The One Thing I Never Expected - Chapter 3 (part 2)
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Ryan/Brendon
POV: 1st, Brendon's
Summary: Ryan is Brendon's best friend, they grew up together. But Ryan is different. An accident when he was a child left him deaf. Brendon has always taken care of Ryan, but now he's starting to care for Ryan in a different way...
Disclaimer: Fiction, I own nothing. It's not real.
Author's Note: Here's the rest of chapter 3. c:
Masterpost
Chapter 3 (part 2)
The rest of our weekend went pretty similar to Friday. Ryan didn’t go home until Sunday night. It’s usually like that every weekend. I guess we never get tired of hanging out. Well, I know I don’t, anyway. This little ‘attraction’ I have to Ryan has now gotten worse. I’m classifying it as a full-blown Crush now. Yes, Crush with a capital ‘c.’ It’s kind of a big deal to have a big gay crush on your gay best friend of twelve years, right? Yes, I’d say so.
“So,” Spencer says at lunch on Monday, “Who would you rather do? Megan Fox or Jessica Alba?” We’re all sitting at the table outside that we’ve now permanently claimed as ours. And I hate this stupid ‘who would you rather do’ game that they all like to play.
Gabe yells, “Megan Fox, dude, duh!”
William looks amused and says, “Well, obviously Jessica Alba is the more attractive of the two.”
Jon snorts and agrees with Gabe.
I wrinkle my nose and say, “Ew, dude, Megan Fox is fucking ugly. I don’t see why people find her attractive. She looks like a slut.” Ryan smiles crookedly at me, and I grin back.
They all turn to look at Ryan. “Well? Who would you rather fuck?” Gabe asks.
Why would they ask Ryan that? Didn't I- oh, God. Shit. I didn’t tell them he’s gay. Oops. I meant to, but I guess I just forgot. Ryan sends me a confused look, and I send him an apologetic one. He looks at me like, ‘Seriously, Brendon? Look at the awkward situation you’ve put me in.’
Ryan clears his throat and looks down at the table. He gets out his notebook and writes something, then shoves it towards us.
Neither.
“Neither?” Spencer asks. “Dude, that’s crazy. You have to find at least one of them hot.”
He goes to his notebook again.
Gay people don’t usually fuck girls.
Now everyone’s gaping at him.
“You’re gay?” Jon asks. Ryan nods.
They all look kind of uneasy, and just surprised, except William. He looks like this isn’t new information. I wonder if he’d already guessed.
“Yeah, he’s gay, any of you have a problem with it?” I speak up. It comes out kind of threatening but I mean, it’s Ryan. They aren’t about to give him shit while I’m here.
Spencer speaks first. “No! Not at all, I’m just really surprised is all. I’m totally fine with it, Ryan,” he smiles. Ryan gives a small smile back.
“You being gay changes nothing, Ryan,” William says coolly. “It makes no difference to me. I know we only met a couple weeks ago, but I consider you a good friend already.” He smiles at Ryan and pats his shoulder.
“No, yeah, I don’t care if you fuck dudes, have at it,” Gabe says playfully. Ryan laughs a little and ducks his head. Not before I saw the pink on his cheeks though.
“No worries, it’s cool with me,” Jon says. Ryan looks at me and does the gesture for ‘what?’ He can hardly read Jon’s lips at all, because he kind of mumbles.
I sign to him what Jon said, and then he nods and smiles at Jon.
“Tell them I said ‘thanks.’”
“Ryan says ‘thanks’ for being cool about this, guys.” I tell them. They give a chorus of ‘no problem’s.
“Why didn’t you tell them, Bren? That fucking sucked. It was like coming out all over again.” he says, looking stressed. I decide to stick to only signing and not speaking, because this is a private conversation.
“I’m sorry, Ry, I meant to tell them, really, but I just kinda forgot. But hey, they’re all fine with it. At least now I know I can tell them about me when I feel ready to.” I sign.
“Yeah, that’s true,” he pauses, “thanks for sticking up for me, though.” He smiles. It’s a real, genuine smile, and I love it. I smile right back.
“It’s so weird,” I hear Spencer say.
“Yeah, they’re like, permanently attached or something.” Jon.
“I don’t think I’ve seen them apart from each other since Ryan’s been here,” Gabe says, eyebrows raised.
“Uh, we are right here, y’know,” I scoff at them.
“I think it’s cute,” William adds in. Cute? What is that supposed to mean? I glare at him for good measure.
"Bren, I’m gonna go to the bathroom, I’ll be back in a minute,” Ryan signs.
“Okay.” I smile a wide smile at him before he walks away.
“Where’d he go?” Spencer asks.
“Bathroom.”
After about ten minutes, I’m starting to wonder what’s taking so long. Fifteen minutes, and I’m about to worry. Twenty minutes, and I’m officially worrying.
