Chapter Text
Will was standing in front of the mirror, preparing for his first day of senior year, attempting to coif the longer hair on the top of his head so that it looked effortlessly messy and blended into the shorter hair on the sides.
He fiddled with the hem of his baggy striped t-shirt. Tucked? Untucked? He decided to bunch some of the fabric into the front right side of his light wash jeans, letting the rest hang loose. He was trying really hard to make it look like he hadn’t tried at all, essentially. Effortlessly cool was kind of his vibe these days, or at least, he wanted it to be.
His phone lit up on the dresser, catching his attention. A text message from Max: be there in 10
“Shit,” he muttered, quickly reaching into his closet for his brown high top Chucks. He rushed through the rest of his morning routine, grabbed his backpack and headed outside to meet his friends.
“Ow, ow!” Max called through the cracked window as soon as he emerged. Jane was similarly hyping him up with a wolf whistle.
Will cracked a smile and blushed, “shut up,” he said coyly. The irony of being catcalled by a couple of lesbians was not lost on him, but he appreciated the encouragement.
“Senior year, baby!” Jane said as soon as Will slid into the backseat.
“Finally, I can’t wait to escape this stupid fucking town,” Will said, scrolling through the notifications he had ignored while getting ready for school.
“Hey, now, you met us in this stupid fucking town,” Max feigned offense, looking at him through the rear view mirror.
“Yeah, and you’re the only reason I haven’t run away yet,” he shot back with a grin. It was true. Will didn’t have much left in Hawkins except his two best friends and his mom. His brother Jonathan had long moved on, and all of his childhood friendships had faded off, to varying degrees.
One more year, just one, and he could walk away from his hometown and never look back. Go to college in the city, meet a cute guy, maybe get a cat? The opportunities were endless. He just had to survive one more year.
———————————
Just before the first bell of senior year rang, a familiar figure walked into the classroom. Tall, slender, clad in black ripped skinny jeans, a t-shirt for some band Will had never heard of, chipped black nail polish, and Doc Marten boots. His long, wild curls were pulled into a small messy bun atop his head. None other than Mike Wheeler, Will’s former best friend. He slunk into the only available chair, right next to Will.
Will immediately felt his chest tighten. He’d seen Mike in passing here and there, but this was, by far, the closest proximity they’d been forced into in years. He choked down the visceral reaction to his presence, like a magnet hovering impossibly close to its opposite pole, trying desperately to crash into it. It was something he thought, and hoped, had died long ago.
“Hey, princess,” he said coolly, leaning back in his chair, loudly smacking a piece of gum with a smug grin. Will rolled his eyes with a huff then shot a look at his friends at the desk beside him.
Princess. What a loaded moniker. To any casual onlooker, it may seem like Mike was simply jabbing at his desk mate, being a dick for no reason. But Will knew better than that, and so did Mike.
It started when they were kids, maybe eight years old, playing endless rounds of Mario Kart on Jonathan’s old, well loved GameCube console. Will refused to play as any driver but Princess Peach, and it kind of just became another pillar of their friendship.
It’s on, princess! I’m gonna drive laps around you.
Sorry, princess, but no one can defeat Wario!
Mike first dropped the name beyond the confines of the digital Grand Prix when Will shrieked and practically jumped out of his skin at the sight of a centipede in 6th grade. He latched onto Mike’s arm, clinging for dear life. Mike stomped on it with ease, laughing.
Chill, princess, it’s just a little bug.
After that, it sort of just fell out of Mike’s mouth at random. Innocent, sweet, and something only they understood. It did garner some looks from outsiders here and there, but neither of them cared.
Don't worry, princess, the mud will come out.
Cute nail polish, princess.
Here, princess, I got you a Dr. Pepper.
When they got to high school, they began to drift apart, much to Will’s dismay. Will joined the track team, clicked instantly with Jane and Max, and discovered that he liked playing with makeup just as much as paint on a canvas. Mike fell into a friend group that skipped school to smoke weed and play shitty music, probably committing petty theft or vandalism from time to time. Will tried to hang onto him for a while, but they were arguing more than not, and that familiar term of endearment started coming out much more like an insult.
