Chapter Text
Mike Wheeler wheeled his suitcase down the dorm hallway and froze.
Wait.
That wasn’t a random freshman he’d expect as a roommate. That was… Will Byers.
Will was standing there, arms full of bags, giving him a hesitant smile. “Uh… hey, Mike.”
“Hey,” Mike said, his voice sounding way too high. He immediately regretted it. “So… we’re roommates, huh?”
Will nodded, setting his things on the bed nearest the window. “Yeah… I guess.”
Mike cleared his throat. “Cool. Cool, cool, cool…”
The room felt smaller than he remembered, and somehow more intense. His chest tightened and he had no idea why.
Before either of them could spiral further, the door swung open.
“WHEELER!” Dustin’s enthusiastic voice boomed. “Yo, bro, moving in? Lemme help ohhh, hey Will!”
Will smiled awkwardly. “Hi, Dustin.”
“Yo, Lucas!” Will suddenly brightened as his other friend appeared, carrying a box of books. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course,” Lucas said. “Can’t let my roommate suffer alone.”
Mike’s eyes darted between them, internally panicking at how casual everyone else seemed. He dropped his bag on the floor.
From the corner of the room, Max leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “You look… tense. Like, someone just told you homework is optional but also your dorm is haunted tense.”
“Shut up, Max,” Mike muttered, but his brain refused to stop running in circles.
Max smirked knowingly but said nothing else. She had a sixth sense for when Mike was about to internally combust, and she wasn’t about to ruin the slow burn this early.
“Uh…” Will shuffled his feet. “Do you… uh… need help with your stuff?”
Mike blinked. “I… think I’ve got it. Thanks.”
Dustin, ignoring all social boundaries, started tossing pillows onto the beds. “So, do you guys like… share a desk? Or are we gonna need another one for Will?”
Will glanced at Mike. “I think we… share. I mean, it’s fine, right?”
Mike nodded too quickly. “Yeah, totally fine.”
Lucas set his box down on Will’s bed. “You guys cool?”
“Yeah,” Mike said, though he felt anything but cool.
Max leaned closer to Mike. “He’s… quiet.”
“Really? Wow, thanks for the deep insight.”
Max shrugged. “Just stating facts.”
Will was arranging his desk while Mike unpacked his side of the room. Their movements kept brushing past each other shoulders here, hands there and both felt it more than they expected.
“I, uh… like this desk,” Will said softly, almost to himself.
“Yeah, it’s… uh… good,” Mike said. He realized he’d been staring for too long and looked away.
The rest of the afternoon passed in quiet, with Dustin and Lucas unpacking boxes, Max teasing Mike lightly about overpacking, and Mike slowly realizing that having Will in the room made everything… more complicated.
He had no idea what that meant yet.
But as they all sat on their beds later, exhausted, Mike noticed how soft Will’s laugh was when Lucas told a joke.
And for some reason, he felt it in his chest like a little tug he didn’t understand.