Archive of Our Own ^beta

Hawkins High’s prom night would be happening relatively soon. Posters plastered on the cafeteria doors declared it boldly as Mike walked in for lunch. He glanced at the posters, mostly because they were too bright and annoying to properly ignore, but he didn't think much of it. It was just another dance.

When someone brought it up at the lunch table, Mike expected Will to react the way they normally did to school dances. They’d say they might go, then forget about it and have a much better time at home anyway.

But this time, Will wanted details. He was focused, interested. Like he was actually thinking of going.

It was prom. That was one of the more important dances. It wasn’t unusual for people who weren’t really into that kind of thing to suddenly be into prom.

Still, something about it bothered Mike. 

He shoved those thoughts away and focused on his food.

“Mike, what do you want?” Nancy asked.

“What?”

“Out of life,” she clarified. 

Jesus. 

Nancy had trapped Mike in her room in the name of sibling bonding and was now torturing him with existential-ass questions instead of the 'what's your favorite color' type of questions he'd been expecting.

“I don't know. Happiness, I guess.”

It sounded like a lie. It felt like a lie. But he couldn't be lying. That was what everyone wanted, right? 

“What does happiness look like for you? Specifically.”

Some kind of negative emotion welled up in Mike so he shoved it back down. Why the fuck was she asking this in the first place? These weren't normal bonding questions, they were so...Nancy. So fucking annoying.

He shrugged.

Nancy sighed. “Mike, this isn't going to work if you don't actually say something.”

“Work?' What the fuck does that even mean?”

“Well, you want to get closer, right?”

“No, you want to get closer. I just agreed to this because it seemed less annoying to just get it over with than have you trying to convince me for weeks.”

“Can't you just answer the question?” She sounded exasperated. How did she think Mike felt?

“Can't you just ask normal questions?”

”Fine. How are things going with El?”

He shifted. “Oh. El. Uh, we broke up.”

Her jaw dropped. “You broke up?”

Mike rubbed his neck self-consciously. “Yeah, I mean, a few months ago.”

“Months ago?!” Nancy cried. “How many?”

“Like six?”

“Six is not a few months, Mike, that's ages!” She shook her head, completely dumbfounded. “Why didn't you say anything?”

“It didn't come up.”

Nancy rubbed her eyes at his response, but refrained from another judgmental comment. Instead, she took a breath. “Okay. So you're not dating El anymore. Why?”

“I don't know. We didn't really fit anymore.”

“You didn't fit?” Her eyes were searching, and it made Mike uncomfortable. He instinctively closed himself off even more.

“Yeah,” he reiterated defensively.

Nancy stared at him for what felt like multiple minutes before she finally spoke again.

“What do you want?” she asked. “In a relationship?”

What did he want? 

He shrugged. “I don't know.”

“Seriously?” she scoffed. “You were in a relationship with El for years and you don't even know one thing you want out of a relationship?”

“Well it's a good thing I'm not fucking dating her anymore, isn't it?”

She rolled her eyes. “God, Mike, you're so immature.”

“Michael!” his mom shouted. “Will's here!”

Thank god. He fled from Nancy's room as quickly as possible. She was such an asshole.

He ran down the first part of his stairs, stopping on the landing. There was Will, standing at the door, waiting for him.

“You're early.”

“Yeah, that's...on purpose,” he admitted. “I had something I wanted to tell you, actually.”

Will looked nervous. Really nervous. Why would he be nervous? It was just Mike. He was never nervous around him.

“What?” he prompted gently. “What is it?”

He looked around. “Can we go to your room or something?”

“Yeah, of course.”

He jogged back up the stairs, then went to his room. Will followed.

When they got to his room, he shut the door behind Will and winced. It was really messy. But it wasn’t like Will wasn’t used to it. It was always messy.

“So what is it?” he asked. Will had already sat down on Mike’s bed, so he sat down next to him.

Will was pale as a ghost. God, was Mike really that scary?

“I—I'm—” Will screwed his eyes shut, then blurted out, “I'm gay.”

His alarm clock ticked. He never noticed the noise before, but now it was deafening.

“Oh,” Mike responded. 

Will slowly and bracingly opened his eyes to look at Mike’s expression. Unfortunately for him, Mike didn’t have much of an expression at the moment, since his thoughts had basically completely turned off. That was probably bad, he probably needed to say something.

“So that’s why you don’t have a girlfriend.”

The tension was broken by Will’s unexpected laugh. “That’s your reaction?”

“Well how am I supposed to react?” Mike said defensively.

“You’ve been wondering that for a while?” he teased.

“Yes,” Mike said. “That was like fifty percent of my internal dialogue for multiple years now. Who does Will have a crush on? Why isn’t Will dating anyone? Is Will going to go out with that girl? On and on and on and now I finally have my answer.”

Will shifted. “Is it really that noticeable that I’m not dating anyone? I mean, I assumed for most people it would add up since I wouldn’t have any options even if I was straight.”

“Are you kidding? You’re not being serious. Will, so many people have a crush on you.”

He snorted. “No they do not.”

“Yes they do,” he insisted. “There’s that girl in math, and the one you talked about in your art class who was obviously flirting with you—”

“—I don’t think I described that conversation properly,” Will argued.

Mike ignored him. “Amelia’s asked you to basically every dance since you danced with her at the Snow Ball. And obviously there’s Jennifer Hayes.”

Will shook his head firmly. “You guys need to shut up with that. Jennifer Hayes did not have a crush on me.”

“She still has a crush on you,” Mike complained. “She's always had a crush on you, and it's always been obvious to literally everyone but you.”

“Even if she did have a crush on me, which I'm absolutely not sold on for the record, she has not always had a crush on me. She wouldn't even look at us in elementary school.”

“Okay, fine I exaggerated slightly. Her crush didn't really start until seventh grade.” He rolled his eyes, thinking about how bullshit that was. “Something about you dying must have really done it for her.”

“Maybe she's a necrophile,” Will said thoughtfully.

“Or, I mean, she's really religious, right? Maybe it was the whole back-from-the-dead thing that drew her in. You remind her of Jesus.”

“I think that's just a more socially acceptable way to say she's a necrophile.”

Mike laughed, some of his annoyance at Jennifer Hayes’ general existence dimming slightly.

Will looked away, his gaze focusing on the wall.

“I've...actually kissed someone now.”

“You have?” Mike asked, his expression dropping against his will. “A girl?”

His tone was way too hopeful there. He didn’t even know why it came out that way.

“No,” Will answered carefully. “It was a boy.”

“In Lenora?”

“In Hawkins. A few days ago.”

In Hawkins. Days ago.

“Are you dating him?”

“No, it was just one kiss. I didn’t really like it anyway.” Will paused. “I would’ve told you, if I was.”

Mike nodded, not because he already knew that, but because he believed it now that Will had said so.

Will shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed. He leaned back a bit, holding his weight on his hands. His arm was a lot closer to Mike’s, now. His movement made Mike get stiff, for some reason.

