bandomstuffsit 2010: Must Have Been the Mistletoe
I was so lucky with fic exchanges last month, guys! Not only did I receive fabulous stories, but I ended up with prompts that were a lot of fun to write and full of things I love. This was no exception: I wrote this for blindingsight, who has exceptionally good taste and mentioned Spencer/Dallon, Z/Tennessee, pining, miscommunication, and high school AU as possibilities. This is all of these things!
So, uh, yes. High school AU, Spencer/Dallon with some Z/Tennessee, ~4000 words, rated PG-13. The title and cut text are from the song Must Have Been the Mistletoe, which has been done by a whole bunch of people and Google is failing to let me know who it's originally by. /o\ woollysocks was my fantastic beta and I cannot possibly thank her enough for reading this through for me even though I didn't send it until the last possible moment. ♥
Must Have Been the Mistletoe
"Shut up," Spencer's saying to Brendon when Dallon walks into math class. "Seriously, shut the fuck up right now or I'm going to take you out to sea and feed you to the sharks, I swear to god."
"Most sharks don't eat people," Dallon points out as he sits down behind Spencer. "You'd probably have better luck with an alligator."
"See, this is why I like you," Spencer says. "You're all like, 'Oh, hey, I'm Dallon and I'm the nicest guy ever, except for when I'm giving advice on how to kill Brendon with a man-eating animal."
"Your mom's a man-eating animal," Dallon says, and Spencer kicks his chair.
"I take it back. I hate you and I have no idea why I keep you around."
"His dashing good looks," Brendon says. "Although I mostly just keep him around because he never notices when I steal his fries at lunch."
"I see how it is," Dallon says. "I'm just another pretty face with awesome snacks."
Spencer rolls his eyes and looks down at his math book. "Oh, hey, did you guys do those problems? I meant to start them last night and totally forgot."
"I thought those weren't due until after the winter break," Dallon says.
"Yeah, but I wanted to get them out of the way so I don't have to do anything over vacation I don't want to do. Except for taking my sisters gift shopping and going to that fucking Christmas party." He rolls his eyes again. "I don't even know which one I want to do less."
"Whose party?" Dallon asks.
"Ryan's," he says. "It's tonight, remember? You guys are coming, right?"
"Uh," Brendon says. "I don't know. I mean, that is a lot of math to get done, so I should probably, like. Do that."
"Seriously, I told you about the party a week ago and that's the best excuse you can come up with?" Spencer says. "Weak, Urie. Anyway, you guys need to come. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a whole bunch of people talking about how they only listen to mainstream music ironically while they ironically trim their facial hair into ironic shapes."
"Wow, yeah, that sounds like a great time," Dallon says.
"You guys aren't going to make me do it on my own, are you?" Spencer says. He's got his head ducked down a little, and he's looking at them through his lashes, and Dallon's never been able to say no to that look.
"Fine," he says.
Brendon's got his arms folded across his chest, but he sighs and slumps down in his chair when Spencer sends that look his way. "Okay," he says. Spencer grins at them both and turns around in his seat, facing the front of the room where the teacher's getting ready to start the lesson.
*
Dallon had forgotten about the party, and he's not really looking forward to it now. It's not that's he doesn't like Ryan - he's only actually met him once or twice, since he'd graduated the summer before Dallon transferred, so he doesn't have much of an opinion on him at all, really. And it's definitely not that he doesn't like Brendon or Spencer. It's maybe that he likes Spencer a little too much, that's all, and sometimes being around Brendon and Spencer is a little rough, seeing them together and knowing he doesn't have a chance.
He met Spencer at the beginning of the school year, just after he transferred. He'd spent the first few minutes thinking that maybe there was something there, and maybe Spencer was interested, and - well, just maybe. Spencer was friendly and seemed genuinely interested in what Dallon was saying, and he laughed at his jokes and smiled a little bit too long afterwards. And then Spencer had invited him to sit with him and his friends at lunch, and Brendon had sat down between them, and however much Spencer had smiled at Dallon, he totally lit up around Brendon. And it turned out that Brendon was pretty awesome, so Dallon couldn't even hate him or hold a grudge against him or anything. He's pretty sure they're not even dating yet, and he's been steeling himself up for the moment when they finally realize they're made for each other, because he's going to have to congratulate them and be a good friend and act like there's nothing bothering him.
It's not like he's pining or anything. It's just that Spencer's a good friend, and he's funny and charming and really, really hot - Dallon's just an aesthete, really. And it's only natural for looking at Spencer in admiration to turn into idle thoughts, and for those thoughts to turn into daydreams. Sometimes he spends the better part of math class staring at the back of Spencer's head and imagining what it would be like to hold his hand.
Okay, he's totally pining, and he's maybe got the same romantic fantasies as a nine-year-old, and he's also probably failing math.
*
Dallon pulls into Ryan's driveway with an ounce of trepidation. He's not sure showing up on his own was a good idea, considering he doesn't know Ryan and hasn't actually been invited, so he's not really sure if he should just walk in or not. Brendon's there when he gets there, though, sitting on the hood of his car, and Dallon walks over, feeling relieved. "Have you been in yet?" he asks.
"No," he says. "I was waiting for you and Spence to get here."
"Spence isn't here?"
