For Love Of The Sun [2/8]
Title: For Love Of The Sun [Part 2 of 8]
Rating: PG 13 (brief suggestive content and voilence)
Pairings: Ryden, Ryan/Keltie (yes, I started this fic back when Ryan was still with Keltie. God help me.)
Summary: (AU, Chaptered, 3rd person POV) Brendon was an angel. Exiled from the heavens, his wings were cut from his back and he fell to Earth, losing all his memories in the process. On his casual way home from work one day, Ryan Ross finds him on the street, homeless and helpless. Immediately enchanted by the boy, Ryan brings Brendon home with him and promises to take care of him. But Ryan gets much more than he bargained for. Danger and mystery lurk around every corner as Brendon struggles to unravel his memories and Ryan tries to protect him from a group of dangerous people who take a sudden interest in the strange boy. And as time and tribulation bring them closer together, Ryan finds everything he knows - including himself - changing.
Word count for this chapter: 5,070
To say the least, Ryan’s prediction was dead-on.
His beautiful, blonde girlfriend practically screamed when she saw the dirty boy hanging onto her boyfriend. Ryan tried his hardest to explain, but she simply wouldn’t listen. She kept staring at Brendon like he was some filthy stray dog that Ryan had brought home. Brendon literally hid behind Ryan during all this, his eyes huge and innocent as he cowered behind his savior. With every second that passed, he would clutch Ryan’s hand tighter.
“Kelts, please just listen to me. I’m just trying to help him!”
She shook her head and her eyes shone with the conviction to not let Brendon in the house any farther than the doorway.
“Ryan, this is ridiculous! We’re not letting him in!”
Brendon winced as her shrill voice pierced his ears. He looked at her with frightened eyes. He didn’t understand why someone would be this angry with him when he didn’t do anything wrong.
Ryan continued trying to reason with her, “Come on, he just needs a place to sleep, and we have a free guest room. Why should we turn our back on him when we can help?”
She started madly gesturing back and forth between Brendon and Ryan, growing increasingly angry as she said, struggling to keep her voice from a shout, “Ryan, you’re being absolutely unreasonable. You can’t just bring in some kid who we know absolutely nothing about and expect us all to be happy campers when you want him to move right in!”
Ryan was silent. He didn’t know what to say to Keltie, but the fact that he wasn’t loosening his grip on Brendon’s hand at all was proof enough of his decision.
Keltie was obviously trying to calm herself. She was taking deep breaths and closing her eyes.
Ryan finally spoke up with a quiet yet firm voice, “He’s staying, Keltie. Him being here won’t change anything if you just calmed down about this. It’s not like he’s some serial killer. He just needs a place to go and someone to look after him for a while. I’m perfectly capable of being that person. You don’t have to lift a finger for him. You can ignore that he’s even here. I’ll take care of him.”
Before Keltie could lose her temper again and start shouting, Ryan shifted a little bit to look back towards Brendon and he pointed up the stairs with his free hand. “There,” he said, pointing to a hallway at the end of the stairs, “You can go up there and the first room on the left will be yours. Could you go up there now? I’ll be up in a minute.”
Brendon shook his head at first and said, “No,” but Ryan cut him off, “I’ll be up in a minute, Brendon, okay?”
Keltie’s eyebrows shot up at the way Ryan called Brendon by his name so casually.
Brendon looked down at the ground and gave a little nod. Ryan pulled his hand out of Brendon’s iron grip. Brendon slowly shuffled over towards the stairs, staring back over his shoulder at Ryan the whole way. Or he tried to, seeing as Keltie’s enraged eyes were boring holes in his head.
He slowly walked up the stairs and found the door that Ryan had spoken of and stepped inside. The walls were a simple white and the room was completely empty save for a large bed in the corner.
Brendon closed the door behind him and sank down to the ground behind the door. He hugged his knees to his chest and rested his chin upon them, hoping that it wouldn’t take Ryan too long to get there. He looked up at the bed and considered getting into it, but he just didn’t have the courage. He felt like he had already imposed on Ryan and his hospitality enough.
As soon as Brendon had disappeared down the hall, Keltie exploded again.
“What the hell are you thinking?! We can’t just let some random homeless bum stay here! For all we know, he could murder us in our sleep!” She paused, waited for an answer that would make sense to both of them. Anything right.
Ryan sighed and took a hold of Keltie’s arms so he could try to get his words across to her more clearly.
He said seriously, “Keltie, look at that kid. Do you honestly believe that there’s the slightest possibility that he could even hurt a fly?”
“I don’t-I-I think,” Keltie grappled, but even she couldn’t deny how harmless Brendon seemed.
Ryan reassured her, “Don’t worry, Brendon isn’t going to bother either of us. Okay?”
Keltie took a deep breath as if she was about to launch into another angry tirade, but then she finally just sighed and nodded. She could tell that she had no possibility of swaying Ryan from his desire to help Brendon.
She turned away from Ryan and as she walked into the kitchen, muttering under her breath, “Just keep him away from me.” Ryan nodded. He didn’t blame her for reacting the way she did, he had expected it. In fact, she had taken it better than he had predicted.
Ryan ascended the stairs and slowly opened the door to the guest room. Brendon, who had been sitting right behind the door, jumped to his feet and grinned when he saw that it was Ryan coming in. But then his smile faltered and he wrung his hands and bit his bottom lip nervously.
Looking down at the floor, Brendon said quietly, “I shouldn’t be here. She doesn’t want me here and you’ve already done enough.” He tried to move around Ryan to get to the door, but Ryan put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“It’s okay, Brendon, you can stay here. Keltie will like you once she gets to know you. You don’t have to worry about her.”
Still biting his bottom lip, which seemed to be a nervous habit of his, Brendon said, “But no one wants me here and I’m not going to impose on you. It’s better if I just leave on my own.”
Ryan shook his head in response. “No, it’s okay, really. I…I want you here.”
Brendon finally looked up from the ground at those words. Ryan looked away, a little bit embarrassed, but it was the truth. Brendon’s frown was replaced with a grin and he suddenly stepped forward to throw his arms around Ryan, hugging him tightly.
“Thank you! Thank you so much,” he said from where his face was pressed against Ryan’s shoulder.
Ryan fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment before Brendon let go of him and went over to the bed, jumping onto it and beginning to pull the covers up over himself.
Ryan protested, “No wait! You should take a shower before you get in the bed!” He didn’t mind helping Brendon, but he didn’t particularly like washing the bed covers. It’s hard work!
