𖤐•𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐧•𖤐; Byler

-Chapter 3-

WILL wakes up to the sound of his alarm. As he reaches to shut it off he notices that he is running extremely late. He jumps out of bed and throws on his shoes and a sweater that hangs over his desk chair. He's grateful that he didn't put on pjs last night. In all honesty he barely even slept. Will could not stop thinking about Mike and how long he looked into his beautiful brown eyes. It felt like all of his problems disappeared in those moments.

But those moments have come and gone and his problems still linger. Which is why he quickly crawls over, under his desk and grabs a bottle of whisky and pours it into the water bottle on his nightstand. He shoves the water bottle into his backpack and runs out his room and out the front door. Leaving without breakfast. El had already left for school almost an hour before him to ride with Max.

On his way to school he rides his bike past the cemetery and can't stop thinking what his night would have looked like if Mike never stopped to talk to him.

Will arrives at school and parks his bike in the rack next to a familiar bike. Before he can fully turn around, someone runs up and hugs him from behind. Will was taken back by this action.

He turns around now looking at the mystery person, who ironically is no mystery at all. Now looking into the eyes of the beautiful Mike Wheeler, Will feels a weight being lifted off his chest as he stares into the eyes of his.

"Sorry, was that too much?" Mike stammered.
"No, no, you're fine, just startled me is all." Will replies.
"Hey, do you wanna walk to English together?" Mike beamed.
Will was curious as to what was making Mike filled with so much energy. It wasn't like him to be so happy this early in the morning.
"Of course" Will answered.

The two boys walk to class, but stop to talk to Lucas and Dustin who were accompanied by Max and El near Lucas's locker. They all talked for a few minutes but in all that time El didn't say one word to Mike, which left him confused but not hurt.

Max and Lucas went off to class as well as Dustin. El turns away to head to class when Mike jogs after her leaving Will alone at the locker.

"El, wait"

El stops and turns to face Mike.

"Hey"

"Hi" El responds.

"Are we ok?" Mike asks.

"I don't know." El turns away from Mike walking to class.

Mike stands there for a moment like a lost puppy. Will comes up behind him placing his hand on Mikes shoulder.

"You ok?" Will asks.

Startled, Mike turns and look into Wills eyes.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine..actually..I'm perfectly fine, is that strange?" Mike concerns.

"What do you mean "strange"?" Will questioned.

*School bell rings*

Realizing they were going to be late the two jog quickly to class.

They get to class just as the second bell rings. They sit down at their table with Eddie. Eddie has failed this class two years in a row now. He has his head down on the desk and when Mike tries to wake him, he doesn't move a muscle.

"Well, he's out" Mike confirmed.

"When is he not?" Will jokes.

"Yeah, you're right"

The teacher starts the lesson but clearly no one in the room is paying any attention.

Will taps in Mikes shoulder.

"What did you mean earlier, in the hall?" Will asks quietly.

"Oh, that. Well, I asked El if we were okay because she has been acting super weird, and she said she didn't know." Mike responds.

"And you aren't upset about that?" Will questioned.

"No, I'm not upset at all, that's what's strange. I feel like I should be upset, I'm trying to be upset. But if I'm being honest I feel kind of...relieved in a way.." He stammered.

"Relieved?" Will pondered

"Y-yeah. God I sound like a horrible person" Mike professed.

"You know what that means Wheeler?" Eddie interrupts, awaking from his slumber.

"You don't love her." Eddie protested.

"What? T-thats not true." Mike stutters.

"Whatever you say, Wheeler" Eddie taunted, returning to his sleep.

Mike didn't speak a word for the rest of class, and only spat out a handful the rest of the day.

AUTHORS NOTES
I swearrr Byler content is coming, im a sucker for slow-burns. But don't worry I won't make you suffer anymore, well...that's not entirely true...