Chapter Text
Mike felt the warm beams of the radiant sunlight shining through the splintered blinds covering his bedroom's window. He squeezed his eyes shut as they shined onto his face, moving his hand to rest over top of his eyes for a moment to block the bright light. His hand shifted downwards to pinch the bridge of his nose while he stirred, gradually waking himself up. The silence filling the room was quite peaceful, occasionally interrupted by a bird’s song. Groaning, he pushed himself upright, the sheets folding beneath the movements. He sat for a moment, clearly dissatisfied that he had to be awake, but knew he had to get up eventually. After all, he had very important plans today.
A few months prior, Mike had taken Abby to get breakfast at Sparky's Diner — a small family business he heard about in passing — as a little treat. The food was great, just as he had heard — they had some waffles, bacon, eggs, an ordinary breakfast, which they had both scarfed down and scraped their plates clean — but it was the service, or rather, the server that he had really taken notice of. He just couldn't keep his eyes off of their waiter no matter how hard he tried. He had some sort of allure to him, the way he spoke with such energy and livelihood opposed Mike's reserved and ordinary nature. Almost exactly opposite, but in a way that made him interesting.
After one too many wide-eyed, mouth-agape, and red-faced glances at the server — who, according to his nametag, was Ness — the man had taken notice, smiling at Mike and giving him a seemingly knowing look before tapping his pen on the table and walking off for a moment. Ness returned, bringing his card back and setting it onto the table with a small click. After saying his ordinary goodbyes that he gives all of the customers, he lingered for a moment, scribbling something on one of his notepad papers and glancing at Mike every few seconds, just to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere. He tore out the slip of paper, folding it a few times before laying it onto the table and walking away, looking back to shoot a warm smile at Mike.
Mike looked back and forth between the strange paper and Ness, reaching across the table and grabbing it. As he unfolded it, the ten digits were revealed on the paper — a phone number. He sat there, a bit stunned, carefully analyzing its contents to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Abby had stood up and was waiting on him to come back down to Earth. "Hey, Mike? … Mike!" she waved a hand between the paper and his face, trying to get his attention.
"...H-Huh?" Mike said, snapping out of his daze and turning towards Abby, paper turned from her prying eyes. He had been so focused on the slip of paper that he hadn't even noticed her trying to get his attention.
"What's the paper say?" Abby smiled and tilted her head, clearly eager to know. "Tell me, tell me! C'mon!" She grabbed onto Mike and leaned closer, crawling towards him in the booth, trying to pull his arms down lower so she could see the note as well. He pulled away from Abby’s probing fingers, resisting her tug on his sleeves.
"I'll tell you when we get in the car, Abby," Mike muttered, somewhat irritated, glancing around and pushing her away from himself. He stood up, along with Abby, gathering himself. As he turned to leave, his eyes had landed on Ness again. His gaze lingered on the waiter for a moment, analyzing each of his features he had taken notice of previously: his styled hair, his beaming smile — hell, even the way his uniform draped over his broad shoulders. When the waiter turned to head back towards the other tables he was waiting, Mike frantically looked away.
In his panic, Mike pushed Abby out of the door, the bell attached to it ringing over top of her protests and huffs. He pushed her onward until he reached the car, sighing heavily. He leaned his back up against it, shutting his eyes for a moment and replaying Ness turning in his head. He thought to himself about how humiliated he was for staring before turning around to get into the car.
Both Mike and Abby stepped into his busted-up vehicle, shutting the door behind them and sitting on the torn cushions beneath them. After a few moments of silence, Abby began asking a million questions a minute, prying about the note, Mike's frantic behavior, and the rush out of the restaurant.
“Look, Abby, it’s nothing—” Mike began, before being interrupted by the curious girl.
“Is that why you were staring at him all funny?” Abby giggled. “Your face was all red, Mike! You should’ve seen it!” she teased him, tickled pink with her own jokes.
"...What?" Mike looked away from Abby's stare as she continued to laugh. "Whatever you're thinking, it's not true." He spun around, facing the wheel, and let out a sigh. He knew she had put the pieces together — she was very smart, after all — but refused to accept it. He turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of the parking lot.
Later that week, Mike had decided to call the number Ness had given him after he had put Abby to sleep — the last thing he needed right now was her questions and curiosity. He fiddled with the phone wire in between his index and thumb nervously as the phone rang in his ears. He heard the line pick up, startling him out of his zoned-out state.
"Hey, Ness speaking!" The man on the other line answered enthusiastically. Mike took notice of the way his lively spirit persisted, even outside of his work environment, finding it charming.
"Um... Hey, Ness. It's Mike— the one you gave your, um… number to at Sparky's?" He clarified, stumbling over his words a bit. He couldn't help but be anxious about how this call would go, no matter how many times he had run it through his head.
"Mike!" Ness exclaimed cheerfully. Mike was surprised he had worked up the courage to even call, considering how anxious he was about these things. "What's up, how are you?" You could hear his smile through his voice.
"Oh, um, I'm good, how're you?" Mike muttered, hearing the shuffling of feet next to him. He glanced over, seeing Abby up out of bed and peeking around the corner. He looked at her with a furrowed brow as she giggled.
"Great!" Ness paused for a few moments. The silence felt deafening, despite it only lasting a handful of seconds. "...I was just wondering, would you like to go out sometime? Just get to know each other better, y'know?" Mike had also picked up on how confidently he spoke, finding that charming as well.
"Y-Yeah!" Mike cheesed, before clearing his throat awkwardly, noticing his silence. "Yeah, that'd be great."