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Mike tried to recompose himself, tried to breathe first of all. His heart was racing like he had just run the longest marathon of his life instead of what actually happened.
Will kissed him. Fuck.
But there was no time to ponder upon that, the way he ran away from him...he was pretty sure he heard the front door open as well.
Mike might have known where Will would usually hide when being upset in Hawkins, but here...he had no idea of where he could have gone.
His feet felt like bags of sand when he was finally able to move, but he didn’t care, his priority now was to find Will, make sure he was physically okay and then try to untangle all the emotional mess they just made.
As soon as he got out of Will’s room, El stepped right in front of him.
“What happened? I heard Will-”
“Not now” Mike rushed past her. He didn’t want to leave her worrying but all he had in mind was to find him.
He strutted his way to the front porch, ignoring El calling his name, although he could hear her steps getting closer, and she would probably try to question him if he didn’t start moving fast enough.
In front of him were the rest of the suburbs, clean looking average houses; but then he remembered all the trees he’d seen on his way here. The woods, that’s where Will must be.
He saw Will’s bike resting on the ground beside him and went for it with no hesitation.
The bike wasn’t really meant for Mike’s awkwardly long limbs so it was a bit hard to maneuver it at first, but because of some miraculous force or something, it turned out to be good enough for Mike to get to the woods faster than if he just went by foot.
Once there, he left the bike unattended and ran through the thick foliage, calling out Will’s name in the process.
He must have been too preoccupied with his thoughts, though, because he ended up tripping on a comically large root, which sent him rolling down some kind of slope.
When his back finally settled on the ground, he opened his eyes, this part of the woods didn’t seem like the one he entered through. Something about the aura surrounding it made Mike uneasy, and his worry for Will even worse. Now he really fucked up, he thought as he got up as quickly as his body would allow him.
Mike took a look around, there were more spaces between the trees and-
He noticed something laying on the dirt. His legs almost made him trip over himself again with how quickly he tried to get to the piece of striped fabric.
He held it in his hands, it was part of Will’s t-shirt.
If something or someone hurt Will just because of how stupid and selfish he was…
A drop fell on the dirty fabric he was holding up, then two; and great, now there was a drizzle.
Mike tucked the piece on his pants pocket and followed straight from the direction in which he had found it. Now he really had to hurry.
Running with his new trainers through the muddy dirt wasn’t what Mike was expecting to happen that day quite frankly, his hurried steps were splattering his exposed legs and he was almost certain he was running out of breath; but none of that mattered, he had to find Will and make sure he was okay, there was no other option.
After what felt like an eternity, something in his peripheral vision caught his eye, it wasn’t just a bunch of the same trees. No, it looked like something resembling a cave. He stopped dead on his feet.
“Will?” He asked the rocks. “Will, are you okay? I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean what I said, I promise. I just want you to be fi-”
He didn’t get to finish his sentence due to a big wave of air knocking him backwards and directly into the trunk of a tree. After the initial shock of pain, his brain started catching up.
“El?” He whispered confused, looking in every direction to see if the girl had actually caught up to him. But she was nowhere to be found.
Then, something happened. Something that almost knocked Mike off his feet even harder than that initial wave of air did.
Will. He emerged from the shadows of the cage. But it wasn’t that what surprised him.
His nose. It was bleeding from one of his nostrils.
“What are you doing here?” Will’s face was indescifrable, Mike noticed right away the piece of fabric that was missing from his t-shirt, leaving a portion of pale skin exposed and beginning to drip with it’s new exposure to the rain. Focus, Mike thought.
He scrambled to his feet as best as he could; his brain was still trying to juggle this new information about Will, their earlier fight and whatever was happening right now.
“Will, I-” He stopped, taking a second to think again and then settling with what he came for first. “I’m really sorry about everything I said, and I promise I mean it.”
Will still looked unimpressed, well, he would have to work with what he’s got.
“Can you let me explain myself fully now? Because earlier I got wrapped up in the heat of the moment and said things that didn’t make sense, but I really want to make everything clear now.”
