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As Mike and Will got to school, the two of them made their way to Will's locker. Mike was basically a parasite latched onto Will's back 24/7. The taller boy leaned against the locker, almost intimidating, if he weren't rambling about D&D. Will patiently listened to Mike scream about some game with Eddie, when Will was off in California. As he unlocked his locker, a bright pink letter fell out. This seemed to surprise Mike, leading him to stutter out some nonsense.
"Shit- I- Erm- ...What is that?" Mike struggled to get through a single sentence.
"I 'dunno...some letter from a girl it looks like..." Will said, bending down, picking it up and examining the writing on the front.
"W-What's it say?" Mike stuttered out.
"Just 'To: Will' ...What d'you think it's about?" Will said, beginning to rip open the envelope.
"Oh-! Er- Nothing important...probably. Just- Maybe you should open it later? We gotta go to class." Mike said, putting his hand out to stop Will from ripping open the envelope.
"We don't have class that soon-" Will started.
"Hey- Wanna go get some pudding or something from the cafeteria? Dustin has what he calls a secret stash we could get into." Mike said, stumbling over his words.
"Oh...Sure." Will said, shoving the letter in his notebook as he followed Mike into the cafeteria.
The two walked in silence, Mike seeming more restless than usual. They were often there quite early, meaning the staff had taken a liking to them, and allowed them to roam the school as long as they stayed out of trouble. It was basically their thing, hanging out every morning before the chaos ensued.
"Hey, you okay? You seem a bit...jittery." Will said, bumping Mike's shoulder.
Mike jumped at the sudden touch, a flush growing on his face. Will noticed this, lowering his head. Mike had seemed more...odd lately, it was only around Will. Will couldn't help but feel it was something he did. Suddenly, he was snapped back to reality, the loud sounds of food being made in the back of the cafeteria.
Mike hesitated, "Oh- Uhm. I'm fine. Just...nervous about the science project lately."
"Oh, alright, makes sense." Will stuttered out.
They headed over to the kitchen, to find Dustin's "secret" stash, which in reality was just the fridge. Mike grabbed two puddings, and handed one to Will, shutting the fridge door.
"Wanna go to the spot?" Mike asked, already starting to walk in the direction.
The two had dedicated a spot to just hang out, it was around the back of the school, near their 1st periods. Nobody really knew about it. It was their thing. Ever since Mike started calling it theirs, Will always held a special place for this stupid, dirty corner in the back of the school. So even mentioning it would cause a smile to form on his face.
"Sure, we've got like 20 minutes until people get here." Will said, happily following Mike.
As they made their way to the spot, light conversation filled the air, but it was mostly this comfortable silence they had learned to love. Any moment with each other was enough. Ever since Will returned and Max had been put in the hospital, Mike had been clingy. Even when Max got out okay, he didn't want to take any risks. Will didn't particularly hate it, if he was being honest.
The two settled into the corner, opening their puddings. Mike handed Will a spoon, which he for whatever reason had in his pocket, but Will didn't question it.
"Oh! Should I read that letter now? I wanna know what it's about." Will said, pulling the letter from his stack of notebooks, continuing to open the envelope.
"No-! I mean, maybe you should open it lat-..." Mike started, but Will cut him off.
"It's...a love letter. From...oh, anonymous." Will said, beginning to scan the contents of the letter.
"Oh! Weird...I mean- not like...weird that you got a love letter, but who would it be from haha-" Mike said, his laughter fading away as Will continued scanning the letter.
"It says... 'Dear Will, I've been trying to get this out for a while. It might be wrong, but I really enjoy talking to you and I think it's become more than a friendship-' Hm..." Will stopped reading out loud as he continued to read the rest of the letter.
Mike seemed to tense up, an awkward smile on his face as Will read the letter, but Will eventually put the letter down. Mike examined Will's facial expression, hoping to somewhat understand him.
"It's just a love letter...We can talk about it later, I'd prefer to just hang out with you right now." Will said, leaning his head on Mike's shoulder, scooping out a bite of pudding.
"Yeah..." Mike said, a soft smile on his face.
The two talked away the short amount of time they had in the morning, and soon enough, chatter could be heard from the front of the school.
"We should probably get to class now." Will said, throwing his trash into some nearby trash can.
"Oh, right." Mike snapped back into reality, following after Will to throw his trash away.
"See you at lunch Mike!" Will said, his books nearly too heavy for him as he waved.
