Chapter Text
Mike Wheeler liked to think he was a pretty calm person. Sure, he’s had his fair share of inter-dimensional monster freeze-ups. Like when Hopper asked if he could use a gun when he was 12, or the way his blood ran cold when he realized what Will had been doing while possessed. But that was in the past, he fought the damn mindflayer, nothing could make his heart feel the way it did back then.
So why the hell was his heart pounding out of his chest at the thought of seeing El and Will?
It’s not like he didn’t know these people. This was his girlfriend and his best friend. He had heard from El, like, twice a week throughout the year. He’s heard her giggle over the phone and could see her smile in her letters. It wouldn’t be much different than that. Thinking of her actually made him feel a little calmer.
Which made him realize it wasn’t her he was worried about, it was Will.
God, when was the last time he had talked to Will? Around christmas, maybe? Would things be awkward? Would he be upset? Hell, would he even care? It might be worse if he didn’t. What should he do when he sees him? Go in for a hug? No, no that’d be weird.
High five? Fist pump? Hand shake and pat?. That was probably the normal thing to do. That’s what guys did to each other, no matter how long it’s been since they last spoke, nor how much they missed them. Right?
But Mike wanted to hug him. He wanted to hug him like he did when he first got out of the hospital. He wanted to be close to him, convey how much he missed him in affection, not words.
But that would be weird, so he won’t.
Be cool Wheeler, be cool.
There was nothing to be scared of, it would be fun, good. Great, even.
It’s gonna be great.
He repeated this in his mind as the plane landed. He even felt a bit of excitement as the plane dinged and he started to get his bags. He tried to imagine El with grown out hair like her letters detail but he found himself unable too. Will said he’s kept his hair short, which he could see a lot better. Brown hair with highlights you could only see in the summer sunlight.
It’s funny, you think his hair is dark until you look into his eyes, deep and unrevealing.
What the fuck was he saying?
”Mike!”
He turned to the voice, monotone and soft, and saw who he guessed was El standing right in front of him. He couldn’t see too well with the shades, but he could recognize her face anywhere. Perks of knowing her when she didn’t have any hair at all, it was all he could really see.
He smiled as El jogged up to him, arms wide. She didn’t look too different, the hair was a big change but it suited her. She had gotten taller, but then again, so had he. She had a few curves in places he didn’t remember her having before, but then again she was finally wearing clothes that didn’t swallow her whole. Had she always look like this? Regardless, she looked pretty, cute. And he felt calm, happy, what was he even worried about?
He kissed her. He was taken aback by the tightness of her hug and the way she kinda wiggled him around with it. He felt bad for not hugging her back with that amount of tenacity, but he for some reason didn’t feel a need to. He had kissed her, wasn’t that enough to show her love?
Oh! The flowers!
“Careful, careful, you’re squishing your present.” He said quickly. She immediately pulled back, her eyes drifting to where his hand has squished between them. The bouquet of flowers had remained unaffected, which tripped him out. Was the hug not as tight as he thought? Or…
He looked at the flowers, a mix of yellow, purple, and a little pink of a pale pink. He felt a weird bit of panic in his chest, like he had on that cliff of the quarry, torn between two decisions.
”Yeah, I, uh…” He stopped. Was he really gonna go through with this. He looked to El, her face expectant and soft. He swallowed, mouth feeling dry. Then took a breathe. “…I hand picked those for you in Hawkins?” The words left his mouth with a steadily rising intonation. Making it seem more like a question than a statement.
“Both?” El asked.
Both, his brain supplied.
But as he looked down at the bunch, he hesitated.
He just couldn’t bring himself to lie.
—
He had been in a flower field by the big hill behind his house on his hands and knees picking flowers. It was the night before his flight and seeing them—Will and El—was all he could think ahout. He grabbed a bunch of flowers at a time, each yank getting him more excited.
Kissing El
*yank*
Seeing Will
*yank*
Seeeing the two people he cared about the most in his life in a couple hours.
*yank, yank, yank*
This would be the perfect gesture of..caringness. It would make up for all of the distance, his error, attitude and past mistakes. He could imagine brown eyes lighting up at the sight of them, lighter hair hanging over darker brows as said brown eyes gazed down at the bouquet.
Once he had a sizable collection of daisies and other yellow stuff he grabbed out of the ground. He held it up to the light, watching as the golden flowers danced in the wind. He had done a 50/50 split of yellow and a dark yellow, a pretty ombre, like how using two different crayons to color in the sun. It was the perfect display of effort and beauty, one rarely found in effort but easily replicated in art. He tied them up in a piece of twine.
Will was gonna love them.
