Chapter Text
The back of Will’s head hits the wall faster than he's able to process what's happening. Mike is kissing him. When Will doesn’t reciprocate the motion, Mike pulls back, nearly throwing himself across the room and into the dresser opposite of where Will is pressed against the wall. They stare at each other. Will knows he’s in love with Mike. But Mike liking a guy in a non-platonic way? Not possible. But , Will reminds himself, that’s exactly the kind of thing that I was afraid of people thinking about me . So Will pushes himself off the wall and takes one step toward Mike who’s now frozen.
Will is standing in the middle of the room when he reaches out his arm, his fingertips a foot away from where he’d like them to be. He swallows hard, holding back the tears in his eyes as he takes another step, his fingertips brushing against Mike’s sweater. Mike looks at Will’s hand, watching as it’s moved from his bicep down to the inner side of his elbow, the inside of his wrist, and at last, his palm. Will barely lets his finger graze Mike’s skin, looking from their hands to Mike’s face, trying to get a read for how Mike is feeling. He takes Mike’s hand, bringing them to their faces, causing the two to be pulled close together, their noses brushing against one another as they breathe heavily. Mike rests his forehead against Will’s, only for Will to fall against him a moment later, their tear-stained cheeks lying against one another.
Mike places his free hand on Will’s back, rubbing up and down in a comforting motion while Will brings his hand up to rest on Mike’s chest. Then, he brings his hand up to Mike’s face, looking him in the eyes before kissing him again, but this kiss was different. It was…soft. Like they knew what this meant for them, even if their tears said enough on their own.
July
“Is that everything?” Karen asks as she and Joyce come in with the last boxes.
“Not everything,” Mike says, giving his mom a hug. Will does the same with his, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
“If anything happens you let me know, okay?” Joyce says, more toward Mike than, knowing that Will hates telling her when things are happening again.
“Of course, Mrs. Byers,” Mike says, waving as she and Karen leave out the front door. Mike and Will turn to each other with big smiles on their faces, and when they’re sure their mothers are far down the walkway they let out the biggest laughs and cheers. When they finally settle down they look at the box-filled space around them. They had a lot to do. Will watches as Mike finds the brand new phone they bought, quickly figuring out how to set it up and hanging it on the wall. As soon as it’s ready, he immediately dials Lucas’s phone number and, as he suspected, Dustin, Max, and El are all there helping him pack up his room.
“Guess who just finished moving all their boxes into the new house?” Mike says through the phone, and Will can hear the hollering through the phone from across the room. “Yeah, Will and I decided to help each other get ours done today. Our moms helped, too, but…yeah, yeah, I think we’re just gonna get our own rooms set up and whatnot and maybe set up the table we bought for the kitchen…he’s at the other side of the room. Do you want- okay. Yeah. Okay, yeah, I’ll tell him. Have fun packing. Can you put El on? El? Hey babe…Yeah. Yeah, things are good. I’m excited to see you tomorrow…I know, I know, but Will and I have a lot of unpacking to do, but when you bring your stuff over tomorrow I might be able to help a bit…my interview is on Monday. Why?...El, hey, babe, I hate to cut you off but- yeah, yeah, I have to go…alright…yeah, you too…bye.”
Mike hangs up the phone and turns to Will who’s just staring at him, but when Mike goes to ask why Will just rolls his eyes and starts going through boxes, beginning to carry them to their respective rooms while Mike follows him with boxes for the same rooms, nagging him about what he was going to say but didn’t. After everything they’ve been through, they agreed that they’d have no more secrets, and that was non-negotiable and went for everything. After they get the last of the boxes moved to the right rooms, Will finally stops, sighing and turning to face Mike with a disappointed look on his face.
“Why couldn’t you just tell her?”
“Tell her what?”
“What do you think, Mike? That you love her, too.”
“I-”
“I know that I’m your best friend but I’m also El’s brother. I have to be there for her just as much as I’m there for you. So why won’t you tell her? I mean, you’ve been dating since eighth grade, Mike, and only once have you ever said that you loved her but it wasn’t even to her face, and she’s noticed.”
“No she hasn’t.”
“She talks to me about your relationship all the time. One of the things she talks about is how she wishes you would say that you loved her again.”
“I don’t know. It’s just…it’s hard. How do I even know that I really love her?”
“If you have to ask yourself that question after being together for as long as you have, then you already have your answer.”
“Will-”
“I have to go set up my room,” Will says, leaving Mike in his own room to do the same.
