Ryan and Charlie pushed their way into the small but rowdy group of teenagers forming in front of the gated entrance and trudged across the gravel towards the open doors. The bell rang, loud and piercing and the low hum of morning conversation was interrupted by the familiar sound of locker doors slamming and a cacophony of plimsolls on the concrete floor. This was usually where Ryan and Charlie parted ways, since she was unfortunately in a different class, further away from his, so she rarely stayed outside with him and waited for the herd of students to disperse. Sometimes she did, on what he called 'bad anxiety days' and his risk of a panic attack was higher than usual. She was the voice of reason that kept his paranoia under control.

Ryan wasn't great with crowds. He very easily got claustrophobic, and the obliviousness of everyone, shoving him aside and shouting over his head (which was an impressive feat at the best of times, what with Ryan being a good head taller than a lot of people) was a cause of great stress. So being a few minutes late to class was very much worth the price of having to duck into the nearest bathroom, hiding out in a stall, five-seconds-in-seven-seconds-out, and missing a majority of the lesson anyway.

Charlie understood all this and so never really questioned his behaviour. She waved, the tension between them already fraying. He waved back. And watched her get swallowed by the crowd.

The halls cleared quite quickly; only a few stragglers were left, collecting books or finishing up texts. Ryan was relatively okay with this since it was no longer suffocating, although now he was exposed to these last few eyes. At least in a crowd he'd be invisible. It was a vicious cycle, and one that Ryan had to deal with constantly.

He took a deep breath and headed towards his form room, keeping his eyes straight ahead. It was two, perhaps three minute walk with a lot of stairs to scale, but the lesson never started immediately so he figured he'd make it around the same time as his teacher. He preferred it that way. He hated sitting alone, pissed off at the nonsensical shouting and paranoid that any whispers or giggles were directed at him. He was perfectly happy just sneaking in unnoticed when everyone else was in the process of settling down and hiding at the back, observing and ignoring.

The first lesson was maths, which Ryan considered to be his best subject. This meant that he was quite skilled in following along with the work without actually really listening, so teachers had a hard time trying to catch him out if they suspected that his focus was elsewhere. However, the flaw here was that if they weren't explaining formulas or how to do calculations that Ryan already knew, and therefore didn't need to really think about, he couldn't fully take in what was being said. So when Mr. Harrison began class by introducing a new student, Ryan was hardly aware of the kid until he actually stood up, and broke Ryan's autopilot mode.

"Everyone, this is Thomas," Harrison announced, indicating to the boy next to him with an all too enthusiastic smile. "He's going to be joining our class from now on." Ryan stared at the new guy, more out of plain boredom than general interest. Thomas was tall and awkward, fidgeting a little and averting his eyes from the gaze of judgemental teenagers. Ryan didn't take much notice. He'd decided long ago that anyone who atteneded this school wasn't really worth his time. However, writing off all classmates from the very beginning didn't automatically mean he had to deny those who were relatively good looking. And Thomas, it didn't fail to register, was good looking. In the few minutes Ryan got to look at him before he sat down near the front, he managed to memorise a pretty good amount of the boy's features. Thomas had smooth, light brown skin and wavy black hair, almost to the point of full curls. His face also seemed to match his age, rounded but sharp in the right places, like he'd grown into it properly. Whereas all the other students had either experienced puberty during primary school and now looked more suited for college, or students who had somehow missed puberty altogether, and were no taller than first years, with equally high voices. Personality-wise as well, Thomas already seemed different. He appeared to be pretty shy and judging by his neat uniform and attentive posture, wasn't going to pretend he was some areshole bad boy, an occurrence that happened all too often within classrooms. Basically, Thomas just didn't seem to fit. And that, concluded Ryan, finally turning back to his text book, was by no means a bad thing.

