Chapter Text
“I know these are just a few of the songs you like but this is just the first of all the tapes I’m giving you. Anyway, I think you’ll like it, sorry I couldn’t get it done sooner -it was pretty hard trying to find out your favorite songs without being too obvious-, but you mean so much to me and it’s been a quite long time since I gifted you something. Hope this lasts until we meet again after college. With love, Mike.”
I folded the letter and shoved it into the box with a lot more gifts for Will. That was the last date before we both went into college. Will, as expected, got into SAIC -School of the Art Institute of Chicago- . His artist skills improved so much in just a year and a half, he really pushed himself for that scholarship and he made it. And I, well, got into NYU, they liked my novels -they didn’t know it was based on trauma- and let me in.
But as we both recognized, we would be apart all year except for a few weeks of vacation and the distance is more than 18 hours by train. I wanted this last date to be special, to go around every special place we had our best moments together. Will said I was being cheesy but, how could I not be cheesy when we were going to be apart for almost 4 months?
I looked into the mirror and realized, I changed a lot, all of the party changed a lot. How could we not? We’ve been through so much together, but we didn’t let that get to us. I adjusted my belt, and grabbed the box with gifts.
“Mike! 5 o'clock, let’s go!” Nancy broke into my room without even knocking . “You are already late! The palace arcade is 15 minutes away and you said you two had to meet at 5. It 's already 5!”
“Shit, shit, shit!” I ran out, pushing Nancy out of the doorway. “Move! Mom, where are my car keys?” I could hear Nance swearing at me for pushing her, but I couldn’t care less.
“In the counter! Are you going to buy some fries or burgers on the way there or are you not going to eat at all?” Mom asked, hovering over me, while I'm trying to find the keys in the cabinet.
“We'll eat at Melvald's.” Nancy appeared and tossed me the car key. “Thanks. Holly! Have you finished painting the box I gave you?”
Holly ran downstairs with the case, painted blue with small sunflowers painted by hand. “Here! Where's my 10 dollars?” She asked, her palm opened to me, expecting the bill.
“Nance will give it to you. Bye!” I ran out the door before my sister could catch and yell at me, when I started the engine of the car I could see her trying to stop the car before I left.
“Mike! You asshole!” I laughed and waved through the window, looked into the mirror, my hair had gotten messy, and had to fix it.
♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹
I turned off the engine and got out of the car. Will was sitting on a bench, holding a bouquet of flowers and comics of the X-men, the exact volumes I didn’t have. As soon we connected gazes he stood up and ran to me.
“Mike! You made it!” His hug left me out of air but I couldn’t care less. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back.
“I’m so sorry for being this late. How long have you been waiting?” I asked, pulling slightly back.
“Not much, about 10 minutes, I was also kinda late.” He laughed and infected it into me, it was so heartwarming. “What 's that?” He pointed at the shoe box with all the gifts.
“A present I’ll give you, but it’s for later, you’ll have to wait.” I took the box and left it in the trunk. “Are those flowers for me? I’ll have to stop by home to place them in water before they dry.” Will nodded and gave them to me, it was a bouquet overflowing with colors, lilies, carnations, tulips and roses, just my favorites. It seemed like he had been secretly recollecting information without me noticing it. He was a really good spy.
I left the bouquet beside my gift and locked the car.
“Did I guess the flowers?” He held my hand on his.
“Yes, or maybe you just asked my mom.” I started to walk with him to the doors of the arcade. “Shall the date begin?” Will nodded and entered the palace, dragging me with him.
The next two hours passed in a blink of an eye, playing Berserk, Missile Command, Q*Bert, and Dance aerobics until we ran out of energy, he obviously defeated my score in dig dug but in Q*Bert, I just let him win.
With the tickets we earned I got him a bear with a string that if he pulled it, it would say “I love you.” , in case I didn't say or write it often, he would at least hear it.
As we stepped out of the place, the cool air hit us so harshly that we wanted to go inside again.
