Title: Where Do We Go From Here? [1/?]
Author: casualyobsessed
Rating: PG-13, language
Pairing: current Gabe/Brendon, but it gets better.
POV: Third
Summary: High school AU! Brendon's going from private school to public school, with some help from his friends.
Disclaimer: lyrics in this part belong to Dashboard Confessional's "Thick As Thieves," and the characters own themselves, sadly. The title and cut text belong to The Season, "Forever Changed." I only own the plot and a severe case of boredom in class.
A/N: I'm not sure how long this thing will be. This chapter is ~2200 words. I've got more written, and should have pretty steady updates. Con-crit is very welcome, this is un-beta'd. :]


Brendon shuffled into the kitchen and pulled his hoodie over his head, wiping the sleep from his eyes. His mom greeted him with a smile as he pulled a bowl out of the cabinet and filled it with cereal.

"Are you excited about your first day?" she asked when he sat across from her. He just looked at her. "Honey, I'm sorry, but we just couldn't send you to private school anymore. With your sister at the university and your father's drop in salary, I'm having a hard enough time keeping us fed."

"Mom," Brendon said. "It's okay. I'm fine with going to public school. It'll be fun. There's just nothing 'exciting' about getting up at six AM."

Mrs. Urie laughed. "So you're not afraid of the big bad school?" Brendon shook his head. "Sally said she's sending her boy there too. What's his name again? Jack?"

"His name is Jon, Mom," Brendon told her. "Honestly, Dad and Mr. Walker have worked together for over sixteen years, and you and Mrs. Walker have been friends since forever. How can you not know Jon's name?"

"It just slipped my mind," she said. "Martha's got about seven children that she brings to the meetings, and I can't for the life of me remember all their names. And poor old Julie, her husband sent her boy away."

"Why?" Brendon asked. He was quite curious. It usually took a lot to be forced out of families in the neighborhood. Only two people had been in his lifetime: Brian, when he was five, and Bert the year later.

"The principal sent him home," Mrs. Urie told him. "Said he found him kissing a boy outside the gym." She flinched. Brendon's head was going a mile a minute. He finished his cereal, put the bowl in the sink, and kissed his mom goodbye.

When he stepped out the front door, he sighed. David was an amazing person.But he was Mormon, and homosexuality was not accepted. The poor guy. They were so set in their ways. Even Brendon's mother was the same, without being Mormon herself.

She had left the Church when she had gotten pregnant with him. Two years later, she fell for a man who was in a similar position for a man who was in a similar position with a three year old daughter. They were married in six months, and Matt Urie had been Brendon's father ever since. His mom had all but taken her parents' names off her birth certificate. Her family was never spoken of, never talked to, and mostly never thought of.

But she still had some of the beliefs. Homosexuality was still a sin in her eyes.

Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the high school. He fished his schedule out of his pocket as he spotted Jon walking toward him.

"Hey, man," Jon said, pulling him into a hug. "You ready for this?"

"Yeah," Brendon said. "Did you hear about David getting kicked out of his house?"

"My mom was talking about it last night," Jon said. "Your mom and his parents are the only homophobes in the neighborhood. Everyone else has lightened up."

"Fuck you," Brendon said. "I love my mom."

"I know you do," Jon said, steering him through the front doors. He led him down the almost empty hallway and into a classroom on the right. There were kids, all around seventeen, gathered on the desks arranged in a circle in the center. Brendon looked at Jon, questioning him with his eyes. Jon laughed and answered, "Welcome to our first period."

The first class of the day was a study hall. Brendon looked around the group. There was a good pick of people in the room, all different types. He saw that two of them had guitars out, others had cases sitting beside them. They had stopped what they were doing and a tattoo racing along his slightly exposed collarbone came up to him and held out his hand.

"I'm Pete," he said. Brendon took his hand and shook it.

"Brendon."

"You're hot," Pete said, letting go of his hand and looking Brendon up and down. Another guy wearing a hat and glasses pushed him away.

"Ignore him," he said. "He thinks his sexuality makes him cool. I'm Patrick."

Brendon smiled and shook his hand as well, and Patrick turned around letting the other guys have their turns.