Already completely wrapped up in the blankets, Brendon looked over towards Ryan with a confused expression. “A shower? What’s that?”
Ryan looked at him with a bemused expression, but when those innocent eyes met his, his face contorted back to its old, relaxed state.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Seriously? How could someone not know what a shower is? After a sigh, Ryan said, “Never mind, you can take one tomorrow.” He watched as Brendon grinned and nodded.
“Okay!” Brendon rolled himself into a bundle of blankets, dropped his head onto the pillow, and closed his eyes, a small smile still gracing his face.
Ryan gazed at the other boy for a few moments. Brendon’s eyes did not reopen and the smile did not disappear from his face.
Ryan sank down to sit on the floor, crossing his legs Indian-style and leaning back against the wall, his eyes never straying from the boy in the bed. Within a few minutes, Brendon’s face relaxed and his smile slowly fell as his mouth hung open a little bit and his breath evened out into sleep. Still watching Brendon, Ryan propped his head up with his hand.
After watching Brendon sleep for over ten minutes, Ryan’s gaze finally dropped to the ground. He leaned back against the wall and let out a long sigh. Of course, his thoughts were all focused around Brendon. Ryan did not at all regret bringing Brendon home, but Ryan was wondering now what would happen next. How much care and time would Brendon require? How long was he going to stay? Would he be integrated into the household?
Ryan spent almost half an hour sitting there; thinking but he reached no conclusions. He looked up at Brendon again, who was still sleeping peacefully. The corners of his rosy lips were turned up into a tiny smile as he slept and Ryan couldn’t help but smile because yes, he was very glad that he had helped Brendon and for now at least, the rest didn’t matter.
Ryan tiptoed out of the room, shutting the light off and quietly closing the door. He made his way down to the kitchen to help Keltie finish dinner. The smile did not leave his face for the rest of the night.
Three hours later, Ryan and Keltie were relaxing in the living room, Keltie sprawled out on the couch watching TV, and Ryan sitting in an armchair with a thick book on his lap when the sudden shout of “Ryan!” floated down the stairs to reach their ears.
Ryan lifted his face from his book and of course, recognizing the voice as Brendon’s, immediately stood up and dropped the book onto the chair. Before running up the stairs, he kissed Keltie softly to cure her of the unhappy look on her face from Brendon’s cry.
When Ryan was up the stairs in record time, he opened the door and looked into the guest room with a worried expression.
“Something wrong?” He asked as he stepped into the room. Brendon, still wrapped up tightly in the blankets, was staring up at the ceiling with frightened eyes as he nibbled on his bottom lip. He nodded at Ryan’s question.
Brendon rolled onto his side so he could see Ryan and extended his hands out towards Ryan. Ryan just looked at him, not knowing what Brendon wanted him to do.
Brendon asked with a pout, “Hold my hand?” This time, Brendon’s request didn’t bother Ryan as much.
He walked over to the bed and dropped to his knees next to it so that he was on the same level as Brendon. He took one of Brendon’s hands between his own. Brendon smiled at the contact and looked back up at the ceiling.
“I had a bad dream,” he said with a somber expression. Ryan kept a straight face, even though he couldn’t help but think that the serious way Brendon had spoken made Ryan think of a four year old. But it didn’t make Ryan think of Brendon as any less perfect. His strange, juvenile personality just seemed to fit the boy in some strange way, even though he obviously had to be at least twenty years old.
Ryan asked, just as seriously, “What was your dream?” With his bottom lip still wedged firmly between his teeth, Brendon began to explain.
“It-it was scary and weird. I was in the sky, just hanging there. I was above the clouds, above everything and I could see the whole world. But then when I looked down, I started falling. I kept falling farther and farther down towards the ground. And when I hit the ground, I woke up.”
Brendon kept his eyes trained on the ceiling and squeezed Ryan’s hand.
“Hm, that does sound scary.” Brendon nodded in agreement.
“It was,” he said softly.
Silence followed. It wasn’t awkward; they were both, especially Brendon, appreciating each other’s company. Their hands remained firmly linked and Ryan stroked his thumb over the back of Brendon’s hand in attempt to soothe him. The fear slowly disappeared from Brendon’s face and as Ryan watched him, his eyes started to fall shut again.
Brendon’s hand gradually relaxed and released Ryan’s fingers. Even so, Ryan kept his hand in Brendon’s, holding onto his fingers gently as Brendon fell back asleep.
Ryan stayed in the same position, kneeling next to the bed and holding onto Brendon’s hand long after Brendon had fallen asleep. He watched Brendon’s sleeping face and thought that he had never seen anyone look so peaceful and well, perfect.
How the word perfect kept surfacing in his mind when it came to the sleeping boy, Ryan didn’t know. But truthfully any other word would’ve been an injustice.
Brendon was breathing softly through his plush lips and his hand was still warm in Ryan’s grasp. Brendon’s skin was smooth and soft and it was still giving off the strange heat that Ryan had felt before. It wasn’t the same type of body heat emitted from a person with a fever, it was strangely comforting and soothing to Ryan. He didn’t know how long he stayed at Brendon’s bedside, but before he could even remember moving, his head was against the side of the mattress and he was asleep too, his hand still tucked in Brendon’s.
The next thing he saw was Keltie’s face as she gently woke him and led him from the room to their bed. Later, with Keltie wrapped in his arms, Ryan couldn’t help but miss Brendon’s warm skin before he fell asleep.
Ryan’s alarm went off the next morning at 7 AM sharp, the time he got up every weekday morning to go to work. He untangled himself from Keltie and the sheets and climbed out of bed.
Before doing anything else, even using the bathroom, he cracked open the door of the guest room. He was reassured by the sight of Brendon’s sleeping form still wrapped in the covers on the bed. Ryan smiled at the sight and soundlessly closed the door again. He had been a little bit afraid that Brendon would leave during the night, and the thought had scared him probably more than it should have.
He didn’t remember until he had taken a shower and gotten dressed that Brendon was also supposed to take a shower that morning. Before putting on his suit, he went back into Brendon’s room, wearing an undershirt and pajama pants. He didn’t feel too bad about waking the sleeping boy because he knew that Brendon had been sleeping a lot the previous day as well, and Brendon had to take a shower today before he got the bed too dirty. Ryan knew full well that Keltie would never help Brendon take a shower (and he would never ask her to do that either….for obvious reasons. He might not act like it, but Brendon was a man) so Ryan knew he had to do it now before he left for work.
After shaking him gently a few times, Brendon awoke with a grumble and rubbed his eyes with the back of his fists. He looked around groggily, but when his eyes focused on Ryan, his face split into a grin.
