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“How do you know if a guy is, y’know, good?”
A laugh. Then, “No guy is good, Jamie.”
“Okay, but, like… What kind of things can a guy do to be, like, the perfect man?”
It’s a stupid conversation, touching on the borderline of personal content, and really, Will doesn’t know why he’s listening in. He’s just curious, and besides- it’s a free period, Mike is asleep in the desk next to him, and he forgot his sketchbook at home. It’s not like he has anything better to do.
“The perfect man? That’s nothing but a dream, honey,” the other girl, Melissa, tosses back.
“Come on, Melissa. Theoretically speaking, what would the perfect man do for his girlfriend?”
“I mean, I guess there are some things. Like…” As she trails off to come up with examples, Will gets bored and lets his gaze drift over to Mike’s near-motionless form beside him. He lets his eyes linger for a moment, longer than he knows he’s supposed to. It’s been increasingly harder as they grow up for him to keep his face devoid of emotion when he looks at Mike. The feelings have always been there, at least on some level in the back of his mind, since they were little kids running around without a clue about the real world. Now, halfway through their junior year of high school, Mike is the most beautiful he’s ever been. Will relishes the rare opportunities he gets to study his best friend’s features, now made up of all sharp angles that totally contrast with his soft curls, grown out a few inches longer than they were in middle school. He’s gotten so much taller, while Will himself has only grown about two inches over the past few years. They still spend all of their time together, messing around with the same kinds of games and movies. No one gets Will like Mike does, it’s just as true now as it was when they were kids, and if Will lets himself think about it too much, somewhere in his mind he’ll consider if maybe Mike is the perfect man. For him, at least.
Will snaps his gaze away after several moments too long, but is fairly certain no one noticed his staring. Out of boredom, he tunes back into the girls’ talk in front of him, which is just picking back up.
“The perfect man would give you t-shirts to sleep in,” Melissa begins.
“That’s it?” Jamie asks, looking severely unimpressed.
“That’s only the beginning.”
Will sits back in his seat, mulling the point over. He has an immediate thought of, “Mike gives me clothes to sleep in all the time, with our impromptu sleepovers,” but, of course, stays silent.
“He gives you hoodies to wear so people know you’re his,” she continues.
Will can’t help but remember a day from their freshman year.
“Here, take this if you’re so cold,” Mike says, taking his hoodie off and handing it to Will.
“But, I don’t want you to be cold,” Will replies, his hands up in refusal.
“It doesn’t matter. And besides, if you wear mine, everyone will know we’re best friends and how close we are.”
Two for two, Will thinks. He might as well just keep track of everything she says that Mike’s done for him.
“He leaves her cute little notes places he knows she’ll see.”
Will thinks back to a few different occurrences. There’s been a handful of times he’s opened his locker to find sticky notes or loose sheets of notebook paper covered with Mike’s messy scrawl, saying things like: “I can’t wait to spend the weekend together!”; “I got the picture you drew, it was totally amazing, you’re totally amazing!”; “Left school early, but I hope the rest of your day is as fantastic as you are.” They’re only done for the sake of being friendly, Will knows, because Mike is always doing everything he can to keep him happy. That’s three, though.
“He compliments her on her looks, tells her she’s beautiful, whether she knows it or not.”
It takes a second to recall, but Will is reminded of the night of the winter dance just last year. Neither of them had dates, so he and Mike were going together and meeting the rest of the Party there. Mike was picking him up, and the moment Will met him by the door he looked over his appearance and said, “You look… wow. Will, you… Great.” That’s four.
“He lets you fall asleep in his arms, even if he has things to be doing.”
Will can’t count the times that’s happened. Perhaps his favorite memory of the sort was one that occurred just a week or two ago, when they were playing an Atari game in Mike’s basement. Will started yawning uncontrollably but didn’t express wanting to go to sleep. After several minutes of near-constant yawning, Mike told him, “Will, you need to sleep.” After Will explained he didn’t want to go settle down in his sleeping bag on the floor while Mike was still up alone playing, Mike said in an odd, offhanded tone, “Just lay your head down on me while I play, and I’ll wake you when I’m done. We can go to bed at the same time then, okay?” Will had nodded and thus it went.
Will smiles softly to himself as he thought of how nice it felt when he slept with Mike, be it on him or beside him. It truly warms his heart.
“He gets her mad, purposefully or not, and kisses her, with meaning.”
Tough, because Will and Mike rarely fight and, obviously, have never kissed. Well, on the mouth at least, he thinks as he recalls Mike getting heated in a pointless discussion over details for a D&D campaign and yelling at him, before apologizing profusely once he’d realized and pulling Will into his side and kissing his temple softly as he mumbled he was sorry over and over again. It kind of broke Will’s heart a little.
