Oh my god I love this meme, it's seriously the best thing EVER. Set in my boychoir universe where Brendon went to the American Boychoir School (http://www.americanboychoir.org/movie.html) as a kid, and goes to Westminster Choir College, and Ryan goes to Princeton University (Spencer goes to Columbia University, and Jon Walker goes to NYU and works at the 24-hour Starbucks in Union Square, in case you're curious).
--
Ryan could not believe that Brendon had talked him into going to some Christmas concert filled with crazy church music that he wouldn't even understand.
(Okay, so that was somewhat of a lie. Ryan totally went to Catholic school and had sat through more than one mass in Latin. He could still remember the original Latin for the Hail Mary, he just didn't like admitting it.)
It wasn't like they knew each other all that well; they met not even two months ago, and yeah, they hung out a bunch of times since - Ryan always made sure to invite Brendon whenever his Eating Club was having a party, and Brendon tended to wait for Ryan when Ryan's class on the Westminster campus was done. They'd even inadvertently ended up meeting at Hoagie Haven for a late-night snack when pulling an all-nighter, Brendon for Music Lit, and Ryan for Chemistry.
But when Brendon told Ryan about the concert, and the fact that he had scored a solo, Ryan hadn't been able to say no to such happy earnestness when he asked Ryan to go.
("I mean, you totally don't have to go or anything, but I've got these tickets, right? And it's at the Princeton Chapel, so it's not like you have to go far."
"Brendon--"
"And yeah, I'm sure that choir music isn't really your thing, and most of the people there will be, like, parents and stuff, but my parents couldn't come out here, not with me going home for the holidays next week anyway."
"Brendon--"
"I know, I know. It was pretty stupid of me to ask, I mean, you've got finals coming up, and I'm sure you've got to study a lot and have better things to do than go to some dumb choir concert. Forget I even--"
"Brendon! I'll go. Jeez, let a guy get a word in edgewise.")
The chapel was a lot more packed than Ryan had expected, if he was honest with himself. Because really, how many people would want to see a bunch of choir dorks? It was some little tiny school that he had never even heard of before he started at Princeton.
Slipping in to one of the last seats in the back of the room, Ryan got there just as the pipe organ started, and a couple hundred people dressed in garishly bright red choir robes filed into the room. And yeah, it wasn't that bad, they were actually way better than Ryan had thought they were going to be. Each choir sang some songs on their own, or the whole school sang together, and it was. Nice. Despite the readings and the fact that he wasn't the least bit religious, it felt...nice. He couldn't really describe it, but it was something like the first time he listened to blink-182 and felt like he could connect to this music, like it meant something to him; like it could save him.
That was when he saw a figure detach from the mass of red, one that he could recognize, despite the lack of dorky red frames covering part of his face, hair styled beyond a casual brushing aside of overlong bangs. And when Brendon opened his mouth and started to sing, Ryan could only stare.
Ryan knew, on some level, that Brendon could sing. He must know how to sing, since he was a vocal performance major, but there was something different than hearing him belt out random lyrics to Top 40 songs, or singing Disney songs totally unironically. This was-- well, Ryan wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it was good. Really good.
The urge to clap was hard to ignore when Brendon stepped back into his spot with the rest of his choir, but he couldn't, not with the song still going on. But once the last note finished echoing off the high ceiling of the chapel, he stood and applauded, clapping harder than he had probably ever done before. And he knew he didn't imagine seeing the smile on Brendon's face at that, it was plain to see even from the back of the room. And yeah, the whole church music thing wasn't his scene, but he didn't regret coming out, not even a little bit.
a snippet from the boychoir au! (Brendon/Ryan-ish)
--
Ryan could not believe that Brendon had talked him into going to some Christmas concert filled with crazy church music that he wouldn't even understand.
(Okay, so that was somewhat of a lie. Ryan totally went to Catholic school and had sat through more than one mass in Latin. He could still remember the original Latin for the Hail Mary, he just didn't like admitting it.)
It wasn't like they knew each other all that well; they met not even two months ago, and yeah, they hung out a bunch of times since - Ryan always made sure to invite Brendon whenever his Eating Club was having a party, and Brendon tended to wait for Ryan when Ryan's class on the Westminster campus was done. They'd even inadvertently ended up meeting at Hoagie Haven for a late-night snack when pulling an all-nighter, Brendon for Music Lit, and Ryan for Chemistry.
But when Brendon told Ryan about the concert, and the fact that he had scored a solo, Ryan hadn't been able to say no to such happy earnestness when he asked Ryan to go.
("I mean, you totally don't have to go or anything, but I've got these tickets, right? And it's at the Princeton Chapel, so it's not like you have to go far."
"Brendon--"
"And yeah, I'm sure that choir music isn't really your thing, and most of the people there will be, like, parents and stuff, but my parents couldn't come out here, not with me going home for the holidays next week anyway."
"Brendon--"
"I know, I know. It was pretty stupid of me to ask, I mean, you've got finals coming up, and I'm sure you've got to study a lot and have better things to do than go to some dumb choir concert. Forget I even--"
"Brendon! I'll go. Jeez, let a guy get a word in edgewise.")
The chapel was a lot more packed than Ryan had expected, if he was honest with himself. Because really, how many people would want to see a bunch of choir dorks? It was some little tiny school that he had never even heard of before he started at Princeton.
Slipping in to one of the last seats in the back of the room, Ryan got there just as the pipe organ started, and a couple hundred people dressed in garishly bright red choir robes filed into the room. And yeah, it wasn't that bad, they were actually way better than Ryan had thought they were going to be. Each choir sang some songs on their own, or the whole school sang together, and it was. Nice. Despite the readings and the fact that he wasn't the least bit religious, it felt...nice. He couldn't really describe it, but it was something like the first time he listened to blink-182 and felt like he could connect to this music, like it meant something to him; like it could save him.
That was when he saw a figure detach from the mass of red, one that he could recognize, despite the lack of dorky red frames covering part of his face, hair styled beyond a casual brushing aside of overlong bangs. And when Brendon opened his mouth and started to sing, Ryan could only stare.
Ryan knew, on some level, that Brendon could sing. He must know how to sing, since he was a vocal performance major, but there was something different than hearing him belt out random lyrics to Top 40 songs, or singing Disney songs totally unironically. This was-- well, Ryan wasn't exactly sure what it was, but it was good. Really good.
The urge to clap was hard to ignore when Brendon stepped back into his spot with the rest of his choir, but he couldn't, not with the song still going on. But once the last note finished echoing off the high ceiling of the chapel, he stood and applauded, clapping harder than he had probably ever done before. And he knew he didn't imagine seeing the smile on Brendon's face at that, it was plain to see even from the back of the room. And yeah, the whole church music thing wasn't his scene, but he didn't regret coming out, not even a little bit.