"He just texted me to say his car broke down," Brendon says. "His mom's going to drop him off, though, so don't worry."
"I wasn't worrying," Dallon says, and it comes out a little defensive. "Why would you think I was worrying? I wasn't."
"Okay," Brendon says slowly. "Right. Anyway, I think he's here now."
Dallon looks up and sure enough, Spencer's mom's car is stopping at the curb.
He hops out and waves goodbye to his mother before hurrying over to them. "Hey," he says. "Do you guys still want to crash at my house? Because my parents are going to be gone all night, and my sisters are gone to my grandparents', and Mom just said that she doesn't want me to stay by myself. So if you don't come over I'm going to have to call my grandma to pick me up at, like, ten-thirty so she doesn't miss Law & Order."
"I don't know," Brendon says. "I didn't plan on babysitting this weekend." Spencer punches him in the arm and he cringes. "Ow, motherfucker, that actually hurt. Yeah, I'm still coming over, even though you're an asshole."
Spencer looks at Dallon inquisitively. He shrugs. "Not sure yet, but probably." He's got his parents' permission to stay at Spencer's, but he's still not sure he's up for another night of being the third wheel. "Anyway, inside?"
"I guess," Brendon says, squaring his shoulders. Spencer nods, looking tense, and Dallon stifles a laugh, because they're acting like they're going off to war or something, instead of to a party.
The party's in the basement, apparently, and they go through a side door and down into a narrow stairwell. It's a tight squeeze to get past - there's a bunch of coats piled at the top of the stairs, and a couple of girls are standing a few steps below, chatting as one of them finishes a cigarette. Spencer nods hello to them and stops to take off his jacket, which leaves Dallon and Brendon stuck behind him. Dallon ends up with his arm awkwardly pressed against the girl who's standing. "Sorry," he says, offering her an apologetic smile.
"It's all right," she says, smiling, and then before he even knows what's happening, she leans in and presses a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth.
"Um," he says. "Hi."
"Hello," she says, smiling again and pointing up. There's a sprig of something green tacked to the ceiling "Mistletoe."
"We've been trapping everyone who comes in," the other girl says. "I'd kiss you too, but." She waves her cigarette around. "It's probably rude to kiss someone when you'd be giving them a mouthful of smoke."
"Yeah," he says. "Thanks."
He glances ahead of them, and Brendon's looking back, eyebrows raised. Spencer looks more disapproving than anything. Dallon supposes that being your friend's moral support at a party probably doesn't include randomly kissing the party guests.
"Where's my kiss? I feel slighted," Brendon says, and pulls Spencer down by the scarf. He flails about for a moment and then grabs hold of the railing. He has to nearly bend double to kiss Brendon, their height difference made even bigger by the steps in between them, and Dallon looks away, busying himself by unbuttoning his coat and tucking his gloves carefully into the pockets.
They're not kissing anymore when he looks back a few moments later, which is a relief. Spencer's smiling, though, looking fond and amused, and he seems a little more composed than he'd been a moment before. Dallon swallows against a lump in his throat, smiles thinly at the two girls, and pushes past everyone, dropping his jacket on the pile. "Are you guys coming in?" he asks, and he's very proud when his voice comes out steady and almost totally normal.
*
The party is weird. Brendon's good mood disappears once he gets inside, like it always does when they talk about Ryan, except it's even worse this time because Ryan's actually there. Dallon has no idea what happened between them, and until someone tells him what actually went down, he's assuming that they were secret superheroes who used to fight crime together until a busload of hipsters enticed Ryan away from his hero lifestyle with promises of Kinks albums and really good weed. From the music playing in the background and the smell of pot lingering in the air, he's fairly confident that his guess might be right on the money, at least about that last part.
Anyway, Brendon and Ryan are weird around each other, and Spencer's weird because he's trying to make them both comfortable and only succeeding in making the tension worse. Dallon gives up on them pretty quickly, and leaves them behind to go and raid the table full of food. He runs into a couple of guys he knows and they chat for awhile, and then someone comes up beside him and says, "So you're the type who kisses and runs."
It's the girl from before. He grins at her. "What can I say, I'm kind of a bandit."
"A real highwayman," she says. "I'm Tennessee, by the way."
"Dallon," he says, offering her his hand.
When she takes it, she doesn't let go, and leans in to say quietly, "Do you know why your friend's been glaring at me since he got here? I've met him before and he was always perfectly nice."
Dallon glances over to the couch where Brendon and Spencer are sitting. Brendon's staring down at the floor, arms folded, and Spencer is indeed sending a mean look their way. "He's just in a bad mood," he says. "I think it's more of a glare at me for fraternizing with the enemy."
"I didn't realize I was the enemy," she says, sounding delighted. "That's exciting, I've never been a villain before."
"You're a real highwayman," he says, and she laughs, finally letting go of his hand.
"Anyway, I'm going to go and find Z," she says. "It was nice to meet you properly."
"It was nice to meet you too," he says. "Improperly and otherwise."
Tennessee laughs again and crosses the room, sitting down next to the blonde girl she'd been talking to in the stairwell. Dallon grabs a few cookies from a plate and heads over to sit down with Brendon and Spencer on the couch. "Cookie?" he asks them, and Brendon takes one.
Spencer shakes his head. "No thanks," he says. "She seemed nice."
