A/N: I came up with this a few nights ago while I was supposed to be sleeping. R&R, but please be nice.
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own RENT. I own the copy of the libretto that I bought at Barnes & Noble yesterday and a copy of the RENT Bible, but that's just about it.
"Collins. Tom Collins."
Just his name sends shivers down my spine. Collins. Thomas Collins. I scanned my meager medicine cabinet again. I needed something to take care of him with. Finally I found the bandages and mercurochrome. Before I had learned it was best to drum as a boy, I had needed these quite often. I shuddered as I remembered.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Back to Collins.
He had told me he was on his way back home to where his friends Mark and Roger still lived. I had tried to respond but I was too tongue-tied. I let him tell me about Roger, whose girlfriend had killed herself just six months ago, and Mark, a filmmaker who seemed always attached to his camera and his "ridiculous scarf" as Collins had put it, pointing out that he didn't even take it off during the summer.
I couldn't stop staring as we made our way home. I couldn't imagine who would want to hurt this man who was frankly more teddy bear than man. I'd never been so awestruck. From the first moment I saw him, I was hearing violins and seeing fireworks. As I dabbed the mercurochrome on, as he winced and tightened up, as he ran his hands through my hair as he calmed down, I knew I'd never leave his side again.