The Ryan-is-a-Sex-Slave AU

Uhm. This is the chatfic from hell that ate our brains for about 1-2 weeks a month ago. It's ~17k long and has codas within it. We can only hope that someone will turn this into actual fic one day. We're pretty sure it won't be us though. :D;

SO, HERE IT IS, IN SOME SEMBLANCE OF ORDER.

Warnings: SEX SLAVE AU, THUS CONTAINS DUBIOUS CONSENT AND ALL THAT JAZZ THAT SEX SLAVE AUS THAT COME WITH.

tardis80:

DUDE are you sure you want to hear the story? it is really really bad. like, i take the elements from different stories i've read or heard about and combine it into one REALLY CLICHE story.

because what if brendon was the prince of his country? and he has a good heart, but he's had slaves all his life and been pampered and he's still young and doesn't really know to think about things from a different point of view. he still believes in all the things he's been told. anyways, his sixteenth birthday is coming up, and in this imaginary country, there's this big ceremony apart from the usual celebrations where he "becomes a man" and loses his virginity -- usually to a bedslave. he's supposed to pick the slave he wants.

and maybe prior to this, he snuck out of the castle dressed as a commoner, to see what life outside the walls were like. and maybe he met a boy called ryan, whose father worked as a servant in the merchant houses. (though he spends much of the money he's earned on ale, and ryan's sometimes forced to pick through the rubbish heaps in the market to find food to eat.) maybe brendon was buying a spiced meat pie at one of the stalls, and he reaches to his belt to pay only to discover that his purse has been stolen. he's already taken a bite out of his pie, and he looks up at he shopkeeper hoping to reason with him... and ryan grabs his hand and pulls him away, yelling for him to run, you idiot.

after they stop, panting for breath, brendon says, indignant, "i would have explained that i could pay for the pie! all i had to do was send to the castle and..." he trails off. ryan is amused. "And what, told them you have an in with the king? that's a good one. and seeing as i just saved your ass, i think i deserve a bite of that pie." brendon is still clutching it. they munch in silence.

and they talk. or more like ryan talks about the market and the shopkeepers you have to watch out for and the ones who'll sneak oranges to you under the table. (he thinks that brendon is new to town and sets about "educating him," since you seem so pathetic, Urie.) and he talks about his best friend spencer, who's apprenticed to the baker and how he saves the ruined loaves for ryan after the shop is closed. brendon just soaks it all in. it sounds like an adventure story to him, scrounging for food, running from irate shopowners. he thinks ryan is amazing (and has pretty eyes and clean white skin).

and so. after brendon goes back to his princely life and must make a decision for his ceremonial partner, he mentions a boy named ryan ross.

ryan is taken forcibly from his home. (of course, he's quite surprised that the brendon who he saw steal a meat pie was actually the prince) you can't really say, no, i have no interest in being the prince's bed slave, thank you kindly and expect you and your family to live. he agrees to go quietly, but spencer's clinging to him and refusing to let go, and they're both crying quite hard, and really, zack (captain of the gaurd) isn't made of stone, so he brings spencer into the palace too. you can work in the kitchens, he says.

the prince's 16th birthday is still a month away, and ryan is taken to the flower house, where all the royal bed slaves are trained. i leave it to your imagination as to what they do to him there. let me just say that they teach ryan techniques, how to seduce with a flick of the eyelash, the tilt of the hip. above all, they teach how to please the prince. and they use spencer as leverage when ryan proves recalcitrant. he returns to his cot each night red-eyed and trembling, and spencer can only hold him closer and shudder with him.

though we have to give brendon some credit. he never thought about what happened to sex slaves or how they were trained. he only thought he would like to have his first time with someone he actually knew and liked, and wouldn't it be nice if ryan didn't have to rummage through garbage heaps anymore? he'd dress him in silk let him eat bon bons every day and let him live in his own special room in the palace.

on the fateful night, ryan is oiled and painted with the ceremonial designs, his eyes are lined with kohl, and he's dosed with a potent aphrodisiac. brendon comes to his chambers after the birthday feast to find ryan kneeling by his bed. his heart starts to beat faster. ryan! he says. I wanted to go to you and explain, i didn't mean to lie about who i was, but they said i wasn't allowed to see you before the ceremony, and don't worry! i won't force you or anything. i'm going to take care of you from now on. ryan laughs (bitterly) and looks up. his pupils are dilated and his mouth is wet and slick. brendon forgets what he was going to say. the rest of the night is a blur or skin on skin, mouths on mouths, and wordless moans. brendon wakes with his hands smeared red from the ink of ryan's body paint.

brendon is so happy! sex is great! and ryan seemed to like it too. the night before, whoo~, he was making these sounds and begging brendon to fuck him harder, and it's making him blush just to think about it. in the morning, the servants whisked ryan away too quickly for them to talk, but brendon asked, "will i see you again tonight?" and ryan replied, "if you wish it, my lord." and maybe that was kind of strange, but anyways, tonight they'll talk and it will totally be like old times!

except it never is. whenever ryan comes he's sultry and is just ready to have sex (brendon is not complaining about the sex, he is so for the sex). but in the morning, he's...guarded. he doesn't smile like he did that day when they met in the market. he's always polite (ryan cares too much for spencer's safety to cross the prince), but brendon would rather that ryan call him an idiot and treat him in the easy, affectionate way that he used to.

ryan doesn't hate brendon. not really. it's hard to hate someone who's so happy and carefree, who doesn't mean to hurt anyone. in another life, he could have loved brendon. but now love is tainted with scented oils and aphrodisiacs, and spencer is the only thing keeping him sane. in return for keeping the prince happy, he gets to keep spencer.

