Aaron T x Aaron Z| Oneshots

Speechless (part 1)

Art done by: @applebakecookie22
Idea suggestion by: @applebakecookie22
Word count: 3934

The gentle fall breeze rustled the crisp brown leaves behind you as you set your book down on the wooden bench you sat on. It was getting cooler as the day passed, but thankfully, you'd remembered to bring a sweater.

Fall was your favourite season, and as such, you always sat outside at the park beside your apartment building. Your friends would make fun of you for reading there for hours, but you paid them no mind- they were only joking anyways.

After slipping into your wool sweater, you picked up your book and thumbed through the pages in search for the one you had left off on, and the familiar sound of thick rubber hitting the pavement made you look up.

Oh.

That's new, you thought to yourself. The college boys who religiously played basketball together were playing once more, but this time five other men had joined them. You recognized one of them as Jesse O'Connell, a man who you attended art classes with for a year. What is he doing here? You wondered as you watched them split into teams.

You heard laughter echo across the park before another gust of wind quickly swept the sound away into the atmosphere. The pages in your book fluttered in the breeze and you cursed, bringing your finger to your lips. The paper-cut stung, but you were much too used to the feeling to wince.

It felt like hours had passed before you heard your name being called from across the park. The words drew you out of your trance, and it took you a few moments to separate reality from the story in the pages you read.

A figure was running towards you and shouting, "watch out!" Before you could register what was happening, a loud thump echoed, followed by a numb pain that made your vision blur. You yelped out in pain as a hand rested on your shoulder and you quickly brushed it off.

"I am so sorry," said an apologetic voice, but despite its gentle urgency you didn't reply. You were much too annoyed and confused to think of one.

"Hey, man, I told you to be careful of her!" Cried a voice, and at that moment you knew it was Jesse. It didn't take long for him to reach your side. "Are you okay?" He asked. He had to repeat your name twice before you nodded slowly. You and Jesse were never friends. You didn't even think he knew your name.

When another man said your name, you looked up to finally see exactly who'd hit you with the basketball. The man was tall and lean. The muscle shirt he wore was soaked through with sweat, and if you hadn't seen just how sweaty he was, you would have known regardless from the smell. You debated between saying you were fine, and telling the boy to piss off. Somehow, as always, you couldn't decide and settled on saying nothing.

"Hey, you've got quite a bump growing there," said Jesse. He glanced between you and his friend. "I'll go get some ice," he said. Before he left, he glanced at his friend. "Oi, Zee, why don't you go get the ice? It was you who hit her in the first place." The tall man named Zee nodded solemnly before turning and jogging towards the vending machines at the edge of the court. You watched the man go before looking at Jesse. He offered you a smile.

"He might be bad at apologizing but he really is sorry," he told you before turning and jogging back to the paused game. He threw the basketball to one of the other players and the game resumed as if nothing had happened at all.

You'd forgotten all about being hit when the man reappeared. Instead of ice he held a bright red can of Coke. He offered it silently but when you didn't take it, he held it to your head where the throbbing bump had already formed. Immediately, you felt the sting of the freezing can. "They ran out of ice," he mumbled.