Ryan wondered exactly why Brendon got so obviously happy every time he saw Ryan, but he would have to leave that pondering for another time.
“Brendon, you have to take a shower now before I leave for work,” Ryan said quietly, not wanting to wake Keltie, who was still asleep in the next room.
Brendon nodded and then asked nervously, “You-you’ll help me, right? I don’t know what a shower is or how to take one.”
“Uh yeah, okay.”
Brendon jumped out of bed, still fully clothed from the previous day in his black pants and white t-shirt. Ryan led him to the bathroom, and watched amusedly how Brendon immediately began entertaining himself by making faces into the bathroom mirror. Ryan smiled a little bit as Brendon stuck his tongue out at his reflection.
Ryan reached into the bath tub and started the shower. But as soon as the water began with a roar, Brendon jumped to Ryan’s side and latched onto his arm, staring fearfully at the shower.
“Uh Brendon, that’s the shower. You have to get in there.” Ryan said, sheepishly.
Brendon looked up at him like he was crazy. “Get in there?” He shook his head, “No way.”
Well that’s a bit of a problem.
Ryan thought for a moment before saying, “Well how about a bath then?” He stopped the shower and instead started running a bath. Brendon seemed to calm down a little bit at that. He stared into the bathtub intently as the water began to rise.
“That’s just regular water, right?” The boy asked, still staring intently into the bathtub.
Ryan nodded, glad that at least Brendon knew what water was. Brendon stuck one of his hands under the faucet in the bath tub, testing the water. He looked back at Ryan over his shoulder and asked, “So I get in here? To wash myself?”
“Yep, that’s the idea.”
Brendon nodded, “Okay.” He stepped into the bathtub, still fully clothed.
“Wait!” Brendon looked back at Ryan in confusion. “You, uhh…you have to take your clothes off.”
Brendon “oooh”ed and stepped back out of the bathtub. He immediately began pulling off his shirt with unfeigned nonchalance. Then he started pulling down his pants and as soon as Ryan realized that Brendon wasn’t wearing any underwear, he spun around to face the wall, blushing profusely. He heard Brendon’s clothes fall to the ground and then the splashing sound of Brendon getting back into the bathtub. Trying not to look at Brendon, who was curled up in a ball in the tub, Ryan reached over and shut off the water.
“Thanks, Ryan,” Brendon said with a grin that Ryan couldn’t miss, even out of the corner of his eye. Ryan responded with a simple “mhm” and turned back towards the wall.
Ryan kept his eyes on the wall for a minute or so as Brendon splashed around in the water. Then he heard Brendon asking, “Hey Ryan, what am I supposed to do with this?”
Ryan turned around and kept his gaze focused on Brendon’s face, forbidding it to wander downward.
Ryan’s mouth twitched up into a smile at Brendon. He was holding a bar of soap in his hands, and had soap bubbles on his nose. Brendon had probably sniffed the soap in the process of trying to figure out what it was.
“That’s soap. You rub it all over your body and then wash it off. And you have some on your nose,” Ryan said with a grin. Then Brendon said “Huh?” and tried to wipe the soap from his nose, but he kept missing where it was.
“Here,” Ryan said and leaned forward to wipe the soap away with a finger. Then Brendon smiled again. Ryan didn’t even bother turning back to the wall because he could see perfectly well that Brendon couldn’t care less about his own nakedness.
Ryan watched, amused, as Brendon started rubbing the bar of soap directly onto his skin. Ryan corrected him, “No, you’re supposed to use a washcloth.”
Brendon gave him a questioning stare once again and Ryan just shook his head. He opened the bathroom closet and pulled out a green wash cloth.
Before he got a chance to hand it to Brendon, the boy asked, “What’s that?” If Brendon had been anyone else in the entire world and his eyes had been any less wide and innocent, Ryan would have lost his temper a long time ago at his naivety. But Brendon was just too adorable to possibly get angry at.
Ryan held out the washcloth to him, “Here, you use this for the soap.” Brendon didn’t take the washcloth, just looked back and forth between the washcloth and the bar of soap in his hands, looking even more confused.
Ryan sighed a little bit when he realized what he was going to have to do. He sank down onto his knees next to the tub and took the soap from Brendon’s hand. “How about I wash you so that this will go faster?” Brendon smiled and nodded.
Brendon then held out his arms to the sides and uncrossed his legs. Ryan tried desperately to keep himself from turning red as Brendon’s crotch was revealed. Brendon was still smiling as wide as ever though, so Ryan rubbed the soap over the wash cloth and got the wash cloth all soapy. He took one of Brendon’s hands in his own and began washing his arm, running the washcloth up and down his arm.
Brendon giggled and said, “That feels funny.” Ryan just smiled in response as he moved on to wash Brendon’s other arm. Then he moved over to wash Brendon’s chest. Ryan felt a little bit uncomfortable as he moved the wash cloth down around his waist, but he could tell that Brendon’s smile hadn’t faltered at all.
Ryan didn’t go any farther down than his waist. He instructed Brendon to turn around so that he could wash Brendon’s back. Brendon nodded and complied.
Ryan got the cloth soapy again, but then froze when he turned back towards Brendon.
Ryan’s eyes were huge as he looked at Brendon’s bare back, the cloth falling from his hand. Brendon had two massive, drawn out scars that ran down his back parallel to each other, starting just above his shoulder blades and extending all the way down to the small of his back.
Suddenly filled with nothing but compassion for the boy and forgetting how embarrassed he had been about their situation, Ryan reached out to him and traced one finger gently down the left scar. Brendon just twitched a little bit in response, almost like he was ticklish there.
“Bren…what happened to you?” Ryan asked softly. Brendon looked at him over his shoulder, looking puzzled.
“What do you mean?”
“These scars….” Ryan gently touched the other one, “How did you get them?”
“Huh?” Brendon reached back and tried to touch the scars, his hands roaming blindly over his back and missing the scars completely.
“You mean you don’t know what these are from?” Ryan asked in complete disbelief that Brendon could have such terrible scars and not even be aware of it.
Brendon stopped trying to touch the scars and his arms fell back to his sides. “I have no idea what scars you’re talking about.”
Ryan touched the pink skin again. He tore his gaze away from Brendon’s injured back, and lifted the wash cloth. He began rubbing it gently across Brendon’s back. When he touched the cloth to the scars, he asked, “Does that hurt?”
“Only a little bit.”