spencer hates brendon with the fire of a thousand suns.

and the i fell asleep :) it's really sad, no? i kinda want ryan to love brendon back, but i don't really think it's possible. and spencer keeps frowning at me and telling me that ryan is his. what do you think?

softlyforgotten:

oh man oh man, you realise you just gave me something to think about before i fall asleep now? :D because ahhhh, oh my god, this is the most awesome thing ever - kind but thoughtless brendon! protective spencer! ryan giving despite himself!

i think... i can't decide whether i want spencer and ryan to fall in love or ryan and brendon to fall in love. but i think if ryan DID fall in love with brendon it would have to be under completely different circumstances - like, maybe there's a coup? and the commoners RISE UP against royalty, and there's a big rebellion and basically all the royals are driven out. somehow, somewhere along the line, ryan becomes sort of a symbol for the rebellion - maybe he and spencer get wind of it and they lead the attack from inside the palace, and ryan has always been eloquent, and the bedslave training sort of helped at least in getting rid of some of his shyness, so he becomes this public sort of figure (a secret public one until the rebellion takes place, and then afterwards a more kind of heroic figure).

and brendon somehow survives the attacks! he escapes the ruins of the palace but lives in, like, constant danger and is always in disguise because if anyone finds out he's the prince, he's dead. but brendon heard a couple of the speeches on the night his family were killed (and okay, okay, brendon sort of maybe starts to understand why people hated the royalty and how they lived in poverty and death but they killed brendon's family. brendon doesn't think he'll ever get over that, watching his mother and father and younger sisters and older brother being murdered, and whatever you say about brendon's family, they might have favoured a... dictatoral style of governing but they didn't murder anyone - and then brendon starts thinking about the executions and god, it's so much more complex than that, his head hurts) and he kind of works out that ryan's played this huge role in it. and he's hurt because he thought ryan liked him, he had been maybe a good deal too attached to ryan than was appropriate for someone of both of their status, but he's also fucking furious (and maybe, maybe he hates ryan a little) because ryan let them kill his family! he stood by and watched, brendon saw him. he didn't look like he was enjoying it (if brendon thinks back honestly, doesn't let his grief and his fury cloud the moment, he remembers ryan looking pale and shocked and on the verge of tears) but he didn't do anything to stop it, either.

so ryan and spencer somehow have quite powerful (but democratic, now!) roles in the newly shaped country. they don't actually like this that much; they wanted to get away from the palace, now they're overseeing the construction of a parliament and new laws are being verified every day and they're both so tired, have spent so long being tired, since they first started playing an active role in the rebellion. and it's almost ironic, how brendon and ryan's places have been so dramatically switched.

AND NOW SOMEHOW THEY HAVE TO MEET AGAIN??

