Chapter Text
Teenagers are stupid.
Mike Wheeler, being a teenager himself, had never really agreed with that sentiment, having heard it or variations on it from lots of adults throughout his life. His dad, his ex-girlfriend-turned-friend El’s dad who also happened to be the Chief of Police, random old guys in the grocery store who disapproved of him and his friends’ chatter. Usually he rolls his eyes(no matter how many times his mom or his Nan have said he better stop or he’ll get stuck like that), brushes it off. Usually it’s not something he thinks on his own. Or at least, not about his own friends, about himself. Sometimes about the popular kids, maybe. But never about the Party.
Except tonight.
It was three weeks before graduation, and they were getting restless. Mike’s parents had gone out of town, Nancy was still away at college, and Holly was staying over at a friend’s place, so the Party had all hunkered down in Mike’s basement.
It wasn’t that different from when they were younger, Will’s art on the walls alongside movie posters they’d begged off the movie theater, Dungeons & Dragons books, notes, and figures on most available surfaces. They’d re-stuffed the beanbag chairs a couple of times over the years, and there was a new couch now. Well, not new, but new to the basement. Karen had redecorated the family room upstairs when they were sixteen and Mike had bargained to take the old couch. The one that had been downstairs before had a shitty spring and one of the supports under the cushions had snapped when Dustin had flopped down on it a little too hard one day after he thought he’d bombed an important test(he hadn’t).
The big difference, at least that particular night, was the beer bottles scattered across the coffee table. They’d stolen them from the fridge in the garage where Ted kept them, getting caught up in the regularness of it all, of the teen-movie stereotype feeling, and not thinking about how they’d cover the indiscretion when it was noticed.
It just felt nice to be regular kids these days, after everything they’d been through.
Will lounged on his favorite beanbag chair, nursing his second beer and laughing as Lucas and Dustin argued animatedly about Star Wars versus Star Trek. Mike popped open his third bottle, having put his second down somewhere and spaced out completely.
El was laying on the floor with Max, their heads under the glass-topped coffee table, looking up at the bottles, and El started to make one of the bottles spin with her powers as she talked. Max gasped and sat up, nearly banging her head on the table. She scooted out from under it, “Guys! Hey!” El wiped at her nose as she got out from under the table, boosting herself onto the couch and sitting cross-legged as Max tried to get the boys’ attention. “Look, shut up, you all know you’re going to pick Star Wars, you always pick Star Wars. I’ve got an idea.”
Mike barked out a laugh. She was right, they did always choose Star Wars. He personally liked both, but it was always fun to watch Dustin get riled up. “What is it, Max? If it’s anything that means I have to go upstairs again, you can forget it.”
“Puh-lease. If I wanted you to go upstairs for something, I’d have Will ask. You never say no to him.” Everyone laughed, except Mike, who gave an indignant squawk in protest, and Will, who just took a large swig of his beer and consequently made a face at the taste. “Whatever, anyway! My idea is this - “ She gestured at the bottle El had been spinning, which had settled to a stop already.
Dustin stared at her for a second. “Beer? Yeah, we have plenty of that.”
She glared at him. “No shit. I mean the bottle, dumbass. Spin the bottle? Ever heard of it?”
“Obviously we’ve heard of it.” Lucas laughed.
“Okay, so you understand the basic concept. We should play!”
Mike thought she had to be joking. “With just the six of us? Why would we do that?”
“Because it’s fun? And frankly, why would any of us play with anyone else? We don’t like hanging out with anybody else. Screw everybody else. It’s just a silly game, and it’s not like it means anything. It would just be fun.” Max picked up a piece of candy from the floor and chucked it at Mike.
Will shrugged. “It could be fun.”
The second Will agreed, it was all over. Lucas and Dustin both groaned and rolled their eyes because they knew it was only a matter of time before Mike agreed and roped them all into it, now that Will sounded even a little into the idea. Max smiled like the Cheshire cat. She had won, and they all knew it. El grinned at her.
