Chapter Text
Ever since Will and Jonathan moved into the Wheeler house, Will and Mike have started a new tradition. Every night, when possible, they just sit and talk. Most of the time, they’d sit on the stairs and talk about anything. Their conversations range from comics to art to their friendship to nonsense.
The nonsense part was Will’s favorite because he got to listen to Mike mumble and slur his speech as he got progressively more tired. It felt so wrong to admire his best friend while he’s fighting every instinct in his body to stay awake, but Will couldn’t help it. He just wanted to stay up all night and talk to Mike, and he wanted Mike to push through his drowsiness to talk too. Most of the time, though, it ended with Mike saying he “must go to bed” and slowly dragging himself up the stairs to his room.
Will would watch as Mike’s door softly shuts, waiting until he hears the springs of Mike’s bed compress and decompress as Mike throws himself on the bed. Only then would Will make his way down to the basement. These motions slowly became routine and simply muscle memory, to the point that Will wouldn’t be able to sleep properly without them.
Like one night, Mike went to visit El in hopes he could see her for a moment after her training sessions with Hop and Joyce. Will wanted to tag along, but Hop specifically told all of them that El could only handle one visitor at a time. She needed ultimate focus, and he thought more than one of them would break that focus.
Unfortunately, when Mike went to visit, he was there all day waiting for that single moment. By the time Mike had gotten back, Will was already waiting for him at the foot of the stairs. Will immediately jumped up to greet him, but Mike claimed he was incredibly tired and asked if they could have their nightly conversation tomorrow.
This absolutely shot Will, making him feel more heartbroken than it should have. Begrudgingly, he told Mike that it was fine, and Mike squeezed by him to head to his room. Will still watched to see the door close and to hear the springs of Mike’s bed before he walked down to the basement with a heavy heart.
That night, Will tossed and turned on his mattress, struggling to sleep. The comfort of Mike’s voice, ranting about random knowledge, wasn’t there to soothe him before bed. He tried to imagine it, but it wasn't nearly the same.
However, this doesn’t happen often, only when Mike stays out late, mainly to visit El. Will hopes that one night Mike’ll come home late and talk to Will regardless.
Will was incredibly excited to hear Mike continue talking about his newer comics. He loved it when Mike gushed about them, diving fully into each volume and every little detail in them. He loved the way that Mike seemed to light up the moment he got the opportunity to talk about it.
Will continued to be lost in his thoughts as he waited on the foot of the stairs for Mike. Mike likes to get ready for bed before their nightly tradition. He claims that it’s just easier that way, but Will thinks it’s silly. Every night, Will finds himself waiting for Mike like he always has.
Every few moments or so, Will looks up at the bathroom door. He sees the light peeking under the door and the shadow moving as Mike is probably pacing across the bathroom. He looks back down at his feet, hearing Mr. Wheeler snoring away on the couch. Will has always been wary of Mr. Wheeler. He was afraid of what his threatening stares actually meant, but Mike never was. Will always thought Mike was brave in that way–the fact that he wasn’t affected by anything his father did or said.
Click
Will turns his head towards the sounds of the bathroom door unlocking, knowing it was Mike. He watched as Mike emerged from the bathroom, his curly hair slightly damp from a shower, his sweatpants slightly sagging from being too loose, and his shirt halfway pulled down like he was in a rush to get out of the bathroom.
Maybe Will didn’t mind the fact that Mike always got ready for bed before they talked. Maybe he liked seeing Mike in this state. Maybe he liked the way that Mike always put himself together so lazily for their nightly tradition.
Mike turning off the bathroom lights and quickly shuffling down the stairs with a towel around his shoulders snapped Will out of his gaze. Mike found himself sitting right next to Will like he does every night.
“Hi, Will,” Mike speaks gently as he looks at Will. With the house lights off, Will could barely make out what Mike looked like, but he could sense the smile lingering in his words.
“Hi,” Will whispers back with a cheeky smile on his lips.
“Okay, which one did I leave off on?” Mike asks as he shifts his head down to the floor. Will keeps his eyes on Mike as he can barely see Mike’s damp hair fall over his face.
