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Pete’s POV

I awoke to sun streaming in through the window. Holy shit. It’s sunny again.

Yawning so widely I thought my face would break, I sat up and glanced to my side. There was Patrick, curled up in a tiny ball under the sheets like a little kid. My yawn was replaced by a smile as I watched his peaceful slumber.

I glanced at the clock on my bedside table. Four o’clock. My mom would probably be back by four thirty. I had to get out of the house before then.

Hating myself for what I had to do, I reached over and shook Patrick gently. He groaned gently and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow with a dorky little snorking noise.

I couldn’t help myself; I started to laugh. He rolled back over and yawned.

“What’s so funny?” he mumbled, giving me a lazy one-eyed stare.

“You,” I chuckled, reaching out and ruffling his angelic blond hair.

“Right, then,” he yawned, closing his eye.

“Uh, uh, uh,” I clucked. “No more sleep for you.”

“Mmph,” he grunted, turning away from me.

“No!” I said firmly, reaching out and grabbing his arm. “You need to get up!”

“Noooooooo,” he groaned as I pulled him into a sitting position. As soon as I got him sitting up, he collapsed sideways onto me, resting his head on my shoulder.

“Aaaaah, stop it!” I wailed, pushing him off, only to have him slump back onto me again like a giant stuffed doll. “Don’t go all floppy on me here! We need to get up!”

“Whyyyyyy?” he whined, slinging his arms around my shoulders and burying his face in my neck.

My reply was a few seconds in coming; I got rather distracted by his soft, warm breath on my neck. “We’re going for a walk,” I managed, gently unwrapping his arms from my shoulders. “It’s nice out for a change. You brought me the sun, babe,” I murmured, planting a gentle kiss on his cheek.

“Oh, fine,” he sighed, untangling himself from the sheets and shuffling across the room to the pile of his clothes on the floor.

I smiled to myself and climbed out of bed. Pulling on my clothes, I wondered how in the world a jerk like me ever got so lucky. Patrick was quite possibly the best thing that had ever happened to me.

“You ready to go?” I asked, pulling my belt buckle tight and straightening up.

“Yeah,” he nodded, a funny half-smirk on his face. I could almost see him laughing hysterically on the inside.

“What’re you smiling at?” I asked curiously as we walked out my bedroom door.

“You trying to get into those tight jeans of yours,” he grinned, jerking his head at my legs.

“Hmm?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Just that demented little caterpillar wiggle you have to do to get them on,” he snickered as we went down the stairs.

“What about it?” I asked defensively.

“It’s extremely sexy, Pete,” he snorted as I pushed the front door open.

“Yeah, whatever.” I rolled my eyes as he breezed past me onto the front steps. After checking to make sure the door was locked behind me, I turned back to the angel standing on the sidewalk in front of me.

“So, where are we going?” he asked curiously, adjusting his hat with one hand.

“I dunno,” I shrugged, skittering down the front steps to stand beside him. “The park? There’s one a few blocks away.”

“You’re weird, Pete,” he laughed.

“So you don’t want to go to the park?” I pouted.

“Of course I do, baby,” he smiled. “I just like yanking your chain, y’know?”

I rolled my eyes as we started out down the street. “You’re a mean little munchkin, Tricky.”

“I’m not a munchkin,” he shot back.

“Oh, yeah?” I retorted. “Then how come I can do this?”

“Do whaaaAAAH, PETE, JESUS!” he yelped as I reached down and scooped him up into my arms.

“See, munchkin boy?” I smirked as I continued walking down the sidewalk like I wasn’t carrying him.

“I don’t see how your ability to pick me up makes me a munchkin,” he pointed out.

“Well…I’m short. And I don’t work out much. So the fact that I can pick you up and carry you means you are fucking tiny, kid. So I conclude that, being both tiny and adorable, you are therefore a munchkin.”

“You’re nuts,” he laughed, slinging an arm around my neck. “I bet you can’t carry me all the way to the park.”

“Betcha I can.”

“You’re on, bitch.”

“Ahah! We’re here! I win, sucker!” I sang triumphantly, setting Patrick down just inside the front gate of the small park near my house.

“Oh, fine,” he said sulkily.

