hi everyone! this is my first one-shot. it was origionally a short story i wrote for english class earlier, so it's AU, cause i haven't changed anything. so i hope you enjoy, it's a bit sad, and very dark, so... yeah.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything but this story plot.

Fluorescence

The city was bleak. Rectangular towers of dull concrete shuddered under the constant assault of icy needles of rain. It started raining a month or so before, and had not stopped since. It was like the rain was washing all the life out of the city, and the people. The streets were filled with dreary faces, trudging along in defeat.

We sat in our spot—a roof at the corner between two buildings. From there you can see the shopping district, the busiest part of the city, sprawled out like jacks. We used to wear our hoods up, jackets even, but those have long been discarded and now we didn't care when our t-shirts got soaked.

I turned to him; he's lost in thought. He liked to think about this city, its past and our lives in it. This city was once his greatest love. All he ever wanted to do back then was protect it with everything he had.

We were different then. We were brighter children, the world was more colorful. Of all of us, he changed the most. He never used to think, never used to sit still. He hated silence. I remember he used to come bounding up to me, a hyperactive ball of sunshine, screaming "IIIzzzzzyyyyyy!" I used to laugh and smack him playfully on the arm, telling him to quit being so loud.

Life is a funny thing, I thought, sitting there next to him. We are closer now, we understand each other better. And our friendship is the most important thing in the world to me. But, I miss his energy, his can-do attitude and the contagious brightness he emanated back then. Everything about him then was bright, from his favorite color orange, to his shock of golden hair. Even that has become dull, beaten down by the perpetual wetness. The world broke him, as it broke us all.

I look up from my thoughts because he is looking at me. It's our silent agreement: never disturb the other's thoughts. I don't know how long he's been waiting for me to notice his gaze, but it's not like we're ever in a hurry. The two of us are always content to wait. That's another thing he never used to have: patience.

"Iz, let's head home for now." I stared into his deep blue eyes, getting lost momentarily before pulling myself back to reality.

He hopped down from the ledge we sat on, helping me down, and we climb down the ladder on the wall of the building, then, hands in pockets, meander through the streets to our building. It doesn't matter that we're probably late—we don't keep the time, and our moms have long since stopped caring.

We've lived next-door to each other for as long as I can remember. It's probably the main reason we're best friends. We reach our doors, and he reaches to pick a leaf out of my wet hair. I smile my thanks and pull him into our usual hug. He hugs back, and when we step back towards our respective apartments, I stare into his unfathomable cerulean eyes, noticing something flicker behind for an instant. Then he turns, opens his door and I follow suit.

My mom laid out some food for me, and I shoved some down before retreating to my room. I guess you could say that I'd changed a lot, too. He changed me. I learned to live with the silence that suffocated the city, even love it, in a weird, twisted way.

I got ready to leave again, to go sit in our spot, as was our routine. Only, tonight, I was going earlier than usual. I wanted some time to myself. I wanted to sit in the cold in the hope that it could push away some of the numbness the rain wrapped us all in.

The streets at night were as familiar to me as they were by day. I made my way to our spot almost unconsciously. As I turned the corner to the street side of the building we sat on top of, I noticed a figure standing on the curb, watching the traffic whiz by. A figure that was all too familiar.

I suddenly realized what it was that I saw in his eyes earlier. Without thinking, I ran as fast as I could over to where he was stepping off the curb, to where he was stopping in front of the fast lane. But I was too far away—I wouldn't make it in time. I cried out, but no sound came. I watched as he turned to face the traffic and lift his head to look up at the rain. I watched the car going at 90 mph tried to break but couldn't stop in time. I watched as it hit my best friend, and I ran up to him in the road that had now stopped all traffic.

He used to wear his heart on his sleeve. I guess nobody noticed when he started to hide what he really felt, or when he became so good at it. He became really good at it, apparently. We all knew that he was broken, but we all were. Nobody saw that he was the most broken of us all.

I hugged his body to me, not caring that his blood was getting all over me. He was still alive, but fading fast. I looked at those beautiful sapphire eyes, glazed over with pain and the life that was leaving him far too quickly.

"I'll miss you, Iz. Take care of this city for me, save it. I couldn't. I—" he coughed weakly and blood spilled from the corners of his mouth. "I hope… it doesn't rain wherever I'm going." He closed his eyes and let out a small sigh.

Tears were streaming down my face now. I hadn't cried in so long. Through the sobs wracking my body, I managed to choke out, "N-no! Don't go, don't leave me!" I pushed a lock of blonde hair back from his forehead. "I-I love you…" But his body was already getting cold; he was gone.

The numbness I'd felt for so long was replaced by and unbearable pain in my chest. I clawed at it, trying to make it go away, unaware that I was being lifted up and escorted into a car. Unaware that all the while, I was screaming. I noticed vaguely that I was back in my apartment, and that there were people speaking, but no sound was heard. It was like someone had stuck cotton in my ears. The next thing I was aware of was being encompassed in something soft, and then everything went blank.

~=:.:=~

I was done. It was all over. I had gone to his funeral, had stood there while they talked about how great of a friend he was to everyone. I should know. I was his best friend. I stood there while they lowered what was left of my closest friend, and my only love, into the ground. Some people say that it's appropriate for it to rain during a funeral—that it's like the sky is crying for them. But I wished, childishly, that today would be the exception to the weather we had had every day for what seemed like forever, that today there would be sun to say goodbye to the man who had been my sun. He hated the rain. I hope that wherever he is, the sun's always shining.

Nothing would ever be the same. I know that sounds corny, but it's true. Sometimes I lay in bed, wondering if maybe I'd be better off if I made the same decision he did, and be free. Then I would think about our last words to each other. I would remember, and wonder if he had felt the same.

He told me to save this city. But I can't. I hate this city; I hate it so much. This city can't be saved. I'm sorry, but I won't be able to do it either, I wish I could. The city is dead, there's no hope for it now.

I'd made my decision. My mom understood. I was never a materialistic person, and I didn't own much, so I threw away it all. The only things I kept were a leather bracelet that matched the one he always wore around his right wrist, the one that he was buried wearing, a CD he'd made me for my birthday one year—one with all of our favorite songs—and a framed photograph of us as young children, grinning hugely in the warm sunlight.

I stood there, staring out at the gray towers, listening to the thudding of the rain that had become a roaring that never left my ears. I stood there, right in the main gate of the city, and I turned around and walked away, never once looking back.

REVIEW! PLEASE, AND I MIGHT RECONSIDER THE CAPSLOCK ABUSE. KTHXBYE!