Symphony of Sound.

It’s just over three weeks later when Rian finally hears from Zack. He’s staring off into space as he sits cross legged on his bed, laptop sitting in front of him, when a beeping sound alerts him to the pop up in the corner of the screen.

‘Zack Merrick is online’

He smiles, soft and understated, until another sound tells him Zack is video calling him, which makes his smile grow even wider as he clicks ‘accept’.

He’s grinning by the time Zack’s face finally pops up on the screen, his hair in his eyes and a soft smile on his face.

“Hi,” Zack says with a gentle smile, “it’s been a while. Sorry I didn’t call.”

Rian watches, his smile gradually softening as Zack twists a loose blonde curl around his finger absently.

“I’ve been busy, I guess.”

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” Rian admits shyly, a blush spreading across the tops of his cheeks, “how are Andy and Holly?”

“They’re good, I guess.” Zack replies. “Both of them are out of hospital in any case.”

“That’s great.” Rian says with a smile, running his fingers through his bangs quickly. “What happened, though? In the accident, I mean.”

“Well, they were both very lucky, from what I’ve heard.” Zack replies, tugging his knees up into his chest and looking over at the camera. “Holly had a broken arm, and Andy had a couple of cracked ribs, but it was nothing more serious than that. But everyone else is fine, no one’s ill or anything. And the fees weren’t as bad as we all thought they be, between my dad and my aunts and uncles they can afford it, we think.”

Rian smiles, because, he thinks to himself, this means more chance of Zack coming back to school.

“I would’ve called sooner,” Zack continues, “but I’ve been a little busy. I’ve had to babysit Emily half the time, and Andy and Holly are pretty demanding patients, unsurprisingly.”

“They sound like you.” Rian interjects with a soft laugh. Zack narrows his eyes at him.

“Shut up, I’ve probably been doing more work than you have.”

“Oh yeah?” Rian laughs. “I doubt that.”

Zack frowns at him for about three seconds before he starts to laugh.

“No, seriously,” He says, “I have actually been at work whenever they needed extra hands.”

“Oh, so you’d rather work than be with me? Thanks.” Rian pouts overdramatically.

“Shut up, you idiot, of course I wouldn’t.”

Rian smiles at this, and Zack rolls his eyes.

“Speaking of being with you,” Zack says with a soft smile, blush spreading across the tops of his cheeks, “I’ll be back at school by the end of the month.”

Rian’s eyes widen and he hesitates for a moment, pausing to count the days.

“Wait, that’s like a week away.”

“I know.” Zack says with a grin. “They weren’t in as bad a state as everyone suspected they’d be, so I can come back sooner than I thought.”

Rian pauses again before a smile breaks out across his face too.

“It’s your job to tell everyone. Since I’m too lazy to text around and you’re with them all.”

Rian nods exuberantly and grins even wider, smile creasing the corners of his eyes.

“I will, I promise. What day do you think you’ll be getting back?”

“I’ll let you know. Probably Wednesday night, though, going on the tickets my aunt is looking through.”

Rian smiles, tousles his curls absently and nods.

“Okay, awesome.” He says, glancing up at his calendar in a failed attempt at working out how long it is until he gets to see Zack in person again.

There’s a cry of ‘Zachary!’ through the speakers and the blonde boy is suddenly alert, and looks up to the camera.

“I think I have to go.” Zack laughs, rolling his eyes as the cries of his cousins become more irate.

“Okay,” Rian says, a little dejected, “I’ll see you Wednesday, I guess.”

“Yeah,” Zack nods, “I’ll see you soon.”

Rian sees Zack making a move to end the call when he stops him.

“Zack.”

The blonde looks up, at the camera and at Rian.

“Yeah?”

“I can’t wait to see you.”

A pale pink blush spreads ferociously over the tops of Zack’s cheeks and the brunette boy laughs, because seriously? Really cute. On so many levels.

“I could say the same.” Zack smiles, looking down slightly so his bangs dip over his eyes. “I’ll see you soon.”

And with that, Zack is gone and Rian is left grinning and giggling like a happy toddler on his own. He shuts his laptop and bounds from his bed, tugging up his checked pyjama pants and running across the hall to Alex’s room.

He doesn’t knock (big mistake) and falls through the door to witness the sight of Alex and Jack snuggling somewhat conspicuously under the blankets, half asleep and drowsy. Rian’s eyes widen and he turns away, covering his eyes as Alex squeaks.

“I don’t want to know, please never tell me.” Rian rushes out. “Please God tell me you’re decent.”

