(no subject)
So last week, when I was having a really awful day, I sent amy13 the following in an email, because I was stressed and wanting to distract myself and I've been working really hard (and somewhat successfully) to corrupt her into bandom. (See, Amy! I'm admitting to it!) So, the email read as follows:
I've had an idea for an AU percolating in my brain for the last few days and I sort of want to flesh it out a little, too. (It was prompted by the VMA's, where FOB and GCH were accepting their awards, and my brain went: wow, they're totally reminding me of a fraternity right now, with Travis' whole 'DecayDance is taking over' comment, and then the absolute glee and jumping up and down when GCH won their award... it was like one of the greek houses winning the house of the year award! And then my brain went: hmm.
It would be Phi Beta Rho (as close as I could get to FBR) and Pete would be president, of course, and Travis would be the social chair, and Spencer and Ryan and Brendon would be the pledges (Ryan dragged Spencer through Rush, 'cause Ryan's girlfriend wanted him to join a Frat), and then there's the part how Patrick never wanted to be in a frat and still isn't really sure how he ended up in one, but he ran into Joe in some class and ended up talking music with him, and Joe dragged him over to the house for lunch after class one afternoon (or rather, he started walking while Patrick kept talking) and the next thing Patrick knew, a few weeks later, they were handing him a bid card, and he's saying yes, 'cause of Joe and Pete and Andy, the crazy vegan poli sci major who believes in anarchy. And then Jon Walker is a sophomore and he and Brendon bond pretty quickly. Brendon rushed because he was rebelling against his parents and wanted to do all the things he hadn't done for the first 18 years of his life. And Spencer wasn't really big on the whole RUSH thing--he's rooming with Brent in the dorms--but he says yes to the invite because the guys are pretty cool, and he figures he can drop out at any time, and also, Ryan's joining. And then he gets Patrick for a big brother (I was thinking Bob, but then I decided that Bob would be more of an age to be Patrick's Big) and Patrick's pretty cool, and then they have their first function of the year and he meets Haley, who's joined one of the sororities across the street.
And FBR would totally be viewed as, like, the slacker fraternity, but they actually have a really good time being a frat, participating in all sorts of greek events, and yeah, they pretty much don't get along with most of the other frats, but the sorority girls think they're cute and funny and at the end of the year, they'd totally win, like, the Chapter of the Year award, and it would be cliche and feel-good and awesome.
And then I ended up fleshing a bit of it out one night, when other stories weren't working, and I sort of feel like letting it fly free. So, a cookie of frat!verse. A whole bunch of people, but Spencer POV. A little bit of Spencer/Haley.
First FBR party of the year, twenty minutes until the doors to the basement open, and the house is pretty much vibrating with it. Literally. From where he's sitting on the floor, Spencer can feel Gabe's speakers through the wall behind him.
They're pre-func-ing up in Joe's room, Spencer and Brendon and Ryan and his girl, Pete and Andy, Bill and Travis, but the party pretty much stretches the entire upper floor of the house. Doors open, music blaring, and Spencer can smell orange juice and the sharp edge of vodka and peach schnapps for the ladies, beer and lime jello.
"'s gonna be fucking awesome, dude," Pete says, and Ryan's girlfriend giggles, dipping her head to Ryan's shoulder, blonde curls falling loosely around his neck. She's been nursing the same fuzzy navel for the last hour, but her cheeks are flushed with it, her eyes bright.
Spencer's drinking Coke. Without rum, no matter how many times Bill waves the bottle in his direction. "Come on, Smith," he says again, "live a little." And Ryan, because he's Spencer's best friend, says, "Yeah, well, you've never seen him on a caffeine high."
"Fuck you," Spencer says mildly, and Ryan's girlfriend giggles, like she's ever actually seen him on a caffeine high. Or a sugar high, for that matter.
"Language, language, Brother Smith," Pete says. Then he gestures at Travis, then back at Spencer. "McCoy, I think we need to get this man another Coke. Or possibly a Red Bull. Do we have any Red Bull? I think this is something I need to see."
"No," Ryan says. "You really, really don't. What with his tendency to get even more bitchy and all." Then, at Spencer's look, he actually manages to remove his hand from his girlfriend's thigh and slashes it in Spencer's direction. "See?" he asks. "See?"
Pete is laughing now, as are Bill and Travis, who pokes Brendon in the shoulder and says, "Hey, Pledge. I know Walker's got some Red Bull in his room. Go snag us a few cans."