"Oh, Tennessee? Yeah, she's cool."
"She's pretty, too," he says, and Dallon's pretty sure he's going to laugh or cry or do something embarrassing if Spencer's trying to hook him up.
"Yeah," he says. "I don't think this party's as scary as you made it out to be, Spence. You guys should talk to some people or something. Mingle."
Spencer shrugs. "I'm not in a mingling mood," he says, and Brendon stands up suddenly, cramming the rest of his cookie in his mouth.
"You know what? You're right, Dallon," he says. "I'm fucking sick of sitting around feeling sorry for myself." He walks over to the table where Dallon had been standing, immediately striking up conversation with a couple of girls who are piling some cookies onto a plate.
"What's that all about?" he asks, and Spencer shrugs.
"I think he thinks that if he looks like he's having fun, Ryan will get angry."
"What's up with them, anyway?" Dallon asks before thinking better of prying. "Actually, you know what, never mind, because the story in my head involves superheroes and treachery, and that's probably way better than whatever actually happened."
Spencer laughs. "Definitely better. They just fought a lot, and one day they fought too much, that's all."
"Huh," Dallon says. "Is that why you and Ryan are weird now? You sided with Brendon?"
"I didn't side with either of them," he says, shaking his head. "I didn't want to be in the middle. And now I am in the middle and it sucks. I know it sounds stupid, but -"
"Yeah," Dallon says, and he reaches out, throwing his arm over Spencer's shoulders. "Yeah, no, that would suck."
"Yeah," Spencer says, and he leans into Dallon a little.
Spencer's warm against his side, and Dallon closes his eyes for a second, just letting himself have this moment. He stays a little too long, maybe, and then pulls his arm back, shifting back against the arm of the couch. "So," he says. "Zombies versus unicorns, who would win?"
*
The party continues, and they spend most of it on the couch - once they've got the zombie/unicorn debate settled, they move on to robots versus ninjas and cyborgs versus vampires. Dallon eventually manages to convince Spencer to actually be social, though, which he thinks is a huge accomplishment. Tennessee and Z come over and chat for a bit, and Spencer is much more civil than before. Ryan comes over too, and it's not as bad as Dallon was expecting - Brendon's disappeared, and Spencer's a lot less tense when he's not trying to keep the peace between them.
They're in the corner examining Ryan's music collection (all vinyl, though Spencer claims that Ryan's got a secret cache of embarrassing pop-punk CDs hidden somewhere) when Brendon comes back near midnight, his hair mussed up and a dazed, happy expression on his face. "Hey, I'm going to take off."
"I thought we were staying for another hour or two," Spencer says.
"Yeah, I, uh. Maybe Dallon can give you a ride home? I have plans," he says, raising his eyebrows, and Spencer blinks.
"Oh," he says. "Oh. Dude." Brendon puts up his hand and Spencer gives him a high-five. "The redhead?"
"Yeah," he says. "We're going to go get coffee."
"Dude," Spencer says again. "Have fun, use protection, et cetera."
Brendon flips him off. "Thanks for inviting me, Ross," he says, waving to Ryan. "Merry Christmas, dude. See you guys later."
Ryan looks surprised. "Later," he says, and then once Brendon's out of earshot, he says, "That's the nicest thing he's said to me all year."
"It's a Christmas miracle," Spencer says. Dallon's staring after Brendon, and out of the corner of his eye he sees Spencer frown. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he says. "I'm fine." Are you fine? he wants to ask, but thinks better of it. He's either misjudging this situation right now or he's been misjudging the situation for, oh, the last five months of his life, and at the moment he really can't tell which it is.
"Good," Spencer says, and then, "Oh, fuck, have you seen my phone?"
"Not since we were over on the couch."
"It had better still be there," he says, and walks away, grumbling to himself under his breath.
Dallon waits until he's out of earshot and turns quickly to Ryan. "So," he says. "Question. Are Brendon and Spencer -"
"Not doing it," Ryan says, raising his eyebrows. It's hard to tell, but Dallon thinks he's amused.
"Right," Dallon says. "Do they want to be doing it?"
"Not especially," he says.
"Huh," Dallon says.
"I know," Ryan says. "Anyway, good luck with that, man." He strides off, and Dallon leans against the wall. The foundations of his whole universe are shifting, and he's not sure yet, but he thinks it might be pretty awesome. "Brave new world," he says quietly to himself.
"Uh huh," Spencer says slowly from behind him. Dallon jumps, flushing a little. "I found my phone. Where'd Ryan go?"
Dallon shrugs. "Somewhere, I don't know. Hey, you're not pissed off about Brendon, are you?" And this, even after every other confirmation, has him holding his breath. It's the moment of truth, really.
Spencer laughs, and Dallon exhales quickly. "You say that like it's the first time he's bailed on me to hook up with someone," he says. "At least this time I have a ride home. The only thing I'm pissed about is that he's inevitably going to say something that comes out all wrong, she's going to dump her coffee on his lap and storm out, and we're going to have to spend the next two months hearing him whine about how he has no game and he's going to die a virgin. And how the coffee almost burned his dick, which isn't a conversation I ever need to have again."
"Huh," Dallon says again. "Hey, do you think we could leave soon?"