“I'm telling everyone tonight—you know, about me being gay, but...I don't know, I guess I wanted to tell you first.”

“Okay,” Mike said stupidly. “Well, thanks.”

Thanks? What kind of a response was that?

Save it.

“That’s cool, man,” he added.

Bury him now, Mike was so fucking embarrassing. What was he even saying?

“Everybody else will be here soon,” Mike blurted. “Do you want to help me set everything up?”

Will shrugged. “Sure.”

The Party responded to Will's coming out with quick, kind acceptance, which was nice. But once the whole ‘we don’t hate you for being gay’ part was over, people started saying such stupid fucking things.

“Robin was right!” Max said triumphantly. “There are a ton of gay people in Hawkins.”

Okay, what? That was so weird. And Will was one singular person. That did not mean there were a ton of gay people there.

“I'm sorry people are weird about gayness sometimes,” Dustin said. “That sucks.”

Mike cringed. God, and he’d thought his response had been embarrassing.

Will was a lot kinder than Mike would’ve been. “Yeah, it’s not easy to deal with. I don’t really like to dwell on it though, that just makes everything harder.”

Dustin nodded like he was sharing some sort of sage wisdom. 

“I knew you had a crush on Han Solo!” Lucas shouted. “I knew it!”

Thank you weirdo friends for making Mike less and less self-conscious about his reaction.

“We both get crushes on boys,” El said with a little grin. “That’s so cool!”

Okay, El was fine. But everyone else was being weird as fuck.

“Why did you decide to tell us now?” Max asked, a twinkle in her eye. “Did something happen?”

Will hesitated. “No. Well—yes, but that’s not why—”

“Will! You’re dating someone?” Dustin asked, basically jumping up and down with excitement.

“No, it wasn’t like that, it was just a kiss.” 

“Tell us,” El said.

A small smile grew on Will’s face, which made Mike want to throw up. “I had my first kiss a few days ago,” he said. “I thought we were just friends, but we were having a moment, and we both just kind of went for it. It was nice, but I realized I don’t see him that way. I think I like kissing, but I didn’t like that kiss, because it was him, if that makes any sense.”

"No he's not," Mike said suddenly. Looks of confusion flitted across the Party's faces.

"He's not what?" Max asked, sounding annoyed Mike had derailed Will's explanation.

Mike was completely uninterested. Almost unnaturally so—he didn't think he was feeling anything. He didn't look up as he continued. "He's not Will's first kiss. I was."

Lucas tilted his head. "You said that didn't count because you were both boys."

"And Will's gay," Mike said with a shrug. "So it did count."

"Yeah, but you're straight," Lucas argued.

"So it counts for him but not for me. El was my first kiss, I was his."

Will looked more and more uncomfortable as their conversation went on, which made Mike feel a little guilty. Not remorseful, though.

He hadn’t meant to burst Will’s bubble of course, but he was right. He and Will used to kiss all the time when they were little. They didn't really understand what it meant yet, and it was just fun. Their parents thought it was cute at first, then funny, then worrying. So they stopped kissing around people. Then Mike started dating El, and they stopped kissing at all.

Max groaned dramatically, glaring at Mike. "Why on earth do you guys have all these rules about what "counts" in the first place? A first kiss is the first person you kissed. That's it."

And, yeah, Mike had been the one who had insisted that pre-puberty kisses between two boys didn't really count as first kisses. But—

"Fine. Max is right," Mike said, uttering the phrase for the first time in his entire life. "All of the gender stuff was bullshit, straight or gay. I was Will's first kiss, Will was mine."

Nobody really knew what to say after that. Lucas and Max glanced at each other. Eventually, Dustin laughed awkwardly.

“Alright, glad we got that sorted out,” he said.

Everyone hastily moved on.

Later that night, when everyone else was leaving, Will approached Mike carefully.

“Mike,” Will said carefully. “Do you still want to have that sleepover, or—”

They had sleepovers most Saturday nights, and this one was no different. They’d already arranged to use the cabin and they confirmed their plan at school on Friday. He didn’t really know why Will was even asking.

“Yeah of course.”

Will looked absolutely relieved, which Mike found a little odd. Why did he think Mike might—

Oh. Right. Fuck.

He couldn’t imagine how hard coming out must be. That would suck. 

Panic tore through Mike’s body at the thought of telling everyone you’re gay and having to worry about reactions like that. Good thing he was boring and straight and would never have to do that.

“Let's go,” he said, grabbing his keys out of the drawer of the entryway side table.

At the start of the drive, they argued about which album to play, which led to a car ride where no music played as they harshly judged each other’s taste in music.

Luckily, it didn’t take that long to get to the cabin, it was only a little ways out of Hawkins.

Ever since the Hopper and Byers households had merged, the cabin had become a sort of hang out area for all Upside Down related individuals. There were parties, hang outs, sleepovers, all sorts of things. You just had to make sure no one else was planning on using it to avoid nasty fights and clean up after yourself when you were done. Hopper would kill them if they left it in bad shape, especially after all the work it took to put it back together.

Mike parked and the two headed inside. They pulled two cots out of the storage closet and started setting them up.

“You seemed kind of off tonight,” Will commented, pulling out a stack of blankets from the same closet.

Mike pressed his lips together. “Was he weird to you, when that happened?”

“What?”

“Like, you said you didn't really like it when he kissed you, and I was just worried that—”

Will cut him off with a dismissive wave. “No, Mike, it was fine. He was fine. There wasn't anything weird. I just didn't enjoy it.”

Right, of course. Why had he assumed anything different?

Would he have assumed that if Will had kissed a girl? Was Mike being a total asshole?

They put their pillows on their cots and moved to the kitchen.

Will put popcorn in the microwave, while Mike put together smores to put in the oven.

They ate their snacks and didn’t talk about Will being gay. Mike didn’t know if it was weirder to bring it up or not to bring it up, so he tried to follow Will’s lead, and Will didn’t really say anything.

After a few hours of laughing and joking, they went to lay on their cots. They used to say they were going to bed, but they’d done this enough to know that wasn’t really going to happen. Usually they laid down in the dark for like half an hour until someone suggested they go to the roof, where they’d talk for another hour, at least.

Will was the one to suggest it this time. Obviously, Mike agreed. 

They climbed up and leaned back against the roof.

They were silent for a while, just looking up at the stars. Then, Mike spoke.

“Why didn't you tell me?”

Will sighed. “It really wasn't very serious, Mike. We were just friends and then we had a moment and—”

“No, I mean why didn't you tell me you're gay?”

He paused. “Are you seriously asking me that?”

Fuck. He was right, of course. There were a million different reasons for Will to have kept it a secret for so long. But Mike still felt weird about it. 

“I guess it's more like...I guess what I'm actually wondering is if you would've told me sooner. I mean, if we...” If we hadn't barely seen each other for the past two years.

First there was El, then Will moving to California, and then, when he came back, they still had barely any time together. It was only in the past few months they’d gotten back in the habit of hanging out one on one regularly.