tardis80: dude i just read your e-mail
EEEEEE
softlyforgotten: YOU HAVE THE BEST IDEAS.
tardis80: OMG I JUST CAN'T HAVE A SIMPLE HAPPY SLAVE!FIC
I HAVE TO HAVE ANGST
AND REASONING
softlyforgotten: AHAHAHA YOU RUINED IT FIRST.
tardis80: I KNOOOW. BUT YOU ADDED REVOLUTIONARIES
softlyforgotten: REVOLUTION
THAT WAS THE WORD I WAS LOOKING FOR!
I HAD A MENTAL BLANK
tardis80: FREEDOM FIGHTERS
I HAVE SUCH A WEAKNESS FOR THEM
softlyforgotten: RISING UP AGAINST THE TYRANT!
tardis80: YESSSSS, FIGHTING FOR THE OPPRESSED!
softlyforgotten: FOR BEDSLAVES EVERYWHERE!
tardis80: VIVE LA REVOLUCION! it just gets harder and harder for brendon and ryan to find their true love
softlyforgotten: i know!
they're making it very difficult for themselves.
tardis80: sighs why oh why do they do this. it only makes fics so much longer.
softlyforgotten: to make it even harder, i want them to have an fight of epic proportions when they finally meet up again. brendon sneering at him, "oh, yeah, your fucking morally superior war, your fight for freedom - hey, thank god you got rid of my sister, she was vicious for a seven year old."
tardis80: D:
oh man.
ooooh ryan.
softlyforgotten: and ryan flinching away and hitting back in the only way he knows how, spitting, "like i could ever - you expect me to show any sympathy for you? after what you did to *me*?"
tardis80: and brendon is taken aback. "what i did to you? i gave you a room in the palace! you wore silk robes and ate every day! No more scrounging in rubbish heaps!'
softlyforgotten: urgh brendon, you idiot D:
tardis80: and ryan spits back, "i would rather have lived in a rubbish heap than have my freedom taken from me."
"do you even know what happens in the flower house?"
and brendon learns for the first time.
but i'm thinking that ryan wasn't the person responsible for setting things in motion. pete is the owner of a printing press and distributes little articles. he knew ryan before he was taken
softlyforgotten: ryan, oh godddd
with the rebellion? mmmn, yes, i agree.
ryan attracted attention almost by accident! because he was young and fierce and believed in stuff, and because he spoke so beautifully, and because he was really, really pretty. g
tardis80: yes! he was a pretty figurehead. Pete knew what happened. and he wrote about it. and made sure that every fucking town in the kingdom got a copy. he wove a tragic story about a poor boy who loved music, who taken from his father, forced into sexual slavery, threatened with the life of his best friend/maybe lover (pete spins little fictions as well)
softlyforgotten: ahahahaha, yes
ryan is caught between annoyed and amused.
normally he would be pissed, but...
pete is kind of charming.
tardis80: pete is a force to be reckoned with. he hs the charisma to start an uprising
and damn he knows how to speak
softlyforgotten: exactly, yes
but pete can't be everywhere at once
and he recognises ryan as similar enough to him for it to work.
ryan kind of expects to be forgotten, once the rebellion is done and he isn't needed anymore
but instead he's taken in. ryan reads a lot! he has knowledge about history and laws and how to go about creating a democratic system! pete still needs him.
tardis80: yess
softlyforgotten: and so ryan is not quite second-in-command but definitely high up there, and he's head of the legal & judicial systems
which is why brendon is dragged in front of him, rope wound round his wrists and dark eyes and spitting defiance, when he finally gets captured.
tardis80: (brendon totally let him study in the libraries)
omg!!!
and ryan requests a private audience
softlyforgotten: (ohhhhh, he did)
!!!
tardis80: he doesn't know what to think! he thought he'd never see brendon again (though that made him sad in a strange way) and now that he's here, he's horrified because he knows that the people will be calling for brendon's blood, and also a spark, vaguely like happiness
softlyforgotten: yessss! poor, confused ryan.
tardis80: they talk/fight like we mentioned above, and both go away with a lot on their minds
ryan asks everyone to keep things quiet while he decides the best way to go about things.
spencer sort of wants to see urie hang
softlyforgotten: yessss! (i want there to be a horrible moment where brendon provokes ryan until he's shaking with fury - maybe he attacks pete, and spencer, and so on - and ryan says, "what, you thought i wanted you? you actually, honestly thought any of that was *real*? we got trained, brendon, and i was one of the best.")
tardis80: omg D:
it's really quite horrible. brendon goes back to his cell and tries to relive every moment they spent together, desperately seeking some sign that ryan was lying, that some part of it was REAL
there's nothing quite so horrible as discovering that part of your life has been a lie.
softlyforgotten: yes, oh god
and in the end he just keeps coming back to the time they met in the marketplace
only even then, ryan didn't know who he was
and brendon can't believe it, how sad and shitty and awful all of this is.
it's only been a year since the uprising, but it feels like a lifetime ago.
tardis80: :(
and ryan is so furious at brendon for forcing him to be what he was, for knowing what he knows. for making him like him. because he did. he really really did.
and he lies awake in his bed and all he can see is brendon's broken face when he screamed at him, like his hopes were crashing down about his ears
softlyforgotten: yessss, oh man.
i think, in the end, ryan kind of takes the coward's way out
he's not going to kill brendon, but he's not going to deal with him in person anymore. so he sends down some guards/lawyers/whatever to tell brendon that he's under a charge of life imprisonment for assisting a dictatorship, manslaughter, rape, etc. etc. etc.
brendon sits tiredly and listens to it all, the same charges his parents would have heard if they hadn't been killed on the night, and at the end of it all he nods, just once, smiles a little crookedly, head leaning back against the stones.
tardis80: D:
softlyforgotten: "okay," he says. "okay." and then, when they turn to go, "listen, will you tell him -- will you tell him that i'm not... i'm sorry, but i didn't know what i was doing. that i was young and stupid and that i wasn't sorry then but i am now, even though that doesn't mean anything."
the lawyer dudes kind of sneer at him. "speak with respect," one of them says. "address the minister by his title, not a pronoun. and we're no one's messengers."
tardis80: :(
oooh brendon
softlyforgotten: brendon tilts his head up just slightly, eyes dark and there's that hint of regality in it, the royal blood and easy, instinctive command that no one can ever, ever take away.
"oh," he says, "i think you'll tell him." he pauses and then adds, a little softer, "tell him i love him, too. and that's why i was caught. because i came back>"
DUM DUM DUMMMMM.
tardis80: DDDDDDDDDDDDDD:
omg you always make me fall in love with brendon
OKAY. so pete is really pissed at ryan for not giving bden the death sentence
softlyforgotten: ahaha, i'm glad, because i love him tooooo. :D
tardis80: "The people need a symbol ryan! you can't expect to get over the monarchy if one of the heirs is still alive!"
ryan is emphatic, "he was only a kid, pete! he didn't knw what he was doing!"
softlyforgotten: exactly! although, urgh, pete, no. :(
tardis80: "he didn't know that he was raping you? taking away your freedom and locking you in a gilded cage?"
but ryan stays firm, and the new govt must follow its own laws, so pete lets it be for now.
ryan doesn't go down to visit brendon, but he makes sure that he gets regular healthy meals, and walks outside, and that the guards don't harass him.
softlyforgotten: team ryan \o/
tardis80: but the problem with deposed leaders is that they have follower somewhere, hidden, waiting for the opportunity to rally to their figurehead and seize power...
softlyforgotten: !!!!!!!
tardis80: the loyalists try to break brendon out of jail. they're ultimately unsuccessful, but it sets pete and teh citizens on edge
brendon is again called before the court on charges of conspiracy and treason
softlyforgotten: !!!!! flails around
tardis80: and ryan can't do anything to save him from the gallows this time
softlyforgotten: D: D: D:
tardis80: he paces in his quarters trying to think of what to do. brendon's last words echo in his head, "i love him"
D: it is all very tense
softlyforgotten: oh mannnnnn
tardis80: and ryan goes to visit brendon one last time before he's executed.
he leans agains the bars facing away from brendon and he confesses. "i hated you. i hated you for what you made, a fancy whore. but i think i hated you the most for making me love you too."
brendon chokes out a reply. "ryan, look at me"
softlyforgotten: (this is ridiculous of me, i know, but it is late at night and i am trufax getting teary. BOYSSSS.)
tardis80: (:DDDDDDD) ryan turns and brendon grabs his hands through the bars, and they press their faces tight against them and kiss, feather light.
salty with tears
softlyforgotten: ahhhhh oh my god
(i may be about to be kicked off suddenly, incidentally, so that's what happens if i disappear :/)
urgh and that's my cue
sorry, bb, let'ts finish this tomorrow! <3
tardis80: okay :D

tardis80:

