(no subject)
Title: The Brotherhood Of Boys Without Girlfriends In Bands With Boys Who Are Practically Married
Author: lissa_bear
Raing: PG13 (Dude, I swear, one day I will write something porny in this fandom.)
Band/Pairing: Panic (Brendon/Eric Ronick)
Disclaimer: This is fake. So, so fake. Not real at all.
Summary: He just gets a little sick of the constant reminder that he's the only member of his band not buried heart-over-head-over-heels in an Adult Relationship.
Author's Notes: For playfullips. Sorry Shirley, it's not exactly anything like what you asked for. I hope you like it anyway. Thanks to stephanometra for the quick beta. Any remaining mistakes are my own. Also thanks to jewels667 for just generally being awesome and listening to me babble about this.
The girls come--all three of them at the same time--and Brendon likes Haley and Cassie, loves Keltie, but he sort of wants to kill whoever decided that The Female Invasion was a good idea.
It's not like he's lonely or anything. He's Brendon Urie, for fuck's sake. If he wants company, all he has to do is pick up his phone or step off the bus, and he's most definitely not lacking in the sex department, thank you very much. He just gets a little sick of the constant reminder that he's the only member of his band not buried heart-over-head-over-heels in an Adult Relationship (shut your stupid face, Ryan Ross).
So, if he's less than thrilled when the girlfriends arrive--and seriously, a little warning might have been nice--it's definitely not because he's jealous, no matter what Patrick might suggest when Brendon calls to express his displeasure.
"Quit pouting," Patrick says. "I can hear you doing it."
Brendon is pouting, he so is, but he lies anyway, because Patrick can't see. "I'm not pouting."
When Patrick doesn't call him on it, Brendon goes on, "We're one and the same, Patrick, you and me. We're brothers. The Brotherhood of Boys Without Girlfriends In Bands With Boys Who Are Practically Married."
"Andy's single."
Brendon waves a hand in the air, even though Patrick definitely can't see that. "Semantics. You're supposed to understand. Feel my pain. Come on, at least try and cheer me up."
"And now you're whining." Patrick says, but he indulges Brendon anyway. "What can I do?"
"You could talk dirty to me."
Patrick laughs so hard that Brendon has to hold the phone away from his ear.
"You, Patrick Stump, are a terrible friend."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
Brendon pouts some more. "I hate you."
"You, Brendon Urie, are a terrible liar."
After that, Brendon spends so much time not wallowing in self pity, that while he notices when Eric starts hanging around more than usual, he doesn't notice when Eric turns down an invitation for a poker game on the crew bus to sit around and watch shitty movies with Brendon--doesn't notice that maybe Eric is hanging around more for Brendon's benefit than for his own.
And Eric is awesome, more than Brendon's ever realized. He doesn't complain when Brendon tries to cuddle up with him in the lounge, just scoots over to make more room on the couch, tucks an arm around his shoulders and runs long fingers through his hair. Like Ryan without the sharp edges. He lets Brendon twine their fingers together, too. Like Spencer, but without the constant drum of a beat with his thumb on the back of Brendon's hand. And he makes coffee, just as good as Jon's, only he doesn't make Brendon switch to decaf after his second cup.
Brendon is a little surprised when the week passes quickly and suddenly he's watching Ryan and Jon and Spencer give kisses goodbye.
Just before they get in the car, he gets a kiss on the cheek from Keltie. Brendon loves Keltie best, partly because, the way Ryan smiles now, wide and happy, makes something go liquid in the pit of Brendon's stomach, and he knows it's because of her; but also because no matter how coupled up they get, Keltie never forgets that Brendon's there.
"Not that I don't get it," she says, giving his arm a squeeze. "But I kind of missed you this week."
Brendon pulls back, raises an eyebrow. "I was around."
"Yeah, but you had your own thing going."
Brendon opens his mouth to ask her what she means, but gets distracted when Eric laughs, loud and clear, at something one of the guitar techs says. And, oh. Oh, shit.
When he turns back to Keltie, eyes wide, she's already in the car. She gives him a wink through the open window.
After the girls drive away, Jon claps a hand on Brendon's shoulder. "Good week? Sorry if we kind of ignored you, dude."
Brendon makes a noncommittal noise and looks over his shoulder to see Eric, still talking with the guitar tech and someone else who Brendon doesn't recognize. When he catches Brendon looking, he gives him a smile and Brendon's hit with that oh shit feeling again. He wants to go over, hook his chin on Eric's shoulder and get another smile, but Jon's steering him towards the buses and Spencer's asking him a question and Brendon lets himself be pulled along.
