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Mike held the door open for Stan, waiting for him to walk in before following behind him.
"Just, please promise to be nice," he rested a hand Stan's shoulder and squeezed. With the firm grip and Mike's honeyed voice a small pang of comfort washed over Stan.
"I can try," He mumbled hesitantly, he would try for Mike. He guessed on the bright side, this was distracting him from that weird tension with Mike, at least for a day.
"Thanks baby." He leaned over and kissed just above Stanley's ear before grabbing his hand and walking him to their table. He knew it was theirs' was because the person he was here to see was already sitting there.
Stan resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he sat down, the man was beautiful. He couldn't help but be jealous. He had dark mocha skin and pretty chocolate curls. He was wearing this wide smile and his teeth just shined brighter than any star in the night sky.
Stan was sat at a table with two gorgeous men and he felt uglier than normal.
"You must be Stanley? I've heard so much about you." The man grinned.
"That's because I'm his husband."
"Well...um I'm Lucas. Lucas Sinclair." Lucas extended his hand to be shook and Stan raised an eyebrow.
"Sorry...I'm a germaphobe," he huffed sarcastically and Mike gave Stan a frown. He was used to Stan being stubborn but this was a whole new form of stubbornness. For a minute or two the aura around the table was negative and silent and Lucas looked at Mike for help.
Mike mouthed a quick 'sorry' to his newfound friend. There was no way he was going to get into it with Stan right now, not in public. People were already giving their table sideways glances. It made sense, Mike and Stan were clearly a gay couple and Mike and Lucas were clearly black, what's not to discriminate against, right?
"So, Lucas...I was just telling Stanley how you just moved from Hawkins," Mike grinned, trying his best to get the conversation rolling again. As Lucas began to speak, Stan tried to zone out but for some reason he couldn't, the male was actually a genuinely great guy and he was so interesting.
But he was too stubborn to admit his interest.
"Well we should get going, I have something nice planned for Stanley over here," he pinched Stan's cheek gently making the other hide a smile and look out the window.
"It was nice meeting you Stan, even if you seem to dislike me." Lucas chuckled softly and Stan only gave him a single glance his direction.
Once Mike and Lucas had said their goodbyes the two went in for a hug.
"Ahem..ten foot radius please, I don't know you like that," Stan glared at Lucas before grabbing Mike's hand. A woman covered her son's eyes at the sight but Stan barely noticed.
Once back in the car, Mike was sat in the driver's seat. Stanley turned on the radio and folded his arms across his chest. He kind of felt bad for being so rude but he would never regret it, at least not admittedly.
Two minutes into the car ride, Mike turned off the radio, the classical music going off.
"You're a brat, you know that right...?" Mike took a second to look over at Stan. The blonde only scoffed.
"Micheal, I'm an adult. You're not going to talk to me as if I'm a child," Mike's voice may sound strong now but Stan's was harsher.
"Well you were acting like one!" Mike paused and Stan paused. They looked at each other.
"Take me home."
"Stan-"
"Take me home, Michael!"
At that Mike pulled over and took a deep breath before looking at Stan.
"Mike I said-"
"I don't care Stan. I don't. Okay. I'm sick and tired of you acting negative every day. I'm trying so hard to make you happy, what am I missing?!"
Stan looked down at his lap, not knowing what to say. The car seemed more humid and the collar of his shirt seemed tighter.
"What? You have nothing to say now? You seemed to have so much to say back at the cafe. So here, the floor is yours..tell me what the hell your problem is." Mike had a tight grip on the steering wheel and Stan has never seen him..well...so angry.
"Mike I don't know what to say.."
"I get it... you don't wanna talk right now. My apologies Stanley," the amount of sarcasm in his voice struck Stan hard. He felt like crying and he kept his eyes in his lap.
"Mike-"
"Stan...enough," he sighed softly, "you wanna go home home? Let's go home." Mike started up the car again and said nothing else the whole ride home. This left Stan stuck in his thoughts and his heart was guilt stricken.
He messed up Mike's plans, he sassed Lucas who was only trying to be nice. Stan felt like complete shit. He wanted to apologize but he couldn't find the words. Mike had never gone off on him like that and he was lost for words.
Mike was slowly gaining a slight migraine as he pulled into their driveway. He wanted to just scream- just go somewhere and yell.
As Stan got out of the car and Mike followed. Mike kept walking all the way to their bedroom and pulled out a small duffel bag. He proceeded to pack it with a few outfits, his tooth brush and a few other things, one of them being a Polaroid of Stan.
"Hey, baby what are you doing?" Stan's voice floated through the room, broken and wavering.
"I want to go home too."
"You are home..."
"I want to go see my mother. You do whatever you need to do and maybe when I get back we'll talk or we won't. I guess it's up to you, right..." he gave a weak chuckled and slung the bag over his shoulder. He looked at Stan for a moment before pushing past him and leaving the house.
•••
Mike chewed the inside of his cheek as he stood on the doorstep, he hesitated as he rose his fist to knock.
Soon a beautiful, honeyed milk colored woman answered the door. She was small but intimidating when she wanted. She looked up at Mike in confusion as to why her son was on the brink of tears.
"Mikey..?"
"Mama," he gasped softly, "I-" He didn't even need to finish before his mother pulled him into a warm hug.
"Alright baby, don't speak right now. Let's get you some cold lemonade, okay?"
Mike nodded and the two walked into the farmhouse, closing the door behind them.