Ryan rubbed the washcloth over the rest of Brendon’s back and then gently dabbed it across the scars, not wanting to cause Brendon any pain. Once Ryan was done, Brendon turned back around.
Ryan asked, “Now that you know how it works, can you wash the rest?” Brendon nodded and took the wash cloth and soap from Ryan. Ryan turned away as Brendon finished washing himself.
Brendon suddenly proclaimed, “Done!” with a smile.
Ryan, still looking away from the boy, smiled to himself at Brendon’s cheerful voice. “Did you rinse all the soap off?”
“Yep!”
Ryan opened the closet again and retrieved a clean towel. When he turned back to the tub, Brendon had already climbed out and was standing there naked, arms wrapped around himself, shivering. Ryan held up the towel and Brendon quickly snatched it, wrapping it tightly around himself, still shivering and his teeth chattering.
Ryan raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you really that cold?”
Brendon nodded vigorously, “Yes! It’s freezing!”
“How can you be that cold when you’re always so hot?” Brendon looked up at Ryan with his wide eyes, smiled and his face flushed a little bit.
He said softly, “Thanks. I didn’t know that you paid any attention to what I look like.”
Suddenly realizing exactly what he had said, Ryan shook his head, blushing beet red and waving his hands in the air as if he could snatch his words back. “Oh I-I didn’t mean it like that! I mean that your skin is always warmer than normal!”
Ryan didn’t miss the fact that Brendon’s face fell just a tiny bit.
“Oh,” the boy said, sounding dejected. His eyes fell on the floor, lacking the joyful shimmer that they normally held.
Ryan swallowed and looked away. He didn’t like it all whenever Brendon looked less cheerful than he usually did.
There was silence for a few moments before Ryan finally cleared his throat a bit awkwardly and said in a shy voice, “Not that I don’t think you’re attractive.” Brendon’s face brightened again and his usual grin appeared on his face.
Brendon crept over to Ryan, still clutching the towel tightly around himself. He leaned in close to Ryan and pecked his cheek. “I think you’re beautiful.” Brendon was already moving towards the door when Ryan blushed again at Brendon’s words.
Brendon had his hand on the doorknob and was pulling the door open by the time Ryan composed himself and turned around.
“Wait, Keltie could be getting up anytime, so you should get dressed before you leave the bathroom.”
Brendon turned back towards Ryan, closed the door, and nodded. He stepped over to where his clothes were piled on the tiled floor and dropped the towel without a hint of hesitation or embarrassment. Ryan turned away, completely amazed at the way that Brendon had absolutely no modesty when it came to that kind of thing, but he found it a little bit endearing too.
Once Brendon pulled his clothes back on, Ryan turned back towards him and grimaced. “You’re clean now, but your clothes are still dirty.” Brendon looked down at his grimy t-shirt. “I’m sure Keltie wouldn’t mind washing them for you.” Ryan had to give a second thought to that statement. He had spoken a little too quickly.
Brendon nibbled on his bottom lip. “Actually I think she would mind. She doesn’t seem to like me very much,” Brendon said quietly, looking down at the floor with a guilty expression.
“Aw, Brendon, I told you not to worry about that.”
“I know, but I feel bad that she doesn’t want me here. I mean…it’s her house. I feel like I really don’t have any right to be here.” He linked his hands together, kneading his fingers as his eyebrows creased.
“Hey, it’s my house too, and I want you here. You don’t have to worry about her liking or disliking you being here. I’m the one taking care of you.” Ryan offered, but he truly did mean it.
Brendon smiled faintly at that. He dropped his hands back to his sides and stepped towards Ryan. He moved until he was standing directly in front of Ryan. Then he leaned slightly against Ryan’s chest and looped his arms around Ryan’s waist.
“Thank you Ry, for everything you’re doing for me,” he said in a soft, earnest voice.
Ryan at first thought of stepping back out of the circle of Brendon’s arms, but when he looked down at Brendon’s gorgeous face that was holding a content smile, Ryan rethought that. Brendon rested his head lightly on Ryan’s shoulder.
And then, almost like a natural instinct, Ryan was wrapping his arms around the smaller boy, holding him gently against his chest. Brendon nestled his forehead into the crook of Ryan’s neck and sighed contently as Ryan held him.
They were silent, not feeling the need to say anything more as they stood in each other’s arms. It felt strangely right to Ryan. Brendon’s body was warm and comforting against his and he was glad that he could offer Brendon comfort with just an embrace.
Ryan’s hands were against Brendon’s back and he could feel the scars on Brendon’s back through his t-shirt. Feeling them made Ryan hold the boy tighter. It made him want to know how Brendon had gotten them and protect him from whatever it was. It gave him this unexplainable desire to just hold Brendon forever, never let him go, and never let him get hurt ever again. But then Brendon was smiling, slithering out of Ryan’s arms and walking back over to the door.
Brendon made his way back to the guest room, Ryan following him.
Brendon burst back into his room and then jumped onto the bed, sitting Indian-style and bouncing up and down with an adorable, goofy grin on his face. After smiling at Brendon, Ryan’s eyes fell on the clock on the wall. He muttered a curse when he saw that he only had ten minutes to get to work.
Brendon’s lips curled into a pout. “You’re leaving?” He asked in a high voice.
“Only for a little while. I’ll be back tonight.”
“Okay,” Brendon’s voice was barely audible by now.
Before leaving the room, Ryan told him, “Just leave your clothes by the door here and I’ll ask Keltie to wash them.”
Brendon nodded and started pulling his clothes off again. Ryan averted his gaze until he saw Brendon’s black pants fly past his face and land just in front of the door.
“Hey-“, Ryan started, but was cut off by Brendon’s t-shirt as it flew through the air and hit him in the face. Brendon giggled. Ryan pulled the shirt away from his face and saw Brendon curled up in the blankets, his body shaking with laughter. Ryan just smiled and dropped the shirt into a pile with Brendon’s pants.
Ryan moved towards the door. “I’ll be back later, okay?” Brendon’s laughter was stifled and his face fell a little bit.
“Oh okay. Have a nice day, Ry!”
With one more smile, Ryan left the room and closed the door behind him.
He rushed into his bedroom and got dressed in a flurry. Before running out the door, he wrote a quick note to Keltie, asking her to wash Brendon’s clothes and telling her all the usual “I love you” stuff.
Ryan finally arrived at work. He was a half hour late, but luckily his boss cut him some slack. During the whole day, Ryan’s thoughts were constantly revolving around a certain dark-haired boy, who was currently sleeping peacefully at his house.
But his peace wouldn’t last for long.
