Social Norms (Synacky)

Chapter Thirty

It was Brian’s idea to go see a movie, so Zacky let him pick it. Brian chose The Blair Witch Project. He didn’t really like horror movies, but thanks to Jimmy’s obsession over them, he could stand them. He would have rather seen The Matrix, but he wasn’t sure if it was still in theaters. He was also looking forward to Zacky getting scared and then he’d be able to be the macho boyfriend he liked to be.

He was surprised when he told his choice to Zacky, and he was all for it.

“Yeah, that’ll be cool.” He agreed, seeming genuinely excited for the movie. “It just came out recently, right?”

They went straight from Central Park to the theater, telling the guys Zacky was having issues with his guitar and Brian was going to have a look at it. Brian was looking forward to it, excited to be able to act like a couple around other people without the fear of getting found out.

The movie was fucking creepy as hell.

Brian wasn’t expecting it to be that scary. He could normally handle horror movies, but it just jarred him. Maybe it was the fact that everything was on those cameras, making it look like it really happened.

Whatever it was, Brian had his face in Zacky’s shoulder at some parts that were a little freaky, and Zacky would chuckle and wrap an arm around Brian’s shoulders. “Hey, Bri, it’s not that scary.” He whispered quietly in Brian’s ear, and Brian just sighed, feeling sorta helpless.

It wasn’t quite the way he was expecting it to go, but the movie was pretty good. He probably wouldn’t want to see it again, it was little more daunting than he might have liked. But Jimmy would love it, he’d have to suggest it to him sometime.

When they got out of the film, Zacky just stopped and looked at Brian, a small smirk playing on his lips. “So, did you like it?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “It was alright. How’d you like it?”

“I love scary movies.” Zacky said, “I like most movies, really. I had a good time. Thank you, Brian.” He smiled softly and kissed Brian’s cheek.

Brian took Zacky home before heading to his own house. He’d been away for a week, he figured he’d been avoiding things for too long.

Everyone was home as he cut the engine of his car and stepped onto the driveway. He sighed, stalling as he slowly got his bag and guitar case out of the backseat. He ascended the front steps and opened the door as quietly as he could, hoping to sneak up to his room and at least have a little peace before he faced the storm.

It looked like he would have no such luck.

“Brian’s home!” Brent called out, passing Brian on his way out the door, and Brian glared at him, wanting to sock him in the face.

“Brian, we’re so glad you’re home!” Suzy called out, coming into the front room. “Brent’s going to Mark’s house for a while. Why don’t you put your stuff up then come down to the living room?”

Brian grumbled some sort of response as he trudged grudgingly up the stairs. He set down his things, then yelled down the stairs. “I’m actually pretty tired, I’m going to bed.”

He shut the door and sat on his bed, unzipping his guitar case and pulling out his baby. He scrounged around on his messy floor for the worn folded paper that contained Jimmy’s song. He unfolded it and placed it on his lap, fingers running up the fret board as he began to run through what he had so far for the solo.

He liked how the solo was coming along. He liked the way the licks complimented each other, rolling together to rise up and fall down. Brian really outdid himself on this one, and he was excited to play the finished product for the guys. He grabbed a notebook of his tabs and a pencil, flipping to where he was writing down this solo. He looked it over, changing a few things here and there, and decided to run it through a final time to see how it sounded before he set it aside to show them tomorrow.

He heard a soft knock on his door, and huffed softly as his dad opened the door. “Hey.” He offered, “Can I come in?”

Brian just shrugged, chewing his lip as he plucked a few strings. His dad stepped inside, coming to sit next to him on his bed.

“What are you working on?” he asked, eyes skimming over the tabs he had down.

“Nothing.” Brian replied shortly, “Nothing important.”

“It looks good.” He nodded, pointing to a spot on the page, “You should add a couple notes in here. It’ll make it a little more technical.”

Brian glowered down at the place, reluctantly admitting to himself that his dad was right. But he wouldn’t say it out loud.

“To End the Rapture? Is this going to be a song?”

“Yeah.” He replied, “It’s for my band.”

“You’re in a band? Well, this is news…”

“I joined Jimmy’s band.” Brain mumbled.

They fell into silence, Brian glaring down at his paper so he didn’t have to look at his dad.

“I don’t care if you’re bi, Brian.”

Brian perked up at this, looking at his dad from the corner of his eye, waiting for him to elaborate.

“I spoke with Suzy about it, and if she’s okay with it, so am I. I want to meet your boyfriend, and I don’t want you both having sex at this house. But really I see no problem with you dating a guy, he might be good for you. I’m sorry I overreacted last week. It was just… a shock.”

Brian looked up at his dad. “It’s okay.” He smiled softly. “I know you’d come around eventually.”

“You should invite him over for dinner sometime. I’d like to meet him.”

Brian smeared a few strings as he mulled over his dad’s offer. “What about Brent?”

“Brent can get over himself.” He scoffed, “I don’t see how any of this will affect him. And really, he hasn’t mentioned it much since you left. I think he’ll forget about it before long.”

“When do you want him over?” Brian still wasn’t sure if his dad was serious, what if he was setting Brian up for humiliation? But that was so unlike his dad that he managed to set it aside.

“As soon as possible. How about next week?”

Brian smiled, “Yeah, I think that’d be great.”