Chapter Text
All Mike Wheeler wanted to do was relax. His childhood had been chaotic enough and everything finally seemed to be working out. The Party had graduated. His family was safe. He and El had finally worked things out and decided to just be friends, which released a weight off his shoulders he didn’t even know he had. And he and Will were best friends again. Mike couldn’t remember the last time he had been so at ease.
Mike pulls up to the Byer’s house to pick up Will and El before meeting Dustin, Max, and Lucas at the pool to enjoy their first day of summer. Mike runs a hand through his dark curly hair. It was still not as long as last year, but it was growing out a bit more now. The boy got out of the car, wearing swim shorts and a tank top, bearing sunglasses and slightly pink shoulders. He walked to the front door and knocked.
When it was just the Byers living in the home, Mike wouldn’t have hesitated to walk inside, but ever since El and Hopper had moved in after the engagement, Mike didn’t want to take any chances. Part of him thought Hopper was going to kill and bury Mike after finding out that he and El had broken up, but Hopper hadn’t said anything. Will had even told Mike that he was happy for the two of them and that, “they seemed to be better as friends anyway”.
Mike and Hopper didn’t always see eye to eye, but Mike had to agree. He and El were better as friends. There wasn’t this awkward sort of tension and expectation surrounding their conversations, and Mike felt that he could relax and be more himself. El also seemed to be taking the breakup in stride, even telling Max at a sleepover that she felt “more relieved than she had in a while”. After hearing it second hand from Lucas, Mike wasn’t offended at all. He knew he wasn’t the best boyfriend and El deserved better.
Mike also worried, maybe more than anything else, that Will would be upset with him. After their conversation in the car in California, Will really seemed to think he and El were supposed to be together, that they belonged together. Mike thought about that conversation a lot. Will had always been a fairly reserved person, but he had almost never heard Will speak so passionately about something before. Lucky enough though, Will was ok with it. Even more so, happy. He told both of them that they should do what makes them happy and that was it.
Mike could tell though that Will seemed more relaxed than he had in weeks too. Probably less to do with the breakup and more to do with the world not ending, Mike had thought.
The Byers’ door is opened by Hopper who looks Mike up and down before saying,
“Wheeler. Come on in. Will’s in the kitchen and El is grabbing something.”
Mike nods and heads to the kitchen where the rest of the Byers family, excluding El, was. Jonathan was pouring himself some coffee while reading the paper, while Joyce fussed over Will’s hair. Will ate a piece of toast, and was trying to gently bat his mother’s hands away.
“Will, I need to cut your hair again. I can cut it this afternoon,” Joyce offers, finally removing her hand from her son’s hair.
“Mom, please don’t. It’s not even that long and I finally grew out the bowl cut. I’m going to college this year, Mom. I can’t have the same haircut I had since I was 6,” Will says in that gentle, but firm way only Will Byers could. Joyce opens her mouth to say something else, but Mike steps into the kitchen.
“Good morning,” Mike says to the entire kitchen. Jonathan gives a wave, sipping his coffee and Joyce smiles and gives him a hug. She had been really happy since getting engaged. After extricating himself from his best friend’s mom’s arms, he sat beside Will at the table.
“You guys ready to go?” Mike asks, looking at Will’s hair. Mike thought Will’s hair looked great. It always did, even with the bowl cut. Will had chocolate brown hair that was thick and matched his warm brown eyes.
“Mike! Hey! El’s just getting ready, but we can go whenever she comes down,” Will smiles and it makes Mike instinctively smile back.
“Yeah no rush. Max and Lucas are probably going to be late anyway,” Mike says, gently knocking his shoulder into Will’s. Will smiles and looks to the side a second before looking back at Mike.
“Do you think I should cut my hair?” Will asks, running an absentminded hand through it. Mike shook his head, reaching up to touch Will’s hair too.
“No. No I don’t think you should. Not yet anyway. It looks good. Well, it always does. Even with the bowl cut,” Mike grins and Will shoves Mike’s shoulder right back.
“Ha ha. Laugh it up,” Will grumbles, but a smile pulls at his lips too. Mike was about to reply that he was being serious, but El came down.
El’s hair had gotten longer too. Wavy and past her shoulders, she looked as normal as she had ever been, despite having powers and defeating monsters from other dimensions. After defeating Vecna, El still had her powers, but after the hive mind closed and Vecna was killed, Will was no longer able to siphon powers from the Upside Down. It didn’t matter to Mike. Will had always been a sorcerer anyway. The Cleric to his Paladin.
“Good morning,” El smiles at the two boys at the table and accepts a hug from Joyce and a quick side hug from Jonathan, before the eldest Byers had to leave for work. Hopper also gives El a hug before sitting at the opposite head of the table from Will and Mike, picking up the newspaper Jonathan had left.
“Sorry for making you wait. We can go now,” El says, with a tote bag over one shoulder, carrying a towel and sunscreen. California had prepared the Byers well for the summer sun. Mike had forgotten both sunscreen and a towel, but wasn’t too bothered. He always ended up sharing with Will anyway. Five minutes later the three got into Mike’s car. Will offered El the passenger seat, but she politely declined, preferring to sit in the back.