"See you." Mike said, a smile on his face as he waved back.
As Mike sat down in his seat, far in the back, he immediately threw open his notes and started scribbling words into it. Ideas for writing, feelings, nobody ever really knew what was going through the boys head. Only Will knew. For the most part, at least. Mike paid some attention, scribbling actual notes here and there, Will on the other hand, would just fill his notebook with doodles, paying barely enough attention. Yet, Mike was failing every class and Will was passing with flying colors.
Eventually, it was lunch time, the bell rang loud, the noise continued ringing in Mike's ear until the loud noise of the cafeteria bustle snapped it out. Mike saw Will, Dustin, and Lucas sitting at the table, Will with a smile that could light up a whole building, if he was being honest. Max and El usually sat alone, apart from the boys, they preferred their "girl time," as they called it. Mike sat down, shoving his open lunch on the table, right next to Will.
"Hey Mike! I just told them about that letter we found in my locker this morning." Will said, smiling.
Mike's eyes widened when he heard the laughing of Dustin and Lucas.
"Oh- What all did you tell them?" Mike said, a tremble hidden behind his voice.
"Just how it's a love letter, and it's anonymous." Will said, looking over at Dustin and Lucas with a death glare to shut them up.
"Oh c'mon- I'm sorry Will, but it's all pink and anonymous? It's probably some random girl you've never even looked at." Dustin said, laughing.
"I mean, it might be the girl from the Snowball, but that was years ago." Lucas said.
"Yeah yeah, laugh it up, you guys know Dustin got a girlfriend, so there's a chance for me." Will said, a breathless laugh leaving his lips.
Mike sat there and watched the 3 argue, he let his head down a bit.
"I mean, aren't there plenty of girls who had their eye on you in California?" Dustin said, slightly mocking Will.
"Yeah- Oh. You're mocking me aren't you. Well for your information, there were plenty. And I turned all of them down." Will said, crossing his arms.
"Why would you turn them down?!" Dustin said, his laughter turning into a bit of a shock.
"Mm, not my type." Will said, eyes turning to Mike for a moment, but quickly looking back at the others.
"Oh- Oh! I have an idea, if we can find out who gave you this letter this time next week, you promise you'll go out with them. Just one date." Lucas said, challenging Will.
Will's eyes went wide. An expression of concern flooded his face, but it washed away moments later. Mike seemed to notice this, as he continued to watch in silence, a bit tense from the situation at hand.
"Fine. Just one date." Will said with a stern voice.
"Deal! Shake on it." Lucas said, offering his hand out to Will.
In front of Mike were two tall figures, shaking on a stupid bet about a stupid letter from a stupid girl.
"Alright, just don't go crazy or something trying to find this girl." Will said, making eye contact with Lucas.
"Yeah...whatever." Lucas responded, his attention falling onto a girl walking in the cafeteria.
"Wait- Can I help Lucas? I kinda want to see where this goes if we find the girl." Dustin said, giving a sad attempt at puppy eyes to Will.
"Fine..." Will sighed, as the two giggled and started whispering into each other's ears.
Mike continued eating his food, as Dustin and Lucas ran off to scheme whatever it is they want to do.
"So...Who do you think the letter is from?" Will said, turning his gaze to Mike.
Mike choked on his food, the sudden voice directed at him startling him.
"Oh- Erm...Probably that one girl in Science who stares at you a lot." Mike stuttered out, yet, he was the only one who stared at Will in Science.
"Wait, there's a girl who stares at me in Science? Who? We're all the way in the back Mike, I think I would've noticed." Will said, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh- Right, I mean that girl in- Spanish." Mike said, turning his head quickly away from Will.
"I..don't take Spanish, Mike." Will said, even more confusion showing on his face.
"I meant uh- GYM-! I GOTTA GO." Mike said, quickly shoving his food back into his lunchbox and getting up.
"Oh- Okay..." Will said, returning to his meal.
The day quickly went on after that, Lucas and Dustin were still plotting the entire day, but Will chose to ignore them. Soon enough, Mike met Will outside by the bikes, an awkward smile on his face.
"Hey! Still coming over? My mom bought some snacks for us if you're hungry." Will said, a huge smile on his face as he hopped onto his bike.
"Sure." Mike said, softly smiling back.
The two biked back in silence, a quick ride, but it lasted an eternity as long as they were alone. Mike dropped his bike down first, running up to the porch to beat Will. A childish tradition, but something he would never let go as long as they stayed friends, or died, for that matter.
