Or I'll Sleep In The Rain - P!ATD//Ryden fanfic
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Title: Or I'll Sleep In The Rain
Author: Anicsi
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Ryan/Brendon
POV: 3rd (Brendon's)
Summary: Brendon is attending Eilidh Queen's College, where he gets dragged into the Creative Arts Club by his best friend. When he meets Ryan, a handsome but detached student, and tries to get involved with him, he gets brushed off coldly. Even so, Brendon can't help but feel attracted to him, until one night, he unexpectedly finds himself in an awkward position...
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***
Title: Or I'll Sleep In The Rain
Author: anicsi
Rating: NC-17
Pairing: Ryan/Brendon
POV: 3rd (Brendon's)
Beta: ivesia19 This obviously never happened
Author Notes: A birthday present for my dear friend sinycath
You'll encounter quite a few unfamiliar people in this fic (not related to PATD in any way), who still have a somewhat important role. That's because I am writing this fic mostly for Siny and I wanted to make it more personal by adding our friends. The main focus is still on Ryan and Brendon, of course ;)
I hope you enjoy it!
Love, Anna
***
'Or I'll Sleep In The Rain'
Prologue
Coffee was a gift from Heaven. It had to be. Definitely. To make up for all the shitty things you have to go through in a lifetime, someone came up with the glorious idea of ground beans - and he should be rewarded accordingly. If that were even possible, in fact.
These thoughts and more ran through Brendon's head while he stared greedily at the Caramel Macchiato the Starbucks Girl was preparing for him, the soft yet intense smell of roasted coffee beans in his nose. He gulped, watching her pour a massive amount of glossy toffee colored syrup on top of the cream. Want.
"Hey, Bren, are you even listening?"
"Sorry, what?" Brendon tilted his head, quite belated. Siny frowned at him, then her lips curled into a sneering smile.
"Seriously, you coffee addict! Sometimes I wonder if coffee's making your brain stop instead of work. I asked whether you'd accompany me to the Creative Arts Club this afternoon. Music, Art, Poetry, two evenings less two worry about what to do with your dispensable time. Sounds like fun, right?"
"It's Monday morning, first day of the new term, what do you expect?", Brendon replied, finally reaching for the cardboard cup full of delicious flavor. He grinned happily at the girl responsible for his luck, murmuring a quick, "Thanks," then he turned around to his best friend, who was still waiting for a reply. She eyed him questioningly, one hand brushing through her long, chestnut colored hair.
"Yeah, sure, why not. It's right up my street." Brendon shrugged his shoulders, breathing in the incomparable smell. He decided to let the dig at his already tight schedule pass by. "Besides, everywhere you are is fun."
He winked at her, and Siny let out a snort, though her eyes were smiling. "You're such a flirt. Flattery won't work on me."
When she reached for the door, it was suddenly pushed open. A tall guy rushed in, giving them an apologetic look before he went on to the counter. "Hey, sorry, Ness. Dylan's kinda sick, I just couldn't bring myself to leave."
"Seriously Jon, that's the third time this week-". The door closed behind Brendon and Siny and cut off the girl's reply while they crossed the street toward campus. Brendon sipped on his coffee, a huge smile plastered on his face. They passed the wide bridge that spanned the river framing most of the college grounds, small boats drifting on the water. It was a warm, sunny day - too warm for late summer, in fact. Brendon gave the cup to Siny to get rid of his thin jacket, wearing a tight, dark blue T-Shirt with V-neck underneath. A cool breeze ran over his naked skin, and he smiled, turning his head to find his friend sipping at his Macchiato. He raised an eyebrow in a silent question and she grimaced, passing back his coffee.
"I knew it. Coffee is not for me. There, all yours." Brendon laughed but didn't comment any further. For the better part of the last year he had tried to convince her that it was impossible for a student to not like coffee. Let alone live without it. He had sparse success, if any.
"Ahhhh, seriously, I don't feel like going to school. I want vacation," she exclaimed with an unhappy face, arching her back with the arms stretched into air.
"Hahaha, you're such a liar. During break you were so looking forward to all the new programs you could try in design class and you said your fingers were itching to work on a 'big, challenging project'."
"Well… I changed my mind," she said, sounding somewhat defensive, which caused Brendon to muffle his laughter.
"You're cute." Brendon patted her head teasingly, ignoring the way she poked her tongue at him.
"Wow, so very mature."
Siny joined into his unsuppressed laughter, and he felt a wave of happiness wash over him. Maybe school starting again wasn't so bad after all.
***
Eilidh Queen's College had an impressive campus, one of the reasons why Brendon loved studying there. Wide, softly wavy meadows enlaced the imposing buildings, spread over a vast area of green with trees and occasionally even benches in its shadows. Even so, most students would just sit on the soft lawn, facing a blue sky, surrounded by nature and the omnipresent river bordering two thirds of the campus, which had earned it the nick name Eilidh River.
