Keep it between us | byler

Chapter 25

WARNING: big mention of su!c!de

"Mr. Wheeler, one more tardy and you're going to have to give Mr. Thomas another visit." Said Mike's history teacher as he walked into class late. "Yeah, I know." He took his seat next to Dustin.

Mike couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. He kept overthinking about the whole situation which is a clear contrast to his usually method of 'not-thinking' and acting on impulse. That seemed to get him in trouble... a lot... maybe taking some time to think would help him fix this for good. He also needed to get his temper in check but he knew that would be a whole other thing.

With all of those different thought and feelings, Mike felt jealous too. Lucas seemed to know more about Will than he did. I mean he immediately noticed that something was wrong with him and came to get ahold of Mike to find out what happened. He cared for Will, and Mike was jealous. He didn't even understand when Lucas suddenly started caring about him like that. He'd never seen him act like that before and it was all because of Will. Guess Will just had that magic touch or something. He deserved the world and Lucas could see that just as well as Mike did.

"You good?" Dustin asked, ripping Mike from his thoughts. "Fine." Mike answered without looking at the boy.

It was finally lunch time and Mike found himself walking over to Max and Lucas. "Uh.. heyy guys." Mike said awkwardly. "Is Will around?"

"No." Max answered, "And if he was, he probably wouldn't want to talk to you anyways, correct?" She laughed. Mike just rolled his eyes. "Ok but then where is he?" He asked again. "Oh he went home. I think his mom's boyfriend picked him up or something." She answered.

"Wait what? Why'd he go home?"

"Oh. My. God. I don't know Mike! He said he needed some space, away from people. It's probably just his anxiety again. I'm going over there after school to check on him." She responded calmly.

"Huh? I didn't know he had anxiety..." Mike said confused and offended that everyone but him seemed to know all these things about his boyfriend.

Lucas chimed in. "It's probably because he wants you to think he's perfect." "Yeah, Max agreed, "I always feel so bad for him. He's honestly struggling but he puts on a brave face for you." She looked up at Mike.

"I-I knew he had struggles but I didn't know it was that bad." Mike practically whispered. "How am I the only one who doesn't know?"

"Yeah, the story of how we met was literally me finding him after Troy beat him up. Then he tried to do it again and I caught him and we got into a fight." Lucas explained.

"You WHAT?" Mike's eyes widened.

"Yeah? You never knew? Me and Will knew each other before Max and I got together. We became actual friends once I started hanging with her more." He said, biting a sandwich.

"I must be a really shitty boyfriend if I have no idea about anything that goes on in his life." Mike signed, resting his face in his hands.

"Nah, he loves you Mike... somehow" Max started, "He just wants you to think that he can handle himself. He definitely adores you though unfortunately." She giggled.

"Are you kidding? I'm the one who adores him! We all do! My older sister, my mom, and my baby sister literally wants Will to live there instead of me!" He laughed, causing Max and Lucas to give out a chuckle. "That's cute."

"But my dad is pretty.. uh... he's pretty homophobic. He kicked me out again but this time I think it's permanent."

Shit. He let it slip out.

"WHAT!?" The couple screeched in unison. "Your dad kicked you out of the house?" Lucas asked. "Well, yeah. The first time was when he found out I was with Will. I was spending the night when he called and told me don't bother coming back. Then I lied and told him that I wasn't gay and that I broke up with Will but obviously that was a lie and he eventually found out and kicked me out for good this morning."