He put every single emotion into what he just said, trying to somehow make Will know how much this means to him without him having to explicitly say it.
Will looked like he was thinking about it. He crossed his arms above his chest.
“Go on” He said, refusing to meet Mike's eyes.
Mike sighed, okay, the whole powers thing would have to stay on the back burner for now. He was actually relieved about it. He needed to get this off his chest first.
He walked a little closer to Will so he could appreciate his expressions more.
“When I walked there, into your room, it was...like a bomb about to explode. I knew that you were probably going to be upset, because the truth is...I did know why you were avoiding me”
Will’s mouth opened up to speak.
“Let me finish” Mike held both his hands up in defense.
“I knew the reason you were avoiding me and I didn’t know how to cope with it, okay? I had plenty of time to think about what happened last summer, while you were away, and...I still went in and asked you because I was so confused, I still kind of am, just a little. That’s why I said that horrible thing about caring more about El, because you accused me of not doing anything to change the situation like I haven’t even tried, when the truth is that I was way too terrified of what I was feeling to even attempt to do something about it.”
Will’s neutral facade, slowly but surely, began dissolving throughout Mike’s speech. The latter noticed this.
“I...didn’t want things to change, Will. I was so sure of everything until that last time we said goodbye to each other, remember?”
Will nodded, more open but still looking serious with the dried blood on his nose.
”You told me that it was not possible for you to join another party, and it was one of the most reassuring things anyone has ever told me.” This last statement, though, seemed to confuse Will.
“What do you mean?” He tightened the cross of his arms.
Mike looked down, shoulders slumped. Fuck, this was really happening, huh? Will had just bared his soul to him and got treated like shit, it was only fair he spilled some of his true feelings too.
He didn’t think he would be able to do it if it wasn’t for Will’s courage to do so first. He really owed him everything.
Mike looked up, Will was still expecting an answer, the rain was most likely about to make him sick in the future, he better hurry up.
“I don’t feel the same way about El anymore. I like her a lot, sure, she’s still one of my closest friends but I just can’t be with her...romantically. It doesn’t feel right anymore.”
Will considered it for a couple of seconds.
“You said you cared more about her than you did about me.” The way Will’s voice trembled as he spoke those words almost made Mike want to shut off again, to abort this mission and go back to safety; but he had to do this, Will deserved to know.
“I said that because you were being so open about your own feelings and that made...that made my own want to come out, and it got me really really scared. I needed to put up some barrier so I came up with that stupid lie as a last resource.”
Will walked up to him, stopped a few feet away.
“Mike, why did those feelings scare you?”
A tear rolled down Mike’s cheek.
“Because-” His voice cracked. Will walked closer to him, a hesitant hand resting on his shoulder as a way of comforting him, Mike rested his own on top of his. “Because the feelings I thought I had for El…” A sob escaped through his parted lips.
“It’s okay, breathe.” Will was now talking with that soft calm voice that Mike loved so much, and god, it’s been so long since he last heard it.
Mike took Will’s hand on his shoulder and squeezed it, he responded with a sad smile.
“Those are the feelings I have for you, Will.”
The shorter boy didn’t say anything, in fact neither of them did for a long time, he just opened his arms to welcome Mike into a hug, which he basically threw himself into right away.
They were both completely soaking wet, and now that they weren’t as worried and tense as before, they felt the cold breeze that brushed past their bodies, making them hold each other even tighter. Mike was still crying into the crook of Will’s neck while he caressed the wet curls of his head and whispered “It’s okay” time and time again.
After a while, Mike stopped crying, he pushed back just enough to brush his nose against Will’s, he smiled.
“Can I kiss you?” Mike whispered with pleading puffy eyes.
Will grinned and standing on the tip of his toes, he pressed his lips into Mike’s. The other responded right away, he held Will closer by the waist so tight that he lifted his feet slightly off the ground, which only made the smaller boy more thrilled to have his mouth aligned right with his. With this new advantage the kiss deepened. Lightning and thunder decorated the scene.
Will didn’t actually know if things were going to be okay after all, but that was fine, as long as he had the boy he loved by his side.