Reconcile › P. Parker [2]

005. a water monster

› CHAPTER FIVE ‹

Not too long after leaving the sinking hotel with Peter at his side, the said boy had slipped away, leaving Raleigh to stumble around the busy sidewalks until he found people he didn't mind sharing company with. Unfortunately, MJ and Jaron were also with Brad, obviously much to Jaron's distaste. The two boys were standing by one another, beaming at the scene ahead of them, because the girl who held their interest was currently befriending dozens of pigeons. Brad was taking pictures of the interaction with his own personal, high-quality, camera; and Jaron was doing the same, but on MJ's cell phone.

The filthy gray creatures chirped loudly as they stayed on MJ's head and arms, completely unbothered by the commotion going on around them. She didn't seem to mind them either, as she genuinely laughed. Even if Raleigh didn't think the activity looked like much fun, he couldn't hide his smile that appeared at the sight of his female friend's radiating happiness. 

"Raleigh, come here!" MJ noticed him standing beside a pillar and waved clunkily as to no upset the pigeons resting on her. They flapped their wings but remained stuck to her nonetheless. Her joy didn't fade away, even as she directed attention onto her, and Raleigh couldn't help but see that she had changed a lot in just their time back from being Bliped. Even if the sight made him happy, he couldn't control the visible cringe at the thought of joining the party of birds. He didn't have anything against the feathered animals, but he was almost positive they hated him.

Drawing his hands out of his green hoodies front pocket, he waved them in the girl's direction. "Nope. No, thank you. I think—I think I'm good."

Jaron faced him with a chuckle. "Afraid of a few birds?"

"A few?!" Raleigh's voice pitched as he pointed the flock of birds surrounding their friend. "But for your information—no, I don't have a problem with birds, thank you."

MJ formed a faux pout. "Just for a few pictures?"

Raleigh ran a hand through his frizzy black hair and refrained from shaking his head. As much as he disliked the idea of joining the bird frenzy, he did want to spend these moments with his friends. It was one of the main reasons he had been looking forward to this vacation in the first place. There was also a part of him that hated to make MJ upset because even if he knew she would move on from something as trivial as this, she was still his first real crush and now just one of his really good friends. A part of him wished he was more self-centered like Flash, but every time he thought that, he immediately redacted that thought.

"Fine," he sighed and slouched forward, "fine."

A smug smile appeared on MJ's lips, knowing she won whatever just transpired. Jaron moved forward with a delighted hop in his step, grabbed onto the end of Raleigh's hoodies sleeve, and tugged him towards the trio. As they carefully entered into the flock of birds, the creatures screeched and zoomed around them. Jaron let go of him just as MJ rose onto her toes and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. The bird on her arm jumped off her and landed on his head, causing Raleigh to tense under MJ's half-hug. The other birds resettled, many landing at the couple's feet while others made home to their shoulders.