Chapter Text
Micah was not avoiding Michelle.
It's not his fault that he just happens to get a mission alert, or a message from Shiloh about something important she figured out, or that Josiah drags him away to help with whatever he's working on whenever she tried to interact with him this past week. Just a coincidence. Totally not planned.
Okay, fine. He was avoiding Michelle. But he had a good reason.
Since the last mission where they had to spend a few nights in the forest, he's felt... Weird around her. He'd get really nervous and sputter about something stupid and just generally embarrassing.
He felt really guilty about it too. The feelings of nervousness and guilt gnawed away at him constantly. In meetings where he'd meet her eye and quickly look away, in group settings where he purposefully chose not to reply to her inquiries, and during night as he lay awake in bed, thinking about long curly hair and Big, sharp, green eyes.
Despite his best efforts, the fact that he's been avoiding her has been really obvious. He's gotten a ton of glares and snaps in passing from Patience, Shiloh and Josiah gave him suspicious looks when he sputtered an excuse about how he needed to help Talia with a mission when she started approaching them, and Judah and Alex have been giving him pitiful looks when they think he's not looking.
All of the guilt has been eating him alive, Which is why he finds himself cornered by Judah and Shiloh on a random Tuesday afternoon.
"Okay," Shiloh sighed as she dragged him into a secluded lab, "what is up with you and Michelle?" Judah trailed behind her checking to make sure no ones around.
Micah could only groan in response. "Can we not do this, please?" He begged, folding in the chair he was sitting in.
"Did you two argue?" Shiloh pressed, Uncaring of his already debilitating emotional stability.
"Did you piss her off again?" Judah called out from near the door, munching on a packet of chips.
"No!" He snapped. "Maybe? I just- I don't even know...." He trailed off, sighing as he put his head in his hands.
Shiloh and Judah fell quiet. After a moment he felt hands on his shoulders. He looked up at Shiloh and Judah as they crowded him near the chair, their expressions much more open, bag of chips and irritation forgotten.
"Dude, what happened?" Judah asked softly.
Micah looked at the floor dejectedly. "I've... Felt weird. These days. Michelle's presence isn't the same as it used to be." He mumbled.
Shiloh pursed her lips. "And how is it different?" She asked, rubbing her hands at his shoulders in an attempt at comfort.
"I don't know. Ever since the forest mission, I've been really nervous around her. My heart starts beating really fast and I feel warm. I think I'm experiencing anxiety attacks. Am I sick? I think I'm sick" He rambled, fidgeting with the sleeves of his coat.
Above him, Judah and Shiloh shared a look.
"So... That's the reason you've been avoiding her?" Judah ventured. "Just because you've been feeling differently around her?"
"Well when you word it like that it makes me sound like a douchebag." He frowned. At the collective deadpan look Judah and Shiloh gave him he just covered his eyes again. "Yeah, okay you're right." He sighed.
"I know she's really pissed at me, I just don't know what to do. I panic everytime I'm around her. I didn't mean to screw up our friendship." He justified.
Shiloh winced at the word "friendship". She shared another weighted look with Judah, they seemed to have a silent argument, with Shiloh expectedly coming out on top.
"Micah," Judah began "how would you feel if Shiloh said that she felt the same stuff you are around a boy?"
Micah knitted his eyebrows. "Well, I'd probably think she was in love with him or someth- Oh."
Oh.
Oh.
He was in love with Michelle.
Vicious, sweet Michelle, who was quick to anger, but slow in her care. The one who helped him back up when he was down, the one who worried for him when he had to do something risky, the one who defended him when he couldn't stand up for himself.
Michelle, who met his gaze unflinchingly, her green eyes sharp with unsaid emotions he now understood. Who spoke with conviction without a care of what others would think, who stood up for the people she could help and what was right.
The Michelle who he's been avoiding for the past week. The Michelle who probably hates him for his shitty behavior towards him.
It took a lot of composure on his part not to jump out of the window after that realization.
He looked up at Shiloh and Judah, who were biting back smirks, the jerks.
"I'm in love with Michelle." He declared, a startled expression on his face.
Judah whooped while Shiloh rolled her eyes good naturedly. " About time." She smiled.
"And I've been being a jerk to to her the past week." He groaned, hitting his head against the desk. Shiloh patted his back awkwardly.
"Well look at the bright side!" Judah exclaimed. "Atleast you realised it sooner rather then later. I don't know how much more of the slow burn I could have took." He remarked.
"You still lost the bet though." Shiloh pointed out.
"That's only because I had no hope these two would get their act together anytime soon." Judah waved his hand dismissively.
Micah stared at them incredously. "You guys bet on my love life?" He questioned.
Shiloh and Judah froze, then they looked at each other. "On three?" Judah asked. Then they ran.
Micah felt a giggle bubble out of him as he chased after them, his heart a little lighter.