SO I THINK I LEFT OFF AT THE TOUCHING FAREWELL SCENE BEFORE BRENDON'S EXECUTION.

now if this were a movie, i'd show a view of a packed courtyard (ryan tried to make it a private execution, but pete overruled him.) with a gallows erected off to one side. A single prisoner is walked to it.We gradually zoom in on him. He is small and compact, wearing prisoner's rags and a black bag on his head. He's hanged without much fanfare. The crowd roars.

and then we cut to a scene in which a cart trundles down a country road, and then the sturdy looking farmer tosses a lumpy bag out into a field of long grass. we focus on the bag. after the sound of the cart has faded away, we hear a tearing sound, and a the bright metal of a knife, sticking out of the sackcloth, splitting it open. and out tumbles brendon.

(YOU DIDN'T REALLY THINK I WAS GOING TO KILL HIM, WERE YOU :D)

turns out that ryan really couldn't bear to think of brendon executed, so he planned and planned, and then when he went to visit brendon he left a message (on a scrap of parchment written in evanescent ink -- y'know the kind that disappears several hours after writing with it). the message details his plan, and he tells brendon that he must leave the country and never ever come back.

and ryan (with spencer's help) then switched prisoners (another one destined for the gallows -- a murderer), and brendon is carted out of the city on a farmer's wagon, and all is well. except for the fact that ryan and brendon are not together.

do they ever meet again? you tell me :)

[19:14:15PM] hyunbin: OMG A.
[19:14:16PM] hyunbin: D:
[19:14:24PM] hyunbin: YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO EXECUTE BRENDON D:
[19:14:25PM] tardis80: :D
[19:14:34PM] tardis80: ahahaha
[19:14:39PM] hyunbin: i will cry like a crying thing omg.
[19:14:44PM] hyunbin: also also
[19:14:52PM] tardis80: DON'T WORRY, I WON'T
[19:14:53PM] hyunbin: brendon totally made ryan sit down and play music with him
[19:14:57PM] tardis80: eee
[19:14:59PM] tardis80: YES
[19:15:09PM] hyunbin: and look, ryan is mad ok and angry and bitter a brendon for dragging him into this life
[19:15:21PM] hyunbin: but he clearly also has no fucking clue what happened
[19:15:59PM] hyunbin: and he dragged ryan to the royal libraries and forced the royal clerks to let ryan use the libraries whenever he wanted
[19:16:28PM] tardis80: yessss
[19:16:42PM] hyunbin: ryan sort of... forgets to mention these things to spencer :<
[19:17:04PM] hyunbin: idk
[19:17:16PM] tardis80: i think spencer doesn't think it makes up for the life of sexual slavery
[19:17:18PM] hyunbin: there has to be a reason why ryan falls for brendon despite his bitterness!
[19:17:21PM] tardis80: even if he does know
[19:17:23PM] hyunbin: yeah
[19:17:55PM] tardis80: ryan does enjoy the sex (it's hard not too, the drugs they give him enhance sensory perception)
[19:18:02PM] hyunbin: how about brendon breaks the sex at night cycle sometimes?
[19:18:14PM] hyunbin: he commands the servants to be like 'no, we're hanging out today, it's my day off from lessons'
[19:18:24PM] tardis80: and when physical intimacy is involved, emotions get complicated
[19:18:28PM] tardis80: yes!
[19:18:41PM] tardis80: it's like brendon isn't all about the sex
[19:18:50PM] tardis80: he likes to hang out with ryan in the day too!
[19:19:05PM] hyunbin: and ryan will try to initiate things those nights after and brendon's just like 'no, c'mon, let's just sleep, okay?'
[19:19:19PM] tardis80: and ryan is confused!
[19:19:25PM] hyunbin: and just grabs ryan's hands and tucks his head next to ryan's on the pillow
[19:20:24PM] hyunbin: and sometimes he'll even get really harsh with the servants who try to come and take ryan away!
[19:20:30PM] tardis80: and sometimes in the day, they'll go swimming, and brendon looks good (ryan isn't blind, okay), and then he'll swim up to ryan and gently kiss him like he does when he wants ryan to touch him and ryan isn't drugged, but it seems easy to just respond
[19:20:35PM] tardis80: eee
[19:20:45PM] hyunbin: they'll sometimes be together for a week straight, when brendon drags him along to his lessons
[19:21:00PM] tardis80: yes
[19:21:18PM] hyunbin: ryan sees how hard brendon works at studying and the questions he asks are intelligent
[19:21:31PM] tardis80: *nods nods*
[19:22:02PM] hyunbin: when he gets back answers he doesn't think is right, he'll sometimes try to argue his point, but sometimes the tutors won't hear for it (they need to please the king and queen ok)


hyunbin:

FIRST OFF, WHERE IS JON WALKER IN THIS STORY OMG. D:

i think brendon will really try to encourage ryan to do his own thing too! he totally manages to get ryan to reveal that he likes to write and he hasn't done it at all since coming to the palace. he order (ORDERS! HE NEVER GIVES FLAT-OUT ORDERS LIKE THAT!) the servants to leave ryan to go to the libraries whenever he wants and tells the scribes and clerks and people around the palace to give ryan whatever writing supplies he needs. also, he finds a study room with storage space and a comfortable bed and a view out into the city, and gets a lock on the door and for the desk, and gives ryan the only key to the room. he tells ryan solemnly that the room is his and only his, and he can be there whenever he wants for as long as he wants. he doesn't have to come to brendon's room every night.

