Insomnia Boys BYLER

Chapter 3

TW HOMOPHOBIC SLURS

It had been a week since Mike ran into Will. Everything was normal, except for the fact Mike often stared at Will. They both just admired the other, Never starting a conversation.

Today was like any other, Max hung out with Lucas and his friends which forced El and Will to do the same. Both had no other friends and hated being alone due to bullying so they had nowhere else to go, Not like Will wanted to leave anyway.

"We should hang out during winter break." Lucas suggested.

"I'm good with that, Are you guys?" Max asked, Her hands tugging on Lucas's book bag. He turned around to face her. Max raised an eyebrow and flicked him in the forehead.

All of them smiled, except for Mike and Will. They each looked at each other, Accidentally making eye contact but neither looked away.

"I guess.." Mike mumbled, Still not breaking contact with Will.

El grabbed Will's arm, Pulling him away to their next class. They had Math together, with Mike.

Mike awkwardly waved to the others and slowly followed the two.

"Woah woah! El you're going to tear my arm off!" Will laughed, He rarely talked when with the group but when he was around max or el, He was a chatterbox.

El let go of his arm and playfully punched him, "Yeah and I'll slowly rip all of your limbs off!" She giggled. "No, If you do that, how will I ever draw again?" Will grinned.

Mike felt wrong for watching this interaction, They didn't know he was near them. He felt creepy. He was watching two of his "friends" talk, when they don't even speak when he's around.

They kept laughing until they all entered the class.

El sat in the front while Will and Mike sat in the back. The boys had one person in between them but they were always absent, Which left space for them to watch the other.

Class had begun, Will was good with all his subjects, he really cared about his academic success.

He eventually got bored of reviewing homework so he took a peek at the raven haired boy.

Mike's hair was a little messier today, and his eye bags looked way worse. He had his elbow resting on the desk while he doodled, it looked like an ugly dog. It was very bad, Will silently laughed to himself.

——
Mike was the first to get out of class, It was lunch and he knew that Will would sit with the others.

Mike didn't have anything against Will, He just simply found him attractive. Making him flustered, and Mike couldn't be queer.

Being gay was disgusting.

He caught up with Dustin and started a conversation.

"Have you seen the new Star Wars movie?" He asked, His hand running through his curls. "Nope. What did your mom buy it?" Dustin laughed. "Yeah actually." He smirked.

They kept their conversation going til Max interrupted. They had walked all the way to the lunch table without even realizing it.

"What are you guys talking about?" Max asked, She moved her spork around in her mystery mush.

"We are going to watch the new star wars movie at Mikes!" Dustin cheered, Mike glared at him. He didn't want the others to come over.

Max eyed Will, "Will loves Star Wars!"

Will knew exactly where this was going. He could tell Mike didn't want him coming, and it's not like Will wanted to anyway.

"Max.." Will whispered, He was close to panicking.

Max turned to Will and grinned, "Oh come on, You could make more friends!" She whispered back.

He shook his head, He was about to start begging but Mike spoke up.

"If you want, can you come watch it with us?" He wanted to get to know Will more, And if he didn't invite him the others would see Mike as an asshole.

Will didn't want to say no but he didn't want to be alone with two boys he didn't know for hours.

"He'd love to come! won't you?" Max answered for him, She danced her eyebrows around smiling. Will didn't know what to do so he just smiled and nodded.

——
It was now the last class of the day, Will was in Art while Mike was in Debate. Neither knew the other was thinking of them, Both were developing a little crush without knowing.

Will had been drawing the scenery of a tree for the past week, He was rarely bothered because his classmates did their own thing. But on the few occasions he was bothered he simply ignored them.

And it seemed today was one of those few days he gets messed with.

"Hey gay boy!" A taller boy shouted. Will focused on his drawing, Not paying attention to the Boy.

"Look at me you queer!" The boy shouted again, Will again didn't respond. He was busy.

"You fucking faggot." Will suddenly heard the voice extremely close to him, He turned around just to see the bully 3 feet away from him.

Will knew exactly what was about to happen.

He would get teased then once they kids got bored they would result in beating him. Once they got bored of that they would walk away, yelling insults of course.

But the one thing Will wasn't expecting was that Mike could clearly see him outside the window. His debate class had a giant window facing that exact old tree.

Now Mike couldn't hear what was going on but he could see it.

He isn't the type to stick up for people but he could easily show the teacher and get the bullies in trouble, But he knew that wouldn't help.

Mike Wheeler did the one thing he knew how to do.

He watched them beat Will. He witnessed Will get yelled at and kicked, and he didn't help.

Will didn't know that anyone was watching him. He didn't know that the kid he had been slightly crushing on was staring at him.

"Fucking fairy! I bet you think I'm cute." The boy said, His hands wrapped around Will's neck.

The group of kids eventually left Will alone, Leaving him crying by the old tree.

The art teacher, Mrs Natalie, noticed him on the floor sobbing eventually. But she didn't do anything.

Mrs Natalie knew exactly what happened but she had no proof of it, It seemed to happen every time she turned around.

He groaned at the pain and slowly stood up, He kicked some old leaves. "Assholes.." He muttered, grabbing his art supplies and stuffing it into his bag.

His tears still streaming down.

Mrs Natalie smiled, he would be okay thankfully. But she still felt horrible for not being there.

Mike slowly laid his head down, Cursing himself for not helping. He did what he always did, he fell asleep.