only you. (m.w)

three.

"dude she's cute. don't get me wrong. but i mean. she seems a little.. off,"
lucas murmured,
though his voice was plenty amplified behind the door to reach y/n.
off.
y/n was off.
she sighed quietly and buried her head in her hands.
just when i think the universe is on my side..
she thought with a soft,
but dark,
laugh.
she knew life until the end was going to play out like this.
she'd always be weird.
off.
freakish. 
"dude! she's nice, don't be like that. let's not forget how alone you were when you first came here,"
mike reminded with a certain snark to his tone.
the silence in the room grew,
soon being interrupted by lucas' voice.
"fine. fine. y/n can be in our group."
but y/n wasn't as excited as she had been just a few minutes prior.
she knew how lucas felt about her now.
but when mike opened the door,
the same smile from class spread on his face,
y/n couldn't help but to mirror it.
"good news, y/n! you're in."
***
"bye guys!"
mike called off as the boys circled down the street.
y/n stood behind him and listened to the sounds of their echoing laughter.
she couldn't help but to smile.
mike met her eyes again,
then shoved his hands in his front pockets.
"i can ask nancy to take you home."
he suggested.
"it's okay, i-i'll be fine."
"i don't know y/n..you live, like, ten blocks from here."
she shrugged carelessly.
she didn't care,
she figured a walk home would give her peaceful time to think.
and if she was honest,
she'd be lucky to even be let back in into the house.
"or-or...you can stay in my room."
his room.
y/n blushed furiously at the suggestion,
and was forced to face the truth of today:
she was attracted to him.
how could she not be?
he was sweet,
kind,
caring,
when no one else around her was.
and obviously,
attractive.
"would your mom mind?"
he asked,
"...she won't have to know."
and with that,
y/n was being rushed to him room with their mischievous laughter being stifled.
when she was in and his door was closed,
she couldn't help but admire the well decorated room.
the posters that stuck to his wall with careful precision,
the walkie-talkies sprawled on the floor,
some drawings of his hanging on the wall and some remaining tucked in the corner of his room,
textbooks remaining dusted over.
"sorry it's a mess,"
he began before lowering his tone,
"i didn't really plan on having a cute girl spend the night,"
he muttered as though she weren't meant to hear.
cute.
she looked at him with a smile that told mike she heard,
making him quick to clear it up,
"i mean, c-cool girl."
he attempted to play off with a shrug.
y/n let out a soft laugh,
"right,"
she crooned,
"thank you."
y/n had never heard those words used in the same sentence as her name.
the memory replayed itself in her mind,
and she found comfort in the heat that spread across her cheeks.
"can i ask you something?"
he asked abruptly,
drawing her from her thoughts.
"yeah."
"this might sound entirely stupid, maybe even mean, but you're cu-cool, you're funny when you want to be, and you're practically a genius. it's like...you're the missing piece to this group."
he finished,
tilting his head at her as though he might try and see through her.
she continued to smile,
"is there a question to this?"
"oh! why are you so distant? i know it's not really any of my business, but..it's like something-or someone..has hurt you."
y/n sat up a little straighter at the words,
and swallowed hard.
something has.
my entire family.
my horrid, broken family.
"you don't have to tell me right this second. but, we're practically family now, y/n. i'm here for you."
"i-i don't know why, honestly. i just don't like getting too close to people."
she kept it short with a nonchalant shrug.
"mm, no, no that's not it."
y/n rose a eyebrow,
and let out a laugh to express her disbelief.
"one day,"
he proclaimed,
"one day i'm gonna make you happy and you'll forget all about whats hurt you."
****
y/n suddenly woke up that night,
and felt rather cold in mike's spacious bed.
she looked down at where he laid on the floor,
and felt a sleepy smile come across her lips.
it was growing nearly painful to smile this much.
she slowly climbed out,
careful not to wake the sleeping boy up,
and tiptoed around his limp body.
until his eyes fluttered open to meet her silhouette,
"hey. you okay?"
he asked with a voice coated in sleep.
"y-yeah. just using the bathroom.
he murmured another word or two,
then adjusted himself against the pillow and felon back asleep.
she quickly used the bathroom,
but lingered for a moment or two to stare into the mirror.
her eyes had changed,
she realized.
what were once dark and hopeless orbs had suddenly turned bright.
all within a matter of hours had mike changed her.
trailing back to his room,
she laid eyes on him again without meaning to.
she realized just how perfect he was.
even in his sleep
his mouth was slightly parted open,
small snores escaping.
his hair sprung out all over the place,
some sticking to his forehead and some sticking to his pillowcase.
mike mumbled an incoherent sentence,
then turned over to grow comfortable.
but she could tell by the look etched against his face that the floor was nothing short of intolerable.
y/n ran her fingers down his chilled skin to wake him up,
and watched as his eyes opened again to face her.
"lay in the bed."
"but that's where you're sleeping,"
he mumbled,
his eyes slowly closing from the weight of the needed sleep.
she smiled then brushed a lock of hair from his eyes,
"i know. but it's cold up here. keep me company?"
mike couldn't help but chuckle at her slight flirting.
so he did what any normal boy would do in this situation.
he climbed into the bed with y/n at his side where they soon held one another for warmth.
she smiled as she rested against his chest.
he smelled just like the axe cologne that stained his shirt,
and a faint trace of mint.
his scent burned itself in the back of her mind.
she had never appreciated such cologne until now.
she felt protected in the boys arms,
if she was being honest.
and mike was doing good on his promise.
she had never been happier.

mike laid still in this space with y/n,
hoping this moment would never end.
he remembered the girl staring as she snuck back from the bathroom earlier,
and his hard attempts to not smile and blow his cover.
mike admired y/n just the same.
everything about y/n made him happy.
a happiness he couldn't explain.
it started within his core and traveled to every limb within him,
and sometimes ran him numb.
this was different.
something he had never felt.
not even with eleven.
maybe y/n was the cure for his broken heart.
the heart eleven broke.
mike knew it was rather unfair to place this burden on her.
but it seemed as though y/n and mike were the key to each other's healing.
because mike knew,
whether y/n admitted it or not,
that she was hurt.
and they were right where they belonged;
in each other's arms in the stillness of the night.