A/N: Oneshot. Short 'n' sweet. Set immediately after the fight at the end of chapter five.
Song: Use Somebody by Kings of Leon
The rain pours into the gutters like tears.
It fills the streets with misery and flows down staircases.
It sends the humans rushing for safety, trying to protect themselves with crude contraptions of iron and plastic.
It sends animals running back to their homes in the trees, the warm safe hollows where the rain cannot reach them. They sense the winter coming. They cower in the warmth with their families.
The humans, more alone than ever, hide behind painted faces and self-constructed ideals. They invent meanings, relationships, feelings that are not really there. They overcomplicate things with their emotions. The rain tries to wash away the twisted horror that is humanity but they cling to the earth, sucking the very life from the veins that have sustained them and their kind for millennia.
Two lone figures stand in the rain, making no attempt to shelter themselves.
They do not stand close. Their flesh does not make contact. And yet they are so closely linked, so tightly bound, that it is physically remarkable. People would stop and turn their heads were they not so preoccupied.
Gary looks over to Petey, the rain running down his scarred cheek like a tear.
The smaller boy's hands are shoved into the pockets of his jacket. His eyes are red, so red from crying. His lip trembles.
(Moments before)
Gary is walking, just walking, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other. He has no destination, no home as of now. His thoughts are blank. The rain seems to wash them away.
Suddenly he notices a figure in front of him. The rain becomes heavier, heavier, heavier still – it seems to buffet the very gravitational force keeping him earthbound.
He gets closer, closer, closer and realizes it's Petey.
Poor little Pete Kowalski.
Femme-boy.
Petey.
If it was anyone else, Gary would not have cared. And yet here was his friend for four years, ever since they were freshmen – and the one he'd been in love with ever since.
Gary's whole body aches.
After losing to Jimmy, he'd thought he'd never see Petey again.
And here they both were, at the end of the story.
Petey finally manages to look up and he recognises Gary. His eyes say what he himself never could; years of torment, years of denial – years of wasted time. He rolls out his bottom lip and bites down on it, hard. He can't cry – not now. Even so his eyes fill with tears and he fights to suppress them.
Gary knows these are the last few moments left.
He embraces Petey, wrapping his arms round the smaller boy protectively. Without thought Petey hugs him back. Gary brushes his lips against Petey's ear, whispering in a voice only they can hear.
"It's alright, Petey. It's fine," he says, feeling his throat constrict with grief, "We both knew it was never gonna have a happy ending."
Neither realizes how long they cry.
Gary lays an arm round Petey's shoulders, rubbing his back. He's struggling not to cry himself. He watches the rain. He knows this is the end.
He chuckles mirthlessly to hide a sob catching in his throat. "Do you know how much time we've wasted, Pete?"
Petey looks up. It's the first time in a long while Gary's called him by his name. "Yeah, I do."
Gary grabs him by the shoulders and kisses him, hard. The years of torment, the years of denial, the wasted time – it feels like it's been leading up to this.
Gary is the first to break away. "You'll die waiting for me, Petey."
Pete nods, bitter tears flowing freely. "Ï'll wait."