RYAN REALLY WANTS TO HATE HIM OKAY, but sometimes it's REALLY HARD.

maybe sometimes brendon will pop in after lessons and ask if it's ok for him to stay. the first couple of time ryan says yes because he doesn't dare so no, but one day, he's pretty frustrated with what he's working on and the servants around were being really really terrible and he just snaps no to brendon, who doesn't even blink, just waves and says, "see you later then! good luck with the writing!" and ryan just. he didn't expect that.

sometimes, brendon will roll his eyes and drag ryan out from the libraries ("bring a book if you really want to, ross. just make sure it's not one of those older ones that'll make the librarians chase me down and murder me in my sleep in torturous ways.") to one of the gardens. he'll sit them down with his guitar and hum songs and sometimes silly little ditties while ryan is at first tense, then relaxes and gets comfortable reading. it's easy to forget the days when he's required to go back to the flower house (for uhhh whatever reason. idk.) and oiled and drugged up again, when he's sitting there and falls asleep next to brendon in the shade, under a clear and sunny sky while brendon plays his guitar.

---

maybe brendon managed to escape through zack's help (does ZACK get captured?) b/c zack is terribly fond of him. he runs pretty far away and he's sick and confused but the only thing he's left with is his guitar, which his parents were against him playing ("what a ridiculous instrument to play! only peasants play that instrument!") but he loved dearly. so he runs away and cuts his own hair (doing a not so great job of it) and changes his clothes and gets dirty enough that people don't recognize him as prince brendon. he makes a living by singing on street corners because he's really got no real skills. he's well-learned but he doesn't want to draw attention to himself. and he manages to make enough money to eat a meal a day because he's /good/. (maybe he meets jon this way? and jon has no idea at all, but this boyd kid is really really talented at music.)

and after a couple of months, he hears through the news of ryan in the political sphere and is still really hurt but he can't help himself! he makes his way back to the capital in hopes of hearing more about ryan. he'll take whatever news he can get, even though he is totally being a masochist.

maybe this is how he gets captured? he's not expecting anyone to recognize him, okay. his hair is long (like the abbey road times when he hasn't cut his hair in a while), he's pretty scruffy because he can't shave very often, he's wearing clothes that are dirty and ripped, and his guitar is old though well-loved (he spends whatever money he can to keep it in the best condition possible, even if it means not eating for a couple of days). but unfortunately, someone who used to work in the palace (maybe even spencer?) hears him singing one day (not even in a crowd! maybe just sitting in a tree somewhere and trying to come up with a new song) and totally recognizes his voice and brings the guards down on him. (brendon isn't that surprised, though he didn't expect it to happen when he wasn't even performing.) he cries when they break his guitar though, because it's the last thing he owns.

after brendon's got life imprisonment, ryan makes sure he's still treated as a person, right? but brendon is not feeling it, okay. he may be provided healthy food but it doesn't mean he'll eat much, because he just can't ever work up an appetite. and he was never given anything to play music with, and he's just heartsick, missing the boys he ran with (maybe jon, and tom, and company? LOOK, I JUST WANT JON WALKER IN THIS STORY OK.) when he was playing on street corners in a faraway city.

