Belgard ; petekey

4: Wide-Eyed Browns

Sunday November 29th

Mikey had nothing to do that Sunday, so just going for a walk alone seemed like a nice option. Fuck no.

The streets were busy, filled with busy people rushing around to get on with their stressful yet boring lives. Early Christmas shoppers push their way through the crowds, dragging along children throwing tantrums and hefty bags full of toys. It was only November but Christmas seemed to be in full swing. Fairy lights twinkled above his head, lining shop windows with their dim golden glow. The whole place had such a warm feel to it even though it was pretty cold.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, kids in their thick winter coats, mothers on their phones carrying bags, fathers just seeming less stressed than the others. Of course a couple of teenagers passed him but again, that wasn't out of anything ordinary. Mikey brushed a few bits of lint off his long black coat before carrying on walking through the herds of people, marvelling at each of the Christmas decorations as he walked past them.

Naturally, his mind wandered to the people around him, but not the ones bustling and pushing past him, the ones close to him. His sibling was something he ended up thinking about, how they were happy with Frank. The same with Brendon and Ryan. Obviously Mikey did not care about having a soulmate or a relationship, but he couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to feel happy with someone beside you. To love and care for you.

At a time in which he thought nothing could pull him out of his thoughts, something did. That 'something' happened to be a quite short boy with a dark brown fringe running through the busy crowds and possibly crying. Mikey wasn't one to care about strangers but something about this boy that attracted him in a strange way. Like he cared about this total stranger who was running hastily. Before he could even ponder over this thought his legs had already made their mind up and he was soon running after the stranger as fast as his legs could possibly manage to carry him.

Everyone who he was once observing in the streets were now a blur as he ran past them, after this stranger. Mikey didn't do much physical activity, nor did he want to, so this was tiring him out a lot.

The boy carried on running, every nerve in Mikey's body was telling him to stop but his brain and heart were on an agreement to follow. Soon enough they are out of the busy streets, rather down a quiet neighbourhood, when he stopped. Just stopped running.

Mikey soon caught up and skidded to a stop too, he could now see him in more detail. His dark brown hair was swept into a side fringe, his forehead drenched in sweat. Rolling down the sleeve of his grey sweater around his hand, he wiped some of the sweat away in a swift motion. Mikey considered taking a step closer to the stranger, but he felt it was wrong. He had seemed so entranced by the boy that he couldn't move, frozen on the spot.

The stranger than sat down on the pavement, bringing his knees up to his chest and cradling them. Black skinny jeans adorned his legs, which he know had his head against. Soon enough, Mikey heard a small sob, sounding muffled from the sweater sleeves. That, Mikey thought, was his cue to speak.

"Hello." Mikey said with a slight confidence he had never felt before, which was rather odd.

The boy's sobs stopped for a second as he looked up at Mikey. His eyes were wide and tear stained, the brown colour of his eyes shining through the tears. Getting lost in the strangers eyes was not hard as Mikey found himself doing exactly that but being brought back to reality with a quiet, choked up voice. "Hello."

"Are you okay?" Mikey took no hesitation in speaking again, and even sitting down next to him. Surprisingly, he seemed the least bit phased.

"Y- yeah. I'm great." He spoke, wiping his red eyes and turning to take a closer look at the boy that was beside him. He was quite tall, and lanky. White rimmed glasses adorned the soft features on his face and a small, comforting smile was shot in his direction.

"You're not, you've been crying." Mikey retorted. How this stranger could every try and deny it, was beyond him.

"Honestly, I'm fine." He was trying desperately now, he didn't want to have to explain why he was upset to a complete stranger. Even if he did find incredibly attracted to this person and already felt that he could trust him with his life, strangely enough.

"Liar." Mikey snapped back quickly. He really wasn't going to take a lie for an answer.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay, I'm not fine. But what is it to you?" The boy snapped too, but with a slight amount of coldness in his voice. Mikey was slightly taken aback by his words, he understood that many people didn't like being questioned about how they're feeling but he wasn't expecting him to be so cold about it.

"I- I was just asking." Mikey shrugged, shoving his cold hands in his pockets. He really didn't like arguing with people, especially strangers.

After a long amount of silence between the two, the boy took a breath in as if he was about to talk, Mikey slightly tilted his head to look at him. "I'm Pete." The boy (well, 'Pete' now) said before, with really bad timing, Gee pulled up beside them both.

"Mikey!" Gee called out, the slowly setting sun kind of reflected on their bright red hair. "Get in the car, mom wants us home because it's getting dark." Mikey rolled his eyes, getting up from the pavement and wiping himself down.

"Bye Pete!" Mikey waved to him as he jogged towards the car and clambered in the backseat, but not before noticing that his soulmates reflection had gotten clearer in the reflection of the car window.

-

And so they meet.

Here's a new chapter for you, I hope it isn't too bad. I really wanted to add a slightly festive feel to it because it's December.

Feedback would be great!

- xoA

Word Count: 1022