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A silent, collective sigh of relief is let out as the door to the basement of the Wheeler's house creaks to a close at the top of the stairs. Mike and had just chosen Will from the rest of the Party to help gather snacks for their movie night.
From somewhere amongst the mountains of cushions, a light-hearted groan is let out. "Holy shit, will they get together already?" Max threw her head back as she spoke.
A tense silence filtered through the room, broken by Eleven and Dustin giggling, which eventually turned into the whole Party bursting with laughter. Before this, none of them had actually dared to say it, but now it was out in the air, they were all relieved they weren't the only one thinking it.
"Oh, I'm so glad you guys are noticing it too, it was driving me mad." Dustin adds.
"Ok, but, when do we think they're actually going to just get it over with and get together?" Lucas questions in between giggles.
A chorus of responses come at once, none of them decipherable below the others.
"Wait, hang on," Dustin starts. "How about... We make this a little fun?"
Less than a minute later, and all four of them had bet five dollars each on when Mike and Will would get together. Eleven, maybe not completely understanding the game, bets on a random Tuesday about four years in the future. Lucas bets the end of the school year, Dustin bets around Christmas, and Max, much to everyone's surprise, says to 'give it a month'.
Just as they're confirming their bets, Will and Mike return with armfulls of popcorn in bowls, sweets, and cans of drinks. Will seems to sense he's walked in mid-discusion, but doesn't question it further than a pause and a raised eyebrow, whereas Mike is as oblivious as always.
The pair take their seats - Will at the end of the sofa, Mike right next to him - and El presses play on the movie Lucas chose. For the next two hours, Will is snuggled into Mike's side, while the rest of them share the same thought:
This was going to be fun.
Two weeks later, the Wheeler's phone rings. Normally, this wouldn't be anything significant - the Wheeler's phone rings many times a day. The thing that made it a bit odd, as well as incredibly frustrating, was it was one in the morning. What made it worse was the fact that it was barely an hour into Saturday, and Mike, who was responsible for night-time phone calls after he pulled the short straw, had stayed up until an unholy hour the night before to finish his homework so his maths teacher didn't murder him, or something.
Pissed off with everything in the world, Mike trudged down the stairs, the piercing ringing of the phone driving him to the brink of insanity. It felt like a lifetime before he reached the receiver, silencing the torturous sound.
"What." He stated, his voice croaky and his patience through the floor. What he was not expecting was Nancy to be on the other end of the line. Mike had watched her go to her room in her pyjamas at nine thirty on the dot, where had she snuck out to?
"Mike? Oh my god, Mike, thank god, hi." She sounded out of breath as she spoke, and he Mike couldn't help but wonder what she had gotten herself into.
"What? Why are you out? Is that crying-"
"Do you have the Byers' new number?" She snapped, confusing Mike further. First she had snuck out, and now she's asking for the Byers' number? He didn't understand what was going on.
"I- What?" He raises his spare hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, eyes scrunching up. God, how he wished he was warm and comfortable sleeping in his bed instead of answering the phone to his sister who apparently didn't know her own boyfriend's number.
"Michael. Do you. Have the Byers'. New number?" Her voice was stern but emotional, like it was when something was potentially very wrong, and he hated hearing his best friends' last name in a tone like that, so he gave her the number. "Thank you, you're a lifesaver. Oh, and dont go back to bed yet, Jonathan is going to pick you up in a few minutes. Bye!"
The dial tone filled Mike's ear, leaving him more confused than he had been to begin with. Why was Jonathan picking him up? Where are they going? Is Nancy there? If so, why? Why did he have to go and pick the goddamned short straw?
Despite his disillusion, he dragged himself to his room to get changed, and then back downstairs to wait for Jonathan. It took what felt like an eternity, but was most likely five minutes, until he was there, and Mike couldn't wait to get all of his questions out. He knew Jonathan wasn't the most talkative of people, so he might have to try harder to figure out what the actual fuck was going on, but he was up for it - he needed something to do so he wouldn't fall asleep anyway.
It didn't take long for Mike to realise he had drastically overestimated how hard it would be to get answers he wanted. Before they had even arrived at the party which Nancy had snuck out to when Steve told her he was going to go and get shit-faced, he knew exactly where he was going, why he was going, why his sister was there - the only thing he didn't have an answer to was the short straw thing.