hyunbin: (GIRLS, WHERE IS JON WALKER. /stomps foot)
softlyforgotten: (I THINK JON HAS TO BE THE ONE TO FIND BRENDON! WHEN HE'S BEEN EXILED!)
tardis80: :D
hyunbin: JON AND HIS BAND OF MERRY MEN
tardis80: XD. guys, so do ryan and brendon ever meet again?
softlyforgotten: EXACTLY! BRENDON ALL ALONE WALKING THROUGH UNFAMILIAR ROADS, TIRED AND LONELY AND AWAY FROM RYAN, AGAIN.
nah, brendon dies a couple of weeks in and ryan pines away with a broken heart.
hyunbin: NO
>:(
softlyforgotten: only not really, because then i would be sad forever and EVER.
hyunbin: i refuse to ponder such terrible things
softlyforgotten: i think ryan should pine, though!
and spencer watches him, and starts to get even more confused because okay, he hates brendon, but look how sad ryan is.
hyunbin: ahhhhh maybe brendon goes back to find jon :(
softlyforgotten: and also ryan is still all mixed up about his role in the new government, and not sure whether that's what he really wants, and he loves pete but he's still a little annoyed at the whole death sentence thing. SO MAYBE HE AND SPENCER RUN AWAY?
tardis80: i vote for that
softlyforgotten: oh dude yes
hyunbin: MAYBE THEY FINISH SETTING UP THE GOV'T
and it's like, all solid and whatnot!
so it's a couple years down the road, things are looking pretty good!
... and one day minister ross and advisor smith disappear
(HOW DOES SPENCER DEAL WITH HIS HATE OF BRENDON?)
tardis80: dude i haven't even really dealt with the ryan/spencer dynamic yet
softlyforgotten: (I THINK HE AND BRENDON HAVE TO MEET AGAIN. AND POSSIBLY FIGHT. CAN YOU IMAGINE SPENCER WITH HIS SHIRT SLEEVES ROLLED UP AND A SPLIT LIP?)
tardis80: YESSSSSSSSSSSSs
hyunbin: they totally have a fistfight omg :O
softlyforgotten: with ryan worried & then kind of upset & then eventually just annoyed with the both of them by the side.
~~~wringing his hands
tardis80: ryan doesn't really go looking for brendon. but in every foreign port he looks at every dark head, turns at every bright laugh
i'm thinking they meet again in a market place
softlyforgotten: *yes*.
to both of them.
hyunbin: :D <3!!!
tardis80: they just bump into each other
hyunbin: and brendon is laughing and happy with jon
and tom
tardis80: and stare with oopen mouths
softlyforgotten: for the sake of a circular narrative state, ryan should be stealing a pie. nods
tardis80: of course, literary device is very important
hyunbin: ryan ross has not lost his nimble fingered ways of his youth
tardis80: nopenope
softlyforgotten: but he totally drops the pie when he sees brendon ("hey!" spencer says. "that was our lunch, moron!")
hyunbin: brendon who is SMILING and HAPPY, and scruffy!
tardis80: and spencer sees him as well
hyunbin: i bet ryan is wavyhaired and wearing his vneck
softlyforgotten: yessss
hyunbin: (SATISFYING A. ON TWO ACCOUNTS)
softlyforgotten: does spencer lunge at brendon right there?
tardis80: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
hyunbin: (TORTURING RYAN AND RYAN IN VNECK)
tardis80: YES
softlyforgotten: (YR SECRET KINKS = NOT SO SECRET? :D)
tardis80: /o\
hyunbin: IT'S OK, GIRL. we write and draw to satisfy you
tardis80: :)
hyunbin: OH DUDE, if spencer lunges right then and there, jon walker would totally punch him back
softlyforgotten: yessssssssss!
jon is like, NO ONE PUNCHES MY FRIEND, ASSHOLE.
and then he has to pause and reconsider
NO ONE PUNCHES MY FRIEND, VERY HOT ASSHOLE.
hyunbin: HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
tardis80: :D
the thing is, ryan flies to brendon's side after he gets punched
softlyforgotten: yessss. grasps at brendon's shirt with trembling fingers and tugs him close, foreheads bent together, before he can even feel a bit embarrassed or start wondering who jon is, what jon is to brendon.
tardis80: and helps him up, tuching his face gently. you made it out safely, he whispers. i never thought i'd see you again
and brendon clutches at him
softlyforgotten: they're both pretty incredulous - what are you doing here? how could you even be here? - because backwater marketplace in a foreign country, yo.
hyunbin: and jon is sort of slackjawed b/c brendon has never cried in front of jon, and has never told jon about him
and brendon looks like he's about to just lose it
tardis80: and they finally move on to somewhere quiet, where bystanders aren't gawking
and ryan explains why he and spencer left. and brendon says, i never thanked you for saving my life
softlyforgotten: ryan looks troubled. "i never gave you the chance," he says, "i left you on your own, i didn't - it wasn't safe."
"it was safer than being hanged," brendon says, striving for lightness, and ryan makes a small, choking noise.
hyunbin: maybe tom is the one who drags the group of the out of the marketplace
GUYS ;3; <3
tardis80: ryan says, i could never let you die, brendon.
hyunbin: (ps - whatdoes this brendon look like? short haired and scruffy?)
(boys on the road = not so much with shaving)
tardis80: yes
:D
softlyforgotten: (i think so! with unbuttoned vests and flip flops.)
hyunbin: jon walker's influence!
and ryan is so glad brendon looks *good*. he looks so much healthier and happier than when he last saw him
and he's got a guitar case on him, and ryan can't even think badly of the two men with him, no matter what their relationships with him is
he's just relieved
softlyforgotten: yes! but without the kind of pampered, rich sleekness he had when he was a prince. he always looked sort of uncomfortable in the fine clothes, there.
i think they'd be... like, shy around each other for a while? their whole history is kind of fucked up - double-meanings and fear and ryan kind of wanting brendon after all, even when he was brendon's slave, even when that seemed crazy and wrong; and then the revolution, and not seeing each other; and then *one kiss*, through the bars.
it's a weird kind of way to fall in love, and all of a sudden neither of them know where they stand.
tardis80: they have to start all over again
hyunbin: and brendon is scared out of his mind to do something that ryan doesn't want, so he never initiates contact. he's always careful to sit a little distance away from ryan and spencer, give them their own personal space (though ryan bitterly notes that he has no problem falling on top of jon and having no personal space)
tardis80: (sorry went to do the laundry)
YES
hyunbin: spencer is too busy glaring at brendon all the time to notice jon. tom, however, does not miss the notsodiscrete staring his jonny is doing
softlyforgotten: urgh urgh BOYS.
hyunbin: (who else is in this little band of merry men?)
softlyforgotten: (well, uh, a mix of empires & the academy is? :D)
