Chapter Text
“No, I don’t. I’m staying here with you.”
“But you don’t…you don’t have to.” Will looks at Mike, confused at his stubborn response.
“But I want to. I’m gonna take care of you today.”
Will’s cheeks feel a little warm at the insistence. “Don’t you–aren’t you scared you’ll get sick or something…and don't you have work to do?”
Mike smiles warmly. “You’d do the same for me.” Then he pauses, thinks about it and hesitates, looking back up at him, unsure. “...Right?”
Will answers without any hesitation, which makes Mike’s stomach flutter and he eases up, relieved. "Of course I would. It's just I don't want you to-–" He pauses, weighing his options: Mike is clearly not budging from his resolution and Will would really not mind his company after the previous day's disaster, so he sighs and smiles fondly at his roommate. "Well, never mind. Thank you, for caring for me, Mike."
“Yeah, don’t worry about it." Mike sucks in a sharp breath, knee bumping up and down. He forces himself not to look at how tight-fitting his friend’s shirt is because of the sweat.
Christ, I'm unbelievable, he's sick and I'm finding him...distracting! I'm ridiculous.
"Did you want to…uh, stay in bed or…change–-shower, maybe?”
Will flushes, embarrassed at the messy state he’s in. “Uh, yeah I should shower–-you’re right, I’m pretty…gross right now.”
Mike quickly replies, trying not to let him find out why he actually brought it up. “It’s not-–I could never be grossed out by y–-I mean-–I don’t…don’t mind, it’s just…it’s for you, y’know...comfort!” This whole conversation is slowly becoming a shit-show with Mike Wheeler as the main attraction. Will doesn’t seem to notice, though, already thinking of how he’ll deal with washing his new injury while Mike rambles.
He nods, pushing himself up further in his bed. “Yeah, I’ll just go, you’re right. Let me just…” He gets up from his bed in slow movements, trying not to wince–-which would definitely alert Mike with how intensely his black eyes are now set on him. His side still hurts like hell. He then makes his way to his closet and painfully bends down to grab new clothes from the lowest shelf, cursing the way he stored them. He can feel Mike's gaze digging in his skull and sighs, straightening up and turning around to look back at him, serious but not unkind--Will can always tell when Mike's head is buzzing with questions and thoughts, and this is one of those times. “You’re staring, you know. I told you I’m okay.”
His roommate brings his eyebrows together with worry. “Sorry, you just…you seem a little tense…I can–-I think I can help you with that.”
“Mike…seriously-–” Before Will can say anything relevant, Mike is already on his feet, stepping closer to him. He gently lands his hands on the sides of Will’s neck, facing him with intent, his grip shifting to apply pressure of his traps, firm. He then gently guides Will, angling him so he has his back to Mike. He then adjusts his grip and applies more pressure, making circular motions with his thumbs into Will’s trapezius muscles where tension was located.
Will groans, a sound that surprised him more than Mike. “Shit, I am tense. Wow.”
I guess the pain in my side distracted me from how tense my back has been…
Mike’s tone is lower now, concentrated but still joking around. “Yeah…don’t worry, though, I’ve got magic fingers.” His face unconsciously inches closer to his friend’s neck.
As Will feels Mike’s warm breath, heat crawls up into his face.
God, this feels...great but...isn't he a bit close? I just...he's so close that--I mean, what would happen if he just leaned in a little closer–-
Will grimaces at his thoughts and shifts his weight from one leg to the other, swallowing hard and now looking down at the floor in shame as Mike keeps digging deeper into the rigid muscle of his shoulder blades.
Jesus, man, don’t be weird about this, he’s your roommate. He’s just helping you out like any friend would...I mean, I’m not sure I’d let Dustin do that, but he’s a crusty STEM major so I don’t think it counts. It’s whatever, I’m just letting Mike’s Magic fingers do wonders…or whatever.
Will shakes his head at himself but still, he leans into Mike’s massage a bit more.
Mike repeats the same motions, feeling his roommate’s muscles soften under his hands. He takes the quiet moment to look at him as he instinctively applies pressure where needed, listening out for approving noises from his friend. His eyes run over his soft hair, trace over the curve of his neck, stall on every mole, then fall on Will’s insanely broad back which he now feels under his hands. His heart skips a beat and his breath stutters out of him.
When the fuck did he get so built?? I bet he could even lift me up at this point--God, I just want to–-what if I just…?
He redirects his hands down from Will's shoulder blades and in the middle of his back, touching around for knots. Mike’s eyes trail down, mesmerized at how perfect Will is, and at how close he is. His hands slowly get lower, and Mike can feel all of the curves and dips of his sculpted back. His heart pounds faster as he tries to catch every detail under his hands-–the one and only time he’ll get to do this–-his eyes so focused it’s like everything else is blurry and out of focus.
Wow...he’s so…this is–-
His breath hitches and he prays hard that Will didn’t hear it.
This is...
On Will’s end, Mike’s massage is doing wonders and he can’t help this feeling, this want for him to keep going forever. He barely registers this hazy thought before a shiver runs down his spine and, unlike with the Spidey sense–-where his body usually runs cold-–he feels as though it might burst into flames when he hears Mike’s throaty whisper close to his ear, asking him to take his shirt off. He barely manages to get a response out, his heart skipping what feels like five beats. “W-what?”
Mike's eyes snap back up like he's been brought back from a trance. He clears his throat, like grounding himself back down to earth, realizing why Will might question what he meant by his request–questioning that might not be way off. He feels his cheeks growing redder and redder by the second. “For better access–-the fabric’s blocking me a little.”
This is my best friend. What am I doing? What am I thinking?? Is this assault or something? This is weird, right??? I shouldn’t…wait no! No, this is Will, he probably just goes to the gym more…I’m just objectively noticing like a good bro would…I respect discipline! And I just wanna help, I wanna do a better job so he feels better!
Will almost gives in, and wants to-–he wants to feel Mike’s warm hands on him closer than just through fabric, he wants the relief to keep coming–-but then he remembers his bandages and the giant wound on his abdomen he couldn’t hide without a shirt. He reluctantly steps away, Mike’s hands slipping off of him, and he immediately feels the cold where they used to be. “I–-It’s fine-–I don’t want to keep you forever, plus I should really go shower…but thanks for that, it was...nice.” He turns around, lowering his head to hide blush in his face, fumbling nervously with his clean clothes.
Mike doesn’t notice, however, too absorbed in his own panicked thoughts. He quickly answers, looking anywhere but at him. “Uh–-yeah, sure, anytime!”
Okay, scratch that, I definitely make things weird. SHIT, shit, shit, I'm fucking this up--did I make him uncomfortable?? Please, please, no.
Will looks up at him, giving him a small smile, teasing before he exits the room. “I might…take you up on that…if you insist.”
The dark-haired roommate bites the inside of his cheek in an effort to repress a wide smile but fails miserably. He thought he'd been weirding Will out because of the closeness, because of how intimate it felt, but Will confirming that he enjoyed sharing that moment with Mike, that he enjoyed being touched by him is just too much for Mike to act even close to normal. His smile giddy and his stomach filling with butterflies, he stutters out almost automatically. “Y--yeah, okay. Okay, great!” The door shuts and he immediately collapses back on the bed, face in his hands and elbows on his knees.
What the fuck, Mike.