Many faceless people and uncertain actions later, and Mike was sat on the porch with Steve, who was laying on his stomach, playing with the leaves of a plant in a pot.
"Hey, uh," Steve started, an obviously drunken yet still somehow level voice breaking the silence outside. "Have any of those little assholes won the bet yet?"
Shaking his head slightly and throwing his hands up, Mike asked, "What bet?"
"Y'know, the, uh, one about you and Will. Henderson said there was a bet on how long it'll take you two to suck it up and get together, or something." Steve's words slurred together a ridiculous amount as he swayed side to side on the stair. Mike did a double take, certain he misheard him, because what the fuck, but also, what the fuck?
"Steve, what the hell are you talking about?" For some unknown reason he couldn't quite figure out, his heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest. Had his friends really bet on him and Will?
Steve gave a vague, drunken shrug, "You know-"
And then the door opened, Nancy and Jonathan marching out as if they had just won an award or something.
"You two ready to go?" Jonathan asks, to which Mike nods confusedly and Steve grunts, unwilling to stand up and move, forcing the three of them to carry him by his arms and legs to the car.
It only took several thousand years to get him into the car, but when they finally did he slumped into the door and fell asleep, snoring loudly the whole way to his house. Mike didn't care, though, he was too preoccupied with Steve's words from earlier.
That confusion lasted all weekend, and followed Mike to school on Monday. After many hours of thought, he had decided he needed to tell Will and get his opinion on it. Maybe it was no big deal and Mike was just being dramatic, he honestly couldn't tell through the layers of sleep deprivation and his hatred for Mondays.
"Will," He whisper shouted across the space between their desks, just before the end of the lesson. Break was about to begin and he needed to talk to him about everything. "Hey, Will."
"Yeah?" Will whispered back.
"Can I talk to you at break? Uh, alone?" His nerves skyrocketed as he asked this, though he wasn't sure why. Will was his best friend, he should be confortable asking him to talk.
Will agreed easily, because when did he ever say no to Mike, "Oh, uh, yeah, sure. See you then."
-
"They did what?" Will's confused words echoed through the empty school bathroom. His jaw was hung slightly, his eyebrows raised. Mike wasn't sure how he had perfectly predicted his reaction, but that fact alone was kind of funny.
"I know." He replied, hands raising, angled towards Will. "But I might have an idea." At Will's silence and eager eyes, he continued. "Just to make sure you know, you are absolutely allowed to say no to this. But, uh, what if we got infront of this and made a sort of prank out of their bet?"
"I'm not following." Will seemed genuinely interested, yet just a little confused, so Mike took it as a sign to carry on.
He didn't mean to sound so blunt as he said, "Fake dating." Will visibly paused, trying to gauge his own reaction, before a smile spread across his face and he began to nod eagerly. "We can say we've been dating for months, its the perfect plan. We can even, like, hold hands or something in front of them - i-if you're okay with that, I mean."
"Yeah, this is genius, Mike. And of course that's okay, you're my best friend." He pauses. "Slash boyfriend, I guess."
"Holy shit, there you are!" Lucas barges through the bathroom door, looking between the two of them sceptically. "Uh, sorry, um... Am I interrupting something?"
"No, why? What would you be interrupting, Lucas?" Mike plays it off as a serious question, but both him and Will - though neither of them show it physically - are having a lot of fun with this already.
Over the course of the next week, Mike and Will start to gradually drop their 'partner' into conversations with their friends. They desperately hope the party is catching on, and that their collective genius extends to spotting that one word they're going out of their way to slip in to sentences.
Nine days after their revenge plot began, it seems they are winning. The party are in the basement yet again, a long day of school washed away the second they made it down the stairs. Unlike the usual, relieved attitude that follows them home on a school day, an air of tension lingers over the basement, haunting the room as if they were being watched by some invisible ghost who wanted them all to suffer an incredibly long and awkward silence.
Eventually Dustin breaks it, rising from his seat calmly and holding his hands out diagonal to him. The whole group turns to look at him as if a celebrity had just appeared in the basement of the Wheeler's house.
"Okay," He voices. "I'll bite." He turns where he stands, facing Will and Mike. "Are you two dating or what?"
