Chapter Text
As Will wakes up the next morning, he lies still on his mattress. With his eyes open, he can’t help but slowly blink at the ceiling.
Every single morning, Will deals with the images of Mike from the night before. He closes his eyes and continues to reminisce about the view of Mike in the dim light. He knows he can have this view every night, for as long as he stays with the Wheelers, but he can’t help but feel an overwhelming ache take over him.
Will snaps out of his thoughts when he hears Mrs. Wheeler’s voice yelling from the kitchen, telling Mike to get everyone to the breakfast table. He opens his eyes again and props himself up on his forearms.
He takes a second to recollect himself as he slowly sits himself up in bed. He smooths down his shirt that had ridden up in his sleep and ruffles his hair to make it less obvious that he just woke up. As Will gets up, there’s a knock on the basement door.
“You can come in!” Will shouts out, even though the door is not that far away; he still feels the need to shout.
The door creaks open, and Mike peeks his head in, already changed and hair neatly done. Mike was always a person who got up earlier than Will. Every sleepover they had as kids, Mike was up hours before he was. In the early hours of the morning were the only times Mike had ever waited for Will, not the other way around.
Will smiles at Mike as he ruffles his hair again in an attempt to make sure he looks just as presentable as him.
“My mom wants you to come up for breakfast now, and Holly keeps asking me to ask you to help her with her drawing,” Mike says, smiling at Will, still with only his head through the basement door.
“I keep telling her it looks great, but she won’t take that for an answer. She’s kind of stubborn,” Mike continues, rubbing the back of his head in defeat.
“I don’t think she’s being stubborn, Mike. When artists think something is off, they won’t stop until they find out what it is,” Will replies as he slowly walks to Mike.
Mike gives him a look of understanding as he meets Will at the top of the stairs leading to the basement. Will takes this moment to smile as he’s standing face-to-face with Mike.
A moment of silence beats between both of them, the moment being long enough for Will to wonder what Mike might be seeing when he looks at him.
“Uhm. Let’s go?” Mike blurts out while looking away from Will’s gaze, abruptly breaking the silence. Will blinks and nods, feeling slightly awkward, taking the first step out of the basement.
As Mike and Will walk to the breakfast table together, everyone else is already seated. There are two empty chairs, showing that Nancy and Jonathan are out already.
“Where the hell is Nancy?” Mr. Wheeler huffs and looks at the two empty chairs.
“Probably out again. Don’t worry about it.” Mike retorts as he gets to the breakfast table, pulling out his chair and taking a seat.
Ever since Nancy and Jonathan started getting breakfast together in the mornings instead of having mornings with everyone else, Mr. Wheeler had grown more suspicious about their relationship. Mike could easily distract Mr. Wheeler from thinking any further about it, but Will was ultimately scared of him finding out.
“Will, c’mon, sit down,” Mike says softly, looking up at Will, who is still standing and staring at the empty seats.
“Right. Sorry.” Will replies, feeling a bit embarrassed as he takes the seat right next to Mike.
Will looks over at Holly, who is drawing to her heart’s content in her little sketchbook. He peeks over and grabs a yellow crayon lying next to Holly’s arm.
“Why does it look weird here?” Holly asks Will, pointing to a specific coloring space in her drawing. Will takes a moment to deliberately think before he gives Holly an answer. He spins the crayon in between his fingers as he compares the drawing’s “weird spot” to the rest of it.
“I think it just looks a little flat compared to the rest of the picture. Maybe add some more color there to add some detail, like this:” Will demonstrates to Holly what he means, giving the area a few yellow strokes. Will can see Holly’s face light up over the few motions in his peripheral vision, the small details bringing the drawing more cohesiveness.
“Here, you try now.” Will looks over at the beaming Holly and hands her the crayon. She takes it happily and starts copying what Will had demonstrated to her.
Mike nudges Will slightly with his elbow, causing Will to divert his attention from Holly to him. He sees Mike holding two plates, one of eggs and the other of bacon.
“I know sometimes you only want one instead of both, so which one will it be today?” Mike asks, looking back and forth at the plates. Will laughs gently as he sees this reaction come from Mike.
“I think I’ll just take the eggs today, thank you.” Will grabs the eggs from Mike’s hand, slightly brushing his fingers in the process.
As Will moves his attention back to his own plate, he catches a glimpse of Mr. Wheeler’s gaze piercing into him and Mike. Even with the daily newspaper in front of him, he fixates his attention on Will. Will bites the inside of his cheek, the feeling of Mike’s fingers lingering, burning where they should have been warm.
