21 Questions (Ryden)

Question 19 - B

Brendon was looking down at his juice pouch, shifting nervously under Ryan's gaze. He was chewing on his bottom lip. Ryan could barely see with the boy's hair covering half his face. Brendon would peak through his dark strands to confirm that, yep, Ryan was still staring.

"So um," Brendon started. He cleared his throat before continuing. "Why haven't you talked to me before? I mean at school. Why now and not before?" He mustered enough courage to look up at Ryan.

He had on a lazy smile. Brendon could see his eyes slowly moving over his face, stopping to meet his own brown eyes. He got caught in the moment, trying to read Ryan's thoughts through his hazel eyes. He turned away when he realized how long he'd been staring. Ryan let out a soft sigh.

"I was nervous," Ryan finally answered. Brendon turned to him.

"Nervous about what?" It was Ryan's turn to look away, head facing the opposite direction from Brendon. He brought a hand up and ran it through his hair letting it rest on the back of his neck for a moment.

"Talking to you."

"Afraid of what everyone else would say?" Brendon didn't mean for his voice to sound so bitter. He was relieved to hear Ryan chuckle.

"Like I care what they think."

"Then why?" Brendon leaned forward, attempting to see Ryan's reaction better.

"I was worried I'd do something stupid." Brendon slipped from his seat from leaning forward too much. He caught himself on the seat in front of him. He forced himself not to blush especially when a hand landed on his arm, guiding him back to his own seat.

"Like doing something like that?"

"Yeah," Ryan laughed softly. "Or tripping over my own feet, not being able to talk right or stutter. I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of you."

"You didn't want to do what I just did." Brendon felt himself melting when he heard Ryan's laugh. It was sweet and warm and now he couldn't stop his blush.

He didn't want to face Ryan, but his arm suddenly felt so heavy. Managing to keep his face low, he saw Ryan's hand still on him. The boy quickly withdrew his hand with a nervous chuckle. Braving another peak, Brendon caught a light blush on Ryan's cheeks he'd never seen before.

"I-I didn't think it was embarrassing. It was kinda cute," Ryan mumbled. Brendon almost didn't hear the ending with how softly he was talking. But he did and he managed a smirk.

"Singing on top of a table wasn't embarassing either." They both shared a small laugh at the memory. Ryan shook his head.

"I've performed in front of the whole school before, not singing, but it wasn't embarassing. Having you as my only audience is more nerve wracking than anything."

"How come?" The questions were just ready to spill from Brendon's mouth.

"You know I think your turn's up," Ryan said, nudging Brendon's side playfully. Brendon leaned back. crossed his arm and started pouting.

"I guess." He just wanted to know what Ryan thought about him already.

"You gotta play fair B," Ryan joked.

"Yeah yeah. Just go."

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A/N:

Sorry I didn't update last night. I had a killer migraine and couldn't keep my eyes open for longer than 20 seconds ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I still have a headache so hopefully it'll go away by the time I update tonight 🤞🏼

𝐽𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑡, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑦 ❤
~𝐽𝑎𝑦