Ryan thought maybe Brendon would sympathize with his situation if he knew he was just worried, not trying to be a demanding jerk or anything, but it seemed like he didn't really care (most likely 'cause even if Ryan worried about his safety, he never could summon the energy to mind; Ryan knew he wasn't being malicious). The sulking was kind of familiar. He got it when he spent too long in his office, or he'd been out all day for too long without texting him enough, or any scenario where he was naturally busy and otherwise preoccupied. Usually he could laugh it off eventually - at Brendon's expense, which didn't help matters, but at least Ryan lost the tension he felt - but in this case Brendon had put himself in the line of danger seemingly on purpose, and. Still. Poor Dallon. He figured the imposing amount of high notes and vocal acrobatics Brendon was doing in the beginning was to achieve the same thing, Ryan's attention, and when it didn't work he moved onto worse schemes. If only he'd looked up that first time.

It was weird, because Brendon wasn't really [i]hypocritical[/i] necessarily - after all, Ryan didn't have the same dissatisfied need for someone to praise him verbally or otherwise, so their situations were worlds apart - but he sometimes did similar things. When Ryan came too close while he wasn't feeling it (probably overheating) and shrugged him off, or when Ryan woke up and realized they'd either separated by a few feet in bed or Brendon had just gone to the couch altogether. That sort of thing Ryan was nearly as dramatic about as Brendon was now, probably, even though he knew there was a fair reason behind it other than 'my husband doesn't want to he near me' or something. But in their case, Ryan had reasons for not following him around like a lovesick puppy all day, too, and Brendon not picking it up was immensely frustrating.

When Ryan voiced his worries, Brendon appeared to brush it off without giving thought to it. [i]Whatever you say. I don’t need you breathing down my neck all the time.[/i] Ryan blinked at him, dumbfounded, half because he was offended by how flippant he was being, and half confused because Ryan 'breathing down his neck all the time' should realistically qualify as a sort of attention, no? Evidently Brendon had specific tastes, though. He didn't bother questioning it, just reminded Brendon of who encouraged him to be more attentive to his job. [i]I didn’t think you’d actually do it.[/i] He looked a little bit remorseful now, like he hadn't wanted this, and Ryan wondered what he thought would happen. That he'd come to the hotel and Ryan would forget everything in favor of showering him with affection? Surely he didn't intentionally provoke an argument. Considering it looked like he was kind of over his own manufactured disagreement, though, Ryan supposed Brendon was kind of crazy enough to do that.

[i]You can’t act above all that now. You didn’t seem to have a problem with that until- this tour. You’re perfectly capable of playing and-[/i] Ryan stared expectantly for a good few seconds until he came to terms with the fact that Brendon had found a fundamental flaw in his own side of the argument. He didn't look smug, or anything; in fact a little more tired, shaking his head somewhat. If Brendon looked sick of all this a few moments ago and was now unable to make excuses for himself, maybe it was time to cut this short; forgive and forget. But that was what he usually did. Ryan wasn't sure that just letting go of it would keep it from happening again, but... that was [i]so[/i] much easier than trying to 'fix' Brendon. This was just a quirk that they had to deal with sometimes.

His disbelief about Brendon acting out like this over wanting a kiss (metaphorically standing in for all kinds of affection, of course, but Ryan made it out to be far more unreasonable this way) was kind of funny after a few seconds of initially being mad about it. He tried not to laugh or anything [i]too[/i] stupid, though, figuring Brendon would either take it to heart or it'd seem like he wasn't serious about any of this. [i]Why, is that too much to ask?[/i] Ryan smiled for a few moments, amused, and then remembered he was supposed to be pissed off. Mostly he was thinking more about how wonderfully [i]weird[/i] his husband was, and then Brendon answered. [i]Yeah, pretty much. It’s better than me not caring, Ryan- it’s not like I was asking for the fucking earth.[/i] He wasn't sure that it [i]was[/i] better, but anyway he was still sort of smirking at the prospect of Brendon's tantrum coming from a provocation like that, so he didn't directly argue. [b]"No, you're right,"[/b] he said easily, figuring being agreeable even clearly without meaning it would probably throw him off. [b]"This is a reasonable reaction to, uh... me not kissing you, whenever I was supposed to."[/b] He shrugged - he actually genuinely had no idea what his cue for that was meant to be, he'd busied himself so much.

However, at Ryan's suggestion he just be virtually entirely subservient to Brendon, he turned more arrogant - Ryan had given him ammunition for it, anyway. [i]Yeah, I mean, you should be flattered.[/i] He crossed his arms over his chest to try to distract from the fact that he was still dangerously close to cracking up. He knew Brendon was dead serious, but. It was all so... trivial, it almost sounded like he was joking. [i]It’s not like there’s a shortage of people who would be willing.[/i] He couldn't even get offended by that like he usually would. [b]"I'm very flattered,"[/b] he replied, sarcasm as low as possible in his voice, but even if it was undetectable the constantly suppressed grin on his face probably give him away. His body language was maybe even worse than any response he could give Brendon.

Throwing 'I love you' into the fighting ring while you weren't engaged in very friendly conversation was never a good idea, but it felt like he needed to assure Brendon of it for whatever reason. [i]Yeah, sure you do.[/i] Ryan studied him closely for a moment, feeling his chest sink and the side-smile on his face fade minutely. He knew he wasn't serious - nothing he'd said thus far was. It just sucked to hear. [b]"Yeah, I do. And you know it, so don't act like that,"[/b] he said after the pause, unfolding his arms and regaining his surety. He decided he'd humor Brendon, just 'cause it was all still clearly kind of funny to him. [b]"Okay, so what am I supposed to do now? I'll make up for it, just tell me what you want."[/b] Waiting for the punchline, Ryan stepped closer, working the scant centimeters he had over Brendon just so he could bow his head and look at him quizzically. He figured he couldn't lose with this approach - either he'd not come up with anything at all or it'd be something equally as amusing as this entire situation had become.