(be it ever so humble) There's No Place Like Home
Title: (be it ever so humble) There’s No Place Like Home
Author: Sara
Rating: PG
Paring: Ryan/Brendon
POV: 3rd
Summary: He knew that he probably looked ridiculous, pouting naked in the shower, but he had spent a lot of time thinking up the perfect way to welcome Ryan home after their first official time apart, so he didn’t care.
Disclaimer: The boys belong to themselves (and possibly each other). The title is a cliché, maybe you’ve heard it J
A/N: Based off the prompt from
ashmira who asked for something cute.. including balloons, singing in the shower and bracelets. ~2,000 words.
---
Brendon had it all planned out. Ryan was flying in from Chicago around three from visiting Pete, so when Brendon woke up around ten that morning, he had plenty of time to get ready for when Ryan got back.
When Ryan’s alarm woke him up, there was a moment of unsettled discomfort just as Brendon first opened his eyes, not used to being in Ryan’s bed without him, and he felt inexplicably cold without Ryan pressed up against him even though it was the middle of August in Las Vegas and Ryan’s air conditioning was spotty at best since he constantly forgot to pay his bills.
He stretched out on the bed, missing the offended squawk from Ryan when his limbs reached out and didn’t hit anything but air. That was Brendon’s favorite part of mornings, riling up Ryan, teasing him until Ryan flustered red and would only relax when Brendon spooned him and kissed an easy trial up his chest until their lips met, soft and promising. It was the best way to wake up.
Brendon sprawled out in bed for a moment, thinking about Ryan coming back, thinking about them together warm under the covers, limbs intertwined. He shifted a little on the bed, and while it didn’t make much noise, barely any in fact, Hobo was at the bottom of the bed in a matter of seconds, barking happily now that she knew that Brendon was up.
“Calm down,” Brendon said, rolling his eyes at the dog in annoyance, but when Hobo stared up at him with those big brown eyes, eyes that were so much like her owner, Brendon caved and slid off the bed. He reached over and smoothed a hand over her fur, fingers scratching behind her ears, good naturedly rubbing her stomach when she turned over.
After a couple of minutes, Hobo got bored from the attention and wriggled out of Brendon’s grasp, running towards the kitchen, no doubt wanting her breakfast. Brendon sighed, and looked over at the mass of sheets on the bed. He contemplated changing them for a minute, have them all fresh and clean for Ryan’s return, but he figured that the sheets would need to be changed the next day anyway after Ryan had his proper homecoming, so Brendon simply straightened out the sheets, and even put on a few decorative throw pillows for good measure.
He threw some clothes on, and when he got into the kitchen, Hobo was waiting for him, eyes staring into her empty food dish, willing for it to be filled. Brendon chuckled, grabbed the dog food, and filled up her dish, ruffling her ears as he grabbed himself a packet of poptarts. “You be good now,” Brendon told Hobo as she hungrily gulped down her breakfast. “I’m going to go get some things so that we can surprise your daddy later when he comes home.”
Hobo paid no attention to Brendon’s comments, but seeing as she was a dog, he wasn’t that bothered. He grabbed the keys to his car, an extra key to Ryan’s apartment hanging down on the same key ring, and left the apartment, locking the door behind him.
Brendon knew that other people might think what he was doing was silly, but it was the first time that Ryan and him had been away from each other for more than a day since they first got together and Brendon wanted to show him how much he had missed him. He had everything planned out, and he was determined that it was going to be perfect.
First, Brendon stopped by the bakery to pick up the dozen cupcakes that he ordered earlier that week. For some reason, a reason that Brendon had never really figured out, Ryan preferred cupcakes to cake. But it worked out well, because with twelve cupcakes, Brendon was able to have the lady spell out “Missed you, Ry”. There was even a cupcake dedicated to the comma. Ryan was a pretentious grammar snob, and Brendon had learned after years of knowing Ryan that the vocative case must be respected.
After he picked up the cupcakes and put them in the backseat of the car without tasting one even a little, Brendon drove down to the supermarket where he ran in and bought a couple of those big latex welcome home balloons that were shaped like houses. He added one that said I missed you, and threw in an Elmo-shaped one for fun. When he paid, Brendon was slightly outraged by the insane cost for what was a couple of floating pieces of plastic essentially, but Ryan was more than worth it, so he handed over the money without too much of a fuss.
