Archive of Our Own

All throughout his life, there’ve been a couple of things that had kept Mike awake at night: in his younger years, nightmares about all his favorite toys coming to life and kicking him out of his bedroom. When he was a bit older (but really, still too young) he would stay up listening, too afraid to fall asleep and miss a code red through his walkie-talkie, or not hearing one of those awful monsters sneaking into his house and taking his family like it had taken Will. neither of those worries truly faded as he grew older (seriously, he swears he didn’t put that action figure there—)

High school brought something new to insomnia. Mike had been a very smart child, he would do great at school— and he was still very smart, but was always too damn tired to focus on anything. Now he was just average, which wasn’t what he and his parents were used to. Every night he felt the study books and guides judging him from his backpack.

So he had supernatural and normal teen anxieties keeping him up at night. That was… okay, he guessed. Well, he had gotten used to it. Mike knew it took him about two to three hours to fall asleep, and he could live his life like that.

Except for today. It was nearly four in the morning and Mike was still staring straight at his ceiling, because for the life of him, he could not remember . 

It had happened just as they were leaving school, the whole Party walking to the bike racks, talking about what they were going to do the next day, given that it was finally the weekend. Lucas, Max and El wanted to go to the Arcade, while Dustin and Will wanted to go see ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ to the cinema.

“It’s not a kids movie!” Said Dustin, rolling his eyes as he took his bike . “And even if it were, that doesn’t make it bad!”

“We are seventeen, man, I don’t want to watch a cartoon movie about a rabbit.” Said Lucas.

Next to him, Max snorted. “Oh, really? Did your birthday happen and I forgot?”

“I’m basically seventeen! And hey, we are on the same team!”

“I’m reconsidering it.”

It was normal, that far. Mike wasn’t even trying to hide his grin as he listened to his friends bicker. He honestly didn’t care where they went— the Arcade was always fun and he had really enjoyed the trailers for the movie. 

Also normal, he was standing next to Will, holding his backpack as he tried to fix the little bell on his bike. The strap had been coming loose for a couple of weeks now, but Will kept insisting he could still perfectly tie it to the handle (he couldn’t).

“We can go to the Arcade literally any other day.” Said Will, not taking his eyes out of the bell. “But only tomorrow there’s a discount on the cinema.”

“Which means it’ll be full of people,” negotiated Max, “unlike the Arcade. We’ll have it all to ourselves! And like, it’s a ten percent discount, that’s barely anything.”

Dustin rolled his eyes. “Every time we assume we’ll have the Arcade to ourselves it never happens. The Arcade is never empty, it’s like people live there.”

“Well, I don’t care! I vote Arcade!” Said Max getting onto her bike. Will tried knotting the strap, but it wasn’t long enough and his face just kept on morphing more and more into annoyance. 

El, who had been rather quiet so far, smiled brightly getting on hers. “Me too!”

They started riding off before anyone could contradict them.

Lucas shrugged, turning back to his friends. “What can you do? It’s the girl who can, like, fly with a skateboard and the one with actual superpowers.”

Again, Dustin rolled his eyes, getting on his bike. “Yeah, sure, like you don’t breathe out in ultimate relief every time they agree with you.”

“Do not!”

Lucas followed him as he started biking away. Will gave up on the bell and just took it off the handlebar. 

“Thanks.” He said as Mike gave back his backpack. 

“If someone’s coming your way, just shriek.” Joked Mike, smiling as he looked at Will throwing the bell in one of the pockets.

Will chuckled. “Sure.”

They got on their bikes, and were about to take off to follow their friends when every sense of normal disappeared. 

A couple of feet in front of them, Lucas was hurrying to get to Max and El, still bickering with Dustin. Will chuckled to himself and said—

“If there was a cute boy who could skate or had superpowers, I would be following him around too.” 

He laughed and biked away without even glancing at Mike. With no care. Like it was the most casual thing to say ever.

And Mike… it was four in the morning and he was still awake. That’s how it was going for Mike.

There were a couple of things that were wrecking his brain:

First, Will liked boys. Guys. Will was gay? Because that’s what it meant, right? Because Lucas had feelings for Max and was getting along better than ever with El, and Will had used the word pretty. Like, that’s a romantic word, right? Mike didn’t go around looking at people and calling them ‘pretty’ platonically.

