Work Text:
Spencer put his drumsticks down and Brent tossed his bass onto Spencer’s couch before rushing off to the bathroom.
“So, I think we can call it a day.” says Spencer, getting up from his stool and cleaning up some of the snack trash.
“I need to clean up so you guys can’t stay, sorry.” He continues, laughing softly.
Brendon nods and glances towards Ryan. This whole rehearsal there was something fighting at Brendon’s features, something he was silently begging Ryan to notice despite their newly gained friendship title. Ryan meets his eyes, still not able to read what’s going on in singer’s head.
“I’ll see you later, Spence.” Ryan smiles softly, his guitar already in his case.
Brendon’s quick to follow his leave, clearly wanting to say something.
“Ryan, hey wait up,” He whisper-shouts as he follows him out of Spencer’s garage hangout spot.
Ryan stops and turns to look at him,
“What’s up? You look like you’ve been dying to talk to me all practice.” His tone is almost cocky, like he was convinced Brendon thought he was the coolest guy around.
“Well I kinda— I guess so. I wanted to ask if you wanted to come to my place to hang out, if you’re not busy.” He scans Ryan’s face for any sign of rejection to his simple offer.
“Oh, yeah sure. What for? You gonna invite Brent too?”
“No, no I just wanna get to know you more. Like I’ve talked to Brent and Spencer enough but you’re just… you’re harder to read. If you need a better reason, my friend just dropped off some bud to me earlier today. You wanna roll up?” Brendon speaks quietly still, not wanting to get anyone else’s attention. Ryan’s lips curl into a smile and his eyes light up just ever so slightly, and Brendon knows then and there that he won’t be alone tonight.
“Fuck, yeah. Yeah let’s go.” Ryan speed walks to Spencer’s door, quickly walking to his car and throwing his guitar case in the backseat. Brendon follows quickly, jumping in his own car and looking out the window. Ryan pulls his car out of the driveway and pokes his head out the window to meet Brendon’s eyes, mouthing, ‘I’ll follow behind you’ and the younger boy nods, starting his route to his house from Spencer’s.
They drive the handful of minutes it takes to get from house to house, Brendon pulls into the empty driveway and Ryan parks on the curb. They get out of their cars and Ryan walks up to him. Ryan’s in skinny jeans and a too-tight band tee, covered by a track-style zip up. Brendon’s in a pair of nice fitting flared jeans with a band tee that was actually his size. He leads the taller boy up to the door before unlocking it and kicking his shoes off.
“Family’s out for tonight, went to visit a relative.” He clarifies. Ryan nods, taking his shoes off and looking around the house.
“The place looks nice.” He compliments, trying to fill the somewhat awkward silence.
Brendon shoots him a soft smile before rushing up the stairs, the brunette following close behind him. He swings his bedroom door open and they both step inside, there’s some band posters hung up on the walls, his bed is unmade and there’s some trash on his desk, but overall it was a good smoke spot. Ryan sits down in front of his bed, leaning his back against the bed frame.
“We’re smoking in your room?” He asks.
“Yeah, no one’s home. I’ll clear out the smell, don’t worry about it.”
Ryan nods, watching Brendon dig through his closet before pulling out a small box with a lock on it. He opens the lock with a code and there’s the stash in all its glory. He pulls out the bag of his new bud and a few rolling papers before locking it up and putting it back in his closet.
“Lock the door. Just in case.” Brendon glances at Ryan as he sets up his homemade rolling setup. Ryan walks on his knees to his door, locking and checking it’s locked before returning to his spot against his bed frame.
“How much do you smoke?” He asks Brendon, he’s clearly done this before, it’s like a routine to him.
“Oh, every day dude.” Brendon answers, a slight giggle in his voice. Ryan nods, smiling softly, that explains all the coughing at rehearsals. “How about you? You smoke?”
Ryan nods. “Yeah, not every day though. It’s hard for me to find people out here, my buddy who used to hook me up just moved to Tennessee, so that blows.”
The dark haired boy nods as Ryan talks, working on rolling up a joint.
“Well I get new bud pretty often, so if you ever wanna smoke just ask. It’s too quiet in here, you can turn on some music.” Brendon points over to the corner which is set up with a cd player and some speakers plugged in. Ryan crawls over to the setup, going through the bin of cds next to it. He pulls out a burnt cd of some Sublime songs.
“I keep meaning to get more into these guys.” He says, glancing at Brendon whose eyes light up upon seeing the cd selection.
“Oh dude, those are their best songs. Put it on.” By now he’s finished rolling one joint and he’s working on the second. Ryan takes the cd out of the case and puts it into the cd player, listening to the melodies starting to pour out of the speakers.
“Turn it up, Ryan, come on.” Brendon smiles.