He picked up flowers even though Brendon knew that Ryan would flush and complain that he’s not a girl. He knew that underneath it all, Ryan would be thrilled. After a couple of minutes staring at the different arrangements of flowers, Brendon finally just asked the lady to pick something out for him. After a few simple questions, the lady suggested sunflowers, and Brendon agreed, drawn in by how bright and cheery they seemed.
When he got back to the apartment, Hobo wasn’t in her normal spot, sleeping on the couch, but was full of energy, running around after Brendon as he lugged in everything from the car. He was holding the cupcakes firmly against his chest with one hand, the bouquet of flowers in the other, and he had the balloons floating above him, anchored to him by his firm bite.
Brendon tried to pet Hobo a little with the side of his foot, and it seemed to be enough because she didn’t yap at his feet anymore, and went to run around the apartment some more. He carefully set everything out, filled up a vase that Brendon didn’t remember bringing over, so it must be Ryan’s, with water and the special packet the lady gave him, and he put the flowers in, arranging them until he was satisfied with how they were placed. He let the balloons fly up towards the ceiling, and placed the cupcakes down on the counter.
Looking at the clock, Brendon saw that he still had a little more than two hours before he had to leave to pick up Ryan at the airport, so he headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Hobo yapped happily at him as he passed, and Brendon barked back, laughing when the dog tilted her head, obviously confused.
He turned on the water to the shower before he got undressed. The shower still took a while to warm up, and Brendon secretly thought that it was the water company’s way of telling Ryan off for being so late on his payments. He shed his clothes, and threw them into the hamper since he intended on wearing something a little nicer to pick up Ryan.
The only thing that Brendon didn’t take off was a simple beaded bracelet that Ryan had made him, and Brendon smiled as he looked down at the multicolored beads, thinking about the one that Ryan had made for himself, colors perfectly coordinating with Brendon’s, and how Ryan had blushed when he gave it to Brendon and explained what the colors meant, how they fit together.
When steam started to roll out from overtop the shower curtain, Brendon stuck his hand in to adjust the temperature, and stepped in after he was satisfied with the warmth. The truth was, Ryan had a great bathroom. It was big, and had a wide marble sink area that he still sometimes used to play around with makeup. The best part about the bathroom, however, was the acoustics.
Brendon lathered his hair up with shampoo, and the simple rhythm of his hands, the slight scratching noise, formed some sort of beat in his head. He couldn’t help himself, not when he had the whole bathroom to himself, not when he was so happy that Ryan would be home in only a couple of hours, and he opened his mouth and began to sing.
While he didn’t normally take very long showers, Brendon wanted to make sure that he was extra clean, and as he shampooed, conditioned, and soaped up his hands, he sang through most of the Disney songs he knew, jumping from Aladdin to Pocahontas easily, because really, they were both equally awesome.
He was so consumed in his perfect rendition of “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty, Brendon didn’t even hear the door to the bathroom open, so when the shower curtain opened, and a deeper, slightly scratchy voice sang along to the prince’s line, it wasn’t exactly the romantic moment he had planned for when he first saw Ryan. He gave out a startled yelp, fell back, and hit the shower caddy, causing the bottle of shampoo to fall down and hit him on the head.
Ryan laughed warmly and smiled at Brendon, who was rubbing the top of his head furiously, more than a little embarrassed. “Surprise,” Ryan said.
Brendon frowned. All of his wonderful plans were now ruined, and in his disappointment, he couldn’t even remember to be ecstatic that Ryan was back. “I was supposed to surprise you,” he insisted, his voice coming out more like a whine than Brendon would have liked.
Ryan looked at him quizzically. “Is that why there were balloons and flowers in the kitchen?”
“And cupcakes,” Brendon added. “Grammatically correct cupcakes.” He crossed his soapy arms across his chest. He knew that he probably looked ridiculous, pouting naked in the shower, but he had spent a lot of time thinking up the perfect way to welcome Ryan home after their first official time apart, so he didn’t care. “It was going to be a surprise when you came home. I was going to do a blindfold thing and everything.”