*
They run into Tennessee again before they leave. "Oh," she says. "I was just looking for you two." She scribbles something down on a napkin and hands it to Dallon. "Text me and we'll hang out sometime," she says, and before he can answer, she continues talking. "Right, have you seen Z anywhere? I need to tell her goodbye before I go."
"She was smoking in the stairs again a few minutes ago," Spencer says shortly. He's glaring again, civility all but gone, and - oh. Huh. Dallon looks at the napkin in his hand, her number hastily scrawled, and then looks back at Spencer. Either Spencer's jealous, or he's just randomly being an asshole for no real reason at all. Dallon's pretty certain it's not the latter, but it just doesn't make sense for it to be the former.
"Thanks," Tennessee says, not at all bothered by Spencer's coldness. "Oh, hey, I think Ryan mentioned that you play drums? You should email me too. I want to check out that new music store that just opened, and it would be nice to have someone who actually knows what they're talking about to help me pick out my new cymbals."
"Oh," Spencer says. "Yeah, uh, sure. That would be fun."
"Great. Nice meeting you, and nice seeing you again, Spencer," she says.
"You too," he says, looking a little embarrassed.
"You ready?" Dallon asks as Tennessee heads out the door, and Spencer nods. "Let's go say goodbye to Ryan."
They have a cursory look for Ryan, but he's nowhere to be found, so Spencer decides to text him a goodbye, and they go to get their coats.
The problem with getting their coats is that Z and Tennessee have fallen into their own mistletoe trap. They're sprawled on the pile of coats, and it's a much more serious kiss than Tennessee had given Dallon earlier, judging by the way her fingers are running along the hem of Z's skirt, fingertips just trailing under, resting on her thighs. "Uh," he says. "Excuse us, but we'd like our jackets."
They pull apart long enough for Spencer to grab their coats, and Z grins at them a little wickedly. "Have a good night," she says.
"I'd say the same," Dallon says, "but it looks like you've got that covered."
They wave, and Dallon pulls Spencer out the door.
Spencer nearly trips, looking back, and once they're outside he widens his eyes. "Dude," he says. "Aren't you pissed?"
"No," Dallon says. "What? Oh, you thought - no, no, she's. She's cool and I want to hang out with her sometime, but."
Spencer nods, and then says, "Hurry up, it's really damn cold." He fiddles with the car door handle even though he knows Dallon always locks his car. Dallon doesn't unlock it, though, coming over to stand next to Spencer instead.
"Um," Spencer says. "Car? I'm freezing."
"Yeah," Dallon says. "Sorry." He's pretty sure he's staring like a creeper. Spencer just looks confused, which is probably better than creeped out, considering what Dallon's about to do.
"What's up?" he asks.
"It's nothing, just. With the mistletoe. Technically we were both under it just now, so. I'm going to kiss you, if that's okay."
Spencer stares at him for a moment. "Yes, okay," he says faintly.
Dallon ducks his head a little, and Spencer tips his head up and meets him halfway, kissing him softly. Dallon's heart is beating so loudly he can hear it, and he wonders if Spencer can feel it.
Spencer sighs, leaning back against the car without letting go of Dallon, and Dallon falls forward a little. Spencer steadies him, grabbing both of his arms, and then slides his hands down, resting them at Dallon's waist. "Hey," he says, leaning back a little more when Dallon leans in to kiss him again. "Um, are you - this isn't just about the mistletoe, is it?"
"Not so much, no. Is that a problem?"
"Not so much, no," Spencer echoes. He grins, and Dallon smiles back helplessly, reaching up to brush Spencer's hair away from his face.
Spencer swats his hand away as soon as it makes contact, though. "Fuck, your fingers are freezing."
"Sorry," Dallon says, not sound apologetic at all. "Warm me up?"
"No," Spencer says. "That was the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said in the history of life. Come on, get in the car and put some fucking heat on."
"Oh, I'll put some heat on all right," Dallon says, reaching past Spencer to unlock the passenger door.
The windows are covered in steam, and Dallon sighs, turning the keys in the ignition and fiddling with the heat. "It's going to take awhile for the steam to clear off the windows," he says. "So we probably have time for more makeouts, if that's something you'd be interested in."
"That would be counterproductive," Spencer says. "They're just going to get even more fogged up then."
"Strangely enough, I don't really care," Dallon says. "Ryan won't mind if we stay parked in his driveway all night, will he?"
"He won't even notice, but his neighbors probably would," Spencer says, laughing. He leans over and kisses Dallon quickly - way too quickly, in Dallon's opinion, since he's pretty much decided that he doesn't want to do anything else ever again. "Come on, let's let the car heat up and then go get hot chocolate."
"It's, like, one in the morning, and we're supposed to be back to your house by now."
"Yeah, and my parents aren't home. So we'll drop by the coffee shop, see if that girl's ditched Brendon yet, grab some hot chocolate, and then go home and make out until my parents get back, and then we'll pretend to be asleep when they check on us, and then we can make out some more."
"You have the best plans," Dallon says. "Although I still think we should skip the coffee shop and just go home."
"Hot chocolate," Spencer says. "And the potential to mock Brendon."
"Tempting, but if he strikes out while we're there, he's just going to come back with us, and then we'll have to spend the whole night trying to cheer him up."
