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“Stop… lying to yourself, Mike.” El had told him. She was giving him a sad smile, one hand caressing his cheek.
Mike’s eyes were wide and filled with tears as he clutches to her. “W-What? El, I don’t under-”
“I know you don’t love me,” she sniffled, shaking her head with a broken laugh.
It hit him. “No- No, I do love you, El-“
El shushed him. “You don’t, Mike. We- We were young. Didn’t know what love was… I knew it in California. That you didn’t truly love me.”
Mike’s nose flared as he choked on his words, eyes flying over El’s features as if he’ll wake up from the bad dream. She only gave him a sad look. It wasn’t a bad dream.
“The way that Will looks at you… He loves you, Mike, and you never realized. I was… mad at him at first.” She pursed her lips to stop a sob. “I was so mad that I refused to talk to him,” she gave a wet laugh, “but then I thought about you.”
“What?”
“About how you looked at Will. You were… happy.”
Mike shook his head and grabbed onto El’s hand. “El- I’m happy now. So please- Please you have to get out of there. Please, El.”
She gave him a look, one akin to pity. “No, Mike. Just- Listen. We… were never meant to be, can’t you see that? You have always loved Will and I don’t know how you didn’t see it. I don’t know it took your girlfriend to find out first,” she joked, leaning her head against his with a sharp, choked laugh.
Mike leaned into it, full on crying then too. “I was scared. I was so fucking scared. I- I’m so sorry, El. I really thought- Thought that I loved you like that and then- Then things got confusing and just-“
“I know.” El whispered. She pulled back and sucked in air sharply. “I’m not… saying to go to Will. But you need to figure yourself out, Mike. You were-“ she chuckled, “a shit boyfriend and kind of a shit friend to Will for a while. So- Don’t keep him waiting, especially if you’re not going to do anything.”
He heard the water dripping. Knew that she’s about to release him from her mind. “Wait- Wait, El-!”
“Goodbye, Mike.”
— Eighteen Months Later —
Turning to the bookshelf, Mike stares at the binders with his friends' names on them. Max. Lucas. Dustin. Will. His eyes stop. His eyes stop on Will's binder. He slowly puts his own binder on the shelf, right next to Will's.
His throat tightens as he stares at Will's binder and he doesn't know why. Vaguely, he hears the bottom stair creak as Will ascends upstairs to follow the others to go get lasagna. El’s words hit him: “Stop lying to yourself, Mike.”
He turns. "Will!" He doesn't know why he calls, it happens before he could think about it. "Will... Wait." He doesn't know why he wants Will to come back down. (Deep down, he knows.)
Will looks over his shoulder and fully turns around with worry when he sees Mike's face. "Mike?" He walks over when Mike doesn't say anything, doesn't even move, and reaches out to grab Mike's hand softly. "Mike, are you... Are you okay?"
Mike swallows, mouth slightly ajar as he looks at Will, eyes darting to Will's lips every so often. Why does he keep doing that? He looks down at their hands that are not really in a position of holding hands, just resting on top of each other, but Mike wants to lace their hands together and tangle their fingers against each other.
"No. Nothing's wrong." he whispers, surprising himself with how quiet he is.
"Okay... Then what's-?"
He cuts Will off and surges forward, kissing Will. He panics when Will doesn't do anything and pulls back, eyes wide. "Shit- I- I'm sorry, Will, I shouldn't- God, I don't know why I-"
It's Will's turn to shut Mike up. He readjusts his hand to wrap around Mike's wrist and he puts his other hand on Mike's shoulder and leans in close. Mike doesn't close his eyes, not at first. His brain is too wired up, too many emotions flying left and right. Memories keep flashing in his head, everything hitting him at once.
That night that he lost Will and the cops pulled his body out of the lake and he knew that it wasn't Will. He knew it wasn’t because Will was slightly taller than the body they pulled out and his jacket was more deflated from old age than the one on that body. He thinks about Halloween night, not even that long from Will returning.
How protective and worried he had gotten when Will went missing, how he pushed his friends away because he wanted to be there for Will, and just him. He thinks what they promised: "crazy together', they had said. And Mike knows that he hasn't been keeping that promise lately, and friends don't lie.
So why did he? It isn't like he meant to. After everything... he got scared. Saw what other kids said about Will and how they were a lot closer than other kids. It was so normal to him and it never occurred to be 'weird' to him, but his father kept saying things and one thing led to another and he just... stopped talking to Will as much when he left for California.
He hid it with the fact Will had moved even though he knew it wasn't why, not that he did know why. The painting that Will told him El commissioned didn't feel right, but Mike accepted it because Will had said it. El knew of their DND games, but she didn't know their characters.
She didn't know the exact stories that they went on, and the campaign that painting was set in was the campaign they played before the one with the Demogorgon. El wouldn't have known about that campaign.
It was the one campaign that the others had convinced Mike to add his own character as a small sidekick for one fight just so he could play a player character that day. It was Will who made him accept the idea in the first place and wrote up the character with him, giving multiple design choices before Mike settled on the knight armor with hearts on it.
He should have seen it in all honesty. The way that Will looked at him like he was the world. The way that he looked at Will. He didn’t look at Will the way friends do, and he feels foolish for not noticing it sooner. Foolish for thinking he loved the girl—don’t get him wrong, El is wonderful and he feels horrible for treating her how he did—that came into his life right after losing Will.
He should have known.
And El was right, he can’t keep lying to himself.
He closes his eyes and kisses Will.
Will’s lips are soft on his, and surprisingly still at first like he’s trying not to overwhelm Mike. (It’s sure as hell working.) It’s not until Mike leans impossibly closer, putting his arms around Will’s lower back that Will moves. It’s that kind of sloppy, uncoordinated at first for two boys who: one, has never kissed anyone, and two, has never kissed a boy.
After trial and error, both not wanting to pull away, their lips finally slide smoothly together. Mike flicks his tongue out, like he remembers El had liked—okay, maybe let’s not think about El right now—and practically licks bottom lip. He can feel Will freeze in shock before repeating the motion to Mike.
Time doesn’t seem to pass normally, he doesn’t know how long they’ve been kissing when they finally step back. Not too far apart, Mike has a hand loosely resting on Will’s lower back, and Will is gripping his elbow. They’re both breathless, Mike painfully aware that Will’s tongue was practically in his mouth and vice versa just seconds ago.
He stares at Will’s lips, this time fully knowing it, red and fuller than usual, covered in what he guesses is both of their spit. With how Will is looking at him, he can only guess that he looks similar. There are places in his mouth that are still tingling from the kiss. Mike traces them with his own tongue, face hot and most likely red.
Will lets out a choked exhale before he leans forward and rests their foreheads together. “Took you long enough.”
“I’m sorry,” Mike exhales, grabbing Will’s hand properly into his own. “I just… I never realized.”
“I know.”
Mike hates how understanding Will is. Will should be mad at him, should hate him, should be telling him to fuck off or something. Mike doesn’t deserve Will, he made Will go through so much, yet of course, Will welcomes him into his arms.
“I love you,” Will whispers, voice strained from years of not telling Mike.
Mike feels himself go rigid. It’s almost more terrifying that the words even get to his tongue because he’s never been able to really say it before. “I love you too, Will.”