Work Text:
The people of Hawkins had been through Hell and back – some more than others – since the “incident of 1983” as the locals could be heard calling it. Now, after years of torment, of actually succeeding in taking down Vecna and disintegrating the Upside Down version of their town, of finally sealing off the Mind Flayer for good, the “kids” – as they were still called by the rest of the monster-fighting crew, even if they were all nearly adults (and hadn't felt like kids in a long while anyway) – had to return to life like “normal”, whatever that meant to the rest of the world. But even the closest encounters with a ravenous demogorgon seemed sometimes more appealing than having to face the likes of High School.
Senior year crept up like a predator; but the real battleground was spring semester: with college acceptances came worries for the future, and a desire for distraction – the distraction of choice for the majority of the student body being the senior prom.
The party had long since agreed to go as just a group of friends – who would want to go with one of the losers anyway? One exception was made for the one couple (that the public knew about, at least) within the crew, even if this didn't stop whispers of a few girls asking the basketball team if Lucas was really going with his girlfriend, except using a few not-so-nice words to describe the girl who they were secretly terrified of behind the masks of popularity that kept them on top of the food chain of the school. Or maybe they were just oblivious, blinded by Lucas's name on the ballot for the coveted title of Prom King.
This (and El's private comment about Max needing a memory to replace the distorted Snow Ball) was the main reason all six of them were so willing to go.
Whilst there was no need for any individual formal invitations, Lucas surprisingly made a big deal of taking the mic during halftime of a game a few weeks ago to ask Max, which almost got him dumped on spot. The only thing saving him was the defense that it was just to get the other girls off the backs of him and his teammates. More surprisingly; however, was Dustin asking El – and more surprising still was that she had seemed to be expecting it. Though, if Mike really thought about it, they had been spending a suspicious amount of time together.
But he hadn't thought about it. All his thoughts as of late were occupied by the date he had set up with his boyfriend at Lover's Lake for the morning of the prom.
"I want to dance with you that day, when we're in the mood for that kind of thing – maybe try to get a cheesy Polaroid while we're at it," he had told Will, "and no one will be down there that morning because the girls will be too busy getting ready."
So, after letting Max in at 11 on the dot so she and El could start getting ready together, Will had made his way over to the lake.
"This was a dumb idea, I know," Mike said when Will got there, already spreading out the old blanket on a large, flat rock along the shore.
Will groaned, "stop that, you're too cute for doing this," and Mike blushed, "I love it – I love you."
"I love you too," Mike smiled shyly, abandoning his task of emptying the picnic basket to greet him with a kiss.
"This is much better than having to watch a bunch of people who used to, and still kinda do, bully us stumble around the dance floor like a bunch of drunk middle schoolers," Will laughed into Mike's mouth, "do we have to even go later?"
Mike slipped his fingers through Will's belt loops, pulling him closer as he replied, "no," even if they both knew they would most certainly still be going.
“El said she’s looking forward to dancing with us,” Mike added with a sigh.
Then he moved his hands to Will’s hips and began to sway side to side. Will in turn clasped his hands behind Mike’s neck, intuiting the tune in his mind.
“I wanted to dance with you at the Snow Ball.” Will’s voice was quiet, secretive, as though afraid the birds in the branches over them were making ready to spread the news about their date all across town.
“I wanted to ask you.” Mike kissed the top of his head.
“And then El showed up.”
“Actually, Sara McGuire asked you,” he rebutted. Will just held on tighter.
In a moment of quiet, they both sat down on the green gingham blanket.
Eventually, Will said, “the red looks better on her than the blue did,” which earned a chuckle out of Mike.
“Was Dustin able to find a decent match for this bowtie – and, are they like–”
Will cut in lightheartedly, “yes he found the bowtie – but I don’t know what they are… and maybe I don’t want to.”
Mike nodded, “good– good. I– went with him and Lucas to get the corsages and boutonnieres earlier and he got her a rose. Do you think she’ll like it?”