Will knew that Mr. Wheeler was never attentive, but it really worried him that he was incredibly attentive to him and the way he interacted with Mike. It was as if he were waiting for something to go wrong, as if Will might somehow contaminate Mike.
The look makes something old twist in Will’s chest. It reminds him of the way people looked at him after he had come back, when everyone thought there was something wrong with him that led to his disappearance, as if he deserved it for hanging out with “those queers.”
Mr. Wheeler’s gaze was the same look people used to give him. It was the kind of look that lingered too long, searching for a flaw, as if something about him had made him a perfect vessel for Vecna.
While swiping some eggs onto his own plate, Will continues to think. As he sets the plate of eggs on the space of the table in front of him, he looks around the table for anything else he’d like to eat, but with Mr. Wheeler’s glare, he can’t find anything appetizing.
As Will looks around the table and back to his plate, he can’t help but see Mike’s head dart from him to Mr. Wheeler. Will can tell that Mike has realized that his dad is staring and that Will is increasingly becoming more worried about it. In his realization, Mike goes to grab the plate of pancakes and serves Will one.
Will looks at Mike and sees the softness in Mike’s eyes. He’s giving Will this look that says, “ignore him, he’s being weird again.” Will shrugs back, breaking eye contact with Mike out of guilt. He’s just wary of everything Mr. Wheeler’s stare may or may not mean. To ignore the guilt, Will changes his gaze to Holly, who is still drawing away.
“You should eat, you know,” he says to Holly as he looks over her shoulder.
“You should too,” she says, looking up at Will and down at his plate.
“Well, if I eat, you eat?” Will asks while smiling at Holly’s cleverness. Holly nods while smiling back and pushes her sketchbook aside, Mrs. Wheeler taking it off the table simultaneously.
Will looks back at his plate and starts to eat, trying to ignore Mr. Wheeler’s eyes. As he puts the fork of eggs into his mouth, he can see Mike physically relax in his peripheral vision.
As breakfast finishes up, Will is the first one to clean up his plate. He meets Mrs. Wheeler at the sink and places his plate on the counter next to her.
“Thank you, honey. Would you mind helping me clean up? Unless you’re busy, of course,” Mrs. Wheeler asks and looks at Will as she gets her dishwashing gloves on.
“No, no, I’m not busy, I can help you. I’d love to,” Will quickly replies, smiling at her. She smiles back and starts to wash the pans in the sink.
Will takes this as his opportunity to go back to the breakfast table and clean everything up. As he walks to the table, he meets Mike already cleaning up the cups. Will starts to pick up the plates and utensils, following Mike’s lead.
Despite Mr. Wheeler having the TV cranked up at full volume, it feels like the boys clean up in silence. In the very few moments where Mike and Will don’t find themselves conversing, Will takes the opportunity to steal little glances at Mike. He always does so when given the chance, but it’s much easier to do so when they’re not talking since he doesn’t need to focus on Mike’s words while simultaneously studying his features. Will moves slower than necessary, stretching the quiet.
As Mike picks up the last cup, he looks up at Will, meeting his eyes. Will blinks frantically and looks away, shy that he got caught staring.
“I’m thinking of visiting El today,” Mike casually says as he walks towards the sink, glasses clinking in his arms. Will feels himself grip the plates harder as his chest tightens at Mike’s words. He looks at Mike, who’s facing away from him.
Will knows what it means when Mike goes out to visit El; he knows that it means he won’t be able to talk to Mike tonight. He looks at the dirty plates in his hands and tries to think of something.
“Do you think I could come along?” Will blurts out as he turns towards Mike, still gripping the plates like his life depends on it. He doesn’t know what tagging along with Mike will do, but maybe he would be satisfied if they spent the day together and skipped the nightly tradition instead.
Mike places the cups on the counter and looks towards Will’s direction. “I’d like you to, but you know how Hop is about El and his ‘one visitor policy,’ which is complete bogus by the way!” Mike replies as he starts to walk towards Will. Mike makes a grand gesture when he says the word “bogus,” making Will laugh.
“Well, I don’t technically have to be visiting El. I could visit my mom instead,” Will chuckles, giving Mike a cheeky look. By this point, Mike is standing in front of Will with his hands already reaching out to grab the plates from Will’s hands.
