Small Acts
The Seat Next to Him

No Explanation Given

August 25, 2026 · Part 2 of 10 · 2 min

Gus waited for the catch. There was always a catch — a shove that came after the smile, a "just kidding" thrown like a punch. He kept his eyes on his sandwich and his shoulders up near his ears, bracing.

Knox didn't say anything. He ate his fries in the order he'd apparently decided was correct — the burnt ones first — and glanced once, briefly, toward the doors, like he was checking who'd come through them.

Perry Voss noticed within about ninety seconds. Of course he did. He drifted over with two friends trailing him like he was towing them.

"Didn't know the new kid was your charity case, Merrow." Perry grinned, waiting for the table to laugh along. Nobody laughed.

Knox didn't even look up from his tray. "Walk away, Perry."

"I'm just saying, does he even talk, or does he just—"

"Perry." Just the name. Flat. Not loud.

Something about the way Knox said it made Perry's grin falter at the edges. He held his hands up, an easy surrender that didn't quite match the tightness in his face, and backed off toward his usual table, muttering something to his friends as he went.

Gus caught only pieces of it. "...must be doing his brother thing again..."

His brother thing.

Gus turned the words over, waiting for Knox to explain, to say something, anything. Knox just kept eating like the whole exchange hadn't happened, like Perry Voss existed on a different frequency he'd simply chosen to tune out.

"Th-thanks," Gus managed, the word costing him more than it should have.

Knox shrugged one shoulder. "Wasn't for you." He said it without any heat, like it was just a fact he was passing along, and went back to his fries.

Gus didn't understand what that meant — wasn't for you, then who — but he didn't ask. He'd learned not to push at things that might close up if he touched them.

He ate the rest of his lunch in something that wasn't quite silence, because Knox was still there, and somehow that changed the shape of the noise around him.

He still didn't know why. But for the first time in two weeks, nobody else came near their table.

Continue the story Part 3: The Rhythm Trick →

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