Mike and Lucas moved the coffee table, scattering bottles onto the worn down carpet even though Dustin had told them to move the bottles first to avoid just that, and they all sat in a circle, an upturned game board in the middle for them to put the bottle on.
“Okay, who goes first?” El chose a bottle much more carefully than necessary, a gleam in her eye.
Lucas shrugged. “I don’t know. We could all play rock-paper-scissors? Or flip a coin? Oh! We could all roll dice and whoever rolls lowest has to go first.”
“Has to? Boy, do you sound thrilled.” Dustin nudged him with his elbow.
“I mean. No offense, but I’ve sort of already kissed the only person here I wanted to all that badly.”
“That’s awful sweet of you, Lucas," Max laughed. They'd broken up for the last time over a year ago. "but it’s not about kissing who you want to, it's about kissing who the fates decide!”
"If it's who the fates decide, that means no powers, El." Will pointed a finger at his sister in accusation. "Whoever spins the bottle kisses whoever it lands on, those are the rules, they don't need any 'help'."
"Who would she-"Lucas started to ask before Max swatted him to shut him up. "Jeez…"
"They don't have to be earth-shattering or life-changing kisses or anything. We're all friends here, a little smooching between pals is fine! Right?" Max looked around, making sure they were actually all fine with it. "I won't actually be pissed if anyone is uncomfortable and doesn't want to play, it is supposed to be fun. I just thought it would be fun." She hesitated.
"It will be! We're just talking shit, seriously. It's fine, right? Everyone?" Dustin asked, though he looked at Mike, the most likely person to be pissy about the whole thing.
Mike looked right back at him. "Yeah? Why are you looking at me?"
"No reason." Dustin flashed him an innocent smile.
He eyed Dustin suspiciously. "Okay… Fine, what if I just go first, and we just get that over with? Since you think I'm the issue, apparently."
"Be my guest," Max took the bottle El had chosen and tossed it to Mike.
Mike barely caught the bottle, then set it on the flat surface. He took a breath and spun, watching it until it came to a stop, pointing at Max herself.
"Ewww, wait, I changed my mind. I don't want to kiss Wheeler." Max tried to scoot backward out of the circle, and Dustin stopped her.
"This was your idea! What happened to 'it's supposed to be fun'?" He laughed, the rest of them giggling along with him.
"Kissing Mike isn't fun! El, back me up!" She looked to the other girl for backup.
El simply shrugged, "How would I know, it has been years. Maybe he has gotten better at it." She let out a squeak at Mike tosses a pillow at her.
"Rude!" He was laughing, not actually that offended. They'd been just friends for longer than they had actually dated, anyhow.
"How could he have, he hasn't dated anyone!" Max protested further.
"That's not the point! Play the game so we can keep going, it's not that big a deal." Dustin gave her a nudge.
"Gross. Fine." Max leaned forward, putting her hands on Mike's shoulders and yanking him in for a quick peck before sitting back and wiping her mouth.
Mike didn't even really have time to process that he'd been pulled forward before it was over, and he laughed. "Was that so bad?"
"Horrendous. My turn. Also-" She grabbed the bottle and gestured with it, "new rule, no duplicate kisses until everyone has gotten one. If I spin this and it lands on Mike, we're spinning again."
They all agreed, and she spun the bottle, landing on Lucas.
"Does it count as a duplicate kiss if we've all seen you suck face already?" Mike chimed in just to be a shit about it.
"Have you seen us suck face today, Wheeler? No? Then can it." Max scoffed at Mike as Lucas leaned across and gave her a quick kiss, much more gently than she'd planted one on Mike.
"Consider it canned." Mike smirked at her and mimed zipping his lips.
Lucas spun next, and landed on El. They gave each other a friendly, light kiss.
"This is getting boring," Dustin complained. "It's juicier when it can cause gossip, none of us care about kissing each other enough for it to matter!"
"Just because you haven't gotten a kiss yet, doesn't mean you need to complain, Dusty Bun." Max teased. "Just wait."