“I told you I could,” I gloated. “You said I couldn’t, but you were wrong. I was right.”

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he laughed. “Stop bragging, you big poop.”

“Mature words for Patrick,” I giggled.

“Yeah, well, growing up ain’t fun,” he shrugged, grabbing my hand and pulling me off down the path through the park’s gardens, wide beds of mud dotted with the tiny green spikes of spring’s first flowers. The park was unusually busy for this time of year, full of people taking advantage of today’s unusual sunshine.

“It’s a nice day,” I remarked happily as we wandered down the path.

“Yup,” Patrick nodded cheerfully, swinging our hands back and forth like a high-spirited toddler holding his mom’s hand. “The daffodils are coming up.”

In confusion, I looked from him to the tiny green sprouts just peeking up out of the black mud. I couldn’t see the connection to flowers.

“Those things are flowers?” I asked blankly, jerking my head at the green spikes.

“Yeah,” Patrick nodded. “They’re some of the first flowers that come up.”

“How do you know this?” I asked in wonder.

“I know everything, Pete,” he grinned mischievously.

“Ah, I should have remembered that,” I nodded wisely.

He laughed and moved closer to me until we were practically walking as one person, bunched tightly side by side.

“How long is this walk going to take?” he asked after a brief comfortable silence.

I shrugged. “I dunno. I guess a while; we need to wait for my mom to get home.”

“Ah, so it looks like we met on your walk?” he suggested understandingly.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “And not like you climbed into my backyard and started pegging rocks at my window.”

He flushed. “Hey, do you think I didn’t try the front door first? You didn’t answer the doorbell. I was desperate.”

“Aw, I’m sorry, babe,” I smiled, releasing his hand and slipping my arm around his shoulders. He smiled shyly and slung his arm around my waist, hooking his fingers into the back pocket of my jeans.

I glanced over and saw him smiling at me. Leaning over slightly, I planted a quick kiss on his lips.

“You’re beautiful, angel,” I murmured.

He smiled again and looked bashfully at his feet, his face faintly pink. I laughed at his sudden shyness and squeezed him closer to me as we walked.

A happy, comfortable silence fell over us, filled with all the everyday sounds of life that I had missed for so long. A few birds, back from their winter vacation down south, twittered brightly in the budding trees. A squirrel chased another squirrel across a muddy flowerbed. Kids screamed on the playground, while teenagers laughed and gossiped and adults chattered cheerfully.

As we approached a sharp bend in the path, I couldn’t help overhear some odd noises coming from around the curve. Peering around the bend, I smiled to myself as I saw the couple entwined on a park bench, firmly attached at the lip.

That smile sort of weakened as we came closer and I realized that the couple on the bench seemed…very familiar…Dark hair, pale skin, skinny legs…I knew I’d seen it all somewhere before…

And then it hit me.

“Hey, Trick,” I whispered in his ear. “Don’t those guys look like…”

“Oooh, Ryan…”

“Oh, Brendon, baby…”

Patrick looked up at me, eyes wide and startled, as their voices floated up to us as we passed by.

“Freaky,” he breathed, glancing over his shoulder as we left them behind.

“Yeah,” I grunted, running a hand through my hair.

“Oh, well,” he shrugged, turning back to me with a smile on his face. “I’m happy for them.”

“Yeah, they deserve each other,” I snorted sardonically.

“No, honestly,” he said earnestly. “Everyone deserves someone.”

“True,” I nodded. “I just hope they stay with each other and don’t go killing people again.”

“I doubt they’ll kill anyone,” Patrick shrugged. “I mean, once you’ve got someone you love, the rest of the world kind of stops existing.”

“That is definitely true,” I agreed with a smile.

Patrick looked back over his shoulder again and stopped dead in his tracks. I stopped, as well, and turned to see what he was looking at.

The park bench that had been most definitely occupied just a few minutes ago was empty.

“Oh, god,” Patrick murmured, turning around and pressing closer to me with a shiver. “Now I’m kind of scared.”

“I guess I’ll just have to keep you safe tonight,” I grinned, putting my arms around him once again.

He laughed but kept his arms tight around me as we ambled down the path and out the front gate, leaving the lengthening shadows of the park behind us.