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Yeah, it’s bullshit. It absolutely is bullshit.
But Mike will just not stop moping about it.
They’re in Will’s bedroom. Mike keeps crumpling and uncrumpling the note Eleven wrote for him before she- apparently- left to get her powers back and Will is just sitting on his bed, picking at his hands. They’ve been like this for what feels like hours, only talking when Mike says something about how insane this all is. He’s right, of course but holy shit, Will feels like screaming.
Mike finally tosses the note in the trash can, catching Will’s attention. There’s an exasperated sigh before he sits next to Will on the bed.
“You know,” he says, frowning. “We fought before they took her. But it wasn’t like… like our usual fights. It was more mature. Like, we fought fought.” He shakes his head. “She was so angry with me-probably is-still angry with me. I’ve never seen her like that before and it makes me think… it makes me think that-”
Will raises an eyebrow. “Think that…what?”
“That…that was her way of breaking up with me.”
Will pauses and asks “You think?”
“Maybe, yeah,” Mike tells him. “I guess… maybe I should have seen it coming.” Will makes a face at this to which Mike continues “What I mean is, our relationship has been different lately. Not bad, really, but different. It’s just not the same anymore, do you get what I’m saying?”
Helplessly shrugging, Will says “No.”
Mike sighs, clearly frustrated. “Okay. It… It kinda feels like when you have a favorite song. But-but you keep playing it over and over and over again until you don’t wanna listen to it, like, at all anymore. And you take a moment and realize that yeah, you do like the song but it just doesn’t feel the same. It doesn’t mean that it’s a bad song or anything, it's just… not your song anymore. You’ve… grown out of it. Maybe she caught on.”
Will finally grasps what Mike is trying to say. “You really feel like that about El?”
“I think so. I mean, I like her. Of course I like her. I care about her so much. I even told her that during our fight. But I don’t... love her. I mean, I don’t love her like I used to. But I-I don’t want anything bad to happen to her because of that. I don’t want her to think I hate her or something. And I also can’t stand thinking that she hates me.” Mike looks down at the ground. “Sorry, I’m probably being really annoying about this.”
Will shakes his head. “No, don’t be sorry. You have nothing to be sorry for. It’s completely normal to feel whatever it is you're feeling. And I’m certain El doesn’t think you hate her. Or that she hates you.”
Mike looks at him with an appreciative smile and Will just can’t help but say “It’s impossible to hate you, anyway.”
Instant regret floods over Will. Oh, fuck. But Mike doesn’t make a face or anything, he kind of just watches him. Will feels like he’s standing under a spotlight.
He goes into damage control. “I’m sorry, that probably sounded really weird.”
Mike waves a hand saying “No. No, not weird at all.” He pauses, a ghost of a smile on his face. “Kind of funny coming from you, though.”
Lost, Will asks “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“We also fought,” Mike tells him like somehow Will wouldn’t remember. “I thought you’d still be pissed at me to be honest.”
Will shrugs, a sigh escaping him. “Yeah, but… I don’t know. I guess-” I’m so in love with you that I can’t stay mad at you for more than five seconds.“ I don’t know, it’s different.”
Mike draws his eyebrows together. “What do you mean it’s different?” Will opens his mouth as if to stay something, but doesn’t. “You’re saying that even though I treated you like shit pretty much the entire day, you’re not even like, I don’t know, a little bit mad at me?”
Will bites the inside of his lip. “I knew you didn’t mean what you said.”
“That doesn’t make it okay for me to say.”
“No, but-” Will stops. This probably shouldn’t go any further. No, it definitely shouldn’t be going any further. “Actually, let’s just drop it. Okay?”
Mike huffs but eventually says “Okay.” Then there’s uncomfortable silence. Then Mike decides he has more to say. “I am sorry about yesterday. I hope you know that.”
Guess we’re not dropping this then. “I know,” Will says.
“Okay,” Mike says, then “You’re sure you’re not mad at me?”
“I’m sure.”
“Because you have every right to be.”
“I know.”
“But you’re not?”
“No.”
Mike clasps his hands together. A weird, unexplainable tension floats in the atmosphere of Will’s bedroom. Mike asks “Why?”
God, this is tearing Will apart. “I told you, it’s different.”
“Yeah, you said that but I’m having trouble understanding.”
“What’s there to understand?” Will asks him.
Mike contemplates, then says “Why you’re so quick to defend me.”
Oh, he’s so fucked. Beyond fucked, even. If there’s such a thing. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
Will tugs on the fabric of his jeans. “No.”
And there’s a pause. It drags. It drags almost unbearably. The tension in the room had grown. Will finds its hard to breathe.
Mike's eyes shift around the room and if Will didn't know any better, he'd say he looks nervous. Then he acts like he’s about to say something incredibly profound, but what comes out of his mouth is the complete opposite. “Okay then,” he says. “I’m gonna… I’m gonna go to bed.”
