WILL POV-

Will looked between the two hands; the water trickled down covering his whole body. He moved the hair out his face as he awkwardly shuffled to the edge of the fountain stretching both arms out to grab both Mike and Lucas; two helpers were better than one. Will sprung out the fountain shivering and cold. The weather was warm outside; about the same it would usually be in the spring of California; it reminded him of home.

"Are you okay?" Lucas questioned him watching the frown of the small boy as he remembered his home.

"Yeah..." Will quietly answered; if this was an act of bullying, it was suspiciously similar to one in the comic.

"Let's go get you changed... okay?" Lucas awkwardly suggested leading the smaller boy to the changing rooms keeping an eye on him to make sure he wasn't sad, wanting to lift the smaller boy's spirit. He tried his best to make him smile "Grab your gym kit!"

"Why?" Will furrowed his brows

"To change into it silly" Lucas joked

"Okay!" Will answered stepping over to his locker, grabbing his gym kit in his hands following the athletic boy to the changing rooms leaving a trail of water. The small boy trudged in saying no words; not sad but annoyed by what happened.

"I'll give you some privacy" Lucas chirped leaving the room: a million thoughts passed by Will's head. He didn't understand why Troy and James have been targeting him in this way recently; like on one hand he understood it was because he 'betrayed' them but on the other, the things they were doing to torment him like: the cheating; the pushing down the stairs and the fountain fall were all things they did to El in the comic; so why where they using it on him? It made no logical sense.

None-the-less the small boy breathed deep calming himself as he removed his blazer, shirt and pants slipping over his gym wear consisting of a plain white tee and blue gym shorts. But as he changed a thought popped into his head; why was Mike there when he fell? Was he following him around again? Like all this micromanaging, following and questions were becoming ridiculous. Shaking his head, he shoved his wet clothes into the bag before walking to the door, huffing as he pushed it open.

He looked in both directions; no sign of Lucas. He sighed shuffling his way back to the classroom throwing his wet clothes bag into the locker again. He felt his hair; it was completely dry. "Weird, must be comic logic" He chuckled sitting down in his seat. He didn't want to go back to the courtyard as he only had about fifteen minutes before the lesson started and by the time he got there he would need to return.

Instantly Lucas ran into the room chirping "There you are!"

"Yep, here I am!" Will repeated

"I have a surprise" Lucas chuckled "Ta-da!!" he fan-fared, presenting a chocolate milk carefully placing it on Will's desk; sliding it over to him.

"What's this?" Will questioned, it was a stupid question as he could see exactly what it was.

"It's for you" The athletic boy bashfully stated

"But why?" Will awkwardly smiled

"You didn't get a chance to buy one... so I brought it for you" Lucas grinned

"Oh thanks, but you really shouldn't have! How much did it cost? I'll pa-" Will fumbled taking his wallet out his bag

"Uh, uh, uh! Don't worry about it!" Lucas reprimanded cutting him off "You've had enough bad luck this week! I think you deserve a free drink"

"Aww Lucas! Thank you!" Will gleamed bright. The fact that the athletic boy went out of his way to buy something for him meant a lot; even if he didn't mean it in that way; he was completely fine just being friends with Lucas for the duration of his stay in the comic.

"Here!" Mike unenthusiastically stated, holding a phone in his right hand. Taking a closer look Will realised it was his... he dropped his phone somewhere? He didn't even notice with all this going on.

"Oh thanks!" Will uttered, not knowing what else to say to Mike. Their relationship was rocky; it wasn't clear where they both stood; were they friends? Associates? Enemies?

The ravenette placed the phone on the table but Will managed to catch a glimpse at his hand; it was red with thorns all over it. The smaller boy grabbed Mike's palm analysing it "What the hell happened to your hand?"

"Oh God! Why do you have so many splinters?" Lucas's eyes widened, concerned for his friend

"I um..." Mike stammered, pulling his hand away "It must have happened when I got your phone"

"Where did my phone fall?" Will tilted his head confused how that had any correlation with the number of splinters.

"In the rose bushes" Mike nonchalantly shrugged.

"Oh..." Will thought deep "Let's go remove them"

"The flowers?" Mike questioned looking toward a shrugging Lucas

"I meant the splinters" Will deadpanned, scanning the faces of the two boys.

"What? No! It doesn't even hurt" Mike exclaimed; it was true, he could see and feel them but it didn't cause any discomfort to him so he just planned to leave it there until he got home to pick them out; scared of how the nurse would remove them.

"Okay... But it could lead to an infection" Will educated, sarcastically nodding, turning his attention to the athletic boy "Right Lucas?"

"Umm yeah!" Lucas was distracted looking at Will confidently speak, it was cute; he chuckled under his breath but had no clue what he just agreed to

"See!" Will pointed

"I don't NEED to get them out" Mike reiterated his words

"Oh yes you do!" The brunette smiled jumping up from his seat dragging the ravenette away with him. Lucas just stood in the class sighing; he wanted to follow them but he didn't even know where they were going. Defeated, he sat down in his seat keeping an eye on Will's stuff.

Will dragged Mike through the halls to the nurse's office; it was the second time this week he was here, reminding him of his freshman year. He would go to the nurse's office to hide after being attacked by bullies, but after two weeks the nurse didn't believe him- calling him a liar just wanting to miss lessons. So, any later attempts to come into the nurse's office was met with disrespectful attitude while the nurse shooed him away even with physical bruising present.

