love at first campaign |gareth x mike|

3.

"you have a staring problem." lucas whispered to mike, making him jump.

"jesus, when did you show up?" mike sighed, slapping him lightly.

"i've been here for 20 minutes, the whole time you were staring at a fagged up troy walsh."

"gareth doesn't look like troy." mike argued, rolling his eyes.

"yeah, whatever, i like dustin and even i don't look at him that much."

gareth can't hear them, his music is too loud and he was drumming his fingers on the table. lucas and mike were whispering, so jeff, eddie, and the other guy at the table, mike doesn't know his name, can't hear them talk either.

"speaking of, where even is dustin?"

"he skipped lunch today." lucas stated and mike nodded his head.

"i miss the group being together." mike said out of no where.

"me too,"

"have you talked to will?"

lucas shook his head.

"el?"

again, lucas shook his head.

"i thought you talked to them on a daily basis." lucas said, raising an eyebrow.

"stopped calling," mike deadpanned.

"who?"

"will. i tried calling and no one picked up. that's why i'm moving on because he is too."

lucas didn't say anything, knowing when mike says he's gonna move on from something, he does.

"whatever," lucas sat down. "are you doing okay?"

"no," mike answered honestly. "he definitely doesn't like me back."

"you never know if you don't ask."

"you want me to ask him if he likes me?" mike raised an eyebrow out of confusion.

"not necessarily," lucas said. "just ask him to hang out or something."

"okay, after lunch though."

the two sat in silence until the bell rang. mike didn't really get any food so he waiting by the stairs in the cafeteria for gareth to get done.

"hey," gareth said.

"hey," mike took a deep breath. "do you wanna uh, hangout? after school?"

gareth gave him a warm smile. "yeah, sure."

"cool,"

"cool,"

the blush on both boys' face were obvious, but neither was gonna say anything.

"um, meet me outside by my bike, there's two seats so i can take you." mike said, trying not to make eye contact.

"alright, man, see you after school." gareth smiled and walked to his class.

***

after school, gareth was waiting by the bike racks like he said he would.

"hey,"

"hi,"

"okay, let's go." mike said, inviting gareth to sit in the seat behind him, gareth climbed onto the seat.

***

"i like your style," mike said.

"what?"

"your clothes, i like them. my parents wouldn't let me wear something like that."

gareth was wearing his usual flannel, a grey shirt, ripped jeans, and he was wearing a necklace and some rings.

"oh, thanks mike." gareth blushed.

they sat in silence for a bit, having nothing really to say.

nancy opened the door and found the two on mikes bed, across from each other, blushing.

"am i interrupted something?" she questioned.

mike snapped his gaze away from his crush to look at his sister, his face still stained red.

"no, not at all, what is it?"

"dinner's ready."

mike got out of his bed and so did gareth.

"should i go?" he asked.

"you can stay for dinner if you want." mike suggested.

gareth nodded and the three made their way down the stairs and into the dining room.

"michael, i didn't know you had a friend over." karen said, looking up.

"yeah, is it okay if he stayed for dinner?"

"of course," she smiled.

they made their way to the table to sit down.

"so, michael, who's your friend?" ted asked.

"this is gareth," mike said with a bright smile. "gareth this is my dad."

"it's good to meet you, mr. wheeler." gareth said, holding his hand out for ted to shake but he doesn't shake back, so gareth slowly puts his hand down back to his side and coughs awkwardly.

"is he your boyfriend?" ted asked blantly.

"no, absolutely not." mike said immediately.

"ted, you just can't ask that." karen scolded.

"what? last time he brought a boy over that we didn't know they started fucking around." he said in defense.

"yeah, i was in kindergarten and we didn't start dating until sixth grade, and we broke up." mike mentioned.

"you're gay?" gareth asked. it wasn't out of disgust, just pure curiosity.

"yeah," mike mumbled.

"son, if you're gonna tell people you're gross lifestyle speak up." ted said.

"yeah, i'm gay, what about it?" mike said clearly. no way could you mistake his words for something else.

"that's really cool," gareth smiled.

"anyway," nancy interrupted. "we should eat now, i'm hungry."

they all agreed, though mike just picked at his food. he wasn't really hungry anyway.

after dinner, plates were scraped and put into the dishwasher.

"i should get home." gareth announced.

"oh, okay, i'll take you home. it's too dark to walk home." mike suggested.

"yeah, that'd be alright." gareth smiled again and this time mike felt like he was going to melt into a puddle of happiness.

they didn't talk about the awkward dinner conversation that happened, no one really did, that's fine though. mike didn't wanna talk about it anyway.

gareth gave directions to his house, mike trying to burn it into his memory. not only so he can find his way back home but so whenever he needs to get away he has somewhere to go.

he used to go to wills house, but that can't happen anymore. he used to go to the old byers household after they moved for a familar feeling.

now he feels that feeling with gareth so he can't mistake what he's feeling for friendship.

"thanks for the ride." gareth said, removing his arms from around mikes waist.

"anytime." mike said.

he's glad that it's dark so gareth couldn't see the bright red that was definitely on mike's face.

mike went home, thinking about the brown haired boy that filled the empty void.

another update!