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Mike finally reached the landing pad on the tower and leaned over the railing to look at the ground below him. As Mike leaned on the railing and stared over the desolate Upsidedown, he began to reminisce about the moments with Will not too long ago. Mike had always had a hunch that Will had believed he was "different" than the rest of the party, but hearing those words aloud had truly opened his eyes. Mike had felt slightly off since the conversation but couldn't quite pinpoint as to why. So what if Will was different? That didn't change the fact that his friends loved him, that Mike loved him. But what was really nagging Mike was that he knew... he knew he was Will’s tammy. But why would Will say he was over him? Mike didn’t want Will to be over him, because Mike didn’t want it to be over. He didn’t want will to move on, just the idea of Will loving someone else made him so angry. Who gets angry about their best friend finding love? He should be happy for him, but just the thought of Will with some else was eating him alive. All of a sudden, his train of thought was interrupted by Will scaling up the top of ladder.
He joined Mike on the landing pad and leaned up against the railing while catching his breath. Mike caught himself looking at Will as he rested on the railing; he looked so good. Had he always looked at this good? It felt like something had changed, maybe it was the fact that Mike now knew that Will liked him, or at least used to. Or maybe it was that Mike thought it was over. He continues to stare at Will, and while doing so he noticed how out of breath he is, causing Mike to reach into his bag and pulled out a water bottle and handed it to Will. Will smiles and take the bottle out Mike’s hand.
There's a small silence between the two as Will is still catching his breath. Mike finally turns to face will and says, “Hey, um...what you said earlier at the squawk...I’m sorry. I mean not sorry about what you said, that came out wrong, or not came out wrong, Jesus Christ.”
“It’s ok.” Will laughs in response. Still looking upon the Upsidedown.
“No, it’s...it’s not. I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. And I guess I was just so self-absorbed I couldn’t see it. I just...I feel like an idiot, and I...I'm sorry.” Mike stumbles over his words as he attempts to comfort Will. He didn’t understand why this felt so difficult.
“You don’t have to be sorry. And you’re not an idiot, you’re not. It's just...I didn’t even understand it myself for the longest time. I just...I think it needed to happen the way it happened. I needed to find my own way. But what matters is that you’re still here, and you still think we can be friends.”
And that was when realization hit Mike like a punch to the gut. He didn’t want to just be friends. He wanted to be more.. something way more. And thinking of being ‘just a friend’ was bringing the anger from before back out.
There's a slightly awkward silence between them again and Mike attempts to stop it by clearing his throat, but the attempt is futile. So instead, he attempts to shift the mood of their conversation.
“So, this Tammy... what did you like about him?” Mike asks sheepishly.
Will lets out an awkward laugh and replies, “Tammy’s not his name, it’s sort of like a metaphor.”
“Metaphor?” Mike says, confused.
“Well, Tammy is...someone that you thought you loved, but you realized wasn’t right for you, and that all you really needed was yourself.”
Mike feels his stomach drop at those words. Will doesn’t want him anymore? All the mixed signals Mike has received from Will over the years, just for will to suddenly be “over him” it was a bunch of bullshit!
“So... you don’t want Tammy, like your Tammy, anymore?”
“I don’t feel like I need him.”
“But what if he needs you?”
Will finally turns to meet Mike’s gaze. Will's face seems to be a mixture of confusion, and a feeling Mike can’t distinguish. There's a long pause between the two as they hold eye contact; Mike is sure the tension could be cut with a knife. The years of confusion between the two finally felt like it was reaching a conclusion, the answer the two of them had been avoiding since they realized the feelings they had for each other. Mike knew the way he felt for Will was never the same way he felt for anyone else. Even with eleven, he knew he loved her, but not the way he loved Will. He could never love someone the way he loved Will. But the disgust he held with himself, that was probably given to him through the homophobic ideals of his father, had held all this back. It had him keeping the love that burned deep in his soul to himself, hoping one day it would be nothing more than a distant memory, but it never left. It only slightly dissipated when Will left to Lenora but seeing him for the first time again when he visited during spring break made all the feelings rise back to the surface. He knew the way he felt truly was different then when he couldn’t even hug Will; he could barely even talk to him.
