Chapter Text
Being back at the Trap House had brought back a lot of memories for both Sam and Colby. They had lived there for years, made so many memories, and got through some really tough times. Now, the house was empty, the shelves now fixed, but to Sam and Colby, it almost seemed like nothing had changed. The table where they left their phones trying to find their way back in the front room was still there, the wall of White Claw boxes was still growing, the pool table that separated the kitchen and living room still had an unfinished game. It was a lot to take in.
Sam and Colby got to the house about an hour before the triplets, just so they could walk around and process everything. It had been almost 3 years since they had moved out of the house, and being back was bittersweet.
“Dude, do you remember the 500 cups cup pong game?” Sam asked, looking over the balcony that led to their old rooms.
“Oh yeah! I can’t believe that Jake and I kept giving you points. We lost both rounds because of it!” Colby laughed at the memory of getting pied for losing.
They kept making their rounds around the house, bringing up memories of videos, parties, and other things.
“I feel like you’re going to have an advantage here.” Colby said.
“Why would I have an advantage?”
“You would do all those blind hide and seek videos! You’ve walked around this house blindfolded before! It’s gonna be dark.” Colby laughed. It’s true. Sam did walk around blindfolded a few times.
They finished their round of the house, and since they were doing an uncut video, they decided there wasn’t much to set up. They instead used their time to go through old videos and tiktoks they made while living there. They pulled up the Trap Boys tiktok account and went through some of those videos before going through their own accounts. They eventually got to the video where Colby catches Sam in a loop he made with his arms.
“Think we can still do that?” Sam asked.
“Bro, I barely caught you last time!” Colby laughed as the video played again as he watched himself almost drop Sam.
“Let’s try it!” Sam said, putting his phone down.
“Seriously?”
“Yeah! Old times sake.”
“Ok, but you can’t blame me if I drop you.” Colby said. He grabbed his hands and held his arms out while Sam stood in front of him.
“Ready?” Sam asked.
“Yep. 3, 2, 1.” Colby counted. Sam jumped, and made both him and Colby fall. “Ow, fuck.”
“Dude, you’re supposed to catch me!” Sam said laughing, half on top of Colby.
“I told you dude, I barely caught you last time!”
“Try it again?”
“You’re literally laying on top of me because I couldn’t catch you, and you want to do it again?”
“Yeah dude, we can get it.” Sam said, standing up and offering Colby a hand to help him up.
“Fiinneee.” Colby said, in his exasperated way, taking Sam’s hand to get up.
They tried again a few more times before finally getting it.
“Hell yeah dude! See? I told you.” Sam said, still in Colby’s arms.
“Yeah, but now I’m covered in bruises.” Colby replied, putting Sam down.
“They’ll fade. It’s not the worst injury this house has seen.” Sam said, with a little laugh, but Colby could tell his demeanor had changed. He knew the story of breaking his back was still sometimes a sensitive subject for Sam, despite Sam jumping off multiple high things since, once for 25x25, and another time on Sofie’s channel. Being back where it happened for the first time in years couldn’t have helped.
“You ok? Being back here and all?” Colby asked.
Sam sucked in a breath. “Yeah. I’m ok. It’s weird, you know? It’s been so long, but there’s still moments. There’s days where my back hurts more than others and I’m just reminded of how bad it really was.”
Colby understood. While he wasn’t the one who broke his back, he remembered Sam’s screams from when it happened. He knew it was bad the second Sam hit the ground. The sight plagues his nightmares from time to time. He can still hear how Sam sounded after. He remembers the panic, rushing Sam to the ER, crying in the waiting room, both of them trying to make light of the situation, trying to help each other through while being scared shitless themselves. They promised to always be there to help the other, and by god that is what they did that night. It was difficult for both of them. Colby battled with guilt for making Sam do something so dangerous. He still felt the guilt from time to time, and seeing Sam dealing with the turmoil of being back, was making that guilt flare up again. It didn’t matter how many times Sam told him not to worry, not to feel guilty, he chose to do it. They had all agreed to do the dare before they made the video. It was just as much Sam’s fault as anyone else's. That did little to curb the inner emotional disturbance he felt.
Wordlessly, Colby moved to hug Sam. It’s not something new, especially surrounding this topic. They both had some lasting trauma from the incident, and sometimes, a hug seemed to help. They both needed it, neither had to say anything for them to be on the same page about it, but there they stood, arms wrapped around the other, just being. They didn’t know how long they stood there for, but Sam’s phone buzzing on the counter snapped them out of it. Without the need to say anything about what happened, Sam went to grab his phone. Nick was calling him.
