21 Questions (Ryden)

Question 21 - B

Brendon fidgeted with the sleeve of the hoodie. He spared a glance at Ryan every so often, thinking through the different questions he could ask.

"We're gonna graduate before you can get a question out," Ryan joked. Brendon wacked him across the chest.

"Shut up. I'm thinking." Ryan chuckled and watched Brendon focused on his thoughts. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and his lips were pursed. He found the soft humming noise the boy unconsciously made to be adorable. Brendon turned to him with a curious smile.

"If you were to die at this very moment, what regrets would you have?"

"Wow that's uh," Ryan ran his hand through his hair and leaned his head back. "I don't know."

"You wouldn't have one regret?" Ryan thought back to all his high school experiences, every game, class, hookup, all of it. He made many mistakes, but not any that he would regret.

"I've never been one to pass up an opportunity." Brendon frowned, not satisfied.

"It's hard to believe that you can't think of one thing you'd regret. I mean who doesn't have regrets especially at your age. I know I'd regret so many things if I were to die. I'm sure there's got to be something," Brendon rambled on.

Ryan managed to tune out Brendon nonsense and watched him instead. He was very animated, waving his hands with every word he spoke. He didn't make much eye contact with Ryan as he talked. He noticed how one eye happened to squint just a little more than the other. He wanted to question how he got the scar on his eyebrow.

"Sorry," Brendon murmured, knocking Ryan out of his thoughts.

"For what?" Brendon looked like a sad puppy who'd just been yelled at. His head hung low. He sunk into the hoodie, making himself appear smaller.

"Rambling. I know a lot of people hate it and I should just shut up so sorry." Ryan frowned. He thought Brendon's rambling was adorable. It gave him a sense of what went on in the boy's head.

"People tell you to shut up?" Brendon shrugged, still not looking at Ryan. The older felt a sudden wave of anger build inside him. Who would tell this sweet cinnamon roll to shut up? Ryan was willing to hurt anyone who dared to upset his boy.

Ryan smiled at his thoughts of watching Brendon get dramatic with basic actions. When he was comfortable, Brendon turned into the cutest ball of energy Ryan's seen. He'd be happy to parade around the halls with Brendon on his arm.

Ryan froze for a moment, the reality hitting him. He couldn't do that. As much as he liked the visual, Brendon wasn't his. Hell. He hasn't even mustered up the courage to tell Brendon he liked him up front. As much as he'd like it, Brendon wasn't his.

"You," Ryan whispered. Brendon peaked up.

"What about me?"

"You're my one regret." Brendon eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. He turned away quickly not wanting Ryan to see the thin layer of tears forming.

"Oh. I-I'm sorry." Ryan was still processing his thoughts, not catching onto what he'd just said. When it finally hit him, he was fast to try and fix it.

"No! Not like that! That's not what I meant!" Brendon shook his head.

"It's okay." Ryan grabbed Brendon's hand, squeezing it tightly.

"I didn't mean for it to come out that way. I don't regret talking to you or anything like that I promise." Brendon sniffed softly.

"What did you mean then?" Ryan took a deep breath and laced his fingers through Brendon's.

"I mean I regret." He bit his lip, nervous to speak his next words. Brendon looked at him, face half cover from the hoodie. "I regret not being with you." Brendon's eyes widened in shock. "Not coming up to talk to you sooner, acting like an ass. I um." Ryan looked down at their connect hands and blushed.

"I like you Bren and if I died right now, I'd regret not showing you how much I actually like you."

"Are you joking?" Brendon whispered. Ryan shook his head. Brendon let out a soft sigh. Ryan's stomach knotted tighter with each second that remained silent.

"I can't believe it."

"What?" Ryan almost pulled his hand from Brendon's, not able to handle the stress of the situation.

"The Ryan Ross likes me like oh my god," Brendon said in a high pitched valley girl voice. Ryan let Brendon go instantly and turned away. Brendon laughed beside him, making him feel stupid for answering the way he did.

"Come on Ryan don't do that." Ryan just huffed. Brendon grabbed Ryan's hand again, locking their fingers together. "Hey," he said in a softer voice that Ryan couldn't ignore. "Sorry. The moment was just getting a little intense and I didn't know how to respond." Ryan was the one laughing now.

"You're telling me that your first thought is to respond sarcastically to something that scared the shit out of me." Brendon gave a shy smile and nodded.

"I'm awkward and don't handle situations well." Ryan shook his head and squeezed Brendon's hand.

"I can't believe I like you." Brendon beamed at him.

"I can't believe it either." They kept their hands locked with no intention of letting go soon. "Your turn. Last one. Make it count."

---

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