Ryden Oneshots

Scribbles And Butterflies

Ryan

Brendon wrote this name inside his notebook in the center of a random page. As soon as he wrote it, however, he scribbled over it until only he could know what lied beneath the layers of ink. He glanced over his shoulder, making sure no one had seen him write it.

Instantly, he felt stupid. Not only was there no one sitting near him in the coffee shop, no one would even care that he wrote it. It was just a name; four letters strung together that when pronounced produced two syllables. Ry-an. That’s it.

But to Brendon, that wasn’t it. Those four letters written together represented all that made him happy in the world.

Even music, the other love of his life, could be traced back to that one word. Brendon had always excelled in music, mastering a new instrument as soon as he picked it up. But ever since he met Ryan, music sounded just that much better to him. The music that Brendon made now had lyrics to go with it. Lyrics that came from a brilliant mind, a mind that Brendon loved and respected. His one guitar now had another to play along with it, making the sound fuller and richer.

Brendon sighed as he let his pen wander over the now black patch on the notebook in front of him Though Ryan was everything that made him happy, he was also everything that hurt him. As much as Brendon wanted him, he was fully convinced that he could never have him. No, they were friends and strictly that. More than just bandmates, sure, but just barely.

So Brendon kept everything inside by scribbling out a name, hiding it with more ink even though he wanted more than anything to write it in huge block letters for the entire world to see.

Suddenly, a hand shot out and grabbed the pen that he was scribbling with. He blinked and looked up, butterflies immediately filling his stomach. There Ryan sat in front of him, twirling the pen in his long fingers with a smirk on his face.

“Finally,” Ryan said. “I’ve been trying to get your attention for the last two minutes.”

Ryan glanced down to look at the notebook in front of Brendon. The only thing he saw was a dark blob in the center of a piece of paper. “Is that what was so interesting that you couldn’t hear me saying your name five times?”

Brendon hoped he wasn’t blushing as he too looked at the blob on the page of his notebook. He was somehow convinced that Ryan had some sort of superpower that allowed him to see through all the ink and discover his name written there. But Ryan had no such power so he wondered why Brendon was acting like he’d been caught with his hand in a cookie jar.

Ryan decided to break the awkward silence. “So I wrote some new lyrics today.”

With that, Brendon’s face brightened. “Do you have them with you?”

Ryan nodded and pulled out a folded, wrinkled paper from the back pocket of his jeans. He slid it over to Brendon who, upon taking it, accidentally brushed his finger against Ryan’s. This only made the butterflies in Brendon’s stomach flutter more, enough so that he busied himself with opening up the folded paper. He was too busy to notice the half-smile on Ryan’s face.

Brendon read through the lyrics a couple of times, the first time quickly to get the general feel of them, and then closely to catch the subtle nuances that were so unmistakably Ryan. Ryan studied Brendon’s face carefully as he read and was extremely disappointed when he couldn’t find anything. That is, until Brendon looked up with a smile on his face.

“These are amazing,” Brendon said, and Ryan let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “Have you started working on the music yet?”

Ryan nodded. “Only some of it. I kind of wanted your opinion first.” Brendon smiled at that. He felt happy knowing that Ryan had such high regards for him.