“Hey.” Sam said, answering the call.
“Hey, we’re about 10 minutes away.” Nick said.
“Cool, just shoot me a text when you get here so we can open the gate.”
“Sounds good. Be there in a bit.”
“See ya soon.” and the call ended. “They’re about 10 minutes out.” Sam told Colby.
“Sounds good. You good?” Colby asked.
Sam took in a breath, “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.” Colby nodded in response. They’d be ok.
“Do we need to get anything out before they get here?” Colby asked.
“I think we’re good. We have the candles, and we’re gonna get everything out during the videos so people can see the process, right?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” Colby responded with a small shrug. They at least took out the candles and then waited for the triplets to get there. True to what Nick had said, it was only about 10 minutes until Sam got a text saying they were there. Sam and Colby met them at the gate to let them in.
They took about 20 minutes going over the plan for the night, and then filmed their basketball challenge for XPLR Club to see who would be going alone. Colby lost. Then, they went around and gave the triplets the tour of the house.
“Id never thought I’d be in this house. I’d heard like, the legend of this house.” Chris said, as they started the video.
“Oh really?” Sam said from behind the camera.
“I think I’ve seen like a music video or something of you guys going nuts.
“Yeah, we might’ve done a couple of those in here.” Colby said.
“We’ve filmed way too many music videos in here.” Sam said with a laugh, memories once again flooding his head.
“Such a strange era of our lives” Colby said, a blush evident on his face. “That’s crazy.”
“We had a boy band.” Sam said in response, smiling at the memory of the two songs their little band had made. Both songs were written in that very house. One of the music videos was filmed just upstairs and in some other rooms of the house. The nostalgia both Sam and Colby were feeling was intense, and it was only amplified by where they were. The energy they had created in the house when they lived there was still present, as far as Sam and Colby knew. They could still feel the buzz of everything that happened. Their parties, their friendships with Jake and Corey, it all still felt very present and very real. Every emotion was brought to the surface for both of them.
They were pulled out of their reminiscence when Chris pointed out a dead roach on the floor.
“Should we say the gross story that happened?” Colby asked.
“There’s a gross story?" Nick asked.
“We have a really gross story.”
“Sam’s like trying to think of the particular one.” Chris said.
“I was like, there’s one ghost, or, gross story?” Sam said.
“Ghost story?" Colby repeated, laughing. “Do you remember when we came home from like, Ukraine, or something, and there was like hundreds of cockroaches here?” Colby recalled the story.
“Oh my god, you’re right!” Sam replied, “In your bathroom!”
They all laughed about the story of Colby killing the roaches before moving on with the tour. They first went upstairs to Colby’s old room.
“Do you remember when you made this like a rose petal bathtub and we all got in together?” Sam asked, looking back on their ‘Hug’ music video.
“Do you remember when we first turned it on and it was brown water?” Colby asked in return.
They next moved on to Sam’s old room, pointing out the weird shape of it, to which Nick made a comparison to your first house in ‘Minecraft’. It was weird seeing this room now. The blue paint that used to be all over the walls was now gone. In its place was the standard beige that was all over the rest of the house. The personality behind the room was gone. It was sad for both Sam and Colby. The room was now unrecognizable to them. Maybe that’s why Colby made the decision.
“And this is where we’re starting the ritual too.”
“It is?” Nick asked. Sam hadn’t yet noticed what Colby said.
“You know what I wanna see again?” Sam asked, still having not processed anything. “Wait, what’d you just say?”
Colby laughed. “You didn’t even notice I said that. Yeah, we’re starting in your room.” Colby said.
‘Your room’. That phrase alone was enough to send a shot of pain through his heart, because it wasn’t really his room now, was it? They moved out years ago. None of his stuff was there, it wasn’t even the color he wanted anymore. ‘His room’, yeah right, but there was something heartwarming about Colby still referring to it as ‘his room’. That’s all they knew this room as, that’s what it would always be to them. This room, where they had really established their relationship, which was still hidden from their fans,was where it all really started. ‘Your room’ held a lot more connotation to it than anyone would realize.
“Why do we start every single ritual ever in my room?” Sam asked, knowing full well the answer; it’s usually always his idea. “Every single one happens in my room.”
“The fact that you guys do rituals, you have the option of who’s room.” Nick said laughing, which made Colby laugh even harder. “Like, it’s already throwing me off. I haven’t done a single ritual in my room, I’m not dumb.”
