Better Off In Love (Peterick Au)

The Rhythm of the Rain

They ended up at a nearby park. Considering that it had definitely settled into early winter, it was far too cold for most people to be outdoors, despite being relatively sunny, so they felt relatively safe to talk there. After a few minutes of walking along in silence, Pete gestured to a bench and they both sat, far more of a distance between them than was necessary of two old friends.

Pete sighed lightly before beginning, staring straight ahead to avoid making things any more uncomfortable. "I'm sorry for pushing you about what happened, I know we were both drunk and we probably weren't thinking straight and everything, and I shouldn't have just expected you to want to talk about it all. I mean, I guess I don't know what I would have said if you'd asked me, so I shouldn't expect you to know what to say,"

"Pete, it's fine. I shouldn't have hung up on you like that," Patrick said, turning to look at the pensive man next to him. 

"Why are you apologising? You did nothing wrong," Pete wore a look of confusion as he looked at Patrick.

It was almost like the world was determined to inflict a certain level of cliché upon them, as the dark sky began to let down a few light raindrops. Pete watched as a few caught on Patrick's eyelashes, running elegantly down his rosy cheeks in a way that he only ever thought was possible in movies.

"I hung up on you because I didn't want to say something that you might think was stupid," Patrick sighed out.

"Whatever you have to say, I won't think that,"

"Are you sure? Promise me you'll tell me if I'm making things weird and I'll stop," Patrick gave him an earnest look.

"Patrick, whatever it is, just tell me," Pete was starting to get more than a little anxious about whatever it was.

"Okay, well I suppose I didn't want to talk about how I felt about the fact that we kissed when we were drunk is because I'm at least a little annoyed that it happened when we were drunk," Patrick began, pausing momentarily to glance at Pete who was observing him intently. "And I'm annoyed about that because if I'm being honest, I've wanted to kiss you for some time and I wish I'd got the courage to do it when I could remember it the next day,"

Patrick then turned to Pete, waiting for the almost inevitable rejection that would follow his confession.

"Are you saying that you like me?" Pete asked after a short pause whilst he let Patrick's words sink in. He liked him!!! His brain was in overdrive because oh my gosh, Patrick liked him!

"I mean, yeah?" a blushing Patrick nodded as Pete grinned. The rain got a little heavier, putting in some serious effort to flatten Pete's carefully styled hair.

"Well, that's convenient, because I happen to like you too,"

At Pete's words, Patrick also found himself breaking out into a wide smile. Pete thought he was practically glowing, looking angelic as ever even with rain dripping down his face.

Neither man was quite sure when it was that they'd shifted close enough for their thighs to be touching, but here they were. It was actually pretty handy, as it meant Pete only had to lean a short distance to meet Patrick's lips with his own, capturing them in a sweet kiss. Patrick instinctively wrapped his arms around Pete's neck, pulling him in closer and kissing back with all the enthusiasm that comes with a teenage dream finally coming true.

Once they broke apart, each quickly found the other's eyes, giving satisfied grins as the rain started to pour down. Patrick looked up to the sky as if he'd only just noticed the freezing droplets, his hair plastered straight down to his face.

"Do you think it might be a good idea to head back to mine? It's not far from here," he laughingly suggested, and Pete stood from the bench and pulled him up by his hands in response.

"Lead the way!" he said, intertwining his warm hand with Patrick's cold one.