Just Friends - Byler

IX

"What do you want Troy?" Will was clearly feeling bold at the moment. Bad idea because that resulted in a painful punch to the stomach causing Will to fall back and hug his waist to try and ease the pain a little. That didn't work too because Troy continued on by kicking Will in the waist over and over as he lied on the concrete ground trying his best to dodge the kicks and get up. He reached out his hand as Troy went in for another kick, this time to the face. He grabbed onto Troys ankle and pulled him down to the ground with him quickly getting up and running away as fast as he could, although his torso really hurt at the moment.

"I'll get payback Byers! You'll see, you're dead, you're dead!" Troy shouted as Will ran away from him and the arcade.

When he got back to Mikes, no one was in the house it seemed like, the smoke alarm went off near the kitchen and a "shit, shit, shit!" echoed from the kitchen. Mike had burnt a grilled cheese sandwich, he's never been a great cook but at least he tries. Will walked into the kitchen still holding his bruised and bloody waist and was met with a frantic Mike, waving around a towel near the smoke alarm to keep it from beeping.

"Grilled cheese?" Mike joked as he pointed to the still smoking burnt sandwich in the pan barely looking at Will who clearly had a very bloody shirt on. Mike took a second look back at Will once he got the smoke alarm to stop blaring. "Holy- what happened to you? You know what matter of fact, where were you?" Mikes eyes widened as he saw the amount of blood on Wills shirt, it wasn't really a lot but it was a fair amount of blood to be worried about.

"I went out to the arcade and Troy beat the shit out of me when I was on my way back." Will said so casually, laughing sort of as he grabbed a rag and wet it with warm water in the kitchen sink. He lifted up his shirt and groaned in pain as the rag met his wound.

"Here, let me help you with that." Mike walked up to Will, causing him to turn a light pink in the face from their hands brushing against each other's as Mike grabbed the warm rag. Will looked up at Mike and they just stared at each others eyes for awhile before Will let go of the rag and let Mike help him. He sat on the counter and leaned back in pain as the rag met his cut once again.

"I-I'll go get a bandaid, be right back." Mike said, without making eye contact. He didn't want Will to see him blushing, he doesn't have a crush on him or anything like that. Maybe it's just hot in here, that's all. Mike breathed out as he found the bandaids and ointment. Will leaned back with his chin pointing at the kitchen ceiling, he looks really pretty like that. Mike thought to himself, god what is he thinking? They're friends, just friends. You can't think of your friends like this, It's really weird. He took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen where Will put his head beach down to look at Mike walking over with the yellow bandaids and ointment. Mike, without thinking too much, took the rag and wet it again to finish cleaning the cuts. Will grabbed onto Mikes wrist tightly to stop him from cleaning the cut anymore because it hurt him so much.

"I have to Will, I'm trying to help you."
Mike told Will in a gentle tone. Will hesitantly let go of Mikes wrist, he was holding on so tight that he left a red mark.

"Sorry Mike." Will apologized as he looked at Mikes red wrist.

"It's fine, it'll go away soon." Mike smiled, distracting Will so he could clean his wound again." El came up the basement stairs with Wills sketch book in her hand. Oh god, my sketch book. The drawing!

"What's this Will?" She questioned as she looked at the picture longer. Will didn't know what to say, he didn't want anyone to worry more than they already are.

"It's um...a character, for a story I'm writing." He cringed at his own lie, not such a believable one. Everyone knows he doesn't write stories anymore and he hasn't for over two years now.

"You haven't written in two years Will..." Mike said with worry in his tone. Will looked at the two standing in front of him now with fear in his eyes. He can't keep lying to his friends, friends don't lie.

"Fine...I'll tell you. O-only if you don't tell anyone else." Will stammered. He took a deep breath before continuing on, "I've been having nightmares o-of the upside down and th-they turned into...episodes." He had tears in his eyes now, he looked up at Mike who had his face crinkled up like he was about to cry with Will.

"I-I'm sorry Will, I should've been there!" He hugged Will tightly. El furrowed her eyebrows in sadness. She set down the drawing and wrapped her arms around Will after Mike.

"I'm sorry for everything Will." she whispered loud enough so that only he could hear her.

A/N:
I'm running out of ideas on what to do with this story. (I'm also in the process of writing a few other stories too.)

Time written: April 30, 2022 2:39 a.m
Word count: 949