Keep it between us | byler

Chapter 20

AT SCHOOL:

Mike pulled into the students parking lot and quickly got out of the drivers seat to catch up with Will.

"Hey, you sure you're ready?" Mike asked, putting an arm around the smaller one's shoulder. "I guess so." Will shrugged.

"WILL!" They heard a familiar voice call out as they both turned their heads.

"Hey Max!" Will replied as his redheaded friend approached them with her boyfriend. Mike's grip on Will's shoulder tightened as he saw the two walking up to them. Will noticed this but didn't think much of it.

"Will, hey, how's your arm doing?" Max asked sounding like a worrying mother. "Oh it's doing better now. Mike cleaned it a bit more this morning. I think I should be fine as long as I disinfect it..."

During the entire encounter Mike couldn't take his eyes off of Lucas. He knew it was irrational because Lucas didn't even really do anything but he was still just so angry at him.

"Miiike? Helloooo!" Will dragged out, pulling Mike out of his thoughts. "Oh, sorry.. what?" Will giggled at his boyfriend's confusion. "I said we should head inside before we're late." He continued, dragging Mike's arm to the enternece. Lucas and Max had already started walking away.

"So, since when were you guys cool again?" Mike asked bluntly. "Since Max helped me with my cut and apologized for being a total asswipe." Will giggled once more. "What about Lucas?" Mike asked again. "Oh, I don't know. Lucas just kinda follows her around yknow? He didn't really do anything." Will tried shrugging it off.

"Come on Will, yesterday he was acting like we were gonna give him cooties or something. Now he wants to be your friend again? It's total bullshit!" Mike raised his voice despite being right outside a classroom.

"Mike, can't you just drop it? I'm just happy to have my best friend back. After all, I did kind of ruin things between our group so frankly, they're the ones who deserve an apology. This morning is off to a decent start so who knows? Maybe I'll have a good day today. So can we just leave it? Please?" Will pled to his boyfriend.

Mike sighed. Who was he to deny such a request? The only thing he wanted was to see Will happy. "Yeah. Ok, I'll drop it." Their first period bell was going to ring any minute now. "Bye love." Mike titled his head down to kiss Will on the forehead before walking away, not trying to be tardy again.

"That's disgusting." Mike heard whispers as he walked to his class. "Why do they have to do that at our school? It's not normal." "I thought Jane was lying when she said Michael was a homo."

Jane? This caught Mike's attention. "YEAH, I AM GAY AND SO WHAT? SAY IT TO MY FACE!" Michael yelled before scurrying into his first period where he was met with the kind eyes of Dustin Henderson. The bell then rang.

"Ok class, get your observation sheets from yesterday out because today we're comparing them with a partner." The history teacher started.

"Hey, Justin!" Mike called out. The boy didn't respond so Mike decided to get up. "Justin?" He asked tapping the boy's shoulder. The boy turned to face Mike. "Are you talking to me? My name isn't Justin." Henderson asked, confused.
"It's Dustin." "Ohh right. I'm sorry. And I'm also sorry again for how I acted yesterday. I was just really upset and I wasn't myself. I was hoping maybe we could be partners?" Mike asked seeming desperate.

"Yeah, sure! No hard feelings, the whole school is basically against you guys now so I can't imagine how that feels." Dustin replied.

"Yeah... hey, I know you mentioned something about Jane telling you to keep you distance from Will or something the other day." Mike asked, somewhat changing the topic.

"Oh, yeah. I heard she's been saying that to a lot of people. Just starting rumours and shit about you guys. I'm sorry about that by the way." Dustin gave a sympathetic smile.

"No, you didn't do anything. It's just... Nevermind. Thanks Dustin. We should get our actual work before we run out of time." Dustin nodded in reply to this.

A couple classes went by before Mike was able to make a detour to Will's locker and say hello before heading off to their next class.

When Mike got there he saw a lot of people. It seemed to be everyone except Will. Mike pushed through the crowd to see what everyone was looking at just to find Will's locker which was completely vandalized.

Notes of:
"fag!"
"queer"
"whore for wheeler"
"get out of our town!"

And more all over his locker. Mike couldn't help but shed a tear. Why was this happening to Will and not him? He could take it. Will couldn't.

He heard so much laughter. He was taunting him. But he heard one voice over all the others.
Lucas' douchebag of a teammate- Troy Walsh.
"What the fuck are you laughing at, Troy?" Mike said without even thinking. The laughter died down a bit, as people were curious to see where this was going. "Oh look, there's his boyfriend now!" Troy grinned.

"You did that, didn't you?" Mike motioned towards the defaced locker.

"Why do you ask? Is your pansy little boyfriend gonna come crying to you or something? Oh, by the way Wheeler, I've been meaning to ask you, how's Byers on his knees?" Troy smirked.

"If he's any good you should tell him to give me a call. You know a little whore like him would like to change it up some time soon anyways." He chuckled while turning to his friend.

That was it. Mike lost his temper. Before he knew it he found himself lunging at Troy. He pushed him on the ground and started blindly punching at Troy's face. He drowned out all the sounds of people screaming at them. All the cheers, all the "Troy's getting beat up by a queer!" He just punched. Angry at everyone and everything. Especially angry at himself for not being able to protect Will. That was his biggest goal. It was almost an obsession at this point. It probably wasn't healthy. It couldn't have been healthy. But Mike ignored it all. He ignored the blood on his hands and face. He even ignored the hoard of teachers pulling him off of Troy's unresponsive body.

Eventually the principal got him off the ground, engulfing Mike in a bear hug. That's when Mike completely broke down. He sobbed for what seemed like forever as he was dragged into the main office. There was when he saw Will, already sitting there comfortably in a chair. Will looked up from his shoes as he saw the door open. The expression on his face went from calm to absolutely petrified. Mike locked eyes with the boy and quickly took notice to his change in emotion.

All Will could do was stare. Why was his boyfriend covered in blood. What is happening right now? He thought as Mike looked him dead in the eyes. "I'm so sorry." Mike mouthed with tears in his eyes as he was dragged into the principal's office.

a/n: Haven't updated in a while. That last chapter was so lazy bro so I'm sorry for that!! I hope y'all enjoyed this insane mess of an update because it was kinda fun to write! I've been feeling pretty content these past 2 days so I got some writing motivation lmao.. anywayssss bye!

~Mo :P <3