wasn’t anything significant about it. It looked about like Ryan’s house. The main difference was that this house felt like a home, and it looked like it was actually inhabited. Ryan felt like the contrast from his house to a house like Brendon’s or Spencer’s was kind of like the contrast from Kansas to Oz. One felt completely black and white and repetitive and dull. The other was welcoming and nice and home-y. Ryan followed behind Brendon as they walked down a hallway and into the living room. Two boys were asleep, one on each couch, and Ryan saw Brendon smile. The boys were Gabe and William. Brendon crouched in front of William grabbing his shoulder before shaking it slowly and whispering, “Hey, Will.”
Ryan’s never seen anyone wake up so quickly in his life. Will shot up and latched himself onto Brendon, yelling out his name in the process, “I thought you left!” He spoke wide eyed, and Brendon laughed.
“We got really, really lost.” Brendon explained. William looked up when Brendon said ‘we’, and Ryan really wished he hadn’t.
“Ryan!” William shouted and pulled himself from Brendon latching onto Ryan instead.
“Hey, Will,” Ryan said awkwardly, putting a hand on the other’s back.
“You ass,” Ryan heard a groggy voice from the couch, “Worrying us for nothing.”
Will pulled away from him when he heard and turned to giggle at Gabe instead. Ryan let out the breath he was holding.
“I’m just trying to turn your hair grey,” Brendon grinned, and Ryan really missed Spencer as Gabe got off the couch and hugged Brendon.
“Hey,” Gabe spoke when he saw Ryan, “Did Brendon forget to drop you off?” Gabe laughed, and Brendon quickly explained the situation so Ryan wouldn’t have to.
“So, what happened?” Gabe smiled, sitting back down on the couch.
“Did you see the wreck on the Snyder?” Brendon asked Gabe.
“No,” Gabe shook his head, “We went the other way, to the theater.” He said bouncing his eyebrows towards Will, and Oh, God, they aren’t dating are they?
“Oh, well, there was a wreck on the Snyder and we went a back way and got lost.”
“Very lost.” Gabe nodded, “Took you a long way to find your way back home.”
Brendon just laughed shaking his head.
Brendon
- - -
They sat in silence for a while before finally Ryan pulled out his ipod, “I’m going to sleep.” He spoke, putting in his earbuds and turning to face the window as he reclined his seat.
Brendon layed back in his seat for a while, but he kept getting freaked out and sitting up to look quickly out the windows. After what seemed like forever, he finally felt tired enough to not care about what was outside, and he layed back successfully falling asleep.
…
…
Brendon woke up and had to squint and hold a hand up to see properly. It had to be early, at least six, the sun looked like it had just risen up over the earth and was intent on shining as brightly as it could directly into Brendon’s windshield. At least he lived through the night. He glanced over to see Ryan still laying on his side, only now his knees were pulled up to his chest and his earbuds had fallen out of his ears. Brendon was going to shake him awake, but he caught sight of Ryan’s reflection in the window and stopped short. He looked really sweet when he wasn’t making rude comments. Maybe, Brendon won’t wake him up. Brendon started the car and was shocked to see that it was already 10am, Brendon thought he was fucked if he ever got stuck anywhere without a clock based on how much he failed at tell the time from nature. Although, nature never really liked him anyway. He turned the car around, going back the way they came which was, he will admit, much easier without Ryan arguing with him.
He successfully got back to where they were originally lost, and he turned back on the ‘natural’ curve of the road to go back. He had to hesitate at a few of the forks in the road, but he got more confident as he started seeing familiar territory. He almost let out a little cheer as he got back onto the road that they were originally on, the one with the Dairy Queen, but he thought twice about when Ryan moved in his peripheral vision. He glanced over and saw his eyes still closed, but he had stretched out on his back. Brendon settled for doing a weird little dance consisting of him awkwardly shimmying his shoulders while trying not to swerve on the road. He ended that quickly and tried to pretend it never happened before getting back onto the main road. The wreck was long gone by now and there was no sign of it.