“I don't know, Mike,” Will responded. “It's not like this was easy for me to come to terms with. And telling people? For a long time that was...it took a while to be okay with this. Honestly, the space kind of helped. It made everything feel less scary.”

More than anything he was glad that Will was finally comfortable to be open about this with the Party. But the fact that time away from Mike was what made him more comfortable in himself—that fucking sucked. That should never have been the case, and he hated himself for being the cause of that. There was so much he wished he could go back and redo, so many things he wished he never said—

“Mike?”

“Yeah?”

“You're okay with this, right? Like, you're not uncomfortable or anything?”

He really was scared Mike wouldn’t be cool with sleepovers anymore. He understood it from Will’s perspective, but from his perspective it seemed kind of silly.

“No, of course not.”

He absolutely wasn't uncomfortable. But it did feel like something had changed. Something major. He kind of hated himself for the feeling. Will was still Will. Why was Mike being weird about this?

“You've just been really spacey whenever anything about me being gay gets brought up,” Will said cautiously. “I don’t want you to act like you’re fine with it if you’re not.”

“Sorry. I'm just still putting it together in my head, I guess. But I'm definitely cool with it. Like, seriously. I'm sorry if I'm freaking you out.”

“No, it's fine.”

The rumbling of a nearby train was barely noticeable at first, but as it got closer, it got exponentially louder. The whistle screeched through the cold night air. Mike could barely hear his own thoughts. He definitely wouldn’t have been able to hear anyone else.

Will’s face was practically glowing in the moonlight. It was such a perfect face. There was never enough time to look at it.

Will’s brow furrowed. He glanced a few inches down. Why—

Oh. Mike had done that first. 

This moment felt different. Familiar. Big. Fragile.

Mike looked down at Will’s lips again.

The train gave one last whistle, then sped into the distance.

He turned away and cleared his throat. “It’s getting kind of cold up here.”

Will’s face fell. He climbed off the roof without a word. 

They went to bed.

On Monday, at lunch, Mike just wanted things to be normal again. But of course people had to keep bringing up the kiss Will had had.

“I'm just so curious who it was,” Dustin said.

Mike and Will stiffened at the same time.

“Dustin, I'm not going to out him,” Will said firmly. “Just because you're curious doesn't mean you have a right to know. He has a right to privacy.”

Dustin's eyes widened. “Oh, god, yeah, of course. I wasn't thinking about—but yeah, you're totally absolutely right. I will...try to tamp down my curiosity.” He said it like it would be a gargantuan challenge for him. Which, well, for Dustin, it probably was.

“I doubt you'd guess it anyway,” Will added. “A lot of people think it's easy to tell who's gay or not, but unless you're gay, it really isn't.”

“Wait, but if you're gay, you can?” Dustin asked excitedly. “Are you telling me you literally have a superpower?”

Will laughed. “I don't know if I'd call it that, but kind of. I mean, I kind of noticed it on my own, but Robin said something about it too, so it turns out it's a gay thing, not a me thing.”

“That's got to be bullshit,” Mike said, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

“I'm pretty sure Will knows the intricacies of the gay experience better than you do, Mike,” Dustin said pointedly.

“Right, duh, but that doesn't mean he can tell every person who's gay.”

Will shrugged. “I mean, yeah, I definitely don't know every time, I'm just saying we have a better sense for it than straight people.”

“Well, I also think that's bullshit,” Mike asserted. “Dustin just doesn't know because he sucks at noticing that kind of stuff.”

“Are you implying you know who Will kissed?” Lucas asked.

Mike nodded emphatically. “I mean, I totally get what Will's saying about him not having the right to tell anyone, but it was kind of obvious, right Lucas?”

What other male friends did Will even have? There was Miguel in his art class. When would the kiss have even happened? When Will was staying after school to work on an art project. And Miguel definitely had those vibes. The asshole stared at Will all the fucking time.

“Mike I have no fucking clue who it was.”

He stared at him. “You have to be lying.”

“Why the fuck would I lie about that?”

He looked around the table helplessly. “Guys, it's seriously obvious.”

“What does that imply?” Max asked.

It took Mike a second, but then his face burned a bright red, along with Will's next to him.

“That is not what I was saying. It was absolutely not...no.”

“Yeah, Max, don't make it weird.” Will laughed awkwardly.

Yeah. Right. That would be weird. Will would think that was weird. Mike's face fell a little. 

Max looked at Lucas who was looking at her. They had some sort of secret conversation with their eyes while everyone else went back to eating lunch.

A week later, Mike and Will were on the roof again, having another sleepover at the cabin, when Will admitted lightly, “I actually used to have a crush on Lucas.”

The cold night air prickled uncomfortably against Mike's skin. “Oh.”

God, he needed to be more normal about this. But instead, for some reason he was sick to his stomach at the thought of Will looking at Lucas in that way.

No wonder Will had been worried for so long that Mike was weird about gay people. Now that he had come out, Mike was having a hard time convincing himself that he wasn't weird about it. 

“What's that reaction?” Will asked, his attempted casual tone masking the nervousness underneath. Shit, Mike was really screwing this up.

“I'm just surprised, I guess,” he said. “I mean, if anything I would've thought it'd be—”

“Dustin?” Will asked teasingly. 

“No.”

Mike focused on the trees waving in front of him. The biting wind on his face. He didn’t think about how scary it was that he had just admitted that he thought—

“I actually did have a crush on you at one point,” Will said. He rushed to add, “I'm over it now, of course.”

Mike felt relief and then…something else. He ignored the twisting in his gut. “Right. Of course.” 

“Sorry if that’s kind of weird.”

“No, it’s not at all, honestly, I'm glad you did.” Shit. “I mean, it wouldn't be a good look for me if after everything we’ve been through you'd never—like, if I were a girl I'd absolutely—” Oh god that was so much worse.

“I get it,” Will swooped in. “Even if you don't like the person back, it's definitely a compliment.”

“Right.” Mike wasn't even sure if that's what he was trying to say, but it sounded better than whatever he had been blabbering about.

Will moved on.

“Prom is coming up,” he said. “I don’t know if I want to go, but I think I might have to.”

Mike’s protective instincts flared. “What do you mean, you might have to? You don’t have to. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”

“That’s a nice thought, Mike, but it’s not true. Not for me.” He picked at a nail. “Everybody already thinks I’m gay, and if I don’t go to prom, that basically confirms it.”

“That’s bullshit,” Mike said. “There’s a million reasons you might not go to prom.”

“Of course there is, but it’s not like anybody else will see it that way.” Will sighed. “I’m not sure who exactly to ask, but you said you’re sure Jennifer Hayes would like that? Do you honestly think she’ll say yes?”

“Of course she will,” Mike grunted. As soon as he answered, he regretted it. He wished he had lied.

“Why are you mad at me for this?” Will asked, annoyance suddenly sharp in his tone.

“I’m not,” Mike said gruffly. “It makes sense. I just wish you didn’t have to.”

