Rydon Drabble - Stage This
Hey - this is chapter one (Of many? You decide) that I wrote while mainly asleep. Thought I would share.
Chapter One - Stage This
Breathe. Deep, big, oxygen filled breaths. Ryan looks at himself in the mirror, plucking a Kleenex from a side table and dabbing at a tiny smudge on his makeup. No matter how many times they performed, no matter how much he loved to lose himself in that world, he always got nervous before hand. He checked the clock behind him in his dressing room. Thirty minutes. Go and check with the manager.
Brendon hummed, stretching a note higher every time. Nice and warmed up. He only had to put on his jacket and hat and he was ready. Just wait now. He’d better go and do the before performance checks. They couldn’t be done any earlier, and they had to be done. They made him nervous though - the assessment of the crowd.
He wove his way through the maze of the venue and eventually found them, Mrs Grey, Ryan, Spencer and Jon all sitting on a sofa that had far too much structure in its padding to be anything other than brand new. He perched on the edge, entirely uncomfortable with it.
‘So, the crowd is mainly girls, between the ages of about ten and twenty five. A few guys.’ Mrs Grey went straight to work. She was great, did her job very efficiently, but didn’t ever have much personality. ‘Now, I haven’t been out there myself, obviously, but we’ve seen some of the signs out there.’
This is what got Brendon the most- the signs they waved. Demanding attention and making him read them. Even if he didn’t want to. More often now they were signs promoting rumours that just were not true. Sure, he hadn’t helped them, but to be honest some of them were personal.
‘. . .and quite a few for “Ryden”, as fans are now calling it’ Mrs Grey said, shuffling her papers.
‘What?’ Brendon managed. ‘Ry-den?’
‘Yes, it’s what your fans have dubbed the supposed relationship between you and Ryan. It’s a supposedly cool combination of your first names. . . ‘
‘Oh’ Brendon managed. ‘Right’
‘Hmmmm. Anyway. Kate, the PR manager wanted me to chuck an idea out there - I know that you have both been playing a long to a certain extent, let me see, ah, here’ She pulled out a piece of paper and read off of it -
‘I love Ryan. . . . I’ve got the biggest clock in the band-‘
‘How’s that relevant?’ Ryan blurted. ‘I do’ he said. He recalled saying it an interview, and at the time it had made perfect sense.
‘Some of your fans consider it an innuendo’ Mrs Grey said pointedly. Ryan went pink immediately as Brendon blinked, blankly.
‘Anyway, in your little speech, after “a most romantic kiss”, Kate suggested you share a kiss’
‘On stage?’ Ryan asked after a loaded moment, at the same time as Brendon said ‘A kiss?’
‘On stage was the idea’ Mrs Grey said with a curt smile. Ryan went even pinker. ‘And it can be any sort of kiss you like’ she said. ‘But make up your mind if you’re going to do it before you start. No-one wants any surprises’ she said, standing and taking her papers with her.
Spencer and Jon sputtered into laughter, slapping Ryan and Brendon on the knee and back before leaving. A very awkward silence ensued.
‘Are you okay with it?’ Ryan asked after a moment.
‘Yeah. It’s fine. On the cheek, or. . . .’ Brendon said, staring fixedly at the floor.
‘Cool’ Ryan said quickly. There was another small pause before they both got up, mumbling about something they had to do, before leaving.
The show built up. And up. And up. Brendon was so pumped on adrenaline his hands were shaking - he had to keep moving, even though he was sweating and breathless. Jump, dance, sing - hear the crowd. Feel the crowd.
The moment worked its way so close so quickly. Brendon didn’t really realize until it was upon him that he was going to kiss Ryan. He, of course, would never mention this to anyone, ever - but his first kiss, would be with Ryan. And, it would be staged. That made Brendon falter for a moment. He caught himself though and belted out the words with more vigor.
