𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲 𝐇𝐢𝐬 𝐄𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐀𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐞

𝟖.

"By the way, don't say that word in front of your parents because they might get mad." I advise her and she nods again.

"Okay! Do you still want to color?" Holly asks.

"Of course."

. . .
20:11

It's been a few hours since the Wheelers left the house and Holly is finally asleep - not like I didn't enjoy my day, Holly is really sweet. I'm lying down in my bed, not realising how close I am to dozing off myself.

My eyes shoot open when the lock clicks and though it's dark, I notice Mike's silhouette standing by the door considering his noticeably fluffy hair.

"I'll take Holly to my mom and dad, then I'll be right back." Mike whispers before carefully lifting up his little sister and leaving the room.

Oh yeah, us and his family divided into two different rooms.

Shortly after Mike leaves, he returns again, coming into the room and flopping down on my bed.

"What are you doing?" I ask.

"Sleeping?" He mumbles flatly, and that's when I remember. We didn't get separate beds.

"Oh- right." I can feel an auburn shade creeping to my cheeks, but try to exhale it away. "Hey, but isn't it only 8pm?" I question, peering over at his face.

"Yeah... I'm just not really in the mood to do anything else."

"I know. I saw." I sigh, laying down a few centimeters away from Mike. "How could they even ask such a thing? Absolutely ridiculous."

I sense a smile forming to his lips even though I'm not looking before Mike lets out a stifled laugh.

"Yeah... absolutely ridiculous."

"Mn. Is there an AC? It's so hot..." I complain, getting up and searching for the AC on the walls.

"No, I don't think so." He says, sitting up.

I roll my eyes at the convenience and take off my sweater, Mike giving me a weird look.

"What?" I fold the sweater and place it on the nightstand.

"What happened to your arm?" My eyes widen and I look down at my arm, remembering the amount of bandaging on it.

"N-nothing. Yesterday I tried to make food and cut myself. That's all." I say, a frown threatening to take over my smile.

Mike Wheeler

"You sliced your whole arm by accident?" I chuckle disbelievingly, hopping off the bed and approaching Will.

"Show me." I instruct, and he furrows his brows.

"Please?" I add, gently taking his arm. He doesn't do anything to stop me, which is when I start unwrapping his bandage.

I swear if anyone hurt him while I was away...

When I peel the last layer off, I look in horror when being met with the word faggot messily carved across his arm.

"I-I swear it's nothing. It was a joke." Will defends hopelessly before I turn my gaze to him, my lips trembling in concern.

"Oh Will..." I pull him in for a hug, soon hearing loud sobs coming from him. I run my fingers through his hair comfortingly as he digs his head further into my neck.

"Who did this?"

"T-Troy..." He speaks weakly over his tears.

That piece of shit...

"Shh... it's okay, okay? He's just an asshole." I sneer, releasing the hug and looking into Will's eyes for his assurance.

"I'll help get you cleaned up, okay? The bleeding still didn't completely stop."

I take Will's free arm and walk to the bathroom, switching the blinding light on. When I turn on the faucet, I notice him looking in the mirror with a sad expression on his face.

"Hey." I say and he turns his gaze to me. "When we go back to Hawkins, I'll make sure they won't hurt you. That they won't hurt you ever again."

"How, Mike? How? You can't stop this..."

"I can and I will. They will never touch you again." I reassure him and he nods in defeat before I take a cotton pad and dampen it in the water, gently dabbing it on Will's arm.

"It will go away soon, okay?" I say while soaking his blood in the pad, taking bandages out of a cabinet under the sink.

"I hope." Is all he responds with.

When wrapping the material around his arm, I occasionally glance at Will for any signs of pain, making sure that I'm not wrapping it too tight. After I finish, I leave him alone in the bathroom so I can get undressed in the bedroom.

Unbelievable. Completely unbelievable. What did Will do to Troy to make him deserve this? Troy was always an asshole but never did he just target random people...

It doesn't matter. Troy is fucked up and that's all that I need to know about him unless he convinces me otherwise. However, based on this turn of events, it's definitely not likely.

I pull my shirt over my head and take off my pants, looking in my suitcase for anything suitable to wear to bed. Shorts will do.

After putting on black shorts, I make my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth, running into Will when opening the door. He lets out a gasp of surprise and I flinch in response, only just realising that he's mere inches away from me.

"Uhm..." I try to say something but nothing comes out my mouth, and I have no idea why.

After a few seconds, Will walks past me, brushing his shoulder against the top of my upperarm. I turn and watch as he gets in bed, looking away quickly and going in the bathroom to brush my teeth.

Will Byers

I cover my body with the soft white duvet, cuddling into it. After minutes of just laying tirelessly - contradicting to a half hour ago - I hear the floorboards creak, then soon feel Mike's presence inches away from my body. To my surprise, I sense him moving closer until I feel his soft breathing against the nape of my neck.

Then, I feel something again.

His hand over mine.

It's definitely not on purpose, though. Mike would never do that unironically, and he probably doesn't even notice what he's doing anyway. I mean- I expect that he's tired considering the long day.

Either way, I can't help the butterflies viciously erupting in my stomach when he gently traces his slender fingers over my arm.

Two words.

Gay panic.

To Be Continued...

a.n.
Yk that moment when you're reading then forget to understand? Yeah, that's me while going over the draft of this chapter so sry if anything is grammatically incorrect or something. 😭🖐🏻