Max's eyes go wide, Lucas' eyebrows shoot so far up his forehead he's concerned they might fly off, Eleven completely freezes in confusion. Somehow, Will and Mike manage to combine all of those into near-identical, comically dramatic reactions, with the addition of Mike's jaw dropping and Will choking on air for extra flare.
"I, uh... What?" Mike begins, Will coughing hysterically next to him. He pats his back and helps him to recover from the initial shock and confusion.
"You heard me. I know you heard me based purely on your faces right now. You're both red as tomatoes, let alone Will's sudden allergic reaction to oxygen just then." Dustin's hands draw bizarre shapes in the air as he speaks, before calmly placing them in his pockets, letting out a sigh. It wasn't an angry or bored sigh, it was more of an I-care-for-you-and-you're-my-best-friends-so-please-talk-to-us sigh. "I'm sorry if I'm overstepping a boundary, truly, I am, but, like, you've both been talking about your 'partners' for over a week now, but you won't tell us who they are, so, I mean, I guess I just assumed you were talking about each other."
The pair share a glance, Will's nod barely visible at all, let alone in the dim basement lights, but they were so in tune with each other that Mike understood. He also understood that Will knew this was the perfect opportunity to make the jokes about their 'relationship', so, naturally, he went for it.
"I'm sorry, I'm confused. Have you only just noticed?" Even Will was amazed at Mike's performance, though he was also biting back his laughter at the same time. "We've been together since June."
"What!?" Max exclaims, her jaw dropped and eyebrows furrowed. "No way. I call bullshit."
"W-we thought it was pretty obvious." Will added, attempting to lace confusion into his voice as well. Their hands had linked together when everyone turned to look in the direction of Max's exclamation, but now Mike's thumb was currently rubbing circles into Will's knuckles.
Will tried to hide the blush rising on his cheeks. Sure, this whole dating thing was fake - but if the goal was to convince everyone else it wasn't, would it be so bad if he emersed himself in the fantasy, too?
If he was being honest, he felt kind of bad for taking advantage of Mike like that. It didn't seem fair to use him to fulfil this particular fantasy, even if he was the one who pitched the fake dating idea in the first place. The truth is, Will Byers had been in love with Mike Wheeler since he knew what love was. For as long as he could remember, all he wanted was for Mike to feel the same - but those wishes came with intense waves of guilt, hitting him like a tsunami every time he pictured the feeling of their lips pressed together, of calling Mike his boyfriend, of holding his hand and snuggling with him and all of the other things couples do.
Maybe he would let himself live this lie for now. It felt so much better than the others.
"Will?" A voice brought him back into the room, an odd tone present. "Will?! Hello? I said we believe you, and congrats, you make a good couple."
You make a good couple.
You make a good couple.
"Oh, uh, thank you, Dustin." He couldn't help but replay that last line in his head, feeling the steady building guilt in his chest.
You make a good couple.
"Wait, so, who wins the bet?" Lucas asks, seemingly forgetting Mike and Will weren't supposed to know about it.
"The what?" They spoke at the same time, silently agreeing that they, in fact, knew nothing.
They watch as the realisation dawns on Lucas' face, as he hurries to reply, "Oh, uh... Well, we thought it would be fun to, uh, y'know, bet on how long it would take you two to get together. It wasn't meant in a mean way or anything, just as a little joke. "
"Oh, ok." Will spoke. "How much did you bet?"
"Five dollars each, it was my idea." Max supplies.
"But now, I guess, no one wins because we all bet in the future." Dustin seems like he's piecing the puzzle together in his brain. Both Will and Mike want to laugh, but neither of them dare to. "Well, unless they win."
It was almost creepy, how they all turned to look at them - even Max made her best guess at where they were sat and turned her head in that direction.
"I, uh, what?" Mike spoke, looking between all four people facing towards the pair.
"Yeah!" Eleven spoke for the first time on this matter, again, seemingly not understanding the concept of the game. When it was her turn to have everyone's attention, she seemed to shrink a bit. "What? I like giving my brother things."
Will felt like he was going to explode as a smile crept across his face. His sister was so sweet, he loved her so much. He was currently holding hands with Mike, who he also loved a lot, but in a completely different way. He felt so loved in return he felt like his face might get stuck in the stupid grin he was wearing.