Rating: PG 13 (brief suggestive content and voilence)
Pairings: Ryden, Ryan/Keltie (yes, I started this fic back when Ryan was still with Keltie. God help me.)
Summary: (AU, Chaptered, 3rd person POV) Brendon was an angel. Exiled from the heavens, his wings were cut from his back and he fell to Earth, losing all his memories in the process. On his casual way home from work one day, Ryan Ross finds him on the street, homeless and helpless. Immediately enchanted by the boy, Ryan brings Brendon home with him and promises to take care of him. But Ryan gets much more than he bargained for. Danger and mystery lurk around every corner as Brendon struggles to unravel his memories and Ryan tries to protect him from a group of dangerous people who take a sudden interest in the strange boy. And as time and tribulation bring them closer together, Ryan finds everything he knows - including himself - changing.
Word count for this chapter: 5,070
To say the least, Ryan’s prediction was dead-on.
His beautiful, blonde girlfriend practically screamed when she saw the dirty boy hanging onto her boyfriend. Ryan tried his hardest to explain, but she simply wouldn’t listen. She kept staring at Brendon like he was some filthy stray dog that Ryan had brought home. Brendon literally hid behind Ryan during all this, his eyes huge and innocent as he cowered behind his savior. With every second that passed, he would clutch Ryan’s hand tighter.
“Kelts, please just listen to me. I’m just trying to help him!”
She shook her head and her eyes shone with the conviction to not let Brendon in the house any farther than the doorway.
“Ryan, this is ridiculous! We’re not letting him in!”
Brendon winced as her shrill voice pierced his ears. He looked at her with frightened eyes. He didn’t understand why someone would be this angry with him when he didn’t do anything wrong.
Ryan continued trying to reason with her, “Come on, he just needs a place to sleep, and we have a free guest room. Why should we turn our back on him when we can help?”
She started madly gesturing back and forth between Brendon and Ryan, growing increasingly angry as she said, struggling to keep her voice from a shout, “Ryan, you’re being absolutely unreasonable. You can’t just bring in some kid who we know absolutely nothing about and expect us all to be happy campers when you want him to move right in!”
Ryan was silent. He didn’t know what to say to Keltie, but the fact that he wasn’t loosening his grip on Brendon’s hand at all was proof enough of his decision.
Keltie was obviously trying to calm herself. She was taking deep breaths and closing her eyes.
Ryan finally spoke up with a quiet yet firm voice, “He’s staying, Keltie. Him being here won’t change anything if you just calmed down about this. It’s not like he’s some serial killer. He just needs a place to go and someone to look after him for a while. I’m perfectly capable of being that person. You don’t have to lift a finger for him. You can ignore that he’s even here. I’ll take care of him.”
Before Keltie could lose her temper again and start shouting, Ryan shifted a little bit to look back towards Brendon and he pointed up the stairs with his free hand. “There,” he said, pointing to a hallway at the end of the stairs, “You can go up there and the first room on the left will be yours. Could you go up there now? I’ll be up in a minute.”
Brendon shook his head at first and said, “No,” but Ryan cut him off, “I’ll be up in a minute, Brendon, okay?”
Keltie’s eyebrows shot up at the way Ryan called Brendon by his name so casually.
Brendon looked down at the ground and gave a little nod. Ryan pulled his hand out of Brendon’s iron grip. Brendon slowly shuffled over towards the stairs, staring back over his shoulder at Ryan the whole way. Or he tried to, seeing as Keltie’s enraged eyes were boring holes in his head.
He slowly walked up the stairs and found the door that Ryan had spoken of and stepped inside. The walls were a simple white and the room was completely empty save for a large bed in the corner.
Brendon closed the door behind him and sank down to the ground behind the door. He hugged his knees to his chest and rested his chin upon them, hoping that it wouldn’t take Ryan too long to get there. He looked up at the bed and considered getting into it, but he just didn’t have the courage. He felt like he had already imposed on Ryan and his hospitality enough.
As soon as Brendon had disappeared down the hall, Keltie exploded again.
“What the hell are you thinking?! We can’t just let some random homeless bum stay here! For all we know, he could murder us in our sleep!” She paused, waited for an answer that would make sense to both of them. Anything right.
Ryan sighed and took a hold of Keltie’s arms so he could try to get his words across to her more clearly.
He said seriously, “Keltie, look at that kid. Do you honestly believe that there’s the slightest possibility that he could even hurt a fly?”
“I don’t-I-I think,” Keltie grappled, but even she couldn’t deny how harmless Brendon seemed.
Ryan reassured her, “Don’t worry, Brendon isn’t going to bother either of us. Okay?”
Keltie took a deep breath as if she was about to launch into another angry tirade, but then she finally just sighed and nodded. She could tell that she had no possibility of swaying Ryan from his desire to help Brendon.
She turned away from Ryan and as she walked into the kitchen, muttering under her breath, “Just keep him away from me.” Ryan nodded. He didn’t blame her for reacting the way she did, he had expected it. In fact, she had taken it better than he had predicted.
Ryan ascended the stairs and slowly opened the door to the guest room. Brendon, who had been sitting right behind the door, jumped to his feet and grinned when he saw that it was Ryan coming in. But then his smile faltered and he wrung his hands and bit his bottom lip nervously.
Looking down at the floor, Brendon said quietly, “I shouldn’t be here. She doesn’t want me here and you’ve already done enough.” He tried to move around Ryan to get to the door, but Ryan put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.
“It’s okay, Brendon, you can stay here. Keltie will like you once she gets to know you. You don’t have to worry about her.”
Still biting his bottom lip, which seemed to be a nervous habit of his, Brendon said, “But no one wants me here and I’m not going to impose on you. It’s better if I just leave on my own.”
Ryan shook his head in response. “No, it’s okay, really. I…I want you here.”
Brendon finally looked up from the ground at those words. Ryan looked away, a little bit embarrassed, but it was the truth. Brendon’s frown was replaced with a grin and he suddenly stepped forward to throw his arms around Ryan, hugging him tightly.
“Thank you! Thank you so much,” he said from where his face was pressed against Ryan’s shoulder.
Ryan fidgeted uncomfortably for a moment before Brendon let go of him and went over to the bed, jumping onto it and beginning to pull the covers up over himself.
Ryan protested, “No wait! You should take a shower before you get in the bed!” He didn’t mind helping Brendon, but he didn’t particularly like washing the bed covers. It’s hard work!
Already completely wrapped up in the blankets, Brendon looked over towards Ryan with a confused expression. “A shower? What’s that?”
