Symphony of Sound.

Zack blushes the whole way upstairs as he goes to change. He emerges again a few minutes later, dressed suitably in shorts and a Chargers jersey. Rian smiles, makes grabby hands across the table at the blonde and the younger boy smiles, shifting around the table and sitting down next to him.

“Do you boys want pancakes making?” Zack’s father asks, turning away from the stove and gesturing with a frying pan.

“Yeah, since you’re offering.”

When Zack’s father makes pancakes, he doesn’t just make pancakes. He makes geographically accurate, down to the last detail, completely cohesive, US states. Seriously. They even fit together to make a pretty much perfect map. Including state capitals.

Rian’s eyes widen when he presents them with the plate full of states, and two separate ones to eat from.

“Do you want Virginia or Florida?” Zack asks, leaning forwards and stabbing what appears to be Massachusetts altogether too violently.

“What?”

“Which pancake do you want?”

“Then why were you talking about states?”

“Look.”

“Oh my God.”

“I know, right?”

And so they spend around half an hour fitting all the pancakes together and playing around, marking on where everyone lives. Which is infinitely fun, apparently.

“I was thinking we could maybe just go for a walk around town today?” Zack suggests as he stands and takes the plates over to the sink. “You know, see the sights?”

“What even is there to see in Anaheim?”

“Well, there’s Disneyland.”

“If I have to go to another theme park I think I’ll scream.”

“Fine. There’s the GardenWalk, I guess.”

“The what now?”

“Oh, never mind.”

Rian laughs, mouth curling up into a shy smile, holding his hand out across the table at the blonde boy.

“I meant what I said, you know.”

Zack looks at him for a moment, cocks his head and moves to sit back down next to him.

“Meant what?”

“When I said that I’d do anything, so long as I’m with you.”

Zack blushes, laughs shyly and smiles, the corner of his mouth tugging up into a soft smirk.

When Zack’s birthday finally arrives a few days later, he takes it upon himself to sleep longer than usual, and is awoken by Rian’s weight landing on his side as the older boy sits on him.

“Ngh,” He mumbles, fumbling his way free from the blankets and batting at Rian until the brunette boy falls sideways and onto the floor.

Rian pouts and stands, laughing softly as he pushes harshly at Zack’s shoulder.

“Get off.” Zack whines, slapping Rian’s hand away and rolling over, effectively containing himself in blankets.

“Fine.” Rian says, perching on the edge of Zack’s bed. “I was just gonna say happy birthday.”

Zack grumbles against his pillow and rolls over, opens one eye and raises an eyebrow.

“Continue.”

“Happy birthday,” Rian smiles, leaning down to kiss him, “and Jack and Alex have demanded you call them today, but just a warning –I have it on good authority they plan to sing down the phone to you.”

Zack frowns, makes another quiet noise before falling back into his pillow.

Rian just laughs, taking it upon himself to lie down next to him and snuggle into his side.

It’s a few days later, on the twenty-seventh, they fly back to school, and return to a level of carnage even they never expected.

They enter the junior common room to find David, William, Nick and Greta sitting around in a circle in front of the unlit fire, apparently conferring quickly.

“Oh, you’re back. Thank God. You missed so much drama.” Greta sighs, rolling her eyes and pushing her soft blonde curls behind her ears.

It’s then that Rian notices the two small, almost identical dark haired girls standing in the far corner, looking around in a confused fashion.

He beckons them over, and they move shyly.

“And you are?”

“We’re, uh, new students. We came from Canada. I take it we showed up at a bad time?” The taller, longer haired of the two says.

“I meant your names.”

“I’m Tegan, and she’s Sara.”

“Likewise, I’m Sara, and she’s Tegan.” The other interjects, with a nod towards the other. “But you can call us the Quin twins, if you’d like.”

“Lovely.” Rian says, and he’s about to introduce himself properly when Zack comes barrelling across the room at him.

“Have you noticed a certain two people are missing?” He asks, staring at Rian. The brunette leans around him and does a quick headcount, frowning at the floor for a second.

“Jack and Alex.”

“Well done.” Zack rolls his eyes, before turning to face the Quins. “You, Sara, if that’s your name, come with me. And you –Tegan? - go with Rian. I’m going to find Jack.”

He grabs Sara by the wrist and drags her up the short flight of stairs to Jack’s dorm, and from outside they can hear Katy Perry’s Thinking of You blasting from his stereo.

Zack doesn’t even knock, just throws the door open and his face falls when he sees Jack’s crying form on the bed. He nudges Sara over to the stereo and she pauses the song, which makes the dark haired boy look up with teary eyes.