So, Brendon has maybe developed a massive crush on his keyboard player without realizing it. And it's absolutely not his fault. If anyone's to blame, it's HaleyandSpencer or JonandCassie or stupid Ryan Ross and his stupid smiling face. He leaves Keltie off of the list because at least she was nice enough to hand Brendon a clue.
He doesn't see Eric again until sound check, which gives him plenty of time to alternately freak out about how awkward things might be if Eric doesn't feel the same way and to marvel at how awesome things could be if he does, but when he gets there and tries to catch Eric's eye, all he gets is a half-smile from across the room. He tries to pay attention to whatever Ryan's saying to him, tries not to focus on the way Eric doesn't look over again, but all he can think is how disappointing it is that everything's gone back to normal.
Except things aren't normal, because after sound check, Eric wanders off and doesn't show back up until stage call, and after the show, he heads straight to the crew bus even though he's been riding with the band for the past week. The next day, when Jon invites him over for burritos and Halo, he claims he's already got plans to play Hold 'Em with some of the guys from merch, and by the end of the week, Brendon's pretty sure he's being avoided.
On day eight, he tries to talk to Ryan, but Ryan brushes him off, says he's being paranoid.
On day nine, he call Patrick.
Patrick answers on the third ring with, "So, I guess you're done pretending to hate me. Did you survive the invasion?"
Brendon heaves a sigh and slides down the wall outside of the dressing room, sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest. "Someone kept me company."
"Oh, yeah?" Patrick asks, but he sounds wary, like maybe he can't be sure that Brendon didn't go out and get a hooker or find some random scene kid to follow him around for a week.
Brendon tries to work up some indignation, but in the end he decides it's not an unfair assumption, minus the hooker part, so he settles for another sigh, says, "Yeah. You know Eric?"
He hears Patrick gasp. "Clapton?" he asks, voice heavy with mock excitement. "Dude, Tears In Heaven changed my life."
"Eric fucking Clapton," Brendon mutters. "So now you're a comedian?"
Patrick laughs, but it's soft and not at all mocking. "Hey, not that I expected sunshine and puppies, but what's the deal? Something happen with Ronick?"
And Brendon thinks maybe he shouldn't have called, because now he has to talk about it and he's pretty sure that he's just not great with rejection, but he clears his throat anyway, says, "He distracted me, kept my mind off of being the odd man out, you know? But as soon as I wasn't the, like, seventh wheel or whatever, he bailed. It's like he felt bad and decided to throw me a bone or something. But we were friends before. At least I thought we were. And now he can't be in the same room with me unless someone else is there to buffer, so I must have done something...gotten on his nerves or..."
"Hey," Patrick interrupts. "I'm sure that's not it."
"I'm hard to handle sometimes," Brendon mumbles. "I get that. It just sucks, is all."
"Have you tried talking to him?"
When Brendon doesn't answer, Patrick interprets his silence as a no, says, "Talk to him, Bren. I'm sure there's something else going on."
Brendon opens his mouth to protest, but Patrick cuts him off. "Don't make me call Pete. He'll tell Ryan and Ryan will tell Spencer and Spencer will tell Jon and Jon will talk to Eric and it'll be like a bad game of telephone and before you know it, the whole tour will think you've got the clap or something. Not that anything like that's ever happened to me."
Brendon laughs a little, and he can hear Patrick let out a breath. "Just talk to him, huh? Easy as that?"
Patrick chuckles. "I never said easy."
Brendon bites his bottom lip. "Could you, maybe?"
"Sure, Bren. Easy as that."
After the show that night, Brendon corners Eric just off stage. He can see Eric searching for an out, but Brendon steps closer, curls his fingers around Eric's wrist and asks, "Can we talk?"
He sees the moment when Eric gives in, nods his head, looking almost resigned. "Yeah. Yeah, OK."
Brendon doesn't drop his wrist until he's sure Eric is following and Eric gives him an exasperated look, says, "I'm right behind you. You're acting like I'm gonna try to make a break for it."
Brendon looks back, raises an eyebrow at Eric over his shoulder and is satisfied when Eric looks chastised.
He opens doors down a hallway backstage until he finds an empty room, ducks in quickly when he hears Ryan and Spencer and Jon come down the hall behind them. He hears Ryan call first shower and Brendon's reminded that he's covered in sweat. He pulls the tail end of his shirt up and uses it to wipe sweat from his face, but the shirt's soaked through, so it only helps a little. When he pulls the shirt back down, Eric has shut the door and is leaning against it, watching him with a look Brendon can't read. He thinks it looks a little bit like apprehension.
