Disclaimer: Hi, I don't own RENT.

"Tom! Telephone!" Tom Collins' grandmother called from the living room up to his bedroom on the second floor and making him regret having left the door open last night.

"Mrrfff." Tom, known simply as 'Collins' to many of his friends, moaned as he rolled out of bed and onto the floor. He pushed his phone off the dresser and pulled it to his ear, managing to wrap the cord around his arm.

"Hello?" He mumbled.

"Collins!" A cheerful voice squeaked on the other line.

"Oh...hey baby...what do you want? It's 9 AM. You know I don't wake up until at least two..."

"Do I need an excuse to call you?" Came the innocent voice.

"This early, yes. Come on, Trista...it's the weekend." The boy on the other end of the phone laughed, practically a giggle.

"Yeah, I know."

Collins sighed. He, of course, knew this wouldn't get anywhere. His boyfriend always won this sort of thing. It didn't bother the young anarchist much, but sometime Tristan's over-spunky, spontaneous attitude works on his nerves...at least early in the morning.

"Listen, baby, I'll call you back later. I'm too sleepy. I need sleeeeep." Collins moaned. Tristan huffed through the phone.

"Fine. Remember to call me back this time."

"Alright, alright." With that, he haphazardly slapped the phone into its cradle and fell asleep on the floor where he was lying.

Collins finally woke up around lunchtime. He tried to call Tristan, true to his word, but his dad picked up the phone and stated that he wasn't there. Ever since the teenager had come out to his parents, they had been excessively paranoid about their son. Just some of that homophobic northern charm, naturally.

Running down the stairs and grabbing a nutri-grain bar off the counter, Collins stopped and sat down on the couch with his grandma.

"So how's 'The Young And The Restless' today, Gran?" He asked the elderly lady who was utterly absorbe in her television program.

"Shh. Nick and Victor are fighting."

"Anything to do with Brooke?" The geek asked.

"Wrong show. Brooke's on 'The Bold and the Beautiful'. Now hush." Gran warned.

"Hell, I can't keep them straight. They're quite tedious." Collins said in a mock-professor voice.

"They are not. And watch your mouth, young man." The woman hadn't removed her eyes from the screen the entire time, until she turned to her grandson. "Shouldn't you be at school? SATs are soon."

"Gran...it's Saturday."

"Oh." the woman paused. "I can't keep them straight anymore. They're quite tedious." She teased. Collins stuck out his tounge and finished the nutri-grain bar.

"Whatever. I'm going to Tristan's. See you in a while." Collins stated, grabbing his jacket off the back of the couch.

"Tell him I said hi, will you? He's such a sweet kid." Gran said.

"Will do!" The anarchist kissed his grandmother's cheek and bounded out the door. He wasn't really in a hurry, he just hated to wait.

"Triss?" Collins called, knocking on the front door of his house. He cringed when Tristan's mother knocked on the door.

"Oh...Tom. Come in." She said quietly.

This was weird already. Tristan's mom was never even remotely nice to him, and here she was actually asking him to come in? He looked around their living room, making sure it wasn't covered in protective plastic and 'Queer-B-Gone' or rat poison or something.

"He's upstairs in his room." She stated, sniffling loudly. Just then, she noticed that she had been crying. It didn't seem good.

Collins headed upstairs and knocked on his boyfriend's bedroom door.

"Who is it?" Came the familiar voice from withing.

"It's Collins, baby. Open up."

"It's unlocked."

The computer geek turned the knob and opened the door to find Tristan lying on his bed, clutching a crumpled peice of paper for dear life. his eyes were puffy and red.

"What's that paper? What's wrong?" Collins asked, cocerned. Hed sat down on the bad and started stroking his boyfriend's curly hair gently. Tristan handed him the wadded-up ball of paper.

"I just got tested..." he whispered. "My dad made me."

Collins unfolded the paper and scanned it quickly. His face froze when he saw the words in bold print on the page.

"HIV Antibody test...positive?" He read aloud.

"You should get tested too." Tristan choked out.

"I will...but...how? You said I was the first." Collins said cautiously.

"You were..but...see, there was this party." His voice faltered. "Remember when you were in Santa Fe visiting your mom a couple months ago? Well...I was drunk, and horny, and I wouldn't have...I'm sorry, I..." His small body shook with sobs.

"A couple months ago? That's-"

"That's why I want you to get tested."

"I...I have to go. Gran will worry." He lied. He did't want to leave his boyfriend alone, but he neded to think...oh God, he needed to think.

"Okay." Tristan whispered. "Call me." he added with a brave smile. Collins returned it halfheartedly and headed out the door.

"Collins, wait." He stopped him in mid-step. "I love you."

Collins didn't move a muscle. Though it seemed cruel, he ran off quickly. He just couldn't see Tristan right now.

Once he got home, he immediately locked himself in his room. Gran may have said something to him on the way up, he didn't know. He cried silently into his pillows for what seemed like an eternity, the first time he'd cried in years.

A/N: Okay, this is my first RENT fanfic. I've been working on it for months. And I'm too lazy to upload. Until now, of course. Um, review. Now. Or I'll not hug you. ( but seriously. You can even flame me, they're funny...