Chapter Text
While Will is changing, he can hear Mike rushing around in his bedroom. Will has decided to wear a nice red shirt with black polka dots, dark blue jeans and a leather jacket. Since it’s hot in the apartment, his jacket is still laid on his bed, with his sleeves rolled up. Will can practically feel Mike stressing out, he’s always tended to worry about making the right impression on new people. So Will thinks it’d be a good idea to try to help him, even just a bit.
Knocking on Mike’s door, Will says, “Mike? Are you good?” and the door immediately opens to a stressed looking Mike, who then groans, “Please help. I have no clue what to wear.”
Will takes a step forward as Mike steps out of the way, entering his room. There are about 7 different shirts on his bed, a pile of jackets and jumpers on the floor, and 3 pairs of jeans on his desk chair. “Okay. Alright. I think, since this is a group of goths and punks and people who are way cooler than us, you should- I don’t know. Go for something out of your comfort zone. Something that’d get you exiled from Hawkins.” Will says, as he goes through Mike’s shirts and tops. He finds a black and red striped long sleeved top with a slight v-neck. “See, like this,” he continues, holding it up. “Wear it with dark jeans, and a belt if you have one. And- oh, we’d match! Same colours!” Will says, smiling proudly at his choice. Mike looks satisfied, and nods.
“Okay, yeah. This’ll look cool. Thanks, Will, honestly I don’t know what I’d do without you. We really need Liza around here, being a fashion intern and all.” he says, grabbing some jeans from his chair and taking the top from Will.
Will then goes to the bathroom to check his hair looks fine, before going back to his room. The time says 5:21, so Mike has nine minutes to be ready. He will be, so Will doesn’t worry. Hopefully. Will grabs his jacket and pulls it on and checks he has his wallet and keys in the pocket. While he waits, Will grabs an apple and puts it in Mike’s bag that’s sat on the table so he doesn’t forget it before they leave. Will knows he can forget to eat sometimes, and just wants to be safe.
Mike soon walks out of his room, a denim jacket on over the outfit Will chose for him. Will smiles at the fact Mike chose to wear the shirt, knowing how self conscious Mike can get. Mike smiles at Will, as he grabs his own keys and opens the door. “Ladies first,” he says, hastily holding it for Will and gesturing outside. Will laughs at this, lightly poking Mike’s chest as he passes.
“Such a gentleman.” he replies, very (definitely not) seriously. Mike beams at him before locking the door. He walks down the stairs quickly, skipping a stair every step he takes. Looking behind him to check Will’s following just as fast, Mike pauses and waits for Will with his hands behind his back. “Slow coach,” he chides, wiggling a finger in the air and whispering under his breath very obviously, “Old man,”.
“Hey! Ever heard of the phrase, ‘respect your elders’, Michael?” Will says, false astonishment in his voice. Mike laughs at this, grabbing Will’s arm and dragging him down the last staircase to the front door. “Alright, you got me. Let’s go before I get too scared and run right back up those stairs.”
Mike and Will walk at a comfortable pace, exchanging conversation until they get onto Liza’s road and lapse into nervous silence. When they reach the door, Will is about to ring the doorbell for flat 2, when Mike puts his hand on top of Will’s and says, “Wait.”
“What is it?”
“I think we need a safe word. Like if it gets weird or uncomfortable or one of us just wants to go, just say it and we know.” Mike explains, “I know we’ll probably be fine, I just wanna be sure.”
“Oh. Okay. Sure, what word?” Will replies, hand going warm under Mike’s touch.
“How about ‘Max’? Like one of us could totally just yell ‘Max!’ and everyone’s like, huh? And we can just go, ‘Oh, my God, our friend Max is in town tonight and we’re meeting her at…’ then just say a time. Easy peasy.” Mike says, as Will nods, smiling. Mike the rings the doorbell, and immediately grasps Will’s hand again, holding tight like he’d be dragged away otherwise.
“Sorry. I can let go. I’m just nervous.” Mike explains apologetically, looking at Will with those goddamn puppy eyes.
“No, it’s fine. It’s good.” Will replies a bit too quickly, smiling shyly. Mike grins back. He opened his mouth again, about to say something, but the words never come out because Liza opens the door and loudly greets them, embracing them both enthusiastically. Will squeezes back, and he can feel Mike hugging her back, as well. Their hands are still intertwined between Liza.
She pulls back, smiling, and looks down to their hands, saying, “I thought you guys weren’t a thing!” as she laughs. Mike and Will both look at each other, faces going red, but Liza says, “Kidding! Come in, guys,”
She holds the door open for them and leads them uo the stairs to her apartment. She opens the door, then pushing them both into her bedroom. Will and Mike are both immediately greeted by a chorus of Hi’s and Hello’s. There are six people in Liza’s room, which has wine red walls, posters covering nearly every square inch, and a massive double bed, three people sat on it. The other three are sat on the floor, which is covered by a massive, fluffy black carpet. “Hey again! This is Mike,” Liza says, poking Mike’s arm, “and this is Will.” -poking Will’s arm- “I met them today at the café, I was saying just now.”