“Here, let me get this…” Mike mutters as he takes the plates and utensils from Will. Will lets him grab them as he follows Mike to the sink.
“I mean, that idea is not bad. Let’s ask them over the radio after this,” Mike adds while looking back at Will, like he’s already thinking three steps ahead.
Once the boys finish up cleaning, they both find themselves sitting on the foot of the stairs. They sit together like every night, but this time it’s in broad daylight, and Mike’s fumbling with a radio instead of a comic. As Will watches Mike messing with the radio, he glances over at Mr. Wheeler. This time, instead of staring at them, he’s engrossed in the TV. Will sighs in relief and continues to look at Mike, absorbing the view in front of him without being overly cautious like he was earlier.
Mike clicks the push-to-talk button twice, ensuring that the radio can pick up his voice. On the third push, he speaks into it, “El? Hop? Joyce? Over.” The two boys wait for a response. During El’s training sessions, it usually took a while for anyone to receive a response from any three of them. Hopper typically waited until after El’s run to respond to a radio call for her.
As they waited, the quiet prolonged between them, another moment of silence that Will tried to absorb for as long as possible. Mike kept the radio in his hand, hearing it crackle with no response on the other end.
Will knew the wait for a response could last anywhere from one to thirty minutes, depending on where El was in her run and whether she decided to start over or take a break. He continued to study Mike as he impatiently tapped the radio, leaning forward, elbows on his knees.
In the daylight, Will realizes how close Mike had been sitting next to him every night. The distance felt impossibly close. One slight move of his leg and he’d be bumping Mike’s knee. Will could practically feel Mike’s warmth at his side and wondered if Mike could feel it too.
Will shifts his gaze towards the space between him and Mike. He can’t help but want Mike to scoot closer to him, even if it was simply by accident. He looks back at Mike holding the radio, fidgeting with the antenna.
“How long do you think it’s gonna take for them to get back to us?” Mike breaks the silence while still messing with the radio.
“Not sure,” Will keeps his answer short, trying to focus on Mike’s features instead of the words coming out of his own mouth.
The two boys continue to wait for a response. Mike looks away from the radio and glances at the small space between him and Will. He stares at it for a moment, Will not knowing what he’s possibly thinking. Will looks away from Mike, shifting his eyes down to his feet.
“You think it’s possible?” Mike asks. Will looks back at Mike, who is still looking at the space between them.
“What?” Will asks, confused, simply unsure of what Mike meant by his question.
“Sorry. Like, do you think it’s possible for Hop to let you come along?” Mike rephrases his question for Will, shaking his head as he realizes his ambiguity.
“I don’t know, but my mom would want to see me. She would convince Hop to let me come anyway,” Will replies, scoffing at the comment about his mom.
“You’re right, Hop always has a soft spot for El and your mom,” Mike replies, and Will can see him smile slightly. “He really loves your mom,” Mike mumbles, looking up at Will and meeting his eyes.
“I know he does…My mom loves him too,” Will replies, not knowing what to say. In his response, he’s careful not to break eye contact with Mike. It’s very rare that Will finds himself at a loss for words when it comes to Mike, but when he does, it always goes back to the way he feels about him.
Will watches as Mike is the one to break eye contact, looking back at the radio, the silence still filling the space between them. The moment was nice to Will, but the air felt tense now. It was like the conversation about people loving each other was enough to push the two boys’ sense of comfort over the line. Will doesn’t get it, and he’s afraid that no one would be able to get what he doesn’t. Will just wanted this tension to disappear.
“Mike? Over.” Hop’s voice looms over the radio; it was like the call of the radio heard Will’s wants.
Mike shoots up and extends the walkie’s antenna fully, “Yes! Hi! Can Will and I come visit today?” He asks in an excited tone. Will sits up straighter and leans in closer, trying to hear Hop through the radio.
“You already know-”
“Yes, I know. One at a time! But Will wants to visit Mrs. Byers,” Mike cuts off Hopper, hoping that this plan works for both of them.
Will looks at Mike and smiles, seeing how much Mike wants Will to tag along. Sure, Will knew that it was pretty normal to want your best friends to always be with you, but it was the gesture that mattered.
“Will! Honey?” The boys heard Mrs. Byers’ voice come through on the radio.
Will grabs the radio while it’s still in Mike’s hands, responding to his mom immediately, “Hi, Mom. I’d like to come see you today! I’ll be with Mike, so I’ll be safe.”
