Work Text:
Mike was going through hell and back. He was being tortured in the most agonizing way the universe could ever treat a sixteen-year-old boy.
His best friend was sitting in his desk chair, grinning at a piece of paper like he was being informed he’d won a billion dollars.
Mike wasn’t sure why it made his insides so uneasy to see him giggling over a piece of paper. Not just any piece of paper, but apparently a note that his friend had given him.
“What’s so interesting about that?” he asked casually, fighting the urge to stand from his bed and take a look at the crumpled paper himself.
“Nothing, my friend just invited me to dinner.”
Mike choked on air, coughing and patting his chest roughly.
Will peered up at him, clearly confused. “Are you okay?”
“Dinner? He wants you to go to dinner with him?”
Will nodded slowly, a blush on his cheeks.
“Is that bad?”
Mike shook his head. “No—it’s horrible! You don’t know his intentions!” He should have just shut his stupid mouth.
“Uhm, what do you mean?” Will asked, clueless.
“Is he actually your friend? Or does he just want to get in your pants?” he asked exasperatedly.
Will let out a strange squeak, his face turning a deep shade of red. “Mike! You can’t just say that. I assure you Alex doesn’t want to get in my p-pants. He just wants to talk.”
Mike rose to his knees with a pointed look at Will. “Look. I don’t mean to be… a party pooper or anything, but he just doesn’t give me a good vibe.”
Who was he kidding? Alex was a nice guy. From the rare times he’d seen him at school, he seemed like a regular kid.
Will shrugged. “Well, thank God I don’t need him to give you a good vibe in order to hang out with him.”
Mike opened his mouth to fire back at the sarcastic remark, but nothing came out. Instead, he just felt this slow, curling jealousy in the pit of his stomach.
The thought of Alex and Will having dinner alone, and Alex laughing at Will’s funny jokes that usually only Mike understood, made him uncomfortable.
But how was he supposed to explain that to Will?
Exactly—he couldn’t. He had no right to be jealous. It wasn’t like Will was his or anything like that. Will was allowed to have other friends.
“Are you done judging Alex? You haven’t even met him properly, Mike.”
Mike snorted at that. “I don’t need to have an official conversation with him to make logical assumptions.”
“Incorrect and unnecessary assumptions,” Will corrected, stuffing the note into his backpack and going back to rocking in Mike’s chair.
“Whatever.”
“I’ll update you, I promise,” Will said, making sure Mike heard. He nodded, settling back into a starfish position on his bed.
“Yeah, okay.”
****
On Thursday night, Will had called him before he’d left for his date with Alex. Scratch that—Mike didn’t want to think of it as a date.
He’d throw up.
Afterward, he’d cleaned his room (which was an unusual activity for him), gone down to the basement and cleaned up from his and Dustin’s last campaign, and even played dolls with his little sister Holly for half an hour.
Still, no call from Will.
Why were they hanging out so long? Wasn’t half
hour enough for them to eat and leave the place? Jeez.
Mike shook his head at himself. He was being stupid. Will had every right to go out and have fun. He rarely did anyway, so it was definitely okay.
Mike was a jerk.
He was almost giving up on waiting for the call when the phone rang. He sprang up from the couch, ignoring a look from Holly.
“Hello?”
“Mike!”
He smiled at the sound of Will’s light voice. “Hey. How was your hangout?” he asked.
Silence for a few seconds.
“I left a bit early. It was fine.”
Somewhere deep inside him, he was cheering.
Not great, not awesome—fine.
Wait—
“Just fine? What’s wrong?” he found himself asking gently, in that way he always did when he sensed Will was down.
Will sighed on the other line. “He… tried to kiss
“WHAT?” He cleared his throat. “I mean, whattttt? That’s insaneeee!”
Mike was having a hard time composing his tone. Alex had tried to kiss Will on their first hangout. What kind of dude did that?
“Yeah, I know. I felt uncomfortable, so I just—left.”
He gripped the phone tighter. “I’m sorry. That sucks. Do you want to come over and have a movie night to make up for his shitty ass?”
Okay, maybe he was exaggerating, but the dude was now a douche in his brain.
Will laughed lightly. “Yeah, sure. Is your mom okay with that?”
When was his mom ever not okay with Will staying over? It was getting to the point where she always assumed Mike was referring to Will whenever he mentioned one of his friends, and she’d constantly ask, “Is Will coming over?”
“Yeah, of course she is.”
*****
By the time he heard Will’s footsteps down the basement steps, he already had everything set up: the couch right in front of the TV, Will’s favorite blanket that Mike owned, a bucket of popcorn, and water because Will preferred that after eating salty stuff.
“Wow, you really outdid yourself,” he said, looking around.
“Right. This is definitely a better hangout than a dinner,” he teased, gesturing for Will to sit down.
He did, but not before giving him a narrowed look. “Are you going to be passive-aggressively throwing comments at Alex the whole time?”
Mike shook his head quickly, holding back a laugh. “How could you assume such things of me?” he asked, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.
Will was holding back a smile—Mike could tell. It made his belly do a small flip.
He switched off the lights, turning on the television and sliding the Star Wars DVD into the player.
“Star Wars again?!” Will groaned loudly, throwing his head back against the cushion.
Mike scoffed. “You love Star Wars!”
“Not as much as you do, clearly,” he muttered under his breath.
Mike grabbed a pillow and threw it at him. Will dodged it, bringing his foot to Mike’s face.
“Ew! Gross.” He pretended to lean over and puke.
The movie started, and they settled into quiet.
“I told you he was trying to get in your pants.”
Will grunted in response. “I will leave right now, Michael.”
Mike rolled his eyes fondly and turned to stare at Will. His face was lit by the glow of the TV, and he looked stunning, as always.
“Would you kick my ass if I did that?”
Will hesitated before answering. “Did what?”
“Kissed you.” Mike mumbled before he could stop himself.
Will’s eyes widened. “I…”
They stared at each other in silence for a solid minute.
“That’s a very hypocritical question, right?”
Mike’s lips thinned. “Yes, I would. I would kick your—”
Without a second thought, he cupped Will’s face and kissed him, the feeling of his soft lips against his making heat pool in his stomach.
“Okay, I beg to differ,” Will mumbled once he pulled back, blushing.
“I’m definitely a much better kisser than Alex,” he couldn’t help but say, his nerves evident.
Will’s eyes were still blown wide. “I wouldn’t know—we didn’t even get that close.”
Mike sighed in relief.
“Did you just kiss me?” Will asked, as if still in shock.
Mike nodded slowly. “Why?”
He blushed. “Why would I not want to kiss you?”
Will stifled a laugh. “Because you’re… Mike.”
He raised a brow. “Well, this Mike has wanted to kiss you for a long time,” he said confidently, a stupid smile to match Will’s.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”