He opens his mouth to ask what he did wrong, to ask why he's being avoided, but what comes out is, "I don't need a pity friend."
It takes a second for Brendon to recognize the burning in his gut as anger, but once he does, he can't stop it from pushing it's way to the surface. "Seriously. It's like you couldn't get away fast enough. What, did they ask you to babysit me or something? Poor Brendon can't keep a girlfriend, better send someone to keep him out of everyone's way? And the shitty thing is, I thought maybe..." He shakes his head, rakes a hand through his hair, then wipes his palm on his pants.
"Thought maybe what?" Eric asks, and the look on his face is blank now. He's sweaty, too and despite everything, Brendon wants to lick a stripe up his neck, taste salt and skin, press their mouths together and say, "Thought maybe this" But more than that, he wants to drag Eric back to the bus, curl up and watch a movie, make fun of Jon when he baby talks to Cassie like the bus is big enough that no one can hear, put his head in Eric's lap and feel his fingers card through his hair and maybe let Eric figure the kissing part out himself. Or at least try to forget about it and go back to normal.
Eric takes a step forward, fidgets with his hands. "You've got your guys back," he says, like that explains anything.
"So we stopped being friends?"
Eric huffs out a laugh, looks at the floor, then back up and his eyes linger a little around Brendon's middle where his shirt is still sticking to his skin, and Brendon's anger slides away. Easy as that.
"I didn't know if you'd want..." Eric starts and Brendon rolls his eyes.
"God, you're stupid."
"I'm..."
Brendon grins and steps forward, hooks a finger through one of Eric's belt loops. "Stupid. You're stupid."
And maybe Eric's not as stupid as he's been acting, because his eyes go wide, but then he's leaning in, brushing his lips over Brendon's, barely anything at all, but enough that Brendon knows, for sure, that they're on the same page.
"I want," Brendon says, touching their lips together again, a little more. "I definitely want."
When he pulls back, Eric's smiling. "So stupid," he agrees.
Brendon shrugs, presses their mouths together again and murmurs, "That's all right. I can handle stupid."
Patrick calls three days later.
"So, I hear you've got yourself a girlfriend. What happened to the Brotherhood, man?"
Brendon hangs up on him.
Author: lissa_bear
Raing: PG13 (Dude, I swear, one day I will write something porny in this fandom.)
Band/Pairing: Panic (Brendon/Eric Ronick)
Disclaimer: This is fake. So, so fake. Not real at all.
Summary: He just gets a little sick of the constant reminder that he's the only member of his band not buried heart-over-head-over-heels in an Adult Relationship.
Author's Notes: For playfullips. Sorry Shirley, it's not exactly anything like what you asked for. I hope you like it anyway. Thanks to stephanometra for the quick beta. Any remaining mistakes are my own. Also thanks to jewels667 for just generally being awesome and listening to me babble about this.
The girls come--all three of them at the same time--and Brendon likes Haley and Cassie, loves Keltie, but he sort of wants to kill whoever decided that The Female Invasion was a good idea.
It's not like he's lonely or anything. He's Brendon Urie, for fuck's sake. If he wants company, all he has to do is pick up his phone or step off the bus, and he's most definitely not lacking in the sex department, thank you very much. He just gets a little sick of the constant reminder that he's the only member of his band not buried heart-over-head-over-heels in an Adult Relationship (shut your stupid face, Ryan Ross).
So, if he's less than thrilled when the girlfriends arrive--and seriously, a little warning might have been nice--it's definitely not because he's jealous, no matter what Patrick might suggest when Brendon calls to express his displeasure.
"Quit pouting," Patrick says. "I can hear you doing it."
Brendon is pouting, he so is, but he lies anyway, because Patrick can't see. "I'm not pouting."
When Patrick doesn't call him on it, Brendon goes on, "We're one and the same, Patrick, you and me. We're brothers. The Brotherhood of Boys Without Girlfriends In Bands With Boys Who Are Practically Married."
"Andy's single."
Brendon waves a hand in the air, even though Patrick definitely can't see that. "Semantics. You're supposed to understand. Feel my pain. Come on, at least try and cheer me up."
"And now you're whining." Patrick says, but he indulges Brendon anyway. "What can I do?"
"You could talk dirty to me."
Patrick laughs so hard that Brendon has to hold the phone away from his ear.
"You, Patrick Stump, are a terrible friend."
"Am not."
"Are too."
"Am not."
Brendon pouts some more. "I hate you."
