day one: i chose you.

the first clue that something was wrong was the way the lights in the workshop dimmed. dallas waited a moment for the lights to return to their usual brightness and sat up when they didn’t. he knew they likely wouldn’t have- he designed the light system in their house after all- but flukes were never impossible. he shut off the motor he was working on and set his goggles on a counter he passed as he left the workshop.

the second clue was outside the door- rather, it was what wasn’t outside the door.

normally, when dallas started his days in his workshop, graham would bring him something to eat and leave it on the side table by the door. right now, however, it was bare, and so dallas set off down the hall.

the hall was silent, lacking the usual sounds of his fiancé’s work music or a livestreamed game as the background sound. the silence was a third clue, one that wouldn’t have been a clue had the other two not preceded it.

he knew now what was wrong, and dallas hurried across the dark living room to an equally dark hall. at the end of the hall was a door haloed by slivers of light from the cracks around it, standing out in the near pitch-black hallway. as he approached the door, he reached out and loosely grasped the doorknob in one hand, and knocked with the other.

“can i come in?” dallas asked when the knock yielded no response. it was several minutes before there was any response, but dallas waited it patiently. rather than a verbal answer, dallas received a click- the sound of the bedroom door being unlocked. the knob turned in his hand, and he caught a brief glimpse of a dark tendril retreating away from the door as it slowly opened.

the tendril disappeared into the dark, shadows that made up over three-quarters of the room, leaving only the few feet around the door to be illuminated. the bulb installed over the door was working overtime- dallas could hear the hum and buzz of it as it struggled to keep back the encroaching darkness. he’d likely have to replace it later on.

fearlessly, dallas stepped forward until at the edge of the circle of light, and then slowly continued forward into the shadows. immediately, his feet sank into the ooze-like shade up to his ankles, but he continued forward. it was a truly unsettling sensation- a lack of any sensation at that. if not for having done this many times, it surely would have sent him back to the light.

but dallas was experienced with this, and he continued forward. impossibly, in a way that dallas still couldn’t explain, it got darker as he made his way to where he believed the corner of the room to be. the closest comparison would be as if the light was being absorbed, but even that didn’t quite explain it. he caught sight of his goal, a pair of white pinpricks in the shadows, and adjusted course.

“you didn’t come get me,” dallas murmured as he took the last few steps, sinking up to his knees before sitting down altogether. slowly, the shadows crept over him in a familiarly weightless way until all but his head and shoulders were visible.

“...”

“it was just a motor. i could build it in my sleep,” dallas replied, though nothing had technically been said. they’d had conversations similar before, and they’d have more in the future, so the script was familiar.

“....”

“do you remember fourth grade? in mrs. beeks classroom? you asked me why my shoes were always untied, and i told you i didn’t know how. you tried to teach me.”

the shadows around his shoulders receded just a little bit, to just under his upper chest. the weightless feeling was replaced by just a hint of pressure.

“you tried for almost a month, and then you asked if i wanted to keep trying. when i said no, you said okay, and asked me my favorite colors. i told you orange and blue, and the next day your mom brought me orange and blue velcro sneakers.”

the shadows retreated a little more, to around his belly button now. the hint of pressure grew, and dallas could almost imagine he could feel the outline of a person.

“every day, from fourth grade until we were freshmen in high school, you and your mom got me sneakers. we swapped out for slip-on shoes halfway through fifth grade.”

“..a’ed th soun’.”

“i hated the sound. i liked the slip ons much better.” dallas agreed, understanding the slurry words. he could make out the form much clearer now- a head resting on his shoulder, legs across his lap. he glanced down, and could make out the hot pink of graham’s dyed hair.

“..sorry i didn’t come get you.”

“you always can. you come for me when i need you.”

the shadows were disappearing much faster now- only a small circle around them remained, and the lights automatically returned their their usual brightness level. the room features were coming back into view as well, and dallas found that he and graham were on his side of the bed.

“i wish you didn’t have to deal with this,” graham whispered, his head still resting on dallas’s shoulder even as the other laid them both down.

“i wish you didn’t have to deal with this,” dallas corrected, slipping off his shoes and getting them both under the covers, “you didn’t choose this. but i chose you, and i’d do it again. i’d choose you everytime, teddy grahams.”