Backup Required
Y/n was walking out of school at the end of the day.
She was still picking bits of spitballs and gum out of her hair, gagging every time she encountered one.
She dropped her skateboard and rested her foot on it to check her phone.
Far behind her, she heard an unmistakable voice.
"Y/n! Wait."
She rolled her eyes, not even wanting to turn around to look at him.
"I need to talk to you."
She felt her jaw clench so hard, she thought her teeth might break.
She spun around, glaring at Michael, further away down the sidewalk.
"I needed to talk to you, all day!" She shouted, kicking her board at him as hard as she could.
"Not only did I just have a horrible day, you just learned my biggest secret ever and refuse to even look at me!"
Y/n felt the vague stinging sensation under her eyes, but shut that down quickly.
It was stupid really, nothing that bad even happened.
But never had she felt so vulnerable. And she hated it.
"I..." Michael's voice cracked. "I'm sorry."
She cracked a malicious smile.
"You're sorry? I know you're fucking sorry Michael, otherwise you wouldn't be standing there!"
The pebbles around her feet were vibrating and sliding away from her.
Michael tried to not watch too obviously.
"So now I just have to wonder, are you really sorry, or are you just scared?"
He shook his head. "Scared?"
"Yah, scared! Scared of me, o-or confrontation! Or maybe you're just scared of being alone, I don't know."
"You're scared." Michael yelled.
"You're scared of what's uh..." he was staring down at more rocks, scattering and pittering away from her feet. "Of what's going on inside you. Anyone would be."
He sighed while watching her, his hand out defensively and his eyebrows arched with concern.
How did she get to stop yesterday?
She mind-punched a car into the woods.
Which once the initial shock wore off, was really fucking cool.
So she just has to let it out in some way.
"And uh... and I can't possibly talk to you after last night!" He shouted.
If she got mad enough she might throw something else.
Something hopefully smaller, and that would hopefully make her feel better.
"After last night... I... I... I think I'll just go and tell everyone about your secret!"
Her expression went from swelling with anger, to meek and afraid.
Not what he was going for.
Nothing flew, pebbles stopped rumbling and the tension vanished.
The two kids stood there staring at each other for a long second, while the sun slowly got oranger.
Even from 10 feet away, he could feel her fears creeping at her like when he speeded.
And he hated it.
"Y/n-"
A sharp pain hit the back of his ankles and he fell backwards on the sidewalk.
When he looked back up, Y/n stomped down on her skateboard, stopping it from rolling past her.
"Wh... fuck you." She whispered, wiping her eye and riding off on her board.
He definitely went to far this time.
He had no idea what he was doing when he was going into it, and he knew even less about what he was doing now.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Y/n was laying on her bed, trying desperately to keep everything contained inside her.
The fear, the anger, the confusion.
She didn't want that spilling out everywhere and destroying her house.
But then the doorbell rang.
And everything wiped clean off her slate.
Huh, I wonder who that could be at this hour. She thought, staring at the little red 7:41 on her alarm clock.
But less than a minute later she heard her Uncle Scott's voice bellowing through the house.
"I don't want you seeing my daughter this late!"
Her eyes widened jumped out of bed, running to her door and stopping for a second while her blood pressure returned to normal.
Then she was sprinting down the stairs.
In the doorway, stood the stupid tall boy with the red hoodie.
"I just need to talk to... Y/n!" He smiled, pointing at the girl.
Uncle Barry was watching uncomfortably from his desk, while Uncle Scott turned around to glare at his kid.
"What are you doing here?" She asked, crossing her arms and slowly approaching the door.
"That doesn't matter, do you know what time it is?"
"Uncle Scott, it's not that la-"
"Shut your mouth, go to your room." He barked.
"Scotty." Barry piped up with soft voice, pulling his glasses off.
"Honey it's not that late, just let them speak for a minute."
Scott looked between the two kids, or... three?
There was someone anxiously peeking out from behind Michael.
