[hey there! this chapter includes brief descriptions of gore, as well as guns and a panic attack. if any of that stuff makes you uncomfortable or triggers you, i recommend skipping this chapter. i will leave a short and non graphic description of what happens at the bottom for anyone who isn't comfortable reading this! also since i know people are gonna say this is edgy or whatever, yes i know pico's school is originally just a sort of parody on edgy stuff, but this is fanfiction and so looking at it from an author standpoint i feel it would be traumatic to his character, so i'm writing it in a serious way]
Pico had stared dumbfounded at the person he'd come across while walking home from work, mouth closing and opening. What the hell was Keith doing here?! After a month or so of tensely waiting in fear that the other boy would make his way near where Pico lived, he'd eventually calmed down and started to think he'd forgotten the place entirely. Unfortunately for him, it seemed that wasn't the case. The man in question sat right before his very eyes, hair as blue as ever and leaning against...speakers? Pico supposed he shouldn't be so surprised, Keith had always loved music after all. He wore a white shirt with a cancel symbol on it, red and blue cap sitting in his lap. The laces on his ripped up sneakers were untied and he looked so comfortable sitting there on the grass that it almost felt like an insult. Pico hardly noticed the girl next to him until her phone started ringing, and he practically jumped out of his socks. He quickly scampered a few steps away, cursing softly to himself. He was sure he'd spontaneously combust if they caught him spying on them, even if it'd only been for a minute or so. When he realized neither of them were moving anywhere near to where they would've seen him, he growled in annoyance. All he'd done now was make it so he couldn't hear their conversation. Taking a deep breath, he hyped himself up. You can't hide from him forever. You need to go confront them, make them stay away from here.
Hand going to the gun at his side and gripping it for comfort, Pico stood up and began creeping closer to them, slowly changing his walk to look casual and confident, even though his heart was pounding with fear. Stop being such a wuss, for gods sake! You've got a gun, they couldn't even hurt you if they wanted to! Still, nothing Pico said to himself could calm him down. He never liked talking to strangers, and much less people who asked questions. Unfortunately now he had to talk to both.
Forcing an angry grin on his face, Pico stepped out of the shadows. "And what the fuck are you doing here?" His voice wavered a bit, and he prayed that they didn't hear. It took everything in his power to not let his free hand fidget with the hem of his sweater. Still, it seemed like his show of fear fueled confidence fooled them. Keith stood up, staring at him with his mouth wide open, the girl next to him blinking anxiously. "P-Pico?? What are you doing here?" Pico scoffed, rolling his eyes. Some of the fear had seeped away and was being replaced by his normal annoyance. He forced himself to remember how Keith had acted last time he'd seen him, letting the anger soothe him. This was nothing to be worried about, he could get this guy out of here easily. "I live here, dimwit. Remember?" Keith simply blinked in surprise, looking around at the litter on the ground and scanning the nearby buildings. Pico tensed- it was like he was judging where he lived all over again.
Finally, to his relief, the other boy spoke. "Sorry, I thought you'dve moved to somewhere else by now. Are you still in the same apartment?" Pico grit his teeth. Keith didn't seem like he wanted to leave anytime soon- in fact, now he seemed like he wanted to stay, staring at Pico with curiosity like he was some sort of anomaly. "Yes. Now, answer my question. What in the fresh fuck are ya doing here?" Finally, finally Keith broke that everpresent stare of his. He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment, cheeks flushing pink in the darkness. "I-uhh, Cherry and I didnt have anywhere else to practice and so we came here because I remembered it and I didn't know you were still living here and I really didn't mean to bother you-" "Well, yer gonna have to find somewhere else to practice," Pico cut off the other boy's rambling with a growl.
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.
Suddenly, he felt something wet drop on his head, then another, and another. Light flashed through the sky, turning everything a blinding white. Pico looked up to see it was raining seemingly out of nowhere, the thunder so loud it sounded like gunshots. He cursed to himself, feeling tears gather at the corners of his eyes. He'd been increasingly worried when he saw the dreariness outside, the cold promising rain, but had calmed down when the mist had faded away into warmth. He'd been convinced that meant it wasn't going to storm- hell, that was the only reason he wasn't hiding in his room right now. But, of course, on a day like today where things couldn't get any worse he'd been wrong.
