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It was a miracle.
Nobody understood it, especially not Finney and the kids, but if someone would talk to ghosts, then maybe anything would be possible.
When the bodies of children were found, they were in the basement of a house, but not buried.
It seemed as if they were buried beforehand, but dug their way out half alive.
Except for Billy and Griffin.
Billy had been the first victim, so he had already decayed before ever Bruce came in.
And Griffin, well, the poor boy had been messed up so badly that not even god would recognise him.
But by a miracle, Bruce, Vance and Robin survived long enough for doctors to put them onto life support.
Just barely in time.
Finney didn’t like to think about it, yes his friends were found in time, but not because of him, all he did was save himself.
Gwen did all the hero work, she deserved it.
Yet he didn’t even want to think about that either, since the ‘what ifs’ came from out of the darkness.
What if she didn’t have the dreams?
What if she was a little too late?
What if she got the wrong house?
Whenever any panic symptoms started showing, Finney excused himself and ran to the bathroom, it didn’t matter whether he was at school or home.
But Finney always visited the boys in the hospital, even if they were unconscious.
He spoke to each of them individually about normal everyday life things and brought gifts, like flowers, chocolate, and even stuffed animals.
Finney would talk about the good things going on, about how there was going to be prom at the end of the year, which happened to only be two terms away.
About how there was a new movie released, and in Vance’s case, about how nobody had managed to beat the high score on pinball.
He never talked about how kids would whisper in the halls as he passed, as kids avoided him like a plague, like how he still hadn’t stood up to the bullying.
The only reason he managed to kill a fully grown man with an axe, was with the help of who he thought was his dead friend.
Nobody really talked to Finney anymore, not even Donna.
But when Finney got a call from the hospital, telling him that his friends were awake, he dropped everything and ran.
He ran through the streets, through the doors of the hospital and through the hallways, until he came to the first door, Robins.
It was probably concerning how hard Finney smashed the door open and then close, but in the moment he couldn’t care.
All he cared about in that moment was how his best friend was alive, sitting on the hospital bed with wires stuck to him, but alive.
Finney burst out in tears at the sight, and quickly made his way to the boy.
They talked about everything and nothing.
About how Robin could hear everything Finney was saying, which made the boy turn red.
And as Finney was about to open the door, he quickly turned around, “I love you..” He said, softly, knowing fully well that it wasn’t platonic.
“I love you too..” Robin whispered back and smiled.
Finney reciprocated the smile and left, to check up on the other two boys.
He talked to Bruce a little, becoming more friendly with him, maybe it was the fact that all the boys experienced similar trauma, or just because it was fun.
But Finney’s most entertaining meet up was probably Vance.
When he walked in, Vance was sitting up in his bed, arms crossed and face red.
At first, Finney got really concerned and was quickly asking the other if anything was happening, but Vance quickly batted him away and scowled.
Then Finney understood and smiled.
He sat down on the chair beside the boy and started talking.
It was just Finney talking, but Vance eventually joined in, letting his walls down around Finney.
And it warmed the other boy's soul.
It became a routine to check up on the boys and bring them presents at least 4 times a week.
He became slightly happier, maybe it wasn’t visible to others, but Gwen definitely saw it, and since Finney was happy, Gwen was as well.
Though rumours got worse, people started pushing their way into Finney, making sure that they heard what they said, that he knew what they wanted from him.
But finally, the three boys were out of the hospital.
“Alright, you two have science which is down the hallway, Bruce has maths, and I have English.” Finney pointed out their schedules.
Bruce and Vance were put into their school since the four became good friends throughout everything, and it was closer to the hospital if anything happened.
“Whatever.” Vance scowled and made his way down the hallway, with Robin not too far behind.
Bruce ruffled Finney's hair, and the two separated ways.
As Finney made his way up the stairs and through the hallways, the murmuring of students echoed.
Of course he could hear them, but he quickly learned now to not react to the harmful words.
”I heard he killed the man”
”Him? No way, he’s a twink”
They still didn’t let go of that subject, no matter how long time had passed.
