Brendon was never able to pay much attention in school, which is why joining a band was a genius decision on his part - it doesn't require many facts. But he still knows a fair few things: the earth revolves around the sun, an adjective is a describing word, 2 and 2 usually add up to make 4, and Spencer Smith is a grade A cutiepie.
Well, okay, school didn't teach him the last one. But it gave him the skills to know what Spencer is, at least. Or the people in the school did.
Okay, that's not strictly true either, because if he went with what his family and school tried to teach him, he probably wouldn't be finding guys cute in the first place, but whatever. It's true. Spencer Smith is really, really cute.
Brendon's even more convinced that joining a band was a really great idea every time he sees Spencer, who's the drummer, whose arms Brendon wants to poke to see how muscly they really are, and who he’s not supposed to turn around and watch drumming even though it’s hard not to, because the audience is the other side, dude, seriously.
Not that he's tried, or anything. Obviously.
But Spencer's... well, it's not like he's quiet, but he's not as outgoing as the Brent and Ryan.
Brendon already knew Brent, and Ryan seems in charge of everything, which comes with talking to everyone a lot, apparently, so they're fine, but getting to talk to Spencer seems to require passing a few tests.
Well, not tests, but it's not gonna be effortless.
Well. They're kinda tests. It'd be impossible to get anywhere with Spencer if Brendon can't get him to say more than a few words to him at a time. (He's working on it.)
###
Next time they rehearse, Brendon makes sure to arrive early. They rehearse at Spencer’s grandma’s house, so Spencer should be the first to arrive. Brendon thinks he is, but given he’s never the first to arrive, he can’t be sure. But Spencer seems like the type of guy who wouldn’t leave his friends to make awkward conversation with his grandma.
He even has what he's going to say planned out: his parents were going on about homework again and he needed to get away, then he'll say "you know how it is" and Spencer will agree and it'll be a bonding moment. Then Brendon will apologise for being early (only five minutes, but given the other guys always arrive late, it's something) and say he tried to take his time getting there, and hide that he kind of ran to get the earlier bus. Then Spencer will invite him in and they'll talk and bond and fall in love, probably.
So he takes a deep breath and rings the doorbell, praying Spencer will open the door- and there he is. Brendon grins before remembering he wants to play it cool, and tries to subtly tone it down.
"Hey, Brendon. C'mon in." Spencer says, barely looking at the other boy.
"Sorry I'm early," Brendon almost blurts, kicking off his shoes.
"You are? Oh, it's no big deal, I was just watching TV."
Brendon nods, and imagines one of his shoes as his script going out the window. Metaphorically. Then he sits next to Spencer on the couch, awkwardly trying not to calculate the space between them, and says, "oh, I love this show," despite having only seen parts of one episode. He thinks.
"Yeah, it's pretty cool," Spencer replies, and that's that. If Brendon actually knew the show, he could perhaps start a conversation about it, but for all he knows Spencer is a guy who likes to watch in silence.
It feels awkward to him, though, and he feels a horrible mix of relief and disappointment when the doorbell goes again.
It's Brent, which is good because while Brendon's been in the band a few months now and he's still not sure if Ryan actually likes him, he can actually talk to Brent.