The instead of going home by ourselves and making out goes unsaid, but he's pretty sure Spencer catches it. "I think I have some instant hot chocolate at home," he says, grinning, and Dallon starts to back out of the driveway.
So, uh, yes. High school AU, Spencer/Dallon with some Z/Tennessee, ~4000 words, rated PG-13. The title and cut text are from the song Must Have Been the Mistletoe, which has been done by a whole bunch of people and Google is failing to let me know who it's originally by. /o\ woollysocks was my fantastic beta and I cannot possibly thank her enough for reading this through for me even though I didn't send it until the last possible moment. ♥
Must Have Been the Mistletoe
"Shut up," Spencer's saying to Brendon when Dallon walks into math class. "Seriously, shut the fuck up right now or I'm going to take you out to sea and feed you to the sharks, I swear to god."
"Most sharks don't eat people," Dallon points out as he sits down behind Spencer. "You'd probably have better luck with an alligator."
"See, this is why I like you," Spencer says. "You're all like, 'Oh, hey, I'm Dallon and I'm the nicest guy ever, except for when I'm giving advice on how to kill Brendon with a man-eating animal."
"Your mom's a man-eating animal," Dallon says, and Spencer kicks his chair.
"I take it back. I hate you and I have no idea why I keep you around."
"His dashing good looks," Brendon says. "Although I mostly just keep him around because he never notices when I steal his fries at lunch."
"I see how it is," Dallon says. "I'm just another pretty face with awesome snacks."
Spencer rolls his eyes and looks down at his math book. "Oh, hey, did you guys do those problems? I meant to start them last night and totally forgot."
"I thought those weren't due until after the winter break," Dallon says.
"Yeah, but I wanted to get them out of the way so I don't have to do anything over vacation I don't want to do. Except for taking my sisters gift shopping and going to that fucking Christmas party." He rolls his eyes again. "I don't even know which one I want to do less."
"Whose party?" Dallon asks.
"Ryan's," he says. "It's tonight, remember? You guys are coming, right?"
"Uh," Brendon says. "I don't know. I mean, that is a lot of math to get done, so I should probably, like. Do that."
"Seriously, I told you about the party a week ago and that's the best excuse you can come up with?" Spencer says. "Weak, Urie. Anyway, you guys need to come. I'm pretty sure there's going to be a whole bunch of people talking about how they only listen to mainstream music ironically while they ironically trim their facial hair into ironic shapes."
"Wow, yeah, that sounds like a great time," Dallon says.
"You guys aren't going to make me do it on my own, are you?" Spencer says. He's got his head ducked down a little, and he's looking at them through his lashes, and Dallon's never been able to say no to that look.
"Fine," he says.
Brendon's got his arms folded across his chest, but he sighs and slumps down in his chair when Spencer sends that look his way. "Okay," he says. Spencer grins at them both and turns around in his seat, facing the front of the room where the teacher's getting ready to start the lesson.
*
Dallon had forgotten about the party, and he's not really looking forward to it now. It's not that's he doesn't like Ryan - he's only actually met him once or twice, since he'd graduated the summer before Dallon transferred, so he doesn't have much of an opinion on him at all, really. And it's definitely not that he doesn't like Brendon or Spencer. It's maybe that he likes Spencer a little too much, that's all, and sometimes being around Brendon and Spencer is a little rough, seeing them together and knowing he doesn't have a chance.
He met Spencer at the beginning of the school year, just after he transferred. He'd spent the first few minutes thinking that maybe there was something there, and maybe Spencer was interested, and - well, just maybe. Spencer was friendly and seemed genuinely interested in what Dallon was saying, and he laughed at his jokes and smiled a little bit too long afterwards. And then Spencer had invited him to sit with him and his friends at lunch, and Brendon had sat down between them, and however much Spencer had smiled at Dallon, he totally lit up around Brendon. And it turned out that Brendon was pretty awesome, so Dallon couldn't even hate him or hold a grudge against him or anything. He's pretty sure they're not even dating yet, and he's been steeling himself up for the moment when they finally realize they're made for each other, because he's going to have to congratulate them and be a good friend and act like there's nothing bothering him.
It's not like he's pining or anything. It's just that Spencer's a good friend, and he's funny and charming and really, really hot - Dallon's just an aesthete, really. And it's only natural for looking at Spencer in admiration to turn into idle thoughts, and for those thoughts to turn into daydreams. Sometimes he spends the better part of math class staring at the back of Spencer's head and imagining what it would be like to hold his hand.
Okay, he's totally pining, and he's maybe got the same romantic fantasies as a nine-year-old, and he's also probably failing math.
*
Dallon pulls into Ryan's driveway with an ounce of trepidation. He's not sure showing up on his own was a good idea, considering he doesn't know Ryan and hasn't actually been invited, so he's not really sure if he should just walk in or not. Brendon's there when he gets there, though, sitting on the hood of his car, and Dallon walks over, feeling relieved. "Have you been in yet?" he asks.
"No," he says. "I was waiting for you and Spence to get here."
"Spence isn't here?"
"He just texted me to say his car broke down," Brendon says. "His mom's going to drop him off, though, so don't worry."
"I wasn't worrying," Dallon says, and it comes out a little defensive. "Why would you think I was worrying? I wasn't."