“Okay, I’m gonna find Ryan. He wouldn’t have just not come back. He doesn’t like interacting with people he doesn’t know, because he can't talk to them,” I babble. William says he’ll come with me, so we head toward the nearest bathroom. Nobody’s in there. We go out into the hallway, and I don’t see him. I start to walk to the next hallway, but I’m pretty sure he’s not there, because nobody’s ever there during lunch. We’re making our way along when I hear a guy yell, “Are you gonna answer me? What are you, stupid?” I then hear a whimper. Ryan. That was definitely him. I can tell.
“Shit,” I breathe. William’s asking me what’s wrong, but I’m already turning the corner and running down the hallway. Standing at the end is Zack Stevens, pinning Ryan against the lockers. Zack is supposed to be one of my 'friends.' Ryan’s nose and lip are bleeding.
“Can’t you fucking talk, you fag?” he yells. Ryan’s got his eyes closed. He doesn't even know Zack's talking to him. He’s crying. My entire body is engulfed in pure anger. I surge toward them, feeling the adrenaline kick in.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Zack?” I yell at him. He jumps, turns to me, startled. He lets go of Ryan, whose eyes snap open at his unexpected release, and his eyes land on me. He runs to me and throws his arms around me, burying his face in my neck. William looks pissed.
“You know that kid, Urie? Is he like, stupid or something? I asked him a question and he wouldn’t fucking talk to me!” Okay, I’m just seeing red here. I gently pull Ryan off me and hand him over to William, who puts his arm around him.
“Brendon,” William warns. I ignore him. No, I’m not just letting this go. I walk up to a confused looking Zack and shove him against a locker, invading his space. I may be small, but I’m tougher than I look.
“He’s fucking deaf, you fucking idiot. That’s why he didn’t answer you, because he didn’t hear you.” Zack looks stunned, and then he looks extremely guilty. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Look at what you did to him! He’s bleeding!” I’m furious.
“Look, I didn’t know, dude. I thought he was just some asshole new kid. How was I supposed to know he was your friend anyway?” And with that, I pull my fist back and snap it forward, punching him in the nose, hard. He lets out a pained nose and slinks down to the floor, clutching his face.
“I hope that fucking hurts, you goddamn asshole. Don’t you ever fucking touch him again,” I yell. I turn around to see a teary-eyed Ryan staring at me, eyes wide. Then he hurries over to me and assumes the same position he had before, clinging to me. I put my arms around him and hug him tight before letting go and tugging him along to the bathroom, William at our heels.
“Goddamn, Bren,” William says quietly once we’re in the bathroom. “I’ve never seen you that angry before.”
“Well, you’ve never seen me when someone hurts Ryan.”
“Yeah, no kidding. Remind me not to ever do that,” he jokes with a small chuckle.
I tell Ryan to sit on the counter in front of me, and he does. He’s a mess. His lip is split open, but not bad enough to need stitches. There’s blood all over his mouth, and coming out of his nose. I can already see a big bruise forming on his left cheek. There are tears all over his face and his eyes are red. God, it kills me to see him like this. It almost makes me want to cry.
He meets my gaze with his own, and I say, “I’m so sorry, Ry. I should’ve come looking for you sooner.”
He glances over at William, who’s watching us interestedly. Ryan looks like he’s contemplating something. He goes to bite his lip, but then winces from the pain and stops. Finally, he looks at me and sighs.
“It’s okay, Brendon,” he speaks quietly, startling William and I. “It’s not your fault. I’m just glad you came when you did. I was scared, and I didn’t know what to do to make him stop. I don’t even know what I did to make him so angry. He just grabbed me out of nowhere and shoved me against the locker. I couldn’t understand what he was saying, so I just looked at him, and he just started hitting me.” He looks down at the floor and lets out a strangled noise. Fucking Zack Stevens. I should’ve done a lot more than just punch him. I put a hand under Ryan’s chin and raise his head up.
“Hey,” I say softly. “He’s not gonna touch you again, I promise. Nobody is gonna touch you. I won’t let anyone hurt you.” I put my arms around him and pull him close. His arms go around my neck and assume the same death-grip as earlier, and he rests his head on my shoulder.
“Well, why don’t you get him cleaned up, and I’ll go tell our teacher for next period that you guys may be a little late, alright?” William says.
“Alright,” I reply, not turning to look at him. I hear him exit the bathroom, and I pull back from Ryan and sigh. “Well, let’s get your face cleaned up.” I turn to go get some paper towels, but Ryan grabs my wrist and turns me back toward him again.
“Thanks, Bren. I don’t know what I’d do without you,” he says, tears forming in his eyes again. I smile at him before going to get the paper towels. I wet one before gently wiping the blood from his chin and nose, making sure not to press too hard. I notice his nose is starting to bruise too. I try my best to be as gentle as possible while cleaning his lip, but he still winces.
