mercy ; peter ballard

11. f e e l b e t t e r

[REDACTED], 1969

"surprise!" beatrice exclaimed as peter's door swung open. "happy birthday, peter!"

"thank you, dear." peter smiles, welcoming her into his room. she sits on his bed, carefully holding a brown paper bag in her left hand.

"okay, so it took a lot of convincing and planning. well, mostly a lot of planning, but i was able to go to the cafeteria and ask one of the ladies in the kitchen to make you a treat," she explained, handing him the bag, excitedly.

"what is it?" he asked, cocking his head.

"just open it!"

he opened the wrinkly brown bag. his smile grew large. he took the treat out of the bag. "you got me a cupcake," he grinned, looking at the red frosting. the red frosting contrasted with a small green frosting design on the top.

"i know we aren't supposed to have deserts like this, but it's a big day," she laughs, pushing a fallen strand of hair away from her eyes.

he loved her laugh. it seemed to warm his cold heart. he usually liked the cold, but her warmth felt different. she was home. her smile made his heart flutter. the way she spoke played like a beautiful song to his ears.

she almost made him reconsider his way of thinking. almost. maybe, having a companion in this broken world wouldn't be too bad.

she patted the bed next to her, gesturing him to sit with her. he laid his head on her shoulder. "thank you, bea," he said, quietly. "i love it."

"i'm glad," she replies, placing a kiss on the top of his head. "now, blow out your imaginary candles and make a wish."

peter sighs, picking his head up. "bea, i am not going to blow out imaginary—"

"peter, please just do it!" she said, flashing him her puppy eyes.

he rolls his eyes, smiling. "fine. only because you asked."

he closes his eyes for a few seconds then lets out a light blow above the cupcake.

"yay!" beatrice clapped.

peter began to unwrap the cupcake liner. the cake was vanilla and it smelled pretty good for being from the laboratory cafeteria. he carefully took a bite from the cupcake, frosting smudging against his lips.

"mm," he says, savoring the sweet flavours. beatrice laughed.

"so, is it good?" she joked, pulling her legs up to her chest.

"good? it's amazing," he answers, holding the cupcake out. "you gotta try it."

"no, it's your birthday cupcake, peter."

peter cocks his head to the side, looking her in the eyes. "exactly, it's my birthday and for my birthday, i want you to try this delicious cupcake."

he held the cupcake up to her face. she sighed, taking hold of the cupcake. her teeth sink into the fluffy icing and the perfect cake.

"okay, fine. it is pretty delicious."

he gloated. "see!"

"shut up!" they both begin to laugh.

beatrice looks down at her lap as peter finishes his cupcake. when he finished, she looked up, studying his face. his lips were smudged with frosting. she took her thumb up to his lip.

"here, you got a little something." her thumb brushed against his messy lip, attempting to rub it. sweetly, he stares at her like a puppy as she gets the mess off. "there you go!"