Second, Will was gay ? Mike was hung up on that. Not because he had a problem with it. No. At all. Really. Something felt weird about it, but it wasn’t disgust or hate or anything like that, he didn’t think, instead a fluttery warm but anxious feeling in his stomach. Maybe because Mike himself had been questioning himself lately, not a big deal though, and it had nothing to do with Will either, of course. 

Third, does Mike know Will is gay?

Maybe that was the biggest one. Will had been so casual about it, like he was joking about the weather. Like Mike was in on the joke. Mike was not .

Yes, Will hadn’t really dated or expressed interest in a girl since they were like eleven years old, and the bullies in middle school called him queer and fairy, and Mike’s own father had once implied something about it, now that he was remembering…

Will was gay? No, he had to move on from that. Mike knew?

Right now he didn’t care about pride: Mike would be the first to admit he was a bit heedless and maybe even oblivious, but he would remember if his best friend came out as gay to him.

Or maybe when the gates to the Upside Down were closed almost two years ago El somehow shifted them to a reality in which was completely accepted and people were just casual about it? Mike’s head was spinning. 

Fourth, Will Byers is gay . He likes guys. Mike is a guy. Is he feeling weird because of that? Is he uncomfortable? He doesn’t feel uncomfortable.

When Max starts pocking him behind his ribs continuously, that’s uncomfortable. Or when they have family dinners, and their dad gets the urge to make small talk, God that’s uncomfortable. Also sometimes when it’s about to rain in summer and the air gets really humid and sticky, or when it gets very cold and he can barely feel his hands— those things are uncomfortable.  

Knowing Will likes guys romantically is… well, it’s different. That thing about the fluttery and warm and anxious feeling deep in his stomach. Or maybe not that deep. Mike’s whole body felt like it was vibrating. 

Fifth (this just kept going), Will seemed to be okay about liking guys. Again, he was so casual about it, like it wasn’t an Earth shattering fact that might ruin his life. Mike could never—

Oh , oh, no, no, this was not about Mike. Not at all, actually—

Sixth. Mike is sure Will never came out to him or anyone else for that matter. At least that he knew of. Max and Lucas sometimes teased him about getting a girlfriend, Dustin was always offering to wingman them, saying that because he was the one in the longest relationship (‘ On and off doesn’t count, Lucas, it’s about consistency ’) he could give the best advice, and El… well, actually she never talked about her brother’s love life, not even in a teasing tone. It had actually been years since they had been in California and she wrote about her suspicions that Will had a crush on a mystery girl…

But that didn’t matter. If he had liked a girl before, it didn’t mean he didn’t like guys know, Mike would know— No , he wouldn’t. This wasn’t about Mike.

And actually about that: seventh, nothing about Will being (possibly? very much confirmed) gay had anything at all to do with Mike. So what if Mike had been wondering and realizing stuff those past few years, and now knew his thing with El had just been a weird preteen first-crush mess for both of them, and also knew his relationship with Will was different to his with any of his other friends— different than what he ever had with anyone , really, because Will was Mike’s person on that life, he knew that, and made him feel like maybe there was hope for a tomorrow and—

But it’s not about Mike. Will. Will .

Eight, Will is gay? He was going in circles. Ninth, Mike was sure he didn’t know. Tenth., he definitely knew now. Eleventh. Twelfth. Thirteenth…

When sleep finally came, he dreamt about it. 

It was a typical weird dream at the beginning— they had gotten out of school and all the bike racks were missing, and because the high school was in another state, Mike had a three hour walk home. 

The untypical came when some faceless boy appeared with a skateboard, and offered to take Will home. Even when he didn’t have a face, it was a pretty guy, Mike could tell. The guy also made the skateboard levitate when Will got up on it behind him and they both flew off, while Mike had to walk for three hours and got run over by his Science teacher a block away from his home.

It was a stupid dream. Like— so, so dumb! Idiotic, really. Mike couldn’t stop thinking about it.

He couldn’t stop thinking about Will. It was the first thing in his mind when the opened his eyes, and what he kept thinking of when he stood up, went to the bathroom, got changed, had breakfast, went grab his bike to go to school—

“Michael? What are you doing up so early?” His mom’s voice came from behind him, just getting down from the stairs to start the day. 

Fuck. Right. It was Saturday. 

Mike let his backpack fall on the floor. Fuck . 

