THE VILLAGE was quaint to say the least. Large pavestones led up to small shops with bright paint splashed signs. It smelt vaguely of fresh fish and mossy sticks, Noel wasn't entirely sure whether the smell was pleasant or not. "This is where you grew up?"

"Yep, home sweet home." Myron, however, seemed to be in his element, there was a strange jaunt to his steps as he walked. "That's Rudolph's butcher shop! And the florist shop! They had the best flowers, oh and the café...the food was shit but the guy who owned it, Nicholas, he was a super nice guy, oh and the bookstore, they had a library at the back and on Saturdays they'd show movies for free and me and my friends would go and buy sweets from the grocery store. The grocery store is where we're going next."

As they both entered the store it let out a cute twinkle. "It's mainly just vegetables." Myron hadn't stopped talking since they got to the village, but Noel revelled in his chatter, he couldn't get bored of Myron talking if he tried.

The shop was small, so slipping the items into the basket was quick and easy, Myron had even put in two ice creams in the basket before they arrived at the counter. The girl standing behind the counter wasn't one Myron recognized, her face was deathly pale and she had smeared on an abundance of black smudged eyeliner and black crackly lipstick. She looked up from her phone to see Myron standing there with a small smile on his face. "Did you just move here recently?"

Her face turned an unflattering shade of pink at Myron's words, she chewed at her lip absentmindedly as she answered. "I moved here this summer."

"How are you finding it?"

"Boring as fuck, I came from freaking New York to this middle of nowhere forest. I want to go back so bad."

"Trust me you can find beauty in everything. Wood Acre is one of my favourite places, I grew up here."

"Maybe I can find beauty in-" before the girl could continue speaking Noel joined Myron's side, having been eyeing a few glossy paged cartoon magazines before. Myron saw the girl's eyes falter and her face twist into badly disguised disgust. He looked over to survey Noel's blank expression, he stood there unblinking, as if he was used to it. It left Myron feeling cold.

"You know we have some acne products in the back if you want to buy some." Despite the on-the-surface helpful advice her tone was snarky, her nose wrinkling at Noel's face. The pale girl directed her attention back on to the tall handsome racially ambiguous boy who was clutching onto the basket tightly.

"Are you kidding me?" Noel didn't expect Myron to speak, his harsh tone was grating to his ears.

"I'm just being helpful."

"No your not, you're just being judgmental."

"I just directed him towards the acne products at the back, it's obvious he needs it."

"And it's obvious we didn't ask for your fucking input."

"Don't get all pissy, you can't tell me that his face doesn't bother you, it's disgusting."

Out of impulse Myron grabbed onto Noel's hand, squeezing it tightly, as he spoke he didn't let go of Noel's hand. "No, he's not the one that's disgusting. You are. You can find beauty in everything and I find beauty in Noel, you however, I'm not so sure." Myron then dumped a ten dollar note on the counter and grabbed the basket filled with vegetables and slipped them into a carrier bag, before hauling Noel out the shop in a fury.

"I can't believe her! Who does she think she is? Somebody just wants to buy some groceries and you have to harass them, what does she possibly hope to gain from causing misery in others? People like that are sad, sad human beings."

"Myron, its okay."

"No, it's not okay! How do you put up with that? She was absolutely-"

"It's okay."

"No, she was totally-"

"Listen, I'm not going to lie and say stuff like that doesn't bother me, but it's okay now, because I only care about the people that matter to me, and that girl, she doesn't matter to me, you do."

Myron hand still gripped Noel's, yet the ferocious hold lessened, he felt his heart start beating faster that it felt as if his head was burning from the inside out, it was a pleasant type of pain, as it hurt in a strangely good way.

"You know you're my best friend right Noel?"

"But Dylan-"

"Is my childhood friend, it's different."

"I thought you were my soulmate." Noel let out jokingly and for some reason they both burst into a series of uncontrollable laughter, after a few minutes their laughter died down and Myron crept towards Noel's ear, his fingers still clutching the plastic bag of vegetables.

