Chapter Text
“May I sit?” a voice said, Wilson pushed off his headphones, looking up to see a boy with dirty blonde hair in a blue hoodie.
“Yea, sure.” He replied, scooting closer to the window of the bus to make room.
“I haven’t seen you before, are you new?” The boy asked.
“Yea,” Wilson replied. “I just moved here.”
“What’s your name?” The boy asked.
“Wilson, but everyone calls me Wil.”
“Cool, I’m Brando, or you can call me Bran. Do you like it here so far?”
“ I guess.” Wil said.
“It’s a nice little town, but it’s kind of boring… What grade are you?” Bran asked.
“11th.” Wil answered.
“Me too!” Bran said. “What’s your home room?”
“Mr. Gray, and I have biology with him 4th period.”
“No way, me too!” Bran exclaimed. what’s the rest of your schedule? Maybe we have more classes together.”
“1st period English, 2nd history, 3rd math, 4th biology, 5th study hall, and 6th photography.” Wil answered.
“No way, we literally have the same, except 3rd.” Bran said.
“Oh cool.” Wil said. “We should like… partner or something.”
“Totally.” Bran smiled. “Is it your first day?”
“Yea, I’ve only been here since a week before winter break.” Wil said.
“Oh, how come you moved in the middle of winter? A bit random?” Bran asked.
“My grandfather passed and my mom wanted to use the inheritance to move my family to a more ‘Christian’ town as soon as possible.” Wil said, rolling his eyes. “I came from California.”
“Oh… sorry.” Bran said.
“It’s fine, I met him like twice and he was an ass anyway.”
“My grandpa sucks too, he makes us eat stinky fish and chicken livers when we stay at his house.”
“Ewww” Wilson chuckled.
“I know right!” Bran said.
“Well… would you want me to show you around school? I could walk you to class, make sure you don’t get lost.” Bran offered.
“Sure, that would be nice.” Wil agreed.
The two boys chatted a bit more until the bus stopped, and they walked into school together.
Bran showed Wil to English, and they sat next to each other in the back right corner next to a window.
“The teacher is pretty nice,” Bran whispered. “she doesn’t really care about anything. I’m not sure she really reads our work, actually. It’s an easy A.”
The teacher passed out a two paged packet to fill out about creative writing or something. Wil finished it quickly. Writing had always been easy for him, he really enjoyed it actually, but only when he was given freedom.
Bran then showed him to his next class, and the one after that, which all went well. No one really seemed to care Wil was there, though he got some strange looks. and all of his teachers seemed pretty nice. Once lunch came Bran invited him to eat with him and his friends.
Wil sat down, next to Bran.
“Hey guys,” Bran said. “This is Wil, he just moved here.”
“Well, welcome.” A girl with brown wavy hair said, peeling a small orange.
“Nice hair.” A tall boy in a sports jersey said.
“Thanks.” Wil said, not sure if he was teasing him or not.
“Wil, this is Jane,” he gestured towards the brunette, “Carlton,” he pointed at the boy who had already spoken to Wil, he had brunette hair and a big number ‘26’ on his shirt. “Ashley,” he gestured to a girl with brownish blonde hair, and a pink tank top, “and Blake.” He finished, gesturing towards a blonde boy wearing an oversized hoodie and baseball hat.
“Hi everyone.” Wil said nervously, then tucked his head back down to stare at his food.
“You a girl or a boy?” Carlton chucked.
“Carlton be nice.” Bran said, nudging him.
“I’m a boy.” Wil said. “Sometimes boys have long hair.”
“You do have some pretty wild hair.” Bran teased, poking at one of Wilson’s dark curls.
“Yea,” wil chuckled. “I’ve been growing it out for a bit.”
“Where ya from?” Ashley asked Wil.
“I just moved from California.” Wil answered.
“You look like it.” Ashley replied.
Wil didn’t know what that was supposed to mean, so he didn’t say anything.
They finished lunch and went on with the rest of the day, Bran showing Wil to each class, and telling him about what the students and teachers were like.
The rest of week went the same, no one was too rude to Wil, he would get a few side eyes in the hallway, and the occasional shove, or name calling.
Sunday morning came, and Wil’s mom woke him up bright and early as always to make him get up and get ready for church.
Wilson hated going to church, he wasn’t religious at all really, it had never made any sense to him, but his family was convinced he was a devout Christian like them.
He walked into the large building with his mother, sister, and father, they went to sit down in the church seats when Wilson spotted his new friend.
“Mom, can we sit over there? Thats my friend.” Wil asked, pointing towards Bran and his family.
“Yea, sure.” She agreed.
Wil waved at Bran, smiling, Bran noticed him, and waved back. Wil sat down next to his friend.
“Hi Bran!” Wil said.
“Hey Wil.” Bran replied. “I didn’t know you came here.”
“Me either, It’s my first time.” Wil chuckled.
“Who’s your friend?” Brans mom asked.
“This is Wil,” Bran answered. “He just moved here, we go to school together.”
“Nice to meet you, Wil.” Brans mom said, nodding.
“Nice to meet you too, Mrs…”
“Connell.” She said.
“Nice to meet you, Mrs Connell.”
The pastor came and then began to speak. Wil wasn’t sure what about, he didn’t pay attention. He would just let his mind wander, thinking of song lyrics, new things to practice drawing, sometimes if he was hungry, what he would make for lunch when he got home.
After, the boys’ parents talked for a bit, as did Bran and Wil.
“Do you like church?” Bran asked.
“Not really,” wil admitted. “None of this stuff really makes any sense to me if I’m being honest.” He whispered.
“Same, but do not let my family know, my mom is super religious, my dad is pretty chill I guess, but he agrees with anything my mom says.” Bran whispered.
