for Rat

[silenttrainbaby]

It isn't as if Grey has found a sense of peace in the two days since he's seen Rat. He hasn't found the solution, an answer to his existential crisis. But he remembers where Rat lives. And, carrying the cat once again, he finds his way to the building and to the door and he taps his fingers against it. There were flowers on the side of the walk as he'd come here and he plucked them and they are already starting to wilt, even as the cat tries to eat them. Silly cat.

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[silenttrainbaby]

It means not being able to see his face again, not being able to touch him, to be touched.

Yes, Grey knows that. And he's missed touch so much. Living with Curtis isn't the same.

Grey covers Rat's hand with his casted one on his arm.

[plaguedrat]

Rat looks at him, at the hand on his arm. The last person he touched before coming here was Shion. Now there's someone else. His chest squeezes.

"Yeah."

[silenttrainbaby]

Grey's sorry he ran away last time, that he ruined their nice evening. (He's sorry, in a stomach-way, that his leftover food hadn't made it home).

But Rat had held his hand when he needed it and now he holds Rat's, their fingers twining.

[plaguedrat]

The lines slip out of his mouth before he thinks to stop himself. "If I profane with my unworthiest hand...this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this."

The next lines are a dangerous territory.

[silenttrainbaby]

What does that mean? Grey's face forms a question again, his eyes searching Rat's face.

[plaguedrat]

"They're...Romeo's first lines to Juliet," he says, not moving his hand away. "He takes her hand and apologizes for being so bold."

[silenttrainbaby]

Does that mean Grey was bold? The idea urges a quirking of his mouth.

In the sling, the cat yawns.

He'll have his cast off in four more weeks. An eternity. The edges of the plaster are dirty, even if his fingers, twined with Rat's are moderately clean.

[plaguedrat]

Coughing, Rat turns back to the book with his free hand. "And then he says...My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss...That's the part I was reading when you knocked."

[silenttrainbaby]

Something gets fizzy in Grey's belly as his eyes move between Rat's, to his mouth, and back to his eyes. Without thinking of it, really, he catches his own lower lip between his teeth.

[plaguedrat]

"Then they realize that they're the heirs of two rival families," Rat explains, continuing through the pages. "Who hate each other, to the point of death."

Flipping backward, he goes to the prologue. "Here..." He says.

" Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean...From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife."

[silenttrainbaby]

So, they die, the boy and the girl in love. They die and their families no longer fight?

That seems terribly sad. Grey frowns.

[plaguedrat]

"It's not a love story, not really," he admits. "It's a tragedy, born of impulse and quick love...but the poetry. God it's beautiful."

[silenttrainbaby]

Life is a tragedy, isn't it? Even Grey knows that, has lived that. But he does know enough that small moments of bliss can be found, can be savored.

Like this one.

He leans forward, impulsive, and kisses Rat's cheek.

[plaguedrat]

Rat doesn't react exactly. He stands there, blinking and surprised. What prompted that?

[silenttrainbaby]

A sorry, perhaps. Or a thank you. Or an expression of how glad Grey is that Rat is his friend.

The cat, of course, objects to all the movment, meowing before settling again.

Grey watches Rat's face. Was that all right, what he did?

[plaguedrat]

It's the meowing that finally pulls him from is trance and Rat turns to the collected books. "What about a comedy instead. With a happy ending."

[silenttrainbaby]

Or more about the Hobbits and Dwarves. He nods and shrugs at the same time.

The kiss, Grey knows, doesn't have to mean anything. On the train, it rarely did.

[plaguedrat]

Rat looks back at the shelf, pausing. It's strange to him, he realization that he wants to make someone happy.

"You pick."

[silenttrainbaby]

Cast under the cat, Grey comes over, finger sliding along the spines again and he draws out The Hobbit, handing over with a small smile.

[plaguedrat]

Rat nods, not quite realizing that he's smiling back. "Hm...We had just left the trolls, hadn't we?"

[silenttrainbaby]

A nod: the Trolls, yes, threatening to eat the Dwarves, all of them.

Grey looks around, pulling Rat toward a bigger chair so that they can sit together.

[plaguedrat]

Rat smiles and flips to that chapter, settling down on he couch with room for Grey and the cat as he begins to read again in a sure, clear voice.

[silenttrainbaby]

The Trolls are turned to stone and everyone escapes intact. Bilbo Baggins is proving to be a fine addition to the party.

Eventually, too, the cat creeps out of the sling, wriggling to sit on both Rat and Grey's lap, curled into a tight ball.

[plaguedrat]

Rat blinks, surprised by the cat's affection. Even more surprised when his mouse scuttles down his arm to get a better look at the dozing cat.

"You seem to enjoy this?"

[silenttrainbaby]

Who does, the cat or Grey? They both do, most likely.

Of course, the moment the mouse moves, the cat raises his head and hisses. Though he doesn't move. It's a battle of turf, it seems.

Grey doesn't want the cat to kill the mouse for a number of reasons; he reaches out, petting between the cat's ears. Easy.