Chapter Text
Rose feels stupid.
So fucking stupid.
Why’d she ever think that taking the kids to the mall would end without any problems? She doesn’t know, but she should’ve known something would happen. Things had been tense between her and Miles ever since the incident in his room a few weeks ago, it became very clear that neither of them wanted to bring it up as the weeks went by. She may not be an expert on kids like Kate is but she does know a few things, one of them being that no normal kid reacts that way when someone puts a hand on their shoulder. Miles had looked like he was seconds away from a panic attack, which she was pretty sure he had after she left. They may not be on the best terms with each other but that hasn’t stopped her from being worried about him. Something in her gut tells her that it has to do with that stupid mansion and why the three of them act so weird anytime it's brought up.
It wasn’t just the death of the maid, her gut told her that it was something else. While they had been living at the apartment, Kate would sometimes wake up in cold sweat or screaming. Her and Miles would sometimes glance around as if they were being watched, fear lingered in everything they did, even Flora would stare weirdly at her window and shadow as if expecting something to happen. Seeing a corpse shouldn’t do that to you, it was creepy and worrisome. Sure Kate had promised to explain it all to her but it’s been weeks since she made that promise and anytime it's brought up, she dodges it and changes the topic. Rose swears she will find out what happened, whether they like it or not.
The trip to the mall had been going great.
They’d all been enjoying themselves, going from store to store, picking things out, hell–even Miles looked like he was having fun. When she’d gone into one of the stores to pick out some things for Kate, she’d left him sitting by a couple of chairs and mirrors near the shoe section since he looked tired, thinking that nothing could happen while she shopped.
Apparently, she’d been wrong.
She paid before going to get him, knowing that if she was in his shoes, she wouldn’t want to wait in a line, waiting for someone to pay for stuff that had nothing to do with her. When she’d approached him, she hadn’t expected to see two other teenagers with him, she would’ve thought they were friends if the boy and the girl didn’t look like they wanted to kill him right then and there while Miles was staring at them with a shit-eating grin on his face. She tried making out what they were saying as she got closer with no luck. His grin got wider and he tilted his head as she approached, “What? Did I hurt your feelings or something? Honestly, how does Angela put up with you and your stupid looking hair? If I were you I’d be too embarrassed to leave the house.” His words must have really struck a nerve considering the other boy looked seconds away from clocking Miles right in the face. Just what the fuck was going on? Was Miles being an asshole or was he defending himself? Even with no context, she knows that if she doesn’t step in, fist were gonna start flying through the air.
“Miles, I paid already. We’re leaving.” She said once she was close enough for him to hear her. He snapped his head towards her, glaring at her with a look that said, ‘Stay the hell out of this.’ Before she could say anything, the boy with the sunglasses got his attention. “Go on Miles! Go running back to mommy!” He’d sneered, but she knew before they did, that those words had broken the camel's back.
Miles had placed his bags on his chair after standing up before slamming his fist straight into the other guy’s face, a small crack was heard and blood began to drip from his nose. The girl rushed to help him and he let out a cry “Miles! What the fuck!” She’d grabbed the bags before trying to pull him away from them, forgetting that the last time she tried that, she’d almost been on the other end of that punch. He slapped her hand away, wearing a weird smile on his face. “Right, because daddy issues are soooo last season for you right?” His smile grew wider, “Say shit like that again and I’ll curb stomp you!” She looked around, checking to see if the kid’s parents or if anyone was paying attention to the scene happening in front of her before turning back to him.
Hopefully the kid will be fine and they won’t need to involve the authorities, the kid didn’t even look that bad.
This time Rose tightly gripped his shoulder, “Miles. We’re. Leaving.” She said sternly, leaving no room for argument. He glared at her, she glared right back. He scoffed, before taking the bags from her and was silent as they walked out of the store, away from the two panicking teens. She didn’t stop walking till she was a good couple of stores away from the previous one, Rose turned around and stopped in front of him.
