All Was Golden in the Sky

Everyone was cheering when we walked into the beach house. Both pirate clans were clinking beer bottles happily in celebration at their good play acting for the occasion, which I decided to not debate at that moment. None of them were very believable pirates; more like Lost Boys in disguise. But they had worked really hard to help Brendon pull off the engagement, and I didn’t want to spoil the wonderful mood by pointing out they should stick to their careers as musicians and not delve into acting.

Pete seemed to be especially proud of himself, and he kept wrapping his arms around either Brendon or me in jovial and tipsy hugs. “Those fucking apples, man,” he kept saying. “You used fucking apples to get her. That’s just the shit.”

Elisa, being the only other girl in the house, was ecstatic as she held my hand between hers, turning it this way and that to watch the lingering lights play through the diamond. “It’s so pretty, Annie! Perfect for you.” Bless her, she was crying. “Did you even suspect it?”

My eyes kept flitting over to Brendon, lovely Brendon, who was cheering along with a new toast that Gabe was making. He seemed to feel my gaze and caught my eye with a smile that radiated pure happiness. I could feel my heart fluttering, still amazed that I had landed such a catch. I turned back to Elisa, trying to stop the happy tears from sprinkling off my eyelashes. “That boy likes to keep me on my toes, I guess.”

I remembered that I still had my surprise to set up for the night, and I asked Elisa to distract the boys so I could disappear downstairs. Pete made me and Brendon pose for another picture first, and Brendon happily obliged, directing me so it would be the perfect engagement announcement to put on Twitter. It was just of us kissing, smiling in pure bliss, with my left hand resting on his cheek and showing off my ring. I noticed Bren make it his phone background as I snuck past to the hallway, and my cheeks were starting to hurt from the nonstop smiling.

The gold coins were still where I had left them before, and when I tried picking up the bag, I realized I probably bought a shit ton too much. The bag was a lot heavier than I remembered, but hey. For Brendon!

I managed to get it up to the room without attracting any attention to myself. With the door closed behind me, I carefully spread the coins over the bed, turning our sleeping quarters into a cave of chocolaty wealth. I lit some candles I’d found in the kitchen, and the room had this nice golden glow to it.

The boisterous laughter was still ringing down the hall, and so with a smirk I disappeared into the bathroom to change into the rest of my surprise—a nice little gold number my friends had helped me pick out from Victoria’s Secret.

I mentioned before how Brendon had a fondness for shiny things. I should also mention how he seemed to be particularly fond of shiny sheer things as well. Which was precisely what the little gold number I had on was. I left in my large hoop earrings for a little added effect. It felt like I was like the rarest doubloon, and I was ready for my pirate to find me.

I tiptoed to the door, cautiously sticking my head out and being careful to hide my body behind the door. “Hey, Bren?” I called.

Everyone else was still laughing heartily, but Brendon poked his head around the corner of the hallway. “What’s up, babe?” he asked. Pete’s head appeared under him, and I had to bite back a laugh when William’s head showed up under Pete’s.

“Can you come in here for a sec?” I asked, sincerely hoping the rest of his totem pole wouldn’t follow him.

“Yeah, I’ll be right there,” he said, and all three heads disappeared again.

I gently closed the door and practically ran over to the bed, tripping over my feet in my excitement. The coins all sprang into the air as I hurriedly scooted back to the headboard. I wasn’t always so good at the whole seduction thing, but I sure as hell was going to try. When I heard the doorknob start to jiggle, I laid back, crossing my legs in front of me, pleased to see that the flicker of the candles were reflecting nicely off my body. I shook my head until my curls waved all around me, and plastered on the smirk I’d been practicing all week.

“Annie, what’s—oh. OH.” Brendon stopped dead in his tracks when he’d walked in. His hand was still tightly gripping the doorknob, and I don’t think I’ve ever since his eyes bulging out more than they were at that moment. They were traveling all over my body; I saw them flick from my face and immediately down to the see-through fabric barely covering my chest.

