Work Text:
Will doesn't like to think that he succumbs easily to peer pressure.
But, c'mon, it's Mike.
Mike is a whole different breed of peer pressure. How could anyone ever say no to Mike, when he gave you those big brown eyes that anyone could lose themselves in, so convincing that you had to turn away? No, it was just natural to say yes to anything Mike asks. Human instinct.
This is how Will ends up opening the creaky drawer in their kitchen, the one he was forbidden to go into at all costs.
"Will, I know you're getting older and you'll have a million and one chances to do things like this, but please, for my sake, never touch cigarettes. I don't want you to end up like me." That was his latest reminder to never smoke, told to him by his mother when his was fifteen.
But, once again, seventeen-year-old Will could never say no to Mike.
He grabs the package from the drawer, opening it gingerly and taking out two cigarettes, quickly slipping the package closed and putting it right back where it was. He didn't take the lighter from the drawer but the one that sits on their kitchen counter and makes his way back down the hall to his room.
Mike's carefree smile relaxes the tense in his shoulders almost completely.
Mike pats the spot beside him on Will's bed. "Will! Get over here."
Will smiles at his feet, taking a couple steps to plop down onto his green comforter.
Mike takes one of the cigarettes from Will's hand, along with the lighter. He looks at ease, like Will should've expected— he knew that Mike had smoked before this. Mike takes one long drag from his cigarette, smiling at Will. "Light yours," he said, the smoke pouring out of his lips.
God, Will shouldn't have let himself notice Mike's lips at all.
His eyes snap back to his cigarette.
Mike laughs, keeping his in his mouth while he takes Will's cigarette. "Here, I'll light it for you."
The flame licks up the edge of the cigarette, and Will could smell burning as Mike handed it back to him.
He takes a deep breath, before taking a short breath of the cigarette— well, he would've wanted to take a longer breath, if he wasn't hit immediately with such a coughing fit that he felt like his lungs were about to fall out.
Embarrassing.
But Mike rubs circles around his back the whole time that he coughed more than he thinks he's ever coughed before, so maybe it wasn't so bad.
"You good, Will?" Mike says, a teasing smile on his face but concern in his eyes.
Will nods, blinking back tears. "Jesus," He breathes.
Mike laughs. "The coughing passes after a while, though I could always get you some water?"
Will shakes his head, clearing his throat. "No, I'm good."
Mike smiles and nods, taking another breath of his cigarette. Will would too, but he thinks that he's already high enough just sitting here with Mike beside him— the smoke curls around Mike's perfect face and his perfect curls, the sunlight catching his eyes in a way that made them shine. Will wishes he could draw this moment, with the smoke and the sunlight that made this perfect boy looked ethereal.
"Hey, Will?" Mike asks, his voice long and droopy.
Will quickly looks away, but Mike wasn't even looking at him. "Yeah?" His voice was still scratchy from all the coughing.
"Do you remember the day we first met?"
Will clears his throat. "Of course. On the swingset, right?"
Mike nods, seeming deep in thought. Will falls back onto the pillow, and now they're so close that their arms are touching, which shouldn't have heat up Will's face in the way it did.
Mike takes another drag of his cigarette. "I'm assuming you don't remember when I talked about it?"
Shit.
Mike laughs before Will can make up an excuse. "Don't go bullshitting on me, Will Byers. That was 1984. You were tied up in that shed outside your house and my God, wasn't the scariest day of my life."
Will swallows. "Sorry."
"It's not your fault you got possessed by an extraterrestrial creature." They sit in a warm silence for what feels like only seconds. "Anyways, your mom and Jonathan, they all tried to get something out of you. Get a reaction. But for some reason, I talked about that day on the swingset, and I almost snapped you out of it. Almost."
Will's eyes trace the cracks in his ceiling. He takes another breath of the cigarette, coughs once, and musters up all the confidence he possibly could. "Well, it was the best day of my life."
The silence probably lasts half a second, but it feels like minutes to Will. That was a stupid thing to say.
Well, until Mike turns over with the dumbest, dopiest smile that Will's ever seen. "Really?"
Will smiles slightly, and he can feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. "Yeah, duh."
Mike turns back to look at the ceiling, and Will swears he hears a giggle come out of him.
Mike clears his throat. "Oh my God, I sound like a thirteen-year-old girl."
Will laughs, loud this time, the sound of his voice bouncing off the walls. "You do."
Mike laughs too, though his perfect, beautiful doe eyes are fixed on Will. His eyes stay on Will until he stops laughing, looking over and meeting his eyes. "Y'know," Mike says, a stupid smile on his face, "your laugh is really pretty."
Will's face might as well get even more red. "What?
"It's true!" Mike's smile practically lights up the room. "Whenever you laugh, like really laugh, not when you have that polite little laugh that you do when you're embarrassed, it makes everyone feel better. It's like Will the Wise has cast a spell on everyone to make them ten times happier!"
Will doesn't have words that he can form after this compliment. This must be the cigarettes messing with Mike's head, because there's no fucking way that he just said that.
Mike giggles.
Had Will taken weed instead of cigarettes? Maybe Jonathan accidentally left some here after he came to visit for spring break a couple months ago.