hyunbin: sean, tom, brendon and jon always sing together!
softlyforgotten: yessss
hyunbin: and ryanj provides comedy fun and percussions!
bill sort of takes ryan under his wing, and turns out he knows pete from way back in the day, during their misspent youth
softlyforgotten: yesss
tardis80: brendon tries not to cross boundaries with ryan. though ti hurts him to think about it, he doesn't want to put ryan in a postition where he's fighting off his advances. but i think brendon maybe overhears ryan and spencer fighting one day. "how can you love him after all that he did to you, all that he did to us?!" and brendon thinks, oh. he LOVES me.
hyunbin: ryan makes bill promise to not say anything to brendon though
softlyforgotten: yessssss!
brendon is so conflicted, because ryan's here now, and brendon's loved & wanted him for so long, but he also remembers too clearly ryan hissing at him, "i NEVER wanted you," and brendon doesn't want to push. he hates himself for what he did to ryan all those years ago, and now he's still not quite sure what ryan wants and even if ryan does love him, even then, he doesn't know if he is the right person to give it to him.
hyunbin: he doesn't feel like he deserves it
tardis80: and after that he watches ryan more closely. he brings him little things, small flowers he found by the side of the road, new music he wrote...
hyunbin: he teaches ryan guitar!
and he's still careful about keeping space between the two of them and whatnot, but sometimes ryan manages to get one of brendon's biggest smiles out. where he's just :D
softlyforgotten: yesssssssss!
hyunbin: ryan thinks that brendon is sometimes too serious now.
he's no longer the perpetually smiling boy he was in the palace
tardis80: ryan receives his gifts with pleasure and flushed cheeks. it's strange to think that now after all that they've done together, that they're courting.
maybe one day they're sitting on a grassy bank feet dangling in a pond and brendon laughs, "remember when --" and falls silent. he doesn't want to remind ryan when he was a slave.but ryan covers brendon's hand and says, "not everything was bad brendon. the flower house was terrible, and i'll never forget the things they did to me, but the good parts, all the good parts involved you."
and they kiss softly
for the first time since the dungeons
softlyforgotten: ohhhhhhh my HEART.
hyunbin: AUGH MY HEART
;3;
softlyforgotten: ahhh, brb
tardis80: :D
hyunbin: we still need confrontation between spencer and brendon!
or more like
spencer confronts brendon, brendon is FILLED WITH GUILT
but he's got his own anger too!
his little sisters! he's never going to see them again, ok
his parents were dictators, but they were his parents
and god, his brother. his brother taught him everything.
his brother didn't even have time to prove himself as a ruler yet, and they just killed him.
all of this comes out when him and spencer fight
jon's just standing there gaping because he didn't realize this was prince brendon all these years.
he knew brendon was smart and well-learned and incredibly talented with music, didn't have any family, but uh. wow. this is sort of shock.
tardis80: things are uneasy between spencer and brendon. but spencer has eyes, he sees that brendon isn't an all-out bad guy. it doesn't stop him from sniping at him though, and giving him the cold shoulder. and one day brendon just shouts, enough already! and they start yelling.
hyunbin: yes! that is how it starts!
tardis80: "i know you don't like me and not a day goes by without me regretting what i did to him, but you have got to accept that those things are past, and ryan has chosen me again! of his own free will." (maybe there was a little jealousy in the past, when bden learned that ryan brought spence with him to the castle)
and spencer seethes, i will never forgive you for what you did. you ruined everything! (spencer had dreams, yo. he was gonna become a baker and marry ryan and it was gonna be simple and happy)
softlyforgotten: (back! sorry, unloading the shopping. :D)
tardis80: and then the sex slave thing happened. brendon yells, "you don't have to forgive me! but maybe you should think about how ryan feels when we're fighting like this." (HI <3)
and they sort of tussle
softlyforgotten: OHHHHH BOYS.
tardis80: it's the kind of tussling that ends in crying disguised as laughter
and is probably cathartic
hyunbin: and spencer's learned to live with the fact that ryan's never going to love him that way, but he's still pretty bitter that ryan loves brendon
softlyforgotten: spencer LOVES ryan. brendon fucked up all of his plans to do with him, and then jon fucked them up even more ("with your smile! and your dumb shoes! and your fucking guitar!").
hyunbin: maybe after they're done and sitting there on the ground panting and gross and sniffly
tardis80: dude there's this whole epic of the ryan/spencer experience during the slavery that would bring you to tears (think of city of seven walls by auburnnothenna)
hyunbin: ryan drops down between them and tug them together and just holds the two of them close to him
OMG A. NO
I REFUSE TO THINK OF THAT STORY
tardis80: YES
hyunbin: I CRIED SO HARD
tardis80: is evil
softlyforgotten: I DO NOT KNOW THIS STORY!
hyunbin: THUMBS DOWN
softlyforgotten: IS IT BANDOM?
tardis80: it's sga
hyunbin: OMG MIK IT'S TERRIFYINGLY ANGSTY
softlyforgotten: SHOULD I READ IT ANYWAY?
tardis80: it is the most heartwrenching sex slave story in the world
softlyforgotten: wait, is this the one you were talking about before, a.?
hyunbin: YOU'LL PROBABLY NEED TO READ THE FAKE BOYFRIENDS AU AFTERWARDS TO DRAG YOURSELF OUT OF THE HORRIFYING DEPRESSION
tardis80: and i think you should read it only if you can stomach it. um no (it has a happy ending sort of!)
softlyforgotten: i will do my best, then!
OH MAN THAT FIC MADE ME SO HAPPY.
hyunbin: emily and kali's slavefic has nothing on that
softlyforgotten: I BEAMED THE WHOLE WAY THROUGH IT.
THE FAKE BOYFRIENDS AU, I MEAN.
hyunbin: that fic is the most heartdestroying slavefic ever
ME TOO
softlyforgotten: is it long?
tardis80: YES
VERY LONG
hyunbin: 7 walls?
really really long
i don't think auburn is capable of writing shortfic lol
softlyforgotten: ahahahaha
i will put it on my list, then. :D
hyunbin: steammmpunk painted a picture for it
it's crazy beautiful
softlyforgotten: oooer
tardis80: http://wraithbait.com/viewstory.php?sid=12047&warning=12
that's the link
softlyforgotten: i have to say the one thing really missing in this fandom is art
merci!
reason #98275 why you two are so brilliant :D
tardis80: XD you make me blush
