living's just a waste of death

i see you

sheeeesh

there wasn't much of a conversation after the party. talking about relationships and shit was cheesy and they didn't feel the need to. they'd kissed. it was great. they both wanted to do it again. that's all that really mattered. mikey liked pete a lot. and pete liked mikey a lot, too. that seemed like enough.

they missed hanging out. so pete asked mikey over to his house. just wanted to see him. they stayed outside for a while, with their feet dipped into the pool even though it was already too cold. and pete just watched mikey's hair move around in the wind. "you're cute, mikeyway." pete said, looking down at the cigarette in mikey's hand and then back up at his face. mikey laughed, giggled almost, "why do you say it like that?"

"what?" pete asked, his voice sort of fruity but also nervous.  "you say my full name," mikey moved around a little so the back of his hand touched pete's and their shoulders were pressed together. "everyone says your full name, mikeyway." and mikey laughed again, put the cigarette out on the concrete tile.

"yeah but you say it too fast, you make it blend together like- like it's all one word." pete shrugged and smiled back at him. and then they laughed together even though nothing was particularly funny. they just did that a lot. except this time, when their laughter died down, pete pressed his lips to mikey's as gently as possible. just because he could. because mikey wouldn't run away like an idiot this time.

and pete gave mikey a ride to school the next monday morning. he didn't call him or anything before. he just showed up- knocked on mikey's door at seven-fifty in the morning and asked if he was ready to go.  and mikey stared at him for probably a solid ten seconds before smiling and nodding at him. pete opened mikey's door for him and they listened to the classic rock station on the way to the school.

when pete pulled into the parking lot and parked in the very last row, he leaned over as much as he could to kiss mikey on the lips before they both got out of the car. and walked in through the double doors. pete let his fingers brush over mikey's, then muttered, "see you in a little bit." before walking to his locker which actually wasn't far from mikey's- about ten feet down on the opposite side.

they didn't say anything to each other for the rest of the school day, smiled too wide at each other in their shared classes and caught glimpses of the other just around wherever. but that was all. no words. unless you count the text messages during english- "dude mr walcock is such an asshole i might just drop dead" to which mikey replied, "its walcott, pete" next, "wasn't he supposed to be a substitute?? i bet he killed the last teacher" and mikey shook his head but also tried hard not to laugh.

after seventh period, when mikey was getting all his stuff into his backpack, pete leaned against his locker and asked- "you need a ride mikeyway?" mikey swung his backpack around his shoulder, "sure" he said. and he saw ash and chris give them weird looks as they walked out. but he also saw the huge smirk on gabe's face and that made him blush.

the school was farther from mikey's house and closer to pete's. so it was kind of a no brainer that they would go to pete's after and they laughed the whole way there.

pete had this shirt on. which, usually pete always had a shirt on. but this one was old and black. and if mikey thought really hard about it, he could remember the first time he ever saw that shirt. it was the first time he met pete- definitely not the first time he saw him. but the first time he ever said a word to him. way before the whole baseball to the head incident. way before. it was that one time in seventh grade-

valentines day. mikey's middle school always did this dumb thing where they'd gather all the kids together in the library so they could exchange their stupid little valentine gifts. it didn't make sense because all three grades were in there together and it's not like a sixth grader was gonna give some candy to a eight grader.