I realized that I ended up accidentally doing that "in the United States" thing as well, sorry XD And I have no idea why I wanted to throw in a tiny bit of Christmas in this :3

5. Glitch finds a bakery and forgets to meet the others at the hotel and Cain goes to look for him. In what state does he find Glitch? (and no, I don't mean like the United States...)

Countless shoulders bumped against his as Cain walked down the streets of New York.

No one complained or said sorry to him, or even acknowledged him at all when they almost slammed into him. DG had warned him about this; that it was a big city and this was just how things were around here. But Cain had been a tin man for a decade, he had lived in large cities, and not even in Central were people like this. He decided it was an Otherside thing. Whatever the case was, his heart raced at the thought of Glitch lost in this massive traffic of rude othersiders.

Cain still couldn't believe he was missing in the first place. It had all been DG's idea. She had gathered the five of them one day, taking Azkadellia and Jeb by the hand while she sat Raw, Glitch, and him down, and had decided that it had been too long since she had traveled not only to the Otherside but in the Otherside; and that they should all go with her. Everything had been fine until today, when there had been an unexpected flow of people down in the 'subway' and they had all been separated. Everything should have been okay. They all knew the directions to the hotel; there were signs everywhere and every street was efficiently labeled. But when he had finally made it back to their rooms, everyone had been there except Glitch.

Of course, the most obvious explanation was that he had just forgotten; save for the fact that Cain had been up with him all night making sure he knew the address and had even marked the way on a map that they had tucked in Glitch's coat just in case.

So what had happened? Cain kept wondering this as he turned a corner, simultaneously keeping an eye on the green sign posts and looking for dark curls and a coat lined in red. When an icy breeze blew past him, his concern grew and he hoped that wherever Glitch was that at least he was warm. At least he had his brand new Otherside clothes and bold coat. And the wool hat DG had bought him, a 'beanie', that covered his zipper. Cain really hoped he still had that on.

It was already getting dark and Cain had gotten nowhere. As night fell and Cain retracted his steps in the hopes of maybe running into Glitch on the way back, bright colorful lights and jovial music took over the streets. He could see smiling faces as he passed by random shops and hear laughter and songs of cheer coming from inside. It reminded him of something DG had told them about...a holiday from the Otherside; something about giving gifts and spending time with your loved ones.

He was near the hotel again now, but Cain kept walking, absorbed in his mission to find Glitch; paying more attention to the people in the streets than to where he was heading.

"Watch out!" Cain was startled when a hand shot out and grabbed him, stopping him from walking blindly straight into the lethal surge of ugly yellow cars.

"You should look where you're going," a kid about Jeb's age said, and then strode away on a board with wheels when the pedestrian light turned green.

Still more than a little shaken up—over almost being run over while only thinking of Glitch being out here alone—Cain let out a shaky breath he didn't know he had been holding. Closing his eyes for a moment, he stood motionless on the painted sidewalk as people walked past him on either side. If he was a headcase—if he was Glitch— Cain thought, where would he be? Where would he go?

Somewhere off to his right, he heard the jazzy tones of another song play as a waft of warm air hit him. He took a deep breath, getting ready to move on and keep walking, when a sweet smell he had grown used to having at home reached him and stopped him in his tracks.

Apples.

Cain's eyes snapped open as he thought he might just know where his missing headcase was. And when he broke from the new wave of people surrounding him in the sidewalk and walked through the opened door to the shop in the corner, he was thankfully greeted by the sight of a familiar slim figure in a coat lined in red.

Glitch was facing away from him, beanie fortunately still in place, slumped against a glass counter that displayed an assortment of pastries in various rows. As the merry, jazzy music played on in the background, Cain silently approached Glitch, who hadn't noticed him and was completely focused on the sweet aroma of some baked apple goods coming from somewhere behind the counter. Cain was taking pleasure on sneaking up behind the zipperhead and thinking of giving him a fright for what he had made him go through all day. But before he could reach him—just as a young woman appeared behind the counter, holding a tray with freshly baked apple pie—Glitch's knees gave out and he sank down to the floor.

"Glitch!" Cain gave up his plans of revenge for later and hurried to kneel at Glitch's side, cupping a hand on his pale cheek. Glitch was lying on his back, wriggling and mumbling weakly; his eyes tightly shut. Until finally, he seemed to register that he wasn't alone anymore and blinked open his chocolate eyes, peering up at Cain.

"Glitch? You okay, sweetheart?"

"Ugh," Glitch groaned, closing his eyes again and placing his own hand over Cain's on his cheek, "I've died and gone to heaven."

Cain couldn't help but smile and shake his head at the sight of Glitch sprawled on the floor under him, and the remnants of the many pastries he had undoubtedly eaten that tinted his lips.

"I was wondering if anyone was looking for him," the girl behind the counter said, dragging Cain away from his thoughts, "He seemed a little lost when he came in." She giggled and started putting away the new batch of pies inside the glass counter. Looking around the small bakery, Cain realized that they were the only ones there at the moment; he supposed the last person in here beside Glitch had been the one that had opened the door a few moments ago. Apart from that, he noticed all the empty spaces where pastries would have been; and remembered the emergency money DG had given to each of them with an inward groan.

"What did he have? How many?" he asked the girl,

"Um, everything."

"I was waiting for the apple pie," Glitch explained all of a sudden, drawing Cain's attention back to him, "I was... going somewhere..."

"The hotel?" Cain supplied, "You've had us looking for you all day. You could have gotten seriously lost or hurt out here. What were you thinking? If anything—"

"Will you let me finish?" Glitch said indignantly, "I was walking there when suddenly I caught a whiff of the sweetest baked apples in this world! So I ran in here but they had just sold the last of them. I was waiting for more and... uh," he laughed nervously, "I guess I lost track of time."

"You think?" Cain said, while the girl finished with the items on the tray and walked back into the other room, "So you decided to come in here and eat everything?"

"Mhm," Glitch nodded faintly as Cain leaned closer,

"And were planning to eat more?" Cain raised an eyebrow, leaning only inches above Glitch and slipping a hand up his striped shirt. Quickly glancing back up and making sure they really were alone, Cain leaned in the rest of the way to Glitch and covered his mouth with his own; plunging into a sugary flavored kiss as he splayed his hand over Glitch's smooth stomach.

"Mm, Cain," Glitch said, cupping the back of his neck and staring intently at him when they broke the kiss, "Don't do that here; you know what it does to me..."

"Then let's go back to the hotel."