"Okay," Brendon says slowly. "Right. Anyway, I think he's here now."
Dallon looks up and sure enough, Spencer's mom's car is stopping at the curb.
He hops out and waves goodbye to his mother before hurrying over to them. "Hey," he says. "Do you guys still want to crash at my house? Because my parents are going to be gone all night, and my sisters are gone to my grandparents', and Mom just said that she doesn't want me to stay by myself. So if you don't come over I'm going to have to call my grandma to pick me up at, like, ten-thirty so she doesn't miss Law & Order."
"I don't know," Brendon says. "I didn't plan on babysitting this weekend." Spencer punches him in the arm and he cringes. "Ow, motherfucker, that actually hurt. Yeah, I'm still coming over, even though you're an asshole."
Spencer looks at Dallon inquisitively. He shrugs. "Not sure yet, but probably." He's got his parents' permission to stay at Spencer's, but he's still not sure he's up for another night of being the third wheel. "Anyway, inside?"
"I guess," Brendon says, squaring his shoulders. Spencer nods, looking tense, and Dallon stifles a laugh, because they're acting like they're going off to war or something, instead of to a party.
The party's in the basement, apparently, and they go through a side door and down into a narrow stairwell. It's a tight squeeze to get past - there's a bunch of coats piled at the top of the stairs, and a couple of girls are standing a few steps below, chatting as one of them finishes a cigarette. Spencer nods hello to them and stops to take off his jacket, which leaves Dallon and Brendon stuck behind him. Dallon ends up with his arm awkwardly pressed against the girl who's standing. "Sorry," he says, offering her an apologetic smile.
"It's all right," she says, smiling, and then before he even knows what's happening, she leans in and presses a quick kiss to the corner of his mouth.
"Um," he says. "Hi."
"Hello," she says, smiling again and pointing up. There's a sprig of something green tacked to the ceiling "Mistletoe."
"We've been trapping everyone who comes in," the other girl says. "I'd kiss you too, but." She waves her cigarette around. "It's probably rude to kiss someone when you'd be giving them a mouthful of smoke."
"Yeah," he says. "Thanks."
He glances ahead of them, and Brendon's looking back, eyebrows raised. Spencer looks more disapproving than anything. Dallon supposes that being your friend's moral support at a party probably doesn't include randomly kissing the party guests.
"Where's my kiss? I feel slighted," Brendon says, and pulls Spencer down by the scarf. He flails about for a moment and then grabs hold of the railing. He has to nearly bend double to kiss Brendon, their height difference made even bigger by the steps in between them, and Dallon looks away, busying himself by unbuttoning his coat and tucking his gloves carefully into the pockets.
They're not kissing anymore when he looks back a few moments later, which is a relief. Spencer's smiling, though, looking fond and amused, and he seems a little more composed than he'd been a moment before. Dallon swallows against a lump in his throat, smiles thinly at the two girls, and pushes past everyone, dropping his jacket on the pile. "Are you guys coming in?" he asks, and he's very proud when his voice comes out steady and almost totally normal.
*
The party is weird. Brendon's good mood disappears once he gets inside, like it always does when they talk about Ryan, except it's even worse this time because Ryan's actually there. Dallon has no idea what happened between them, and until someone tells him what actually went down, he's assuming that they were secret superheroes who used to fight crime together until a busload of hipsters enticed Ryan away from his hero lifestyle with promises of Kinks albums and really good weed. From the music playing in the background and the smell of pot lingering in the air, he's fairly confident that his guess might be right on the money, at least about that last part.
Anyway, Brendon and Ryan are weird around each other, and Spencer's weird because he's trying to make them both comfortable and only succeeding in making the tension worse. Dallon gives up on them pretty quickly, and leaves them behind to go and raid the table full of food. He runs into a couple of guys he knows and they chat for awhile, and then someone comes up beside him and says, "So you're the type who kisses and runs."
It's the girl from before. He grins at her. "What can I say, I'm kind of a bandit."
"A real highwayman," she says. "I'm Tennessee, by the way."
"Dallon," he says, offering her his hand.
When she takes it, she doesn't let go, and leans in to say quietly, "Do you know why your friend's been glaring at me since he got here? I've met him before and he was always perfectly nice."
Dallon glances over to the couch where Brendon and Spencer are sitting. Brendon's staring down at the floor, arms folded, and Spencer is indeed sending a mean look their way. "He's just in a bad mood," he says. "I think it's more of a glare at me for fraternizing with the enemy."
"I didn't realize I was the enemy," she says, sounding delighted. "That's exciting, I've never been a villain before."
"You're a real highwayman," he says, and she laughs, finally letting go of his hand.
"Anyway, I'm going to go and find Z," she says. "It was nice to meet you properly."
"It was nice to meet you too," he says. "Improperly and otherwise."
Tennessee laughs again and crosses the room, sitting down next to the blonde girl she'd been talking to in the stairwell. Dallon grabs a few cookies from a plate and heads over to sit down with Brendon and Spencer on the couch. "Cookie?" he asks them, and Brendon takes one.
Spencer shakes his head. "No thanks," he says. "She seemed nice."
"Oh, Tennessee? Yeah, she's cool."
"She's pretty, too," he says, and Dallon's pretty sure he's going to laugh or cry or do something embarrassing if Spencer's trying to hook him up.
