misaβs easy. misaβs down. misaβs not difficult. you ask him to come somewhere and he comes. you ask if he minds grabbing you a drink or giving you a ride or going to some event he absolutely does not care about and heβs like βyeah sureβ because itβs the easiest thing to say. and the fact that he says βyeah sureβ to whatever is one of the things people like most about him.
sam doesnβt get it, because there are way more interesting things about mike than how agreeable is. but he also does get it, thinks about how it could be... fun in other situations. okay, sam just maybe doesnβt really care. he doesnβt mind actually, that mike doesnβt make every single thing into a whole production. after spending his whole life around hockey guys who have their heads up their own asses, itβs kinda nice. except then he starts noticing that mike doesnβt just go with the flow. he goes with it like he has no bones. like if someone else creates enough momentum, heβll just get carried along by it and disappear.
it gets pretty bad. toff asks him to come to home depot after practice, needs to get some shit for the dog run heβs building, and mike says yeah even though heβs standing there with wet hair and that dead-eyed expression he gets when he wants to be horizontal for the next eight hours. delly asks him to come to the pga superstore and sit around while he gets his clubs regripped and mike says okay even though itβs so nice out and he really wants to hit the links. someone from the social media team asks if he can βjust stop by for a bitβ and mike is like i guess so even though sam can tell from across the room that he would rather eat glass. every other guy asks him to do a favour that is not technically huge but is definitely annoying and mike says sure before heβs even thought about whether he can.
sam doesnβt get that, because itβs not like mike is a pushover. on the ice, heβll skate through 195cm tall dmen like itβs nothing. heβll take a hit and come up skating harder. but off the ice, if someone hands him a next step, he takes it, and thatβs insane to sam, who says no to stuff all the time. poorly, usually. rudely, definitely. but still. no is a thing sam can just say and then the world keeps spinning. sometimes people get mad, and then sam gets to be not doing the thing and they get to be mad. pretty simple.
mike doesnβt seem to know that the same is true for himself, or he knows it in theory but not in practice. like if you asked him can you say no to stuff? heβd get all offended and be like obviously. but then someone actually asks him for something and he immediately starts building a little prison out of yeah, maybe, for sure, itβs fine, whatever.
so sam starts getting involved.
not in a soft way. not in a βhey man, you should advocate for yourselfβ way. itβs more like mike will be sitting there staring at his phone, thumb hovering over some text where someone has asked him to do something he very clearly doesnβt want to do, and sam will look over and go, βsay no.β
mike rolls his eyes and says βitβs not a big deal.β
βif itβs not a big deal then say no.β
and the first few times mike is terrible at it. genuinely brutal. heβll write like so sorry i donβt think i can make it. maybe tomorrow?, and sam is like, βwhat are you apologizing for?β and mike gets pissed and goes, βiβm being super normal,β but it works, is the thing. eventually. baby steps.
sam makes him delete the sorry. makes him take out the possibility of another time. makes him stop giving a fake reason when the real reason is he doesnβt want to. mike sits there acting like sam is waterboarding him, but he does it. types no, canβt tonight. sends it. then immediately throws his phone facedown on the couch like itβs going to explode.
and samβs like, βsee? easy.β
mike says, βi hated that.β
βyeah, but youβre not going.β
and mike doesnβt have a comeback for that, which is how sam knows he won.
the hookup thing is where sam gets actually weird about it. actually gets mad, and itβs not because heβs jealous. heβs just looking out for his friend. his dumb little friend who could get blown over by the wind. just looking out. promise.
because itβs one thing when toffβs asking mike to do some bs chore he could definitely pay another person to do, or his agent is asking him to come to dinner with some wack ass brand. arbyβs or something. itβs another thing when this girl mikeβs hooked up with maybe twice before is texting him like come overrrr, and mikeβs sitting there looking at his phone with that blank, delayed expression. sam knows that look now. unfortunately. humiliatingly. against his will, he has become fluent all the different faces mike makes.
so he goes, βdo you wanna?β
mike shrugs. βsheβs nice.β
sam just stares at him, because what the fuck does that have to do with anything. lots of people are nice. the guy at chipotle is nice. that doesnβt mean mike has to go let him put his tongue in his mouth because he asked politely.
βdo you want to go?β sam says again, slower this time, because apparently theyβre doing a remedial lesson in growing a backbone.
βsheβs pretty hot.β
βnot what i asked.β
βdickie.β
βnot what i asked.β
mike deflates, finally gives in, says βwhatever. no, i wanna play cod with you and reavo.β
and sam is like, βthen donβt go.β
βitβs rude.β
βoh my god, mis.β
βwhat?β
βnothing. type no.β
so mike does. badly. he types like four different versions of no and deletes them all and gets increasingly furious, and sam sits there beside him on the couch feeling completely insane because this should not be doing anything for him. itβs literally just mike learning how to send a text. itβs not hot. except it is, because mike is mad and embarrassed and listening so well, and sam is sitting there telling him what to do and mike keeps doing it.
finally mike sends no, not tonight.
then, because he is apparently trying to punish sam for being so kind, he looks up, puppy eyes, forcing a scowl, and goes, βhappy?β
and sam has to take a second.
because yes. obviously yes. offensively yes. mike said no to something he didnβt want, and he did it because sam told him to, and now heβs sitting there all flushed and cranky with his thigh pressed into samβs. and sam is proud of him, maybe. or something adjacent to proud that is worse and lower in his body.
βyeah,β sam says. βhappy.β
mike tells him to shut up, but he doesnβt sound mad enough. 'cause, haha, sam likes when there's a little fight in 'em.
ths is probably where the whole thing should end, lesson learned, whatever, except sam makes one huge, fatal mistake, which is thinking this is a skill mike will only use on other people.
because once mike figures out no is a thing he can say, once he realizes the world does not actually split open and swallow him if he disappoints someone, he starts getting a little too good at it. comfortable. dangerously self-satisfied for a guy who needed sam to bully him through a two-word text a week ago.
sam will be like, βarms up,β fingers curled in the hem of mikeβs pullover, and mike will look at him and go, βno.β
that stops sam in his tracks because. sorry?
mike is standing there with his chin tipped up a little, eyes all glassy, brat mode, smirking like he has discovered a new button and is about to press again and again and again. still wearing the hoodie, cheeks all ruddy, sweat dampening his hairline, still clearly too warm, still very much needing sam to get it off him, except now he knows he does not have to be easy about it. just for fun!
sam says, βno?β
mike says, bites his bottom lip. (is that a move?) βyou told me to say no.β
βnot to me.β
βyou didnβt say that.β
this is technically samβs fault. he gets that. he wanted mike to stop going along with things he didnβt wanna do. he wanted him to have a spine. he wanted him to mean it when he said yes, which unfortunately means he also has to deal with mike meaning it when he says no.
except mike is not moving away.
thatβs the thing. he says no and then just stands there. waiting. mouth doing this barely-there smug thing. letting sam look at him. letting sam figure out whether no means no, or whether no means make me, or whether mike has become the most annoying person alive because sam personally taught him how.
and sam, who has no one to blame but himself, is standing there wondering if this is better or much, much worse.