Will gets to know the six of their names- Jax, a tall guy with bright red spiky hair, his jacket covered in pins and patches. Pippa, Liza’s girlfriend, small, with bleached hair down to her hips, wearing a purple dress. Andy, a guy with makeup like Liza’s, just much more intense, wearing a leather jacket Will is sure Mike is bubbling in envy for. Lux, a girl who has hair cut extremely short, like Winona Ryder, Will notices, wearing jeans and a flowing pink babydoll dress, contrasting the rest of the group. David, with golden hair with green highlights, and has with him a bag full of records, and Eleanor, who looks, funnily to Will, nearly exactly like Liza. This turns out to be her twin, who Liza had gone to after she met Mike and Will.
The radio is on, playing a tape Will suspects to be Liza’s, as she had mentioned loving Cocteau Twins, this tape being nearly only songs by them.
Liza’s face suddenly lights up in recognition as she stands up quickly and jogs to her bathroom. She comes back with a box of nail polish, Will sees. She sits down on the edge of her bed, dragging Mike by his arm with her. Will follows, and sits down next to Mike when he sits on the floor. “Mike, can I paint your nails? I need more practice. And your nails are a nice shape.” Liza asks, going through all the colours she has.
“Sure. Can I pick the colour?” Mike says hopefully after a second of thinking. Liza nods and Mike immediately takes the box to see. Will leans over to see the selection, nodding in approval when Mike picks a navy blue. When he hold it up, Liza takes it and shakes it violently for a few seconds. She then tucks her hair behind her ears and grabs Mike’s hand. “Just lay it on my knee. Don’t worry, Pips won’t mind,” Liza says lightly, grinning as Pippa laughs. Will does too, watching Mike’s nervous expression fade into a small smile, watching as Liza unscrews the lid.
As Will watches Liza take Mike’s pinky finger and gently swipes the brush across his nail, Andy, one of the goths of the group, comes over to sit opposite Will. “Hi,” he says, smiling kindly. Will waves, moving his feet so Andy has space. “So, Liza mentioned you only recently got to New York.” he says, as Will nods. “How long have you been here?”
“Me and Mike actually only arrived here yesterday at lunch. We’ve had a tiring couple of days, but honestly, this is sort of relaxing.” Will replies, as Andy listens intently. He nods, and then nods his head towards Mike.
“So… got anything going on with this one…?” He asks quietly, slyly grinning at Will, who can feel warmth creeping up his neck as he shakes his head quickly.
Will sighs, as he says, “No, we’re just friends. Best friends, we’ve known each other since we were five.” His voice is slightly sad, as he glances at Mike, whose head is resting on his knee. Four of his fingers are painted, the sharp smell making Will’s head slightly ache. Andy cocks his head to the side, eyes searching Will’s expression and tone of voice.
“But… you want something more?” Andy says, the statement coming out more like a question. Wills eyes widen at this, and he looks around embarrassedly.
“Was it seriously that obvious?” Will hisses, his head dropping as he moves towards Andy. “Oh, God.”
Andy chuckles, and shakes his head. “No, don’t worry. I just saw you looking at him before I came over, you’d think he had just saved your life. I also saw you two holding hands before coming in.” he explains. Will can tell Andy is very observant.
“He was just nervous. Physical touch is just a thing Mike… enjoys.” Will says, ignoring the first part of what Andy had just said. Andy nods, looking over at Mike, his face suddenly taken aback. Will whips his head around, and sees Mike narrowing his eyes at Andy. Will lightly slaps his arm, mouthing, What? and Mike immediately turns to Will, his solid eyes melting into something softer once he meets Will’s gaze. He shakes his head, face apologetic.
Will turns back around to Jax, whispering, “Sorry!” while he grins and waves his hand, completely unbothered. He then gets up to go back to join the circle Lux, David, Eleanor and he had formed. Will scoots back to sit with Mike, watching as Liza finishes up Mike’s last finger.
When she’s done, she instructs Mike to blow on them so they dry quicker. Mike does this, but not before he presents his hands before Will, smiling proudly. Will smiles back, as he says, “Cool. You look like a rockstar. They always have painted nails.” Mike blushes at this, looking down.
-
After about an hour of talking Mike groans at Will, “Ugh, I’m so hungry. I always forget to pack things when we go out.”
Will smiles, shaking his head as he takes Mike’s bag and grabs the apple he had packed before they left. “I packed this for you earlier,” he says, dropping the apple onto Mike’s lap, “because I know you always forget. So here.”
