Chapter Text
Will awoke with a blaring migraine, instinctively covering his eyes to shield from the light seeping in through the curtains above his bed, groaning at the taste of whiskey in his mouth.
Wait.
He didn’t have a window above his bed.
He turned his head to the side, earning a sharp stab behind his eyes. Will noted the shirtless figure lying sound asleep next to him, breathing with a slight snore. The cute boy from his illustration class, with freckles like constellations splattered across his cheeks and nose. Ah yes. Will had done that.
With a groan, he pushed himself out of the bed, swinging his feet to the side. He noticed the empty bed across the room. Roomie must’ve found somewhere else to be last night. Good choice. He could feel crumbs bite into his feet from the dirty floor among the strewn pieces of clothing. God knows the last time it was vacuumed. Will began rummaging for his shirt, and in the process got tangled in a wire roped around the bedside table, knocking over the alarm it was attached to. It landed with a startling noise, and Will winced as the boy’s snoring lulled. It occurred to him that he didn’t quite remember his name. Or maybe he never knew it to begin with. The clock read 6:38am. Good. Most people would be sleeping, then. Hopefully, that included his roommate. He waited for the snoring to return before he continued his search for his shirt, finding it next to a stack of dirty dishes. Gross.
He tugged on his shirt, and groaned at the liquid stain across the front. He just did his laundry yesterday. He pulled his shoes on, walking to the door by navigating across the battlefield of dirty socks and empty wrappers. Before leaving, he checked the mirror to make sure his eyes had returned to normal. No red, no dilation. Good.
He cracked open the door as quietly as he could, not breathing till he shut it and heard a promising click, while shirtless boys’ soft snoring continued.
Will quickly made his way down the hallway, up a floor to his room, managing to avoid any other people that may be awake at this ungodly hour.
He took a deep breath as he stood across from his door, before fishing his key from his jean pocket. As softly as he could, he slipped it into the keyhole, taking probably fifteen seconds to turn the key. The door cracked open with a squeak, and Will cursed at himself for not oiling it sooner. He slipped inside, closing the door as quietly as he could.
“Where were you?” a voice from behind him spoke up.
“Fuck,” Will muttered under his breath. He was foolish to hope that Mike wouldn’t have noticed he was gone.
Will turned from the door, facing the boy in front of him, still as breathtakingly gorgeous as he had always been. Even more so now, that he had grown into his features, high cheekbones framing his face, an ever so light dusting of freckles, and a tall body that always surprised Will, now that they weren’t the same height anymore.
Mike sat at his desk, nothing on the table in front of him.
Was he waiting for Will to show up?
“What are you doing up? You don’t have any classes today,” Will deflected, ignoring his question.
Mike shrugged. “Couldn't sleep,”
Bullshit. Mike Wheeler could sleep through a lightning storm in the Upside Down.
“Where were you?” He asked again
“Out,” Will replied simply, as he took off his shoes, making his way to his drawer to fish out something more comfortable than these jeans.
“Out where?”
God, Will hated this. Why couldn’t he just mind his business for once?
“Just. Out.”
Will peeled off his jeans, hearing Mike clear his throat from behind him, replacing them for sweatpants.
Mike began intensely sniffing the air.
Shit.
“I’m gonna try to sleep, I’m kinda-,” Mike cut him off
“You smell like Jonathan,” Mike remarked.
Double shit.
“Uh, I guess we smell alike, I’ve never really thought about-,” Mike cut him off again.
“No,” he said, standing up, “You smell like Jonathan in Lenora.”
Triple fucking shit.
Will pretending to be busy folding his clothes as slowly as possible, placing them neatly back into his drawer.
“No clue what you’re talking about.”
Mike was standing in front of him now, arms crossed in a way that made Will remember how similar he looked and acted like Nancy. Except he was gazing deeply into his eyes, brows furrowed and eyes unblinking. Fuck, he looked good, even with messy bed hair, and an unidentifiable stain on his shirt. Will couldn’t help but gaze right back into his eyes, using all his willpower not to look down at his lips.
“Your eyes are a bit red,” Mike whispered, still staring into Will’s soul with an undecipherable expression.
Right. That’s what this was about. Mike was looking at him so deeply to find signs of him getting high, not because he wanted to be close to Will.
Will knew this. He knew that Mike had nothing but platonic feelings for him.
And truth be told, Will Byers would do anything to ignore the gaping hole that left in his heart.
Luckily, college makes it easy to forget.
“I’m just tired,” he replied, breaking their gaze and brushing past Mike. He collapsed into his bed, turning to face the wall and pulling the covers up close to his head so he wouldn’t have to brace for Mike’s response.
Will didn’t drift off to sleep. Instead, he waited for Mike to slip out and leave him alone. Even then, he didn’t get up until five minutes after the resounding click of the door, just in case Mike would forget something and return.
Fuck.
Why did he make everything so difficult? Why won’t he just let Will ignore the way he makes him feel? Why does he care so much?
Will sighed.
Boys are so confusing.