It was a really cool blindfold too, it was classy and black. He had decided not to go with the fuzzy purple ones that said sex me on them. Brendon stuck out his lower lip, and Ryan’s amused expression did little to appease him.
“And I thought you weren’t getting in until three,” Brendon said. “I wrote it down when you told me, and I even checked the calendar yesterday to make sure that I wouldn’t be late.”
Ryan smiled and reached a hand out towards Brendon, the spray of the water causing his shirt to turn a shade darker as he swiped a thumb across Brendon’s jaw line. “I just wanted to come back a little early and surprise you,” Ryan said, and for the first time, Brendon could see the slight embarrassed flush that was forming across Ryan’s face. “Plus, I missed you.”
Brendon grinned and the ruined surprise was completely forgotten. “I missed you too,” he promised.
“I can tell. Balloons, flowers, and grammatically correct cupcakes,” Ryan deadpanned, shaking his head to show how impressed he was, “I must be something special.”
“Oh, you are,” Brendon assured, smiling widely and reaching out to wrap a wet arm around Ryan, bringing him up to the edge of the bathtub where the spray of the shower misted out to paint his face.
Grinning, Ryan closed the remaining space between them and wrapped his own arms around Brendon’s slick body to bring him closer in a heated kiss, and God, Brendon had really missed Ryan.
Ryan pulled back, his shirt sticking to his body where the water had soaked in, and Ryan started to unbutton his shirt. “Any room in there for one more?” he asked, eyebrow quirking up.
“For you,” Brendon said, hands falling down to Ryan’s belt to help him undress faster, “always.”
Once his clothes were off, Ryan swung one long leg over the side of the tub, grabbing hold of Brendon’s elbow to help him in, and once he was in and under the spray with Brendon, he kissed him again, backed him up against the side wall, and smiled as Brendon eagerly pressed back against him. When they separated, Brendon was panting slightly, and the water pooling down Ryan’s neck looked almost obscene in some strange way, but there would be plenty of time for that later.
“I missed you,” Brendon said, repeating himself.
“I missed you too.” Ryan gave Brendon a quick peck on the lips, and then smiled. “Now, what Disney song do you want to sing next?”
Check out my other stories!
Author: Sara
Rating: PG
Paring: Ryan/Brendon
POV: 3rd
Summary: He knew that he probably looked ridiculous, pouting naked in the shower, but he had spent a lot of time thinking up the perfect way to welcome Ryan home after their first official time apart, so he didn’t care.
Disclaimer: The boys belong to themselves (and possibly each other). The title is a cliché, maybe you’ve heard it J
A/N: Based off the prompt from
ashmira who asked for something cute.. including balloons, singing in the shower and bracelets. ~2,000 words.
---
Brendon had it all planned out. Ryan was flying in from Chicago around three from visiting Pete, so when Brendon woke up around ten that morning, he had plenty of time to get ready for when Ryan got back.
When Ryan’s alarm woke him up, there was a moment of unsettled discomfort just as Brendon first opened his eyes, not used to being in Ryan’s bed without him, and he felt inexplicably cold without Ryan pressed up against him even though it was the middle of August in Las Vegas and Ryan’s air conditioning was spotty at best since he constantly forgot to pay his bills.
He stretched out on the bed, missing the offended squawk from Ryan when his limbs reached out and didn’t hit anything but air. That was Brendon’s favorite part of mornings, riling up Ryan, teasing him until Ryan flustered red and would only relax when Brendon spooned him and kissed an easy trial up his chest until their lips met, soft and promising. It was the best way to wake up.
Brendon sprawled out in bed for a moment, thinking about Ryan coming back, thinking about them together warm under the covers, limbs intertwined. He shifted a little on the bed, and while it didn’t make much noise, barely any in fact, Hobo was at the bottom of the bed in a matter of seconds, barking happily now that she knew that Brendon was up.
“Calm down,” Brendon said, rolling his eyes at the dog in annoyance, but when Hobo stared up at him with those big brown eyes, eyes that were so much like her owner, Brendon caved and slid off the bed. He reached over and smoothed a hand over her fur, fingers scratching behind her ears, good naturedly rubbing her stomach when she turned over.