Will stays silent, lost in admiring Mike’s silhouette. He keeps on blinking, forcing his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Maybe the more he blinks, the more of Mike he’ll see–maybe he’ll be able to study Mike’s side profile for longer.
“Will?” Mike shifts his head towards Will, moving his towel so that it’s draped over the top of his head.
“Oh- Yeah, uhm. I think it was the fifth issue of the eighth volume?” Will replies, feeling his face burn up as he realizes how caught up he was in staring at Mike. All he could think about was how he was incredibly thankful it was dark so that Mike couldn’t see his face flush.
“You think, or are you sure?” Mike replies, clearly teasing as he bumps his shoulder against Will’s. “Shut up, I’m sure it was that one,” Will says quietly, laughing between his words while shifting his gaze to his lap.
“Well, if you’re so sure…” Mike starts to talk about his comic, practically spoiling every little part of it. Will leans on the stair rails and closes his eyes as he continues to hear Mike ramble. He can hear Mike frantically waving his arms around as he talks about the comic, and it makes Will react. Mike stops talking when he hears Will laughing to himself.
“What’re you laughing about now?” Mike asks Will.
Will opens his eyes and moves his head to face Mike. “I’m laughing at you and the fact that you’re waving your arms around like a wacky inflatable tube man.” Will replies, giggling as he tries to see what kind of face Mike is making at him right now.
Despite not seeing much, Will sees Mike’s mouth open slightly out of shock. “You can barely even see me. I think your eyes are actually closed right now, and you’re saying I’m waving my arms around?” Mike says to Will, practically whisper-shouting.
“Mike, I can literally hear your arms waving around, your shirt is moving along with your arms, and it’s pretty quiet right now. Don’t try to act like I’m wrong.” Will sits up, now looking eye-to-eye with Mike, finding himself trying to force his eyes to adjust in the dark again.
“Whatever…You cut me off on the best part!” Mike replies defeated, crinkling his face in response. Will lightly laughs and smiles as he barely sees the skin between Mike’s eyebrows wrinkle. “You can continue, your highness, I’m listening.” Will jokingly reassures Mike as he readjusts himself to lean against the rail again.
Will slyly smiles to himself as Mike sighs and chuckles. Just as quickly as Mike stopped talking, he continued—still waving his arms around.
Mike had been going on a tangent about the same comic for about an hour and a half now; fifteen minutes ago, Mike started speaking nonsense. At some point, Mike had gone to his room to grab the volume he was gushing about so he could specifically show Will the scenes he was talking about. It didn’t necessarily matter if Mike had the comic or not, though, as Will couldn’t even see what Mike was pointing at.
Mike flipped nonsensically through the comic, blurting out random facts and ideas that didn’t really make sense to Will.
“It’s literally so cool because the red in this scene is the same red as this scene, which probably means it’s connected.” Mike mindlessly blinks and points to panels in the comic that definitely do not correlate.
“No, Mike. I just think that it was the color palette they chose for this volume.” Will gently corrects Mike since he tends to whine when he’s sleepy and incorrect.
“Of course, you know about color palettes. You basically used a similar red for the three-headed dragon in the painting you made me.” Mike casually brings up.
Every single night, the painting always becomes a topic of conversation, especially on Mike’s end, and every night without failure, it makes Will’s skin crawl.
“No, Mike. The reds were completely different, but yeah, I do know a bit about color palettes. I’ve been doing art for as long as I can remember.” Will responds, trying to divert the conversation like he does every night when the painting gets brought up.
That day in the van and everything that happened after still haunts Will. It’s the failed confession that eats him alive every day. It’s the day that Mike said his life started when Will’s got turned upside down. He knows Mike didn’t mean it like that, but sometimes he can’t bear to look at Mike when the memory burns into his mind.
He couldn’t tell if Mike knew. He couldn’t tell if Mike had heard his sobs and chose to ignore it. He couldn’t tell if Mike could read the pain in his face. He couldn’t tell if Mike was just completely oblivious to begin with.
