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the_water_clockAuthor: Clio
Title: Goodbye, Mr. Seacrest, or, To Simon, with Love: Rymon Missing Scenes from the Fast Times at Idol High 80s AU
Pairing: American Idol: Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell
Rating: PG
Summary: In with the old, out with the new.
Length: 1300 words
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, clearly, as Simon would never help his wealthy friend pour champagne at a New Year's Party; it's called catering, darling.
Notes: Fast Times at Idol High,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
lillijulianne's 80s high school AU, can be read by friending stepintomyocean.
Special thanks to Juli for writing this awesome AU, letting me be a part of it, encouraging me get my teacher kink on, and of course being an amazing beta. Oh, and for writing Ryan and Simon into her story in the first place.
Prologue: September 1981 | 1: September 1984 | 2: October 1984 | 3: November 1984 | 4: December 1984
january 1985
It's New Year's Eve, good-bye overly Orwellian year with its disappointing election and ridiculous Hollywood Olympics, hello year of no real significance. Simon's friend Bruce is throwing a party in his penthouse, which is not merely a top floor luxury suite, but an actual A-frame house built on the roof of an apartment building on the east side. It's nearly all library and Ryan, predictably, is distracted by all the books, and is sitting in the corner with some blond, talking about something or other on the shelf. Simon wonders, idly, what Ryan would have been like if he'd turned outward instead of inward in reaction to his sexuality. There's a little performer in Ryan that comes out at odd times, mostly when he's able to point at someone else, like when he runs homecoming or commencement; he's very good at herding cats, which is probably why he's so good at managing Simon, though Simon only admits this when he's feeling particularly sleek and self-satisfied—and never, of course, to Ryan himself.
Bruce Gowers, who met Simon at university, comes from a great deal of money. He's an exceptional sort of man, mostly because he bothered even going to university, and once there ran around with people that he didn't go to public school with, which is how he and Simon became friends in the first place. Bruce seems connected to almost every British expat in the states, including one Nigel Lythgoe. So when Lythgoe found himself with some looming discipline problems and a faculty search that was coming up empty, Bruce asked Simon to do him a favor and help out for a year or so. Simon was getting bored in his cushy prep school job anyway, where nearly all the discipline problems could be tracked back to disrespect for authority and/or drug use, both of which Simon thinks stem directly from overindulgent parenting. He didn't think, at the time, that he'd find the same damn things going on in a small southern mill town.
But it isn't just that, of course, that causes him to stay longer than originally planned; it's love, and Bruce is the only one who knows this, as Ryan doesn't know that Simon didn't plan to stay indefinitely, and Lythgoe, of course, doesn't know about Ryan, though he will if they leave for New York together. Bruce is involved with the start-up of the Harvey Milk School, and Simon is grateful that Bruce thinks of him at these times, because if there is anything that can wash away the bad taste that Hughes is leaving in his mouth, particularly the unctuous spinelessness of Lythgoe, it's moving back to New York to help gay youth. Though he suspects that at least part of this is because Bruce is dying to meet Ryan, because Simon had been so successful at avoiding entanglements until he moved to Mayberry. Simon knows he's in deep; when Ryan said he'd go away with Simon no matter what, it was like a weight had been lifted, and he's been walking on air ever since. Not, of course, that he's really let Ryan know that, but Ryan has never needed to be told much of anything about Simon.
Besides, the sex that night was incredible.
The interviews go very well, and Simon gets the idea that the job will be his if he wants it. It's harder to get a good sense of how Ryan does, or feels about how he does, because Ryan refuses to really say. Sometimes he does this, just puts up a sudden wall, and Simon knows that it's part of the way he's always dealt with his sexuality, but wishes Ryan wouldn't do it to him. (Ryan's friend Ben, once at a party after they'd been dating about two years, let Simon know in no uncertain terms that however closed off Ryan seems to Simon, he's more open to him than to anyone else Ben has ever seen Ryan with, including Ben himself.) So instead, Simon makes a few inquiries, and finds that Ryan dazzled the panel just as Simon has predicted. And Simon loves nothing more, of course, than to be right. Happily he often is.
Being at the Institute today and meeting some of the youth that are helped by their services and who in their turn help the younger ones made Simon think about other things he's been right about lately, like Blake Lewis. He's just glad that the boy is a senior, or he might have a tiny bit of guilt for leaving him to the wolves, because Mr. Lewis can't take care of himself quite as well as he thinks he can. He can't help but admire the little shit for the stunt he pulled at the Christmas show, but the way other things are headed … well, one needn't borrow trouble. It will come or it won't, and at least he and Ryan, and a few others, are watching for it. That said, he makes a mental note to sit down with Randy, and Mr. Stacey, and Miss Doolittle, and Ms. Sloan and a few others (Paula? She cares, and she can be perceptive, but she isn't exactly helpful) sometime after commencement to make sure that no one falls through the cracks.
