Le Monde Dans Vos Yeux // The World In Your Eyes

Chapter 4

Brendon set the alarm, not Jon, for the ass-crack of dawn. He contemplated whether he should call or text Ryan at six am. He decided to call, tapping his foot nervously while the dial tone changed to ringing.

"Bonjour?"

"Uh, Bonjour. It's Brendon... from yesterday? I'm calling to take you up on your offer."

Ryan didn't seem too tired, so maybe he hadn't woken him up. "Oh! Right. It's my day off, you actually just caught me about to shower. Can I call you back?"

"Yeah. Yeah, sure. No problem. Bye."

He thought it was kind of awkward... just a little. Why did he have to call right then? Right when Ryan was busy. Right when he was about to shower.

Then he realized he was thinking about Ryan... in the shower, and decided to focus on something else until the phone rang.

A tone on the phone sounded off about forty minutes later, and startled Brendon awake.

"Hello?"

"Hey, so how does le Louvre sound?"

"Awesome! When?"

"Ten minutes? Can you get there in ten?"

"Sure. See you outside then?"

"À bientôt." And Ryan clicked off the line.

~

Brendon underestimated the time it takes to get to the Louvre though... He got there late, and bounded up to Ryan, panting and catching his breath.

"S-sorry I'm... late..." he breathed heavily.

Ryan chuckled. "No problem." He motioned towards the museum and Brendon followed.

"So museums don't bore you?" Ryan asked.

"Nope. Well... sometimes. But I mean. It's the Louvre! You don't get any more... interesting than that as far as museums go."

Ryan chuckled. "Fair enough."

Brendon read somewhere that cameras weren't allowed inside the Louvre. He wished he could bring his camera, more than ever now. The architecture was just begging to be captured and kept as a printed memory forever. It cried out for Brendon to capture the shadows casting across its frame. Longed for him to keep its subtle arches.

His memory would have to suffice.

They paid and wandered around for a short while. The silence started to get awkward after a while, when Brendon's interest in the paintings started to diminish as well.

"So you live with your dad still?" Brendon said and pretended to be interested in a painted pot.

"Oh... uh, no. I moved out several years ago. My father and I aren't... really on good terms."

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

Ryan smiled awkwardly. "It's okay. How about you? Still live with your parents?"

Brendon shook his head. "Nope, dorms. But if I didn't live in a dorm, I would. My mom's a great cook."

Ryan wasn't really one to ask people (namely, pretty boys like Brendon) to hang out with him. In fact, if it weren't for Spencer's prodding, he would have just stayed back and watched from afar. He wasn't good with conversation. Especially conversation with people he didn't know at all. His strengths were behind the pen, not with socialization.

Brendon continued making small talk. No matter how many times Ryan would wish he'd just give up, but he didn't. And neither did Ryan. He had to make Brendon believe that he was charming and witty and not full of fail like he actually was.

They wandered into the sculpture exhibit room, and Brendon burst into quiet giggles.

"What?" Ryan raised an eyebrow in question.

"They're all naked," Brendon laughed.

Ryan smirked, unbelieving. "Yeah, and?" Brendon gets close to the sculptures and, still laughing, examines them. Ryan sees a security guard notice, and quickly pulls Brendon away by the shoulder. "You're going to get us in trouble if you keep getting close to the art."

"Dude, how many naked sculptures are there?!"

"Well, it's Europe, so... a lot. Europeans are quite proud of their bodies." Ryan smirks. He can't help it. Brendon's smile is contagious.

Brendon snickers, and wanders to another nude male statue. "This is what they considered well endowed back then?"

Ryan snorts.

"I'm totally bigger than him."

A brief silence passes before the two burst out into giggles, disturbing some of the nearby people. They laugh more at their own laughter and at the security guard's faces when they get told to keep it down. The problem is, they can't seem to stop.

It's safe to say that they expected it, when the security guards threw them out.

Outside the Louvre, night had fallen on Paris. Again, Brendon's fingers itched for the camera.

Ryan smiled, and sighed. Face hurting from grinning so widely. "I'll see you later? I'd... love to show you around some other places. I'm working tomorrow, but..."

"That'd be great. My own personal, native tour guide."

Ryan laughed, and it's the easiest he's laughed in a long time.