Brendon woke up to a dull headache and Dallon freaking out.

"Oh my god, why does my head hurt? Why does it stink..." His eyes widened when they landed on Brendon, "What are you doing here!?"

"You called me..." Brendon groaned, pushing himself up. He crossed his legs and yawned, "Kenny spiked your drink and you just kind of went on from there."

Dallon looked around the room. "Where is Kenny?" His voice was soft and almost afraid.

Brendon felt his heart drop with Dallon's tone. Did last night mean nothing? Of course it didn't, Brendon, he was drunk and you got drunk too. He gulped.

"What did we do?" Dallon demanded, turning to Brendon and holding his head.

"I-I don't remember..." Brendon lied. He remembered details, but a lot of it was fuzzy. The most vivid thing in his mind was the feeling. He felt so alive, so warm... He felt something. He hadn't felt like that in ages.

"Oh, God..." Dallon looked down. Tears were growing in his eyes. Brendon attempted to reach out and place a comforting touch on his shoulder, but the taller boy ripped his shoulder out of reach. "I need to go shower... You should go."

"Dallon..."

"I'll see you at school." Dallon's tone was cold and shaky. Before either boy could say anything else, Dallon crawled across the floor of the tree house and disappeared down the nailed in ladder.

Brendon sat still. So much of last night was a blur. He could only faintly starting at Ryan's house, waking up to Dallon's text, and that feeling. It had been so long since he felt like that. He had slowly been becoming number with every passing day.

His eyes began to fill with tears. He should have let the numbness consume him, rather than let that feeling sink its hook back in. What good had it done? Now Dallon had to hate him. He would be back in Kenny's arms soon if he wasn't already.

The tears spilled down Brendon's cheeks. Why did he have to be so stupid?

---

Brendon stayed in bed once he got home on Saturday. He remained there through Sunday.

Brendon was quiet throughout Monday's school day. He didn't pay much attention to his lessons. He didn't engage in the busy conversation during lunch. He almost wanted to skip his drama class, but he knew that campus security would only walk him straight back if he tried to ditch.

He moved swiftly past his friends, who were all busy with their costumes or already rehearsing. Brendon sat in the same chair, off from the main group, that he had been finding himself in for weeks. He waited quietly for Ryan, letting his legs dangle and swing just off the floor. It was well after the final bell had rung that Ryan appeared, dropping his backpack on the empty chair beside Brendon.

Brendon looked up to acknowledge Ryan, but his eyes widened at the sight of his friend.

Ryan had dark bruising around his left eye. He avoided Brendon's eye as he crouched next to the chair in order to begin digging into his bag.

"Ryan, what the fuck?" Brendon's voice cracked from lack of use over the past two days.

Ryan didn't say anything. He pulled his trenchcoat out of his bag and turned away from Brendon to slide it on.

Brendon stood and walked over to Ryan. "Hey, I'm serious."

"Really?" Ryan snapped, turning to glare at Brendon. "Are you? Because Friday night seemed to be a joke for you."

Brendon was taken aback by Ryan's harsh tone, but he also flinched at the mention of Friday night. He still didn't dare look around the room to see if Dallon was with Kenny. "I don't know what you mean."

Ryan's lip quivered, but he quickly covered it with a smile. "Nevermind it. We're wasting practice time." He punched Brendon's shoulder in what appeared to be a playful manner, but it actually stung a bit. "Go get that skirt on, sport."

Ryan turned to leave, but Brendon grabbed his arm. Ryan regarded him with cold eyes.

"Are you okay?" Brendon asked quietly, already knowing that Ryan wouldn't give him a straight answer.

"Peachy."

Ryan pulled his arm out of Brendon's grip and moved to go to the stage. Brendon stood still, looking down at the ground. That black eye didn't look very old... Brendon didn't think it had been there on Friday night... Had it? It was a detail that Brendon couldn't fully decipher before he was changed and walking out onto the stage where Ryan was.

When Ryan noticed his approach, he stripped off his trenchcoat and folded it to made a pillow for himself. "Go, from the top." He instructed.

Brendon nodded with a sigh. He began singing, but his full heart wasn't in it. He was just going through the motions. The motions were going fairly well, until he was on top of Ryan for the kinkier part of the song.

"Slap me!" Ryan really slapped him. "Pull my hair!" Ryan actually roughly yanked on a clump of Brendon's hair. "Touch me there, and there, and there!"

Tears brimmed in Ryan's eyes as he joined into the melody. Brendon shot him a questioning look, but Ryan ignored it. He continued with the song but, as soon as it was over, he pushed Brendon off of him.

"What the fuck, Ryan?" Brendon rubbed the back of his head where Ryan had nearly ripped his hair out. "Ever heard of stage actions? That fucking hurt."

Ryan muttered something out of Brendon's ear shot before turning to look at him. "I don't know if this is going to work." He said, flatly.

"What so you mean? You chose the song!"

Ryan bit the inside of his lip; whether it was from sadness or anger, Brendon couldn't tell. He shook his head. "I chose wrong, okay?" A obviously faux smile spread across his face, "We should really demonstrate your acting abilities. Let's do a different Heathers song instead."

Brendon groaned. He was comfortable with this song, why did Ryan have to make him change now? There was enough change happening without Ryan adding to it.

"Switch me costumes." Ryan said, now avoiding looking at Brendon. "We're the same size, it won't be that much of a difference."

"Why?" Brendon asked emotionlessly, "What are we doing?"

Ryan tossed his trenchcoat at Brendon before rising to his feet. "Meant to be yours." He turned away, adding something else that Brendon couldn't hear.

Brendon sighed. Fine. At least he could push out some of his hurt through the character... That was the great thing about being someone else, you didn't have to be you for awhile.