I felt radiant, and I stretched out a little to give him a better show. And then the rest of the totem pole let their presence be known.

“What did she—oh. OH holy fucking shit, Annie.” Pete’s head popped up over Brendon’s shoulder, and his eyes glazed over in shock. I screamed and tried covering my body with my hands. And then Ryan’s head popped up behind Pete, and I decided that that was probably a decent moment to go ahead and die.

All three men continued staring at me, and I didn’t know what else to do but squeak and hide my face in my hands. “Oh my god! Pete, Ryan, get the fuck out!” I yelled.

Still staring intently at me, Brendon reached a hand up and pressed it over Pete’s face, slowly pushing him out the door. Pete didn’t even fight it, just continued to stare at my chest like he was in a trance. Ryan seemed to be equally as mesmerized, just letting out a slight grunt when Pete’s back collided with his chest. When Brendon had finally pushed them out, he turned and closed the door.

As soon as the lock clicked, a whistle fluttered on the other side of the door. “Fuck, guys, Annie has some amazing tits!”

“Oh my God.” My nails kind of hurt when I dug them into my scalp like that, but I was pretty exasperated, and still a little more than mortified. “They just saw my boobs.”

Brendon seemed to come out of his trance and grinned as a chuckle bubbled out of his throat. “Meh, look at it this way. Now you and Pete are even.” He walked over the bed and sat down by my feet, rubbing my thigh in an attempt to comfort me.

“Oh, great. So now I just need to see Ryan’s penis and we’re all square then.”

His eyes darkened and the grip on my thigh tightened. “Aw, c’mon, Anne. It was funny until then.”

I rolled my eyes and fell back onto the bed, glaring up at the ceiling. “Whatever. I’ll just kick their asses later.”

Brendon forced out another chuckle and let his eyes wander over my body again before glancing over at the candles and all the gold coins. “So, um, you want to explain what this whole thing is?” he asked, doing a very poor job of hiding the excited curiosity in his throat. I had a feeling at that moment he was probably peeking up the little skirt of my lingerie and had caught sight of the thong underneath.

I sighed and sat back up, smirking when his eyes snapped back up to my face innocently. “Oh, this?” I asked. I turned my head to glance towards the candles disinterestedly, smirking when I heard a sharp intake of breath. He’d noticed the earrings were still in, apparently.

I shrugged and moved to my knees, slowly crawling over to him. “Oh, it’s nothing, really,” I said. His eyes were wide and unfocused when I paused in front of him. With a knowing smile, I slowly rolled my hips side to side like a snake slithering. Brendon swallowed and his head snapped out to grab a fistful of my hair.

His lips were even softer than they had been on the beach, and I yelped when his teeth tugged on my bottom lip with more force than I had anticipated. Brendon quickly pulled away and grinned sheepishly. I just nuzzled my nose against his, letting my eyelids flutter closed as I spoke.

“You gave me the best treasure a girl could ask for,” I murmured, dragging my lips along his jawline. When they reached his ear, I gave his earlobe a quick lick, pleased to feel him shudder. “I wanted to give you a treasure, too.”

“That would explain all the chocolate coins,” he muttered, and his fingers wound into my hair again.

“What happened to ‘I’m treasure enough’?” I teased, slapping his chest playfully as I sat back on my heels.

He grinned, “You know how much I love sweets, Anne.” I pouted as he laughed, but then he had grabbed me and was pulling me onto his chest as he laid back onto the bed. His lips found mine again and I let him kiss me between his giggles. My eyes fluttered shut when his kisses became harder, and I could feel myself beginning to become lost in the feeling of his caresses sweeping all over my body.

Suddenly his hand slapped my ass really hard, and I couldn’t stop the involuntary groan that rolled of my lips. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he just smirked, running his hand over the red patch that was forming.