“Lucas, El and me vote Arcade.” Said Max, crossing her arms over her chest. They were all standing with their bikes in their meeting point, just a couple of blocks from Mike’s house. 

Dustin groaned. “Fine. I vote movie.”

“Me too.” Rushed to say Will with a grin. He looked great that day. Mike wasn’t sure why he noticed. He always noticed. Will always looked great. Will was gay. That wasn’t the point .

“Mike?” Asked El, but everyone else grunted.

Max rolled her eyes. “He’s just going to pick movie.”

“Wha—?” Mike frowned. He was going to say movie, but… “How can you possibly know that?”

“You always side with Will.”

No I don’t. No I don’t. No I — Mike did always side with Will. He turned to him, to find his friend already looking at him with an amused smile. 

“Movie then.” 

Lucas rubbed his temple. “No! It’s three against three! Fuck, we need a new friend.” 

“What if we go to both the movies and the Arcade?” Offered Mike. Everyone stared at him in silence. Fine, bad idea then.

It ended up being settled between Dustin and Max in a challenging game of rock, paper, scissors. Will covered his sister’s eyes just in case, and Lucas and Mike cheered. 

Or Mike tried to cheer. He kept losing focus with Will, who was making sure El didn’t look but peeking over himself, excitedly supporting Dustin. The smile on his face was huge, absolutely amused by the situation.

Dustin won, and Will raised his arms in the sky and stuck out his tongue at El, who made his bike fall to the ground with a roll of her eyes. He was still happy, laughing and smiling and his cheeks were a bit blushed and he likes guys .

Mike… Mike would know. Mike was incapable of forgetting anything Will ever said. How could he? 

He has to talk to Will. Mike has to or he might die. The movie was torture, sitting next to each other in the darkness and for some reason Mike was losing his mind. He had to know when Will had told him, because… no one else seemed to know.

After the movie, Lucas, Dustin and Max kept going on and on about the design for Jessica Rabbit, and even teased Will about drawing a big poster of her, but he just laughed it off. When the new girl server in the ice cream shop winked at Will, El nudged him with a smile. As they were biking home, chatting about whatever, Dustin assured Will that when he got a girlfriend, he would get what the buzz was all about.

Ever so kind, Will smiled. Smiled and didn’t correct anyone. But yesterday with Mike…

It was breaking Mike’s head in half, and it was noticeable. Max kept pointing at him with her chin and frowning, quietly telling him to calm the fuck down .

“Is something wrong?” She whispered at him at one point, the hint of worry in her tone making her grimace.

Mike shook his head. “No.” 

“Yeah, I totally believe that.”

“Shut up.” 

She wouldn’t get it. Nobody in the Party would get it. None of them knew their person in the world was gay and was now toying with the dangerous idea of being requited. Not that anything about anything had to do with Mike, fucking hell—

They went to the Byers’ home after having ice cream, which had become sort of their new hanging space ever since the family had moved back to Hawkins into a bigger house with more space. It didn’t have a basement as their indisputable place, instead the six of them went straight to the sort of sun-room-back-porch behind the living room, and sat down on the old couches there. 

“Just admit it.” Dustin was saying. “It was a great movie.”

Max groaned against her hands. “I’m going to kick you all the way back to the cinema.”

“Sure, but it was a good movie, right? I saw you laughing.”

“I wasn’t laughing . It was ironic.”

Dustin frowned. “How do you laugh ironically?”

“Like this.” And she did a fake and exaggerated laugh on his face.

Sitting next to Mike, Will bent down laughing, resting his hand on Mike's knee for support. 

Okay, cold head— Will liked guys, sure, of course. Will did not like Mike, however (not that this was about him, again, just brainstorming). Those were the facts. And even if— if there had ever been any kind of chance of Will slightly liking him (simply brainstorming) it shouldn’t be there anymore, because if Mike could just forget about the most important person in his life coming out to him, then he deserved nothing. He sucked, and was making everything about himself again—

“Mike, dude.” Max said, and now everyone was looking at him. “Where the fuck is your head at?”

“Uhm.” Mike gulped. 

Will was looking at him, his head slightly tilted and a soft frown forming between his eyebrows. He was worried about him, worried about Mike who was the worst friend in the world. 

How self-involved does one have to be to suck this bad? Mike couldn’t stand himself. And besides— the only thing he could think about now that he knew Will liked guys, was what it meant for them .