“I do too,” Will snapped. “I wish I could go with a guy.”

That thought only made Mike feel worse. Will and Miguel going to prom—

“I’m going to bed,” Mike said.

Will was glaring at him. He looked like he wanted to scream. But he didn’t stop him.

“It’s such bullshit that Will thinks he has to go to prom,” Mike complained to Max and Lucas during group work in English class. “I mean, I’m not saying he’s wrong, I just wish he didn’t feel like he had to.”

“It sucks,” Max agreed. “But we can still make sure he has a good time.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “He shouldn’t have to. He shouldn’t have to try to get a fucking date, he should get to stay home and play games or whatever he wants to do.”

Lucas and Max exchanged a look.

“The dance is coming up, Mike,” Lucas said. “Is there anyone you were thinking of asking?”

He glared at him. “No, Lucas, me and El are done. It was mutual. She wouldn't want me to take her, anyway.”

“That is not what he was saying,” Max said. “I would fucking kill you if you tried to ask her out again. But do you have anyone else in mind this time around? Like in the perfect world, with no obstacles, if you knew they'd say yes, who would you want to ask?”

He shrugged. “There's not really anyone like that right now. Honestly, in a perfect world I'd want to skip it entirely and play D&D instead or something.”

Mike was getting sick of those looks Max and Lucas kept giving each other after every single thing he said.

“Hey, Mike,” Will said.

They were at their lockers. It was the first time they’d really gotten a chance to talk since their last sleepover.

“I was kind of a jerk,” Mike said.

“You kind of were,” Will agreed.

“I’m really sorry about that,” he apologized. “I don’t know why I keep getting pissed off about nothing.”

“It’s alright, Mike,” Will said. “I know you’re not a huge fan of change.”

“Okay, but this doesn’t count! I don’t get to be an asshole about this.”

Will shrugged. “Yeah, I’d prefer if you weren’t.”

Mike looked at him. “Do you want to watch Star Wars or something after school?”

He grinned. “Yeah, sounds fun.”

A few days later, Mike heard a knock on his bedroom door. He opened it to see Lucas, Max, and fucking Nancy on the other side.

“What the fuck?”

The three walked into his room and sat him on his bed. They stood around his room, looking kind of menacing from where they were, above him.

“So what is this?” he asked.

“We just want to talk,” Nancy said.

Like that wasn’t worrying as hell.

“About what?”

They looked at each other. Finally, Lucas stepped forward.

“Mike, have you ever considered the idea that you may, in fact, not be fully heterosexual?”

What the fuck?

“What do you mean? I am.” He said it monotone. Because it literally was just a fact about himself. 

“Right, totally.” Lucas shared glances with the other two. “We just think it might be time for you to consider that you might not be.”

“You don’t believe me,” Mike realized.

Max just nodded, but Nancy took a more diplomatic approach. “It’s not that we don’t believe you, we just think it’s probably something worth exploring. Just so you know for sure.”

Which was code for she didn’t fucking believe him.

“I literally dated El.”

“Respectfully, Mike,” Lucas said. “That doesn't mean shit.”

“Also you were an extremely shitty boyfriend,” Max chimed in. “So being gay may in fact be your only saving grace here.”

“Mike,” Nancy started, slowly and carefully. “You gushed about Eddie every single fucking day for like a year.”

“And you can't have one singular conversation without bringing up Will,” Lucas added. 

He snorted “Okay cool, guess it’s gay to have friends now.”

“No, Mike, you didn't talk about Lucas and Dustin that way. Hell, you didn't even talk about El that way—I mean, not after you'd been dating for a while.”

Jesus Christ, this was such a weird and annoying situation.

“Guys I know you really, really want to convince me of this, but you can’t. I know things with El got fucking insane at the end, but I know how I felt at the beginning and I loved her. I did love her. I literally can’t be gay.”

His speech didn’t have the effect he’d hoped it would. They didn’t look deterred in the slightest. Why didn’t they believe him? He knew more about what he was feeling than they did.

“Mike,” Nancy said slowly. “Are you familiar with the word bisexual?”

Bi. Two. Two what? Two sexualities? What?

“I'll take that deep-in-thought look as a no,” Max said. “It means you get crushes on girls and guys.”

Mike blinked. “It seems kind of stupid they'd make a word for that.”

“What?” Max asked, taken aback. “Why?”

“Well, I mean, heterosexual already exists.”

She stared at him. “Mike, heterosexual guys do not get crushes on other guys.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “Sure, no one says they do, because it's not like you could actually date them or anything. But, like, from a purely feelings based approach, everyone can feel like they have a crush on any gender.” He paused. “Except for gay people, of course.”

“Mike, oh my fucking god.” Lucas buried his head in his hands.

“That’s not how it works,” Nancy said gently. “Straight people aren’t lying about not having crushes on people of the same gender.”

“Oh.”

“Which means you're bisexual too, Mike.”

“Oh.” He blinked. “Okay.”

The other three looked at each other.

“Okay?” Lucas asked.

Mike nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

“Are you just saying that to get us to leave you alone or something?” Max asked suspiciously.

“No,” Mike insisted. “You actually convinced me. Congratulations, I guess.”

Lucas studied him. “Are you sure you believe us?”

“Yes, god, why are you guys so sure I don’t?”

“This just isn’t the kind of reaction we were expecting,” Nancy admitted.

“I cried for hours when I found out I was bi,” Max said.

“Same,” Nancy said.

“Same,” Lucas echoed.

Annoyance flared as Mike stared at them. “Okay, well, I’m not you guys. I already knew what I was feeling, you just told me there’s a different name for it. Cool.”

“Yeah, but this means you can date a boy if you want," Lucas said. "You can date W—”

“—I got it,” Mike said stiffly. “Like I said, cool.”

Nancy, Lucas, and Max stood around awkwardly, just looking at each other like they didn’t know what to do.

“You can leave now,” Mike prompted.

They were extremely hesitant, but at least they did slowly start walking towards Mike's door. 

Nancy was the last to leave, and she paused to say, “you can talk to me—and to any of us about this, if you want. Whenever you want.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I got it.”

Three hours later, he knocked on Nancy’s door.

“Mike? Hey, what is it?”

His entire plan for what he was going to say suddenly flew right out the window. Tears welled up in his eyes and he couldn’t fucking get them to stop.

Nancy pulled him into her room and sat him on her bed and within moments he was full-on sobbing.

“Nancy—” He hiccuped. “I think I'm in love with Will.”

She gave him a soft hug as he cried into her shoulder.

Mike was scared to see Will again. Now that he knew.

But it wasn’t like he could avoid him. It’s not like he wanted to avoid him.

The next day at school, he saw him, just like he always did, and they talked, just like they always did. Mike was weird for maybe the first few seconds, but he got over it quickly.

It wasn’t like anything had actually changed—not really. It was just like it always was. Mike and Will.

The only real difference was Mike’s newly increased awareness of how much he wanted to kiss Will. 

A lot. He wanted to kiss Will a lot.