Finney just hoped that the others wouldn’t hear anything about his rumours, because a lot of different things could happen, and none of them sounded fun.
Eventually he got to class, and zoned out the entire class.
Notes would be thrown at him, they would spit at him, poke and laugh at him, but Finney would not give a reaction.
Classes came and went, when lunch arrived, Finney quickly packed his things and was the first out the door.
He made his way over to the bathrooms, and hid in the last stall.
It was basically the only place where people would leave him alone, since no one wanted to use school toilets.
Finney sighed, taking out his notebook to continue his sketching.
Suddenly, the door was being opened and closed, and three pairs of footsteps made their way into the bathroom, letting out taunting laughs.
“Finney~!” One of them called, making Finney's heart spike.
All of a sudden, the door was kicked open, and revealed three of his bullies.
One pulled on his shirt, forcing him out of the stall and onto his knees.
“Awe, look at him, he’s on his knees like the fag he is.” He exclaimed and kicked him in the side, hard.
Finney winced, that was definitely going to form a bruise.
The three laughed and walked out, leaving Finney.
Taking in a deep breath, Finney gathered his belongings and walked out, ignoring the glares and weird looks people gave him.
And that's when he saw the other three boys.
Bruce was surrounded by girls and a couple guys, he just attracted them with his charm and smile.
Vance and Robin sat beside the commotion, glaring at anyone who came close to them.
Finney met Robin's eye, and quickly slipped away.
Maybe it was selfish, but Finney didn’t want to ruin their reputation, whatever it was, so he would refrain from hanging out with them in school for now.
Finney didn’t see the way Robin's smile slipped away, or the way Vance frowned, and none of them saw the sad, confused look Bruce gave.
School quickly went by and Finney walked out as one of the last people.
He found out that it was the best way not to get caught in any drama, or any fights due to stupid reasons.
So imagine his surprise when he saw a bunch of kids surrounding someone in a circle cheering them to fight.
He was going to avoid it, and just get home, but he heard something that made him stop.
“Take that back.”
That was most definitely Vances voice, being strong enough to go through the wave of students and get into Finney's ear.
“Fuck fuck fuck..” Finney muttered as he pushed through the crowd, all the way to the front.
“What do you want me to take back? The truth? That Finney is a fag? Or that he deserved to die? Oh! Or was it that he enjoyed being raped.” Finney recognised him, he was the guy who started most of the rumours.
A worse realisation hit Finney when he saw Bruce and Robin standing beside Vance.
They were both oddly calm while Vance was seething with rage.
But before any fighting could actually happen, someone in the crowd apparently saw him and decided to yell it out.
“HEY LOOK! THERE HE IS!”
Finney’s eyes widened as he froze.
Suddenly all eyes were on him, including Vance, Robin and Bruce.
He took a shaky breath and rushed out of the crowd, pushing everyone out of his way and running down the street, back home.
When Finney arrived, he quickly locked himself in his room and fell to the floor.
It was humiliating, and disturbing that people could just freely say whatever they wanted.
He sobbed, curling up into a fetal position.
Time passed, minutes or hours, Finney didn’t know, but he eventually fell asleep, in the same position.
Gwen had tried to get him out, to talk to her, but he just couldn’t.
Everything just weighed down onto him, and he couldn’t move, speak, anything.
But when he woke up, he was not on the floor, he was on his bed.
At first Finney thought his father just got the key and unlocked the door, but there was no way Terrence would be able to move Finney.
Sitting up, Finney realised that there were three boys in his room.
All looking at him.
Finney’s eyes widened and he almost choked on his spit.
“What- How are you in here?!” He exclaimed, frowning slightly, he didn’t mind that they came over, he would never, he just wanted to know how they got in.
Vance rolled his eyes, “Your window was unlocked.”
“And you just crawled in?” Finney pictured an angry Vance getting stuck in the window.
Robin shrugged, “Yeah, we wanted to check up on you after you ran off, but found you on the floor.”
