when two worlds collide

' blame it on the rain .

The next morning, Marius and Lou woke up in their separate places, still feeling the weight of the previous day's arguments and confusion. Neither of them particularly wanted to spend the day together, but since they didn't belong in this world—or this timeline—they didn't exactly have a choice. While Elias and Alexander were at school, they were stuck wandering around town, doing whatever they could to pass the time.

Marius wasn't in the best mood, especially after his conversation with Alexander last night. He had barely slept, and now, whenever he looked at Lou, Alexander's words echoed in his head: She looks like Lou if he was a girl. It was messing with him. Now, every time he saw Lou, he thought of Suzanne. And he knew that when he eventually saw Suzanne again, he was probably going to think of Lou. The whole thing irritated him.

Lou, on the other hand, didn't want to be anywhere near Marius. Not after everything. He was still annoyed about the argument, about the way Marius had blamed him when Marius was the one who ghosted him first. He didn't understand how Marius didn't see it.

They walked through the town mostly in silence. A few words were exchanged here and there—mostly about directions or pointless observations—but other than that, they avoided speaking to each other.

Eventually, Lou had enough. He stopped walking and turned to Marius. "I'm going to that store over there," he said, jerking his thumb toward a shop across the street. "I don't care what you do. Just meet me at the town square later."

Marius frowned. "What—why?"

Lou shrugged. "Because I don't want to be around you right now." And with that, he turned and walked off, leaving Marius standing there.

Marius exhaled sharply through his nose. He didn't want to be alone—what if someone recognized him as Alexander and started asking questions? But Lou was already gone, and he knew the only reason Lou had ditched him was because he wanted to be alone.

Frustrated, Marius wandered into a nearby store. He browsed the shelves for a few minutes, trying to waste time, when a voice called out to him.

"Oh my god—Alexander?"

Marius turned and found himself face-to-face with a girl around Alexanders age. She had long brown hair and bright eyes, and she was looking at him like he was a ghost.

"Did you get a haircut or something?" she asked. "You look... different. Taller, too."

Marius's stomach clenched. He didn't know her, but judging by her expression, she definitely knew Alexander.

"I'm not Alexander," he said quickly.

The girl—Sophie—let out a short laugh. "Oh, come on, stop messing around. I know it's you."

Marius scrambled for an excuse. "I'm... uh, I'm his cousin," he said, forcing a polite smile. "Visiting for a few days."

Sophie's eyes widened. "Oh! Oh my god, I'm so sorry. You just—you look so much like him, it's kinda crazy."

"Yeah," Marius muttered. "I get that a lot."

Before Sophie could ask any more questions, he quickly excused himself and walked out of the store, heading in the opposite direction just in case she was still watching.

A few minutes later, his phone buzzed with a text from Lou. Meet me at the park. Elias just texted, school's over.

Marius exhaled in relief. Finally. At least they could stop wandering now.

Meanwhile, at school, Elias and Alexander were supposed to be heading to meet Lou and marius—but, as always, things didn't go as planned.

They were riding their bikes out of the schoolyard when a familiar group of seniors caught Alexander's attention. The same ones who had bullied Elias yesterday.

"Hey, gaylords! Get home safe!" one of them called out, laughing.

Elias sighed, keeping his head down, but Alexander—Alexander didn't let things go so easily. With a smirk, he casually rode past the bike racks and, as he did, kicked one of the parked bikes. The impact knocked it into the others, sending the whole row of bikes crashing to the ground.

"Oops," Alexander said.

The seniors' laughter immediately stopped.

"What the hell?!" one of them shouted.

Elias barely had time to register what happened before Alexander yelled, "Pedal, pedal, pedal—GO!"

Elias cursed and took off, pushing down hard on the pedals.

"you'll get a good kicking one day." Elias panted.

"let them try." Alexander said, grinning as he glanced over his shoulder, making sure the seniors weren't in sight.

They swerved off the road, kicking up dirt as they skidded to a stop near the house. They dropped their bikes and admired the scenery, alexander walked up to the gates, to his surprise they opened, he gave a smirk to Elias, who had a worried expression on his face.

"Dude, no way," Elias said, shaking his head. "We're not going in there."

"Come on," Alexander said. "Just a quick look."

Elias hesitated before groaning. "Fine. But if we get arrested, I'm blaming you."

They crept inside. Dust covered every surface, but the house was surprisingly intact. In one of the rooms, they found an old set of fencing swords mounted on the wall.

"No way," Alexander breathed. He grabbed one of the swords and tossed another to Elias. "Come on, let's duel."

Elias hesitated before smirking. "You're gonna regret this."

They clashed their swords together, laughing as they play-fought across the room. But their fun was cut short when they suddenly heard voices outside.

"Did they come this way?"

Alexander and Elias froze.

"The seniors," Elias whispered.

"Quick, hide," Alexander said, dragging him toward the bed. They ducked underneath just as the door creaked open.

"they'll see us, they will." Elias whispered nervously, alexander just shushed him in response.

"You check that side, I'll check over here," one of the seniors said.

Elias held his breath. They listened as the seniors moved around the room, checking behind furniture and opening closets. Finally, after a few minutes, they heard one of them say, "Maybe they ran somewhere else."

The door shut, and silence followed.

Alexander exhaled. "Alright, let's go before they come back."

They scrambled out from under the bed and rushed out of the house.

Somehow, in all the chaos, they completely forgot about meeting Lou and Marius.

Instead, they ended up near the lake, still high off their escape.

"Wanna go for a swim?" Alexander asked.

Elias stared at him. "Are you serious?"

"Why not?"

Elias groaned but started pulling off his clothes anyway. "Fine."

They waded into the water, splashing around until they noticed the sky darkening.

"Looks like it's going to rain," Elias muttered.

Before Alexander could answer, the downpour started.

"Shit," Elias muttered, hurrying out of the lake and throwing his clothes back on.

Laughing, they biked through the rain until they reached Elias's grandfather's barn. Soaking wet, they huddled inside, catching their breath.

After a few moments of silence, Alexander glanced at Elias. "You cold?"

Elias nodded.

Alexander turned him around, cupped his hands over Elias's, and blew warm air onto them. When Elias turned back around, there was a quiet tension between them.

And then, Alexander kissed him.

For a second, Elias didn't react. But then he smiled.

and alexander smiled back.