braden oneshots // bryce hall x jaden hossler

2; figure me out

alcohol mention tw

Influencer events were, usually and ironically, pretty uneventful.

At least by Bryce's standards. And always when they were hosted in hotels like these, in the middle of LA, where everyone acted more stuck up than they earned to be, to fit in.

It was in these places that people would come around, from other parts of the internet that Bryce politely ignored, and act happy to see you or glad to get to meet you even though they probably hated your guts for no good reason, and in secret.

After four such interactions he lived through since the plane landed, and, by the time he walked into the hotel, checked in and endured an elevator ride with the probably most annoying friend group this side of the desert, Bryce was more than ready to retire for the day and skip out on the first get together that all the creators will attend to catch up with each other.

Thing is, Tayler already texted him that he wasn't coming until the actual first day of the convention, and that meant Bryce was left here alone for all of tonight and the weekend, surrounded by people he mostly couldn't care less about.

He should've asked more people than just Tayler to come along.

God damnit.

There's nothing on the TV but four channels, one of which is TLC and that one just outright put a dent in his mental health and brain capacity any time he'd leave it on, so he opts out of doing much of anything but scrolling apps on his phone and rolling his eyes at the stories people were posting.

He was about to fall asleep out of boredom more than anything, when someone knocked on his door.

Weird.

"Who is it?"

"Housekeeping," a familiar voice says, and Bryce flings the door open to a smiling Griffin with his arms spread for a hug.

"Hey man," Bryce greets, patting his back.

"Been a while."

"What are you doing here?"

"We flew out for the event, me and Jaden and some other guys," Griffin responds, pointing over his shoulder to the guy Bryce only now notices, standing behind Griffin in the hallway.

"Hey, I'm Bryce."

"Hi," Jaden says, a bit timidly. Bryce doesn't want to admit to himself that the little smile he gave while introducing himself was kind of cute.

"So why aren't you at the party downstairs?"

"Why aren't you," Bryce shoots back, stepping aside to let them into his hotel room.

"Jaden here doesn't drink," Griffin says, pretending to sound annoyed, and Jaden ducks his head under their looks. "And he doesn't know anyone here besides me, it'd be a dick move if I just stranded him over a lame party."

Bryce scratches his jaw, looking between the two of them.

"Or he could stay here. I volunteer to babysit."

"You're not coming down?" Griffin asks, sounding genuinely surprised. Jaden only looks at him with a raised eyebrow, and well, it might've been out of nowhere to just offer that up. And the fact that Griffin made it sound weird that Bryce was staying back, only made him sound even more suspicious. At least to Jaden, probably.

"I swear I'm not an organ dealer," Bryce says to Jaden, suddenly needing to explain himself. "It's just that Tayler isn't coming till Monday, so I'll probably take it easy till then. Save up my strength," he jokes, and Griffin seems placated at that.