"You always win, Mike. Can't ever let me win?" Will asked politely, laughing a bit.
"Nope! Gotta keep my winning streak going, what is it now...Everyday for 5 years?" Mike said, smiling largely.
"Hey! What about that time I beat you like last year?" Will said, running up to Mike.
"Pfft...That doesn't count." Mike said, opening the door as the two of them continued to talk.
"Oh c'mon..At least give me some credit..." Will said, nudging Mike's side.
Mike flushed up, Will's shoulder brushed up against his as they made their way to Will's room.
"Nuh uh! I've been winning for years, I'm never letting that hard work go to waste." Mike said, laughing at Will.
"Fine...I'll win one day..." Will said, shutting his door gingerly.
"Soo...What're we gonna do?" Mike asked, plopping down onto Will's bed.
Will plopped down next to him, leaning onto his shoulder. Mike flinched a bit, which startled Will, but then two relaxed into the position, flushing up at the warmth.
"So...about that letter...I've been wondering who it's from." Will started.
"Oh- Why..? I mean- I know it's like, important, but why do you care so much...?" Mike stuttered out.
"I dunno, I just want to know who it is. I don't want to go out with some girl. Just wanna get over this date and go back to hanging out with you." Will said, burying his face further into Mike's shoulder.
"Oh-! Do you...like someone?" Mike questioned, turning his gaze to Will's face.
"Yeah...Probably not the person who wrote the letter though."
"Oh." Mike said, leaving the room silent.
The two settled into a comfortable position, staying huddled up to each other.
"Well...who's the girl you like?" Mike said, his voice low.
"Oh-! Uhm- Someone- Er. You probably won't care. It's not that important!" Will said, jumping up out of the comfort of Mike's arms.
Mike flinched, eyes filling with worry.
"Oh. Alright- Uhm-" Mike started, but was quickly interrupted but the shouts of Lucas and Dustin.
"HEY WILL! YOU COPY?" Dustin shouted, Lucas muttering things in the background.
Will quickly scrambled to the walkie talkie to answer,
"Oh my god- Hey guys. What's up?" Will stuttered into the walkie talkie, nearly dropping it as he sat back next to Mike.
"So, we made a list of girls who most likely sent you the letter!" Lucas shouted out.
"You guys really put in the effort to do that?" Mike said judgingly.
"Well duh, we want to see Will get a date! He hasn't had any action since the dance at the Snowball." Dustin responded, and they seemingly started ruffling through a notebook to find their list.
"Ok, so there's Judith Hops, Adrienne Growls, Dutchess Weasley, Nicky Wild, and...like 10 other girls." Lucas said.
"C'mon, it's not like any of them would like me, everyone knows who they are-" Will started, but was quickly interrupted by the banter on Dustin and Lucas.
All of this made Mike want to scream. He felt...jealous. This whole love letter idea was stupid. He grabbed the walkie talkie and quickly turned it off. The chatter of Dustin and Lucas was getting to his head.
"Mike? You okay? You've been acting weird all day..." Will said, reaching out for Mike's hand, softly placing his touch above it.
"Yeah- Sorry. They were getting a little loud...I didn't mean to be rude-" Mike stuttered.
"It's fine, we can go get something to eat, if you'd like?" Will responded, his expression softening.
"I'm okay, can we just stay here?" Mike said.
"Yeah, sure." Will said, patting the place in bed next to him.
Mike scooted up into place next to Will, the two settled back into their positions from earlier, leaning into each other comfortably. Minutes of silence passed by, heavy breaths leaving each other's mouths every so often. They had learned to love this comfort they seemed to only find in each other. After a long silence had passed over, Mike finally took a deep breath.
"I wrote the letter." Mike said, his eyelids squinting for a moment, desperate to take back his words, but it was too late, and Will had heard it.
"What?" Will said, somewhat full of disbelief.
"I wrote the pink, stupid, anonymous letter." Mike said, louder this time.
"Oh. As a joke?" Will asked, not really able to process the information correctly.
"What? Will, I meant everything I wrote in that letter." Mike said, turning towards Will, whose face was incredibly close now, causing Mike to flush more than he should have.
"Oh....Oh. You- You like me...?" Will said, a soft smile growing on his face despite his attempts to hide it.