“How is it so suddenly cold? A few hours ago it was 70 degrees outside, the worst. I didn’t bring a coat.” He shivered, suddenly it was again the night when he was having the visions of the upside down 5 years right here on this same spot. I wrapped my arm around him and led him into the car, so as I said, leave the flowers in my home with water so they didn’t dry out, especially for the hydrangeas.
♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹
“Mike? Is that you?” Mom comes from the kitchen after my first step into the house. “Oh, Will, I didn’t know you were coming, how is everything going with Jonathan’s movie?” She asked. Will took off his coat and hugged her.
“He is doing great, Mrs. Wheeler. Sorry for coming without notifying you first, Mike came to leave something.” He placed his sweater in his arm -like a butler to me.- and looked behind Karen. “Hey, Holly, Nancy. Sorry for interrupting your dinner.” Will waved at my sisters and they waved back.
As Will and my mom started to chat, I hurried to leave the flowers in water so we could get in time for our dinner and leave in time for my last surprise. I saw before I ran upstairs, Karen telling Will something while looking at me, he turned and tried to hide his laugh. What the hell did she tell him? Of what were they laughing?
“Will, I left the flowers. Let 's go.” I practically ran down the stairs and took him by the arm trying to drag him out before my mom said anything more embarrassing -probably about the time he was in California and didn’t know that happened at all unless Dustin or/and Lucas told him.- or about my past itself.
“But your mom is not done with- Well, good to see you Mrs. Wheeler!” The door slammed shut before my mother could say goodbye back. I could hear my father talking to her about me being a brat.
As we entered the car, Will couldn’t stop laughing, but like, god awful laughing, like he was slowly turning into the evil witch of the west. I just could stare at him and imagine what type of thing mom had told him.
“What did she tell you? Why are you wheezing like that?” I tried to bring him back by shaking him but it made it worse. “Will! What did she tell you?”
“You’re gonna have to tell me the truth. Did you really become a punk while I was in California? Like, all dark clothes with Bowie’s hairstyle but done horribly wrong?” I could just stare blankly into the empty streets, praying mom wouldn’t show him the photos she took of me looking like that in the future.
“Let’s just get to Melvald’s before it is too late and they close.” I started the engine and pulled down the windows, trying to breathe properly after the humiliation.
“C’mon, you have to tell the truth? Did you really do that? Do you have a picture? Maybe from the yearbook, when we return can we pass by your house?” Will kept talking so to try to muffle the sound, I turned the radio on and let Robin pick the song from the radio station.
♪ 𝄞₊˚⊹
The restaurant was exactly as I imagined it, the lights were bright, the noise was loud and the smell was like coffee. Soon enough, we found an empty table and sat down. The waitress looked at us up and down, judging, I could tell she was one of the popular girls from school in the past, not like Chrissy but like… I don’t know, I haven’t talked to any popular girls in high school.
The date was going as expected, as I planned. Will kept talking about working full time jobs in college to afford the materials for his classes like brushes, paint, canvases, sketchbooks, etc. I was thinking about sending him money so he didn’t need to work and exhaust himself out but I wasn’t in that also in that good of economic situation. He said that once he arrives at college there would be an integration party for the new year and for everyone to get to know each other and make new friends, he was freaking out. He talked about the classes, which ones were easier and which ones were harder, the teachers he knows for now, their designated classes. He was much of a yapper, but did I care? Hell no, my college wasn’t even that good anyway and I wasn’t very interested in the modality I chose.
People kept staring at us like we were some sort of disease, I thank the universe no one stood up and gave us a talk about God and repenting from our lustful sins or wanting to kick us out of the place. It has happened more than once sadly.
My leg kept bouncing anxiously, I could feel my hand sweaty gripping a little too hard the little box I commissioned Holly in my pocket. Were the guys already in the spot I told them to be? Were we running late again? Should we hurry with our dinner? I haven’t touched the food I ordered, maybe I should just take it as leftover and give it to Holly who loves sweets? Should I-?