"You matter to me too."

_______________

Both boys had dumped the bag of vegetables back at Esmeralda's house before heading out once more.

"We have to make the most of Wood Acre, there's still so much you haven't seen Noel...honestly I don't think I've seen everything." Noel had followed Myron quietly through the woodland before they both arrived at an intricate woven treehouse.

"I can't believe it's still here..." Myron had whispered so quietly, his words were almost caught in the breeze surrounding them.

Myron first began climbing the rickety ladder, followed by an apprehensive Noel, the ladder was rough and scratched against Noel's pale skin that Noel felt slightly relived once they both laid splayed out on the wooden floor.

"There used to be loads of pictures plastered on these walls."

"Of what?"

"Whatever was the latest fad, superheroes, ninjas, dragon ball z."

"Can we not talk about that show-"

"What, dragon ball z?"

"Yeah, let's not, your awakening my terrible middle school phase."

"What were you like in middle school?" Myron had now turned to face Noel, his stark eyes eliciting a blush to creep into Myron's cheeks, he tried to avert his own eyes to Noel's hair, yet this just made him want to run his hands through it.

"Um, I was terribly geeky, but happy, I was really happy."

"How are you feeling now?"

"Really happy." Noel let a large smile curl through his lips as he said this, for some reason he leaned closer to Myron, so close he was sure he could count each of his unruly eyebrow hairs and see the small mole on his left cheek.

"Where are you from?"

"Wha-"

"I always thought you were white, but looking at you closer you don't seem white."

"I'm half Japanese."

"What! I didn't know this!"

"Are you sure, I thought everyone knew."

"Hey, I just realized, mixed race gang."

"Shut up."

A sputter of laughter broke through them. Noel didn't know the best way to describe laughing with Myron, it was like drinking hot cocoa on a long, cold, hard day, your feet curled up on a sofa and the hot drink warming your insides and reminding you, it's okay. Your okay. It's always going to be okay.

Then Myron's phone began to ring, disrupting their laughter to an abrupt halt. "I forgot to tell you, the treehouse is the only place where there's reception, that and the village."

Noel nodded absentmindedly, but his mind was on the phone call and who Myron was talking too. "Cheryl? Why are you calling me? You want to what? Slow down, you're not making any sense? Um, I can't, I'm not in town at the moment...I'll talk to you later, okay bye."

"That was Cheryl." Noel's tone came out blunt and forced, his words pricking and stabbing viciously at his throat.

"Yeah.."

"What did she want?"

"She wasn't making a lot of sense to be honest, her words were all jumbled and-"

"What did she want."

"To get back together. She wanted to get back together."

"Oh."

"But she sounded hysterical, I think something might be wrong-"

"Do you want to get back together with her."

"N-n-no." But Noel caught the stammering between his lips, which resulted in Noel curling his hands up into fists.

"Are you mad?" Myron asked tentatively, yet he could feel venom starting to pile in his throat. "Why are you mad?"

"I'M NOT MAD." Noel hadn't meant to shout, yet he did anyway, and the lasting effect of his words reverberated around his brain in a sickening loop.

Myron reached over and grasped Noel's wrist in an attempt to calm him down, yet Noel pulled his hand away fiercely, his lips trembling. "Don't touch me okay, I just, I don't want it."

"I don't understand Noel."

"I don't understand either! Okay, I need space, y-y-you, you can go and be with Cheryl and carry on living your life and doing whatever it is, I'm just going to go." Noel's words came out incoherent and jumbled, his vision watery and blurred. He stumbled off the wooden ladder, ignoring the burning chafe in his hands and Myron's twisted expression.

The thing about hot cocoa is, once you've drank it, it's gone and the feeling you had with it is trapped in that moment, because tomorrow you're still going to have to wake up and go through a long hard day all over again, no matter how sweet the cocoa is. It can't always be okay.