Part Fifteen

Monday's were just simply Brendon's bad luck days. Dallon had to convince him to even come to school that morning. Actually, convince was putting it lightly. More like, had to drag him out of bed, down the stairs, and into the car.

It wasn't out of fear of seeing Ryan or Smucker, well maybe a little, but more of an overwhelming desire not to have to do work.

"I'm going to fail this year, anyway," Brendon had tried to argue. "What's the point in going?"

Dallon had spewed some long lecture about the importance of continuing to try or some shit like that. Brendon had honestly barely listened. He was tired and cranky. He didn't care if he had sounded like a whiny baby. He really didn't want to go to school that day.

But he stood in the hall now despite all his valiant efforts. Dallon may have promised some dirty favors after his soccer practice for Brendon. That sped up the process of getting to school by just a little bit.

He also snuck his phone into practically every class that day to text Dallon. He sent him everything from random emojis to suggestive crotch pictures. Dallon didn't respond as often as he'd liked, the tall boy being a goody two shoes and actually paying attention in class, but when he did reply, it was either with a reprimand over Brendon not paying attention or something equally as dirty.

Besides the day feeling like it lasted forever, everything about it had gone fairly smoothly. Brendon only saw Ryan once in the hall. The boy hadn't even given Brendon a second glance.

Principal Smucker was also a non issue. Brendon figured he'd been in his office all day, probably making lists of ways to torture kids or something.

After suffering through the last few hours of the day, Brendon met up with Pete after class.

"Hey, man," Pete smiled, walking up to Brendon at his locker. Josh was with him, whom Brendon gave a little bro nod to.

"Hey," Brendon grinned. "You guys want to go grab shakes?"

Pete's smile suddenly fell and he awkwardly looked to Josh, "Uh, we have to go to photography, actually, but we can after!"

Brendon's heart dropped. He felt like the one kid that didn't get invited to a party or the kid that didn't get a seat at the lunch table. Totally excluded. But he knew it wasn't Pete and Josh's fault.

He simply shrugged, keeping up a fake grin, "Nah, it's cool. I'll catch you guys tomorrow."

"You sure? I doubt Miss Knipe will care if you come sit in," Pete offered.

Brendon shook his head, "No, it's fine, really. I'll probably just go watch Dallon at practice."

"Okay..." Pete said slowly, watching his face as if he was searching for a crack in Brendon's false facade. That only made Brendon upset. He didn't want to feel like something fragile everyone had to tiptoe around.

"Later," Brendon said a bit harshly, slamming his locker shut and stalking off before Pete could utter a goodbye.

He huffed as he stalked down the hall. He didn't want other people's pity. No, what he wanted was Dallon. Dallon wouldn't pity him. Dallon would make him smile and feel better.

His feet instantly guided him towards the locker room where he knew Dallon was changing before practice. The halls were practically empty by now, everyone having been eager to leave. Without the added noise from the masses of students, Brendon could hear the boys in the locker room from down the hall. They were rowdy and talkative. He could even pinpoint a laugh from Dallon.

He reached the entrance just as some of the boys emerged. Brendon stepped back instinctively as the taller, more muscular guys flooded into the hall. He moved back into the wall, not wanting to be seen.

"Hey!"

Brendon looked up into the familiar, smiling face of his lover. He was dressed in exercise shorts and a basic blue t-shirt. Simple and sexy to Brendon's somewhat perverted mind.

"Hey," Brendon smiled back. "You heading to practice?"

"Yeah, but it's raining, so we're just doing laps in the gym," Dallon explained.

"Can I watch?"

He chuckled, "You want to watch a bunch of sweaty dudes run in circles?"

"You'll be there." Brendon shrugged. "And I'm bored."

Dallon grinned, "Yeah, sure, I'll take you home after. I still owe you that favor."

Brendon blushed when Dallon winked and then moved to follow the tall boy as he headed for the gym. Their coach was standing at the doorway when they reached it. He let Dallon pass, but stopped when Brendon tried to enter as well.

"This is a closed practice," Coach Brax claimed, looking sternly at Brendon.

"I just want to sit and watch," Brendon tried to explain, but the coach cut him off with a shake of the head.

"Sorry, you can wait out here, but you can't come into the practice."

The coach was not putting anything up for debate as he headed into the gym, closing the door on Brendon. Brendon could barely see Dallon through the little door window. The taller boy simply gave Brendon an apologetic look and made a 'stay put' gesture before having to run off.