Brendon sighed and picked up his phone. He really should call his parents. He picked his up to find it had died over night. He groaned, tossing it in the backseat before glancing over at Ryan. His was in the pocked of his pants. Brendon stopped at a stoplight and found himself slowly reaching over grabbing the end of the phone that was sticking out and starting to pull it slowly. Almost there. The easier solution would be to wake Ryan up, but really, that’s not how Brendon Urie thinks. He finally got the phone out and was lifting it with careful fingers, and he made a quiet ‘aha!’ noise before he glanced up at Ryan’s face and jumped, dropping the phone. Ryan was staring at him with a raised eyebrow.
“I was just-”
“The light’s green,” Ryan cut Brendon off grabbing his phone off the floor. Brendon hit the pedal a bit too hard and the car jolted forward.
“I was just getting your phone,” Brendon explained wide eyed pulling over into the gas station, “I swear.” He glanced over at Ryan to see he had put his seat back up and he was smirking, “I swear!” Brendon repeated.
“Mine’s dead,” Ryan shook his head, “You know that.”
“What?” Brendon squinted, “Mine’s dead. How would I know that yours is dead.”
“We tried to get service last night,” Ryan rolled his eyes, “Don’t lie.”
“I’m not lying!” Brendon defended lifting his hands off the wheel for a second to hit them back against it.
“Mhm,” Brendon could see Ryan’s smug look out of the corner of his eye, “You just wanted in my pants.”
“Now you sound like Gabe,” Brendon rolled his eyes shaking his head, “So, so full of yourself.”
“Don’t change the subject.” Ryan squinted, “I don’t like being manhandled.”
“Then me and you could never possibly work out, baby.” Brendon turned to wink at him, and he angled his head away, smirking when there was no response.
“Too bad, I thought getting us lost was a sure fire way to win your heart.” It’s spoken with the same monotone that Ryan always has, and Brendon twists his neck so quick he swears he pulled something, but seriously? Ryan now had his head turned, but he had a slight suspicion that this boy was trying to play his game. His game! And the part that really bugs Brendon is that, Ryan’s really good at it.
“You’re not my type.” Brendon spoke, cursing himself at the weak retort, but it seemed to do its trick anyway as the redness spread up Ryan’s neck. “Shut up,” Ryan mumbled. Brendon:1 Ryan:0.
Brendon almost did his silent victory dance again, but he decided he’d rather not have Ryan see that.
- - -
Ryan
- - -
They finally got silent after Brendon returned from putting gas in the car. Ryan’s been having an internal debate about whether he really wanted to go home or not. Finally, glancing at the clock Ryan got an idea.
“Shit,” He cursed making a show of slapping a hand to his head, “My dad left for work hours ago, he probably thought I was in bed still, and he always locks up the house behind him. I won’t have any way to get in.
Brendon was silent for a moment before he glanced over, “You said your dad worked on the weekends.”
Ryan glanced down, “Yeah, but, uh, he has a lot of meetings this week, because he’s training some interns. He has to go in everyday this week to help them get the hand of it.”
“Oh,” Brendon muttered, “Well, we could go to my house, or I could drop you off somewhere else I guess.”
Ryan really, really wished that Spencer lived closer, but he was at school anyway.
“No,” Ryan shook his head, “Your house is fine.” But it really wasn’t.
…
They didn’t speak again until they got into Brendon’s neighborhood.
“My mom is going to flip. Just warning you.” Brendon said, not taking his eyes from the road. He pulled into his driveway and the front door was ripped open and a girl a little older than Brendon stalked out of the house.