There is silence on the other side of the radio, and in this moment, Will realized just how much he had closed the small gap between him and Mike. His hands are practically on top of Mike’s, their shoulders are brushing, and Will’s head is right next to his. Will stays still, waiting for Mike to move away or shift. He doesn’t.
“Okay, you boys can both come,” Hopper’s voice comes through the radio again. “Don’t make me regret this, please,” he continues, the boys hearing him sigh at the end.
“We’ll be right there, Hopper!” Mike says into the radio. As Mike responds, Will removes his hands from the walkie and slightly shifts away from Mike, reintroducing the small space that was between them in the first place.
“I’ll get changed,” Will says to Mike as he starts to pack up the walkie.
“Great, I’ll grab our bikes. See you outside in a second,” Mike replies, getting up off the stairs and grabbing his shoes.
After Will gets ready, he rushes out to the front. When he clumsily puts his shoes on and goes through the front door, he sees Mike standing there between their bikes.
“Hey,” Mike says as he looks at Will. “You look nice. I like your shirt…it’s cool,” he adds while fidgeting with the handles of both bikes.
Will makes a face at Mike, nearly laughing at his weirdness. Will knows that Mike has always been like that, his words catching halfway out, meaning arriving late. It’s the things that made Mike, Mike, and it’s the parts of him that Will really liked.
“Thanks, Mike. Your shirt is cool too,” Will says as he goes to grab his bike, slightly teasing Mike in the process.
Mike rolls his eyes playfully as he lets Will take his bike. Will can’t help but smile back, their playful banter always making Will’s heart warm.
“Let’s go?” Will says, still smiling, as he gets on his bike.
“Yeah, of course,” Mike replies, checking his pedals and tires in the process.
As the boys bike to Hop’s cabin, Will occasionally glances at Mike, who is observing the scenery. Will wants to know what he is thinking as he absorbs everything.
“So…What’s your favorite part of taking this route?” Will speaks out, changing his focus from Mike to the path ahead of him.
“Hm?” Mike hums, likely caught off guard by Will’s question. “Oh- Like, this specific route! Yes, uhh..” Mike thinks for a second.
Will always thinks it’s silly when Mike does that, when he doesn’t hear what Will says at first, but he processes it a second later. Will waited patiently for Mike’s answer, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought.
“I’m not really sure, you know? I always take it when I go to visit El. I just like the scenery. It’s nice, really nice,” Mike answers the question while sucking his teeth, making a noise.
Will nods, still looking at the path ahead of him. He liked this, he really did. He didn’t know if it was because they were soaking in each other’s presence or he was surrounded by beautiful scenery with a beautiful boy, but he didn’t try too hard to figure it out.
He glances back at Mike, who is still taking in the world around them. Will wonders if Mike ever does the same small things he does. If he ever steals little glances. If he ever wonders what Will is thinking. If Will means even half as much to him as Mike does to Will.
Will drops his eyes to the handlebars of the bike. Maybe in another town, another state, maybe even another country, Will could name this feeling without fear. He’s been daydreaming about that version of his life for as long as he can remember.
He’d known since they were kids that what he felt for Mike wasn’t the same as what he felt for anyone else. At first, it had been exciting, full of impossible hope. Over time, that hope changed into something heavier. When Mike met El, it finally settled into something that hurt.
Will looks up from the bike handle and presses his lips together in an attempt to ignore the ache in his chest. He wishes, sometimes, he could like girls like the other boys in his life do. But there has never been anyone–girl or boy–who compares to Mike. No one has ever made him feel the way he feels about Mike, and no matter how hard he tries to bury it, the feeling grows.
Maybe Will was meant to be stuck in this cycle forever. Maybe he was meant to be stuck loving Mike from afar.
Maybe he just got unlucky.
As the two boys got to their destination, Joyce was there to greet both of them. The two boys both push their bikes to the ground. As Will goes to hug her, she acts like she hasn’t seen him in years.
“Mom…” Will says, a little choked out from how hard Joyce is squeezing him.
“I’m just so glad you and Mike are safe!” Joyce looks from Will to Mike, beaming with a smile.
“He’s always safe with me, Mrs. Byers. Don’t worry about it,” Mike interjects, while looking at Will, who has already met his gaze.
Will smiles, looking back at his mom and giving her this look that says, “See, I told you.” Joyce laughs and pats both of Will’s arms.