Brendon and Siny crossed the huge main court, the five ancient buildings on the sides, dating back to the 15th to 17th centuries, forming a pentagon. They were headed for the Arts and Music faculty, which also included a part of the Literature Department, and climbed the stairs with quick steps.
"Alright, see you for lunch?" Brendon said as they entered the building leaving the entrance with its huge stone pillars behind.
Siny nodded. "At the fountain in the main court. Have fun."
She waved back at him, making her way through masses of students who arrived just on time. Brendon turned left and decided to take the stairs down the corridor instead of following the crowd up the huge staircase that branched out into two parts in the main hall. The music rooms were all located in the first or second floor and were flooded with light. Brendon was actually really looking forward to his classes. Even though his days were practically packed from morning to night, he still loved music and was more than happy to spend all his time with dusty books, inked notes and carefully kept instruments. He grinned in excitement and took two steps at once.
***
The day passed mostly the same way every first day back in college did: everyone's mind was still somewhat on vacation, oh the irony, so neither the teachers nor the students were too energetic and concentrated mostly on discussing the new term, course works, exams, projects and subject material.
Since Siny studied Design and Brendon majored in Music Performance, they spent most of their time in the same building and occasionally ran into each other in the hallways. However, there was never really enough time for more than a quick smile and murmured 'Hi', so Brendon's face lit up when he stepped out into the sunlight during his lunch break to find her already waiting at the fountain. With her dark blue jeans and a mint green 3/4 shirt, she melted into the scenery, if not for the filigree silver bracelets and necklace that were sparkling in the light with her every move.
She looked up and put away her iPod, smiling. After they'd exchanged a short greeting, they decided to go to the cafeteria to check if the food was still as bad as it had been before the break.
As they walked past the arcade on the far left of the main court, shoulders occasionally brushing and exchanging news about their first classes, Brendon remembered how he had once walked just like this with his older sister. It seemed almost surreal, like the memory of another life. In a way, it was.
He glanced over to Siny and a calming feeling settled in his guts. During High School in his hometown in Nevada, Brendon had never had many friends to call his own. He'd been the Mormon kid. The weird geek who had Church on Sundays and wasn't allowed to go to parties that lasted later than ten at night. Not that he'd been invited anyway, seeing how he'd been the target of most collective pranks. Oh yes, High School had been fun. Brendon thought about how he had slowly discovered that yes, he liked to check out other guys asses, and yes, he did get turned on when that hot classmate of his straddled him during PE. Not that it had made any of this easier. Quite the contrary. So he had focused on his music and dreamed to get away one day, very much to his parents' displeasure.
He blinked heavily to snap out of his thoughts, trying to ignore the sharp pain that pierced his chest when thinking of his family a good 2700 miles away from where he was now. He cleared his throat, squeezing the strap of his bag tightly, before letting his hand drop at his side. Siny had just finished her story about the super weird Marketing professor, who had spent half the class quoting The Simpsons, and with a quick, intuitive gaze in his direction she said, "I bet one dollar on fries with hamburgers." Brendon felt the strain loosening and couldn't help but grin. "Deal."
The food in the cafeteria was, if that were possible, even worse than it had been before, and Brendon wondered if maybe he just wasn't used to it anymore. Even instant food could easily beat the grub they served at school, and he knew how to cook, thank you very much. Even so it was unexplainable to him how they could fuck up a meal as simple as fries and, well, hamburgers. (Siny and her goddamn psychic abilities, he thought with regret of the bill she had put away with a satisfied smile.)
"God, I feel sick," he said when they left the flat glass building, one of the few on campus that were modern, probably due to electronic comfort and ventilation. "We seriously need to stick to making lunch ourselves, and tonight we should cook something in the dorm kitchen or I'm gonna starve."
Siny looked only slightly better than he did and nodded weakly. "Yeah, right. I vote for pasta with cheese-cream-sauce."
Brendon shrugged and looked up to the music rooms he'd be spending the next few hours in. Everything was better than the excuse of a burger they'd just been served.
They agreed to meet directly at the Creative Arts Club room, since Siny's classes would end earlier that day and she'd go back to the dorms until the meeting at five.
***
When it was finally time, Brendon felt somewhat exhausted even though the rest of his day had flown by just as uneventfully as the morning. He vaguely noticed Siny's absence, as he entered the bright, spacious classroom ten minutes too early. Some other students were already there, mostly engaged in eager conversation, some of them looking up when he stepped in.
He smiled, "Hi. This is the Creative Arts Clubroom, right? I'm new."
A chorus of voices answered him, mostly things like, "Hi there", "Yeah", "Welcome" and one "Hey, dude, nice jacket!" before he realized that a girl standing at a table near the window was waving at him.