During the two hour lunch period, Ryan kept himself to himself, since Charlie had some club meeting and, again he didn't really have any other friends. Ryan tended to avoid the canteen altogether, not really seeing the point of it. It was crowded, noisy and if he was that desperate to get the piss taken out of him by a bunch of people he didn't care about, he'd just stay home. His hunger was never particularly acute anyway. So Ryan, head bent low, earphones in, snuck out the large double doors to the empty courtyard outside, breathing in the rare moment of peace he was met with. It was a shame that the actual eating part of lunch was so short. Ryan liked the quiet and deserted playground and made the most of it by sitting on the one bench that overlooked the whole area. He simply sat, and thought, and breathed. Then the peace was shattered by the first wave of students trickling through the doors, shouting and laughing and, once they'd spotted Ryan trying not to scowl in their direction, staring curiously. At Ryan the weird kid who had no friends and didn't eat. Ryan the controversial pupil who you either idolised for his bad boy persona and sarcastic remarks, or hated for the same reasons. Most people were a part of the latter group. A lot of them were unaware of his friendship with Charlie, which was a good thing for her since his presence would probably taint her general popularity. She had clubs and events and a social life. Ryan had the wall at the back of the school where he chainsmoked cigarettes, conveniently provided by Year 12's resident druggie, Stephen Malleck.

"Alright?" Greeted Stephen as Ryan leant against the red bricks, still scowling for no real reason. He nodded in Steve's direction.

"Never better," he muttered. Steve rummaged around in his pockets and produced a pack of regular cigarettes.

"Sure you don't want a joint?" He offered. Ryan rolled his eyes. Aside from his crappy attempt at street lingo, Steve asked him that every day. The answer was always no but Steve was annoyingly persistent. Ryan kind of hated the guy.

"Yeah, like I'd waste my money on drugs. I'm not that far gone yet, mate."

"Alright, dick." It was very likely that Steve hated him back, but business was business. And his fags were cheap.

Ryan was sitting on the ground, his left arm resting on his knee and his right holding his half burned-out cigarette. He was, as usual, deep in thought, his eyes glued to the fence across from him. He didn't notice someone walk round the corner until Steve piped up.

"What do you want?" He demanded. The interrogative tone already told Ryan that it wasn't a teacher, nor anyone of importance, so he simply jumped at the interruption. Looking up he saw that the intruder was the new kid.

"Sorry. I was just, trying to find somewhere quiet. To finish my book," he explained, as clarification. Ryan raised an eyebrow.

"Nerd," scoffed Steve. Tom looked at him, with what appeared to be an exasperated expression. Quite a bold emotion towards someone who's so far only said five words to you. He looked Steve up and down, with an ever so slight sneer playing on his lips.

"Yeah well, at least I read more than just drug pamphlets," he replied, in a weak attempt to sound intimidating. Although Ryan was rather impressed with the confidence. Maybe the guy wasn't as shy as he first thought. He raised an eyebrow again, the only reaction he could be bothered to give, but it was more against Steve this time than Tom.

"Piss off, how do you know about that?"

"Oh come off it," Ryan laughed. "Even the teachers know, they just can't catch you. God knows why though, you're so thick."

"Well you're a twat so shut up." Tom looked both uncomfortable and amused. Ryan didn't like that. He ignored Steve completely.

"You can sit here," Ryan offered. "It's quiet. Or at least, it's supposed to be." Tom studied the two of them. It suddenly occurred to Ryan that they probably looked pretty pathetic. He took a hard drag on his cigarette.

"No, thanks." Replied Tom, in a way that seemed to confirm Ryan's suspicions. "I think the nerd and loser group is looking for someone more popular. You can stay here and sell drugs to twelve year olds."

"For the record," defended Ryan "I'm not associated with this creep." Steve made a face. "I just like the occasional smoke. Not a crime, new kid."

"Whatever. 'S not like you're doing anything to stop him. And you know smoking's bad for you, right?" Ryan was now highly pissed off and wished he'd never opened his mouth. He blew smoke in Tom's direction, hoping to create a fug thick enough to block him out. Tom wafted it away, rather obnoxiously.

"Yeah thanks, I've seen the ads." Ryan turned away, indicating that Tom's existence was now, in his eyes, entirely insignificant, and a somewhat nuisance. Tom just sighed once and left.

"He was a right dickhead." Steve observed, for absolutely no reason that Ryan could see except perhaps to diffuse the tension.

"Yeah, didn't know you had a brother."

