Always (Ryden Oneshot)

Always

Ryan was in third grade when they first met. Brendon, with his large red glasses and Ryan with his sad eyes and skinny frame. No one expected them to be friends, hell, no one even expected them to even tolerate one another for more than a few seconds. But they did.

Brendon was scared for school that day. He was crying to his mom, not wanting to go to a new school all the way in Las Vegas. He had like Chicago well enough, with all his friends and his nice house, and he thought it wasn't fair that he had to move. But there were bills to pay, and, although his second grade mind didn't realize that, he still went along with the plan.

Ryan just didn't like school in general. He hated the way teachers would look at him, as though searching for the cure to cancer in somewhere in the back of his mind. (Of course, he didn't know what cancer was. All he knew in his child like mind was that cancer was something bad that took people away from his world before they were supposed to leave). Besides, Ryan didn't have any friends. People always avioded him, thinking that he was the weird kid with no mom.

When Brendon saw Ryan for the first time on his first day of school, he immediately began to wonder why the pretty boy was so sad. Pretty, because of Ryan's nice brown hair and stick like figure. Sad, because of his downcast eyes and permanant frown. And, with Brendon being a naturally curious child, he went up to Ryan to question him during recess.

When Ryan saw Brendon for the first time, he wondered how Brendon could be so happy all the time. When he was asked for his name, he replied with a short "Ryan" before going back to his legos. But Brendon, being reckless and brave even at the young age of seven, refused to give up. 

"Cool. I'm Brendon. What are you building?" 

Ryan was stumped for a moment, staring at the other boy. No other person he had ever met in his life was as open and hyper as this kid, and a change of face was strangely refreshing. 

"A robot." Things may have been refreshing, but Ryan had been brought up to not talk to strangers. So he replied with another short and cut off answer. 

The thing about Brendon, though, was his strange ability to make things better just by smiling. While Ryan was completely opposed to that act, Brendon took every oppurtunity to smile and laugh, practically lighting up the room while he was at it. 

"Can I help?" The question was asked with a huge grin so large that his glasses began to slip off his face. Ryan was then faced with one of the most difficult questions in his life. He had never let anyone into his life before as a friend, and he had no clue how friendship worked. But despite his doubts, he gave Brendon his lego creation, pushed the other boy's glasses higher onto his face, and gave a small smile that everyone but Brendon missed. 

That day, on their first day of school, Brendon and Ryan became best friends. They played together (often with Brendon having most of the fun with Ryan watching him and messing around with his own toys), they hung out together, almost always at Brendons house. They had many things in common (such as the music they liked and their hatred of school), but Ryan never brought Brendon to his house, and Brendon never asked why. That is, until Ryan met Brendon's parents and Brendon met Ryan's dad.

They were both ten years old when Brendon first met Mr. Ross. It was that weird time, those strange four months that both boys were the same age. Ryan, being young for his grade, was just about to start middle school. And Brendon was just reaching fifth grade.

Their conversation was rough, the very first time the two boys had ever actually argued. Sure, there were those "it's my turn" fights, but never anything this harsh. Never anything this angry.

It ended with a simple "Fine. But don't expect much." from Ryan. A response most people would look over, but Brendon took into close consideration.