Dallon's legs swung from side to side as he waited for the doctor to enter his small waiting room. He didn't particularly like coming to the doctor's office, but he had been pushing an appointment aside for far too long. Plus, he had been feeling a bit strange recently, between his strange dreams and blank spaces in his memory.

"Mr. Weekes! Long time, no see!"

"Hello, Dr. Harris." Dallon smiled nervously, stopping the movement of his legs.

Dr. Harris walked into the room and over to the counter across from Dallon, looking at a clipboard. He hummed stroking the dark stubble on his face. "So, how have you been?"

"I've been okay." Dallon shrugged, "Just had a check up coming up."

"Glad you're finally here for it." Dr. Harris smiled as he turned to Dallon, "Before we get to that, however, is there anything you'd like me to know about since your last appointment over a year ago?"

Dallon laughed nervously. He really hated doctors appointments... Dr. Harris was nice, but that could hardly sway Dallon's opinion of the place. "Yea, actually, recently I've been having these weird dreams I guess and lapses in my memory?" Dallon bit his lip. "Like, I don't remember going to bed or how I spent a few hours of my day... I dunno, Doctor, I've just been feeling weird recently."

Dr. Harris nodded. "Okay. Have you been taking any new medications?" He asked.

"No."

"New or recent diet changes?"

"No."

"Are you seeing anyone new?"

Dallon hesitated at that question. Yes, but could that really have anything to do with it? "I'm seeing a new person." He finally answered, softly.

"Safely, I hope." Dr. Harris remarked.

"Not like that..." Dallon mumbled, shifting his gaze to the floor. It wasn't the most comfortable subject to talk about, especially with someone you hardly knew, but he and Brendon had gone no further than kissing that third date.

"Did any of these symptoms arise after this person came into the picture?" Dr. Harris asked.

Dallon nodded, "Around the same time, yea."

"How long has it been since the last time you saw someone?"

Dallon reached up to tug at his earlobe. "Awhile..." He admitted with a sigh, "Highschool..."

"A bit rusty to the game then?" Dr. Harris asked with a small laugh. He wrote something down on his clipboard before looking up at Dallon. "Are you nervous at all about the potential for a new relationship?"

"I mean, I guess so." Dallon nodded, looking hesitantly up at the doctor.

The doctor was giving him a soft smile. "That may be a contributing factor. I've heard of plenty of cases where being head over heels equals so much over thinking that they loose bits of their day. You may have just lost some of your focus."

"That sounds..." Dallon trailed off. Maybe it was just that simple. What other explanation was there? It's not like he had much experience with this.

"Listen," Dr. Harris stepped over to Dallon, "from personal experience, I can confirm it's something that happens. When I first met my wife, I sometimes lost hours in the day trying to think of ways to impress her, make her smile, or just thinking about her in general. At times, my thoughts wouldn't even fully collect to help me figure out what I was thinking about."

"I know that feeling." Dallon said, thinking back to his seemingly short zone out that resulted in his painting of the human heart.

Doctor Harris smiled. "There you go. As far as the dreams are concerned, I can prescribe you some sleeping pills that help with dreamless sleep, if you'd like."

"Sure, yes, please." Dallon nodded. Maybe that would help with his waking up in the middle of the night.

"No problem, Dallon." Dr. Harris nodded, writing something else down on his clipboard. "Now, let's get to business... Let's check your heartbeat, blood pressure, and all the goods."

Dallon nodded as he extended his arm for the band to test his blood pressure to be applied. He began to wonder about what the doctor had said. He never found himself losing bits of his day when he had been with Josh. He could remember every small instance and every minute in between. Maybe this is how things changed when you grew up. Sixteen was far off from twenty one... It never felt like this much of a change, though.

---

Dallon sat, spinning, in his computer chair a few hours later. His prescribed pills sat on his desk, next to his computer. He yawned as he leaned back, beginning to hum lazily. He was tired, but he hadn't even taken the medication yet.

"Sleepy time..." He mumbled as he reached up to rub his palm against his eye. He groaned, sitting himself up once he pulled his hand away from his eye.

He had began to reach out for the medication, when his phone lit up from a notification. His hand's reach shifted to grab it instead. He pulled the device close, smiling when he saw Brendon's name on the notification.

When Dallon clicked it, he was greeted by a photo of the sheet they had thrown paint at. Both Brendon's work and Dallon's work was visible from the angling. The caption below it made Dallon smile even wider, despite his tiredness.

°My art usually isn't shared here, but this is my first work of collaboration in awhile...
Thank you dallonweekes for sharing your art with me°

"Thank you, Brendon..." Dallon laughed in near silence. He clicked on Brendon's circular photo to go to his profile.

Dallon looked through Brendon's profile, enjoying the scenic photos and occasional picture of Brendon. He stopped scrolling when he reached the photo of Brendon and the hippie boy. Dallon clicked the photo.

Both boys seemed so happy. Dallon scrolled down to look at the caption, but there wasn't one. Dallon scrolled back up to look at the photo. It was the same face that had been so contorted with emotions in Brendon's artwork. It had to be Ryan.

Dallon gave the photo a single tap, revealing a photo tag of the user 'Ryro'. Dallon clicked the small profile tag.

The face in Ryan's icon immediately caught Dallon's attention. It was Ryan wearing the same makeup across his eyes as in the calm half of Brendon's art piece. Here, however, it stretched across both eyes. The black bolt like cracking was still kept to the one side, though.

Dallon swiped his thumb up to look at his photos. Ryan took a lot of selfies, as well as, a lot of photos with dogs. Many photos included the hands, legs, or torso of another person. Only one showed that person's face, and it was the same photo Brendon had on his account. The only difference between the two, Dallon realized when he clicked the photo, was that Ryan left a caption on his.

I used to ask myself 'who could ever love me?'
Now, I'm happy I found the answer in you
You drive me out of my mind with how much I've fallen into your affection

×I love you×

Dallon read the caption over a few times. He even exited that photo to read the captions of some with hand holding or arms rested next to one another's. This Ryan guy really loved him... How much could they have drifted apart after captioning like that over several photos?

Dallon exited the photo and scrolled back to the top of Ryan's profile. He was going to exit back to Brendon's page, when he noticed the most recent post on the page. Out of curiosity, Dallon pressed on the small square that had an extreme blurriness to it. Making it bigger didn't help Dallon distinguish what was happening. It was just a mess of a photo. There was no caption, and it was from months ago.

Dallon found that odd. Ryan's other photos were only days, sometimes hours by the time stamps and comments, apart. Why would he stop posting for so long?

Dallon exited the photo with a pit of worry in his chest. It was probably nothing... But what did Brendon really mean by their art had drifted apart?..

"I need to stop..." Dallon shook his head. He reached out, set his phone down, and picked up the prescription bottle. He quickly snapped it open before shaking out the recommend dose. "Now I'm just being paranoid..."

Dallon pushed himself up from his chair with a yawn. He really should go to bed. He popped the pills into his mouth and grabbed a bottle of water. He chugged as he moved to his bed.

"Just relax, it's something new..." He muttered to himself as he crawled under his blankets, "Nothing to be afraid of..." He yawned. He closed his eyes, already feeling sleep looming.