“Mike? Are you alright?” Will looked at me and asked, concerned. “You have been acting.. Weird the whole date, Is there something wrong? If it was about what your mom told me, I was just joking but I understand if you find it too embarrassing.” He took my hand. “Has something happened?”
Shit. I focused too much on the fact that we could be running out of time, like I was running out of time. Well, I was, he had to leave for college early the next day and I couldn’t imagine what would happen if I didn’t tell him. I focused too much on the planning and the schedule but not on the reason why I planned this whole thing. Him. Will. He was the reason why I spent weeks planning the perfect date with the most important places through our relationship.
“No, you did nothing wrong.” I held his hand tighter, afraid of letting go. “I’m just… Very impatient to see your face with the last surprise I made for you.” I tried to make him feel more comfortable, the environment around us wasn’t helping but I did what I could. “Do you like your milkshake?” I asked and leaned over my hand as he started to yap again. This was going to be a very long dinner.
Somewhere from Max’s point of view
“Where the hell are they? They were supposed to be here two hours ago!” Dustin grunted, clearly annoyed. “Is dinner supposed to take that long?” He fell down and laid on the grass.
“Calm down, they are on their last date together before Will leaves. It is normal to take longer in a case like this. But really, I’m also freezing and I was supposed to take Erica to his friend's party.” He protested, but also defended Mike and Will. “El, have you found them?” He looked to my side. El was blindfolded, a drop of blood running down his nose.
“They are still at Melvald’s. Will won’t stop talking and Mike doesn’t seem bothered by it.” She took the bandana that was covering her eyes off and sighed. “It doesn’t look like they are leaving any time soon.” I handed her a tissue, she nodded in my direction, thanking me, and whipped the blood off.
Lucas and Dustin started complaining again, making jokes like the ones Lucas made when El and Mike were dating.
“I think he is probably not coming. He probably chickened out, you know he is not very good at showing affecting emotions.” Lucas commented to Dustin. El nodded, agreeing because of the -awful- experience she had with Mike.
“Come on guys, don’t be this bad. After all, he invited all of us for this last thing with the party and then to surprise Will. I was also supposed to do things at this moment but it’s gonna be worth it when Mike surprises him.” I adjusted the sweater Lucas gave me, the cold was getting to freezing. If they didn’t make it here on time, we would have to leave before we catch a cold.
Back to Mike
“Are we there yet?” Will asked, as I guided him blind folded through the woods. Yes, it was kinda dangerous, but it was worth the price, at least what I thought. “I have tripped like 9 times already.” He complained, it was understandable that he was suspicious or scared, it was like I was kidnapping him like when he was 11 years old -except I’m not a demogorgon.- “We stopped near the lovers lake, is there where you’re taking me? Do you want to drown me? If not, it’s so sweet.”
“What? Why would I want to drown you?!” I questioned, offended. “We’ve been dating for 1 and a half years, and you think I would drown you?” I scoffed. How could he think such a thing? “If you keep saying stuff like that, I’ll just let you fall and get lost in the forest, again.” He laughed, was that even a good joke? I thought for a moment he would get mad at me.
“You wouldn’t dare, my dad would kill you and El would find me. So, you would probably go to jail.” He laughed but tripped again -now for the 10th time-, but this time, he did fall, I tried to catch him but it dragged me down with him, now he was above me, pressing me down against the ground -Not that bad though-.
He took off the blindfold and laughed.
“Now, would you like to tell me where we are going?” He shoved the hair out of my face. The sun was setting. We are getting late for the sunset, he won’t get to watch it from there.
“It’s a surprise. Now, help me get up before I go maniac and kiss you.”
He looked too beautiful from this point of view, all the colors of the sky painting in his face, his green eyes made me think they had a spell cause god, I was amazed.
I guided him, now from behind with my hands on his shoulders, he was very annoyed because even though we fell, I kept insisting on keeping the blindfold on.
When we arrived, I could tell everyone was so fucking pissed at me for being that late, we were supposed to be there 3 hours ago. Max wanted to strangle me because she was freezing, -well, everyone was- but Lucas stopped his girlfriend and told her to be quiet, to not ruin the surprise.