Will enters his new room, the third biggest out of all of them. Mike insisted he and El share the biggest room, but Lucas and Max said they could have the second biggest, taking the grand master to themselves. That left Dustin and Will to work out who got the smallest two rooms, but Dustin happily took the smaller one claiming that if Will was going to follow his passion of art he was going to need a big room- an argument that came up at the very beginning when the two couples in the friend group began fighting over the biggest room, but was quickly dismissed on the fact that “a bachelor doesn’t need as much room as two people in a growing relationship”, which, what the fuck? After that, though, Will gave up and thanked Dustin for having his back, offering him the bigger of the small rooms, but when Dustin declined his offer he knew that was the end of that discussion.
Now, Will stands in the room looking around at the white walls and carpeted floor. Carpet. Thankfully they’d already gotten permission from their landlord to do any renovations they pleased, so long as the layout of the house stayed the same. Will sets the tools he’s been carrying on the floor outside of his room, immediately getting to work. He takes up all of the carpet flooring in the time that Mike is able to put all of his furniture together, but Will is dead set on his plan that he has. Before putting in the new wood flooring, Will tapes the edges of the walls and sets down four buckets of paint, one for each wall. He would be painting three of the walls a light cream-like color. The fourth wall he’s decided will be sage green. Though he doesn’t typically like the color green, it’ll match perfectly with the rest of the walls and the flooring he’s picked out.
Will opens the cans, stirring the paint together to make sure it’s mixed properly and then gets straight to painting, already having picked out which wall he wants to be his pop of color. By the time he’s finished painting, Mike has everything but his usual clutter and decorations put up, so Will knows he’ll be sleeping on their new couch tonight. There was simply no way he’d be able to put in new flooring and put up his bed before he needed to go to bed. Will looks around his room, setting the paintbrush he has across the top of an empty container, wiping the back of his hand across his forehead. That’s when Mike knocks on his open door, a small smile on his face. It’s obvious he wasn’t planning on going in, but after seeing how exhausted Will looked he simply had to have a look around, and by the look on his face, Will can tell he’s in awe.
“You did all of this on your own? All by yourself?” Mike asks, looking at each wall individually and then taking one good spin around the room, connecting it all together.
“Yeah,” Will says, trying not to make it obvious as he regains his breath after all of the work he’s done, but based on Mike’s next question it’s clear that he’s failed.
“Are you okay?” Mike asks, his voice the softest and quietest it could be while still being audible. His ‘Will voice’, as everyone has deemed it, but that wasn’t a bad thing. Of course Mike was going to have a soft spot for him. They’ve been best friends since kindergarten. Anyone would have something special just for that person.
“I’m okay, Mike. Really okay. In fact, I’ve never been better,” Will says, and it’s clear that it’s the truth by his reaction to his own words, a big smile appearing on his face as he admires his own work.
“Let’s go get something to eat. You pick the place, I’ll pay.”
“Mike, no. You’re already paying more rent than the rest of us. I can’t ask you to do that.”
“Will, I said I’ll pay. Besides, it’s just until El starts that waitressing job.”
“I know, but-”
“No buts. Come on,” Mike says, lazily throwing his arm around Will’s shoulder and dragging him out of the house. The shoulder thing. They’d been doing that for…Will can’t even remember when it started, now that he thinks about it, but it’s always been their thing- Mike lazily letting his arm hang around Will’s neck and shoulders, almost in a protective way (even if there wasn’t any danger). But Will didn’t mind. The closeness he felt with Mike when he did that? It was hard for him not to have done the one thing he told his mom he’d never do.
Summer, 1985
“Gross,” Will says after his mother has wiped a lipstick stain from his older brother’s, Jonathan’s, cheek and shooing him out the door.
“I don’t think you’re going to think it’s gross when you fall in love,” she says almost knowingly.
“I’m not gonna…fall in love,” Will says as he unscrews the top of the syrup bottle, only one thought passing through his mind- Mike.
“Will?” Mike ponders, and Will realizes he’d zoned out. “Are you okay?”
“What? Yeah. Yeah, I’m good, I was just…I was thinking about my mom. Since El and I are moving out and Jonathan has already been on his own for a few years, it’s just her and Hopper now,” Will lies, but Mike doesn’t notice. At least, if he did, he didn’t make it known. He never would. Not unless it was something serious.
“Oh. Well, I’m sure she’ll be fine, right? I mean, Hopper was almost excited in some way for El to be moving out. It was almost bittersweet. Like he was sad she was leaving because he loves her so much, but happy that she’s become her own person, and I think that’ll rub off on your mom.”