“Dude, I wanna see the balcony where I broke my back.” Sam said, tone slightly darker. That was the one spot they hadn’t gone to in their original walk through of just the two of them. Colby gave Sam a look, Sam only nodded in reply. The triplets were good at making situations light, and they weren’t there when it happened. If he was really going to face what happened, now is a better time than ever.
They walked through Colby’s old room and out to the balcony. Colby made sure to be by Sam’s side.
“What?” Matt said.
“Dude, that’s so funny.” Colby said in an attempt to keep things light, but he could see the tension in Sam’s back. To say he was worried about how Sam would react was an understatement. He had seen first hand how bad it could get, he had seen the flashbacks, and had held Sam through the worst of them, bringing him back to reality, telling him where he really was. That was one reason they only lived in the house for 2 years. It was a lot for them to be there and be reminded every day.
“Is there video proof?” Nick asked as Sam unlocked the door.
“There is.” Sam replied.
“I need to see it.” Nick said.
“Dude, you don’t want to see it.” Colby replied. The picture was burned into his memories. He couldn’t unsee it if he tried, and he really, really tried.
“Two deadbolts is crazy.” Nick laughed, not knowing that Colby had put a second one up after the incident. They were both so nervous about that balcony that the extra lock had just made sense at the time.
“This is trauma guys.” Sam said as he turned around. To anyone else, it may have seemed like a joke, but Colby saw through it. It was a way for Sam to take a step back and process being there; to not show how much being up there was affecting him. “This is trauma. During the 2020 pandemic I thought it was a great idea to stand on top of this thing and try to cannonball all the way down there.”
“Was there water?” Matt said, shocked at the statement.
“Uh, there was, there was a little beanbag and I missed the beanbag.” Sam's voice was tight. Little emotion was behind his words. His posture was also as straight as it could be, very similar to when Sam had to wear his back brace after it had happened.
“Cannonball into nothing?” Nick asked.
“So I cannonballed onto grass and broke my back.” Sam’s arms were now wrapped around himself. God, how Colby wished they weren’t filming, or at least he wasn’t holding the camera. He wanted to go and give Sam another hug that he knew they both needed. This wasn’t easy for either of them. Colby, instead of hearing the conversation, heard Sam’s screams from that day. He wanted nothing more than to comfort the love of his life and get that comfort back. But alas, he was holding the camera. Shortly after that, they left the balcony, and continued on with the tour.
At some point in the tour of the movie room, Colby had made a joke about ‘smashing in there all night’ to help ease some of the lasting tension. Well, most people would think it’s a joke. The second Colby said it, Sam ducked out of frame to hide his reddening face. He remembered what Colby was referencing. It wasn’t a joke at all.
“Got my back broke you know?” Sam said with a laugh.
“You got your back broke while you were smashing brother?” Colby asked, holding back his laugh. He knew damn well Sam did get his back “broken” that night.
“That’s crazy. Who would say that…” Sam replied, looking anywhere but at Colby. If he looked at him, he knew their cover would be blown.
They finished up the tour, then got into the game. They wrote their names on the paper, explained some of the rules, then made their way back upstairs to start. Sam and Colby were the only two to actually give their blood. It wasn’t new, they had played this game before, and they had done other blood rituals in the past, but somehow, every time there was blood involved in ritual they did, they both felt some infatuation towards the other. Yes, they’d been in a relationship for years now, but any time a ritual called for a little blood, there was this drawing and pulling feeling toward the other. They had talked about it too. They had come to the conclusion that it had something to do with their life path numbers; Colby being the empath, Sam being his ‘spirit guide’ they decided it just made sense.
Sam had gone and pricked his finger, and came back with the papers.
“Wait, so for Youtube you can show blood, you just can’t show bleeding?” Matt asked, genuinely shocked Sam did it.
“No, that's red paint.” Nick said, holding up air quotes.
“No, this is just red paint guys. This is for sure not actually blood.” Sam echoed, throwing a wink at the camera, and subsequently Colby, who felt his heart pick up at the action. Then it was Colby’s turn. He quickly pricked his finger, and came out with three papers. They set the papers out in the hallway, grabbed their candles, and prepared for the night.
As soon as the game started, Sam was ready to defend any of them, especially Colby. Even walking down the stairs, Sam asked if he was ok. He knew Colby wasn’t the most fond of these rituals, and how nervous he got with them. He wanted to make sure he was near Colby throughout the night, just in case.
