Once, he had seen a boy that had beaten him (Soren? Stora? Something like that…) with someone else- an older man, brunet, in leather and fur and belts. He wouldn't have cared, normally, except for the trespassing of course- a way to waste time, but- he had been painfully familiar, his name just on the tip of his tongue and burning through him, through his head, through his heart, and why, why couldn't he place him!
The man gave him a once-over, eyes flat- obviously, he did not recognize him. But for a split second, the man's eyes had intensified- and in that moment it was as though he became the only real thing in the world- but different and changed and elsewhere and so painfully there at the same time. And then he had turned away, once again following Storen or Stora or whatever to a different destination, where he would not be welcome to follow.
"Don't wear that hat ever again." The only words he'd heard the man utter and he didn't want to forget them, burned them into his head like he burned the fur and leather and cool eyes into his head. Why, why, why couldn't he think of his name!
He burned the hat the next day, and wished he was a bit older so he could leave home and go find that man- and not be treated like a child. He needed to see him again.