“Shit, shit, shit.” Brendon cursed repeatedly before slowly opening his door and standing up. Ryan followed just in time to see the girl shove Brendon hard, “You complete moron!” She snapped, “I have been home for 24 hours, missed Mark’s final game, where he scored 16 points, mind you, and on top of it, Mom and Dad have been nagging-”
“That’s enough, Kara.” A man from the door way snapped and the girl did this groan thing before walking over to another car and slamming the door, quickly backing out of the driveway. Ryan would’ve been more worried if Brendon hadn’t had a huge grin plastered on his face, and this is such an inappropriate time to be turned on by Brendon, even if it’s only the slightest bit, he’s about to meet his parents for fuck’s sake!
“Where were you?” The man asked, and Ryan had expected something a lot worse, but the man was genuinely concerned, and his tone was so gentle it was scary.
“I was on my way home and there was a wreck on the Snyder, so I tried and back way and ended up really really lost for seriously hours on end. Both our cellphones were dead by the time we decided to call someone. I am so sorry,” Brendon shook his head, and the guy had a smile on his face. Ryan was very taken back.
“How’s Will?” Brendon asked nervously, biting his lip, and seriously. It had to be all the sunlight that made him look so attractive at this instant. That was definitely it.
“He’s fine,” Brendon’s dad sighed, “Your mother finally got him to sleep a few hours ago.”
Brendon groaned dropping his head into his palms, “I was worried about him,” He sighed.
“We were worried about you,” His dad laughed clapping him on the back, and Ryan flinched, “Come on inside.”
“Dad, this is Ryan,” Brendon introduced suddenly, and Ryan almost flinched again, “Ryan this is my dad.”
“Call me Boyd,” The man smiled holding out a hand, and what a name. Though Ryan isn’t one to talk, his name is George. Ryan shook it and smiled a small smile back, following them inside.
“His dad won’t be home, so I said he could come back here.”
“You’re welcome anytime,” Brendon’s dad smiled, and Ryan tried to return it again, finding it more difficult this time. He entered the house and took it in. There wasn’t anything significant about it. It looked about like Ryan’s house. The main difference was that this house felt like a home, and it looked like it was actually inhabited. Ryan felt like the contrast from his house to a house like Brendon’s or Spencer’s was kind of like the contrast from Kansas to Oz. One felt completely black and white and repetitive and dull. The other was welcoming and nice and home-y. Ryan followed behind Brendon as they walked down a hallway and into the living room. Two boys were asleep, one on each couch, and Ryan saw Brendon smile. The boys were Gabe and William. Brendon crouched in front of William grabbing his shoulder before shaking it slowly and whispering, “Hey, Will.”
Ryan’s never seen anyone wake up so quickly in his life. Will shot up and latched himself onto Brendon, yelling out his name in the process, “I thought you left!” He spoke wide eyed, and Brendon laughed.
“We got really, really lost.” Brendon explained. William looked up when Brendon said ‘we’, and Ryan really wished he hadn’t.
“Ryan!” William shouted and pulled himself from Brendon latching onto Ryan instead.
“Hey, Will,” Ryan said awkwardly, putting a hand on the other’s back.
“You ass,” Ryan heard a groggy voice from the couch, “Worrying us for nothing.”
Will pulled away from him when he heard and turned to giggle at Gabe instead. Ryan let out the breath he was holding.
“I’m just trying to turn your hair grey,” Brendon grinned, and Ryan really missed Spencer as Gabe got off the couch and hugged Brendon.
“Hey,” Gabe spoke when he saw Ryan, “Did Brendon forget to drop you off?” Gabe laughed, and Brendon quickly explained the situation so Ryan wouldn’t have to.
“So, what happened?” Gabe smiled, sitting back down on the couch.
“Did you see the wreck on the Snyder?” Brendon asked Gabe.
“No,” Gabe shook his head, “We went the other way, to the theater.” He said bouncing his eyebrows towards Will, and Oh, God, they aren’t dating are they?
“Oh, well, there was a wreck on the Snyder and we went a back way and got lost.”
“Very lost.” Gabe nodded, “Took you a long way to find your way back home.”
Brendon just laughed shaking his head.