Chapter Text
⸝⸝⸝
February, 1988
“Just five more minutes, please.” Mike whinnied, cuddling Will closer to him, burning his face in the crook of Will’s neck. It was nice and warm in his bed with Will, with the blanket on them for extra warmth. They still had time before the rest of the party came over to start their next campaign.
“You said that an hour ago,” Will lifts his arm from under the blanket behind Mike, and checks his watch. “Everyone is probably already on their way.” He said, putting his arm back around Mike.
“The snow is gonna slow them down,” Mike said, pulling away just enough to look at Will. “We have time.”
“I know, but we could set up downstairs before everyone gets here. Then we can have five more minutes.”
Mike groaned, getting up and unwrapping himself from him. “Fine”
“Don’t act like you’re not excited for this campaign,” Will said while sitting up.
“I never said I wasn’t, I just want to spend more alone time with my boyfriend.” He got up from his bed, standing up.
“You sure do like using that word a lot,” Will spoke, biting back a smile, moving to sit on the edge in front of where Mike was standing.
“Mmm, yeah, and you love it,” he said, leaning down to him.
“Maybe.”
Mike placed a gentle kiss on Will's lips before pulling him off the bed. “Now come, we have to set up downstairs.”
・・・・・
After an hour of setting up their campaign with a few breaks, they were done. All the chairs were pulled up around the table, and figurines were placed along with some new dice Will painted for everyone. Everything was set up and ready to go once everyone arrived.
“You really think Max is gonna join this time?” Mike asked, sitting down next to Will on the couch. “She’s never wanted to play before.”
“I know, but I feel like I might have really convinced her to play this time.”
“Mmm okay.”
“I promise she’ll play, and if not, there's always El.”
Mike laughed. “Pfft, I’ve been trying to get El to play D&D for ages; she isn’t interested in the slightest.”
“Yeah, you’re right. I tried getting her to play while in Lenora with me, and she didn’t like it.”
“The campaign still works either way with the normal amount of us, so we will be fine either way,” Mike said, slouching down on the couch.
“Okay, that’s good.” He said, moving closer to Mike.
“Off topic, but when can I give you one of my Valentine's gifts?”
“On Valentine's, duh.” Will chuckled beside him. “When else?”
“Now? Because I’ve kinda been holding on to it for a while.”
Will cuddled closer to Mike, leaning his head on his shoulder. “You can give it to me later. I don’t want you to get up.”
“It’s in my pocket.”
He removed his head from Mike's shoulder. “Fine.”
Mike reached into his pocket, taking out a black little bag. “There are two in here, one is for me.”
Will took the bag from him and opened it. He reached inside, taking out two matching bracelets. One was blue with yellow stars, and the other was yellow with blue stars. “These are amazing, where did you get them?” He asked while putting the bracelet on, tightening the knot with the string.
“I actually had Holly make them with the kit I gave her for Christmas.”
“Awwe, I love them. You can have this one.” He handed over the blue with yellow stars.
Mike put his on, tightening the string. “I’m glad you like them.”
While looking at the bracelet on his wrist he checked the time again. “We still have fifteen more minutes before everyone gets here.”
Mike pulled Will into a hug, rolling them over to cuddle. “Perfect.”
Will can’t believe it’s only been two weeks of dating Mike. It’s been heaven for him, and it has gone by way quicker than he ever thought. It’s like time moves too quickly and too slowly when they’re together. Spending hours together on weekends feels like nothing, but then waiting to see each other between classes feels like an eternity. Maybe love does that? Changes the way you perceive time.
Well, love makes everything weird. Of course, Will usually misses Mike when he doesn’t see him, but actually being together makes that feeling double, if not triple. He gets why Lucas is always in a mood if he hasn’t seen Max for a while.
Everything he thought he wasn’t gonna get to feel, he finally has a chance to. He finally gets to have a boyfriend, a Valentine.
What more could Will possibly ask for?
“Um, guys?”
Both Mike and Will’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Dustin's voice.
“Good morning, sunshines.” Lucas then said.
Mike looked up, finding the whole party looking at them: Dustin, Lucas, Max, and El. “Hey…”
Will quickly got off Mike. “Wow, you guys are um, here, early.”
“We're not.” Max pitched in, while holding back a smile. “We're on time,” El said, standing next to her.
“Right, right,” Mike mumbled, sitting up. “We should get started then–”
“No no, first explain this,” Dustin spoke, gesturing to the two of them.
“We um, fell asleep.”
“And what? Just happened to cuddle?” Lucas said.
“Yup.” Both of them said,
“While holding hands?”
