ToryxColin, was SUPPOSED to be a drabble.

Summary: Scene picks up right where the second book leaves off; won't really make sense if you haven't read it. Mild yaoi, nothing more than kissing in public. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: Jen Lee Quick the Almighty Goddess of OEL is the owner of our two favorite boys, and it is to her that this ficlet is dedicated.

Normal

~~ ~*~ ~~

Tory rubbed his aching jawbone. "Colin…" he tried as the dark-haired male turned his back on him.

'Shit…think fast. Before he just walks away.' He wobbled, his head throbbing, and mentally cursed himself. "Colin, I…please. Give me a minute. It's really not how it looks. I'm really not working for anyone and I don't have a clue about what the Gaia Project is. Like you said, I didn't find out very much, did I? I'm not stalking you for info on the Project, I care about the Project because it has to do with you."

Colin turned and scoffed in disbelief, glaring up at the taller boy. "At least now you admit you're stalking me, only since that journal is incontrovertible proof."

Tory blushed, moving his hand to rub the back of his head. "No, it's…"

Sick of Tory's excuses, Colin pressed on. If he had to put up with this longer, he at least deserved for Tory to just admit his purpose. "Still. Why?" He asked shortly.

"It…I just…"

'Can't he STOP that? And the blush again...why does it affect me? It draws me towards him even more…stop this!' Colin looked away and took a breath before clarifying. "What do you care? No one else has tried to contact us like this. No one else bothers."

Tory paused, confused at the phrasing. 'Us? What, the doctor? What does that have to do with…' Well…Colin already knew about the journals, it wasn't like he could look like any less of a creep, so leveling was probably his best bet.

"Because the rest of the world is too boring to care. Or for me to care about. Everyone. Everything. All of it. It makes sense. It's too easy. Stereotypes. Archetypes. Cliques. Clichés. Patterns. Predictable, typical and mundane. Too easy. But you? You're different. I don't get you like everything else. So I want to know. That's natural human curiosity, isn't it?"

Colin simply raised an eyebrow. "What, you really expect me to believe it was really all just curiosity? Even if it was, that's not. That's obsessive harassment. Normal people don't take it to that extent ever."

"So? I know I'm not normal. Normal people are lucky. They don't crave challenges, challenges just exist for them. For me, they're few and far between. That's what the majority of my journals cover; anything that currently is or could turn into a challenge. Intellectual stimulation. I just need to know. And even after the challenge is over and completed, I can go back and savor them, all in one place. Even after they're years gone, or years spread apart."

"…I looked. Nothing else ever took up a whole book."

"Because…you're different from any of my usual obsessions." Tory's blush deepened, and he stared steadfastedly at his shoes. 'Great, Tory. Why did you just have to use that word?' His left shoe was untied. He was glad he had been stopped when he did, or there would have been a sixty-three percent chance that he would have tripped going up the stairs.

"…How so?"

Tory flinched as he felt Colin's gaze burn into the top of his head as he took too long to respond 'Look up, look at me, I need this explanation' it demanded. He bent down to tie his shoe, happy for any excuse to avoid those unfathomable eyes. Colin's eyes roved to the back of his neck, to which his blush had spread.

"I just…don't get you. I doubt I ever really will." He talked to his feet.

What came from above sounded like a defeated sigh. "Good, because if you did I'd no longer be a challenge and you'd just ditch me and savor the moment in your notebook, right? Once you're satisfied or bored or whatever, I'm no longer a necessary factor, just a subject that's been worn out."

Colin sounded like he was talking about more than just Tory at this point. It started to dawn on Tory just how alone Colin really was. Colin may be his first real friend ever, but to Colin…what was he to Colin? Important? Colin seemed expectant of him to leave and depressed at the thought. As sad about this as Tory was, it also made him inexplicably happy. He could make Colin happy. And then Colin wouldn't be mad at him and just maybe might let him in. Win-win.

He stood up and offered Colin a shake of his head, along with a small reassuring smile. ""Good?" Does that mean you want me around?" He let the hope fill his voice, praying that that would give Colin some kind of comfort.

Colin glare softened into a look of confusion for a moment, and then he chuckled. 'God I love his laugh,' Tory thought happily. 'Random timing but...I caused it. YESS!'

"You know," Colin remarked thoughtfully, "most people would kill to be able to just skim through life with all the answers like you do. Or at least…" He paused, thinking of the notebook. "At least have the ability to obtain what they "needed" to know."

Tory stared a moment, confused. "…Do you?"

"Yea, definitely."

"Why?" He asked, perplexed.

"I want the answer to why I want you around."

"Heck if I know that," Tory sighed.

Colin gave another little chuckle, this one tinged with relief. "Because you don't get me and that keeps you around. But I don't get it…why do you search out challenges when you have it so easy compared to normal people?"

Tory stopped at that. "I guess…well, sometimes it feels good to know what it's like to be normal."

Colin frowned. "I thought you accepted the fact that you're not."

Tory snorted. "If you don't have it on record I never said it. De Nile's not the longest river in Egypt for nothing."

Colin looked taken aback, then grinned. "Still. Us? Normal? I'm an antisocial freak and you're a frustrating, genius stalker weirdo. And we're both guys. What part of us could possibly be normal?"

'Both…GUYS?!' Inner Tory squeaked and twiddled at the inside of his ear with his pinkie, not sure if he really caught that correctly.

"…Does that…mean there's an 'us'?" Tory asked hesitantly. He refused to meet Colin's eyes, instead trying to will away a rather fierce blush.