Brendon sighed heavily. He didn't want to stay put. He didn't want to sit alone for an hour and stare at the grey walls of the school hall.

Instead, he readjusted the strap on his backpack, threw up his sweatshirt hood, and stalked out into the rain. He needed to go for a long walk on the broken sidewalks.

And so he did. Alone, in the rain, and kind of chilly. It didn't feel nearly as long as it was. Brendon hadn't even noticed his fingers and toes getting a little numb from the cold. But why would he when everything else in him felt kind of numb as well? Those depressing feelings always seemed to surface more and more when he had time to think - whether that was when he was laying in Dallon's bed for hours or walking around his neighborhood. Those negative thoughts always seemed to find him.

It was always a slew of random things. Things about Dallon and insecurities he had about their relationship. The fear of never getting out of high school and never moving out of his parent's house. The worry that, in the remaining days of the current school year, Ryan Ross could continue to pummel him whenever he wanted without getting in trouble for it.

All of that, plus more, only made Brendon feel weak. Pathetic. Frustrated. Sad. It gave him that anxious feeling that he couldn't control. Everything just continued to spiral and Brendon found his own tears start to blend with the rain.

The only thing that finally got him out of his dark thoughts and back into reality was his phone buzzing in his pocket. He pulled it out and looked at it to see a text from Dallon. He assumed it was probably his lover wondering where he'd gone, but he noticed it hadn't been a full hour. His practice shouldn't have been over yet.

He opened the text, curious, only for his heart to drop.

Dallon: B, I need help. Practice got out early and when I left, someone attacked me. I'm in the alley behind the school. I'm bleeding, please hurry.

Brendon's heart raced. Fear and panic gripped him in a vice and he could barely think straight. He could barely breathe, too.

Smucker had warned him about someone getting hurt. He never would've imagined that someone was Dallon. Dallon didn't get hurt. Dallon was a rock. He was stubborn and strong. He was the only concrete thing Brendon had in his life and just the thought of seeing him broken and bleeding on the pavement brought a sob to Brendon's throat. It was too much.

But despite his own emotions, Dallon needed him. And as if by some other force, he felt his feet start moving, no, flying in the direction of the school. He let his backpack fall off his back, only finding that it slowed him down.

His only thought in that moment was Dallon. 'Dallon needs me. Please let Dallon be okay' he kept repeating in his head.

He knew exactly what alley he was referring to. It was a little alcove between the buildings. It was deep enough that no one from the street could see into it unless standing directly in it's opening. It was also, ironically, the alleged spot Jon Walker had been beaten to a pulp.

The water in his shoes sloshed as he ran across the pavement. He suddenly didn't mind the cold as his whole body was now hot with adrenaline. He started calling out for Dallon as he got close to the alleyway.

"Dal! Dallon!" He cried. He ran up to the buildings, going directly into the alcove, but he was surprised to be met with, well, nothing. There wasn't a soul in sight. No blood. No nothing.

For a moment, Brendon wondered if he'd gone to the wrong place. He fumbled to grab his phone again, deciding he should call Dallon. He didn't want his lover to bleed out before he got to him.

But when he opened his phone, he saw he had another text from Dallon.

Dallon: Turn around.

Instinctively, Brendon did so and instantly regretted it. Something hard collided with his face and he stumbled back in pain. His phone cluttered to the ground.

A malice-filled laugh cut through the rain sharply. Brendon turned white, knowing who the laugh belonged to.

"You're pathetic, Urie," Ryan sneered.

Brendon didn't want to look up. He didn't want to believe this was happening., but he couldn't keep himself from doing so.

His eyes fell upon Ryan and his two beefy friends. In one of their hands was a wooden baseball bat. In the other's hands was a pair of brass knuckles. And in Ryan's hands was Dallon's cell phone.

"My boyfriend is in trouble! Ah!" Ryan mocked, pocketing the phone and laughing at Brendon again.

Brendon didn't know if he should've felt more angry or scared in that moment. The initial urge he had was to return Ryan's punch, but the sight of their weapons caused him to want to make a run for it.

"What do you want, Ross?" Brendon questioned, standing straight in an attempt to appear threatening. He wasn't doing a very good job of that, though. "Haven't you done enough?"

"Clearly not enough," Ryan growled. "You're still a little fag."

"So, your plan is to beat the gay out of me, then? How well did that work for Jon, huh?"

