𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭; byler

- 5 -

✴ ⁕ ✴ ⁕ ✴

WORD COUNT: 1085

✴ ⁕ ✴ ⁕ ✴

MIKE AND WILL left the charity in complete silence. 

Inside, they at least had the voices of all the others to keep them occupied but outside, there was nothing to keep away the silence. such awkward silence.

"So, um- do you went to get like, coffee or something?" Mike asked, looking at Will cautiously. Will looked at him, his Hazel eyes full of something- Mike didn't know what. He nodded, smiling slightly. He had a really cute, sincere smile, Mike noticed.

"Cool! There's this nice place just a few minutes away from here..." Mike trailed off, and Will just nodded again, waiting for Mike to start walking. So he did, and Will followed, walking besides him.

The walk was just as awkward. Mike didn't know like, sign language or anything. He didn't know how he was supposed to communicate with this strange boy. What had his mom meant, she didn't know why? If he can't talk, doesn't that mean he's just mute?

Mike sneaked a glance at Will walking besides him. He looked completely normal. He was short, and his light brown hair was shinning slightly in the morning sun. Just another 16 year old- except, he wasn't. Mike wasn't sure what had made him come to the charity in the first place, or why he didn't speak- but he was kind of curious to find out.

Finally, they got to the coffee place- a small place called "Rick's". It had glass walls and many small tables, and Mike kind of loved going there.

They walked in and sat at one of the smallest tables, all the way by one of the glass walls. 

"So I'm going to order a coffee. Do you want one, too?" Mike asked Will before the awkward silence had a chance to start again. Will nodded slightly, and Mike got up.
"Be back in a minute," he smiled.

Sadly, it did take about minute. They were almost alone in the restaurant, so the order was ready really quickly. Mike was hoping for some more time to think about how to deal with Will's situation...

He walked back to the table, handing Will one of the cups. Will smiled at him.

Mike started sipping from his cup, looking down on the slightly dirty floor of the cafe. What could he say?

When he looked up at Will, he noticed the brunette was still holding the cup, and it was still completely full. A realization dawned on Mike.

"You don't like coffee, do you," he asked, swallowing a smile. Will looked at him, turned a little red and shook his head. Mike couldn't help laughing. Will looked stunned for a moment, then started laughing quietly too.

It was a sweet laugh. So tiny and awkward, it made Mike laugh even harder.
"Why didn't you just say no when I asked if you wanted some?" he asked.

Will shrugged, and the answer was clear in his face even without words- he was shy. It was kind of endearing.

"Do you want tea? hot chocolate?" at the last part Will's face kind of lit up, and he nodded again.
"Hot chocolate it is," Mike said, and went to get it.

He decided to get one for himself too- after all, this was all paid for by his mom and she hadn't set a spending limit. 

 Besides, it had been so long since he had had hot chocolate, it was suddenly much more appealing than the cup of coffee waiting fro him back at the table.

This time it took longer. Rick's used real chocolate, and it took a while to make, but after a few minutes Mike was back at the table careful not to spill the huge cups.
"Here ya go," he said cheerfully. Will smiled at him again, and this smile was somehow different than before. Maybe- more relaxed?

Will took a sip, and Mike did too. It was basically happiness in a cup. Mike took another sip, glad he had switched out his coffee.

After a few more sips he sat down the cup, looking up at Will and sighing contently. Will surprised him by laughing a sudden laugh.
"What?" Mike asked. Will laughed again, and then ran his hands against the space above his upper lip.

Mike glanced at his reflection on one of the glass walls. He had the biggest chocolate mustache ever. Like, actually huge. He blushed, hurrying to wipe it off with a napkin.
"oops," he said, and Will laughed. Mike smiled too. This boy was strange, but there was just something likable about him... Mike wasn't bored at all, even with the lack of talking.

Suddenly, a tapping sounded on the glass window behind Will. Mike looked, and his heart dropped to his underwear: outside the window, smiling viciously, were Troy and James- his worst bullies.

"Hey Hugsey!" Troy called, his voice muffled by the glass, "Who's the boyfriend?"
James laughed his idiotic laugh. Mike tried ignoring them, his cheeks turning redder by the minute, but they began in a show of some very unholy gestures. Mike was really embarrassed. He didn't know if Will could see them.

Why did they keep doing this? Mike shook his middle finger at them. Troy laughed, James blew him a kiss and they left, their laughter echoing in Mike's mind.

He kept looking out the window, completely shaken. He hated being bullied at school, and now it had come out of school into his weekend? ughh.

He felt a hand tapping his. He looked down, and it was Will. He was nudging a napkin towards him. Mike took it:

𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝓂𝑜𝓋𝒾𝑒?

Will had wrote, his handwriting a neat curly script. Mike looked up at him, and he was smiling. But from his face Mike could see he had seen the bullies. He was showing him he didn't care.

"Either back to the future or the empire strikes back. Can't decide," he replied. He was surprised at how normal his voice sounded, but he was glad. Will's face lit up, and he nodded fast. He gestured for the napkin, and after a moment new word were scribbled under it:

𝐼'𝓂 𝑜𝒷𝓈𝑒𝓈𝓈𝑒𝒹 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓇 𝓌𝒶𝓇𝓈!

Mike laughed, "me too, man. Me too." 

They spent the next few minutes talking about star wars- well, Mike talking and Will writing on a growing stack of napkins- and sipping more and more cups of hot chocolate.

Maybe this wasn't going to be too bad after all.