Chapter Text
It's hard to get used to new things. New people, new clothes, new hobbies. Once you get used to a certain routine, it's hard to go back to whatever you were doing before. You just feel more comfortable, more safe, and more at ease with your life doing what you're used to and it's hard to give it all up.
Wilson is your typical school boy. Reserved and peaceful, and you could never catch him slipping up. He's not necessarily popular but he's well known. He's always there for you whenever you need him to be whether if it's for school or just a friend to be around. Effortlessly and contently.
Nobody really knows Wilson and he is completely alright with this. Wilson wants this. Wilson doesn't really want to be treated differently and he just wants to make everybody but himself happy.
Well, there's one exception. Brando. His childhood best friend.
If you've ever seen Wilson and Brando together you would think that they were inseparable, conjoined by the hip.
Honestly, it's hard to imagine the two of them being friends considering how contrasting they are to each other, Wilson being shy, quiet and introverted while Brando being outgoing, loud, and social. At school, you'll always catch Wilson alone and reading a book in the library, then you'll Brando chatting to his guys from football or some random girls in cheer. You'd never see Wilson and Brando together not because they didn't want to be seen together necessarily, but because Wilson insisted that it was better for Brando to not be seen with him at school for the sake of his reputation.
Senior year hit Wilson in the head like a brick, hard and painful. It felt like hell on earth. Wilson swore to himself that he would've gone insane if not for Brando being there for him most of the time.
"Oh, that gives me so much clarity. Thank you so much Wilson, my grade in physics would be beyond repair if not for you. Real life saver." Charlie, one of the egotistic, popular athlete boys happily says to Wilson with gratitude that was most likely fake. Wilson knew that he would probably forget about his existence in no more than five minutes and the concepts he'd just explained to him in maybe three if it was a good day.
As Charlie walked out of the library through the single wooden door that creaked way too much, Brando waited on the other side for him to fully walk out before walking in himself, the door slamming shut as he walked into the room.
The library felt full yet so empty. It was full of books ranging from science fiction to dystopian literature to math textbooks that had gum stuck to the pages that looked irrelevant enough to be used as a wrapper to a bored student.
There was the librarian lady putting away books that were discarded on the ground and who looked like she was ready to quit her job once she hit retirement age and the kids who were classified as weird and outcasts in one of the dark corners of the room. But there, sitting at one of the tables next to the checkout counter, with the lamp light magnificently shining on his curls sat Wilson.
He looked beautiful. The way his circular glasses rested so well onto his nose and his half-lidded eyes focused onto the book he was reading was just a perfect sight for Brando's sore eyes.
He was so in love with him, but he didn't want to admit that to himself, yet. He knew Wilson was emotionally unavailable for multiple reasons. Like he didn't know if he even wanted to be in a relationship. He didn't even know if he liked guys.
As Brando approached Wilson who lifted his head as he felt Brando's familiar presence, he let out a long, exasperated sigh before complaining,
"God, it's just so annoying to have people come up to me asking me to tutor them just for them to forget it and come right back. It's so frustrating Brando." Wilson said before going quieter, "really fucking frustrating."
Brando moved Wilson's backpack from the chair onto the table to sit into the chair right next to Wilson before taking his hand to hopefully comfort him.
"Wil, you seriously need to learn to say no to people. If it's inconvenient for you to help people then just say no."
Wilson sighed once again before responding with an edge in his voice and slight anger that wasn't directed to Brando, "It's easy for you to say this when everyone loves you and you're not scared of disappointing them. You're effortlessly liked by people, while for me just to be accepted by anyone I have to be ready for if someone needed me for a history emergency or as a therapist. It makes me so sick that I'm just the guy everybody comes to for help. No one ever cares enough to ask if I'm okay. Only you Bran, only you." Wilson lets out before finally calming down.
Brando squeezes Wilson's hand that he had been holding in hopes of making him feel better.
"You know, you could always hang out with my friend group. They'll like you and they'll probably be able to make you feel better" Brando offers. Brando had invited Wilson in the past but Wilson's always rejected the invite for the same reason of not wanting to ruin Brando's reputation.
Wilson lets go of Brando's hand to think. Normally, he would've immediately said no but he felt that he needed the socialization today.
"I'll be with you. During lunch." Wilson responds, which instantly lit up Brando's eyes.
Then, in the almost silent library, the bell angrily interrupts and ends the conversation instantly, signalling that study hall had ended and that everyone needed to start heading to their next class.
"Really? You don't know how much this genuinely means to me, Wil. I'll wait for you outside of your class, I promise. I can't wait."
Brando had to bite his tongue to repress his joy. He wanted to show Wilson off to his friends like he was a trophy he'd won.
That wasn't far from what Wilson was to Brando. Brando felt like he had won the lottery meeting Wilson.
