Happier (Michael x Noah)

M. Noah

"One water, please," I say politely to the lady at the concession stand register.

"Make that two, would you, Kyla? And keep the change," a familiar voice says behind me. He sets the ten-dollar bill on the countertop by reaching around me.

"Yes, of course, Mister Song," the lady says. She walks away and comes back shortly with the water bottles. "Here you go, fellas."

I take my water from her and quickly walk away.

"Noah, wait!" Michael calls after me.

I ignore him and keep going. I don't want to talk right now.

"Noah, please! Wait!"

"What do you want, Michael?" I ask, turning around to face him.

He hesitates. "Are... Are you mad at me? I understand if you are. I'm not asking why. I... I just want to know."

"I don't know if I'm mad at you or if I'm mad at myself."

"Why would you be mad at yourself? I'm the one who got us into this mess."

"You don't need to know that." I turn on my heel and start to walk away.

"Why not?"

"Because you don't need to know."

"That's not an answer."

"I don't care."

"Since when did we start keeping secrets from each other?" he asks.

I stop walking but keep my back to him.

"We've been friends since we were little. We used to know everything about each other," he continues. He exhales a pent-up breath and sniffles. "I don't understand what happened."

"Well, then that makes two of us."

He sighs. "Why were you crying earlier?"

I groan. "Why are you asking so many questions?"

"Because you refuse to answer them!"

"They're called secrets for a reason, Michael."

"Why do you even have secrets?" He sounds hurt.

"Because they're things that I don't want other people to know. Certainly, you have at least one thing that you keep from me."

"Of course, I do--they're called your birthday and Christmas presents. Other than that, you know everything."

"But why do I need to know everything?"

"Because you're my boyfriend! I'm a fucked up person--I want you to know my problems so I have a smaller chance of scaring you off." He sighs. "But it seems to me I already have."

"You haven't scared me off, Michael."

"Then why do you look like you want to run away whenever you see me?"

"I thought we were taking a break from each other."

"We can still look at each other! We can still talk to each other!" He sighs again. "But every I so much as glance at you, you're off." He hesitates, then reluctantly rests his hand on my shoulder before he asks, "Why are you so afraid of being around me?"

"Because I'm afraid that I'll set your recovery back!" I accidentally shout as I turn around and shove him off of me.

But I can't control my strength.

He stumbles backward and falls, banging his head on the edge of a table before he crashes to the floor. He cries aloud painfully with each impact and I wince each time. He lies there, breathing heavily. A few moments pass before he sits up. He reaches up to reach the back of his head and grimaces, tears welling in his eyes.

"A-Are you okay?" I ask nervously, taking a step away from him. "I'm so sorry, Mike, I--"

I'm cut off when he starts to cry softly. "J-Just... Just g-go."