"I'm Bill," one of them said. He had long, wavy black hair, and was wearing a shirt Brendon's sister had bought last spring. If Brendon hadn't known better, he would have thought he was a girl.

The boy on his right smiled, a wide grin that took up his entire face. He towered over Brendon and had a purple zip up hoodie on. He could see part of his flat stomach under his brightly colored shirt. He was slightly terrifying. "I'm Gabe," he said."Hey, Pete, you were right! He is hot!"

Brendon heard Pete laugh as a guy with a piercing above his lip stepped up.He looked at Brendon. "My name is Travie," he said. "And I'm pretty much a big deal."

"Travis," a delicate, beautiful female voice said. A girl with long blonde hair appeared. "Shut the hell up." She turned to face Brendon. "I'm Greta. Sorry about Travis. He's so...cocky.

"You would know," Travis said. Greta rolled her eyes.

Gabe appeared again, this time with four other people. "This is Ryland," he said, pointing to the tallest guy. "Alex." The second tallest. "Nate." The shortest. "And this lovely lady is Victoria." He put his arm around the only girl in the group. She smiled.

"Or," she said. "You can call me Vicky T."

"Hello, Victoria," Brendon said, holding out his hand to her, palm up. She smiled and placed her hand in his, laughing when he brought it to his lips. "I'm Brendon."

Gabe looked between the two of them. "Okay, Brendon," he said. "Let's show you everyone else."

Brendon met Joe, a stoner who spent most of his time smoking up or hanging with is friend Andy, Adam, who everyone called Sisky Business and who talked constantly of this guy called The Butcher (which scared the shit out of Brendon), Alex D., known as Singer to avoid confusion, Alex Marshall and Alex Johnson, he was told they were called by their respective last names, Ian, and Cash.

"Wow," Brendon said. "Have you guys known each other for a long time?"

"A while," a new voice said. Brendon turned to its source to see a boy with a fauxhawk and another who stood with his hip cocked slightly to the side."I'm Ryan."

"Brendon," Brendon said.

Ryan pointed to his friend. "That's Spencer." The friend --Spencer-- nodded at him. He returned the gesture.

Brendon looked around the room. Pete scooted onto Patrick's lap, and Gabe motioned him to come over. He did, squeezing himself between Gabe and the Pete/Patrick combo.Gabe put his arm around Brendon and pulled him close.

"You're almost legal, right?" Gabe asked. Brendon nodded. "Good."

The next thing he knew, Gabe's head was resting on his. He smiled, wondering why this boy was making him so happy. He had just met him, how could he be this comfortable?

The guitars were being played again. Brendon started humming when he recognized the song. Jon looked at him expectantly, and he opened his mouth.

"Would it kill you to breathe easy?" he sang. Everyone looked at him with interest. "Only seventeen miles lay between you and me, I could make it if I have to..."

Gabe picked up, singing, "I don't break easily, you got my counsel, thick as thieves..."

Bill took over. "If there's a crime, we'll keep it secret..."

Patrick's turn came around. "For there's only trace amounts left in your blood, you may be a sinner..."

Everyone caught up this time. "But you may be justified. Just keep your mouth shut, keep your guard up, I swear I'll make it right."

Everyone looked at each other, then at Brendon, then to Jon. "I told you," was all he said in reply.

Brendon looked around, confused. What were they all talking about?

"Walker over there told us you could sing," Bill said. "We didn't completely believe him."

"Yeah," Pete said. "After hearing 'Trick, it took me a while to see that other people can sing too."

Patrick blushed. "Pete, shut up."

"Aw," Gabe cooed. "You two are so cute! With your 'epic love' and all."

Patrick turned a deeper red, and Pete shouted, "Saporta, I am going to--!" He was cut off by the first bell. Brendon expected more kids to come in, but none did. They just sat there, Ian strumming his guitar mindlessly. Then the teacher walked in.

"Good morning," she said as she came through the door. She looked them over and then down at her attendance list. "Brendon Urie?"

"He's over here, Ashlee," Pete said, smiling at her. She smiled back and walked over to Brendon.