Brendon faked his way through it all. He did love Ryan, his best friend. He knew that the fans implied that they had a proper relationship, like the ones shared between married people. He knew that when people were married they had sex - and yes, he knew how that worked, in a way - more of a cold, scientific theory. Then, that was pretty much it. Men had this, women had that, this goes there, and hey presto. Why was there such hype over him and Ryan anyway? Brendon knew that some guys were gay - even he knew that - but there wasn’t exactly anything they could do about it, was there? He meant, they couldn’t get married. This just couldn’t go there.
Brendon was slowly getting pinker on stage just thinking about all of that. He knew sometimes that jokes or words were said that he didn’t understand, or didn’t get, and he’d always been too embarrassed to ask. She said what, exactly? Go down on where? What did you do? It was stupid even inside his own head.
He knew he had been raised a little differently to the other band members. Their choice to follow music had been, at worst, doubted by their families - Brendon had been kicked out because of it. His parents had wanted him to go to university and then come home until he found a nice, polite wife and then he would propose on one knee and then Brendon’s dad said that the two of them would have a ‘talk’ before the wedding and then Brendon would live happily ever after, office worker, banker, secretary. . . Or whatever other mundane option his life handed him.
God, the time was here. Brendon didn’t even realize until the words left his lips ‘. . .A most romantic kiss’ he grinned at the end when the crowd soared, roaring in his ears as he walked forwards, strides that were far more confident than he felt. He let the microphone jostle in his hand, before restign lightly on Ryan’s shoulder, which was right there, and Brendon pressed his chapped lips to the slightly stubble.
The ocean of fans became a tsunami; a great screech of a wave building, but instead of surging forwards it seemed to expand like an explosion from Brendon’s lips as more and more girls realized what was
happening.
Then it was over. Brendon was hop footing it back, his voice low for the start of ‘Lying’. The show continued. Life continued. Brendon was still sweaty and pumped. But as the lights dimmed and they exited stage, Brendon felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. He was going to hell for that. . .
Disclaimer - I am not Brendon, or Ryan, or Spencer, or Jon. Any opinions /facts/knowledge of or about the above people may be misleading or incorrect.
Let me know if you like, hate, love, etc?
Chapter One - Stage This
Breathe. Deep, big, oxygen filled breaths. Ryan looks at himself in the mirror, plucking a Kleenex from a side table and dabbing at a tiny smudge on his makeup. No matter how many times they performed, no matter how much he loved to lose himself in that world, he always got nervous before hand. He checked the clock behind him in his dressing room. Thirty minutes. Go and check with the manager.
Brendon hummed, stretching a note higher every time. Nice and warmed up. He only had to put on his jacket and hat and he was ready. Just wait now. He’d better go and do the before performance checks. They couldn’t be done any earlier, and they had to be done. They made him nervous though - the assessment of the crowd.
He wove his way through the maze of the venue and eventually found them, Mrs Grey, Ryan, Spencer and Jon all sitting on a sofa that had far too much structure in its padding to be anything other than brand new. He perched on the edge, entirely uncomfortable with it.
‘So, the crowd is mainly girls, between the ages of about ten and twenty five. A few guys.’ Mrs Grey went straight to work. She was great, did her job very efficiently, but didn’t ever have much personality. ‘Now, I haven’t been out there myself, obviously, but we’ve seen some of the signs out there.’
This is what got Brendon the most- the signs they waved. Demanding attention and making him read them. Even if he didn’t want to. More often now they were signs promoting rumours that just were not true. Sure, he hadn’t helped them, but to be honest some of them were personal.
‘. . .and quite a few for “Ryden”, as fans are now calling it’ Mrs Grey said, shuffling her papers.
‘What?’ Brendon managed. ‘Ry-den?’
‘Yes, it’s what your fans have dubbed the supposed relationship between you and Ryan. It’s a supposedly cool combination of your first names. . . ‘
‘Oh’ Brendon managed. ‘Right’
‘Hmmmm. Anyway. Kate, the PR manager wanted me to chuck an idea out there - I know that you have both been playing a long to a certain extent, let me see, ah, here’ She pulled out a piece of paper and read off of it -
‘I love Ryan. . . . I’ve got the biggest clock in the band-‘
‘How’s that relevant?’ Ryan blurted. ‘I do’ he said. He recalled saying it an interview, and at the time it had made perfect sense.
