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Soulmates, it’s a very funny concept Will thinks, why does God decide who loves who and who ends up with who for eternity?
And why do people just give up so quickly? Why would you leave someone you love so much just because they aren’t your soulmate? Would that even be considered love if you’re willingly leaving the person you love just because you’re not destined together by God?
Half of the time, people end up with their soulmates, but the other half? They either ignore the concept of soulmates or they become desperate…lonely, and they go out into the world to search everywhere for their soulmates, leaving what’s good behind. Why can’t we decide who we love and who we don’t? Why must we abide by this soulmate role and be bound by the restraints? And why does it hurt so much?
Will loves Mike.
It’s not a puppy crush because that passed away when middle school started, it’s love, and in William Byer’s case; unrequited love. Even so, he is willing to die for Mike.
Will begs God for something, he wishes this ‘something’ on his every birthday, since he learned and understood the concept of soulmates. At first it seemed nice, but then he understood the dark side of soulmates— at his young age he blamed the concept of soulmates being the very reason why his dad left his mom, but as he grew he found out that being soulmates or not had no reason why his parents separated. But deep down he knows that if his parents were soulmates then they would’ve still been together. He tries not to think about that though but he still does.
Even though he hates the concept of Soulmates, finds it absurd and nonsense; he still wishes God for Mike to be his soulmate.
Soulmates.
Bound by a symbol, at the age of 17, 12:00 am sharp on the day of your birthday; you get a symbol on your body, anywhere on your body. And that same exact symbol appears on your other half when it’s their birthday.
12:00 am, March 22
It was a busy night, his mom was busy with her job, downstairs in the living room calling people from left to right, he still couldn’t understand what her job was about, but hey, at least she was making a good amount of money from it. El was busy too, she was planning things in her room for the big day tomorrow—why a big day? Obviously because Mike was coming to Cali for spring break, and El being the best girlfriend she is was very excited.
And Jonathan? Jonathan was somewhere out probably high with his friend, neglecting life along his way. Will knows why Jonathan’s been this way, he must’ve been devastated when he had found out that Nancy wasn’t his soulmate. Jonathan had said that they had decided not to show each other their symbols till they left high school and went different ways for time being, and when they had finally showed each other the symbols they had fell hard, they knew it was too good to be true but Jonathan didn’t know what to do with all that pain, so he turned to what his friend Argyle offered, a high life with no issues.
Still, he’s sure they weren’t that busy, like cmon, he deserved at least one person to come up to his room and say ‘hey Will, happy birthday!” But no, nobody seemed to remember because he wasn’t important enough. He seemed to forget all about that when he felt his wrist burn, he knew what was about to come; his Soulmark which he never wanted to see—if it’s not Mike then he would rather have no soulmate and live alone forever.
He saw it appear on his wrist slowly, gold ink fading in slowly as it burned, and when it finished burning Will was in awe of his soulmark. It was beautiful.
A small bike .
Huh . It’s beautiful indeed but it also carries some memories that Will would like to suppress, but at least he knows that his Destined likes bikes, or rides them or something.
After that he waits an hour or 2 for someone to come up and surprise him with a Happy Birthday but it doesn’t happen so he decides to call it a day, he’s happy that Mike’s coming tomorrow, at least he’ll wish him. And with that he drifts off to slumber, dreaming of a blank faced person with curly hair on a bike riding down a hill with him. Sweet dreams.
7:09 pm, March 22
“W-Why have you been brooding this whole time! Are you not happy that I’m here?” Mike snaps at him with a face of anger and sadness.
“I am happy, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He replies back, lying through his teeth, great, now Mike was yelling at him….completely forgetting that it’s his birthday.
“No you’re not, stop lying, you’ve been frowning since we’ve got here!” And whose fault was that? Will wanted to yell but he didn’t, instead he just looked at Mike with those eyes he always used for only him.
“I don’t like being a third wheel, so sorry if I’m not smiling or enjoying this,” he quickly said before Mike could say anything and left the skating rink.
Cheers William Byers, your best friend isn’t your best friend anymore….he’s now a stranger that doesn’t know you nor cares about you so maybe you should just stick with your soulmate or be lonely. Either way, you will never have Mike Wheeler.
That night Will felt crappy so he cried himself to sleep, while Mike slept beside him on the bed. This was not the way he wanted to spend his 17th birthday.
10:16 am, March 23
“Oh my god baby I’m so sorry!” Joyce said half yelling and half running, coming to pull Will in for a hug as everyone sat at the dining table for breakfast. They all had a hard time getting at what Joyce was on about, sorry for what?
“Mom what?”