“Yeah,” Will says, hating lying to Mike like this, but if he knew the truth? That’d be so much worse. Instead, Will plays everything off like it’s no big deal, always finding some excuse for everything.
The diner Will chooses is one that he and Mike have been to many times throughout the years, sometimes with their entire party, but usually just the two of them. Because of that, as soon as they walk through the doors they see plenty of familiar faces and within seconds their usual waitress is at their table with their milkshakes that they get every single time.
“One strawberry and one peanut butter chocolate shake,” she says, the biggest smile on her face. “Where have you two been? It’s been two weeks!”
“Sorry, Penny,” Mike says with a small laugh. “We’ve been packing a lot, and today the two of us got all of our stuff moved into the new place.”
“Oh, how exciting! What about the rest of the gang? Have they moved in yet too, or not yet?”
“Fortunately, no.”
“Well, when they do you have to tell them I say hi. Now, are you guys getting some actual food today or just the shakes?”
“Will?” Mike asks, a look on his face that Will can’t quite describe, but it’s nice. It’s one that he’s been seeing a lot lately. One that he hadn’t seen in a while. Not since-
“Just a stack of pancakes,” Will says, trying to think of anything but that .
“Are you sure? No bacon, eggs…” Penny asks.
“I’m sure.”
“Alright, and what about you, Wheeler?”
“Make it two stacks,” Mike says with a smile, and she nods and walks off to check on her other tables and take their order back to the kitchen. “Just a stack of pancakes?”
“What?”
“I don’t know, it’s just…weird. It’s not like you.”
“Mike, how many times tonight do I have to say I’m fine before you believe me?”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just…I worry about you, Will. You were kidnapped by scientists who abused kids. They really messed you up.”
“Yeah, in seventh grade, Mike! We’re starting our sophomore year of college next month. I’m fine,” Will says, and Mike knows that if he presses any further it’ll turn into an explosive fight.
In the entirety of the time that the two have known each other, they’ve only had one of those fights twice, and they were one summer after the other. The only reason they had the second is because they never fully recovered from the first one. The second one, though, was when they really hashed things out, how their relationship had changed. Except it hadn’t. It wasn’t their relationship that had changed. No. It was their other relationships with other people that had changed or developed. Like Mike’s relationship with El. That summer that Will swore he wouldn’t fall in love? That’s the summer that Mike said he loved El for the first and only time ever. That summer, everything between Mike and Will had changed. So the following spring when Mike finally took the blame and admitted his faults? That’s when they finally got back to being them.
“Once we get home I can help you put in the new flooring in your room.”
“Okay.”
“Can you believe El is getting a job here?”
“I believe it. She’s gonna do great. And it’s the perfect first job. She’s going to learn skills that she gets to take with her for the rest of her life.”
“I’m excited for her. I’m excited for everyone. Especially Max and Lucas.”
“He told you about the ring?”
“Of course he told me. I’m his best friend.”
“I think Dustin or Max holds that title now. Besides, Dustin said you can’t have more than one best friend, therefore I am your one and only best friend, and they’re all just going to have to deal with it.”
“Shut up,” Mike says, taking a sip of his shake- the chocolate one. Any time Will makes a mention of being his best friend, he does this. He gets shy, almost. Will sometimes does it on purpose, just to watch as Mike’s cheeks go bright red. It doesn’t make sense to him, but he loves it.
“Alright boys. Here’s your pancakes,” Penny says, bringing over a single plate containing four pancakes, two for each of them, a perfect sphere of butter on top, right in the center.
“Thank you, Penny,” Will and Mike say at the same time, and she fluffs Will’s hair before leaving once again.
The two boys finish their shakes and pancakes, chatting nonstop and never having an awkward moment the rest of dinner. That’s how it’s always been: bouncing off of one another in conversation, words flowing effortlessly like they were reading from a script, nothing but smiles and laughter all the way through. They get back to the house and put in Will’s new floor, sanding it over and over until it’s the right texture. They sweep the floor and look around, smiling and hugging each other as a way to congratulate themselves on their own accomplishment before sitting with their backs to the colored wall.
“Thank you,” Will says, the most sincere his voice has sounded all day.
“You would’ve done the same,” Mike says, turning to him and giving him that cheesy smile he always does, and Will would be lying if he said that it didn’t make his heart beat a little bit faster, because it does.
