back by my side - byler

twenty

tw:homophobia/mentions of abuse

will

i know we can do it, i know we can defeat him for good this time. i have faith in us. we've been riding our bikes for a while now, i haven't taken my headphones off. i can see mike, lucas, erica and dustin taking but i don't mind not knowing what they're saying if it means i get to live.

after around fifteen minutes, we get to the house. lucas gets off his bike, dustin and erica do too and they stay on the other side of the road in the small playground. lucas hands me and mike a notebook each and a pen each so we can talk without vecna knowing we're there. he also hands us lanterns so we know where vecna is in the house.

lucas makes his way over to the house but i freeze, i don't know if i can go in, it's terrifying. mike gets off of his bike and stands next to me. lucas turns around and shouts to me and mike, i can barely hear him or mike's muffled shout back, all i can hear is the voice of robert smith.

i slightly remove the headphones from one of my ears so i can hear what they're saying but i can still hear the music, just in case.

mike has the gun in his hands, "how the fuck do you use this? why did nancy give it to me, it's not like any of us know how to use one of these things." he's trying to figure out how to use it but he's failing miserably.

i place my bike down on the floor and walk over to mike. "i know how to use one," i say and take the gun from his hands. i reload it and he watches carefully as i do.

i feel mikes eyes on me but i don't turn to him. i hand him the gun but he still looks clueless. "i don't..." he trails off.

"oh. come here," i wrap my arms around him, holding the gun in front of us. i show him
how to aim it and tell him how to shoot it, he nods but it didn't sound like he was listening.

i finally let go and mike still hasn't said anything, he's stood staring into my eyes, he looks surprised. "when- when did you learn how to do that?"

"my dad taught me how to use one, against my will, but it comes in handy sometimes i guess," i chuckle a little.

"you two okay back there?" lucas shouts and mike clears his throat and turns to lucas.

"yeah, just a second," mike shouts back. "it's okay, we're both here with you. come on," he says. i slowly get off my bike and we walk to the door.

lucas opens the door and i walk in. lucas goes first and i'm supposed to go second but i stop, i can't go further. mike slowly walks up next to me and takes my hand. he opens his mouth to say something but i quickly put my hand over his mouth so he can't. i keep ahold of his hand and we walk in together quietly and stand next to lucas.

lucas points to himself and points to the ceiling, telling us he's going to go upstairs. mike and i nod and lucas slowly makes his way upstairs. i walk in the opposite direction to where mike is, slowly letting go of his hand. i start walking around, trying to find out where vecna is. i walk into different rooms but my light doesn't shine.

suddenly i feel something touch my shoulder, i flinch, not expecting it. i slowly turn around, i'm relieved to see it's lucas. he gestures for me to follow him so i do, walking out of the room i was in. we walk back into where we started and i see mike at the bottom of the stairs. lucas and i cautiously make our way to the stairs.

we all creep up the stairs, trying not to make much noise. when we're all at the top, mike shines his flashlight out the window, signalling to erica and dustin so they can tell nancy and robin. they shine their flashlight back and we follow through with the plan. lucas leaves, leaving me and mike alone. he goes back outside with dustin and erica, he told us on the way that if me or mike need anything, to signal with the light.