learning to fly ➵ petekey

iii ; the proposition

The next time Mikey spoke to Pete was on Friday at lunch, three whole days after Pete had defended him in that argument. Mikey thought he saw Pete a few times in the corridors on the way to lesson, but he couldn't be so sure, as he only saw the back of his head.

"Hey, Mikes," Pete said, sitting down next to him in the library. Yes, the library. That was where Mikey always had his lunch. He liked to read, and he didn't like noise and gossip, and so he seeked safety in the comforts of the school's library. Plus, it went down well telling his parents that he spent his lunch there. They thought it was much better than eating with 'all those damn thugs', as his mother had described them.

"What did I tell you about calling me that?" Mikey questioned.

"To do it as often as possible, I know," he teased, fumbling through his black bag to find his lunch. Mikey groaned. "Okay, okay, I'll stop."

"You're just saying that," Mikey said, reading straight through his blatant lie.

"Yeah, you're right, Mikes," he said. Queue a groan from Mikey, and a laugh from Pete, followed by a brief, minute long absence of conversation while they ate in silence.

"So what brings you to have lunch here? I mean, not that I'm complaining, it's just a bit..." Mikey paused to search for the right word, "spontaneous, that's all," he decided on saying.

"Wanted to see you," Pete said it how it was. Blunt, yes, but it was the truth, and after three days of ignorance, Mikey deserved it.

"Oh?" Mikey quirked an eyebrow up, questioning Pete's motives to do so.

"You're interesting, Mikes. There's something special about you, and I can't pinpoint it, but there's something I noticed about you, and I'd like to offer you a proposition."

"Continue," Mikey prompted, curiosity taking over him.

"All you ever do is do what other people want you to do. You're the most selfless person I know, and that seems like a good thing, but when you're living for other people and not for yourself, it's bad."

"Fair enough," was all Mikey could say about Pete's observation, because he was still trying to process it, and although he knew it was true, he tried to deny it to himself. Pointless, but sometimes effective, depending on the circumstances. "So what was your proposition?"

"If you help me pass three subjects this semester, I'll help you with your whole 'living for other people' situation," Pete said.

"Um, I don't know, Pete, I really wouldn't want to disappoint anyo-"

"C'mon, Mikes. Is this what you really want?"

"No," he whispered, as if he were ashamed to say it.

"Then do you accept the proposition?" Pete asked, holding his hand out.

Mikey shook his hand, before saying "yeah, I do."

-

Pete had his first order of business planned out well, and he had to give himself effort points for that, because although he wasn't proud to admit it, he spent more time planning out what he was going to do with Mikey than he spent doing his homework. That is, if he actually decided to do the homework in the first place.

"Alright, so, first of all, let me ask you something," Pete started. "Have you ever skipped class?"

"N-no," Mikey stuttered, unsure of where the conversation was headed, and nervous as to what he may have to do.

"Do you want to? Like, honestly? Because I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to. I mean, that's kind of the whole point of this deal..." he trailed off.

"Uh, yeah, I'd like that. A lot," Mikey smiled at him.

"You sure?"

"Definitely. I'm just nervous, that's all. But I'm fine."

"Good."

"This sounds like a dumb question, but what do we actually do? I mean, like, where do we go? What, uh, activities are we doing?"

Pete laughed at Mikey's innocence, and Mikey blushed. "Usually, I just sit behind the shed and smoke, or something. It's nice. Gives me time to think. Sounds lame, right?"

"Not at all," Mikey responded honestly.

"Well, in that case, let's get behind the shed, shall we?"

Mikey snorted at how suggestive that sounded.

and so it seems that i can't stop updating this despite nobody actually reading this.
also, yeah, i know this was short, but it's literally 3am and i'm lowkey tired. sue me.