a few hours later, awsten and brendon had spoken about pretty much everything: their music tastes, funny and weird experiences, and family and friends. they'd gone through quite a bit of hot chocolate and coffee - brendon had more than awsten, because the nurse came in and told awsten that it was bad for him. of course he argued, saying he was fine, but those sorts of things don't work with nurses. if he was completely honest, brendon didn't think it was overly good for him either - awsten seemed as if he was on a sugar high all the time anyway, let alone giving him chocolate on top of that.
"wait, you've had so much coffee, have you actually slept? because if you need that much coffee, you have a slight problem dude. i know coffee is addicting, but you really don't need that much. i'm not really one to talk - i drink loads of it - but i don't drink that much in the space of two hours." awsten said, stating his concern. he'd been a little worried about brendon pretty much from the moment he'd walked in, but awsten hadn't said anything. brendon looked so sleep deprived, it seemed unhealthy. there were clear bags around his eyes - it almost looked as if he had two black eyes.
"i haven't slept since i found out ryan was in a coma. i think that was on sunday. today's thursday, right? i've had naps, but honestly i've just relied on coffee most of the time. the most i had was five hours, and that was on tuesday night i think. my parents basically had me on lockdown in my bedroom, so i kind of had to sleep." brendon explained, looking down. "i've just been so worried. i also feel bad, but i've already had that discussion with halsey and spencer." he hinted that he wanted to end the conversation. awsten nodded, seeming to understand.
"hey, it's four thirty. your friends will be here soon, right? jawn just text me saying that my friends are checking in." awsten put his phone down. to be honest, brendon hadn't even noticed that he'd picked it up. brendon nodded. in a way, he was glad that awsten's friends were here. of course he enjoyed awsten's company - he loved it - but he didn't think that there was much else to talk about, except the subject of ryan - and brendon didn't particularly want to talk about that. it just put him in a bad mood. also, brendon's never been the best at social interaction - let alone someone he met a less than three hours ago. brendon took out his phone, just to check if his friends were anywhere near. turns out, they'd been texting on the group chat, and it was pretty amusing. "what are you smiling at? let me see!" awsten said cheerfully. brendon nodded again, and moved over to sit next to awsten, showing him the messages.
group chat:
spence: did we actually decide where we were getting pizza
halsey: well i just assumed that you just knew where you were going
spence: well i don't
halsey: i figured
pattycakes: does anyone know where the nearest pizza place is
halsey: and it has to be good
pepe: that was a stupid question
pattycakes: rude
pepe: i know where a l l the pizza places are
spence: of course you do
geewhiz: where are you guys?
halsey: by the pond
halsey: you all have three minutes to get here or i push you in said pond
fronk: we'll be there
milkyway: but me, ray, dan and phil are stuck in this lesson because tall frank yelled at the teacher for not respecting his datemate's pronouns - which is a valid excuse and we are not being pushed in the pond for that
milkyway: the rest of the class has gone but we're kind of backing frank and eva up here
halsey: first, frank has a datemate? that's news to me, but congrats frank! second, that isn't an excuse, it's a reason, so you definitely don't get pushed in the pond. third, add eva (??) to the chat
milkyway: will do. but you guys get going, we're gonna have to deal with 'the wrath of the principal'
spence: billie is just gonna let you go in like thirty seconds but okay
spence: wait can billie come for pizza too
milkyway: i'll ask him when we get there
spence: yay
billie joe: you could've just asked me on here but okay
billie joe: and yes i will come for pizza
halsey: okay meet us at the hospital check in
billie joe: oh okay then
billie joe: why am i hanging out with my students is this illegal
yelyah: only if you have a relationship with one of them
yelyah: which you don't, so it's all good
billie joe: oh thanks hayley
yelyah: welc
pepe: can we get pizza now
spence: fine we're all here except for everyone in billie's office
pattycake: wait what about ryan? seaman, obviously
seaman: i'm outside your school gates. i'm not allowed in, because i'm not a student but i am here
halsey: where did you come from
seaman: i can literally see you all on your phones i've been lurking for five minutes
halsey: oh okay then
pattycake: okay yay we can procede to get pizza
spence: wait how much do we need
pepe: twenty
pattycake: ten
spence: we'll get twenty
halsey: there is a lot of us, plus the person in the same room as ryan and his freinds
spence: okay we'll get twenty five
billie joe: where are you gonna get this money
pepe: i have vouchers for pizza hut
pepe: plus i have like five people i know who work there i can get a few free
spence: welp, that's settled then
milkyway added evaaa to the chat
brendon looked over at awsten as he finished reading. the bright-haired boy had laughed slightly at some parts during the conversation. he continued to laugh for a minute, before he suddenly jerked up, looking a little bit confused. brendon raised an eyebrow at him, surprised by the sudden movement. what if something was wrong?
"billie joe? mr armstrong? the principal? he's? in? your? groupchat?" awsten asked, his eyes widening. brendon sighed - a little bit out of relief now, at least nothing was wrong. he'd forgotten that it was strange to have your headmaster in a group chat with a load of your friends. it was pretty much natural to him now. billie joe was an extremely laid-back adult, and he acted like a teenager, so it was pretty easy to accept the fact that he was practically their friend now.