—
Now, time to pick some flowers for El.
He put the yellow batch aside, the colors reminding him of his friend. He had thought this was his favorite color, but he’s not sure if Will actually told him that or if he had just started to associate him with the color yellow since he moved.
“What color will you paint your new room?” Mike had asked last year, helping him tape up a box.
”Ummm,” Will had said, pushing his bangs out of his face. “My old room was all brown and dreary. I might do something fun, like, yellow.”
Mike smiled a bit, imagining Will sitting in his room, drawing or painting, just drowning in yellow. It seemed silly, yet fitting.
He wonders if his room was actually yellow.
He shook away the thought, he needed to focus on El now. Scanning the patch in front of him, he saw a few colors. He reached for a red flower and plucked it, holding it up and imagining a bouquet of them. It would be pretty, but since they weren’t roses he wondered if it’d be too..boyish? A bunch of red flowers reminded him of those little red car toys in the boys section of a Toys R Us.
It wouldn’t make much sense anyway, red was more of a Will color. He was the one who had those red bright red shorts last summer. And then those red stripes on his shirt when Mike found him in the rain. And then his drawings, the ones Mike had one his wall, if they’re scary the background will be scratchy and maroon.
“Oh, I get it now.” Mike said, holding two drawings of Will’s drawings in his hands. There were halloween candy scraps all over the room. At one point they’d stopped talking about the hard stuff and instead looked for old toys and games in Mike’s room. Mike had paused at one point, still holding an etch-a-sketch to look at the drawings hung on his wall. “This one is red in the back because the guys in danger, but this one is kinda grey because he’s not.”
Will’s eyes had widened, then he kinda smiled. “No one’s ever noticed that before.” He said, shuffling up to him in his ghostbusters costume. “But, yeah, you’re right. It’s-“
”Symbolism.” They both said.
Will smiled.
Mike did too. —
Mike shook his head again, damnit! He needed to get El’s flowers still. Focus on her. He felt a bit of his excitement towards seeing Will shift into mild annoyance. He hadn’t talked to him in weeks and now he was distracting him from getting his girlfriend’s flowers together. Speaking of flowers, he needed to get the yellow bunch in some water.
He stood up, his bones cracking as he did, how long had he been here? And dredged into the house, maybe Nancy would know what color flowers to get for El. Stepping into the house, he was immediately questioned by his mother, who he walked past to the table. “Where have you been?” She asked.
”The field.” He mumbled. Ted gave him a look as he started grabbed a vase and started to fill it up with water from a nearby water bottle. “I’m trying to pick some flowers for El.”
Nancy, coming in from the kitchen gestured to the yellow bouquet. “What about those?” she asked.
Mike huffed, “Those are for Will?” Was it not obvious?
“For Will?” Karen muttered. “Mike, give them to your girlfriend I doubt Will needs flowers, nor’s expecting them.”
“Yeah, the only guys that give other guys flowers are fairies and theater she-men. Either way, they’re both fa-“ Ted had started.
“Ted.” Karen had frowned disapprovingly, not exactly at his statement but at it being around Holly. She didn’t hear it, already jogging up to the flowers on the table. She stole on and put it in her hair, much to Mike’s annoyance.
As he watched Holly dance around with the flower, he felt a sense of discomfort settle in his chest. It’s not like he was against people who were..like that, but he certainly didn’t want to be mistaken as one. The idea that his dad could possibly think that made his heart beat fast. Same with if El thought that, he heard there was a lot of..gay..people in california. Did El share the same opinion of his dad and the rest of Hawkins? Would she suspect it if he gave Will a whole bunch of flowers and her a measly bunch of..whatever color he could scrap up? Would Will suspect anything?
”It’s not like that!” Mike said quickly. “I just thought i’d do something nice, because he’s my friend, best friend.”
”Best friends don’t typically give eachother flowers but if you want to-“ Nancy had started to say.
”I…wouldn’t.” Karen said, her tone not unkind but hesitating. “Just to be safe, plus, your girlfriend might take it wrong. She might think you care about her the same way you care about Will.”
But…did he?
No, no he didn’t. El was his girlfriend and Will was his..friend. A friend he hadn’t reached out to in weeks, a friend he wanted to make it up to, a friend he wanted to give flowers to in his aura color to say ‘I still care’.
At least, he thought that was what he wanted them to say.
He shook his head, their words sinking in. Flowers for Will? Wrong. Flowers for El? Yes. “Okay, okay yeah, I..I don’t know what I was thinking.” Mike mumbles.
“That satanic worship club must be getting to you.” Ted mumbled.
