Chapter Text
Michael opened his eyes and his senses were suddenly flooded with his surroundings. He was sitting on a plush blue sofa that he was practically sinking down into.
The room was filled with sunlight streaming from the windows and the sound of seagulls were echoing in the background. He looked to his left and was surprised when he found…himself?
The boy sitting next to Michael was indeed himself, but he still had his natural sandy blonde hair and more chub than he remembered. The kid must have been around seven years old.
He was also wearing brightly colored clothes, unlike the dark colors that Michael in the present wore. He held a Nintendo DS in his tiny hands, eyes glaring at the screen. The kid was so busy playing video games that he barely heard the voice calling his name.
“Michael you’ve been inside all day! Why don’t you go outside? Maybe play at the beach or something?” Both Michaels turned their heads and faced their mother.
The blue haired boy felt a tinge of sadness as he looked at her. She looked much younger; she didn’t have the bags resting under her eyes or the worry lines etched into her face. She was glowing. His mother has never been that happy since the accident.
Mike (Michael preferred to call his younger self ‘Mike’ since it was quite confusing) rolled his eyes, “I don’t want to go outside! I want to get the badge for this Pokemon gym!” he whined, “Plus, I hate the beach! Why do we have to be here?”
“I’ve already told you, your grandparents want to spend time with you,” his mother said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Come on, while there’s still daylight.”
Mike simply pouted and continued playing until his mother shot him a reproachful look, making him groan and shut down his game. “Fine.” He walked to the door and slipped flip-flops onto his feet.
“Bye, mum!” he called as he placed a Mickey Mouse baseball cap on his head.
“Be safe!” She nagged.
“I will,” Mike rolled his eyes as he stepped outside. Michael followed after him, noticing that the house was sitting right on the beach.
He didn’t remember ever visiting his grandparents house, or that they lived by the beach. Actually, he doesn’t remember any of these events even happening.
Strange.
Michael watched his younger self stomp around and kick the sand, muttering about how he just wants to evolve his magikarp. The blue haired boy chuckled. His obsession with Pokemon went this far back.
Mike suddenly plopped down on the sand and started digging a hole, whining every time water would fill it up and wash all of his hard work away.
The kid was just about to dig the same hole for the tenth time when a commotion was heard a little further down the beach.
Both Michaels looked over to see a small group of kids crowded in a circle. All of them were yelling about something, and neither boys knew what it was about.
Mike stood up and brushed sand off his bright blue shorts before carefully walking towards the group. When he was closer, he could see that the kids were actually a group of 10 year old boys.
(And Michael had to admit, back then 10 year olds were scary.)
All of them were circled around something- or someone- but Mike couldn’t see.
“Just give it to me, loser!” A boy spat at someone. A smacking noise and a tiny yelp echoed through the midst of the circle.
“No, leave me alone!” A small voice cried, and Michael knew someone was in trouble.
Apparently Mike knew that too, as he rushed up to the nearest boy and roughly shoved him.
“Hey, leave them alone!” He yelled, trying to be intimidating but sadly failing. The group spread out a little and both Michaels could finally see what they were surrounding.
A little boy with brown skin was curled up in a ball, dark hair falling over his face. He was trembling and clutching something to his chest.
Michael’s chest tightened with worry and he had no idea why. He’s never seen this kid but it feels like he’s known him his whole life.
“Wow, we’ve got another tiny guppy over here. Trying to protect your precious little clam, huh?” one of the bullies snickered.
They all towered over Mike, finding it funny how a little boy was trying to stand up them.
Mike glared at them, and picked up a random stone from the ground. “Go!“ he swung back his arm, “Away!” the rock flew from his grasp as he yelled and hit a kid right between the eyes.
The boy looked at Mike with a mix of horror and shock before he ran away, fearing another painful blow to the head.
Michael silently applauded his younger self for being a badass as the other 10 year old children also got scared and ran away before Mike could pick up another stone.
Once the bullies were gone, Mike turned towards the little boy curled up on the ground. He crouched down and poked the kid in the side, making him jump.
“Hey, it’s okay, they’re gone now. You can open your eyes,” Mike mumbled, trying to comfort him somehow.
The little boy looked up and Michael strained his eyes to see his face, but everything was blurred. All he could see was a trace of a bruise starting to form on his tear-stained cheeks.
Mike gasped when he saw the mark and quickly grabbed the dark haired boy’s face, gazing at it curiously.
“Woah, what happened to you? You face looks like my knee when I fall on the ground and then it turns all purple and yucky and I cry but my mum kisses it and then I feel better and yeah!” Mike rambled, getting way too excited about a bruise.
“W-Well,” the boy sniffled, “my m-mummy gave me candy and t-told me to go play outside, and then I did. B-B-But then those meanies came over and wanted my peach rings and I said they couldn’t have it because my mummy gave them to me and then they g-got really angry and smacked me r-right here,” he pointed to his cheek, “A-A-And it still hurts! R-really b-b-bad!”
The boy started crying and the excited smile was instantly wiped off of Mike’s face. “Oh no! Please don’t cry! Uh, um, what do I do? What do I do?”
He started panicking and was on the verge of crying too when he realized. “Oh! My mum says kisses always make it feel better?”
Hearing this, the brown boy stopped sobbing and looked at Mike, “R-Really?”
Mike grinned and nodded, “Yeah!”
“Th-That’s great but-“ the little boys face crumpled and he started wailing again, “I don’t have anyone to k-kiss me though!”
Mike really wanted the boy to stop crying, because if someone starts crying, he’ll start crying too. “Wait, I’ll kiss you!” He said desperately.
The boy’s sobbing immediately came to a halt and a smile formed on his face, “R-Really?” he asked again.
“Yeah!” Mike enthusiastically repeated.
“Yay!” the boy cheered. Both of the seven year olds were grinning like idiots even though they were practically wailing less than a minute ago.
Michael figured this is why people dislike children.
“Okay, here I go!” Mike called as he leaned in. He pressed a short peck to the boy’s cheek before pulling away.
The dark haired boy looked confused for a moment before pouting, “It didn’t work. You lied!”
“What! I did not!” Mike huffed, “You just need more!” He grabbed the boy’s face and roughly peppered kisses all over his chubby cheeks before letting go.
The boy sat in a daze for a few moments before a grin slowly creeped onto his face. “You’re right! It did work!” The two seven year olds beamed at each other.
“So, what’s your name?” Mike asked giddily after a few seconds of silence.
“I can’t tell you! My mummy said I can’t tell my name to strangers or else they will find me and give me bad candy.” The boy answered.
“Fine, since your mummy said so,” Mike huffed, “I’ll just call you…” he looked up and down at the boy before focusing on the bag of candy still clutched in his arms. “I’ll call you Sweets! Peach! Sweet Peach!” Mike cheered, proud of himself for making up such a clever name.
“Yeah! That’s such a cool name!” Sweets exclaimed. “And I’ll call you… Mickey!” he said, pointing to the Mickey Mouse hat on Mike’s head.
“Yay!” The two hugged each other tight. “We’re going to be best friends, aren’t we?” Mickey asked.
“The bestest of friends!” Sweets assured him.
“Well, come on, Peach! Let’s dig a hole in the sand!” Mickey yelled as he grabbed the brown boy’s hand and tugged him across the sand.
“Yeah!” he cheered.
Michael smiled as he watched the two, everything slowly fading away from his vision.
There was darkness and silence until the sound of an alarm woke him from his sleep. He opened his eyes and looked around with confusion.
Was that a dream or reality?