Empty Gold - {ryden}

10. Kairosclerosis

10. kairosclerosis (noun) - the moment you realize that you're currently happy

Start the song. It's Fallin' All In You by Shawn Mendes (open arena + rain edit).

Ryan sat at his kitchen table, scribbling away at his newest sketch as he waited for a text from Brendon. It had been a couple of weeks since their first kiss and their first official date, and they were still floating on cloud nine with each other. Ryan was happy, Brendon was happy, and everyone was happy for them. Patty kept saying how he now had rights to be Ryan's best man at their wedding, causing Ryan to roll his eyes but picture a wedding with Brendon for the rest of the day.

It wouldn't be too much longer until they would be going to New York for the convention, and Ryan was getting to the point to where he could barely contain his excitement. He was constantly asking Brendon what he should wear, what he should bring, if he should take his portfolio or anything of the sort. Every time he would start ranting about it, Brendon would just smile, call him cute, kiss his forehead, and go on about his day. It infuriated Ryan as much as it flustered him.

As he was adding a few more pencil strokes to his sketch, his phone started ringing and he picked it up, smiling at the screen. He answered it with a soft laugh as he said, "I thought you were going to text me, not call me?"

Brendon laughed into the receiver. "What," he started playfully, "did you not want to hear my voice?"

Ryan rolled his eyes to himself. "You know I did, shut up," he answered with his own laugh. "What are you up to?"

"Being bored and lonely because it's your day off," he answered in a pouting tone. "Remind me to not let you have days off anymore."

Ryan laughed loudly, leaning back in his chair. "Fine," he said softly. "But I better get that overtime pay."

"You can have whatever you want, babe," Brendon answered casually, making Ryan blush. "So, I wanted to tell you the plans I have for us tonight."

"Lay it on me," Ryan said as he absentmindedly shaded in different areas of his sketch.

"Get ready," he said excitedly. "Tonight, we are doing... Nothing."

Ryan stopped shading, his brows furrowed as he kept the phone to his ear. "Care to explain that?"

Brendon let out a soft laugh. "You and I are going to be lazy tonight," he said, smile evident in his voice. "I'm going to swing by and pick you up on my way home, we're going to kick our shoes off at my house, I'm gonna order us Chinese food, and were gonna watch a cheesy RomCom before I subtly convince you to cuddle up in my bed with me for the night. Sound good?"

Ryan couldn't stop smiling, his lips hurting form how much he was biting them trying to contain it. "You need to be careful," he said softly. "You're going to make me fall in love with you if you keep doing things like this."

Brendon laughed from the other side of the call. "I think that's kind of the point," he said softly. "So what d'ya say?"

Ryan smiled wider, shaking his head to himself. "Just a warning, I latch like a koala when I sleep next to someone."

"Perfect."

* * *

Ryan spent the almost three hours before Brendon showed up hustling around his apartment. In that time, he decided to shower, change, deodorize, change again, brush his teeth, change one more time and brush his teeth again just before his doorbell rang. He let out a shaky breath before opening the door to reveal Brendon's smiling face. "Hey, you," he said softly.

"Hello, beautiful," Brendon answered, leaning forward and pressing their lips together softly. "You ready to go?"

Ryan nodded quickly, grabbing his phone, wallet and keys from the table before following Brendon out of the door. After locking the door, Brendon's hand found his and they strolled out of the complex hand-in-hand. They made it to Brendon's in almost no time, as Brendon was unlocking his door before Ryan could even process the five block walk. When they walked inside they both took their shoes off and Brendon ushered Ryan to the couch. "So," Brendon started, "you're gonna pick the first movie, I'll call in the Chinese, and then we'll cuddle up right here on this couch as we burn through some takeout."

Ryan nodded and told Brendon what he wanted before going to Netflix and searching through the RomComs before he found one that sounded like a good movie to watch. He waited for Brendon to hang up before he started the movie, but as soon as it started he curled against Brendon's side and Brendon's arm went around his shoulders gracefully. About thirty minutes into the movie, the doorbell rang and Ryan paused the movie as Brendon got up to get the food and pay and tip the delivery guy. He came back to the couch with the food and they grabbed their own orders, going back into their cuddling positions.

They barely even paid attention to the rest of the movie as they spent their time joking about random things, and Ryan tried to teach Brendon how to actually eat with chopsticks. They were feeding each other bits of their own meals, laughing as Ryan's lo mein noodles fell right onto Brendon's chin instead of in his mouth and almost in tears as Brendon tried to toss a piece of orange chicken into Ryan's mouth but completely missed and hit him directly in the middle of his forehead. After finally finishing their food and cleaning up their messes, the movie was over and it was already after midnight. Ryan smiled at Brendon and tilted his head to the side. "Is this the part where you're supposed to convince me to join you in bed?"

Brendon laughed gently, reaching across the kitchen counter. "Just a moment," he said as he held out an open hand with a fortune cookie to him. "We have to read our fortunes first."

Ryan rolled his eyes but took the cookie from Brendon anyway, tearing the plastic and pulling out the small cookie. He looked at Brendon who nodded and then they were both cracking open the cookies and pulling out their fortunes. Brendon smiled softly, almost shyly, before looking up to see Ryan blushing furiously as he tried to hide his smile as he coughed gently. "W-What's yours say?"

Brendon kept his smile but shook his head gently. "You'll find out one day," he said as he stuck the slip of paper in his pocket before reaching for Ryan's hand. "Now, Ryan Ross, would you please accompany me to bed? I promise I don't hog blankets, and you can lay your head on my chest for as long as you want, and I don't kick."

Ryan laughed softly, taking Brendon's hand and allowing him to lead him to the bedroom. They each stripped down to their T-Shirts and boxers before climbing under the blankets and immediately gravitating toward each other. Both of their legs wrapped around each other's, and Brendon's arms made a protective encasing around Ryan's torso as he laid his head on Brendon's chest. "I hope I didn't bore you tonight," Brendon said into Ryan's soft tufts of hair.

Ryan looked up at Brendon and shook his head gently. "This was one of the best nights of my life," he whispered sincerely. "No obligations, I didn't have to socialize with people other than you, and I got to go home with the most handsome man in the room. What could be better than that?"

Brendon blushed and smiled before leaning down and molding his lips with Ryan's. They kissed for what had to have been minutes on minutes before Brendon pulled away and smiled at Ryan gently. "Goodnight, Ryan Ross," he whispered.

Ryan hummed in happiness, snuggling closer to Brendon's chest and tucking his head right under his chin. "Goodnight, Bren."