laughing in the city breeze
HAPPY BIRTHDAY,
colorofsmoke
i love you more than the sun and the moon and everything in between. i hope you have a beautiful day and wish i could be there with you more than anything ever. you are my princess forever, don't forget it. i won't leave you, i promise.
Already Seen
by laurennicole.
~1500 words.
PG-13.
written for my birthday girl, Megan Alexandra.
clicky.
Ryan kind of hates the day after Thanksgiving. Like, a whole lot.
-
The day after Thanksgiving is the day Brendon deems it necessary to
start his tradition of singing Christmas songs nonstop for the next
month and a half.
-
His fingers begin to dance across the piano keys during warm ups
thereafter, easily plucking out Sleigh Ride as he bounces along on the
bench.
-
Overnight, their bus becomes the North Pole. Brendon stays up late, too
late, tiptoeing around to hang little red bows and mistletoe everywhere.
This year, he's even gotten stockings with little brown reindeer on them
- four hang off of the kitchen cabinets, their names labeled carefully
with gold glitter.
While the rest of them are still sound asleep, resting peacefully after
a gratuitous meal, Brendon drags out all his Christmas cds. (He must
have a whole suitcase of them hidden somewhere, Ryan swears.)
-
Ryan wakes up in the mornings with a pounding headache from the
overwhelming scent of cinnamon ("not those goddamn pinecones," Spencer
says first thing upon venturing out of his bunk) and Jingle Bells
already stuck in his head.
The migraine never subsides, and he can't focus on anything without a
constant ringing in his ears.
-
The first few days involve a lot of glaring at Brendon, and shoving him
around when he won't stop singing under his breath or playing with the
gingerbread cookies he found at a flea market somewhere in Virginia.
(Ryan frowns at him, Brendon making a gingerbread boy and girl dance
across the table. "You know the old lady who sold you those probably
poisoned them, or something." Brendon shrugs and proceeds to make them
kiss with a loud, wet smack. Ryan rolls his eyes and leaves the room.)
-
After the first week or so, everyone's resigned in their protests and
forced to deal with it. Sometimes, if he's lucky, Brendon can even get
Jon to crack a small smile at his antics.
Spencer's definitely the worse, and Brendon eventually goes as far as to
flip Spencer's stocking over and scrawl across it in sharpie THE
GRINCH.
(Somehow, this also means that Spencer really does love the holidays,
deep down, and it's Brendon's job to get him to admit it. Mostly Spencer
wakes up to a lot of cookie crumbs in his bed. "I tried to leave you a
plate of sugar cookies, but you must've rolled over them during the
night!")
-
The first time Brendon yells "movie night!" Spencer makes up an excuse
about having to call Haley and tries to escape to his bunk.
Brendon is having none of it.
"No. No. This is a group activity. Either we all watch it, or no one
watches it." Brendon states firmly, shaking his index finger at an
annoyed Spencer.
"What are we watching?" Jon cuts in.
Brendon's face splits into a grin, and he holds up a dvd box helpfully.
"Home Alone!"
Ryan doesn't protest. He doesn't mind this movie much, and has actually
been looking forward to watching it this year.
Spencer sighs, defeated. "Fine. But this better fucking be the
original."
Brendon looks insulted. "Dude. Classic. Of course it's the original." He
puts the disc into the little slot, then flips the lights off and joins
the other three on the couch among a mass of pillows and blankets.
(Brendon not-so-secretly turns movie nights into sleepover parties, now,
insisting, "it's too cold to sleep alone in the bunks!")
"Home Alone 2 is tomorrow night," he announces as the movie begins.
-
"The holiday season has now officially begun!" Brendon chants
enthusiastically, mimicking the lady he heard on the radio earlier. He
twirls around the kitchen, tossing anything he can find in the pantry
into a big mixing bowl and stirring it.
Jon walks through the room, and stops to peer into Brendon's bowl
curiously.
"What're you making?"
"Christmas soup!" Brendon exclaims, looking at his concoction proudly.
Jon eyes him skeptically, then decides to play it safe and stick with a
blueberry bagel.
When Spencer walks up and yanks open the cabinet, jarring their empty
stockings, Brendon cowers slightly. He watches as Spencer's eyebrows
scrunch up, the corners of his mouth turning down in a frown.
