Work Text:
“I don’t think this is working.”
“C’mon, man, it’s only been a second since you took a hit. Y’gotta give it a sec to kick in.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure! Stop thinking so much, Mikey, and let the purple palm tree delight work it’s magic~”
“Don’t call me that.”
Argyle, Jonathan, and Mike were in the back of the Surfer Boys pizza van, smoking. While it wasn’t unusual to find Argyle or Jonathan getting themselves high, despite Joyce and Hopper’s combined efforts to eliminate the contraband, Mike had never smoked before. Honestly, he’d never even considered muddling his mind with any substances before–not seriously, anyways–, but it wasn’t like there was anything else to do, so if he was going to be useless he might as well make himself completely useless.
As Argyle promised, it only took a minute for it to have an effect on Mike. He started to feel… was calm the right word? Eh, precision didn’t exactly matter to him, which was strange because usually precision mattered a lot. Yeah, he just didn’t really care about things he usually did. He could just sit back, and relax, and eat the chips Jonathan had brought because for the first time in a while he was really hungry.
“I just think,” Jonathan was ranting, “college isn’t a big deal, yknow? Like, it mattered a lot that I went to Nancy’s fancy college, or the community college in Lenora, but I can just get a job on a high school degree, yeah?”
“Don’t those jobs suck, though?” Mike helpfully commented through a mouth of chips.
“Man, don’t settle!”
“I’m not settling, I’m just…”
“A coward?” Mike offered more of his helpful commentary.
“Realistic.”
“You were going to go to college with my sister, right?”
“Yeah, but…”
“We have money, Nancy’s probably getting a bunch of her scholarships anyway, so she can use her college fund for you.”
“But then she used it for me, and when we turn out like my parents she’ll hate me for it…”
“Who would be who?”
“Huh?”
“Who would be Mrs. Byers and who would be Lonnie?”
“Nancy’s too… good of a person! To be like my dad, so I guess it’d be me.”
“I think you’re way cooler than Lonnie.”
“Thanks buddy, but when we’re older who says I won’t turn out like him?”
“If you did, Will would stop that. He’s too awesome and good and amazing to let his brother turn out shitty.”
Yeah, Will was super cool. He could draw amazing stuff and was really kind and was really pretty and…
“Yo, Mikey, what you thinking about, you’re smiling a lot, kinda freaking me out?”
“Don’t call me Mikey.” Mike breathily dismissed him. Purple palm tree delight made it a lot easier to zone out, to ignore them, to think and have it not be painful. It was like when he was younger and his mom didn’t ignore him for Holly yet. It was like old sleepovers with Will before they met Lucas and Dustin, just the 2 of them, best friends curled up on the couch. It was like before the upside-down and he realized his “anxiety” was realism.
It was… nice.
“Hey, Jonathan.”
“Yeah, Mike?”
“If you’re dating my sister, and I date your brother, does that make us brother-in-laws times 2?”
“You’re dating Will?” Jonathan half-yelled, somewhere between groggy and alarmed that was the peak state of anxiety he could have in his high state. In other words, the normal amount of stress he’d been showing throughout the… however long they’ve spent in the back of the pizza van.
“No, but I’d like to.” Mike pouted.
“Hey man that’s cool, love is love.”
Nobody said anything for a few minutes after that. Or seconds? Or hours? It was hard to tell while under the influence. Mike would have to ask Argyle where he got this stuff. The general state of peaceful contemplation was interrupted by a knock on the van.
“Weed, again?” Will questioned them annoyedly as he opened the trunk. Mike ignored Jonathan and Argyle’s half-grumbling excuses.
“Will!” Mike practically threw himself on Will as he reached out to hug him. Will stumbled back a bit from the sudden collision.
“You too?” Will sighed when he realized Mike was high, also ignoring the noises in the background. For some reason, looking up at Will like this, arms around his torso, the sunlight shining through Will’s brown hair and illuminating his face, Mike couldn’t help but be mesmerized. It was almost like he was an–
“Angel.” Mike reverently breathed aloud.
“Huh?” Will looked off guard.
“You’re like an angel.” Will froze for a second before responding to that.
“Uh. Thanks.” Mike smiled up at Will and watched his face turn peculiarly pink. Heh, that was a funny word. Peculiar. Maybe it would be funny to say it out loud.
“Peculiar.” It was! Mike nested his face against Will’s chest as he giggled. Argyle must have realized it was funny, because he said it too and laughed with Mike. When Mike recovered from his giggles, he looked back up at Will, who looked confused. “It’s a funny word.”
“I see…” Will’s face was lightly dusted with pink, as he always was when Mike was too close for too long. It was endearing, how flustered he could be. Of course, most people wouldn’t notice Will’s complexion changing at all, but Mike had spent a lifetime observing him. He couldn’t imagine a life without Will, even if he had to marry a girl and have kids someday. Usually, when he thought these things, he felt angry at the injustice, or more often these days, sad and defeated. But he felt none of these things now, all he could think of was how Will was the most lovable person in the world.
He was always afraid of saying it, because he would mean it with Will and didn’t mean it with El, but he didn’t feel afraid at all right now. Mike looked into Will’s hazel eyes, eyes that were his heart and home, as he had a thousand times before.
“I love you.”
“Huh?”
Mike’s heart was full of his love for his best friend, and saying it only made his chest feel warmer. It felt right. So he said it again, this time smiling with the joy of saying it. Will’s face grew pinker and more confused at Mike’s confession, and with Jonathan and Argyle’s cooing in the background. Honestly, Mike had forgotten about them, Will being all he was thinking of. So he decided to ignore them and continue to focus on Will.
“I lo-”
“O-Okay, I get it!”
Impossibly, Mike's smile grew wider, and he let his head rest against Will’s chest as he hugged him with feeling. Mike thought that, if he could just stay like this forever, nothing changing, he’d be happy, loving his friend with the same ease as breathing.