“What the fuck just happened in there?”
Miles glared at her, gripping the bags harshly. “It’s none of your fucking business!” Rose pointed in the store's vague direction and threw the glare right back in his face, “It is my fucking business, you just broke a kid's nose right in front of me!” She hissed, he narrowed his eyes. “He deserved it!” He crossed his arms, she wanted to strangle him. “Miles. you could get arrested for this!” His eyes widened, she could see flickers of panic and fear creep into them, as if the thought just occurred to him. “That doesn’t matter, I could just bail myself out, or pay off the cops.” He smirked. Rose’s eye twitched, “That’s not the point Miles.”
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, ‘benefit of the doubt’ she told herself. The kid believed the sunglasses boy had deserved it, Miles was also an orphan, so the mommy comment must’ve struck something. She’ll ask him for his side of the story before deciding anything, she’ll try for Kate’s and Flora’s sakes because she knows jack shit about parenting and isn’t the one getting paid for dealing with this. She removed her hand and looked at him, “Explain to me what happened.” He clearly hadn’t expected her reaction, seeing as his eyes slightly widened before crossing his arms and locking eyes with her. He was quiet for a minute before opening his mouth, “You can’t tell Mrs.Byers about this.” She squinted at him confused as she nodded. What did Joyce have to do with this? “Those two, along with another girl at school, like to bully Jane, scratch that, they like to harass her.” He glared at the floor, “They leave Will alone but they tried to get me to join in my first week at school and give me some shit since I obviously didn’t. They were saying somethings about her and me, and I don’t let people talk shit about me.”
His tone got angrier as he continued, her face softened. She understood, she’d had her fair experiences with bullies when she was younger, “He also tried making fun of my mother.” His voice grew cold and he turned his gaze to the floor. While Rose didn’t condone senseless violence, she did approve of giving bullies a taste of their own medicine. “I get it, kids are assholes, and I'm all for defending yourself and your friends but,” He looked at her, “You can’t go around beating people up.” Miles sighed and nodded, “Well at least not in public, next time, find an alley or something.” She told him half jokingly. She could’ve sworn he almost smiled.
“I won’t tell Kate about this, not unless I have to.” This was her attempt at an olive branch, she hopes he’ll take it, and if he doesn’t, then she can say she tried. He nodded, “Is this your idea of a truce?” he tilted his head, “You could say that.” She shrugged.
“We need to start heading back, the hour is almost over.” He nodded, she glanced at the hand he used to punch the guy. “Is your hand ok?” He smirked a bit before smugly replying, “You should see the other guy.” Rose snorted, “But, yeah it'll be fine.” Miles finally answered as he looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers. They were slightly bruised, but at least he hadn't cut them on teeth. He knows that would hurt like a bitch while healing and he'd probably have the risk of getting an infection. Rose nodded before she started walking back to the meeting point, he quietly followed behind.
She hoped the truce would last.
What was left of anger faded completely once they met up with Flora and Kate, seeing his sister again made him forget all about Jake and Stacey. He smiled as she swung their arms back and forth while walking to the car, listening attentively as she talked about how fun shopping had been and how he’ll love his gifts while the two older women walked behind them, chatting.
He ended up falling asleep on the way home, he hadn’t meant to, he only realized it when he woke up to the feeling of his face pressed up against the window, the car already in the driveway with the smell of pizza in the air. “Sleeping beauty’s finally up,” He heard Rose laugh as he sat up groggily. “We stopped for food on the way back, Kate and Flora are already inside. Help me get the bags out of the car.” He rubbed his eyes for a few seconds before nodding and unbuckling his seat belt and getting the bags nearest to him and getting out of the car. He was starving, pizza sounded really good at the moment.