Mike turns over and stares up at the ceiling again, his cigarette long forgotten on Will's green bed sheets.
Will stays silent, doing the same, and they sit in a perfectly comfortable silence for God knows how long, smiling up at the ceiling.
But Mike talks a lot. And Will loves to listen.
"Will?" His voice is soft.
"Yeah?"
"I really did love El."
Will's brow furrows. He no longer tensed at the thought of Mike and Eleven, since they had broken up way too long ago, but it still stings. "Really?"
Will can feel Mike nod beside him. "But not like that."
"Not like what?"
"Not like she loved me, Will. I loved her the way I loved Lucas and Dustin. The way I loved Holly, or my mom. She was like family, Will. Like a sister." He takes a deep breath, this time not out of a cigarette. "And it's not like I didn't have crushes on girls before, but I... I don't know, Will."
Will takes a deep breath but doesn't say anything.
Mike huffs. "And, I guess I just thought I liked her because she was—" he laughs like he's laughing at some inside joke— "the only girl who wasn't grossed out by me, as Lucas would say. And I feel bad."
"Bad about dragging her through that?"
Mike's voice is barely a whisper. "Yeah."
Will runs his tongue across his teeth. "Why are you telling me this Mike? Why now, after all that?"
"Because El realised that I didn't like her like that before I did. Because she knew I liked someone else."
Will's breath hitches— whether out of jealousy or hope— and he almost doesn't wanna know. Almost. "Someone else?"
"Yeah. Really shitty of me, and she really shouldn't have been so nice about it. She should've been mad." Mike lets out a sound that sounds like a mix between a laugh and a sob. "I wanted her to be mad."
Will, by a blast of random confidence and an overwhelming concern for his best friend, snakes he hand into Mike's. Mike's hand is warm and slightly calloused, and it feels like it fits in Will's palm, which is stupid hope on Will's part.
Mike squeezes Will's hand and they fall into one of their comfortable silences again.
Except smoke isn't clouding Will's brain anymore and he wants, needs, to know who this person was. This person that broke up El and Mike's relationship. Because he won't dare let hope that it was him into his brain.
Mike snickers lightly. "I can feel you worrying."
"What?" Will grins.
"Your fingers get all tense when you're worried about something." Mike turns over onto his side so that he's facing Will.
Will turns over to him. Fuck it. "Who was the person you had a crush on?"
Mike's eyes widen for a split second and Will thinks that he's crossed a line. Yeah, they're best friends, but there are still lines that can be crossed. There are still things that Mike can't trust Will with, which makes Will feel stupid, but that's how it was.
Will opens his mouth to apologise, but then there's a finger on his lips— Mike's index finger.
"Shhh," Mike whispers, their faces only inches apart. "Why are you always apologising, William Byers?"
Will's breath catches in his throat, but in a good way. "Why are you always lying, Micheal Wheeler?"
Mike's jaw drops in mock surprise. "I don't lie!"
"Hm, then why'd El break up with you, huh?"
Mike's jaw drops even lower, if that's possible. "It was a mutual decision!"
"M-hm," Will hums sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up, or I'll shut you up myself, asshole!"
Will smirks, not caring to ponder on how quickly they went back to their usual bantering. "You still haven't answered my question."
Mike smiles, looking into Will with his unbearably pretty eyes once again— except they're not sweet, but mischevious (but not any less irresistible). "You really want an answer, Will the Wise?"
Will raises his eyebrows. "What, you think I'll get jealous?"
Mike shrugs, the same way Max shrugs, with his lip slightly jutted out. Will would tease him about it, but Mike's answer is much more important than that. "Nope."
"Then who is it?"
Mike props himself up on his elbows, so that he's now above Will. His eyebrows twitch for a second, as if he's about to regret what he's going to say. "Guess."
Will squints into Mike's eyes (irresistible, he can't stress that enough) and licks his lips. "You're gonna have to give me a couple hints."
Mike doesn't look sure of himself, but keeps going. "Well, they're really sweet, and cute, and deserve the whole world."
Will's eyebrows furrow. "Do I know them?"
Mike's face breaks out into a grin. "Wow, and Max calls me oblivious."
"What?!" Will pushes his shoulder slightly. "You could be talking about anyone! None of that was objective!"
Mike smiles, rocking back and forth slightly. He leans in just slightly, and his nose touches Will's, the slight tap feeling electric. "Well, they have brown hair." He takes a deep breath, and Will can smell the nicotine, although he can't possibly see it bothering him with how close their faces are. "And they have brown eyes. And they always listen, even when I rant for way too long." He takes another breath, looking right into Will's eyes. "And he didn't deserve any of the shit that came to him."
Will smiles. "He?"
He doesn't get an answer before Mike's lips are on his— they're just the slightest bit chapped (which should be a problem), and they taste like nicotine (which should make Will gag), but it's so completely Mike that Will has never tasted anything better in his life. It's like the universe has compiled every amazing thing, every perfect thing in the world and put it all into this boy in front of Will.
Mike's lips taste like everything Will could've ever dreamt of. They taste like everything Will's ever wanted in life, they taste like sunshine and days camped out in Castle Byers and big dopey grins and forever.
Mike's lips taste like forever.