Just like I had promised, I met Ben at his locker. When I approached locker 112, he was awkwardly standing there, swaying from left to right on his feet. I smile widely as I tap his shoulder. He jumps and snaps his head up at me, horror and sadness swim in his eyes.

I also notice the river of tears flowing down his cheeks.

My reflexes have me pull the crying boy into a tight hug. However, he gasps and starts shaking. I flinch and quickly unwrap my arms from him and step back a little bit, giving him room. He wipes his eyes before speaking.

"Sorry bout that," he sniffles, keeping his head hung low, "I'm fine, don't worry bout me." I sigh. It's pretty damn heartbreaking seeing him like this.

"Alright, but tell me when something's bothering you. To my house, then?" I ask softly. I about had enough of scaring the poor thing for a day, and maybe keeping my voice down and soft will prevent that more. He nods his head eagerly, encouraging me to smile wider. He's actually excited about hanging at my place! My old friends thought it was whatever, but Ben seems eager and looking forward to it. It's kinda cute, actually.

I turn to walk out the building, Ben by my side. We walked to my house in silence, the only sounds heard being Ben's hiccups and quiet sobs. I wanted to hug him so badly, but it's quite obvious that he's not one for hugs at all.

I also can't help but to wonder what's got Ben crying like this. I'll probably just ask him when we get to the house and into my room, where we'll have privacy. 'Cause, you know, my parents tend to eavesdrop. They won't bother when I'm in my room.

We finally get to my house as Ben finally stops crying. I would've told him to stop if he still was, I kinda gotta get him to meet my parents. They won't let him up to my room without them meeting first. Stupid? Yes. Do I have a choice? No. And, I don't think it would be a very good first impression, walking into the house with tears streaming down your face and all.

I pull my key out of my pocket and ham it into the hole (don't get dirty minded now) and unlock the door. I push it open and step to the side, telling Ben to go in first. He hesitates for a moment.

"You alright, mate?" I ask him. He looks up at me for the first time since we left school.

"Yeah, just never been in any house other than my own," he mutters quietly, looking back to the floor.

I smile and motion for him to come in. "You're welcome here, don't worry!"

With that, he hastily walks in. I chuckle at him and step in myself, closing and locking the door behind me.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home! I brought someone with me!" I shout loudly so my parents would hear me from whatever room they're in. My loud shout seemed to scare Ben, seeing that he jumped back a bit and flinched. I sigh sadly at him as I hear footsteps from the kitchen, and in comes a smiling Mom and a bit surprised, yet happy Dad. Is the fact that I brought a friend home the first day of school really that great? Well, come to think about it, it really is.

"Hey, Daniel! How was school?" Dad uses my birth name, even though I specifically asked to be called 'Danny'. I let it slip, even though it irritates me. My mom listened, but my dad obviously didn't care.

"It was fine, I made a new friend here," I turn my head to look at Ben, who was staring at his shoes, and unfortunately had tears slipping from his eyes. He just stopped crying, and he's at it again. Something must really be bothering the poor thing.

"Ah, so Danny made a friend already? Wanna introduce yourself?" Mom asks Ben with a smile. Ben stays silent and barely shakes his head no.

I lean closer to his ear and whisper gently, "you don't have to be afraid of my parents! They'll love you, I swear!"

He takes a deep breath and shakily lets it out. "I-I'm Ben. Danny's b-best friend," he says quietly, but my parents still heard. His stuttering seemed to have returned. Probably because he's talking to someone new. He talks to me without stuttering. The thought made me smile wide. He finally trusts me-

Wait.

I just realized.

Ben said he was my best friend.

Not his friend, but his best friend.

My smile grows even wider, if that was even possible.

"Um, Daniel? Why is your friend crying?" That killed the mood. I glance at Ben again, who was trying to cover his face by allowing his hair to fall over it. I sigh sympathetically, I need to know what's wrong.

"I don't know, I'm gonna take him to my room so we can talk about it, is that okay?" I answer, finishing with a question of my own.

"Yes, and it was nice meeting you, Ben!" Mom says. Ben nods in reply. I lean towards his ear again and whisper, "bout to grab your hand, okay?" I tap his fingers with my own, and he wraps his tiny fingers around my hand. I blush a little as the butterflies in my stomach start fluttering around and hold his hand back. I lead him upstairs and into my room, where I let go of his hand, missing the warmth of it.

"So, what's up, buddy?" I ask him calmly, trying my best not to startle him or anything.

"Uh...c-can I u-use your b-bathroom? Please?" he mutters so quietly, it's barely audible.

"Go ahead. Room right across the hall."

He nods and shuffles quickly out of the room and into the bathroom, locking the door behind himself. Now, I guess I just wait here for Ben to come out so we can hang. But I guess I should also figure out what the hell we're gonna do. Wait a minute, I still gotta talk to him about his crying. You know, why he was crying. I sigh and throw myself onto the floor, basically planking, my face mashed into the carpet.

"Carpet sure is delicious," I mutter sarcastically to myself, feeling the rough texture of my carpet against my tongue. I groan as I roll over. The stupid feeling is still clinging to my tongue! After a few minutes or so, Ben enters the room again. He lays on the floor next to me, gazing up at the ceiling. I suddenly feel the urge to move closer and wrap my arms around him, but we all know what happens when someone touches him, so that's out of the question. That urge was weird, yes, I know. But I can't help that my crush on him is huge. This damn crush will be the end of me…

Danny, aren't you forgetting something?