For the remaining part of the day, Ryan hardly saw Tom again, despite them sharing nearly all the same classes. It wasn't as if Ryan was deliberately avoiding him, he didn't know the guy well enough for that, but he by no means went out of his way to do what the teacher had instructed and "make Thomas feel welcome.' In fact he took rather a lot of pleasure in doing the opposite. After history, when they all needed to file off to the computer room, Ryan and Tom found themselves the last two left in the classroom, so Tom was forced to ask Ryan for directions to the next lesson. Ryan knew it was a pretty cruel thing to do, and he felt slightly bad after he had said it. After all, Tom wasn't a bad guy, they'd just got off on the wrong foot. But sometimes Ryan just couldn't stop himself and he ended up sending Tom off on a wild goose chase all around the school, when in reality the ICT room was only a few doors away. Tom turned up ten minutes late, red-faced and out of breath and, once the teacher had finished scolding him in front of everyone, utterly humiliated. He'd basically experienced one of the worst parts of being new and had Ryan been in his situation he'd want to be immediately swallowed up by the earth. Tom appeared to share this fantasy and the look he gave Ryan as he sat down almost made Ryan shrink into his seat, and he felt quite glad to be under the watchful eye of a teacher.

"You are a twat, aren't you?" Spat Tom at Ryan when the bell rang again. Ryan just looked at him, smirking.

"Sorry, did I give you the wrong directions?" He replied, his voice as usual dripping with sarcasm. Tom stared at him with slight disgust.

"Just stay away from me." Ryan's face melted back into his signature scowl.

"Gladly," he muttered, deliberately pushing past him.

Ryan felt perfectly content with never thinking about Tom again for the rest of the school year, especially considering they'd only existed in each other's lives for a few unpleasant hours, although they already seemed destined to become life-long enemies. This annoyed Ryan considerably since he already had so many enemies that it was hard to keep track of them all. And it was kind of exhausting being hated all the time.

After another few hours and having successfully avoided anymore altercations with new students, it was finally home-time, and Ryan felt fairly certain that he was in the clear now until tomorrow. So he was more than a little disgruntled to see Tom standing next to Charlie outside the school gates, chatting and laughing with her, acting like they were old friends.

"What are you doing here?" Ryan interrogated, rather unreasonably he noted. Tom seemed to notice as well, and with a cocky grin, replied "what, on the pavement? Outside of school? Well, Ryan, you see I don't actually live here. I have to, you know, leave." He laughed mockingly. And Ryan didn't like someone using his name so confidently if he hadn't actually introduced himself to them which, he suddenly realised, he hadn't.

"Good so why don't you, you know, leave then?" Charlie was turning her head between to two, like she was watching a tennis match.

"You guys, know each other I suppose?" She said, as more of a statement than a question.

"We've met," confirmed Tom, looking at Ryan like he very much regretted this fact. "You know him too?" He asked Charlie.

"Yeah, he's my friend. He lives at Ashdene Ridge. The care home I was telling you about." Ryan stared at her, in a way which suggested that he was both surprised and disapproved of the amount of information she was giving. Especially since it involved him.

"You live with him? Wow, poor you." Tom said it jokey, just in case it offended Charlie, but the meaning was certainly there. Charlie laughed at Ryan tense features.

"Relax, he'd find out anyway. We were partnered in geography. He's coming over to work on a project." It took all of Ryan's willpower not to groan out loud and roll his eyes. This couldn't be anymore typical and Ryan outwardly showed his displeasure by walking silently ahead of them, once again refusing to share his music. He was sulking basically, with the support of a Muse album. However, as much as he ignored them, they ignored him even more. Charlie kept giggling at Tom's stupid jokes.

When they neared the house, Ryan was very tempted to just walk straight past and keep walking for hours until he was sure Tom had gone home. But they'd definitely notice and Tom would probably guess it was his fault, which meant admitting that Tom was somehow getting to him. And Ryan would rather impale himself on the gates than do that. By now, his pride was all he had left.

So Ryan, without saying a word to anybody, let himself inside the house and went immediately upstairs to his room, half-slamming his door and glueing himself to his bed for the next two hours watching re-run after re-run of The Inbetweeners on his laptop. But despite having a similar, albeit very offensive, humour as the show, it didn't improve his mood much, and only when he heard the front door close at around five thirty was he able to slightly unclench his jaw.