It took him a moment to remember where he had already seen the purple tips in her dark hair, then he shot a grin to all the other students, nodded again and made his way over to the group of three.
"Hey," he said, still smiling. "Thanks for the coffee this morning. Saved my life there." The girl practically beamed at him, obviously delighted he remembered her.
"Sure. I mean, anytime. Caffeine addicts have to stick together, right?" She answered his smile, though she seemed a little nervous, since her hands were fidgeting. "I'm Nessie, and that's … uh… Angel and Gabe." Her head tilted towards her two friends, Gabe standing on the other side of the table, back to the window, a tall, tanned guy with black hair and a wide grin. Brendon immediately took a liking to him. "Hey man."
His accent equaled the one Nessie had, so Brendon assumed they might be exchange students. Probably from Western or Southern Europe; he had never really been able to pin that down exactly. He realized he hadn't introduced himself yet, so he quickly said, "I'm Brendon. Majoring in Music Performance. Nice to meet you all." Angel, the girl sitting on the only chair, who'd been quiet so far, raised her eyes, a spark of interest behind them.
"Wow, that's awesome, what instruments do you play? Or do you sing?"
"Oh uh… a bunch. Like, mostly guitar and piano but also some bass and -" He broke off, reminding himself how people usually looked at him when he gave them the whole list of all the instruments he'd learned. They usually put him down as arrogant. He saved himself with a quick smile and added, "And yeah, I do love to sing. It's fun."
Luckily though the three didn't seem to have any such thoughts and he could see their faces light up within seconds. Gabe leaned over the table, "Dude, that's cool, I play bass myself, and our Ness here is into guitar."
With just that they'd launched into a conversation about instruments, bands and concerts in the area until the teacher entered the room and most of the conversations died down. Brendon glanced back, saw Siny slip into the room and took his seat next to her in the third row, giving her a huge grin.
"Almost late on your first day? Now, that's not the attitude I expect from you." She opened her mouth to reply, but the teacher in the front spoke up and the whole classroom went silent. Wow, that one was new.
"Hello everyone, my name is Anna Rimes, and I'll be your teacher in the Creative Arts Club for the upcoming term." She paused, a smile settling around her lips. "Some of you know me already; I was teaching this class last year as well."
Okay, now this maybe explained the sudden quietness all around him. At least she seemed to be well liked. She was short, definitely shorter than he was, and Brendon wasn't a giant. A blonde strand of hair fell into her eyes and she quickly tucked it behind her ear.
"I'm a Teaching Assistant at this school; that said I'm around the same age as you, so please, even if the formalities ask for it: Don't address me with my last name." A short frown fell across her features. "That makes me feel seriously old." Some of the other students chuckled, and Brendon couldn't help but smile.
"We are going to get to know each other a bit better today, and I will give you an overview of this class' content for the next term. This course isn't compulsory and neither will you receive any credits. However, there are exams and assignments you need to pass in order to successfully complete the class. At the end of the hour, you may write your names and contacts down on this sheet," she held up a piece of paper, "should you decide to continue the Club."
Before the teacher could go on, the door opened and a student entered the room, shifting slightly uncomfortable. "Hey. I'm sorry, American Poetry ran late."
She looked back at him with a quick smile. "That's okay, Ryan. Take your seat, please."
The boy named Ryan slipped the strap of his leather bag over his head and made his way to one of the front seats. He raised his head so that Brendon could get a glimpse of his face beneath his tousled brown hair. It was angelic. Brendon couldn't remember ever seeing a man with such a gorgeous face. It was feminine, in a way, softly curved cheekbones and a small, straight nose - but gorgeous.
Before he could avert his gaze, Ryan looked up and their eyes met. Hazel, Brendon thought in the short moment their views were locked, a heavy feeling settling in his stomach. Ryan narrowed his brows and turned back. Had he just glared at him? Brendon swallowed dryly and hoped he was wrong. It had been a long time since he had last been attracted to someone, especially a boy. Then again, it wasn't like he'd had more than a glance at him.
Brendon heard the teacher talk somewhere far away, but he couldn't get himself to listen. His eyes were naturally drawn to the figure sitting in the first row, a little bit to his right. Ryan's back was skinny, just as the rest of him, but Brendon could see soft muscles move under the tight black shirt with long sleeves he was wearing.
It was so tight it should be declared illicit.
Brendon felt his heart beat accelerating, and what the fuck, seriously, was he in Junior High? Oh, God. He forced himself to look away and intended to do so for the rest of the hour. He failed miserably.
So, Creative Arts Club, yeah? It didn't sound like a bad idea to write down his name on that white sheet. His eyes once again flickered to Ryan. Yes, definitely.
***
Chapter 1