"Fine. But you can talk in here."
Y/n rolled her eyes and pushed past him. "We'll be on the front porch."
Before she got out he abruptly grabbed her arm, startling her.
"20 minutes." He seethed, dropping her arm and dismissing her.
But not before shooting Michael a withering glare.
She stepped away, almost happy when she shut the door and stood out there with her arms crossed.
The wind blew her hair out of her face, and she refused to make eye contact with him.
He stood there in slight shock, never knowing just how hostile her home seemed.
Even now, they could hear the faint yells inside of her two Uncles arguing.
"So who's your friend?" She finally mustered up.
The tiny boy awkwardly stepped out from behind Michael, hugging himself and pulling his sleeves down over his wrists.
When he finally made eye contact with Y/n, his eyes widened.
So did her's.
He had a long sleeved sweater on and his blonde hair hair a red streak in it.
He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it.
"I uh... I just, I didn't know how to help you. Or... or talk to you."
Michael stammered, pointing to the boy. "So I brought someone who I thought could."
The boy waved his hand at her.
"...h-hi. I'm Rich."
She smiled and waved at him, just as awkwardly.
Then she looked at Michael, grabbing his sleeve and pulling him closer to her.
She stood on her toes and whispered in his ear, "Uh... so does he know? About me?"
Michael placed his hands on her shoulders.
Still whispering, "No! No, no, no, I was just trying to get you mad today. So you could let everything out... I guess. It seemed like it worked the first time and I-"
She pat his shoulder and got down from her toes.
"Okay, okay. Just making sure." She smiled, peeking at Rich.
They kids moved over to the porch set, Rich plopping on the chairs and Y/n laying on the tiny swing.
"I'll uh... I'll be in the car." Michael pointed, backing off towards his P.T. Cruiser.
"So why does Michael think you can help me?" She asked him, smiling.
He cleared his throat, keeping his blue eyes on his sweater sleeves.
"He thaid you've been through a lot of... a lot of big thtuff."
She blinked and smiled.
"I suppose that's one way of putting it."
He nodded, rolling up his sleeves.
Y/n stopped smiling.
He had big, thick burn scars on his arms, leaving reddish patches on his skin.
They traveled all the way up, and even on his neck.
"Thomething big happened to me too."
He said, easily keeping his eye contact now.
~*~*~*~*~*~*
Michael was sitting in the car, filling his car with smoke and the smell of marijuana.
Though to be fair, it always kind of smelled like that.
On the porch, Rich and Y/n had to been talking a long while.
After their quiet exchange before, he figured that was her unspoken forgiveness.
He had watched them laugh, whisper, hug, and shout.
Something told him she needed someone like Rich to talk to.
And thank god for that, because he needed her back in his life before he lost his mind.
Michael truly forgot how he got along without her.
He wasn't sure he did.
At least, not very well.
Before he had Jeremy, but Jeremy left him once, which only made him realize how much he couldn't be alone.
Which is why it sucks that Jeremy is always with Christine.
They still hang out a lot, and he's happy that he got the girl of his... dreams basically.
But Michael needed someone too. Someone he could be close with.
Plus, he was like 67% sure he had a huge crush on
Y/n, but that was only a guess.
He was a teenage boy, and he got a little mixed up sometimes in the romance department.
But then her door swung open and a man he didn't recognize waved her inside.
Michael assumed this was the other Uncle. He did not seem so harsh.
Rich waved goodbye to her and sat on her porch another minute before walking back to the car.
The whole walk there, he wore a dazed smile on his face, until he opened the door.
Then he started hacking a coughing, waving the air away with his hand.
"Michael!"
"What?"
He huffed and walked to the back opening all the doors.
"Rich man, what are you doing?"
Rich stared at the ground angrily.
"I'm not getting in that car, till all the thmoke ith gone!"
Michael frowned sadly and opened his car door, stomping out his cigarette and helping Rich air out the car.