Sorry I’m not meeting your high standards, princess.
Oh, well, excuse me for not asking for your permission, princess.
It hurt, a lot, the way the formerly endearing nickname had become a weapon. It helped drive the wedge between them.
The final nail in the coffin was over Christmas break of freshman year when Mike had bailed on him one too many times. Will was stupidly hoping he would show up, so he was crushed and subsequently pissed. And that was it. Friendship over. Will blocked his number, after a single half-assed apology from Mike, to get his point across. Mike didn’t protest, both seemingly content to ignore the other’s existence. Now here he was again, sitting at the same table as Will, going straight for the jugular.
“Alright, quiet down please,” Mr. Shrock said loudly, “welcome to Physics, seniors!”
The short, plump man spoke as syllabi were being passed backward from the students in the front row.
“First of all, if I so much as smell a cell phone in my class, it will be confiscated. There will also be no eating in my classroom, there was a bit of a rat problem in Mrs. Wood’s class last year, and I am terrified of rats,” he said, peering over his glasses at his students expectantly. This pulled a chorus of muffled giggles out of the class.
“Every Wednesday, we will have lab, the best part of physics, if I do say so myself,” the man at the front of the room said, sounding far too chipper for 8 am, “take a look at the other person sitting at your table, this is your new lab partner for the semester, congratulations.”
A chorus of groans, laughter, and small whispers of ’ yes’ played in unison. Will cautiously looked at the boy sitting next to him out of the corner of his eye who glanced back at him and raised his eyebrows pointedly, still smacking his gum. Just great, fucking perfect . Jane and Max looked over at Will sympathetically, but they were only semi-aware of the history between the two.
“There will be a project worth 25% of your grade due in December. I suggest that you and your lab partner get started on it in the next few weeks, as it will take up a good chunk of your time. Plan accordingly,” Mr. Shrock warned. Well, that was quite the plot twist.
Will’s heart began to race as he peered over at Mike again, who appeared much more amused by this news than Will was. His arms were crossed and he was clearly trying to hold back laughter, pressing his tongue against the inside of his cheek.
He leaned sideways into Will’s space and muttered, “guess you’re gonna have to unblock my number now, huh, princess?”
“Guess you’re gonna have to actually show up for once,” Will mumbled coldly, refusing to look Mike in the eye.
This was basically a worst case scenario for Will. He and Mike had a past , and not just like ‘oh, they used to be friends’, no, it was much more complicated. They were glued at the hip for a decade, through thick and thin, two halves of a whole. Their friendship had an intensity unmatched by anything else Will had experienced, it was all consuming at times, bleeding into every facet of his life. Will wasn’t prepared to face this, he didn’t want to deal with this. He had been doing just fine pretending Mike didn’t exist. Yeah, he struggled for a while, but whatever. He had desperately tried to make peace with it, and wanted to keep it that way.
———————————
“I cannot fucking believe I have to deal with that asshole all semester,” Will huffed into his cellphone. He was mindlessly trying to intake as much dopamine as possible from the glowing rectangle in his hand before lunch ended.
“You guys used to be friends, right? Maybe it won’t be so bad,” Max offered, taking a sip of Jane’s Sprite which was met with a small hey! and a playful peck.
“No, you- you don’t understand, this is catastrophic,” Will said, probably exaggerating, but we’ll let him vent, “Mike is a total douchebag now. He’s also a slacker and will probably expect me to do all of the work.”
“Do we need a crisis sleepover this weekend? I’m feeling like a crisis sleepover is in order,” Jane said, hands reaching out for Will’s.
“Oh my god, please ,” Will whined, grabbing both of her hands, “I need romcoms and junk food to get me through this nightmare.”
“Cool, my place. Dad works the late shift Friday,” Jane responded with a smile.
Ok, see, this is good. Everything is going to be fine. Mike’s grip on Will was old news, and he could avoid getting caught up in it. Right?
