Nearly Witches //Ryden // DISCONTINUED

Dès le premier jour

They looked over at him for a moment, flashing him a smile, and as soon as Brendon for a good look at them, his heart stopped.

They were absolutely stunning. The first thing that struck Brendon was their eyes- holy fuck, their eyes. They were chocolate brown, highlights the color of seas of wheat and liquid gold decorating the gentle yet extravagant hues. They were rimmed in dark eyeliner, which was applied carefully, a little wobby, of course, but you could tell they put a lot of effort into it. They had soft, pink lips that looked almost too rosy to be natural. Their cute, round nose tied their whole face together, balancing out the raw sexy energy with a touch of adorable that worked so well. Curly, brown locks cascaded down their face, gracing the area just above their angular chin almost perfectly. They wore a black and white pinstripe vest over what appeared to be a black dress, which fell just around the middle of their thighs. It hugged their waist perfectly, making their not-quite-feminine figure look even more feminine. Brendon tried to push any thoughts like that out of his mind, though, because he hadn't asked their pronouns yet or anything and that would be rude- Fuck, he hasn't even asked their name yet, or why he was in their house or, at least, what he presumed was their house.

"Uh, hi." Brendon greeted, a blush creeping onto his face as he realized the other was very much checking him out for a moment. They seemed to notice, as well as process he was staring and they laughed, their voice sounding cute and bubbly.

"Hello, sleepyhead. It took you quite long enough to wake up." Their voice was an odd midtone, sounding fairly feminine but fairly masculine at the same time. It was absolutely spellbinding, and it made Brendon's heart skip a beat.

"...Okay then. So do you mind if I ask why I'm here, where I actually am and why I'm not wearing my own clothes? Also who are you? Did we sleep together?" The other didn't react for a moment, rather grabbing a plate from a cabinet above and pouring what they were cooking onto it.

"All in due time. For now, eat." They walked over to a table that rested toward the back of the large kitchen, which Brendon figured was intended to serve as the dining room too. He heaitated for a moment, debating over whether he actually should, but his stomach growled again loudly and took control of the situation. He sat down across from them, picking up the fork that already lay there and taking a bite of what he presumed was an omelette. Yup, it was an omelette. A damn good one, too. He took another bite, looking up me over at the other and raising an eyebrow expectantly at them.

"Firstly, you're here because I found you passed out in my woods, high as a kite. Presumably on good ol' MDMA, based on the way you were babbling like a wee babe. Secondly, you're at my house, which is in my woods. Thirdly, your clothes were a complete mess. I put them in the wash for you. I figured you wouldn't want to sleep naked in a stranger's house, so I let you borrow a pair of pajamas. And fourth, we didn't copulate. Although, I feel provoked to ask, is that a frequent practice of yours?"

"Um, yeah. It is. What the fuck does that have to do with you? And why do you talk like you're a dictionary minted in the 1920's?" Brendon asked between bites, knee beginning to bounce restlessly under the table.

"I was simply wondering. Also, to answer your question, I simply talk like I enjoy language. It's just something I picked up from reading so much, I suppose. Also society isn't exactly... up to date around here. Or existent." This made them chuckle a bit, but Brendon remained straight faced, taking another bite.

"Okay, but you still haven't told me who you are yet."

"I'm Ryan. And you're quite the restless one, aren't you?"

"I have ADHD and I left my meds at home. What do you want, man?" Ryan visibly cringed at the word 'man', and Brendon noticed right away, flushing and hastily apologizing.

"Oh my god. I am so, so sorry. Did I just misgender you? Oh god I feel so bad. Fuck fuck fuck-"

"Hey, calm down. It's alright. I'm just...not used to being called a 'man' is all. I mean, I'm not- well, on the inside, anyway, so it was quite disorienting for me." Brendon bit his upper lip for a moment nervously. It was a weird habit he'd picked up as a child, based around anxiety but opposite of the way most anxious people gnawed on their lower lip.

"What are your pronouns? Just so I don't get them wrong this time."

"Hm. I don't quite know. I haven't had to clarify how to address me to anyone since I, well, realized I was expressing myself incorrectly."

"Well, fuck, I don't think 'he' would work if you're uncomfortable with being called a man. Well, I go by 'he', anyway. I'm Brendon by the way. Fuck. Back to pronouns. Um, well, are you a boy or a girl?"

"Bold of you to assume the feeble constructs of male and female apply to me." Ryan smirked over at Brendon, which made his heart flutter, a canary trapped in a cage of milky white calcium. It was a simple little thing; Ryan just shifted their muscles, adjusting the angle of half of their mouth yet somehow, Brendon found it attractive beyond belief.

"Oh! So non-binary? Or agender? Hm, maybe they/them would work? Maybe? I just don't want to be rude and I don't want to upset you again I really like your smile and-" Ryan cut him off with a laugh, just as bubbly and adorable as before.

"Sweetheart, don't worry. I quite like the sound of 'they'. I'd like to use that, if you don't mind."

"Alright, sick!"

"Wait, are you ill or anything? I've got some medicine if you need it."

"I- No, I'm not. Sick means, um, like, 'cool!' or 'rad!' or 'awesome!'"

"Ah, I see. You'll probably have to explain a lot of things like that to me."

"Oh boy." It was quite the stereotypical thing to say, sure, but Brendon didn't have time to worry about that at panic seized his entire body. He was in a stranger's house. In the middle of the woods. This is fucking wild. Brendon's chest tightened as he struggled to reel in breaths- maybe they just didn't want the worms today that sat on the end of the fishing rod Brendon's lungs had tried to use. Ryan clearly noticed, moving from their chair to walk over and crouch down next to Brendon. They took his hand in theirs, rubbing gentle circles on the back of his hand with their thumb. Brendon looked down at their joined hands, ninoticing Ryan had callouses on their hands- maybe they played music, or gardened. One of the two was probably a realistic reason why. Brendon became so fixated on the little callouses on Ryan's hands, he forgot to actually breathe at all.

"Take a deep breath, Brendon." They said softly, both in the manner of volume but also in the smoothness of their voice, their tone sounding like crimson velvet. "I understand you're panicking, but you need to try and calm down."

"What? Me? Panicking? Never! Panic attacks are for fucking losers, man- I mean- fuck, I'm sorry, I said it again. I'm a shit person who's just lost in the middle of the woods at some gorgeous stranger's house." Brendon went to continue his rambling, which was one of his many side effects that he experienced in the thankfully rare instances of panic he experienced. While these bursts of panic were rare, they could be incredibly brutal. He'd had one around four months ago, directly after he'd dropped his Starbucks drink after a very long and very stressful day. He often had to calm himself down, which could take hours, but he found himself instantly calm as Ryan pressed their lips to his hand- and yes, they felt just as soft as they looked. Brendon sighed in relief, the panic bubbling in his chest subsiding.

"Holy fuck, how did you do that? That was like magic!"

"Magic." Brendon laughed and Ryan chuckled along, flashing him a knowing smirk, one that said they knew more than they were letting on. Mainly because they weren't exactly joking about the magic part. But Brendon didn't need to know that anyway.  

(A/N)

I'm having so much fun writing this in the middle of the night y'all have no idea. I love writing this a lot and I have so many ideas for this it's great

Thoughts/comments/questions?