Miles never did get around to punching Flash, but he was still fuming every time he returned to his locker that day. It could have been worse, he supposes, it could have been actual slurs. He supposed he could let this incident pass. People would move onto different rumors soon enough, Miles was practically counting down the minutes until that happened.

"I'm pretty sure Kaelyn was flirting with that Peter Parker loser in the library today, I can start spreading that rumor if it'll make you feel better?" Claudia proposed as she stared at her moping friend in the cafeteria that afternoon. When he shook his head solemnly and didn't say anything, she reached out and placed her hand down on the table next to his lunch tray. "I think you need to have a talk with Flash. Clearly, he's spreading these rumors out of fear or pure idiocy, but I'm sure you can get him to take it back and be honest if you just talk to him. Here, give me your phone."

"I don't even know if I can face him," Miles sighed as he played absentmindedly with his lunch. He wasn't very hungry as he watched his ex-boyfriend talk and laugh with his friends. Still, he pulled his phone out and handed it over to Claudia. He trusted her completely, so much so that her fingerprint was in his phone and his was in hers. Once you've been friends as long as the two of them have, it was kinda assumed that they needed access sometimes. He looked at her absentmindedly as she typed out a message before pressing send and handing it back to him. Across the cafeteria, he watched Flash's head perk up as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Realizing what had just happened, he gasped, "Claude, what did you say to him?"

She shrugged, "Look. I didn't delete it or anything."

Looking at the sent text, it read: we've got stuff to talk about, you owe me an explanation and you know it. come over after school if you can.

"You know my texting style so well," he mumbled before looking back up at the boy across the cafeteria. Their eyes met from across the room and he gasped, not prepared for the small confrontation. Flash's face seemed sad when he looked at him and a pang shot through Miles's heart. Sighing deeply, he looked down at his food once again and prayed the other boy would look away.

Claudia watched the exchange in silence before saying, "That is why you need to talk to him. So much unresolved shit there. Do you trust me?"

"You know that question is moot, the answer is always yes."

"Then talk to him. After that, you can be as angry as you want. I fully support him getting a fist to the face, trust me," the blonde said with a small shrug before returning to scroll through whatever she had been on her phone.

The rest of the school day went by in a breeze as he anxiously awaited the knock on his front door. He lived out in the suburbs as being an only child meant less money for his parents to spend on kids and more money they spent to get a nicer house outside of the city. He wasn't rich by any means, but the house often deceived some people. Flash had been over there dozens of times, but this time was going to be different and he knew it. The house was empty, which Miles was almost scared for.

He jumped nearly out of his skin when there was a knock at the door, but he quickly put down the tea he had been drinking and shuffled over to open the door. Flash stood on the doorstep, looking just as nervous as Miles felt.

"Um, hi," was all Miles could muster as he opened the door wider to let him in. As he closed it behind the boy he leaned with his back against it with a white-knuckled grip on the doorknob. "I wasn't sure you'd come. You never, uh, texted back."

"Yeah, I was with my friends," Flash tried to sound nonchalant, but the shakiness shone through clear as day. "Um, what did you wanna talk about?"

Just like that, Miles was angry again. How could Flash walk into his house and act like nothing was wrong when so much had happened between them in the past few days? Miles was the one who deserved the explanation, not the other way around. He channeled this anger into stepping away from the door and pushing Flash gently away from him so he could get some space to breathe. He was careful not to push too hard as being in a relationship with Flash meant that Miles knew more of the boy's home life than anyone else at Midtown.

"How could you?" Miles had more planned, but that was all he could get out before a lump settled in his throat, "Months, months I spent on you and you turn around and pretend it never happened. I-I was falling in love with you, Flash, and then you just went and stabbed me in the back! What? You were so scared of being outed that you had to throw me under the nearest bus? People spraypainted my locker! I'm getting called a psychopath and a predator because of you! I don't have to explain shit to you because you know what you did! You know exactly what you did!"

The worst part of all of this was that as angry as Miles was at Flash, his stupid gay heart still felt for him. So much more than he would ever admit.

Flash looked taken aback at this, stepping backward away from the angry boy as Miles had never even kind of raised his voice. Miles was usually careful not to around him, but he was too angry to even comprehend what he was saying let alone maintain volume control.

"I-I, I don't know," was all Flash could muster, his voice rushed and nervous. Miles didn't think he had ever seen the boy this shaky save for the nights they spent in Miles's room after bad nights at Flash's house. Miles thought maybe this was a sign there were still feelings there, but maybe he was simply screaming into the void and hoping for an echo. "All I knew was I couldn't risk my dad finding out, you knew that."

"I did know that, but I never expected to be the one to pay for it."

"I didn't think, I was scared. I'm still scared."

Miles stepped back so he was up against the door again. He couldn't tell if he was angry or if he pitied Flash. It was a sickly mix of both as he looked into the boy's eyes; those eyes he knew so well. Underneath the cool facade, Flash was scared. Of course, he was. Miles was lucky he had parents that loved him as much as they did even after he came out to them. Flash couldn't afford the same luxury of a safe coming out.

"You could have told me. We could have worked something out together," Miles sighed, but it was pointless. What's done is done. "Because we were in this together, through thick and thin, I was there for you through everything and this would have been no different, but you chose this route."

"I didn't have a choice."

"There's always a choice," Miles sighed, his eyes searching the ground for the words he wanted to hear. "I-, get out. We're over. Go ahead and spread whatever rumors you want, we're done."

"Miles-"

"I said get out, Flash," the dark-haired boy bit his lip so hard he was sure he tasted blood as he twisted the doorknob to let the cool New York air in. He waited desperately for Flash to leave. The boy did so silently, Miles closing the door as soon as he did.

Once the door was closed, Miles leaned back against it and it supported him as he slid to the floor. Tears slipped down his cheeks as he wished so desperately things had been different. Why couldn't things just have been different?

I love these boys so much I literally just want them to kiss and make up and it's only chapter two y'all this is why I can't write slow burn pairings it's honestly a problem