gt oneshots

on the stairs

[2:34 P.M.] manonisahoe said:
Hey
Wait nvm

[2:36 P.M.] ezraa.c said:
No what

[2:36 P.M.] manonisahoe said:
Nvm it's fine

[2:37 P.M.] ezraa.c said:
No tell me

Ezra fumbled with his phone, tapping his foot impatiently as he cast a long look at the clock above the bulletin board.
Ten minutes until class was over.
When his phone vibrated in his shaky hands, he almost jumped out of his seat. The girl next to him didn't notice, tapping away on her own device cradled between her cupped palms.

[2:46 P.M.] manonisahoe said:
Can i have that hug now

Ezra didn't look up from his phone for almost a minute straight, thinking he'd misread the text.
Two weeks ago he'd sat beside Manon in AP U.S., the only AP class he was taking.
Only three of his classes were mixed. It was a public school, which made for very little organization as far as classes and schedules went.
Manon was the only human girl in the class, and she also happened to be sitting next to the only available seat. So he'd sat down and pretended not to notice her for about half an hour before she said something.
She'd liked his shoes. When she said it, he'd looked down at his feet like an idiot and smiled.
Threaded along the laces were letter beads that spelled out the words "fuck u."
They'd talked for two weeks since then, in class and over Facetime after school, conversations that lasted for hours until one of them fell asleep first.
The other night during a call, Manon had told him that she couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten a hug from anybody.
Before he fell asleep, Ezra had promised to give her one if she ever asked.

[2:47 P.M.] ezraa.c said:
building 18 on the stairs??

[2:52 P.M.] manonisahoe said:
yeah

[2:52 P.M.] ezraa.c said:
okay

The second the bell rang, Ezra flew out of his seat and received several odd looks in return.
The tall boy forced a chemistry textbook into his already overcrowded locker and slammed it shut before racing for the door that led outside.
He stopped to peer down over the railing for a moment before making his way down, absently kicking an empty can off the edge as he went.
And for a minute and a half, Ezra sat at the bottom of the stairs with his head between his knees, watching an ant crawl across the sidewalk before a familiar voice pulled him from his thoughts.
"Hey," Manon said, and her voice cracked a little at the end. She had tears on her face.
Ezra didn't say anything, just frowned at the girl and watched the way she fiddled with the hem of her shirt.
Her hands were always fiddling, always moving and twitching and clenching and unclenching. He wanted to steady them.
She looked embarrassed now, peering up at him from behind her light curls. For a moment, he thought she might turn around and leave.
He'd never been good at this sort of thing, comforting anybody. He steered clear of that stuff when it came to his other friends.
They all dealt with their own shit alone.
He didn't have any idea what kind of shit Manon had, not really. He remembered her saying something about her parents being split.
Lost in his head again, he hadn't noticed her coming closer. He felt a hand on his ankle and looked down at her standing there, and she looked so small and sad and now his own hands felt restless.
So he cupped his hands with her between them and thought about how he'd never held a person before, never secured a life in his palms. But it was so easy now to just pick her up off the ground.
Maybe because she looked so sad.
She might've gasped, but he'd probably just imagined it. He felt her small weight against his curved palms and her hands closing around his fingers and he didn't want to put her down.
She was fidgeting again, and she looked kind of nervous. Ezra met her eyes for a moment and she seemed to relax, still keeping a tight hold on his fingers.
"I'm being careful," he muttered, and he almost couldn't believe the smile that crossed her face.
She didn't say anything, so he moved her up to hold against his chest, and he knew this time he wasn't imagining the way one of her hands remained on his finger and the other grasped onto the front of his tee shirt.
They stayed like that for a while, longer than he thought they would. And then he realized that she'd fallen asleep there, noticing the bruises under her eyes that were as dark as makeup.
She didn't stay asleep long, stirring and glancing around for a minute before peering up at him with tired, droopy eyes.
"You'll hug me like this everyday after sixth period?" Her voice was so soft, he barely picked up what she said.

"Yeah, okay....idiot."

They were both late to seventh period that day.