Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.I just like giving them new locations and situations to see how they react.

Notes: I listened to The Neighbourhood – Wires on endless repeat whilst writing this, so that should give you an idea of the mood of the fic. The first couple of chapters are a teenie bit slow, but Brendan shows up in Ch3. I think it's more exciting then - hopefully you'll persevere until then.

THE LOST BOY

CHESTER; SEPTEMBER 2012

This was it. There was no way they were getting out of this one. The sound of sirens was deafening and around every corner was another dead-end, another reminder that they were going to be caught. Ste's lungs felt like they were burning. His mouth tasted of metal and his legs slowing down without thinking. 'This way,' Callum hissed, and he felt a hand on his arm, dragging him away down an alley way. This place seemed familiar, too familiar. Brilliant! They were going in damn circles.

'Come on,' Callum muttered again. He kept pulling at Ste, kept shoving him and dragging him along. Ste would have given up by now if Callum hadn't kept encouraging him. Callum was always optimistic at times like this. Always believed they'd make it, always had some plan up his sleeve to ensure they did.

'Shit,' Ste whispered as he came out of the alley onto the cobbled streets to find two coppers waiting there. 'Go back,' he yelled spinning on the spot and shoving Callum back into the darkness.

There had to be a way out. There had to be. He was not going back to juvie, not for a couple of crappy DVDs and a ten year old DVD player.

"Let's rob an old foggie," Callum had said this morning. "It's low risk."

It sure as hell didn't feel like low risk now. There were police behind them, police ahead of them, police around every corner. They were so screwed.

'Stop,' Callum said suddenly. Ste didn't think quickly enough and crashed into the back of his friend. They clashed heads a bit, but it didn't hurt; not really.

'What're you doing?' Ste demanded, trying to encourage him to keep running. They couldn't stop.

'We're alone,' Callum pointed out. He was panting so hard that Ste could barely understand him.

'So?' Ste exclaimed. 'We've gotta keep moving. I ain't going back inside.'

'Shush,' Callum hushed him, grabbing the back of his head and shoving his other hand over his mouth like a gag. He was glancing around like a frightened meerkat, head snapping back and forth at each noise, each footstep. And the noises seemed to be coming from everywhere. 'I think we're surrounded,' he groaned, removing the hand-gag. He closed his eyes and breathed out slowly. 'Shit,' he muttered under his breath. 'How did things get this messed up, eh?' he whispered and Ste was just left shrugging.

'We couldn't have known she was gonna have burglar alarms, could we?'

'But why?' Callum growled, thumping the damp wall with the base of his fist. 'Why did she have burglar alarms? She didn't have anything worth taking.' He slung his rucksack off his back and opened it. It was like he expected the ancient DVD player might have somehow transformed into the latest iPhone and Mac computer. He let out a growl and smashed the bag against the wall. 'Stu-pid-bitch, stu-pid-bitch.' Each syllable was punctuated by the bag smashing against the wall. And then he stopped. Ste didn't know what to do. He'd never seen Callum this angry and out of control and now the other boy was just staring at the walls he'd just been hitting like it was made of gold.

'Is that…?' He muttered, pointing to some creamy white stains on the wall and half a smirk fluttered across his sharp features. 'Where are we?' he asked suddenly looking about for a street sign. Ste glanced around too. They were on Manchester Street. He already knew that. He recognised it from that one time when he was fifteen and he'd walked down here by accident but he didn't need Callum to know about that story. 'Is this Manky Street?' Callum asked. That was how the people of Chester knew it. 'Where the rent boys work.'

'I don't….' Ste went to shrug. He was about to deny any knowledge of this place, but it was at that moment that the first policeman rounded the corner and that Callum put a hand in the middle of Ste's chest and shoved him backwards. He almost stumbled over the rucksack, but the disgusting wall stopped him from hitting the ground and before he had chance to shout or argue, Callum had pushed their mouths together in desperation. Ste didn't know how to react. He just stayed pinned against the wall, unsure what to do with his hands or his mouth or his eyes, which were open and staring. What the hell was going on? And then he saw a policeman run past them, then another and another and another.

Shit. They were getting away with this.

