Work Text:
Will was sat on one of the couches of the WSQK, contemplating.
Today had been a long day. Will had been through a roller coaster of emotions. The main part of him was fixated on how he had taken down three Demogorgon’s in a matter of seconds, and when exactly had he gained this power.
Will’s mind was racing through so many possibilities. Had it been when he was originally taken to the Upside Down and infected by Henry? It didn’t feel like it, that felt bad. Maybe it was earlier today, when his best friend Mike had shared his crazy theory with him? Possibly, but that didn’t feel like it.
His mind evidently came back to Robin’s speech. Rockin’ Robin, a newfound friend who had given him realization. Robin knew how to be herself, and this of course impacted Will and inspired him too as well. This felt almost like it was the answer, and to some extent it was, but his own experiences had also come into play.
His family and friends. Those people especially helped Will, and three in general helped him the most. His brother, his mother, and his best friend.
Those three people stuck with Will since day 1, they were Will’s first favorite people. Recently, Will had made new friends, like Robin, for example, but those three, they had strengthened him ever since he was young.
Earlier that day, when Will had first used his powers, he didn’t remember much after the fact. All that came to mind was Mike and his mom guiding him out of the MAC-Z, back through the tunnels. Besides that, and finding a wounded Lucas, there wasn’t much to recall. Will sort of blacked out, as if the power was a bit too much, but it wasn’t that. Will had a feeling he could do so much more, he just needed the right chance.
Now, Will was sitting on a worn couch in the WSQK, fingers fidgeting, mind racing, and a worrying expression on his face. Will didn’t know who was in the room, and he didn’t entirely care yet, all Will knew was that someone was sitting beside him and he sensed they were worried, or oblivious.
“Byers..?” The person next to Will asked. He didn’t have to look, but he recognized the raspy voice of Robin Buckley immediately. Tuning her out, Will’s thoughts raced again, his tiredness hiding under layers of racing ideas.
There wasn’t much time before Hawkins would face more monsters. Vecna had taken 12 kids, as far as Will knew, and he knew that soon something horrible was bound to happen.
The military wasn’t helping either. A lot of them had died in the MAC-Z, as far as Will knew, but there had to be more. With the amount of soldiers in Hawkins the MAC-Z would be crowded again soon. Then, they might find the tunnels the party had been using. That wouldn’t be good.
With all of the thinking Will was doing, another thought came to his head. His best friend, Mike.
Though it was a blur, after Will had snapped the Demos in half, Will saw Mike’s face.
Just for a moment, his shock curved into a look of something Will rarely noticed on Mike’s face. Maybe it was a trick of the light, a coincidence, or Will’s ever growing threat of sleep deprivation, but Mike looked—infatuated? Maybe he was surprised at Will’s ability, well, of course he was, but there was something more.
Maybe it was the curve of Mike’s eyebrows. It could’ve been the way his cheeks tilted slightly upward. Maybe it was even the ever so slight glint in his eyes that sparkled like sapphires, but Will suspected something in him.
It was a little moment out of a long day. Hell, all of the days recently had been long, but it was enough. That moment gave Will Byers hope, he knew Mike was thinking about something, but what was it?
“Earth to Byers!” Robin spoke, almost in a sing-songy manner. Will was still fidgeting with his hand, staring into his lap like an old person. Robin frowned, starring at the boy in front of her.
As some sort of test, Robin poked Will in the side to get his attention. To Robin’s surprise, the boy made a small yelp and turned to her, hazel green eyes fixated, but still in thought. Robin snickered.
“Hm?” He hummed, blinking.
“Will, what was that?” Robin sort of chuckled, her brain replaying the noise in her head. Will’s head rewinded to when Robin poked him.
“Oh I’m just—“ Will stopped, promptly looking around the room, then lowering his voice. Robin cocked an eyebrow.
“Just..?” Robin ushered him. Will sighed.
“Okay, don’t tell anyone this, Robs, anyone, but I’m still—“ Will paused, lowering his voice and bringing his mouth to whisper in Robin’s ear. “Ticklish.”
