"Are you gonna throw up again?" Mike asked softly.
Will shook his head once, before a sudden spike of pain through his skull stopped him.
"Your head, it hurts?" The ebony haired boy asked as if reading his mind.
Will let out a hum of confirmation. He pressed the heels of his hands to his eyes until the back of his eyelids bloomed with colour.
"Do you want me to stop talking? Would that make it better?" Mike questioned again, his voice somehow impossibly softer than before.
Will make another noise, this time translating a no.
"Ok..." Mike said, he leant back against the wall next to the brunette, moving from where he was knelt before him. They both stared at the wall.
It had been 10 minutes since Will's panic attack flashback mash up ended. Though he was still trembling violently from the adrenaline still
pumping through his blood, he was mostly okay. Mostly okay meaning he was absolutely humiliated that he had just broke down sobbing and hyperventilating in front of one of his very few friends, who has know him for hardly a month, over something so dumb and insignificant as punching a wall, and then also proceeded to vomit up what he had eaten of his lunch into the trash can, which was totally gross too and even more humiliating than crying too. So yeah, he was mostly okay.
"Do you get them a lot?" Mike asked, "Panic attacks, I mean."
"Sometimes." Will whispered, his voice raw.
"My old neighbour's kid had one once. Spooked by the sound of a car back firing, next thing I knew they were breathing like they'd just ran four frickin' marathons. Ha."
Will just stared ahead, eyes unseeing, "Sorry."
"What? You don't need to apologise." Mike's voice was a mixture of confusion and discomfort. Will's head pounded harder.
"I made you miss lunch. And I nearly puked on you. Sorry it must have looked really freaky as well. Sorry."
"Will, stop apologising. It's not your fault, if- if anything it's mine. I'm the one who freaked out and- and yelled. I was being a total dick. It's not your fault, it's mine. Ok?" Mike pulled his vision from the wall and turned his body to face Will fully, his brown eyes looking to him, as honest and genuine as his words.
Will remained silent, swallowing painfully in his aching throat.
"Will?"
A feint ringing bell could be heard in the distance.
Shit. Class.
"W-we have to get to bio, M-mike." Will tried, sitting up from the wall, though he kept his eyes away from Mike's, not wanting to confront whatever expression that was on the taller boy's face.
"Will, you're not going to class like this," Mike tried, "I don't wanna sound like, mean, or whatever, but you look like, like shit." he finished, standing up to offer Will a hand.
"What about your head?" Mike said as he pulled Will to his feet, the boy was still shaking, and the blood drained from his face as he stood up straight, sudden black dots clouding his vision.
Mike noticed and grabbed the shorter boys shoulders to steady him, "Alright, that settles it, we're skipping." He said.
Will's eyes widened in alarm, "What?! Skipping? No, no I can't, my mom will kill me-"
"So will mine!" Mike interjected, "which is why we're not gonna get caught." He gave the brown haired boy a wink, and then began brushing the creases off his sweater from being sat on the floor.
"But how?" Will asked, worry beginning to make his stomach flip again- he swore it was scrambled up like eggs inside him at this point.
"Me Lucas and Dustin know Hawkins Middle like the back of our hand, including all the fire exits- most particularly the ones that don't trip the alarm when they open." He smiled at Will again, "One of those fire exits being this one here!" He gestured to the bright red door behind them, pride blossoming in his chest that he could put this knowledge to use.
Him and the party had mapped out the entire school and all its escape routes incase of a 'zombie apocalypse' Dustin had decided, because leaving school for any reason other than imminent death was not acceptable and "Completely unethical! Our education is free so we must treasure it!" Dustin had preached.
Now, however, there were no zombies, no imminent threat or death, but, Mike wasn't gonna skip out on a chance to impress his new best friend.
Will sniffed, and nodded wearily, still feeling uneasy on his feet.
"Do you need me to carry you? I don't mind." Mike quickly offered.
Will furiously shook his head, "No it's okay, just still uh... I'm sorry!" He blushed, fidgeting on his feet. The humiliation of the prior events was still running rampant through his veins, like sour milk.
"Hey," Mike began, voice soft again, "I said stop apologising, it's totally fine. Now, you ready Byers?"
Will mustered up a smile, "Totally."
Mike lead Will over to the door, peeking out the small clouded window to check the coast was clear. The door lead to the staff parking round the side of the school, and since class wasn't out and it was mid-day, no one should be about.
"Okay, on my count." Mike said, fasting his bag straps tighter, "Three, two-"
But before he could finish, Will shouted "One!"
and pulled the door open, running out into the cold air.
"Hey!" Mike shouted after him, running now in tandem, "No fair Byers!"
Will laughed, letting the fresh air fill his lungs as Mike caught up to him. They ran as fast and as far as they could, and Will decided just this once, that running from things maybe wasn't so bad- not when he had Mike by his side.
—
Hey! So, it's been a while. A lot has happened- obviously. I decided I would do 13 year old me justice and finish this draft i've had sitting around for the last 4 years so here it is. I hope you guys enjoy, but please take in heed there's no promise of another update any time soon. If you (for some reason) enjoy my writing, check out my ao3 @/strugglewillbe where I'm gonna be uploading some more byler fics hopefully soon because these boys just make me feel whole. I've also posted some bnha and heartstopper content so if you're into any of that feel free to give it a read. Thanks you guys for the support, stay safe, love you all :) - katie