Will subconsciously looks down at his lap as he thinks about that awful day, a sting lingering in his chest.
“Your art is really nice, Will. I like it.” Mike replies as he places the comic on the space of the stairs behind him.
Will doesn’t respond, still looking down at his lap. Mike pokes Will’s knee, causing Will to look up, meeting Mike’s eyes. He wishes he could see how Mike’s eyes look right now. Are they longing? Are they drowsy? Do they look like the eyes Will has memorized for his entire lifetime?
Will pokes Mike’s shoulder back in return, making Mike smile slowly. Even in the dark, Will can tell that Mike is already tired, very tired. Will takes the opportunity to try and study Mike’s sleepy features.
In the dark, they look completely different than the features he’s memorized. He can barely even tell where each of his features starts. He tries imagining what Mike’s face looks like right now. He thinks that when Mike gets drowsy, his eyebrows soften, his eyelids flutter, and his lips rest slightly parted. Will can’t help but obviously stare.
Mike blinks, “What are you looking at?” He murmurs, making Will look away quickly. “Nothing,” Will tries to look at anything else but the drowsy Mike in front of him. He could hear his heart beating in his ears as he felt his chest ache, a wave of guilt overwashing him. Will doesn’t think it’s right to look at Mike like this, but he’s looked at Mike like this his whole life. How could he stop?
Will shuts his eyes and lets the thought ring. He deeply inhales and exhales as he opens his eyes again. He looks towards Mike, who is still facing towards him, with his face propped up on his hands now.
“I’m so tired, Will, I really need to go to sleep,” Mike says his infamous line as he yawns. It’s the line that lets Will know that it’s time to end the night.
Will hates it when the night is about to end. If he could, he’d talk to Mike forever. One thing has never changed between Will and Mike over the years, and it is that Will has never wanted to leave Mike, even if it was just for a night. When they had sleepovers as kids, it was a mess to get him home.
“Five more minutes, Mom, please!”
Will remembers vividly how much he whined to his mom about letting him stay just a few minutes longer. Mike would also ask Will’s mom to let him stay, the two boys thinking that them both asking would make Mrs. Byers say yes over and over again. Every night when they have to say goodnight to each other, Will feels like the little boy who never wanted to leave Mike’s side.
“We’ll start tomorrow night with the 6th release?” Will asks as he looks at Mike longingly.
Mike nods, slowly getting up off the floor. Will’s eyes slowly follow Mike as he gets up. Mike takes the towel draped on his head off and holds it in his hand, slowly walking up the stairs.
“Goodnight, Will.” Mike says, gazing back at Will.
“Goodnight, Mike. I liked hearing about this release tonight.” Will says quietly as he looks up at him. He can barely see Mike faintly smile as he turns around and walks up the stairs to his room.
Will follows his muscle memory and waits on the stairs as he watches Mike go into his room, shut his door, and listens as he throws himself onto his bed. Will then slowly gets up from the stairs and walks down to the basement.
As Will gets down to the basement, he keeps the light off. He doesn’t want to squint as his eyes try to adjust to the sudden light, and he knows Jonathan is sleeping now. Will looks at the floor as he walks into the bathroom, sighing as his feet feel cold against the bathroom tile.
As Will switches on the bathroom light, he looks up and meets his eyes in the mirror. Will leans against the sink and sighs deeply, feeling like he has a Mike-shaped hole in his heart. He doesn’t know why, but even though Will is comforted by his conversations with Mike, he seems to never be satisfied.
Will washes his face in hopes that the feeling would go away like he does every night, and every night the feeling lingers. Will continues to get ready for bed as Mike’s laughter, small touches, and random gestures consume Will’s mind.
After Will is done in the bathroom, he slowly drags himself to his mattress. He looks over to the couch and sees Jonathan sleeping soundly, and he smiles to himself. Will gets down on his mattress, tucking himself into bed.
As Will closes his eyes, he envisions Mike’s face, and all he can do is sigh, wondering if tomorrow night will ever be enough.