Friend from the wild side ( AePete AU )

Chapter 3

Whack! Pete hissed when a ruler hit his fingers and he straightened up, peeling his face off of the desk. The professor frowned at him and tapped her foot with arms folded. "Is my lecture so boring for you young man? Would you rather I sang you a lullaby? This is a place of higher education, not a slumber party in your kindergarten!" "I'm sor-" "Don't let me catch you sleeping again!" Pete rubbed his cheek, forcing himself to stop the yawn until the professor turned around and walked back to her desk. Tin nudged him with an elbow. "You okay?" "Yea." Pete nodded as he looked down at his now reddened fingers. "I haven't slept much last night. Can I see your notes?" Tin shuffled his notebook between them and waited until Pete finished scribbling his notes down before taking it back. By the time he took it, the bell rang and Pete groaned, letting his face hit the desk again.

"Oi, wake up, let's go get lunch." Tin managed to drag his friend out of the classroom and into the cafeteria where they silently ate as Pete wasn't in the mood for their usual chit chat. Since he started college he and Tin stuck to each other like glue, complaining about their families and generally ignoring anyone who wasn't on the same level academically as them, and what they had in each other was the closest thing to a best friend. If you even can have a best friend who's almost identical to you. "So what happened?" Tin wiped his mouth and pushed aside their empty plates before handing Pete a little roll on stick.

"Nothing much. I just didn't go home last night so I just drove around until I got tired and then slept like two hours in my car." The boy admitted as he rolled the cooling gel underneath his eyes to reduce puffiness. "Not that anyone would notice anyway; mom and dad went for business to Hawaii. Thanks." Pete tapped the product gently into the skin. "Why were you out anyway? You don't like night life." Tin pocketed the roll on again and pulled out his phone to play a game. "You know you can tell me, I won't spill." He muttered without looking up. Pete knew that very well; the two shared several secrets that would cause a very big trouble if they got out and agreed never to spill any of them or the other would do the same. Pete nodded, knowing he could trust Tin.

"I like this one guy but he's kind of a...I don't even know who he is to be honest. I know his name and age and that he rides a motorcycle, but that's it. He's criminal I think, possibly homeless too." Pete said as he picked on his watch. "I've been going to the spot where he and his fellows hang out but he doesn't really want me around. I just really want to see him all the time, it's annoying when he's the only thing I can think about these days. I don't think there's anything great about him besides the fact that he saved my life. Shit." A knob popped off of Pete's watch and he cussed before leaning under the table and searching for the piece. As he leaned down Tin gently kicked him in the chin and chuckled as the boy sat back up. "What was that for?" "For your stupidity. Don't you remember what this is called?" "Eh?" "Suspension bridge effect. You mistook the rush of fear and excitement for affection because your heart was beating fast, but not because you like him. More likely it was because you were in some sticky situation that got him to rescue you, right?"

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"Aren't you glad he stopped coming? I thought you didn't want the kid to follow you around." Pond raised an eyebrow. It's been a week since that kid came and gave Ae some cake. Pond was just going out for a smoke when he saw his best friend and a leader holding hands with some neatly combed boy. Or at least he thought they held hands until he approached the duo and saw the boy stitching something to Ae's jacket. He got spooked when Pond got close and accidentally jabbed the needle to Ae's wrist, earning himself a quick scolding. He then muttered a quiet 'see you tomorrow' and run off, not to be seen again. Not the next day, not the following one, not even week later.

Pond noticed Ae often stretching his neck to peek out of the window and check if anyone is sitting here, but the bench remained empty and broken just as it was before. Ae brought the cigarette to his lips and sighed deeply as the smoke escaped his mouth. He kept telling Pete to stop coming, to leave him alone, but now that the clingy puppy was gone, Ae actually started to miss him a little. Certainly there was something cute and fresh about Pete that Ae didn't really experience in his day to day life. His days were usually filled with beating up someone, speeding on his motorcycle, getting drunk and not caring about anyone's feelings for that matter. "Hey Pond..." Ae played with the bird patch on his sleeve. "Wanna ride to the cliffside?" Pond chuckled and nodded. Cliffside meant an emotional talk on the beach with no one else around; a place and time where they could share private things without the gang listening.