Still, he managed to get through most of lunch with only minimal staring at his lips. At least, it was minimal enough that Mike didn’t get caught staring.

“Are you ready for tonight?” Lucas asked.

Mike looked at him. “What’s tonight?” They weren’t playing D&D, and they didn’t have any other sort of hangout planned. Well, he and Will did, but that didn’t concern Lucas, did it?

“I know you guys suck at paying attention to this stuff,” Lucas said. “But tonight is the night you’re supposed to ask someone to the dance.”

Oh shit. Dustin and Mike shared the same look. They’d both forgotten. Lucas was right, they did suck at remembering school event information.

Will just nodded, not looking up from his food. “I know. I’ve already got that figured out.”

He’s already got it figured out?

Right. Jennifer. Will was already preparing to ask Jennifer out.

Even though he didn’t like her.

Even though she was a girl.

Maybe Mike should burn the school down. Then they couldn’t have prom, and none of this would matter.

Will not being into her was better, though. Maybe not for him, but for Mike. It would be worse if Will was going with someone he actually liked, and that someone wasn’t Mike.

He didn’t think he could stand that.

But Mike wished he could ask Will to prom. He wished he could sit around hoping Will might ask him. He wished they could go together. He wished Will could go alone, or not go at all, instead of going with Jennifer.

At least he’s not into her. At least he’s not actually into her.

The mantra didn’t help as much as Mike would’ve liked.

He tapped Will’s wrist with the back of his own. “You’re still coming over tonight, Will, right?” 

It was only after he’d said it that he realized what he was hoping. If Will was with him tonight, he wouldn’t have time to ask anyone out, right? He’d miss the moment they were supposed to do it. 

It wasn’t like he couldn’t ask her out later, but it would be much less romantic. Maybe she’d even say no, once the perfect version of Will in her head crumbled when he couldn’t even ask her out at the right time.

It was stupid. It was fucked up of him, really. Will had understandable, valid reasons for why he had to ask someone out.

But Mike was selfish, so he wanted to sabotage it anyway.

“Yeah,” Will said. “Of course we’re still hanging out, don’t worry.”

Mike tried to treat it like a win. But it didn’t feel like one.

Sure, maybe Will wasn’t going to have time to ask Jennifer out tonight. Maybe he wouldn’t ever ask her out. Or maybe she’d say no.

None of it really mattered.

He still wasn’t going to be Will’s date. There was no universe where he could be Will’s date.

It sucked.

Mike had managed to get back to acting normal at school, but for some reason he was still fucking things up when he and Will hung out alone.

At first it was fine. They were doing homework together. Well, Will was doing homework, finishing up some drawing for his art class. Mike was pretending to work on a math problem, but his fake pencil strokes and erasing must not have been convincing enough, because pretty soon, Will commented on it.

“You know, you could probably solve that equation a little faster if you actually wrote something on the paper.”

“Yeah.” He forced himself to smile at Will’s teasing tone. “I’m just thinking.”

Will set down his pencil. “About what?”

“Prom, I guess.”

“Do you know who you’re going to ask?”

Mike picked at his own pencil’s eraser. “No.”

“Why don’t you just ask El?” Will asked, like it was the obvious solution. Like he thought Mike was dumb for even considering anything else. It always had to be Mike and El, Mike and El, Mike and El, Mike and El—

“Why don’t you just ask Miguel?” he snapped.

Something like fear flashed across Will’s face. 

“I’m sorry,” Mike said quickly, feeling awful. “I shouldn’t have said that. I’m sorry.”

Will nodded, taking a deep breath. 

Mike looked down at his homework, cursing himself for being so impulsive. Why couldn’t he have just thought for two seconds before speaking? He’d hurt Will. He’d fucking hurt Will.

When he finally looked back up, Will was studying Mike’s face. “Prom is stressing you out, isn’t it?” he asked.

Mike sighed. “Yeah. It—yeah.”

“You know you don’t have to go.”

Didn’t he? It was true, Mike didn’t have rumors to deal with like Will did, but in a town as small as Hawkins, people noticed who did and didn’t show up to things. Especially to things as important as prom. 

And he liked boys just as much as Will did. That was dangerous. So he couldn’t let those rumors start. He wasn’t as good at hiding it as Will was.

“And stay home alone?” Mike asked, trying to make his tone light despite his dark mood. “That would just be depressing.”

Will shrugged. “Maybe you don’t have to be alone.” He looked away. “It’s not like I want to go anyway.”

Mike’s stomach sank. Because he wanted nothing more than to stay home with Will, but they both knew that wasn’t an option.

“No, Will,” he said. “You shouldn’t sacrifice your safety just to make me less frustrated. I’ll find someone to ask, and we’ll go with the Party, and everyone will have a fun night.”

Will picked his pencil back up. “Yeah,” he agreed flatly. “I’m sure we will.”

Will went back to his drawing, and Mike actually started working on his equation. They didn’t talk very much for the rest of that evening.

Max called Mike to relay the current rough plan for prom night she had been working on.

“Me and El are going to get ready together, then everyone’s going to head over to your house for pictures and stuff. Then we’ll go to the dance, and probably go to yours again once it’s over. We’ll hang out, maybe watch a movie or something, then El’s going to mine for a sleepover.”

“El has a date, then?” Mike’s voice came out disgustingly honest. He knew Max could hear the hope in his words.

“Not yet,” Max replied. “But she’s planning on going. There’s still time for someone to ask her, but if they don’t, I’ll let her go with Lucas and I’ll go alone.”

“She’s scared of going alone?” he asked, though he wasn’t particularly surprised.

“Yeah.”

“Can’t she go with Dustin?”

“No, you know how he is about Suzie,” she said. “Apparently she’s officially his date to prom, even though she obviously won’t be here.”

Max paused.

“I know what I said before, but I wouldn’t actually be mad if you asked her. You know, as long as it’s platonic.”

It was an offer of peace, but Mike didn’t want it. Now there was no reason not to ask El, and lots of reasons he should. He felt trapped. He felt hopeless.

“I don’t want to ask her, though,” he whispered.

Max sounded nauseatingly sympathetic when she responded. “I know.”

“I don’t understand why it’s that big of a deal,” Nancy said when Mike ranted about his situation to her. “You and El both know you’re just friends now. And you both need someone to go with. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“I know,” Mike groaned. “But I don’t want to go with her, I want to go with him.”

Nancy looked at him like he was stupid. “Okay, but you obviously can’t.”

Mike left her room feeling a million times worse.

He and Will didn’t talk about prom anymore. 

He didn’t hear anything about Jennifer, which he hoped meant that plan had failed.

Maybe if Lucas went with El, Will could go with Max. Mike wouldn’t mind that. It wasn’t like Max was into Will.

But then who would he go with? This was such a stupid idea. It was obvious who everyone should go with. Mike hating that fact wouldn’t do anything to change it.

And he shouldn’t even be this upset about it all. He had no fucking clue who Will would go with if he could go with a boy. He had no reason to assume it would be him. 