He went downstairs after he saw Tom turn the corner at the end of the driveway, and caught Charlie by the door, waving in the same direction.

"He's already gone you know," sneered Ryan. "Don't have to keep waving." Charlie turned to him and frowned.

"What do you have against Tom?" She demanded, arms crossed and eyebrows raised.

"Eh? Nothing. Why would I have anything against him?" Ryan defended.

"Oh, um I dunno, maybe because you've been rude and moody ever since school ended and Tom walked home with us."

"Well why couldn't you have gone over to his? Instead of blabbing about this place, and telling him I live here as well. He didn't need to know that!"

"Okay, well for your information, he lives too far away. It was more convenient coming here. And why are you making such a big deal about this anyway?" In all honesty, Ryan didn't really know. Tom hadn't exactly ruined his life, he'd just said a few annoying comments, and mainly in retaliation to Ryan who was more in the wrong here. But there was just something about him, which Ryan couldn't quite put his finger on. He just knew he didn't want Tom to come round here and spend hours locked away in Charlie's room.

"There's something about him. I don't like it," concluded Ryan.

"Well I don't care what you think, because it's not up to you. And besides, I think he's very nice. And cute."

"Sure I guess, if you like that kind of thing."

"What kind of thing?" She airquoted his word.

"I dunno. He's a bit... full of himself. Thinks he's so funny."

"Okay, you know you just described yourself." Ryan cracked a grin.

"And you like that?" With a slight flourish he swung himself around the banister and replaced the grin with a wishful smile. "Well thanks, I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I only think of you as a friend, sweetheart." There'd been too much tension between the two so far and Ryan needed to bring it back before they started properly arguing. He'd improved at recognising when he was being unreasonable. And he was being rather unreasonable at the moment.

"Oh shut up!" Charlie pushed him lightly in the chest so he'd swing backwards, but she was smiling again. "You're just jealous because he has better hair than you." Ryan put his hands on the rail and rested his chin on them, pretending to look into the distance and mock sighed in defeat.

"Yes. That's what this is all about. Tomorrow we're battling to the death. With hair gel as our chosen weapon. Blood will be spilt."

Mike called them for dinner and the day's events had all but evaporated from Ryan's mind by the time he had entered the kitchen. He suddenly realised that he wasn't as angry as he initially thought because he didn't actually care enough about the things he was supposedly angry about. Thomas wouldn't bother him again. Ryan was sure of it.

Author's Note:

Oof okay I am so so sorry for the ridiculously long wait. I wasn't expecting to take this long. Most of the wait was just me procrastinating typing all this out cos I thought it'd be a bitch. But turns out... I was completely right, everything hurts and the English language doesn't even exist anymore. I've also been in mourning after the episode-that-shall-not-be-named and have spent my time listening to The Beatles because out of all my favourite bands they remind me the least of Ryan, and even that's questionable, (it's taken me a whole week to be able to listen to tøp again and I haven't even attempted to listen to Night Visions by Imagine Dragons cos too many songs on that album remind me of that fabulous Scouser bastard... seriously though have y'all HEARD Bleeding Out that shit has such a Ryan vIBE!?) I also wrote a a whole ass essay about How Ryan Staying Can Be Considered Canon and it is pretty damn flawless if I do say so myself so I'm good, we're all good wE'RE ALL FINE WHY ARE YOU AL ?

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Alexa play I'm Not Okay (I Promise) by My Chemical Romance...

Anyway, lemme quickly explain the OC's name. I think I initially chose Levi simply because I used it as a filler name while writing and then it just stuck, but Dark Heart 945 made a good point, it did kind of sound like an anime character (although as a self-proclaimed anime NERD, that's not too much of a bad thing) but then I thought if I gave the character a 'T' name the ship name would be Tyan and I like the irony of that. Is it weird? Maybe, but damn it I love the name Thomas.

Okay, I think I'll reply to the reviews and then we'll end this cos why is my speciality turning into stupidly long author's notes?

