Among the Enemy (Ryden)

Survivor's Guilt

Brendon woke up the next day to some voices from the other room. He didn't think much of it until the events from the previous day came rushing back to him. He sat up recognizing the room he was introduced to less than twelve hours ago.

"It's okay." Brendon looked to the side to see Ryan snuggled in the blankets. Brendon could barely see his eyes peaking from under the sheets. He was able to see Ryan's tousled bed head. He wondered for a moment how long Ryan had been watching him. "Dave's just talking to Zack."

A quick image of Zack popped into Brendon's head. Ryan was eyeing Brendon as the man nodded and took a calming breath.

"How'd you sleep." Brendon relaxed back into the headboard and ran his hand through his hair.

"Good I guess. The best I could, you know, under the circumstances." Ryan nodded. "What about you?" Ryan furrowed his eyebrows.

"I wasn't the one who was dragged away from everything they've ever known yesterday," Ryan said bluntly. Brendon winced. "Sorry," Ryan added when he saw Brendon's reaction.

"I was asking because that's normally what you do when someone asks a question like that, you ask it back. I guess I just wanted to keep things as normal as I can." He offered Brendon an uneasy smile.

"That's fair. Um.. I slept fine," Ryan said with a shrug. Brendon watched Ryan as the other pushed back the covers and stretched. Brendon looked down at his hands to keep his eyes off the strip of Ryan's skin that was momentarily uncovered during the stretch.

"Just fine?" He asked to his hands. Ryan nodded and let out a deep sigh.

"I have trouble sleeping. Basic things like insomnia, sometimes night terrors. I can't really sleep alone, so it's nice to have someone like Dave who will let me sleep with them and won't be weird about it." Brendon nodded.

"So does Dave like... hold you while you guys sleep?" He frowned at the hint of jealous he felt at someone else holding Ryan at night. He shook the thought out of his head and looked back over at Ryan.

"Sometimes. Depends if I'm having a bad night."

"Was last night a bad night?" Ryan chuckled softly.

"You ask a lot of questions." Brendon felt his face go red and looked away.

"Sorry."

"It's fine." He could still hear the amusement in Ryan's voice. There was a period of awkward silence before Dave opened the bedroom door. He looked like he just got out of bed before going to talk to Zack. His hair was a mess and he only had on a shirt and boxers.

"What did Zack want?" Ryan quickly asked.

"Just telling me that he's gonna take my place when they go out today. Saw this as an opportunity to monitor Kenny." Brendon laughed when he saw Ryan grimace at the name. The two looked at Brendon almost surprised. Brendon would've guessed they forgot he was there for a moment.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I'm getting the impression that no one really likes him." The two shook their heads.

"Not really. He's a cocky asshole and for your best interest, I suggest keeping away from him," Dave warned. Brendon nodded. He'd listen to just about anything Dave told him. Dave moved back to the bed and stretched his body over the covers.

"We should probably start getting ready," Ryan suggested. Dave rolled over and groaned into the sheets. Brendon felt himself smile when he heard Ryan giggled at Dave. The smaller man began poking Dave's side.

"Five more minutes," Dave mumbled. Ryan moved to lay on top of Dave and continued poking him.

Effortlessly, Dave rolled over again, covering Ryan's body with his own. Ryan let out a grunt as the weight of Dave took the air from his lungs. He pushed up to get Dave off him, but didn't have the strength to do so.