[When Eddie starts to step away, a million excuses immediately spring to Will's mind, places he should be, things he should be doing very far away from right here and right now. His knees lock up and for a moment he thinks about pulling free and just running. He's very good at running.
But instead he follows along, into the alley, forehead scrunched and furrowed with anxious confusion, freed hand swinging at his side when Eddie lets it go. He reads the words as they pop up, the splintered sentences that he thinks might mean...he thinks they might...
And they do.
It's not like talking to Kara about it either -- she's sweet and wonderful, but she's also a grown-up (sort of) and a girl and from a time when there are more words for that and people talk about it and are it and it all seems so far off and impossible.
Eddie's different. He's from before even Will is, when the only words for that are sneering, ugly things that get thrown around by Troy at school and his friends and Will's dad. When being that is even more dangerous. Plus Eddie's a kid his age, someone who Will respects on some level, respects the ferocious, defiant way he speaks, respects the unflinching way he faces down the world.
So when Eddie types those last four letters, Will's shoulders go slack, his breath leaves him in a rush and he can't even type a response. He can't say yes or me too or for as long as I can remember. All he can do is nod, helpless and shaky and so, so relieved.]
and then i died :) :)))))
But instead he follows along, into the alley, forehead scrunched and furrowed with anxious confusion, freed hand swinging at his side when Eddie lets it go. He reads the words as they pop up, the splintered sentences that he thinks might mean...he thinks they might...
And they do.
It's not like talking to Kara about it either -- she's sweet and wonderful, but she's also a grown-up (sort of) and a girl and from a time when there are more words for that and people talk about it and are it and it all seems so far off and impossible.
Eddie's different. He's from before even Will is, when the only words for that are sneering, ugly things that get thrown around by Troy at school and his friends and Will's dad. When being that is even more dangerous. Plus Eddie's a kid his age, someone who Will respects on some level, respects the ferocious, defiant way he speaks, respects the unflinching way he faces down the world.
So when Eddie types those last four letters, Will's shoulders go slack, his breath leaves him in a rush and he can't even type a response. He can't say yes or me too or for as long as I can remember. All he can do is nod, helpless and shaky and so, so relieved.]