ACID RAIN // DNF AU

Chapter Sixteen (Clay)

The roses in the garden called his name, droplets of moisture gathering on their thick, textured petals. He wanted to pluck one from its bush to give to George, to see his own blood on the thorns when George inevitably turned him away.

Today, he had the letter in his pocket, dragging him down with its invisible weight. Clay had decided yesterday, right after he left, that something had to change.

The sky was gray, not a pure blue gap in sight, and the colors around him seemed muted, but each time George bumped into him as they were walking and didn't flinch away, everything seemed to become brighter. He wondered if his life without George was comparable to colorblindness.

He looked up from the cobblestones of their path just as a faint flash lit up the sky. "What was that?" Several seconds later, thunder rumbled in the distance, answering his question.

"Oh my god, a storm. No water park, I guess," George announced.

"We need to run!" He shouted enthusiastically, hiding his smile. "Go, go, go! Before the rain gets here!" He grabbed George's arm, dragging him along as he raced towards the exit. They had taken the bus here, so they were going to get drenched. He didn't bring an umbrella, having failed to check the weather forecast again. He really needed to plan ahead for these situations.

George slowed behind him, panting, and Clay turned around. "I can't- run- anymore," he wheezed, waving a hand. "Save yourself from the rain." The next crackle of thunder took less time to reach them after the lightning.

"No!" He grinned. "Come on, you can walk." He put his arm around George as rain started to pour heavily from the darkening clouds. This wasn't the misty drizzle of earlier that week—it soaked him to the bone.

The piece of paper felt heavy in his pocket when George leaned into him, pulling both their hoods up as they walked. Everything was so strenuous between them, their moods able to turn black with nothing more than a couple wrong words.

They reached the bus station dripping wet and sheltered under the awning above them, each trying to wring water out of their clothes. It took about ten minutes before the bus rolled to a stop in front of them, and they made a final dash through the rain to its door, mounting the stairs and finding a couple of empty seats next to each other.

He reached into his pocket, taking out earbuds to make sure they were dry, then put them away again. The drive wouldn't be long to Clay's house, and he would get off before George. Should he invite George over again?

"Can you put on some music, maybe?" Even in his damp hoodie and with wet hair, he looked like a fallen angel, utterly ethereal and untouchable in the colorless light. Clay was too powerless to refuse him anything.

"You can choose if you want," he told George, handing him the pair of earbuds and his phone, unlocking it with his fingerprint. He didn't care what George saw on it anymore. "I use YouTube for music most of the time."

George was silent for a few seconds as he scrolled through the playlists. "What's this one?"

"Which one?" He thought he knew which playlist it'd be—one of the two atypical ones. Anticipation rose in his chest, his pulse speeding up.

"It just has a blue heart for the title. I think it's blue, but maybe purple? There's so many songs." Yep, that was George's. He'd made them so that only he would know who the songs were about.

"Maybe don't ask about that one right now," he warned. "You can play it if you want, though."

He put the earbuds in, hit shuffle, and Clay looked away. He wondered what song would come up, what it would make him think of.