“I forgot your birthday,” she said sadly, and that moment was a realization for everyone at the table that they had completely forgot about it too, Mike especially, had dropped his spoon and looked at Will as if this all was a dream, no Mike you really yelled at me on my own birthday, Will wanted to say to make Mike more dumbfounded but he bite his tongue back.
As in que, everyone apologized and wished him a happy birthday before giving him the promise of getting him a gift soon and then continuing their breakfast.
Mike however didn’t wish him a happy birthday. He just stared at Will for something but Will didn’t know what so he just ignored Mike and went back to his food, it was safe to say that Mike felt very guilty that day.
His mom never brought up the soulmark because she knew how he felt about them, and Jonathan might’ve known too because he kept giving him an eye, like he definitely knew something, or maybe he was just high again.
1:00 pm, March 24
“Listen Will, I am so sorry” he called out as Will walked to the gas station they had stopped at to fill up the tank and get snacks before they hit the road again, it was very suffocating sitting alone with Mike in a weed full van. And especially since Mike seemed to be trying to apologize for “something you don’t even know! Just stop apologizing, you don’t know and you don’t even understand why you’re saying sorry to me so please just shut up!”
“But I do know! I messed up and I’m sorry for that”
“Mike I….,” he stopped halfway to the shop and turned back to look at Mike, “let’s just get El and finish this, I don’t care about what you want to say to me nor do you so after this….let’s take a break, or in our case continue the break”
Mike looked like he had tears in his eyes but Will didn’t wanna care because he knew that Mike was his weakness, if he didn’t cut Mike out of his life then he would just hurt himself more, “I don’t understand, what break Will? D-Do you not want to be my friend anymore?” Mike said, with his voice hurt and small.
“Mike, that’s the point, you don’t see nor understand, and when you do you shut people out and run away, I don’t wanna hear the excuses of why you didn’t try to talk to me more when I left Hawkins, I don’t wanna hear anything from you anymore so for god’s sake, let’s just be separated for a while.”
Mike cried, and Will walked away…for good.
9:00 pm, March 25
“Mike, she needs you! Tell her you love her and that you’re here for her!” Will yelled as El struggled in the tub, floating and fighting from evil.
Will saw the hesitation in Mike’s eyes before he yelled “I love you! I want you to know that I’m here for you El, and I just couldn’t say it earlier because I was afraid”
Typical Mike, Will thought as he resigned to his blank mind as Mike went on and on about how afraid he was and how much he adored El.
Will knew that Mike wasn’t for him that night.
How cruel could God be?
11:30 pm, April 7
The party was once again gathered in Mike’s basement, it had been so long since they had all gathered here together and this time they had everyone together; Max finally started slowly recovering after she got up from her coma, the Byers-Hopper family moved back to Hawkins and slowly everyone started letting go of the past they never wanted. Vecna had been long gone and now it was just them, alone in this world with no more monsters (knock on wood).
Tomorrow was Mike’s birthday, and that meant that he was going to get his soulmark, but right now Mike was throwing a tantrum, “I’m telling you that if it’s not El then I’d rather live alone than with a soulmate!” How ironic Will thought, at one point he had said the same thing too but now it just seems funny. How dumb was he?
Time was ticking and Will and Mike were getting restless, Will didn’t want to stay here with the party during Mike’s Soulmark showing but he had no choice but to do so or the other’s would know that something was up. He was going to decline the hangout offer but then he remembered that this was the first time the party was finally hanging out together.
Mike kept pacing around the room while El was huddled on the couch with Max, it looked like Max was rubbing El’s right wrist where her soulmark was placed. Her sister’s soulmark was very pretty, it was a small bird sitting on a crescent moon and it was absolutely breathtaking. The sad thing was that no one knew when El’s birthday was so one night when the soulmark appeared El had gone down to show it to Joyce and Joyce had started crying and hugging El, it was safe to say that El had felt the warmth of a mother that night.
When Mike had come to California El had showed him the soulmark and Mike had been startled that time, Will thought nothing of it but then Mike had said that he was having trouble with his relationship with El and Will had thought that he was given hope but at the end it was just wishful thinking as their relationship just went back to what it was before.
“Mike it won’t be the end of the world if you’re not El’s soulmate!” Dustin half whined, fidgeting with some toy piece.
Mike stopped pacing around and turned to glare at Dustin, “Well I know that! But El” he stopped talking and then turned to El, “Will you be okay if we’re not soulmates?”
El looked away from Max and got up to walk to Mike, she slapped Mike’s shoulder playfully but quite hard and then smiled wide, “Mike let it be, if we’re not soulmates then we’re not, and besides we can still be friends if we break up”
“Y-You wanna break up?”
El frowned and then leaned in to whisper something in his ear, after saying something she left him to return to the couch with a grin, Max tried asking but El wouldn’t say what she had said.