“Same” Wil whispered back.
Wil’s mom walked over to them, placing her hand on Wil’s shoulder. “We’ve got to go,” she said. “It was nice to meet you, Bran.”
“Nice to meet you too.” Bran said.
They said goodbye and both went home.
The next few weeks went about the same, Bran was really Wil’s only friend, sometimes he would come over after school, and they would study and play card games.
The boys fell close very quickly, they could understand each other, in a way neither of them had felt understood before.
Soon though, the other kids at school stopped ignoring Wil so much, though the attention they gave him was usually not good.
Wil was happy to be friends with Brando, though he himself felt a bit boring. He decided he would go to the corner store and pick up some eyeliner. He had worn it once before in seventh grade, when his sister had done his makeup. And he quite liked it.
He woke up the next day a bit earlier, he played around with it a bit in the mirror for about ten minutes before it looked right. He stepped back, starring in the mirror. He felt much more like himself.
He figured he would be ignored like always, and probably no one would even notice, but he felt pretty.
Though, unfortunately he was wrong.
He walked into school, and once he got about halfway to Brans locker,a boy with short brown hair he hadn’t spoken too before stopped him.
“You’ve got something on your face.” The boy said. He chuckled, glancing over at his friend and nudging him. “Makes’ you look like a twink.”
“You’ve got a fat pimple on your nose.” Wil said back, “makes’ you look like shit.” Wil began to walk away, trying to ignore the boy, but he grabbed Wil by the shoulder, pulling him back.
“God, you talk like one too.” The boy said.
“You talk like an asshole.” Wil argued. Again, trying to walk away. But being stopped
“Hey!” The other boy called, shoving Wil backwards.
Probably, Wil should not have said that.
“You should be nicer, if you want any boys to like you, fag.” The boy said, shoving him back again, now Wil was pushed up against the hallway wall, the boy with brown hair close enough to his face for Wil to be able to taste his nasty breath.
“You gonna kiss me or something?” Wil said nervously.
Probably, he should not have said that either.
“Just Shut up.” the boy yelled. Wil jumped, a bit startled. “Be grateful you haven’t been shot already, fags aren’t popular around here.”
God, Wil hated it when anyone yelled at him. Especially right at his face.
The boy then drove his fist into the side of Wil’s face, not too hard, but hard enough to hurt. Wil brought his hand to his face. He then decided not to say anything snarky back, mostly because he didn’t want to be hit again, but also because he thought if he opened his mouth he might just cry.
“Fuck off, twink.” The boy yelled. He took his hand off Wil’s shoulder, stepping back. His face still twisted and angry.
Wil couldn’t take anymore yelling. He turned his head away, he wasn’t going to cry, that would be stupid. but just in case. He saw Bran now speeding towards him.
Finally.
“Hey, you fuck off.” Bran called, stopping, and standing in front of Wil, between him and the boy. Bran shoved the boy, not too hard, but enough to make a him stumble back.
The boys both scoffed, and walked away, muttering some other slurs under their breaths.
“You alright?” Bran asked, looking concerned.
Wil nodded yes, still not quite trusting his voice.
“You sure?” Bran asked.
“It’s fine, Bran.” Wil said. He should not have trusted his voice.
Bran wrapped his arm around Wil, walking him into the bathrooms a couple of feet away from them.
Wil leaned against the wall, finally giving up, and letting the tears fall down his cheeks.
“I like it.” Bran said, looking at Wil.
“Like what?” Wil asked, wiping his eyes.
“Your eyeliner.”
“Well it’s ruined now.” Wil said.
“Well I ‘liked’ your eyeliner.” Bran said. “I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, I didn’t see you-“
“It’s okay.” Wil said, taking in a deep breath.
“Sorry.” Bran apologized.
“It’s not your fault, Bran. They are just jerks. It’s fine, I’m fine.” Wil said.
“Then why are you crying about it?” Bran pushed.
“Cause I’m a cry baby? I don’t know.” Wil said, forcing a laugh.
“Okay, but seriously, Wil.” Bran said.
“My face hurts.” Wil said.
“He did not hit you that hard, Wilson.” Bran replied.
“I just don’t like it when people yell. It’s fine, Bran.” Wil said, firmly.
“Sorry.” Bran said, getting the hint Wil didn’t wanna talk about it.
Wil was getting teary eyed again for some reason.
God, why was he so sensitive?
“Want to skip and go get ice cream or something?” Bran offered.
“Ice cream at 8:00 AM?” Wil sniffled, another tear sneaking down his cheek. “Sorry, I’m not crying about the ice cream-“ he started.
“C’mon.” Bran said, wrapping his arm around Wil’s shoulders, and leading him out into the hallways, then outside.
They walked in silence for a few minutes, Bran lead Wil to an old fashioned ice cream shop.
They stepped inside.
“Hi welcome to Coneworld, what can I get started for you-“ the girl at the counter started. “Hi Bran, how are you?”
Bran had worked at the ice cream shop over the summer.
“I’m good, could I please get two scoops Caramel ice cream, and…” Bran nudged Wil, “What do you want?”
“Mint chocolate chip, please.” Wil said.
“Sure thing!” The girl said. She scooped their ice cream, and Bran payed.
“Thanks Heather!” He called, leading Wil back outside to a table.
“Thanks.” Wil said, smiling at Bran. “This fixes everything.”
“Of course.” Bran said, spooning a bit of ice cream into his mouth.
“You know her? The girl working.” Wil questioned.
“I worked here last summer.” Bran answered.
“Oh, cool. Did you get free ice cream?” Wil chuckled.
“Yea,” Bran Bran said. “You get sick of it after a while though.”
They finished their ice cream, and headed back to school. No one bothered Wil the rest of the day, but he never wore eyeliner to school again.