Storms of Fabled Foreign Tongues ~ A Rydon/Ryden fanfiction

Chapter five

Chapter five

Ryan made eye contact with Brendon just as he sat down and adjusted his microphone. Brendon nodded to Ryan and smiled weakly at him. Ryan unexpectedly returned his smile, seeming to lose some of his nervousness, or maybe that was just Brendon's head playing tricks on him. Surely Ryan wouldn't be reassured by his presence.

Brendon kept his eyes trained on him, hopefully this wouldn't make their meeting the next day awkward or uncomfortable.

"Uh, hi," Ryan said, looking out into the mass of people, who cheered. "Uh, this is the first time that I'm doing this without my band members, so, uh, wish me luck. This is 'Cape Town'."

Ryan wasn't the sort of person that Brendon would expect to be nervous on stage, with his calm and cool demeanour, but maybe he shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Ryan began to strum the guitar, and then started singing. His sweet, melodic voice filled the room, and Brendon couldn't help but feel calmer.

That had been one of his favourites off the album when he'd listened to it on Tuesday night, and the fact it was live just made it even better.

Ryan finished the song and then played through two more songs; 'Take a vacation' and 'Change'.

Brendon felt himself feel lighter, as if all his troubles had melted away. Ryan's voice did something to him. It was like a powerful, dangerous drug.

Ryan finished the song' and the audience cheered; Brendon's eyes didn't stray away from him for a second.

"So, uh, I'm going to play a new song that I haven't played before, so you're all lucky," Ryan gave a short laugh, "But I'm going to need some help for this one," Ryan's eyes drifted over to Brendon.

Brendon's eyes widened vastly.

'No, no, this can't be happening,' he thought. 'He can't be asking me to come up on stage.'

Ryan pointed, most definitely, at him. "Brendon, why don't you come up and sing with me? I know you have good voice," he said, a hopeful expression on his face. Brendon's knees turned to jelly, and his mind drifted back to the first time he met Ryan, when he'd been singing to himself and Ryan had told him he liked his voice.

Don't say yes, Brendon's mind urged.

Say no.

"Uh, okay," Brendon said, without thinking. Goddamn it.

Ryan's expression changed, and he began to smile. "Come on up then," he said, waving his hand.

Brendon nodded slowly, trying to focus on something other than the fact his knees were shaking and his palms dripping in sweat. He stepped up the two small steps onto the stage and someone brought an extra chair up and handed Brendon a microphone.

"I get super nervous on stage. I don't know if I can do this," he whispered.

"Of course you can," Ryan whispered back. "I do too. Just try and forget the people watching you and focus on your singing. Get lost in the music; and remember, I'm right here beside you."

Brendon nodded. "Okay, I'll give it a go."

Ryan gave Brendon a reassuring smile. He gave him a piece of paper with the lyrics of the song they were going to be playing. "Just sing along to my guitar playing. And remember, I'll be singing with you for the chorus," he said.

Brendon nodded, returning Ryan's smile.

"This song's called Northern Downpour!" Ryan said into the microphone.