You looked up from the ground, sputtering and spitting out pieces of mulch and dirt debris. You opened your eyes and saw what could only be a frozen Zacky sitting next to you. He looked as if he had frozen mid laugh from finally being shoved down by Jimmy, frozen mid joyous outburst when he realized he had knocked into you and sent you sprawling. You looked up and saw Jimmy frozen in the same expression, like his laughter stopped, like everything continuing was hinged on your reaction.

You paused a moment and then grinned before bursting out laughing. As you had said before, the rain seemed to have washed away all the hatred for the time being. There was no room for that when out doing something like this. At your laughter and grin Jimmy broke back into laughter and put a hand down to help you up. You gladly accepted it and once on your feet you stuck your own hand down to help Zacky up. He had unfrozen and the smile on his face was genuine but seemed to be the ghost of the one he had on before the fall. He grasped your hand and let you help him up, smile still as it was. It wasn’t until you jumped as hard as you could and doused him in water and grime that his smile became a real one and he broke out laughing. You grinned like a fool and went back to jumping up and down, sending water everywhere.

Zacky joined you and soon so did Jimmy. Each on either side of you as the three of you went about displacing water from the area and depositing it elsewhere. You felt Jimmy clasp your hand and you squeezed it back as you continued your splashing and laughing. Without thinking, mind and body almost in autopilot mode, you did for what some reason felt normal, like you had always done something like it; you grabbed Zacky’s hand. You felt him momentarily stop puddle jumping beside you but soon he gripped your hand back and continued, water flying everywhere. Something about you, Jimmy and Zacky taking on the rain felt right, felt familiar.

Suddenly Jimmy jerked your arm almost out of socket as Syn tackled him down. Hands still all clasped together meant that all three of you were going to go down together. But that didn’t matter as Katie ran at you and took your form down quicker, Matt taking Zacky down. The original three of you kept your hands clasped as the six of you went down like the Titanic, water flying everywhere as your combined bodies displaced it. You momentarily wondered where Johnny was in this pig pile till you heard loud music blast from the bus windows above you. You grinned as you knew he must have run onto the bus to blast the tunes. It was just loud enough to be heard by you all outside over the roar of the rain.

One by one you felt Syn, Katie and Matt pick themselves up off you and the entire pig pile, your hands still clasped in Jimmy and Zacky’s hands. The three of you managed with only a little slipping to pick yourselves up, hands still clasped. You spit out a piece of mulch and a clump of mud. You knew it was sticking to your face and all over your body, but it was on everyone else and it phased you none.

“Dance party in the rain!” Johnny shouted as he broke out into the whitest of all white guy dances moves, only made that much more ridiculous by the pouring rain.

Everyone laughed but joined in regardless. Katie and Matt paired off and looked like they were reenacting a bad version of Saturday Night Fever while Syn pulled off mad Pulp Fiction moves. You felt Jimmy let go of your hand as you laughed at peoples dance moves and starting doing what could only possibly be classified as something akin to the funky chicken. It was beyond absurd. It made you forget that you were still holding Zacky’s hand. That is until he gripped it and used it to push you away before snapping you back and spinning you towards him.

As you spun back towards him you laughed harder and then let him raise your clasped hands and spin you in the rain, just as if you were ballroom dancing. You finished spinning and then felt yourself dramatically pulled towards him. He made a ridiculously over dramatic face and grasped your waist and the two of you did bad tango moves across the water flooded ground. You danced in a straight line towards the others, faces in mock serious concentration and then stopped dramatically before running into Katie and Matt and then turned stiffly on your heels and went back the way you had come, in the same exact manner.

You continued dancing like this with Zacky, hands clasped as he spun you around, out and back towards his body, dramatic dips changing it up a bit every once and a while. Matt and Katie had opted to copy the two of you and the four of you were cutting mad rug across the grime and water. You almost pissed yourself when Syn and Jimmy copied the four of you, pairing themselves together and joined in on the fake tango session in the rain to loud heavy metal music coming from the bus. The topper on the proverbial cake was Johnny joining in as well, partner less he danced with an indivisible partner, dipping them dramatically in time with the rest of you.

Finally Zacky spun you out away from him and let your hand go, you continued the spinning on your own and just spun in circles, free and on your own. Your arms were spread out far from your sides and you laughed with your head tilted back and your face being pelted by rain as your mouth filled with water. It was a good day to be alive.

“I feel like a fish!” Katie yelled randomly, causing you to trip over your feet and almost fall.

Almost fall instead of fall because you felt arms wrap around your bent waist keeping you from eating puddle. You laughed when you felt the hands tickle your sides and stood up to see Zacky grinning at you, laughter in his eyes. This is what the guys must have meant when they said that you didn’t know the real Zacky anymore. That he really was a good guy despite what you thought. Something about it seemed so familiar, like you should recognize it. And you smiled back, realizing that you liked this side of him. The part of him that made you remember climbing trees and playing hide and seek, the part of him that made you remember sitting on the porch and stealing drags of his cigarettes.

“I’ll always catch you Peter Pan,” Zacky said, just loud enough for you and no one else to hear over the rain.

“I know. And at some point you’ll have to give me back my shadow,” you said in return, just standing still in the rain as it poured down your face as you stared at his.

“Never,” Zacky said softly, laughter still in his eyes, hands still on your waist.

You just stood there smiling at him, no mind paid to the world around you at the moment. Oddly the feeling of being at home rushed through your system. You grinned at him after a moment and felt his hands tighten on your waist till you heard Jimmy and Johnny let out cat calls. You whipped your head and body around to stare their direction, still in Zacky’s grasp though now your back was facing his soaked chest.

You saw what the guys had been cat calling about, Katie was held against Matt’s chest like before, though this time it wasn’t because she was running from you to him for mock protection. And this time her eyes were closed and the ghost of a smile on her face as he pressed his lips on her forehead.

“Bout fucking time,” you said with laughter tingeing your voice.

“So says miss match maker,” Zacky laughed in your ear.

“It wasn’t intentional at first, Matt started it. I just picked up and ran with it. We’ll have to see,” you said watching them stand together holding one another in the rain.

It was enough for now. But you’d see it through for the rest of the tour, and hopefully afterwards if you had any say. Katie wasn’t going anywhere if this was how she made your brother act, not if you had any say in it.

“Because who could forget, and I quote, your nose is pretty? I mean seriously?” Zacky asked, arms still around your waist and wet chest against your back.

You laughed out loud at that, causing everyone to turn and look at you with eyebrows raised. You didn’t care, the memory of that line was too much, your brother really was a boob sometimes. Well at least around Katie. Everyone eventually went back to puddle jumping and causing childish raucous, though Jimmy seemed to smile at you before doing just that. You smiled back at him, a smile meant only for him as you stood where you were; against Zacky.

Notes

Oooooo yay happy Zacky time!
Gah, I love that scene.
Rain really does wash away all mars on ones soul.
Even if only for a short time.
It cleanses what needs to be cleansed, opens ones eyes to things that need to be opened to and then allows you to do the rest.

"I'll always catch you Peter Pan. . ."