"I can't believe that nickname is still taunting me, it's been years."
"Don't make me use it again."
El spun, and it landed on Will. They both grimaced at the idea of kissing their sibling, and everyone laughed as El ended up just kissing him on the forehead like Joyce liked to.
It was Will's spin that changed everything.
Mike thought nothing of it at the beginning of the spin, taking a drink of his lukewarm beer. And then it landed pointing right at him.
"Oh. Uh…" Will's eyes went wide, and he chanced a glance at El. She shook her head. "I- I'll spin again."
"Wait, what? Why?" Mike surprised everyone including himself by speaking up. It seemed like the kind of thing Mike should be weird about, but he didn't feel weird about it at all.
"You… you don't want him to spin again?" El narrowed her eyes at him.
Mike shrugged, putting his beer down. "What's the big deal? I mean, there's only two girls here, are we all just supposed to kiss you guys over and over? Did no one else just figure…"
"I didn't really think about it that hard, but he's right. Plus, who cares. It's not like any of us are going to bully each other over it, right?" Dustin shrugged. "If anyone was going to be weird it would have been Mike, anyway. What?! I'm just saying what we all thought!" He defended himself as Mike glared at him.
"You agreed to this figuring you'd probably have to kiss one of the other guys?" Max looked flabbergasted. So did Will, but he'd been bright red and wide-eyed from the moment the bottle had stopped.
"Yeah?"
"And you're… fine with that?"
"Seriously, this whole conversation is weirder than just kissing already. Will, you're the one who said 'whoever spins the bottle kisses whoever it lands on, those are the rules'. Unless you… I mean unless it's too weird for you… We don't have to, just, you guys said." Mike rambled, and shrugged at the end. "I don't care either way, but Dustin wants a kiss already, so we need to get to his turn at some point which means we need to get past whatever's gotta happen here. You tell me." He looked at Will.
Will looked at El, then down at the shredded label on his bottle, thinking. "I… I've just never, uh." He cleared his throat.
"Kissed a guy? I mean, me neither, obviously, but-"
"No, like. Kissed… uh. Anyone."
Mike blinked at him. "Wait, really?"
Will levelled a look at him, "Mike, who do you think I've been going around kissing in secret? Like I wouldn't tell you guys."
"I- I mean yeah, I guess that makes sense."
Dustin cleared his throat. "So… are you going to kiss or not? I just want to keep playing or call it all off. I'm bored just sitting here."
"Okay. Yes. Alright? We're… Yeah." Will swallowed, nervous. "We're gonna… we're going to kiss."
Mike nodded, wiping his palms on his jeans. He didn't know when they'd gotten sweaty. Maybe it was just condensation from the bottle.
They were across the circle from each other, so Mike pushed the bottle aside to get to him and scooted to kneel in front of him. He ignored the awkward looks his friends were very obviously giving them, and asked Will softly, putting his hand on his cheek, "Last chance to back out, you sure? I won't take it personally." He tried to joke, cracking a reassuring little smile.
Will's eyes darted down to his mouth, and Mike's heart thudded unexpectedly. He ignored it in favor of making sure Will was okay.
Will nodded, and Mike leaned in. He cared too much about him to let this be a total waste of Will's first kiss and to just get it over with, that didn't seem fair, so he treated it very seriously.
Mike slotted his lips against Will's, and everything else faded for a moment. He felt Will freeze and almost pulled away, thinking he'd changed his mind, but then Will's hand came up to hold his wrist, and his other hand wrapped tentatively around the collar of his shirt. Mike's brain(or his heart, beating out of his chest for some reason) took this as encouragement, and he changed the angle, raising his other hand to Will's hair as they pressed closer together.
"Jesus-" Dustin started to say before being violently shushed by the others.
But it was enough to remind Mike they existed, and he pulled back. He looked at Will, who opened his eyes slowly, his cheeks flushed and mouth slightly open. Will pulled his hands back quickly, and Mike felt cold where he'd been touched, but he pulled his hands away, too. He moved on autopilot back to his spot in the circle, and was vaguely aware that, after a long moment of stunned silence, the game continued without him. He didn't even notice it was supposed to have been his turn since the bottle had landed on him.