At least Maroulis will be out as well, and Simon hopes that he gets harshly dealt with by the fraternity of his choice because that is probably the boy's only chance; Simon's many conversations with his parents about respect for authority have gone exactly nowhere. Simon tries to remain above petty anger at his charges, but Ryan had taught Maroulis as a sophomore and had his hands full trying to keep the boy from taking over the class. Maroulis had underestimated Ryan, as so many do; they see the blond hair and the small frame and the natty suits and the ridiculous manner, and miss the steely determination in those grey-green eyes. Ryan ultimately prevailed, of course, and in doing so became one of the few teachers that the smarter set, as Ryan calls them, don't mess with. Not that Simon really blames Maroulis for misreading Ryan; he certainly would have at that age. Hell, he would have ten or fifteen years previous, and in introspective moments thanks the powers that be that he didn't meet Ryan until he was ready for him.
Ryan smiles at him and Simon realizes that he's been staring all this time, which motivates him to push off the kitchen doorframe he's been leaning against. He sees that Ryan's chardonnay is empty and decides to play good boyfriend and bring him a refill, when Bruce barges into the kitchen past him. "Ten minutes left! Time for champagne!"
Simon stays and helps Bruce pour the flutes and carry them around on trays to the guests, who are moving out onto the balcony. New York is enjoying a warm snap so it's quite pleasant outside, and they have a straight line to see the fireworks across the East River in Brooklyn. Simon lived in Greenwich Village before he moved south, but in their wanderings about the city Ryan has taken strongly to the brownstones of Park Slope, and Simon has to admit that he's looking forward to having a yard. Ryan finds him, slips under Simon's arm, and as they count down the last seconds of 1984 Simon feels his eyes water and blames the high rise-generated crosswinds.
"Happy 1985, darling," Simon says, and kisses his man.
6: February 1985
Notes:
The penthouse is real! I celebrated New Year 2000-2001 there. But I can't tell you where it is because I can't quite remember; if anyone recognizes it, let me know, if only so when I'm on someone else's roof I can point it out!
I'll talk about the Harvey Milk School a bit later, but for those of you who hoped that Ryan and Simon would see a certain pair of teens auditioning for NYU, I remind you that Chris and Blake cut school to do so, and Ryan and Simon couldn't exactly (1) be absent at the same time (2) to interview for another job. But I thought of it!
Title: Goodbye, Mr. Seacrest, or, To Simon, with Love: Rymon Missing Scenes from the Fast Times at Idol High 80s AU
Pairing: American Idol: Ryan Seacrest/Simon Cowell
Rating: PG
Summary: In with the old, out with the new.
Length: 1300 words
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction, clearly, as Simon would never help his wealthy friend pour champagne at a New Year's Party; it's called catering, darling.
Notes: Fast Times at Idol High,
lillijulianne's 80s high school AU, can be read by friending stepintomyocean.Special thanks to Juli for writing this awesome AU, letting me be a part of it, encouraging me get my teacher kink on, and of course being an amazing beta. Oh, and for writing Ryan and Simon into her story in the first place.
Prologue: September 1981 | 1: September 1984 | 2: October 1984 | 3: November 1984 | 4: December 1984
january 1985
It's New Year's Eve, good-bye overly Orwellian year with its disappointing election and ridiculous Hollywood Olympics, hello year of no real significance. Simon's friend Bruce is throwing a party in his penthouse, which is not merely a top floor luxury suite, but an actual A-frame house built on the roof of an apartment building on the east side. It's nearly all library and Ryan, predictably, is distracted by all the books, and is sitting in the corner with some blond, talking about something or other on the shelf. Simon wonders, idly, what Ryan would have been like if he'd turned outward instead of inward in reaction to his sexuality. There's a little performer in Ryan that comes out at odd times, mostly when he's able to point at someone else, like when he runs homecoming or commencement; he's very good at herding cats, which is probably why he's so good at managing Simon, though Simon only admits this when he's feeling particularly sleek and self-satisfied—and never, of course, to Ryan himself.
Bruce Gowers, who met Simon at university, comes from a great deal of money. He's an exceptional sort of man, mostly because he bothered even going to university, and once there ran around with people that he didn't go to public school with, which is how he and Simon became friends in the first place. Bruce seems connected to almost every British expat in the states, including one Nigel Lythgoe. So when Lythgoe found himself with some looming discipline problems and a faculty search that was coming up empty, Bruce asked Simon to do him a favor and help out for a year or so. Simon was getting bored in his cushy prep school job anyway, where nearly all the discipline problems could be tracked back to disrespect for authority and/or drug use, both of which Simon thinks stem directly from overindulgent parenting. He didn't think, at the time, that he'd find the same damn things going on in a small southern mill town.
