wl_fanfiction | Business and Pleasure: Chapter Eleven

saiya-tina.livejournal.com posting in

TItle: Business and Pleasure
Rating: PG really
Pairing: Brad/Ryan
Summary for the chapter: The road to recovery is long but ultimately worth it.

Overall Summary: Brad's running his own large business and has everything but what he wants the most: someone to be there for him. After 'purchasing' Ryan from the Utopia group to serve the purpose, he slowly realizes that he's breaking their most important rule: he's falling in love with him.

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to PDglyph, without whom this story probably would have never been updated! I hit a major block in writing this and had planned to put it on hiatus, but she helped me get back on the road! Thanks, PD, for putting up with my constant screams for help and I hope you in particular enjoy this chapter!

Please leave a comment!

Brad blinked at the bright sunlight coming through his open window and groaned, turning over, intending to wrap an arm around the warm body that normally slept next to him. When his arm came in contact with an empty bed, he bolted upright, all the memories of the previous night flooding back into his mind. He jumped out of bed, pausing only to pull a pair of pants over his boxers before racing out of his room, down to the dining room. Wayne hadn’t gotten up yet, so no one was seated at the table, but he could hear clanking and clanging of pots and pans in the kitchen and peered inside to see Ryan bent over the stove, flipping an omelette.

“Ry?” he asked cautiously, not wanting to startle him.

“Brad!” Ryan turned with a smile, “your breakfast is nearly ready! I was just going to call you.”

“Uh, yeah,” Brad blinked and absently wondered who this Ryan was and what had he done with the man sobbing in his arms the night before.

“I can’t believe Wayne’s still sleeping! He’s normally the first one here!” Ryan carried on, not noticing Brad’s confusion, “Think I should wake him up?”

“Hm? No, I think he’ll wake up in his own time,” Brad answered automatically, “Uh, Ry?”

“Yeah?”

“Are....are you okay?”

Ryan turned to him with genuine confusion on his face, “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, I just thought that after last night-”

“What about last night?” Ryan’s voice turned from confused to tight and Brad could literally see his muscles tense.

“About Greg-”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Ryan snapped, eyes flashing, “And I’d prefer if you didn’t mention it at all.”

“You can’t just forget about it!” Brad protested, feeling slightly unsettled at having Ryan’s anger directed at him.

“Watch me!” Ryan growled, “now just drop it!”

“No,” Brad said firmly, moving across the table towards him, “I want you to talk to me!”

“I don’t want to!” Ryan tried to get past him, but Brad grabbed his wrist tightly.

“This isn’t something that you should keep to yourself!” he insisted.

“I told you, I don’t want to talk about it!” Ryan tried to tug his wrist out of Brad’s grip.

“Well, you’re gonna!” Brad growled, tugging him forward and Ryan let out a small whimper as Brad’s grip tightened from uncomfortable to painful. That sound brought Brad out of his haze and he felt like he had been socked in the stomach when he saw actual fear in Ryan’s eyes. He dropped Ryan’s wrist like it had burnt him and Ryan backed away from him before turning and running back to his room, slamming the door shut. Brad slumped down into a chair and buried his face into his hands, cursing himself for losing his temper that easily.

“Brad?”

Brad looked up to see Wayne staring at him in concern from where he was crouching in front of his chair. He let out a sigh and broke eye contact, not wanting to tell Wayne exactly what had happened but knowing that he would pester him until he did.

“I lost my temper with Ryan,” he blurted.

“Why?” Wayne asked, his voice completely neutral.

“I woke up this morning and found him gone so, naturally, I panicked. I mean, who wouldn’t after that night, right?” Wayne nodded and he continued, “I found him downstairs making breakfast.....and he was acting like last night never happened. When I insisted on talking about it, he started to get angry, then I got angry and I don’t know why but I grabbed his wrist tight enough to hurt him....”

“Did you do it on purpose?” Wayne asked, this time a tinge of anger in his voice.

“Of course not!” Brad shouted, “You think I would ever hurt him on purpose?! I didn’t even realize what I was doing until I saw him looking at me! He was fucking terrified!”

Wayne softened and he placed a hand on Brad’s shoulder, “Well, you were right when you said that you needed to talk about last night, but your way of going about it was wrong. Give him time. He needs to be able to think about it himself before he can talk about it to another.”