Ryan turns up the speakers, feeling the floor vibrating with the beats and flowy rhythms. Brendon finishes rolling the second joint and gets up, opening his window all the way and grabbing a lighter from the window sill. He puts the joint in between his lips and lights it, inhaling it and blowing the smoke out the window before walking over to Ryan, sitting down next to him on the floor and passing it. Ryan takes the joint and presses it to his lips, taking a deep inhale, like he needed this. They go through the first joint, making small talk and listening to the cd they put on. Ryan was already starting to feel it, he forgot he technically had a tolerance break since he hasn’t been able to get his hands on anything. Brendon was getting up to get the second joint and all Ryan could do was stare, maybe he was too cocky to admit even to himself that he really enjoyed Brendon’s company. But like this, with the sun setting and the warm light hitting Brendon’s face, maybe he was ready to let some walls down.
Once the second joint is lit, Ryan scoots closer to Brendon, his eyes lingering on different parts of his room, different parts of him. The thick smoke swirls around their heads and through the window, the beats and melodies of the music surrounds them as they laugh, Brendon starting to feel his own high coming on.
“Hey, Ry?”
Ryan’s hazy eyes flick up to Brendon’s face at the use of his nickname.
“Yeah? You’ve never called me that before.” He laughs sweetly. Brendon smiles, tucking his knees up to his chest and laying his head on them.
“You’re really cool. I’m glad we get along.”
Ryan smiles at him softly, his eyes not leaving his. Brendon’s eyes subconsciously drop to Ryan’s lips, not just a normal look, there was want behind those hazy red eyes. But he quickly brought them back up.
“What was that?” Ryan pushes immediately.
Brendon looks away. “Nothing, shit, sorry I’m just— I’m not trying to be weird.”
Ryan puts a hand on Brendon’s shoulder, his eyes still not leaving his face.
“Brendon, if you want to kiss me, do it.” He says firmly, and Brendon’s eyes widen.
“I don’t… I don’t need to kiss you, that’s not what I invited you here for.”
“Brendon. I want to kiss you.”
“That’s the weed talking, Ryan. Please don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
But Ryan’s eyes meet his lips and his hand trails from his shoulder to cup his face and Ryan’s just so beautiful. Before he can do anything to pull back, he’s leaning in. He wants this, they both do.
Brendon can’t hold back anymore, he grabs the back of Ryan’s neck and presses his lips against his. Ryan follows his movements, his lips moving in their slow, sweet rhythm against each other. The song on Brendon’s cd hums behind them, ’I’d be a crazy crazy crazy—crazy fool, crazy fool… my love for you is so strong…’
Brendon moves to sit on his knees, his lips still connected with Ryan’s. He tangles his fingers in the hair on the nape of his neck, tugging softly without thinking. Ryan groans against his lips and Brendon pulls back.
“Fuck, holy shit, Ry, I’m so sorry this is fucking crazy.“
Ryan just laughs, his eyes glazed over and bloodshot. “Your lips are so soft Bren…” his tone is soft, almost dangerous. He leans back in, their lips brushing. He presses a teasing kiss to the corner of his mouth before grabbing his jaw and pulling him back against his lips. Brendon can’t believe this is real, he knows he’s high but he didn’t think he was *this* high. He kisses back anyway, leaning into Ryan’s touch.
Ryan brushes his tongue against Brendon’s lower lip and the younger boy’s mind goes blank. He parts his lips in response to Ryan’s silent request and Ryan wastes no time sliding his tongue through the opening. They move in sync, the music still humming behind them.
They pull back and pant softly, their lips brushing cd ends shortly after, and Ryan can’t help but huff out a laugh.
“Can I just stay the night? I’m not even gonna try driving like this.”
Brendon just nods, lost in thought about something. Ryan notices and pulls him into a hug, a rare occurrence for anyone. “I promise we’ll talk about this when we’re sober, Bren.” he says softly, and a weight lifts off of Brendon’s chest.
Brendon puts another cd on, recommending some music to Ryan. He finds himself with his head on Ryan’s lap, both of them talking and laughing about stories or random topics brought up.
“When I first met you, I thought you were a dick.” Brendon says, and Ryan laughs. “Good. That’s the impression I want to give people.”
“You’re not a dick though. I really like you.” Brendon adds quickly, looking up at Ryan. The other boy catches his eyes and gives him a soft smile, starting to run his fingers through his hair.
“I like you too.”
Ryan keeps bringing up new small things to talk about but Brendon gets sleepier and sleepier with every answer and eventually Ryan looks down again and he’s asleep. His full lips parted beautifully, his hair messy under his fingers and his chest rising and falling so peacefully. That’s the moment Ryan knew, it was him or no one.