Well I Think I'm Gonna Burn In Hell // Ryden demon AU

Chapter 3

AN: *sigh* Comments would be greatly appreciated.

That night, Jon, Ryan, and Spencer spoke in hushed whispers over a box of pizza. By the end of the night, Ryan had a pounding headache, and retreated to bed earlier than usual. He could hear Spencer and Jon shuffling around downstairs. Ryan turned restlessly in his bed, sleep unable to find him. He lay awake, staring at the ceiling for god knows how long, until his eyes were sore and finally, he was pulled into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Ryan woke to a figure standing at the edge of his bed. Blearily he blinked, rubbing his eyes, and made to roll over. With a thump, he rolled off the edge of the bed and onto the ground.

"Oomph."

The figure blinked at him.

Ryan started. What had happened last night? Oh. Brendon. Oh god. Oh god.

"Hi." Brendon said, looking down at Ryan, who was still tangled in a mass of blankets.

Ryan's cheeks inexplicably flushed as he struggled to stand up. He quickly covered himself with a blanket and pointed to the door.

"Out. I need to change." He snapped.

Brendon just shrugged and headed out, Ryan slamming the door closed after him.

As Ryan walked downstairs, he checked for anything that was out of the ordinary, even the smallest thing. To his disappointment, there was nothing he could blame on Brendon, who was sitting at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal. Brendon gestured towards another bowl of cereal beside him, mouth full.

"I thought demons didn't have to eat." Ryan mumbled, still sleepy.

Brendon grinned through his mouthful and announced, "I enjoy human food."

Ryan was pretty sure that half the bowl of cereal had come out with his words too. Brendon swallowed the cereal and looked around. "Sorry."

"Whatever." Ryan gumbled, taking a seat and digging into his own bowl of cereal.

"Y'know," Brendon continued. "I've always wondered what was up with your friends. Are they together or something?"

Ryan huffed, and ignored Brendon. Until he received a poke between his shoulder blades.

"I DON'T WANT YOU HERE. I DIDN'T CHOOSE TO HAVE YOU LIVE WITH ME. I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOUR QUESTIONS." Ryan shouted.

For a moment, Ryan thought he could see hurt flash briefly across Brendon's face. He blinked, and Brendon's expression was perfectly blank. Brendon wordlessly stood up, rinsed out his bowl, and went upstairs. Ryan was left at the table with an odd feeling in his chest.

Several days passed in awkward silence, with a few stilted "sorry"s when they bumped into each other. Occasionally, Jon or Spencer would call to check in on Ryan, ask how he was doing. Every time, Ryan would glance upstairs at the closed guest room door and reply "fine". They settled into a kind of schedule of avoiding each other, Ryan waking up to go to work, and Brendon quietly avoiding him. Ryan felt increasingly bad for what he'd said to Brendon, who really wasn't that bad anyways.

After Ryan had gotten back from work, he finally gathered up the courage to knock on Brendon's door. After several attempts, Ryan gave up and walked away, only to hear the lock click open. Ryan fidgeted with his hands, oddly nervous. He cleared his throat.

"I'm sorry," he said, still looking at the ground.

Brendon nodded stiffly, and retreated back to his room, leaving his door open.

"Wait! Is- is that all you're gonna do?" Ryan called.

Brendon whirled around, a fire Ryan had never seen in his eyes. "What did you expect?" He snarled. "I know you don't want me here."

Ryan backed away. "I- I didn't mean that."

Brendon huffed and shook his head. "Is that why you've been ignoring me these past few days?"

Ryan looked at Brendon incredulously. Sure, he'd been ignoring Brendon, but he wasn't the one who'd sealed himself in his room for 3 days straight.

"You were the one who locked yourself in your room!"

Brendon's expression seemed to soften. "I was warding the house. Against demons, anything that could be able to find me. It takes a lot of concentration. I'm sorry, I should have told you."

Ryan blinked in surprise. "It- It's okay. I made dinner, would you like some?" He offered tentatively.

Brendon smiled for the first time in days. "You know I can't refuse food."

And Ryan couldn't help but smile back.

Ryan slowly got used to Brendon's presence in the house, and even started to enjoy his company a little. He liked Brendon's smiles, his laughs, and the way he would always keep a conversation going. He liked the way Brendon's eyelashes cast shadows over his cheeks when the light was just right.

Brendon laughed a lot, Ryan noticed. He laughed at the smallest of things, and even when he made mistakes. Which was, surprisingly, less frequent than Ryan would have thought. Brendon seemed to know a lot about human society as a whole, and even had a fake ID with him, but seemed to be clueless about anything pop culture. Once, late at night, Ryan had found him playing with the TV remote, flicking through the channels absentmindedly. Ryan had wandered downstairs in his pyjamas, about to get a glass of water, when he saw the glow of the TV screen in the living room. When he'd asked what Brendon was doing, he just turned around, grinned, and said

"This is a pretty neat light you have. It plays moving images."

So Ryan had to explain what a TV was to Brendon, who'd seemed both fascinated and aloof at the same time.

"I knew humans were smart, but using invisible waves to make images? I never thought that would happen!" He remarked, still staring at the TV, head tilted to the side.

Ryan had huffed in amusement and said, "Wait until you find out about computers and phones."

Brendon blinked, smiled that smile of his and turned back around.

Ryan blushed, told Brendon to turn the TV off so he could sleep, and went back upstairs, the glass of water forgotten.

Jon and Spencer still called from time to time.

"It seems like you're getting along pretty well with Brendon." Spencer remarked. Ryan hummed absentmindedly and twirled the phone cord around his finger.

"How so?" He asked, looking out the window to where Brendon was basking in the late afternoon sun.

"You mention him a lot. I swear, half of your words are Brendon this, Brendon that. It's like you have a crush on him or something."

Ryan snapped back to reality, cheeks flaming

"N-no. He's just a friend."

He could hear Spencer laughing at the other end of the line.

Fuck.

"So what about you and Jon?"