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The night had been going pretty well, Sam’s candle had gone out, but other than that, nothing too bad had happened. They had seen some weird lights, but chalked it up to their eyes playing tricks on them due to the candle light. They had cracked jokes to ease tension, Colby made sure to stay near Sam, and vice versa. They heard some noises, and decided where to do the Estes method for the first investigation. As much as Sam and Colby had wanted to stay by the other the whole night, they had planned to do a split up Estes method. They knew what was coming and what to prepare for, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t fill them with dread. They’d be on totally different floors, and were not happy to leave the other. Sam knew how anxious Colby gets during games and rituals, and Colby knew what being back in this house did to Sam. It could potentially be disastrous, but they did it for the video. The triplets didn’t know about their relationship, and since they were making this video uncut, there wasn’t the opportunity to tell them now. So, they split up, against every sane thought and feeling, they split up.
The Estes method went ok, they got some answers, but nothing as concrete as they wanted. The weirdest thing that they both got was hearing words and answers outside the headphones that Chris and Matt weren’t saying outloud.
They were then setting up for the next investigation where they had lots of equipment spread throughout the house. They had the music box, flux, 360, and rem pod in different rooms. As they were walking around and finishing setting up the music box, the flux started going off. Colby started to walk over, but stopped at the corner and waited, not wanting to go alone. Sam immediately followed, but just as Sam had gotten to Colby, Nick, Chris, and Matt heard tapping from the other end of the room they were in. It was then that Colby’s candle went out. Sam felt his heart stop. His candle going out he could deal with. He had dealt with attachments before, Colby had too, but like hell Sam was going to allow anything to happen to Colby. Not tonight, not during a game he started and suggested. They quickly lit the candle again, and looked around for a vent, there wasn’t a vent around. As Nick was attempting to describe what they had heard, the rem pod started signaling a temperature change.
The anxiety that Colby was feeling was getting to an overwhelming level. With everything going off, and his candle going out, he could tell he was steering towards an anxiety attack. As the other 4 moved to the doorway to the rem pod, he hung back. He decided to lean on the mantle above the fireplace for support while he tried to calm himself down. Not for the first time that night, he wished he could just hug Sam and feel the comfort he always seemed to provide.
Just as quick as everything started happening, it all seemed to die down, save for the rem pod temperature alarm. They decided to do their next investigation in the living room with the rem pod. Just as they decided, the flux and 360 had started going off. Colby then offered to go put the night vision camera with the 360, just in case. He was still anxious, but figured he’d be better off walking around than sitting still. Matt had went with him to help if his candle went out again. They brought out their new DR-60 for the next investigation, and Sam had made sure to sit next to Colby. Sam could tell Colby was getting anxious, and while he couldn’t do anything directly, he could be near him, offering silent support through the proximity. They sat close enough that their knees were touching the whole time.
After listening to the first recording on the DR-60, everyone was put further on edge. They tested it in two other locations and didn’t anything nearly as clear, but the recorder still picked up something. Throughout it all, Sam either stuck next to Colby or kept his eyes on him. Like his boyfriend, he wanted nothing more than to just hold him.
Their next investigation was, unfortunately, one person going alone. That person just happened to be Colby. Sam was stressed, so was Colby. Both of them were already buzzing with the emotional rollercoaster from the day, they were both tired and anxious, and this was icing on the cake.
“Alright, so we have one or two more investigations left. We have less than an hour left in the challenge, so do you wanna do it for 20 minutes?” Sam asked, he didn’t want to leave Colby for a minute more than he had to. Colby was quick to agree.
“Could you come like set me up real quick?” Colby asked, wanting just a bit more time with Sam.
“We’ll set you up.” Sam said, grabbing his candle along with Colby.
“Thank you, and then send me off.” Colby said with a smile.
“Oh I’ll set you up and send you off.” Sam replied with a suggestive tone in his voice. A tone Colby knew all too well.
Colby sat on the couch with his candle on the floor in front of him, a box of matches, and the Alice box.
“Could you put the camera over there?” Colby asked.
“What? You want me to do it all? Fuck! Alright.” Sam gave in. He knew Colby was already stressed, the least he could do was set the camera up for him so he could stay sitting and comfortable.
Sam, Nick, Chris, and Matt went upstairs to investigate Sam’s room with the EMF readers while Colby stayed downstairs. Colby didn’t get a ton, other than a bunch of names and a few other words, nothing that would formulate a story though.
