Symphony of Sound.

Alex and Jack surface from the confines of Jack’s room a good half hour later, and they find Zack, Rian, Tegan, Sara, David and William gathered around the fire, each of them nursing a mug of hot chocolate or coffee.

“Nice of you to join us, Jalex.” William says with a soft smirk, nodding at them over his mug.

“Jalex?” Jack asks, raising his eyebrows as he settles himself between Zack and Sara until Alex nudges his way into the circle.

“Yeah,” Zack laughs, “Jack and Alex makes Jalex. It’s easier than saying both of your names.”

Alex rolls his eyes fondly at the newly seventeen year old boy and laughs softly, tugging Jack in closer to his side.

“So what are you and Rian then?” Jack laughs, glancing between the blonde and brunette boys. “Yours is a lot harder.”

“We decided.” Tegan says with a soft laugh, looking between the boys. “Zian. Zack and Rian makes Zian.”

Tegan smiles proudly at her sister and she laughs, reaching over to high five her.

“So fine,” Alex laughs, kissing the top of Jack’s head absently, “we’re Jalex and you’re Zian. Where the hell did you even get this idea from?”

“My girl back home started it.” Sara says with a soft smile. “Apparently, we’re ‘Semy’.”

“So her name’s Emy?” Rian asks, taking an educated guess. Sara nods.

“Yeah... We’ve been together three years now.” She smiles fondly, and Tegan rolls her eyes at her.

“Every two seconds, I swear to God; ‘Emy this, Emy that, la la la la la.” She says with a laugh and a fond smile. Sara elbows her and smiles softly.

“You’re just jealous.” She says, before turning to everyone else. “Tegan hasn’t had a girl in two years.”

“Shut up, Sara!”

Sara laughs and sticks her tongue out at her sister, squinting her eyes slightly closed.

Zack and Rian laugh softly as the twins starting shoving at each other playfully, until Zack’s phone vibrates softly against his thigh, pressed behind the denim. He tugs it out carefully, and when he sees ‘Incoming Call: Aunt Carolyn’, he smiles, and answers.

His smile drops when his aunt immediately begins to talk.

“Zack? There’s been an accident.”

He hesitates, pausing for a moment to suck in a panicked breath, biting at his lower lip before standing. He mouths ‘I have to take this’ at Rian before heading up to his dorm.

“What... What happened? What’s going on?”

“Calm down,” She says, and Zack can tell it’s directed at herself as much as it is to him, “it’s all going to be fine.”

“Aunt Cee,” Zack presses sternly, “what happened?”

“It was just... It was just a car accident. Andy was... Well, Andy offered to drive Holly to the airport –she’d come down to visit, you see- and they got caught in a side on collision with another car, and it hit –it hit Holly’s side but Andy tried to drag her out of the way when he saw what was going to happen. They’re both –they’re both in the intensive care unit right now, but Holly should be out really soon.”

Zack’s breath catches in his throat and he swallows, knotting his fingers in his hair as he tries to process the news.

“Zack, I can –I can get you a plane ticket home if that’s what you want to do.”

Zack plays with his soft, blonde curls for a long moment before biting at his lip and replying with, “Yeah, okay.”

“I’ll have it sent straight to you. If you –I’ll get your dad to call school and get you the time off, okay?”

“Yeah.” Zack says slowly. He’s still letting everything sink in. “When’s the flight?”

“The earliest I can get is four days from now,” She says, her voice gradually becoming less and less shaky, “Holly should be in a regular ward by then.”

Zack nods, his eyes watering as he pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs softly to himself.

“I’ll book your ticket and call your dad to sort everything out, okay? It’ll be fine, Zee. I promise.”

With that, she hangs up and Zack sighs, bites at his lip for a moment and throws his phone down onto his bed, blinking fast to slow the tears.

He lies there for a second before realizing he’s going to gain nothing from feeling sorry for himself and so drags himself up onto his feet and attempts to gather his thoughts.

Whilst doing so, he starts throwing everything he had unpacked in his earlier haste back into the as yet unpacked suitcases sitting beside the door. He catches himself crying in the few times he glances into the mirror, and pauses for a few seconds to wipe at his tears forcefully before continuing on.

There’s a soft knock at the door soon after, and the door pushes open to reveal Rian, with a very concerned expression on his face.

