HE WAS RUNNING LATE, TRYING to get to his locker, get his books, and head onto class as soon as possible. the halls were mostly empty save for a student here or there, and that was nothing out of the ordinary given what the time currently was. what he HADN’T expected to see, a few lockers down from his own, was to see a kid being shoved, whilst a much bigger one towered over him. mike’s eyes widened, unwilling to just stand idly by.
“ HEY! ” HE YELLED, GAINING THE bully’s attention. “ BACK OFF! ” he warned, scowl forming on his lips as he stalked forward, he earned a SCOFF from the assailant.
“AND JUST WHAT’RE YOU GONNA do about it WHEELER? ” the bully spat, going as far as giving mike a shove when he got too close. on instinct, mike shoved back. at one point in time, he might not have been the strongest kid around– still wasn’t, honestly, but he’d been taught a thing or two. at least now he knew how to throw a PUNCH. he was sure that would come in handy, especially around here.
“ KEEP PUSHING ME AND YOU’LL find out! ” mike warned, which, of course, only resulted in pissing the larger boy off more. what he did next wasn’t a shove, but rather, make mike NARROWLY avoid a punch to the face, stumbling back a bit. a whole new layer of anger washes over him then, and…
THWACK!!
A FIST COLLIDES WITH A face, as mike lurches forward, arm lashing out, punching the bully slam in the nose. a cry of pain escapes him as he stumbles back, mike watching as he clutches his ( most likely broken ) nose. a muffled ‘WHAT THE FUCK, WHEELER?!’ can be heard behind bloodied hands, and mike takes a step closer. his hand hurts like a BITCH, but he’s fully prepared to throw another punch if he needs to. thankfully, the asshole takes off running when he sees mike coming at him again, and mike’s just glad that no one was around to see. UNFORTUNATELY, he was late, and was going to get in trouble either way – especially if a staff member finds out that he’d just socked a kid in the face—– whatever. it was worth it if it meant that he’d just stuck up for a kid.
TURNING BACK TO GABE, MIKE extends his hand out for him to take, expression softening considerably from earlier. “ hey, are you alright? ” hopefully that display of violence hadn’t startled or SCARED him too much.
For a long while, he was stuck in his own mind, his own world, reliving the times he’d been pinned down, reliving the pain and terror. Slowly though, he came back to himself, the memories clearing away like the fog. He finds himself back on the ground in the hallway at school and there was shouting and he manages to push himself back up before scrambling against the lockers as he watches someone fighting the bully.
He felt useless, worthless. He shouldn’t have to need someone to fight for him, he should be stronger than that, better than that, but there he is huddled against the lockers and completely of no use. He shouldn’t want to cry, he should be the one wanting to fight back.
When he was younger, he needed no one to fight his battles, and now, now he’s just weak. He’s weak just like the guards at the school have said he is. He’s weak just like he overheard his father say to his mother.
When the boy who had come to his rescue turned to him, Gabe recognized the face of Mike Wheeler. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
But when Mike held out his hand, Gabe shrink away, huddling more into himself, an automatic reaction that he could not help at all and hates himself for.
The words Mike spoke though, it caught Gabe’s attention as he looked up at Mike through teary eyes. Through all this time, no one had ever asked him that, no one had wanted to know how he was, no one except now, from a boy who probably don’t even remember him.
Gabe found himself beginning to cry despite his best attempts to hold it in.
