You Say It's Only This Once

The term 'flamboyantly gay' was something Brendon used to throw around a lot, more so in the direction of Ryan, just because Brendon was a known antagonizer.
"Brendon I am not gay, nor will I ever be," Ryan would bark at him, to which Brendon simply responded the he "had to go now, Mr. Flamboyance, but have fun bedazzling your clothes."

It was just a phrase he used to describe someone when other words failed him, and Spencer was pretty sure he didn’t even know what it meant.
That is, until he met its definition, face to face.
William Beckett.

"What band is this again?" Brendon whispered in Brent’s ear, careful to keep his head a good few inches out of smelling distance for Brent wasn’t the cleanliest guy.
"The Academy Is. God Brendon, can you not fucking remember anything?" Brent snapped.
Brendon grunted, offended, and fidgeted in the oversized office chair he was sitting in. Ryan and Pete were conversing at the head of the table as the rest of them waited for the other band that they would be touring with to arrive.

Brendon sighed and yawned. Not like he wasn’t excited to be touring and pretty much living his wildest dreams, but he had been waiting for an overly long time and the only thing to entertain him was listening to Ryan describe in full detail the wardrobe he was considering bringing on tour.

"Then, there’s the second ensemble outfit, including the blue scarf-"
"I thought the blue scarf was in possible wardrobe 6 and ensemble 4?" Interjected Spencer, sounding like he actually cared.
"No, no that was the argyle blue scarf, I'm talking about the powder blue scarf with the fringe and white pinstripes. Anyway, with the blue scarf I was thinking about my black trousers and a dark shirt so the scarf will really pop..."

Brendon snorted and leaned forward in his chair ad propping his elbows on the table, voice sugary sweet when he spoke to Ryan.
"Ryan, are you going to include your T-shirt that says 'Flamboyant and Proud'?"

Ryan slammed his fist on the table. "Fuck you Brendon, I'm not gay!" Ryan hissed, eyes tilting dangerously.
Brendon smirked, propping his head in his hand and tilting it, warm smile on his face.
"Where did you get that shirt that your wearing today Ry?"

"Oh," Ryan demeanor changed instantly and he clapped his hands once, face lighting up. "I'm glad you asked, Brendon. You see, I had first seen it online when I was browsing through the catalog for Lord and Taylor, but obviously it was way too expensive. So instead, I took a trip to that Outlet a couple miles outside of Vegas..."

Brendon smiled and tuned Ryan out, satisfied. It was so painfully obviously that Ryan was gay that Brendon found extreme joy in playing with his head. At least Brendon was secure enough to admit his homosexuality, but Ryan was just too insecure.

The door banged open and made Brendon jump slightly. A gang of men walked in, all tight clothes and mussed up hair, the quintessential 'rocker' look, Brendon thought.
"Sorry we're late, Adam lost Baby."
"She crawled under the house and I couldn’t see for shit."
"We think he lied and was really watching the Discovery Channel’s special on manatees."
"What! How can you guys say that, Baby was in trouble!"
"Don’t try and deny it," An extremely tall, brown haired man stepped out of the group and sat down opposite Ryan. "I saw it on your calendar, you were defiantly watching the Discovery Channel."

There was silence and the group all turned to look at one of them who was glancing around like a deer in the headlights.
"Fine. But the manatees were going through mating season and the sharks attacked. I couldn’t just leave, could I?"
They all broke into a fit of laughter and Brendon joined in tentatively, eyeing the lanky guy across from Ryan.

"Alright guys, I just want to fill you guys in on the upcoming tour," Pete said in that annoying voice of his, ruffling the papers that lay in front of him. Brendon was almost positive that nothing was even on those papers, that Pete just liked ruffling them.

"Oh, right, introductions," Pete interrupted himself. "Panic at the Disco, meet The Academy Is."
Everyone at the table stood up at once and gave each other polite smiles and a few handshakes.
"Hello, I'm Ryan," Ryan flipped his hair and batted his eyelashes, smiling flirtatiously at the lanky boy.

"William," Lanky replied, nodding his head courteously. Ryan giggled girlishly behind his hand. Brendon pouted.
"I'm Brendon," He said, raising his voice to be heard and leaning over the table and extending his hand.
"Hello Brendon," William said, sliding his hand into Brendon’s and shaking lightly. Brendon beamed and pulled back, suggestively raising an eyebrow. William responded with a beautifully small, elegant smile.

Pete started talking and Brendon tuned him out as per usual, focusing on properly checking out William. He was very thin, almost thinner than Ryan--and that was saying something-- with hair that flowed airily around his face and thin enough to let sunlight from the window behind him to filter through and sparkle against his skin.

Brendon was so zoned out that he didn’t notice Pete’s concluding words and everyone getting up until Brent roughly pushed his shoulder. He snapped out of his trance and coughed, standing up quickly and smoothing down his clothes, glancing furtively towards William.

The Academy something or other, Brendon forgot already, started leaving the room and Brendon grew nervous. This Will boy was the first to catch Brendon’s eye in a long time and no way was he leaving without a number.

Ryan brushed past Brendon, eyes fixed on the closing door.
"Don’t even think about it gay boy," Brendon grabbed Ryan’s arm and hissed in his ear. Brendon wasn’t stupid, he knew that when Ryan was going googly-eyed over some boy (no matter how much Ryan denied he was gay, his eyes would just not stop wandering) then Ryan would try and make some connection with the person in question, whether it be a phone number or email. Ryan was exceptionally good at getting peoples numbers.