Mike glared at Max before admitting defeat. “Fine! It wasn’t by accident– holding hands and cuddling, but falling asleep, yes.”
“Wow you folded fast.” Lucas laughed.
Dustin sat in a chair. “So does this mean you guys finally figured it out?”
“What do you mean by that?” Will asked.
“Just that Lucas and I kinda always knew you guys were closer than us.”
“Okay, but that could mean anything,” Mike said, crossing his arms.
“True, but then you asked me a lot of questions about Suzie in December,” Dustin said.
“Then, on the same day you asked him that, you asked Max about how she and I made things work while being friends first.”
“I didn’t realize I asked that all on the same day.”
“I just knew, because I dated you,” El said, sitting down on the couch next to Will.
“I can’t believe it was so obvious to everyone, but me,” Will chuckled, because wow, everyone had strong suspicions for longer than he did.
“Wasn’t very obvious to Mike either.” Max snickered.
Mike stood up. “Okay now that we're all done laughing at me, we should get started.” He walked over to the D&D shelf and grabbed his binder before sitting down.
Everyone followed a second after, with the exception of El, who was there just to observe. Max grabbed the new binder from the shelf with her name on it. Mike made it earlier that week after Will told him she’d finally join one of their campaigns.
“So how do we do this?” Max asked, sitting between Lucas and Will.
“It’s really simple,” Lucas started, turning towards her. “Basically, this is just a starter session, Mike explains the rules, the story, and extra things we might need. Then after that it's just up to our imagination.”
“So D&D is one big game of pretend?”
“I mean it more than that,” Will said. “It’s a storytelling game; anything and everything could happen if you think it, and the dice are here to help. Depending of course, on what you’re rolling for.”
“Okay then, explain more.”
And so everyone did, for an entire hour. They hadn’t really explained D&D to anyone in years. Nobody in town wanted to play, and those who did already knew them through the school club. Then, halfway through explaining, Mike took out the D&D basics book to show Max. It seemed to make more sense once she had a physical thing of everything the party was saying, but it did get confusing. Especially once they got into character making, and how they choose which class to be in each game. Even though neither of them has changed their characters since they first started playing.
“This is the most complicated and yet simple game I’ve ever had explained to me.”
“Yeah, it's tough to explain once you’ve played for so long. Most of it is just second nature at this point.” Mike replied.
“I can tell, especially since this game is where you got idea all your ideas about what the upside is from.”
“Mostly my idea for that whole thing.”Dustin chimed, fixing up his binder more.
“True,” Lucas said.
“Now, can we talk about something a little more interesting?” Max’s eyes looked between Will and Mike. “Like, when did this happen?” She said, pointing between them.
Will wasn’t prepared for this question at all. He always knew eventually everyone would find out at some point about him and Mike, but he didn’t think they’d be found out like this.
“A few ago,” Mike spoke, answering for the both of them.
Max rolled her eyes. “Mike gave me an exact day.”
“February first…” Will said, looking at Max. Her surprised expression gave away exactly what she was gonna say next.
“Two weeks ago!” She shouted, causing the rest of the party members to jump, and for El to giggle from the couch behind Max.
“Yeah…”
“Will why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was, I just got distracted a bit.” She said, attempting to hide his blush, and failing.
“Wait, so this whole time you both have been together? And didn’t tell us.” Dustin said, pointing an excusing figure between them.
“That’s exactly so impressive.” El chimed in.
“This might explain why Mike hasn’t been weird and moody lately.” Lucas chuckled to himself.
“Hey now, we were going to tell you guys, but there just hasn’t been a time.”
“Yeah with school and all, there just wasn’t really any time,” Will said, adding on to what Mike was saying. “Lunch didn’t exactly feel like appropriate timing.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Thank you, Max.” Will gave her a gentle smile. “And you guys? You’re good with this.” Gesturing between him and Mike.
“Dude of course,” Lucas said.
“Yeah, duh,” Dustin added on.
“El?” Will turned his head, looking at her.
“Of course, I’m okay with it, Will. I’ve been waiting for you guys to figure it out.”
“Well, I wouldn’t have been able to work up the courage without you, so thank you.”
“Okay, enough talking about us, we should get back to our campaign, because I still haven’t explained the plot at all,” Mike said, getting up and placing down everyone's figurines.
“Wait, where is mine?” Max looked at the board, only seeing the four of theirs.
“You’re actually gonna join?” Lucas said with excitement.
“I mean, maybe, I’ll try it out.”
“I’m officially the luckiest man in the world.” He said, giving Max a quick kiss on the cheek.