Sam and the triplets did get a few answers, including that whatever screamed in the recorder earlier was still with them, and that they shouldn’t get their Taco Bell. That was the most disappointing for Sam, knowing how hungry Colby was, and how the food would help ease some of his anxiety.
The 20 minutes seemed to drag on way too long for both Sam and Colby, and both were itching for the time to pass faster. The minute time was up, Sam was rushing to get to Colby.
“Be careful, there’s multiple steps.” Nick said.
“Oh good call.” Colby said, reaching down for his candle.
“Do not die.” Sam said, half joking, half not. They went over what each of them got, before moving on once again. They were planning on doing another Estes method, but as they were trying to decide where to do it, Sam had a realization.
“Crazier idea, what if, because we’re supposed to be walking during this midnight man game, what if we do a walking Estes method?”
“From there to your room?” Nick asked.
“Yeah. Like, we slow walk, hold him, and then as…” Sam continued.
“Hold who?” Colby asked.
“You.” Sam replied, gesturing to Colby.
“What the fuck! Me again?” Colby shouted.
“You’re the Angel of Estes, bro.” Sam said, looking Colby in his eyes. Sam really adored when Colby did the Estes method. It somehow always turned out spectacularly for them.
“I am the Angel of Estes. That’s my nickname.” and it was true. Sam had called Colby that name before, in moments of doubt when Colby felt he wasn’t good enough at it, or he wasn’t doing enough for their videos. Sam was there to give him the reassurance.
“I was just thinking if you want to do Estes uh, we could, we could start here, and then move you throughout and see if you get better answers here or upstairs.” Sam finished explaining his idea.
“I mean, I’m down but like am I holding the candle and the spirit box?” Colby asked. He knew Sam wouldn’t let any harm come to him during this experiment, especially not after the last couple of videos. They had many discussions about what had happened and boundaries regarding their investigations since then, and Colby trusted Sam with his life.
“I’ll take your candle.” Matt offered.
“And then we’ll have two guiders and then I’ll hold the camera.” Sam stated.
“I can also hold the camera if you want to guide as well.” Chris said, leaning on the counter, most likely picking up on the fact that Sama dn Colby would be able to navigate the house together most efficiently. “Up to you.”
“Sick, yeah let’s do it.” Colby said, liking the idea more if Sam were to be the one guiding him. “I’m down for that.”
They got themselves set up for the investigation and planned out how long they would do it for, and when they would move. Nick took Colby’s candle, Chris took the camera, and Matt took Chris’ candle.
“When I tap your knee, that’s when we’re gonna stand up. If I tap your shoulder, get out.” Sam said, letting Colby know his game plan.
“Ok, got it.” he said, tying the blindfold around his head.
“We should have a tap for at the stairs.” Nick chimed in.
“Oh thank you.” Colby laughed.
“Oh yeah.” Sam stated. “I’m gonna tap you on the back when uh, we’re at the stairs.”
“Ok, cool.”
“That works?” Sam checked in.
“Yeah, that’s perfect.”
“So I’ll be the guide.” Secretly, that’s exactly what Sam and Colby wanted. They would get to be close to each other without being too obvious. Already, Colby could feel his anxiety subsiding. Before they started, Sam set a timer on his phone so they wouldn’t miss when to end the ritual. Time had been weird that night, no one had been able to keep an accurate track without checking their phones. They just wanted to play it safe so they could properly end the ritual.
“Alright, I’m going under.” Colby said, putting the headphones on.
“Alright, you got it.” Sam replied, touching Colby’s shoulder so Colby knew where he was. “Ok, we’ll give it a few minutes here before we go.” Then, they started the session. Sam sat as close as possible to Colby, their arms and legs touching. Almost immediately, Colby was getting answers that had made sense, living up to the nickname Sam gave him. A few minutes and answers after they started, they went to move upstairs.
Sam gently tapped Colby’s knee at first, then rubbed his hand down it gently to tell Colby to stand up. Sam stood up, then grabbed Colby’s arm to help him.
“You got it.” Colby repeated from the box as soon as he was standing. As they started walking, Sam kept a hand on Colby’s shoulder to help guide him, but eventually settled on wrapping his arm around Colby’s shoulder to hold him closer to his chest. To anyone else, it would look like proper guidance in a dimly lit house, but to them, it was the physical contact both had been needing to calm the swirling nerves.