“Jack?” Zack says slowly, sitting down carefully on the edge of the bed, while Sara stands gingerly beside him. “Are you going to tell me, or do I just have to guess.”

Jack sucks in a breath.

“I’ll tell you.”

Next door, outside Alex’s room (from within which, the sound of Taylor Swift at full volume can be heard) stand Rian and Tegan. Rian bashes his fist harshly against the wood, brown eyes narrowed. Tegan watches him, mildly amused.

“Alex. Alexander!” Rian yells, trying to be heard over the still full-volume pop echoing through the dorms. Tegan sighs, rolls her eyes and elbows him out of the way.

“It’s locked, I assume?” She asks. Rian nods.

“Uh, yeah.”

She pulls a grip from her hair and fumbles with the lock, frowning and biting her lip until she hears a quiet click.

Rian stares at her wide-eyed, his mouth open and his eyebrows raised.

“What can I say?” She laughs. “Sara and I have been trained well.”

Rian smiles, pushing the door open and surveying the room before him.

“Gaskarth,” Rian says, moving quickly over to the boy’s ‘sleeping’ form, “what the hell have you done this time?”

“He fucked up.” Jack says simply, pulling himself up and arranging himself so that he’s sitting opposite Zack with his legs crossed. Sara stands awkwardly beside Zack for a moment until Jack motions for her to sit down.

“How?”

“I-I guess he was just being stupid. And clueless.” Jack sighs, pushing his fingers through his dark hair. “I don’t-I don’t know what he really, honestly meant by it, but I know it stung.”

“And what’s ‘it’?” Sara asks softly. Jack looks at her with teary eyes and bites at his lower lip roughly.

“I... I can’t...” Jack starts, his lower lip trembling and he bites harder in an attempt to stop it. He tries to stop the tears again, for all of three seconds before he drops his head down and pushes his hands under his glasses and over his eyes, the heels of his palms digging in slightly. The tears start then, and Zack reaches over and plucks the frames from his forehead. He folds them carefully and places them on his nightstand before resting a hand softly on the small of Jack’s back.

Sara gives them both a pitiful look, and makes a move as if to excuse herself, but Zack shakes his head, and she stays, sitting down beside him and absently playing with strands of Jack’s short, dark hair.

It seems to help calm him, even just a little, because his breathing appears to regulate, and he finally looks up and meets Zack’s worried, hazel gaze.

“I-I said some things I didn’t mean.” Alex says, bites his lip and absently pushes his bangs up and out of his eyes. “And I don’t –I don’t know if he thinks I meant everything I said or what, but –but I’m scared.”

He exhales, blows out his cheeks nervously and looks up at Rian, half expecting the slightly younger boy to fly off into a rage of some description, but there’s nothing. Just a mildly saddened expression and anxious eyes.

“What did you say?” Tegan asks gently, and Alex furrows his brow, narrows his eyes for a second before glancing up at her.

“I –I made a comment about how I only do some things to avoid hurting his feelings and –and he thought I meant I only did everything to stop myself from hurting his feelings and –and he got upset and he wouldn’t listen to anything I was saying and –and I don’t know what to do.”

Rian cocks his head at the other boy and sighs softly, glancing at Tegan for a second, before patting Alex on the shoulder and standing up.

“Come on.” He says, beckoning the older boy up. “You’re fixing this mess if Zack and I have anything to do with it.”

They barge right into Jack’s room, and so find Zack, Jack and Sara all lying side by side on Jack’s bed, talking quietly, on a level that no one else can even begin to hear.

“Zack. Sara.” Rian says sharply. Alex sways on his feet absently, and looks away quickly when Jack’s eyes search for his. “Movie and coffee downstairs?”

Zack and Sara exchange a glance, and Zack tries to wordlessly communicate something with Rian using his eyes, but it doesn’t seem to work.

Sara nods, and she stands, tugging Zack after her by the wrist. Tegan pushes Alex gently in the back, and she departs after the boys and her sister, closing the door after her.

“I see they came to see you too, then?” Alex says quietly, as he moves tentatively over towards Jack.

“Mmh.” Jack replies with a slight nod, looking up at Alex cautiously. The bed dips slightly as the brunette boy sits down next to him.

“Jack?” Alex says quietly, looking down at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that –you know that.”

“I –I know. You know what I get like. I just... Overreact a lot, I guess. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” Alex says with a soft, barely there smile, before he leans down to press a kiss to Jack’s lips.