Wilson started packing his backpack before telling Brando "thank you" in a voice so soft that you could've missed it if you weren't paying enough attention to it. Brando only let out a smile in response for the sake of not scaring Wilson away.
Wilson could never be scared away from Brando.
AP government has never felt so boring. Wilson practically had his eyes glued to the clock the whole time just waiting for it to hit twelve o'clock noon. As soon as it did, he'd bolted out of the classroom forgetting his pen on the desk, which he frankly couldn't care less about. He only cared about Brando.
The dirty blond boy was waiting at the door with a smile you couldn't take your eyes off of. Brando was probably every other girls hallway crush.
"Are you sure about this? What if your friends don't like me?" Wilson asks Brando, seeking any form of reassurance.
Brando crouches down slightly to match Wilson's height before affirming him, "Wil, you're perf- Pretty much a great person, who would dare not liking you?"
Wilson merely nods before walking with Brando, arm to arm, fingers occasionally brushing against each other but neither of them cared enough to pull away.
The two make it to some lockers outside of the bathrooms. They walk over to a group of people consisting four people, Blake, Ashley, Luka and Heather. They all laughed together loudly, and Wilson didn't really know how to feel about it.
"Hey, this is my best friend Wilson. He's awesome, be nice to him. If I catch any of you being rude to him then I'm out." Brando asserts, and everyone had just stared for a second before continuing their conversation, Brando slowly making his way into it.
Wilson was standing next to Brando, not really talking at all, just nodding and laughing occasionally when it was necessary. Brando tried getting him to engage more in the conversation but Wilson just stayed silent before excusing himself to the bathroom.
As Wilson went into the bathroom, he stared at himself in the reflection to fix the curls that were rested on his face, the overgrown bangs that he had to trim.
Then, somebody else walked in.
With Wilson's luck, it was Charlie. The guy he had previously helped. Charlie spots him almost instantly and smiles before walking closer to Wilson, and before Wilson can realize, he's pinned against the wall.
"Oh Wilson, funny seeing you here, you're not usually in this part of the school, no?" Charlie asks him, like he's observing how he'll react. It felt like he wanted to get a reaction out of Wilson.
Wilson hesitated before responding, "Yeah, just hanging out my friend today, nothing else" he said while trying to find a way to get out of the uncomfortable situation, but Charlie encloses Wilson with one arm on each side of the boy. Now he's fully stuck.
"Well, I was thinking, you really helped me this morning," he said as he got closer to Wilson, "and I felt I did really good on my test. You deserve a reward for helping me, don't you think?" Charlie said to him, getting to a dangerously close distance to the point Wilson could almost feel Charlie's breath on his face.
"Well, it's really nothing you see, I'm glad I could help," Wilson laughs a humourless laugh, attempting to get Charlie away.
"I don't think you understand, Wilson. I want to give you a reward for helping me, and it would be rude to reject a little gift from a friend wouldn't it?" Charlie said then he placed his right hand onto Wilson's cheek, holding him so he stays still.
Wilson's forced smile on his face faltered when he realized what Charlie was about to do. He tried to move but he didn't want to provoke Charlie into doing something more. As Charlie was leaning into Wilson's personal space, a familiar presence pulls Charlie off of him and pushes Charlie onto the floor.
It was Brando.
"What the actual fuck Charlie? What were you thing to do to him? I don't even want to know, get your ass out of here and don't come back. Now." Brando yells.
Wilson didn't often see Brando mad like this. Brando usually gets a bit possessive of Wilson when other people were attempting to talk to him, but only because he wanted to protect Wilson.
Charlie stood up will holding his hip and massaging the area that made contact with the ground before leaving the room, not turning back to look at either of the boys.
Wilson crashes into Brando's shoulder, letting out a quiet sob. Brando put a reassuring arm on his back, silently telling him that he wasn't going anywhere and that he was safe..
"Br- Bran.." Wilson lets out quietly.
"I'm here Wil, I'm here." He responds, reminding Wil. "Do you want to go back to my place? We can ditch like we always do, I'll explain to the school later, please?"
Wilson nods, then they headed out of the bathroom hand in hand.
Wilson and Brando make it to Brando's car and he opens the passenger door for Wilson with a friendly gesture. Wilson smiles softly as he gets in, Brando doing the same on the driver's side.
The car ride to Brando's house is silent. Not uncomfortably silent, but just a silence that said "we're together, and that's all that mattered right now." Wilson eventually snoozed asleep, resting against the window. Brando couldn't help but frequently look over his right shoulder to glance at Wilson, looking so peaceful.
They arrived at Brando's house, but Wilson had still been fast asleep. Brando opened the passenger door catching Wilson before he could fall and picked him up, bringing him into the house and into his room.
He brought Wilson to rest on the edge of the bed. He knew that was the side Wilson was most comfortable in, and he would do anything for Wilson to feel comfort.
"God, I might be actually in love with him"