He didn't know how much time had passed while he stared at the carpet next to Will's knee, not daring to look at him lest he somehow see the swirl of confusion and thoughts spinning in Mike's eyes. But he saw Will's hand tap twice on El's knee, and heard her say suddenly-
"Um, guys, I think… I think I am not feeling well."
Mike looked up at her as she started to get up. "What? Are you-"
"I'll call mom, she can come pick us up." Will said quickly, standing with her, looking wobbly on his feet, but determined.
"Wait, but-" Will was already halfway up the stairs before Mike processed what was going on, so he looked back at El. "El, are you sure, I thought you guys were all staying over here?"
El looked at him steadily. "I am sure. I am not feeling well, and Will and I need to go home."
She was almost too steady, staring him down like that. But he couldn't figure out why she'd lie about it. "O-okay… I'm sorry. Do you… do you want a ginger ale while you wait? Is it your stomach, was it the beer? I-"
"I will be fine. We just need to go home. Goodnight, Mike." She gave hime another odd look before turning and heading up the stairs.
Mike looked around at the rest of his friends, who were suspiciously not looking directly at him at all. "Did I do something?"
Max tilted her head at him. "Do… you think you did something?"
"Max, why the fuck would I be asking you if I knew what just happened?" Mike snapped, sitting down on the couch and rubbing his hands over his face.
"Maybe we should all pack it in and go to bed. You can talk to Will in the morning, Mike." Dustin reasoned.
He looked over at him, "Will?" Dustin grimaced, smacking himself in the forehead. "So I did do something."
"No, I… I don't think you did anything…" Lucas hesitated. "I mean. Okay, look. How drunk are you right now?"
"I only had like two and a half beers, man, I'm fine. Not like this is the first time we've snuck alcohol. I'm fine. What?"
"Okay, so you were completely clearheaded for the whole game we just played?" Lucas asked, getting up to sit next to Mike.
"Yeah? I mean… Yeah." He thought about it. "I mean, the last bit, there, I kind of… zoned out, I guess, but…"
"When exactly did you zone out? What's the last thing you were paying actual attention to?" Max asked. She sounded smug, but he didn't look at her. Why the fuck did she sound so smug.
He was beginning to regret this whole night for some reason and he didn't even really know why. He just knew he was feeling really stupid.
"I don't know. I guess, like… I wasn't really paying attention to much after my last turn?"
Max scoffed, and Lucas spoke over her, "Mike, you didn't even take your last turn. After you kissed Will and you were supposed to spin again, you just sort of sat there, so Dustin just went next."
"I- that's- but-" Mike ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, I don't know, maybe the beer hit me a little harder than I thought. Maybe Dustin's right and we should just crash. Does anybody need any water? I'm just gonna grab some real quick."
They let him walk up the stairs, barely paying attention to his feet tripping on the worn treads, before he heard whispers. He couldn't bring himself to bother wondering what they were talking about.
He got to the kitchen and stood at the sink alone, looking out the window just in time to see Hopper's car pull up. El stood at the end of the driveway with her arm slung around Will's waist like she was comforting him, not the other way around.
Hop got out of the car and stopped to talk to Will and El, before taking a step toward the house. Mike automatically stepped back, as if Hopper could even see him, but Will stopped him and shook his head, and all three of them got into the car and drove away.
Mike stared at the taillights until they were out of sight, wondering why Hop had seemingly been about to storm into his house.
When he got back into the basement, everyone that was left had already spread out their sleeping bags and were either asleep or pretending to be, so he hit the light and felt his way over to lay down on the couch.
He stared at the ceiling so long he thought he wouldn't fall asleep, replaying the night over in his head to figure out what had happened. He got stuck replaying the feel of Will's lips on his own for longer than he knew, before he finally fell asleep, still thinking about the kiss.