Spencer says, "No really, I'm fine. Really," but Brendon is already out the door, and Pete and Travis and Ryan are talking about Spencer's heretofore undiscovered levels of bitchiness, and Spencer never thought he'd say this, but he's actually pretty fucking relieved when Saporta bangs on the door and says, "Hey, mother fuckers, it's time to get the fuck downstairs. We've got a fucking party to fucking *own*."
Spencer's not the first to get to his feet-that's Ryan's girlfriend, who, in turn, pulls Ryan up-but he is the first out the door, purely for the sake of *not* ending up so high off of Red Bull he's plastered to the ceiling. He doesn't make a clean escape, though, because the next thing he knows, Travis has got an arm around his shoulders, and they're walking down the stairs to the main floor together.
"Now Brother Smith," Travis says, "See, Phi Beta Rho has a reputation to uphold, and that reputation, my man, is that we know how to have the most fun of any fucking house on this campus. And what I want, brother, is to *see* you having a good time tonight. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah," Spencer says after a moment. "I understand."
*
This is the thing, see. Spencer went to all of two parties in high school. One at Melinda Reed's house his junior year, when he was sitting next to her in pre-calc and she said, So, Smith, I'm having a party on Friday night. You should come! So it was him and Brent and Ryan and about fifty of their not-so-nearest and dearest, and yeah, Brent actually made it out onto the dance floor, but Spencer and Ryan pretty much camped out on the couch, drinking soda, eating chips and watching all of their classmates get drunk.
The second party he went to was after prom, and it was in the desert, and there were fucking *cacti* and… yeah.
So, I-am-sober-in-a-room-full-of-drunk-people misgivings aside, Spencer is actually sort of looking forward to this, because he's actually joined a fraternity. And if he ever talks to anyone from back home, he'll be able to say, 'so yeah, at my house's party last night…' But really, he's apparently not much of a party person, no matter how many times he and Ryan talked about being rock stars when they were younger. Still, it is his first fraternity party and so he let's Ryan's girlfriend and Brendon drag him out into the middle of the dance floor.
Then, when Ryan's girlfriend twines herself around Ryan, doing things with him that Spencer would prefer never to watch his best friend do, he lets Brendon herd him toward a group of about five girls. One of them smiles at him, so he moves a little nearer, close enough so that they could actually, conceivably, be dancing together. She's got glitter around her eyes, waves of dark hair hanging down around her shoulders, and she moves a little closer still, close enough that Spencer is considering putting his hand on her waist, wondering how her arms would feel around his shoulders.
Before he can, though, another girl comes up to her, taps her on the shoulder, whispers something in her ear, and Spencer's girl looks like she wants to protest, wants to say 'no,' but then she's sighing and putting a hand on Spencer's shoulder, standing up on her tiptoes and saying, "I'm sorry, I've got to-"
He nods, because of course she does. "Yeah," he says. "Okay."
"My name's Haley," she says, but before Spencer can say his own name, her friend is dragging her away, and. Yeah.
When he turns back to the rest of the group, he finds Brendon in the center of the four remaining girls, sandwiched between them, and Spencer is *so* not going to interrupt that, so he starts backing towards the wall, looking around for Ryan.
Ryan, who is also not dancing, but is instead standing off by the bar, his girlfriend's arms around his waist, the both of them talking to Pete, who is actually sitting *on* the bar, and yeah. Spencer backs up some more. Until he's over by the sound booth, closet, whatever the fuck it is, and he can see Patrick inside, bent over the computer, headphones on, biting his lip in concentration. The song changes and Patrick glances up, catches Spencer's eye, and motions him to come inside.
It's a tight fit, the two of them, but it's actually quieter inside the little alcove than out, the sound of the music and the drunken shouting along muffled by the plexi-glass.
"Pete pouts," Patrick says, "if I don't at least make an appearance at a few of these a year." He pauses, then grins, pulling his hat a little farther down over his eyes. "Pete's pout probably doesn't mean much to you at this point, but it will."
Right now, Spencer can see, Pete is smiling, all white teeth and scrunched up eyes, and Spencer can't imagine him pouting, but he also trusts Patrick that if he sticks with this long enough, he will.
Brendon's still dancing, down to two girls now, and somehow he's acquired a beer, wrapped tightly in a hand that's resting loosely on one of the girls' shoulders. Ryan and his girlfriend are dancing again, swaying in place, foreheads pressed together, so Spencer looks at the computer screen in front of Patrick, at the play list that's front and center. He sees hip-hop and techno and pop and then, further down, The Smiths.
He says, "Seriously?" and Patrick laughs, shaking his head. "I wish. Fuck, I wish. But no. I just keep it there to remind me there's still good music in this world every time someone requests something like, like-I don't know. Something I wouldn't let within ten feet of my laptop."