Even if he could ask Will to prom, he’d be an absolute idiot if he actually did. He couldn’t just sabotage their friendship like that. If Will didn’t like him, everything would be ruined.

It was better to just be quiet about it.

It was less than a week before prom. 

Lucas said something during lunch that made it obvious he was actually planning on taking El now. Nobody had asked her out. Mike didn’t have a date. Now Max was going to go alone. He was being a fucking coward.

Mike biked straight to that hill after school. He picked flowers. He showed up on El’s doorstep. He gave them to her. He asked her to prom. He clarified as a friend, because El was confused. She said yes. Great.

He had a date now.

The next day was a Saturday, so Mike and Will were at the cabin again. It was getting pretty late, so they were laying in their cots, although they hadn’t turned any lights off yet.

“You should probably ask Jennifer soon,” Mike said. “It’s getting late. She probably already has a date at this point.”

Will replied quickly. “I already asked her.”

“You already asked her?” Mike echoed as if repeating the sentence would make it make more sense. It didn’t.

“Remember when Lucas reminded us all?”

“Yeah, but you came over to my house,” Mike said. “We were together that whole evening. You didn’t have time to ask her.”

“Mike, I asked her before Lucas reminded us. It was a little earlier than the guys are supposed to ask, but I saw her in the hall, so I thought it was a pretty good time to just do it.”

Oh. Okay.

Will was going with Jennifer. 

He already fucking knew that, so nothing had actually changed. Not really.

“I asked El yesterday.”

“Cool. Great,” Will said. “Did she say yes?”

“She did.”

“Cool.”

They were silent for a moment. Mike stared at the ceiling.

“You’re pissed I asked Jennifer.”

“I’m not pissed,” Mike objected.

“Yes you are, which doesn’t make any sense because I told you ages ago that that was my plan.”

Mike rolled his eyes. Fine. “Yeah but you don’t want to go with her.”

“But I have to go,” Will insisted. “You literally agreed that I have to go!”

“You do,” he agreed.

“So what are you mad about?”

“I told you I’m not mad.”

Will scoffed. “Right.”

Tension crackled in the air between them. Mike hated it. He hated fighting with Will. He wanted to fix it.

A change in scenery certainly wouldn’t hurt. The ceiling was starting to piss Mike off.

“Do you want to go to the roof now?” he asked.

“Sure.”

They laid there for a while, looking at the sky and listening to the breeze through the trees. Mike didn’t want to speak—he was scared to. He didn’t want to fight again. He hated the way arguments kept erupting between them without any rhyme or reason. 

Will was quiet, too. Maybe he was as scared as Mike was.

That was motivation enough for him to break the silence.

“I still wish you had told me you were gay sooner,” Mike admitted. “I mean, I’m not saying I don’t understand why you didn’t, I’m saying…” He thought carefully about his next words. “If you had told me earlier, I think I would’ve done a lot of things differently.”

Will looked like he wasn’t sure whether to be amused or confused. “What? What do you mean?”

Mike shrugged. “I’m the Dungeon Master. I like having all the information. Remember that campaign that I only had half-written when we started playing it?”

Will laughed. “It was a mess.”

“A total mess!” Mike agreed. “If I don’t know everything that’s going on first, I fuck everything up. For me, and everyone else.”

“Is that why you’re upset about Jennifer?” Will asked. “Because I didn’t tell you first? You didn’t have all the information?”

No.

“Yeah, I guess. Is that why you’re mad about El?”

“I’m not mad about El,” he objected.

“Yes, you are.”

Will’s gaze sharpened. Mike suddenly felt like he had said something he hadn’t meant to say. Well, he hadn’t really said anything, but then, why was Will looking at him like that?

“Yeah,” Will said. “That’s why I’m mad about El.” But it felt like he was saying something else. 

Mike wished he could understand what Will was really saying.

Maybe he did understand. 

But maybe that was just wishful thinking. What he wanted to be happening.

Will scooted closer. He was looking at him. Not the sky, not the woods. Him.

“Mike?”

That was what confirmed it for him. Will’s tone. He was searching, hopeful, but careful not to go too far. Like he didn’t know where the line was but he was trying so hard not to cross it.

It was exactly what Mike had been doing. Exactly what Mike had been feeling.

He didn’t hope anymore. He wasn’t scared anymore.

All of a sudden, it was obvious.

All of a sudden, he would die if he didn’t kiss him.

So he leaned in. And Will was leaning in, too. And then they were kissing.

His lips were soft. They used to be chapped all the time, but they weren't anymore. They definitely weren't now.

His body was gentle and strong and so close to him and getting closer as they kept going. His hand was on Mike's face. Mike's hand was in his hair.

He was kissing Will Byers. Will Byers was kissing him.

It was far from their first kiss, but this was one was different. It was almost surreal.

Will liked him back. They were kissing.

A thought entered his head, replaying every time he’d been a jerk in the past few weeks. Suddenly it was the most important thing in the world. He broke off the kiss.

“I’m sorry for being such an asshole,” he said, slightly breathless.

Will shook his head, a grin on his face. “If this is why, then you’re allowed to be a bit of an asshole.”

Mike smiled back. “Oh thank god.”

Will kissed him again.

Again, Mike expected his entire world to shatter now that things had changed. But it barely felt like anything had changed. Well, he was a lot happier a lot more often. But him and Will were still just him and Will, but they got to kiss, too. 

He wished he’d said something a lot sooner.

The days leading up to prom, Mike and Will just tried not to think about it. At least now it was really easy for them to distract themselves. 

They were together constantly. They kissed a lot and talked even more and they didn’t say anything else about prom, or El, or Jennifer. Not to each other.

It worked shockingly well. Mike barely thought about it. 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” 

“What?” Mike blinked, having only half-heard the question.

Will tilted his head, his expression amused. “What are you thinking about?” he asked. It was after school, he was laying on Mike’s bed holding a comic he had been reading. Mike could kiss him whenever he wanted.

“Nothing,” he answered.

Will raised an eyebrow. “I highly doubt that.”

“Fine,” he rolled his eyes. “I was thinking about how much I want to kiss you.”

Will’s face turned red. “Mike, we've kissed so much today already. What ever happened to hanging out?”

“That’s why I didn’t tell you!” Mike defended. “You're right, we should hang out. I want to hang out. Is it a crime to want to kiss you?”

“Well, technically—”

“Oh my god, Will, shut up,” Mike said. “Why would you bring up—why are you laughing? Stop laughing, that wasn’t funny.” 

Mike’s body was already betraying him, an unwelcome smile creeping onto his face.

“You’re right, it’s not,” Will agreed. But he was still chuckling.

“Will, seriously,” he continued, not sounding serious at all, as he was focused on holding back his own laughs instead. “You shouldn't—”

Mike was cut off by Will kissing him.

It was tough to pull off a betrayed look while grinning so widely, but Mike tried his best. “You said you didn’t want to kiss right now!”