“And you’re just about the sweetest booty a pirate could hope for!”

--

I was sad when it came time to leave Nags Head. The days after pirate day had been fun. I didn’t think I’d ever see Patrick wearing a fake afro ever again after 80s night, and Jon and Spencer had done a pretty good Breakfast Club reenactment after one too many of Dallon’s fancy mixed drinks. It sucked knowing I wouldn’t get to see a lot of these guys until Christmas or if one of them randomly went on tour near us, and I let all my hugs linger longer than I meant to. I even was able to ignore all of Pete’s jokes about boobs during our goodbye. He’s an ass, but you can’t not love him.

The goodbye with Ryan was perhaps the most awkward. We never really talked after the whole he-was-able-to-see-my-tits thing, and it unfortunately seemed to only add to the tension between him and Brendon. Brendon seemed to pride himself on being the only one privy to my body, and while we all knew Pete wouldn’t go on too seriously about what he was blessed to see, we weren’t really as close with Ryan. Plus, we both noticed Ryan looking at me a little bit more afterward, which didn’t seem to make Brendon too happy.

I was able to sleep the whole flight back home this time without having to threaten to turn Brendon’s fingers into drumsticks. He was right, I did love those fingers too much.

Brendon didn’t seem too keen on letting me return to my apartment once we got home, as evidenced by his blatant ignoring of the correct exit as we drove away from the airport. Instead he drove us straight to his place, “because face it, you miss the Spider Man sheets just as much as I do.” And I couldn’t argue with that.

While Brendon worked on getting some dinner started for us, most likely mac n’cheese, knowing his prowess in the kitchen, I sat at the island and flipped through the pictures on his phone from the trip.

“God, are we ever NOT adorable?” I asked.

Brendon snorted and plucked two bowls from the cabinet. “Anne, please. We’re the fucking cutest things on the planet.”

I flashed him a smile and kept flipping through, giggling here and there. “It’s no wonder Pete is so jealous of us.”

“Oh darling, don’t flatter yourself. If Pete is jealous of anyone it would be moi,” Brendon said, stirring in the milk with the noodles. “He’s jealous that he can’t land a sexy bitch like you like I did.”

I bit my lip, trying very hard not to laugh. “I think that was a compliment, right?” I asked.

Brendon blinked and looked at me with furrowed eyebrows. “Was that not obvious?”

“You’re a fucking dork, Bren.”

He just grinned and went back to “cooking.” I finally got to the picture we had taken showing off my ring, the one he had made his background. “Did you end up tweeting this one?” I asked.

He glanced over at the phone and that secret smile flashed across his phone again, the smile that gave me butterflies because it was his happiest look ever and it was all because of me. “Yeah, actually. After you passed out I put it up.”

“What’d you say with it?”

“’Look at the booty I landed.’”

“Geeze, when did you suddenly develop a butt fetish?”

“What? I don’t have a butt fetish! I just think the whole pirate booty thing is hilarious.” His eyes twinkled and he winked at me. “Plus, babe, you have a hot ass.”

I rolled my eyes, hiding my smile behind my fingers. “Such a thing as overkill, baby.”

“God, that’s a sight I love,” he sighed. I lowered my eyebrows in confusion, and he leaned forward and kissed my hand right below my ring. “You’re my fiancée,” he sang, shaking his butt happily as he danced back over to the stove.

My heart felt like it was drowning from happiness at his words. It was like it was dancing right along with him, though admittedly with less impressive choreography. I stuck my tongue out at him and pulled up twitter on my phone, feeling my stomach tighten with happiness when I saw the notification that I had been mentioned in Brendon’s tweet.

“I love that picture,” I sighed. Brendon was still singing some song about fiancées, and I flipped through to read what people were commenting. Some were overjoyed, which was pleasant; some were cursing the bane of my existence, which was to be expected. Others were gushing about what beautiful babies we’d make. I was happy there seemed to be more positive feedback than negative, and my insides were squirming like an overexcited teenage girl as I read all the well-wishers.

