𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 || 𝐬𝐤𝐞𝐩𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐨

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞.

there were too many people here. zak couldn't breathe.

calm down. darryl's here.

whether that was supposed to mean he should be comforted by darryl's presence or that he should be trying not to make a fool out of himself in front of the boy, he didn't really know. either way, having the boy here with him did bring some sense of security.

there were too many students in the cafeteria, and they were way too loud. he couldn't take it.

vincent sat alone at a table in one of the back corners of the cafeteria, waiting for zak as he always did. he showed visible confusion when zak showed up today with the energetic boy clinging to his side (figuratively speaking). zak shrugged and placed his lunch that he brought from home on the table, sliding into one of the seats across from vincent. darryl took the seat next to zak.

"hello. are you new?" vincent asked. darryl's eyes widened, presumably because of the accent. he opened his mouth, shut it again, and cleared his throat. vincent laughed quietly.

"um, yeah, i'm... i'm new this year. yeah," darryl struggled to get out, staring down at the table. he took a deep breath and then sighed.

vincent's eyes flickered between the two. "i assume you're a friend of zak's?"

darryl's head shot up at that statement. he seemed confused at first, probably because he didn't know who zak was. with furrowed eyebrows, he looked at the french boy. when his eyes settled upon the shorter boy sinking down into the seat next to him, his puzzled expression was replaced with one of realization. "oh, um... i'm not sure, really," he said with an awkward laugh. "i-if he wants to be my friend..." he trailed off. and then, barely above a whisper, so quiet that zak almost couldn't hear it, "he's probably sick of me already."

of course not. but he didn't say anything. he just opened his lunch bag and started pulling out the food he had packed the night before.

it wasn't much. just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a bag of potato chips, and a couple of small, wrapped, gluten-free muffins that his mother had baked the other day.

the other two boys also pulled out their own lunches that they had brought from home. zak ate in silence while darryl and vincent got to know each other. he was happy that at least darryl had met someone who would speak to him.

zak finished almost all of his food fairly quickly, but he had gotten full before he was able to eat both of the muffins. what was he supposed to do with the extra muffin? he looked over at the boy next to him, who was having a very animated discussion with vincent about video games. he nudged the boy softly, causing him to look over. zak's face burned. he slid the package toward the boy, who looked at it briefly before frowning.

"i can't eat gluten," he said simply.

zak shook his head and pushed the muffin again.

"...gluten free?"

zak nodded.

darryl reached out for the package. "aw, thank you," he said, grinning.

zak couldn't stop the smile creeping across his face. he looked back down at his lunch bag and began fidgeting with the ends of his sleeves. he took a deep breath and gathered up all of his trash, stuffing it back into his lunch bag. he would take care of it properly when he got home later, but at least now his area of the table was clean.

zak sat quietly for the rest of the lunch period, tracing shapes on the table top with his fingertips. it seemed like a weird way to pass the time, but it did keep him occupied while darryl and vincent were discussing their different interests. when the bell rang, signalling the end of their lunch, zak wasn't sure whether he felt relieved or disappointed. he sighed, packing up his belongings and heading to his next class.