"Uhm. Yes. But you don't have to like respond...now...or ever! Really, if you don't want to be friends...I get it. I know you have that crush." Mike said, his voice lowering for a moment.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Mike, you're the crush." Will said, gazing away for a moment, cheeks flushing in embarrassment.
"What?" Mike said, looking over at Will.
"I like you too." Will said, turning back, the two were so close, they both flushed in embarrassment, flinching back a bit.
They stayed in place for a few moments, eventually Mike turned his body towards Will, causing Will to sit up into place, facing back at Mike.
"What?" Will asked calmly, a bit of a grin on his face from the previous conversation.
"So are we like...together together now?" Mike asked, his eyes wandering the room, avoiding awkward eye contact.
"Oh. Do you want to be?" Will said, teasing Mike.
"You want me to say it, don't you." Mike sighed.
"I would love to hear it!" Will giggled.
"Fine. I want to be your boyfriend, will you be mine?" Mike said, his face stained a bright shade of red.
Will smiled largely, struggling to hold in his laughter from Mike's bright red tomato-like face.
"You find it really amusing, don't you." Mike said, watching Will cover his mouth at an attempt to stifle his laughter.
"No- But, I will be your boyfriend, Mike. So...you love me?" Will said, teasingly.
"Yeah." Mike responded without hesitation.
"I love you too." Will replied, his expression softening as his attention was completely focused on the taller boy.
The two sat in silence, turning their bodies back up at the ceiling.
"So...what now?" Will asked calmly.
"You could...call off Lucas and Dustin's stupid challenge...?" Mike said, attempting to do puppy-eyes, although he was just as bad at it as Dustin.
"I dunno...Kinda wanna see where this goes, we could mess with them a bit." Will suggested, turning back to Mike as they scooted closer.
"We could mess with them, if you want." Mike said, a breathless laugh escaping his lips.
"Alright, let's do that..." The two of them seemed immediately distracted by each other.
They scooted closer, a tense silence filling the air. Mike rested his hand on Will's, as they nearly bumped heads. Mike made eye contact for Will, as the two of them nodded softly. They shared a short, but sweet kiss. Everything felt right. They finally felt safe together. Will, this time, leaned in for a second kiss. It lasted longer. If they were being honest, they could've sat there together forever. But Will giggled his way out of the kiss.
"Sorry- It just...doesn't feel real, I guess." Will said, as Mike's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"I...like it. Being with you–" Mike stuttered, flushing.
"Yeah, I feel like I've been waiting for this...not in a weird way...I just, I thought I lost all chances when you got with El."
"Hey, we're together now, I really do love you Will." Mike said, his expression softening into a sweet smile.
"I love you too, but– oh– Mike it's 9 pm." Will said, a bit of worry in his voice.
"Can I just stay over? If your mom doesn't mind?" Mike said, trying again with those stupid puppy-eyes.
"Sure, I'll go ask my mom." Will muttered.
Will made his way out of the room. Mike could hear the muffled chatter between him and his mother, and the phone being picked up. Mike was nearly kicking the air in excitement. Somehow, he didn't expect the letter to go...this good.
Will burst back into the room, covering his face.
"Something wrong?" Mike asked, worry falling over his face immediately.
"It's fine– My mom just asked me why I was so flushed. Didn't think it was so...obvious." Will muttered, his face flushing even more.
"It's cute–" Mike started, immediately shutting himself up as Will's eyes widened.
"Anyways– My mom said you could stay, she confirmed it with yours, so, you won't get killed tonight...unfortunately." Will said, teasing Mike as he plopped right back into place.
"Haha. Very funny." Mike said, rolling his eyes.
"Anyways– You can sleep in my bed tonight, we don't really have time to pull out the sleeping bag." Will said, settling into the place next to Mike, snuggling himself under the covers.
"Alright." Mike said, getting under the covers, brushing up against Will.
The two boys drifted off to sleep, a comfortable warth falling over their bodies. They felt secure, safe with one another. Everything fell into place.
Suddenly, a loud alarm clock played, waking the two of them up.
"Mm...Morning Will." Mike muttered as he messed with his disheveled hair.
"Morning...Sorry I forgot to turn the alarm off." Will said, grabbing his walkie talkie and beginning to mess with it.
"What's up?" Mike said, yawning into his elbow, sitting up calmly.
"I thought I heard it being weird last night, I dunno." Will muttered, quickly turning it on, setting it back down on his nightstand.
"What d'you wanna do today?" Mike mumbled out, shifting his body towards Will's direction.