"Hi, Brendon," she said. She was at most twenty eight, with blonde hair and a small nose. Brendon's guess was that she had "taught" this class for a few years now. "I'm Ashlee. I don't really have any rules for this class, just be here. Oh, and no matter what, don't ever call me 'Ms. Simpson.' Got it?"

"Yes," Brendon said. "I got it."

"Good," Ashlee said. She turned to Gabe. "Saporta, wipe that smirk off your fucking face."

Gabe smiled as she walked away. He turned back to Brendon. "She knows she loves me. She just hasn't come to terms with it yet."

Brendon laughed. "How long has it been since you got laid?"

Gabe leaned closer. "Way too long," he breathed in Brendon's ear. Brendon shivered when Gabe's lips pressed against his hair.

"Gabe," Vicky T said. "Don't molest the poor guy. I know what that's like."

Brendon looked at Gabe, who smiled and said, "Just so you know, most of us are either bisexual or gay. Or, as Pete puts it, gay-above-the-waist. That's what he says at least. We all know he blows Patrick whenever he gets the chance."

"So you molested poor Victoria?" Brendon asked. Vicky T laughed.

"The boy scarred me for life," she said. "He's a creepy old man."

"Vicky T!" Gabe cried. "I'm trying to get laid here! Would you shut up?"

Vicky T and Brendon looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

"You honestly think he would ever sleep with you?" Vicky T gasped. Gabe's face fell.

"Hey!" Brendon said. "I so totally would."

Gabe grinned. " Seriously? You would?" Brendon nodded. Gabe placed his hands on Brendon's cheeks and kissed him. Brendon felt his face grow hot. Whistles erupted around them. He felt Gabe's tongue run along his bottom lip and pulled away, seeing that even Ashlee was looking at them. He turned a darker shade of red when Gabe smiled at him. He was such a fifteen year old girl.

"Mormon boy's not so religious now," Ryan said. Brendon stared at him, puzzled. "Your mom's Mormon."

"How do you know that?" Brendon asked.

"You're my neighbor," Ryan said. "And have been for eight years."

"Say what?" Brendon asked.

"We live next door to each other," Ryan explained. "Our moms have been friends since high school. My mom left after graduation, then came back eight years ago. They go to those 'meetings' together all the time."

Brendon thought about it. He hadn't ever paid attention to anyone in the neighborhood but Jon. His mom had, up until his sister left, focused so much time on his studies, she had left no time for anything but work, which is why he knew Jon. They had gone to their private school together, so in order to have some social life, he studied with Jon. That's when he realized that he was a sinner in his mom's eyes. Not that he planned on telling his mom anytime soon. He didn't have a place to go when she kicked him out.

"You stay inside a lot," Bill said. Brendon looked around.

"Everyone in this room," Jon started. Brendon looked at him. Jon hesitated, then repeated," Everyone in this room lives in our neighborhood. Their parents are the ones who started the neighborhood meetings."

Brendon felt kind of stupid. He had never realized there were so many kids in the neighborhood. He hadn't seen any of them whenever he looked out his window.

"I can't believe it!" Pete cried. "I've never seen you before. How did I not notice a hot guy around the place?"

"His mom keeps him a hermit," Cash said. They all looked at him. "What? That's what my mom says. Apparently his mom was more interested in his studies than his life."

"I'm still standing here, you know," Brendon said. "But, yeah, that is kinda true."

"Hey," Ashlee said. "Class is almost over. Five minutes. You guys want to leave your guitars here?"

People started moving around. All those with guitar cases followed Ashlee to the storage closet to secure them. The closet was empty. Ashlee obviously expected this of her students. Gabe turned to Brendon again.

"There's a party at my place on Friday," he said. "Sort of a 'back to school, back to failing bash,' I guess you could say. You gonna be there?" Brendon laughed and nodded with a smile on his face. "Cool." Gabe pulled out his phone, holding it out to Brendon. "Put your number in." Brendon did, saving it and handing the phone back to Gabe. Gabe took it with a grin. The bell rang and Gabe wished Brendon luck. It was the start of a really great day.