Chapter Text
May 17, 2022.
Mike
Mike woke up to someone jumping on him, the air from his lungs getting pushed out of him, letting out an oomph sound.
“Why are you napping again?” Will said, now lying on top of him. When spring had started to find its place in New York, it was like Will had come back to life after the winter, and in contrast to his permanently pasty ass, Will had started to catch a tan, making him prettier by the day.
“Oh, I don´t know, maybe because you kept me awake until 4 am?” Mike tried to look annoyed, but couldn´t keep it up for long when Will looked at him with his forced puppy dog look.
“I´m sorry, but in my defense, I was also awake until 4 am, and while you have been hibernating in here all day, I have gone to class, gone to the store, and even worked out,” Will said, as he flashed Mike a smile, letting Mike know he was just poking fun at him.
When Will and Lucas eventually became closer, Lucas started dragging Will to work out with him, which Will had resisted at first, but in the last month, he had clearly begun to enjoy it, not that Mike complained about his boyfriend getting more toned by the second.
“So that´s why you´re all sweaty?” Mike put his hand up to his nose, scrunching it.
Will just rolled his eyes, still smiling, getting up.
“Yeah, I´m hitting the shower,” Will leaned down, giving Mike a quick kiss on his forehead. “By the way, I promised to head over to Dustin´s before the party tonight, but I´ll meet you there!” He said, winking at Mike.
“Yeah, that´s cool, Max already demanded I come over beforehand anyway.”
It was the end of the year, which meant the end-of-the-year party. Not that it was any different from any other party they had gone to, but college students never turned down a reason to drink.
----
“Mikey!” Max shrieked when he opened the door, “You ready?”
“Yeah, did Lucas say anything about when they´re getting there?”
Max and Lucas had become official shortly after Mike and Will, even though Max had broken up with him at least five times since, but everyone always knew they never really broke up.
“I think they´re already there,” she said, sitting down on his bed. “Have you told him yet?”
Mike had admitted to Max, on one of their weekly wine nights a couple of days ago, that he had fallen in love with Will, like, for real. But he hadn´t gotten the courage to tell Will, of course, it wasn´t like he was scared, okay, maybe he was a little scared.
“No,” this earned him a stern look from Max, “I just don´t want to make things weird, what if he… isn´t there yet.”
“Mikey,” she stood up, placing both of her hands on his shoulders, forcing him to look her in the eyes. “That boy is in love, I just know it.”
Mike blushed, and although he appreciated her certainty, it didn´t ease his underlying lack of.
“Maybe,” he said, hoping it would be enough for her to drop the subject, “should we go?”
She let out a breath, “Sure, let´s go!”
Will
“Dustin, stop fucking bumping into me!” Lucas suddenly snapped, pushing Dustin, making an already drunk Dustin laugh menacingly.
They were on their way to the party, and even though Will had seen Mike not that long ago, he was already missing him. Will had always known he was going to fall in love with Mike, thinking back, maybe he had even fallen in love with him the first time he saw him. And even though Will had gotten a lot better at telling Mike how he was feeling, he had kept this to himself.
“Dustin, I fucking hate you!” Lucas shot out again. Evidently, Dustin had made it a point to bump even more into Lucas.
Suddenly, Will felt a small tug on his arm. Jane, who had been walking just a few steps behind him, probably texting Max, had now put her phone in her pocket and caught up to him.
“How do you feel about your boyfriend in this exact moment?” Will teased her, pointing to the small cat fight that had ensued after Lucas finally had enough of Dustin´s relentless teasing.
“He is an idiot, but I knew that when I met him, I still love him though,” Jane smiled. She said the last part like it was the most casual thing in the world, but ever since Will had started thinking more about Mike, his heart had made it a point to do a little jump every time someone mentioned the L-word around him.
Luckily, they finally arrived at the party, and even though it was only 8 pm, people were clearly already drunk. Will winced as they walked past some guy throwing up in a bush on their way in.
They eventually made their way to the kitchen after fighting their way through the drunk crowd.
“Here,” Lucas said, handing Will a cup. Will gave him a little nod in thanks.
The drink Lucas had made him had clearly been a little stronger than Will had thought, because after only having two… or four, he was already starting to feel pretty drunk. Jane and Dustin had disappeared somewhere unknown pretty much the second they arrived, and now Lucas had been dragged into a game of beer pong, leaving Will alone in the kitchen.
But Mike and Max should be here soon, he thought as he pulled out his phone to text them.
“Hey,” someone said before he could get the chance to text him. Will looked up. What the fuck?
“Alex.” He responded, his tone cold.
Alex had left both him and Mike alone after the incident in February, but here he was, the alcohol probably giving him the courage to interrupt Will´s previously nice night.
“Yeah, so…” Alex started, before he stopped himself, his eyes darting to somewhere behind Will.
Will didn´t need to look behind him to know who it was, because he felt a pair of arms wrapping around him from behind, and he could recognize that familiar scent anywhere.
“Alex, do you need my boyfriend’s help with something?” Mike said from behind him, in an obviously fake nice voice. Will just grinned. He loved Mike like this; he loved Mike.
Alex just huffed, walking away.
