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“Mike, I’m gonna kick you out”.
Lucas saw the glare Mike sent him, but he just met it with a steady gaze. Yeah, he felt horrible about Will moving away too, as well as El, but he also didn’t want it to consume him. It was a weekend, and high school was already kicking Lucas’ ass, so if Mike was gonna be pissy on the edge of his bed, then he could do that at home.
Lucas rolled his eyes.
“It’s not like it’s the 1940s, Mike, we can still contact them. And you have cerebro to contact El through, right?”
He watched Mike purse his lips, not particularly happy even with the reminder. Lucas raised an eyebrow, daring him to just spit it out , and Mike sighed.
“The telephone line is always busy, though”, he eventually mumbled.
Lucas blinked. He didn’t know that. Since Will moved one and a half months ago, he had only spoken to him a handful of times, and Will had called at all instances because they decided on that.
“Okay?” He said, raising an eyebrow.
Mike wouldn’t look at him, but he was clearly upset.
“El said Mrs. Byers got a job right away, through the government, I guess. She’s a phone telemarketer, and it seems she’s never off that phone”.
Lucas nodded slowly.
“Okay, but… why doesn’t just Will call you, then?”
Mike frowned, looking down at his lap.
“I don’t know”, he mumbled. “He hasn’t yet”.
At that, Lucas felt his mouth fall open.
“Will hasn’t called you ?”
Finally, Mike turned to him, eyes wide.
“He’s called you?”
Lucas grimaced, leaning back on the pillow.
“Yeah…” He said, and swallowed. “Dustin, too”.
Something flickered over Mike’s face, too quick for him to grasp. And then Mike turned away again.
“I knew he was mad…” He mumbled, almost to himself.
Okay, so this was for sure related to whatever went down to make Will bike home in the middle of the rain, and possibly trash Castle Byers. Lucas would not let Mike off this time.
He opened his mouth.
“Spill”.
Mike looked ready to protest, but Lucas silenced him with a look. Will hadn’t been willing to talk about it when he apologised, but then again they had had more demanding things to worry about. But Mike had made Will cry outside of the garage, Lucas knew this. When they came across Will by the ruins of the castle, he had been a wreck, not just from fear. And the wetness on his cheeks didn’t look to be just from the rain.
And Mike hurting Will enough for that just didn’t make sense in his head.
Mike met his eyes for a split second, and then the air seemed to seep out of him.
Lucas felt on his toes, as he watched his friend bite his lip.
“Lucas, I…” Mike let out a breath, and grimaced. “I crossed a line”.
Lucas nodded.
“What did you say?”
Mike kept biting his lower lip, looking so very uncomfortable — no, guilty.
“I just… said something bad, okay?”
Lucas felt his mouth form a thin line, and he just stared at Mike. Okay, so this could be worse than he thought, if whatever Mike said caused Will to distance himself like this.
He squinted.
“What did you say, Mike”.
Mike let out a quick breath, and then.
“I— well, he said something about El, so, I kinda snapped! Like he was insinuating I was ruining the party, and like. Because Dustin was gone too, and I didn’t feel like playing games, and—“
Lucas cut him off.
“What. Did. You. Say”.
Mike visibly deflated.
“I told him it… wasn’t my fault he didn’t like girls”.
Lucas blinked, words not registering at first. And then his eyes widened. Those words were possibly worse than anything he could’ve imagined.
His mouth fell open.
“What the fuck, Mike?”
Mike flinched at his tone, but Lucas didn’t feel bad at all, because…
“How could you say that?!”
Something flickered over Mike’s face, something between shame and defensiveness.
“Well, he called El some stupid girl !” Mike let out in a shrill voice.
Lucas couldn’t do more than shake his head, staring at Mike as if he had grown a third head. Because, really, he had never in a million years expected Mike to say something like that, even if Will said something out of pocket.
“Mike, you know what Will has been called since we were kids! How could you say that to him? Yeah, maybe he wasn’t being rational, but in hindsight it’s obvious he was feeling left out . C’mon, man, what?”
Mike lost the defensive look, and he seemed to shrink into himself. Now, his face just turned shameful.
Mike turned to his hands in his lap, looking so pitiful Lucas almost felt bad. Almost.
“I… don’t know, Lucas. I feel terrible about it. I don’t even know why I said it”. He watched Mike grimace. “And then with everything happening so quickly, suddenly he was moving, and I… actually didn’t apologise to him”.
Mike was picking on his nails, looking like he wanted to be anywhere but where he was right now, sharing what had happened.
