APRIL 14, 2005
Brandon thinks that the L.A. Gum Wall got him sick.
To backtrack, the band has decided to take a mini-vacation in California. It's not really a vacation because they'll be working the entire time, but they've been able to manage two weeks where they'll be in the same spot. Rather than staying in a hotel, Dave convinced everyone that a little condo by the beach would be much more comfortable. It was nice to be stationary once again with plenty of downtime to do actual tourist-y stuff. You can pretend that you're not famous for a moment.
Now, back to the Gum Wall.
It was a day where everyone was off doing their own things and Ronnie had wanted to take that time to go do some romantic things since the other guys weren't around. The sentiment was sweet, Brandon thought. Trying to be romantic with your drummer is hard when the rest of the band is around. The fact that they had even run into the wall in the first place was because Ronnie had gotten lost while trying to find the restaurant he had made a reservation at. They stumbled across the wall, Ronnie thought it was funny, and they decided to go to a local convenience store to buy gum.
Needless to say, they missed their reservation and ended up going to Panda Express instead.
To finally get to the point, Brandon finds himself feeling a little under the weather a few days later. Sometimes you just wake up and you can tell that something isn't right. Though he's prone to getting sick, this feels meaner than his usual cold.
He slides out of bed, being sure not to wake Ronnie, and makes his way to the communal bathroom. Heading straight for the mirror, he scrutinizes himself. Tries to determine if the slight bags under his eyes have gotten any darker. If his skin is paler than usual. He can't tell any of these things, obviously, but he still feels the need to check.
His thoughts are interrupted as Dave peeks in, says something to the degree that he should stop being so worried about his appearance, and asks him to help make breakfast.
He continues to feel a little weird for the rest of the day, but it becomes easy to ignore. The next morning, however, is a different story.
Ronnie rouses him from his sleep, a gentle hand on his shoulder tapping lightly. He doesn't particularly want to get up so he burrows deeper into his blanket.
"C'mon, man," Brandon can hear the grin in Ronnie's voice. "You can't sleep all day. We've got shows to tape."
"Hrmph," he rolls over.
Ronnie laughs and forgoes being gentle, instead deciding to forcibly pull Brandon back onto his back. There's a peck of a kiss on his cheek and when Brandon opens his eyes, he expects to find Ronnie smiling at him. He doesn't.
Through the cracks of his lids, Brandon can see that his boyfriend is giving him a look of concern.
"Am I ugly?" Brandon rasps. A cool hand meets his forehead, shocking him momentarily. He fights the hand off, "What's wrong with you?"
Ronnie sits on the edge of the bed, brow furrowed, "What's wrong with you?"
He doesn't really want to get up, but he hoists himself into an almost-sitting position regardless. "I'm a peach," he smiles. Maybe if he ignores it, it'll go away.
"No, you're off. What's wrong?"
Brandon sighs. Ronnie's giving him that motherly look that tells him he won't get away with nonsense. "I dunno," he concedes, "I'll be fine." He can tell that Ronnie doesn't want to just leave it, so he's glad when the drummer changes the subject.
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Hopeless Haze - Volume I: Hot Fuss (Remastered)
عاطفية"If Brandon cared, he would wonder if Ronnie was also deep in thought about something and has only just absentmindedly found something for his hands to play with. But as Ronnie runs his fingers through his hair, Brandon finds that he does not care a...
