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"Fuck."
Tallahassee spat as the rain got worse. It had been pouring the entire drive, which Columbus already said was a bad idea to drive in. But now it was almost impossible to see.
"Now can we pull over??"
"Fine."
With a scoff, he looked around for a house to stop at. After a couple minutes of squinting through the rain, they found a house that looked decent enough in shape and pulled into the driveway.
They grabbed their bags and ran into the house. Luckily, the door was unlocked.
"Jesus christ, it's pouring."
Tallahassee groaned, trying to dig through his bag for a change of clothes.
"We're real lucky huh?"
Silence. He glanced back to see Columbus staring out the window, slight fear in his face.
"Ohio?"
Nothing again. Radio silence.
"Columbus. You there in the head?"
"Huh?"
Columbus responded, seeming to snap out of whatever transe he was in. Fear more present in his face.
"You good? You look like you're about to shit your pants."
"Uh- yeah. Yeah. I'm fine."
He breathed. Despite the claim he clearly wasn't. His shaking hands and the obvious extra anxiety to his stance wasn't very convincing.
"Okay, somehow I'm not convinced."
Tallahassee crossed his arms. Columbus sighed.
"Look- I just- I'm fine. Okay tal? I'm- I'm okay."
"I'm not dumb, kid. What's up?"
Columbus sighed.
"Tal-"
"Columbus. What's wrong."
There was a crack of thunder, almost right on beat. Like the universe was trying to create dramatic music. Columbus jumped and the shaking became more present again.
"You scared of storms or somethin'?"
Tallahassee questioned. With a bit of hesitation Columbus nodded. Tallahassee sighed.
"Bud, why didn't you tell me?"
The brunette smiled at the nickname, deciding to bring it up later.
"I didn't think it was that important."
He mumbled.
"Well, now it is."
Columbus shot him a confused look. He knew that they had gotten closer over the months, he still didn't think he'd really care. But he also had a tendency for his self-esteem to drop dramatically around people.
"Now go change before you catch pneumonia. I'll do the same, in the mean time try to calm down. It ain't gonna hurt you."
Tallahassee said, and it was surprisingly calming. Of course, he went and did as he was told. Pneumonia in the zombie apocalypse wouldn't be exactly fun. As soon as he came back out he was met with Tallahassee again.
"Better?"
Columbus laughed a little.
"A bit."
Another bang of thunder went off and any calm he had gained had washed away. Out of instinct he had grabbed the closest thing to him for comfort. The closest thing happened to be Tallahassee's sleeve.
"Easy, buddy. It's just thunder. The storm will pass by morning."
He soothed. The tone of his voice wasn't very in character of his "tough badass persona" but Tallahassee didn't exactly care at the moment. The grip on his sleeve tightened.
"I-I'm sorry, this- this is dumb."
Columbus sighed, staring at the ground and trying to calm himself down.
"It's not dumb. Isn't it one of your rules? Like in that notebook you carry around?"
"Oh uh- yeah. How'd you know that?"
"Lucky guess."
Columbus gave a doubting look and Tallahassee sighed.
"I read it. Your rules."
Columbus almost laughed. It had seemed so unlikely.
"Oh."
"Yeah. So, if it's happened bad enough for a rule it's not dumb. You're a smart kid."
"I'm- not a kid. I'm 23."
He quipped.
"Whatever. You're smart."
Another bang of thunder. Columbus was on the verge of hyperventilating. Tallahassee even more worried, and wrapped an arm around him. Leaving the brunette to be clinging onto his shirt.
"Columbus, you're okay. Nothing's gonna hurt ya."
"How- how a-are you even sure??"
"Because we're inside and it's just thunder. Plus, we haven't gotten hurt yet have we?"
"W-well- no."
Columbus said with a sigh.
"Exactly. Now how about we go to bed?"
After some hesitation, he nodded.
"Y-yeah- yeah, okay."
They dragged themselves upstairs, Columbus still attached to Tallahassee. They ended up in the same bed. Thankfully, it was big enough.
"Goodnight, try and get some sleep kid."
Tallahassee said, obviously tired.
"I'll- I'll try. Thanks."
"Mhm."