After a couple of minutes, Hobo got bored from the attention and wriggled out of Brendon’s grasp, running towards the kitchen, no doubt wanting her breakfast. Brendon sighed, and looked over at the mass of sheets on the bed. He contemplated changing them for a minute, have them all fresh and clean for Ryan’s return, but he figured that the sheets would need to be changed the next day anyway after Ryan had his proper homecoming, so Brendon simply straightened out the sheets, and even put on a few decorative throw pillows for good measure.
He threw some clothes on, and when he got into the kitchen, Hobo was waiting for him, eyes staring into her empty food dish, willing for it to be filled. Brendon chuckled, grabbed the dog food, and filled up her dish, ruffling her ears as he grabbed himself a packet of poptarts. “You be good now,” Brendon told Hobo as she hungrily gulped down her breakfast. “I’m going to go get some things so that we can surprise your daddy later when he comes home.”
Hobo paid no attention to Brendon’s comments, but seeing as she was a dog, he wasn’t that bothered. He grabbed the keys to his car, an extra key to Ryan’s apartment hanging down on the same key ring, and left the apartment, locking the door behind him.
Brendon knew that other people might think what he was doing was silly, but it was the first time that Ryan and him had been away from each other for more than a day since they first got together and Brendon wanted to show him how much he had missed him. He had everything planned out, and he was determined that it was going to be perfect.
First, Brendon stopped by the bakery to pick up the dozen cupcakes that he ordered earlier that week. For some reason, a reason that Brendon had never really figured out, Ryan preferred cupcakes to cake. But it worked out well, because with twelve cupcakes, Brendon was able to have the lady spell out “Missed you, Ry”. There was even a cupcake dedicated to the comma. Ryan was a pretentious grammar snob, and Brendon had learned after years of knowing Ryan that the vocative case must be respected.
After he picked up the cupcakes and put them in the backseat of the car without tasting one even a little, Brendon drove down to the supermarket where he ran in and bought a couple of those big latex welcome home balloons that were shaped like houses. He added one that said I missed you, and threw in an Elmo-shaped one for fun. When he paid, Brendon was slightly outraged by the insane cost for what was a couple of floating pieces of plastic essentially, but Ryan was more than worth it, so he handed over the money without too much of a fuss.
He picked up flowers even though Brendon knew that Ryan would flush and complain that he’s not a girl. He knew that underneath it all, Ryan would be thrilled. After a couple of minutes staring at the different arrangements of flowers, Brendon finally just asked the lady to pick something out for him. After a few simple questions, the lady suggested sunflowers, and Brendon agreed, drawn in by how bright and cheery they seemed.
When he got back to the apartment, Hobo wasn’t in her normal spot, sleeping on the couch, but was full of energy, running around after Brendon as he lugged in everything from the car. He was holding the cupcakes firmly against his chest with one hand, the bouquet of flowers in the other, and he had the balloons floating above him, anchored to him by his firm bite.
Brendon tried to pet Hobo a little with the side of his foot, and it seemed to be enough because she didn’t yap at his feet anymore, and went to run around the apartment some more. He carefully set everything out, filled up a vase that Brendon didn’t remember bringing over, so it must be Ryan’s, with water and the special packet the lady gave him, and he put the flowers in, arranging them until he was satisfied with how they were placed. He let the balloons fly up towards the ceiling, and placed the cupcakes down on the counter.
Looking at the clock, Brendon saw that he still had a little more than two hours before he had to leave to pick up Ryan at the airport, so he headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Hobo yapped happily at him as he passed, and Brendon barked back, laughing when the dog tilted her head, obviously confused.
He turned on the water to the shower before he got undressed. The shower still took a while to warm up, and Brendon secretly thought that it was the water company’s way of telling Ryan off for being so late on his payments. He shed his clothes, and threw them into the hamper since he intended on wearing something a little nicer to pick up Ryan.
The only thing that Brendon didn’t take off was a simple beaded bracelet that Ryan had made him, and Brendon smiled as he looked down at the multicolored beads, thinking about the one that Ryan had made for himself, colors perfectly coordinating with Brendon’s, and how Ryan had blushed when he gave it to Brendon and explained what the colors meant, how they fit together.