“Oh God, what if he thinks that I’m like Greg?” Brad looked horrified, “I won’t be able to take that! Wayne, if he looks at me like that every time, I swear-”

“He knows you’re not like Greg,” Wayne cut him off firmly, “What Greg did was sick and intentional. What you did was an accident. Ryan’s not an idiot. He’s scared now, not to mention still in a bit of shock about last night, but he knows you didn’t mean that. Just give him time. Can you do that?”

Brad sighed, still feeling tendrils of guilt in his stomach, “If it’ll give me my Ryan back, I’ll give him the universe.”

“So do you want to talk about it now?”

“No.”

Brad sighed and shook his head at Ryan’s cold answer, noting that he hadn’t turned back to look at him even once since Brad had entered his room to talk to him. Even though it had been two days since their last ‘talk’, Ryan still refused to say more than was necessary and that hurt Brad more than he’d like to admit. He’d never realized just how much he loved hearing Ryan speak animatedly about something new he had learnt or about just nothing in particular.

“Well, will you at least eat something? Going without food for so long isn’t healthy,” Brad pleaded.

“I’m not hungry.”

Brad gave up the conversation as a lost cause for the moment and left the room, but not before placing a tray of food on Ryan’s bed with another plea to eat. He made his way over to his own room where Wayne was waiting.

“Has he said anything yet?” Wayne asked in concern.

“Not a thing,” Brad sat down on the bed next to him, “It’s like talking to the walls whenever I go in there.”

Wayne nodded and the two of them sat in silence for a while, each thinking of ways to get Ryan out of his funk before he spoke up again, “You never did tell me exactly why you lost your temper.”

“Huh?” Brad looked at him in confusion, “Yes I did.”

“You didn’t tell me the real reason you reacted like that,” Wayne amended.

“What do you mean?”

“I know you, Brad. It wasn’t the fact that he didn’t want to talk that freaked you out, it was something else. You would have lost it just because of that.”

Brad didn’t answer him. He was mentally deciding just how much he should tell Wayne. On one hand, he didn’t want worry Wayne more than he was already, but on the other hand, not knowing the full situation would just make him more concerned.

“It was his smile,” Brad said finally, staring at his hands, “That goddamn fake smile. When I came down and saw him, he was smiling but it didn’t reach his eyes at all. It was looking at one of those dolls with the glassy eyes....and that freaked me out. I just started thinking that if he didn’t talk about it, if he kept it locked inside, would I have to see that smile everyday? I-I just couldn’t take it. The mere thought was....terrible.”

Wayne nodded sympathetically, showing him his support and Brad gave him a small smile as a thank you. Another more comfortable silence took place, each of them lost in their thoughts. All of which seemed to be going back to their dear friend.

“What do think we should do?” Wayne asked, breaking into his thoughts.

“Just keep coaxing him, I guess,” Brad sighed, “I honestly don’t know what to do, he’s absolutely terrified of letting anyone touch him, but I know he wants it. It’s....difficult to say the least.”

“Just wait then, huh?” Wayne sighed.

“All we can do for him now.”

Brad groaned as he heard another thump. Whatever was causing that sound had been doing so for past two hours and it was waking him up every time he managed to get to sleep. Sleep already was scarce over the past week, what with his concern for Ryan increasing day by day. Grumbling, he swung his legs over and got out of bed, intending to figure out the cause of the noise once and for all. He cautiously peered out of the door, hoping that it wasn’t a burglar, but then realizing the security system would have alerted him to it. He followed the noise to a certain point before it stopped all of a sudden but he already had a feeling of where he was heading anyway. He spotted a light coming out from below a door and made his way towards. He frowned as he recognized the part of the house he was in as well as the door and wondered who would be in there at this late hour.

He opened it just a crack and let out a sigh at the sight that met him. That would explain why he had been hearing the noise only over the past couple days. Ryan was sprawled on the floor of the gym, breathing hard after having apparently completed a set of push ups. The heavy bag in the corner was swinging slightly, indicating that it had been used recently. There were a few dark stains on the white material that he could see even from where he was standing and his eyes went immediately to Ryan’s hands, his jaw dropping at the damage they had suffered.

“Have you been using that bare-knuckled?!” Brad gasped, sitting down next to him and grabbing one of his hands to look at it.

“Leave me alone, Brad,” Ryan muttered, trying to pull his hand out of his grip.

“Not this time, Ryan,” Brad tightened his hold, “if you’re going to try and rip yourself apart, I’m not letting you go anywhere.”

“I said let go Brad!” the anger from before was beginning to show itself again but Brad was done giving Ryan time to destroy himself.