I left Will just near the shore of the lake, and all of us posed because, when he took the blindfold off, he would not just see us but also what was behind us. What we built for him that was before destroyed but came back to life.
“I’ll tell you when to take your blindfold off, alright?”
“Right.”
“1..”
El turned the led lights on,
“2…”
Lucas started playing “The Queen Is Dead” by The Smiths, one of Will’s favorite songs, and Dustin placed the DnD folders and manual, etc inside.
“3!”
He took off his blindfold and his face dropped with shock.
The castle Byers.
Right in front of him even after the demogorgon destroyed it.
It looked almost like the original. Just wider for the whole party, so it wasn’t just the space for 2 people maximum.
“Surprise!” We cheered, expecting a quick reaction of Will, like a slow growing smile or his eyes to fill with joyful tears, but no, he just stared in pure shock, unable to process the information.
“Will?” I came closer to him. “Are you… Okay? This was the surprise I was planning. We knew that the castle Byers was very special for you and then that dickhead of the mindflayer or demos or.. I don’t know, destroyed your castle. So we thought about rebuilding it, for you. A special gift from all of us.” Tears started running down his face and it set everyone off, but somehow he was also laughing, that settled everyone off even more.
“Will? Why are you crying?” El came closer, confused, her hand on his shoulder.
“Oh, Jane. It’s a very, very, long story. But it was never a demo or the mind flayer who destroyed the castle. It was me. I had a fight with Mike and I got so mad and broken that I destroyed it out of pure rage.”
WHAT?!
He is just dropping that bomb like nothing?
I was about to genuinely crash out until I felt his arms wrapping tightly around me.
“Thank you.” He looked around, without letting go. “All of you. I don’t deserve it.” Now he was actually sobbing.
Jane pushed me off him and hugged him, then, Max joined the hug, and so did Dustin and of course, so did Lucas. I felt my eyes actually getting wet, I had to look up and blink several times so it didn’t show but I knew that my eyes were red as fuck.
When they all pulled apart, -El didn’t want to let go- I placed my arm around his shoulders and said: “Can I give you a tour?” He looked up, dried his tears and nodded.
The place was perfectly decorated, with the drawing he made when he was 3 apples tall and now that he is in art college. I hung a picture of all our DnD characters together, which he drew and painted with watercolor.
All the gifts we had made him across the years, the flowers, the attempts of drawings, the books. Everything. It was like a house full of memories.
We all sat in a circle, Will next to me, his head on my shoulder, his hand on mine. Dustin excitedly got out a huge box with the words “DnD.”
“So, Will. Are you willing to be part of one last adventure with me! As your story teller?” Dustin acted dramatically. “I have earned all the wise knowledge of our last story teller, please give him a short applause.” I was ready to receive all the applause and even bow because wow, I didn’t think I was that good at storytelling. “For Eddie! The best story teller I have ever met!” Now that pissed me off. But well, I don’t blame him, Steve told him funny memories and jokes of him were good ways to cope with the loss of Eddie, still haunting him.
We displayed all the folders and started playing, suddenly. The last moments of the sunset were happening and two hours had passed. Everyone was literally glaring at me to just do it. So I had to.
We got out of the fortress and Max took Will away again, this time even further, his shoes almost touching the water. Lucas changed the song to “Heroes” by David Bowie, our favorite song ever. El used her powers to turn the lights dim, and Dustin adjusted my jacket and gave me a mint. He was acting like he were my best man, well, if I had a wedding, he and Lucas would totally be.
Will and Max laughed together, what were they laughing about? Was it about me? About when Will was in California? Oh no, was it worse than what my mom told him? My breath became too fast and shaky. I wasn’t ready. Until I felt a slap, not hard but enough to wake me up, from Lucas.
“Mike! Calm the fuck down, you have been planning this for weeks, you got this.” He shaked me slightly and I nodded. He was right. I was ready.
Max patted Will’s shoulder and said she would come back later, then Will turned back to see the sun set reflecting in the water. She gave me thumbs up and cheered for me, wishing me good luck.