They left the bags next to the ones Flora and Kate had brought in and headed to the kitchen. His sister was already eating while Kate got her plate ready, she looked at him and smiled. “Did you sleep well?” He didn’t respond, “Which one’s which?” He asked, pointing at the pizza boxes sitting on the counter. “The one on the right is Pepperoni, the middle one is Cheese and the one on the left is Hawaiian.” She replied, her tone sounding less cheerful than before, he wasn’t trying to be rude, he was just hungry. He gave her a nod and grabbed a plate and placed one pepperoni and one cheese on it before sitting next to Flora, Kate and Rose joined them after a bit. He smiled and laughed as Flora told him a story of how Kate and her had played hide and seek in one of the stores they’d gone to. He later found out it had just been Flora actively hiding from the governess, while the governess panicked about not being able to find her, from a mortified Kate.
When they finished eating, he grabbed his bags and made his way upstairs. He was too tired and drained to deal with anything and anyone right now, except Flora, he could deal with her all day, any day.
“Shit.” Rose muttered as she looked through the sea of bags for the second, she couldn’t find the bags that had the things she’d bought for Kate, did she leave them in the car? She shook her head, no, she’d made sure all the bags were inside before locking it. Maybe the kid took them? But why would he? Her eyes fell on the bags she was hundred percent sure belonged to Miles seeing as there were cassettes and art supplies in them. Then it clicked, the two stores' bags had very similar logos on them, he must’ve grabbed hers by mistake. She sighed, picked them up and went upstairs.
As she knocked on his door, she got hit with deja vu. “Miles? Can I come in?” After a few seconds she heard a yes. She opened the door, he was sitting on a chair near the window, the bags were abandoned by his closet. “I think you mixed up our bags, these have the gifts you bought your friends.” She lifted the ones she was holding, a small ‘oh’ left his mouth as he looked at them and then at the bags near the closet before getting up to pick them up. “Here.” He handed them to her as he took back his, she thanked him.
She looked around, getting a proper look at the room while he put the bags where the others had been. “Interesting setup you got here.” He hummed, as he sat back on his chair. “It’s similar to the one back at the manor.” There it was again, the manor. The manor in which obviously something bad had happened. She kept seeing the image of Miles absolutely terrified of her in her head. She knew Kate was worried about him, back when she’d told Rose her concerns, she’d just brushed them off and thought nothing of them, at least till a few weeks ago. She sighed, she’d avoided asking him about the incident and checking in on him for too long. Like they say, no time like the present, right?
Rose sat down on one of many chairs scattered around the room, “Hey uhh…” He stared at her curiously, god, Kate was the one good with kids, not her. “Can we talk about something?” He tilted his head slightly with a confused yet wary expression, “Sure?” She clasped her hands on her lap, “It’s about what happened a few weeks ago, are you ok?” His face went blank before hardening and his grip on the armrests tightened, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” His tone had a slight edge to it, a small warning telling her to back off. So he wasn’t ok, that much was clear. “It’s just that, when I put my hand on your shoulder, you freaked out. You looked like you were on the brink of having a panic attack.” His eyes narrowed, “I overreacted, you just startled me.”
“Miles, people don’t normally react like that to someone putting a hand on their shoulder, even if they’re startled. You looked… absolutely terrified.” He didn’t say anything and just looked away, he started bouncing his leg up and down. “I know you’re probably dealing with a lot, losing someone close to you is hard. And you’re dealing with something else, panic attacks, anxiety-” She paused, how could she have not realized it sooner? He reacted badly to sudden physical contact, he immediately got defensive and on guard of any sort of questioning or checking in on, and due to this little display earlier, it doesn’t seem like he’s a stranger to violence. Did he think she was gonna hit him? The more she thought about it, the more it would make sense if he was. His face had slightly faded back to confusion, “Miles, did you ever feel unsafe in your old house? Did your parents ever hit you?” She was too forward about it, shit! Now he won’t tell her anything, stupid Rose! Maybe she can still salvage the attempt?