“No! Now you listen to me, Stiles,” Ryan’s head shot up at the use of his last name and was stunned to see Brad looking not angry, but stern. “I have no intention of leaving you alone until you talk and I’m not letting you throw a fuss and leave. In case you aren’t aware of it, I care about you and Wayne does too. Trying to indirectly kill yourself isn’t going to benefit anyone besides Greg. You’re just giving him what he wants.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Ryan growled, pulling his hand away finally and wrapping his arms around his knees, glaring at him.

“You’re afraid of him,” Brad added casually, watching Ryan’s body jerk, “that’s what he wants. He wants you to be afraid so that you’re easy pickings for him.”

“And I’m stopping that from happening,” Ryan nodded at the heavy bag, “I won’t let him do that twice.”

“And in the process, you’re going to kill yourself,” Brad continued. “You’re letting him kill you.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not letting him do anything!” Ryan shouted, standing up and waving his hands for emphasis.

Brad just looked up at him calmly, “How long has it been since you’ve smiled?”

Ryan’s entire body suddenly froze up. Brad stood up as well and looked him in the eye, “When was the last time you laughed? When did you last cook or even enjoy food? When was the last time you hugged someone?”

Ryan just seemed to realize just how much he had let himself slip and was beginning to shake. Brad saw the crack and used it to his advantage, “When was the last time you were my Ryan?”

That did it. Tears began to appear in Ryan’s eyes and Brad immediately pulled him into his arms, causing the dam to break. Ryan began to cry loudly, hiding his face in Brad’s shirt as he let go of the emotions he had been suppressing since Greg’s attack. Brad held him tightly, stroking his hair and whispering soft words of comfort in his ear, but letting him cry. That break had been coming for a long time and he would be damned before he stopped it from riding itself out. After a short while, Ryan began to calm and soon his sobs simply turned into small sniffling noises into Brad’s neck. His shirt was soaked from Ryan’s tears, but he didn’t let that bother him, just offered as much comfort as he was able to. They just sat there quietly for a long time, long enough that Brad actually started when Ryan began to speak.

“I came to get my jacket,” Ryan spoke softly, too spent from his tears to feel fear or anything, “he was there....originally thought I was a prostitute.”

Brad tightened his arms around Ryan and felt another flare of anger towards Greg but he didn’t speak, allowing Ryan to let it out.

“When I told him I wasn’t interested....he got physical. Kissed me and pushed me against the wall....gave me this,” Ryan gestured at the nearly healed mark on his neck, “and then you guys came in and saved me,” he looked up and gave Brad a small smile, “just like you said you would.”

Brad felt his heart soar at that small smile. It had been entirely too long since he had seen Ryan smile like that, small but true. What made him feel happiest was the fact that Ryan’s eyes didn’t hold the fear he had seen that day. The fear of him. They held a bit of sadness and a little anger, but there was mostly peace. They had taken on a shine he hadn’t seen in a while and that alone made him feel like everything was alright.

“What?” Ryan asked, wondering why Brad was looking at him as though he would blink and he would disappear.

“I missed this,” Brad answered softly.

“What? My voice?” Ryan asked jokingly, but the look in his eyes said Brad was making him self-conscious.

“No. Well, yes,” he amended and then smiled, “What I really missed was your smile.”

“My smile?” Ryan raised an eyebrow, “What’s so special about it?”

Brad brought one hand up and caressed the side of his face, gazing deep into his eyes, “It’s warm.”

“Warm?”

“Like sunshine on a warm spring day.”

Ryan blushed and looked down, but Brad could still see the small smile tugging at his lips and he kissed him. God, it felt so good to finally have this contact after having been deprived of it for so long. He knew that they were still a long way from healed, but it was a start and for now, that was all he wanted.

“Let’s get out of here,” Brad pulled away, his thumb stroking the nape of Ryan’s neck.

“Where to? Your bedroom?” Ryan murmured against his lips.

“No. I mean it, let’s get out of here. Let’s go out for a holiday.”

Ryan pulled away and his jaw dropped, “where?”

“Somewhere! I don’t care! We’ll take Wayne, we’ll have fun and just forget about the world for a while! What do you say?” Brad smiled.

“I say you’re crazy, but let’s do it,” Ryan laughed and Brad couldn’t help but kiss him again, “where will we go?”

Brad didn’t answer but kissed him again and this time drew him down to the floor of the gym, not breaking contact for a second, not wanting to lose the moment.