The thunder grew louder and more frequent, although it seemed to come at random, which terrified Pico even more. Suddenly he was back in that classroom again, that goddamn classroom, throwing paper balls at the wall in a fit of boredom, the windows casting too bright light onto the waxy floor, the teachers voice melting into the background of his thoughts- and then the gunshots, his arm raised to throw yet another paper ball that caught the bullet instead of his head, and he was bleeding and it hurt so bad and he was fainting and he was waking up and there was so much blood, so much blood-
He was shaken out of his stupor by the feeling of a hand on his shoulder, and the low murmur of Keith's voice, blurred and far away. He couldn't even make out what he was saying, spinning around blindly as more gunshots shook the air, and he was holding a gun in his small, shaky palms and he was shooting a hole through their heads and there were bodies everywhere, arms and legs and lolled over heads like something had tore through them like they were nothing, and she was right in front of him, grinning widely, and he shook with fear and then she towered over him and changed, and he was alone, alone with her corpse and so many others, and you shouldn't have survived, of all people, you useless bitch, you should've saved them but you didn't, and now you're here and they aren't and there's nothing you can do to change it. It's too late for you and it's too late for them. You can hear the gunshots rocketing through the air, and it's because they're coming for you now, just like they should have a long time ago.
Pico shook out of his thoughts to find himself curled in on himself, arms wrapped around his chest and his gun lopsided in his shaky palm. Someone was gripping his hands, and they smelled like lavender soap and honey, their hair drenched by rain. He tilted his head, staring at them in confusion. What were they saying? Why was another person in here? Didn't they know it was dangerous? Unless...he froze in terror, shoving them off of him with a growl. They were the danger. He could hear more guns firing in the distance, and he knew he only had so many bullets in his own. He had to get out of here, he had to get home. Shoving his gun in his belt, he ran, fear coursing through his brain and causing him to run even faster, sneakers slipping through the mud as he became more and more drenched in rain. The shots were rhythmic now, pounding along with his heartbeat and his footsteps and the voice calling after him. Pico was panting heavily, covered in rain and mud and sweat, clanging up the stairs to his apartment and pulling the key out of his pocket with a shaky hand. He'd go inside and he'd finally be safe, and his mother would be here for him and everything would be okay, and she couldn't hurt him now. None of them could. He'd shot them, he hadn't wanted to but he'd shot them, and they couldn't come after him. His breath caught in his throat as his hand slipped on the doorknob, desperate to unlock the door.
Finally, it swung open with a creak and Pico stumbled in, slamming it behind him. He opened his mouth to call out to his mother, but the apartment was dark and empty. For a moment he was confused, and began to panic, wondering if she was out there with them or if she was safe, until he realized. His mother wasn't here anymore, he lived alone. Alone. There was nobody coming after him, there were no gunshots, just thunder and rain. Shaking in a mixture of relief and pain he slid to the floor, gripping the stitch in his side from where he'd been running. Dear god, even here he could hear the thunder, memories of blood soaked clothes and lockers flashing through his mind. Placing his head into his hands, his body began to tremble with the force of his sobs, hot tears running down his cheeks. Of course this had to happen, when he was in front of Keith of all people. Keith, who for one didn't know about the incident that had happened when he'd moved, who had thought he was just being a dick. And Pico had found that relieving- it meant he didn't have to explain anything. But now...now Keith knew something was up, and knowing him he'd stop at nothing to figure out what it was. Pico did his best to take deep breaths, resting his head against the door and trying to stop his hands from trembling. You're safe, you're safe, you're safe, you're safe. He repeated the mantra in his mind like it would wipe all his memories away. He thought he heard a knock at his door but ignored it. Finally, he got up and stumbled over the stray clothes and energy drinks on the floor, the smell of smoke always lingering in the air even though his mother hadn't been here in years. After what felt like forever he made it to his bedroom.
Pico flopped onto his bed, shoving his face into his pillow. He didn't bother taking off his muddy clothes or even his shoes. God, he should've just stayed home today. Now he'd fucked everything up for himself, just like he always did, and had another two people worrying about him for no reason. He turned to his side, pulling his blanket up around his shoulders, slowly kicking off his sneakers in an attempt to make at least one thing easier for him to deal with tomorrow. Sighing, he closed his eyes and let exhaustion sink into him, immediately beginning to feel the lull of sleep. Whatever. The trauma and mess and annoying blue haired boy were something for future Pico to deal with. And something future Pico is going to hate himself for, whispered a small voice in his head. He ignored it. It was easier to ignore it.
He stared at the wall, letting his eyelids sink close and body go limp. It was easier to just sleep.
[woo that was a long one! for those who came here for the description, after losing in a rap battle against Keith it starts storming, and the thunder sends Pico into a panic attack. he eventually runs away from Keith and goes home to wait out the storm.]