A Song For You//[Thonny]

Chapter Three

1988

The first time Jonny overdosed, Colin was there for him.

Jonny wasn't a baby anymore, though. He was taller now with broader shoulders and forgotten stubble on his chin and he drove to school all by himself. But he once was a baby.

He took his first breath in November, 1971. He was small and skinny for a baby with dark hair already covering most of his head despite just being born. He didn't cry.

Colin was only three years old when his mother helped place him into his arms. His new baby brother, and new best friend. He was beautiful.

Now he laid in Colins arms, dead weight stretching his triceps as he frothed and vomited and sobbed.

Colin was more than terrified as he screamed for help from the bathroom, sat on the floor with his brother laying across his lap, trembling with his eyes rolled back. His skin was sickeningly pale, lifeless pale unlike his normal porcelain type skin.

Next to the two brothers on the floor laid a small needle, the silver stained with blood from where Jonny had inserted it into his vein.

Jonny gasped and choked as Colin held him, screaming and crying for someone to please, please help his brother.

Tears rolled down his face as he looked down into his lap, and there he was. His baby brother, his beautiful baby brother. He wrapped his arms around him tightly, trying to stop the tremors that were wracking his body.

"You're gonna be okay." He whispered over and over again, hoping that Jonny would believe him.

----

1994

After a while, Thom had grown much more comfortable being around those three. They had made up to the point where they cold talk like friends, maybe not best friends, but it was a really good start. Better than Thom expected to be a week into coming home. Two days after Thom had reunited with Colin, he was given Jonnys address along with a tape. Thom was confused when handed the tape, but Colin explained it was a composition Jonny had made a while back. Thom took it and handled it like it was glass.

Once he was back home with the address on paper and the tape in hand, he carefully slipped it into his walkman and placed the headphones over his ears. It started out with a soft violin as well as piano. It enchanted Thom winch seconds. He was listening to a piece of Jonny, listening to a composition created and recorded by Jonny. It was incredible. The violins and piano swelled, becoming louder about halfway through the song, and then soon went back down to the soft sounds like the beginning of the piece.

For two days Thom kept that piece playing, only ever stopping it when he left the house which wasn't that often. He had called Colin a few times, talking to him about the piece and then talking to him about Jonny, still worried that all hell would break loose if he tried to talk to him. Colin told him straight up that to was possible he would lash out, but to juts be careful and considerate of his emotions. Six years, he was reminded. It had been six years since they had seen each other.

Thom understood, and finally, after a week of panic attacks and not enough preparation, he pulled on the nicest clothes he could find, black cargo pants and a graphic T-shirt. Yep, that's the nicest he had.

He stood in the bathroom, staring at himself for far too long, wondering if he should just bale on the idea, but he pulled himself together and set out on his journey to find and apologize to Jonny. He read over the address a few times as he walked down the street and thankfully it was only about a fifteen minute walk, giving him time to clear his head and take some deep breaths.