It was a bright, sunny day and after being cooped up inside with the flu for a week, Brendon flew out the door and down the street to the park. The sky was pale with what he only thought were the fluffiest clouds he'd seen in his entire life. The tree leaves were dazzling green and bird fluttered between branches.
In his excitement, Brendon grabbed onto the lowest hanging branch he could find and hoisted himself up. The tree smelled like nature and rain, which he didn't like, because it would most likely soak his clothing. He sat in the tree watching the park for ten minutes before leaning against the thickest part that he assumed was the trunk and closing his eyes.
When he woke up the sky was darker and there was a pair of dark brown eyes above his. Brendon stumbled and, forgetting he was in fact sitting in a tree, fell. The large brown eyes widened and a pale hand with long, slender fingers reached out to grab his wrist, but it was too late.
The ground was only a few feet below, but Brendon hit the hard dirt with a thud. A sharp pain shot through his ankle and he gasped. The other boy jumped from the tree with a worried look and started apologizing profusely.
"I am so sorry. I really didn't mean to startle you... it just happens sometimes." His cheeks were red and he had scrapes from the tree bark on his palms. He held out a hand, but retracted after seeing the look on the now very awake boy. "I'm Ryan. Do you need help?"
"No, just leave me to die...." He giggled but laid back against the ground. The other boy watched him with quiet amusement and turned to walk away. Another pain moved through Brendon's ankle. "Shit, no. Wait, I was just being dramatic please actually help me, my ankle hurts."
Ryan stooped down to look at the ankle. "I'm no doctor and I don't know how tight your jeans originally were, but I'm pretty sure it's swelling. Here, I can take you to the hospital, because it's my fault."
"Thanks. Don't blame yourself, though. I'm a wimp." Ryan lifted Brendon to stand on his good foot and started moving them in the direction of what Brendon assumed was Ryan's car. "But I would like to know why you were in my tree."
Ryan laughed, softly, "I was curious, so I climbed up to look at you and just stayed there, I guess." He knew it would sound creepy, but he'd already knocked the poor kid out of the tree. There wasn't much worse he could do at the time. Brendon just grinned and worked on keeping his hurt foot from hitting the pathway.
At the hospital, the doctor told them nothing had broken in the fall. It would continue to be swollen for at least the rest of the day and would most likely bruise. The doctor had also suggested crutches, but they had said no. Ryan was planning on driving Brendon home, but Brendon spent the entire ride complaining about having to stay inside alone again and how he didn't deserve this, so they went to Ryan's apartment a few blocks away.
They talked for hours and watched movies. Brendon made the younger boy play his acoustic guitar for him. Halfway through Ryan's first viewing of Aladdin (Brendon had already seen it many times), Brendon muttered something about sleeping and fell asleep with his head against Ryan's shoulder.
