Fic: Commence

[kaizoku]

Fandom: The Breakfast Club
Pairing: Brian/Bender
Rating: R
Length: ~4000 words
Summary: It's probably just a trick Bender's playing on him.
Notes: I wrote my own prompt for rounds_of_kink  (the kink was "fingers in mouth".) *smacks forehead* Also, sorry for the sucky formatting.
ETA: The formatting looks better here than on rounds_of_kink for some reason.

Brian doesn't want to be here. It smells like crusty old socks and he can hear the showers leaking. Today of all days he doesn't want to be here.

It was Andy who invited them all over to his house. Not surprisingly, it was a weekend his dad was away. So, they all sat in the too-bright light of the kitchen while his mom fed them cookies. Then she left to go to her bridge game. Brian and Claire were there on time and Bender showed up only half an hour late. Allison came in halfway through dinner and refused to eat anything, but they could all tell she was holding Andy's hand under the table.

Claire left early to do homework, which was weird since... Well. Brian would have expected himself to leave early to do homework. But he didn't.

They played Scrabble at Allison's request and then Truth or Dare. Andy got a bottle of his dad's whiskey out and they all had a little. Bender laughed at Brian when he choked on his and Andy pounded him on the back. It made him feel good, warm inside. He had his own friends, of course, but they didn't do stuff like this. If he had tried to convince them to do something "bad" like this, they would have looked at him uncomfortably and said, "But couldn't we get in trouble for doing that?" And that would have been the end of it.

Brian liked how breaking the rules made him feel. And he liked when Andy casually clapped a hand on his shoulder when he said something unintentionally funny. After a second drink, he was leaning heavily into Bender and Bender didn't even seem to mind. He looked up at the underside of Bender's stubbly chin and Bender looked down and grinned crookedly at him.

 

There's no reason for him to be waiting here. It's probably just a trick Bender's playing on him.

"Just a joke, Bri man."

But no, that's more Andy's style, isn't it?

Bender is more likely to just not show and then say he forgot about it later.

 

Bender said he would walk Brian home. It's not far actually, about four blocks, which he hadn't even known before tonight. He knew where Claire lives, she lives on Chestnut Drive which is way across town. He went there for a student council party once. Actually he really knew before that, because he had a crush on her in middle school and hacked into the school computer to see her records. He had no idea where Allison lives, though he saw her sleeping at a bus stop once. Bender lives one street over from his house.

"So, you have a good time tonight, Brian?" Bender asked him diffidently. Brian couldn't quite bring himself to think of him as "John." Though Andy had awkwardly started calling him that tonight.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool."

"You should come hang out at my house sometime. You can get drunk with my dad and me."

Bender had his hands in his pockets and he shivered a little. His eyes were distant. It was the end of October, that time of year when it starts to drop below freezing at night. Bender didn't have a coat on, just that jean jacket he wore all the time. Brian didn't think he had ever seen him without it.

"Um, I don't think that would be a very good idea," Brian said.

Bender laughed harshly.

"You're smart, you know that? Smart fucking kid."

"I'm no more of a kid than you are," Brian said before he could stop himself.

Bender glanced at him. "I thought you said you haven't had sex."

"I haven't. That doesn't mean I'm a kid."

"Yeah, well, where I'm from?" Bender said theatrically. "It does."

Brian stopped. "What, so I can't be a real adult until I've had sex with someone? That's stupid. What if I don't have sex until -- I mean. Someone becomes an adult when they reach a certain age, not just because they've had sex. Anyway, some kids have sex for the first time when they're 13 or 14, that doesn't make them adults."

"No, but you'd still be more of a kid than them." Bender started walking again.

"That doesn't even make sense."

"You're not really grown-up until you've done it," Bender announced.

"Well." He couldn't really disagree. After all, Bender did have some knowledge of this area that he lacked. "I don't care. I'm still not just going to have sex with the first person who comes along."

"Yeah, you will," Bender said.