Will is thrown for a loop. Like, the world's most insane rollercoaster loop. “O-Okay.”
Mike gets up, actively avoiding eye contact, and just walks out. Just like that. What the fuck?
Will flops backwards onto his bed. Did Mike just decide to let it go? He didn’t figure it out, did he? No. If he did, he would have just called Will out on the spot, right? Right? This is exhausting.
He changes into his pajamas. A plain gray shirt and blue sweatpants. Once he’s settled under the covers, he tries to actually get some sleep. But that, unfortunately, doesn’t last very long. He’s staring at the ceiling, him and Mike’s conversation playing on loop in his head.
It’s a stupid idea, but Will thinks maybe he should take a walk to the guest room and just, like, properly settle their conversation because it’s quite literally tearing him to pieces. How to actually settle it, Will has no clue. Maybe something like ‘Hey! The reason I’m so quick to defend you all the time is because you’re my best friend and obviously I’m gonna stick by you no matter what! And sorry I’ve been acting so weird, I’m just so on edge with everything going on. Not because I have feelings for you or anything if that’s what you think.’ Okay, definitely scratch that last part.
So maybe he won’t say exactly that, but it’s an outline. Definitively making up his mind, Will gets up and opens his bedroom door.
He only makes it a few steps before stopping dead in his tracks.
Mike is standing in the hallway, clad in a dark green pullover and black pajama pants.
Even in the dark, Will can see Mike’s wide eyes. “Hi.”
Mike, very obviously, fake coughs. “Hey.”
All traces of a plan escape through the imaginary back door in Will’s mind. “W-What are you doing?” he manages.
“Just… um, walking”
Will gestures to his bedroom door. “Were you-”
“No!” Mike says, way too quickly. “No, uh, just using the bathroom.”
Will, absolutely dumbfounded, points behind Mike.
“The bathrooms that way.”
Mike falters and sheepishly scratches at the back of his head. “Oh, is it? I, uh, I guess I forgot.”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah.”
There’s that tension again. It feels stronger now. Mike points over his shoulder. “I’m gonna…”
Will nods. “Okay.”
“Okay.”
But Mike doesn’t turn around right away. Maybe this is his chance to say something so he can finally get some goddamn sleep. “Hey, Mike?”
“Hm?”
“About our conversation-”
Mike stops him. “You don’t have to explain yourself.”
“But I just wanted to say-”
“Really, Will, it’s fine.”
No it’s not. “I just…” Then, Will takes a moment to contemplate before “I just wanted to make sure I didn't give you the wrong idea or anything.”
Mike falters.“The wrong idea?”
"Yeah."
Mike eyes him up and down. "What do you mean by that?"
Will opens his mouth to answer, but chooses to chicken out. "Um. Y-You know what, nevermind. I'm going back to bed." Nice one, Byers!
Mike, still watching him says "Okay... me too."
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
So Will just walks right back into his room, closing the door behind him. Jesus, he is so stupid. Like, actually stupid. What the fuck is he even doing? Feeling defeated, Will sinks to the floor, back against the door. Now Mike obviously knows somethings up. It’s eating at Will’s insides. He feels like a fucking idiot. That talk, if Will can even call it that, did not at all resolve any tension. If anything, it made it worse. There's a pressing weight on Will's chest.
But Will is determined to not let Mike get the wrong idea. Even if the "wrong idea" just so happens to be the right one. But that doesn’t matter. He cannot let things continue to be weird between them. He literally won't be able to function. So he stands up with a newfound ounce of courage, takes a deep breath in, and opens the door.
He instantly freezes.
Mike is standing in his doorway.
Will notes that his breathing is off. It’s unsteady, almost.
Neither of them say anything. They just stare at each other.
There’s this unfamiliar gleam in Mike’s eyes. Something Will is sure he’s never seen. Part of it is confliction, that he can place. But there’s something else. Something new.
Mike's expression is intense to say the least. He bites his lip.
Will blinks, helplessly. "You said you were going back to bed."
"So did you. Guess we're both liars," Mike says before taking Will's face in his hands and kissing him.
And Will thinks his brain must have stopped working, because he’s too stunned to respond.
So Mike pulls away, horrified. “Oh. Oh my-fuck, I’m so sorry.” Will just stares at him. “I… I really thought...That’s-shit. Shit. I’m so-”
Will wraps his arms around Mike, cutting him off with his lips. A hum of surprise emanates from Mike’s throat.
“No,” Will says when he breaks away. His voice is uneven, jagged. “No, you got the right idea.”
Mike’s hands slowly come to rest on Will’s waist. “Oh, good,” he says simply before diving back in to kiss him again.
Is this real? Or did Will drop dead from a sudden heart attack and end up in some kind of afterlife? His hand finds its way into Mike’s hair and he gives it an experimental tug.