"Yeah," he says. "I don't think this party's as scary as you made it out to be, Spence. You guys should talk to some people or something. Mingle."
Spencer shrugs. "I'm not in a mingling mood," he says, and Brendon stands up suddenly, cramming the rest of his cookie in his mouth.
"You know what? You're right, Dallon," he says. "I'm fucking sick of sitting around feeling sorry for myself." He walks over to the table where Dallon had been standing, immediately striking up conversation with a couple of girls who are piling some cookies onto a plate.
"What's that all about?" he asks, and Spencer shrugs.
"I think he thinks that if he looks like he's having fun, Ryan will get angry."
"What's up with them, anyway?" Dallon asks before thinking better of prying. "Actually, you know what, never mind, because the story in my head involves superheroes and treachery, and that's probably way better than whatever actually happened."
Spencer laughs. "Definitely better. They just fought a lot, and one day they fought too much, that's all."
"Huh," Dallon says. "Is that why you and Ryan are weird now? You sided with Brendon?"
"I didn't side with either of them," he says, shaking his head. "I didn't want to be in the middle. And now I am in the middle and it sucks. I know it sounds stupid, but -"
"Yeah," Dallon says, and he reaches out, throwing his arm over Spencer's shoulders. "Yeah, no, that would suck."
"Yeah," Spencer says, and he leans into Dallon a little.
Spencer's warm against his side, and Dallon closes his eyes for a second, just letting himself have this moment. He stays a little too long, maybe, and then pulls his arm back, shifting back against the arm of the couch. "So," he says. "Zombies versus unicorns, who would win?"
*
The party continues, and they spend most of it on the couch - once they've got the zombie/unicorn debate settled, they move on to robots versus ninjas and cyborgs versus vampires. Dallon eventually manages to convince Spencer to actually be social, though, which he thinks is a huge accomplishment. Tennessee and Z come over and chat for a bit, and Spencer is much more civil than before. Ryan comes over too, and it's not as bad as Dallon was expecting - Brendon's disappeared, and Spencer's a lot less tense when he's not trying to keep the peace between them.
They're in the corner examining Ryan's music collection (all vinyl, though Spencer claims that Ryan's got a secret cache of embarrassing pop-punk CDs hidden somewhere) when Brendon comes back near midnight, his hair mussed up and a dazed, happy expression on his face. "Hey, I'm going to take off."
"I thought we were staying for another hour or two," Spencer says.
"Yeah, I, uh. Maybe Dallon can give you a ride home? I have plans," he says, raising his eyebrows, and Spencer blinks.
"Oh," he says. "Oh. Dude." Brendon puts up his hand and Spencer gives him a high-five. "The redhead?"
"Yeah," he says. "We're going to go get coffee."
"Dude," Spencer says again. "Have fun, use protection, et cetera."
Brendon flips him off. "Thanks for inviting me, Ross," he says, waving to Ryan. "Merry Christmas, dude. See you guys later."
Ryan looks surprised. "Later," he says, and then once Brendon's out of earshot, he says, "That's the nicest thing he's said to me all year."
"It's a Christmas miracle," Spencer says. Dallon's staring after Brendon, and out of the corner of his eye he sees Spencer frown. "You okay?"
"Yeah," he says. "I'm fine." Are you fine? he wants to ask, but thinks better of it. He's either misjudging this situation right now or he's been misjudging the situation for, oh, the last five months of his life, and at the moment he really can't tell which it is.
"Good," Spencer says, and then, "Oh, fuck, have you seen my phone?"
"Not since we were over on the couch."
"It had better still be there," he says, and walks away, grumbling to himself under his breath.
Dallon waits until he's out of earshot and turns quickly to Ryan. "So," he says. "Question. Are Brendon and Spencer -"
"Not doing it," Ryan says, raising his eyebrows. It's hard to tell, but Dallon thinks he's amused.
"Right," Dallon says. "Do they want to be doing it?"
"Not especially," he says.
"Huh," Dallon says.
"I know," Ryan says. "Anyway, good luck with that, man." He strides off, and Dallon leans against the wall. The foundations of his whole universe are shifting, and he's not sure yet, but he thinks it might be pretty awesome. "Brave new world," he says quietly to himself.
"Uh huh," Spencer says slowly from behind him. Dallon jumps, flushing a little. "I found my phone. Where'd Ryan go?"
Dallon shrugs. "Somewhere, I don't know. Hey, you're not pissed off about Brendon, are you?" And this, even after every other confirmation, has him holding his breath. It's the moment of truth, really.
Spencer laughs, and Dallon exhales quickly. "You say that like it's the first time he's bailed on me to hook up with someone," he says. "At least this time I have a ride home. The only thing I'm pissed about is that he's inevitably going to say something that comes out all wrong, she's going to dump her coffee on his lap and storm out, and we're going to have to spend the next two months hearing him whine about how he has no game and he's going to die a virgin. And how the coffee almost burned his dick, which isn't a conversation I ever need to have again."
"Huh," Dallon says again. "Hey, do you think we could leave soon?"
*
They run into Tennessee again before they leave. "Oh," she says. "I was just looking for you two." She scribbles something down on a napkin and hands it to Dallon. "Text me and we'll hang out sometime," she says, and before he can answer, she continues talking. "Right, have you seen Z anywhere? I need to tell her goodbye before I go."