 

He hears the door open, the slam as it closes bouncing around the room. He feels himself getting hard with each echoing step. Maybe it's not him. Maybe it's some random 9th grader who left his towel or something.

He was nervous, all last night. Somehow it doesn't seem real, that he's going off to college in three months, that high school is over, that he's getting out of his parents' house. He's got a job for the summer and he already knows what classes he wants to take in the fall.

Brian's still nervous, but now it's that wired, buzzing nervousness he gets when he's about to get pinned to a wall.

"What do you mean?"

"You're 16 years old. Of course you'll have sex with the first person who comes along."

"See, that's where you're wrong," Brian said. He had thought about this before. "I might not have girls hanging off me, but I can still exercise my judgment when it comes to," He paused. "You know."

"You won't, though," Bender predicted. "I know how it is. When you're 16, you're just so desperate to get your dick into something, it doesn't matter what."

Something turned over in Brian's stomach hearing Bender say that.

"Still. Maybe that was true for you, but it won't be for me."

Bender turned to look at him, and the fierceness in his face froze Brian.

"It will be. You want me to prove it to you?"

Brian stared back him. "What do you mean? Prove it to me how?"

Bender didn't say anything. Brian shrugged and started walking again when Bender shoved him.

"What--"

Bender pushed him back until his back rammed up against a tree. He felt a hand on his face and winced, expecting a punch or to be shouted at.

Instead Bender said, "Open your eyes."

He did cautiously.

"Keep them open."

 

And then Bender kissed him. It wasn't hard or soft, it was just Bender's mouth covering his. Brian wasn't really sure what he was doing, or why, but he knew with certainty that it was real, because he had his eyes open and Bender's were closed.

 

He always tastes strong and a little bit like cigarettes and it always makes Brian feel nauseated and turned on at the same time. He likes it when Bender cups his head in his big hands and sucks Brian's tongue hard into his mouth.

One hand drops to his butt, massaging and pressing into his crack. Brian loves that. It's Bender's way of saying: "I'm going to have that soon."

He kissed him back. Bender pulled away. He looked a little shy, Brian thought but he wasn't sure. He couldn't even see Bender's face properly now that the tree was shading out the light from the street lamp. Neither of them said anything for a moment and Brian thought about whether he should try to kiss him again or not.

"Do you want me jerk you off?" Bender asked, his voice rougher than usual. He didn't sound like he was joking at all.

"Um, um, yeah. I mean, if you want to?" This was like the craziest thing that had ever happened to him.

"Okay," Bender said and he sounded more like himself. "Let's get out of here though." Bender grabbed his arm and pulled Brian after him.

"Where are we going?" Brian asked a little later. They had bypassed his house and he didn't think they were going to Bender's. Bender was still hurrying him along, faster than they'd been going before. Brian was still half-hard from before and he tried to look and see if Bender was but he couldn't really tell with his baggy jeans.

"I know a good place," Bender said. He twisted his gloved hands, then gripped his own arms. "I used to hang out there when I was a kid."

The place turned out to be at the back-end of their neighborhood park. There was a thicket and in the middle of it was a rusting chaise lounge and an armchair that looked like it had seen better days. They were under a kind of lean-to made of corrugated metal, presumably to keep off the elements. Brian sat down on the chaise chair and Bender sat next to him, making the metal groan and the plastic squeak. Amazingly, it held.

"It's really cold out here," Brian said.

"Well, sorry," Bender said. "We don't have to do anything." He looked embarrassed and Brian realized belatedly that this place meant something to him.

"Cool spot, though." He said and Bender grinned at him.

"Yeah, better than anything you could build, I reckon."

"Thanks a lot," he said sarcastically but he didn't really mind.

Brian looked down and noticed Bender almost had his arm around him -- his hand was playing with the loose plastic ties on the chaise lounge. He felt surprising okay with that idea, just like he had felt surprisingly okay with the whole thing. Or maybe not that surprising, since he had imagined kissing Bender before. Kissing and other stuff.

