Title: First Meeting.

Summary: Although they may not remember it, Abe and Mihashi met once before...

Character(s): Mihashi Ren, Abe Takaya.

Pairing(s): AbeMiha.


The first thing Abe heard was the crying. Weak, quiet little sniffles, almost like a kitten. He paused in his running—chasing after a stray baseball—and cocked his head to the side, listening, brows furrowed in concentration. Ignoring his friends' angry shouts that he had let the ball go, Abe focused on the crying, tracing the sound to its source.

Behind a tree not far away sat a small boy, curled up with his head buried in his knees, body shaking with quiet sobs. Without hesitation, Abe knelt beside him, prodding him gently in the side with his baseball glove. "Hey, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

The boy jumped, head whipping up, amber eyes sparkling with tears. He was pretty, Abe realized; almost like a girl, with messy ginger hair, a thin frame, and thick eyelashes. "I—" He sniffled, wiping his face frantically, trying to rid it of any evidence of tears. "I wasn't c-crying!"

Abe's brow ticked in annoyance and he tugged on the boy's arm. "Yes, you were."

This only seemed to make things worse, and the boy's face scrunched up as he started to bawl again. Abe sighed and sat back on his heels, peeling off his baseball mitt. He remembered something his mom always told him; Whenever someone is sad, you just have to grab them and hold on tight! This was coupled with a squeeze that would make him squeal and dissolve into fits of giggles. But nonetheless, it did work, he supposed.

With little to no hesitation, Abe scooted closer and wrapped his arms around the trembling boy, squeezing him tightly, as his mother always did. He smelled good, too, Abe realized. Like strawberries and sugar. And despite his shivering and quaking, he was very warm, like a heated blanket.

He seemed hesitant of the hug at first, but after a moment, he gripped Abe's back tightly and sobbed into his shoulder. Abe guessed he'd gained his trust, because, between sniffles, he finally told him what was wrong. "I"—sniff—"lost m-my mom, and I c-can't find her..."

Abe patted his back. "I can help you look if you want?"

"Would you"—sniff—"...w-would you really?"

"Sure." Abe pulled back, keeping his hands on the boy's shoulders, and gave him a determined look. "I'll help."

"T-thank you..." The boy wiped at his eyes and offered a watery smile. "I-I'm Ren."

"I'm Takaya," Abe responded, getting up and pulling Ren along with him. "Come with me and we'll find your mom."

"O-okay..." Ren shuffled along after him, Abe leading him by the hand, and they started exploring the park. Abe would point at someone every once in a while and ask Ren if they looked familiar, but the ginger always shook his head after thinking for a moment, and they would move on.

Finally, towards the fountain in the center of the park, a woman caught sight of them and bolted over, grabbing Ren in a hug, bawling like an infant. "Oh, Ren, my sweet little boy! Don't ever wander off from Mommy like that again!" Next, she turned to Abe and hugged him, thanking him so many times the words started to sound weird in his ears. And then she was dragging Ren away.

Abe watched him go, and Ren craned his neck around to wave and smile at him, and then he was gone. Abe turned and started walking the way they had come, for some reason hoping that he would somehow see him again one day.