Will leaned down, grabbing something from under the table. Grabbing it, he placed the figurine he painted for Max on the table, next to Lucas’s. Anyone could tell it was her just based on the fiery red hair it had, along with a green colored robe. “Ta-da”
Max reached forward, grabbing her figurine. “Whoa, this is so cool. ” She turned it around in her hand. “You got my hair shade pretty spot on, honestly.”
“Ha yeah, it’s a complicated mix of red and yellow, with a bit of blue to get it right,” Will said, scooting his chair closer to the table. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Okay guys, we’ve been here for almost two hours and haven’t started. I was kinda hoping to be home by ten.” Dustin said, tapping his watch.
Mike raised an eyebrow. “Why do you need to be home by ten?”
“Because I promised my mom I’d help with stuff so I can be out tomorrow.”
“Out tomorrow? You have a valentine?” Will asked, leaning towards the table. “You didn’t tell us.”
“Well…” Lucas started. “He wasn’t the one who was going to tell either of you.”
Will looked confused. “Why?”
“Who was gonna tell us?” Mike said.
“I was,” El spoke from behind Max.
“Oh?” Mike was slightly taken aback, and Will looked equally surprised.
“It happened a few weeks before you guys got together.”
“Why didn’t you tell me, El?” Will asked.
“I was going to tell you when you invited me over, but it looked like you were stressed. So I didn’t.” She said, playing with the fabric of her sweater.
“Shit, I’ve been a horrible friend recently,” Will said, disappointed in himself for not realizing sooner. “I’m guessing this is why you were extra happy last month.” He said, looking at Dustin.
“Yup.”
“Can’t believe El got another boyfriend before I could get my first,” Mike said, still taking it all in. It wasn’t surprising that she would have another boyfriend, and it would be Dustin, just that Mike didn’tt realize sooner that his friends liked each other like that. “How did that even happen?”
“I wanted to go out but didn’t want to adventure alone, and Dustin said he had free time, so we hung out a lot more. Turns out we have a lot more in common than I thought.”
“El actually enjoys My Little Pony.” Dustin smiled.
“They remind me of all of us.” She said sweetly.
“Wait, does this mean we can do a triple date picnic in the summer?” Will clapped his hands excitedly.
“Already planning the summer out?” Mike said, his foot brushing Will's under the table.
“I have a few winter things planned out too, if you want the schedule.” He flirted.
“Okay, hey, no flirting at the D&D table,” Lucas said, tapping the table.
“You say that as if you didn’t just kiss Max like a minute ago,” Will replied, rolling his eyes while playing footies with his boyfriend under the table.
“Okay, starting now, no flirting at the table, either of us.”
Will laughed and rolled his eyes. Then Mike sat up more in his seat before speaking. “Okay, so now we can start, or is there anything else we should all know?” The party looked around at each other, nobody spoke so Mike took that as a cue that they should start.
Mike first began to explain the map and history of this world. It was long and extensive, like most of his campaigns were, but Will loved that. Mike knew how to perfectly give everyone a clear vision of the story and landscape. It was one of the silly reasons he fell so hard for him.
The way he could describe things in such great detail, down to the scent, was something no one in the party could quite do like him. They all tried at some point to D.M, but then eventually they all realized this was something only Mike could do, and he’s been their dungeon master ever since. Will knew Mike didn’t mind not being able to play most games; sometimes he’d have his paladin in-game, sometimes not. It still would always end up being a great campaign either way.
・・・・・
“You crawl deeper and deeper into the cave, the window whistling through the cracks, the cave getting darker and darker as you enter. You see a light in the distance, it feels… familiar but mysterious. You approach the light with caution. The light seemed to be glowing from a small, ancient chest. What do you do?”
“Okay, first what do we know about this cave? Any history at all?” Lucas asked Mike, looking through the notes that they’ve built up for the last six hours.
Dustin flipped through his pages.“I can’t remember if this is the cave on the left or right side of Mountain Cruel.”
“It’s the cave on the left side, you’ve never been here before. The only thing you know is that the locals don’t enter the cave, ever.” Mike replies.
“Have we encountered anything like this before?” Will asks, curious because it seems to have a familiar glow to a past artifact they’ve found.
“You’ve encountered something similar before in a tavern.”
“Tavern…Oh! The key!” Max shouts from next to Lucas, the stupid glowing key El told Dustin to eat. “It was glowing and everything.”
“Oh shit, you’re right, that key is still with me,” Dustin said.
“So what do you do?” Mike spoke, clasping his hands on his lap.
