I woke up to my shoulder being gently shaken.

"We've got to go, and we've already gone and found out your bus comes in a few minutes." Rowan announced.

"Where are you guys going?" I blinked, dusting myself off, I realized I just had to stand up and I was ready to go.

"I don't know, right now we're just kind of wandering." They explained, handing me my bag.

We stood there for a moment, then Rowan open up three arms and crushed me in a short hug. "You take care out there, man."

I patted their back gently, before letting go. "I will. Is there any way I get in contact with you?"

Rowan shrugged. "Not unless you run into me again, sorry."

I bit my lip. "Okay wait here, let me give you my phone number. That way you can at least get in contact with me if you need."

I ripped off a slip of paper from my sketch book (a.k.a. Holy Paper, so you know Rowan was one of those special people) and used one of the sharpies I had to jot in down real quick. Then I handed it to Rowan and they smiled. Then they pulled out a necklace I hadn't ever noticed before form under their shirt. It was one of those locket types so they stored my slip of paper safely inside.

"Thank you." They replied, sincere.

"You're welcome. Hopefully we'll see each other again one day."

They nodded and went to rejoin their group when all of a sudden they turned back. "Oh, and Atticus, if you ever see Dylan again, please give him a second chance."

Then they skipped off to merge with their odd little caravan, and I was left with those words hanging in the air. It stayed with me as I found the bus stop and boarded, I was still angry at Dylan. I was still hesitant about the idea of being around I'm again. I was also still missing him very badly. If I did see him again, whenever that might be, I think I could bring myself to give him one more chance.

The bus was mostly empty as I made way down the west coast. It was strange to think I was getting farther and farther away from my home every day. I think the strangest happenstance that I had noticed is that the closer you got to the ocean, the more palm trees there were, and some of them grew right up next pine trees. Other than that, it wasn't too different from anywhere else. I was on and off different busses for the majority of the early hours of the morning. Eventually my stomach started to grumble and I figured I would go get a snack somewhere. Only I was met with a surprise as I stepped off onto the pavement.

This stop was part of a bigger station for the larger versions of public transit. There was even a train stop and few yards away. It was crawling with people, even at this hours, and my heart sunk as I stopped a familiar looking car parked on the curb just feet away. The door opened and a tuft of blue hair poked out as Dylan and I stood staring at each other for a few moments. I would had said what are the chances, but something told me he wasn't here on accident.

"Atticus." He said slowly, walking towards me.

I didn't move, and he ran his last few steps and threw his arms around me. While I was caught up in his embrace my face pressed against his shoulder, and I wondered what it would be like if we were this close in a non-platonic way. I slowly returned the hug. His hair was just as soft as I remembered, it had only been a short time apart but I had tried my hardest to forget this.

He let me go, and I immediately noticed how badly he was shaking. His hands swiped across his face quickly. Dylan was crying. I stared at his face and realized just how red his eyes were, just how tired and scared he looked. He was so venerable all of a sudden.

"Att. I-I'm so s-sorry." He forced out. "This is all my fault."

I didn't really know what to say, I wasn't expecting him to be so... distraught. "Well maybe running off was a little over the top."

Dylan wiped his eyes again. "N-no! This is all on me I-"

He gasped, tears were freely flowing down his face, a sight I was not used to seeing, and his whole body still shook worryingly. "God, I'm sorry I'm such a mess, I can't even apologize correctly."

"It's okay."

He stared at me. "It is?"

I nodded slowly. "I didn't know you cared this much."

He held eye contact with me for a moment longer before he just broke down sobbing and muttering 'sorry' over and over again. Eventually I suggested we work this out back in the car than out in public. I found myself behind the wheel of that dingy old car again, with Dylan making good use of a packet of tissues. Nothing had changed except for I noticed the hoodie I gave Dylan (the mcr one) was lying near his pillow in the back. Huh.

"Okay, I'm think I'm good now." He announced, looking a lot more exhausted now.

"How'd you know I would be here?" I asked, glancing around.

He shrugged. "I didn't. I've been going to every transportation stop along the way." His voice got all shaky again. "I'm so stupid, I genuinely thought I had lost you."