Bender's eyes caught the light of the moon that had just come up. Brian couldn't help looking at his lips, wondering about them. How had they started kissing before? Could he just lean forward and they would be kissing again?

"You should probably get home," Bender stood up.

Brian jumped up.

"Oh, okay. Um, thanks. For the offer and stuff."

Bender smiled at him. "Guess you were right. You weren't that desperate."

"Well, if it wasn't so fucking cold..." Brian joked.

They walked back to Brian's and then Bender left, waving to him from the end of the driveway.

Brian didn't tell Bender that he wasn't just the first person to come along.

Bender likes leaving hickeys all over his neck.

"Why do you do that?" Brian asked him once.

" 'Cause it embarrasses you," he replied.

But that's not the only reason. Just like getting his fingers wet isn't the only reason he likes watching them moving in and out of Brian's mouth.

They didn't see each other again for a week and then Allison had a nervous breakdown in the middle of history class. Afterwards no one was quite sure what had happened. Mrs. Hilkinson was talking about the Salem witch trials and Allison started screaming. That was all anyone seemed to know.

The four of them, the remainder of the group, met up after school. Andy had tried to find out from the school nurse what was going on but she wouldn't tell him anything because of "student confidentiality." But some of Bender's stoner friends had seen an ambulance with no sirens on pull up outside the school and a dark-haired girl hustled into it.

"Fuck, they've taken her to the loony bin or something." Andy's eyes were red but no one commented on it.

"Maybe they just took her to the regular hospital. Or drove her home." Claire said. Andy was unconvinced.

"She said she got put in the mental hospital one time because the gym teacher found razors in her bag," Andy told them. "She wasn't even going to commit suicide or anything but they locked her up for three weeks. She said it was horrible. They made her take drugs and she couldn't have any sharp objects, not even a pencil."

Brian looked at Claire and Bender to see if they were thinking the same thing as him. He wasn't so sure it would be a bad thing for Allison to be prescribed medication. He wasn't going to say that out loud to Andy though.

Claire wasn't looking at him. "That's horrible! We've got to try to get in to see her."

"They probably won't let us in if she's at a mental hospital," Brian said sensibly.

"Her parents must know where she is," Claire said. They all exchanged glances; they knew about Allison's parents.

"Hey, I've got an idea," Bender said.

Claire looked at him skeptically. "What?"

"Don't go anywhere," Bender said, holding up a finger.

He disappeared into the school building and came out few minutes later with Carl, the janitor.

"They took her up to Rush Memorial," Carl told the teenagers. "Nurse thought she'd be fine, she just needed relax and take a few days off. But Vernon's worried about getting sued." He rolled his eyes.

"Thanks, Carl."

They piled into Andy's car for the drive over. Claire sat in the front next to Andy and he and Bender sat in the back.

"I'm surprised you're even here, Princess," Bender said to Claire.

"Why? I can't be concerned about a friend?" Claire said without turning around.

"Oh, you're friends now, huh? When did that happen? I thought you were too busy bad-mouthing us all to your little clique." Brian looked up. He hadn't heard about that.

"Do we have to get into this right here, John?"

"Where else would you like me to get into, Claire?"

"You're gross."

"You're gross," Bender mocked in a high voice. Brian shifted uncomfortably. Andy didn't even look up from the road.

"I didn't tell them anything bad about you," Claire said.

"Ah, but you did tell them something about me."

"I didn't say that!"

"Did you tell them something good, Claire?" Neither of them seemed to even notice Brian sitting there, caught in the crossfire.

"Did you tell them I gave you roses?" Bender went on, affecting a sugary-sweet voice. "And how we kissed and hugged and... fucked all night?"

"Shut up!" Claire yelled.

"Cut it out, both of you." Andy said at the same time.

Claire looked like she was on the edge of tears. She turned away and stared at the window.

Brian looked at Bender. He wasn't sure if Bender had been telling the truth or not. He guessed it probably was.

They drove in silence.

"I just told Becky that sometimes I was scared of you. I didn't make fun of you," Claire said after a while.

Bender didn't say anything else.