As they were walking, Colby was calling out things that described the group, keeping them all on edge, but instead of the usual hardened features that Colby had been sporting all night when he was on edge, he now had a smile plastered all over his face. Even with the blindfold, you could tell the smile reached his eyes. All throughout, Sam still kept his arm around Colby’s shoulders.
They got to the stairs, and all three triplets started their ascent first. Sam tapped Colby’s back, and waited for him to find the railing before moving to take the first step up. Like hell he was going to let Colby get hurt when they were so close to the end. Slowly and carefully, Sam watched Colby’s feet as they met each step, and tightened his grip on the others’ shoulder to catch him in case of falling. Colby was still spitting out words he heard come through on the spirit box as he followed Sam’s guidance through their old house.
Much to Colby’s dismay, after they had stopped walking, Sam took his hand away. He always found he got better answers and things felt more clear if he had some physical contact with Sam while under the Estes method.
The answers they got were consistent with a warning to protect people from playing the game. They finished up the Estes method as the timer went off, and caught Colby up on the answers he gave. Shortly after, they made their way back downstairs, and into the salt circle to keep themselves protected while they ended the game. They blew out their candles and turned on a light, and had a quick discussion about the night.
Finally, they got their Taco Bell, and took some final pictures for their Instagrams. The triplets left shortly after eating, and left Sam and Colby to clean up.
They had gathered up the equipment and cleaned up the dropped matches and salt from the floor. By the time they finished, it was about 5 am. Sam was exhausted. He sighed and walked his way over to Colby, dropping his head against his chest.
“You ok?” Colby asked him, wrapping his arms around the blonde in his arms.
“Yeah, just drained. It was a lot being back, and doing the ritual again after so many years.”
“Yeah. Anything you want to talk about?”
“No, just hold me.” Sam said, voice barely above a whisper. Colby was happy to comply.
“That I can do.” and he did. He sat and held Sam, gently rubbing his back, keeping his hand on his upper back, avoiding where Sam had broken his back, scared the touch would stir up emotions neither of them wanted to deal with at the moment. Colby periodically would place gentle kisses to the top of Sam’s head as they swayed back and forth, just happy to be with the other. This was common after intense investigations, where they would just sway and hold the other until they felt ok again. This time was no different. It was about 30 minutes later when Sam finally picked his head up, and properly kissed Colby for the first time that night, which sealed the new found peace they finally had.
“Ready to leave?” Colby asked.
“One more walk through?” Sam asked. Colby didn’t have to ask why, he knew. Sam was wanting one last goodbye to the house before they left. They had a lot of history resting deep in the walls. Late night conversations, inside jokes, happy memories, sad memories, and one of their favorite memories still echoed in the now empty house. Sam walked upstairs, first to his room, the room where Colby had come in to talk to him years ago, and had admitted his feelings. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, replaying the memory. He saw everything so clearly in his mind, it was almost as if the scene was playing on a screen. Colby stood in the doorway, watching him, leaning against the frame. Sam turned around, tears in his eyes.
“You ok?” Colby asked, not moving, giving Sam his space.
“I just love you, so much. I couldn’t get through this life without you. This room holds one of the best memories of my life, it’s hard to let it go.” Sam said, a tear escaping his eyes.
Colby walked over, and gently wiped away the tear that was staining his boyfriend's face.
“Remember it that way then, love. Remember the happy memories here. The good ones outweigh the bad, and without the bad, the good wouldn’t have happened.” Colby wrapped his arms around Sam once more. It was true, it was shortly after Sam had come home from the hospital after breaking his back. When Sam couldn’t get out of bed, and needed help with almost everything. Colby took care of him. It was during that time that Colby decided to tell Sam about his feelings, and was shocked to learn Sam returned them. Colby vowed from them on to always take care of Sam. Sam vowed to always return the favor. Colby took Sam’s hand in his own, and led them back downstairs. As they were passing Colby’s old room, Sam threw a glance at the balcony, but didn’t stop walking. It didn’t do to dwell on his experiences from the past, and just allowed himself to be led by Colby to grab their stuff and leave the house. Sam was drained, but left feeling lighter than he had in awhile.
They got in the car to drive to the hotel, and Colby grabbed his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before driving away. They both had ghosts in that house, and they had both faced them that night. The memories had hit them both hard, but if they got anything from it, it was that they were both incredibly thankful for all their experiences. Without them, they wouldn’t be where they were now. Sam allowed his head to rest against the window, falling asleep still holding Colby’s hand. He knew, without a doubt, they’d be ok.