Ryan looked at him with a bemused expression, but when those innocent eyes met his, his face contorted back to its old, relaxed state.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. Seriously? How could someone not know what a shower is? After a sigh, Ryan said, “Never mind, you can take one tomorrow.” He watched as Brendon grinned and nodded.
“Okay!” Brendon rolled himself into a bundle of blankets, dropped his head onto the pillow, and closed his eyes, a small smile still gracing his face.
Ryan gazed at the other boy for a few moments. Brendon’s eyes did not reopen and the smile did not disappear from his face.
Ryan sank down to sit on the floor, crossing his legs Indian-style and leaning back against the wall, his eyes never straying from the boy in the bed. Within a few minutes, Brendon’s face relaxed and his smile slowly fell as his mouth hung open a little bit and his breath evened out into sleep. Still watching Brendon, Ryan propped his head up with his hand.
After watching Brendon sleep for over ten minutes, Ryan’s gaze finally dropped to the ground. He leaned back against the wall and let out a long sigh. Of course, his thoughts were all focused around Brendon. Ryan did not at all regret bringing Brendon home, but Ryan was wondering now what would happen next. How much care and time would Brendon require? How long was he going to stay? Would he be integrated into the household?
Ryan spent almost half an hour sitting there; thinking but he reached no conclusions. He looked up at Brendon again, who was still sleeping peacefully. The corners of his rosy lips were turned up into a tiny smile as he slept and Ryan couldn’t help but smile because yes, he was very glad that he had helped Brendon and for now at least, the rest didn’t matter.
Ryan tiptoed out of the room, shutting the light off and quietly closing the door. He made his way down to the kitchen to help Keltie finish dinner. The smile did not leave his face for the rest of the night.
Three hours later, Ryan and Keltie were relaxing in the living room, Keltie sprawled out on the couch watching TV, and Ryan sitting in an armchair with a thick book on his lap when the sudden shout of “Ryan!” floated down the stairs to reach their ears.
Ryan lifted his face from his book and of course, recognizing the voice as Brendon’s, immediately stood up and dropped the book onto the chair. Before running up the stairs, he kissed Keltie softly to cure her of the unhappy look on her face from Brendon’s cry.
When Ryan was up the stairs in record time, he opened the door and looked into the guest room with a worried expression.
“Something wrong?” He asked as he stepped into the room. Brendon, still wrapped up tightly in the blankets, was staring up at the ceiling with frightened eyes as he nibbled on his bottom lip. He nodded at Ryan’s question.
Brendon rolled onto his side so he could see Ryan and extended his hands out towards Ryan. Ryan just looked at him, not knowing what Brendon wanted him to do.
Brendon asked with a pout, “Hold my hand?” This time, Brendon’s request didn’t bother Ryan as much.
He walked over to the bed and dropped to his knees next to it so that he was on the same level as Brendon. He took one of Brendon’s hands between his own. Brendon smiled at the contact and looked back up at the ceiling.
“I had a bad dream,” he said with a somber expression. Ryan kept a straight face, even though he couldn’t help but think that the serious way Brendon had spoken made Ryan think of a four year old. But it didn’t make Ryan think of Brendon as any less perfect. His strange, juvenile personality just seemed to fit the boy in some strange way, even though he obviously had to be at least twenty years old.
Ryan asked, just as seriously, “What was your dream?” With his bottom lip still wedged firmly between his teeth, Brendon began to explain.
“It-it was scary and weird. I was in the sky, just hanging there. I was above the clouds, above everything and I could see the whole world. But then when I looked down, I started falling. I kept falling farther and farther down towards the ground. And when I hit the ground, I woke up.”
Brendon kept his eyes trained on the ceiling and squeezed Ryan’s hand.
“Hm, that does sound scary.” Brendon nodded in agreement.
“It was,” he said softly.
Silence followed. It wasn’t awkward; they were both, especially Brendon, appreciating each other’s company. Their hands remained firmly linked and Ryan stroked his thumb over the back of Brendon’s hand in attempt to soothe him. The fear slowly disappeared from Brendon’s face and as Ryan watched him, his eyes started to fall shut again.
Brendon’s hand gradually relaxed and released Ryan’s fingers. Even so, Ryan kept his hand in Brendon’s, holding onto his fingers gently as Brendon fell back asleep.
Ryan stayed in the same position, kneeling next to the bed and holding onto Brendon’s hand long after Brendon had fallen asleep. He watched Brendon’s sleeping face and thought that he had never seen anyone look so peaceful and well, perfect.
How the word perfect kept surfacing in his mind when it came to the sleeping boy, Ryan didn’t know. But truthfully any other word would’ve been an injustice.
Brendon was breathing softly through his plush lips and his hand was still warm in Ryan’s grasp. Brendon’s skin was smooth and soft and it was still giving off the strange heat that Ryan had felt before. It wasn’t the same type of body heat emitted from a person with a fever, it was strangely comforting and soothing to Ryan. He didn’t know how long he stayed at Brendon’s bedside, but before he could even remember moving, his head was against the side of the mattress and he was asleep too, his hand still tucked in Brendon’s.
The next thing he saw was Keltie’s face as she gently woke him and led him from the room to their bed. Later, with Keltie wrapped in his arms, Ryan couldn’t help but miss Brendon’s warm skin before he fell asleep.
Ryan’s alarm went off the next morning at 7 AM sharp, the time he got up every weekday morning to go to work. He untangled himself from Keltie and the sheets and climbed out of bed.
Before doing anything else, even using the bathroom, he cracked open the door of the guest room. He was reassured by the sight of Brendon’s sleeping form still wrapped in the covers on the bed. Ryan smiled at the sight and soundlessly closed the door again. He had been a little bit afraid that Brendon would leave during the night, and the thought had scared him probably more than it should have.
He didn’t remember until he had taken a shower and gotten dressed that Brendon was also supposed to take a shower that morning. Before putting on his suit, he went back into Brendon’s room, wearing an undershirt and pajama pants. He didn’t feel too bad about waking the sleeping boy because he knew that Brendon had been sleeping a lot the previous day as well, and Brendon had to take a shower today before he got the bed too dirty. Ryan knew full well that Keltie would never help Brendon take a shower (and he would never ask her to do that either….for obvious reasons. He might not act like it, but Brendon was a man) so Ryan knew he had to do it now before he left for work.
After shaking him gently a few times, Brendon awoke with a grumble and rubbed his eyes with the back of his fists. He looked around groggily, but when his eyes focused on Ryan, his face split into a grin.
