Basic Instinct [stranger things]

21. Safety Concerns

Kimmy and Lucas eventually did calm down when the older man took his place in the drivers seat, looking away from one another as they went quiet from fear.

However, much to Aaron's surprise, Kimmy must have noticed how upset he felt over the pairs teasing, his silence probably speaking volumes.

Aaron had his head tilted back against the back of the seat again, his arms back crossed against his chest in order to avoid eye contact with the pair.

The boy flinched violently, so violently that he would have been surprised if Lucas and Kimmy didn't feel it. It took a moment for his reasonings to flinch to kick in but once they did, his head snapped up to quickly he swore he got whiplash.

Kimmy had her hand placed gently half on his own hand and half on his arm, looking at him with a look of slight regret and worry, looking as if she could almost cry from guilt, much to Aaron's surprise. "I'm really sorry, Aaron. I didn't mean to upset you."

Only Aaron had heard her words, he was sure of it. She'd leaned closer to his ear to whisper to him, most likely so he wouldn't get embarrassed.

Aaron shrugged her hand off him, feeling awful for doing so, but he couldn't help it. It was something that had bothered Aaron for years. He absolutely hated people touching his skin. He didn't mind if he had gloves on, or if someone was to touch something that was covered. But for someone to touch his bare skin, even the thought made him physically recoil and tense with disgust. There was a number of people Aaron was fine with touching his bare hands - but that was as far as it went, he couldn't even imagine what he would do if someone touched his face.

The people he was fine with touching his hands were only four people. Lucas Sinclair Dustin Henderson, Mike Wheeler and Will Byers. And only then it was only a handshake he could handle.

The reason being he was more fine with those four, Aaron wasn't entirely sure. Perhaps it was because he was close with them, and had seen them everyday for the past few years, he really didn't know.

He didn't even know why the skin thing bothered him. Part of him thought it may be a germ thing, but while it partially made sense, it also made zero sense at the same time.

He knew the only people that would ever touch his bare skin would be people he knew and people he knew had clean hands,  but something about it made the boy feel sick.

As for Kimmy, he'd only known her for no longer than a week. And while he was doing his best to befriend her after what he'd caught her doing to herself, it didn't mean he was fully comfortable with her, because he wasn't. He certainly wasn't comfortable enough with her that he'd be fine with her doing that.

The more Aaron thought about it, the more stupid he felt. It was such a stupid thing to get so upset about, but no matter how much he tried he couldn't help himself.

He wouldn't even let Steve touch his bare arm, even though he knew his older brother probably would never want to anyway, Aaron just knew he'd push the boy away if he'd ever tried. No matter the context.

Aaron frowned as he watched Kimmy. He felt horrible at the way she instantly took her hand off of him and jolted back so she was out of his personal space, her once comforting smile dropping and replaced with a look mixed with concern as well as shock.

"Sorry." The girl blurted at once, sounding distraught at the thought of making her new friend uncomfortable. Aaron knew she shouldn't be the one apologising and that she shouldn't be the one worried she'd lose her new and only friends. "I don't know why I did that I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable, I just tried to make you feel better- I didn't think-"