He looked shocked, “Excuse me?” The teen choked out, “Were you ever hi-” “What? No!” She couldn’t read his expression,”Why would you even ask that?” Anger started leaking into his face, he stopped bouncing his leg. “It's just the way you react to sudden contact and how you’re always being so defensive to almost everyone, those things match up with abuse victims.” She tried keeping her voice gentle and sympathetic, maybe she should’ve asked Kate to help her with this, probably inform her of her suspicions, she should’ve told her weeks ago, she would know how to handle this, she was trained for this as a teacher, right?
He stood up,“I’m not a victim of anything! My parents didn’t hit me, they’d never do that! No one ever has!” Miles yelled at her, fists clenched tightly against his sides. When she looked into his eyes, all she saw was pure, unadulterated anger mixed with fragments of disbelief and hatred. Had she read the situation wrong? Fuck, she had, hadn’t she?
“We can’t help you deal with everything you obviously need to deal with if you don’t tell us anything. Kate’s your legal guardian till you’re eighteen, it’s her job to help you and make sure you’re fine. It’s my job now too, seeing as I’m the other adult living here.” She tried again as she stood up, keeping her hands in front of her.
“We? Did- did Kate put you up to this?”
“No, but she’s worried about you.”
“I don't need anyone’s help! Especially not yours!” Angry tears started forming at the corners of his eyes, regret and guilt started sinking in. “Miles, I just want to help-” “No! Fuck you and your fucking ‘help’!” He began to breathe heavily and shake “Get out.” She didn’t move, he picked up a small pillow that was on the chair and threw it at the wall behind her, she flinched slightly and stared at him in shock. “GET THE FUCK OUT!” He screamed.
The door swung open, “What is going on here?” They both snapped their heads towards the voice, Kate was standing in the doorway, her face contorted in worry and confusion.
Shit!
“Telling him that I’m just trying to help.” She jabbed her hand towards the teen exasperated, he glared at her venomously, “Telling her that she needs to back the fuck off and get out of my fucking room!”
A look of shock crossed her face before morphing into one of anger, just as she was about to speak, Rose motioned at her to stop. “Ok, I’ll leave, and I’m sorry for making any accusations. Just know that I meant what I said about helping you.” She told him as she looked at him before walking to the door and closing it, leaving with Kate.
She fucked up, she royally fucked up.
“Can you explain to me what was going on when I walked in?”
Kate borderline demanded as soon as they reached the living room, too many emotions crossing her face.
She would’ve never noticed the fight if she hadn’t been walking down the hall. It would’ve been hard to miss someone yell, “GET THE FUCK OUT!” at the top of their lungs, even through the thick walls. She’d been expecting some sort of burglar to be in the room based on the way Miles had screamed, what she hadn’t expected was Rose to be the reason for it. Kate knew Rose didn’t tolerate people screaming at her or being extreme, so imagine her surprise when she hears Miles cursing at Rose and she doesn’t reprimand or curse back at him, but instead apologizes and stops her from saying anything.
The other woman sighed, turning to look at her with an expression mixed with defeat and slivers of regret. “It’s…a long story.” She crossed her arms as she sat down on the couch. “We have time Rose.” She sighed and sat down, “A few weeks ago, when Miles first hung out with Joyce’s kids, the day when you were making dinner and you told me to go get him, there was…an incident.” Her brows furrowed, “He couldn’t hear me because he had his headphones over his head with the music blasting at full volume, so I put my hand on his shoulder, I understand that something like that would startle anyone but his first response was trying to punch me.” Kate’s eyes widened, “What?” Rose nodded before continuing.
“I managed to avoid it, and I was fully ready ask him why the fuck he’d tried doing that, but when I saw the look on his face…” She trailed off, her face morphed into concern and she placed a hand on her head. “God, Kate, you should’ve seen it. He looked absolutely terrified, I think he thought I was gonna hurt him or something, I don’t think he knew it was me at first.”