"Actually, that's kind of cute," Max adds. "I'm down."
A few muffled agreements later, and the so-called couple were each $10 richer.
It took a further eight days for them to realise there was something else going on - and that it might be mutual. None of them had dared to say anything for fear that they were hallucinating or making it up.
Currently, Mike was lying on his bed, solving a rubix cube in the air. Well, trying to. He wasn't getting far. Will was sat cross-legged on the floor, a sketchpad on his knee and pencil perched between his fingers. On the page, the beginnings of the scene in front of him were marked - the basic figure of a bed, Mike, and his rubix cube.
Will was detailing Mike's pillow when he sat up, throwing the incomplete rubix cube down on the bed beside him with a sigh.
"Hey, uh, Will? Could I talk to you about something?" He asked, voice quieter than normal - even for his Will Voice - and he sounded almost shy.
"Yeah, of course." Will returned, carefully folding his sketchbook cover up and placing the pad down on the floor, pencil and rubber lying perfectly on top. He remained where he sat, but his hands fell into his lap, ready to fidget nervously if the conversation called for it.
"So, uh, you know the fake dating thing?" Will nods. "Well, uh... How do I say this?"
"Are you fake breaking up with me?" Will joked, easing a laugh out of Mike, relieving some of the built-up tension in the room.
"Well, I, uh, no. No, I'm not breaking up with you. Kind of the opposite, actually? If I'm reading this right, that is." His words made Will's stomach do flips that would be awarded a gold medal in the Olympics. Mike breathed out, a long dramatic breath as if he had been holding it. "Okay. There's not really any other way to say this other than just saying it, so, uh, I really like you. Like, like you. And fake dating you has been so fun and it felt so good and it seems like-"
"Mike." Will decides he needs to stop his rambling before they both go insane. "It's okay. I, uh... I feel the same way. I really like you, too." He smiled up at Mike for extra reassurance, his heart beating so fast he thought it might explode.
"What? You... You do?" A smile spread across his face, too. "Oh my god, I can't believe this is actually happening, oh wow."
Will laughs as he stands up, making his way to sit next to Mike on the bed. He felt so alive as he said, "I know. Me neither." A surge of courage shot through him as he leant his head down to rest on Mike's shoulder. Almost instantly, he felt an arm snake behind him, hand resting on his upper arm, as if to keep him close.
"Hey, uh, Will?" Mike started, hesitant once again. Will hummed in response, expecting him to start talking again, but raised his head to look at him when he didn't.
He realised why when he watched Mike's gaze flicker down from his eyes to what Will could only assume were his lips.
"Um, you don't have to say yes, but, uh... Can I kiss you?" A warm smile spread across Will's face. He couldn't believe this was real.
He nodded, closing his eyes and leaning forward. Mike's hand moved to cup his cheek, and his found Mike's shoulder. And then it was happening. Their lips collided, and it was more than everything that Will had hoped for. His hand rose to sit on the nape of Mike's neck as their lips continued to move together.
When they parted to breathe, Will felt that air was second most important when he could be kissing Mike.
They didn't pull away completely, their foreheads resting together, hands still holding each other close. For a second, Will thought he had died and gone to heaven, because there was no way this was real, it was too perfect.
Will let out a giggle at the thought, seemingly confusing Mike, who moved his head away to look at him. "What?"
"I just- I can't believe this is real." At his words, Mike's smile grew impossibly bigger.
He leaned in, pecking Will's lips, before saying, "It's real."
"So, does this mean we're... Real dating now?" Will smiled so brightly it could light up Mike's entire house.
"Yeah, I guess it does." He returned a smile as Will's head came to rest on his shoulder again, seemingly forgetting about the rubix cube and the sketchpad as they simply held each other close.
The next day, the party was back in the basement, as usual. Will and Mike had decided their friends deserved the truth, so they had plans to tell them all at once. After all, they knew they would be supportive, they literally bet on their relationship.
"Guys, can we, uh, can we talk?" Mike began, standing up from his prevous spot, interrupting the calm that had settled. Lucas and Dustin were playing chess on the D&D table, and El was reading Max a Wonder Woman comic. When no one replied, but they all turned towards him, he carried on. "So, Will and I-"
"Don't tell me you're breaking up." Dustin almost yelps, clearly very invested in their relationship.