"You, Brendon Urie, are a terrible liar."
After that, Brendon spends so much time not wallowing in self pity, that while he notices when Eric starts hanging around more than usual, he doesn't notice when Eric turns down an invitation for a poker game on the crew bus to sit around and watch shitty movies with Brendon--doesn't notice that maybe Eric is hanging around more for Brendon's benefit than for his own.
And Eric is awesome, more than Brendon's ever realized. He doesn't complain when Brendon tries to cuddle up with him in the lounge, just scoots over to make more room on the couch, tucks an arm around his shoulders and runs long fingers through his hair. Like Ryan without the sharp edges. He lets Brendon twine their fingers together, too. Like Spencer, but without the constant drum of a beat with his thumb on the back of Brendon's hand. And he makes coffee, just as good as Jon's, only he doesn't make Brendon switch to decaf after his second cup.
Brendon is a little surprised when the week passes quickly and suddenly he's watching Ryan and Jon and Spencer give kisses goodbye.
Just before they get in the car, he gets a kiss on the cheek from Keltie. Brendon loves Keltie best, partly because, the way Ryan smiles now, wide and happy, makes something go liquid in the pit of Brendon's stomach, and he knows it's because of her; but also because no matter how coupled up they get, Keltie never forgets that Brendon's there.
"Not that I don't get it," she says, giving his arm a squeeze. "But I kind of missed you this week."
Brendon pulls back, raises an eyebrow. "I was around."
"Yeah, but you had your own thing going."
Brendon opens his mouth to ask her what she means, but gets distracted when Eric laughs, loud and clear, at something one of the guitar techs says. And, oh. Oh, shit.
When he turns back to Keltie, eyes wide, she's already in the car. She gives him a wink through the open window.
After the girls drive away, Jon claps a hand on Brendon's shoulder. "Good week? Sorry if we kind of ignored you, dude."
Brendon makes a noncommittal noise and looks over his shoulder to see Eric, still talking with the guitar tech and someone else who Brendon doesn't recognize. When he catches Brendon looking, he gives him a smile and Brendon's hit with that oh shit feeling again. He wants to go over, hook his chin on Eric's shoulder and get another smile, but Jon's steering him towards the buses and Spencer's asking him a question and Brendon lets himself be pulled along.
So, Brendon has maybe developed a massive crush on his keyboard player without realizing it. And it's absolutely not his fault. If anyone's to blame, it's HaleyandSpencer or JonandCassie or stupid Ryan Ross and his stupid smiling face. He leaves Keltie off of the list because at least she was nice enough to hand Brendon a clue.
He doesn't see Eric again until sound check, which gives him plenty of time to alternately freak out about how awkward things might be if Eric doesn't feel the same way and to marvel at how awesome things could be if he does, but when he gets there and tries to catch Eric's eye, all he gets is a half-smile from across the room. He tries to pay attention to whatever Ryan's saying to him, tries not to focus on the way Eric doesn't look over again, but all he can think is how disappointing it is that everything's gone back to normal.
Except things aren't normal, because after sound check, Eric wanders off and doesn't show back up until stage call, and after the show, he heads straight to the crew bus even though he's been riding with the band for the past week. The next day, when Jon invites him over for burritos and Halo, he claims he's already got plans to play Hold 'Em with some of the guys from merch, and by the end of the week, Brendon's pretty sure he's being avoided.
On day eight, he tries to talk to Ryan, but Ryan brushes him off, says he's being paranoid.
On day nine, he call Patrick.
Patrick answers on the third ring with, "So, I guess you're done pretending to hate me. Did you survive the invasion?"
Brendon heaves a sigh and slides down the wall outside of the dressing room, sitting with his knees pulled up to his chest. "Someone kept me company."
"Oh, yeah?" Patrick asks, but he sounds wary, like maybe he can't be sure that Brendon didn't go out and get a hooker or find some random scene kid to follow him around for a week.
Brendon tries to work up some indignation, but in the end he decides it's not an unfair assumption, minus the hooker part, so he settles for another sigh, says, "Yeah. You know Eric?"
He hears Patrick gasp. "Clapton?" he asks, voice heavy with mock excitement. "Dude, Tears In Heaven changed my life."
"Eric fucking Clapton," Brendon mutters. "So now you're a comedian?"
Patrick laughs, but it's soft and not at all mocking. "Hey, not that I expected sunshine and puppies, but what's the deal? Something happen with Ronick?"
