Sharing pasta at the restaurant was not where your night with Brendon ended. After asking for the bill – which he insisted on paying – he asked if you wanted to go out for a drink. Your initial impulse was to decline his offer, but then he looked at you with those cursed puppy-eyes and you melted, giving in but vowing that you'd only be having one.

But then you got to the bar, and one drink turned into two, which turned into five, which developed into you becoming utterly sloshed. Naturally, you figured that right then would be the perfect time to start singing some karaoke, and so you swaggered over to the raised platform, dragging a much more sober Brendon along with you.

Once on-stage, the assistant handed the two of you a mic each and asked for your song choice. Gasping and wide-eyed, you turned to your ex and excitedly smacked your hand against his chest repeatedly.

"Oh, my god," you squealed, "Do you know which song we should do?"

"Which song?" he indulged, chuckling as he held onto your arm to steady you.

"'Summer Nights'! Ya know, from Grease!"

Grinning, he turned to the assistant. "You heard the lady. 'Summer Nights', it is."

~

"Tell me more, tell me more," you sang softly as you lazily danced along the hotel hallway. Brendon was trailing close behind you, watching in amusement but paying careful attention to be prepared to catch you in case you lost your balance.

It'd been a wonderful night; the two of you had a great time together – no strings attached – and Brendon was absolutely thrilled at the fact. He'd come here wanting to get closer to you and to regain your trust, and he felt as though tonight was a huge step in that direction.

You reached your hotel door and came to a halt in front of it. But instead of pulling out your room card and opening up, you turned to your mostly-sober counterpart.

"Brendon."

"(Y/N)."

You raised one finger and curled it, beckoning him towards you; he obliged, raising an eyebrow in intrigue and stepping forward. Once he was close enough, you hooked your arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug.

Turning your head, you rested it over his left pec, letting the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat relax you. "I had a nice time tonight."

"Me too," he hummed, resting his head atop yours and rubbing a hand up and down your back.

"It felt like we were back at the start."

He chuckled, sending vibrations through his chest. "It did, didn't it?"

"Bren?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I tell you a secret?" you whispered.

"Of course, babe."

Slowly, you lifted your head to look up at him. Your eyes looked into his sparkly brown ones, and your heart rate picked up. Had you been sober, the next four words would've never come out of your mouth but unfortunately, you were on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, and so you could do nothing to stop the words from spilling out.

"I'm not over you."

Brendon struggled immensely to stop himself from jumping up and down and hollering in celebration, chomping down on his bottom lip and clenching his fists to restrict his movements.

Drawing in a shallow breath, he smiled a lopsided smile and brought both of his hands up to cup your face.

"Really?" he asked, wanting to make one hundred percent sure that you meant what you had just said; he smiled even wider when you shook your head vigorously.

"I thought I was. I've been telling myself that I am, but it's a lie. I can't shake you. I couldn't even if I wanted to." You closed your eyes and leaned into his touch.

"You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear you say that," he choked, stroking his thumb along your cheek.

"But then there's Josh," you sighed and Brendon's jaw tensed up, "I have feelings for him, too, ya know? And I... I don't want to choose between you two, because I can't stand the thought of losing either of you," you shook your head and furrowed your brows before looking up at him with worry in your eyes, "Does that make me a bad person?"

Brendon tiled his head and frowned at you. "No, of course not. It-it makes sense. You not wanting to lose either of us. But, (Y/N)," he breathed out heavily, "We're all too far gone now. I know you don't want to choose, but you're gonna have to."

"And you won't stop until I choose you," you sniffed, sucking on your teeth.

"I'll never stop fighting for you. I might not be as outright about it – and I'll leave you and Josh in peace if you do choose him – but I will always be waiting for you, in case you change your mind. And until you make that decision, you can bet your ass that I will do everything in my power to convince you that you belong with me, and not him."

"Where was this Brendon when I needed him eleven years ago?" you scoffed, wiping away a few runaway tears that had spilled over.

He cringed. "I hadn't evolved yet."

With a giggle, you hung your head and looked down at the patterned carpet of the hotel floor. It made you a bit dizzy, but Brendon was keeping a firm grip on you so that you remained steady.

"(Y/N)?"

As soon as you lifted your head again, Brendon's lips collided with yours, softly and passionately in a way that caused your skin to tingle. Instead of backing away like you should've done, you grabbed a fistful of his shirt and yanked him closer, resulting in his body slamming yours against the room door.

~

Tyler and Josh sluggishly trailed out of the elevator, completely exhausted from the show. The crowd had been especially raucous tonight, meaning they had to amp up their performance to accommodate them – a change that proved to be extra taxing on their bodies.

No words were exchanged between the best friends as they trudged along to their rooms, Tyler a few steps ahead of Josh. They both just wanted to climb into bed and rest.

Tyler saw it first, since he was in front, and he widened his eyes before spinning around to push a hand against Josh's chest to get him to stop.

"The hell, dude?" Josh croaked, tired eyes narrowing as he swatted Tyler's hand away.

