𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐲 | 𝐦. 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐨𝐧

thirteen.

at school the next day, he found himself looking for you as soon as he stepped through the front doors. he wanted everything to go back to how they were before. sitting quietly with you at lunch, exchanging glances as you passed each other in the halls, escorting you to your classes, working with each other in history class when the chance presented itself, and walking home with you. everything. he hated that he ever avoided you but he was glad that you didn’t resent him when he came back to you. he wanted to make it up to you so he did just that. he spent as much time with you as possible at school and saw you each chance he got. he walked with you to your classes, walked with you in the mornings, sat and talked with you during lunch. he even went as far as walking you all the way home. you liked the effort he was putting in to make it up to you. you just assumed things would go back to normal later on but no matter what, you appreciated what michael was doing. 

on thursday and friday, as well as the entirety of the following week, he did a little more than usual to even out the score. you were always doing the most for him so he just returned the favor. like a normal friend would. he was really doing his best. despite it being out of his comfort zone, as he walked you home the next week on friday he asked if you would want to go out and see a movie with him. he figured that would be a better option over anything else since no one would find you two in a theater. neither of you would have to worry about ricky coming along to ruin everything again. you easily said yes and michael gave you the sweetest smile. he just nodded, looking down at the sidewalk and ultimately unable to wipe the smile off his face. 

“what do you plan on taking me to see?” you asked, pulling him out of his smiley and giddy state. you mirrored the smile that seemed to be glued to his face and tilted your head as you awaited a response. 

“i’m actually not sure,” he admitted sheepishly. he wasn’t very great at planning these things out. he just shrugged a bit. “i guess we’ll see when we get there. just whatever is playing. we can go out and get snacks before the movie and sneak them into the theater so we dont have to pay for their overpriced candy,” he said and chuckled softly. he knew he would have to look for whatever money he had hidden around and hope it would be enough.

“i don’t want to watch a scary movie,” you stated very bluntly, your expression falling flat. you knew you would be scared out of your wits if you watched a horror movie with him and he would tease you beyond all reason. you would embarrass yourself.

“why not? you scared?” he scrunched up his face as his tone mocked you. “a big, strong person like you is scared of horror movies? i expected more from you,” he teased further and clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“i know, hilarious right?” you said and scoffed as you rolled your eyes. “i’m not scared, dummy. i just know you’re gonna tease me about it if i get scared at all. you wouldn’t let me live it down,” you said and let out an over dramatic sigh. 

“i wouldn’t tease you that much,” he said defensively and stuck his tongue out at you. “but fine, no horror movies since you’re so lame. we’ll find something else to watch. as i said, we’ll see when we get there,” he said, dragging out the last word as the two of you stopped outside your house.

“this is where we part ways,” you said and looked up at him. his smile fell and his expression returned back to his usual, blank look. “don’t miss me too much. i’ll see you again later tonight,” you said, your gaze falling to look at the bruises that were fading on his arms. they had gone from deep purples to yellowish browns in the past week. you were glad they were healing up nicely and weren’t giving him problems. you were saddened that the bandaids you had given him were discarded but you were glad you helped him.

“i’ll do my best, but i might just cry while we’re apart,” he said, sniffling and moving a hand to trace the trail of a tear down his cheek. you rolled your eyes in response, shaking your head and laughing quietly after. you said a quick goodbye and he told you he would pick you up in a couple hours. you got up on your tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his cheek. a quick, friendly peck before turning away and walking up to your front door. you heard michael mumble a quiet goodbye as he lifted a hand and gently pressed his fingertips against where you had just kissed him. he was too easy to fluster. it was the cutest thing about him.