Mike immediately beams at Will, saying, “Thank you.” genuinely, as he pats Will’s head affectionately before biting into the apple. Will takes some time looking at Mike’s nails, taking one of his hands and laying it on his to inspect the colour in the light. “Nice, right? I feel cool now.” Mike says, chuckling.
“You were always cool,” Will says without thinking, getting a laugh out of Mike. “It’s true! Come on, you can write well, like, your storytelling is inane. And you’re funny. I’ve probably not laughed as hard as I have with you with anyone else. That seems pretty cool to me, Mike.”
Mike sighs happily, saying “Wow,” as he lays his head against the wall. “Such a kind soul.”
Will laughs quietly, about to thank him when Eleanor and Liza come and sit next to Will, saying, “Hi!” at the same time.
“Hey?” Will replies, though more like a question, smiling slightly quizzically at them both. “Wow, you guys are kinda freaky. You have the exact same face.”
“Yeah. Like The Shining twins.” Mike adds, as Eleanor laughs.
“So, Will, Liza told me you like some goth music.” Eleanor says, her head tilted to one side. Will nods, intrigued to where this conversation is exactly going. “Well, I was thinking- and you don’t have to say yes, by the way- can I please turn you into an actual goth? Like, to practice my makeup skills on someone who wouldn’t absolutely hate the idea, you know?”
Will wasn’t expecting this- but Eleanor is right, he doesn’t hate the idea. “Huh,” Will says, looking at Mike who suddenly, for some reason, looks extremely interested in their conversation. And…excited? He nods encouragingly, grinning widely.
“Please do it. You’d look so cool.” Mike pleads, staring at Will intently.
“Me? You wanna practice on me?” Will says to Eleanor, slightly taken aback but flattered all the same. Eleanor nods enthusiastically, so Will says, “Sure.”
“Yay!” Liza and Eleanor reply in unison, before looking at each other and laughing at their synchronised thinking. Will chuckles too, before Liza grabs his wrist and pulls him onto his feet. “Okay, let’s go to the bathroom. And before you ask, Mike, no, you can’t come. It’s a surprise.” Liza says, handing Will to Eleanor. She drags him to the bathroom, holding the door for Liza, before shutting it closed and rubbing her hands together. The music playing is muffled, an unfamiliar song to Will. Liza hums along, and when Will asks who’s playing, she replies, “Siouxsie and the Banshees. They’re my favourite band.” Will nods at this, quietly murmuring a Cool under his breath as he sits on the edge of the bathtub.
“Alrighty. We’re going all out. Fine, Will?” Eleanor says, placing her two makeup bags on the sink.
“‘Course. Do whatever you want.” Will replies, slightly nervous but also excited for how Eleanor is going to make him look. She smiles at this, a subtle gleam in her eye.
-
Once Liza has managed to clip Will’s hair out of his face and Eleanor has all her makeup ready, she instructs Will to completely relax his face. Will knows he’ll find this hard, as he finds nearly everything ticklish, but he has to try.
Eleanor whips out her brush and dips it in the white- foundation?- then gently brushes it against Will’s cheek. His lips quirk, goosebumps rising all over his body as he reacts to the cold. She spreads it out across his nose, dipping it in some more, and before Will knows it, his whole face is white. He tries to stand up to see in the mirror, but Liza pushes him right back down. “It’s a surprise!” she coos. “Even for you.”
“Alright, alright.” Will replies, smirking.
“Okay, look up for me. Just with your eyes.” Eleanor tells Will, as she holds some eyeliner steady in her hand. He complies, and when she slowly, carefully draws black onto Will’s waterline, his eyes water and he laughs, saying, “Jesus, how do you wear this stuff?”
Eleanor giggles at this, shrugging. She moves onto the next eye, being quicker about it this time. When she finishes, she instructs Will to close his eyes, as she’s doing eyeshadow now. The brush is soft on his eyelids, tiny flecks falling onto his face as she does it. He can feel her doing a small wings in the corners of his eyes, and then continues with the eyeliner above his eyelashes. Suddenly, she moves the eyeliner down and draws in his mole again, as it had been covered with white, Will thinks.
Will opens his eyes, and watches as Eleanor grabs a liquid eyeliner. She tilts his head to the side as she fills in his eyebrows, and continues the line down to his nose. Once she’s done this on both sides, she grabs some black lipstick and fills in his lips.
She steps backwards, and inspects her work. “Oh, my God, you look so hot. Not in a weird way. I have a boyfriend. But, God, you look so good!” Eleanor squeals, beaming as she studies Will’s face. A grin stretches onto his face.
“Can I see it now?” Will asks hopefully, tentatively standing up. Eleanor nods, directing him in front of the mirror.