Ryan wondered exactly why Brendon got so obviously happy every time he saw Ryan, but he would have to leave that pondering for another time.
“Brendon, you have to take a shower now before I leave for work,” Ryan said quietly, not wanting to wake Keltie, who was still asleep in the next room.
Brendon nodded and then asked nervously, “You-you’ll help me, right? I don’t know what a shower is or how to take one.”
“Uh yeah, okay.”
Brendon jumped out of bed, still fully clothed from the previous day in his black pants and white t-shirt. Ryan led him to the bathroom, and watched amusedly how Brendon immediately began entertaining himself by making faces into the bathroom mirror. Ryan smiled a little bit as Brendon stuck his tongue out at his reflection.
Ryan reached into the bath tub and started the shower. But as soon as the water began with a roar, Brendon jumped to Ryan’s side and latched onto his arm, staring fearfully at the shower.
“Uh Brendon, that’s the shower. You have to get in there.” Ryan said, sheepishly.
Brendon looked up at him like he was crazy. “Get in there?” He shook his head, “No way.”
Well that’s a bit of a problem.
Ryan thought for a moment before saying, “Well how about a bath then?” He stopped the shower and instead started running a bath. Brendon seemed to calm down a little bit at that. He stared into the bathtub intently as the water began to rise.
“That’s just regular water, right?” The boy asked, still staring intently into the bathtub.
Ryan nodded, glad that at least Brendon knew what water was. Brendon stuck one of his hands under the faucet in the bath tub, testing the water. He looked back at Ryan over his shoulder and asked, “So I get in here? To wash myself?”
“Yep, that’s the idea.”
Brendon nodded, “Okay.” He stepped into the bathtub, still fully clothed.
“Wait!” Brendon looked back at Ryan in confusion. “You, uhh…you have to take your clothes off.”
Brendon “oooh”ed and stepped back out of the bathtub. He immediately began pulling off his shirt with unfeigned nonchalance. Then he started pulling down his pants and as soon as Ryan realized that Brendon wasn’t wearing any underwear, he spun around to face the wall, blushing profusely. He heard Brendon’s clothes fall to the ground and then the splashing sound of Brendon getting back into the bathtub. Trying not to look at Brendon, who was curled up in a ball in the tub, Ryan reached over and shut off the water.
“Thanks, Ryan,” Brendon said with a grin that Ryan couldn’t miss, even out of the corner of his eye. Ryan responded with a simple “mhm” and turned back towards the wall.
Ryan kept his eyes on the wall for a minute or so as Brendon splashed around in the water. Then he heard Brendon asking, “Hey Ryan, what am I supposed to do with this?”
Ryan turned around and kept his gaze focused on Brendon’s face, forbidding it to wander downward.
Ryan’s mouth twitched up into a smile at Brendon. He was holding a bar of soap in his hands, and had soap bubbles on his nose. Brendon had probably sniffed the soap in the process of trying to figure out what it was.
“That’s soap. You rub it all over your body and then wash it off. And you have some on your nose,” Ryan said with a grin. Then Brendon said “Huh?” and tried to wipe the soap from his nose, but he kept missing where it was.
“Here,” Ryan said and leaned forward to wipe the soap away with a finger. Then Brendon smiled again. Ryan didn’t even bother turning back to the wall because he could see perfectly well that Brendon couldn’t care less about his own nakedness.
Ryan watched, amused, as Brendon started rubbing the bar of soap directly onto his skin. Ryan corrected him, “No, you’re supposed to use a washcloth.”
Brendon gave him a questioning stare once again and Ryan just shook his head. He opened the bathroom closet and pulled out a green wash cloth.
Before he got a chance to hand it to Brendon, the boy asked, “What’s that?” If Brendon had been anyone else in the entire world and his eyes had been any less wide and innocent, Ryan would have lost his temper a long time ago at his naivety. But Brendon was just too adorable to possibly get angry at.
Ryan held out the washcloth to him, “Here, you use this for the soap.” Brendon didn’t take the washcloth, just looked back and forth between the washcloth and the bar of soap in his hands, looking even more confused.
Ryan sighed a little bit when he realized what he was going to have to do. He sank down onto his knees next to the tub and took the soap from Brendon’s hand. “How about I wash you so that this will go faster?” Brendon smiled and nodded.
Brendon then held out his arms to the sides and uncrossed his legs. Ryan tried desperately to keep himself from turning red as Brendon’s crotch was revealed. Brendon was still smiling as wide as ever though, so Ryan rubbed the soap over the wash cloth and got the wash cloth all soapy. He took one of Brendon’s hands in his own and began washing his arm, running the washcloth up and down his arm.
Brendon giggled and said, “That feels funny.” Ryan just smiled in response as he moved on to wash Brendon’s other arm. Then he moved over to wash Brendon’s chest. Ryan felt a little bit uncomfortable as he moved the wash cloth down around his waist, but he could tell that Brendon’s smile hadn’t faltered at all.
Ryan didn’t go any farther down than his waist. He instructed Brendon to turn around so that he could wash Brendon’s back. Brendon nodded and complied.
Ryan got the cloth soapy again, but then froze when he turned back towards Brendon.
Ryan’s eyes were huge as he looked at Brendon’s bare back, the cloth falling from his hand. Brendon had two massive, drawn out scars that ran down his back parallel to each other, starting just above his shoulder blades and extending all the way down to the small of his back.
Suddenly filled with nothing but compassion for the boy and forgetting how embarrassed he had been about their situation, Ryan reached out to him and traced one finger gently down the left scar. Brendon just twitched a little bit in response, almost like he was ticklish there.
“Bren…what happened to you?” Ryan asked softly. Brendon looked at him over his shoulder, looking puzzled.
“What do you mean?”
“These scars….” Ryan gently touched the other one, “How did you get them?”
“Huh?” Brendon reached back and tried to touch the scars, his hands roaming blindly over his back and missing the scars completely.
“You mean you don’t know what these are from?” Ryan asked in complete disbelief that Brendon could have such terrible scars and not even be aware of it.
Brendon stopped trying to touch the scars and his arms fell back to his sides. “I have no idea what scars you’re talking about.”
Ryan touched the pink skin again. He tore his gaze away from Brendon’s injured back, and lifted the wash cloth. He began rubbing it gently across Brendon’s back. When he touched the cloth to the scars, he asked, “Does that hurt?”
“Only a little bit.”
Ryan rubbed the washcloth over the rest of Brendon’s back and then gently dabbed it across the scars, not wanting to cause Brendon any pain. Once Ryan was done, Brendon turned back around.