sga has so many great artists
and good authors too.
softlyforgotten: is that where you two met?
tardis80: yep
hyunbin: http://www.eternalvox.net/%7Eauburn/citysevenindex.html
tardis80: and then she dragged me into bandom
hyunbin: and then i dragged her into bandom
softlyforgotten: ahahahaha
tardis80: i was skeptical at first
hyunbin: there was linkspamming
but she couldn't resist the call of ryan ross
softlyforgotten: ahahaha i know what you mean

tardis80: AHAHAHAHA. :D i have to go to the market now. see you later! (maybe we shall plot the ryan/spencer side to the story. it is ansty! and then the spencer/jon) BYE <3
softlyforgotten: imagine ryan stealing pies g
tardis80: (i love the market so much. eeee)
hyunbin: oh mik _ jon and brendon are totally in the market strolling and laughing with tom
they're carrying their guitars and jon's got an apple
softlyforgotten: yesssss
i keep going back to that scene
ryan spotting him
hyunbin: and brendon's got a flower tucked behind his ear!
hyunbin: tom had stuck it there from when they were passing some outside the market!
softlyforgotten: yes! and his guitar hanging around his back
hyunbin: what sort of universe is this?
semi-modern?
softlyforgotten: i guess so!
sort of steampunk, maybe?
hyunbin: enough technology to move around but not enough for the big brother sort of thing we've got going on now? hahaha
guitars are acoustic? no electric?
softlyforgotten: ahaha yes!

hyunbin: ps - how does jon walker fall in love with spencer smith
softlyforgotten: i think... because he's spencer smith?
and because he's so fierce & protective about ryan
and i think spencer & ryan love each other so much and because it's not entirely platonic, it fucks with spencer's head a fair bit.
hyunbin: jon doesn't know why spencer is so terrifying against brendon (brendon told him nothing)
softlyforgotten: he knows he loves ryan differently to the way brendon does, but he's not sure what that means.
hyunbin: but when he's just hanging out with jon, spencer is witty and a lot of fun
softlyforgotten: yes! jon is confused. this guy seems really awesome in so many ways and yet he has this personal vendetta against jon's best friend!
hyunbin: jon loves brendon, okay. he's known tom his entire life, but brendon's the younger brother he never had.
and brendon is one of the nicest people jon's ever met, always thinking about others before himself.
softlyforgotten: yes! i love the idea of jon being so shocked to find out that brendon is PRINCE brendon, too
maybe jon's family had some pretty shitty things done to them under the rule of the uries
and jon has a hard time reconciling the two
hyunbin: brendon goes by the name 'brendon boyd'!
softlyforgotten: ahahaha YES.
(now i'm thinking of my so called life. "that's good. no one should hate... who they *are*.")
hyunbin: oh damn, i never watched that show. :D;
softlyforgotten: urghhhh, it is the best, you should. :D
but ANYWAY, yes!
hyunbin: maybe that's when he realizes why brendon's always so quiet when jon talked about some of the things his family went through, and how there's now another layer of meaning for when brendon hugged the breath out of him afterwards
softlyforgotten: ohhhhh
i think, in the end, jon forgives brendon kind of simply, and without even telling brendon about working stuff out in his head for a while.
because in the end he gets what spencer never could; that brendon did things wrongly because he was never taught not to, and that when he did them he always did them in the kindest, goodest way he knew hard. even ryan was brendon's attempt at saving him. he just didn't know ryan DIDN'T need to be saved, not like that.
hyunbin: and he's not someone who punishes the son for the sins of the father
softlyforgotten: exactly, yes.
hyunbin: he knew brendon before he knew him as the prince. he knows brendon is a really good person, and he'd rather put anyone's happiness first before he even considers his own
and he thinks that honestly, seeing his family being killed is more than enough punishment
softlyforgotten: yesss! and he knows how stupidly in love with ryan brendon is, and how it's returned, and he likes ryan, too, he thinks ryan is really smart and perceptive and he figures if ryan could love brendon, after all that he's seen and been through, than jon doesn'
*doesn't need to feel wary about doing the same.
hyunbin: not to mention he feels that they're all more than old enough to make rational decisions about their lives
softlyforgotten: team jon \o/
hyunbin: so, brendon and ryan first sleep together when brendon is 16, ryan is 17. when does the coup happen?
softlyforgotten: hmmmmmmmm
it would take a while to organise
so maybe when brendon's eighteen and a half, or so?
or is that too long?
hyunbin: no, i think that's a decent timeline
softlyforgotten: yeahhhh
and then, brendon escapes
and is recaptured when he's twenty?
spends six months in jail?
hyunbin: 2.5 years of brendon just charming the hell out of ryan despite ryan's >: (-ness
yeah
softlyforgotten: exactlyyyy
i like thinking about their first night together after the second marketplace, toooo :D
i think it happens after spencer and brendon have that fight
hyunbin: :DDDD
softlyforgotten: ryan sits holding them both close, and finally spencer whispers, "okay. enough, now." and he kisses ryan's forehead and stands up and nods at brendon, kind of coldly but he's not punching him, so brendon it counts it as a win. when he walks away brendon turns, presses his nose against ryan's collarbone and breathes in a shuddering kind of breath. ryan says, "are you bleeding on me?"
"probably," brendon says, regretfully. "sorry."
"it's okay," ryan says.
hyunbin: (i think after ryan helps brendon escape, it's another 2 years before ryan and spencer leave the capital, and another 2-3 years before they run across each other in the marketplace)
(so they're 25 (brendon and spencer) to 27 (jon))
softlyforgotten: (yes! they are older and wiser and they MISSED each other.)

softlyforgotten: ryan is all starey and twitchy fingered.
because DUDE. *DUDE*. he thought maybe he was exaggerating, in his head, how hot brendon was because okay, that's ridiculous, no one can be - BUT HE REALLY, REALLY WASN'T.
hyunbin: and brendon at 16 was nothing compared to brendon at 20, and really. nothing compared to brendon at 25, more sure of his own skin, a little more sad around the edges
softlyforgotten: yesssss
hyunbin: but his smile is still as bright as it was when he first met ryan in the marketplace 10 years ago.
softlyforgotten: oh my HEART. :D
hyunbin: (TEN YEARS!)
hyunbin: (circularity)

Continues here.