Heartbreak Story - Byler

XXVI - And Now You Don't Have To

Trigger warning: Intense crying from the author because, well, you'll see.

Third Person POV:

The two boys sat in silence, never taking their eyes off one another in the dull gloom as the light attempted to sneak in through the still-drawn curtains. Each boy gazed at the one beside him, taking in every millimetre of his face and wondering how such beauty could have formed in an imperfect world such as this one. Neither of the two knew that the other was thinking the same thing about him.

The boy with the black curls stared intently into the eyes of the smaller boy, lost in wonderment as he questioned how they could be such a glistening emerald-green that twinkled even in the darkness and yet a smooth, heavenly chestnut brown at the same time. He's a masterpiece, the boy inwardly trilled.

The younger boy was deep in concentration as he attempted to count the smattering and scattering of dainty freckles that danced across the face of the boy he loved like constellations created by the gods yet somehow even more beautiful.

The midday sun was beating down just outside the window, melting all of the mid-January frost that had settled overnight but Mike and Will wouldn't have even known if a hurricane was tearing through their town and crashing the Wheelers' house down around them as neither of them believed anything mattered but the other boy. The destruction of the galaxy wouldn't have been enough to force them to tear their eyes away from their loved one in that moment and nor would it for many moments to come over the following years.

The younger boy caught his breath after finally yielding to the fact that even in a hundred lifetimes, he could never have fully counted and memorised every freckle as each was as individual as each strand of DNA locked away inside of their bodies. "I've been terrified," Will began, his voice shaking as he struggled to allow the words to leave his mouth where he'd kept them hidden for so long, "So terrified, Mikey."

"Of what, darling?" The dark-haired boy crooned, urging the other onwards with soft and sweet words that sent shivers running up and down the spine of the younger boy.

Will's fingers flinched as he longed to take Mike's hands in his own and hold them close to his chest, on top of the heart that belonged to him but his unhappy, dark mind prevented him from doing so. "What has been happening between us even when we didn't mean it to. The spark, the chemistry...the love. I'm not the only one who's felt it, right?"

Mike's heart fluttered wildly in his chest, like a caged bird desperately trying to find an escape, as he took in the words of the person who meant the most to him in the world. "I've felt it too, of course I have. Ever since that first day of being your friend again, the moment our eyes met it was like fireworks had been lit, exploding and dazzling the sky with every kind of colour imaginable. Then every single second spent with you at the park felt like the kind of fairytale that, when you read it to your kids you have to explain to them afterwards that it's just a work of fiction so they don't grow up with unrealistic dreams of just how incredible life can be...and, well, today."

The younger boy let out a single, tinkling laugh that rang through the solemn room like a chorus of bells and created a tad more of a light-hearted atmosphere. "Wow, I always knew the Wheelers weren't the most loving parents but I didn't know they'd dash their kids' hopes and dreams whilst reading them a bedtime story." Will teased the darker-haired boy who jokingly rolled his eyes in response before settling them back on their favourite art form: the brown-haired boy with the bowl cut sitting next to him on the bed. "All those moments," The boy continued more seriously, "Made me realise that not only am I fighting a losing battle, I'm continuing in a war I don't even want to win anymore. I keep fighting for something I never even wanted, I'd just convinced myself that I did."