If Home Is Where The Heart Is (Pete x Ryan)

1: Meet and Greet

Pete woke up in the morning and excitedly jumped out of bed. He had planned to go to the park. Even though it had rained a little the night before, he still wanted to go. He hopped out of bed and showered, once out of the shower, he got dressed in his pastel pink dress and light blue stockings. He pulled on his shoes and set off for the park. After a block or two of walking, he got to the entrance of the park. He smiled happily and ran straight for the swings, but on his way, he bumped into someone. "Shit!" The tall man shouts, as he and Pete fell.

Pete whimpered, looking up at the man as he rose to his feet. The man looked at the little, frowning softly, feeling bad. "I'm sorry hun," he said softly, helping Pete up. "Are you okay?" He asked, gently wiping at the mud on Pete's dress. "I'm sorry about that."

Pete just stared at the man, pushing him back. "P-pwease don' touch dere.." he whimpered, looking up at him. The mud was on the butt of the dress.

"Oh, no no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean - I was just trying to clean the mud off, I'm sorry." He said quickly. "Here, if you like, I can give you a new dress to wear, and I can wash this one, okay?" He suggested softly.

Pete stared at the man quietly, before nodding slowly. "Yes, p-pwease.." he said quietly.

He nodded. holding his hand out for the little. "I'm Ryan. What's your name sweetie?" He asked softly, with a gentle smile.

"Petey." He spoke quietly, a light blush covering his face as he took Ryan's hand.

"Okay Petey, let's go to mine and we can get you a new dress to wear. Sound good?"

Pete nodded, looking down in attempts to hide his blush.

••••

Ryan brought Pete into his apartment building and they rode the elevator up to Ryan's apartment. The building was nice; a lot nicer than any apartment Pete had ever visited or lived in. Ryan smiled softly, looking at the little stood next to him. "So, Pete, how old are you?" He asked softly.

Pete looked up and just held up his hand, showing four fingers.

Ryan nods some. "Okay," he said softly. The elevator gave a soft 'ping' sound as the doors opened to Ryan's floor. Ryan started to step off the elevator, giving a small tug on Pete's hand to signal he should follow.

Pete took the hint and stepped out with him. "Pwace nice." He said quietly, walking next to the tall man. "Ou wich?" He looked at him, seemingly confused as to how one could live in a place that nice and not be rich or at least have a lot of money.

Ryan gave a soft chuckle, shaking his head slightly. "No hun, I'm not rich." He said. "My parents though, they are. They paid for this. I wanted a much simpler, smaller place, but they wanted me to stay here. I don't like it much, really, but to keep them happy, I'll stay."

"Why?" He looked at him, even more confused. "Why no wike?"

Ryan just gave a small shrug. "I dunno, I just would like a different place. Not so big, and fit for a specific class." He said. "I don't know how to explain."

"Want small pwace. Ou pwace too big for just ou an too obius of ou cwass in society. Dat what you twy say?" He looked at Ryan, for assurance.

Ryan nodded softly. "Yeah, yeah that's about right."

"Ohh," Pete nodded.

After a moment they made it the end of the hallway where Ryan's apartment was. Ryan let go of Pete's hand and dug around in his pockets for his key. Once he found it, he unlocked the door and pushed it open to reveal a large apartment; huge windows you could see most of Chicago, a bed big enough for three adults, a huge kitchen; all of this was seen just by opening the door, they hadn't even stepped in yet. Pete gasped, looking around from the doorway. "Woah," He said quietly, an almost amazed look on his face.

Ryan chuckled, looking down at him. "That's adorable," he said quietly, more to himself than Pete. "Go on. You can go in, hun." He spoke softly, smiling gently, as he watched the shorter man run in the apartment.

"Huge!" Pete exclaimed.

Ryan chuckled watching Pete run around. "Careful hu- " Ryan's smile dropped as he saw his grandmother's urn fall and the ashes scatter across the floor.

"S-sowwy! I sowwy! Didn't mean-"

"Shhhh, shhhh, Pete it's okay." Ryan said, making his way to the mess and the little boy standing next to it.

"I sowwy, wemme cwean. I make mess." Pete said, getting ready to clean up the remains of Ryan's grandmother.

"Pete no, I got it. It's okay, really. I'll clean it up." He said gently in a calm tone. "While I clean this up, you can look through the dresses. Choose your favourite. Okay?"

Pete, almost in tears from fear of what Ryan would have done, nodded and rushed off to the bedroom Ryan was pointing to.

Pete entered the bedroom that was clearly made for a child and made his way to the open closet full of brand new dresses. He looked at them and giggled. He felt over the pastel dresses and picked out a light blue one. He hung it on the wardrobe door as he needed help to take off the dress he was wearing.

He looked around the room curiously, spotting some teddies and toys. He gasped and dropped to his knees. He didn't have many toys at home since all his ones belonged to his old daddy. It had been 6 months since they broke up and Pete didn't have any toys to play with. He was smart enough not to trust himself with all his money in a toy shop.

He grabbed a toy car and started driving it around the carpeted floor.

After a few minutes, Ryan finished cleaning and made his way to the bedroom to check on Pete. He chuckled lightly. "I see you found the toys."

Pete looked up with wide eyes. "I sowwy sir." He put the toys down quickly.

"No, no, it's okay." He said softly, walking over to him. "Do you need help to change hun?" He asked gently, noticing that Pete was still in his dirty dress.

He looked up at Ryan and nodded "yws pwease mister" Pete lisped and crawled over to him.

Ryan nodded, picking him up. "Okay, I'll help you get out of this. I promise I won't look. And if you want, I can run you a bath."

Pete thought for a minute before responding. "Hab bubbles?" He looked at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Of course hun." He smiled softly. He grabbed the dress off the wardrobe and went to the bathroom. He put Pete down and helped him out of the dirtied dress.

He clapped and giggled "bubs!" He blew some at Ryan.

Ryan chuckled and tested the temperature. He carefully lifted Petes light frame into the warm water. "How's that, sweetheart?"

"Bubs!" Pete exclaimed happily and splashed.