Will cringed at the word, bringing himself back into his thinking position. Robin snickered, poking Will again. He made the same yelp noise as before, but now looked a bit irritated.
“Robin,” Will began, a stern expression on his face. This did not concern Robin in the slightest. “Don’t, Robin.” He said, almost in as if he was speaking to a toddler. Robin was sort of like an oversized toddler sometimes, so it wasn’t way off.
“Will, you’re going to regret telling me this.” Will looked around the room, no one was there at the moment besides them. Silently, Will mouthed a ‘shit’, and looked back to Robin.
As if on cue, she brought her hands forward on to Will’s stomach, scribbling as much as possible. Will yelped again, then giggled quietly, trying to cover his face with a hand.
Robin cooed, looking down at her younger friend before her. Will continued to giggle, being surprisingly quiet for how much he was squirming. Robin wasn’t even holding Will down, but if she wanted to keep this up she would have to as he was practically kicking her face and almost falling off the couch. Nonetheless, Robin continued to tease the poor boy with her fingers, which by the way, weren’t even in direct contact with his skin.
Will was slightly red, embarrassed from all of his laughing. Will rarely smiled or laughed, but recently he had been happier, and Robin did contribute to that to some degree.
“This fun?” Robin teased. Will was too dazed to speak, but he might’ve laughed a very very blurry ‘no’. Robin couldn’t tell.
Within a second, Robin stopped. This was very out of character for Robin, even if Will hadn’t known her well for long. After getting himself together for what felt like thirty seconds, Will looked up.
Around eight feet away from him was his best friend, Mike. Mike had an almost frown on his face, looking from Will to Robin back and forth. Will raised an eyebrow, and Robin sat back, watching this unfold.
“What’re you guys doing?” Mike asked, almost hostile. Will blinked, almost wanting to say ‘don’t you have eyes?’. He didn’t though, watching Mike stand there stiffly.
Will looked over to Robin. She wasn’t equally confused and he was, and almost looked a little amused by the situation. Mike must have been in the bathroom or a different room or something, because Will would’ve seen him if he had been in here. Will was observant like that.
“Uh-messing around?” Robin stated, no sense of hostility in her tone. Maybe some part of it was implying Mike needed better common sense, but it didn’t even feel like that.
Mike snickered at that comment. He looked a bit stiff, almost like he was waiting for something. Will looked into his dark brown eyes and noticed a tint of jealousy, Will frowned at it, utterly confused. Why would Mike be jealous of him and Robin’s friendship?
Awkward silence crowded the room, almost like a disease. Likewise, the air was thick with tension and confusion, the confusion being mainly on Robin and Will’s side.
Will blinked. Robin opened her mouth to speak. “Do you…want to uhm, join us?” Robin suggested. Some of the tension in the room seemed to ease from that, but now Will’s mind was racing again.
Had Mike seen him laughing, halfway off the couch like an idiot? Did Mike think he was childish and weird for enjoying this? Was Mike put off by this?
Will’s mind swirled like a tornado, but it was promptly interrupted by Robin poking him in the side for the third time. Will squealed, looking up on command.
Robin was scooting away to the far end of the couch, and Mike was now sat down next to him, a glint of something mischievous in his eye. Will practically gulped.
Mike had seen it, but he definitely was weirded out by it.
Oh my god, Mike wanted in.
“Mike…” Will warned. His back pushed against the arm of the couch. Mike grinned, sitting on Will’s thighs to hold him down.
“Here’s how you really get him good, Robin.” Mike said, turning his head back to Robin briefly.
“Mike, you haven’t done this in years, you don’t know—“ Will stopped talking when he noticed Mike’s right hand slowly sneaking up Will’s shirt, causing him to shiver. Lightly, Mike traced Will’s stomach, causing Will’s stomach to spasm slightly.
Mike snickered at the reaction. “I do know, Will.” He exclaimed, placing a second hand on Will’s skin. Will yelped as Mike squeezed Will’s sensitive skin. Mike smiled, amused. Will blushed violently. Not in a million years did he think his crush would be doing this kind of physical affection with him, especially during a very serious time.
Though, this whole situation made it unserious.
