Work Text:
Will was at the table eating breakfast, Jonathan and Joyce were out at work and he had nothing to do for the day. Home alone again, until he heard a knocking on the door. Who would just show up without letting him know first?
Will made his way to the door only to be greeted by none other than a smiley Mike Wheeler.
“Will, hey!” Great, the last person Will wanted to see. “So, just wondering, why did you get rid of your D&D books?” Mike was basically letting himself into the house. He had always been welcomed before, I guess he didn’t think anything had changed. But it had.
“It’s not like we used them very much.” Will was already making his way back to his cereal, slumping into the wooden seat. Mike frowned at him, because of course he did.
“What do you mean? We used them all the time.”
“Not when I got rid of them last year,” He looked up from his bowl to give Mike a fake smile, it was pointed and he could tell Mike knew, “And anyway, Erica has them now and she’s making much better use of them. Or so I’ve heard.” Another pointed glare to Mike, just to drive the point home.
“Oh yeah, she’s in Hellfire with us now, she’s actually a really good player.” Mike could sense the awkward tension, but persisted on getting closer to Will. He pulled out the seat across from him and promptly sat down, trying to understand the expression on the other boy's face.
“Glad they went to someone who’s actually a ‘good player’ this time.” Will couldn’t stand to be anywhere near Wheeler, so he finished his cereal and dropped his bowl in the sink.
“That’s not what I meant, Will.” Mike sighed, deciding he’s taken enough of this hostile energy, “What’s going on with you lately? Ever since we got back from Cali you’ve just been, I don’t know, mad?”
“Hmmm, let me think about it for a second.” He faked contemplation, putting a hand to his chin in thought, “Oh, maybe it’s that my best friend ignored every letter I sent to him, then ignored me when he came to visit, and then wanted to pretend like everything was fine, you know, when he finally acknowledged me. And you know, I was willing to but then…” Will trailed off, like he realized he couldn’t really say what he wanted to.
“Look, I know I was being an asshole, but can we please put that behind us? I just want my best friend back” Mike flashed the smile that he always did, and at one point it would’ve been endearing to Will, it would’ve given him butterflies in his stomach. Now, it just made him resent Mike more.
Mike held out his hand to shake on it, like they always used to do. Will looked down at the hand and back up to Mike, his eyebrows raised. He turned around and walked back to the living room, hoping Mike would get the hint and go away. He didn’t.
“Seriously, Will, I know you can’t be that mad at me just because I didn’t return some letters.” ‘Just because’ Will turned it over in his head. Yeah, because you ‘just’ basically forget your best friend exists. Honestly, Will’s just had enough of his bullshit excuses, maybe he can finally get Mike to just leave him alone.
“You know what, Mike? When I moved to California, I was relieved-”
“Yeah, because you were away from the Upside Down.” Mike said it like he was trying to convince himself. Like he knew deep down there had been another reason, he just didn’t want to admit it.
“No, Mike, because I was away from you.” Will started creeping into Mike’s space, trying to be a little intimidating, “I was so relieved because I didn’t have to deal with you.”
“Deal with me? What is that supposed to mean?” Mike was shocked that Will would ever say that, no matter how mad he got.
“You just- you wouldn’t get it!” Will’s tone started getting weighed down with a deeper sadness. The emotions from the back of the Surfer Boys van flooding his senses.
“Will, I’ve been your best friend since kindergarten, you can talk to me.” Mike was trying to be calm, he was trying to be understanding. That was the problem, Will always went back to Mike, he used to be good at comforting Will. Not this time, he was the thing Will needed to be comforted about.
“I can talk to you? Where were you when I was bawling my eyes out tearing down castle Byers? Where were you when I was being called ‘zombie boy’ everyday at school? Where were you when I was in California writing you letters that you never returned?” His eyes burned with the implication of tears forming. He would not cry.
Mike was quiet for a while, not quite wrapping his head around all that had been said
“You tore down castle Byers?” That was all he could get out.
“See, Mike! You don’t even notice what’s going on around you! You never notice!” He can’t even notice his own faults, Will thought but didn’t say.
“I want to notice, I’ve just been distracted.”
“Distracted by what? By El? Don’t put this on her.” Will loves El like a sister, he’s not mad at El for this, this was all Mike’s doing. He put this on himself.
“Will that’s- that’s not what I meant” Again, Mikes voice got calmer it was infuriating. Did he just not care enough to get mad? “And anyways me and El, we’re not together anymore.”
“Does it really matter that you’re not together anymore?” Why are they talking about Mike’s relationship status right now? It has nothing to do with Mike being an asshole.
“No, Will, it does matter because” He took a step towards Will, but Will took two steps back, “Because I broke up with her. I mean it was kind of a mutual thing, but I brought it up.”
“Oh, and you think just because you broke up with your girlfriend everything with us is going to get better?” He couldn’t believe what he was fucking hearing right now, “That just because you’ll have more ‘free time’ means that everything you’ve done is just fine now?”
“No, I- I know I fucked up, but just give me a chance to make it better okay?” He gave Will his pouting face with his sad eyes. Those fucking eyes, always giving Will a hard time saying no. Saying that he doesn’t want to be friends anymore, now because he’s mad, and back in the van because he was lovesick.
“Mike you ignored me for months” The tears started spilling down his cheek, but he didn’t dare to look at Mike, “You ignored me for months and I still couldn’t stop fucking thinking about you.”
