SHIVERS

THEY DIDN'T TELL ANYONE WHAT THEY SAW. However, according to wild rumors two days after, Will Byers, the younger brother of some "creepy" sophomore named Jonathan, was missing. There was even a poster with a smiling twelve-year-old's face on it and the word "MISSING" above it. Grayson knew approximately one sophomore and that was his ex-boyfriend's new toy, Nancy Wheeler, so he knew nothing of this Jonathan. However, judging by some things he heard about this guy, he didn't think he wanted to. There were already rumors claiming he killed his own brother, but Grayson knew that one was too wild for a town as small as Hawkins. Rumors aside, he still felt bad for the teen, if he had siblings, he could imagine how hard it would be to lose them. The closest he had was his family's golden retriever.

He was walking down the halls of Hawkins High with Elise and Emma by his side, the two girls absorbed in their own little conversation about something that happened the night before on Dynasty. He'd be lying if he said he knew anything about that show.

As he was walking, his eyes met the tired eyes of his boyfriend, Matthew, whose face lit up as soon as he saw him. Right when they made contact, Matthew whispered in Grayson's ear, saying, "Bleachers, lunch," passing it off as an apology as they bumped shoulders.

Once Matthew walked away, Grayson's head turned, following him and watching him go, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He turned back around to face the direction he was walking, only for his smile to drop. Coming his way was none other than Steve Harrington. Grayson went to move past him, but as he did so, Steve placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him. The girls stopped with him, already ready to tell Steve to piss off. They didn't know the extent of the closeness Steve and Grayson shared, but the twins still knew Steve Harrington was officially a "no-no" in their books.

"What do you want, Harrington?" Grayson asked with a sigh. He pretended not to notice that Steve was wearing a deep-green long sleeve that he definitely stole from Grayson. He had been looking for that shirt for months and now he knew there was no way he was getting it back.

Steve scratched the back of his neck, looking unsure. It was only for a brief moment before his typical, cockiness was back in place and he said, "My parents are out of town, I'm having a little get together. It's... It's been awhile since we've hung out and I was wondering if you wanted to come? You girls can come, too, if you want, everyone's totally cool with you guys going!"

"Oh because we definitely need Carol's approval to come to your party, yeah," Elise nodded, her voice dripping with sarcasm, causing both Emma and Grayson to laugh, "Come on guy, we've got better things to do on a Tuesday night."

The three went to walk away, but Steve reached out in a split-second decision and grabbed Grayson's forearm. Making eye contact, Steve sent Grayson the puppy-dog eyes he knew the raven-haired boy was utterly powerless against. "Please? We... I want you there."

"We're not friends, Steve," Grayson swallowed deeply, looking to the ground and avoiding eye contact as best he could. "You have fun at your party with Carol, Tommy, and your new girlfriend. Those are your people, not mine."

"She's not my girlfriend, not really," was all Steve responded with, "Just... the invitation's open if you change your mind, okay? My place, nine o'clock."

Grayson looked at his friends, who were all yelling at him to say no, but he turned back to Steve. He ripped his forearm out of the boy's grip, speaking with nothing but bitter regret in his voice, "Okay, I guess I'll think about it."

As they began to walk away, Emma turned around and shot back, "Don't hold your breath, Harrington."

With that, they left Steve behind in their dust. As soon as he was out of earshot, Elise asked, "What the fuck was that, Grayson? He looked at you like he was in love with you or something. I mean, is there, like, something you're not telling us?" She said it like it was a joke, but she had no idea how on point she was.

I'm not telling you a lot of things, he wanted to say. Instead, he just laughed, "Yeah, I think that's a little on the nose, Ellie. I don't know, maybe he just misses when we used to hang out. We were... eh, I guess we were pretty close over the summer."

"Yeah, what happened with that, anyway?" Emma asked next, "I mean, he even did Saturdays at Benny's with us for awhile and then he just stopped and you told us not to talk about him."

"It's nothing, guys," Grayson insisted, probably sounding suspicious as hell, "Friends fall out and stop talking, it happens."

Neither of them looked convinced, but they entered their classroom so they dropped it, much to Grayson's relief. However, Elise looked like there was no way he was going to get away from this. He sighed, knowing he was just going to keep digging this hole no matter what he said. Curse him for making smart and inquisitive friends.

LATER, his worst nightmare came true. As he was leaving his fifth period, ready to head to lunch, a hand grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him off his path towards the bleachers. Instead, Elise pulled him behind the gym. He sighed, seeing Matthew's shadowy figure waiting for him under the bleachers; so close yet so far.

"You and Steve Harrington were fucking, right?" Elise asked, straight to the point as usual.

"What? No, no, no," Grayson began, but judging by the look on his best friend's face, he knew there was no way he was going to get out of this. She was smart and completely right at the moment and who was he if he couldn't be honest with his friends? He was shaking and every instinct in his body was telling him to shut up, but he caved and said, "Well, not just that."

Elise fist-pumped the air, "I knew it! There was no fucking way you were straight!"

"Jeez, I think the fucking Martians heard you, shut the fuck up Ellie," he clamped a hand over her mouth, grimacing and pulling back when she licked it. He groaned and wiped his hand off on his jeans, lowering his voice to a whisper and saying, "No one, and I mean no one can know. Not even Emma. This is literally the biggest fucking thing that's ever happened to me and it's the one thing that nobody here will ever be okay with."

"Well, I'm okay with it," Elise shrugged, "...and Emma probably would be, too."

With a desperate plea in his eyes, he begged, "Ellie, no, she can't. It's bad enough you know I'm gay, but knowing about Steve, he'd kill me the second he thought I told anyone. I-I'm not even with him anymore, clearly, he has a girlfriend and shit, if this gets out, I'm dead."

"So, if you and Steve aren't seeing each other anymore, then who have you been sneaking out to meet every weekend?" Elise asked, an impatient look on her face and her hands on her hips, "You wanna lie to Emma, fine by me, but I know this much, you might as well tell me."

Looking back to the bleachers, he sighed before looking back at Elise, "He's not out, obviously, I can't tell you. I mean, he's way more secure in himself than Steve was, but it's not my secret to tell, you have to understand."

With a sigh, Elise gave in, "Fine, I won't make you tell me. You're going to meet him right now, aren't you?" Grayson nodded. "All right, I'll cover for you with Em, but I won't be happy about it. Go have fun with your... your boyfriend."

He noted her hesitation on the word but neglected to say anything about it. He realized that no matter how accepting she wanted to be, it would take her some getting used to. She walked away, but he stood there for a moment, contemplating what had just happened. Someone besides a significant other knew he was gay. He felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders only to be replaced with the weight of the daunting though, what if she tells? He trusted Elise, but sometimes her mouth got ahead of her brain. Shaking off the odd feelings, he walked towards the bleachers with a sigh.

"What took you so long?" Matthew asked with a smile, immediately grabbing Grayson and pressing a small kiss to his cheek, "I was starting to think you were gonna ditch me."

"I would never," Grayson sighed, smiling as if nothing was wrong and he hadn't just been outed by his best friend. He decided he would tell Matthew later because he didn't want to ruin that sweet smile. Instead, he just kissed his boyfriend and acted like everything was okay.

uhh I knOW it's been a month since I updated but I was working on finishing my other Stranger Things fic How To Stop Liking Boys whiCH I FINALLY ACCOMPLISHED so now I can get back to updating this!