Matty really liked looking at the sky. There was just something extremely satisfying about staring up at the fluffy clouds that seemed to be permanently tinted grey. He liked knowing that one day soon, he might just be amongst those clouds.

He didn't particularly believe in God, and wasn't religious in the slightest, but he did like to believe that there was a way for the deceased to watch over their loved ones - like how he believed his Nana was watching over him. He missed his Nana.

Matty knew that nobody ever really understood life until after it was over, but he liked to believe he'd already figured out the meaning of life when he was at a very young age. When he was fourteen, he'd had a rather rude awakening to the world. That was the year he'd really realized that his childhood was over, and he needed to start acting more responsible. It was the year that his childhood girlfriend - Gemma James - broke up with him. His depression at the time had been quite ridiculous; and he'd spent months staying up until the early morning contemplating why he still existed, and found comfort in some weed that an upperclassmen gave him, and believed himself to be the greatest philosopher to have ever lived.

Regardless, Matty really liked looking up at the sky. It put him at peace. He loved those brief chances he'd get at climbing onto the tour bus's rooftop and staring after the constellations, picturing himself among them too. It was very rare for the bus to be stopped at nighttime, but when it was, the boys knew to just let him be alone on the roof. Staring at the clouds now, however, he couldn't help but regret never letting George know how much he loved the clouds, and the sky, and the fact that they were most likely not the only living things in the universe. He loved the conspiracy of it all.

As his gaze remained fixated upon a particularly interesting cumulus cloud, he heard someone clear their throat behind him - scaring him almost half to death, if he'd not already been halfway there as is.

"Am I interrupting anything?" It was George. Immediately, Matty turned to face the brown haired lad, pulling him over to where Matty was sat on the rooftop.

"Come, George: the sky is telling a story." Matty smiled, nuzzling his head onto George's shoulder as his gaze fixated itself on the atmosphere once more.

After a good hour, just when they knew the bus driver would be returning soon, George cleared his throat again.

"Matty-"

"George. Be quiet. You'll miss the best part." Matty spoke, bringing his finger to George's lips in a gesture to silence him. He sighed, wrapping his fingers around Matty's wrist lightly.

"Matty, we've got to go. The driver's coming, and it's not a good idea to be up here while the bus is moving." George stated, scooting back towards the emergency exit flap from which he'd used to get up there in the first place. After getting himself down safely, he pulled Matty down by the waist after him.

"You didn't even connect with the clouds." The curly haired lad mumbled, plopping himself onto the couch dejectedly.

"Matty, you know I've never been able to connect with things quite as spiritually as you can." George sighed, going to sit by his friend - only to have the smaller boy wince away from him.

"You didn't even see it. You missed the most beautiful thing." Matty whispered, eyes glazing over as he drifted off in thought. George wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"Then how about you enlighten me on just what exactly I missed?" He asked, running his fingers through Matty's curls.

"You didn't see the faces in the clouds. Every cloud has a face: a story, and you didn't pay attention to their faces. They're offended." Matty spoke. "They gave me the best advice, and you couldn't even listen. Clouds cannot speak, but they do speak through nature: the chirping of the bird, a pitter-patter of rain, the rustling of leaves when the wind kicks up. It's so beautiful George. It's so peaceful. It's so surreal."

"I'm sorry." George sighed.

"They told me to love you, George. We never really know just how much time we have in this life, and they've told me that loving someone could be the greatest beauty of all, or the greatest regret. I don't want to regret loving you, George Daniel." Matty sighed, leaning forward as if he were ready to stand up.

And then George understood exactly what Matty was saying. It was always Matty that opened his eyes, much like the sky had opened Matty's. A smile broke out on his face just as the smaller lad turned to walk towards the bunks, and he ran after him. Just before Matty could close the curtain in his bunk, George slipped in behind him, taking Matty's hand.

"George, what're you doing?" Matty asked, eyes bright with tears.

"I'm loving you." And with that, he cupped the curly haired lad's face and brought their lips together. Matty let out a gasp of shock before situating himself into the kiss, interlacing their fingers above his head while his other hand wrapped itself around George's neck, bringing him closer. The bigger of the two had Matty bracketed to the bed, and Matty couldn't complain at how wonderful it felt to be completely covered by the love of another.

He loved George, and it was a wonderful thing to know that George loved him back.

