The boy who saved the light

Chapter 12 ANGST WARNING

A/N: this chapter has Angst! You have been warned!

There I was, in the locker room. I was getting ready for another game. Except this time, Wilbur would be watching me.
I didn’t know why I was so nervous. I hadn’t been for any other game. Maybe it was because he was finally at one of my games.
I put on my uniform and began to walk out along with the rest of my team. We were out onto the court when I saw Wilbur.
He was waving at me.
I waved back, not knowing what else to do. Two of the guys on my team came up to me. “Hey, Who’re you waving to, your boyfriend?” They laughed. Another member came over. “Knock it off. We’ve got a game to play.”
They both groaned at him but left me alone. And I was still thinking about why they called him my boyfriend.
They probably didn’t even know who he was, but it still struck me as odd. I heard the buzzer go off, indicating that the game was starting.
Well, I guess it was time to play my hardest. I wanted to impress him, right?
***
After the game, I was super exhausted. We ended up winning though. It felt great every time we won, especially since this is my first time doing this. I waited for most of the people to clear out before leaving. But, Wilbur was still there, waiting for me. Why is he still here?
“Hey! You did great! I actually really liked the game. Thanks for inviting me.” he said.
“Y-yeah, I did do great. Also you’re welcome.” I responded.
I guess he noticed something, so he spoke again. “What’s wrong?” he asked.  “Nothing. I’m just tired. I wanna go home and get some rest.” I responded.
“Alright then. See you later.” He began walking out and left me alone after that.
I began walking out of the nearly empty building towards my car. I threw my gym bag in the back and got in the front seat. Then, I drove myself home in silence.
When I got home I went upstairs. Aunt Victoria was already asleep, which was great. I didn’t want to bother her and wake her up. I put on a pair of pajamas and sat down on my bed.
Tears began falling down my face.
“W-why? I-It can’t happen, not again…”
But, I couldn’t deny the fact that I had feelings for Wilbur. “I don’t want to… Why d-did he have to be so nice to me?”
I ended up falling asleep curled up in a ball, not bothering to take a shower. I was hoping that I would feel better by tomorrow.
***
The next day I decided that I was going to hang out at the park. I just wanted to be alone without my aunt bothering me, and apparently sleeping did not make me feel better. After eating breakfast, I headed over. My aunt likes it when I go to the park, even though she just sits around the house all day herself. Once I got to the park, I rushed towards the clearing, though I still made sure that no one saw me. All of my emotions were rushing back into my head. I sat down and immediately started sobbing again.
“W-why him? He was so nice to me and now he’s probably going to hate me when he finds out! Ugh, I hate myself so much!”
Everything my parents said flooded my brain.
“You like boys? No son of mine is gonna be gay!”
“But dad-!”
“Go to your room! Maybe I’ll let you out when you change your attitude.”
“Something is definitely not right with him.”
My parents would always make me stay in my room whenever I did something bad, but it would only be for a day. This time, it was multiple. Everyone was asking me where I had been. I just told them I had been sick.
The problem was, I thought that this was normal. It wasn’t.
They made me stay in my room more frequently whenever I did something they didn’t like. The last straw was when I spoke up to my dad and told him about how all of this was bullshit.
And he slapped me in the face.
“Don’t you ever say that again, you hear me?!”
I went out the door, tears streaming down my face as I ran away from my house. I ended up finding a park bench to sleep on for the night. I didn’t want to stay in the same place as my parents.
The next day at school I found the courage to tell the school counselor about what had been happening. They said they couldn’t do anything about it, but they would refer me to another counselor.
I talked to them, and they told me that what my parents were doing to me was worse than I thought it was. I was taken away from them, and they found somewhere else for me to stay.
My aunt was the only family member they could find. Her and my mom didn’t exactly like each other because my aunt did almost nothing while my mom did everything. It doesn’t make both of them any less homophobic.
I kept sobbing for a little while trying to get these thoughts out of my head when I heard a noise coming from the bushes. I moved back, trying to hide myself from whatever might be coming to hurt me. My hands were blocking my face and my eyes were closed.
“Huh, that’s odd. I thought I heard crying…”
“D-Don’t hurt me! P-Please!”
I opened my eyes to see that it was just Wilbur.
He moved his head and saw me, who was indeed crying and looked scared as hell. “Oh my gosh, Nicholas! What’s wrong?”
“Why are you here?” I asked. I avoided his question. I just didn’t want to answer it. It was hard for me to speak without crying more.
“Even if I’m not hanging out with you, I still like to come to the park from time to time to relax. This is where I would hang out by myself before I met you.”
We both sat in silence. It was clear that he wasn’t going to force me to say anything if I didn’t want to. I felt so stupid. Why did I think he was going to hurt me?
I didn’t know who he was until I saw him, so I had every right to be scared. Wilbur did say that nobody else knew about this place, But still.
I wanted to tell him everything. But how could I tell him anything if he was the person I was upset over?
“Why are you still here?”
“Like literally, or...”
“No, l-like, why are you still my friend? W-We both don’t need help a-anymore. A-And there’s something you don’t know about me.”
“What is it?” He asked. I took a deep breath. “I like boys. I’m gay.”
As soon as those words left my mouth, I wished I could take them back. I wasn’t gay, I couldn’t be!
More tears fell down my face. But Wilbur didn’t move. “I don’t care that you’re gay.”
I wiped the tears off of my face. “R-really?”
“Yeah. Just because you have feelings for someone different, that doesn’t mean I won’t be your friend. Now, do you want me to stay, or should I leave?” he asked. "I don’t want to be here if you don’t want me to."
“Stay.” I responded.
A few seconds passed before he spoke again. “Do you want a hug?” That sounded really great right about now. “Sure.” Wilbur extended his arms, and I moved closer to him. He wrapped his arms around me and I rested my head on his chest.
We hugged in silence for a few minutes, and honestly it felt nice. But, there was something I wanted him to do.
“Hey, W-Wilbur?”
“Yeah?”
“I-I wanna forget about my parents… can you m-make me forget?”
He looked kind of shocked. “Um… I can’t really do that to you.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because I could erase your entire memory. I still don’t exactly have full control over my powers.” He responded.
“Oh.” I wasn’t entirely thinking clearly, so I didn’t think about that being a possibility.
“I could try and help you feel better though. Here.” He placed both of his hands on the sides of my head. My face began to dry up, and I instantly felt better. All the thoughts that were plaguing my mind disappeared.
“Th-thank you…”
“Do you feel better?” He asked.
“Mhm.” I didn’t feel like crying my eyes out anymore, so that was a good thing. I still felt bad for making Wilbur sit through this with me and help me calm down.
It was then that I could feel the walls that I had built up in my head start to collapse. Maybe I could have feelings for him. Maybe it wasn’t wrong, or bad. Those thoughts were still very small and the other part of my brain that told me this was wrong was still much bigger and more overwhelming. But I knew that I could make those small thoughts grow bigger. Maybe these good thoughts could outweigh those bad thoughts.
I was going to get through this. I could get through this. And Wilbur was definitely going to help me.