Finney pinched the bridge of his nose, “So you’re telling me, instead of waiting till tomorrow- or this case today- to talk to me, you decided to just sneak in? And when you saw me sleeping, you decided to move me and stay?”
His voice wasn’t angry, just questioning, wanting to know the situation correctly.
“Look, we’re sorry, we were just worried since you weren’t with us all day, and then ran off..” Bruce sat down beside Finney on the bed.
Robin followed his example and sat on Finney’s left, leaving Vance to sit in front of them.
“No, it's just- ugh.” Finney flung his head back, “I don't know, pear pressure?”
They ended up dropping the subject, and just hanging out, skipping school.
Maybe they shouldn’t have, but nobody was stopping them, and if they wanted to, they could.
Finney noticed that Vance and Bruce were acting more flirty towards each other, and Robin would cling to Finney more than he usually would.
And Finney was completely fine with it, he even made some jokes about how Bruce and Vance should get a room.
They played a couple of games, truth or dare, spin the bottle, braided hair and told each other secrets.
They were like high school girls, and it made Finney shine with happiness.
When they met up at school the next day, everyone was quiet.
It was unnerving as everyone watched Finney pass through the halls without saying a single word.
Did something happen?
When lunch came around, Finney bumped into Robin, the latter grabbed his hand and dragged him to where they were sitting yesterday.
Except today, no one was swarming Bruce.
The four sat on the thick rock ledge, and just talked.
“Do you guys have any idea why it was so quiet today?” Finney asked, taking a bite of the bun Robin gave him to try.
“No idea.”
“Nuh uh.”
“Nope.”
Finney eyed them, and took a larger bite of the bun.
“HEY! I gave it to you for one bite!” Robin snatched away the bun and Finney grinned.
Classes came, and went, time goes quickly when you zone out.
Finney was just grabbing his things out of his locker when the disaster finally struck.
“Hey look, it’s the boy who has three hounds on a leash!”
There was no one in the halls other than Finney, and two guys.
“Oh really? How did you tame them?” the second one smirked, “Maybe he let’s them use him, like the fags they are.”
The first one burst out laughing when he said that, but abruptly stopped, and all the colour from his face faded.
Looking around, Finney realised that Vance, Robin and Bruce were all standing right behind him.
“Wanna say that again buddy?” Robin cracked his knuckles and stepped forward menacingly.
Somehow he grew, Finney blamed it on death somehow, but it was probably just a growth spurt.
So now, Robin was about the same height as Vance, and packing a lot of muscle, which was terrifying when he stood over you.
But for some reason, Finney thought it was beautiful.
After “confessing” to Robin in the hospital, they didn’t speak of it again, but they needed to, Finney was going to.
“N-no.” The first one stuttered and backed away.
Robin looked back at Finney, the boy just sigh and shook his head, letting Robin know not to fight.
The boy didn’t seem pleased but let the other two run off.
“You can’t solve everything with fighting, Robin.” Finney shook his head as the four headed out.
“Who says I can’t, mi amor?” Robin hooked his arm around Finney, making the shorter boy's heart beat faster.
Finney just shook his head and said his goodbye’s to Vance and Bruce.
Chewing on his lip, Finney finally brought up the conversation that needed to be said, “I really like you Robin, like.. not in a friendly way..”
Finney had known Robin for years, probably since kindergarten, but maybe even earlier than that.
He knew that Robin would not just throw him into the deep end without any knowledge of swimming.
But that didn’t stop him from feeling nervous.
Luckily, all those nerves faded away the minute that Robin uttered, “I know, I like you too- no, I love you too.”
Finney let out a breathy laugh.
They arrived at Finney's house, “Alright, this is my stop.” He smiled.
Robin leaned down, cupping his mouth as if wanting to tell Finney a secret, but instead, he kissed his cheek and smirked.
“Te veré más tarde querido.” He winked and ran off.
Finney rolled his eyes and entered his house, only to meet Gwen sitting near the window, with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.
“So? You have to tell me everything.”