And when he sees himself, Will’s jaw literally goes slack, gaping in the mirror. Eleanor was right, he looks good. Really good. He wasn’t expecting to actually love it, but he really does. “Oh, wait, we need clothes. I have some men’s clothes in my wardrobe, for some reason, but it’ll match the makeup.” Liza says suddenly, standing up.
She slips out the door, through a small crack, and Will can hear Mike saying, “Can I see him yet?” and Liza’s replying no. Will can hear Mike groan, very dramatically, making him smile.
Just a minute later, Liza comes back, dumping clothes on the floor. “Okay, put these on and me and Eleanor will wait outside. When you’re done, knock on the door si we can ready you for the big reveal.” she says, hand on the doorknob. Will nods, picking up the clothes as the two leave the room.
He puts on the white shirt, top button quite low, and then the necklaces, one a silver chain with a red jewel that sits at the base of his throat, and one a simple black chain. He puts on the black trousers he’s been given, and some shin-high leather boots.
He knocks on the door, which immediately opens and Liza comes in. “Wow, you look really cool. Okay, your hair looks good, makeup looks good- wanna come out?” she says, fluffing out his hair. Will nods, nervous for Mike’s reaction. Will he hate it? Think Will is weird?
No, Will thinks surely. He’s not like that.
Liza slowly opens the door, leaving space for Will to be seen by the entire room. But Will doesnt care about the entire room, just the one person nervously sat in the edge of Liza’s bed. Mike. His eyes immediately widen, mouth slightly open in- shock? Wonder? Will walks out into the room. Mike stands up suddenly, walking towards him, before he spins around with his hands dragging down his face, walking right back to the bed. Jax pushes Mike gently, sniggering at his reaction. When Mike turns around again to face Will, his face is pink and he looks nervous. Why is he nervous? Will smiles at him, walking forward when Mike just stands and stares.
“Hi,” Will says, looking down, glancing up at Mike when he doesn’t reply. Will raises an eyebrow before Mike replies.
“Oh- yeah, hey,” Mike says, laughing shyly. “You look good- like, really good.” Mike says, as he takes in Will’s look. Will immediately flushes, though his face is covered, he can feel heat creeping up his neck.
“Thanks, Mike. I feel kinda ridiculous, but-“
“No! No, you look- God, you look incredible. Honestly.”
“Thank you. Really.” Will says shyly. “Wanna sit? We should leave in, like, ten minutes, but we should salivate the relaxation while we still have it before we have to walk back for twenty minutes.”
Mike nods, walking over to the bed and sitting on the edge with crossed legs. Will sits next to him, as Mike goes through his bag to check he has everything before they need to leave.
“Liza? Me and Mike need to go, do you want these clothes back the next time I see you?” Will calls to Liza from across the room, causing her to skip towards them.
“No, that’s okay! Aw, I’ll miss you guys so much!” Liza replies, half joking, pulling them both into a hug after they stand up.
When Mike and Will get to the door, they say their goodbyes and wave, having a replying chorus of farewells.
After leaving the house, they are immediately hit by a wall of cold air, a shock after being in a warm apartment for hours. Will lets out a shaky breath as his teeth chatter, and Mike wraps his arms around himself, tightening them as they walk and the sharp wind hits them face-on.
“Jesus, the range in temperature here is kinda insane.” Will says, sniffing and laughing quietly. Mike nods and shares the laugh with him.
“Yup. This walk home is gonna be painful. I can’t wait to reunite with my bed,” Mike replies, smiling, as he thinks about his bed, Will thinks. The way back, Mike slowly inches closer to Will until they’re walking with their arms pressed flush against each other, their fingers brushing gently on occasion. Will can feel the warmth of Mike’s arm through his sleeves, he’s always been warm by default- it greatly comforts Will. He loves the warmth, and he loves Mike. What else is there to explain?
Will smiles as he thinks about this new life- they’ve been here only a couple of days and Mike and Will’s friendship has evolved. They’re comfortable with each other, they have friends here, theyre close to Jon and Nancy, and Will can be himself here. He doesn’t have to hide who he really is, he doesn’t feel like he’s being whispered about, eyed with disgust, or secretly hated by everyone. The vastness of New York makes him feel safe, makes him feel like he has a chance. A chance to live, to do whay he loves, and to be with who he loves. And the person he loves is pressed up against Will while he walks, sharing a flat with him and someone he will never lose.
Will softly laughs at how far he’s come in the past few years- less than two years ago the whole party was in Hawkins, everyone fighting for their lives and dealing with grief, loss, guilt, Will most of all. Guilt for being in love with the wrong person, the wrong gender entirely. Now he’s here. And that’s enough.
“What?” Mike asks, looking at Will quizzically. He realised he had just laughed.
“Oh, nothing. I’m just- I’m really happy we’re here. Together.” Will replies, sighing happily. Mike’s warmth has always had this effect on him- the feeling that everything might just turn out to be fine in the end.
“Me too. Together.”