Part One "Wake up, Justin." The voice reached him, but it was far away - so endlessly far that it sounded like it was coming out of another world...from up there. Maybe there was light up there, he mused. Up - swim up, he told himself, wanting to groan with the effort, but there was no air to breathe. It was like swimming from the pit of the ocean, the weight of miles of water pressing down on him, and it was so dark down here, and he was so fucking... "Justin." ...hungry he couldn't think. Couldn't remember how he'd ended up in this predicament, only that..."It's just a stupid dream. Doesn't mean anything." ...he wanted to get to the surface, where he knew he'd find light, and air to breathe, and sustenance. Brian. He felt a hand touch his face, the warmth feeling almost scalding against his icy skin, and he wondered at how cold he was, but he couldn't remember why. Gentle fingers touched his lips and parted them, opening his mouth, and he vaguely remembered the same thing happening - when? Last night? And the night before that too, and the one before and the one before, and he remembered thinking the touch felt "...ridiculously romantic." like Brian's, but what was Brian doing down here? Something warm and heavy splashed against his mouth, seeped past his teeth, and he tasted salty copper and iron; swallowed. He realized there was something pressing against his lips and reached up out of the darkness to grasp a hand, to press leaking skin against his mouth; skin leaking - food. Brian. He sucked and swallowed like a nursing infant, his grip on the hand near his face slowly strengthening as warmth flooded him, making his fingers and toes tingle almost painfully; making him hard. He felt fingers slide through his hair and presently the hand - strangely cool now against his own warm skin - slid out of his grasp easily, and he tried to reach for it, but it was too dark to see. He felt lips touch his forehead, a whispered breath caress his ear. "Sleep now, Justin. I'll be back tomorrow." A blanket was pulled upward and he felt it settle around his shoulders, gentle hands giving them a final pat before he heard quiet footsteps retreating. He felt himself sink and the darkness rise up again to reclaim him, but it was alright. He was safe now, and warm, sated and incredibly tired. Nothing mattered, and he smiled softly as he drifted down. "It's the best night of my life..." ***** Justin stared at the doctors assembled around his hospital bed in confusion, studying each of the four faces in succession before he turned to his mother, who was perched on the mattress beside him, holding his icy-cold hand in both her warm ones. "I was bashed in the head with a bat? Why don't I remember? When? Why?" "What's the last thing you can remember, Mr. Taylor?" Justin closed his eyes and shook his head, his thoughts bouncing back and forth between the shock of revelation and the dark void just behind it, shadows of recollection that were vaulted, locked and inacessible. His mind reeled with questions and the feeling that the answer was just at the tip of his tongue. Thumping bass. Blue strobe lights flashing briefly over Brian's sardonic smirk ... "Do you want to come to my prom with me?" "Where's Brian?" He asked suddenly. "Why--" Jennifer stroked his hand reassuringly. "Justin...Sweetheart--" "Is he alright?" "He's fine," Jennifer said softly. Justin pulled his hand out of her grasp and flopped back on the pillow, closing his eyes and briefly touching the bandage taped to his forehead. He'd been unconcious for two weeks, they'd told him. They'd told him a lot of things in the last half hour he was too overwhelmed to process at the moment, and he had the nagging suspicion they hadn't even told him the half of it. His head ached. The sunlight flooding the room was glaringly bright, and voices and sounds seemed to assault his ears at an incredibly amplified level. He couldn't think, couldn't even breathe, not with the air of the room so cloyingly hot and - dense, salty-sweet, the smell of bodies almost like he remembered from the crush on the dancefloor at Babylon, mixed in with other things, chemical things. He couldn't remember, wanted to see Brian. Brian would know what was going on and could tell him..."Are you out of your mind? Go ask some girl." His mother's voice, gentle, calming. "Justin..." "Leave me alone," he whispered. "Just leave me alone, get out." ***** Heavy darkness again, but the struggle to go upward was easier this time, upward toward... "Brian," he said into the darkness. "I'm here, Justin." Warm flesh against his cold lips again, warmth turning liquid and filling his mouth, his throat. He swallowed blindly, greedily, not caring, he was so damned hungry. And it was Brian... "No," he groaned when the cool hand he was gripping was pulled away, "don't go. I can never--" "Shhh, Justin. I'll be back tomorrow." "I can never remember you were here." "No. You won't. If you do you'll think it was a dream, but I'll be back." "Brian--" "Hush...sleep now." Then he was gone and Justin let the warm darkness pull him in, until the sunlight of the next day pierced his eyes again, dispersing a vague recollection of Brian as easily as a mist. TBC