“No I didn’t,” he argued. “And if I did, I lied.”

Mike glanced at Will’s lips. “Asshole.” 

Mike kissed him again.

Or, he tried to. His entire body randomly decided not to function anymore and he ended up losing his balance and falling forward onto the bed, taking Will down with him.

“Mike!” Will squawked in surprise.

He scrambled off of him. “Sorry!”

That was so fucking embarrassing. That was so fucking embarrassing.

“Jesus, Mike, you’re so awkward,” Will laughed, pushing himself forward so he was sitting upright again.

“I am not awkward!” he objected, staggering to his feet.

Will gave him a look. “You absolutely are.”

“You’re the one who likes me.” He said it judgmentally, as if he didn’t approve of Will’s taste in men. Which, well...He wasn’t going to read into that.

“I know,” Will agreed. “It’s embarrassing.”

“You’re embarrassed of me?” he teased.

Will kissed him. 

“No,” he said.

He went in for another kiss, but Mike held him back for a moment.

“Didn’t you want to hang out?” he asked.

“We can hang out tomorrow.”

The day of prom sucked. Mike and Will didn’t hang out before everything. They didn’t even see each other until they were dressed up and with their dates, standing around in the Wheeler’s driveway while Jonathan and Karen took pictures.

Will’s smile in the photos was strained. Mike’s was nonexistent.

Jennifer was all over Will. Of course she was. She wanted a million fucking photos, and she wouldn’t stop smiling, and holding onto his arm, and chatting his fucking ear off. Mike was already sick of it.

He hated her.

He hated this.

He focused on El, if only to distract himself from them.

They all piled into Lucas and Mike’s cars and drove to the high school. Will didn’t go into Mike’s car. For some reason, Mike was equal parts relieved and annoyed at that. 

He didn’t want to see those assholes together for any longer than he needed to. But Will hadn’t gone to Lucas’s car on accident, so that meant he was avoiding him.

They arrived, and took even more pictures Mike couldn’t be bothered to smile for. Was it his imagination, or did Will actually look happy right now? It was pissing him off.

Will and Mike didn’t stop avoiding each other. They didn’t speak, they barely even looked at each other.

Will and Jennifer almost immediately started dancing. To slow songs too, of course. Mike glared at her the entire time, at how close she was to him.

He had gone to prom to avoid any rumors, but if anyone actually paid any attention, they’d probably start rumors now. Luckily it was Hawkins. No one paid that much attention. Not to Mike, at least.

He and El danced a bit. They were friends, so it was kind of fun. But they sat out any of the more romantic songs—it was too awkward not to.

He still looked at Will and Jennifer every five seconds. He hated her. He hated her so much.

It went on for a long time. For so fucking long. Who came up with prom? It was such a shitty fucking idea.

The Party hung out and talked and danced together, but Jennifer and Will were always a little more separate. If Mike didn’t know any better he’d think they were actually into each other. He wanted to scream.

“Please don’t actually murder her,” Max said, apparently having noticed his death glare at the couple across the gym. “You know Hopper won’t cover it up for you. You’ll be behind bars within days.”

“Better than being here,” Mike growled.

“I’m having fun.”

She said it lightheartedly, so Mike laughed. It came out pretty hollow though.

“You know he doesn’t actually like her.”

“Yes, I know,” Mike snapped, annoyed. Because that should make it feel okay but it didn’t. Jennifer, who barely fucking knew Will got to dance with him tonight, just cause she was a girl. And Mike didn’t. Just because he was a boy. 

“I wish you could’ve asked whoever you wanted,” Max said, speaking cryptically because they were still at a public dance. It would be easy to be overheard. “I bet they would’ve said yes,” she added.

“They would’ve,” he confirmed pointedly.

Max’s jaw dropped, and she turned to him. “Wait, are you saying—”

“Yeah.”

She smiled. “Mike, that’s awesome!”

He shrugged despondently. “Right now it’s not.”

“At least it’s only one night,” She said gently.

“This would’ve been a good fucking night to get drunk,” Mike said. “You should’ve added securing alcohol to your plan.”

“I can’t think of everything, Mike. If you wanted alcohol, you should’ve gotten some yourself.”

“I should’ve,” he agreed ruefully.

There were a million stupid little touches and giggles and hand holds that ended up burned into Mike’s mind, playing on repeat, taunting him. He knew he should stop watching them. He should try to avoid looking at them, like Will was avoiding looking at him. He should talk to the Party, dance with El again, try to have fun.

But he didn’t. He couldn’t. His mind treated it like it was a fucking car crash. He couldn’t force himself to look away.

Mike finally reached his breaking point when Jennifer said something and laughed and he couldn’t really see Will’s reaction that well but then he was kissing her cheek.

And it was just her cheek, but fuck.

Mike could barely breathe. He couldn’t do it anymore. 

He ran out of the gym, out of the dance.

He stumbled down the hall and into the bathroom.

He stared into the mirror.

Fuck.

He couldn’t stop seeing it. Will with Jennifer. 

It was all a lie, he knew it was a lie, so why did it fucking hurt so bad?

The bathroom door opened, and Mike jumped, but it was just Will.

It was Will.

Guess he wasn’t as focused on Jennifer as it had seemed like he was.

“Mike? Are you okay?” He walked over to him, but he stopped a careful distance away. They were still at school. They still had to hide.

“Fine,” he gritted out.

They both knew it was a lie. Mike thought Will wouldn’t care. But he did, of course he did

“Do you want to get out of here?” Will asked.

Mike shook his head. “We have to go to prom.”

“We already did, Mike,” he responded gently. “It’s fine.”

“Oh.”

Will reached for his hand, but stopped himself. Instead, he just said, “come on.”

Mike followed him out of the bathroom.

They left the high school. Will didn’t lead them to his car, though. Of course. They weren’t actually going to ditch everyone.

He walked them over to the middle school instead. The doors weren’t locked. 

Mike caught on pretty soon to where they were going. It was a familiar path to a familiar place.

Mr. Clarke's classroom looked different empty. It felt scarier. And safer.

He looked at Will, but all he could think about was her arms on Will's shoulders. His hands on her waist. He felt like throwing up. He looked at his shoes instead.

They were silent for a few minutes, just standing around awkwardly and avoiding eye contact. Then, Will spoke.

“Why did it have to be El?” His voice came out bitter. 

Mike fiddled with his sleeve. “Why did it have to be Jennifer? She's had a crush on you for forever.”

“She knows I don't see her that way, Mike. And you know I can't see her that way.”

“I know. I know.” He sighed. “I just—I don't know, it hurts anyway. Even if it doesn't really mean anything.”

“Well, who else am I supposed to go with?" Will snapped. "You know I can't go alone, not with all the rumors about me. What did you want me to do?”

“Nothing! I don't know!”

“Then why are you upset with me?”

“I'm not upset!”

“You're sure acting upset.”

“Because I wanted to go with you, Will! I want to be the one dancing with you, not Jennifer. And yes, I know we can't, but I want to.”

