Caught In The Middle

At the university's main gate, mostly senior students hustled in every direction, backpacks slung over their shoulders, chatting about their final thesis and presentations. Among them, Darcy stood under a tree, scanning the crowd with an expressionless face. Then he spotted him, the silver-haired boy jogged across the stone path, his shirt slightly askew a glint of sweat on his temple. Darcy smiled at the sight of him running toward him. Then the boy suddenly stopped, frozen.

Darcy's smile faltered slightly, and he took a few steps forward. Still no reaction.

"Hey," Darcy called out.

Micah did not even flinch.

Darcy frowned. He leaned in and waved a hand in front of Micah's face. "Earth to Micah, Hello?"

Micah jolted, startled like someone waking from a dream. He snapped toward Darcy with wide, startled eyes.

"Ah, when did you get so close?!"