There was no them . Will liked guys, not Mike, and fuck he was doing it again! So self-involved, so selfish and heedless and—

“Mike?” Will’s hand on his knee squeezed, and Mike had to stand up.

“Sorry, I have a headache.” He grabbed his forehead for maximum credibility. “I’m gonna go wash my face.”

He left without waiting for any response and went up the stairs quickly. He closed the bathroom door behind him and stared into the mirror. Mike was somehow both pale and flustered, which was just great, really, so he threw cold water on his face for a couple of minutes.

After all those years, ever since they had saved the world, Mike thought he had been doing better. He thought he was a better friend, a better best friend for Will. But he had clearly learned nothing, because Will was gay and Mike knew and then forgot .

He tried thinking back to every conversation they ever had. Last time Mike remembered hearing Will talk about his romantic life was about a year ago, during a sleepover when Lucas asked him if he had a crush on anyone. Will had chuckled and said no. He said he didn’t like any girls.

Could that have been it? But he said that to everyone, and no one knew. Only Mike seemed to be the one on the loop. And he wasn’t really until yesterday .

So it had to be some other time, when they were alone, but ever since El the two of them did not talk about girls or romance or anything around that subject. Mike had never asked, because he didn’t want to know if Will liked any girls. 

It made no sense. Either Mike was having serious memory issues and was just realizing it, or he was plainly an idiot, or—

There was a knock on the door. “Mike? Are you feeling alright?”

Of course it was Will. And of course he was worried, when it was the last thing Mike deserved from him. 

“Yeah, yeah! Everything is great!” 

Friends don’t lie . Fuck.

For years Mike had screwed up. If he really wanted to change, he had to start being honest, even with the things he was hating himself about.

“Actually…” He mumbled, closing the faucet and grabbing the towel to dry his face. “Could you come in?”

“What?”

Mike opened the door of the bathroom and grabbed Will’s arm, pushing him inside. Will stumbled, grabbing onto Mike’s shoulders to keep himself from falling.

“Hey!” He groaned, quickly taking a step back from Mike, who was already closing the door behind him. “What’s up with you? Are you alright?”

“I’m sorry.” 

Confusion, worry and fear all went through Will’s face. “What? Why? You didn’t do anything.”

“I did. I-I forgot.” Mike shook his head, looking down at his feet. “And I hate myself for it, and didn’t know what to do, because I was such a bad friend when we were younger, but I still suck because I just can’t remember when—”

“Mike, calm down…” Tried saying Will, taking a couple of steps forward.

But Mike back down.

“I can’t remember when you came out to me! I… I’m so sorry.” 

Will just stared, first frowning, but as the words sinked in him, his face morphed into absolute fear.

“Oh my God.” He whispered, his hands raising to his head. “I… I never did.”

It was Mike’s time to be confused. “What?”

“I thought you already knew.”

“Knew?” Mike mumbled. “Knew from when?”

Will was shaking his head, seconds away from panic.

“Holy shit. Fuck . Mike, I… I’m not…”

His voice broke. Mike’s entire being went into emergency mode, and he rushed to put his hands on Will’s shoulders.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, I’m sorry.” He didn’t even know what he was apologizing for anymore, he didn’t understand what was even happening . “It really is okay. Yesterday… you said that about a guy with skateboard and superpowers so casually, I thought you had told me and I had forgotten, because I couldn’t remember you ever talking about—”

“Me?” Will frowned. “ You are the one who said it.”

Mike froze. He knew for absolute sure he had never said anything about him being into guys.

“W-what? But I never said I—”

“Four  years ago,” mumbled Will, “the summer with the Mind Flayer? When we… when we argued outside your house, you said it wasn’t your— you said that I didn’t like girls. You knew .”

Mike almost choked with his own breath. 

“I didn’t mean it like that!”

Will shook his head. “How else can you mean it?”

“Not in a romantic way!” This was unsalvageable. “Like… you didn’t like our girls. El and Max. In a friend way. That you didn’t like them being part of the group, and— I don’t how I meant it! I wasn’t thinking!” 

Will breathed out heavily. “Clearly.”

“I’m sorry.” Mike repeated, and his hands were still in Will’s shoulders, so he lowered them down his arms. “For saying that. It… it sounded mean as fuck.”

“Yeah, it was.” Said Will, still not really looking him in the eyes. “But then we were friends again, and you never mentioned it, and every time the others said anything about girls you shut them out, so… I thought you were okay with it.”