Brian knew he didn't have any right to feel betrayed. If anyone should feel betrayed, it was Claire. He had just assumed they weren't dating anymore, though. He should have known better, he thought. Stupid little Brian, getting it wrong again. He shouldn't have trusted Bender.

"I'll stay out here," Bender said, leaning up against the brick of the hospital. Andy nodded him and Claire ignored him. They went on inside. Brian debated going inside, but decided not to. He probably wouldn't be much help. He wasn't charming or rich or strong and most of the time it seemed like people didn't even notice him.

Except Bender had. That was what was bothering him so much.

 

The boys' locker room is hardly the best place to do this, but fortunately there's no one around right now. They're all out on the football field. Brian should be there right now, Bender knows.

Instead he's up against a locker, the ridged air vents digging into his back, and two of Bender's fingers inside him.

"Yeah, you like that," Bender says, watching him. Brian breathes shallowly and hangs onto the locker for dear life.

"Why'd you do it?" He asked before he could lose his nerve. He wasn't sure what Bender was going to say or do if he brought it up and that freaked him out, but it seemed like Bender owed him that much.

Bender blew out a breath of cigarette smoke.

"What?"

"Why did you... you know. That night."

"Forget about it, Brian."

"No."

Bender looked at him, then looked away. He didn't say anything for a while.

"Because I wanted to."

"But you've got Claire," Brian said. He didn't want to say that. He didn't want to sound that pathetic, but he just didn't get it. If Bender was still dating Claire, why would he mess around with him?

"No, I don't." Bender said.

"Okay, maybe you're on the outs at the moment, but you're dating, right?" Brian was exasperated.

"No, not since before Homecoming." That was three weeks ago.

"Oh. Are you going to get back together?" Brian asked.

"No. I don't think so. I always make her mad."

Brian walked over and sat down on a bench near Bender.

"Well, you could stop saying mean things to her. That might help."

On the other hand, if Bender did that, they really might get back together, Brian thought to himself.

"Maybe," Bender said. He sat down at the other end of the bench.

Brian found himself inexorably giving relationship advice without meaning to or wanting to.

"It's obvious that what you say is still important to her. She's probably not over you yet."

"Yeah," Bender admitted. "I'm not over her yet."

Brian felt his heart sink.

"But I like someone else too," Bender said.

The speeches must be almost over, Brian thinks.

He's lost all sense of time though. He's knelt up on the bench and Bender is fingering his asshole. It feels pretty crazy to be here, completely naked and about to be fucked. He must be pretty crazy to do this.

"Don't worry," Bender whispers in his ear, "I've got something else for you."

The doors behind them opened and Claire came outside.

"Andy is in," she said. She was smiling and her cheeks were all pinked up. Brian thought, I have no chance.

Bender threw his cigarette on the ground and stood up, going to the doors without bothering to grind it out. Claire gave him a look of distaste as she followed him.

Brian stomped on the cigarette on his way in.

Allison wasn't on the psych ward, but the pediatric level. She wasn't in a hospital gown or anything. In fact, she was just sitting on the bed in her normal clothes. There was a paperback novel opened face-down on the bed.

Bender had done his flirting thing with the nurse on duty, so they could slip into her room. He joined them a few minutes later.

Andy is the one who looked like he should be in the hospital for freaking out. He was sitting on a chair next to the bed; he looked tense and exhausted.

"Hey Allison," Claire said, sitting next to her. "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She smiled a little. "I can't believe you guys all came."

"That's what friends are for," Claire told her, without irony. She gave her an extremely gentle hug, as if she was afraid Allison might break.

"So when can you get out of this dump?" Bender asked, kicking the bed.

"I have to sign some papers," Allison shrugged.

"Oh yeah, don't you have to say you recognize yourself or something?" Claire asked.

"That's jail, sweetheart," Bender told her. She glared at him.

"They want me to wait for my parents to come," Allison said quietly. "But I'm 17, so I don't have to."

"Let's go," Andy said, standing up.

