Kangaroo Cry

A.N: Because Elliot isn't just Elliot without ANGST....

There was a frantic banging on his door. Pinching the bridge of his nose before opening his eyes to stare at the ceiling above, Raleigh untangled himself from sheets and arms and went to see just who would be calling at such a late hour. As he padded towards the door, he took one glance over to his bed where Elliot slept, shifting in his sleep as the knocking threatened to rouse him from his slumber. Not wanting him to awake, Raleigh hurried to the door and pulled it open a crack.

"Raleigh..?"

Outside stood a young man, only a few years younger than the red head with sleep still in his brown eyes. Sandy blond hair and dirt on his face, the man was shaking on the spot. His thin clothing was soaked through with rain water, and possibly some other source of dirty water.

Raleigh didn't say anything, just moved aside to allow the male inside. He shivered as he stepped inside, clutching his arms for warmth. Green eyes looked at Raleigh; the man standing there with sleep mussed hair and nothing but black boxers on. "I'll go get you a towel, go wait in the kitchen"

"Why?" the male croaked his question, voice ragged and horse.

"Because I don't want you dripping on my couch," Raleigh replied as he went in search of a towel for his friend. Doing as he was told, the lad walked with squelching shoes to the little area of Raleigh's studio apartment that made up the kitchen. Leaning against the counter, he looked over to where the bed.

"Who's that?" he asked as Raleigh came back with a selection of towels.

Raleigh looked over his shoulder at the figure just as Elliot rolled over and snuggled deeper into the blanket. "That's Elliot," he said as he helped his friend dry his hair. "Why are you here, Evan?"

"I needed some place to crash," Evan replied, leaning his head back as Ralleigh towel dryed his hair, then proceeded to run his fingers through the wet locks. "I had a fight with Calvin, and he pushed me into the foutain at the park."

"Calvin's a dick. I could have told you that a long time ago."

Evan sighed, pulling the towel tighter around his shoulders. "It was more than sex though, Leigh..."

Raleigh clicked his tongue and forcefully yanked at Evan's hair, causing the male to cry out in pain. "Of course it was, dumbass, and I did tell you a long time ago that popping those pills would get you in the shit." He smoothed his hand over the spot he had just abused, casting a wary glance over to his bed to check that the scream hadn't woken Elliot up. "How about next time I give you advice, you damn well take it?"

Evan nodded, and turned around, looking up at Raleigh's face. "I'm sorry, Leigh...For not listening to you."

Tongue ran over his lower lip as Raleigh stared at his friend. Dammit, why did Evan choose now to try and worm his way back in to Raleigh's life? "Look, its complicated now, Ev, and I don't think you should really be here..."

The shorter male pouted, reaching up and looping his arms around Raleigh's neck. "I still love you, Leigh. I'm sorry for all I put you through. Can we try again?" He was twirling one finger in the long hair at the back of Raleigh's neck, and leaned up on his toes to press his lips against Raleigh's pair. He pulled himself closer to Raleigh's body, one hand falling to lift Raleigh's arm and wrap it around himself. Like a puppet, Raleigh complied.

"Raleigh?"

A voice broke through, and Evan pulled back. Raleigh quickly turned to see Elliot sitting up in his bed, a look in his eyes. God, how many levels of heart break could Elliot go through before there was nothing left of this boy? Not even shooting a look to Evan, Raleigh headed to his bed where Elliot was now pulling on his clothes. "Ellie...Look, let me explain."

"No, Raleigh. You don't need to explain anything." His voice sounded dead, and his mind was set on wanting...needing to get out of the apartment. His eyes were hard, and it was obvious the boy was doing his all to keep himself from crying. Raleigh tried to grab his wrist, but Elliot just pulled away and left, the door slamming behind him.

With a growl, Raleigh rose from the bed and shot a glare at the male still standing in his kitchen. "Is it okay if I stay now?"

"No, Evan, its not."

"Why? He only looked like some high schooler. He'll get over it."

Raleigh hurriedly pulled on clothes. "That high schooler happened to be my boyfriend, Evan."

"I thought you said you weren't going to deal with relationships for a while?" Evan shifted nervously from one foot to the other, but no guilt yet registered in his blood shot eyes. "That's what you said last time..."

"Yeah, well, last time I didn't know about Elliot." He tugged on his coat and stood by the door, still glaring at Evan. "If you're still here when I get back, I'm going to make you think Calvin is nothing more than a pussy cat compared to me." The door slammed for a second time, and Raleigh headed out into the rain to try and find Elliot.

Phone held against his ear, Raleigh couldn't get through to Elliot's phone. Praying he could get through to Lake, he narrowly missed a collision with a car as he charged out into the road. The driver honked his horn angrily, but Raleigh ignored him and kept on running.

"Nnnmmmmwwhaaa...?"

"Lake! Lake! Lake, its me!"

"Me?"

"Raleigh, you idiot."

"Yeah?"

"I've lost Elliot. I need you to help me find him."

"He's not a set of keys, Rawrie, and I'm not playing Naked Hide n' Seek with you two."

"Fuck, Lake, Elliot has ran off! Evan came round, and Elliot saw us and wouldn't let me explain."

"I thought you and Evan weren't speaking?"

"We weren't! But Cal...Shit, Lake, I don't have time to explain! Just get your butt out of bed and help me find Ellie!"

The sun was starting to rise by the time Raleigh found Elliot. Lake had checked his dorm room, and the campus without luck. Searching the places he thought Elliot would be, Raleigh couldn't find him anywhere. He felt terrible for waking Xai, but she was the last person he could think of that might know where Elliot had gone.

"Have you tried Trace's grave?"

The rain had stopped now, but Raleigh had spent so much time in the rain that night that he was practically soaked through. He'd never visited the teenager's grave before, but Lake told him where it was. He couldn't bare to bring it up with Xai.

The blond was crouched by the headstone, tears and rain streaking his face.

"Ellie..."

"Why me, Raleigh? Out of all the people in the world - why did you have to pick me? What about him? Picking me just isn't enough, is it?"

"Evan and I...dated for a while," he said, standing behind Elliot's crouched form, hands stuffed into his pockets. "I don't know grief like your's, but I know heartbreak. Evan broke my heart...not once, but several times. I thought after that I wouldn't be able to feel like I had a heart again and so I told myself I just wouldn't get involved with anyone."

"So why was he there?"

"There's a man named Calvin - I met him once at a party, and he seemed like a really nice guy. He was fun and always up for a party. He wanted to be a writer, and so we became friends. I introduced him to Evan - which I really shouldn't have done. The two became really good friends, and they were partying all the time, I barely even saw Evan some weeks. Then one day, I find out through a friend that Evan and Calvin have been sleeping together. Break up number one." Raleigh stared at his shoes before looking to see what Elliot was doing. The boy was still staring at Trace's headstone. "After about two months, Evan comes and asks if I'll take him back. Being the idiot I am, I give in to him. But Evan comes back with baggage. He's on drugs, and no matter much I plead with him, Evan won't quit, so we break up again. Turns out Calvin was the one that was supplying Evan with the pills. So I go and confront the guy, and for the four months I thought I was with Evan, turns out he was still sleeping with Cal."

Raleigh sighed heavily, pushing his fingers through his hair. The rain had made it knotted, and it hurt to tug his fingers through. "Basically, Ellie, Evan is an idiot, but I couldn't turn him away when he needed help." Slowly, he went to crouch down beside Elliot. "Then I met you, and I was drawn to you. I couldn't help but fall in love with you."