The police were looking for thieves, not dirty queers. They weren't even glancing twice at the two faggots making out on Manky Manchester Street. And when Ste realised that, he relaxed into the kiss. He found himself closing his eyes. He found himself kissing back. He almost found he was enjoying it. And then it was over. And Callum had pulled away and was grinning, with a look shining in his eyes like he was drunk.

'Woah,' he was beaming. 'That was intense.'

'Yeah,' Ste nodded. He couldn't help from staring at Callum's lips. They were red and slightly swollen and the skin around them was prickled with little red dots. Ste knew that he was responsible. And before he could monitor himself he'd said: 'What were that kiss about?'

Callum fixed him with a look of confusion.

'Not getting caught,' he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'I just can't believe it worked,' he shook his head smiling.

'So it didn't mean anything then?' Ste heard himself say and for a second he wondered if he should just cut his own tongue out to stop him talking. He'd always had this problem, he always had to talk, to ask questions.

'Mean anything?' Callum looked predictably disgusting. 'What would it mean?'

'Nothing,' Ste shook his head quickly. 'Just checking you aren't queer, aren't I?'

'Queer,' Callum laughed. 'Do I look queer?'

'Nah.' Callum just reached over and ruffled Ste's hair, like he was his goddamn dad or an annoying brother. 'You're so weird sometimes, Ste.'

'Ger'off,' Ste groaned, slapping his friend's hands away. The other boy seemed too happy to notice Ste's embarrassment.

'Man, I thought we'd had it,' he laughed eventually, running his hands through his longish mess of hair before flopping back against the wall next to Ste. He gave the bag of broken DVD player a bit of a kick. 'Wish I hadn't smashed that up now.'

'Yeah,' Ste half nodded. He still felt a bit too dazed to talk. 'Bit stupid, weren't it?'

'Alright,' he groaned, nudging him a bit with his elbow. 'Maybe it was for the best though, eh? That was too close.' He flopped his head backwards against the wall. 'I can't go back inside, man, not for anything.'

'Me neither,' Ste agreed. That place had almost destroyed him. His friendship with Callum had been the only good thing to come out of it. It hadn't even set him on the straight and narrow, he was still running from the police. He was still thieving out from under old people's noses. He was still starting fights and scamming the government for everything he could get and he still loved it. It gave him a buzz like no other. Right now, having escaped the cops, laughing with Callum in Manky Street, this was the kind of thing he lived for.

Ste barely noticed the ringing of Callum's phone. It was playing "S&M" by Rhianna, which was the ringtone when his slut of a girlfriend Hannah called him. Callum insisted the song was a joke between them, but Ste knew Hannah was just a whore with a love for bad boys. She'd tried it on with Ste before she'd moved on to Callum. Ste had just shoved her back. He preferred girls that didn't come with a complimentary side dish of chlamydia. Ste usually ignored Callum when he was on the phone with the skank, but he couldn't this time. Callum had clutched his arm like he thought he was going to faint and when Ste glanced up at him, he noticed his friend had gone a particularly ill shade of grey.

'Everything okay?' Ste muttered. Callum just hissed "shhh" at him before continuing his conversation with the phone:

'Are you sure? Where are you? Okay, we'll be right there. Me and Ste.' And after a long pause, he let go Ste's arm and said: 'Okay, no you're right, you're right. I'll be there. Just me.' And: 'It's just the three of us now babe, I promise.' He hung up. His earlier grin had totally faded and he was just looking at Ste as though he was trying to figure out whether this was some kind of complex dream.

'Well…?' Ste encouraged eventually. 'What's happened?'

'I'm going to be a dad,' Callum whispered. He didn't seem too happy about it. 'Hannah's just found out, she was feeling really ill this morning so her sister took her in. I've got to get to hospital.' He grabbed Ste's shoulder and shook him a little and suddenly he was smiling again. Maybe he was happy after all. Ste wasn't, he could already see his future disappearing. This was going to change everything, but Callum didn't notice his feelings. He was too busy shouting:

'I'm gonna be a dad!'

Happy St Paddy's Day! It seemed appropriate to begin a fic that will mainly be set in Ireland today. Hope you enjoyed, like I said, it should get better.