'Did I just say that?' Colin thought. 'I implied…is this why I'm drawn...attracted to him? Yea, not normal. But I never tried to be. I'll have to make him not try to be on this. Or, well…but it sounded like he wanted an 'us,' right?"

Tory was startled when Colin's head hit his chest with a soft 'thump.'

"COLIN!!! IS IT ANOTHER ATTACK?!?!" He rushed out, his voice panicked. He wrapped his arms around Colin to support him, but was silenced as Colin clamped a hand over his mouth, the other arm sliding up his chest to his shoulder.

"No, I'm fine." Colin said, then hesitantly slid his right hand across Tory's cheek, the left gently caressing the taller teen's throat on the way to linking behind Tory's neck. "Just thinking again."

Tory stood still, hardly daring to breathe as Colin pressed his face into Tory's warmth.

"…I don't know how…or well, how long…" Colin breathed against Tory's neck. "I…yea?" His voiced dropped even further for the last three words. "…There's an us."

Tory barely caught the whisper, more focused on the heat that informed him of Colin's deep blush. He was sure that Colin caught the skip in his heartbeat with his cheek when Tory registered the words, but found that with Colin's admittance he felt all right with Colin knowing just how much he affected him. Breathing out a satisfied sigh, he found to his pleasant surprise that Colin's head fit just right into the curve of his throat when he rested his chin in Colin's soft hair. He breathed in, taking in Colin's scent.

Tory felt Colin breathe out as well against his Adam's apple, followed by what felt like a soft lick. He started and swallowed with a blush, feeling Colin follow the movement with his eyes.

"Uh, so," Colin diverted quickly, "if we were normal," he made the word sound like a slimy alien, "what would we do now?"

Tory laughed. "Well, Romeo and Juliet would spout sonnets of undying love to each other."

Colin quirked a condescending eyebrow. "Romeo…and Juliet."

Tory blushed. "It's a long train ride. I'm good at playing out multiple scenarios in my head. Overactive imagination and all."

Colin snorted. "Oh, right. Archetypes. And somehow that's normal."

"…Would you prefer samurai? That one's pretty good too."

Colin chuckled, then his cheeks suddenly tinged pink as he glanced away from Tory. "How about modern normal?"

"Oh. Well…we'd kiss."

"That's what I thought," he said as he pulled Tory's face down, meeting the taller boy's mouth for a determined yet shy kiss. As quickly as he started it he pulled away, gaze lowered and flushed an adorable shade of red.

Tory stared at him in shock. 'Soft,' was the only word resonating in his mind. His eyes followed Colin's tongue as it slowly traced the rosy pink lips, and as it retreated back inside, without thinking he cupped Colin's cheek, pulling the lower lip down at the corner with his thumb, and followed it into the warm, moist cavern.

Both boys gasped and went still a moment, before Tory steeled his nerve and began to explore and taste Colin's mouth. Colin hesitantly pressed his tongue back against Tory's, and a messy kiss commenced until Colin finally wrenched back for air. After a few moments of gasping and clinging to Tory's shirt, he looked up, and then quickly glanced away with a fresh blush.

Peeking back up at Tory as if for permission, he swallowed and leaned up, poking his tongue out and licking a trail of mixed saliva back up Tory's chin to his lips. Then, tentatively, he pressed his tongue between Tory's lips and into his mouth, shyly copying Tory's earlier exploration. Tory smiled into the kiss, quietly thrilled at Colin's cute enthusiasm.

Suddenly, though, Colin broke off with a glare. Tory was taken aback as Colin hissed fiercely, "I KNOW what you're thinking. 'I need to remember how this felt or tasted or whatever so I can write it down later.' Well, don't you DARE!!! Normal people, when savoring a "completed challenge" such a this, just do it again to refresh their memory."

Mortified at having his thoughts read, Tory tried to quickly think of something to change the subject, and grinned widely.

"So, does this mean that I have permission to do this again?" He leaned down and pecked Colin's lips, who flushed and looked away, still glaring.

"You're the one who wanted to be normal."

Tory laughed. "Yea, but if we were normal you'd be a girl."

Colin paused, then glanced up, his glare softening into contemplation. Absently he brushed his bangs behind his ear, a habit that caused them to look stylishly sideswept. "Would it help if I wore barrettes?" He asked, innocent and expressionless.

Tory choked, imagining it. 'Save it for the train,' he chided himself furiously, trying his hardest not to blush.

"Green's my favorite color," Colin continued seriously. "That okay?"

"It is?" Tory, asked, surprised at such an easily-obtained piece of information.

"…Color of your eyes."

"Cliché." Tory stated reprovingly.

"Normal." Colin smiled. "'I'll borrow them from Mandy on Monday."

~~ ~*~ ~~

Ok, so the three things that hit me here as soon as I was done were:

1) OH SHIT I JUST GOT COLIN SICK I HOPE HE DOESN'T DIE

2) Yes he did just lick Tory's neck. Do not ask why. Even I do not know but once I put it in it refused to be edited out. (I liked it and could not come up with a plausible explanation for why Colin would do something so OOC so... ;;; )

3) Remember that panel where the doctor was peering out the curtains as if in search of the "bad influence?" Murphy's law, boys. It even applies to hot gay kisses xD

I hope to God no one read this because it was intended for the authoress of Off*Beat and also I forced myself to only edit it twice (I'm breaking a habit here.) But if you did like it please go read the two original books which are so much more well-written than I could ever do. And help me flood-mail Tokyopop's headquarters with angry squawks over the hiatus.

And if you really feel like gracing me with a review, please don't tell me how much I sucked because I have absolutely no grains of salt lying around to take and I will haunt you after my suicide, lol.