I love that possible aspect of a Brendon/Ryan relationship, too. I remember learning in one of my communications classes in college about how in any given relationship, one person almost always cares more than the other, so the one who cares less has more power. I think about that when I think about Brendon/Ryan (and sometimes Pete/Patrick), and contemplating how Ryan would use the upper hand is fascinating to me.

In a happy world (the world I imagine this fic in), I like to think that Ryan would be careful with Brendon and that he would look out for Brendon when Brendon doesn't look out for himself. But it's easy to see, too, how Ryan could take advantage of it if he were angry or upset or even, God forbid, just using Brendon. So the dynamics could either be sweet (like I like to imagine) or massively fucked up (which would probably be infinitely more interesting and infinitely more painful to read). *sighs* Oh, Brendon.