Chapter Text
It was foggy, he could feel the trees towering over him, making him feel as if one star in the vast galaxy, he couldn’t remember where he was going, but he knew he was looking for something, someone.
He felt the weight of his sword in his hand, the mist in his curls, he frantically walked through the seemingly endless forest, but then he saw a light, a light bright enough to see through the lines of trees.
He followed it, running as fast as he could, his legs felt numb, almost floating, the dewy fog moving out of his way.
Then he reached it.
The light, the love, the warmth–
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
Mike suddenly blinked groggily, and yawned as he rubbed his eyes, “Fuck.” he got up from his very cozy sleeping bag, and stretched, Will was sketching in his sketch book on his bed, and Mike peeked over “What are you drawing?”
“Just some anatomy sketches, my art teacher told me I need to practice.” He took a breath “It’s just pretty hard.”
Mike sat next to him, damn his bed is comfy “You got this, you’re like– the best artist ever .” he smiled.
Will held in a laugh “I am definitely not the best artist ever, but thank you.”
Mike then looked over at all the sketches, they looked really nice, in his uneducated opinion, he then looked up at Will, he still had a bit of bed head, but still managed to look good.
Mike was always a bit confused how Will always somehow looked flawless, even throughout childhood.
Mike just watched as Will sketched, a flick of a wrist, and his lines were confident and nicely placed, Mike was always amazed while watching him, ever since they were kids.
Mike has tried doing art, his mom found it and thought Holly made it, and after that, he officially quit and just stuck to asking Will to draw stuff for him.
“So, what are you doing today?” Will asked, bringing his eyes up from the page, hazel eyes looking to Mike’s dark brown.
“Not really sure, Following you, I guess.” He lazily shrugged, running a hand through his rat nest called hair.
Will gave him an incredulous look “You need to brush that mess.”
“Brush it for me, if you care that much.”
“Alright.”
Okay, Mike didn’t expect that.
And just like that, he was sat in the middle of Will’s bed as Will had a old hairbrush, and began slowly brushing from the bottom to the top.
“Ow! Hey–” Mike felt a sting on his scalp.
“Jesus, you have a tender scalp, suck it up for a minute.”
Ten minutes, and multiple scalp injuries later, it was done, his hair was fully brushed, frizzy, but brushed.
“There, all brushed.” Will sighed, laying back, looking to Mike.
Mike looked back, leaning and putting a hand to his own chin, “So, whaddya doing?”
“Probably going to go down to the local convenience store soon, grab a slushie, come back here, maybe watch a movie.”
“Can I join?” Mike asked, not a single thought in that brain.
“Sure, I don’t always like being alone.” He chuckled, with his smile, his signature smile that always made Mike smile back, like a fire to a match.
After about 15 minutes, they finally got ready to go to the convenience store, Mike put on his old black converse while Will tied his vans on the steps.
“So… anyone you like right now?” Mike asked suddenly, fuck, too awkward to ask? He thought to himself, mentally hitting himself in the head.
“No, not really.” Will answered, casually, a little too casually.
“C’mon, you can tell me, is it a boy from your class? Upperclassmen even?” Mike wriggled his eyebrows, as Will made a disgusted face.
He rolled his eyes “No, ugh no, shut up.” before running a hand through his hair, somehow perfectly feathering it and looking out “Okay, now let’s get going, I’m craving Cherry flavor Slurpees.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll stop trying to learn about your prince charming… mostly because I want a Blue Raspberry Slurpee right now.”
So then they started walking down the street, a lot of people mowing up their yards, some watering their gardens, most people were gone though, for a small vacation.
“So, since it’s been a year and all… any news back in Hawkins?” Will asked looking at Mike as they walked across the street.
Mike shrugged his shoulders “Not really, Lucas and Dustin still argue everyday about random stuff, Max is still angsty, well… Holly’s getting a bit older, now she isn’t just moms little dress up doll, and Nancy’s got a new boyfriend and shit.”
“Yeah… wow, Holly’s what, 6? I remember that age.” He said before recalling fondly “Remember when we were 6 and we got lost in a forest for a few hours? Our parents were flipping out at the park, while we were catching bugs.”
“Yeah, I remember getting grounded from going to the park for a few months.”
There was a peaceful silence for a few minutes while they kept walking.
And then they reached it, 7 Eleven.
They walked in, and the nice cold breeze of the fan is nice, snacks were everywhere, and a 20 something probably stoned out cashier was chilling.
“There it is.” Will said, moving his head towards the glorious Slushie machine.
Multiple artificially dyed icee drinks there, ranging from different overly saturated colors.