They walked down the hall together to the nurse's station. Brian hung back with Andy.

"She's fine, isn't she?" Brian asked him.

"I don't know."

"I hope she is," Brian said. Andy nodded.

Brian was expecting Andy to drop Claire off first since she was on the other side of town, but instead he drove to Brian's neighborhood first. Brian fought back a wave of paranoia that they were trying to get rid of him, so they could go have fun together. It was ridiculous -- no one looked like they were up to having any kind of fun today.

Andy pulled up outside his house.

"Uh, see you guys later," he said as brightly as he could.

Bender didn't move to let him out. He looked at Claire on his other side. She sighed and reached for her door handle, then Bender snapped awake -- or out of his daze -- and slammed open his door, jumping out of the car.

"I'll walk." He said, then leaned down and yelled into the car, "Feel better, Alli!"

Allison gave him the Vulcan salute.

After Andy's car had gone, they stood on the sidewalk awkwardly.

"You want to come in?" Brian asked.

"Why, Mister Johnson, are youse askin' me in for tea?" Bender said, adopting a bad Southern accent.

"Milk and cookies, maybe," Brian answered.

"Well, I never turn down cookies," Bender said, following him in.



Sometimes, when Brian thinks about the past year, he wonders what would have happened if there hadn't been the Breakfast Club.



"You have the nerdiest room ever."

Bender was walking around Brian's room, checking out his Star Wars and Depeche Mode posters, his D&D character sketches tacked to the wall, and his overflowing bookshelf.

"What's your room like?" Brian asked, out of curiosity as well as in defense.

It seemed like Bender was actually considering his question. "I've got a lot of music posters -- bands you've never heard of," he said when Brian gave him a questioning look. "I brought home a couple things I made in shop. There's some holes in the wall -- it's a shitty room."

"Sorry," He didn't know what else to say.

"Hey, could I read these sometime?" Bender asked, holding up a couple of Brian's Spider-Man comic books.

"Yeah, sure."

"Thanks." He stopped wandering around and sat down on the bed with one of the comics.

Brian watched him. He had so much restless energy most of the time. In the classes he had with him, Bender was a constant distraction, tapping against the table, humming, arguing with the teachers, except for the days when he slept through the lesson.

Now he seemed happy to lean back comfortably against Brian's wall and read ASM #248.

He had really long eyelashes. And an elegant nose.

And nice lips.

Maybe Bender didn't want to do it anymore, he thought. Or maybe he was too nervous to make the first move. Maybe since he had started it last time, it was Brian's turn now.

"You should take your coat off," Brian said. He felt a little warm himself.

"Okay," Bender said, laying the comic down. He took off his coat and threw it over the end of the bed. When he sat back down, he was closer to Brian. He went back to reading.

"You wanna do something?"

Bender rolled onto his side and cocked his head. "Brian," he drawled, "I am doing something. I'm reading this comic and trying to understand your geeky ways."

"They're not really that hard to understand, Bender." He took the comic out of Bender's hands and put it down on the floor gently. Then he leaned over and kissed Bender.

One time when Brian was visiting his cousins in Iowa, they had gone to a swimming hole with cliffs above it. His cousins had all jumped off the cliffs into the water like it was nothing. Brian wasn't planning to do it but then he'd just shut his eyes and jumped. That was what this was like.

They made out for a while, both sporting erections but still fully clothed. Brian was sort of expecting Bender to want to jack him off or get Brian to do him, but he seemed happy to just kiss him.

"You've got a sweet little mouth," Bender said as they were taking a breather. He traced Brian's lips with a calloused finger. Brian smiled.

"So, are we like boyfriends now?" he asked.

"Nah," Bender said, "Don't rush it."

He's there sitting in his seat before they get to "Johnson."

He's sitting there with a butt plug up his ass, pressing on his prostate. His flushed cheeks and the bulge in the front of his robe are a give-away to anyone who's watching.

He's watching as they go through the B's and John crosses the stage and Vernon grudgingly hands him his diploma.

