//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2; Dr. Hooves 
// Story: Button's  Date With Silver Spoon 
// by TheOneAJ 
//------------------------------//

After that little incident, I looked all over the school for Sweetie Belle. While I wouldn’t know where she would go that wasn’t home, I tried the soccer field where her friend Scootaloo's soccer practice, but had no luck. I tried at the buses, parking lots, and I even dared to ask some girls coming out of the restrooms if they had seen Sweetie Belle in there.

...It went as well as it sounded, but they at least humored me when I told them Tray and Silver Spoon called her gay, and they told me Sweetie Belle wasn’t hiding out in any restroom.
 
So, after I had checked the field and parking lots a few more times, I came to the realization that Sweetie Belle wasn’t on school grounds. Which meant, she was either at home—likely crying—or anywhere in town, hopefully with one of her friends.
 
In the end, as I saw that I was going to be late to my doctor’s appointment, I hung my head in defeat, and walked to my bike. “Perfect!” I then let out my anger by kicking at a loose piece of grass a few times.
 
“You seem down today.” I heard Rumble say as he walked towards me.
 
I turned to glare at him. “Back off!” I hissed as I lifted my head off and began to unlock my bike.
 
“Hey! Sorry, don’t shoot the messenger, dude.”He playfully held up his hands. “Anyways, what’s up?"
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
I ignored him, but then a thought crossed my mind. So, I turned around to look at him for a moment. My eyes started to drift up and down his body, looking at every inch of—
 
“What?” he asked me, clearly getting a little uncomfortable.
 
I jumped back. “Nothing! Just… gah!”
 
He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around. “Okay… so, rough day then? If you want, we could—”
 
“Sorry, gotta be somewhere, but thanks for the offer!” I replied quickly and raced off on my bike.
 
I would apologize to Rumble later, though how I would was another matter entirely. Then again, maybe he hadn't noticed I was checking him out, trying to figure out if he was attractive, and therefore if I really was gay. He looked nice, but I certainly didn't think of him like that. Or at the very least, more or so less than what I thought of Sweetie Belle or any other girl at school. 
 
At least now I knew what to talk about with Dr. Hooves this week.
 
*****
 
Dr. Hooves, as his name implied, was my doctor and go to therapist. I was required to see him every second and fourth Friday of the month after school. It’s not worth the time to say how that came to be, I just had a lot of issues that came with my autism.
 
Either way, I used to have to go every week with my mother, but then things started to change. I got older, I didn’t get offended anymore and randomly lashed out at other kids, and everyone began to trust me to go by myself and take my meds.
 
"Hello, Button," the receptionist nodded at me as I entered the building, " did you have a good day at school? You’re a bit late.”
 
I cringed but nodded politely. "A problem with my bike tire. But same old, same old." I carefully made my way to a seat, hesitant that anything I did could show signs that I wasn’t doing well. No way was I going through the fifth grade again.
 
She nodded and went back to whatever she had been doing before. “Just have a seat, Dr. Hooves will be with you in a moment.”
 
I hadn’t even looked at the magazine covers lining on the desk when Dr. Hooves came out, adjusted his tie, and said, "Ah, Buttons! Good to see you again. Was almost worried you were going to be late since you’re often here so early."
 
My eyes widened. “I… I just had a tire problem, I didn’t do anything wrong—”
 
He held up his hand. "Whoa, whoa, relax! You're fine, Button.” He held  the door open. “Please, right this way.”
 
With a deep, soothing breath, I slowly made my way into the halls, took a left, then a right, and I was in Dr. Hooves office. With one of my favorite ‘toys’ of his, a plushy clock with eyes that I liked to hold and squeeze to make these sessions more relaxing.
 
Dr. Hooves smiled at me as I held Turner—as I called him when I was six— and he then asked, "So, Button, what's on your mind this week? Anything I should know about? Are you still taking your medication regularly?"
 
“Yes,” I began to fidget with Turner more. “I… I haven’t done anything bad.” I gave a small smile. “Still the same, I'm able to keep any anger in check, as always.”
 
“I see,” he picked up his, “Make any new friends?”
 
“I—” I almost answered right away, when I realized what he meant. “I got, well…” I sighed. “No, haven’t hung out with anyone outside of school. I played a few RPG games with Rumble and Sweetie Belle from time to time.”
 
He nodded. “I see.” He then wrote something down before reaching for a glass of water.
 
Maybe he wouldn’t have asked, or maybe he would have. I knew the issues of my feelings towards Sweetie Belle had been brought before, with less than motivating results.
 
Either way, I felt it could have been something that would be brought up sooner or later.

“Hey, doc, do you think I’m gay?” I asked as he took a sip, causing the man to gag. He took a quick moment to breath and set down the glass. 

“Wh… what? I mean…” he regained his professionalism. “I mean, what brought this on? Someone at school called you that?”
 
I stuttered. “No. I mean, well...” I shook my head, “this stuff stays in the room, right?”
 
“Of course,” he nodded.
 
