Hehehe >:)
Pico sat with his back towards the door. He didn't want to lay in bed right now.
He was having his thoughts. The bad ones.
He needed fresh air. He wouldn't go far. He might not even leave the porch. He just needed air.
Pico cracked open his window, the crisp autumn air sending a shudder down his spine.
Nene might have over estimated him, but she also underestimated him.
He popped the screen out of the frame and cautiously climbed onto the roof.
It was beautiful.
The purple, star speckled sky. Cotton clouds floating around like sheep in a field.
The cold air against his sore throat, wind against his eyes.
The faint scent of pumpkin from all of the carved jack-o-lanterns on his street.
The sound of delicate leaves tossing in the air, constantly changing course. Both nowhere and everywhere to go.
Crickets chirping, owls hooting, raccoons scampering, it was all alive.
The pale, pale moon taunting him, just out of reach. Go on, jump up. Try and catch me.
He wouldn't though. It wouldn't go to well. He'd already had one close call, and it wouldn't take much to send him to the psych ward.
Still, it taunted him. Just jump, reach out your hand.
He sat down on the rough black shingles.
He held out his fingers, as if touching the stars. He counted them, one by one. He'd never count them all.
Maybe that didn't matter. Maybe he was just going to count them.
It really didn't matter.
He was just going to enjoy it while he could.
A creak came from behind him.
Pico turned around.
"Hey, Pico." Keith. Why was Keith in his window?
Why was Keith in his room?
Pico opened his mouth to tell him to fuck off, but stopped himself. "Hi."
"I, uh, wanted to talk to you. If that's alright with you." He added the last part like a second thought.
"Just don't hurt me again." Pico went back to the stars. He had lost count. Time to restart then.
"I didn't want to hurt you. I would never hurt you on purpose. You know that, right?"
"I don't know." 19, 20, 21, 22...
"I was just trying to fix things. Not just the corruption, but fix things with you."
"We were fine. You didn't have to..." The sentence didn't need finishing for Keith to understand. 51, 52, 53, 54...
"No, I messed up. I shouldn't have broken up with you. You were right. I cheated on her with you, and I cheated on you with her. It was my fault. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."
Police sirens wailed in the distance, interrupting the peaceful night. They seemed to be getting closer, but that happened sometimes. It was pointless to think about it to much. 75, 76, 77, 78...
"The thing is, Pico," He took a deep breath, like he was going to jump off of a diving board into a pool. 84, 85, 86- this was more important than stars. "I still... I still love you. I understand if you just want to stay friends, or less than that. If you want me to leave, I'll leave. You won't have to see me ever again. I just want you to be happy."
Pico didn't respond right away. He couldn't speak, couldn't move, could barely even organize his thoughts.
"This- this isn't just another part of some huge sick prank, right? You aren't just fucking with me for some sort of sadistic entertainment?"
"Pico, of course not." He spoke softly as his fingers inches their way towards his own, resting the tips on his. "What do you think I am, a psychopath?"
"A little bit, yeah." Pico laughed dryly. This wasn't funny though. There was nothing funny about this.
"Oh."
"I mean, not anymore, an explanation always helps." He intertwined his fingers with Keith's. "It helps a lot."
They sat there for a moment in near silence.
• • •
"Is that police siren getting louder, or is it just me?" Keith furrowed his brows.
"Glad I'm not the only one. Maybe we're just paranoid, it's probably a coincidence."
"You saying you committed a crime?"
"In the past, yeah. Nothing recent though."
Another moment of silence.
"It's not a coincidence, is it?"
"Just hope it's paranoia."
The red and blue lights became visible, and got brighter as they came down the street.
Pico's heart dropped. They had stopped in front of their house.
"We should probably go inside." He tried to stay calm.
Keith climbed through the window first, and then Pico. He carefully popped the screen back into place, closed the window, and pulled the curtains back into place.
Keith looked like he had just seen a ghost. "Oh my god."
"What's wrong?"
"I just realized something."
"What?"
"My mom reported me as missing a couple months ago. I don't think they ever closed the case."
"Are they here for you then?"
"I don't want to go back to my mom's."
"You're legally an adult, they shouldn't be able to force you back into that shitty apartment. And if they try," He looked Keith in his sparkly brown eyes. "I'll be putting up a fight."
"You don't have to do that."
"This world is bullshit, and if you're going through this bullshit, then so am I."
"That's really sweet, Pico. You're really sweet when you want to be."
Pico smiled. That was probably going to be one of the things he'd always remember. "Thank you."
The doorbell rang a few seconds later.
"I'll get it. If it's you they're after, you don't want to be seen." Pico walked downstairs, each step creaking below his feet.
He answered the door, and sure enough, there were cops outside. His heart started racing like when he had to run the mile in fifth grade.
"Hello young man, sorry to bother you at thus hour, but we've received a tip off that two dangerous individuals are taking residence here."
"Two? I mean, no, nobody dangerous. Just a few friends."
"We have photographic evidence. Do yourself a solid and don't lie to us. We have a permit, and we'll take anyone we need to by force."
"Keith isn't dangerous, his mom's batty."
"He's been labeled as missing for nearly a year. I'm sure his mother would like to know his whereabouts."
"His mother kicked him out in the first place!" Pico was desperately trying to convince them to leave, but it wasn't working.
He couldn't recall the next few minutes. He tried to argue. There was a loud pain everywhere. Could pain be loud? This pain was.
The police got in, searched the place. Found Keith. Keith could have run. Of course Keith wouldn't run. That's not what Keith would do. They found Darnell. Apparently Darnell had burned down a few apartments and gotten out of it.
That didn't matter to him right now.
They were taking Keith.
His vision was blurry and his mind was at half speed. Everything happened so fast.
Keith barely fought against the officers holding him. Handcuffs clicked around his wrists.
Pico charged at them. He didn't want Keith to leave. Fists flew. Next thing he knew, he had handcuffs around his own wrists.
His face was an ocean. Watery, salty, angry. He struggled as Keith was pulled away from him.
He was screaming like a child. Someone tried to calm him down. He didn't want to calm down. He wanted this to end. He wanted Keith back. He'd already lost him so many times, he couldn't handle it anymore.
His throat was hoarse. It didn't matter.