Aubergine Dreams

”Brendon, you dickhead.”

The comment made Brendon turn around with his eyebrows raised high, eyes wide as he looked at Ryan. His bandmate was sitting with his guitar on his lap and headphones on, listening to something off the new record – presumably the vocals Brendon had just laid down.

“Excuse me?”

The guitarist looked up from the computer screen, pushing the headphones back and down around his neck. “You screwed up.”

The other’s face was impossible to read in the dim light of the studio, and Brendon couldn’t tell if Ryan was amused or actually annoyed with the cock-up. Coming up to the computer, he leaned against the table, looking from the screen to Ryan and back.

“What did I do?”

“Listen here...” Ryan unplugged the headphones and pressed ‘play’. Brendon heard his own voice in the speaker, not backed by the music. Ryan looked at the singer as the track played, his finger indicating the rhythm. “Now, here... Heard what you did there?” he said as the moment had passed. “’Accessorizing with a rosary tucked inside her lingerie’,” he repeated, “’accessorizing with a rosary’, you’re not getting it right.”

“Alright...” Although Brendon admittedly didn’t quite understand what was so off about the way he’d sung the line, he nodded. “Want me to redo it?”

“The whole thing?” Ryan put the headphones back on, one ear free.

“The whole thing? That part alone should be enough, from ‘tonight’ to ‘lingerie’.”

As Ryan mumbled something and tugged the headphones off again, Brendon frowned. Something was off with his friend today, and he’d be damned if he knew what.

“Hey, Ryro... What’s up?”

“This fucking record will never be done properly,” snarled Ryan as he got to his feet, putting the guitar aside.

“What’s the matter with you today? Who says it’ll never be done?” Brendon wasn’t all too fond of Ryan’s suddenly sullen mood. “Come on, I think you need some rest. Go have a soda or something, take a break.”

Muttering something incoherent, Ryan wandered off with his hands in his pockets. Brendon looked after his disappearing back, emitting a small sigh before taking a seat in the couch at the back of the studio. Leaning his head back, he relaxed his body, soon dozing off to a light sleep.

He was coaxed back to consciousness by fingers teasing the short beard on his chin. Moving his head, he opened one eye, the other quickly following at the sight of Ryan kneeling over him, one leg on either side of Brendon’s hips. As he noticed the singer was awake, the older man gave a smile, pressing a finger to those full lips. Replacing said finger with his own lips, the guitarist let his hand slip down the other man’s chest, gently teasing nipples through the shirt fabric. As Ryan lowered his hips down onto Brendon’s, never once breaking lip contact, Brendon tensed up ever so slightly.

The change caused Ryan to break the kiss with a chuckle. “What, BrennyBear? Uncomfortable?”

The long fingers pushed up the other’s shirt a bit, playing over the skin before moving lower, massaging against the fabric of Brendon’s jeans. Brendon blushed as he realised he was growing hard under the touch of his friend, averting his eyes as Ryan gently grinded their hips together. A moan escaped his throat, cut off by Ryan kissing him again, all the while continuing to tease him in various ways.

As the guitarist pulled away again, it was in a slight daze that Brendon heard him say, “Brendon, for fuck’s sake.”

Frowning, Brendon blinked owlishly as the vision of Ryan faded and changed, until the man he saw was Jon, standing over him and shaking his shoulders.

“Wake up, Bden. You’ve gotta sing, get up.”

Rubbing his face, Brendon sat up from his position, sprawled on the couch with his head nearly hanging off the side. What the... Looking around, he saw Ryan with his guitar at the computer, pointing something out to Spencer and laughing. He’d been sleeping? Dreaming the whole thing? Apparently he hadn’t even sung yet.

“Pleasant dreams, eh?” Jon’s comment made Brendon’s neck crick as he whipped his head to look over at the other man, just about able to keep a worried expression off his face. “You sure sounded like you enjoyed it.”

Biting his lip and looking away, Brendon shrugged. “You’d like to know, huh..?” he replied airily, silently smacking himself.

Jon laughed, giving him a box on the arm and a wink before leaving him alone on the couch. Brendon looked over at Ryan, clowning about with Spencer. Hell, why Ryan Ross of all people...