“I am! I totally am!” Mike breathed out the words quickly. “I mean, I didn’t know, but I am okay with it. Totally.”

Their eyes finally met.

“Oh.”

But Will didn’t say anything else. He stood there, watching Mike, almost analyzing his face and trying to decide how much he believed. Mike tried his best to look honest, because he was . He had to be honest.

“I mean, I have to be okay with it.” 

Will frowned. Not the best choice of words, fuck .

“I mean— not have , but…” Mike forced himself to take a deep breath, to kick out of his chest the palpitating fear. “It would be super hypocritical.”

A few seconds passed, because he couldn’t make himself talk. Will frowned slightly.

“…  Why?”

“Because.” Mike gulped. “ Because . It would be hypocritical if I had a problem with you being into guys. Because I… just, yeah, I’m not a hypocrite.”

“You are not a hypocrite.” Will repeated slowly. 

“Right.”

“… because you also like…?”

“S-sure.”

“ Sure ?”

“ Yes . Pretty much.”

Will raised his eyebrows high. “ Pretty much ?”

“Yes, Will! God, I like guys too, okay?” 

Mike was still holding onto Will’s arms, so he dropped his own arms and crossed them over his chest.

Not even a second after doing that, he feared Will would think he was angry, but his friend’s eyes were still on him, confused and shocked. 

“Sorry.” He shook his head slightly, still lost. “Just… too many reveals for a five minute conversation.”

“Sorry.” Mike mumbled.

“No! No, I— I don’t even know what it’s happening anymore.”

“Well, I just came out, I guess.”

That seemed to wake Will up. His eyes widened and this time, he was the one grabbing onto Mike. “A-and that’s great! Really, it’s great. I’m happy, for you.”

“Well, yeah.” Mike shrugged. “You were never a hypocrite either.”

It was a dumb attempt to make a lighten the mood, but Will laughed, his hands over Mike’s shoulders relaxing and— 

Bringing Mike into a hug. They were hugging. 

Maybe— maybe Mike could make it a bit about himself just for a moment. As he hugged Will back, he felt that warm and soft feeling he always had when near him rise inside him. 

Will was his friend. Best Friend. His person. And he liked guys, and Mike liked guys. Math classes were harder now, but Mike was sure he was getting somewhere with that equation.

Yeah— he could figure out his part of the deal. It was easy to admit. 

As Mike buried his face in Will’s shoulder, he knew he liked him. Like felt like such a dumb word . Mike adored him. 

And when Will brought his hand to rest behind Mike’s neck, his fingers reaching his hair and softly caressing, it was impossible to feel the slightest bit of hope. 

They stayed there for a moment, and then another, and even longer. Mike relaxed into the hug, closing his eyes and just drowning in Will. The feel of his t-shirt, the smell of cheap lemon-scented shampoo on his hair, the way his chest widened as he breathed in and out, in and out, in and out…

“Will.” Mike mumbled, not really thinking.

“Yeah?” His voice was impossibly soft, but also deep and groggy, as if he was waking up from a nap on a holiday. 

Mike wasn’t even sure why the feel was so specific, but it was. His eyes were closed and he could almost convince themselves they were resting on a bed, alone, with nowhere to be but with each other.

He felt Will’s hand in his neck traveling into his hair, fully caressing Mike’s scalp. The sigh that escaped him was truly out of his control.

“What, Mike?” Whispered Will, sounding completely amused and also completely sweet.

This was about them . “I—”

There was a loud knock on the door.

“Will? Did Mike kill you or something?” Said Max through the other side.

Will chuckled, and barely made an effort to break the hug. “I’m okay! We’ll be out in a moment!”

“Okay, scream if something changes.”

“Don’t be mean.” El’s voice sounded. “We are all in my room! Tell us if you need anything.”

“Maybe Mike died, El, oh my God…” 

Their voices faded as both girls went back to the bedroom. 

Mike and Will were still hugging. It was definitely a very long hug. Mike would consider it to be too long if it was with anyone other than Will.

The question was, why wasn’t Will pulling away? 

“Will?” He mumbled again.

And God— Will nuzzled to whisper close to Mike’s ear. “Yeah?”

He wasn’t imagining it, or making it about himself, or panicking about anything that wasn’t worth panicking over— Mike raised his head from Will’s shoulder to look him in the eyes. 

