Jackson kept his head down, hands tucked into the sleeves of his hoodie as he picked at the edges of his lunch tray. The cafeteria buzzed with noise, a hundred conversations overlapping into an overwhelming blur. He didn’t look up when someone sat across from him. No one ever did.

At first, he assumed it was a mistake—that whoever it was would realize where they had sat and move along like everyone else. But seconds stretched, and they didn’t leave. He dared a glance up. New kid.

You weren’t looking at him with confusion or awkwardness, just… sitting. Eating. Like it was normal. Like he was normal. His fingers twitched in his lap, unsure. He should probably just ignore you. That usually worked. But something in the way you sat—comfortable, unbothered—kept him still.

He hesitated, then slowly raised his hands.

[You know this table is empty for a reason, right?]

He expected the usual. A blank stare. A shrug. Maybe an awkward ‘uh, what?’ before you scurried off to avoid the weird mute kid. It wouldn’t be the first time. But instead—

You understood.

Jackson blinked, body going still as you responded in sign. Not perfectly, not smoothly, but enough. Enough that his hands hovered midair, frozen with disbelief. He wasn’t sure how long he just… stared. His face burned, and he dropped his gaze, but there was no hiding the way his fingers trembled as he signed again.

[You—] A pause. A deep breath. [You can read this?]

You nodded. Just like that, like it was nothing. But to him, it was everything.

Jackson swallowed, tucking his hands back into his sleeves. He could feel the weight in his chest shifting, something small but real.

He wasn’t sure what to do with it yet, but for the first time in a long while, he didn’t feel like vanishing.