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As Will rode his bike up the familiar road to the Wheelers, a recently developed feeling bubbled up in his chest, and he began grinning cheesily as he parked his bike by the side of the house and made his way to the front door.
Mrs. Wheeler, who had become somewhat of a second mother to him, welcomed him with a warm smile and gestured up the stairs to Mike's room where he was. Will, having somewhat relaxed his face, smiled again at his name.
Mike's door was open just the slightest, and Will peeked through at him sitting on his bed and his heart fluttered at the sight of him. For a moment, Will let himself admire his peaceful resting face, the way his ever growing hair gently fell in front of his beautifully defined cheekbones as he focused on a DnD handbook in front of him.
Will pushed the door open and Mike glanced up at him, breaking into a smile the moment he saw Will.
"Hey! You're early. Dustin and Lucas aren't here yet." They had invited El, but she wanted to stay and watch Miami Vice with Hopper, something she never missed once and they would have invited Max, if she hadn't been in a coma for the last 5 months and constantly worried for by her friends and family.
"Yeah, I know." Will sat down on the end of the bed, and Mike adjusted to sit next to him. "I wanted to come early…to see you."
"Aw," Mike teased, and bumped his shoulder against Will's, who felt sparks fly through his body at the contact. Will hesitantly moved his hand against Mike's, who smiled ever so softly, and took Will's hand in his.
Will looked up at Mike, who met his eyes after a quick moment. Will slowly brought the hand not intertwined with Mike's up to his face, and Mike smiled against it. Mike then leaned forward against Will's lips and brought his own hand to Will's head. His eyes fell closed, and Will followed.
Over the past 4 months, the feeling of Mike's lips against Will's and his hands buried in his hair had become a common occurrence. For Will, things still had a layer of surrealism, and the hesitant gestures on his part had only somewhat faded. On the opposite end, the moment they began dating Mike had latched onto Will in a similar way he would anytime Will needed him before, but rather than solely deep talks and the occasional hand holding, Mike would lovingly hold his face as he kissed him and Will melted under his touch.
However, as soon as their moments began any level of awkwardness and hesitation fell away and Will pressed against his lips with deep desperation, the desperation of years of suppressed feelings finally being addressed.
Mike snaked his arms around Will's waist to pull him closer, eventually sliding Will onto his lap as he clung to Mike, his palms against his cheeks and fingers dipping into his dark, ever so slightly curly hair.
Something about the way Mike kissed him felt so natural, even if leading up to it was the hardest part for Will. Maybe it was the fact that for years, Will had convinced himself that these feelings weren't okay or weren't right, and now anytime he thought about pressing his lips against Mike's he still fell back into the habit of shoving it away. Although the instant his thoughts became a reality, he felt more comfortable than he ever had been.
Will was sure that the reason he fell so hard for Mike in the first place was because of how close they had already been. Mike knew everything about him and soon became one of the only people, if not the only person, to understand or at least be able to comfort Will in the way he needed it. Eventually, Mike became the person Will thought about most, and the person he wanted to see more than anyone else. Although he never let himself dream of being able to, he soon found himself in the receiving end of a love confession shortly after Mike and El broke up and let himself hold onto Mike like a lifeline.
Mike began to dip himself backwards, and Will followed him down to the mattress.
In hindsight, at least one of them should have heard the footsteps coming up the stairs or the not-so-quiet conversation that came along with it, but they were too invested in each other to even have it register in their minds to break apart before someone saw them.
"Hey Mike, where's your…" Dustin trailed off when he swung the door wide open, Lucas directly behind him.
Mike immediately shoved Will off, and he fell to the floor in an embarrassed mess. Will covered his ever reddening face with his hands and Mike pressed his lips together, avoiding the gaze of Dustin and Lucas.
Everyone was silent for a good minute, not anyone sure of what to say at all, and the heavy silence began to be unbearable for Will.
"Well…" Lucas was the first to speak, pressing his palms together and glancing between everyone. "Congratulations!"
"Thanks," Mike flatly responded immediately, which did not help the awkward tension in the air. Will rolled his eyes and sat up where he was, crossing his legs on the floor.
"I'm serious! I'm really happy for you guys! I always felt kinda bad that Will never really had anyone so I'm glad he's now not the one guy without someone. And I felt similarly when El dumped you-"
"It was a mutual agreement," Mike cut in, finally facing Lucas and Dustin.
Will snorted and shook his head. "Not really."
Mike turned to Will, rolling his eyes all while a husk of a smile crossed his face and he shook his head. "Whatever. It doesn't matter anymore."
"So, uh," Dustin bit at his lip and looked between the two of them before glancing behind him, out the door, and deciding to close it. "How long have you guys been together?"
Will and Mike glanced at each other. "About 4ish months."
"And you never told us?" Lucas didn't sound angry, but more confused with a touch of hurt in his tone.
Will focused on the ground and swallowed. "I don't know. Sorry. It's just…"
"It's hard," Mike finished for him, and Will nodded while still facing the floor. "It's not like when you and Max started dating, you knew we would all be okay with it, there wasn't even a question there because why wouldn't we be okay with it, right? But with us, there's no real way to know who is okay, even with our closest friends."
"It's not that we don't trust you, it's just…" Will felt his throat close up suddenly, and his vision became foggy. Mike was at his side immediately, sensing the tears before they fell, pulling close to him and wrapping his arms around Will while Dustin and Lucas were right behind, forming a group hug around him.
Will's shoulders shook as he heaved out loud sobs, feeling embarrassed about how much he hurt everytime this sort of thing was brought up. He knew it was mostly because of Lonnie, and Mike had been able to help him work through a lot of his trauma, dealing with some of his own as well albeit none as bad as Will had it. Even so, the thought of his friends hating him was too much to bear sometimes.
"Will, we love you no matter what, okay? Nothing will change that," Lucas reassured him as they broke from the hug (although Mike left an arm around his waist), and Dustin nodded along with him.
"Yeah, totally. You're our friend and that's the only thing that matters."
Will nodded, squeezing his eyes shut to stop any further tears. "Thanks guys," he croaked out.
"Yeah, of course." The group all shared a smile, before Dustin began to stand up, looking at the others as though he expected them to do the same. Lucas stood up right after, and Will was helped up by Mike after a brief moment to catch his breath. "So do you guys want to start that movie or what?"
After the group made their way down to Mike's basement, he popped in a tape of Return Of The Jedi, and they all squished onto the old couch.
A little into the movie, Mike glanced at Will, then at Lucas and Dustin on the other side of the couch. A moment later, Will felt Mike's arm twist around his waist, and Will leaned his head against Mike's shoulder after a glance of his own at Lucas and Dustin. With no immediate negative remarks, Will relaxed, his shoulders falling down.
Lucas looked over at them and smirked. "Are we third wheels now?" he loudly whispered to Dustin.
"I think third and fourth wheels, yeah." Dustin snuck a glance at the two of them and smiled as well. "Man, you guys are cute."