Still so close, it made a shiver run through Mike’s back. Will wasn’t backing away, he kept his arm around Mike, his hand in his hair, their bodies close and his eyes— well, not exactly on Mike’s but lower…

Oh . Okay. So, Will is gay, and thought Mike knew, but Mike didn’t know, but now he knows, and Will knows Mike is gay too, and—

“Will.”

He smiled. “You keep saying that.”

Mike really, really did adore him. So he kissed him. 

For just a moment they stood still, and then Will kissed back making the whole world just stop. His hold in Mike’s hair tighten slightly to bring them closer, tilting their heads, and Mike’s arms grabbed firmly his friend’s waist.

Friend ? This was not normal friend behavior. Mike would never kiss a friend, or grab them by the waist, or push them against a sink, or smile against their lips.

Only Will. Only ever Will. 

His heart was beating so hard he was sure Will noticed it, and Mike himself could feel his. But it didn’t stop either of them, or slow them down.

It was world-shattering, of course, but also incredibly normal. Like it made sense , and Mike couldn’t believe this was just their first kiss. Their first kiss .

Will rested his hips against the sink and tried bringing Mike even closer, both his hands in his hair, curving his back until his hair was brushing the mirror on the wall, and Mike could only follow him. How could he not?

When they separated (rather, when they stopped kissing, because none of them dared to move apart) they sighed into each other, dumb smiles in both their faces.

“Will.” Mike whispered, like he had reached a conclusion. “I can’t believe we had our first kiss in your bathroom.”

They both laughed, and then Will bit his lip.

“We can have our second in my bedroom.”

It was a fantastic idea. Mike fell completely in love with doing that, but—

“Everyone is waiting for us in El’s room.”

“Oh, right.” Will mumbled as he played with Mike’s hair. “Well, if we run really fast down the stairs we can reach out bikes without anyone stopping us.”

Mike couldn’t gather a single straight thought, not with Will so close and grabbing his hair—

“Of course.” 

“So we should make a run for it?”

Mike blinked. “What?”

Will smiled widely and kissed him again. Yeah, that was better. Mike was okay with that.

It was a softer kiss, less hungry but not less passionate. When Will leaned away, he nodded with confidence.

“Yeah, let's make a run for it. We can go to that clearing near my old house.” 

This time Mike’s head was a little more clear, because he heard and understood and agreed it was an incredible idea. He nodded fast. 

“Sure, I love that, let’s do that.”

He gave Will one last kiss before backing away, hand in hand to walk towards the bathroom door.

God, Will looked amazing. Hair tousled for some reason (Mike didn’t even want to know how his looked), cheeks blushed, lips red, still breathing a little hard and with a wide, almost love-struck smile. 

Almost love-struck. Fuck, Mike didn’t want to get his hopes up, but Will seemed as happy and in love as he was feeling. 

There was no countdown, they had known each other for long enough that it wasn’t necessary. Will opened the door of the bathroom and they quickly started running towards the stairs.

“Everything’s okay! We are heading out! See you guys later! I’ll be back for dinner!” Will yelled as they made their way down.

They were halfway through the living room when Dustin’s confused voice yelled something back, but Mike barely heard. He was laughing too much.

When Will opened the front door of his house, it felt like a new day had begun. The sun was shining bright, and there was only the slightest cold breeze. It was barely three in the afternoon, they still had the whole day to themselves.

“Come on!” Will pulled from his hand to keep running to their bikes laid across the lawn. 

Mike grabbed his green one, Will grabbed his bell-less one, and neither of them waited to get to the street to start pedaling. It sucked to let go of Will’s hand, but he had something to look forward to: a sunny Saturday, far from everyone, surrounded by trees. That was all the incentive he needed.

Also, seeing Will turn around to smile at him was amazing too. Very fucking amazing.

And better yet, they had tomorrow free too. And the rest of their lives, for that matter.

Mike sped up. “Don’t fall behind!”

Will’s laugh made an echo through the neighborhood. 

“As if!” 

They didn’t really need to hurry— again, they had so, so much time. But thankfully, they were still young and eager, so they sped up, the first fallen leaves of autumn flying away as they went.

This winter was going to be good. Hell— the whole year was looking up now. Mike had never been so excited to see what was next if Will kept smiling at him like that.

Mike didn’t have a skateboard or superpowers, but as they both rode down the street, Mike could swear they were flying.