Will blinked, apparently not expecting that response. Even though it was obvious. He had kissed him a million times, of course he wanted to go to prom with him.

Will pulled him into a tight hug, then he melted against him, burying his face into Mike's white dress shirt.

“I don't like that you went with El,” Will repeated, his voice muffled. This time it sounded like an admission, not an accusation.

Mike placed a hand on Will's back. “I left it until the last minute,” he said. “Because I...really didn't want to go with anyone but you. She was the only girl I knew was available, and she was the only one I was even kind of comfortable asking.”

“Yeah, but you two dated.” Will pulled back, now looking Mike in the eyes. “You loved her.”

“I don't anymore,” Mike said simply. He gently took Will's hand.

They sat there together, on the floor, in silence, just holding hands. It sucked that even that was dangerous. Even now, Mike couldn't just enjoy the moment, he had to worry about who might see them and what they might think.

But no one would see them. The middle school was empty and the classroom door was locked. The only way they'd be caught was if Mr. Clarke decided to randomly go back to his classroom at 11:30 at night. Not impossible, but unlikely.

They were safe.

Rain tumbled gently against the ceiling. The AC turned on. Will's hand was warm.

Finally, quietly, Will said, “we can dance here.”

Mike's eyes widened. “Yeah,” he said quickly. “Yeah, okay.”

Will stood up and Mike scrambled to his feet much less gracefully. Mike stood there and just stared, so Will took his other hand and pulled them both to his waist. He put his own hands on Mike's shoulders.

They started dancing.

It felt surreal. Will was there. Right there. They were dancing. Mike could barely breathe.

Suddenly, he stumbled. “Fuck!” He barely managed to catch himself.

Will's eyes twinkled with lighthearted judgment. “You are so uncoordinated.”

Mike's face reddened. “I'm trying my best,” he griped. He looked away from Will's eyes in embarrassment, but they were so close the only other place to look, really, was at his lips. He shut his eyes tightly, cheeks still burning.

“I don't remember you being this much of a mess with El,” Will teased.

He opened his eyes to glare at him. “Yeah, well, she never made me feel this nervous.”

“I make you nervous?”

Mike's mouth was dry as he replied. “Yeah.”

Will stepped forward. Mike stepped back. He hit the wall. Will got even closer, crowding him. Mike tried—god he tried—but he couldn't help glancing at Will's lips. Will smiled almost triumphantly and kissed him.

“You make me nervous, too,” he said quietly as he stepped back and pulled Mike back into the dance, like nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Mike's entire brain was rebooting.

Jesus Christ. 

It hit him, suddenly, that this wasn’t just one night. This wasn’t just one week. Will would be there tomorrow, too. If Mike didn’t fuck things up, this could last months or even years. 

They might be together for the rest of his life.

The thought felt so juvenile. It felt stupid to even imagine something like that. He wasn’t a kid anymore. He knew better than to expect things to last.

But for some reason it felt like Will would stay. For some reason he couldn’t convince himself this wouldn’t last forever.

Even though he felt stupid for it, he let himself think about it. As they swayed together in the empty, silent classroom, he let himself think of him and Will, together in their 20s, and 30s, and 40s, and onward. For some reason it felt possible. He wanted it more than anything.

They hung out together for a little longer, but prom was almost over. Their friends and dates were definitely wondering where they were by now.

They left.

They nearly ran into the janitor on the way out, but Mike noticed him just in time. They were able to sneak past him unnoticed, and get back to the high school, back to the dance.

Mike was glad it was time to leave. He wouldn’t have been able to get through any more of this hell.

They joined the group again. Will made up some bullshit about where they were—Mike wasn’t really listening, he was just watching him.

Pretty soon after Mike and Will rejoined the group, they all left the dance, piling back into the two cars. They were leaving a few minutes early, trying to beat the traffic jams that would surely ensue the moment the dance was officially over. It worked fairly well, Lucas and Mike drove everybody back to Mike’s house with minimal slowdown.

When they got back, everybody hurried into the basement. 

As they were running down the stairs, Max declared, “we’re watching a movie. The Princess Bride. I went to Family Video earlier today to get it.”

People settled down in front of the TV. Lucas sat on one side of Max, and El sat on her other side. Jennifer sat on the edge of the couch, and Dustin sat on the other edge. Mike sat as far away as he could from Jennifer.

Will put in the movie, then walked to the opposite side of the room from Mike. There was an empty space on the couch next to Jennifer, after all. She was his date.

Mike consoled himself with the fact that Jennifer hadn’t kissed Will once that night, and Mike had. 

But before Will sat down, Jennifer spoke.

“Wouldn’t you rather sit with Mike?” she asked.

Both he and Will froze. The room went silent. Jennifer was still sitting back casually, paying more attention to the beginning of the movie than to Will.

Will stuttered. “W-what—what do you—”

“I don’t mind,” she said. “You already took me to prom, that was really nice of you.”

“I wasn’t doing it to be nice,” he objected.

“Yeah, but you weren’t doing it because you’re into me either. It’s okay, I got over you a while ago anyway. I just had to say yes when you asked because my younger self would murder me for saying no. But it’s not like we have to pretend we’re into each other like that. If you want to sit with Mike, you can.”

Will seemed too surprised, and nervous, to find any sort of response. Mike understood it, he felt basically the same.

Did she know? Probably not. She couldn’t know.

But she was dangerously close to figuring it out.

Apparently she didn’t like Will anymore. That would’ve been relieving if Mike had found that out a month ago. Now he was too exhausted by the entire prom saga to even care there were absolutely no feelings between them.

Now Will was next to Mike.

Oh, right. She had invited Will to sit with him.

Suddenly Mike was struggling to hold in a smile. 

That was pretty cool of her. She honestly might have just saved the night.

It’s not like they kissed or cuddled or even held hands or anything. They just sat next to each other, and watched a fun movie. 

They exchanged glances whenever a character said a particularly romantic line, and at first it made them blush like idiots but eventually it just became funny until even the sweetest quotes had them holding back laughter.

It was fun.

When the movie ended, it was really late, but nobody wanted to go home yet.

They all just talked and laughed with each other. Even Jennifer was participating in their banter, and for the first time that night, Mike didn’t mind her presence. He was happy she was there, honestly.

Maybe he was just sleep deprived. Who cares? He was having fun.

At one point Nancy was there. She was probably sent by Ted to tell them to quiet down, but she didn’t. She just hovered at the end of the stairway for a few minutes and walked back upstairs.

As she left, she caught Mike’s eye. He was right next to Will, and Nancy seemed to notice. He realized then that she knew. He hadn’t told her yet—maybe Jonathan had, or maybe she’d just figured it out. But she knew him and Will were dating.

He’d have to thank her and Max and Lucas later, for knocking some sense into him.

Now he was dating Will Byers. Holy shit.

People started leaving, one by one, the later it got. Will just so happened to be the last one there. He just so happened to stay way too late to justify going home.

Mike invited him to stay. He said yes.