The Falling Rain

Chapter 1

Rain had always loved his parents, they were sufficiently doting and made sure he never wanted for anything material. His mother cared for him and his father provided for him, from the outside they must have seemed like the perfect family and, admittedly, it could look like that from within but his parents were so in love with each other that it often felt like there wasn't enough room left in their hearts for him. They would inquire about his day, his grades, and his friends and he answered accordingly but their eyes always seemed to stare right through him or quickly shift to each other with little thought given to his responses.

This aloofness with regards to their son made it easy for Rain to do what he liked most of the time. His parents seldom worried about him getting up to trouble unless it would affect plans they had already made. It was lucky that he hadn't ever really been the adventurous type, never caring too much for girls, for parties, and had zero interest in drugs or alcohol.

Rain strived to earn their full attention, he worked so hard to try to pull out an ounce of honest praise, to make them see him, not see through him.

He had thought that earning a place in an esteemed architecture program would have done the trick but it was in vain. His parents gave him standard words of encouragement and then continued to talk amongst themselves.

He was also incredibly insecure within his new found friendships. Sig teased him relentlessly and always laughed it off when Rain told him it was too much, Por was more stoic but also took part in the teasing and often pinpointed Rains struggles to learn as the main thing to crack jokes about. His best friend, or the person he considered the closest to being his best friend, Sky was never outwardly cruel but, just like Rain's parents, he always seemed like his mind was elsewhere whenever they spoke. He actively seemed to ignore Rain most of the time.

He didn't want them to pity him so he always put on a brave face when he was in class and he would talk incessantly sometimes to hide how much the distance hurt.

He had left Sky's dorm after a night of group studying, he told them his parents wanted him home early but really Sig and Por had made enough jokes about Rain slowing down their progress that he left to avoid wasting more of their time.

It was on his way home that disaster decided to strike. His car jerked suddenly to the left and he barely avoided clipping the car next to him. Rain managed to pull over safely and immediately called his dad. There was no answer so he tried his mother next.

"Rain? I told you tonight was date night, you're not supposed to interrupt us." She sternly answered.

"Mom, I know and I'm sorry but…"

"No buts. We told you our time together is important. Between caring for you, the house, and your fathers job we get so little quality time and this is special to us. I will talk to you tomorrow." She hung up.

Rain tried to call back but she must have shut her phone off.

"Okay maybe my insurance company? No they don't fix tires! Ugh! Who do I call for this? I can't interrupt the study session anymore, my parents won't answer and I don't even know my code seniors yet to ask them! This is the worst!"

Just then he heard a tapping on his window and saw a motorcyclist had pulled over. He rolled down the window to see what they wanted.

"Turn on your flashers before someone gets hurt. Your tire is blown. Do you have a spare? I can change it for you."

"Would you, Phi? Thank you!"

He popped the trunk and rifled through the back seat to find his bag with his umbrella. He couldn't help change the tire but he could at least keep the kind stranger dry while he did it, he told the man as much when he got out there.

After it was changed, he was sufficiently lectured about being able to care for his car if he was going to drive, and had sufficiently embarrassed himself by blurting out that he found the man handsome, he was on his way home safely. He didn't know how the night would have gone without the kind man's help and he wished he had gotten his name but he can't change the past and would just have to hope to run into him again sometime to be able to thank him for his help.

—---------------------------------------------------

Sky would have been much happier if his new friend would focus on class work but the boy's enthusiasm for anything and everything was a welcome change in his life, it was slowly dragging him, unwillingly, out of his self imposed isolation and forcing him to see the light in the world again.

He could always tell when something was bothering Rain, even if he pretended he didn't, but he didn't want to pry, the ball of sunshine may talk a lot but they never discussed anything too meaningful and Sky figured he was just being polite, talking to the class sad boy.

It was another normal day when Rain came bounding into class, threw himself into his desk and began gushing about the "handsome and amazing savior" that changed his tire. It worried Sky a bit that all it took was someone changing his tire to win the boy over so quickly. He knew Rain was innocent but this level of naivete could put him into dangerous situations, Sky knew that personally.

"Rain, I get it, he's amazing and super cool, but could you please focus on your assignments before you get into trouble?" Sky knew he had to get the boy's mind off of this man.

Rain pouted but eventually, at the stern warning from their teacher, turned back to do his work.

Sky took some time to discreetly observe his friend. He knew the other boys took their jokes too far last night, he could clearly see when Rain deflated before he left but since the boy never says anything he just assumed maybe he really did need to get home. He was a little hurt that Rain didn't feel like he could have called him in his moment of panic but he supposed he'd never show him that he could depend on Sky.

He didn't like to go out of his way for others but he felt like he could do it for Rain. Most people expected things out of you if you started being too nice but Rain had brought him milk teas, snacks, helped him on his models even when he hadn't completed his yet, and always offered to be there for Sky if he thought something was wrong. He did all of this without ever asking for anything in return.

Sky realized that while he felt like it wasn't a close friendship, Rain seemed to genuinely care for all his friends and gave Sky the extra attention he refused to ask for from others.

He really felt like he needed to be a better friend.