Spencer says, "Awesome," and finds he actually means it.
I've had an idea for an AU percolating in my brain for the last few days and I sort of want to flesh it out a little, too. (It was prompted by the VMA's, where FOB and GCH were accepting their awards, and my brain went: wow, they're totally reminding me of a fraternity right now, with Travis' whole 'DecayDance is taking over' comment, and then the absolute glee and jumping up and down when GCH won their award... it was like one of the greek houses winning the house of the year award! And then my brain went: hmm.
It would be Phi Beta Rho (as close as I could get to FBR) and Pete would be president, of course, and Travis would be the social chair, and Spencer and Ryan and Brendon would be the pledges (Ryan dragged Spencer through Rush, 'cause Ryan's girlfriend wanted him to join a Frat), and then there's the part how Patrick never wanted to be in a frat and still isn't really sure how he ended up in one, but he ran into Joe in some class and ended up talking music with him, and Joe dragged him over to the house for lunch after class one afternoon (or rather, he started walking while Patrick kept talking) and the next thing Patrick knew, a few weeks later, they were handing him a bid card, and he's saying yes, 'cause of Joe and Pete and Andy, the crazy vegan poli sci major who believes in anarchy. And then Jon Walker is a sophomore and he and Brendon bond pretty quickly. Brendon rushed because he was rebelling against his parents and wanted to do all the things he hadn't done for the first 18 years of his life. And Spencer wasn't really big on the whole RUSH thing--he's rooming with Brent in the dorms--but he says yes to the invite because the guys are pretty cool, and he figures he can drop out at any time, and also, Ryan's joining. And then he gets Patrick for a big brother (I was thinking Bob, but then I decided that Bob would be more of an age to be Patrick's Big) and Patrick's pretty cool, and then they have their first function of the year and he meets Haley, who's joined one of the sororities across the street.
And FBR would totally be viewed as, like, the slacker fraternity, but they actually have a really good time being a frat, participating in all sorts of greek events, and yeah, they pretty much don't get along with most of the other frats, but the sorority girls think they're cute and funny and at the end of the year, they'd totally win, like, the Chapter of the Year award, and it would be cliche and feel-good and awesome.
And then I ended up fleshing a bit of it out one night, when other stories weren't working, and I sort of feel like letting it fly free. So, a cookie of frat!verse. A whole bunch of people, but Spencer POV. A little bit of Spencer/Haley.
First FBR party of the year, twenty minutes until the doors to the basement open, and the house is pretty much vibrating with it. Literally. From where he's sitting on the floor, Spencer can feel Gabe's speakers through the wall behind him.
They're pre-func-ing up in Joe's room, Spencer and Brendon and Ryan and his girl, Pete and Andy, Bill and Travis, but the party pretty much stretches the entire upper floor of the house. Doors open, music blaring, and Spencer can smell orange juice and the sharp edge of vodka and peach schnapps for the ladies, beer and lime jello.
"'s gonna be fucking awesome, dude," Pete says, and Ryan's girlfriend giggles, dipping her head to Ryan's shoulder, blonde curls falling loosely around his neck. She's been nursing the same fuzzy navel for the last hour, but her cheeks are flushed with it, her eyes bright.
Spencer's drinking Coke. Without rum, no matter how many times Bill waves the bottle in his direction. "Come on, Smith," he says again, "live a little." And Ryan, because he's Spencer's best friend, says, "Yeah, well, you've never seen him on a caffeine high."
"Fuck you," Spencer says mildly, and Ryan's girlfriend giggles, like she's ever actually seen him on a caffeine high. Or a sugar high, for that matter.
"Language, language, Brother Smith," Pete says. Then he gestures at Travis, then back at Spencer. "McCoy, I think we need to get this man another Coke. Or possibly a Red Bull. Do we have any Red Bull? I think this is something I need to see."
"No," Ryan says. "You really, really don't. What with his tendency to get even more bitchy and all." Then, at Spencer's look, he actually manages to remove his hand from his girlfriend's thigh and slashes it in Spencer's direction. "See?" he asks. "See?"
Pete is laughing now, as are Bill and Travis, who pokes Brendon in the shoulder and says, "Hey, Pledge. I know Walker's got some Red Bull in his room. Go snag us a few cans."
Spencer says, "No really, I'm fine. Really," but Brendon is already out the door, and Pete and Travis and Ryan are talking about Spencer's heretofore undiscovered levels of bitchiness, and Spencer never thought he'd say this, but he's actually pretty fucking relieved when Saporta bangs on the door and says, "Hey, mother fuckers, it's time to get the fuck downstairs. We've got a fucking party to fucking *own*."
