#ikepit

a series of otp redraws drawn 7 years apart

The sky was dark and the rain fell hard. All other sounds were nearly mute when they tried to stand against the droplets pattering against the already wet earth. It wasn’t an entirely unwelcome feeling, however. Ike was never one to mind the rain so much.

When he made it to the bus stop, he felt an ever deeper sense of comfort that he hadn’t felt in a long while. With his hood pulled down, he looked up towards the sky and listened to the hollowed echoes the downpour left in the empty booth that encompassed him. Muffled thunder rolled in the distance, loud enough to be heard but quiet enough as to appear nonthreatening. Ike always enjoyed the feeling in his chest when distant thunder rumbled.

The bus of course was late, but that wasn’t too much of a problem. There wasn’t anywhere in particular that Ike had to be or a designated time he had to be there. Although he had a strange feeling in his gut that something was going to happen, he didn’t feel any sense of obligation on this day. It was as if his stress got washed away with the rain, and boy did he need it; all except for that odd feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Though when he thought about it, it was probably just hunger.

So he stood and waited for the bus to come, his arms crossed and body leaning against the frame of the booth. He closed his eyes and continued to listen to the world around him until something caught his attention. Footsteps. Fast ones. He opened his eyes quickly and stood up straight, noticing a small boy running towards him. The boy ran as fast as his legs could carry him until he made it into the shelter of the booth, though the damage had already been done. The poor thing was drenched head to toe.

Ike watched the boy for a moment and was sure to give him room when he came flying in with enough velocity to knock Ike himself over if he hadn’t moved. He was hunched over, hands on his knees to hold himself up, and completely out of breath.

“..Are you okay?” Ike eventually asked.

The boy looked up almost immediately and smiled, “Yeah I’m fine! Don’t worry about me!” After a few more breaths, the boy stood back up straight and began to wring his shirt out, “I can’t believe how soaked I got! I was only out there for a minute!”

“Yeah, it’s really coming down,” Ike replied, casting his gaze towards the sky quick before turning his attention back to the boy, “Hey... do you want my hoodie to help dry off?”

“Huh?” The boy asked as he stared Ike down, “Oh no, I couldn’t. I’m fine, really! Don’t worry.” He smiled almost as bright as the son that refused to come out this morning. Water continued to drip off his messy brown hair until he saw to it to try and wring that out, as well.

Ike found himself to be oddly entranced by the person before him. It was a weird sense of déjà vu in a way; he felt like he met this boy before. The boy turned his back to him as he wringed out his hair, and Ike noticed something. His white shirt, now see through from the rain, revealed the markings of wings on his shoulder blades.

A modern day angel, huh?

As soon as Ike was about to ask, the boy started aggressively ruffling his hair in a very messy attempt at drying it. Water got everywhere, including Ike’s face. When the boy lifted his head back up and saw that he had gotten water everywhere like a dog straight from a bath, he couldn’t help but burst out into laughter. He tried to stifle it and cover his mouth with one of his hands, but it did him no justice.

“Oh, gosh! I-I’m so sorry!” The boy said through his laughter, “W-Whoops, now you’re all wet, too…”

There was a hint of worry on the boy’s face when he saw the priceless expression on Ike’s, but Ike only managed to chuckle as he used the dry side of his sleeve to wipe his face.

“I was doing a pretty good job on my own of not getting wet, but thank you. I think that’s just what I needed.”

The boy, now relieved, had to hold his sides to prevent them from spitting in laughter. Ike had no idea why it was so funny, but even he started laughing along. There was something about this boy. He couldn’t figure out what it was.

When their shared laughter eventually died down, they gave each other a glance. It was subtle, but they both felt something in it. They shared a similar warm expression as they basked in the strange familiarity that developed in only a short period of time.

The boy broke his gaze away first to look towards the outside world, “Hey…” he said as he held his hand outside of the booth, “It stopped raining.”

“Oh,” Ike said as he looked out, too, “Would you look at that.”

The two shared a moment of companionable silence. Gentle drops of water fell from the puddles that formed on leaves and birds began to sing. Everything was peaceful. That is, until the boy suddenly cried out in distress, “Oh, NO!” he yelled, “I was in such a rush; I grabbed my brother’s phone instead of my own!”

“Oh, well that’s not so bad; unless it’s not dead from water damage.” Ike said, suddenly realizing why that might be bad. The boy only moved out of the booth and started heading back in the direction he came, “Hey, what about the bus?” Ike asked.

“It’s no big deal! But I really do need my phone though! I can’t believe I grabbed the wrong one! He’s gonna be so mad.”

Ike turned when he noticed the bus slowly approaching, “Are you sure? Should I try to stop it?”

“It’s okay! I’ll catch the next one!” He said with a wide grin, still pacing backwards, “Sorry I couldn’t stay longer!” He gave Ike an enthusiastic wave with both his hands that Ike couldn’t help but smile at.

“…Bring an umbrella this time!” Ike shouted back with a grin.

“I will!”

And just like that he was gone.

Ike watched in wonderment as the boy left. The sun began to peek through the clouds and the warmth gently hit his cheeks. He had no idea what came over him but he suddenly felt… light. It was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders and all of the questions that he didn’t even realize he had had been answered. A soft, almost bashful smile formed on Ike’s face as the bus hissed to a stop.

Collab with Bee

Some IkePit for the world