On The Streets

A few years later

"Awe common." Riff laughed, punching Tony lightly, "you are the ladies' man."

"She didn't even ask me out she just asked me for my name."

"That's how theys do it now." Riff reasoned, a smiling breaking out of the straight face he was trying to pull off.

"Will y'a stop." Tony groaned, "It was nothing!"

"Nothing? Nothing! My man is going to marry some rich chick any day now and leave me behind." Riff dramatically fell to the group, "I'll just have to die."

Tony got shuffled his feet, "hey man don't talk like that."

"What ya gonna do call my mom?" He laughed.

"Maybe," Tony said.

"Y'a cant! She's dead," Riff snorted.

"Your mom's dead?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Yeah what's it to you."

"When did she die?"

Riff shrugged casually.

"A few years ago."

"You mean in the last 7 years we have been friends your mom died and you didn't say nothing?" Tony asked, but as the words came out his voice got louder.

"Well, why do you care!"

"I've been cleaning your scrapes, bruises, clothes, and fights since you were 3 years old and you didn't think to tell me your mom died?"

"So what, it's not like it matters anyway," Riff Scoffed.

"What else have you been hiding Riff," Tony shouted, looking down at the shorter boy.

"My life ain't y'a business!" Riff shouted back, his posture crap but his eyes held high.

"Are you on drugs?" Tony asked, "because every day you come with red eyes!"

"No!" Riff screamed, he grabbed at his hair.

"You come in every day with a new bruise on your face! Are you getting into fights!" Tony pushed farther.

"No!" A tear rolled down his face.

Tony towered over him, "are you stealin again! I told you I'd make you pay for any crap you took!"

"Stop!" Riff begged, backing away from him, he tripped over a steel pipe, falling on his butt, where he scrambled back. But Tony just followed him, soon Riff was against a wall.

"Then what are you doing Riff! I'm supposed to be looking out for ya and you don't tell me anything! You had a fork in your leg at 4 am for God's sake Riff! What is wrong with ya!" Tony only got louder and louder, his entire body loitered over Riffs shaking form.

Then Tony felt something cold touch his chest, he looked down and Riff was holding a knife out, he looked down at it shocked, before realizing how close he was the Riff, how the boy held himself into the corner of the wall, far away from him, his head turned away.

For the beat of a moment, he just stood there, the sun cascading down his back, casting a shadow over his and Riff's face. Darkness surrounding only them on such a sunny and bright day.

Tony stumbled back, a streak of cold made way down each vertebrate of his body. "Riff I'm so sorry-"

"Get back!" Riff shouted shriveled into his corner.

"Okay okay," Tony obliged.

A sniffle. "I'm sorry," Riff murmured.

"Hey, no no," Tony reached forward and pulled Riff into a tight hug, squeezing him and rocking back and forth. "It's okay."

Riff desperately wiped his tears in the hug, tried to breathe in the snot in his nose.

Because crying was weak, and he didn't cry.

"Crying isn't weak," Tony said.

Oh.

Okay.

So Riff at that moment let himself cry, let his eyes water the ground. It dripped around his thin sharp features, bouncing on the ground. And for a moment, it was okay.

Then he wiped his face and stepped back.

Tony lied down and tapped the ground, encouraging him to join him.

So Riff did.

They stood there for eternity, the world in front of them, but each star a billion miles away. In the reach of eyesight, but something they could never touch.

They both watched the moon rise into the dusted pink sky, and the sun finally say goodbye.

They watched the light disappear around the world and the stars brighten up, releasing themselves from the hazy shade of fog surrounding them.

"I think my ma loved me."

Tony turned his face a little shocked, but Riff wasn't looking at him. He was looking up at the face of the moon.

Tony turned his head to look at her as well.

Well, he thought the face on the moon was a girl, he didn't think a guy could bring such beauty to the skies.

"I know she loved y'a."

"Then why she'd leave me?" Riff whispered.

"I don't think she got a choice Riff," Tony said while rolling over.

"She killed herself, Tony, hung herself in the living room. Dad couldn't be bothered to take it down for three days."

Tony had no idea what to say to that, he wasn't sure if anyone could say something to that. He scanned Riff's face, looking for a gateway to what to say. Nothing.

So he said nothing, but he scooted closer and grabbed Riff's hand. It wasn't romantic or anything, it was just the feeling of another human being.

It seemed to be all Riff wanted.

Eventually, they fall asleep, though it did seem to take hours, and they only woke up when a police officer kicked them awake and told them to scram. Though he did offer to take them to breakfast and pay, Tony didn't trust the way he kept eyeing his partner so he politely declined and said their parents were waiting for them. It seemed to do the trick for he calmed down and left. He was new.

Tony walked Riff home, before Riff climbed into his window he turned around.

"Tony?"

"Yeah."

"She died a week ago."

And then he climbed in.

Tony would never find out why he acted like it had been years, perhaps there wasn't a reason. Tony did a lot of things for no reason, he could understand. Whatever it was, he would respect it.