Dark Heart 945- first of all, I've suddenly realised that you're the author of 'Demons' and can I just say, I LOVED that fanfiction like the way Ryan talked with all of his different demons was so cool, I legit screamed about it with my Twitter mutual when I found it cos I've dragged her into the Ryan trashdom and we both love Imagine Dragons and your fic was exactly what I needed (I left a guest review ages ago which was basically me fangirling over the IG references cos yes Demons suits Ryan so much like hOly. I even listened to it while reading it, no regrets.) Anyway, thanks for the name suggestions they were awesome and I came really close to using a few (I loved Caleb and Xand) sorry I ended up choosing Thomas but I hope you like it! And oh god that episode I swear, it's taken me a while to move on from it and that's only because I've convinced my brain that Ryan hasn't actually left. Oof FOB is both a great choice and a terrible choice because it a very Ryan band, but their songs are such bops so it does kinda help? Idk being a British emo is confusing. I really hope we see Lewis in other parts, he's such a great actor. And I'll love him in anything probably.

Justice237- Thank you so much for your review, it was awesome. Ya sleep paralysis is scary, I have unfortunately had the misfortune to experience it a few times, in fact, fun fact, the way Ryan experienced it in that chapter was bAseD oN a tRuE sToRy and all that. I wanted to write about it because it's so abstract I wanted to see if I could describe it well, and then I added it in cos it kinda fit ig. Yes I agree about Charlie, she is a well-written character and Emily is perfect for the role and I love the slight friendship they formed in Face Your Fears. Ryan seriously just needs a friend. I hate how the writers are so adamant to make him this loner that everyone hates. It's like, as soon as Ryan shows his good side, the next episode is just him being extra evil. THE BOY NEEDS A HUG GODDAMMIT. Oof yeah school can be really harsh sometimes and hiding yourself is unfortunately a necessity sometimes. I've been lucky to not get much shit from people, and it's good to hear that you've found good friends at uni! Yeah, I should probably check out WP again, in all honestly I'm not that keen on the site itself. It keeps lagging and shit. I just prefer this site to any other. Ugh I know! The way Ryan left was so sudden and unexplained like what? He doesn't get fostered in the end so why does he leave? To work in a stables? As in,,, the Saturday job? BOY WHERE ARE YOU LIVING? AND WITH WHOMST? Ryan still had so many more potential storyline and I am SO mad that the backstory episode that we've been waiting fo for years was in the same episode as the one he left. Honestly I am so salty and I rEFUSE. But holy shit that was goodav acting in the flat, you are right that climax was perfection. I honestly nearly started sobbing with Ryan like my sON. anyhowsers, thanks again for reviewing! I hope you liked this chapter:)

CharlieSMarts12- Thank you so so much, your review was amazing, it meant a lot. I'm glad you like the friendship between Ryan and Charlie, I'm enjoying writing it. It's time Ryan got a friend, he really needs one. Just one person he can trust and be himself around. And Charlie is such a sweet person so she's a pretty good candidate. And yes, tøp is incredible everyone can fight me, although judging by all the other reviews I don't think anyone will. That's great to hear that I can make readers relate, especially my British Lads™ and a lot of what I've written is based on experiences so it nice to hear that it's relatable. Haha, thanks and yes I enjoy writing so much, like it's all I think about sometimes like I need help seriously. And holy shit you're right all my reviewers are so damn cool, I love the Ryan trash Dumping Ground fandom. Dont worry, I love long reviews:) and i know! There was no warning, or build up to his leaving. It wasn't even a two part episode like usual, it was just like "hey, you know that character you like? The one with the mysterious backstory that could take ages to properly unravel? The guy you've written fanfictions about? Ya he's gone, suck it bitches." Like thAnks mAtE. But oh my word, Lewis's acting is mind-blowing. I have replayed that scene so many times I'm actually concerned for myself. Lewis has always had such a talent for expressing a range of emotions without even saying anything, even from day one. He's i credible and I really really hope we get to see him in more things.

Okay I'm done, I have been typing for legit an hour help me.

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Also happy My Chemical Romance day I have g noted myself three times Ahahahahahahcallanambulance...