"Excuse me?" Ryan scoffed, hurt and trying to tug his arm out of Brendons grasp. William was almost out of sight and in the elevator.
"I know you’re in pursuit. I know your style Ross."
"You’re a freak," Ryan rolled his eyes and took a step, only to be snapped backwards roughly.
"I call William."
Ryan turned his head slowly at Brendon’s simple words, menacing frown on his face.
"You didn’t." Ryan growled.
"I believe I just did. You know the rules, I get him. I get the pretty boy with that nice hair..."
"You prick mother fucker."

Ryan finally broke free of his grasp, continuing to curse out loud as he let Brendon pass him. Ryan considered sprinting past his friend and beating him to Will even though Brendon had called dibs on him, because he knew that his own long legs would be no match for Brendon’s thicker and shorter ones.

As he hurried down the hall, Brendon fumbled around in his pockets, pulling out an old receipt and a stick of Ryan’s eyeliner. He scribbled down his number followed by a 'Call me anytime' and a winking smiley face, which might be lame but it was too late to change that now.

"Hey, wait up!" Brendon called, breaking into a run as Wills band stepped onto the elevator. Will held the door open with a smirk, eyes glancing over Brendon’s body.
"You dropped this back there," Brendon grinned, slipping the old receipt into William’s hand.

Just as the elevator doors closed William open the folded receipt and grinned, looking up and licking his lips quickly.

Now, first impression were something Brendon took to heart. If you were mean to him after just being introduced, Brendon would pin you as an ungrateful SOB and sadly, his opinion would never change no matter what you did.
William didn’t look flamboyantly gay, he even barely looked gay at all, but Brendon just happened to have awesome gaydar. If anything, William had come off as elegant, even debonair, with that perfect touch of sexual appeal. Just the right mix.

Brendon only got the first impression of William flamboyancy when he had come to pick him up for their first official date. Brendon had walked down the hall to apartment 306 but as he drew closer, loud music caught his attention. He knew the song right away. 'It’s raining men' by The Weather Girls

William came dancing to answer the door, running an expensive looking brush through his hair.
"Hello Brendon, come on in, I'll be ready in a second."
Brendon’s first impression of William’s apartment stuck forever. Pristine white carpets, pink throw pillows on a white couch, pink fluffy blankets throw over chairs that sparkled with embroidery. There was even bedazzlement around the television.

Brendon cocked an eyebrow once he saw the framed picture of Bette Midler on the wall.
Okay, so, maybe this guy just had a horrible interior designer.

Brendon took William to a high end restaurant that night, showing off a bit. Will sat cross-legged and swirled his martini glass in his hand. Brendon was a little bewildered, but it was sort of endearing so he didn’t think too much into it.

On their third date, Brendon took Will to a craft fair at night; it was the sort of thing right up Wills alley. Will preened and cooed over the handmade woman’s pocketbooks and wooden sandals, sighing heavily in desire when he spotted that fluffy purple scarf. Brendon, intent on just making Will smile, immediately leaned forward and bought the scarf, though he won’t deny he was a bit bemused. He felt as if he was shopping with such an obvious gay as Ryan, not someone who he had thought was debonair. Brendon didn’t know too many sophisticated words, so he only really used them for the special people. Now he was considering taking back his fancy word to describe William.

"Brenny Bear," William called to his boyfriend of three months from inside the kitchen. "Where are you, baby?"
William padded throughout he apartment, expecting to see his boyfriend perched lazily on the couch, or lounging on the bed, or if he was lucky, taking a shower. Brendon was nowhere to be found though, and William huffed in annoyance, flicking his hair over his shoulder.

Just then Brendon burst through the apartment door, dripping wet from the rain outside. He shook himself like a dog, earning a prissy scoff from William that went unnoticed. Brendon thrust a wet plastic bag at his boyfriend, cursing the day Will was born and decided to make it his mission to send Brendon on wild goose chases in the pouring rain.

Will then remember where Brendon had been. Today was the day the special edition Bette Midler two-disc CD was released and he had begged Brendon to get it for him.
William squealed and ripped through the plastic, pulling out the CD. He bopped up and down, squealing in that high pitched voice of his and positively beaming.

Brendon came to the conclusion that yes, William was the exact definition of being flamboyantly gay. Ryan needed a new title.

Being on tour with his boyfriend was probably the best thing Brendon could have asked for. Will was undoubtedly very feminine, but he also shared Brendon’s sense of humor. They played practical jokes-- Brendon was forced to do all of the dirty work because Will didn’t like getting gunk under his nails--and teased Ryan a bit each day before retreating to either of their bunks for Brendon’s personal favorite activity of the day.

Ryan still resented letting Brendon call dibs on William, the boy was such a catch. Brendon’s new name for Ryan was Puss Face, later shortened to simply Pussy.

Brendon loved everything about William and felt for the first time that he actually deserved to be with someone. He had grown to simply adore the way Will was fawn over the leading actors in movies--only because he knew William would never do anything more than fawn--and how he would always get the pink boxers instead of the plain white or black ones.

One day halfway through tour Brendon was sitting on the couch of Panic's bus, eyes closed as instructed by William. He could hear some scuffling around in front of him and grew more excited, wondering what surprise Will could have for him this time.

"Okay Bear, open your eyes," William crooned in his ear.
Brendon snapped open his eyes and gasped. "Is that...a s-signed Britney Spears shirt?"

Brendon took the fabric carefully, so carefully as if the shirt itself was the second coming of Christ.

He jumped to his feet and twirled around with the shirt in his hand, voice squealing and screaming in his excitement. Ryan ran into the room (secretly thinking some type of pig was dying by the sound Brendon was making) in a panicked state.

"Ry! Ry! Look what my beautiful boyfriend got for me!" Brendon screeched and flailed his arms, tongue sticking out of his mouth as he screamed even more.

Ryan smirked cruelly. Oh, the flamboyancy had spread to Brendon too.