“School’s almost over, we’ll put some antibiotic cream on your lip when we get to my house. How bad does your nose hurt?”
“Not too bad. I don’t think it’s broken or anything…just swollen.” He looks so sad. It’s heartbreaking.
“Why don’t we just go to the nurse and ask her to go home? She’s nice, she’ll let me go with you.” He nods and hops off the counter to follow me to the nurse.
***
It’s five o’clock, and we’re lying on my bed. My mom should be home soon. She’ll have a stroke when she sees Ryan. She’s just as protective of him as she is me.
I called his mom and told her what happened. She wanted him to come home, but he texted her and told her he wanted to stay with me. She told me to take care of him, and that if he felt bad in the morning, he didn’t have to go to school. I figure my mom will let me stay out with him, so we can just make a day of it. I’m determined to make him feel better.
“I’m gonna see if my mom will let me stay home with you tomorrow,” I say.
“She will,” he replies with a small smile. He’s probably right. She’s putty in Ryan’s hands. She adores him. There’s no way she’ll be able to tell me no when she sees him.
“I know,” I smile back. Just then, I hear her car pull in the driveway. “Come on,” I say to Ryan. We get up and head down the stairs into the kitchen to wait for her.
“Brendon? Ryan?” she calls. I have no clue why she always calls Ryan’s name when she knows he can’t hear her. She can be kind of dense sometimes. I didn’t tell her he’d be over tonight, but I guess she just assumed.
“In the kitchen,” I call back. She walks in with a smile, holding bags of fast food. Her smile completely vanishes when she sees Ryan’s bruised face, swollen nose, and busted lip.
“Oh my God,” she shrieks. She throws the bags on the counter and goes to gently cup Ryan’s face in her hands. She hugs him and then pulls back. “What happened?! God, are you okay, sweetie?” She’s signing too. She knows a bit from me teaching her.
“A boy at school did that to him. He went to the bathroom, and when he didn’t come back, I got worried and went to look for him, and I found Zack doing that to him. I stopped him. Then I punched him. Probably broke his nose,” I shrug, like it’s no big deal.
She looks horrified. “Good! I hope you did break his nose. He deserves it. Why on earth would he do this?”
I really don’t want to tell her in front of Ryan, because when he finds out that Zack hit him because he thought he was ignoring him, he’s going to get really upset. He already has enough issues with being deaf. I don’t want him to feel bad about himself.
She looks at me expectantly, so I tell her. “Well…he was trying to get Ryan’s attention…and when Ryan didn’t turn around and talk to him, he thought Ryan was being an asshole and ignoring him. So I guess he thought that was a suitable reason to hit him.” Even the thought of it makes me angry.
Ryan looks down. My mom raises his face to look at him. “Don’t worry about it, sweetie, you’re better than that asshole. Brendon will look after you.”
Did I mention how much I love my mother?
“So mom,” I start, “I called Julie earlier and told her what happened, and she said Ryan didn’t have to go to school tomorrow, so I was just wondering-"
“Yes, you can stay out with Ryan,” she smirks.
I really do love that woman.
***
A few hours later, Ryan and I are in my bed, lying down on our sides facing each other.
“I hate it,” he suddenly says.
“You hate what?”
“That I’m not normal. I can’t even go to school without causing problems,” he sighs sadly. This is killing me. Tentatively, I reach my arm out and wrap it around his waist. He inches a little closer.
“Ryan, there is nothing wrong with you. And who wants to be normal? You’re better than normal. You don’t cause problems. Zack is just an asshole. Even my mom said so,” I chuckle lightly. “If you weren’t deaf, think of how different you would be. You wouldn’t be my same shy, sarcastic, smart, adorable little Ryan.” I pause. Shit, I just called him adorable. And I called him my Ryan. What the hell, Brendon? Ignore it, ignore it and pretend like you didn’t say anything out of the ordinary. I clear my throat. “You would be different, because you would have a different perspective on things. And I like you just the way you are. You’re the best person I know,” I smile at him adoringly.
“I don’t know…” he says, “your mom is pretty fantastic. I think she’s the best person you know.” He’s smiling now, so I know I’ve done good. Okay, good.
“No, you definitely beat her.”
He rolls his eyes. “I’m sleepy,” he yawns, making me yawn too, and then we’re laughing.
“Mmm.” He cuddles up to me and makes a content noise. There’s nothing odd about this. We cuddle all the time. Especially if one of us is upset. If we’re both upset, oh God, it’s like a giant cuddle-fest. But now that I have the Crush on him, it’s more than just ‘cuddling with my best friend.’ It’s ‘cuddling with my best friend who I like more than a best friend but he doesn’t know because I’m too scared to tell him because I don’t want to ruin our friendship.’
Even though it’s different, it’s still pretty fantastic.
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