But it isn't just that, of course, that causes him to stay longer than originally planned; it's love, and Bruce is the only one who knows this, as Ryan doesn't know that Simon didn't plan to stay indefinitely, and Lythgoe, of course, doesn't know about Ryan, though he will if they leave for New York together. Bruce is involved with the start-up of the Harvey Milk School, and Simon is grateful that Bruce thinks of him at these times, because if there is anything that can wash away the bad taste that Hughes is leaving in his mouth, particularly the unctuous spinelessness of Lythgoe, it's moving back to New York to help gay youth. Though he suspects that at least part of this is because Bruce is dying to meet Ryan, because Simon had been so successful at avoiding entanglements until he moved to Mayberry. Simon knows he's in deep; when Ryan said he'd go away with Simon no matter what, it was like a weight had been lifted, and he's been walking on air ever since. Not, of course, that he's really let Ryan know that, but Ryan has never needed to be told much of anything about Simon.
Besides, the sex that night was incredible.
The interviews go very well, and Simon gets the idea that the job will be his if he wants it. It's harder to get a good sense of how Ryan does, or feels about how he does, because Ryan refuses to really say. Sometimes he does this, just puts up a sudden wall, and Simon knows that it's part of the way he's always dealt with his sexuality, but wishes Ryan wouldn't do it to him. (Ryan's friend Ben, once at a party after they'd been dating about two years, let Simon know in no uncertain terms that however closed off Ryan seems to Simon, he's more open to him than to anyone else Ben has ever seen Ryan with, including Ben himself.) So instead, Simon makes a few inquiries, and finds that Ryan dazzled the panel just as Simon has predicted. And Simon loves nothing more, of course, than to be right. Happily he often is.
Being at the Institute today and meeting some of the youth that are helped by their services and who in their turn help the younger ones made Simon think about other things he's been right about lately, like Blake Lewis. He's just glad that the boy is a senior, or he might have a tiny bit of guilt for leaving him to the wolves, because Mr. Lewis can't take care of himself quite as well as he thinks he can. He can't help but admire the little shit for the stunt he pulled at the Christmas show, but the way other things are headed … well, one needn't borrow trouble. It will come or it won't, and at least he and Ryan, and a few others, are watching for it. That said, he makes a mental note to sit down with Randy, and Mr. Stacey, and Miss Doolittle, and Ms. Sloan and a few others (Paula? She cares, and she can be perceptive, but she isn't exactly helpful) sometime after commencement to make sure that no one falls through the cracks.
At least Maroulis will be out as well, and Simon hopes that he gets harshly dealt with by the fraternity of his choice because that is probably the boy's only chance; Simon's many conversations with his parents about respect for authority have gone exactly nowhere. Simon tries to remain above petty anger at his charges, but Ryan had taught Maroulis as a sophomore and had his hands full trying to keep the boy from taking over the class. Maroulis had underestimated Ryan, as so many do; they see the blond hair and the small frame and the natty suits and the ridiculous manner, and miss the steely determination in those grey-green eyes. Ryan ultimately prevailed, of course, and in doing so became one of the few teachers that the smarter set, as Ryan calls them, don't mess with. Not that Simon really blames Maroulis for misreading Ryan; he certainly would have at that age. Hell, he would have ten or fifteen years previous, and in introspective moments thanks the powers that be that he didn't meet Ryan until he was ready for him.
Ryan smiles at him and Simon realizes that he's been staring all this time, which motivates him to push off the kitchen doorframe he's been leaning against. He sees that Ryan's chardonnay is empty and decides to play good boyfriend and bring him a refill, when Bruce barges into the kitchen past him. "Ten minutes left! Time for champagne!"
Simon stays and helps Bruce pour the flutes and carry them around on trays to the guests, who are moving out onto the balcony. New York is enjoying a warm snap so it's quite pleasant outside, and they have a straight line to see the fireworks across the East River in Brooklyn. Simon lived in Greenwich Village before he moved south, but in their wanderings about the city Ryan has taken strongly to the brownstones of Park Slope, and Simon has to admit that he's looking forward to having a yard. Ryan finds him, slips under Simon's arm, and as they count down the last seconds of 1984 Simon feels his eyes water and blames the high rise-generated crosswinds.
"Happy 1985, darling," Simon says, and kisses his man.
6: February 1985
Notes:
The penthouse is real! I celebrated New Year 2000-2001 there. But I can't tell you where it is because I can't quite remember; if anyone recognizes it, let me know, if only so when I'm on someone else's roof I can point it out!
I'll talk about the Harvey Milk School a bit later, but for those of you who hoped that Ryan and Simon would see a certain pair of teens auditioning for NYU, I remind you that Chris and Blake cut school to do so, and Ryan and Simon couldn't exactly (1) be absent at the same time (2) to interview for another job. But I thought of it!