"Dunno...We could just hang out here, but it's up to you." Will responded quietly.
"Hm...–" Mike started inching closer to Will, but was interrupted by the walkie talkie, once again.
"Will?" They heard Dustin's voice on the other end.
Will shifted away, grabbing the walkie talkie, "What is it Dustin?" He responded, a bit of an annoyed tone.
"Meet us at the arcade in...20 minutes." Dustin said with a stern voice.
"Why–" Will started.
"Just be there, it's about the challenge." Dustin responded, he seemed to have left immediately after, as they couldn't seem to get anything else out of the walkie talkie.
"Well, I guess we'll go to the arcade today." Will said, laughing a bit as Mike rolled his eyes.
"And you're sure you won't call it off? Please?" Mike said, looking up at Will as he stood up.
"C'mon, can't we just mess with them...just a little?" Will said, a stupid grin on his face that Mike could never say no to.
"Fine. I guess it serves them right for meddling with your love life..." Mike said, half joking, but also a hint of jealousy in his tone.
Joyce happily agreed to bringing them to the Arcade, so they got into the car and made their way there quite quickly. Will could see Dustin and Lucas standing outside of the arcade, a big notebook in Lucas' left hand. He waved at them casually, and Dustin seemed ecstatic to see them, offering an excited wave.
The two hopped out of the car, greeting Dustin and Lucas, as Joyce drove away.
"What did you guys need so early in the morning...?" Will asked, still a bit tired.
"We wanted to do this when nobody else was at the arcade! I mean, who comes to the arcade at 7 am?" Dustin said, giggling.
"We think we found who sent you the letter! C'mon." Lucas said, directing them inside.
The arcade was empty, the only noise was the machines beeping and the shuffle of the workers preparing for customers.
"Over here, this booth." Dustin said, skipping over to a booth further in the back.
The four of them sat down, Mike and Will held hands under the table, hoping not to be painfully obvious, but a flush rising on both of their cheeks.
"Alright, so we got rid of Judith, she has a crush on Jayden...Then we knew it couldn't be Dutchess, she's dating her Canadian boyfriend, or whatever, she's always bragging about him, yet, nobody has ever really seen him." Lucas let out a laugh.
"Alright...And what does this have to do with anything?" Mike said, mocking the two of them.
"Well, if you'd listen, we found the girl of Will's dreams." Dustin said, smiling largely.
"Oh, the girl of my dreams, huh?" Will said, stifling his laughter as he made a comfortable eye contact with Mike.
"Exactly, do you wanna know her or not?" Lucas said sarcastically.
"Sure...I'd love to know her." Will said, rolling his eyes and smiling.
"Alright, the girl who sent you the letter is...drum roll please." Dustin said, staring at Mike and Will expectedly.
Mike rolled his eyes, letting go of Will's hand to start a soft drumroll on the table. Will felt the sudden lack of touch on his hand, quickly pulling his hand away to join the drumroll.
"It's.....Nicky Wild!" Dustin and Lucas shouted together.
"Wrong." Will said, immediately bringing Lucas and Dustin to a surprised face.
"What– What do you mean wrong? We did all the research??" Dustin shouted back at Will.
"I already know who wrote the letter, I just wanted to mess with you guys. And yes, we're dating, no you can't ask any questions." Will said, a grin on his face as Dustin looked nearly offended.
"Can you at least tell us who it is??" Lucas said.
Will looked over at Mike, the two of them nodded at each other. Mike felt a bit of relief, being able to tell them, he was getting tired of all the girl talk with Will, he didn't really like it.
"Mike." Will said, reaching back for his hand under the table.
"Sure, who is it really?" Lucas said, Dustin just sat back in disbelief.
"I wrote it Lucas– Believe me, I didn't want to admit I wrote the pink letter, but...it was all we had." Mike said, flushing a bit.
"I fucking knew it–!" Dustin shouted at Lucas.
"Well sorry." Lucas said sarcastically.
"I knew there was something with you guys, but Lucas refused to listen to me!" Dustin shouted.
"You...knew–?" Will stuttered out.
"Well duh, you guys aren't really good at hiding your feelings y'know, I mean, I could tell from the minute I met you." Dustin said.
"We're not that obvious!" Mike shouted back in his defense.
"You kinda are..." Lucas muttered.
The four of them continued to talk about it, despite Will telling them no questions, he answered every single one he could.