love at first campaign |gareth x mike|

2.

it's been a few days, the campaign is almost over, meaning, the next campaign that's gonna be written, mime and dustin gets to play instead of watch.

before heading to mikes next class, he gets stopped.

"hey," gareth said. "the bands playing again tonight at the bar across town."

"cool," mike said, zipping his bag.

"do you maybe wanna come?"

mike smiled.

"yeah, i would love to. what time?"

"10pm, hope to see you there."

"yeah, definitely." mike gave him a small smile.

they part ways, mike catching up with dustin.

"you're blushing," dustin said.

"what?"

"your face is bright red. chill out man. you barely got out of a relationship 5 months ago."

"yeah, meaning i'm free to date other people. will has."

"how do you know?" dustin furrowed their brows.

"we still talk you know. you were there when we mutually agreed to break up."

"but you know it wasn't mutual."

"it was," mike said. "now, please, let's stop talking about my failed relationship with one of our best friends and focus on gareth."

"that's what you're focused on? boys?"

"it's not my main focus, it's just a sub-focus."

dustin shook their head. "i hate gay people."

"aren't you pan?"

"that's not the point, michael. listen. we're in high school. we're no longer the little kids that we used to be. we need to stand up for ourselves just incase the bullying gets bad again."

"dusty, i love you dude but we're practically invisible. the only people that really know of us is the remaining party members and the hellfire club."

"that's true,"

they hurried to class, knowing they'll get detention if they're late again.

they listened to whatever the hell their teacher was talking about, they as in dustin, mike however was thinking about brown curly hair and red flannels.

mike wheeler was absolutely gone for gareth emerson..

that night, around 7pm, mike got ready early, even though it won't take that long to go to the bar.

"where ya headin'?" nancy asked.

"to see my friends band play."

"dustin?"

"no, eddie. well, we're not really friends we're club members. we barely know each other but-"

"it's fine, have fun. bet back before two or i can't cover for you." she said and mike waved and left.

mike arrived at 7:15.

"you made it!" gareth exclaimed.

"woah, wheeler! didn't know you were comin'." eddie said.

"you're early,"

mike chuckled. "yeah, thought i could hang around a bit before i see you guys perform."

"we're not that good, ya know." eddie informed.

gareth, however, didn't agree.

"nah, man, we're great, fuck you mean?"

"guys, we should rehearse." jeff said. "oh, hi mike."

"hey jeff,"

"well," eddie said. "guess you'll see us rehearse."

gareth took his drum sticks our of his bag, waved at mike with a smile, to which the other returned, and went and sat down at the stool he sits in to play his drums.

mike watched fondly watching their rehearsal.

at straight up 10 o'clock, corroded coffin started the actual performance.

at midnight, the show ended, and mike stood up clapping.

"you guys did great." mike said.

"thanks man," gareth said, pulling mike into a hug. mike didn't expect that.

he smelt like sweat and cigarettes, with a hint of floral.

mike hugged back as soon as it registered.

after they both pulled away from the hug, mike tried to hide the slight blush on his face, to which he horribly failed at as his face turned completely red.

"you okay wheeler?"

"yeah," mike said. "i'm just getting hot."

if you know mike long enough, you can tell he does this thing with his hands when he lies. luckily, the group didn't know him that long so they believed the stupid lie.

"i gotta go home," mike said. "my house is like fifteen minites away and my parents get home at two o'clock and i don't wanna get lectured."

"that's fine, we'll see you later." jeff said

"yeah, see you guys tomorrow." mike said and quickly left.

#slay btw this is gonna be a slow burn, kinda. also idk gareths last name but when i typed his name into pintrest to get a photo for the cover, it said gareth emerson so i just used that idk if it's right. okay bye <3