“Yes.” Alex replies, embarrassed. Rian turns to find them both flushed an interesting shade of pink and he rolls his eyes.

“Really guys?” He says with a laugh. “But anyway, I have good news.”

“It better be.”

“It is. Zack’s coming back!”

At this, both boys leap from under the blankets and begin hounding Rian ferociously for details. He’s dragged with altogether too much force by the pair of them so he’s sitting on the edge of Alex’s bed. They sit either side of him, squashing him between them until he starts talking.

“Alright, alright, calm down.” He laughs gently. “If you want any information I suggest you stop squishing me.”

At this, they both shuffle away a little.

“Good call,” Rian says with a small nod, “but anyway. I just got off the phone with him, and-”

“He called you? No fair! He never called me.” Alex pouts.

“Shut up.” Rian snaps. “I’m his boyfriend, of course he called me. But anyway, moving on, he called me to let me know that his cousins are both doing fine, they didn’t have any major untreatable injuries or anything, and they’re both out of hospital.”

“Tell us about Zack, dammit!”

“Alex, for the love of God, shut up and I might.” Rian rolls his eyes, and Jack laughs. “But he said that the fees weren’t as bad as everyone had anticipated so he can still afford to come here.”

At this, Alex squeaks and starts bouncing up and down. Rian and Zack exchange an incredulous glance and Jack shakes his head, somewhat embarrassed.

“He also said he’ll be back next Wednesday.”

Alex actually jumps off of his bed at this news and Jack immediately pulls him back down into his lap.

“That’s awesome! Oh my God!” Alex exclaims, waving his hands over excitedly. Jack sighs into his shoulder.

“Alex, calm down.” He turns to Rian and shakes his head in disdain. “Sorry about this. He has a vaguely hyperactive quality that only comes out every so often. Apparently now is ‘so often.’”

“Or,” Rian says, hesitating for a moment as the oldest of the three jumps away from Jack and begins rummaging in his closet, “he just likes to be a pain in the ass.”

Jack nods approvingly.

“Yeah, or that.”

They both turn to watch Alex throwing clothes from his closet onto the floor, and Jack gives him an amused smile when he pulls away to frown at them.

“Anyway,” Rian says after a few more moments, “I should go tell Evan and Kara. I’ve been given strict instructions to tell everyone the details.”

“Sounds like Zack.” Jack says with a hint of a laugh. “Although, I don’t thank you for leaving me with this one.”

Rian pauses in the doorway to grin smugly.

“You’re welcome.”

Rian trudges across the campus over to the tenth graders block, tugging at the sweatpants he’d hurriedly thrown on before he left. He’s kind of, maybe, probably breaking rules by wandering around at this time, but he doesn’t really care, since he hasn’t seen any teachers patrolling yet.

He knocks very loudly and unceremoniously on the door labelled E. Kirkendall after being directed up the boy’s dorm corridor by a very sleepy Eric. He hears a grumble from inside and the click of a lock, and Evan’s face appears in the opening.

“Rian? What do you want?” He narrows his eyes. “This better be good.”

“Zack’s coming back on Wednesday. I’ll spare you the details since it’s late but I was ordered to tell everyone when I got off the phone with him.”

Evan opens the door properly and leans against the frame, somewhat sceptical.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. The bills for his cousins’ treatment weren’t as high, so they can afford to send him back. He’ll be here Wednesday.”

Evan smiles softly and nods, apparently still reluctant to trust Rian after everything that happened with Zack before.

“If you could tell Kara...?” Rian starts to ask, trailing off. Evan nods.

“Yeah, I think if you woke her up you wouldn’t leave to see Zack again.”

Rian swallows nervously when he remembers this and Evan laughs under his breath; a soft, shy giggle.

“I suppose I’d better go tell her now. If I tell her in the morning she’ll probably yell at me for not telling her right away.”

Rian smiles, because, yeah, that sounds a lot like something Kara would do.

“Hey, Evan?” He says as he’s headed for the doors and Evan’s moving towards the girls’ corridor. The blonde boy turns to him and raises his eyebrows at him.

“Yeah?”

“Good luck. It was nice knowing you.”

Evan laughs at this, the corners of his mouth turning up slowly into a smile. He nods at Rian, climbing the few steps up to the girls’ rooms.

Rian shakes his head, laughs a little and pushes open the doors, heading back out into the night and to his dorm block.

He passes Jack and Alex kissing goodnight in the doorway of Alex’s room, and his only thought in that moment is ‘man, I wish Zee was here.’