“Why the hell are the two of you sleeping on the floor?” A loud voice calls, startling Will and Mike into an awakened state.
“Jesus Christ, Dustin,” Mike groans, laying his head against the wall.
“Sorry,” he says with a shrug, walking down the rest of the hall to his room.
The layout of the house was, well, weird. Despite it looking like a two story house, it wasn’t. Yes, the first thing to your right when you walk inside the house is a staircase, but all it leads to is a big empty space with a bathroom in the corner. That was the biggest room. Downstairs, on the other hand, you had the living room, probably half the size of the upstairs. To the right of that was the kitchen and dining area, larger than the living room but still not too big, but rather the perfect size. It was big enough to have a breakfast bar and a breakfast nook, and since the party probably wasn’t going to be sitting down and having dinner together, it worked for them. Taking another right would lead you down a long hallway with five doors. The first one, which was on the left, led to Mike and El’s room, followed by a door on the right that led to Will’s room. After that was the bathroom and linen closet on the left and then Dustin’s room on the right, directly opposite the linen closet.
“Dude, your room is sick ,” Max exclaims, bounding into the room. Mike and Will look at each other, her extreme level of excitement being something she never really shows. “I’m digging the green. It looks killer. Did you two do all of this by yourselves?”
“I took up the carpet and painted everything by myself, but Mike helped with the floors after we went to the diner.”
“Cool, cool. Well, Lucas and I are loving the grand master. It’s so big. Like, I’m not sure we have enough stuff to put in there, but we’ll figure it out. Again, your room is awesome, Will. Mike…you and El should probably figure out a way to make your two different styles work together,” and with that, she leaves, going the opposite way of Dustin, presumably to continue helping Lucas with moving their stuff upstairs. At her last words, however, Mike and Will look at each other with wide eyes and race each other to Mike’s room. They find El with all of her boxes crammed into what is left of the room since Mike gave it his own charm.
“El?” Mike questions, peering his head into the room.
“Mike!” She yells excitedly, running over and throwing her arms around him, just like always.
“Hey, babe. I missed you,” Mike says, giving her a peck on the cheek.
“How are you?”
“I’m good. I’m good. Have you seen the closet yet?”
“Yes! It’s so big!”
“Do you think it’ll hold all of your clothes?”
“Oh, definitely. I’ve already started to put them all up. I like how you decorated.”
“Really? What about your own stuff?”
“We’ll find room.”
“Okay. Have you seen Will’s room yet? It’s super cool! And-”
“Will!” El says, cutting Mike off and going and giving Will a hug.
“Hey, El,” Will says, hugging her back.
“Did the paint turn out right? And what about the floors? Did they match like you wanted them to? You were so excited for it to have a woodsy magical feel, I hope I got the right things.”
“It’s perfect, El. Thank you,” Will says, smiling at her. She smiles back, and goes back to what she was doing before, all the while talking to Mike. Will looks at Mike who’s staring back, a look of confusion on his face.
El was the only person Will had told about his room plan. He knew she wouldn’t judge him at all, but rather give him more ideas. That’s why he trusted her to get all the supplies while he finished packing up his things. But for Will to not tell Mike? That was…well, it wasn’t normal.
Will leaves Mike’s room, not wanting to intrude any longer, and begins setting up his furniture and decorating his room. By the time he’s done, the only two left working are Max and Lucas, but with them having to go up and down stairs to bring boxes in, that was expected. While the two of them finish their room, everyone else sets up the living room and kitchen areas, El and Mike being god-awfully close the entire time. (Dustin and Will have never really cared for their relationship, but they put up with it. They care for Mike and El, and as long as the two are happy they’re happy for them. By the time evening comes around, the entire house is unpacked, every room having a distinct flair to it.)
“Should we all go out and get something to eat?” Mike asks when everyone is in the living room, El clinging to his arm as her head rests against his shoulder.
“Oh, yes!” El shouts, grinning from ear to ear.
“If El’s in, I’m in,” Max says, her and El always having been attached at the hip.
“I’m in by default,” Lucas says, his arm wrapping around Max’s waist.
“Dustin? Will?” Mike questions, turning to the two singles in the room.
“I think I’m gonna stay behind. Do some painting,” Will says, walking away and going to his room, and Mike immediately pulls his arm away from El. Will can hear him mumble something, but he doesn’t pay attention, closing his door and sitting on his bed. Not a moment later there’s light tapping on his door before Mike is slowly opening it, peeking his head inside.
