Silent Cry (BoyxBoy)

Nineteen

A nice little chapter. I hope.

"Okay, so I was thinking we go to the mall after school," Shane was saying as they entered their classroom for the last class.

Ethan and Mitchell were walking behind Shane and Dave who argued about what to do after class. Ethan being who he was, just wanted to hang out with Mitchell but he was also torn about hanging out with his friends.

Because, as Dave had said earlier, it did seem like Mitchell was stealing him away. Not that he agreed with him. If Ethan was being honest, it was he who was stealing Mitchell from whatever the boy did in his free time. He sighed as he led Mitchell to his seat, resisting every urge in his body to pull the seat back for the boy.

Ah, why did his life have to be so difficult, he wondered.

"So mall, gay or nay?" Shane asked making Ethan's eyes go wide.

"What?" Dave questioned.

"I..I mean, yay or nay? Slip of tongue," he quickly corrected himself.

"Nice save," Ethan whispered as he looked back from Shane to Dave. Dave was glaring at him which probably meant that he did not want to go to the mall. Ethan's face spread into an evil grin as he said, "Yaaaayyyy," with the best girly voice he could muster.

"Argh! I fucking hate you dude!" Dave shouted, hitting the desk with his hands. "Turning on a brother like that?"

"Don't be pissy just cause you lost" Shane sighed making Ethan chuckle.

Dave groaned and turned his attention to Mitchell who squirmed under his gaze. "So what's it gonna be Mitchy? Yay or Nay?"

Ethan and Shane watched closely, with the same thoughts lingering in their minds. Was Dave going to day something insensitive, and was Mitchell going to run out of the class?

Mitchell gulped, leaning back in his seat and hoping that Dave's judgy eyes would leave him. He nodded and muttered a small nay just to get Dave off his back.

"Yes! That's what I'm talking about!" Dave cheered. "You, lil guy, are officially my new bestie," he said, punching Mitchell's arm playfully.

Ethan rolled his eyes as he turned to Mitchell. "We're still going though," he said to the boy.

Mitchell didn't understand. He had said no, so what did Ethan mean by that? Before he could ask, Dave said, "It's two against two bro, we ain't going no where."

"You don't get to decide. Two against two, we'll ask the girls," Shane stated.

"Ugh, fine," Dave groaned, accepting his defeat.

And he was right to do so because as expected, the girls squealed and chatted happily about what they'll do once they got there, agreeing to the visit to the mall, on a Tuesday afternoon. Mitchell was baffled. How were these people so happy and comfortable with going to such a crowded place?

Before his mom died, he was okay with such places, of course, there was a slight bit of uncomfortableness. It only skyrocketed after her death, and living with that man just made all his fears worse. For years, he had been so used to being so alone that he didn't even understand most of what Ethan's friends said and did. And he had only known them for a few hours.

He sighed when the last bell of the day rung and began packing up his stuff. He knew he would have to confront Ethan about this mall issue, because he was in no way excited about it, and neither did he want to go. Confronting people was never Mitchell's strong suite but when it came to Ethan, well, that was a whole different story.

Whenever he was around this boy, he felt so safe and as though he could be capable of anything. That was not something Mitchell had felt in all his years, and he was willing to savour it for as long as he could. With Ethan, he wasn't afraid.