"No, uh, we're not breaking up. We just kind of wanted to... Explain some things, I guess." Mike decided the only way to do this was to just do it, so he did. "We kind of knew about the bet."
"What?" Lucas asked, at the same time a confused "How?" came from Max.
"I had to help Nancy last week. We had to make sure a very drunk Steve didn't make too many bad choices, and he, uh, slipped up."
"Well, how did Stev-" Max began, before it clicked in her brain. "Dustin!"
"What?! I didn't think he was going to spill, plus I only had a ten dollar note so I asked him if he had two fives, it just kind of happened, I swear!" He explained, voice squeaking as he emphasised certain parts.
"Anyway, uh, it doesn't matter. The point is, we knew, and we thought we would have some fun back-" Mike could barely get a sentence out without exclamations filling the basement.
"Wait, so, you weren't actually dating?"
"Michael goddamn Wheeler I swear to god I will murder you."
"Guys, what's going on, I don't understand..."
"Okay you actually played that off pretty well, but-"
At the sudden burst of loud noise, Will shrunk back into himself in the corner of the sofa, and of course, Mike being Mike, he noticed, and knew he had to try to reign them in.
"Guys!" He yelled, and felt a huge pang of guilt as Will flinched, but it shut everyone up, so he hoped it was worth it for Will's overall comfort. "Okay, no more interrupting," He vaguely gestured to Will, subtle and angled just right so he wouldn't notice. "And please talk quieter."
A realisation seemed to dawn on all of their faces, and they all sent apologetic glances to Will, except Max who improvised and angled her face towards the ground for a second.
"Okay, so we knew about the bet, this has been established. We thought it would be funny to see how you guys would react if we told you we had been dating for months, and to be honest it was pretty funny..." He shook his head, trying to get himself back on track. "But, uh, the truth is, we are dating, but we definitely haven't been for that long."
"We got together yesterday." Will blurted out, turning red faster than a traffic light.
Seas of congratulations seemed to swoop in, the party's former confusion replaced with enthusiasm, and although they were all talking at once, they each made the conscious effort not to get too loud.
"Wait," Dustin announced, halting the group's comments. "Does this mean the bet's back on?"
"I think so." Lucas adds.
"Wait, so, who won?" Will asks, seeming to become more comfortable.
"Max." Both Dustin and Lucas replied at the same time.
"What?! How?" Mike gasped.
"I may be blind, but I'm not stupid. You two owe me ten bucks each." As she spoke, she had a fond smile on her face. She always could tell when something was going on between people, it was kind of creepy actually.
Mike sat back down next to Will on their sofa as conversation began to flow around them again.
"Are you alright? It got a little loud then, and I know-" Mike began, genuine concern in his eyes.
"Mike. I'm alright." He smiled back to prove his point, before continuing. "Thank you."
"Anything for my boyfriend." Mike smirked, watching as he turned red again. "God, Will, you're so pretty. Can I kiss you again?"
"Yes. A hundred percent yes." He replied, already leaning in.
Their lips pressed together, just like the day before, and they could feel each other smiling. Both of Mike's hands cupped Will's face this time, while one of his rested on Mike's leg, the other tangled in his hair. Everything around them seemed to fade out, until it was just them in their own little magical bubble.
Perhaps this was why neither of them heard Lucas stand up from his seat, camera in hand as an "Oh my god." escaped Dustin's mouth.
"What?" Max whispered. "What's going on?"
"They're kissing." El supplied helpfully, causing Max's jaw to drop.
The flash of Lucas' camera went off, scaring Will so dramatically he practically jumped off of Mike, face going an even darker shade of red as he took in the scene in front of him.
"Oh, uh..." He buried his face in his, now free, hands.
Mike was as red as he was as he spoke, "What? We told you we're together." He pulled Will back into his arms, partly to prove a point, partly just to have him there.
And despite the fact their entire friendship group had just sat right there as they kissed, they both felt butterflies in their stomachs at how wonderful it felt that they were together. Real together.
"I told you," Dustin spoke up. "You make a good couple."