Yeah, Danny! Thanks for reminding me!

Great, now I'm mentally talking to myself.

"Benji? Wanna tell me why you were crying?" I ask him softly, gaining his attention. He turns his head to the right to look at me, he wore an amused expression.

"Did you call me 'Benji'?" he asks. I blush once again and nod.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Nah, I kinda like it." I smile. He likes my nickname for him. I feel really special now!

"Good, 'cause I want to call you that. No one else is allowed to call you that, alright?" I chuckle a bit, "It's my nickname for you."

"Who else is here to call me 'Benji'?" he asks me softly. I sigh sadly. The words repeat themselves in my mind, reminding me of earlier that day.

'Thank you for working with Mr. Bruce! I think he needed a friend.'

I'm his only friend. That's gotta change.

Back on topic.

"Benji, why were you crying? Please tell me," I try again. He sighs as he rubs his stomach.

"It's nothing," he murmured, lowering his head to avoid eye contact. I tilt his head up with my fingers, forcing him to make eye contact again. I stare into his sad, gorgeous blue eyes. He stares back into my own.

"Tell me the truth," I beg calmly, wanting him to talk, "I won't judge you. I promise."

"It's just...it's- um…"

"Ben," I say a bit sternly, impatiently. "What's wrong, Ben? I want to help you."

He stays silent, gazing into my eyes. He finally opens his mouth to speak. "Don't let him know you heard it from me, okay? It'll make it worse."

As his words sink in, I seemed to glare at nothing in particular, anger radiating out of me like a lightbulb. Someone hurting my Benji? Oh boy, this cunt's about to get his ass beat!

But Ben doesn't want me to let him find out that he told me.

Who is this fucking douche anyway?

"Who, Benji?" I ask him. He opens his mouth to answer, but my mother's voice stops him.

"Danny! You and your friend may come down to eat if you'd like!" Mom shouts from the kitchen downstairs.

I smile and sit up, leaving Ben laying on the floor alone. I turn to him with a smile and pull him up into a sitting position by the collar. Yes, it freaked him out a bit. I apologize as I stand up, pulling him up with me.

"You wanna go down and eat?" I ask him as I finally let go of the poor thing's collar.

"No, thank you," he answers quickly, shifting his gaze to the floor once again. I roll my eyes.

"Come on, Benji! My mom makes some good food! Plus, you've barely eaten today, have you?"

He rocks back and forth on his feet shyly, keeping his gaze on the floor. "I've eaten plenty," he says very quietly. I step closer to him, he looks up at me.

"What have you eaten, Benji?" I smile down at him. He'll probably feel more comfortable talking to a happy Danny, what'cha think? He lets his eyes wander.

"A few crackers, a few grapes, half of that granola bar, and uh…" He starts fidgeting. He backs up to the bed and sits on it, gazing down at his lap.

"Did you eat anything else, Benji? Is that really all you ate?" I ask sternly as I sit next to him on the bed. I stare at him, wanting an answer.

"Yeah, I just have bad memory," he says, glancing up at me before looking back at his lap, "I ate so much today, I can't remember everything."

I nod my head. Makes sense to me.

"So, you just too full to eat, huh?" I chuckle at him, standing up. He nods, looking up at me. My stomach growls, telling me to take my ass downstairs and eat some fucking dinner. "Well, I'm about to eat. You may come if you want. I'll be back up as soon as I'm done eating, okay?" I ask him, who only nods in response and lays back on the bed.

I walk into the kitchen where my parents were already eating. They look up at me when they hear me enter the room.

"Where's your friend?" Dad asks as he shoves another fry into his mouth. Mom asks the same question with looks, if that makes sense.

"Oh, Ben? He's not hungry," I reply as I sit at the table where my plate of fries and a burger sits. That's when I realize that we're having McDonald's. It will never compare to my mom's cooking, that's for sure.

"Oh, well if he gets hungry, we still have some left over!" Mom smiles warmly as she takes a bite out of her burger. I nod in response and wolf down my food, eager to get back upstairs to Ben. I finish my food in a couple minutes and run upstairs to my room again.

I still have my cheeks full like a hamster collecting food in it's jaws when I step into the room. Ben glances up at me. He arches an eyebrow when he sees my mouth.

"Uh...Danny?"

"Yeah, Benny-boy?" I reply when I gulp the food down in painfully large amounts. He doesn't say anything, just amusingly shakes his head. "What?"

"You looked like a chipmunk," he says. That's the loudest I've ever heard him speak! It was still quiet, but not was quiet as he usually is. It makes me smile. We'll be extremely close friends before we know it! I walk over to the bed he was chilling on and push him over a bit so I could sit too. He freaks out a bit and whines when I do so. I apologize for hurting him as I slide on the bed next to him. We sit in a comfortable silence, probably for a few hours or so. Come to think about it, it was kinda awkward. I invited my friend over and didn't even know what we would do. Ben must've been thinking the same,

"Uh...what are we supposed to do?" he asks, looking over to me. I turn my head to the right and gaze at his face. I haven't seen this beautiful face smile yet. Without thinking, I push aside his unanswered question with my own,

"Why don't you smile?"

He stares at me for a while, before turning his head to look at the wall in front of him.

"That doesn't really matter right now."