Chapter Text
Brendon's eyes glanced up and across the classroom, towards the new boy who occupied an old wooden school desk.
There are already rumors about him. And it hadn't even been two hours into school.
He's pretty attractive, Brenden could say.
He hasn't really gotten a chance to get a good look at him yet, but from here he can tell his face has a perfect ratio of the softness of his cheeks and sharpness of his jaw and the boy is lengthy and has a more edgy style. Maybe even some eye makeup too.
One thing that bothers the observer is the hat Ryan is wearing.
That's what he had been introduced as to the class, much to Ryan's very visible discomfort.
Anyway, he's wearing some baker boy hat that didn't really match the rest of his outfit.
Not that it looked bad on him, but Brenden felt it was a huge blockage to his demanding curiosity.
Silky brown hair, the length drooping down just above his sharp shoulders, stream out of his hat.
Brendon is bothered.
Incredibly bothered.
He wants to see all of him, but this hat is keeping them apart.
Not that they were ever together. He doesn't even know Brendon. Even if he does feel him staring, he hasn't even confronted him with as much as a confused glare.
Though that would be some kind of attention, and Brandon wouldn't mind having any form of that from the mysterious boy.
People in the back of the class are whispering Something about how he’d gotten into a fight. Which is hard for Brendon to believe, that he got kicked out of school for a fight, because people have them at their current one and those kids still walk the halls. And the kid looks like he’d get knocked over by a slight breeze. Not that Brendon is much different.
So, of course, Brendon makes it his personal mission to befriend him.
"Brendon? Are you alright?"
The raven-haired boy's eyes widened at the teacher in front of him, then he realized most the classroom was missing and there are a new set of kids arranged at their desks. A couple of kids snicker behind him.
How the hell did I miss the bell?
Most importantly, where did Ryan go? He already lost him. Shit.
He stood and quickly rushed out of his classroom, attempting to not be late for his next period.
He didn't see Ryan for the rest of the day. It is a big school but he hoped fate would do him a little favor.
It's just a stupid hallway crush he thinks to himself. Classroom crush? Whatever. He'll probably get over him in about a week, Brendon tends to romanticize people when he's bored.
But Brendon continues to think about him on his bus ride home and as he walks through his house door and as he lays in bed, attempting at his homework.
This is the usual though for all of his crushes.
Maybe he's a little on the helpless side of romance.
His phone rings and he pulls the palm-sized device out of his pocket and flips it open. It's his friend, Dallon.
"Hey, Bren?"
"Dallon, hey."
"Where are you right now?"
"Jus' doing my homework at home. What about you?"
Brendon sat up, wondering if he should tell his friend about his new crush. Maybe it isn't worth it since—again—this happens about every week.
"Oh, I'm helping my mom out with something. It'll intervene with when the football game is playing tonight so I won't be able to make it, sorry Bren."
"Oh. Ok, that's alright then. Good luck with whatever you're doing, man."
"Thanks. I'll see you tomorrow! Bye!"
Dallon hung up and Brendon is once again left in his empty, silent room.
He considered not going to the game either but decided that going would beat him staying in his room all night.
A couple hours later he's dropped off at the game, finding his way onto the bleacher and to an open seat surrounded by cheering teenagers.
He tugs at his jacket to the opposite ends of his waist. It was chilly that night so he shivered as he watched the game in front of him. He doesn't really care for it. He really wished Dallon were here.
Just before halftime started, a boy walked up to Brendon, visibly confused.
"Shit. Hey have you seen a guy sitting here? He has on a hat and scarf, heavy eye makeup. You can't miss him."
Brendon, now also confused, shook his head.
"No, this seat was open when I got here..."
"Oh..."
The guy then glances around the crowd, standing on his tiptoes. Scrunching his face and narrowing his eyes.
Now feeling bad for the guy, and incredibly bored, Brendon stands up and offers to help him look for his friend.