~

"Hey guys, you want to watch a movie?" Adam appeared in the doorway of the living room, brown hair a darker shade as he had just gotten out of the shower a few minutes previous. "Oh."

He couldn't help but smirk at the two, figuring that they'd finally admitted their feelings for the other, and that's what had led them to a passionate make out session. He left the room after that.

~

Thunderstorms. Thunderstorms were the absolute worst. It was nature: gloomy, dark, loud, depressing - thunderstorms.

Rain pattered against the roof of the tour bus as Matty, George, Adam, Ross, and John all sat watching a movie on the couch. It was some Adam Sandler movie that had the men laughing at least every three minutes. Wind howled outside the bus as it travelled down the freeway towards their next show. Lightning lit up the sky every now and then, as the guys could see quick flashes out of the corner of their eyes.

Matty hated storms. Spite loving clouds, and the metaphors in which they brought, he hated the crashes of thunder shaking the ground beneath them. He hated when power went out, leaving him alone in the dark, left with nothing but his mind - the same mind that was slowly killing him.

When the movie was over, and the others had grown sidetracked by their phones, Matty turned to George slowly, resting his head upon the taller lad's shoulder.

"Can I talk to you in private?" He whispered, to which George nodded silently, following the curly haired man out of the room. Adam took notice of their leaving, but thought nothing of it.

In the bunks, Matty began to cry. It wasn't one of those soft, light cries, but rather a horrible, loud, ugly cry that had George biting his lip as he tried his best to comfort his best mate.

"Matty, what's wrong, love? What's wrong?" He asked, and Matty's eyes were red; nose runny, body shaking uncontrollably.

"George," the older lad sniffed, dabbing at his eyes with his sleeves the best he could. "George."

"What? What is it? Don't cry, love. Please?" The taller boy frowned, wiping at Matty's eyes.

"George," Matty's voice was barely above a whisper. "I love you."

And George's heart skipped a beat: a smile rapidly appearing on his face as he rubbed the smaller man's back.

"That's not a reason to cry, Matty. I love you." George didn't believe in saying 'I love you too,' and neither did Matty really. The 'too' felt too much like they were agreeing with the other, rather than confessing words from the heart. If they had to say anything other than those three words, they would settle for 'and' at the beginning.

"It is a reason to cry." Matty sniffed once more. "This is hard."

"What's hard?" George asked, brow furrowing in confusion.

"I should've told you this sooner." Matty sighed, hiding his face in shame.

"Told me what? You don't have AIDs, do you, cause that'd be very unfortunate?" George asked, a small smile on his face as he tried to lighten to mood for whatever was stressing Matty.

"George, this isn't a joke." The smaller lad said sternly.

"Okay."

"I- I really don't know how to tell you this. I didn't want to, but my mum is right. It's not right not letting you know what's going on with me." Matty started, wiping at his eyes one last time, crossing one leg over the other as he wrung his hands together nervously.

"What is it?" George asked, taking notice of Matty's anxious demeanor.

And before the older man could speak, a deafening clap of thunder startled the both of them, causing them to fall backwards on their bunk as the light illuminating their faces turned black. Great, power outage in the bus.

"Matty, George, you lads okay?" It was Ross' voice that called from the darkness, and the two men shivered.

"We're fine!" George called out, for Matty seemed too incapacitated to speak at this given moment.

It had been maybe five minutes later that the power came back on, and George took notice of Matty's figure that was shaking harder now. Matty's eyes wouldn't focus, and his mouth remained partially opened as he tugged at his hair, wheezing quietly.

"Matty? Matty, are you okay?" George began to panic. The boy looked as though he were having a full-out panic attack. "Matty?"

When the curly haired lad didn't respond, George choked up.

"Adam, Ross, someone!" Suddenly, the three made their way into the bunk area - taking notice of Matty's state as their eyes went wide. "Someone tell the bus driver to head for the hospital!"

Adam was frozen in his place, same with Ross, so it was John who went to deliver the news.

"Matty?" George turned back towards the shorter lad, cradling him in his lap, petting his hair and whispering soothingly in his ear. "Matty, stay with me."

But Matty was too far gone. All around him, he heard deep hums. He knew they were the voices of men, but he couldn't make the voices out in his hazy mind. He tried to focus on consciousness, grasping onto George's sleeve, but in the end lost that battle just like he was losing everything else.

So, with one final shake, he fell into unconsciousness, letting the darkness consume him.