Pairing: Colin/Ephram
Rating: G
Summary: Two boys, one long night.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Wish I did, but right now the proper owners are doing a pretty good job, so I'll live. Please don't sue me--fandoms keep me broke.
Description: Colin wants answers.
Notes: This isn't part of a series, it's just something that hit me this evening. Blame it on the thunderstorms that have been barreling through our area practically every day for the past week or two. Well, that, and a fever, and an entire day of lying on the couch, sick. Thanks to Emma for the quick read-through.

Spoiler Alert: There are minor spoilers in here for the next couple of eps. I've only read a few things about what's coming up, and half of what I've put in is speculation anyway, but if you're avoiding all spoilers, save this for after the season finale.

Rain
by Nicole D'Annais
Copyright 2003


--

I hate rain.

It's all gray and wet and foggy, like I felt when I first woke up after the accident. Not to mention that it gives me a headache. I can't go outside, I'm stuck in the house with well-meaning parents or friends who watch over me, like I'm going to either break, or suddenly transform into Colin the First and make everything okay.

Except for Ephram. He doesn't expect anything from me except the truth--and even that he's willing to let go from time to time. It's one of the reasons I like being around him. That, and he's really cute--an idea that I'm still getting used to having in my head. But, like everything else, it's something that's easier to deal with when he's around.

And it doesn't hurt that lying with my head in his lap and his fingers stroking through my hair really helps my headache.

"Colin?"

I open my eyes to look up at him. "Yeah?"

"Just checking to see if you're awake."

"Yeah." I shift a little, getting more comfortable--or as comfortable as I can, stretched out diagonally across Ephram's bed. "Should I go home?"

He shakes his head. "You can stay as long as you want. We just need to make sure one of us stays awake, so you can get home before your parents come to wake you up for...."

"The surgery? Yeah. You sleep. As of later this morning, I'll be sleeping for God only knows how long, so I might as well stay up now."

He's careful to hold my head steady as he shifts his legs before his fingers return to my hair. "I'd rather stay up with you."

"Yeah, who knows how long it'll be before my hair will grow out enough to do this? If I even make it--"

"Don't say if."

The words are as quiet as everything else we've said, but I can hear the tension under them. And his fingers stop moving. Enough jokes then. "Okay."

"So, how did today go?" he asks, stroking again.

I shrug against his legs, my eyes closing. "Amy and Bright had a good time."

"And you?"

"I did what I needed to do, in case...well, I don't have any regrets."

"Including telling Amy you loved her?"

My eyes fly open. "How did you--"

"I ran into her. I knew about...about before, when she told you and...."

"Ah. Well, I didn't lie to her."

"You didn't exactly explain how you loved her, either, though, did you?"

I close my eyes again. "What difference does it make? If--and don't get mad, I'm not being 'dark' again--if by some strange, horrible and not very likely twist of fate, I don't make it through this, it won't matter. She'll be happy having heard the words."

"And when you wake up?"

"Then I'll deal with it."

We sit in silence for a few minutes, Ephram petting my hair to the rhythm of the rain beating on the roof outside his window. "Why do you always leave the window open when it's raining?" I ask finally.

"I like the sound. It's like..." He sighs. "It's silly."

I look up at him. "Tell me."

"The sounds it makes, it's like music sometimes. Only it's so random that it's like a million songs, and a one-time only performance. I've written a few pieces during storms, trying to recapture the rhythms, but it's still not quite the same."

"That's not silly." He just shrugs. "Will you play one for me?"

"Sure. But as tonight's out--unless you want to wake my father and explain why you're at my house at 3 am, not to mention make sure he doesn't get enough sleep when he's gonna operate on you in a few hours--you'll have to wait until you get back from the hospital."

"Is that your way of making sure I come back?"

He shrugs again, but this time he smiles a little. "Whatever works."

"Well, then, maybe rain isn't so bad."

He goes back to stroking my hair, and I lie there, knowing the last thing I hear before I fall asleep in the operating room will be the sound of the rain.

---
END



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