one more troubled soul » petekey

Five

Mikey was fixing his hair anxiously in the rearview mirror, peaking over Pete's shoulder. He ruffled his fringe and let it fall messily on his forehead, groaning. "Disaster."

"Hey, check my bed head out," Pete offered, ruffling his hair even more. It stuck up in all directions, black and wild.  Mikey took one quick glance at him before bursting into giggles, his entire face squinting in complete joy. He laughed with his whole body, his hands hitting his knees gleefully. He snorted and then threw a hand over his mouth, blushing brightly.

"That was embarr-"

"Cute." Pete cut him off quickly, just looking for another blush. He got it. Mikey looked away quickly, rubbing his face like it had a big itch. When he looked back up, his blush was gone. "New Yorkers don't care about tourists. Let alone their hair. C'mon." With that, Pete wrapped his camera around his neck and hopped out, converse sneakers hitting the cement with a thrilling clap. His very first city adventure was about to begin, and he had a beautiful boy with him.

Granted, New York City was a bit out of Pete's comfort zone. He had originally planned to visit small towns, back roads, and be anything but a tourist. But New York City was too close and too popular to ignore, and he didn't want to miss his chance to be the first kid from his high school to ever visit. They were a bunch of small town wannabes, suburbia rulers. But even being a nobody in a city, bigger then their imaginations, was something in Pete's book. He was flipping the bird to his old town.

Mikey was next to him in an instant, looking like he was going to explode. Pete couldn't tell if he was nervous or excited, but it didn't matter, they were all the same nerves. He grabbed Mikey by his wrist, not the hand, and tugged him toward an elevator that would bring them down to the first level, and so their adventure could begin.

Terrible elevator music was a small price to pay if their destination was The Big Apple. And when the doors opened, Mikey didn't even seem to care that Pete had slipped his hand into his, and was dragging him out of the elevator and into the concrete jungle. The minute they got out of the parking garage they both stopped, heads thrown completely back. The sun was shining brightly, the city stuck in the sweltering heat. It was beating down on the two of them, both clad in a alarming amount of black, but they didn't mind. They were in awe of how the sun looked so close to the buildings, as if it would touch them as it set.

"Where... where to first?" Mikey whispered.

"I have no idea." Pete mumbled, bringing his camera to his face. He snapped a quick, test photo and then looked down, ignoring the strangers that shoved past him. "Beautiful," he said quietly.

"Central Park!" Mikey suddenly exclaimed. "Central Park. Let's go there." He pulled out his phone, that was quickly dying, typing the park into his maps. He anxiously waited for a route to show up, jumping when it finally did. "It's so close, Pete! We can walk. We can run!" And without even giving Pete a moment to process anything, Mikey squeezed his hand hard and began bolting as fast as he could through a sea of struggling actors and business men and women. Only a few people angrily snapped at them, but most seemed to be rushing somewhere, too. Everything was moving so fast, faster than Pete could fathom, and he loved it. Faces were rushing by so quickly he didn't get a chance to look at them, to think about them. All he could even pay attention to was Mikey, tall and pale, gripping on to him for dear life and turning every so often to smile at him. Every time he did, Pete's heart stopped, and he reckoned he might be dead by the time they made it to the park.

He didn't.

And he was so glad.

Mikey finally let go of his hand as they entered the park, and Pete missed it immensely, despite the fact both their hands were wet with sweat. Pete wiped his on his jeans and let Mikey wander in front of him, enjoying his wonder. Pete had never seen someone so optimistic about a bunch of grass and flowers and a lake. It was as if he had never seen a bench in his whole life, let alone the fact he looked like he had been sleeping on one for a few weeks. "Pete, it's so... nice. There's so much sun and..." He trailed off, getting distracted but a flower patch that was as colorful as a rainbow. Mikey looked at Pete, as if for permission, and when Pete scrunched his eyebrows in confusion, Mikey leaned down and stuck his nose in one of the flowers, breathing in deeply. The petals flew up to tickle his nose when he sucked in and he pulled his face away momentarily before smelling the next one. His glasses slid down the bridge of his nose and lightly touched one of the flowers. He pulled them off and set them beside his feet, continuing down the line. Pete quietly lifted his camera, taking gentle steps towards him. He almost didn't want to interrupt the beauty of the moment. Mikey was so appreciative of nature, so disconnected from the rest of the world that it almost felt wrong for a click of a camera to drag him back. But Pete's morals had always been slightly twisted, and so he zoomed in on Mikey.