Oneshots

All of the Stars//Ryden

Stepping into the cold night air, Brendon watched the stars. The hoodie he wore did little to protect him, but he paid it no mind as he lost himself in the sky.

When Ryan would come over, they would lay in the back yard and watch the stars. As the nights got colder, they would simply gaze at them from the various windows of the house.

Brendon sighed, leaning his head against the side of the house. Vaguely, he wondered if Ryan could see the stars too, wherever he was.

Fights were tough, but if either had known what was to come, everything would have been different.

Brendon glanced at the cigarette in between his fingers. Ryan had made him promise to never smoke another one, for fear that they would meet the same end, but at that moment, Brendon didn't care. For once, he didn't have a lighter in his pocket. One, he knew, had to still be inside somewhere, but not wanting to take his eyes off the stars, Bendon remained where he was, chewing slightly on the cigarette.

It was lung cancer that took Ryan Ross.

Lung cancer, seemingly from nowhere, made itself known somewhere in Nevada, and Ryan simply went downhill from there. In and out of hospitals for his final two years, and finally a hospice with a few pretty nurses, to hell if Brendon could remember the name.

Brendon's eyes settled on the horizon as he took the unlit cigarette from his lips. He could remember Ryan telling him about when he was a little kid, and he thought if he could get to the horizon, Ryan would be in heaven and find some of his family.

On clear nights like this, Brendon remembered, he and Ryan would always find a way to pass the time as they watched the stars. Brendon usually ended up holding Ryan, singing softly into his hair until they both fell asleep.

That wasn't an option anymore.

Brendon could see the stars from America, he hoped that Ryan could, too.