hurt, ( byler )

2.3

july 17, 1986
mike wasn't at school again, but nobody in the party really minded, given what had happened. will couldn't imagine how scary it would be to be outed like that, for your private information to be spread by ignorant homophobes.

at lunch the party moved back to their regular table in the cafeteria since mike was absent. el, will and dustin sat on one side of the table, lucas and max on the other. everyone kept their conversations positive—there was an unspoken agreement with everyone that they wouldn't say anything to dampen the mood.

lunch had only started about five minutes earlier when connor rayes sat down at the table with them, plopping down beside max. lucas and dustin's friendly debate paused as everyone stared at the boy. he ignored eye contact with all of them and rested his elbows on the table, hiding his face in his hands. slowly, lucas and dustin resumed their debate and max looked away from the brunet boy now sitting beside her. el looked at him for a few more moments before focusing on the debate.

will continued to stare at connor, unable to look away as an intense wave of jealousy washed over him. will didn't blame mike for going after this boy—he was good-looking and he wasn't a complete loser like will.

eventually connor raised his head and he stared right back at will, his usual stoic expression on his face. he looked like shit, his skin pale and bags under his eyes. "why are you here?" will blurted out, immediately going red in the face and looking down. he didn't mean to sound so rude.

the debate paused again, everyone's eyes on will. "oh, you know—" connor kept his eyes on will but waved his hand dismissively, "—didn't really feel like being called a fairy by troy and james. and i didn't feel like listening to adelaide trying to convince me that i'm not a homo."

"sorry," will mumbled. connor turned to look at max, who had her eyebrows raised in surprise.

"what?" he asked. "why are you so surprised? i know that you're smart enough to know that the rumours were true. i thought mike and i made it pretty clear by now."

the rest of lunch was pretty quiet.

july 23, 1986
nobody had heard from mike since his last appearance at school, and was not accepting visitors at his house.

how did will know the second thing?

him and max had paid mike a visit on the first day of summer break, just to check up on him and see how he was doing. mrs wheeler turned them away at the door, claiming mike had a "terrible fever." though, will didn't entirely belief her, given the false-empathetic smile on her face and by the way she spoke like it was a rehearsed excuse.

"i'm worried about him," max said as they left mike's house, slowly skating while will walked his bike. "i mean, with everything that happened at school, and how he's gone radio silent—literally—i just... i don't know. it's not like him."

will hummed. "i agree. if mike really was sick, well, he'd be on the supercom complaining about how crappy he felt. it's not like him to just be dead silent, as you said. at least not for this long."

max was silent. "we could talk to connor."

will turned his head to look at her so quickly he almost got whiplash. "huh?"

"i know, i know—" max waved her hands, "it sounds crazy? talk to connor? why? just... hear me our. him and mike are a thing, right? mike seems to be communicating with connor more than us at the moment. maybe..." she trailed off, hoping will would understand. he did.

he sighed. "i mean, yeah. i guess. maybe mike has been in contact with connor. it's an option."

"i don't see any other options. no one has heard from mike in days."