Note: This one is for my friend Hannah (who has no idea that this chapter nor this book as a whole exists and tbh I don't really plan to tell her) because I always sing 'We Built This City' to her and she hates it and tells me to stop so, yep, that happens in this chapter and it reminds me of her. Also, another little time skip. Welcome to January 1987, the year (and month) 'Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now' by Starship came out which is an ACTUAL BOP! I'm sorry, I just love my cheesy 80s tunes. Also, this is the year one of the greatest albums in existence, 'Tango in the Night' by Fleetwood Mac came out which includes my second favourite of their songs (after 'Rhiannon', o' course) 'Seven Wonders'. Shit, and 'Everywhere' and 'Little Lies' YES YES WHAT AN ALBUM, WILL AND MIKE YOU ARE IN FOR SUCH A TREAT WHEN IT COMES OUT, I'M JEALOUS! Okay, I'll hush.
Warning: Homophobic slurs and mentions of past self-harm.
Will's POV:
Anxiety was causing me to gnaw heavily on my bottom lip as I sat in Jonathan's car. The taste of blood filled my mouth and attacked my senses as I bit down too harshly and made a shallow cut there. Once again, I would have to face the judgement of all my peers as it was time to return to school after a couple of weeks spent home with my brother, my sister and my mom when she wasn't working.
Since that day when my siblings discovered me on the bathroom floor, Max hadn't left my side and had slept on my sofa all Christmas Break to keep tabs on me. She hadn't visited any of our friends and even turned Lucas away when he wound up at our house telling her how much he missed her. Lucas hadn't been the only one to visit, Mike had been discovered crying on our doorstep on a number of occasions but Max, under my careful instruction, had told him to go home every single time he came.
My heart ached whenever my red-headed sister would inform me that Mike had been to the house and more than once did I have to find the strength to not go out and run after him. I missed him more than I thought possible and it took everything within me to keep reminding myself that this distance was for the best but now I'd once again be forced to see his beautiful face and those luscious, dark curls that framed it so perfectly. I couldn't help but want to beg Jonathan to turn back at the agonising thought of seeing Mike.
Get him out of your head, Will. Get him out before he hurts you again. I silently screamed at myself but it seemed the gods were against me as the car radio began to play an all too familiar tune and then the words picked up: "Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night and wouldn't you love to love her..."
Without further ado, I reached my arm out and switched the radio off with a loud, obnoxious snap. I couldn't bear to listen to Mike's song...our song...anymore. "What's up, Will?" Max asked from the backseat, an anxious tone to her voice clearly indicating that she'd picked up on my odd behaviour.
"Nothing." I airily responded, trying to pass off my actions as insignificant. "Just don't really like that song."
Jonathan wrinkled his face in disdain. "How could you not like Fleetwood Mac? I thought you had good taste."
"Yeah, Will." Max chirped, "Aren't you the one who teases everybody for liking 'We Built this City'? and says we all have bad taste?"
"God, that song is so cheesy." I moaned, rolling my eyes at my two companions who, in return, began singing it at top note and dancing energetically in their seats.
"Jesus, guys. I don't care if you're knee deep in the hoopla, just make it stop!" I begged of them and they both burst out laughing. "You suck." I said to them before I ended up giggling along with them, my fears that had been so prominent only minutes before had now somehow almost entirely vanished.
When we pulled up at school, Max and I hopped out of Jonathan's car and he rolled his window down. "Have fun you two." He said with a genuine smile. "I'll pick you both up in a few hours, okay?"
Max grimaced and looked down at her feet as she replied. "I've been gone too long, I should probably be getting back...er...home tonight." My sister looked sheepish and stumbled over the word "home" as if she felt uncomfortable using that terminology for the Hargrove residence.
Jonathan stared at her intently as he replied, "That's not your home, Max. You know that, right? You're welcome with us any time, you're our family and our home is your home. Mom can speak to your mother again and maybe she'll let you stay with us even longer."
"I agree, MADMAX." I chimed in. "We're your family and we want you to stay with us."
