Decaydance Mallrats AU

for example bren starts out pretty tame but audrey definitely influences him into a more scene look. so he would start off dressing more like the top row and morph into the bottom (which ryan hates bc he can literally see her running off on him):

ryan wears a lot of hollister obviously, but he pulls in vintage and preppy inspo for his outfits too. spencer's skater-y style rubbed off on him a little but he also likes how jon dresses a lot. so his fits kinda turn out something like this:

jon doesn't really consider himself emo or scene, but he basically just dresses like christopher drew in this au

spencer i see in a more skater-y look, lots of layered tops and huge jeans, low-effort cool guy

he works at hollister which is obviously a little more on the prep side but he's definitely trying to be unique as well. somethings like this probably.

runs the animal shelter in the mall. idk if other malls had animal shelters in them besides the one i grew up with but it's my au and im saying this one does.

i just realized i forgot to answer this sorry omg

he does! the first time brendon fucks his shit up BAD but once they start hooking up ryan getting his hair done is kind of like their excuse to see each other and brendon's gotten over the nerves that made him screw up the first time

a little bit of ryden for everyone <3

it's late. the mall is closing and all the stores are tugging down all their metal grates as the various employees slip out from underneath them. the night air is cooler than the day was, and ryan's starting to regret not bringing a sweatshirt earlier when he left the house. as expected, when he gets to the curb, there's absolutely no one waiting for him. normally, he gets a ride home from spencer, but today was his day off, and like hell was ryan going to let pete drive him home again after the last time.

it feels fucking stupid, being 18 with no car. he should have one by now. the paychecks he's gotten from working at hollister should've been enough to afford a shitty little secondhand something or other. but they're not, apparently. he tries not to think about where some of the money could be disappearing to, even if the liquor cabinet at home keeps refilling itself. so what, his dad forgot to pick him up again. big fucking deal. it's not like he's helplessly stranded in the mall parking lot.

he considers the options. he could go back inside, pray pete hadn't left yet after locking up, and suck it up enough to deal with whatever might happen on the drive. (it's not like last time was bad, he just doesn't feel like hearing about how badly his manager needs to get laid, or how he's only "gay-above-the-waist" which is a bullshit excuse for— whatever). or he could wait for the bus. outside. at night. in an area that's fine during the day but gets more than a little sketchy after the sun goes down and the city starts to leak its rejects out into suburbia.

if it's around 9:15, the next bus is still 30 minutes out. he's cold waiting out here, and pete's car sounds awfully tempting (he's gotta be desperate to think something like that), so he settles the debate in his head. go back inside, get pete, go home. easy. he turns on his heels and heads for the metal employee door, about to push it open when it swings out instead and he nearly gets slammed right in the face with it.

"jesus fuck— brendon, watch where you're going!" he snaps, stumbling back a few steps as the other boy stares in horror like he just ran over his favorite animal in the road. it's the most pathetic expression ryan's ever seen, for one, and two, brendon's got an extremely dumb-looking blonde chunk at the front of his hair now that makes him look even more like spongebob than he already does.

then, to make matters worse, he starts to gush. "ohhhh shit i'm sorry, i'm sorry. did i hit you? i didn't mean to—"

gag. "i'm fine, brendon."

"i just didn't expect there to be anyone on the other side of the door so—"

"i said i'm fine!"

"...sorry."

then they're quiet for a while. stuck in place, too, because brendon doesn't fucking move to go to his car even though the parking lot is right past them and this interaction should've been over at least 30 seconds ago. "are you waiting for something?" ryan snarks, head tilting slightly as he examines why brendon could possibly be so frozen in place right now.

"uh— i um, no sorry, guess i zoned out." no shit, ryan thinks, but he keeps his mouth shut for once, shrugging brendon off and deciding to let him mind his own weird business if he wants to stand and stare. he turns his head back towards the parking lot.

"hey, do you need a ride?" brendon asks.

ryan could scream. or lunge and attack. claw brendon's eyes out and rip him to pieces then dump him in the mall dumpster so they never find his body. of fucking course he has to offer today of all days when literally every other option is utter dogshit. the worst part is, he definitely doesn't even know that, and is just offering because he wants to be nice. it's disgusting. he almost says that out loud, opens his mouth intending to, but what comes out instead is "yeah..."

the way brendon's face lights up like a christmas tree is hilarious, at least. the kid's hopeless. it's a shame ryan's such a "cold-hearted dickbag" (-ex girlfriend, junior year) because anyone else probably would've taken pity on him like some sort of sad skinny shelter dog.

"really?? i mean, um, you could come with me, if you want. i could drop you off at home. no big deal." he rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet cartoonishly, waiting for a confirmation. it's not like ryan can back out now, though. he's made the rookie mistake of admitting the truth.

"yeah, uh, sure." ryan rubs his nose as he agrees and crosses his arms over his chest with a noncommittal shrug. "that would be cool." it's getting colder out. he shivers slightly, which only serves to make brendon start bouncing off towards his car with ryan in tow.