“I thought we were cool when they left, but then… I couldn’t get hold of him, and he never calls me ”. Mike sighed. “First I didn’t connect the two, because I didn’t mean anything by it, because, like, y’kno, I like girls, and he didn’t have a girlfriend, so I just… he stressed me out”.
Lucas nodded slowly, although he wasn’t sure he really understood Mike’s train of thought.
“I think”, Lucas said, catching Mike’s attention, “he’s… hurt. I don’t think Will has it in him to be mad, especially not at you”.
Mike’s brows furrowed, but he looked more alert than prior.
“What do you mean, ‘especially me’?” He asked, voice low.
Lucas shrugged, feeling a bit awkward all of a sudden.
“I don’t know, Mike, the two of you… you’ve always been different towards each other, I guess”.
Mike blinked, and then he looked away. He suddenly looked a bit flustered. As if this could really be surprising to him.
Mike pursed his lips, still not meeting Lucas’ eyes.
“That doesn’t mean anything, though”, he mumbled in a weak voice.
Lucas raised an eyebrow.
“Why would it mean anything? Not all friendships have to be the same”.
Quickly, Mike glanced at him, and then averted it just as quickly.
“… Right”, he said. Lucas felt they were having two different conversations.
He let out a breath.
“Well, do you want me to tell him to call you? Next time we speak?”
Mike paused, and then shook his head. He met Lucas’ eyes, as he spoke.
“I’ll figure it out, Lucas, don’t worry”.
Lucas nodded, satisfied with what he got.
And then he grinned.
“Well, I’m not above kicking your ass for being a douche to him. You might be my best friend, but Will is both my best friend and like a little brother to me. He always comes first”.
Mike’s mouth fell open at that, and Lucas laughed. Mike looked totally offended.
As Mike groaned, Lucas couldn’t help to think about it, though. Mike was being weirder about this than Will was, because even though Will seemed to feel a bit on edge currently, for valid reasons, Mike’s choice of words describing everything was weird. He wasn’t sure weird how , but it caused an itch in the back of his brain.
But as long as they figured it out, he supposed. Mike and Will as anything but close friends was just wrong.
A bit over a year later, in the midst of fighting for everything he knows and loves, the itch is finally scratched.
He looks up from Max’s pale face on the bed — he misses her so much, but he won’t give up on her, even if Mrs. Mayfield already has — and is subjected to the look on Mike’s face. Mike is sitting on the opposite side of Max’s bed, but he’s not looking at her.
Discreetly, Lucas follows his gaze, and finds it on El, where she’s sitting with Will by the wall. The two are dozing off, El with her head on Will’s shoulder, and Will has his own on top of her head. The sight warms him, because he hadn’t actually thought the two would find each other. Like that, they really look like brother and sister by blood. It’s amazing to see the person Will has become, a protector, as well as seeing El accepting that protectiveness, allowing herself to be vulnerable.
Lucas turns to Mike again, and he looks almost mesmerised by the sight in front of him, eyes bright and soft. Lucas knows El broke up with him, something surprising for everyone involved, but it seems Mike still cares for her.
That’s a look Lucas has seen on Mike’s face ever since they were kids, after all.
And then he pauses. That’s not how Mike has looked at El, that’s how… Lucas feels the itch, the tick, in the back of his skull, as he tries to follow Mike’s gaze, which is hard considering their positions. But…
… Mike isn’t looking at El, he’s looking at Will. Lucas has to press his mouth together, to not let his surprise escape him. And suddenly it’s as if something snaps back into place, and everything clears.
Things he saw but didn’t reflect over as a kid, the things Mike said to him last summer, how Mike has acted since Will and El came back…
The itch is scratched.
Lucas stares at Mike, with wide eyes, as he recognises the love on his face. For their friend. And Mike looks so unabashed, that Lucas isn’t even sure he knows.
Lucas swallows, and turns his gaze away from Mike, back to Max. She looks so small in the bed, and he slowly reaches forward to grab hold of her hand. He tightens his grip on it, and hopes she can feel it.
Max would know what to do about this. Lucas is feeling out of his depth. He had never once thought any of his friends could be queer, but as he’s forced to acknowledge the possibility, he finds he doesn’t care in the least. How could he care? Mike and Will, solid as they come. It just makes sense.
Lucas hopes Mike can figure it out soon. He really does. And whenever Mike is ready, he’ll be there, in whichever way he can.
For now, Lucas is content with sitting in the room with his friends, and absorbing the love he knows they all feel for each other.
It gives him hope.