The girl raised her head and her sapphire eyes glistened with tears of gratitude. "Thank you so much! You two are the best brothers I could ever have asked for. And Mrs Byers is the best mom. I honestly love you all more than I can tell you." Max beamed at us. "But I still need to get back there tonight. I'll stay for a couple of nights and then I'll come back home and I can bring some more stuff, do you think our-I mean your mom would be okay with that?"
"Of course she would. She sees you as her own daughter and she's actually been browsing for pull-out sofas so you can have a proper bed to stay maybe permanently." I told her and watched as a huge smile lifted her cheeks and her whole face lightened with glee.
"Really?"
"Really." I smiled as I responded to Max.
"Right, I'll see you two losers later. I'm still picking you up, Max, by the way. I'll drop you at the Hargroves' myself and then I guess I'll see you after that in a couple of days when you'll have your own pull-out bed all ready for you." Jonathan said and we both told him goodbye. As he drove off, I heard him mutter "pull-out" under his breath and start chuckling as if the word had deeper connotations for him and brought up some kind of humorous memory that I wasn't aware of. My brother could be an odd guy at times but by god I loved him.
"You ready?" Max asked me, the light had fallen from her face and a worried look was etched in her features. Suddenly, I remembered everything and my stomach began to churn but I gave her a solemn nod nonetheless. Max linked her arm with mine and, together, we sauntered towards the school.
Mike's POV:
"Did you hear?" The conversation of a couple of random freshmen girls standing behind me wafted into my ears.
"Hear what?"
"The queer's back today."
"Ugh, you'd have thought the school wouldn't let a dirty fag like that be around the rest of us. God knows who'll catch it."
Anger bubbled inside me and I swung my body around to face the girls who were probably not even half of my height. "Being gay isn't a disease, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it." I told them.
"Oh god, that's his crazy friend." I heard one of the girls try to whisper unsuccessfully into her friend's ear before they both ran off and I rolled my eyes. God, how I wished I could still be Will's "crazy friend" and not just the guy he'd drunkenly fucked and now couldn't stand to be around. Well, I guess I'd been the one to drunkenly fuck him, technicalities and all.
Over the past couple of weeks, my mind had been swarming with all the things I wished I'd said to him and I vowed that I would tell him today, whether he wanted to hear it or not, that I didn't believe for a second that what we'd done was a mistake. Will needed to know that what we had done wasn't a terrible, soul-destroying thing but something beautiful and full of love.
I set off from my locker, walking in the direction of the front-doors hoping against hope that I would see Him there.
My eyes flicked between every face as I scanned for any sign of Will and I found him standing quite close to the front doors, where there was a slight ramp made for wheelchair access to the school, grinning as he watched Max zooming up and down the ramp on her skateboard, showing off her skills. I suddenly felt incredibly jealous as I watched the two of them together, I knew Max had been spending time with Will recently as she'd been the one to open the door to me every time I tried to see him and it made me mad to know that she got to spend every second with the love of my life while I was banned from even setting eyes on him. She was the one he had turned to when he needed someone and it tore me apart knowing that that had once been my job. I'd since been kicked out of that job, the same way I've been kicked out of Will's life entirely and he had replaced me.
Just as I was about to head over to Will and ask him to speak with me, the bell rang to signal the beginning of the day and I had to walk away to make it in time for my Homeroom which, incidentally, I shared with Will. I took my seat next to Will's currently vacant one with my mind racing over how best to get him to talk to me. I waited impatiently for the next few minutes for Will to arrive and didn't even realise I was tapping the desk in anxiety until the girl sitting in front of me turned around and asked me to cut it out.
Finally, when he was ten minutes late, the door opened to reveal a visibly shaking Will who was being supported by Max as she tried to comfort him. The girl led Will inside and sat him down at his seat - neither of them even glancing in my direction - and I saw the tear tracks that had stained his face.
"Good of you to join us, Mr Byers." My teacher said with a raised eyebrow. "Miss Mayfield, should you be in this class?"
