Jonah's day was going really well.

        Was is the keyword.

        He got a B+ on his US History exam, which was definitely something to celebrate, and he'd gotten through an entire school day without being shoved against a locker, tripped by a random foot mysteriously popping out in the hallway from the sea of students, and most importantly, without getting iced coffee poured on his head.

        Again.

        But what really made it great was that Nicky had been at Happy's since his school got out keeping Jonah company. They'd been giving Priya a taste of her own medicine, boring her with exceptionally long rants about their lives. Well, it was mostly Jonah, but Nicky didn't seem to mind. He listened intently, his chin wresting on his hand as he stared at Jonah with twinkling eyes.

        This was odd. Jonah didn't like to talk about himself, but he was alright with it when it meant he got to have Nicky's attention all to himself.

        But then, Nicky's eyes shot to the door when it opened with a little jingle, and Jonah kind of wanted to kick the guy standing by the open door in the face.

        Until he realized the guy at the door was none other than Drew Max and his posse of idiots.

        He cursed under his breath, as did Priya, who was spacing out Jonah style until Drew entered the building. "I can't do this right now," he whispered, mostly to himself. "I've got practice in an hour."

        Priya cracked her knuckles with a grimace. "I got this," she told the boys, but before she could pop up from where they were crouching in their hideout, Nicky put a hand on her shoulder and kept her down.

        "That's a bad idea."

        "I can and will kick his ass, Nicky."

        Nicky cocked an eyebrow. "I know you can, but should you?"

        She rolled her eyes and squeezed herself back into her little corner of the hideout. "Then what are we gonna do?" She hissed.

        Jonah looked over at Nicky, who looked awfully heroic as he grabbed a dirty green apron from where they hung below the counter, waiting for their owner to tie them on, and threw it over his sweatshirt with a smirk. "I got this."

        "No," Jonah whispered with a shake of his head. "This isn't your problem."

        "When someone fucks with my friends, it's my problem," he said, shooting Jonah a small smile.

        "Hello!" Drew shouted from above them, giving a little knock to the counter right above their heads. "Anyone home?"

        Nicky stood up wearing a scowl, like the little grin Jonah saw never even happened. "Hi. Welcome to Happy's. What do you want?" he deadpanned.

        Jonah heard someone let out a familiar, nasally snicker, which he knew all too well from the many nasty jokes made at his expense on and off the ice. "Is that how you treat customers at this place?" Drew questioned.

        "Yep," Nicky replied. Jonah could practically hear his tight lipped smile. "Now what do you-"

        "I know you, kid," Drew snapped, his sudden change in demeanor causing Jonah to flinch. On the other side of Nicky's legs, Priya jumped as well, which made Jonah angry. "You're the little shit with the freckles who destroyed my relationship."

        Nicky shook his head. "That wasn't me. Must've been my identical twin, Nicky. I'm..." he trailed off, looking down at his name tag, "I'm Dora?" he said, almost like a question.

        oops

        "Dora? That's what you're going with?"

        "...Yes."

        "He's not lying, bro," Logan whispered, smacking his friend on the arm. "My cousin's a dude and his name is Dora. It's short for something."

        Jonah wasn't the smartest guy in the world, but sometimes, those idiots made him feel like Albert freaking Einstein.

        "Anyone else working today?" Erik asked.

        "Nope," Nicky said, "sorry."

        "You sure? We have a friend that works here. We just wanted to visit," another one said. The word friend made Jonah hopeful for the smallest fraction of a second, until the other guys burst into a fit of mocking laughter that hurt his ears and made his hands itch.

        But then he felt a weight on his shoulder, and looked up to find Nicky subtly placing his hand on Jonah to the best of his ability. For some reason, it made him feel a lot less itchy and a lot more warm. He smiled up at Nicky, who pressed his fingers into Jonah's skin through his ugly green work polo, just enough to let Jonah know that he was there, and he wasn't going anywhere.

        "If you're not gonna buy anything, you gotta go. My manager is kind of a dick about that," he told the group of guys.

        Jonah only popped his head up over the counter when he was positive Drew and his pack had shuffled out the door and back into the cold. He sighed, running a hand through his shaggy curls as he sagged back down onto the floor. "Thanks, Nicky."

        Nicky shrugged before plopping back down in front of Jonah, their knees touching. "It's nothing. I had to make it up to you for the Subway thing anyway."

        "I can stand up for myself, you know," Jonah told him. He wasn't ungrateful Nicky was there when he needed him, he just needed Nicky to know he was strong.

        Nicky nodded. "I know, Jo. You could kick those guys' asses if you really wanted to."

        "I'm too nice for that, though, right?"

        "Right," Nicky replied, a teeny smile playing at his lips.

        Jonah thought that Nicky had nice lips. They were a rosy pink— the same color that would appear on his cheeks sometimes when he came in from the cold— and unlike the rest of Nicky's face, they were free of any freckles. That part wasn't necessarily good or bad, because Jonah never stopped thinking about Nicky's little dots and how much he wanted to sit down in front of him and count them all, but he also thought Nicky's lips looked softer without any freckles.