"I just remembered that we're outta Red Bull," Tyler said smoothly, "Don't you think we should go and get some?"

"No. I think that we should go and sleep, and get some in the morning," Josh rolled his eyes and again tried to side-step Tyler so that he could round the corner.

The singer copied the drummer's movements and blocked his path.

"Dude!" Josh growled, using his strength to fling his friend out of the way.

"Josh, wait!" Tyler reached out to stop him, but he had already rounded the corner.

~

The longer the kiss went on, the more heated it got. His hands slid from your face down to your waist, fingers gripping your body hard. You let your hands trail up his chest to his shoulders, gently massaging him before digging your nails into the skin. He let out a low growl at the sensation and bit down on your lip in response, making you gasp.

He moved his lips from your mouth to your jaw and then down to your neck, nipping at your sweet spot and earning a whimper from you. He returned to kissing you, this time mumbling against your lips.

"Room key."

His request brought you back to your senses, allowing your moral compass to readjust and prompting you to droopily push him away.

"Wait, Brendon..." you breathed, trying to come down from the high that kissing him had given you while simultaneously attempting to explain yourself, "We can't... I can't... not to Josh. I can't do that to him."

Brendon looked frazzled for a moment, as if he didn't understand what you were saying. Then, he groaned and slumped his shoulders. "You're killing me, here."

Quicker than your inebriated mind could comprehend, Brendon was violently yanked away from you and flung against the wall by an incredibly pissed off Josh.

Apparently exhaustion coupled with seeing your girlfriend in the arms of another guy is not an ideal combination.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Josh demanded, holding Brendon in place against the wall.

"Get your fucking hands off of me," Brendon growled, jaw clenching as he grabbed Josh's arm and shoved him away.

"Stay away from her," the drummer spat, pointing a finger at his counterpart for good measure as he crossed over to you.

"Yeah?" Brendon scoffed, straightening his jacket as he took a step forward. "Or else what?"

"Stop it," you whispered, shaking your head.

"Don't test me," Josh warned, fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly.

Brendon laughed bitterly. "You cute."

"Stop..." you tried again, cautiously staggering forward to form a barrier between the two males.

"Brendon, I swear-"

"Alright, can we all just take a breather and calm the hell down?" Tyler interjected, holding up his hands and joining you in separating his friends. "A hotel hallway is not the place to get into fisticuffs."

"Why are you even here?" Josh demanded in a harsh tone as he glared at Brendon, completely ignoring Tyler. "She doesn't want to see you."

"You have no idea what she wants."

"Guys, I'm serious! Both of you back off!" Tyler stood his ground, carefully moving you out of the way before walking over to Josh, gripping his shoulders and starting to guide him to his room and away from you and Brendon. "You can deck it out in the morning, but right now, everyone's too out of it to think straight."

Josh scoffed in disbelief, struggling a bit against Tyler's hold on him. "You're just gonna leave her with him?"

"She can handle herself, Josh."

You and Brendon silently watched the band walk away and only once they rounded the corner and were out of view did either of you speak.

The muscles in your jaw pulled tight as you looked over at the singer. "Tyler called you here, didn't he?"

His face flushed. You knew. "I would've found you even if he hadn't."

"My god," you groaned, letting your head fall back as you covered your face with your hands and turned away, "The two of you planned this."

"What?" he frowned, pushing himself off of the wall and crossing over to you, taking a hold on your elbow and turning you to look at him, "All Tyler and I talked about was me flying over. That's it. No one planned anything else. Finding you in that restaurant, and everything that followed... that was all one hundred percent chance."

"Pretty convenient chance," you scoffed, breaking his hold on you, "I can't believe you guys would do this. Actually, no, you I can believe. But Tyler? Why would he do that to Josh?"

"Because he sees what Josh can't," Brendon persisted, taking your hands in his and intertwining your fingers, "What you told me a few minutes ago... You're not over me."

"Maybe not," you nodded, thinning your lips, "but I for sure can't be with someone who would do something like this."

You yanked your hands from his and turned to open your door. He pleaded for you to stop and just talk to him, but you cut him off.

"You see, Bren, that's where you and Josh are different, and that's why now I will almost definitely choose him," you pointed a finger at the singer, who was looking heartbroken, "The last thing he wants is for me to end up with you, but he would never go behind my back and try to sabotage you because of it."

~

Josh made sure to open the shower tap to its maximum, so that the water would drown out any and all sounds and Tyler couldn't overhear the phone conversation he was about to have.

The phone rang twice before it was answered, the recipient's cheery voice sounded through the device a second later.

"Dude, hey," Josh responded, "How's it going? All good with the tour? Yeah, we're cool. Listen, I actually called 'cause I need a favour..."

The drummer looked at himself in the mirror, barely even recognizing the person staring back at him. He took a deep breath.

"You're playing in Vegas tomorrow night, right?"

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Thank you for reading x

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Note: Again, please enjoy the reply I got from mikeywaystambourine when I asked her for help with this fic.

Honestly... same.

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