Feedback and criticism welcome as always. 

Comments

[midnightblue88.livejournal.com]

Wow, great story. John/Brian isn't my slash OTP, but it's definitely one that I enjoy reading, especially when it's well-written.

Anyway, I love the characterizations here, especially Brian's and Andy's. I like that they're all still together, even if John and Claire are on the outs and causing tension. I also love what you did with Andy and Allison, with her maybe needing help and Andy not believing it (because he sees the "real" Allison, the one no one else sees, and because he cares too much -- at least, that's what I felt). But I loved Andy's worry and irritation and overall characterization.

I felt like you handled the John/Brian interaction realistically. I loved the little details mostly: John reading Brian's comics; John's hideaway; Brian's paranoia at being left out; his offer of milk and cookies. I think my favorite part was when Brian stubbed out the cigarette, because it was just so Brian and made it feel more real.

One thing I didn't get the first time, and I was just about to ask about them, were the sections in italics. They didn't quite fit together the first time, but then I reread them and they clicked. Anyway, really nice job on this story; I hope you decide to write more TBC fics, especially slash since we have a bit of a shortage. :)

[kaizoku.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! This is really helpful feedback for me. I'm glad the characterizations seemed okay to you, since this is my first real attempt at TBC fic.

I also love what you did with Andy and Allison, with her maybe needing help and Andy not believing it (because he sees the "real" Allison, the one no one else sees, and because he cares too much -- at least, that's what I felt).

Yes! I didn't really think it out that clearly, but yes. I was thinking Andy would be tense and scared and maybe also feeling guilty that he didn't see it coming. I think Allison's mental state is a little ambiguous, it's on that line of maybe she is a little crazy, but she's also doing okay.

I felt like you handled the John/Brian interaction realistically.

Cool. Rereading it now, I feel like maybe John would have been harsher or angrier, though maybe not. Actually now that I think more about it, I bet he would be nicer to Brian when they were alone and not as nice with the rest of the group.

I think my favorite part was when Brian stubbed out the cigarette, because it was just so Brian and made it feel more real.

Hee, Brian stubbing out the cigarette was a stroke of genius from nowhere. *g*

Actually something kind of interesting about writing the story - I was going to cut it off with John saying he liked somebody else, but then I realized that completely left the Allison thread hanging, so I wrote more just to deal with that. (And wow, I'm glad I did.)

One thing I didn't get the first time, and I was just about to ask about them, were the sections in italics. They didn't quite fit together the first time, but then I reread them and they clicked.

Yeah, that was definitely an experiment. I often have trouble reading stories that use that device myself, but I was so into the "mystery" of it that I didn't want to reveal too much (this is probably where beta-readers come in handy, huh?) I'm glad they clicked the second time through. I think it's probably hard to understand that kind of structure unless the "other time" parts are more substantial or the parts in between are a lot shorter.

Thank you again, you've given me a lot to think about! :-)

[glamour-fish.livejournal.com]

guh

*fans self*

this is fantastic and very hot. it's always so cool to see new TBC slash out there.

[kaizoku.livejournal.com]

I got a "guh"! Yay! Thank you :-)

[theonlyink.livejournal.com]

Even though I'm trying to get away from mxm I loved this.
You wrote Bender well. <3

[kaizoku.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks. :-) Why are you trying to get away from mxm, if you don't mind my asking?

[theonlyink.livejournal.com]

Personal religious conflict.

[akamine_chan]

You know, I haven't seen TBC since it originally came out. I had this absolutely huge crush on Judd Nelson...I enjoyed this tremendously; it was a great read, great characterizations, very believable. Great job!

[iluvthecheat.livejournal.com]

Damn, how could you avoid it? It's on TV all the time!

[akamine_chan]

I live in a little bitty town with no TV stations. Unless you have cable, the only things you can watch are your own dvds. I've refused to pay cable for many years now...why, yes, I have been living under a rock!

[crazykitty07.livejournal.com]

i love it i always thought Brian/Bender would be great together i hope you write more...