noun

       • an unexpected event; a mishap or misfortune, especially one resulting in death or injury; chance.

adjective - accidental

       • occurring or done by accident; non-essential; (music) a sign prefixed to a note indicating a departure from the key signature.

He's tired, he always is, and it's become increasingly difficult to ignore the part of him that wants to just go to sleep and never wake up, especially when he can't find any cause to argue with it. Troye's not cynical, not really, but it's hard to even consider the idea that the world is a good place when all he's seen of it are the dredges of humanity and blood-stained pavement stretching over to worn-down shacks.

He tries, he really does. He taps out rhythms on scratched up counters and spends excessive amounts of time hovering outside the storefronts playing loud music from their speakers. He watches people on the streets smile and laugh, hold hands and hug, and tries out a smile of his own for the little boy whose sister he helps find. He sets his out of tune keyboard up on a different street every day and plays for busy crowds of people with all different lives who never cast him a second glance, hands dancing across empty spaces and cracked keys the best they can.

He tries to look at the world and see what everybody else seems to, but he can't.

Until he does.

Green meets blue and he finds himself stuck, meeting bright eyes by accident when he glances up to check how much is in the ratty old hat he borrowed from the kind homeless woman down the road. He doesn't look away, too caught up in the life and joy and blind optimism radiating from forests of sapphire wonderment.

The guy smiles, nodding his head like he's agreeing with the questions that fill Troye's music. There's a camera in his hand, hovering near his gentle features, and it takes a minute for him to realize he must have taken a picture.

Troye's not sure why, but that thought sends something light fluttering through his chest. It's an odd contrast to the heaviness that generally follows him around day in and day out.

There's a bill dropped into his hat, another brief nod, and then the man is on his way, camera swaying beside him as he goes. Troye's eyes follow, his hands staying their flow across the broken keyboard.

Before he even knows what's happening, he finds himself smiling after him.