hurt, ( byler )

1.9

june 23, 1986
mike had joined the party again, and it seemed like he was a new, improved version of mike. he stopped making homophobic comments, and when he got angry he didn't lash out at the person nearest to him anymore. he made jokes that made the whole party laugh, and sometimes he even joined in on lucas and dustin's playful bickering. mike finally started to treat max how he treated everybody else. like a good, close friend. a real member of the party. everybody seemed kind of confused as to where this new friendly and funny mike had come from, but nobody was complaining.

mike was also seeing someone new. none of the other party members seemed to pick up on it, but will did. mike was being discreet about it, but will still noticed. mike went to the 'bathroom' a couple times a week during lunch, disappearing for ten minutes before coming back. maybe that wasn't enough evidence to be jumping to conclusions, but mike always left at a specific time. he always left at ten-past one, coming back at twenty-past one. sometimes he came back with slightly swollen lips, sometimes he came back looking the same. that was enough evidence for will to say that mike was seeing someone. a new girl.

"hey! uhm," mike said loudly, getting everybody's attention. "i'm gonna head to the bathroom real quick."

everybody waved it off as mike got up and quickly walked out of the cafeteria and into the hallway, towards the bathroom.

"i swear he has the bladder of an old lady nowadays," lucas mused. dustin stifled a laugh while el let out a little giggle. will rolled his eyes.

"he's not using the bathroom," will said, sounding unimpressed. everybody stopped laughing and looked at him with confused expressions. will continued to explain. "he's seeing somebody."

"how do you know?" max questioned. will explained, saying how it was weird that he went almost every day, at the exact same time. how sometimes he came back with swollen lips and slightly messed up hair. he finished off with saying 'don't you think that ten minutes is an awful long time just to use the bathroom?'

"well if that's true, why doesn't he just bring her here? i'm sure she won't be anywhere near as bad as adelaide." dustin shrugged.

"maybe he's insecure that we'll judge him, like we did last time," max said, sounding slightly guilty.

"what if it's a boy?" el asked quietly. "what if that is why he is sneaking around?" everybody went silent again and looked at her.

"yeah, el, uh, there is no way mike is anything other than straight. you heard the homophobic comments he used to make," dustin stated. will kept quiet, thinking about how him and mike had almost kissed. he hadn't told anyone about that.

"maybe he was scared," el considered.

"of what?" lucas asked. will had come out to lucas a few months ago. he wasn't as accepting of it as everyone else, but he didn't let it get between or change their friendship at all.

"of how people would treat him. maybe he was scared of the fact that he liked boys and was homophobic to, i don't know, convince himself that he was straight." el shrugged. "i don't know."

will thought she had a point. she had basically just described internalised homophobia, in a way.

"well, that makes sense but... not with mike, i don't think," max sighed. "it's obvious that he likes girls. like, a lot."

"can you like both?" el inquired. "maybe that is what mike is."

"i don't know. if you can like both, i don't know the term for it," will said.

"mike's coming back," lucas suddenly muttered, very quietly. everybody quickly shut up and continued to eat their food.

mike sat back down in between dustin and el, not saying anything. will looked at mike, seeing that today, once again, he had returned with swollen lips. max, who was sitting beside will, obviously noticed too. she tapped will's shoe with her foot and whispered extremely quietly to him, "i see what you mean, now."

el looked over and made eye contact with will, giving him a look that said something like: oh. now i see it.

"what took you so long?" lucas asked. everybody snapped their heads towards him. max gave him a dirty look but he didn't pay any attention. mike's cheeks started to burn light pink, which just fuelled will's suspicions even more.

"uhm—" will could tell that mike was desperately trying to think of an excuse, "—no reason." mike's cheeks had changed from light pink to red in a matter of seconds. everything was quiet until mike hesitantly spoke up again. "okay, err, fine. uhm... i'm seeing somebody..."

so will was right. mike was seeing someone.

"you're dating somebody new?" dustin asked, trying to sound surprised.

"no! um, it's complicated." mike looked around at all the expectant looks the party were giving him. "we're not dating," mike said. "it's just... i don't know. casual?"

"don't tell me you have a fuck-buddy," lucas groaned. el furrowed her eyebrows, obviously not knowing what that meant.

"no!" mike exclaimed. "not a fuck-buddy. i mean—kind of, but we don't... you know... fuck."

"what is a fuck-buddy?" el finally asked.

"it means you have sex with the same person but you're not dating," max explained. mike looked uncomfortable.

"can we stop talking about my fuck-but-not-fuck-buddy?" mike was looking at something behind lucas, max and will. will briefly glanced behind him, seeing that the table nearest to them was the table of popular kids, where people like troy, james, stacey, jennifer and now adelaide sat.

will looked back at mike, where the two briefly made eye contact. mike seemed to realise where will had just been looking and looked away, a light blush on his cheeks, again.

for fucks sake, was mike seeing another popular kid?

author's note
will rly out here being a fuckin detective huh?

10:30am — 15 january 2020