Ryan asked, “Now that you know how it works, can you wash the rest?” Brendon nodded and took the wash cloth and soap from Ryan. Ryan turned away as Brendon finished washing himself.
Brendon suddenly proclaimed, “Done!” with a smile.
Ryan, still looking away from the boy, smiled to himself at Brendon’s cheerful voice. “Did you rinse all the soap off?”
“Yep!”
Ryan opened the closet again and retrieved a clean towel. When he turned back to the tub, Brendon had already climbed out and was standing there naked, arms wrapped around himself, shivering. Ryan held up the towel and Brendon quickly snatched it, wrapping it tightly around himself, still shivering and his teeth chattering.
Ryan raised an eyebrow and asked, “Are you really that cold?”
Brendon nodded vigorously, “Yes! It’s freezing!”
“How can you be that cold when you’re always so hot?” Brendon looked up at Ryan with his wide eyes, smiled and his face flushed a little bit.
He said softly, “Thanks. I didn’t know that you paid any attention to what I look like.”
Suddenly realizing exactly what he had said, Ryan shook his head, blushing beet red and waving his hands in the air as if he could snatch his words back. “Oh I-I didn’t mean it like that! I mean that your skin is always warmer than normal!”
Ryan didn’t miss the fact that Brendon’s face fell just a tiny bit.
“Oh,” the boy said, sounding dejected. His eyes fell on the floor, lacking the joyful shimmer that they normally held.
Ryan swallowed and looked away. He didn’t like it all whenever Brendon looked less cheerful than he usually did.
There was silence for a few moments before Ryan finally cleared his throat a bit awkwardly and said in a shy voice, “Not that I don’t think you’re attractive.” Brendon’s face brightened again and his usual grin appeared on his face.
Brendon crept over to Ryan, still clutching the towel tightly around himself. He leaned in close to Ryan and pecked his cheek. “I think you’re beautiful.” Brendon was already moving towards the door when Ryan blushed again at Brendon’s words.
Brendon had his hand on the doorknob and was pulling the door open by the time Ryan composed himself and turned around.
“Wait, Keltie could be getting up anytime, so you should get dressed before you leave the bathroom.”
Brendon turned back towards Ryan, closed the door, and nodded. He stepped over to where his clothes were piled on the tiled floor and dropped the towel without a hint of hesitation or embarrassment. Ryan turned away, completely amazed at the way that Brendon had absolutely no modesty when it came to that kind of thing, but he found it a little bit endearing too.
Once Brendon pulled his clothes back on, Ryan turned back towards him and grimaced. “You’re clean now, but your clothes are still dirty.” Brendon looked down at his grimy t-shirt. “I’m sure Keltie wouldn’t mind washing them for you.” Ryan had to give a second thought to that statement. He had spoken a little too quickly.
Brendon nibbled on his bottom lip. “Actually I think she would mind. She doesn’t seem to like me very much,” Brendon said quietly, looking down at the floor with a guilty expression.
“Aw, Brendon, I told you not to worry about that.”
“I know, but I feel bad that she doesn’t want me here. I mean…it’s her house. I feel like I really don’t have any right to be here.” He linked his hands together, kneading his fingers as his eyebrows creased.
“Hey, it’s my house too, and I want you here. You don’t have to worry about her liking or disliking you being here. I’m the one taking care of you.” Ryan offered, but he truly did mean it.
Brendon smiled faintly at that. He dropped his hands back to his sides and stepped towards Ryan. He moved until he was standing directly in front of Ryan. Then he leaned slightly against Ryan’s chest and looped his arms around Ryan’s waist.
“Thank you Ry, for everything you’re doing for me,” he said in a soft, earnest voice.
Ryan at first thought of stepping back out of the circle of Brendon’s arms, but when he looked down at Brendon’s gorgeous face that was holding a content smile, Ryan rethought that. Brendon rested his head lightly on Ryan’s shoulder.
And then, almost like a natural instinct, Ryan was wrapping his arms around the smaller boy, holding him gently against his chest. Brendon nestled his forehead into the crook of Ryan’s neck and sighed contently as Ryan held him.
They were silent, not feeling the need to say anything more as they stood in each other’s arms. It felt strangely right to Ryan. Brendon’s body was warm and comforting against his and he was glad that he could offer Brendon comfort with just an embrace.
Ryan’s hands were against Brendon’s back and he could feel the scars on Brendon’s back through his t-shirt. Feeling them made Ryan hold the boy tighter. It made him want to know how Brendon had gotten them and protect him from whatever it was. It gave him this unexplainable desire to just hold Brendon forever, never let him go, and never let him get hurt ever again. But then Brendon was smiling, slithering out of Ryan’s arms and walking back over to the door.
Brendon made his way back to the guest room, Ryan following him.
Brendon burst back into his room and then jumped onto the bed, sitting Indian-style and bouncing up and down with an adorable, goofy grin on his face. After smiling at Brendon, Ryan’s eyes fell on the clock on the wall. He muttered a curse when he saw that he only had ten minutes to get to work.
Brendon’s lips curled into a pout. “You’re leaving?” He asked in a high voice.
“Only for a little while. I’ll be back tonight.”
“Okay,” Brendon’s voice was barely audible by now.
Before leaving the room, Ryan told him, “Just leave your clothes by the door here and I’ll ask Keltie to wash them.”
Brendon nodded and started pulling his clothes off again. Ryan averted his gaze until he saw Brendon’s black pants fly past his face and land just in front of the door.
“Hey-“, Ryan started, but was cut off by Brendon’s t-shirt as it flew through the air and hit him in the face. Brendon giggled. Ryan pulled the shirt away from his face and saw Brendon curled up in the blankets, his body shaking with laughter. Ryan just smiled and dropped the shirt into a pile with Brendon’s pants.
Ryan moved towards the door. “I’ll be back later, okay?” Brendon’s laughter was stifled and his face fell a little bit.
“Oh okay. Have a nice day, Ry!”
With one more smile, Ryan left the room and closed the door behind him.
He rushed into his bedroom and got dressed in a flurry. Before running out the door, he wrote a quick note to Keltie, asking her to wash Brendon’s clothes and telling her all the usual “I love you” stuff.
Ryan finally arrived at work. He was a half hour late, but luckily his boss cut him some slack. During the whole day, Ryan’s thoughts were constantly revolving around a certain dark-haired boy, who was currently sleeping peacefully at his house.
But his peace wouldn’t last for long.