The Calendar

Brendon pressed close to Ryan's side as the group of six (Dallon and Ian tagged along) walked down the busy downtown sidewalk. Ryan kept his hands in his hoodie pocket to avoid brushing arms with anyone and therefore having a panic attack of some sort. August was dawning upon them, and Brendon touched the pocket calendar in his back pocket. He was very, very nervous, scared to lose Ryan so soon after finally having him. At every street crossing, Brendon would triple-check for cars. Every time they walked, Brendon placed himself between Ryan and the street. Of course, Spencer and Ryan thought it was just Bren being weird, but Jon was almost half has nervous as Brendon was. No one he knew ever really died, and Brendon tended to be right about who was on the Calendar, so it would really really really suck if Ryan died.

Like, it would suck a lot and there'd be a lot of crying involved.

Brendon hadn't brought it up besides the one time, so Jon didn't ask questions, but he hoped that the teenager had some sort of plan, or if he could do anything about it.

At last, they reached their destination- a cozy hole-in-the-wall restaurant, dimly lit and serving really good french fries and smoothies.

As the six crowded around the table, Ryan whispered in Brendon's ear, "Why are you so cautious about everything lately?"

"Don't need you dying on me," was the smirked response.

Ryan almost cracked a smile, but Brendon's tone had been almost scarily serious. "Tell me later."

Brendon bit his lip- Jon had been the only person to ever really know about his... ability without shunning him... but this was Ryan. And Ryan's fate. And maybe Ryan deserved to know. Right? So Brendon nodded and said, "Sure. Of course."

Ryan was satisfied with the answer, and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of their day out.

~

"So," Ryan prompted, head resting on his fists as he gazed down at Brendon (who was on the floor) from his bed.

Brendon took a deep breath. "I... Well... When I look at calendars," he finally started. "When I look at calendars, I see people's death dates. The first one I ever saw was my grandfather's- I remember looking at the calendar and seeing, 'Grandpa, old age' or something like that, and my mom couldn't see it. But then my grandpa died on that day from old age, and she flipped and sent me away to the boarding school that Jon and Spencer go to, and that's how I ended up living with Jon. Every calendar I see, ever since, has had names and ages and hows, but if I don't know the person specifically, then it's blurry and small. But if I know the person, then... Well, then their name stands out really clearly."

Ryan nodded slowly, a faint frown on his face as he processed what he'd just been told. "So, you know when everyone is gonna die."

"Yeah."

Ryan nodded, then gestured for Brendon to continue.

"I also figured out really recently that I can... Well, I can change it. Someone's death date. If there's an interference or something. None of it is really set in stone."

"How'd you figure that one out?"

"I- well... Ian. Ian was gonna, uh- was supposed to die in June, but then he didn't, so that's how I figured it out," Brendon mumbled, not really wanting to delve into Ian's personal life and problems without the kid's permission. He coughed, then continued.

"So why have you been so on edge lately?" Ryan murmured, reaching out to play with a strand of his boyfriend's hair.

"Because," Brendon let out a deep, heavy sigh. "I found your name. On the calendar."

Ryan froze. His fingers playing with Brendon's hair froze, and then he retracted his hand, a deer-in-the-headlights expression frozen on his face. "You're crazy," he mumbled. "You're absolutely insane."

Brendon ducked his head, pulling his knees to his chest. It wasn't the first time that he'd been told so. "Yeah," he whispered. "I am, aren't I?"

"How am I gonna die, Brendon? How am I gonna die?"

Brendon pressed his face into his knees and pulled his legs closer, curling in on himself, and shook his head. "You aren't gonna die. I'm not gonna let you. I-" love you. "-can't let that happen."