"No, sorry Mr. Richmond, I was just helping my broth-friend to his seat." And with that, Max affectionately patted Will's shoulder and ran out of the classroom to her own.
Will's bloodshot, puffy eyes and white, clenched fists burned a hole of sadness and pain within my heart and I found myself leaning across my desk to speak with him. "Will, what happened? Are you okay?" I whispered, anxiety causing my heart to beat at an increased pace.
Without even raising his eyes to me, Will replied. "It's none of your damn business, Mike. Leave me alone."
"No, it is my business. You're...you're my fr-friend and I w-want to help." I stammered.
Will didn't respond as he edged his chair further away from mine and swivelled his body so his back was to me. I leaned back to my own desk and slumped down in my chair, Will wasn't speaking to me but he couldn't ignore me all day. I planned to try again when he'd calmed down, maybe at lunch.
The day crept by slower than any other I could ever recall and I found myself glancing at the clock many times expecting half an hour to have slipped by and I became increasingly disappointed to find it had only been another five minutes. When the bell finally signalled the start of lunch, I gathered up my things and fled the classroom before most people had time to register that the class was over. I fought my way through the corridors and into the cafeteria where I saw Will sitting at our usual table, his eyes downcast and Max's arm drawn tightly around his shoulder.
Slipping into the seat on the bench next to Will, I positioned my body with one leg over either side of the bench so I was facing him. Will's whole body stiffened with tension as my knee grazed against his upper thigh and his fiery-haired friend looked up and gave me a sympathetic smile which I ignored.
"Will, what happened this morning?" I immediately asked, wasting no time. "Why were you late to class?"
I received no response from the boy beside me and he didn't look up nor acknowledge my existence.
"You were crying, I saw. What made you cry?"
Silence.
"I missed you, you know."
Will twitched as he heard my words but still, he was as quiet as a ghost.
"And I don't think what we did was a mistake and you shouldn't either. I need you to know that us having se-"
Will's head shot up and his eyes widened in alarm as he cut me off. "Not here. Don't talk about it here." The hazel orbs that could make my stomach do backflips glanced around the room, checking if anyone had heard our conversation but the sole person surrounding us who seemed to have vaguely picked up on what we were saying was Dustin who raised an eyebrow, clearly we'd peaked his interest.
"Well, where then?" I demanded. "Because here seems to be the only place I can get your attention."
Will remained quiet for a moment and I observed as Max whispered something I couldn't hear into his ear and he nodded to her. "Fine, we can talk. Bathroom."
The two of us walked in silence to the bathroom near the front-doors which was always empty. As soon as we had both slipped into the vacant room , Will turned to me. "People were just saying stuff about me this morning, okay? A couple of the football team who were...involved...came up to me, called me some stuff and it just gave me a couple of flashbacks. That's why I was crying."
"Oh my god, Will, I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you." I reached out a hand to rest on his shoulder but he pulled back from me and my fingertips grazed against the fabric of his long-sleeved sweater before I dropped my hand once more.
"It's fine, I had Max and she told them all where to go." A faint smile twitched at the corners of Will's mouth.
"Well, I'm glad." I awkwardly told him before moving on to what I really wanted to talk to him about. "Will, we didn't do a bad thing, you know that, right? Having sex doesn't make you any of the things they call you. You're not a slut or a whore or anything else they say. You're William Byers, the most amazing person on earth and I know you don't want to hear this but it's the truth...I love you. I love you so much and I wanted to be able to show you that which is why I went through with it, I never meant to take advantage of you."
Will raised his left arm to scratch at his ear before opening his mouth to respond. "Mikey, I-" but I cut him off.
My eyes had focused on his arm where the sleeve of his jumper had risen slightly to reveal more recent self-inflicted wounds and my heart sank to the floor. "Will, what the hell is that?"
*
Okay, hello.
And shit, Mike knows. And shit, we got some more Byler trio siblings. And shit, what was Will going to say before Mike cut him off? And shit, this chapter was ridiculously long. And shit, I wrote the first half of this chapter whilst drunk, oops.
Hope you enjoyed it, though.
- Niamh.