Prior to coming back home, Brendon had experienced a relatively busy day that he didn’t really have the energy to engage in in the first place. He had woken up around eight, early for him, and lay in bed, trying not to notice the absence of heat beside him that he’d gotten so used to recently. Without ryan, his bedroom was empty and sort of cold, and Brendon had sat up against the headboard, thinking of a professional excuse to text him. He already knew about the suits, but that dropoff was scheduled mid-afternoon and Brendon would probably be busy if he remembered from the half-hearted glance he payed to his calendar. Brendon bit his lip then reached over to his dressing table and picked up his phone, sending Ryan a quick text- [i]So, what’s on my agenda today? I can’t remember.[/i] Ryan responded almost immediately and while he was typing Brendon hauled himself out of bed, stretching lithely and then trudging over, half-asleep, to stand in front of his floor-length mirror. He rubbed his right hand over his sleeve of tattoos and then ran into through his hair, trying to push it back now it had sprung out of place.

Ryan’s reply was something along the lines of informing him of a lot of boring things that Brendon had to do and then something even worse- lunch, with his parents. What was worse was that he didn’t know which-if any- siblings would be there, and that would take his excitement levels from zero into the minuses. Though he was kinda pissed, he just texted Ryan ‘thank you’ followed by a risky ‘I missed you last night, good morning’. Brendon had a talent of effortlessly fading in and out of being professional. He turned off his phone, then, so he didn’t have to see the reply, and turned to head into his bathroom to go and have a shower, before getting dressed (planning a more casual outfit around his new oversized denim jacket). Hair now tamed, dressed, ready, Brendon took his phone and turned it on but didn’t look at the notifications in his messages from Ryan, just shoved it in his pocket and left his house, trying to mentally prepare himself for even a couple of hours with his family.

Twenty minutes into being there, his father had already criticised him about his ‘lack of motivation’, disguising plain, disdainful insult as ‘advice’, and his mother had ‘just mentioned’ the fact he still didn’t have a girlfriend. Brendon was somewhat surprised, his parents were Mormon, sure, but he really didn’t expect them to be so rigid about who they wanted Brendon to be with. They had accepted rather reluctantly that he was bisexual, which was a step, but it was more tolerating than embracing with open arms. He now knew his mother was trying to like, forget what he’d said and ignore the fact he liked men. Brendon was frustrated and had had enough of the two of them interfering with his life- he was close to snapping at that fancy restaurant but consoled himself, made a curt excuse, pushed his chair back and left the lunch despite the protests of his parents and the obvious angry sighs from his father had made him want to turn around and punch him. But Brendon had just exhaled and left, trying not to make a scene, which was unusual for someone who usually attracted all the wrong attention.

From that, he had gone to a Starbucks, ignoring his schedule, and sat inside for once, managing to look pissed off enough that nobody tried to approach him, they just whispered and took pictures and his barista looked extremely flustered. Brendon tried to be as charming and friendly as possible so the barista didn’t, like, get stressed out and drop coffee everywhere. After thirty minutes of just trying to relax, he rose and made a decision- his day was hereby over, he was too stressed to do anything else, he wanted to go home, and he had nervous energy and frustration he needed to dispel. His head immediately went to Ryan- he looked at his phone, and still didn’t have the guts to check what Ryan had actually said. He just walked out of the Starbucks and called an Uber, not really feeling like walking back to the restaurant and retrieving his chauffeur. So, he was dropped off home, and took the elevator to the top floor.

He knew it was about time that Ryan would be dropping off his new suits, and he had planned his arrival accordingly- the person he didn’t expect to be in his house was Gabe, who he was pretty sure had a key to his apartment that Brendon didn’t know about. He didn’t really mind their presence, but Gabe [i]knew[/i] about him and Ryan, and Gabe being alone with him and Ryan being so resigned and quiet was setting off a million warning signs. If Gabe had said anything stupid or misleading, he’d throttle them. Or pay someone else to do it. He was too small. In any case, Brendon wanted to be alone with Ryan anyway, so firmly kicked his friend out, promising subtextually that they’d have a conversation about this ‘coincidence’ later. Gabe had surprisingly left pretty quickly, without dragging it out, and Brendon exhaled a laugh when the door shut, constantly amused by his friend’s behaviour.

Even though he was now home, he was no less nervously energetic, but he managed to keep it under control, somehow enough that he could be gentle, placing his hands on Ryan’s shoulders and inquiring exactly what had happened when Gabe showed up unannounced. [i]Maybe. I liked them.[/i] Who didn’t? Brendon smiled, eyes crinkling, because he liked Gabe too, a lot. They always had Brendon’s back. [b]”Me too.”[/b] [i]Um, I think they just wanted to see what all this ‘new PA’ business was about. Gabe’s really cool.[/i] Brendon clicked his tongue, because there was no way that was true, Brendon had told Gabe everything they needed to know, Gabe never did anything out of curiosity and there was always a motive. [b]”C’mon, Ry. I’ll find out from Gabe anyway.”[/b] He dropped his hands back down to his sides and walked around the sofa, picking up Gabe’s discarded martini glass and walking back over into the kitchen to place it on the side. He then returned, still looking suspicious.

[i]Anyway, uh, I got your suits, they’re on the back of the door.[/i] Brendon nodded faintly in acknowledgement, looking towards the door, but nothing more. Usually, Brendon would have dropped everything to try them on, but he was wholly preoccupied. [i]So, why’re you back early? I thought you had things to do?[/i] Brendon grinned then, welcoming of the topic change for a moment. [b]”Bailed on lunch with my parents, ditched the rest of my plans for today. Besides, I added something new to do to the calendar,”[/b] He said casually, wandering back around and leaning down to wrap his arms loosely around his neck, turning his head and leaning close to speak into his ear. [b]”Ryan Ready.”[/b] He grinned, proud of his own elaborate innuendo, and moved one hand to play with the buttons of his shirt idly, remaining where he was, loosely wrapped around Ryan’s neck.