The Art Of Keeping Up Disappearances // Brallon

Dantalion

☥ brendon's pov ☥

"i'm just a bet to you, aren't i?"

"yeah... you were,"

he shook in my arms, gasping for breath every once in a while. i vaguely heard him whsiper "but i love you!". he did, he loved me. he gave me his kisses, his virginity, his love, and his trust. and i gave him this in return. i needed to explain myself, i needed him to understand.

"but then you were everywhere," i continued, feeling dallon shift beneath me.

"you were there, on my arms, in my dreams- fuck weekes you were always on my mind. i couldn't go anywhere without seeing something that reminded me of you. i would take walks down the road in the middle of the night to try and clear my head but then stop to stare at the stars and think i wish dallon could be here to see this with me.

"o-or it would be late at night at the thoughts to cut myself would come back but i didn't do anything 'cuz i knew you wouldn't want to see me hurt." dallon shook his head from where it was leaning against my chest. he was still crying, still shaking.

i did this to him. fuck me, how could i have done this to him- to someone i cared about?

"and the world became you, and you became my world, in just a few months," his crying quieted, and he looked up towards me. even with tears streaming down his face, his eyes were gorgeous. "i realized that and well...i love you."

"you r-really mean it?" he asked quietly.

"yeah, dal- sorry, dallon-"

"no please, call me dal," he wrapped his shaky arms around me hesitantly. "i want to be your dal again."

"i don't want to leave you and i dont want you to leave me," i said, running one hand through his hair while holding him close to me with the other.

"well, i don't want you to leave," dallon said softly, now done crying yet still breathing shakily.

i smiled to him. "then i won't, didn't we promise that?"

he smiled up and leaned forward before repeating what he said earlier, but now with more confidence. "i really want to kiss you."

my soft smile to him broke into a full grin. happiness welled in my chest as i leaned down to connect our lips. to my surprise, dal kissed back with little hesitation.

when we parted, there was only a moment to breath before dallon moved to kiss me again. who knows how long we just layed there, holding each other and basically making out. if this was what it was going to be like- being with dallon with no pressure of the bet- then i was looking forward to it.

"i love you," he muttered against my lips. i chuckled and pulled away to look at him. it was nice to just look at dallon. even when i was just pining for his attention in the first weeks of the bet, i couldn't stop looking.

"i love you, too."

"okay losers-!" the door slammed open as ryan entered. elle slapped his arm and glared up at him.

"ryan would you shut up- oh you're making out," elle started giggling, ryan mimicking her.

"i think our counseling worked," ryan said, obviously still high off his ass. elle nodded in agreement. dallon began blusing, tucking his head back into my chest while i chuckled.

"now that we fixed you two," elle said as dallon slowly sat up. i went up with him and leaned my head on his shoulder. "we should celebrate chrismas like an actual family."

"family?" dallon asked, raising an eyebrow. his sister nodded.

"yes family- i just met ryan and i already like him more than dad, you're literally family, brendon's your soulmate so that makes him family, and let's toss the cat into this, too,"

"can grey be in our family- she's my soulmate," ryan asked, earning a nod from elle. "cool! let's facetime her and watch christmas movies!"

"that is a wonderful idea," dallon smiled. all of us were so exhausted, but we shuffled downstairs and pulled up movies on netflix.

elle had made us all coffee, and grey was wide awake when we facetimed her (she was super chill to have a "cool, weed-loving family of teenagers and a cat"), and dal tried to curl in my lap. we all crammed onto the couch in front of the t.v, actually enjoying ourselves. sure, we didn't have presents with us to exchange, but our newly established family was content to have each other.

☥ ☥ ☥

i was sitting somewhere and no where at the same time. my surroundings didn't matter though, as a stared down at my arm. tiny doodles unfurled, and when i looked up, there was a boy sitting with his knees touching mine, the doodles he was making on his arm appearig on mine. dallon- the boy was dallon. as his drawings appeares on me, i felt content. he smiled softly as he glanced from my arm to his, laughing as small birds and cats appeared on our soulmate-linked skin.
some of the scars on my arm were faint red lines on his, and he drew over these with delicate strokes, as if it would hurt me if he wasn't gentle enough. in the hand not drawing, we held each other's hands tightly.

"this is familiar," dallon whispered after a while.

"i know," i said. "but it's nice."

dal smiled at me, nodded, and returned to drawing.

waking up, we'd all moved from our original spots on the couch to sleep. elle and ryan had curled up in a bundle of blankets on the floor. dallon had his head in my lap,the rest of him sprawled on the couch. he was snoring lightly, holding his blanket close to himself.

there was a note on the coffee table in a handwriting i didn't recognize:

off to the soup kitchen to help the homeless. stay safe, love you both
- dad

dallon's dad never seemed to be around, and this charity work was probably why. that's super shitt- it's the week of christmas and he couldn't even stay home? as i read the note, i felt dallon stirring next to me.

"hey," he muttered sleepily. "my neck hurts."

"well, good morning to you, too," i chuckled, carding my fingers through his hair. "and it's probably because you slept on my leg instead of a pillow."

"this is true, now c'mere," he reached up his hands and pulled my face down to kiss me.

"that was nice," he smiled against my lips before rolling over and falling back asleep. i didn't even have time to tell him about my dream, but that was fine. i would be here when he woke up, of course i would. i loved him, after all.