Untitled

Ryan walked off stage after another amazing show, giving his guitar to a technician, before grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat off his face.

He joined the rest of the band in their dressing room.

“Great show! Best one yet,” Spencer said, grinning, and cuddling into Jon on a sofa in the corner of the room.

Jon laced his fingers with Spencer’s, nodding, “Yeah, I think so too. The intro to ‘Lying’ was...different...”

Ryan glanced over at Brendon, and his breath hitched when he noticed Brendon had stripped off his top, and was standing less than two metres away with a bare chest.

Brendon grinned. “Yeah, I enjoyed it very much," he purred in Ryan’s ear as he walked past to get a new shirt.

Ryan gulped, his cheeks going pink, and Spencer and Jon smirked, looking at each other knowingly.

“Uh, Brendon, could I talk to you for a minute?” Ryan asked quietly.

Brendon nodded, not moving as he sorted his hair in the mirror.

“In private,” Ryan said, glancing at Spencer, who winked and smiled encouragingly.

Brendon nodded again, this time following Ryan out of the room, and shutting the door behind them.

Once they were alone, Ryan turned to face Brendon.

“So, what was that all about on stage?” he asked, putting his hand on his hip.

Brendon smirked.

“All what, Ryan?” he replied, his eyes shining with laughter.

“You kissed me!” Ryan said accusingly.

“Oooh, that... don’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it, Ryro! Besides, what’s wrong with me kissing you?”

Ryan stared at Brendon in shock. “B-because! We’re just friends!” he said uncertainly.

Brendon stepped closer to Ryan, whispering in his ear, “Well maybe I don’t want to be ‘just friends’ with you, Ryan.”

“W-w-what? I-" Ryan stuttered, but Brendon cut him off with a hard kiss, crashing their lips together.

At first, Ryan didn’t respond, he just stood there in shock at what was happening. Then his brain kicked into gear, and he started kissing Brendon back, wrapping his arms round his neck, tangling his hands in Brendon’s hair.

Suddenly, Ryan pushed Brendon away, causing Brendon to stumble back, a confused look on his face.

“Brendon...We can’t. I don’t want to!”

“Why? Why... don’t you like me?” Brendon asked softly, looking hurt.

“Of course I like you, that’s the problem! I love being friends with you. I don’t want to ruin that friendship, or the band.”

“You know it wouldn’t affect the band. Look at Spencer and Jon! They’re fine together. Why can’t we be?”

“Don’t bring them into this. It’s different for us, we’ve been friends for years!” Ryan almost shouted, his eyes pleading with Brendon to understand.

“I can’t help the way I feel about you, Ryan. The only difference with Spencer and Jon was that they listened to their feelings! Why can’t you?” Brendon said loudly.

“We can’t, Brendon. I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me?” Ryan said quietly, looking down at the floor then back up at Brendon.

“Whatever,” Brendon replied, his voice cracking as he walked quickly away from Ryan, down the corridor in the opposite direction of the dressing room.

Ryan sighed, and opened the door to the dressing room, walking in to find Spencer and Jon waiting expectantly for news.
Spencer looked behind Ryan, confused as to why Brendon wasn’t with him.

“Where’s Brendon? I thought you were gonna...,” Jon asked.

“He ran off somewhere. I told him I didn’t want to be more than friends with him.”

“Bullshit, Ryan! We know just as well as you do that you’re practically in love with the guy. Why the fuck would you say something as stupid as that!?”

Ryan looked down. “It’s not as easy as that. We could ruin our friendship, or the band. I don’t want either of those things to happen.”

Jon stood up, and pushed Ryan towards the door. “You’re an idiot, Ryan Ross. Now go after him, and hope he still wants you.”

Ryan stumbled out of the door, and heard it lock behind him.

He heard Jon’s voice travel through the door.

“You can’t come back in until you’ve sorted things out with Brendon!”

“Come on guys, let me in!” Ryan yelled in frustration, kicking the door loudly.

“No!” Spencer and Jon yelled together.

“You just want somewhere private to fuck,” Ryan muttered, and he heard giggling from behind the door.
He rolled his eyes, and focused on the task of finding Brendon.

Where could he be?

He started wandering in the direction Brendon ran off, and he came to a fire escape.

He could hear heart-wrenching sniffles and sobs coming from above him, and he started climbing the stairs up to the roof.

As he reached the top, he could see Brendon’s back facing him, his shoulders shaking as he dangled his legs over the edge of the roof.

Ryan ran over to Brendon. “Bren! What are you doing on the edge of the roof?” he asked cautiously as he approached him.

Brendon sniffed, “Fuck off, Ryan. You’ve broken my heart once already tonight. Isn’t that enough for you?”

“I-I broke your heart? I’m sorry Brendon. I honestly didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“What do you want, Ryan?” Brendon asked, completely ignoring what Ryan had said.

Ryan took a seat next to Brendon, but Brendon shifted away looking away from Ryan.

“I’m sorry, Brendon! I really am. I really do like you, I’m just...worried,” Ryan stated, scooting closer to Brendon.

“So worried that you can’t even us a try?” Brendon questioned, not moving. Ryan paused for a while, thinking over what Brendon had said.

Brendon jumped slightly when he felt Ryan link their fingers together.

“I’ll try, if you can forgive me,” Ryan whispered in Brendon’s ear.

Brendon broke into a grin, throwing his arms around Ryan, dragging them backwards to the roof floor, away from the edge.

“I’ll always forgive you, Ry. I don’t know what I‘d do without you.”

Ryan smiled, and pressed his lips against Brendon’s gently, but Brendon pulled away before it could deepen.

“So, you like me, eh?” he asked, smirking.

“No,” Ryan said simply.

“I love you.”