Regardless, he hoped the faculty at this school wouldn't reprimand him for coming for the second time this week. knocking on the door, he heard nothing on the other side. He tried again but this time slowly pushed the door open, still taking hold of Mike's arm. The pair walked in the seeing the nurse skip from behind the curtains with bright hair and a gentle smile.

She waved as they walked in looking exactly as she did in the comic. The whole office was littered with boys wanting to spend time with the young school nurse. Will scrunched his face; how could boys be so thirsty for a woman almost fifteen years older?

"Hello dear!" The nurse passed a soft smile, placing a box back in its place. She seemed swamped but not even a drop of sweat decorated her forehead.

"Umm... Hi" Will awkwardly smiled back. The woman was sweet, seeming as though she actually cared about the students making it clear why she was popular with the teachers and students alike. "My friend here got some splinters" He smiled raising Mike's arm into the air then letting go. The ravenette rolled his eyes not wanting to be here.

"Woah!" The nurse perked "I'm a little busy right now... but do you know how to remove a splinter?"

"Will... I'm not so sure I trust you wi-" The ravenette complained only to be nudged in the side by the small boy.

"Yep, I've had experience" Will smiled bright; that was the truth removing many splinters when younger in the real world when he helped his mother with the garden and his clumsy self would get thorns in lodged in his skin.

"Here you go!" The nurse passed a box containing tweezers, rubbing alcohol and Band-Aids. "Remember to sterilise the tweezers before every splinter" She paced around the room to another boy behind the curtain complaining of a stomach bug.

The paired scanned the office seeing two chairs. Will faced the two chairs against one another directing the ravenette to sit down as he did the same; their knees touching.

Mike shied away hiding his hands behind his back; the brunette didn't notice as he opened the box placing it by his side, carefully taking out the pair of tweezers wiping it clean with the rubbing alcohol.

"Okay!" He smiled to himself "Give me your hand"

"No" Mike shook his head

"Give me your hand!" Will repeated, this time more stern

"NO!" The ravenette disagreed harshly like a toddler. Mike hated to admit it, but he was terrified of getting the splinter removed.

"Come on Mike" Will sighed. Mike shook his head again. The small boy sighed deep placing the tweezers back in the box to roughly grab the ravenette arm.

"Give me your hand" Will shouted pulling Mike's arm but it didn't budge as his hand remained firmly in place. Mike pulled back causing the small boy to go flying toward him; their faces inches apart. Mike blushed; Will jumped away embarrassed. It was a weird situation to say the least so the ravenette reluctantly stuck his hand out to allow the small boy to remove the splinters.

The smaller boy sat back in the seat; his face just as flushed as Mike's. Will took Mike's hand taking no notice of his blush hoping that removing the splinters would distract him from his raised heartbeat. The brunette carefully clutched the tweezers, hovering it over the splinters "If it hurts let me know...okay?" Will spoke gentle, looking up at Mike's face who had his eyes fastened shut; it was obvious the taller boy was scared.

One by one Will plucked the thorns out his hand, with only a few left Wil decided to speak breaking the silence "I don't know how you got this many splinters"

Mike remained silent trying not to feel the thorns being taken out his skin,

"Although you are just a comic character so it can't hurt that much" Will muttered under his breath

"What?" Mike whispered

"Nothing" Will awkwardly chuckled

Mike opened his eyes finally seeing the short distance between them allowing him to observe the features of the smaller boy; he was very unlike his old self also looking different but maybe it was the fact he never observed Will for this long or this close up. It soothed him outlining the details on his face: his hazel-green eyes, his nose, his lips, his hair. He looked a lot like El but with a shaggy bowlcut.

"OW!" Mike complained as the last splinter was taken out his hand flinching away.

"I thought you were tough?" Will joked raising an eyebrow

"I never claimed to be" The ravenette rolled his eyes

"Well, that's the buzz around school" Will mocked

"Perhaps you shouldn't believe others before getting to know me!" Mike remarked, slightly irritated when people would make preconceived notions about him.

"I'll keep that in mind" Will muttered

"So..." Mike awkwardly sighed "How many are left?"

"I've done them all!" The small boy smiled

"You have?" The ravenette looked in disbelief at his palm

"Yes" Will replied "Go wash your hands so I can apply the Band-Aids"

Mike jumped up from the seat to the sink carefully washing his hands; his hand was completely red discoloured from the splinters and the removal of them. He looked down using a paper towel to blot them dry making his way back over to the smaller boy.

Will opened the Band-Aids taking Mike's hand again and placing them carefully on the ravenette's. Seven needed to be applied in total; three on his fingers and the rest on his palm.

"There!" Will smiled letting go of his hand and turning his head up to face the ravenette "We can go now!"

"Do I get a lollipop?" Mike joked, feeling more playful after being cared for like this.

"What are you? a child?" Will retorted furrowing his brows as he stood up from his seat

"Perhaps?" Mike rolled his eyes

"Okay then" Will mocked changing his voice to be as though he was talking to a child "Such a good boy Mike, you were soo strong during that!" The small boy ruffled the taller boy's hair. Mike froze; he liked it? His heart rate increased as Will pet him.

"Uh umm" Mike stood up, brushing Will away from him almost pushing him over

"S-see you in class!" The ravenette stammered running out the room hearing the squeaking of his shoes down the hall.

Will furrowed his brows, "What the hell was that?" 

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2212 Words

Team Byclair or Team Byler?

Stay Safe <3