After that Mike had been quiet the whole time until his birthday.
Will was trying very very hard to avoid Mike in their small basement but he just had to come sit beside him while he sulked, it was absolutely killing him; being hyper aware of where and how Mike’s body was touching him. They were squeezed on the couch together and Mike had stretched his arms and knees open and both were touching Will’s. God, he was so touch starved and he hated it so much.
When they were young, just a few years ago , they always used to sit this close, like always, and wherever Mike went and sat; there came Will, but now? Now it was killing Will to sit so so close and Mike didn’t know anything, or maybe he did because Mike wasn’t trying to start any conversation.
“Will?” Mike asked as he got up, straightening himself, Will turned to look at Mike with a confused look and Mike could see that too, “can I see your soulmark?” He asked so gently, Will wanted so bad to show it to him but he promised himself that he never would.
“Mike…you know I don’t like the idea of soulmates”
“Yeah yeah I know that—but can’t I have a glance?”
Will was stuck, he wanted to say no but at the same time he couldn’t, he had wished so bad for Mike to just drop the subject but he didn’t, that is until some voice had yelled “Happy Birthday Mike!”
Then came all the others as they started wishing Happy Birthday and then they broke into a song as Mike whined not to sing, Dustin and El were the loudest singing. After a while Mike’s mom and dad had opened the basement door to wish him and then his dad had told all the others to go back home cause it was late. Nancy yelled from the living room ‘Happy Birthday idiot!” and then opened the basement door to throw some chocolate at him as his gift.
“Thanks so much” Mike yelled sarcastically and everyone had started laughing.
“Okay Mike now tell us, do you feel anywhere burning?” Dustin asked and Mike paused, he had totally forgotten about his soulmark, as he started patting his body to look for his mark his eyes flew to Will, Will who stood in the corner alone, he looked like he was about to cry and Mike saw the way his eyes glistened. It was probably the light or something, he thought, then continued looking for his mark around his visible parts of his body.
“Guys I don’t feel well so I’ll go take some fresh air” Will spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, and out he rushed before anyone could stop him. He did see some concerned looks coming at him but he didn’t care, the only person he wanted to see didn’t look at him so he left.
He was out in the front porch, sitting down on the grass where his and the other’s bike stood, the air was really breezy today and that is exactly what Will wanted, some air to blow out and in because he felt suffocated in the basement waiting for Mike to remind him again that they aren’t or won’t ever be soulmates or lovers.
He hugged his knees with his arms as he stared at nothingness in the night breezy sky, he wondered why he only got it hard, why not the others? Why did God decide to put all the worst problems on him? Will believed in God, so he knew that this all was a test but at the same time his faith started decreasing. Every passing day he asked himself if it was worth it, they all say that being patient will bring all your problems to an end and that you will be happy with what you get in the end but Will didn’t understand, just how much pain must he go through? Why must he suffer?
It’s unjust and completely unfair.
Wish he were into girls.
“Will?” A voice called from the back but Will couldn’t hear as he was stuck in his thoughts.
“Will?” Mike called again, this time gently tapping Will’s shoulder to let him know he’s there, Will flinched as he realized that someone had sneaked beside him.
Mike.
Mike had sat down on the grass beside Will, he waited for Mike to say something but nothing came, Mike just sat crisscrossed beside him as he stared at the stars.
“Very pretty” Mike whispered, as Will looked up at the stars with Mike.
Will nodded without looking at Mike, just waiting for Mike to leave him.
“Will?”
Will stared at the stars, “hm?”
“I’m sorry”
“Okay…” Will whispered before his eyes filled with water.
Mike turned to look at the stars again, “well…that’s understandable”
Will felt a surge of anger and turned to look at Mike, “ what’s understandable?”
Mike felt relief as he realized that Will had finally met his eyes after so long, but he failed on his words when Will asked with so much anger and loneliness in his voice.
“T-That you won’t accept my sorry”
Will was about to say something but Mike continued, “and don’t tell me that I don’t understand why I’m sorry because now I really do understand, I’ve had months to think about our previous conversation and I am very honestly sorry, I know you deserve to know why we fell apart and I know why you’re angry.” Mike spoke in a breath, eyes tearing up but the darkness hiding the tears.
“Mike, don't say we fell apart, you decided that there was no reason to talk, not me!” Will said as he tried getting up but Mike pulled him back; making him stumble back, very close to being on Mike’s lap.
Mike slid his hands around Will, wrapping him and hugging him tight from the back. Will felt the warmth transfer to his body as Mike hugged him tighter, he wanted to slap Mike’s hand away and get up but he couldn’t, because this was Mike.
“M-Mike what’s gotten into you? Someone will see…” Will whispered harshly but Mike just breathed into his ears, tickling them.
