Friend from the wild side ( AePete AU )

Chapter 5

Ae said to come at 7. He said they can meet by the broken benches as usual. He said he will be on time. Pete frowned at his phone; it was almost 8 and Ae was nowhere to be seen. There were motorcycles parked by the entrance, but neither one of them bore the dark blue and grey stripes that Ae had, and Pete wasn't about to waltz inside and ask about the man. He was still pretty terrified of the guys who seemed to stare daggers at him whenever he approached. Pete was nearly knocked over when a motorcycle passed by him, missing him by only just a few inches and then came to a full stop by his other side. "Oi. Get on."

Ae patted his backseat again when Pete just stared at him. "If you don't get on I'm leaving." The exhaust pipe grumbled and Pete quickly got on, his hand hesitantly touching Ae's jacket. "Hold on properly, or you'll fall." Ae said as he pulled Pete's arms around his waist and placed his hands onto his own stomach. The motorcycle roared and Ae sped off, causing Pete's hands to take a tight grip on his t-shirt as he held on for what seemed to be his dear life, with face hidden between Ae's shoulder blades. They zigzagged between buildings and Pete didn't dare to open his eyes until he felt the motorcycle going straight and slightly uphill. He hesitantly turned his head to the side only to be greeted by a view of lake with seemingly nothing except for nature around it.

The evening sun reflected on the water and almost sparkled, casting a glint to Pete's eye and making him squint. It looked absolutely beautiful, and even better up close when Ae turned the wheel onto the grass and circled the place. He parked the motorcycle under a cluster of trees that provided a nice privacy screen from outside. Pete slowly unclenched his hands and let go of Ae's shirt, feeling the hard muscle beneath the fabric just for a brief second before jumping off the bike. "Wow, this place is-oh my god, Ae! Your face!" Pete gasped in shock when he noticed a thin trail of blood trickling over Ae's eye from a slashed brow.

"It's fine." Ae waved his hand as he kicked the stand to keep his bike from tipping over. He then sat down onto a grassy ground and patted the spot beside him. Pete hurriedly joined him and stared at the bleeding wound. Up close it wasn't as big as he thought but the stream of blood still alarmed him as it now reached Ae's chin and he didn't seem to be worried about it at all. Pete reached over with his handkerchief, making Ae flinch under the unexpected touch. "I just wanna see...don't move." Pete gently wiped off all the blood that trickled down, rubbing slightly the bits where it dried off in Ae's eyebrow and getting the clearest view of the wound. It was only few millimetres long just above his brow and seemed to almost stop bleeding.

"Hang on, I think I have a plaster." Pete reached into his pocket again, this time pulling out a strip of bandaids. "I don't need that." Ae resisted, still frowning even as Pete gently applied to colourful strip to his skin and touched his temple. Ae's eyes fixed on Pete's face as the boy got closer, the smell of cigarettes hitting Pete's nose, but surprisingly it didn't seem so unpleasant. Nothing about Ae seemed unpleasant to him. "Pete?" "Huh? Oh, sorry!" Pete barely registered that his hand was now touching Ae's cheek and he quickly retracted his hand, awkwardly shuffling a couple inches away from Ae and hugging his knees.

"Aren't you going to ask why was I late?" Ae asked after a moment silence. Pete sighed. "If you wanted me to know, I think you would have told me already. Probably doing something illegal again. I'd rather not know about it. Besides...you still came." He smiled. Ae let his back drop and laid on the grass with arms behind his head, just staring at the sky. "Pete, I don't date. I don't have any time or space in my life for love and romance. I just want you to know that. I can only be your friend, and even that is dangerous for you. You seem like a really nice kid. Surely there must be someone in your life who-"

"There isn't." "You didn't even let me finish the sentence." "Because I know what you want to say." Pete said as he laid besides Ae. "When I talked to miss Lisa she said you're a really kind person. And I can feel it, even though you're pushing me away. I'm not stupid, I know you do bad things, but that's not the reason I'm drawn to you. Miss Lisa also said that..." Pete bit his lip. Should he say? Ae turned his face towards him and Pete felt at ease. Those eyes could pierce a hole through him and he wouldn't mind. "Go on?" "She said you already care about me because you wouldn't even talk to me if you didn't. That you're just pushing me away because you're afraid of getting hurt again, even though I don't fully understand what that means. Perhaps bad experience with love in the past, I don't know. But Ae...I'm not pushing you into anything. I won't make you date me or anything. I just want to be close to you, even if nothing happens between us."

"My sister talks too much." Ae sighed again. He moved closer only to flick Pete's forehead and chuckle when the boy winced. "Didn't you say you like me? That you're in love with me?" "I do, and I am. I told you because I wanted you to know, not because I expect anything. Just like this-" Pete gestured to the space between them. "-is okay with me. Those few minutes when I get to talk to you infront of that place are like the only time I don't feel invisible to the world. I feel like I can breathe freely, you know?" Ae couldn't fight back the little smile creeping to his face, but hid it by pinching Pete's nose and making him close eyes. Lisa was right about one thing; Pete was totally his type, and Ae felt his stomach flutter as the boy's eyes opened again and they stared at each other with just an inch between their faces. Ae was the one who broke the eye contact first, as it was quite difficult to kiss someone with eyes open. And he kissed hard.