Sugarcane Chronicles Volume I: One and Lonely (ryden)

The Return of Jake and Alan

*Brendon's POV*

Getting back to my house was a little awkward at first because of the whole black and white makeup deal. I didn't have a problem with it, it's just kind of weird seeing a person in black and white in a world of color. You stop seeing it after a while, though. Ryan is just Ryan, if slightly discolored.

My parents freaked out when they saw him. It was hilarious, actually. Mom asked questions about it when Ryan told them it was makeup to be nice, though. She's great like that.

I brought Ryan to my house because I was finally going to show him my tattoo. The tattoo. The tattoo to end all tattoos.

We walked into my room and I closed and locked the door behind us.

"So, where's the tattoo?" Ryan asked.

"Uh, that's the problem," I said, starting to pace around my room.

"Well, tell me where it is and maybe I can help," Ryan offered.

"Uh," I said, suddenly becoming nervous. "It's, uh..." I gestured to my left hip.

"You mean you have it on your..."

"No! No, it's not... there... It's, uh... Could you look away?"

"Yeah, sure." He turned and looked out the window.

I unbuckled my belt and unbuttoned my pants. Why did I have to place it there? I hit myself in the forehead and pulled my pants lower. I pulled the leg of my boxer-briefs up to reveal the tattoo. It was the artwork from Green Day's American Idiot album (the heart grenade).

I told Ryan he could look and he turned around. He gasped and stepped closer.

"That is amazing," he said. "When did you get it done?"

"Uh, I was fifteen." I was really nervous for some reason. My palms were sweating and everything.

"Wow. So, your parents went with you to get it done?" He knelt down to get a closer look at it.

"Uh, not really," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Uh, I got a fake ID around that time. That was my rebellious phase."

"Well, your rebellious phase had great music taste." He placed his hand on it and traced the lines. "So I'm taking it American Idiot was your favorite?"

"Yeah, it really helped me through that time." I couldn't figure out if I liked him tracing the tattoo or not.

"Do you have any others?" he asked, slowly sliding his hand away from the tattoo and towards my... backside.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, grabbing his hand and pushing it away from me. "I like you, and I know you're happy, but you're not getting that far today."

He sighed. "Fine." He stood up and asked, "So do you wanna see mine?"

"You have one?" I asked as I quickly re-buttoned and -buckled everything.

"Yeah, but it's not half as cool as yours," he said. He pulled off his blazer and tie and unbuttoned his shirt. "This is gonna look really funny since the rest of me is in black and white." He turned around and asked me to pull his shirt off for him and I did. I had to stop and laugh because he did look really funny.

He smiled and said, "Stop laughing at me."

I calmed myself down before I said, "Ok, ok, sorry. Where's you tattoo?"

He turned and lifted his arm. On his rib cage on his right side, he had 'dearly beloved are you listening?' tattooed in cursive.

"Wow," I said. "So American Idiot's your favorite, too?"