“Will let me just…do this”
“No you don’t—“
“Shh” Mike hushed him and Will stopped.
Mike wanted to say things to Will but right now he just couldn’t think, right now all his mind can do is only think about how tight he was hugging Will, he felt his body tingle and it was embarrassing…..
“Mike…” Will whispered, “Talk, tell me why we had to fall apart when you and El were fine, we both moved away from Hawkins so why was I the one left out? Left behind.”
“I was comfortable with El”
Will felt the betrayal, how long have they known each other? How can Mike possibly feel uncomfortable with him? After all those years?
“And you didn’t feel comfortable with me…?”
“No listen—“ Mike said slowly, like Will was some heightened deer, “remember when you said that I just run away from my problems?”
Will tried nodding, “well you were right cause I was running away”
“And I was the problem?” Will said.
“Not exactly! No! But you made me confused”
“ Mike you are not making any sense”
“When I started dating El in the starting, I thought that I was doing things right, like it was expected of me to do that, like I was accepted”
“And so?”
“ but I started feeling that what I was doing was wrong and that it didn’t suit me”
“Suit you what?”
“…El”
“Oh Mike, is this one of your relationship problems?”
“Will please, I know I’ve always come to you for my problems but it’s not about that,” Mike pleaded Will to believe him.
“I just didn’t think that girls suited me” Mike spoke too quickly, Will could barely take it in before Mike continued, “after a bit of figuring out on which side of the spectrum I was I started noticing things about you….or maybe I’ve always noticed things about you but I just thought that those were very ordinary things best friends noticed about each other”
“Mike are you….? Will couldn’t believe what Mike was saying, was he really hearing that Mike didn’t like girls and that he was like him?
“I think I am…and after my realization, you started confusing me, my feelings for you were becoming a problem so I ran away from them, stopped talking to you hoping that the feelings would just come to an end and that I would go back to El but it didn’t work, when I came to Cali I yelled at you at the skating rink because I was mad at myself, I was never mad at you, I was mad because I couldn’t stop thinking of you even when El was beside me all happy, I just kept thinking of how happy I could’ve been if you were beside me instead of El so I snapped at you for making me feel and think that way….that maybe if you had someone else beside you holding your hand then I would’ve let you go”
“Did you ever stop to think of me? How I was feeling when I got dropped out of nowhere with no warning!”
Mike hugged him tightly, pressing them harder, Will knew Mike was crying, Will could tell with how Mike’s hands were trembling as they held him.
“I didn’t….and that’s why I’m sorry, but what could I have done? Being gay isn’t acceptable and I was already dating El”
“Mike, I don't know what to say…”
“I love El and I still do but the love I’ve felt was never the romantic type, it was always platonic—I just kept fooling myself”
“You don’t like her…?”
“I love you Will” Mike said as he knocked his head on Will’s, sobbing slowly and letting go of Will.
Will turned around to face Mike, he took Mike’s hand and put it to his heart, “Mike feel this, how fast it beats”
Mike rubbed his tears and looked at Will, “I’ve been in love with you for as long as I can remember, my heart’s been beating this way for only you”
“What”
“This could’ve been so much easier if you had just talked to me Mike” Will spoke softly, tears rolling down his warm and red cheek, Mike was looking down on the grass, ashamed of himself. “But I know you and I know me, at the end you talked to me and I know that I wouldn’t had ever gotten the courage to confess to you so thank you Mike”
This time Mike looked at Will, “Will…I don’t deserve you”
“But I do so please….”
And with that Mike closed the little gap they had between them by gently kissing Will’s lips.
1:26 am, April 8
“Will I wanna show you something” Mike spoke as Will laid his head on his shoulder.
“Hm?”
“My soulmark”
Will got his head up and looked at Mike with those saddened eyes again, “No no Will look '' Mike rolled his pants up from his ankle; revealing his mark, it shined gold underneath the moonlight.
“B-Bike?” Will looked with tears in his eyes as he saw Mike’s ankle, Mike’s ankle had a small gold bike. Mike nodded as he pulled his hand up to swipe Will’s tears from his cheek.
“Will, when I was at your place for spring break, when we slept beside each other….I saw your mark. I know you didn’t want anyone to see so I never asked. I’m sorry”
Will continued crying, “don’t be sorry, I’ve always wanted this”
Mike nodded, “I think I’ve always wanted this too Will…it just took me a while to realize”
1:50 am, April 8
“Let’s go on a bike ride” Will said before getting up and pulling Mike up.
“My bike’s in the basement though,” Mike said before Will patted on the seat behind him, Mike smiled.
Will never thought he would ever want to go biking late at night after what happened, but he knew that he was safe because the one he loved was finally with him. Mike Wheeler was finally Will Byers.