Mike traced his fingers on Will’s skin quicker now, smiling down at every noise the younger boy made. A few attempts at words were made, and every time he would try to speak Mike would snicker, making Will blush even more.
Still, something about Mike’s demeanor when he was around Robin was odd, especially when Will and Robin were talking. Will almost felt as if he was jealous of them, but why would that make sense? Will was just as good as friends with Mike as he was with Robin, if not better.
Will could barely think from how Mike was tormenting his sensitive stomach, if he was thinking it was definitely something about Mike, which didn’t help Will’s now tomato red face.
“Oh my god, who knew a sorcerer could be so cute?” Mike teased.
Cute? Will had to be really red now. Why would Mike call Will cute? Something about this whole situation was bringing Will back to third grade, where Mike would constantly torment Will with tickles at recess.
“S-Stawp!” Will finally managed to muster. Mike raised an eyebrow, continuing to lightly skitter his fingers across Will’s sensitive stomach. He even poked his belly button from time to time, which of course earned him more yelps.
Mike smirked. “Am I better at tickling you than Robin?” Mike asked, teasing Will almost evilly. Robin laughed, still watching the two like an audience of some sort. Will continued to giggle, and Mike continued to tease him. “Huh, Byers?” Will tried to cover his face with his hands, squirming in every possible direction he could, but nothing helped his case. Mike smiled down at his best friend as if he had just won a campaign.
Mike brought his left hand higher up into Will’s shirt, and Will must’ve gained eight shades of red on his face. The black haired boy snuck his spindly hand into Will’s armpit, just as quick and as light as before. Will squealed from this, thrashing even harder now. Mike just grinned.
“C’mon Will, don’t you think I’m better?” Will continued to squeal, his brain wasn’t even processing much now. He was sweaty all over, and was currently trying to buck Mike off of him like some sort of bull. This was so goddamn embarrassing m.
Mike sighed, very dramatically. He opened his mouth to speak, though Will could barely recognize anything besides his nerves on fire. “I won’t stop until you say it.”
Fine, Mike could get what he wanted.
“Y-youour behehetere—!” Will giggled, Mike theatrical raised an eyebrow.
“Am I?” Oh Micheal. Will laughed, feeling both of Mike’s hands on his armpits now.
“YEHEHEHESS!” Will practically screamed. Robin gaped and Mike continued to smile, slowly and torturously removing his hands from Will’s shirt. He then slowly got off of Will’s waist, watching Will look dazed on the couch.
After a good two minutes, Will finally slid up into a sitting position, his breath racing and his back all sweaty. Mike smiled from his work, and Robin looked at the two boys knowingly.
Will turned to Mike, a grimace on his face, but Will didn’t hate what Mike had just done.
“Did you like that?” Will raised an eyebrow, he didn’t know what Mike was referring to, because he had an undertone slipping into his voice.
Will merely glared at him, but still playful. “Now I really need a shower.” Will spoke.
“Not enough time, just like—tidy up in the bathroom.” Robin spoke, pointing to a gray door behind the studio. Will nodded, walking over to it.
Will looked in the mirror. His shirt was completely sweaty, his eyes were dilated and watery, his face red, and his hair was messier than usual. Will grimaced, fixing himself up in the mirror.
Before he left the bathroom, Will fixed his shirt and pants, finally noticing what Mike’s tone was about. Will was definitely half hard in his pants.
Will reddened, way more embarrassed than anything he had just experienced. Will didn’t know how, when, and why that happened, but he was dying in the fact that Mike definitely knew.
But he wasn’t completely weirded out, was he? He was teasy. Huh.
Will took another moment to collect himself, walking out of the bathroom less dazed than he was before, now the room was filled with everyone. Lucas, Erica, Murray, his mom, Robin, Mike, they were all on the couches.
Will sat down with a sigh, noticing the plethora of ice packs and bandages his mom must’ve handed out.
Will sat down across from Mike and next to his mom, waiting for someone to speak.
Now something serious was going to be said, great.
But still, Will’s mind was focused on the crazy shit that had just happened, so the serious stuff could wait in his mind. For now.