"Enough to get him to leave," Ryan took a step towards Brendon, his friends mimicking him. They both had creepy, malicious grins that made Brendon's stomach do flips, "Just like you will."

"You're fucking psycho, Ross," Brendon spat. He got the feeling that Ryan was about to pounce after he said those words. And he was right.

Just as Ryan made a move at him, Brendon took his chance to run. But Ryan's friends had blocked most of the escape route and upon trying to slide past them, he found himself face to face with the baseball bat.

His head exploded in a pain that any plain, old punch could never give him. His whole world was spinning just after that one hit. He felt like his skull had completely cracked open. But, then he felt the brass knuckles and heard the sickening crunch of his nose. He quickly learned that was an even worse pain.

Blood splattered at his feet and over his hand as he tried to stop the gushing from his nostrils. He'd fallen into the wall and collapsed to the ground, dizzy and unable to see straight.

The three boys surrounded him and Brendon had to blink rapidly for them to come into focus.

"Where's your boyfriend now, huh?" Ryan said, sending a foot into Brendon's side. "Fag!"

Brendon cried out, grabbing at his body in a desperate attempt to protect himself. He could see the baseball bat preparing to come down on him again and flinched back violently.

"Wait, wait!" He shouted. He turned to Ryan, catching the other boy's eyes. "Ryan, please. I know this isn't you."

Ryan actually looked caught off guard at Brendon's words. Hell, Brendon was even shocked by what he was saying, but he was desperate to get out of there.

"You don't have to be ashamed," He continued. "You don't have to beat up others to prove some point. You could have friends who actually know the real you and listen and do all that fucking stuff friends should do."

Ryan was at a loss for words. He stared at Brendon, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"Hell, I'll be your friend, Ryan! Just fucking stop! Please!"

"I..." Ryan continued to look at him. His eyes read both lost and confused and Brendon prayed his words had been enough to break down some barrier in the kid's mind.

"Dude, what the hell is he even talking about?" One of his friends questioned.

"Yeah, you know what you're supposed to do, Ross," The other one sneered. "So let's get this over with already."

"I don't know-" Ryan began, turning to look at them. But he was quickly cut off.

"Don't tell me you're a fucking fag, too."

"If you aren't going to help us, then you can join him."

They swung their weapons about threatening and Brendon found himself trying to press further into the wall.

Ryan stepped back, actually looking scared. But it was only for a second, because his expression was quickly replaced with his usual angry one.

"Give me that!" He growled, snatching away the bat. He turned back to Brendon.

All the dark haired boy could do then was accept his fate. He took in a sharp breath and squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact.

And it came like rapid fire, like he was the target of an army at war. And along with the pain came darkness.

A darkness that he welcomed.

It was a strange feeling to regain hearing before sight, but that's what Brendon experienced. Distorted voices played in his ears as if he'd been trying to listen from underwater.

His mind felt slow and he couldn't understand what the voices were saying. He couldn't even make out who they belonged to.

He thought, for a split second, he heard his parents speaking. That made him wonder if he was having a nightmare.

He then slowly began to sense people around him. The voices would become distant and then closer. It was really starting to give him a headache. A really bad headache. In fact, it was throbbing.

Brendon instinctively groaned at the pain he was feeling and suddenly the voices stopped. Now, he felt small weights on his shoulders and arms. He groaned again, trying to shake them off.

He realized that he wanted to see. Everything was still dark and it panicked him a little. He needed to see the voices, but his eyelids were heavy and hard to lift. It was a painstakingly slow process, at least to Brendon. He couldn't understand why it was taking so long to open his eyes.

Once they were open, everything was blurry and the light in the room was blinding. It hurt his head even more and he groaned louder. He tried to lift his arm to cover his face and found it to be just as heavy as his eyelids. In fact, his whole body felt heavy. Everything was heavy and slow.

"Brendon, honey?"

Brendon hadn't been imagining it - that was his mother's voice. He turned towards it, blinking slowly until he could make out her dark hair and face.

She looked upset. Her brow was furrowed and her makeup was runny as if she'd been crying.

"Oh, thank God," She sighed, reaching up to stroke his face.

Brendon was confused. He looked around, wanting some kind of an answer as to what was going on. His eyes landed on his father. He was standing behind his mom, looking at Brendon. He looked... sad in a way, but relieved at the same time. How could his parents be standing in the same room and not yelling?

