Pyre (Frerard, Rikey, Ryden, Petekey)

25: Hide Your Hickeys

Pete didn't remember exactly why he had chosen to wander around the town center, which was a place he usually avoided due to his reputation, but somehow he had found himself here, even though he instantly regretted whatever unconscious decision that had inspired him to make the journey in the first place, but he also didn't have the energy to leave now that he had arrived.

The courtyard in the center of the coven had been converted into a sort of marketplace, although money wasn't exchanged, instead, homemade goods and crafts were traded for self-grown foods and other similar items. Pete skirted around the few stands that had a decent amount of people gathered near them, not wanting to receive any stares or harsh words right now, he wasn't sure if his fragile psyche would be able to take it.

Pete had just finished another failed session with his mother, during which she had done everything she could to try and draw out his powers, but no matter how angry she made him, or how often she had prodded and taunted him, throwing the loss of Mikey into his face if he didn't produce some sort of results, Pete hadn't been able to do more than make a small stone shake for a brief period of time.

Pete had given up once it became apparent that whatever abilities he possessed had decided to go dormant for the evening, choosing to walk off his frustration and the blinding headache that was throbbing behind his temples until his body was exhausted enough to fall asleep.

Pete knew he could go spend the rest of the night with Brendon and Ryan, but company repulsed him right now. He didn't want to talk about his time with his mother, or pretend that he was ignorant of the pitying glances that his two friends would shoot to each other behind his back. He just wanted everything to go back to normal, to before he knew he had powers, to before he met Mikey, to when he was happy.

And as if the world was determined to add to his misery in any way that it could, someone bumped into Pete just them, jostling him roughly in the process. Pete looked up fearfully, prepared to apologize even though he had done nothing wrong, but the words he had been planning on saying dried up in his throat when he met the honey colored eyes of none other than his mate.

Pete had almost managed to force himself to forgot how gorgeous Mikey was, and how his heart would race at twice its normal speed when he was in his presence, but now that he was face to face with the other vampire, all of those sensations were rushing back to the surface, and Pete was left speechless, his mouth hanging open unattractively as Mikey stared down at him with a worried expression pulling at his perfect features.

"I'm sorry...are you okay?" Mikey asked warily, and fuck - Pete had yet to be graced with the sound of Mikey's voice, and although it probably wasn't anything special relatively speaking, Pete was practically swooning on the spot as he tried to absorb Mikey's meaning instead of simply focusing on his tone like his brain seemed to be doing.

"I - yeah, I'm okay," Pete mumbled quietly, his cheeks flaring bright red as Mikey smiled at him kindly.

"Are you sure? I should have been looking where I was going, but I'm still not used to being around so many people at once." Pete shifted from foot to foot slowly, remembering that Mikey had been on the run out in the world for most of his life, so what was normal to Pete was probably overwhelming to the other vampire.

"Oh...that must be hard." Pete mentally patted himself on the back for being able to form a coherent sentence without embarrassing himself. "Do you like it here though?"

"It's amazing," Mikey gushed, his eyes glittering brightly as he spoke. "I never thought I would see a coven again, so believe me, this is a dream come true."

"Well I'm glad you found us," Pete admitted shyly, subtly shifting his head to the side in the hopes of hiding the crimson tint he was sure his skin was carrying.