when the day met the night || ryden

he looked like he was barely hanging on

☼

I stood in the pantry in search for something to snack on. "Where are the salt and vinegar chips?" I muttered, digging through the pile of food I had thought was hiding the bag of chips. "Right, I ate them all." I groaned before walking out of the pantry and shutting the door behind me.

I began to look through the fridge. "Hey, we still have Capri-Suns!" I smiled as I reached for the juice. I ripped the straw from its wrapper and poked it through the little hole.

Taking small sips of my Capri-Sun, I rummaged through the pantry once more. I reached for a bag of bread to make a sandwich, but froze once I heard my name being shouted from the living room.

     Ryan.

       I quickly set my Capri-Sun down and rushed out of the kitchen. "Ry!" I yelled before getting on the floor next to the couch he was laying on. "Holy shit, are you okay?" I asked. Noticing that his face was pale and sweaty, I put my hand on his forehead to see if he was hot. He nodded, obviously afraid of something. "Damn, you're sweaty. What happened?" I wiped my hand on my pants, trying to rid the sweat off of it. "Nightmare." He squeaked.

"Ry, I'm here. It wasn't real. You'll be okay." I wrapped my hand around his in an attempt to reassure him, not thinking of it in anyway other than trying to make him feel better. I let go of his sweaty palm and stood up. "Are you hungry? I can make us food." I asked him, remembering the sandwich I was about to make. He shook his head as he looked disgusted at the thought of food. "Okay, well, if you're hungry, just tell me." I sat on the other end of the couch. "Okay, thank you." He whispered before looking down.

     My sandwich could wait.

     I can't just eat while my best friend isn't feeling good.

     "Hey, if it'll make you feel any better, I could try and talk to Dallon for you." I suggested. "What would that do? Convince you to never talk to me, disappear from me right in front of me?" He spoke with a bitter tone. "Ry, you know I'd never do that." I responded. "You don't know that." He muttered. "Yes I do, we've been best friends for years. Do you really think that one person is gonna break our friendship?" I asked. Ryan shrugged.

     "Hey, I'm back." My mom came into the house. "Hey mom." I waved. "Ryan, how are you feeling?" She sat down next to Ryan and began looking through a grocery bag. He shrugged. "He's not feeling too good." I told her. "Do you think you can go back home tonight or do I need to drive you? You can just stay here, too, that'd be best for you." My mom brushed one of Ryan's curls away from his face. "I think I might stay if I can." Ryan mumbled. "You can stay for as long as you want, Ryan." She smiled. "Thank you, Mrs. Urie." He smiled back, shocking us in the process. "Mrs. Urie?" I raised an eyebrow. "What happened to just calling me Grace or mom?" My mom chuckled. "Just felt right." He shrugged.

-

"Brendon, Ryan, I'm going to sleep, do you want to sleep down here or do you guys need help getting to Brendon's room?" My mom asked. I looked over to Ryan and waited for an answer. "I think I can get up there without a problem, thank you." He nodded. "It's no problem, I'm here whenever you need me." She smiled before walking upstairs. "Thank you." Ryan called out.

"Do you want to go to my room?" I asked. "Yeah, that'd be nice." He nodded. "Okay." I stood up and began to walk, stopping at the first step and turning to look at Ryan. He rubbed his head at first, but then started walking to the direction of the stairs. "You can keep going, I know how to walk." He rolled his eyes with a smile, making me chuckle.

     We both made our way up the stairs and into my room. "Are you tired?" I asked. "Not really." He shook his head. "Okay." I nodded.

     The two of us sat there for awhile, not knowing what to talk about.

     "Do you really want to try and talk to Dallon?" Ryan spoke up. "Well, it depends on what you think," I shrugged, "do you want me to?" Ryan let out a sigh. "I don't know, it's just, Dallon can do some pretty crazy things. He beat the shit out of me today, but that's not that crazy. He's still pretty powerful and can do some bad shit, I'm just worried about what might happen." He looked down at his feet.

     "Ry, relax, I don't think he'll do any harm. From what I think, he might just resort to violent tendencies." I explained, hoping that what I said was true. "Wow, look at you Bren, using big words." Ryan snickered. "Shut up, dude." I lightly punched him, making us both laugh. "Why do you think Dallon hates me?" Ryan asked. "I don't think he hates you, you're one of the best people out there, he probably might just have a hard time expressing himself." I shrugged. "Well, it's pretty easy for him to act like a dick." Ryan mumbled, making me chuckle.

     "Don't worry Ry, I'll try talking to him." I smiled. "Be careful, I don't want you to get beat up like me." He gave me a worried, yet thankful, expression. "I know how to talk to him, Ry, he probably won't hit me or anything." I tried to reassure him.

     "Are you sure?"

     "I'm sure."

     "Okay, well, if you get hurt, don't run to me and tell me I should've warned you." He spoke with a sarcastic tone. "Oh, don't worry, I will." I smiled. "You're so dumb." Ryan laughed. "Not as dumb as you." I lightly hit him. "No, you." He lightly pushed me.

     After spending a while laughing, we calmed down and laid down. "You think you can go to school tomorrow?" I asked. "Yeah, probably, but if I can't then it's honestly a miracle." He shrugged. "Alright." I yawned. Ryan must've noticed I was getting tired, because he stood up and turned off the lights before laying back down.

     No matter how hard I tried, my eyelids would not stay open. Slowly, I gave into the melatonin rushing through my head and let myself go to sleep.

     "Good night, Bren." I heard Ryan whisper. "Good night, Ry." I mumbled before I fully entered a much needed sleep.