“She’ll love it,” he replied honestly – if disinterestedly – distracted by something in Mike’s mannerisms, “are you all right though. You seem… elsewhere.”
He laughed, “how’d you know?” twisting his hair around his finger. “Kiss me?”
“No.”
“No?”
“You’re being weird,” Will said firmly, though conscious to not sound unkind, “talk to me first.”
Mike took a breath, then reached into the picnic basket and pulled out a plain box. He drummed his fingers atop it, eyes fixated on the buttons of Will’s shirt.
“Here,” shoving the box into Will’s chest, head turned, eyes closed, cheeks an embarrassing shade of pink.
Will looked from his boyfriend to the box between them before taking it. A smile grew on his face when he opened it to find two simple boutonnieres, both centering around a green carnation.
“Are these for us, for tonight?”
Mike nodded, eyes still closed, saying, “only if you want to – I mean, maybe it’s too obvious if we’re both matching, and–”
“I would love to,” Will said, placing the box at his feet and taking Mike’s face in his hands, forcing him to look into his shining eyes, “I love you,”“I know,” Mike said with a smirk that just barely lightened the mood, and which earned him a slap on his arm; but it also got him a kiss on his nose.
“They’re um, Oscar Wilde – we could, if it’s not weird. I mean the English teachers might get it, but–” Mike gestured wildly as he stumbled over further clarification.
Will took his hands, shaking them, easing Mike’s mind, releasing some of his anxiety.
Nodding his head, his curls bouncing around his shoulders, “Oscar Wilde always wore a green carnation to events and stuff – said it was a bridge between the natural an unnatural and his friends and stuff started wearing one and some people think they did so as a way of telling each other they were, like, queer, and–” he finally stopped to take a breath, and Will squeeze his hands, a signal that he had said enough for him to understand.
Then Will lent closer, their foreheads touching, “careful what rabbit holes you fall down at the library,” he said, wearing a conspiratorial smile, “you might just out yourself.”
“If we do tonight then what does it matter – and we’ll be gone from here soon enough anyway.”
“Then,” with one hand on the flower box, the other on Mike’s knee, “let’s wear these proud tonight, and maybe even share–”
“–a kiss?”
“A dance, you idiot! This town thought I got hate crimed once already as a twelve-year-old; I don’t have a death wish.”
“Fine,” Mike said with mock disdain, “then you need to give me lots of kisses in the meantime to hold me over all night,” squeezing the hands which had not left Will’s waist, pulling them flush together, ghosting his lips across Will’s jaw, “think you can manage?”
It sent a shiver down his spine. So, Will chased his lips with a frantic heart beating out of his chest – which he was sure the other could feel. The hand on Mike’s knee slowly slid up his thigh as he brought the other down, taking a fist full of his hair, pulling just hard enough to tell him to hold him tighter.
“What happens when we graduate, when we go away?” Mike asked softly, fear merging with a satisfied hum as Will began to trail kisses down his neck.
“We write to each other,” he replied into Mike’s collar, “unlike when I lived in Lenora. But beyond that, I don’t know what the future holds.”
“Well, I don’t care,” Mike said desperately, “but whatever happens, just swear you won’t leave me.”
“Who knows what will become of us. I can’t promise you forever–”
“Then say you’ll never let me go. If only for now.”
Will spread his hands across Mike’s chest, reluctantly forcing them apart before assuring, “I won’t,” and taking his shirt into his hands to pull him back into a passionate kiss.
Mike gave everything to him. Worries for the future spilled out through the tears slipping down his cheeks, and still they stayed. They pressed close beneath the sun, high in the sky and only half as hot as the fire blazing in their hearts. Once in the spotlight of the high school gymnasium, they both knew they'd be fumbling and stumbling, painfully awkward and shy, hiding from prying eyes. But alone on the shore of a heart-shaped lake, they were free to wear their own hearts on their sleeve, to pretend that they could be strong – forever – together and always.
That was all they could really ask for.