"Were you scared?" It felt like a ridiculous question just leaving my mouth.

Dylan shook his head gently in disbelief, as if words failed him. "Atticus I was terrified I... can I tell you something?"

A warm feeling came over me, this is what I had wanted. For him to be open. I wanted that mutual trust.

"Yeah."

"The reason I got into using and all that... it was because I didn't think I was going to live that long anyway. I don't... I didn't really care about my health, at all."

I sat there quietly and just soaked in this information. "Didn't?"

He nodded. "Then I met you and... everything changed. You were just, such a joy to be around and this last month I've gotten so much better, but I couldn't stop because I was so worried I would mess something up and leave and I hate worrying over stupid things because I feel like I can't breathe. Only I messed things up a-anyway and it's a-all my fault. When you said you were going to leave me a-alone it really put things in perspective for me." He continued, then looked up at me. "I value you more than anything I've ever done to make you upset, and I'm... I kind of... you are... I..."

"What?"

"I'm sorry." He forced out, although it seemed like he was going to say something else.

"Wow... I don't know what to say." I said slowly. "I didn't even know."

He winced. "I know, and that's my fault too, I didn't want to get close to you in case I uh... there's something else I should tell you."

"Okay..."

He looked very sad all of a sudden. "My mom took me and left when I was eleven because they discovered she had a tumor and my biological dad... he was a dirt bag and he kept saying he was wasn't going to help pay for any of the treatments. I don't want to talk about him. But my mom had to kind of get married again really quickly because she didn't have the money either and it was just this whole mess because then she... didn't make it and my stepdad took it really hard. I don't want to talk about him either but um... there's a possibility it's genetic."

"Oh." I blinked. "Possibility?"

"Y-yeah." He sighed shakily. "It all happened really fast, and once mom was gone my stepdad didn't want to go back to another hospital because it was traumatic or some crap. I guess either do I. It's not a very likely chance either it's just... after all of that... and seeing my stepdad just waste away I didn't... I didn't want to put another p-person through that."

"Oh my God Dylan, that's so irresponsible of you." I exclaimed, gawking at him.

"Yeah I know. I just don't really know what I'm doing with my life, so when you came along and said you wanted to run away I was thinking, screw it I'm probably going to die young anyway, but I got attached to you and I realized..."

Dylan paused and sucked in a shaky breath that was so fragile I could practically hear the paper-thin walls of his lungs rattling. "I don't want to die young."

I stared at him in amazement. This incredible blue-haired boy with his dumb dyed eyebrows and warm summer day smile. This blue boy with his blue heart that had somehow managed to snag my purple one in his stubbornness to push me away. It was times like these I could barely believe he existed.

"Well, I mean you need to stop smoking and drinking, first of all." I said. "If there is a chance it's genetic, that really isn't helping."

He nodded. "I know. Will you... help me I guess?"

"Oh, I'll do more than help you." I scoffed. "I'll downright bully you out of it Dylan Clark."

A soft smile appeared on his face. "I just imagined you trying to bully anyone."

I pointed a my eyes and then pointed back at him. "I've got friends who will kick your butt."

He laughed and wiped his eyes again, then reached into the back and grabbed the hoodie I gave him, holding it fondly. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"You're less angry then I expected you to be." He pointed out.

I shrugged. "This is all I wanted Dylan, I just wanted your honesty."

"So, we're friends again?"

"Yep."

I glanced over at him, he met my gaze and looked away really quickly. I thought of what Rowan said about Dylan obviously having a crush on me. It still didn't make much sense but... I guess I could see it. I was probably just projecting though, because I loved him. I thought being away from him had been hard but now? I was so utterly in love with him it was almost painful. I felt like I had boiling lava flowing my veins instead of blood. This bond between us now used to be comforting because I knew I had someone to turn too, but now it was so much more after this. Whatever this was, I loved him.

He sighed and pulled on the hoodie, which he looked really cute in, by the way. "Well, that was fun but I've basically been crying non-stop for the last twenty-four hours, so I'm extremely dehydrated. You want to stop somewhere and get some drinks? I say we spoil ourselves and get a milkshake."

I smiled at him as he passed me the keys. "That sounds perfect."