Mike
Mike watched as Alex scurried away, letting out a little pleased laugh before kissing Will´s cheek, making him turn around.
“There you are!” Will, clearly drunk, said, “You want a drink?”
Will swiftly turned around to whip up some concoction for Mike, who quickly realized after taking a sip that Will could never be a bartender, because it tasted like shit. He still drank it, of course, because Will had made it for him, and Mike didn´t mind getting drunk as fast as possible. Mike liked parties for about five minutes; after that, he either needed to get really drunk or go home. He opted for the first option, seeing as Max would whoop his ass if she found out he left early.
----
Mike had only been there for about thirty minutes at this point, but was already drunk; he was, after all, a lightweight, not that he would ever admit that out loud.
Luckily, Will was also really drunk at this point, Mike could tell because he was holding Mike´s wrists, waving them around while singing, no… yelling the lyrics to some Kendrick Lamar song in Mike´s face. Mike pretended to be annoyed, but couldn´t help but feel overcome with love looking at him. His cheeks were rosy from the alcohol, and his hair was slightly messy.
“My babieeees!!” Max gleefully announced as she came up to them, bringing them both into a drunken hug. She was always nicer when she was drunk, something she obviously denied while sober. “I just love you two together,” she continued, giving Mike a not-so-subtle look. “Don´t you just love you two together?” She was looking at Will now.
“Of course,” Will responded, giving Mike a kiss on the cheek, clueless about Max´s ulterior motives.
“See, Mikey!” She shrieked, “No need to be worried!”
Mike´s throat suddenly got dry, his heart picking up its pace.
“Worried about what?” Will asked her, looking from Max to Mike, still oblivious.
“Nothing, don´t worry about it, babe,” Mike shot in before Max got the chance to incriminate him further.
“Nooo, tell me!” Will continued in a surprisingly cute whiny voice, grabbing Mike´s arm while jumping up and down.
“Yes, tell him Mikey,” Max said, grabbing Mike´s other arm, imitating Will.
“I need another drink.” Mike let out, ripping his arms loose from them both, heading to the kitchen.
----
It didn´t take long for Will to find him again, luckily for Mike it seemed like he had already forgotten their conversation with Max earlier.
“I´m tired,” Will announced, leaning his head on Mike´s chest, “can we go home?”
“Yeah, let´s go,” Mike wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, giving him a quick squeeze before letting him go to grab his hand, leading them both toward the front door.
When they got outside, away from the music and all the people, Mike realized how drunk he actually was, struggling to walk straight.
Will
Will plopped down on the floor the second they got home, not bothering to get to his bed before he took off his shoes. He had hoped the walk home would help him sober up a little, but it hadn´t, and he was still just as drunk as he had been when they left.
It was a good night, except for the Alex part, of course, but there was another thing that had played over and over again in his head on their walk home, the conversation with Max. Mike was worried about something she had said, and at first Will had just assumed it was about something stupid, but then Mike had refused to tell him what it was, making the moment stick in Will’s brain.
“Will, help meee,” Mike whined from his bed. He had tried to get his shoes off but had eventually given up and was now looking to Will for help.
After Will had gotten Mike´s shoes off, he grabbed Mike, pulling him down on the bed. Lying face to face, Will felt his heart skip a beat.
“Mike?” Will asked, hesitantly.
“Mhm,” Mike looked at him, with his dark eyes that somehow got prettier and more hypnotizing every time Will looked into them.
“Why are you worried?”
This made Mike sit up, Will following him immediately after. Mike´s reaction made Will sober up more than any amount of fresh air ever could.
“What…?” Mike whispered, shocked.
“Max said you were worried. What are you worried about?” Will let himself continue, even though he felt himself start to get nervous.
“Oh… it´s nothing,” Mike said, looking away.
“Please tell me,” Will practically begged, grabbing Mike´s face to get him to look at him.
“I´m worried about how you´ll react,” Mike slowly let out, not soothing Will´s increasing silent panic in the slightest.
“How I´ll react to what?” He tried to sound calm, but he could hear the uncertainty in his voice as the words came out.
There were a million things going through his mind all at once, but they all led to the same destination: was Mike breaking up with him? What made it worse was that Mike was taking an agonizingly long time to respond.
“Mike, what?” His voice was noticeably shaking at this point. And he could feel tears start to form in the corners of his eyes.
When Mike noticed, his eyes widened in surprise.
“Will, are you okay?” Mike finally said, wiping a tear away from Will´s cheek.
“Are you breaking up with me…?” He looked down, waiting for the inevitable, but then, Mike started… laughing. Wait what?
“Will, no!” He let out in between his laugh, “Will, why would I ever break up with you?! I love you!”
They both stopped. Mike looked at Will, clearly in shock over what he just said, and Will looked right back at him, finding himself at a loss for words.
Then Will smiled, no, grinned, and he could feel himself blush. Mike loved him?
“You do?”
“Yeah, I do, do you-,“ Mike whispered, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt, not looking at Will.
Will couldn´t help himself; he tackled Mike back down on the bed, kissing him hard.
“I love you so fucking much Mike,” he said, before kissing Mike again, both smiling against each other’s lips.