When steam started to roll out from overtop the shower curtain, Brendon stuck his hand in to adjust the temperature, and stepped in after he was satisfied with the warmth. The truth was, Ryan had a great bathroom. It was big, and had a wide marble sink area that he still sometimes used to play around with makeup. The best part about the bathroom, however, was the acoustics.
Brendon lathered his hair up with shampoo, and the simple rhythm of his hands, the slight scratching noise, formed some sort of beat in his head. He couldn’t help himself, not when he had the whole bathroom to himself, not when he was so happy that Ryan would be home in only a couple of hours, and he opened his mouth and began to sing.
While he didn’t normally take very long showers, Brendon wanted to make sure that he was extra clean, and as he shampooed, conditioned, and soaped up his hands, he sang through most of the Disney songs he knew, jumping from Aladdin to Pocahontas easily, because really, they were both equally awesome.
He was so consumed in his perfect rendition of “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty, Brendon didn’t even hear the door to the bathroom open, so when the shower curtain opened, and a deeper, slightly scratchy voice sang along to the prince’s line, it wasn’t exactly the romantic moment he had planned for when he first saw Ryan. He gave out a startled yelp, fell back, and hit the shower caddy, causing the bottle of shampoo to fall down and hit him on the head.
Ryan laughed warmly and smiled at Brendon, who was rubbing the top of his head furiously, more than a little embarrassed. “Surprise,” Ryan said.
Brendon frowned. All of his wonderful plans were now ruined, and in his disappointment, he couldn’t even remember to be ecstatic that Ryan was back. “I was supposed to surprise you,” he insisted, his voice coming out more like a whine than Brendon would have liked.
Ryan looked at him quizzically. “Is that why there were balloons and flowers in the kitchen?”
“And cupcakes,” Brendon added. “Grammatically correct cupcakes.” He crossed his soapy arms across his chest. He knew that he probably looked ridiculous, pouting naked in the shower, but he had spent a lot of time thinking up the perfect way to welcome Ryan home after their first official time apart, so he didn’t care. “It was going to be a surprise when you came home. I was going to do a blindfold thing and everything.”
It was a really cool blindfold too, it was classy and black. He had decided not to go with the fuzzy purple ones that said sex me on them. Brendon stuck out his lower lip, and Ryan’s amused expression did little to appease him.
“And I thought you weren’t getting in until three,” Brendon said. “I wrote it down when you told me, and I even checked the calendar yesterday to make sure that I wouldn’t be late.”
Ryan smiled and reached a hand out towards Brendon, the spray of the water causing his shirt to turn a shade darker as he swiped a thumb across Brendon’s jaw line. “I just wanted to come back a little early and surprise you,” Ryan said, and for the first time, Brendon could see the slight embarrassed flush that was forming across Ryan’s face. “Plus, I missed you.”
Brendon grinned and the ruined surprise was completely forgotten. “I missed you too,” he promised.
“I can tell. Balloons, flowers, and grammatically correct cupcakes,” Ryan deadpanned, shaking his head to show how impressed he was, “I must be something special.”
“Oh, you are,” Brendon assured, smiling widely and reaching out to wrap a wet arm around Ryan, bringing him up to the edge of the bathtub where the spray of the shower misted out to paint his face.
Grinning, Ryan closed the remaining space between them and wrapped his own arms around Brendon’s slick body to bring him closer in a heated kiss, and God, Brendon had really missed Ryan.
Ryan pulled back, his shirt sticking to his body where the water had soaked in, and Ryan started to unbutton his shirt. “Any room in there for one more?” he asked, eyebrow quirking up.
“For you,” Brendon said, hands falling down to Ryan’s belt to help him undress faster, “always.”
Once his clothes were off, Ryan swung one long leg over the side of the tub, grabbing hold of Brendon’s elbow to help him in, and once he was in and under the spray with Brendon, he kissed him again, backed him up against the side wall, and smiled as Brendon eagerly pressed back against him. When they separated, Brendon was panting slightly, and the water pooling down Ryan’s neck looked almost obscene in some strange way, but there would be plenty of time for that later.
“I missed you,” Brendon said, repeating himself.
“I missed you too.” Ryan gave Brendon a quick peck on the lips, and then smiled. “Now, what Disney song do you want to sing next?”
Check out my other stories!