It took all my will not to roll my eyes. Still, I knew that unless it was something really serious, I could somewhat trust Dr. Hooves. “Well,” I began, before I gave him a rundown of my last class—or at least just enough so he wouldn’t think it was a real issue.
 
Instead, I simply told him one of my ‘acquaintances’ poked some harmless fun at me and Sweetie Belle getting together, and that she asked me if I ‘liked’ her or not. I didn’t answer right away, Sweetie Belle running off, and part of the reason—aside from my flat tire lie—was why I was so late, looking for Sweetie Belle.
 
Once I had finished, he took a moment to take it all in. Then he calmly asked, “Well, do you think you’re gay?”
 
One of my eyes began to twitch. “Aren’t you supposed to know that?” I asked with maybe a little more force than was required as my eyes scrunched up and Turner began to squeeze and flatten in my hand.
 
He raised a finger. “Button.”
 
I shrank in my seat. “Sorry.”
 
“It’s quite alright.” He collected. “If you are, then there’s nothing to be ashamed of. There are people who would criticized you, true, but we live in a better world. In fact, I have a few patients who go to your school I council that are openly… homosexual, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
 
I was sure Diamond Tiara would disagree.
 
“Either way, it’s good that you’d want to find this out now, while you’re still young.” He adjusted his watch. “So let me ask you again, do you think you’re gay?”
 
“I…” I began to fidget with Turner faster, “I’m… not sure, honestly.”
 
“Oh. What makes you think that?”
 
I confessed to him about checking Rumble out after the incident to see if I found him attractive, and that I hadn’t.
 
“So I’m not really sure,” I held Turner close to my chest. “What do you think I should do? I mean, I don’t find Sweetie Belle attractive, yet, I don't think she's ugly but...  well she’s nice, and i'm sure I like her, but... I can’t seem to think of her as a girlfriend, but I don’t think that way of guys either. The thing is, I guess when I think about her, I can picture her as my girlfriend, but then when I see her, it's like those feelings fade. I don't think that she is gross or anything! I just don't seem to feel as strongly for her when I'm looking at her."
 
"Huh," he nodded as he wrote something done. "A curious case, I admit, Button." He looked through his notes. "I'll have to think more about this to give you an answer. Although," he put down his pen, "are you interested in having a special someone?"
 
I was about to answer immediately, but then I began to wonder; did I want a girl, or boyfriend? I was a teenager, so of course I thought about it since everyone seemed to talk about it every day. But, did I? It honestly wasn't something I really thought of or cared about if I could help it.
 
"Button?"
 
"Huh? Oh, right, sorry, doc."
 
He nodded. "It's alright, but do you have an answer to my question?"
 
I fidgeted with one of Tuner's arms. "Which one?"
 
"Do you want to date at all?"
 
I was silent for a few more seconds. "I... I..." I rubbed my head. "Well, how would I even ask out anyone on a date?"
 
He paused and rubbed his pen across his chin. "Not sure if I would be the best to answer that. However, if you really want to try so badly, start small." He snapped his fingers. "Why not, on Monday, the first single and attractive young lady you run into, you say, she looks beautiful, or she has a pretty necklace or something like that? If you think some guy is like-wise, do the same.”
 
I nodded. "You mean, say something like Sweetie Belle has pretty hair?"
 
He chuckled. "I suppose. Although maybe you could practice on another girl? Any girl you run into, and see how it goes."
 
My eyes widened. "But Sweetie—"
 
"Then go for it if your heart is telling you so. Although, for all the drama of high school, it's also an opportunity to find out about yourself now, so you can know what you'd want to be for the future. Besides, most first relationships don't work out anyways due to inexperience. Though, if you and Sweetie Belle happen to end up together, great. Nonetheless, it wouldn't hurt for you to try now."
 
I smiled. “Alright, I think I can do that.”
 
“Wonderful. Now,” he flipped through some notes, “shall we continue this next time? I would love to hear about how it went.”
 
***** 
 
“Hey mom, I’m home!”
 
“Button!” My mom called from the kitchen. “How’d it go?”
 
My mouth began to dry as I answered, “Nothing special, he said I’m doing great.”
 
She smiled. “Wonderful! Now do your homework, I don’t want to ground you from video games because you play too much of them.”
 
I chuckled, “Okay, mom!” and made my way to my room where Charlie was waiting for me.
 
“Hey, boy! Did you miss me? Did you miss me?”
 
His breathing grew heavier as he slowly made his way off my bed to greet me.
 
“That’s a good boy!” I responded as he licked my hand. “So, Dr. Hooves wants me to either compliment a girl on Monday. Think I can do it?”
 
He looked up to me and tilted his head.
 
“Me, either.” I tossed my backpack to the side. “Maybe with Sweetie Belle, but who—” I then stared at my laptop.
 
It was possible she was online, playing mineworld or on some social media. Maybe there was a way I could reach her, see if she was okay.
 
Instead, I found myself in front of my hoofstation for most of the weekend. The few times I did log on to play anything RPG, she was nowhere to be found.