His own perception on people and lack of care wasn't even dense enough to not realize what was going on. This didn't look good, and he wouldn't be to prideful to admit he actually wished someone else was there to take charge of how things were going right now. He didn't know kids, sure he was one a few years back but that didn't mean he gave a hoot or anything back then either. Personally he wasn't a hugging type of guy, making out sure, hugging...nope.

Michael curled himself up into a ball, this wasn't good. Did he say something wrong? So much for trying to sympathize with him, obviously his own people skills stunk more then a skunk. "Um...." Things were very uncomfortable, worse then standing out in the dead of winter dripping with freezing water from the pool or even getting stuck with tons of needles or whatever in a hospital. Chase had to be around someplace, maybe he could find him or be really lucky and the kid would just appear. That would be a fairytale ending right there. Chances of that happening were slim to none.

"Um....Mikey....want to paint my crutches?" He needed to get the kid back to painting. He really didn't want to deal with this, not now, not ever. It was to much as it was hobbling about the mansion in his condition, he certainly didn't need to be all Oprah or whatever. Adults, please, anywhere? " You can paint them how ever you want...." Great, just great. He was not good with kids, not at all.

He uncurled a little bit and looked at Hokee. This person was trying to make Michael feel better. For once, he was able to look past all the ulterior motives, and he looked at Hokee as a person that maybe didn’t mean to hurt him, or maybe didn’t mean to bring something up that would make him really upset. Other people just wanted to talk about those things all the time, and didn’t understand that Michael just wanted to make it go away!! He looked down towards the ground for a moment and then crawled slightly closer to Hokee.

The paint-covered blob took one of Hokee’s crutches and wiped his hand on the grass before he started to decorate the crutch. It had pretty designs on it that all worked together to make a single working puzzle. He wrote Hokee’s name on it, but the name was spelled wrong, and the “E” was backwards. So it read something equivalent to Ho Key. With the backwards E still present of course.

He once again wiped his hand on the dirt and let himself give Hokee that rare smile again as he dipped his finger in black, and he touched it to Hokee’s cheek. He then sat back and raised his eyebrow, as if asking what Hokee would do in retaliation. Yes. For once, Michael wanted to interact with someone, and he wanted to know what this person would do in return.

He was wrong. Apparently was okay with kids, just not in the way he anticipated. Give the kid paint, and tell him to paint...things got better. Okay, this was good to know. Hopefully he wouldn't run out of things for Michael to paint, or well, he might have to find other ways to get the kid to not be so..different. While his crutch was being painted, he found himself rolling over back onto his back again.

Everything felt so uncomfortable right now. Standing, sitting, laying, just any weight at all on his pelvis was a pain in the backside and then some. The pain killers were wonderful and all, just it was weird having a body part that he shouldn't put any pressure on be a body part that was impossible to keep pressure off. So long those good days laying in the hospital bed drugged up and left in a daze. Sure he wasn't sure what went on for the most part, but getting a sponge bath here and there from a killer hot nurse was totally worth it.

Turning his head so he could watch, he was confused by the movements of the kid. For the most part he seemed to keep his distance from Hokee, but now he was moving closer. Interesting, but not much more to say on the matter. His own eyes drifted away to take a look at the crutch that was painted now. It was pretty nice, the kid had some talent. Sure he couldn't tell exactly what everything was, his angle was just not very good. Not moving at all, he stayed still as Mikey continued to get closer.

Wet paint was drawn onto his face. This stuff was washable, right? Yeah...he was sure it was. Rolling over onto his stomach again, he reached over to the paint. Dipping a finger into some orange he looked over at Mikey. Not knowing if the kid would stay still or not, he gave it a shot anyways. Shifting his weight about, he eventually got his butt on the ground and was sitting up. With the finger that contained orange paint on the tip, he reached over to tap the tip of Michael's nose with the paint. What was one more dab of paint on the kid anyways?

Hokee’s thoughts were accompanied by very thoughtful moves from Michael. Things that he did always had some kind of purpose. He didn’t play with a bouncy ball for the enjoyment, maybe if he got a bouncy ball he would throw it against the ground to see what happened, and then try to see if he can make that happen again. His whole world was constructed by bits and pieces of puzzles that he saw, oftentimes the puzzles weren’t this made things better. Everything suddenly had a purpose when viewed that way, even if he had a negative opinion of it, Michael tried to find the puzzle in it, and his anger and sadness were whisked away.

Hokee was someone he could see that was different from the other people here. Though Michael couldn’t see that this was part of his nerves in dealing with the autistic kid, he did see that Hokee was perhaps acting a bit like him. The teenager was being quiet, and he wasn’t really communicating through any other means but for looking at things. And yet, his eyes did not make contact with Michael’s eyes. It was perhaps a subconscious effort to relate with him or understand him, but Michael’s mind was concerned with it in another light.

He was like Michael. He was nervous, and trying to understand what was going on. He was hurt, and people told him what to do to get better, and he’d noticed that Hokee would often sometimes hobble away from them; maybe he didn’t want to hear it. Michael had those moments every day. He ate food, but people told him that it was not enough. That what he’d lived off of was not enough nutrients for a child. Maybe it was, in truth, different. The difference between Hokee’s and Michael’s case was astronomically large and odd, but Michael found the pleasure in his company to be a bit higher with his new connections of this odd puzzle.

He turned to face Hokee with wide eyes as the teen approached him after the arduous process of moving to the right position. He was a bit…scared. He could really feel that the other person was initiating contact with him. No. No he was called “Hokee.” Michael liked “Hokee” So he’d remember that name. Hokee. Hokee’s hand was approaching his face. For a second, Michael closed his eyes. He didn’t know what to do. Normally, he would flinch away, or even push Hokee’s hand away. It would ruin the moment if it were any other person. But this was “Hokee.” So why should he push Hokee away? He’d already told himself he liked Hokee, so he had to trust Hokee as well. So Michael stayed very very still, as though forcing himself, and he accepted the dab of paint.

This had to be on his personal list of most awkward moments.

5. Getting a dreadlock stuck in girl's braces while 'on first base'
4. Forgetting gym locker combination and getting stuck going outside in the snow with just a towel during a fire drill and someone yanked it off him while he was checking out a hot girl
3. Grandmother watching Underworld 2 with him....during the intercourse portion.
2. Sharing a cell with another teen who was attracted to him.
1. Waking up to having a cow eating grass over his face.

The look on Michael's face spoke many words without saying anything. This was worse then the stare down before his first kiss. The back and forth motion and tilting of heads trying to make sure that you didn't smash noses or licking your lips to make sure they weren't all super dry and crusted. This was just....a different playing field of awkward.

With the paint on Mikey's nose, Hokee just sat there trying to think of some witty remark he could say, but nothing was brewing in his head. He didn't know what to think of this kid totally. Really confusing honestly more so then himself. Yeah for the most part he might be considered the biggest jerk that walked or hobbled about the grounds but there was more to him then that.

The pressure on his middle section was growing in discomfort. The teen's face contorted a bit while his body sloppily adjusted itself again. Climbing to his feet, Hokee took a hold of the two crutches and relieved some of the pressure by swinging his body for a few moments. Looking up at the tree not far away, he gave Michael a slight nod. Swinging his way over to the tree, he carefully hooked one of the crutches on a branch. Letting one crutch drop to the ground, he pulled himself up a bit on the crutch using just his arms and curled his legs back behind his knees. Sure it wasn't anything to fancy, but just letting his body hang freely for those brief moments made a world of a difference.