“We use the key and see if it opens the chest,” Lucas said, nudging Dustin, who nodded his head.
“You all step forward to the chest, and you take out the key. Our bard gets closer, fitting the key into the small keyhole. He turns it, and the glowing stops…there's a small rumble. Then another rumble, making the ground shake underneath you.”
“Earthquake?” Max whispers.
Mike continues.“The light in the cave disappears all at once, and then…silence.” The party now leaning over the table with anticipation. Then the sound of Dustin's watch alarm startles them.
“No!” Lucas shouts. “That can’t be it for today.”
“Shit, time flew by quick.” Dustin says, stopping the alarm.
“Ugh, this always happens during the best parts.” Will groaned, putting his head in his hands.
“This might be the longest week I'll ever have to wait in my life,” Max said, closing her binder.
“A week will have passed before you all know it,” Mike closed his binder and closed Will’s before stacking them together, and standing up from his seat. “Plus this is only the beginning; there's still more fun stuff to come.”
Will watched as Mike walked to the shelf, putting both their binders together. “Oh yeah? Like mountain trolls that nearly kill us?”
“You guys could have easily avoided that.”
Dustin sat up. “It was the dice's fault!”
“No no, it was El trying to roll you guys a twenty from the couch, did you think I wouldn't notice?” Mike pointed at the half-asleep El, who was now waking up.
“I didn’t know they were planning to do that,” Lucas said.
“Well now you know.” He said, making his way back to his seat across from Will.
“I get why these things take ten hours now most of the time.” Max got up from her chair and closed her binder. Lucas got up after stacking theirs together. “Can’t believe it took you this many years to finally understand.” He picked up the binders, walked over to the shelf, and placed them back.
“Next time we start earlier.” Dustin grabbed his binder, following what Lucas did. “Then we could have longer sessions and get through the story more.”
“Maybe,” Will said, getting up and pushing in his seat. “But for now, it’s everyone's time to go home.”
“Yeah, I’m getting sleepy.” El yawned, getting up from the couch.
“You were asleep for half the companion.” Dustin laughed.
“You can explain it while you drop me off at home.”
Dustin sighed while pushing in his chair. “Alright then, but you’re gonna still be missing a lot of good parts.”
Max and Lucas got up next, pushing in their chairs. “Come on, you’re taking me home too,” Max said.
“I know, babe.”
The party, excluding Mike and Will, grabbed their jackets by the basement entrance. Once everyone was zipped up and ready to go, Will opened the door, hugging everyone on their way out as Mike stayed back cleaning up, waving bye as they walked out the door.
Will closed the door after, locking it for the night. “First session went great I think.”
“You think?” Mike said as he finished folding the map, placing it back in its box.
“No, I know it went well, I just think it should have been longer. There was a lot we still didn’t do.”
“Well, you always have next week,” Mike said, leaning on the table.
“I know.” He said, walking over to Mike, stopping in front of him. “But anyway, we should go upstairs, I’m still hungry.”
“Was the dinner my mom made not enough?”
“No, I still want ice cream.”
“Of course.” Mikee laced his fingers with Will, pulling him up the stairs. “I think there's still vanilla and chocolate left.”
“Okay.”
Walking into the kitchen, Will opened the freezer door as Mike walked to one of the drawers, taking out two spoons. He looked over to Mike. “There's enough left for both of us, should I just take the whole tub?”
“Yeah, grab it.”
“Alright.” He grabbed it and closed the freezer, walking towards the stairs.“Come on.”
Mike followed quickly, walking behind Will on the stairs. Once they were in the room, he closed the door behind him and locked it. Nancy had a habit of opening without knocking for some reason.
“Spoon, please,” Will said, flopping down on his side of the bed. Mike passed him a spoon as he sat down next to him.
“Thanks.” He said, leaning over, giving him a quick peck.
“You know you don’t have to kiss me after everything I do.” He said as he scooped the chocolate ice cream.
“Do you not want me to?” he giggled.
“No no, I do.”
“Okay, then.”
“You promise?”
“I promise, I will.” Will gave him another soft kiss, then scooped another spoonful of vanilla ice cream and smiled.
His heart fluttered in that moment, and so did Will’s.
Mike leaned over to his nightstand, turned on the radio, and adjusted the volume, tuning into the squawk where there was a familiar song already playing. The same song that made everything possible for them.
I’m sorry but I’m just thinking of the right words to say
(I promise you)
I know they don’t sound the way I planned them to be
(I promise you)
And if I had to walk the worldI I’d make you fall for me
I promise you, I promise you I will
I will, I will