"You're okay, hon, you're okay," His mother repeated. "You were asleep for a while, but you're awake now."

What the hell did that mean? Brendon was starting to freak out now. He wanted to move, to sit up or stand, but he couldn't tell if he was actually doing so. His limbs barely felt like they were attached to his body.

He wanted to ask what was going on. He opened his mouth to try and communicate it, but wasn't sure if he was even forming words.

"Brendon," A new voice said. Brendon turned to see a man in a long white coat standing over the other side of his bed. "My name is Doctor Stein. Can you hear my voice?"

Brendon nodded slowly to the man, unsure why he was doing so. Suddenly, the man shined a bright light in his eyes, causing him to squint and turn away. He made a little disapproving sound.

"Can you tell me your name?" He asked next.

"Brendon," He grunted. He heard his own voice, but it sounded like a stranger's.

"Good," The doctor nodded. "Can you lift your arms for me?"

Brendon attempted to do so, fighting the weight of them. He managed to get them off the bed, but not overly high.

"Very good," Doctor Stein was marking things on a chart. It took Brendon's mind a minute to catch up with the rest of the world, but his eyes widened when he discovered where he was.

A hospital.

"Do you know where you are?" The doctor asked.

"Hospital," Brendon answered with a little whimper.

"That's correct," He said. "You came in with a concussion and some internal bleeding."

It was starting to come back to him now. The fight with Ryan, being cornered in the alley, thinking Dallon had been hurt.

Dallon. Where was Dallon?

Brendon immediately attempted to sit himself up, looking around. He looked panicked.

"What's wrong, honey?" His mother asked.

The doctor gently touched Brendon's arm, pushing him back down, "You're all right, Brendon."

"No," Brendon said, not knowing how to communicate his need to see his boyfriend. "No."

"No what, Brendon?" His father chimed in.

"No!" Brendon cried, tears starting to stream down his face. He kept trying to move, trying to do too much too quickly. Everything started to get blurry again and his head felt light and dizzy.

Slowly, he could feel himself relaxing again. But did he want to relax? He couldn't tell anymore.

The world slowly went dark again.

It had taken a little while for Brendon to become fully coherent again. In that time, he became more aware of the things in his room. But more importantly, the people.

Along with his parents, who had shockingly been getting along, Pete and Josh had came to visit. They had even been there when he woke up.

As had Dallon. In fact, Dallon hadn't left the hospital since Brendon had fallen under the two-day coma he was in.

He'd been right by his side the whole time and at that very moment, was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, watching Brendon's parents fuss over him. Mostly Brendon's mom was doing the fussing. She'd even apologized multiple times for not knowing what was going on at school. She blamed herself for his being bullied so much. It was actually kind of refreshing to Brendon.

"It's okay, mom," Brendon told her for the hundredth time. "You should go eat something."

"He's right," Brendon's father said.

His mother nodded, "Fine, fine." She gave Brendon a quick kiss on the head before standing to leave. His dad gave him a small look over the shoulder before following her out.

That only left Brendon and Dallon in the room - the first time they'd been alone since Brendon woke up.

Brendon turned to say something to Dallon, but immediately found the boy in front of him, leaning into him for a passionate kiss. Brendon easily melted into it, reaching up to hold onto the front of Dallon's shirt.

It was a long kiss, like neither of them wanted it to end, but they eventually had to breathe. When they pulled apart, Dallon kept their foreheads firmly pressed together. He didn't let his face move more than an inch from Brendon's.

"I love you," He breathed. "God, I love you, please don't ever scare me like that again."

"I'll try not to," Brendon whispered in response.

"Do you know how hard it was to watch you wake up and not immediately run to your side? I wanted to kiss you from the moment your eyes opened. But your parents..."

"I know," Brendon said. "I'm sorry I scared you."

Dallon sighed. He moved his arms around Brendon so he could hug him close into his chest. It was a tight hug, one that told Brendon he never wanted to let go.

Brendon hugged Dallon back and for a long while that's how they stayed. Nothing but the beat of their hearts against one another and their hot breaths to fill the room.

"Dallon?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you, too."

Brendon still had another day in the hospital until he'd, hopefully, be released. Pete and Josh had come to visit him again and Dallon still had yet to leave (except for school). It was nice having the people around that cared for him, especially when he was confined to his bed.

"The black eye makes you look kind of badass," Pete told him. They were all sitting around the hospital room, snacking on various things from the vending machines.

