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Bugs would like to claim the title of Wile’s Best Friend. He had known the guy since that day on the playground when he was in Pre-K; the older was building something as he came up to him. He remember bugging the First Grader at the time with questions such as:
“What’cha building?”
“What does this thingy do?”
“What is that thingy?”
He remembered Wile turning to him to tell him to shut up before a spring popped and had a nut hit Wile on the side of the face. He started laughing at the other’s misfortune, before hearing the sniffles coming from him. He panicked, offering his baby carrots if Wile stopped crying. The other boy snapped that he in fact wasn’t crying and that something dusty got in his eyes, but he took the offered baby carrots anyways. And from that day on the two were stuck together like glue.
(Wile would argue that Bug just followed him everywhere after that and he got tired of trying to get the annoying bastard to leave him alone, but Bug would like to say otherwise.)
Bugs would like to claim he knew Wile like the back of his hands. Like how the inventor liked his coffee pure black with no creamer, or how his favorite color was blue even when he said having a favorite color was “childish”, or that he can dance even though he tells people that he can’t.
But that would make Bugs a lair, because Benjamin “Bugs” Burnet didn’t know everything there was to know about Wile E. Coyote. He didn’t know why the older stopped talking after elementary school, or why he stopped going outside as often with him after middle school, or why he went radio silent after high school for a few years.
He never asked pass the question “What happened?” which always got him the answer of >Nothing< and they leave it at that.
It was easier this way he claimed, that this way he can still be around Wile without needing to change anything from their dynamic. It wasn’t like Wile couldn’t communicate with him anymore, he could use sign language. They can still have their bickering bit they had since they met. Nothing had changed.
But Bugs wasn’t a liar. He noticed how Wile would hole himself in his house more than before, or how his eye bags got deeper, or how scars would pop on his skin more. Something has changed. But, Bugs was a coward, and like always said nothing.
Then one day, when he was still half asleep, he got a text from Wile.
>My house, now.
Not to say I won’t come, but what with the urgency my dear Wiley?<
>NOW.
Sheesh, talk about a tough crowd. He got dressed and made his way towards Wile’s house. Not without getting coffee for the both of them. When he got to the door, he was swiped in before he could do anything else.
“Seesh Wile, if I knew you miss me that much I would have come by a lot sooner!” He joked, but was quietly silenced at the flurry of signs Wile was throwing his way. “Woah there doc, slow down, I can’t read that fast.”
Wile rolled his eyes, as he signed a few key words.
>New person. Runner. Seen him?<
“Roy? Yeah, I met him, what about him?”
Bugs only got another flurry of signs but picked up on key ones like “Annoying”, “Brat”, and “Pain in the-”
“Woah there doc, don’t be using that one in front of Granny,” he laughed. “Espically in front of her grandchildren.”
Wile huffed, as he rolled his eyes. Bugs laughed some more at that. He stayed there for the whole morning as Wile continued to sign on his grievances with the new neighbor and how he was already being a pain.
“Sounds to me like you have a crush.”
Wile slammed his hands on the coffee table as he signed one word.
>No.<
“I’m just saying-”
>NO.<
“Alright, alright, I see ya doc,” he conceded, but not without a smile.
Bugs would claim he was many things. A comedian, Wile’s best friend, a coward and so many more. But a liar not being one of them. And he would be a liar if he didn’t notice the spark that returned to Wile’s eyes as he watched his best friend chase the star athlete down the street of their neighborhood. How Wile started coming out more from his house in order to try (and fail) to catch Roy. That his focus shifted from just his inventions alone, to thinking of new ways to catch Roy. He even got the added bonus of being invited to his house more for Wile’s “rant sessions”!
But like always, he didn’t say anything.