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There's a bowl of chips on the kitchen island in the new Byers-Hopper house, and Will is sitting beside Mike with a chip in his hand and his feet dangling off the barstool he's sitting on.
They're not the only ones in the house— El is in her room, writing poetry (she's gotten really into that kind of stuff lately).
Will pops the chip in his mouth. "Max is always so confused, no matter how many times I try to explain it to her!"
"Really?" Mike laughs, taking another chip from the bowl and leaning farther onto the counter. "I mean, I didn't even expect her to agree to playing D&D with us. She always called us nerds."
Will shrugs. "I think she likes the character stuff. And hanging out with us. I don't think she cares much about the rest."
"Understandable. Characters are fun."
Will smiles, his new braces shining in the golden light shining through the windows.
Will looks like an angel. His eyes perfectly catch the light to show the amber-ish brown, his hair perfectly frames his skin, which glows no matter where he is. Mike wishes he could get close enough to his face to count each and every freckle, he wishes he could run his hand through Will's soft hair and kiss every expanse of skin on his body. He wishes he could feel his breath on his face, feel his hands over his skin, feel his lips on his own. He wants to wake up beside Will, he wants to kiss him good morning and kiss him good night.
"She was thinking of being a rogue..." Will pauses, looking at Mike quizzically. "Hey, are you alright?"
The words fall out of Mike's mouth without command. "You're my best friend."
Will laughs, confusion etched over his face. "Right back at you, Mike."
Mike nods, a dopey smile that he can't contain on his face. He hides behind his arm, taking another ship and shoving it in his mouth. "Yeah." He swallows. "Continue."
Will seems bewildered. "Okay." He laughs. "Uhm, well, Max— she wants to be a rogue or a bard, but..."
Will looks up at the clock on the microwave as their topic of conversation comes to a halt. His smile falters. "Shit, I promised I'd be over at Max's by now. I gotta go."
He slips off of the bar stool, walking to the door. "Mike? Y'know you don't have to wait for me to get back."
Mike shakes his head. "I think I'm gonna hang out with El a little bit."
Will smiles and it makes Mike's heartbeat pick up speed. "Alright! Don't let her keep you here for too long!"
And with that, Will was out of the house.
Mike watched Will's shadow against the sunset as he hopped onto his bike (they were both just barely not sixteen, meaning no driving) and rode away, past the windows of the house and onto the road. Will had been getting better since they defeated Vecna— he used to not even ride his bike, and then refused to bike if the sun was even nearing the horizon, but now he can bike at sunset again.
It's not like anyone needs to be able to bike in the dark. It's a bad idea, anyways, even if you're not dealing with supernatural monsters and different dimensions.
Mike always wants to will away all the stuff that's happened to Will. For all of it to disappear, because Will never deserved that. Never, ever. Will is too sweet, too generous, too pure, too genuine. Too childish, although his whole childhood was taken away from him.
Too pretty, too. How could someone so amazing, so beautiful, so kind be taken away like that? End up like how Will did? Traumatised, possessed, broken beyond repair?
Mike never wants Will to leave his sight, ever again. Ironic, since he just let it happen, but he never wants to lose him again. He never wants to lose him in a way that would make him want to jump off the cliff of the quarry like that again, never lose him in a way where he looked into Will's eyes and didn't see Will.
Because all he's ever wanted to see is Will. Will is everything. Will is all he wants to see, all he wants to feel, all he wants to hear, all he wants to tas—
"Holy shit." Mike's voice was barely above a whisper. It didn't matter that he said that out loud, because he's in love with Will.
Not just some small little crush that El has teased him about since he came out to her. Not just something that he could deal with not ever happening. Not something that he could pretend just doesn't exist, for the sake of their friendship.
He's in love with Will Byers.
Real love. Not forced, like he used to force it with El. Real, grown-up love.
Has he ever been able to deal with real love?
But has he ever felt real love, at all?
He jumps off of the stool in the kitchen and basically sprints to El's room. He doesn't even knock— okay, yeah, he knows that's a bad idea, especially with his ex-girlfriend, but she's the only one who knows about him and Will.
(He hopes.)
El looks up quickly from her notebook, eyebrows cinched in concern.
He takes in one quick breath. "I'm in love with Will."
Her concern dissipates in a second, and she's back to her writing even faster. "Took you long enough."
That's it? "But what do I do?"
"What did you do when you realised you were 'in love' with me?"
"Well—" He pauses. He always felt bad saying things like this, even if he knew that it didn't bother her anymore. "Well, I wasn't actually in love with you, but this time I'm in love with Will! How do— What if—"
"Will loves you back, don't worry." He knew that she was only feigning sadness when he saw the sides of her mouth upturn.
He flopped down onto her bed. "Are you sure? I mean, why would he like me?"
"He doesn't like you. He loves you."
Mike swallows. "But, c'mon are you completely—"
"For the love of God!" El spun around in her chair, finally facing him. "He's my brother. So I know for certain that he loves you."
"But—"
"You're lucky I'm not Max because she would be screaming at you."
Mike lets out a breath. "Fine. If I believe you, what do I do?"
"I think you just tell him how you feel."
"But how?!"
"However!" She spins back around in her chair, going back to her writing.
Mike huffs.
The topic moves onto other things, but Mike is caught up in his own shit until the front door opens.
"I'm home!" Will yells out to the house.
Mike is paralysed. Paralysed. How could he possibly speak to Will now? How could he possibly look at Will now?
El kicks him with her foot. "Get out there."
Somehow, by some miracle, Mike gets out of the bed and he leaves El's room.
Will is angelic.
And Mike feels naked now.
Naked because now it feels like his whole world knows what's going on inside his mind now. Now that he knows, it's like it's not a secret anymore.
But who was keeping that secret, anyways? His heart? His soul?
He didn't have the time to be poetic now, now that Will was standing in front of him and about to open his mouth to say something. "You wanna hang around more now, or do you just wanna go? I didn't realise you'd still be here."
This is the moment Mike Wheeler realises that he could've left earlier and avoided this whole situation altogether. This is also the moment he realises that El kept him there, in her room, that whole damn time.
God, is El an asshole or a good friend? Mike guesses that it takes an asshole to be a good friend.
"Mike? Mike, what's wrong?" Will is suddenly closer to him, an amused smile dancing on his lips. "Mike?"
Shit. Mike swallows, eyes darting between both of Will's. "Sorry."
Will laughs, and it makes Mike want to kiss him. Actually, he's always wanted to kiss Will, but now he knows, and it's excruciating. "Yeah, you were just... staring at me? Anyways, did you have fun with El?"
Oh, Will's smile isn't helping Mike at all. "Yeah— Uh— I think... I think I'm gonna go home now."
"Cool." Suddenly Mike could see the way Will's smile lost its perk just in the slightest when he said that. "Uh, want me to walk you out?"
Before Mike knows it, he's nodded and they're outside and Mike's about to bike away.
Will leans on the handlebars of Mike's bike. "You'll be good?"
"Yeah." His voice cracks, and Will laughs, making him go red.
Will takes his weight off Mike's bike and smiles. "Well, bye then! I'll see you at school tomorrow."
Mike has always been a little bit of a scaredy-cat. But he's also always been lame enough that he can't deal with secrets for the life of him. So, as Will's walking away, he turns around. "Wait, Will! Come back here."
It's not like Will is that far away, but he still walks up until he's right beside Mike's bike. "Yeah?" There's a small smile on his face.
Mike kisses that smile—
and then he's off.
He immediately regrets it, so regrets it, what if this ruins everything, what if El's wrong and Will never wants to talk to him again—
But at the same time, Will tastes good.
Like heaven.