Lithium

Faced by yet another sleepless night, Mingze had once again sought out the coldness of the night. Each time he clung to the idea that this would help, that he would fall asleep as soon as he returned to his bed. It had worked in the past, but not now, not anymore. He had left his pokémon home, safe for the one pokéball hidden in the inside pocket of his jacket. With him in arms reached he felt at least a bit safer.

In the distance he could hear cars as the city as still wide awake in some places, but it was mostly overshadowed by the rythmic tapping of his cane. During his nightly walks he always went for roads he was familiar with, which is how he knew a bench would arrive soon. It was not the first time he sat down at this exact spot.

His cane was the first to hit the bench, telling him were it was. Mingze went to sit down, placing his hand on the seat first before— that was not the hard surface of a bench underneat his hand. It was too soft. He moved his fingers a bit and quickly came to the realization that it was a face he was touching.

A loud cry escaped as Mingze quickly jumped up, turned around and backed away in one swift motion. "What the fuck," he cursed breathlessly as he stared in the general direction of the bench. This whole thing nearly made his heart jump out of his chest. Yet another few years of his life lost.

Míngzé placed a hand on his chest, feeling his heart under his touch. His eyes were closed and his head slightly tilted back as he tried his best to calm down. This was definitely not what he expected would happen tonight. A red color had crept up his face caused by the shame that went through him. What if this was some homeless person who had nowhere else to go and he— Arcues. He hated this.  If only— no, he could not let his mind wander off to that place.

A laugh filled the silent nightly air. Which was a good reaction considering what almost happened. The other mentioned that this was a first and Míngzé let out an empty chuckle. “That makes two of us.” He’d made a lot of blunders in the past because he could not see that well, but this must be a highlight. Although, touching a boob of some naked girl was probably still a bit worse.

He heaved a deep breath and dropped his hand to finally face the other person. Even though he could not actually see him, he was almost ashamed to turn towards him. “Yeah I thought this would be a nice icebreaker, or something.” He forced one corner of his mouth into a smile. There was a sound and he knitted his brow together, but he did not accept the offer just yet as he did not want to make another blunder. “You know— I’m really sorry I did not know that— fuck. If I’d known this bench was occupied this wouldn’t have happened.” It reminded him back to that damned nightmare, where the only good part had been his working eyes.

Míngzé raised a hand to his face to rub through his eyes. An honest chuckle escaped. This was so stupid and clearly the other also recognized how ridiculous it was.