“Zack?” He asks gently, voice just above a whisper. Zack shifts his eyes to look at him. “What’s going on?”

“It was my aunt on the phone.” Zack starts, moving slowly to perch himself on the edge of his bed. “She had something to tell me.”

“Does it have something to do with why you’re packing everything again?” Rian asks, voice as quiet as before as he moves over quickly to sit beside his boyfriend. The blonde boy nods, absently twisting a curl around his right forefinger.

“There’s been a car accident,” Zack explains, staring blankly at the closed, thick oak door opposite him, voice numb and monotone, “Andy and Holly both got caught in a side on collision on their way to the airport. Holly was supposed to be flying home. They’re both in intensive care.”

Rian immediately tugs Zack into a tight hug, but the blonde boy only stiffens in his arms, not even moving to attempt to reciprocate the gesture.

“But what does that have to do with the fact that you’re packing everything up again?”

Zack pulls away from him and looks at him for a long moment before his shoulders sink as he sighs.

“I’m flying home in four days, Rian.” He says slowly, voice weak and toneless. “My family need me right now.”

Rian stares at him for a moment in disbelief.

“And if my dad decides that the five thousand dollars he’s due to pay school for my next semester would be better spent on Holly and Andy’s medical bills, then so be it. I can go to public school.”

“Zack, they’d destroy you in public school. You do realize that, don’t you?”

“I know.” The blonde responds weakly, pathetically, sinking back onto the bed and curling himself up. “But five thousand dollars... It could cover their bills almost entirely, I think. And if he wants to pay it, then I’ll let him.”

“So you’d miss a whole term for the sake of your family?” Rian asks, and he can’t help but feel a swell of pride at the younger boy’s gesture.

“Yeah.” Zack replies, almost in a whisper. “I would. They need me around right now anyway.”

Rian tugs Zack into his side and the smaller boy tucks himself under his arm and rests his head on his shoulder.

As much as he doesn’t want to think about the boy he’s dating (he manages to catch himself before he thinks ‘love’ –he’s not quite ready for that yet) being all the way across the country, Rian has no real option but to support him and enjoy the last few days they’re going to have together for a long time.

And so, they spend the next day in bed in Zack’s room, cuddling under the blankets, with a seemingly endless stack of movies to watch.

The day after that they go down into Augusta, and get dinner at some restaurant Rian knows Zack will like and just enjoy the others company, because God knows it’s going to be a while until they can do this again.

The third day is the day before term restarts, so Rian has to spend a little time checking he has everything he needs for his classes, and Zack needs to finish up repacking, so they spend a little time apart until Zack comes and knocks timidly on Rian’s door.

They spend the rest of the day curled up on Rian’s bed, just kissing and with light touches scattered here and there, and Zack thinks it’s perfect.

Zack says goodbye to everyone else at breakfast the following morning, since they’ll all be in class when he leaves for the airport. Despite not really knowing what’s going on, Alex and Jack seem to be just as on edge as Rian is, both of them embracing Zack tightly and telling him to stay safe and look after himself, to stay in touch and come back soon.

Rian, however, can’t seem to find words, and so just tugs Zack into a tight hug against his chest, nose pressing into Zack’s loose curls. Zack wraps his arms around Rian’s waist and pulls him in as close as he physically can. Alex and Jack dismiss themselves and head to class.

“Please look after yourself, Zee.” Rian says softly. “And please stay in touch.”

“I’ll call you whenever I can.” Zack replies, swallowing nervously and blinking to stop his tears.

“Please come back soon.” Rian says, his eyes watery as he blinks to stop the prickling at the corner of his eyes.

“When I can.” Zack says, looking down at the floor.

At this, Rian cups his cheeks and kisses him slow, deep and meaningful, praying for it to last because he isn’t going to be able to do that when he likes any more.

“You need to get to class.” Zack says when the bell echoes through the cafeteria.

Rian nods, kissing Zack again before taking hold of his hand and squeezing.

“I’ll see you soon.” He presses a kiss to Zack’s forehead and turns, heading in the direction of his German class.

Zack sighs and his shoulders drop a little as he heads back towards his dorm room, collecting his luggage and locking the door carefully. He pushes the key into his pocket and heads for the train station.

Rian looks out of the window in his class and notices the tiny drops of rain spattering the window. He frowns.

It rains all day that day.