As it turns out, things are far more difficult to organise yourself in the music industry. Ryan was once able to do it, considering he'd been the one to put together his own band and publicize all their demos and organize the record deal, but that was years ago and things changed fast. And he'd had a group of people to fall back on then anyway - even if things had gone south, it wasn't like he'd been alone. Maybe in a larger sense he wasn't now, really, but he was the only creative force behind all of his new work, not even Brendon had a hand in any of it besides moral support (or if he heard Ryan practicing through the walls and shouted 'change the key' or 'you're out of tune' or something like that... maybe that [i]did[/i] earn him creator's credit after all). Anyway. Ryan's situation was high risk.

So instead of relying on locals or [i]himself[/i], god forbid, Ryan had to travel to find collaborators. Music producers were readily available pretty much anywhere, hell, he could've asked his own husband or closest friends to produce for him given their own success, but he needed unbiased professionalism if he was to really make anything he was proud of. He didn't doubt anyone other than himself, as much as it sounded otherwise. Ryan may be nitpicky as ever but it extended to his own creation, too; he and Brendon had only recently stopped making their music collaboratively and he had been the one to separate from their big name, so of course whatever new thing he made had to be perfect or at least gripping. That said, he eventually bit the bullet, decided it was time to visit NYC to explore the wider range of people to work with.

The hard part of that wasn't what usually turned people away from travel, like the expenses or the consumed time, nothing like that. Ryan was just ridiculously reliant on a close proximity to Brendon pretty much at all times. On the occasion he wasn't playing shows with Brendon and therefore was unlikely to see him even come home at night (or, worse, if Brendon went on tour), it was basically unbearable, they were that co-dependent. Was it unhealthy? Probably. Mostly it didn't pose a problem, though, 'cause at least they weren't the opposite way, unable to stand each other or something. Ryan would blame it on the 'year not to be spoken of' - when they thought they wouldn't see each other again at all - but in truth he'd been opposed to spending time away from Brendon even before that, no matter whether they were romantically involved or not. They just clicked, and it was hard to let people go on that basis whether you were leaving temporarily or not.

Thankfully whenever they did have to go their separate ways, both of them were on the same page of being stupidly clingy. Ryan thought he was the one obsessed normally, when they did see each other daily, but was proven otherwise whenever he took a trip or Brendon did. First it was at the door, where they'd grab each other and hang on as long as they could, and this time Ryan had to explain he was going to miss his flight repeatedly until he actually was cutting the line when Brendon let him go. Then the texts, [i]call me when you're past TSA,[/i] [i]call me when you're boarding,[/i] [i]call me when you land,[/i] and then when he did call it was all '[i]was your flight okay - how close are you to the hotel - I miss you.[/i]' Which Ryan would laugh or sigh at if only he didn't do the exact same thing with Brendon and reciprocate all of it with equal amounts of enthusiasm/lack thereof. He was just glad he hadn't used minutes on his phone since 2010, 'cause if he did, he'd run out on his first day away.

In New York he met up with about ten different producers and didn't like any of them. Eventually he had to settle with the fact that he was indeed blessed with the ability to self-produce, although it was sort of costly and didn't allow for as much outside input, but anyway that was what mixers were for and guest artists could help with. The travelling would've been unnecessary altogether, then, but Ryan didn't want it all to be for naught, so he grabbed a few ugly pieces of NYC merch to hopefully get his husband to cringe at. Three days after arriving he flew out again, sending Brendon update Snaps almost constantly and receiving heavily filtered selfies with widely varying expressions and scenarios in response. Assumedly, Brendon got easily bored in a big empty house.

It would've been nice if he could sneak up on Brendon and surprise him with his arrival, considering he hadn't given him an update since boarding the plane out of NYC, but just as Ryan very quietly opened the door he heard Bogart lose his mind and Dottie, at a less tired pace, amble towards him. Just his luck. Accepting the loss, he silently shut the door and caught Bogart jumping at him, bowing to scratch Dot's head while shushing the former's excited barking. Ryan left his suitcase standing by the doorway and carried Bogart with him while he walked to the living room, Dottie basically circling between his feet like she was [i]trying[/i] to trip him. He finally found Brendon on the couch, looking fixated on whatever video game he was playing this time. Apparently Ryan wasn't totally given away, then. Ryan held Bogart closer to him, his head tucked against Ryan's shoulder like he was already preparing to fall asleep and give up on licking Ryan's face constantly, and approached the couch, leaning over the back. [b]"You talk to the TV even when I'm not here? Freak."[/b] He squinted at the gameplay, then grinned at Brendon, dropping Bogart delicately in his lap. [b]"Your dog is a mess."[/b]