After greeting Mrs. Byers, she leads the boys to where Hop and El are at the moment. She reassures Mike that El is resting right now, and they got here at the perfect time.
The two boys end up spending most of their day here, hanging with El (even if it goes against Hop’s direct requests) and just talking. El caught up with Will on all that she had been doing and how her practice sessions were going. Will listened attentively, trying not to divert his attention to Mike or anything else.
The day was filled with so much laughter and happiness, enough to make Will ignore the stinging in his chest.
By the time the two boys had to go home, the sun was already setting. Hop was quite unhappy with the fact that the two boys were talking to El the whole time, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to leave. El told them not to worry about Hop; she claimed he was “being dramatic.” The reaction made the boys giggle.
As they say goodbye, Will hugs El first, hugging her tighter than usual. Will doesn’t know if he does it out of guilt or love, but he does so anyway. When he lets go, El then goes to hug Mike.
As Will’s gaze follows El, he notices that Mike lazily hugs her. This causes Will to look straight at Mike, who is already making eye contact with him. In this very moment, the stinging that Will had been ignoring all day returns. Will looks away quickly, trying to look at anything else but the scene in front of him.
As the two boys leave, Joyce tells them multiple times to get home safely since it’s dark out. Will continues to reassure his mom that he and Mike will be perfectly fine, and they’ll get home quickly.
Mike and Will shout their final goodbyes as they head on their way. They bike quickly through the same path they crossed earlier, only now that it has gotten darker. Will tries not to worry too much about being near the woods as the sun disappears beyond the horizon.
He grips his bike handles tighter and tries to bike faster, hoping he can get home sooner. Will feels his breath pick up, not knowing if it was tiredness, anxiousness, or both. He can’t handle being near the woods in the dark; he wants to be home now.
“Will!” Mike shouts, snapping Will out of his thoughts. He looks towards Mike, seeing a slightly worried expression on his face from the small amount of daylight left.
“I’d been calling out to you for a bit,” Mike says, making Will realize how deep in his thoughts he’d been.
“I’m sorry…I was just thinking,” Will replies, looking away from Mike. He inhales deeply and continues to look on the path in front of him.
“You have nothing to be sorry about! Don’t apologize. I know you’re worried about the woods and it being night, but you’re going to be okay,” Mike replies, trying to reassure Will in his anxiety.
“You don’t…feel him right? That’s how you know he, like Vecna, is near?” Mike continues, slightly fumbling with his words.
“Yeah, no. I don’t feel him,” Will replies, feeling a bit less anxious.
“Then it’s going to be okay, okay? We’ll get home soon. We can rest and not worry about it. Just let me know if you feel anything,” Mike says. Will can tell that there’s a smile on his face even without looking at him.
We can rest and not worry about it.
The words ring in Will’s head. Just as Will expected, they won’t be talking tonight. The anxiousness lifts from his chest, only to be replaced by the familiar ache
As the boys get home, they both crash their bikes onto the lawn and quickly enter the house. The lights in the Wheelers’ house were already off, showing that everyone had already headed to bed.
As the boys get to the foot of the stairs, Will can only hope that Mike sits down. Mike looks back at Will and, in the darkness, he can barely see him smile.
“I had a great time with you today,” Mike whispers, making Will feel waves of shame and happiness take over him.
“I-I did too, Mike,” Will stutters, scrunching his face out of embarrassment, hoping Mike doesn’t see his reaction in the dark.
He hears Mike laugh to himself, making Will laugh a little too.
“Well, I’m really tired, so I’m gonna head to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow night, okay?” Will tries to readjust his eyes in the dark as Mike replies.
“Yeah, sure…” Will quietly says, trying to hide the hurt in his voice. Regardless of Will knowing this was coming, it still hurt him. No amount of preparation ever prepares him for these moments.
“Goodnight, Will,” Mike says softly as he walks up the stairs.
Will almost asks him to stay. The words sit heavy on his tongue.
Mike is already turning away.
“Goodnight, Mike,” Will replies, gutted, not trying to look for Mike’s face this time.
Even with his chest aching, Will still follows his muscle memory before he heads down to the basement.
As Will lies on his mattress that night, he finds himself awake longer than he should be while staring at the ceiling. Like every single night, Mike’s face is plastered on the forefront of his mind. He can’t bear it.
When Will finally turns onto his side, the pain in his chest presses hard enough that his eyes burn. By the time sleep comes, his face is damp, and the house is painfully silent.