One-Shot: Garden State Rain Kiss

After talking with Albert at the quarry, Andrew, Sam and Mark donned ponchos and left the older man's simple abode, stepping out into the pouring rain.

"Bye!" Albert saw them off.

"Hey, Albert!" Andrew hollered.

"Yeah?"

"Good luck exploring the Infinite Abyss!"

Albert nodded. "Thank you. Hey!" Andrew turned back. "You too!"

Andrew smiled before casting his face skyward and shaking his mane of black hair like a wet dog. Turning to his right, he spotted the yellow, derelict crane he and his friends had observed upon their arrival. Suddenly inspired, Andrew climbed it: up the loading platform, past the driver's cockpit and finally onto a spot beside the crane's extension itself. The struggling actor screamed into the dreary world beyond.

Curious, Sam and Mark turned back from where they had been walking away and stared as Andrew screamed. Moved for some strange reason, Sam clambered up over the crane's extension to join him. Mark could do nothing but follow.

"AHHHHHHHH!" All three friends spoke as one, screaming into the Infinite Abyss of the quarry. The emotional release was almost therapeutic, and they laughed together as the weight of their troubles seemed to lift from them.

Suddenly, Andrew and Sam turned to one another and kissed for the first time. Their lips dug deeply into one another's, simultaneously desperate and tender. Andrew rested his hand on Sam's cheek and then in the crook of her neck as the kiss deepened. At last, the couple broke apart softly, and Andrew pulled her into a hug.

And Mark? All he could do was silently watch, quiet in his happiness and approval for them.