Though he held parties a lot, Brendon rarely showed up at any of them- or got involved anyway; sometimes he could be found just sort of lingering beyond the boundary of where his distinguished (and not so distinguished) guests were allowed to roam, which was a considerably large area, even compared to the size of his estate. It was strange, because he was such a showman, a performer, born to be in the spotlight, born to be known and loved by many. Yet sometimes he preferred just to observe, and the parties he held were mostly just some kind of social experiment he was conducting anyway, studying how the highest and lowest of society mixed together and the aftermath of such a mix. That said, he was no scientist. In fact he was barely educated, or more technically didn’t thrive in a learning environment, and he didn’t pretend to be some kind of intellectual. All of this holding parties and not taking part made him seem kind of desirable and enigmatic, public property due to his fame and yet unreachable. The true fact of the matter was that he was a party animal- in the right situation. If he could be coaxed into drinking enough liquor (which wasn’t hard) he’d be in the throes of the music and chaos.

But, something in the psychology of the press and the public made Brendon’s lack of availability something desirable- therefore, when he made it public that he was holding a smaller, more intimate party, where he would be performing on stage, the press lapped it up and requested invites and Brendon did let a few in, and gave them the guest list in advance. Sure, it was a smaller affair, mainly to make sure it was classier than his usual events, but Brendon still loved the attention and felt his first performance in a while was worthy of a good audience and a lot of coverage from the press. It didn’t take much effort to distract the eyes of the nation- after all, they were all currently morbidly curious about Brendon’s relationship to the bootlegger, Ryan Rowe, who had just been released from lock-up as Brendon had paid his bail.

That was another thing; that he was gay, [i]openly-[/i] although some people were still clueless and he was propositioned by women a lot of the time, advances he had to awkwardly reject because he didn’t have the time to deal with the reactions of disgusted homophobes when he revealed the real reason that he [i]didn’t[/i] want to escape the party and go somewhere more private with them. It wasn’t the act of slipping away itself he was against. He’d snuck out of gatherings many times for a scandalous rendezvous somewhere more private- such as with his current lover, Ryan. He recalled their [i]very[/i] classy encounter in the toilets at Dallon’s speakeasy often, and reminded Ryan just as much, which always made him roll his eyes as Ryan apparently prided himself with being much less [i]easy.[/i] Brendon, his actual boyfriend, could disprove that any day.

His relationship with Ryan was a recent discovery and was the subject of heated debate amongst many, some who admired Brendon’s bravery and individualism, some who thought it was just a career move (any press is good press), and some who used it an example of the depravity of the youth today- ‘a [i]faggot[/i] sodomizing a [i]criminal.’[/i] little did they know that it was not that way around, but Brendon was beyond caring enough to point that out to the people shouting slurs at him when he was just trying to perform a goddamn song. A lot of people say the 20’s are progressive, but there are always some idiots trying to put the fear of god into you, Brendon sometimes said in interviews. I don’t fear god, he’d say, but I’d sure like to ask him a few questions. Beyond the surface, Brendon didn’t talk about his relationship with Ryan at all. They didn’t deserve to know, and besides, all they thought of him as anyway was some lustful sinner. Nothing would change that. So he stuck to more open and liberal scenes, though he wasn’t afraid to perform somewhere... Less accepting of ‘new’ society. Much to Ryan’s distress, who was terrified Brendon was gonna he jumped by some brutes after a show. The possibility was there, sure, but.

Brendon felt more bad for Ryan- who would take him seriously now that he had been outed? He wasn’t too worried, though, being a little fruity didn’t affect Ryan’s ability to break kneecaps. All of this went through Brendon’s head as he prepared in the hours before stepping on stage. It was the final countdown beforehand, Brendon was fixing his hair in the dressing room mirror, dressed in a black velvet, floral patterned tuxedo and a white dress shirt, no tie. He turned, downed the remaining half a glass of what was meant to be a sipping whiskey that Ryan had given him earlier as a good luck present, and handed the glass to a stagehand, before, when given the signal, heading on stage. He was greeted by immediate applause as his name was announced over a speaker- [i]For your pleasure and entertainment, Brendon Blake.[/i] He was sporting his naturally bright, charming smile, and immediately wrapped his hands around the mic stand, leaning forward to speak into and greet the audience- though as he did, his eyes searched for one man; Ryan, who said that he might be able to make it, he just had some business to attend to that couldn’t be left. That was Ryan, though. Fresh out of jail and back to business.

Brendon couldn’t see him but tried not to be disheartened. [b]”Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,”[/b] He began, eyes now surveying the audience just to make eye contact with guests instead, who were all sat around on tables, unfortunately not drinking alcohol, because this was a very publicised event. Nobody wanted to be caught on camera drinking champagne. His eyes zeroed in on a man who looked like he wouldn’t mine being brought to attention for a joke. [b]”I hope you all enjoyed the refreshments- you look like you’ve enjoyed them too much, sir, did you slip a little something extra in your drink? Don’t worry, sport, it’s our secret.”[/b] The audience all laughed, and Brendon laughed along like it was a personal inside joke, like these were his friends. Once again he looked around for Ryan- but if he was here, he would have seen him by now. [b]”Anyhow, thank you for coming. I’ll be performing very soon, but for now, please enjoy the pleasure of each other’s company rather than mine.”[/b] And so, with applause punctuating the end of his brief welcome, he walked off stage and back around to his dressing room, a little bummed that Ryan wasn’t around, but very excited to sing in public again since taking a little hiatus to spend more time with his boyfriend, who even took some time off work himself. They were- an odd couple.