𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐮𝐭

v. RINK-O-MANIA.

     

    CHARLES' blood ran cold. Was what happened yesterday at school happening again? He quickly flushed the toilet and stood up. "I--I'm not doing anything." His voice shuddered and Will slowly apporached his stall. "Please don't tell me... you're doing what I think you've been doing these past six months." Will's eyes brim with tears and Charles brings his hand up, wiping away his mouth.

Feeling the sting of tears in his eyes embarrassed Charles momentarily as he just sat down onto the toilet. "Will... If I'm being honest with you, I haven't been doing so good." He whispers out, while putting his hands over his head, running his fingers through his hair and Will just stood there in front of the stall door. "So just talk to me. I'm right here."

"I don't want to talk about it!" Charles said, rubbing his eyes. "Not even with me?" Will sounds hurt as he stood there, wishing his boyfriend would just open up, literally and figuratively, rather than talking to a door. "I--I don't know. I'm just... I'm just struggling and I can't put it into words, Will." He explained and Will just sighs, leaning against the wall.

"Just... talk to me." He begged and then the stall door opened. "Can we... can we talk another time? I wanna continue having a good time with my boyfriend. I--I don't want something this stupid to ruin that." He says and Will's brows furrow together. "Something stupid? Char, this isn't a joke--" "Will. Please? We can talk later." He begs and Will sighs.

"Fine. When we get home."

They joined the others in the van, both of them in a very awkward silence as all four pairs of eyes are on them. "What were you two doing?" Argyle sips a can of soda slowly and Will's brows furrow slightly. "Using the bathroom." He says and Argyle laughs. "Nice." He raised his hand which Jonathan smacks down. "Are you both okay?" Mike asked, mostly looking at Charles. "Wouldn't you like to know? Argyle, Jonathan, can we just go?" He said and Argyle turns around. "Sure, little dude."

At Rink-O-Mania, El and Mike lead the way. "Hey, Will!" Jonathan called out to him. "We'll be back at 6:00. Have fun, okay?" He says to his brother who just flatly replied, "okay," before he and Charles headed inside.

"Here you go." The girl at the counter handed El her skates as Charles grabs his from another. "Thank you." El and Charles say in sync before turning around to join their boyfriends. "Bitchin', right?" El asked Mike, smiling. Charles zoned out as he alway did, staring straight ahead before they finally sat down to put on their rollerskates. He only glanced over at the others when Will said something about El lying to Mike. Charles really couldn't care less but it somehow mattered so much to his boyfriend.

He examined Will's face as Mike returned. "I asked for vomit green. And I got vomit green. Isn't that awesome?" He turned to Will and Charles as El giggled and Charles stared blankly. "Never seen anything more cooler, Wheeler." He said before he tied up his skates. "I'm done." He got up, skating away. He waited by the entrance for Will, and of course, El and Mike go onto the rink first then he went on with Will, following after the annoying couple.

"I'm so bad, I'm like Bambi on ice." Mike said and El just giggled at him as Charles glanced down at their interlocked hands. "No, you're good. You got this." El tells her boyfriend as Charles looked over at Will and the same expression is on his face as he watched the couple ahead. He smiles faintly, nudging him softly as they skated side by side. "Hey. You're fifteen now." He says and Will just smiles, glancing away. He's clearly forcing his smile.

"So, does it feel any different?" Charles teased and Will chuckles, looking at him. "Not exactly..." He says quietly and Charles just sighs, glancing away. "I'm sorry. I totally ruined our day, didn't I?" He looks back at Will who stared at him with a careful gaze. "No... no, not at all." He says and Charles looks around.

"You don't have to lie... we're not El and Mike." He joked and Will just looks at him. "I'm... kidding." He says and glanced away as Will sighs. "I know. I just... don't like watching my best friend being lied to." He's staring at the back of Mike's head and Charles feels a sense of jealousy. Why did Will even care so much if Mike was being lied to or not?

After a while of skating, El asked them if they wanted to sit down and have milkshakes. Mike and El of course got some as Will and Charles went to take a seat at a booth. "We should've honestly just went to your place. At least there we'd be less miserable and have more alone time." Charles says, his arm going on the back of the chair rest behind Will.

"Yeah? And what would you do during our alone time?" Will looks over at him and Charles just smiles widely. "You really don't know?" He asked and Will giggled quietly, his face turning red. "Here. A birthday gift." El set down a milkshake in front of Will when they returned to the boys. "And here's... one for you." She then set down another one in front of Charles who just glanced up at her. "Thanks." He smiles and she smiled back before sitting down with Mike across from the two boys.

And just like that, she's back in her little Mike Wheeler daze. Charles just stared at his milkshake when a girl's voice caught his attention. "Milkshakes. Yum." He looks over to see a blonde girl stop by their table. "Where, oh, where have you been hiding these two handsome things?" She glanced between Mike and Charles. El looks at Mike, "uh, Angela, this is Mike, my boyfriend, and Charles, my best friend." The title of being a best friend to El makes Charles raise his brows.

Best friend? "Angela. Pleasure." She shakes hands with Charles first then Mike. "Heard a lot about you." Mike says and Charles glanced over at El, noticing the look on her face. "It's really cool to finally meet some of El-- Jane's friends." Mike nods, smiling at Angela.

"Friends?" The blonde chuckles with her friends as she looks at El. "Super cool. Come on, friend." The way she says friend and looks at El, Charles instantly caught onto something that Mike didn't, especially how concerned Will looked when Angela held out her hand.

"Let's skate, shall we?"

"I wanted to finish--" "I'll hold onto that." A boy snatched away her milkshake before Angela snatched away El, taking her to the rink as Will stood up, watching them. "Hey, is everything okay?" Charles stands up as well.

"Oh, no." Is all Will says and Charles follows his eye gaze. "What?" Mike got up and out of the booth. "El, she hasn't been telling you everything." Will tells the boy. "What are you talking about?" Mike asked him. "She's lying to you." Will says and Charles sighs, crossing his arms as he looks at Mike. "Bullshit."

"No, listen to me. She's having problems here."

"Problems. Okay, what kind of problems?"

authors note kinda wanna write charles standing up to them for el 🤭 ngl i do feel kinda bad for the strain i've put between them bc they use to be so close </3
+ sorry for being nearly an hour late to updating, i just woke up not long ago and i'm still trying to wake myself up. but hey i doordashed some coffee and a burrito!!