And then a tweet from Shane popped up.

You know Shane, Ryan’s new BFF and lovely manager. The man who had only nice things to say to depressed fans. The one who surely did anything but harass the people who had at one point in time worshiped Ryan. The man who totally wasn’t a complete fuck by saying Bronx Mowgli was a stupid name.

Yeah, that asshole.

“Um, Bren,” I coughed, setting my phone on the island for him to see. He finished spooning out equal portions into the bowls and walked over to the island to hand me mine and a spoon.

“What is it?” he asked, his eyes flashing down to the screen when he noticed that familiar picture. “Ah. What’s the fucker saying now?”

“Nothing but good things,” I said dryly.

“’Looks like the new Yoko Ono finally got that ring she’s been after. Is it worth it bitch?’” Brendon’s eyes snapped up to mine, and he looked all kinds of angry.

“The hell is this guy’s problem? It’s like we didn’t keep up the band or some shit when Ryan and Jon left.”

“Well, Ryan’s his baby boy, honey. He’s gotta look out for his boo.”

Brendon laughed and walked around the island to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around me tenderly and placing a quick peck on my cheek. “Damn, I’m marrying the biggest smart ass in the world.”

I sighed and leaned my head back onto his chest, letting my fingers cling on to his skinny wrists. “Darn tootin’.”

We snuggled on the couch to eat Brendon’s SpongeBob shaped masterpiece. Bless him, he put in lots of milk like I love. “You’re getting better at making this,” I giggled, setting my bowl on the coffee table and nuzzling into his side.

His chuckle made my body shake, and he lifted me up to slide his legs under me so I was laying on his chest. He pulled a blanket over us and wrapped his arms around me. I loved when he nuzzled into my hair like that; it made me think I made a good decision in choosing my shampoo.

One of his hands linked with mine, and I watched as his fingers played with the ring now proudly worn on my third finger. I smiled softly, knowing that the warmth I felt was from Brendon’s happiness radiating off of him and not the blanket. “We’re getting married,” I whispered, kissing his chest.

I could feel his lips press against my hair, and his other arm tightened around my waist. “We’re getting married,” he whispered back.

We lay like that for a bit, happily wrapped in each other’s embrace, the only sounds in the room our steady breathing and Brendon’s occasional humming. I was surprised he wasn’t twitching more or something, with all that energy he usually had, but he seemed to be genuinely content with the peace and quiet.

Finally, his voice broke the silence. “Let’s move in together.”

“I knew there was a reason you wanted me to love the Spider Man sheets.”

He laughed and shook his head. “No—well, I mean, yeah, but I didn’t mean move in here.”

I raised an eyebrow and sat up a little to see him better. “But Bren, your place is a lot bigger than mine—“

“I meant we should find a new place. Our place. Let’s get a house.”

I stared blankly at him for a minute before a smile split my cheeks. “Yeah, okay, sure. ‘Cause that’s totally within my budget.”

He rolled his eyes and pointed at himself. “Um, excuse me. Celebrity. I got this, babe.”

I bit my lip and shook my head. “Bren, we’re gonna get married. I don’t want to just use all your money. I mean, that’s yours.”

“Well, you know, I would be living there, too. So…”

“Brendon…”

I’m surprised Brendon doesn’t get more migraines. He certainly likes to pretend I give them to him a lot, much like at that moment, when he started rubbing his forehead with a groan.

“Oh my God, Anne, shush. We’re getting a house. You can get the furniture or whatever shit you want. Deal?”

I rolled my eyes when he held his hand out for me to shake, but still slapped my hand into his. “Fine. You have a deal, Mister Urie.”

I squealed when he rolled us over, and he beamed down at me. I practically had to squint up at him, his smile was so bright. “Very good, future Mrs. Urie.”

Would this boy ever not give me butterflies?