"Tell me you didn't use the rest of the berry Cheerios. Brendon."
Brendon looks downright scared, and his hands flutter about uselessly.
"I. They're pretty colors, Spence!" he says defiantly.
Spencer puts his hands on his hips, face turning comically redder, and
Ryan stands in the doorway to the bunks, watching in amusement.
Brendon grabs his bowl and spoon and scampers past Ryan to the back
lounge, yelling, "safety!"
-
In the middle of December, Brendon takes to singing in the shower.
Loudly.
Tonight, he's decided on White Christmas - and proceeds to belt it out
in a deep, deep voice, like Macaulay Culkin singing to his reflection in
Home Alone.
Brendon's voice cracks after a couple lines, and then comes a crash -
him dropping the bar of soap, again - followed by high-pitched giggles.
-
On Christmas eve, Ryan sits on the couch, his legs folded beneath him,
reading. Brendon pads over and curls up next to him. Ryan blinks at him,
but doesn't say anything as he continues reading.
After a moment, Brendon starts sidling closer, and when Ryan looks up
again Brendon freezes, eyes wide as he holds a piece of faux-mistletoe over
their heads.
Ryan squints up at it, then scoffs. "Are you. You've got to be fucking
kidding me," his voice stays even, indifferent, almost.
Brendon pouts, waves the green leaves back and forth a little.
Ryan opens his mouth wide and starts to yell, "Spencer, Brendon's trying
to - "
Brendon catches him by surprise when he captures Ryan's lips with his
own, silencing him. Ryan grunts, protesting, but when he grasps
Brendon's shoulder, he doesn't try to push away.
It's not long before Brendon's pulling back, his eyes bright. He jumps
up and bounds out of the room, happy, voice fading but clear as he moves
away, "simply having a wonderful Christmas time!"
Ryan watches him go, confused, then shakes his head and turns back to
his book.
-
When Ryan wakes up on Christmas morning (surprisingly later than years
past, "you better not fucking wake us up at six am, Brendon," Spencer had
threatened earlier in the week) he pulls himself out of his bunk and
trips.
There's a small rectangular package, wrapped messily, on the floor
outside his bunk. Ryan thinks, of course. Of course Brendon got himself
up early. Like one of Santa's little elves, Jesus.
Ryan goes to the bathroom, and then comes back to it. He picks it up,
testing the weight, and carries it out into the living room.
Jon's already sitting on the couch, smiling sleepily, with a new lens
and his camera in his lap. He lifts it, quickly, and captures a
black-and-white, half-awake Ryan.
Spencer is sitting at the table, about to lean over and fall back
asleep. His large package sits untouched on the table next to him.
Brendon is puttering around the tiny kitchen, dropping mini marshmallows
into mugs of hot chocolate. He bounces over and places one in front of
Spencer with a pat on Spencer's shoulder, then hands the next one to
Jon's waiting hands.
Brendon looks up at Ryan still standing in the doorway, and holds out
the one with the most marshmallows with a grin. Ryan sighs and moves
forward to take it from him, and then they both pile on the couch on
either side of Jon.
Brendon smiles, wide, and says excitedly, "come on, guys, open your
presents!"
Ryan looks down at his lap, then carefully sets his mug on the floor
between his feet. He slowly pulls at the edge of the brightly colored
paper and Brendon watches expectantly as he reveals a journal. It's
pretty, moleskin, and couldn't have been cheap.
"Thanks, Bren," he murmurs appreciatively, flipping it open to run his
fingers over the pages. There are words already on the first page,
written in Brendon's spiky handwriting.
Wishing on the same shooting stars.
Brendon reaches around Jon to ruffle Ryan's hair affectionately, then
draws his hand back and turns to Spencer. "Spence. Come on."
Spencer rolls his eyes, and quickly tears open his present. Spencer's
gift is that new video game Rock Band ("that totally stole off of Guitar
Hero.") but it has percussion and bass and, God, vocals. "A group
activity!" Brendon will claim.
"I call first round!" Brendon calls, as if anyone else would do the
singing, and Spencer's eyes light up despite himself.
Ryan laughs when Spencer gets up, fully awake now, and slides the disc
into the Xbox 360.
Jon sets aside his camera gently, and reaches for the toy bass, smiling.
"Merry Christmas, guys."
[fin]