Half time started and everyone began to disperse from their seats and bleachers, making the search much more difficult than anticipated. Brendon stopped a few guys with hats and scarfs just for the boy he's assisting to shake his head.
"Wait, god why didn't I check there first." The boy sighed. "Thanks for your help, man. I'm pretty sure I know where he's at."
Brendon, now too nosey, sputters to tell the guy he'll come with him anyway.
They bump shoulders with people until the crowd trickles down to just a few groups hanging out at the side of the bleachers. He's pretty sure that's not fruit punch in their red solo cups.
They are then engulfed by the darkness under the bleachers, with only the field lights creeping between the seat slits.
There, they find the guy's friend. It's the very same Ryan from Brendon's first period.
He's leaning against a pole, slightly bending over some girl he's talking to. He looks like just as the guy described, plus with fingerless gloves and a black jacket.
"Ry! I told you to stop disappearing like that, man!"
The guy walks over to his friend.
"Sorry, Spencer. There was just too much going on up there.” Ryan then lazily and briefly pointed to Brendon, “Brendon, right?”
Brendon’s thick eyebrows rose & peeked above his red glasses. He knows my name??
“…or I’ll just call you Bird. You look like one.” He chuckled.
“Oh… well yeah, it’s Brendon. So how are you adjusting?”
It was Ryans turn to raise an eyebrow, “Adjusting? To what?”
“Hey, imma head off. My friends are leaving.” The short girl piped up, “See ya Ry’!” She pats his round cheek and rushes away.
Brendon turns back to Ryan, “To the school. It’s your first day, right?”
The brunet tilted his head, “No, I’ve been here all year… and the last 3 years. Including middle school, he had quite a few classes together.”
Brendon couldn’t help the way his face scrunched up, “Huh?”
The third wheeler, poor Spencer, pats Ryan’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back, alright?… Who am I kidding, I’ll meet you at the car when the game is over.” Spence then walks off, leaving the other two miserable emos behind.
Brendon doesn’t recall Ryan. At all.
“Care to explain?” Ryan leans his shoulder against the metal pole. His cute smile shows off his pearly teeth.
“Uhhh… Well I’ve only noticed you today, when you were in our first period. The teacher introduced you and all and people were saying you moved because of some fight you got into-”
“Wait, wait, wait.” Ryan defensively held his hands up, his slim pale fingers sticking out of his dark gloves. “Fight? What fight? I just didn’t get along with my teacher so I transferred classes.” He looked pretty frustrated by how people were speaking about him. A strip of light that crept between the bleacher slits perfectly highlighted the brunets eyes. Brendon admired how his eyes glowed like melted copper framed by his heavy eyeshadow.
“…but otherwise it was alright. I’ve been really getting into writing lately so the class shouldn’t be too bad.”
For a moment there was nothing but sounds of cheering and people yelling over each other, then people suddenly got quiet as if something anticipating is happening. Once they began to cheer again, Ryan spoke again, “So, what’s up with not recognizing me? I’m a little heartbroken, I’ve always known you!”
Brendon still doesn’t believe it but Ryan wouldn’t just lie. He has no reason to.
“I don’t know, man. Maybe you just look different?”
“Yeah, I can see that. I was just very… common… in the past few years.”
The raven-haired boy knew what he meant. He, himself can’t get over how special Ryan appears. Like he’s following some trend with intention of being somebody, someone significant.
Ryans long soft hair limps against his face, shielding it and he leans his had on the pole, looking down as if he’s thinking hard of something.
Brendon stuck his hands in his pockets. “Are you hungry? I can get us something to eat. From here or just stop by somewhere.”
Ryan looks as if he considered saying no, but then gives in and nods, “Yeah, man. That would be good.”
They walk into the brightness of the field lights and head to the concession stand. “Holy shit.” Ryan leans down to whisper into Brendon’s ear, admittedly making the boy shiver, “that’s real expensive. I just brought like $5.”
Brendon looks up at the prices and he was right, it was $5 just for a slice of pizza.