‘Some of your fans consider it an innuendo’ Mrs Grey said pointedly. Ryan went pink immediately as Brendon blinked, blankly.
‘Anyway, in your little speech, after “a most romantic kiss”, Kate suggested you share a kiss’
‘On stage?’ Ryan asked after a loaded moment, at the same time as Brendon said ‘A kiss?’
‘On stage was the idea’ Mrs Grey said with a curt smile. Ryan went even pinker. ‘And it can be any sort of kiss you like’ she said. ‘But make up your mind if you’re going to do it before you start. No-one wants any surprises’ she said, standing and taking her papers with her.
Spencer and Jon sputtered into laughter, slapping Ryan and Brendon on the knee and back before leaving. A very awkward silence ensued.
‘Are you okay with it?’ Ryan asked after a moment.
‘Yeah. It’s fine. On the cheek, or. . . .’ Brendon said, staring fixedly at the floor.
‘Cool’ Ryan said quickly. There was another small pause before they both got up, mumbling about something they had to do, before leaving.
The show built up. And up. And up. Brendon was so pumped on adrenaline his hands were shaking - he had to keep moving, even though he was sweating and breathless. Jump, dance, sing - hear the crowd. Feel the crowd.
The moment worked its way so close so quickly. Brendon didn’t really realize until it was upon him that he was going to kiss Ryan. He, of course, would never mention this to anyone, ever - but his first kiss, would be with Ryan. And, it would be staged. That made Brendon falter for a moment. He caught himself though and belted out the words with more vigor.
Brendon faked his way through it all. He did love Ryan, his best friend. He knew that the fans implied that they had a proper relationship, like the ones shared between married people. He knew that when people were married they had sex - and yes, he knew how that worked, in a way - more of a cold, scientific theory. Then, that was pretty much it. Men had this, women had that, this goes there, and hey presto. Why was there such hype over him and Ryan anyway? Brendon knew that some guys were gay - even he knew that - but there wasn’t exactly anything they could do about it, was there? He meant, they couldn’t get married. This just couldn’t go there.
Brendon was slowly getting pinker on stage just thinking about all of that. He knew sometimes that jokes or words were said that he didn’t understand, or didn’t get, and he’d always been too embarrassed to ask. She said what, exactly? Go down on where? What did you do? It was stupid even inside his own head.
He knew he had been raised a little differently to the other band members. Their choice to follow music had been, at worst, doubted by their families - Brendon had been kicked out because of it. His parents had wanted him to go to university and then come home until he found a nice, polite wife and then he would propose on one knee and then Brendon’s dad said that the two of them would have a ‘talk’ before the wedding and then Brendon would live happily ever after, office worker, banker, secretary. . . Or whatever other mundane option his life handed him.
God, the time was here. Brendon didn’t even realize until the words left his lips ‘. . .A most romantic kiss’ he grinned at the end when the crowd soared, roaring in his ears as he walked forwards, strides that were far more confident than he felt. He let the microphone jostle in his hand, before restign lightly on Ryan’s shoulder, which was right there, and Brendon pressed his chapped lips to the slightly stubble.
The ocean of fans became a tsunami; a great screech of a wave building, but instead of surging forwards it seemed to expand like an explosion from Brendon’s lips as more and more girls realized what was
happening.
Then it was over. Brendon was hop footing it back, his voice low for the start of ‘Lying’. The show continued. Life continued. Brendon was still sweaty and pumped. But as the lights dimmed and they exited stage, Brendon felt a sickening feeling in his stomach. He was going to hell for that. . .
Disclaimer - I am not Brendon, or Ryan, or Spencer, or Jon. Any opinions /facts/knowledge of or about the above people may be misleading or incorrect.
Let me know if you like, hate, love, etc?