By the sound of it, it was the same expression that he’d had when she’d found him in his room before they’d escaped. . .‘Quint’ Her mind supplies, ‘Miles thought she was Quint.’ And that broke her heart. It added to her suspicions that Miles resented or hated Quint for more than just not letting him leave, it increased her worries.
“He looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack, so I left him alone. I thought based on his reaction to sudden physical contact and him constantly being defensive among other things, maybe he’d been physically abused by his parents or something like that. I tried talking to him about it since we finally got on ok terms today and as you saw, it didn't go well.”
She exhaled tiredly, and looked at her “I should’ve talked to you about it before confronting him first, you know more about these kinds of things and how to deal with them better than I do. And I shouldn’t have just straight up assumed that his parents hit him, they were pretty strong allegations. I’m just concerned, the kid may be an ass but he’s still just a kid and seeing him like that just makes me want to help, even if he’s stubborn as hell and won't accept it, you know?”
She nodded, she did know. She felt the same exact way. Everything that had gone down in the manor had been horrible for the three of them, she wasn't that surprised it was affecting Miles like this. She herself had been terrorized by Quint’s ghost, she can't imagine how he must've tormented the boy. Even now, sometimes it still feels like someone’s watching her, like a hand will pop out and grab her, but then she’ll turn around and no one will be there.
She’s been trying to give Flora and Miles some space to process everything. Now she regrets giving them too much.
“I do,” She put her hand on Rose’s free one and gave it a light squeeze, “You were trying to help and that’s a good thing, like you said, we can try helping together next time.” She offered her a small smile, Rose gave her a weak one back. “I know.” She looked at the ground.
They both went quiet for a minute.
“Hey, are you ever gonna tell me what you promised to explain to me? You said that everything was different, what did you mean by that?” Rose turned to her, and she gave her that look, a look that she knew well. It was a look that Rose started giving her years ago, whenever Kate was hiding something important or not telling her about something that was affecting negatively, she’d give her that look. A look that made Kate remember that she can tell Rose anything and she’d still love her, no matter what. And it usually worked, it would trigger a waterfall of words to pour out of her mouth and the negativity and stress would pour out with them. But this time, this time, the words will be still and calculated. The spill won’t come because she can’t let it. The look always works but this time, she’ll resist it.
“The mansion was creepy and old, the shadows were always playing tricks on my eyes and mind, that's all, that's why I was freaking out.” She gave Rose her best attempt as a fake, genuinely sounding laugh, but it came out as stiff and awkward. “And, we’re taking care of two kids now. That’s why things are different now.” Kate knew it wasn’t going to fool Rose, but what else can she say?
Rose lightly scoffed, a look of pain muddled with disbelief crossed her face. “Yeah.” She stood up, “Things are different because you don’t trust me anymore, not like before.” She walked away, tears began to prick her eyes. Kate's eyes widened, immediately starting to call for her to come back, “Rose! Wait! That’s not true!” But she didn’t listen, she was up the stairs before Kate could get another word out. Kate wishes she could tell Rose the truth, she really does, but she wouldn’t believe her, especially due to her mother’s history.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, she can’t remember a time where they’ve ever fought like this.
A lot of people have said all kinds of things about Miles’s parents after their deaths, but no one has ever accused them of child abuse. Just who the fuck does Rose think she is? He hit the crash cymbal again, he’d thrown a few pillows at the wall before switching to his drums, something about hitting them just made things better. He was fine! Maybe not completely fine, but fine enough to function, he scoffed before hitting the hi- and mid- toms. Help? She wanted to ‘help’ him? He doesn’t need help, fuck her and her behavior analysis she probably got from a stupid crime show. If he was being jumpy and defensive, it was his own fucking business, not hers.
After a while, his arms grew tired and he just sat there and stared at the wall, trying to cling onto what was left of his anger. The knock on the door snapped him out of it, he stared at the door murderously. “Didn’t I tell you to fuck off?”
