[i]Hey, is there a problem?[/i] Yes, Ryan answered in his head. Yeah - the issue was that he'd been the one who invested so much time in this relationship that he'd, truthfully, unfairly entertained in his head, leaving Brendon out of his idealistic fantasies yet still expecting some semblance of reciprocation, and now as much as he pretended he didn't, he still thought about it constantly, still wondered how perfect they would be if he'd somehow been the one to break Brendon's emotional barrier. The issue was that all the work he thought he'd put into wearing Brendon down, slowly introducing him to the idea of exclusivity, trying to help him know how it felt to really fall in love with someone - all of that was basically for naught, because someone else who'd been there for none percent of that labor stepped in and took the credit for all of it. Issue was: Shane himself.

But because that was all really dramatic and was more tailored to the personal commercialized narrative Ryan had orchestrated in his head, he just shrugged offhandedly. [b]"Nope."[/b] There. Problem solved.

Even so, Ryan was surprisingly withheld when Shane strolled in, all biting comments but no thrown hands. Admittedly he never really did that, but still. He was pretty proud whenever he could still stick by his Virgo values. [i]I was being productive.[/i] Ryan grimaced at the sight of Shane gesturing towards Brendon not-so-innocuously, wondering if he really went to extreme lengths to make an ass of himself all the time or if it was just in front of Ryan. Either way, Brendon defended his honor by nudging Shane away, and Ryan didn't quite smile or anything, but his grimace at least faded by a degree. It was the small stuff like this that showed him they were still friends, that Brendon could read him like a book and treat him just as easily, all kept him from straight-up quitting.

Evidently, Shane had no idea that they were anything but friends all along, and Ryan was new to this information. He watched Brendon's very clear disdainful reaction, cringing slightly but hiding as best he could from Shane that a mistake had been made at all. [i]Probably seen more than he wanted to.[/i] Ryan half-smiled, trying to suppress it so that Shane didn't finally snap and murder him right in front of his own boyfriend, alas. He spoke quickly enough to cut off that conversation entirely, and they were moving on from his mistake. Thank god. Once again, Brendon jumped to his defense (although he wasn't quite a victim as much as he was being a hell of an instigator), and Ryan looked on with a soft gaze, touched despite how pissed he was at Shane in the back of his mind. And he maybe felt sort of bad Brendon had to do this at all, but. No turning back now.

[i]Babe, he’s my assistant, not yours. Listen, you’re not even dry, could you just, like- get dressed? And maybe come back later?[/i] Ryan smirked at the look on Shane's face, but mostly he was weirdly endeared to the way he was '[i]my assistant[/i],' and that was about the lowest the bar had ever been. Unfortunately his high-and-mighty moment was short-lived, because a breath later, Brendon was trying to console his boyfriend, whispering into his ear and giving him a kiss. Ryan ducked his head again, and didn't even know what all his paperwork was for anymore. None of it made any sense. Nothing on the pages, nothing around him, none of it. It was a quick mood drop, so fast he thought maybe he finally understood Brendon's rollercoaster emotions, but then maybe not so much. That was probably overstepping.

Shane finally stood and took his leave, probably all thanks to Brendon rather than Ryan scaring him off. [i]I am so sorry.[/i] Ryan shrugged one shoulder halfheartedly. So was he, that Brendon was stuck with such a... whatever. [i]Listen, I promised him you’d leave before, like, five. I know you have a lot to do, but...[/i] Cool, that gave him a few hours, and a few hours was better than the zero time they'd had together. [b]"I could just -"[/b] Ryan stopped abruptly. Evidently he was still in his petty mode. He shifted gears, disbanded the passive aggressive sentence '[i]I could just go home[/i]' altogether. He didn't want to go home, he wanted to be with Brendon, and if his excuse was going to be that he had work to do, then that was fine. [b]"Sorry, sorry, okay,"[/b] he said more gently, relaxing his shoulders and finally looking directly up at Brendon. [b]"That's fine, I mean. 'til five is better than nothing at all... and I've missed you, you know? I meant what I said; you're my best friend."[/b] He smiled, slightly relieved, and folded his arms over the coffee table, leaning over them. [b]"Are you and him all right? Or is he just like that when I'm around?"[/b] Probably the latter. But he still wanted to hear Brendon's real thoughts, if he was willing to share.