He turned around, the lights still shining on him, recognition creeping into his eyes.. Were his eyes always that sparkly?
No! No no, concentrate, c’mon. You got this. I could feel our friends' eyes stabbing into us, it was pretty hard when having that much audience.
I got closer to him, now by his side, the colors of the moonlight and the sunset all mixing together into his expression.
God, he looks like a 1 million worth painting, and I would buy him even if it meant I would go bankrupt.
Fuck! Focus Mike! It 's now or never!
Shit, is the box in my left pocket or right pocket?
Which knee should I bend on?
Have I taken a breath yet? I tried to breathe but I could feel my lungs pressing down from anxiety.
I looked down at my watch. It’s been a minute, okay, yeah.
Oh god, Mike, breathe.
Just breathe!
What’s taking you so long?
I felt my heart just give out and the air escaped my lungs, much air that I didn’t know I was holding.
All the stress and nervousness collided and disappeared at one point.
His silhouette fitted perfectly with that sparkling sky filled with all the colors he brought into my life. His hair smoothly blowing in the wind. The town is far away from us. The judgment behind, the shame, the fear. All gone.
It was mesmerizing.
He was mesmerizing.
I took his hands on mine, and started the whole vow I had prepared.
“Will. I’ve known you since kindergarten, since I met you in the swings, and I asked to be your friend, you just nodded, without knowing what you were putting yourself into, and I couldn’t be more grateful about you making that mistake. I’m horrible at communicating, at showing my emotions, at opening up, and much more. And even with all of that, you chose me. Of all the guys, me. And I want to choose you. To leave all my flaws behind, all my bad habits, and my bad tastes in music for you, I would even leave the last name Wheeler for you. I want you to be mine and I want to be yours. Our friendship barely even started and I could tell that we were soulmates, even when we fought, we came back together, over and over again. I want and will choose you over and over again. Even if I have to leave everything behind, I’ll do it if it means you’ll be mine, cause it’s worth it, and I’m not willing to lose you again, I already lost you twice. I’m not letting go this time.” I could see his eyes filling up with tears once again, I could feel mine with tears too.
“That’s why I must ask you, Will Byers, my zombie boy. When it’s finally legal, and the damn world understands loving it’s not a sin.” I bent over my knee, I could feel the fabric of the knee touching the floor getting wet but I could not care less. I opened the little box with blue and yellow flowers painted all across from it, inside it, two rings.
“Would you marry me?”
The words hung heavy in the air, I could sense the entire party holding hands and their breath.
Will had his hands covering his mouth, him already crying again, he looked stunning.
He knelt down in front of me and held my face between his hands, just then I realized I was crying too.
“Yes. One hundred times yes.” He jumped over me and we fell again to the cold ground, the little rocks stabbing my back, but again, did I care? No.
All the screaming from Lucas, Max, Dustin and El just muffled into a low noise, I pulled him closer, pulling our lips together.
And we kissed as though nothing could fall.
And just then I realized that, the shame was left on the other side.
I had always loved him, but never had the courage to accept it and love him devotedly as we were always supposed to.
When he pulled back to catch air, his lips were red and his cheeks were flushed, his hair was messy and his eyes were shining as always, that olive tone always catching me. I caressed his face and he leaned over my hand.
“I love you, Will Byers.” I whispered
I could feel Will’s breath hitching and his heart going faster than ever, then he repeated.
“I love you, Mike Wheeler.”
He got off me and we sat, I took the case from the floor and opened it again. Slowly pulled the metal ring, with not a diamond or things like that, but a yellow flower with blue details all over the ring, and slipped it into his ring finger. Then he took the box, and placed the blue flower ring with yellow details all across it into my finger.
“And now shall I pronounce you.. Husbands!” Lucas cheered, acting like he was the father in the church getting us married.
We laughed, crying while laughing.
I pulled him closer, putting our foreheads together.
“I’m hopelessly devoted to you.” I murmured and he laughed and gave me a soft kiss again.
God.. I’ll miss him.