“We don’t worship Satan.” Mike muttered apathetically. He turned to Nancy, “So, these are okay, right? El-I mean-Jane would like them?”
Nancy had smiled, a look on her face he couldn’t quite read. Sympathy, maybe? What would she be sympathetic about? It felt patronizing. “I’m sure she’ll love them.” She picks out a yellow flowers. “Maybe not all yellow though. Come on, there’s a purple patch outside my window.” She started to go outside, he followed.
As they picked the purple flowers, (one by one, so they would have a 70/30 split, a concept Nancy thought was ridiculous and unnecessary) Mike felt…icky. Was he really gonna show up to the airport empty handed for Will? The yellows were already tied up, so it’d technically be two bouquets. 2 shows of care for El, and none for Will…
It just felt wrong.
Nancy must’ve noticed his discomfort, because she sent him a puzzled look. “You’re really thinking about this 70/30 split thing, huh?”
“Shut up,” He mumbled. “I’m just thinking about….”
El, his brain supplied.
Will, his heart whispered.
He just shook his head, he was being stupid.
”Don’t think so hard about things.” Nancy said. “Dad was being stupid, it was a sweet gesture, especially for someone as special to you as Will.” His heart pounded in his chest. “I think Mom thought so too, she was just…concerned about how it would be perceived.”
“Whatever.” Mike muttered. “They’re both right, it was dumb, flowers are for girls and girlfriends.”
He took the purple flowers from Nancy and supplied them with his own stack. It was still tiny, compared to the yellow collections. Damnit, he started to pluck some light pink flowers too, so much for a 70/30 split, now it’d be a 50/30/20, or a 60/20/20 if he was able to get it even enough. Though, he supposed, he could give Holly some of the yellow after all, then make it a 30/30/30? But he’d really prefer it to be out of 100…
”Do what you want with the flowers.” Nancy’s voice broke through his brain calculation. He turned to her.
”What?” Mike said.
”I said, do what you want.” She repeated, looking at him intently. “If you think Will would appericiate them, give it to him. He won’t think it’s weird i’m sure, he’ll probably be like,” she cleared her throat, putting on her best Will impression.
“Wow..thank you…” She got his shy, slow way of speaking down pact. It made Mike smile, even for a moment. Pleased, she stood up and dusted her self off, “Follow your heart, you have a surprisely big one.” She said, heading back inside.
He had nodded. Turning to the two bouquets, he felt his heart pound. Pushing them together made them easily look like one, but taking them apart he saw two people he cared about dearly. Will and El. El and Will. Will and…
Will.
—
Will.
Will?
Will!
He must’ve spaced out or something because next thing he knew, he felt a soft bonk on his head, Will was standing right in front of him. Mike looked up, the flowers now feeling slippery in his grip. Will looked different, taller, his hair was shorter but framed him well. He had a big smile on his face, and was holding something rolled up, the same thing that had just made contact with his head.
“Earth to Mike?” Will asked, laughing a bit, the sound light but giddy like he was excited. He looked excited, if the grin on his face was any indication.
Mike felt a matching one slowly crawl across his face, it was unexpected but definitely not unwelcome. He felt happy, like a fluttery kind of excitement. He was here, really really here. After what had been months of waiting, he was here!
Then came the nervousness again, be cool wheeler
“Will.” he stammered. “Hey.”
Will laughed again, “Hey.” Mike zeroed in his smile, a familiar yet somewhat rare sight on him. “You like totally checked out for a second into El’s flowers.” He shrugged. Will opened his arms a bit then paused, “Do you-“
Looking at the uncertain look on Will’s face, all his worries and nonchalance went out the window.
Mike hugged him, quickly and tight. the flowers in between them were totally squished, he felt them pressed against his shirt as he wrapped his free hand around Will. Will seemed surprised but hugged him back, his arms around his waist which made Mike feel like he was being pricked by a dozen ticklely needles. This was weird, he was being weird.
Everyone could see he was being weird.
But taking a sniff of Will’s sweet caramel shampoo, he didn’t really care.
“Oh,” Will had suddenly squeaked. “Mike, the flowers.”
“They’re for you.” The words tumbled out of his mouth quickly, before he could stop them. Mike pulled back quickly. He saw the look of amusement on Wills face shift into stunned surprise, and El looked confused, maybe disappointed. He quickly backpedaled. “I mean, they’re not all for you, but I got you some.” He gently separated the two bouquets. He felt his heart pound a bit at his decision. But, it was too late now. And Nancy said to do what he wanted right?
And he wanted to give Will flowers.