“I...I don’t understand.”
Mike inches his hand down the railing, almost reaching Will’s, before moving it just slightly back.
“What if he...” Mike moves his attention from their hands to Will’s eyes, “Doesn’t want to be your Tammy.”
Still holding eye contact, Mike fully moves his hand to meet will’s and says, “What if he wants to be your mike?”
Will's eyes look suddenly shocked, and they just stare at each other. Mike starts to slowly inch closer to will; his eyes now reverted to Will’s lips. Mike feels his heart beating faster with each step he takes closer to will. Will's eyes start to flutter shut before they’re interrupted by the loud bang of Lucas's hand hitting the landing pad. They separate from each other; both of their faces are flushed. Lucas fully pulls himself up and takes a dramatic deep breath before sitting down.
“Holy shit, that was a long climb..”
Mike looks back at Will, who is leaning against the railing and now seems to be avoiding eye contact with him. The rest of the group slowly joins them, but Mike isn’t focused on any of it. All he can think of is Will.
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The whole party walks through the abyss, making their way to Venca’s lair before Will suddenly hits the ground. Joyce immediately notices and pushes past everyone to reach him with the other slowly following behind. Joyce reaches him and goes to grab him only to see are completely white.
“Will?! Will can you hear me?!” Joyce screams while holding will.
“We don’t have time for this; we need to kill Vecna!” Nancy shouts back.
“You guys go on; I'll stay with him,” Joyce says.
Mike looks down at will in Joyce's arms and realizes, he doesn’t want to leave. His mind is entirely focused on Will currently, and he’s sure if he joins everyone, he’ll be nothing more than a burden. He should be the one with Will; he needs to be the one with Will.
“No...me, I'll stay, I'll stay with will.” Mike insists.
“Are you sure? I can-” Joyce tries to fight back before Mike cuts her off.
“Just go, I can handle this!” Mike shouts as he walks over to take Joyce’s place next to Will. Joyce looks hesitant before getting up and giving Mike a look that says, ‘protect him’. So, while Mike stayed and watched over Will, the party continues to head towards vecna’s lair.
Mike sits and watches as Will helps Eleven defeat Vecna before he drops out of the control and falls to the ground.
“Will!” Mike shouts as he runs over to grab Will. He pulls him off the ground and into his arms, slightly shaking him in an attempt to wake him up.
Will's eyes slowly open as he faces Mike, Mike swears he sees Will’s eyes shift to his lips, but it was so brief he can’t tell.
“Holy shit Will! You're a real-life superhero!” Mike says in absolute awe of the power Will possessed.
“I mean, it was mostly Eleven, I only slightly helped her.” Will replied with a light laugh, moving his eyes away from Mike’s.
“Don’t say that. You're a hero. You saved everyone, you saved me.” Mike says, and Will slowly brings his eyes back to meet Mike’s.
There was the usual silence between them, but this time it didn’t feel awkward; it felt almost comforting. Sometimes, when it was silent between them, Mike felt like telling Will about everything going through his mind, and maybe that was what made the silence between them so awkward. But this felt like when they were kids, when the silence was the norm, when it was something, he enjoyed rather than dreaded. All his questions felt answered, and he had said everything he had to say, or at least said it the best he could.
Mike stopped himself from spacing out and reminded himself of the situation he was in. The love of his life was in his arms, looking up at him with a look he had always wanted him to have.
Mike moved his eyes to Will’s lips and thought of what could’ve happened if they did kiss on the tower; the thought alone was making his heart race.
He looked back to Will’s eyes, and there was something in his eyes. Something in his eyes that led mike to do what he did.
Mike cautiously leaned in, giving Will a chance to stop him, but this time Will lifted his head to close the space between them.
Their lips finally met, the only thing mike had wanted from will for years. The moment he realized what was really happening, it felt like everything around them had stopped existing. All that mattered was him, and Will, and them finally being together in the way they should’ve been years ago.
They separated and stared at each other while catching their breath. It was all finally over; the upside down would soon be a soon a distant memory but what Mike knew for sure was Will was going to be his distant future.