Will sat up front with Mike, and the latter of the two boys began to turn up music and the AC on the drive to the pool. On the way there, Mike couldn’t help but notice how much more tan Will got during the summer. The summer had barely started and Will had a nice color to his face and body. It was nice and starkly different to the pallor on Will’s face after being captured in the Upside Down. Mike decided it suited Will very much.
After getting to the pool they meet up with Dustin, Max, and Lucas, who were arguing over which movie to see next time they all went.
“You guys are late,” Max says in greeting. Will puts his towel down on a lounge chair and sits down. Mike sits next to him, taking his shoes off and feeling the warm cement against the soles of his feet.
“It’s fine Max. No one is even here yet. Besides, who comes to the pool at eleven in the morning?” Mike asks, scanning the completely empty pool.
“We are because we are making the most of the summer,” Max declares.
“What do you mean?” Will asks, standing to take off his t-shirt. Mike watches Will only because he’s right next to him. Mike notices faint muscles on Will's back, arms, and legs that weren’t there last summer. Lucas looks at Mike with a strange expression. When Mike feels eyes on him he turns to Lucas and gives a little shrug, a silent “what do you want?” Lucas just shakes his head, and turns his attention back to his girlfriend. Will sits back down beside him. Their arms graze and Will felt warm.
“Well I heard Lacey McAdam talking the other day about some party she was going to and I realized that none of us have ever been to a party. Not because we’re nerds… well, you guys are. El and I are cool, but we spent our entire high school fighting Vecna and trying to stop the end of the world. We’ve had no time to do anything fun for ourselves you know? I think we should try to make the most of this summer, do all kinds of crazy things we never could have done, before we go to college.” Max says. Everyone nods in understanding.
Mike looks at Will and feels a pang of deep empathy for his best friend. Max was talking about their high school experience, but for Will, and most of the Party, it had started far before that. Will was only twelve when he was kidnapped into the Upside Down, and was never the same after that. Mike decided he wanted the experience for himself and his best friend.
“Yeah. Let's do it,” Mike nods. Everyone else agrees too. Max pulls out a notebook and pen and writes “Summer Bucket List” on it. It began pretty tame at first, only things that most high schoolers have experienced.
1. Go to a Party
2. Have kissed at least one person
After writing the second one, Max looks up at Will and Dustin.
“I’m talking about you two by the way,” she says. Dustin throws his hands up in outrage.
“I will have you know that I kissed Suzie at summer camp!” Dustin argues. Max relents.
“Oh yeah I forgot about that. Guess that just leaves you Will,” Max replies, looking at the boy who had gone very still. Mike immediately felt an annoyance bubble in his chest. It wasn’t Will’s fault that he hadn’t kissed anyone. El had said that lots of girls had crushes on Will in Lenora, but he didn’t like girls. There wasn’t anything wrong with that in Mike’s eyes. Mike had always kind of known Will was different. Not a bad different. Will could never be bad. Just different. He was never interested in girls the way Lucas and Dustin, and at a time, Mike was. Girls weren’t anything too exciting in Mike’s limited experience and kissing them was even less so.
Lucas had mentioned before the feeling of being turned on, the feeling of heat pooling in him when he made out with Max, but Mike had never felt that before. Maybe it was because he and El were kids, and when they got older they didn’t see each other as much with everything going on, but Mike had no knowledge on that feeling or experience.
“Max, I don’t think there’s anyone for me to kiss. Not in Hawkins anyway,” Will says quietly, eyes trained on his feet in front of him. Mike studied Will, gently knocking his knee with Will’s. Mike wanted to say something, but didn’t know what. He hoped the gentle touch would be enough to communicate his understanding. It always did when they were kids and when Will wasn’t a big talker.
“Oh. Well maybe there is. Or you can practice on a girl? Or we can leave Hawkins for the weekend? Or we can just take that one off all together. Sorry Will,” Max gave Will a reassuring smile and gave his hand a quick squeeze. Mike resisted the urge to glare at Max for making Will uncomfortable, but her words seemed to make Will feel better.
“No no keep it Max. We’ll find something,” Will nodded. Mike didn’t say anything, but he had a hard time imagining Will kissing anyone. Mike didn’t want to imagine it.
“Ok. Let’s keep going. We need a third,” Max says.
“Get drunk together?” Lucas offers. Max writes it down.
“Try weed?” Will asks, and Mike blinks at him in surprise. Max writes that one down too and Will offers to steal some from Jonathan.
“What if we did a 24 hour, no sleep DND campaign?” Dustin asks. Max groans in frustration.
“Dustin we’re supposed to do things that a normal high schooler does. Not a group of nerds”
“We could all go on a road trip together? No destination planned, just stop whenever and wherever we want,” Mike contributes. Max nods in agreement and adds it in.
“Ok, that's a good start. These are all do-able and we can add more as we go along,” Max closes the notebook. Will glances at Mike and gives him a small smile. Mike gently knocks into Will in response. This would be an interesting summer.