“He stays up all night with her when she’s sick, and does anything she needs.”
Will and Mike have done that for each other anytime one was sick. It’s just how it is.
“He just walks around with her, aimlessly, just to spend time alone together.”
Maybe not walking, but biking for sure.
“He watches her favorite movie with her, whenever she wants.”
The boys take turns picking.
“And… maybe most importantly, he will always look at her like she’s the only girl in the world,” Melissa finishes.
“Wow,” Jamie breathes out. “That seems like a lot.”
“Yeah, and that’s not even everything I could think of.”
Will stops listening as he thinks. How does Mike look at him? It’s not really something he’s ever thought of before. He tries picturing Mike’s different expressions he’s seen, but he guesses he just smiles at him most of the times he’s looking at him, big, bright, and toothy. His eyes crinkle at the edges, and his eyes look full of… well, Will’s not quite sure what emotion it is. Probably just excitement at seeing his best friend, he figures.
“So, do you think your guy qualifies as the perfect man?” he hears Melissa inquire of her friend.
Jamie hesitates just a moment before answering, “No… No, I don’t think he does.”
Will almost fails to hold back the instant, “Mine does,” that threatens to spill out of his mouth. He successfully stays silent and looks back to Mike. When he does, he finds his friend is already looking back at him, his head resting on his arms facing him, eyes focused directly on Will.
“What’ve you been thinking about, Will?” Mike asks, eyes scanning over Will’s face questioningly.
“Uh, nothing really,” Will rushes out. “I’m just super bored.”
“You’ve got something on your mind, I can tell. What is it? Is it a girl?”
“No, it’s- it’s stupid, don’t worry about it.”
“Will-”
“Mike.”
“Fine.” Mike sighs heavily and sits up, shaking his hair out. He glances up and meets Will’s eyes, which were already watching him with intent. “You seem off, dude. Are you still coming home with me?”
“Yeah, it’s my movie night, how could I skip?” Will asks with a small laugh, his heart missing a beat at the thought.
---
Will watches from the couch as Mike starts up Ghostbusters and moves to sit right next to him. Neither say too much as the film goes on, both having seen it several times already, but Will can’t stop thinking about the girls’ conversation earlier. Part of him wants so badly to bring it up, but what reason would he have to do so? And what if he accidentally mentions that he is 100% certain Mike is the perfect man for him? No way.
“So, ah,” Mike starts, grabbing Will’s attention. “When I first woke up in our free period earlier, I heard some girls talking about what made the ‘perfect guy’ or whatever.” He adds air quotes around the term for extra judgemental effect. “Did you hear all that? They were right in front of you.”
“I did, yeah,” Will affirms. He wonders if Mike really can read his mind. “Do you, ah… do you agree with what they were saying?”
“I guess so. I mean, if I were dating someone, or trying to date someone, I’d probably do most of those things.”
Will nods along awkwardly, unsure of what to say.
“Like, if I’m really into someone, they gotta know it. I feel like I’ve been doing all that stuff they were talking about, for a while, years, but I don’t think I’ve really gotten anywhere. I don’t think my intentions have been clear enough, y’know?”
Will isn’t sure he’s breathing anymore.
“I caught up with Melissa after class and asked what else would’ve been on her list.”
“Yeah?” Will quietly answers. “What’d she say?”
Mike waves a hand dismissively. “Lotta other standard things on the same page as the other stuff she said in class. But, there’s one that stuck out I think I’ve gotta give a shot.”
“What is it?”
Mike shifts to fully face Will and places a hand lightly on Will’s thigh. Will is now positive he is not breathing. “She said…” Mike leans in a little closer. “When he’s fallen in love, he has to say it, directly.”
“O...kay,” Will chokes out.
“Will.”
“Mike?”
“I have fallen in love. With you.” With that out in the air, the heavy words floating in the limited space between them, Mike inches even closer and presses a feather-light kiss to Will’s mouth. He lingers for a single, blissful moment before pulling back just slightly to gauge Will’s reaction.
“I… Mike.”
“Please, oh please don’t let me be wrong,” Mike blurts, starting to back away.
Will quickly grabs onto his shoulders and stops him where he is. “No, no, no! You’re not wrong. Mike, I… Mike, I love you too.” Mike’s fear instantly washes away and is replaced with a shining smile that’s suddenly coming closer, and oh, Will could definitely get used to that feeling. After separating again a few minutes later, Will says, “It’s funny, you know. I was listening to their whole conversation comparing their ideals to you. I could think of times you’d done all of those things. You really are the perfect man, Michael Wheeler.”
“Only for you, William Byers. Only for you.”
FIN.