He hated the rain. The sound of its drumming, the way it would wash through the air, but above all of it he hated how cold it made him. Dark blue eyes didn't hide the falling tears but the pouring rain did mask them. It wasn't fair, he did as his mother said, he smiled, he smiled when it was that last thing he wanted to do. He smiled when all it ever did was make the other kids laugh at him.

His mother had promised him a better life when they left his father in the middle of the night. His father had been passed out on the broken sofa. Daxter remembered his mother's eyes were dark. The last fight had been the worst and that's when she said they were leaving.

The people in their new home were as bad as the last place, and the place before that. They treated her badly and saw him as something worse. Daxter cried to the sand dunes by the beach overlooking the sea. There was so much horrible pain, deep inside, something no bruise would show or blood would flow from but a wound was there.

He sobbed harder, the sound heightening though he could rival the thunder of the storm.

Then there was a small presence, a delicate tap to his shoulder. Daxter flinched as he fell over in his hurry to turn around. A blond boy was on his hands and knees in the sand beside him. When Daxter flinched so did he, but when Daxter showed fear the boy shook his head holding his hands out palms open to show he meant no harm. Daxter rubbed his freckled nose as he glared at the boy. "What do you want?"

The boy with very dark blue eyes shook his head. Daxter watched his eyes, he didn't say anything but the small gestures with his face and hands were enough. 'Why are you crying?'

Daxter wiped at his face in a futile gesture because of the rain. "Because life stinks! My life sucks! My dad sucks, my mom sucks, I hate it!"

The strange boy's eyes were downcast; brow furrowed in concern with lips slightly parted catching rain. 'Don't say that.'

"I can say what I want! And why don't you say something? Why are you giving me the silent treatment? Too good to talk to the fatherless buck tooth freckle freak?"

He flinched back so violently Daxter himself had to question if he had struck the blond but he knew he didn't. The blond boy shook his head and with one hand and sad eyes he grasped his throat. That same hand unclasped and reclasped, sad eyes and a sound that Daxter wasn't even sure he heard. "You can't talk, hu?"

The boy shook his head confirming Daxter's guess. The red head stood giving a more appraising look to the blond. He was cute looking; quick to lose all the baby fat on his face that Daxter still possessed. Daxter let himself smile at the boy; "you're sure strange. Why are you out here in this.' His arms opened though reading to embrace the rain. 'I hate the rain, and the cold."

The blond boy smiled brightly shaking his head as he closed his eyes tilting his head to the sky. 'I love the rain.'

When he opened his eyes his smile fell when he saw the small red head had his arms crossed and was shivering. He stood and broke the distance between them. The red head's eyes were still brimmed with tears as he tried to hide the pain inside with a smile. The blond was over a head taller then the red head so it was easy for him, to lean close. To softly put his chin atop the smaller boy's head, to wrap his arms around the frail shoulders and block out the rain.

They waited, and stayed like that. The blond loving the rain took every drop and sheltered Daxter in his arms. Daxter stopped shaking, eventually becoming warm by the blonde's heat. Daxter chuckled, startling the blond. "I should know my personal umbrella's name. Just, write it in the sand."

'Jak.'


It was like old times again, the way they both fit together as two halves of something long ago broken. Jak lay mostly on his side, chin nestled overtop Daxter's head. One arm pinned under the waist of the red head the other was loosely draped atop him. Daxter lay contently warm, the feeling of safety that he loved surrounding him. He was safe, warm and could not be happier.


Author Note: I solved the dilemma of Daxter's tail. Jak gets horns and pale skin; Daxter gets a bit of fur and a tail. Apparently Pecker lied in the last chapter about Daxter not being in full eco transformation, bad Pecker! So when Jak transforms he goes with horns, when Dax transforms he goes with tail.

As for the flashback, I went through a library psyche book on personalities. Dax really does fit the book's description for traumatic childhood which is often hidden by sarcasm and rarity to take matters seriously so they themselves don't have to deal with their own trauma as being trauma. But tell me what you think please, I can do all the research but if no one believes it's a useless gesture on my part. I am trying very hard to get the characters in character.