Spencer's not the first to get to his feet-that's Ryan's girlfriend, who, in turn, pulls Ryan up-but he is the first out the door, purely for the sake of *not* ending up so high off of Red Bull he's plastered to the ceiling. He doesn't make a clean escape, though, because the next thing he knows, Travis has got an arm around his shoulders, and they're walking down the stairs to the main floor together.
"Now Brother Smith," Travis says, "See, Phi Beta Rho has a reputation to uphold, and that reputation, my man, is that we know how to have the most fun of any fucking house on this campus. And what I want, brother, is to *see* you having a good time tonight. Do you understand me?"
"Yeah," Spencer says after a moment. "I understand."
*
This is the thing, see. Spencer went to all of two parties in high school. One at Melinda Reed's house his junior year, when he was sitting next to her in pre-calc and she said, So, Smith, I'm having a party on Friday night. You should come! So it was him and Brent and Ryan and about fifty of their not-so-nearest and dearest, and yeah, Brent actually made it out onto the dance floor, but Spencer and Ryan pretty much camped out on the couch, drinking soda, eating chips and watching all of their classmates get drunk.
The second party he went to was after prom, and it was in the desert, and there were fucking *cacti* and… yeah.
So, I-am-sober-in-a-room-full-of-drunk-people misgivings aside, Spencer is actually sort of looking forward to this, because he's actually joined a fraternity. And if he ever talks to anyone from back home, he'll be able to say, 'so yeah, at my house's party last night…' But really, he's apparently not much of a party person, no matter how many times he and Ryan talked about being rock stars when they were younger. Still, it is his first fraternity party and so he let's Ryan's girlfriend and Brendon drag him out into the middle of the dance floor.
Then, when Ryan's girlfriend twines herself around Ryan, doing things with him that Spencer would prefer never to watch his best friend do, he lets Brendon herd him toward a group of about five girls. One of them smiles at him, so he moves a little nearer, close enough so that they could actually, conceivably, be dancing together. She's got glitter around her eyes, waves of dark hair hanging down around her shoulders, and she moves a little closer still, close enough that Spencer is considering putting his hand on her waist, wondering how her arms would feel around his shoulders.
Before he can, though, another girl comes up to her, taps her on the shoulder, whispers something in her ear, and Spencer's girl looks like she wants to protest, wants to say 'no,' but then she's sighing and putting a hand on Spencer's shoulder, standing up on her tiptoes and saying, "I'm sorry, I've got to-"
He nods, because of course she does. "Yeah," he says. "Okay."
"My name's Haley," she says, but before Spencer can say his own name, her friend is dragging her away, and. Yeah.
When he turns back to the rest of the group, he finds Brendon in the center of the four remaining girls, sandwiched between them, and Spencer is *so* not going to interrupt that, so he starts backing towards the wall, looking around for Ryan.
Ryan, who is also not dancing, but is instead standing off by the bar, his girlfriend's arms around his waist, the both of them talking to Pete, who is actually sitting *on* the bar, and yeah. Spencer backs up some more. Until he's over by the sound booth, closet, whatever the fuck it is, and he can see Patrick inside, bent over the computer, headphones on, biting his lip in concentration. The song changes and Patrick glances up, catches Spencer's eye, and motions him to come inside.
It's a tight fit, the two of them, but it's actually quieter inside the little alcove than out, the sound of the music and the drunken shouting along muffled by the plexi-glass.
"Pete pouts," Patrick says, "if I don't at least make an appearance at a few of these a year." He pauses, then grins, pulling his hat a little farther down over his eyes. "Pete's pout probably doesn't mean much to you at this point, but it will."
Right now, Spencer can see, Pete is smiling, all white teeth and scrunched up eyes, and Spencer can't imagine him pouting, but he also trusts Patrick that if he sticks with this long enough, he will.
Brendon's still dancing, down to two girls now, and somehow he's acquired a beer, wrapped tightly in a hand that's resting loosely on one of the girls' shoulders. Ryan and his girlfriend are dancing again, swaying in place, foreheads pressed together, so Spencer looks at the computer screen in front of Patrick, at the play list that's front and center. He sees hip-hop and techno and pop and then, further down, The Smiths.
He says, "Seriously?" and Patrick laughs, shaking his head. "I wish. Fuck, I wish. But no. I just keep it there to remind me there's still good music in this world every time someone requests something like, like-I don't know. Something I wouldn't let within ten feet of my laptop."
Spencer says, "Awesome," and finds he actually means it.