        Priya cleared her throat and both boys turned to look at her standing over them, her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.

        "Oh yeah," Nicky mumbled. "Are you alright, Pri?"

        "I am. Thanks for breaking your staring contest to ask," she remarked, shooting Nicky a funny look he returned with a glare so icy it sent goosebumps down Jonah's arms.

        Even though she said she was alright, Jonah thought otherwise. Sure, social cues were definitely not his cup of tea, but he saw the way her bubblegum pink nails were pressing into her arm, making crescent moon indents in her dark skin.

        He couldn't help but feel like it was all his fault. Drew and Priya would've stayed together a lot longer and Nicky wouldn't have a target on his back if Jonah didn't exist. He thought about that for a second. Not existing. He was sending himself into a meltdown— one of the times where he fell into a nightmare, even though he was wide awake.

        A life without Jonah Moshe would surely be a dream to his friends, though.

        He only snapped out of it when he felt a hand on his ant-covered leg and whipped his head up to find Priya crouching down next to Nicky, concern on both their faces.

        "Jo?" Nicky asked, tentatively.

        "I'm sorry," Jonah blurted out.

        Nicky and Priya exchanged a look. "For what?"

        "I don't know..." Jonah trailed off, struggling to find a word that could capture everything he was sorry for. Sorry for his existence? Sorry for his personality that seemed to be getting him in a lot of trouble? Sorry for getting close to them, so close that they felt the need to help him? He didn't know. All he knew was that he was sorry.

"I'm sorry for everything. For me," he finally decided on.

        Nicky gave him a lopsided smile, which sort of made Jonah happy, despite the circumstances. "Don't be."

        "I am."

        Nicky bit his lip and stared at Jonah, his eyes darting all around. Jonah sat there, waiting. He wondered if Nicky liked his lips too. "This is gonna sound weird, alright?" Nicky finally said as his eyes landed on Jonah's. Jonah nodded, looking down at his shoes, so Nicky took a deep breath and continued. "You're kind of the best thing that's happened to me in a long time."

        Jonah furrowed his brows and looked over at Priya, who looked like she was trying to hold back a smile as she waited for Nicky to go on. Not one of her normal snarky ones, though. An encouraging, proud smile. "Are you sure?" Jonah asked.

        "Yeah, Jo. Before you, I didn't have anyone. I would go to school, come home, take care of the little guys, and then repeat. That was my life. But I met you and now... I'm doing things. I'm going ice skating and dancing to Bob Dylan and hanging out in forts in convenience stores, and that's all thanks to you," he explained.

        Jonah didn't know what to say. Was Nicky messing with him? He searched his face for any sort of indication of a joke, but he found nothing. He stayed silent, waiting for the punchline.

        Nicky looked at his criss-crossed knees, which were bouncing up and down like crazy. "I don't have friends. Well- I didn't have friends. Not before you guys."

        "...Why? Are the people at your school like the people at mine?" Jonah asked.

        Nicky shook his head. "No. I mean, they're not great from what I've seen, but I sort of chose to be alone. Being around other people makes me feel like I'm stuck in a box, y'know? It's like I'm claustrophobic, but with people," he tried to explain.

        Claustrophobia with people? Jonah'd never felt that. He'd always been told he was pretty social for someone on the spectrum, even if it never seemed to work out in his favor. Still, even though he was picked on, never once did he feel like he was trapped when he spoke to someone genuinely kind. He loved meeting new people, because each person was like a fresh start.

        Although he always managed to fuck it up, didn't he?

        "My point," Nicky said, "is that you shouldn't be sorry. You do nothing but good and I want you to know that."

        Well, now, maybe he didn't fuck it up.

        Maybe it wasn't him. He sure seemed to be the problem, but Nicky was looking at him with furrowed brows and determined eyes, and Jonah could see he meant it.

        Even though there was still a little part of him warning him to be cautious and stop trusting Nicky, he shook it out of his head, along with the ants crawling all over him, and threw his arms around Nicky. He squeezed him as tight as he could and buried his head into the crook of his neck before whispering, "thank you."

        Nicky froze on impact, which was exactly what Jonah expected. After a few seconds, though, he wrapped his arms around Jonah and squeezed him back. He felt Priya place her hand lightly on his back as hot tears welled up in his eyes.

        He needed that. So bad.

———————

Hiiiiiiiii

So... sorry it's been like fifteen years since I last updated. It was finals, but it just ended, so I'll be back to uploading!! Yay!!

I had some severe writer's block for this chapter, but I think it turned out ok. Nicky's turning into a little softie :)))) What do you guys think?

Thanks for reading!! Happy holidays ahhh it's almost Christmas and Hanukkah and other holidays as well woooooo!!

~Teddy