“Um, I..they’re yellow?” He says shakily, his hand trembling as he shifted his weight, now standing directly in front of Will. He felt nervous, and began to ramble. “I thought…you liked yellow but now i’m thinking maybe you never said you liked yellow and I just thought you said you liked yellow because your room is yellow and you look yellow. Wait-no-you don’t litterally look yellow but like you remind me of yellow?” He extended the bouquet to Will, who’s eyes are wide and expression stunned and something else.
“You picked…these for me?” Will asked, maybe in disbelief, “Like with me in mind?”
Mike hesitated, then nodded.
”…Yes…” the word came out slow, it sounded like he was lying, he shook his head. “Yes, yes I did.” He said, forcing my certainty in his words.
Will blinked at the flowers. He fiddled with the petals of one. Mike gulped, feeling nervous and sick. Was this a bad idea? Did he think it was weird? Did he think Mike was weird?
God, was Mike weird?
El looked between the two, “And these are for me, right?” She asked, nervous and maybe a little suspicious, as if cautious Mike would kiss Will next.
Mike turned to her, his heart swelling with affection. “Yes, yes. I got you purple and pink, girl colors, see?”
The explaination was far too simple compared to Will’s, but Eleven seemed pleased. She liked things that were simple, Mike knew that. Technically there was more to it, he had enough mind to do a 60/40 split of purple and pink, but he knew she wouldn’t care. She used simple words. “They’re perfect.” She smiled.
He looked back to Will, who now seemed a little checked out. Their eyes met, and he was back. Mike knew what this looked like, like he had gotten El two beautiful bunches of flowers and then realized Will was there, and suddenly gave him one as an afterthought, but he was determined to prove that wasn’t true.
“I thought a lot about these.” Mike said looking at the flowers, he smiled. “I made it ombre, like how you color the suns in your drawings. A little orangey and a little yellowy, you see? It’s creative.” He gestured vaguely to where they start to blend, Will’s eyes widened as he realized, and his mood started to shift a bit.
“Oh, really?” Will says surprised. He looks at the flowers again, seeming to see the intention put into them. “Oh….wow”
Mike was relieved. “Yeah, yeah you get it.” Mike started to feel giddy that his explanation landed. He spoke fast, “You get it, you get it right?”
“Yes.” Will started to laugh, a great sign. He seemed a little more relaxed now, confident and amused. “I get it, it makes sense. Symbolism, right?”
Mike smiled, “Yeah, symbolism.”
Will looked up at him with a raised brow, then started to laugh again. As if this was funny to him.
“I’m serious!” Mike said, giggling.
”I am too!” Will gigggled. The bantering was infectious. “They’re great. Really, they’ll fit perfectly with my bright yellow room.”
El had laughed at that, her previous unease fading as she joined the conversation. “It does kinda look like your room.”
Mike shrugged, “What can I say? I’m a botanical mastermind.”
Will rolled his eyes teasingly, but El laughed and leaned into his arms, hugging him close. “I missed you.” She mumbled into his chest. Mike held her back, for once this morning feeling…ease.
“I missed you to.” He mumbled into her hair. He looked up then, meeting Will’s gentle eyes. “Both of you.”
Will smiled, then looked down at his bouquet, eyes oddly glassy. El turned to him, beaming and putting their flowers together, and they both laughed, giddy. A sight that made Mike’s heart feel light.
Man, he loved the Byers.
Well, cared for,
in Will’s case,
he thinks.
Just then, Mike was punched in the shoulder by some long haired dude. “So you must be Wheeler. Rockin hair my dude, totally hippy. The names Argyle, cool to meet girly Byers little boytoy.” Mike cringed.
“Don’t be weird.” Jonathan’s voice mumbled coming up to them. “Good to see you Mike.” He gave him a look and a light jab on the shoulder that seemed almost like he approved of him or something. Mike took it in stride.
“You too.” Mike said. Then, he suddenly felt arms wrapped around his waist and lift him up, being tossed over Argyle’s shoulder. “What is happening…” he mumbled.
”No time to lose, my dude, a totally awesome reunion awaits!” The man spun him around then started manhandling out the door of the airport. El and Will laughed, following behind. Mike rolled his eyes in mock annoyance, but actually didn’t mind being carried if it made the two laugh.
Maybe this trip would be okay.
He looked at them both, El was practically skipping in joy while Will kept glancing down at something rolled in his hands.
”What’s thaaaat.” Mike asked, voice shaking as they entered an escalator. Will glance up and seemed temporarily nervous.
”Oh, um, just this painting i’ve been working on.” Will said, shrugging. Mike’s eyes lit up in recognition, remembering El talking about this in the letter he read yesterday.
”Oh, that right.” Mike said. “For that girl you like, right?
[To be continued!]