-

the ride back is mostly uneventful. in between ryan giving directions, they chat a little about weird customers and why brendon thought putting the blonde chunk in his hair would look good. when he's not interrupting a busy shift, brendon's chattiness is much more bearable. ryan finds out he's the youngest of about a million siblings because his parents are mormon. he almost asks how they reacted to brendon being...himself, but that's a little too bold, even for him.

besides, they're pulling up to ryan's house before he can change his mind. he gets out of the car and starts to head towards the house when he hears the window roll down.

brendon sticks his head out with a smile. "see ya, ry. oh! if you need a ride tomorrow—"

"spencer's driving me, it's fine-"

"—i can't because i'm going out with my girlfriend after work," he finishes with a smile. "sorry!"

ryan stops in his tracks, blinking like an idiot. "you have a girlfriend?" he asks, and the question comes out exactly as offensively dumbfounded as he feels. he shakes his head, chuckling to break the tension. "i mean, i just thought..."

"yeah, audrey! she found me on myspace for haircuts and we just kinda hit it off. she's so totally out of my league but somehow she likes me. guess i got lucky. anyway—"

jesus fuck. "i have to go."

ryan turns on his heels and starts heading for the door as fast as he can without breaking into a run. he shoves his key in the lock and turns the knob, but just before he disappears inside, brendon's voice cuts through the night again.

"bye, ryan! see you tomorrow!" he dares to glance back towards the car and finds the other boy waving with a goofy smile on his face. he's so hopeless.

"yeah, see you tomorrow brendon," he answers, rolling his eyes affectionately and giving a small wave back before slipping inside the house.

well funnily enough, even though ryan (+ pete) both think brendon is ultra-gay, he's actually dating audrey when he starts coming into hollister to talk to ryan. the thing is that ryan doesn't find this out until months later when he's almost at the peak of finding brendon intolerable. in a way, it's good because he would've snapped and permanently ruined his relationship with brendon since he can't handle (in his mind) being doted on like that.

from there on, though, because ryan is always the type to covet what he can't have, his subconscious turns into "well why doesn't brendon want me??!1!1! :((((" even if he's still trying to maintain that he's mostly not gay. he starts being a little nicer and letting himself get closer to brendon because he can still tell himself that he's not worth love and brendon would never really want him and all that emo bullshit we love him for. if the doting has a bitter edge to it, he can handle it.

but honestly all of that is kind of happening in the background, because the main reason they all start hanging out more together is jon. him and pete go back pretty far, he gets tight with ryan (and therefore spencer) by bonding over their shared love for 60s psychedelic rock, and brendon is a giant music nerd who can yap with jon for hours about pretty much any genre.

jon invites them all to hang out at his place pretty often, so even if they're all kind of coming from different circles, they end up hanging out as one big group. sometimes patrick, audrey, and jac (audrey's friend and ryan's eventual brief fling) tag along too.

oh im so glad you asked!!

patrick is pete's husband roommate that will stop by to bring pete a slice of pizza from sbarro's because he knows it's pete's favorite mall food court place. he's actually not currently employed at any of the mall stores and is instead in grad school to be an elementary school teacher, hence why he's broke as hell and living with pete.

brendon used to work at the smoothie shop before he got an apprenticeship at the hair salon in the mall. he cuts his friends' hair for free if they let him freestyle, but very few people trust him enough to let him freestyle. most of his experimentation ends up on his own head in various color streaks and cuts. he spends every paycheck almost immediately at hollister because...

ryan works there! he likes the employee discount and the moody vibe. doesn't particularly care for the guy with the obvious crush on him that comes in every day and tries to flirt. when brendon runs out of stuff in the guys' section, he buys a purple sweatshirt from the girls' side that totally clashes with his tiny red glasses. ryan tells him this and he gets it anyway. sometimes he says random phrases in german instead of english because he thinks it makes him more attractive, but usually, ryan just looks at him confused.

even worse, as soon as brendon leaves, pete, ryan's manager, will be right there to make fun of him. he'll call brendon a total homo while he's wearing eyeliner, skinny jeans, and a scarf. no one dares to call him out on it though. he can be a total bitch if you get on his bad side. ryan's made that mistake a few times, but oddly enough, pete usually spares him the worst of it. still, ryan's a complainer by nature. most of it falls on his best friend...

spencer, who, surprise surprise, works at spencer's. he used to work with ryan until pete got on his nerves and he jumped ship. now, he's happy to watch people stammer through trying to buy dildos. it's generally better for him and ryan's relationship to not work at the same store too, since they would bicker and fuss over who had to sweep at the end of the night and if the shirts were folded neatly enough. they still get together after shifts to wander around the mall.

everyone usually ends up at fye, where jon works as a manager. he's a record genius trapped in a suburban nightmare. everyone tells him his music taste is wasted at the mall fye, but he just shrugs and says he's doing charity work. he's the first to invite everyone to hang out outside of work, and somehow, people get along when he's there to smooth everything over.