Hot Chocolate☕ || L.S. (Complete) ✔️

☕one☕

Winter.

The name itself sent chills down Louis' spine.

He was trotting with his typical group of loser friends from school, the snow heavily weighing his snow boots down. All the middle-schoolers seemed to be over the moon about the idea of getting out of school early. But not Louis. He was rather depressed to say the least. The idea of being deprived of a full day's learning did not appeal to Louis in the slightest. College was right around the corner.

'You're 13, son" his mother would scold half-heartedly. 'College shouldn't be in your mindset for a good few years, young man.' she'd state. He just sat there and took it, though, sipping his coffee. Of course she wouldn't understand. Jay wasn't a college graduate, he thought sassily.

"Lighten up, Lou. It's only 9 in the morning and we've already been let out of school," Brandon reminded him. Louis cringed, still walking behind with his books.

"If only there was something to 'lighten up' about. Need I remind you of that science test we'd were to receive today. I don't spend my afternoon studying for nothing." But Brandon was already focused on balling up a snowball and lunging it at their other friend, Stan. Louis once more, sighed, returning to the solitude of his text book specifically for the walk home. Good old Shakespeare.

Soon the other three boys caught up, finally gaining some common sense, no less. Snowball fight plus no gloves equal brrrrr. Simpletons.

"Jesus Lou, you're so boring. Hard to believe you're the youngest out of the 3 of us," Michael taunted making the other 2 laugh. He didn't really care, though. Louis would have the last laugh, when these 3 would be working for him in a few years. He'll give it 7 at the most.

The falling of the snow and the lack of honking car horns made the neighborhood more serene, which was great for Louis because he'd have peace and quiet when he got home, where he could curl up properly to the sounds of Yann Martel's audio version of "Life of Pi", a fine piece of literature. Not some animated crap leaving thousands of people feeling more sufficient having seeing a visual of one of the greatest novels of their generation.

Suddenly, a sweet, chocolatey smell filled the icy air, and Louis could make out a stand in his direct vision, followed by a small head standing behind the counter. He could not tell if it was a girl or boy.

"Well looky what we have here, boys," Stan was the second to take notice. Louis could see the familiar, reckless glint in his eyes, which, unfortunately meant trouble for whatever dunce had come out that day.

"Let's pay 'em a visit." Since he was the leader of their little group, everyone followed. Louis took to putting his book away.

Once they'd made it to where they could get a better peek, Louis could make out a little boy, wrapped up a thick green coat with a visible Christmas hat, his skin resembling the snow and his hat resembling his cheeks. Cute kid, cute kid.

The little boy seemed to be too busy setting up shop to notice the boys' presence as he poured a container of liquid into cups. Stan took advantage of that, quickly, and slammed his hand down onto the counter, making it shake, as well as the little boy.

"Hey kid," he smirked cheekily, eyeing the stand carefully. "What have we got here?"

"Looks like we have us a little hot chocolate stand," Brandon took mock notice, moving to stand by Stan, Michael following right behind.

Louis nearly gave himself a headache with rolling his eyes. Honestly, did they have to be this stupid even when they try to do a simple task like bully a little kid?

The boy smiled nervously. "Y- yes. It is, actually." His voice was quite deep for his size, but his height clearly showed that he was, in fact, a little boy. "W- would you like to b- buy some?"