hidden hearts ♡ ryden {COMPLETED}

♡seventeen♡

Brendon walked out of his house the day after his dream with Ryan to catch up to his friends that were waiting for him at the end of his driveway. The air was cool, prompting Brendon to grab a jacket before he headed out the door. It was an overcast day, the light gray clouds matching the color of the slightly visible sky.

Seeing his friends had reminded him of what ensued in the dream, causing him to blush. Not that he saw Nicole and Patrick in that way, just the fact he was going to tell them what happened. Then again, he should wait for lunch, because Awsten wouldn't be the only one hearing the news for the first time. And Brendon would save himself of becoming embarrassed twice in one day.

Once he reached them, Nicole teased, "Jeez, Bren, it's not that cold outside. Why's your face all red?"

The comment caused Brendon to blush harder, he could feel his ears get warmer. "No reason."

"Yeah, sure," she drawled.

"Are you calling me a liar?" Brendon asked.

"Well, I ain't calling you a truther." Brendon shoved Nicole off of the sidewalk and onto the road. "Hey!" She walked back up as Brendon was shrugging his shoulders. "Seriously though, what's up?"

"Look, I'll tell you guys at lunch. I don't want Awsten to miss out on the important update in my life," he told her.

"Are you sure it's not because you don't want to tell us twice and get embarrassed twice?" Patrick teased. Fuck, Patrick's good.

"Yes, I'm sure," he lied, teeth gritting and face reddening. He really needed to stop thinking about the dream.

"Okay, whatever," Nicole dismissed.

Today was going to be a long day. Not because Brendon dreaded telling his friends (okay, maybe that was one of the reasons, but he wouldn't admit that), but because he didn't know if seeing Ryan would cause blood to rush somewhere that it wasn't supposed to at school.

♡♡

Brendon was outside for gym class today because his coach was a dumbass who decided it was normal to have kids run around the track in fifty-degree weather. Luckily for him though, Awsten was in his class and he always had sweaters of some sort in his gym locker. He gave one to Brendon before they headed outside because Brendon left the jacket he brought to school with him in his actual locker.

The two jogged around at about the same pace, mainly to talk to each other.

"So I have something to tell you, but it's got to wait until lunch," Brendon said.

"Really?" Awsten asked. Brendon nodded and then the purple haired boy continued, "Did you tell Nicole and Patrick yet?" There was a slight crease in his forehead as he waited for an answer.

"No, I didn't. If I did, I would probably be telling you about it now."

The crease on Awsten's forehead disappeared. "Oh, yeah, that makes sense, but thanks."

"For what?"

"I usually feel left out because you tell them things on your way to school. Since I don't walk to school, I always feel less important when you tell them things before me," he admitted. He kept his line of vision to whatever was in front of him. Brendon could tell he felt embarrassed.

"I don't think of you as being below them, and I don't think I ever would. Unless maybe you killed someone or did something extremely dumb," he rambled. "Honestly though, I usually tell them things first that aren't super important because it would be awkward to not talk about anything on our walk to school, y'know? But don't worry, what I have to tell you guys is actually important, and I don't want you to be the last one to know."

"Thanks, man," Awsten said, stopping them both and scooping up Brendon in a bear hug.

"Aws, let go, I can't breathe," Brendon wheezed.

"Oh, sorry." He let go of Brendon right as Ryan ran past them. The raven noticed the brunette stealing a quick glance in their direction before looking away and continued to run.

It's like he forgot about what happened last night.

♡♡

As Brendon was on his way to lunch, the butterflies, no, bats, in his stomach felt like they were growing in size or maybe they drank caffeine to make them go crazy. Part of it was because of the news he had to tell his friends. The other part was worry.

Worry that the dream was just his dream. Worry that his mind made up everything. Worry that Ryan didn't apologize at all.

What was Brendon even talking about? It had to have happened. The sparks between them, the- the fucking electricity. He couldn't have dreamed all of those feelings, right?

Shaking his head of his thoughts, he proceeded to sit down at the table his friends occupied during the current lunch period. When he sat down, they bombarded him with questions, so Brendon started from the top and didn't leave anything out. Even if he hesitated about telling them about making out with Ryan, Brendon still told them.

They all gasped, and before they could start asking more questions, Brendon followed up with, "Now, I don't know if it's legit. I swore it was this morning, but I saw Ryan look at me in third period, and, and it was like he completely forgot about what happened." Ryan barely even glanced at Brendon. Brendon's mind couldn't have made it up though, he's not that creative. And the kisses, fuck, they felt unworldly. He couldn't have dreamt that.

"Did you not look it up to make sure it was real?" Patrick asked.

"No, I didn't have time to this morning," Brendon responded.

Patrick took out his phone from his jeans' pocket and quickly typed some things into it. "Well," he started, looking at his phone's screen, "it looks like you can dream with your soulmate when your relationship with them is severely damaged. So," he looked across from him to look at Brendon, "you can stop worrying."

"Thank fuck," Brendon whispered. He drummed his hands on the table. "Now that's out of the way, I'm hungry enough for 'food.'" He used air quotes as he pushed himself from the table to get in line for garbage disguised as food.

After he got his trash food and sat back down at his table, Awsten looked anxious to share something to the table.

"Guys, I found my soulmate," the purple haired boy spoke. He bit his lip as his eyes shifted around a bit. "I've been writing to him for a few months, and, well, he lives in the next town over. We've even gone on a few dates."

"Oh my God! Aws, that's great!" Nicole exclaimed.

"Why does everyone's soulmate live in Vegas?" Patrick grumbled, crossing his arms and pouting.

Ignoring him, Awsten continued gushing about his soulmate. "He's really cute! He has brown hair that swoops across his head, and it's so soft. Oh! And he has a nose ring and it looks really good on him. He has really pretty blue eyes, and he works at a flower shop. He's so obsessed with Zelda, and it's absolutely adorable," he rambled.

"Hey, Awsten?" Brendon looked to his right at his friend.

"Yeah?"

"That's gay."

"Fuck you."

"Okay, okay, chill," Nicole interrupted the two. "What's his name?" she asked, looking at Awsten and biting into her apple.

"Geoff Wigington," he smiled, big and bright.

A/N: Thank you for all of the support and interaction when I haven't been uploading. It means a lot when I see new people voting/commenting/reading this story. I say it almost every time I upload but it really means a lot, so thank you.

Jon's new EP (Impending Bloom) is amazing. "Like an Animal" is just, wow.