Sn. 1

FINALLY, MIKE SAW THE SUN rising from behind the window. 6:23 am, according to the big clock.

He hurried to sit up. Finally he could get up, do something to distract himself. 

He had spent hours he had lied in bed, trying very hard to think about something else so his erection dies down He had lied in the dark in stress, scared to move so Will won' t wake up and see it. And when it did die down, still scared that Will would wake and ask him where he was going. He couldn't sleep, but he couldn't think about it either.

It was too scary, too stressful. He didn't want to deal with it, he didn't want to think about the way he had wanted Will so bad it was almost painful.

He lay on his side for the rest of the night, staring at the initials of generations of students carved into the wood under the window. He tried to distract himself by trying to figure out the names the couples. He saw one that read J & J, and remembered that Will's mom and Jane's dad had maybe dated in high school... plus a few other couple names he was pretty sure he recognized.

That source of distraction quickly came to an end when he stumbled across a M & W.

It was one of the most stressful, weirdest nights he had had in his life. But now it was finally morning. He could do something.

But first- a shower seemed necessary.

                                                                                ✴ ⁕ ✴ ⁕ ✴

He made his way to the boys' locker rooms, already anticipating the cold water that would cool his sweaty body. He stopped in the lost and found bin, finding a new Adidas sweatshirt he could wear. Kids in his school really did run out of school quickly as they could when the bell rang, and they didn't seem to care what they left behind.

When he neared the locker room, he heard water running from inside. Had he left the water open yesterday? he upped his pace more, jogging. He hoped he didn't cause a flood. 

But it wasn't him. Will was standing inside, partly hidden from sight with the half wall.Mike stepped in, trying to think what he should say.

Will was shirtless, washing his hand firmly in the water running from one of the shower heads.

It was the left hand, the hand that had the bandaged wrist, except Will had taken the bandage off. Now, Mike still couldn't see what the bandage was hiding.

But for some reason Will's whole hand was bloody. Up to his elbow, drenched in blood. Will was staring at the ceiling, purposely avoiding whatever what was on his wrist. He finished washing it all off and sat down on the bench, wrapping his wrist tightly with toilet paper. He still didn't look. About a million alarms rang in Mike's head. Whatever was under there, it was worse than he had thought.

Suddenly, Will looked down and saw Mike. He turned bright red, and hurried to hide his hand behind his back.

"Mike! you're awake," Will said in surprise as he tried to pull on a new sweatshirt using one hand.To Mike's deep deep horror the new sweatshirt was brown. Like, chestnut brown.

like the dream. 

And like in the dream, his large eyes sparkled with green specks and his wet hair was sticking on his face.

Like the dream, he was too adorable for words.

He was making it really hard for Mike not to think about it.

"yeah." Mike said awkwardly. He looked at the running water longingly. He should just get in the shower, it's not like he was planning to shower without his pants and Will had seen him shirtless before...But he turned bright red with the idea. He couldn't.

They stayed in the painfully awkward silence for another few seconds, both red and neither knowing what to say.

"umm... I guess I'll see you back in Click's room," Will finally said, getting up. He grabbed his Nike sweatshirt from the day before that was lying on the bench besides him. Although it was rolled up to a ball, Mike could see splotches of blood lining some of the inner fabric.

Mike nodded as Will walked passed him. Will's arm brushed up slightly against Mike's as he hurried out of the room.

Again, the touch of Will's hand made the little hairs on Mike's arm stand. But this time, he didn't really have an excuse. The thought of the weird dream came to his mind again, inescapable this time, and he felt himself blushing slightly.

This didn't mean he... liked Will, did it?

It was probably just circumstances, right? just because Will was there and Jane had left him so his subconscious just mixed everything up. That made sense, right? It didn't have to mean anything...

But what if it did? what if it meant everything?