Mike groans and yeah, okay, this is real.
They kiss like that for a while and Will is absolutely reeling because it’s everything. No other words needed.
Mike catches Will’s bottom lip in between his teeth and wow. The noise that comes out of Will is almost unrecognizable to him.
It makes Mike pull away with a sudden, aware expression. They’re standing in an open doorway with two agents, and Will’s brother, right down the hall. So, not a whole lot of privacy. “We should, uh,” he says and jerks his head towards the door.
“Yeah,” Will says, wasting no time in yanking Mike in by his pullover and closing the door behind him.
Now this must have done something because once Will turns around, Mike pushes him back against the door, pinning him.
Will, feeling like the wind just got knocked out of him, just says “Holy shit.” He takes the back of Mike’s neck and pulls him back in for a kiss with “Come here.” Mike smiles into it, tightening the grip he has on Will’s shirt.
Will’s hands find their way back into Mike’s dark hair, pulling softly at his curls. Mike kisses the corner of his mouth, then down to his jawline, then, oh and then, he kisses down his neck, openmouthed
Will tilts his head back against the door in order to give him more access. His eyelids flutter rapidly and he can pretty much hear is own heartbeat in his ears right now. He bites down hard on his lip when he feels Mike’s teeth trail along the sensitive skin.
Mike gets this spot on Will’s neck that just sends a pulse of electricity up his spine. It lights his nerves on fire. His mouth falls open, a breathy “Mike,” on his lips.
Mike looks up at him and he’s absolutely wrecked, and shocked, almost. “Jesus,” he says, kissing him hard on the mouth. “When the hell did your voice get so fucking deep.”
“Mm,” Will hums against his lips. “Puberty will do that to you.”
With a chuckle, Mike shakes his head. “Shut up,” he says and deepens their kiss. Will wraps one of his legs around Mike’s, trying to pull him closer despite there not being much room to do so. They’re so pressed together that Will can feel Mike’s rapid heartbeat.
Then Mike, ever so delicately, slides his tongue into his mouth.
Will is so done for.
It’s absolutely insane, now that he thinks about it. Here he is, back pressed against his bedroom door at two in the morning, making out with Mike Wheeler. Mike Wheeler, his best friend since goddamn kindergarten. Mike Wheeler, the boy he’s been in love with since forever. Mike Wheeler, the boy he thought he’d never get to have.
Yet here they are.
Making out.
It should be weird, right? Only hours ago did Mike’s girlfriend, and Will’s sister, pretty much dump him. But somehow, it’s not. It feels right. Something lost returning home.
And Will can't seem to get enough of it.
Mike's hands slip underneath Will's shirt. Not to take it off, just to touch the bare skin there.
Will shivers underneath his roaming hands and he must have said something because Mike looks at him and says "You're killing me with that."
"With what?" Will asks. Faux innocence.
"Your goddamn voice. How you sound when you’re-" Mike searches for a better word for what they're doing but just lands on "-like this."
Will wraps his arms around Mike's neck. "So you're saying that my voice... turns you on?"
Mike breathes a laugh. "Okay, you're making it sound weird."
"I am not."
"Yes, you are!"
"Nope."
"You are-"
Will cuts him off with a kiss. "Keep being loud and you're going to get us caught," he whispers, voice low and deep. Did he do that on purpose? Maybe.
Mike just stares at him for a second before leaning back in. "You're driving me crazy," Mike tells him in between kisses.
"I could say the same about you."
And Mike grins against his mouth.
They go on for awhile longer, absolutely lost in each other. If there wasn't anything else going on, if everything was just normal, Will thinks he could stay like this forever. The feeling of being with Mike, the pure ecstasy of his kisses, his touches, his words, him. He's hooked on this drug and he doesn't plan on quitting.
They eventually break away and Mike rests their foreheads together. They’re both severely out of breath, lips pink and swollen. Mike's hair is a mess.
“Hi,” Will manages.
“Hi.”
Will blinks. “So, that… that was-”
“That was-”
“Good.”
Mike smiles. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Mike places his hands on Will's waist. "Sorry if that was, uh, too forward."
Will shakes his head, "No, not at all."
"Really?"
Cracking a smile, Will says "Okay, maybe a little."
"I just..." Mike starts. "I was pretty sure I figured it out. It just kinda, like, hit me after our conversation. I couldn't go on another second without doing something."
"Well, I'm glad you did," Will tells him.
“Yeah. Yeah, me too.” Mike says with a soft smile. His eyes shine with a brand new light. He brings a hand up to the side of Will’s face, fingers running lightly along his jawline. “So, does this mean I can stay in your room tonight? I mean, if thats okay.”
Will rolls his eyes, but he can’t help but smile. “I suppose. Do you know how to get to the bathroom from here?”
Mike responds with a kiss to the top of his nose. “Shut up.”