"Broken" | Ryden

Chapter Two

It's late. The dark sky above them reminded Brendon. He can hear the world around them, but instead focuses on the sorry state of his friend.

"You know what they say," Ryan croaked, "what goes around comes around."

Brendon sighed, throwing his arm around his shoulder. The two were sitting on the sidewalk just outside of Ryan's house. "But you haven't even done anything!" Brendon stressed.

"Yeah," Ryan smiled bitterly. "They also say that life isn't fair."

Hoping to distract Ryan from his depressing thoughts, Brendon changed the subject. "You can spend the night at my house," Brendon offered, knowing Ryan probably wasn't planning on sleeping in his own house tonight.

Ryan nodded, sighing as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Thanks, Bren."

"No problem," Brendon stood up, also dusting himself off. "Things will sort themselves out, I promise."

"Yeah," Ryan said, sounding distant. "I'm sure they will."

Brendon led him back to his house, which was only a few streets away. His parents were asleep at this ungodly hour, so he warned Ryan to be quiet.

Ryan nodded and followed Brendon to his room, closing the door behind them slowly. Once he was inside, he sat down on Brendon's bed and let out a loud sigh.

"What do you do when you feel like the whole world's against you?" Ryan asked, staring at Brendon entrancedly.

"I often feel like that," Brendon admitted. "There's something I've always been holding back, something that keeps me separated from other people. When I feel the worst, I just push it away and ignore it." He stared at Ryan meaningfully. "It's better to just focus on being happy again."

"Everyone thinks you're so dumb," Ryan smiled. "But sometimes I think you're wiser than any of us."

"Not wiser," Brendon disagreed. "I'm just more experienced."

The room was dark, dark enough that they could only make it out an outline of where the other was. The dark is more vulnerable than the light, in a way.

It's in that dark setting that Ryan crawled over on the bed and kissed him. To Brendon, Ryan tasted like vanilla and reminded him of the summer time.

Brendon threw his arms around Ryan's shoulders and pulled him closer. The kiss was sweet, but then it turned sour when Brendon realized what was actually going on.

He quickly pulled away and turned on his side, letting out a sigh. "Ryan, I can't do this."

"Why?" Ryan snapped, standing up quickly and facing him. He was completely agitated. "What's so different when it's with me, huh?"

If Ryan were to ever leave him, Brendon would fall apart. There would be nobody to catch him, to tell him that everything will be fine. There won't be any gentle whispers in his ears calming him down from everything.

Pushing Ryan, and subsequently his love, away was the only thing Brendon could do.

"Calm down, Ry," Brendon said carefully, grabbing his hand and pulling him back down. "We'll talk about this in the morning, okay?"

"Fine," Ryan said coolly, obviously still pissed.

Brendon sighed, pushing his head further into the pillow. He knew he could deal with this situation better with more sleep. "Good night," he whispered to Ryan softly.

"Good night," Ryan replied, his voice dreary as he let himself be pulled into a deep sleep.

Brendon followed suit shortly after.