Brendon chuckled dryly, "Oh, yeah, I'm sure the fat lip and the bandages make me look real tough, too."

Brendon had been fairly lucky, actually. He somehow managed not to break or fracture anything. The only thing that had really needed adjusted was his nose that had gotten pretty fucked up. He had bruises and cuts everywhere, but the concussion had dialed way down. Aside from feeling achy and his muscles feeling weak, he wasn't in too bad of shape.

Dallon huffed a bit from where he sat on the bed beside Brendon, "Ryan Ross better pray I don't run into him on the street."

"Dal, please don't go looking for a fight," Brendon sighed. The last thing he wanted was for Dallon to end up in a hospital bed, too.

"I'm not," Dallon said. "I'm just saying if I run into him..."

Brendon gave him a pointed look and Dallon dropped it. He leaned over to place a kiss on Brendon's head, getting the smaller boy to smile.

Suddenly, Josh stood from where he sat by Pete and moved to the door. There was a window he could look through and his eyes widened upon seeing something on the other side.

"I think you're going to get your chance, Dallon," He said. He stepped aside as the door swung open.

Ryan Ross hesitantly entered the room, followed by a nurse. They were met with four blank stares.

"You're very popular, Brendon," The nurse said to him. Brendon couldn't even nod in response. He was staring at Ryan, a rush of emotions hitting him like a freight train. "I'll leave you to it." The nurse said before disappearing.

As soon as the door clicked shut, chaos ensued. Dallon practically leapt from the bed before Brendon could stop him. He grabbed Ryan by the collar of his shirt, slamming him into the nearest wall. Josh had moved to do the same so they were both looming over him threateningly.

"Do you have a fucking death wish, Ross?" Dallon growled in his face.

"Dallon, stop!" Brendon shouted, moving to get out of the bed. Pete quickly came to his side, not wanting him to fall and hurt himself.

"You should be the one in the goddamn hospital after what you did!"

"Dal!" Brendon whimpered weakly. He was standing beside the bed now, leaning on Pete.

Dallon glanced over his shoulder upon hearing his whimper, "Bren, get back in the damn bed!"

Josh was still in Ryan's face, looking ready to throw a punch. Ryan did nothing to fight back. He looked too terrified to even move.

"Pl-please," Ryan stammered. "I came in peace."

"Let him talk," Brendon said, staring at Dallon.

Dallon eyed Brendon for a moment, reading his lover's face. He sighed, not wanting to upset Brendon. He turned back to Ryan and angrily threw the boy to the ground, releasing his hold on him, "Talk."

Ryan winced as he hit the ground, but didn't move to stand. He was at Brendon's feet and slowly looked up at the dark haired boy, his expression looking pitiful.

"I'm sorry," He said, in barely a whisper. Brendon wasn't sure he heard right.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Ryan's lip quivered. "We didn't mean to put you in the hospital. We just wanted you to leave so we wouldn't get in trouble."

"Trouble?" Brendon shook his head in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

Ryan slowly stood, sniffling a bit and wiping his eyes, "Principal Smucker... he basically ordered us to do it. He threatened our grades and shit. Threatened to do things that wouldn't get us into college. He even paid us when... when it was Jon."

The tension in the room felt thick as Ryan revealed this to them. Brendon himself was going through a circle of emotions. Anger, however, was pretty constant.

"I just wanted to say that I'm not going to do it anymore," Ryan said, his voice softer now. "I have evidence against him. I'm taking it to the school board."

Brendon was silent for a long time, trying to process everything, "Why? Why now?"

Ryan shifted on his feet awkwardly, "I just..." he shrugged, unable to finish his words. Brendon had a feeling, though, it had to do with him and Ryan coming to terms with his own sexuality.

"Thanks," Brendon uttered. Ryan looked up, surprised by how nice Brendon was being towards him.

He quickly nodded in response, "I'm sorry, again."

The four boys watched him turn to leave quickly. For a minute, no one said anything, too stunned by what just happened.

When the reality of it hit him, Brendon broke down in tears. He'd managed to keep it together since waking up, but something was bound to take him over the edge eventually. And this was it. After everything that he endured for the last month or so, this was it.

Too many emotions overwhelmed him at once. He felt Dallon suddenly at his side, bringing Brendon into his arms. He sobbed for a long time and let everything out.

When it was all over, when he'd finally calmed down, curled into Dallon's warm side, it was the best, most restful sleep he had gotten in a very, very long time.