“Dude, calm down, I didn’t touch your balls at all!” Heart blushed and looked at the guy. He was pretty sure he hadn’t even landed anywhere near there.

The guy gave him a glare that froze him stiff and made him feel as if he was having his skin peeled from him slowly.

He took a deep breath and seemed to compose himself.

“Not those balls.” He snapped, glaring at Heart with a resounding sense of hostility. His overall composure bristled and unfriendly, the person he was in the alleyway before completely gone, faded away as if it had been a ruse.

“Never mind, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Tchhh.”

“People aggravate me so much sometimes.” He said lazily.

“But can you be responsible? No. No, you can’t.” he stared at his fingernails for a moment while Heart gazed at him stupidly. He rolled his eyes at him.

The man’s delicate arm gestured towards the yards and yards of red string coming undone from multiple balls of yarns that had flown out of his bag and covered the alley ground.

There was enough venom in the man’s voice that Heart choked on his own saliva.

“Sorry.” He coughed out from his own voice with a will not his own. He looked around.

There was tangled up red string everywhere. He suddenly understood.

“Oh, Uhh, I’m really sorry...” He said, His voice lilted awkwardly.

He genuinely meant it this time. He understood that in their smack down, he must have smashed the bag out of this man’s grip.

Causing him to drop his bag.

He leaned forward and started gathering the string.

‘What a weird hobby this guy has. And getting so angry over it too.. I mean he grabbed me! He pulled me into the night! I don’t even know where I am right now, and he is worried about some knitting yarn?’

The man looked at him in first surprise, then calculating as Heart cleaned up.

“Here you go, sorry again.” Heart said, handing off a large, messy pile of string to him. He hesitated, remembering how it felt to touch this man’s skin. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

‘Wait, I should fix it since I messed it up.’

He slowly started searching for an end after a few minutes he located one with a little-pleased smile he wound the string.

Heart did not know how long it was taking or how much time had passed, but he finished the first ball proudly and searched again. Four times more, he painstakingly detangled rolled and started again. By the fifth time his fingers were sore, he was tired and sweating, and his knees and hands hurt from crawling around on the ground. He didn’t even want to think of the state his hands were in or what kind of germs they were covered in from the road. If he did, he had a feeling he would wash them for an hour.

Finally, he placed the fifth ball back in the bag and smiled, handing the bag back to the man proudly.

The man took it with a soft smile.

“You cleaned it up...” He noted, with a surprised lilt to his voice.

Heart froze awkwardly, wondering if he shouldn’t have touched it. “Yeahhh.” His voice cracked as he dragged the word out with zero confidence.

“Few people clean up the messes they create in other people’s lives...” He mused.

“It’s rare.” He stated gently. Eyeing Heart carefully.

Heart drew his foot across the road gently.

“You should have a little more faith in people. Everyone has some good in them.”

“Nowadays people are too busy to see anything outside their own little world. And many times, incur inconveniences on others out of habit, never really caring what affect their choices have...”

The man stared at him as if peering into his soul and judging him.

“Even when caught in our own worlds, when something happens, we come together to make it right. Because it is the right thing to do.” Heart insisted.

The man seemed to finish staring, and Heart waited to see if the man was going to say anything else.

“Not everyone.” He said pointedly. His eyes glazing over his body, measuring every ounce of him as if he were searching his soul, weighing his salt.

Heart didn’t enjoy the way it felt. That piercing gaze was more than ominous, more than judging. It felt heavy, like just being looked at so intensely was costing him a pretty price.

“Ah, yeah…” Heart agreed, softly, when the man didn’t make another motion to speak.

“Something trivial, something large... Huh, I suppose… You did the right thing tonight.” He commented lightly.

“Thanks, kid.”

“Your life is going to change in some strange ways soon,” His voice deepened and he peered into Heart’s eyes with deep purpose.

“Good ways...”

‘Funny, who would have thought so many people’s lives would just end up mixed up with no rhyme or reason tonight, I didn’t foresee it... Not at all.’

“Um, thanks?” Heart stated, utterly confused.

“Interesting... Isn’t it? Have a good night, kid.” He said cryptically.

Before Heart could even ask what the stranger meant, the man had already walked away from the alley off into the night.

Heart stared after him, his head turning in circles. His mind trying to comprehend why the man had grabbed him and then dragged him to the middle of nowhere, then just left. Definitely not something a prostitute would do, and it wasn’t a kidnapping.

‘What is going on with tonight?’

He sighed, he was pretty sure that this was probably something he would never understand. He groaned and looked around at the street signs. Then he pulled out his phone to check the time and his location and sighed.

“This guy! What the heck, man? He pulled me so bloody far it was going to take an hour just to walk home!” Heart sighed, letting out his frustration. His shoulders sagged and he started towards a more well-lit road in the distance.

‘Maybe he could still catch a cab?’