And Brendon thinks maybe he shouldn't have called, because now he has to talk about it and he's pretty sure that he's just not great with rejection, but he clears his throat anyway, says, "He distracted me, kept my mind off of being the odd man out, you know? But as soon as I wasn't the, like, seventh wheel or whatever, he bailed. It's like he felt bad and decided to throw me a bone or something. But we were friends before. At least I thought we were. And now he can't be in the same room with me unless someone else is there to buffer, so I must have done something...gotten on his nerves or..."
"Hey," Patrick interrupts. "I'm sure that's not it."
"I'm hard to handle sometimes," Brendon mumbles. "I get that. It just sucks, is all."
"Have you tried talking to him?"
When Brendon doesn't answer, Patrick interprets his silence as a no, says, "Talk to him, Bren. I'm sure there's something else going on."
Brendon opens his mouth to protest, but Patrick cuts him off. "Don't make me call Pete. He'll tell Ryan and Ryan will tell Spencer and Spencer will tell Jon and Jon will talk to Eric and it'll be like a bad game of telephone and before you know it, the whole tour will think you've got the clap or something. Not that anything like that's ever happened to me."
Brendon laughs a little, and he can hear Patrick let out a breath. "Just talk to him, huh? Easy as that?"
Patrick chuckles. "I never said easy."
Brendon bites his bottom lip. "Could you, maybe?"
"Sure, Bren. Easy as that."
After the show that night, Brendon corners Eric just off stage. He can see Eric searching for an out, but Brendon steps closer, curls his fingers around Eric's wrist and asks, "Can we talk?"
He sees the moment when Eric gives in, nods his head, looking almost resigned. "Yeah. Yeah, OK."
Brendon doesn't drop his wrist until he's sure Eric is following and Eric gives him an exasperated look, says, "I'm right behind you. You're acting like I'm gonna try to make a break for it."
Brendon looks back, raises an eyebrow at Eric over his shoulder and is satisfied when Eric looks chastised.
He opens doors down a hallway backstage until he finds an empty room, ducks in quickly when he hears Ryan and Spencer and Jon come down the hall behind them. He hears Ryan call first shower and Brendon's reminded that he's covered in sweat. He pulls the tail end of his shirt up and uses it to wipe sweat from his face, but the shirt's soaked through, so it only helps a little. When he pulls the shirt back down, Eric has shut the door and is leaning against it, watching him with a look Brendon can't read. He thinks it looks a little bit like apprehension.
He opens his mouth to ask what he did wrong, to ask why he's being avoided, but what comes out is, "I don't need a pity friend."
It takes a second for Brendon to recognize the burning in his gut as anger, but once he does, he can't stop it from pushing it's way to the surface. "Seriously. It's like you couldn't get away fast enough. What, did they ask you to babysit me or something? Poor Brendon can't keep a girlfriend, better send someone to keep him out of everyone's way? And the shitty thing is, I thought maybe..." He shakes his head, rakes a hand through his hair, then wipes his palm on his pants.
"Thought maybe what?" Eric asks, and the look on his face is blank now. He's sweaty, too and despite everything, Brendon wants to lick a stripe up his neck, taste salt and skin, press their mouths together and say, "Thought maybe this" But more than that, he wants to drag Eric back to the bus, curl up and watch a movie, make fun of Jon when he baby talks to Cassie like the bus is big enough that no one can hear, put his head in Eric's lap and feel his fingers card through his hair and maybe let Eric figure the kissing part out himself. Or at least try to forget about it and go back to normal.
Eric takes a step forward, fidgets with his hands. "You've got your guys back," he says, like that explains anything.
"So we stopped being friends?"
Eric huffs out a laugh, looks at the floor, then back up and his eyes linger a little around Brendon's middle where his shirt is still sticking to his skin, and Brendon's anger slides away. Easy as that.
"I didn't know if you'd want..." Eric starts and Brendon rolls his eyes.
"God, you're stupid."
"I'm..."
Brendon grins and steps forward, hooks a finger through one of Eric's belt loops. "Stupid. You're stupid."
And maybe Eric's not as stupid as he's been acting, because his eyes go wide, but then he's leaning in, brushing his lips over Brendon's, barely anything at all, but enough that Brendon knows, for sure, that they're on the same page.
"I want," Brendon says, touching their lips together again, a little more. "I definitely want."
When he pulls back, Eric's smiling. "So stupid," he agrees.
Brendon shrugs, presses their mouths together again and murmurs, "That's all right. I can handle stupid."
Patrick calls three days later.
"So, I hear you've got yourself a girlfriend. What happened to the Brotherhood, man?"
Brendon hangs up on him.