Espresso Cookie/Espresseleine Oneshots

Oneshot 7 || Angst

A/N: YOOOOOOO THANK YOU GUYS SOSOSOSOOOO MUCH FOR 3K READS OMG ദ്ദി ꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ ) ♡

E's age: 8

Espresso put on his best smile as he stepped up to another group of boys. It was recess, and he had been trying to make friends since he was lonely lately. But... Nobody wanted to be his friend.

He was sure this time would be different, though. "Hello!" He waved at the group of other students. He knew that if he tried his hardest to be friendly and likable, he'd finally get some friends to play with.

They just stared back at him. The smile slowly faded off his face. He knew that stare. The stare every other kid in his entire elementary school gave him when he walked up to them.

He never understood why nobody liked him. Or why everyone was always so mean to him. It felt like nobody he knew cared about him except for Latte. But Latte had her own friend group and never really played with Espresso at school.

After a moment of silence, Espresso spoke again. "Uh, I saw you guys were playing, and I was wondering if I could play too." He smiled.

They didn't say anything. A few of the boys snickered while the others just stayed quiet.

"Why are they laughing? What did I say wrong..?" He tried his hardest to keep the smile on his face to show them how friendly he was. He gave his teddy bear, Mr Teddy, a quick squeeze before holding him in front of him, showing the boys. "This is Mr Teddy! If it's okay with you, he wants to play too!" He grinned down at Mr Teddy. "See? Plus, I gave him a tie so he can be fancy." He showed them the red tie he had carefully tied around his teddy's neck.

The group of boys burst into laughter as Espresso showed them his teddy.

Espresso frowned. "Oh, no. Now they're all laughing." He bit the inside of his mouth as he felt his cheeks heat up.

"Why do you have a teddy bear?" One of the boys laughed. "We're in the third grade, dummy. Teddy bears are for babies."

Espresso shook his head. "No, anyone can have a teddy! Teddies are nice and cuddly!" He sighed, looking down at Mr Teddy. "I'm sorry I have a teddy. He doesn't have to play with us if you don't want him to."

"We don't want to play with you," Another boy said, crossing his arms.

His eyes trailed up. "You don't..?"

"No! You're weird. You should go away, cause we all think you're a weird freak."

Another boy spoke up, grinning. "Yeah. You're a baby for still having a teddy bear. Plus, you look super weird."

A third boy nodded. "Like... Your hair is weird, your skin is weird, and your clothes are weird. So you're weird."

Espresso looked down at himself. He wasn't weird! He was just like them. Sure, he wore his hair a little different, but that was okay. And his skin wasn't that different from everyone else's. And, yeah, maybe he dressed a little fancier than most of the other students, but that didn't make him weird.

...Right?

"I-I'm not weird," Espresso said, looking up at them. "I'm just like you. I wanna play."

They laughed again. "Well, we don't wanna play with a loser who still carries around a teddy bear!" One of the boys stepped up to him and grabbed Mr Teddy.

Espresso gasped as he frantically tried to grab Mr Teddy back. "No!!" He cried, his voice dripping with desperation as he reached for his teddy. The boy held it just out of his reach. "Give him back! Don't hurt him!"

The mean boy and his friends laughed at Espresso's failed attempts to grab his teddy back. "Please!" He sobbed, starting to tremble a little.

The boy threw Mr Teddy to one of his friends. They both giggled.

Espresso rushed towards the other boy, but just as he reached him, Mr Teddy was thrown back towards the first boy again. "You're going to rip him! Please, stop it!!" He yelled, tears beginning to fall down his face as he watched poor Mr Teddy get tossed around.

After a few minutes, which seemed like everlasting hours to Espresso, the boys finally threw his teddy to the ground, kicking him towards Espresso.

Espresso let out a sob as he grabbed Mr Teddy, hugging him close. He sniffled as tears fell down his cheeks. "It's okay," He mumbled to his teddy. "You're safe now..." He glanced down at his teddy. It looked like there wasn't much damage done, and relief flooded back through his body.

A startled gasp escaped his lips as one of the boys pushed him down to the ground. He winced, making sure to keep his teddy safe this time.

He glanced up at the mean boys. Espresso's breath caught in his throat. The mean boy was towering over him—he looked so angry. Angry enough to hit him. Trembles started taking over his body as thoughts rushed through his mind.

The boy was going to hit him. Just like Father did.

Espresso didn't want to be hit.

Tears burst down his eyes as he immediately backed away as far as he could. He thought about trying to run away, but there was nowhere to hide fast enough. So, he prepared himself to be hit; he shielded his face, got as small as his body would let him, held his breath, and shut his eyes tight.

Just like normal.

He waited a couple seconds, fully expecting a punch or a slap or a kick. But nothing happened. He slowly opened his eyes.

The boy was standing, staring down at him in confusion and slight annoyance. "I wasn't even gonna hit you, dummy," He scoffed as he shifting his weight uncomfortably. "You overreacted so much. You looked very silly." The group of boys laughed loudly.

"Oh," Espresso mumbled, waiting another second before letting his arms down from shielding his face. His body slowly untensed as he held Mr Teddy tightly to comfort him. His breathing calmed after a second, and he stood up, still slightly trembling.

His cheeks heated up. He hated when that happened—when he would get so scared when he thought that someone would hit him. It was so embarrassing.

Espresso awkwardly glanced back up at the boys, who weren't even in the mood to make fun of him anymore because of how awkward he was being. So, the boys silently walked away to play their game somewhere else.

Tears clouded Espresso's eyes as he hugged his teddy. "I'm not going to try and make friends ever again," He said to himself. "If nobody wants me to be their friend, then I don't wanna be their friend either!" He smiled to himself before sitting down on the ground to play with Mr Teddy.

Alone.

Like always.