Rhythm of the Rain {Rewritten}

Chapter One

It was fair to say that Pete had a tiny crush. A minuscule crush that might not even be true feelings in the slightest. Probably. It was hard to say because he'd only seen the guy once.

The bell rang and he sat down in his desk, pulling his bright red Calculus binder from his backpack and resting his chin on his hands not even bothering to look up at the teacher.

"Good afternoon, Class!" Mr. Smith was an excitable man who was not at all discouraged by his class's inability to be excited about Calculus. He made it a challenge for himself to get them excited about calculus by the end of the year. He was failing. Miserably.

"We have a new student today!" Mr. Smith looked out at all the students and Pete felt dread settle in stomach. If it was the guy from this morning...

A tall boy with dark brown eyes and round glasses entered the classroom and Pete fought to hold back his groan. Of course.

Earlier that morning, Mrs. Jones, the substitute, had asked him to hand in the attendance. While there, he'd noticed two boys sitting the office. One had bright red hair, wore a tank top and skinny jeans. The other was more conservatively dressed. He wore a Metallica T-shirt and a dark jacket. Pete hadn't noticed he was staring till the Metallica guy caught his eyes. He'd blushed before handing in the form. Then he turned away before hurrying out of the office as fast as humanly possible.

Now Metallica boy was standing here. Right in front of him. Pete slunk down into his chair as low as he could.

"Everyone, this is Michael Way. He's come all the way here from New York-"

"New Jersey, sir," Mikey interrupted, biting his lip in embarrassment.

"Of course," Mr. Smith nodded. "My fault. Have a seat, Michael. Everyone else, we'll begin on chapter four page six. Maria, would you like to read it out to us?"

Pete watched as Michael quickly hurried to the back of the classroom and sat, quickly.

-

At lunch, Pete had the same disgusting food as always, and he noticed Michael sitting by himself at one of the round tables. He didn't seem particularly upset at sitting by himself so Pete sat down at one of the tables. He couldn't help but continuously glance over at him.

This continued for about a week before Pete finally sighed, standing up. He didn't know what it was about Metallica kid, but there was something about him that was just... intriguing. He wasn't particularly hot or incredibly intelligent or very popular, but Pete decided that it was because he looked comfortable in his skin. Pete liked that.

He walked over and sat down at the table Michael was sitting at. Michael quickly pulled his earphones out and looked up.

"Hi, Michael right? I'm Pete," Pete smiled. "Mind if I sit?"

"It seems you've already sat down anyway," Michael replied, not hostile but not entirely friendly either. "And it's Mikey."

Mikey. Pete felt butterflies in his stomach. What the fuck? He smiled and Mikey gave a small half smile back.

And so their friendship began. Pete began speaking to Mikey more and more often and Mikey even switched seats in calculus to sit next to him. They started hanging out after school and Pete met Mikey's brother, Gerard. Gerard was unlike Pete had ever seen. He had bright red hair, and was always wearing tank tops. But his personality was so unlike his looks it was startling.

Gerard volunteered at the local hospital helping out with the kids who had cancer and he was basically the number one samaritan. Mikey and Gerard had moved from Jersey because their father had gotten a job in Chicago. Gerard was excited, Mikey was not.

After a few more months, Pete's minuscule crush had increased tremendously. He'd wanted to know every little thing he could about Mikey and Mikey obliged, listening politely and every so often asking his own questions.

-

"Happy birthday, Mikeyway!" Pete grinned as Mikey opened the door. "Ready to go to school?"

Mikey had even switched from riding with Gerard to school to riding with Pete. This had made Pete so incredibly happy it was embarrassing. For the first time, Pete had an actual friend who wanted to just be friends and had no selfish reasons. Of course, if Mikey was willing to be more than 'just friends', Pete wasn't going to argue.

They went to Mikey's house after school and hung out, watching tv. Mikey's parents made them sit down for cake and presents. Pete had gotten him a collection of bass picks which Mikey had thanked him repeatedly for.

They were sitting on the balcony of Mikey's room on the outdoor sofa.

"It's so beautiful out here," Mikey breathed in the warm September night air. Pete absentmindedly laid his head on the back of the couch, slowly sliding down till his head was in Mikey's lap. Then he was painfully aware of every single thing that was happening. He was painfully aware of Mikey's slight intake of breath and he was painfully aware of Mikey's hand resting on his hair and he was certainly and painfully aware of Mikey's fingers curling through his hair. "I'm sixteen. That's crazy." Mikey said.

Pete suddenly stood, moving to the edge of the balcony. He leaned on the bar and stared out at the city before them. He felt Mikey's hand touch the small of his back and his breath hitched. He couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Mikey." He turned to look at his best friend and bit his lip. Was he seriously about to do this? "I... I like like you."

It was completely silent and Pete flinched, waiting for Mikey to hit him or yell at him to get out or something else awful. Instead, Mikey took Pete's hand.

"I know," was Mikey's reply. And before Pete could say another word, Mikey had leaned forward, crushing his lips into Pete's.

"I like you too."