Mike grabbed one of the clear slushie cups, and filled it up with the Blue Rasberry slush, the satisfying ‘Shhhlshhshshs’ sound of the machine.
He glanced over to Will, getting a cherry slurpee, the machine hummed as they got done, putting on the caps, and then filling it up at the top. (If you don’t do this, I am judging you.)
They quickly paid, and got back out, the bright sun hitting them like a wave.
Will took a sip of his slush and sighed “Okay, yeah, this hits the spot.”
Mike took a gulp of his, tasting the cold, overly sweet flavored ice “So, your friend group… quite strong personalities.”
“Thats a way to put it.” He responded amused, lips already stained red, as he looked over the side walk, it was a beautiful day.
Mike didn’t know why, but the way that Will laughed, the way the sun hit his face, the mole above his lip, this would be a great photo.
“Can I take a picture of you?” He blurted out “Sorry, just… you look nice, right now, it’d be a shame not to get a photo.”
Will looked to him, blank expression for a moment, before having a shy smile “I mean, yeah, sure.” and then grabbed something from his bag, a small portable camera “I keep this on me, incase I ever meet a celebrity, and don’t want a blurry phone photo.”
Mike fumbled with it for a moment, before looking to Will “Uh, lean your face forward, maybe take a sip of the Slushie–”
Click
Mike looked into the little screen, pretty proud of the photo, and tossed it back to Will.
Will looked into the small screen, and smiled up at Mike “Thanks, it looks good, I’ll have to set it as my profile picture on facebook.”
They kept rambling as they walked back, it was a short walk back, but they still managed to fit 3 different conversations in the time.
As soon as they got back, they collapsed onto the couch, sipping on their Slurpee’s, chilling out.
“So uh… how is it? Being, gay and all.” Mike asked, and then realized how horrid that sounded “Not– asking in a rude way, I just wanna know.”
Will took a moment, thinking before responding “Uhm… it’s, alright, I sometimes get a bit bullied, but it isn’t bad, kinda hard to find other gay guys who aren’t already taken, like Jake and Chad, but it’s nice just finding community.”
“Yeah.. I just…I’ve been thinking.”
“About what?” Will noticed the tone Mike had.
“I don’t know… that sometimes I feel like I like girls… but sometimes I feel like I like guys.” Mike admitted, staring down at his hands, fuck I actually admitted it, I said it , he felt as though everything around him was moving.
“Hey, it’s okay… just because you like the other gender, doesn’t mean anything.” Will put a hand on his back, and suddenly, the world froze, it wasn’t moving, it was still.
He looked back to Will, and couldn’t help but squint as his eyes watered “Yeah… yeah, thanks.” he rubbed his eyes.
“You uh… you just smudged your eyeliner all over.”
“Damnit!”
After a few minutes of Mike scrambling around the Byer’s bathroom, trying to rub it off and fix it, he finally didn’t look like a dramatic movie lead.
Will was still on the couch, sipping on the now, only liquid syrup slushie, and looked over as Mike came back “Wanna watch a movie?”
“Hell yeah.”
Will put in a shitty romance movie his mother had in a giant pile in the corner, it started out with a woman on the bus, tears falling down her cheeks while she ranted to a random man who was minding his business.
“This is pure shit.” Mike said while he took a gulp of the almost sour tasting Slurpee, which just like Will’s was basically just liquid.
Half a hour later…
“Angelica! Don’t let this man ruin you!” Mike yelled at the screen, as she slapped Kyle in the face, after his affair was caught by her “I fucking hate Kyle.” he huffed, shaking his head.
Will nodded his head “I agree, fucking prick, how can you cheat on Angelica, with her best friend?”
A hour and ten minutes later…
Angelica was walking the alter, beautiful laced white dress, in a nice venue, as Kyle’s brother, Zack was there, staring at her, as he was at the Alter.
“Zack is such a upgrade from Kyle, I’m so glad she met him at her new job where he was her boss… goals.” Mike was wiping his tears with a tissue, laying back into the couch.
Will nodded along, his cheek relaxing on his hand as he was laid back, eyes a bit red from earlier crying.
The credits ran, and Mike couldn’t help but cry a little more.
“I’m gonna be honest… Angelica, is a wonderful woman.” Mike sniffled as he reminisced her, as if she were real, letting out a heavy breath.
Foot steps then came from the hallway, and Jane emerged, looking over at them “What happened? Why are you guys crying?” she asked, coming over worriedly.
And in a instant, Mike wiped his face, and chilled back, trying to look as cool as possible “Crying? What do you mean?”
“Uh… okay, you uh… got eyeliner smudged.”
“Again?!”