“Will? Are you okay?” He asks in that voice.
“I’m fine, just tired. I’m not really in the mood to go out.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, Mike. I’m sure. Bring me home dessert?”
“You got it.”
And with that, Mike is gone and Will is left alone in his new room. He gets up, going to where his easel is and picking up one of the canvases. He sets it on the easel and looks at it for a long time before he picks up a pencil, the lightest of marks being made on the cotton. After that, he gets stuck, not knowing what to do, what colors to use. He thinks of maybe darkening his outline, but he decides against it. He wouldn’t want anyone coming in and seeing it. That wouldn’t go down quite well. Instead, he goes to the bathroom and showers, so many thoughts running through his head.
After his shower, Will stands at the counter in his pajama pants, leaning over the sink and using his hands to hold himself upright. His hair is sticking out everywhere, water dripping down his chest. His heart is beating out of his chest. Fuck, he thinks to himself, his breathe shuddering as he looks at himself in the mirror before opening the cabinet. The only thing inside is El’s beauty products and, of course, Will’s medication. He quickly grabs the container and pops off the lid, letting one of the pills slip out and into his hand, quickly throwing it in his mouth and swallowing it dry, just like he has every single night for the past six years. He puts the container back in the cabinet and slams it shut, looking at himself one last time. Then, just as he’s about to pull away from the counter, Mike busts into the room with a look of fear on his face.
“Will, are you okay? We just got home and I heard a loud noise.”
“Jesus, Mike! You scared the shit out of me!”
“I scared you? You scared me! What was that loud noise? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Mike. I was just closing the cabinet after taking my medicine. Next time, knock. I mean, seriously, Mike? What is with you lately?”
“Sorry, it’s just…I don’t know. Maybe it’s the whole moving thing. It doesn’t matter. I’m just glad that you’re okay,” Mike says, and Will swears he catches Mike looking at his bare chest, but he doesn’t say anything. Instead he smiles and pats Mike on the shoulder before brushing by him on his way out the door.
He goes to the kitchen to get a glass of water when he finds everyone is in the living room, staring at him and, as he should have guessed, Mike standing in the doorway of the hall looking at the floor.
“Mike! We just talked about this!” Will snaps, and Mike’s eyes dart straight to him.
“Sorry,” Mike mumbles, and Will rolls his eyes, that short interaction alone being enough to disperse their staring friends.
Dustin and El make their way down the hall to their respective rooms, El pausing in the door to whisper something to Mike and give him a peck on the cheek. Max and Lucas, on the other hand, let everyone know they’re going out for a drive that, in Max’s words, is so they "can reconnect with one another”, whatever that was supposed to mean. That left Will in the kitchen at the island counter with Mike still watching over him from the doorway. Will takes one last sip from his glass before setting it on the countertop, sending Mike the message that he either needs to come over and have a conversation or leave. As suspected, he does the former, sitting at one of the bar stools.
“In two years we’ll be able to have a bottle of brandy while doing this,” Mike jokes, drawing out a small chuckle from Will.
“What, and an ashtray between us for the cigarettes you start to smoke?” Will says back, perfectly matching his energy. “We need to talk about it, Mike. I mean really talk.”
“I know.”
“I just don’t get it. You’re never like this. I mean, you are, but not like this . For all you know I could’ve just slipped in the shower and you just bust in there like that? I just…I don’t get it. Like, is it me? Am I the one reading too much into it or…?”
“No. No, you’re right. I have been way too overprotective lately and I honestly don’t know why. Maybe it’s because of moving into a new place, maybe it’s not. Maybe I’m just scared that since we’re getting older and since we’re grown up that things are going to change and so I’m scared to lose you. I mean, of course I am. I’ve always been scared of losing you. All of you. But it’s different with you. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because we’ve been friends for so long, but…I don’t know. It’s stupid.”
“Hey, I do some pretty stupid things too.”
“Crazy and stupid.”
“Together,” Will says, holding up his pinky finger, a big grin on his face.
Halloween, 1984
“Sometimes I feel like I’m going crazy,” Mike says, turning to look at Will for his response.
“Me too,” Will says, the trauma he went through still holding a tight grip on him.
“Well if we’re both going crazy, we’ll go crazy together, right?” Mike says, his closed-mouth smile being one of the few things that stayed constant from before he’d been kidnapped.
“Yeah. Crazy together,” Will says, returning that contagious smile.
Mike smiles back, just like he did all those years ago, taking Will’s pinky in his. “Together.”