"She was smoking in the stairs again a few minutes ago," Spencer says shortly. He's glaring again, civility all but gone, and - oh. Huh. Dallon looks at the napkin in his hand, her number hastily scrawled, and then looks back at Spencer. Either Spencer's jealous, or he's just randomly being an asshole for no real reason at all. Dallon's pretty certain it's not the latter, but it just doesn't make sense for it to be the former.
"Thanks," Tennessee says, not at all bothered by Spencer's coldness. "Oh, hey, I think Ryan mentioned that you play drums? You should email me too. I want to check out that new music store that just opened, and it would be nice to have someone who actually knows what they're talking about to help me pick out my new cymbals."
"Oh," Spencer says. "Yeah, uh, sure. That would be fun."
"Great. Nice meeting you, and nice seeing you again, Spencer," she says.
"You too," he says, looking a little embarrassed.
"You ready?" Dallon asks as Tennessee heads out the door, and Spencer nods. "Let's go say goodbye to Ryan."
They have a cursory look for Ryan, but he's nowhere to be found, so Spencer decides to text him a goodbye, and they go to get their coats.
The problem with getting their coats is that Z and Tennessee have fallen into their own mistletoe trap. They're sprawled on the pile of coats, and it's a much more serious kiss than Tennessee had given Dallon earlier, judging by the way her fingers are running along the hem of Z's skirt, fingertips just trailing under, resting on her thighs. "Uh," he says. "Excuse us, but we'd like our jackets."
They pull apart long enough for Spencer to grab their coats, and Z grins at them a little wickedly. "Have a good night," she says.
"I'd say the same," Dallon says, "but it looks like you've got that covered."
They wave, and Dallon pulls Spencer out the door.
Spencer nearly trips, looking back, and once they're outside he widens his eyes. "Dude," he says. "Aren't you pissed?"
"No," Dallon says. "What? Oh, you thought - no, no, she's. She's cool and I want to hang out with her sometime, but."
Spencer nods, and then says, "Hurry up, it's really damn cold." He fiddles with the car door handle even though he knows Dallon always locks his car. Dallon doesn't unlock it, though, coming over to stand next to Spencer instead.
"Um," Spencer says. "Car? I'm freezing."
"Yeah," Dallon says. "Sorry." He's pretty sure he's staring like a creeper. Spencer just looks confused, which is probably better than creeped out, considering what Dallon's about to do.
"What's up?" he asks.
"It's nothing, just. With the mistletoe. Technically we were both under it just now, so. I'm going to kiss you, if that's okay."
Spencer stares at him for a moment. "Yes, okay," he says faintly.
Dallon ducks his head a little, and Spencer tips his head up and meets him halfway, kissing him softly. Dallon's heart is beating so loudly he can hear it, and he wonders if Spencer can feel it.
Spencer sighs, leaning back against the car without letting go of Dallon, and Dallon falls forward a little. Spencer steadies him, grabbing both of his arms, and then slides his hands down, resting them at Dallon's waist. "Hey," he says, leaning back a little more when Dallon leans in to kiss him again. "Um, are you - this isn't just about the mistletoe, is it?"
"Not so much, no. Is that a problem?"
"Not so much, no," Spencer echoes. He grins, and Dallon smiles back helplessly, reaching up to brush Spencer's hair away from his face.
Spencer swats his hand away as soon as it makes contact, though. "Fuck, your fingers are freezing."
"Sorry," Dallon says, not sound apologetic at all. "Warm me up?"
"No," Spencer says. "That was the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said in the history of life. Come on, get in the car and put some fucking heat on."
"Oh, I'll put some heat on all right," Dallon says, reaching past Spencer to unlock the passenger door.
The windows are covered in steam, and Dallon sighs, turning the keys in the ignition and fiddling with the heat. "It's going to take awhile for the steam to clear off the windows," he says. "So we probably have time for more makeouts, if that's something you'd be interested in."
"That would be counterproductive," Spencer says. "They're just going to get even more fogged up then."
"Strangely enough, I don't really care," Dallon says. "Ryan won't mind if we stay parked in his driveway all night, will he?"
"He won't even notice, but his neighbors probably would," Spencer says, laughing. He leans over and kisses Dallon quickly - way too quickly, in Dallon's opinion, since he's pretty much decided that he doesn't want to do anything else ever again. "Come on, let's let the car heat up and then go get hot chocolate."
"It's, like, one in the morning, and we're supposed to be back to your house by now."
"Yeah, and my parents aren't home. So we'll drop by the coffee shop, see if that girl's ditched Brendon yet, grab some hot chocolate, and then go home and make out until my parents get back, and then we'll pretend to be asleep when they check on us, and then we can make out some more."
"You have the best plans," Dallon says. "Although I still think we should skip the coffee shop and just go home."
"Hot chocolate," Spencer says. "And the potential to mock Brendon."
"Tempting, but if he strikes out while we're there, he's just going to come back with us, and then we'll have to spend the whole night trying to cheer him up."
The instead of going home by ourselves and making out goes unsaid, but he's pretty sure Spencer catches it. "I think I have some instant hot chocolate at home," he says, grinning, and Dallon starts to back out of the driveway.