hurt, ( byler )

2.2

july 16, 1986
mike was back at school and will felt terrible for him. people were throwing homophobic insults at him from left right and centre. mike kept his head down, staring at the floor and trying to ignore the harassment, staying unresponsive to the people insulting him.

it felt rather strange to will. will was used to it being him getting bullied for being gay (which none of these assholes even knew for certain, they were just being assholes), not mike.

"mike?" el asked softly at lunch. mike had asked the party if they could sit out on the bleachers near the high school track course at lunch, away from most of the students and most of the humiliation. of course, the party agreed, so there they were.

"yeah?" he replied, his voice so quiet it was basically a whisper.

"are you okay?" el was holding one of his hands, rubbing it softly with her thumb.

mike was most definitely not okay. he had bags under his eyes, most likely from lack of sleep, and they were slightly red, most likely from crying. his hair was messy and he had been barely responsive to the party for most of the day.

"i'm just dandy," mike said sarcastically, harshly pulling his hand away from el's.

"mike, we don't care if it's true," max put in. "we still love you."

"shut up," he muttered, refusing to meet anybody's eyes. will looked at the boy for a few more moments before looking away, seeing the girl's track team emerging from the gym doors and making their way to the tracks. one girl was walking over to the party.

it took will a moment to realise it was adelaide. "shit," he mumbled, causing the rest of the party—except mike—to look over.

"the party!" adelaide greeted, an icy expression on her face. "what a nice surprise to see you here." it was weird to see her wearing regular old clothes, especially a sports uniform. will was so used to seeing her wearing fancy, expensive looking clothes.

nobody responded to her, everybody glared at her with angry eyes, wondering what she could possibly want.

"a warm welcome," she grumbled. "anyway, i came over to talk to mister michael." at the mention of his whole name, mike looked up. "great," adelaide continued. "i have your attention. i just wanted to let you know how angry i am that i dated a faggot like you. like, it's disgusting."

"okay," mike said, trying not to seem bothered, staring her in the eye. "anything else?"

she hummed. "i never pictured you being the gay one in the group. i thought that little fairy-boy-byers was the queer." she looked thoughtful for a moment. "maybe you're both fags!" she looked between the two of them and blandly and sarcastically said, "how cute."

"just go away, adelaide," max said, watching the blonde girl carefully.

adelaide ignored her and looked back at mike. "and you infected my poor connor! you infected him with your disgusting disease!"

mike laughed humourlessly. "i kissed you, too. maybe you have my 'disgusting disease' too." he narrowed his eyes.

the blonde girl took a step back, clear revulsion on her face. "ugh! you are disgusting. i hope you rot in hell!"

"shut up, you stupid fucking bitch!" el suddenly snapped, banging her fists down onto the wooden seat, adelaide forcefully falling onto the ground at the same time. el stood up and walked over to adelaide. "just leave me and my friends alone!" she was standing over adelaide. max started calling out to el to settle down.

despite having fear on her face, adelaide smirked. "what are you gonna do, weirdo?"

el clenched her fists. "el, el! no!" max shouted. el glanced back at the party for a moment before back at adelaide. el tilted her head and suddenly adelaide cried out in pain.

"el!" will tried. "just let her go!"

"leave me and my friends alone," el said to adelaide. "got it?"

adelaide nodded, eyes wide. "good," el said. she held out her hand to adelaide. will watched on in confusion. adelaide ignored it and tried to get up on her own, but failed miserably. she held a frustrated expression on her face and hesitantly put her hand into el's, letting the brunette pull her up.

el muttered some more things to adelaide, quietly enough so will or anyone else in the party couldn't hear her. adelaide began limping away and el turned back around, a proud look on her face.

"what the hell, el?" lucas snapped, taking will by surprise. "that was so unnecessary! you can't... you can't just use your powers whenever you want to! you have to be careful! and... and you can't just hurt people whenever they annoy you!"

"oh relax," el said. "i barely even sprained her ankle. it will be fine again in like four days or something."

mike cut in. "i didn't ask you to do that. i didn't want you to do that!"

"i did it for myself. i hate her."

"well, either way, just... just don't!" mike huffed, crossing his arms.

"guys..." dustin started. "let's just all relax."

"how the fuck am i supposed to relax?" mike shouted. "i-i-" mike paused, taking a breath. "every single fucking person in this stupid school is harassing me all because one person opened their mouth and now... and now everyone knows and it's so unfair because that was supposed to be my thing to tell when i was ready. i was supposed to choose who to tell and when to tell them but no! one selfish person blabbed about something they weren't even fucking sure that they heard and now everything is a mess and everybody wants me to fucking die and go to hell!"

everybody was staring at the distressed boy, knowing exactly what he meant even though he hadn't said the exact words.

"so you're..." lucas trailed off, looking at mike expectantly to confirm it.

"yes, i'm fucking gay," mike snapped. "i thought i made that pretty fucking clear." mike stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder and beginning to walk away.

"mike, wait," will called out.

"just... can all of you leave me alone. please." mike didn't turn back around. "i-i'm going home. i can't stay here any longer. i need time to think."

"mike," dustin said. "we love you, man."

mike turned around. "i know," he responded, looking at the ground. "i love you guys, too. i just... need time alone."

"of course. take care, dude."

author's note
i like angst
but like...........both mike and will are out now...👀
also, i hope every single one of you are staying safe during this pandemic. i wish the best to all of u and your families <3

1:03pm — 09 april 2020