"oh, yeah. pete found his kik name in a dvd he borrowed or something. i forgot that it's probably pretty weird for you. but don't worry too much, honestly. just be yourself. he doesn't really care. sure, if we sat and smoked weed, he'd probably care a little and act like our parent - telling us to stop and whatnot - but he wouldn't tell our parents. it's pretty cool" brendon explained. "everyone finds it a little weird when they first join, and then billie speaks. but they kind of just accept it after a couple of minutes." awsten nodded, half understanding. he still found it a little strange - but honestly, what was he expecting from the most well-known set of people at school? it wasn't even a popular kind of well-known. it was more of 'they're gay, everyone knows it, don't mess with them, but they're also really accepting' kind of well known. it was strange, but awsten and his friends kind of looked up to them in a way. again, it was strange, but they seemed to be some of the nicest people on the planet, but they were also sassy as hell. long story short, awsten loved their personalities a lot.
.:small time skip until they're all at the hospital:.
"okay, all my friends will be up here in five minutes." brendon said, switching his phone off, and looking up at awsten and his friends. they'd got here around about ten minutes ago, but brendon hadn't spoken to them yet. he let them talk to awsten first, but the chat between them had seemed to have died down a little, so brendon decided that then was a good time to speak. he kind of hoped to be introduced to these other people - brendon felt bad for not knowing their names because they went to his school, but then again, he'd never come across them before.
"they've got pizza, right?" awsten asked. brendon nodded, telling him that pete had bought about twenty five - but who knew if pete was over exaggerating or not? in this case, he wasn't - but brendon didn't know that. "how'd he afford all of that?" awsten looked genuinely confused and a little bit worried. brendon started to worry that awsten thought that pete had stolen them. well, he could've, but pete usually wouldn't do that. he said that he had vouchers and knew people, but no one really knew how much money he could get off of that.
"i really don't know, but i'm ninety nine percent sure he didn't steal it or anything like that. he said that he had coupons and knew people working there, so he'd get a discount. not entirely sure how much, but i gave pete five dollars to pay for some of it, so he could use that too." brendon explained. one of awsten's friends pointed out that five dollars wouldn't go very far to buy twenty five pizzas, and brendon agreed. "i think everyone else put in the same amount too. we arranged this a couple of days ago, so pete should have enough money."
"someone help me put these damn pizzas down before i drop them!" halsey used her elbow to open the door, and brendon got up to help her. "thanks bren." brendon nodded in reply, and helped mikey, who has somehow ended up with five of the pizzas.
"you didn't share this around evenly, did you? none of you would be struggling if some of you carried two and the rest carried one. do you guys even pay attention in maths?" billie joe came into the room, carrying three of the pizzas, and put them down on the table, next to all of the other pizza boxes. a couple of awsten's friends (brendon still didn't know their names) looked surprised, two looked scared, and the other one just looked confused.
"introductions to the new people and bonding over pizza!" hayley said, sitting down on the floor. everyone seemed to automatically sit cross-legged, on the floor, and in a circle. awsten just detatched his monitors, which apparently was fine, he 'does it all the time, and barely gets told off'. one of awsten's friends didn't look so sure, but got over it in the end. "new people, names, pronouns, sexuality." she paused for a second. "that's weird saying that - in real life, not on the chat." a couple of people nodded, it did seem pretty strange.
"uh, i'm eva. i use they/them pronouns, and i'm pan, dating frank - the blue-haired one." eva said. they seemed a little unsure in the presence of so many people - but who wouldn't be?
"i'm jawn, i use he/him pronouns, and i honestly don't know my sexuality, i just go with it." again, there were a few nods from people, and then they moved onto the next person.
"my name's otto, i use he/him pronouns, i'm bisexual, and i'm dating grace." otto looked over at the girl sitting next to him. you've got to admit, they did make a cute couple.
"as otto indicated, i'm grace, i'm bi, use she/her pronouns, and dating otto. and while i'm talking, can someone explain to me why mr armstrong is in here? not to be rude, but i don't think some of us were expecting it." then the story of how pete found billie's kik user was re-told, and the introductions continued.
"i'm travis, i use he/him pronouns, i'm a loner so i'm dating no one, and i'm gay." a couple of people laughed in a kind of sad, 'that was relatable' way.
"i'm geoff, he/him pronouns please, and i'm gay and dating awsten." geoff smiled, and brendon remembered how awsten had said earlier that when he woke up, he forgot that he was actually dating someone.
"brendon already knows me, and so do my friends, but i'm awsten, i use he/him pronouns, i'm gay, and geoff's my boyfriend." awsten smiled at geoff, and a couple of people awed.
then, they all decided to play a few games to get to know each other. a few of them ended in pepperoni being thrown at people, but it was fun in the end. everyone got along well, and everyone was even happier that ryan was stable enough to be moved to a different room. they'd all made friends, and to be honest, that was rare.
a/n - sorry for not posting for a month, things got busy
but ryan wakes up next chapter whoop