Rekindling- Pico x Keith/BF

2- Don't Shoot!

Now Keith looked up defiantly, and Pico felt his heart drop. This was supposed to be simple and easy, he'd give Keith and his (friend? girlfriend? how does Keith of all people have a girlfriend?) a rough talking to and they'd be out of here faster than a runaway rabbit. However, it seemed his words had only made his old friend more determined to stay. "Look, I get if you're mad at me, I was a real dick-" "Ya sure were. "-but this has nothing to do with that, or with you for that matter. We're just trying to practice, it's not like you own this place." Pico felt his curiosity spike. "What are ya practicing for?" His face changed to look inquisitive, and he smacked himself lightly when he realized it, quickly changing it back to an expression of annoyance. Keith seemed to have noticed though, and he gave Pico a light smile like he wasn't making Pico's life hell right now. "Rapping! I do rap battles a lot now." Pico couldn't help but grin. "Rapping, huh?" He stepped forward, grabbing a microphone near the speakers. "Let's see what ya got." Keith blinked in surprised before his face split into a huge smile. His neon blue hair looked incredibly soft up close, a birthmark under his eyes, which were the same amber-brown as they'd been when he was younger. Pico didn't know if he'd ever seen him so happy, not even when school was canceled for the day- no, he didn't want to think about school. His eyes hardened and he stepped back, holding the microphone tight. "Well, let's do this. You win, ya get to keep practicing here, I win, ya don't. Ya up for it?" Pico prayed that he wouldn't refuse, knowing there wasn't really any other way that he had a chance of getting them out of here. Keith was right, he didn't own this place, and it wasn't like he was going to use his gun on them.

To his relief, the blue haired boy nodded, grabbing the second microphone. The girl with them looked surprised for a moment before turning to him. "You got a certain song you want to play?" her voice was surprisingly soft for someone hanging out with someone like Keith. Usually his friends were just as loud as he was. Pico nodded, heading over to the speakers and turning on the rhythm he wanted. It vibrated through his body much more than his headphones could manage, and he couldn't help but be impressed. He was almost jealous, in fact- speakers would add a lot more to the rap battles he did against those in his neighborhood. He bounced his head to the tune, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, feeling his nerves fire up again with anger. No way was he going to let Keith win this, he couldn't afford a loss if he wanted to continue being unbothered.

The first song passed by with Pico practically growling his rap with anger and Keith looking as cheerful as ever, then a second, then a third. By the end of it he was panting with exhaustion, face bright red and teeth clenched with frustration. He'd lost. All this time of doing his best to stay away from Keith and doing whatever he could to keep others away from him, and he'd lost. He felt an overwhelming wave of self hatred and disappointment wash over him, and he gripped the bottom of his sweater in his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Keith simply turned to the girl next to him and gave her a high five, before looking back at Pico with a smirk. "Guess you won't be getting away from us anytime soon," he teased. Pico knew he meant it as nothing more than a joke but it felt like nothing less of mocking. He felt as if he could break down right then and there, he wanted to punch a wall. Or even better, blue-boy's face. But his opponent had won fair and square and there was nothing he could do about it. He'd been the one who'd come up with the rules after all.

Keith walked up to him, holding out a hand that he clearly expected Pico to shake. He just stared at it. Pico wasn't a sore loser by any means, in fact losses simply propelled him to train harder. But this...this was different. He couldn't deal with Keith right now, and he certainly couldn't deal with touching someone, even if he was in a good mood. Keith's hand wavered in the air for a moment before he seemed to realize the other boy wasn't going to shake it. "Look, Pico..." he began to say. Pico glared at the ground. He could feel Keith's eyes on him- why did the guy always have to stare at him like that? "I'm...I'm really sorry for the way I acted towards you last time we talked. That wasn't okay for me to do and I shouldn't have let my frustrations take hold of me like that. I really hope you can forgive me." He gazed at Pico desperately, something that only made him angrier. Why was he always so pitifully determined to gain his trust? Pico opened his mouth to voice his thoughts when a loud boom shattered the air. He felt his heart seem to skip a beat and yanked the gun out of his belt, whipping around to face his attacker. Panting heavily as his hands trembled with fear, he furrowed his brow in confusion. Another boom shook the air and he spun around again, disoriented. This time his gun was pointed at something other than empty air- Keith stood with his hands up in surprise, staring at the barrel of the gun in front of him. "Hey, hey! I know you lost but there's no need to get violent!" Pico ignored him, slowly turning around and beginning to put his gun away when there was a loud boom yet again, causing him to jump. He was shaking with terror now, eyes wide and gaze darting back and forth.