“Wha-”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about your stupid perfect hair that only you could pull off, and your dumb fucking smile that always made me smile with you. And your fucking eyes, it’s not fair really” Will took a couple steps away from Mike, bracing for the worst, “It’s not fair that all the kids in middle school were right, and it’s definitely not fair that you were the one to make me realize.”
Will felt like he was closing in on himself, would that have really been so bad?
“Will,” He felt a hand on his arm pulling him back to reality, “I’ve been a really shitty best friend, hell even just a shitty friend in general. I genuinely am really sorry for that. I’m not gonna lie to you, I didn’t come here to ask about the D&D books, or to get in a fight with you. I, actually, came here to talk about my breakup with El-”
“ Jesus fucking Christ, Mike can you see it’s not the tim-”
“And why I broke up with her. Will, I see you. I know it’s kinda stupid, but after you showed me your painting I remembered a note El wrote me. She said she knew you were making a painting, but that you wouldn’t show her. She also said she thought it was for a girl, but I knew that couldn’t be true.” He smiled at Will, and he had to admit it was a pretty funny joke. Will chuckles at it.
“And then you showed me, and you gave that amazing ‘Only Will Byers Would Know What To Say’ speech, like you always do. I was dumb to think you were actually talking about my love life. I guess it should’ve clicked then and there, but I've never been the smart one. Maybe if I’d been smarter, I would’ve done this sooner.”
“Done what?” and that's when it happened. That’s when Mike Wheeler leaned over and kissed Will Byers.
As quickly as it happened it stopped. Will was just standing, completely flabbergasted. What the fuck? Will had hoped for this day for so long and this was definitely not what he was expecting.
“Just so you know, this doesn’t excuse the past two years of assholery, okay?” Will went in to kiss Mike again, and grinned against his lips at just how weird this whole situation was.
But how could Will ever stay mad at Mike? That was his one weak spot: Mike Wheeler. The boy who met him in kindergarten on a swing set and made them friends. The only person he remembered when he got fucking possessed.
“Still wanna be best friends with me, Will?” Mike was smug and confident and so very different to Will.
“Mike, I swear to god, that would be the icing on the cake that is the tragic life of Will Byers. I would never forgive you.” Will’s arms were around Mike's waist, while Mikes were on Will's face, cupping his cheeks.
The door opens and Will finds Jonathan in the doorway. He takes in the appearance of the boys, completely unsurprised.
“I forgot something for work.” Jonathan walked past them to his bedroom. Mike and Will looked at each other with pure shock for a moment before bursting into laughter. Mike’s head resting on Will's shoulder as he laughs. Soon Jonathan was back out, briskly walking to the door.
“Wheeler, a word of warning, if you hurt Will again, you won’t live to regret it this time.” He looked at Mike with distrust but a small bit of hope, “Will, we’ll talk about this when I get home.” He turned to open the door, but before he left he turned back to the boys and addressed both of them.
“You’re lucky me and Nance broke up, otherwise this would be quite weird.” And he walked out like he didn’t just change the boy's world views.
—
A couple days later the Byers decided to have a gathering for the ‘We Survived Eldritch Horrors’ group. The natural grouping was a funny thing, Robin, Nancy, Steve, and Eddie were all sitting at a table by themselves, talking in whispered hushes and small glances. Max and El were standing and listening to some music on Max’s Walkman. Lucas, Dustin, Mike, Will, and, surprisingly, Jonathan were sitting at a table talking about a campaign Eddie had run for Hellfire, recently.
Eddie had offered Will a spot in Hellfire, it took some convincing but finally Will agreed to join for a one-shot and decide from there. He was excited to finally get back into D&D after so long, and Mike was excited for him as well.
Something about a relationship with Mike was just so much better than Will had thought. Mike was extremely caring, and thoughtful. They hadn’t told anyone about their relationship yet, well except for Jonathan who they didn’t really tell. Will had a feeling that there would be no problems for the group, he also thought there were some other secret relationships going on, too.
Will’s hand was resting on the table, Mike sitting next to him. He looked at Will, asking a question with his eyes. Will nodded, there’s really no point in keeping it secret. Mike, like it was the most natural thing in the world, intertwined his hand with Wills.
Jonathan smiled quietly, while Dustin and Lucas kind of looked at them for a second, eyes shifting between both boys and their hands on the table and just continued their conversation. Eventually everyone made their way to the same table, Steve and Eddie first, after Dustin called Eddie to settle a debate about one of his campaigns.
Steve was the first to verbally acknowledge Mike and Will and it was not what Will was expecting.
“Eds, look at Wheeler and Byers, you owe me ten.” That’s when Robin and Nancy made their way over to check why everyone was staring at Steve like he had three heads. They gave small smiles to each other as they saw Will and Mike.
El and Max were the last ones to check out what was going on, Max sat next to Lucas and put her head on his shoulder. El smiled at Mike and Will, Will was relieved at this. Mike told him the situation with their break up, how El had some stuff to figure out about herself and, well, how Mike had figured some stuff out about himself.
—
At some point during the day Will saw Eddie and Steve holding hands, and then Nancy and Robin later too. It really was strange how their group had ended up. But it definitely wasn’t a bad thing.
That was the thing about their group that Will loved. They’d went through so much already that a couple of queer people were the least of their worries. How could they be when they’d seen way stranger things?