———————————
Wednesday came far too quickly, and Will was dreading having to speak to his new lab partner slash former best friend.
Mike waltzed into class at the very last minute, giving Mr. Shrock a single nod on his way in. Will was already preparing the lab materials when he approached the table. He gently pushed a metal wheeled contraption up a ramp, that Will was trying to rig up, a couple of times and looked at Will, eyebrows raised curiously.
“Cart on a ramp,” Will said flatly after briefly looking at Mike, catching his facial expression, “we’re going to measure-”
“Velocity,” Mike interrupted far too nonchalantly.
Will shot a look at him, surprised by what just came out of his lab partner’s mouth. As far as he knew, Mike didn’t care about anything school related anymore. Interesting. He hesitated then muttered, “yeah.”
They spent the next hour and a half dancing around each other a bit, keeping their conversation strictly business. They took turns wincing away from the occasional accidental brush of the hand, like it would burn if they lingered too long. Mike was surprisingly engaged in the task at hand, but Will still put in the lion‘s share of the effort.
As they were packing up the materials at the end of class, Mike attempted to break through the invisible barrier between them. He licked his lips then hesitated before speaking.
“Hey, uh, do you want to come over on Friday? Y’know, to get started on that project, or whatever,” he said cautiously, avoiding eye contact. Wow, Mike was pretty damn bold to think that would go over well.
“It’s literally the first week of school,” Will said flatly, also avoiding eye contact, “plus, I have a sleepover to attend.”
Mike looked at Will with a big, dumb smirk, “a sleepover?”
“Yeah, you know, with my friends ?” Will said sharply, gesturing to the girls at the table next to them. Jane and Max were now clearly listening to the conversation but we’re doing their best to look otherwise engaged.
Mike looked over at them briefly then back to Will and said, “what, are you gonna braid each other’s hair and watch ‘10 Things I Hate About You’?”
“Something like that,” Will snipped, annoyed by the judgement in Mike’s tone.
Mike laughed and shook his head, “whatever, princess, have fun with that.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder and sauntered out of the room.
Just when Will thought that maybe he could survive this semester unscathed, Mike had to punch him right in the gut. He was good at that, he knew exactly how to get under Will’s skin, and it was embarrassing that he had so much power over Will’s mood.
“Wow, he really is an ass,” Max spoke up. Will sighed and nodded once firmly.
“I’m totally down for ‘10 Things I Hate About You’, by the way,” Jane said with a sly smile. This drew a relaxed chuckle out of Will. He was lucky to have such good friends who actually cared about him.
———————————
“He knows exactly how to manipulate me, he always has. I can’t believe that even after years of not speaking, he can just…utter a single word in my direction, and suddenly, I’m irritated,” Will huffed, exasperated.
“What’s up with the whole ‘princess’ thing, anyway?” Max asked, shoveling chips into her mouth while Will smeared a face mask onto Jane’s skin.
This was a crisis sleepover, so naturally he expected to actually talk about the crisis, but at this point his friends were egging him on. He had been heatedly venting about Mike for a good hour at this point and the questions hadn’t stopped.
“Is it like, a homophobic thing?” Jane asked, a hint of anger in her tone.
“What? No!” Will spat out, suddenly feeling the need to defend Mike for some reason, “Mike’s not homophobic. It’s a… Mario Kart thing.”
Max and Jane looked at each other, confused, then back at Will.
“Yeah, we’re gonna need a little more detail than that,” Jane laughed out.
“You know, Princess Peach, from the Mario games,” Will said softly, looking back and forth between his friends, realizing how stupid it probably sounded to an outsider, “whatever, it’s just a nickname he gave me when we were kids. He’s just trying to get a reaction out of me, he knows it works.”
“Well, don’t let it,” Max said, leaning in to touch Will’s forearm with chip crumb fingers, seemingly satisfied with the explanation, “keep your eyes on the prize. You just need to get through the semester, then you can forget he exists again.”
“Right,” Will said with a sigh, wiping the excess face mask goop from his fingers onto a washcloth.
That was much easier said than done, I fear.