Ryan tugs at Brendons arm, “Man, this place blows. Let’s go meet Spence at his car.”
“Yeah…” Brendon whispered before letting himself be grabbed by the other boy. He couldn’t help but feel jittery about this handsome boy pulling on him as he nudges other people away in the crowd. He felt so special and he knew he couldn’t miss his opportunity with this one. But again, last time one of his crushes got this intense was last month and now he can’t even remember her name.
Lisa, was it? No, it was something like Bunny… no. Brianna?-
Suddenly they are out in the parking lot and it suddenly feels chillier though they are still on the same acre as seconds before.
They did spot spence at his car, talking to a girl. Man, how do these guys do it?
“Hey, man. Hey, Dina.” Ryan nodded his head and gave a little wave gesture to the both of them. He seems pretty secluded, even with his own friends.
“Are you ready? It’s getting late.” Just as Spencer said that, clumps of people began leaving the field. Looks like our team lost telling by people grumbling and bantering.
“Yeah, we were about to get food actually.”
“Sounds good. Let’s go before the exits get jammed.” Spencer hops into the drivers seat and his presumably girlfriend goes into the passenger.
Brendon awkwardly shifts on his feet until Ryan opens the back door for him to slide into, Ryan then follows behind him then shutting the door.
“What are we eating?” Dina questioned, she looked pretty tired. She must’ve actually partied like most of the other teenagers would.
Spencer made a sharp right turn, everyone leaning to their left, “I’m bad at choosing. You guys decide?”
“I’m fine with anything.” Brendon shrugs.
Ryan leans forward to place his hand on the drivers seat, “How about Burg-Town? That new place?”
“What if we don’t like it? Last time we went to a new place, you said you could never look at fries the same.” Spencer rebuttals.
“Neh, how do you mess up fries that bad? They’re just potatoes in oil!” Dina raised her voice, comedically waving her hands around.
“Come on, this is in celebration.” Ryan pats his friend’s shoulder.
“Of what?” Spence looks at him through the mirror
“Our new friend, Brendon!” He then moves his arm over to teasingly shove at Brendon’s shoulder.
“It’s not that bad.” Brendon nods, “and thank you! You guys are cool.” He openly admits.
They pull up to the restaurant and all agree to go to the drive-thru since it’s already late and they have to be home at a certain time. They may appear as rebellious but a curfew is a curfew just like how getting grounded is getting grounded. And Brendon has gotten some pretty bad punishments before.
They all eat and chat as they drive Brendon home, who gives Spencer directions while chewing his food, then gets scolded by Ryan to pick a struggle. They had passed the same purple mailbox 3 times.
After giving Spence the rest of the correct directions, Brendon takes time to absorb the moment and glances over at Ryan. He tucks his long strands of hair behind his ear as he chows down on the fries and gazing out the window. L.A. can be beautiful at night, but not as much as this grass field they’re driving by, where you can clearly see the moon and glimmering stars. The moonlight tickling the tall grass as it dances gracefully in the wind.
Ryan seems pretty entranced by it, as Brendon is in him. Hopefully he can look at him the same way one day.
They finally pull into the cream-colored driveway and Brendon thanks everyone for the night and Spencer for the ride.
“Thanks for having me, man.” Brendon shakes Ryan’s hand firmly, “don’t be startled if I’m next to you in class tomorrow. Be prepared.” He warned then smiled.
The brunet nods and tugs his hat down, further covering his eyes. “Thanks.” He laughed, “and I’ll try. Goodnight, Bird boy.”
Bren tells them to drive home safe and heads back inside, where he meets his mother rearranging some decorations in the hallway and kisses her goodnight.
He didn’t think about Ryan at all. He didn’t think about his slim figure and what it would be like to run his fingers through his silky hair, sliding his hat off in the process. What kind of insane person would he have to be to do that? A very insane one, which is how he feels more times than he’d like to admit.
But he totally didn’t fall sleep replaying the mental image of a particular boy smiling and talking to him.