Round Here (He's Always On My Mind) [Ryden PG-13 Standalone]

A/N:: This was a little something I whipped up for Lottie's (absentloversthings on tumblr) 18th birthday. Happy birthday and enjoy this fluffy little piece of work. Hope it fulfills your Ryden fluff quota for the day. The link, when you get there, play the song. And also, sorry for not updating the fic lately guys, next chap is up this weekend so I hope this can keep you calm until it's up!

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Everything was set up. The candles were lit and Brendon had a very romantic dinner for two set up in the dining room. Brendon paced around anxiously waiting for Ryan to arrive. He stopped at the hallway mirror every five seconds to check his outfit. He wanted to look good for Ryan, today was special. They'd been officially together for three years. Tonight had to be perfect.

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Brendon sat on the couch dejectedly, his light grey, paisley dress shirt getting wrinkled; he didn't care. He just wanted to celebrate his anniversary with the person who was truly his cause to celebrate. Ryan was supposed to be here three hours ago. He'd given up waiting by the door after the first ten agonizing minutes. After the first hour, he'd covered up the two plates of food to keep them fresh, and after the second hour, the candles had long since blown out. Brendon wasn't going to give up, however. Ryan always kept his promises. Ryan always remembered their anniversary...

Didn't he?

Brendon ran a hand through his hair frustratedly for what felt like the thousandth time the past three hours. Part of him wanted to be entirely hopeful that Ryan didn't forget, that he just was taking a long time to get ready or got the wrong time. But the darker, pessimistic side, it told Brendon to give up.

And he eventually did.

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It was nearly eleven o'clock before Brendon heard a knock on his door. He'd spent the last two hours just staring at the ceiling, tears running down his cheeks silently. When he heard it, he sat up instantly. He scrambled to get to it and unlocked and open as fast as humanly possible. On his porch there stood a puppydog-faced Ryan, a tattered bouquet of dark red roses in his hand. His beautiful face and beloved cream floral button up shirt had smudges of coppery red-brown dirt on them. Ryan was breathing heavily and sighed when he saw Brendon's tear-stained cheeks. He looked almost as utterly devastated as Brendon felt.

"Look, Brendon, I didn't forget," he said as he was about to close the door right in his face.

"Like I'd believe that. You look like you rushed over here because you, maybe, forgot our anniversary?" He snarls and glares at Ryan.

"I'm serious Brendon, just listen to me!" Ryan yelled at Brendon. He never yells at Brendon. "my phone was dead and I was in the car, and it broke down. I couldn't call for help and I mean you live smack dab in the middle of nowhere, so I couldn't get a ride. So I walked ten miles to get here. For you, on our anniversary. I walked ten fucking miles, Brendon. So I am not going home. We are spending this anniversary together." Brendon gaped at Ryan. Ten miles? That's why he took so long? Brendon opened the door a little and let him in out of the humid Nevada nighttime.

Ryan handed the roses to Brendon resignedly as he looked around. He saw the wrapped up plates of (what was supposed to be) their anniversary dinner, he saw the blown-out candles, but most of all, saw how upset Brendon was. He'd obviously worked hard for all of this. And without intention, Ryan ruined it. Ryan ruined a lot of things, nowadays.

He didn't mean to, but he'd ended up creating quite a bit of turmoil in not only their relationship, but also in the band. There was talk of them breaking up,it was definitely in the cards, as much as they were denying it. So he clung to Brendon, because if he was going to leave this band, he wasn't going to leave Brendon as well. He couldn't do that; he loved him far too much.