“It’s Kate, can I come in?” He frowned, he can’t catch a break can he? “Sure.” He gave her the most annoyed and flattest tone he could muster. He looked at his drums as the door opened. “Come to reprimand me for yelling at your girlfriend or something?” He slightly teased with a flat tone and turned to glare at her, his eyes widened slightly at the sight of her. Her eyes were puffy and red, dried tear streaks were on her cheeks. She looked absolutely miserable, even more miserable than she’d been at the manor. Did she get into a fight with Rose about him?
He gave her a curt nod, slightly amused that she didn't deny the accusation, but seeing how miserable she looked, he wasn't surprised she hadn't caught his teasing. He glanced at a chair near the drumset before looking back at her.
“No, I just want to talk and apologize about what she said.” He gave her a curt nod, slightly amused that she didn't deny the accusation, but seeing how miserable she looked, he wasn't surprised she hadn't caught his teasing. He glanced at a chair near the drumset before looking back at her. She took a seat and fiddled with her hands, “She shouldn't have accused your parents of something like that, if she knew about what happened in the manor, she would've never said that about them.” She looked at him, her voice sounded shakey. “I know that due to everything that happened there, the three of us have been jumpy and on edge, but she just worried because she doesn't know, she didn't mean any harm.”
“That doesn’t matter, if she keeps being nosey, she’ll hear us talk about it and then off to the loony bin we’ll go.” He frowned, she gave him a small glare before taking a deep breath. “I know, she’ll never believe us so we need to come up with something believable, or there might be more instances like this.”
He nodded, he hated how she was right. “Did you two fight?” He asked hesitantly, addressing the elephant in the room. She winced slightly before nodding, “She knows something happened, but like you said, we can’t tell her the truth and she’s mad about that.” He hummed in response, ‘so trouble in paradise?’ he thought to himself amused.
Now that they were talking about the manor, he might as well clear up something, he was many things but he was NOT and would NEVER be someone like Quint. He dragged his hands down his face and sighed exasperatedly, already regretting the decision before even saying a word, it regained her attention. “While we’re talking about the manor, I need to tell you something about what happened there and about the ghosts.” She nodded and looked at him.
“All of the weird things I did back at the manor, like the kiss and sneaking into your room, I didn’t do them. I mean, yeah I was physically doing them, but I wasn't in control of my body or at least not in those moments, Quint was.” He dug his nails into his jeans as anger and hatred began slipping into his voice. The governess’s eyes widened, “Like possession? Quint…possessed you?”
“No, he made me take a vacation from my body.” He snapped before letting out a breath, getting angry now won’t do anything to help. “Yeah he possessed me, I got possessed.” He sighed angrily before looking down trying to calm down, he can’t be mad at her for not being able to connect the dots. “I had moments of clarity where I could control my body but most of the time it was him, he was the one who… said and did all those things.” He spoke stiffly and awkwardly, a look of realization crossed her face. “I’m not like him, I swear! I’d never do the shit he did.” He kept his gaze on the floor. He hopes she'll believe him, he doesn't want to lumped with him and be labeled as a freak for something he had no control of. “I believe you Miles,” Kate spoke softly, he looked at her. “That explains a lot actually. Thank you for telling me that.” He nodded and looked away feeling relief wash over him like a waterfall, “That must’ve been hard for you.” He looked at her and motioned her to stop, “I don’t want to talk about it anymore, I just wanted to let you know.”
“Oh.” She looked out the window, she was quiet before talking again, “This fresh start has been good for us, Flora’s getting out more, you’ve made friends, we’re slowly learning to get over our traumas.” Kate smiled at him as she stood up, brushing herself off. He didn’t respond. ”I’ll get dinner started in a bit, I’ll see you then I guess?” He nodded and watched her walk out and close the door, Miles sighed before getting up and collapsing on to his bed.
What a fucking day, he needs another fucking nap.