Love At First Sight || Brallon Christmas Story

Part Two

December only grew colder as the days went on, and Brendon didn't mind. He never minded the cold that much, in fact, being all rugged up in his warm coat and gloves was one of his favourite things.

He'd just finished posting all his Christmas gifts to his family back in Vegas, and had finally gotten around to picking up a tree and a couple of decorations. It was his first Christmas alone, and he'd just fallen so behind on being festive. Normally he was the one begging his siblings to put the tree up, but without it just felt strange. But still, Christmas wasn't Christmas without a tree, and he needed to put one up. So with a tree firmly under his arm and a bag of decorations in his hand, he was off to set it up with only a week until it was time to put it away.

He was almost home when he overheard a conversation from the other side of the street. The homeless shelter. He knew the owner, he was a lovely guy who did his best to help everyone. And he seemed to know the other guy as well, the weird homeless guy who had attempted to talk to him at the coffee shop a few weeks prior. He was seemingly very upset, and the owner seemed the same as well.

So Brendon walked over. "Hey, Pat, what's up?"

The other man wiped his nose on his already dirty sleeve, before letting out a dry, hoarse cough. "I-I need a place for the night, h-happy to sleep on the floor.... It's just too c-cold out here and I c-can't do another night."

Brendon turned to Patrick, who let out a long, exausted sigh. "I'm sorry, Dal, I really wanna let you in, but if I keep squeezing too many people in at night then the council gets mad and I'm already in trouble... I need to keep this place open, for everyone out there on cold nights. We have every bed filled already, families. I'm sorry, I just... can't."

Dallon errupted into another coughing fit, and Patrick had to help him sit on a nearby bed so he could catch his breath. Brendon was silent. Having never experienced anything like this before, he just didn't know what to say. His family had made sure that he always had a roof over his head, food on his plate and medicine when he was sick. Dallon had none of that right now.

"Hey, you can come home with me. I've got some room to share, and I'm pretty sure someone told me that it's bad luck to put a Christmas tree up by myself." He extended a hand to Dallon, and smiled.

"A-Are you sure? Don't g-go out of your way..." Dallon asked shyly, quite flustered and overwhelmed that a man this beautiful would allow him to spend a night in his probably-beautiful house.

"Yeah, of course. I don't want anyone to stay out in this cold. I'm suprised you've lasted this long, to be honest."

Dallon just shrugged glumly, before standing up and grabbing his bag off the ground beside him. "T-Thank you, thank you so much! What was your name?"

"Brendon." Brendon smiled, extending a hand for a handshake. Dallon returned the gesture with a blush and a grin.

Patrick thanked Brendon, and he began his walk home, making sure that Dallon followed. Dallon was too flustered to say anything, and viewed even being able to walk next to this beautiful man as a privilege.

When they reached the home, Brendon shoved the key in the door and flicked the light on, before showing Dallon to the spare room. "Here, you can stay here for the night. It's not much.... But it's a bed and it's warmer than out there. There's a shower just there too, if you wanna warm up. Oh, and if you have any laundry, we can do that in the laundomat downstairs so you have some clean clothes to wear. Do you have any pyjamas?"

Dallon shyly shook his head.

"That's alright, you can borrow some of mine." Brendon went and fetched him a pair. "There you go. Shower and I'll wash your clothes for you."

Dallon went red for what felt like the billionth time today, and smiled at Brendon gratefully. "T-Thank you, so m-much... I-I'm sorry I don't have any pyjamas, and, a-and you're s-so nice and I-I think y-you're really amazing and, a-and I won't t-talk anymore, I'm sorry..."

Brendon just chuckled. "It's alright, Dallon. Just have a shower and try and feel better, and if you're up for it we can put up the Christmas tree!"

Dallon nodded and went to shower. It felt so good to be able to finally get a really good clean, with some proper soap and shampoo. Despite still being sick, it was almost as if he emerged from that shower a new man.

Brendon smiled at him when he came out to the lounge. "You clean up nice, dude."

"O-Oh..." Dallon's cheeks went a shade of pink. "You too?"

"You don't have to be nervous, it's okay, I'm promise. Now let's put the tree up, we've only got a week 'till Christmas and it's gotta be done."

Dallon and Brendon got to work, setting the tree up and hanging some ornaments, before wrestling with some tinsel, before finally adding strings of lights around to complete the look.

"Turn the lights off!" Brendon smiled, and Dallon ran to do it. When the room was dark, he switched the tree lights on, and gasped as it lit up the entire room. "I'm in love!"

So am I, Dallon thought to himself. I'm in love with you.