Chapter Text
Mike and Will don’t fall out of touch. It’s impossible to when their siblings are sort of joint at the hip. Will had assumed there would be a future where he wouldn’t see Mike in ten fucking years until the both of them were forced to see each other at Nancy and Jonathan’s wedding.
Nothing of that sort happened. Despite the breakup, through some bizarre Upside-Down logic, Nancy and Jonathan were closer than ever. It didn’t make sense. But it also sort of did. Nancy has been with Robin for the past twelve years (no marriage announcements in sight despite Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Buckley joint efforts), and Jonathan was married to Steve. Will had assumed it was an elaborate joke till they adopted their first baby. But now, even six children into the marriage, sometimes Will still found himself wondering if he was being pranked. Well, at least the six children were real. Proven by the fact that more than half of Will’s earnings were spent on them every Christmas. Will couldn’t help being jealous of Mike and his childless lesbian in-law.
Notwithstanding Will’s poverty, it was true that Mike and he never had the opportunity to drift off. Jonathan wouldn’t let Will escape from a single get-together and Steve and his six little nuggets would inevitably be a part of these get-togethers, and they would automatically reel Robin in, who would reel in a very reluctant Nancy, who would then force an even more reluctant Mike to tag along.
Actually, that wasn’t completely true. Mike loved children. His marriage had been nothing short of disastrous, but no one could deny that he loved his daughter, lovingly named Coraline after some book, to the moon and back. Will knew the shared custody thing was a sore spot for Mike, so he tried not to bring that up as much as possible. He personally couldn’t say he knew much of Debra, but he had heard his mum call her “a Lonnie with D-cups” once and that had sufficed. Every time he met Mike, he hoped he would have some good news regarding the custody battle.
It was late November, when he received the customary (and obnoxiously early) Christmas email from Steve.
Dear Family,
First: No, Baby Byers, this email is not too early. If I don’t send this now, none of you idiots are going to buy your tickets in time and then you’ll plan some bizarrely long road trip and not get here in time. So, shut up. Also, Rosy says “Hi.”
Now, back to the matter at hand. Everyone is cordially invited to celebrate Christmas at the Byers-Harrington household. My husband will send you a road map and the flight details from your respective areas. If he doesn’t, kindly let me know asap.
Also, bring your kids and your pets. Do not use them as an excuse not to come.
I don’t really have much else to say so I’ll end it here. If you guys don’t reply to this in 2 business days, I will call you.
Warm regards,
Byers-Harrington.
The email didn’t puzzle Will in the slightest. He has been receiving emails like these for a decade or so. What did puzzle him, however, is the list of recipient emails. Though Dustin and his family always flew in, come hell or high water, the Mayfield-Sinclair duo was almost always missing owing to the fact that they lived in a different continent. They were always a part of Steve’s humungous post-Christmas photo-drops, but he had stopped bothering them with these vaguely threatening invites a few years ago. However, this year Max replied in the chain email almost as soon as Steve’s email entered their inbox.
“What if I want to bring my pet viper?”
Roughly four minutes later, a single reply flashed on screen.
“No.”
“Stop fucking around and book your tickets, Mayfield.”
“It’s a European thing, Steve, you wouldn’t get it.”
“BOOK YOUR DAMN TICKETS, MAYFIELD.”
So, Will thought as he giggled at the screen, it’s going to be a full house this year.
“Why are you leaving on Monday? Christmas is five days away!”
“Because, Michael,” Will huffed as he put the phone on loudspeaker to continue with his packing, “some of us cannot fly there in two hours. They have half a dozen demons, Mike. Demons who demand blood and sacrifices.”
Mike laughed. “Bit difficult to get blood and sacrifices through the TSA, yes. What are you even bringing them?”
“I don’t know, Mike,” Will sighed, “I lost track after the third nauseatingly beige doll house. Why are all children’s toys beige now? Where are the colours?”
“I don’t know, Will. My daughter doesn’t look up from books.”
“Lucky you,” Will lamented as he struggled to close the lid of his suitcase, overbrimming with cookies and chocolates. “Cora’s coming?”
“Yeah.”
Will smiled at the happiness in Mike’s voice.
“So, what are you giving the kids?”
“Books.”
“Predictable.”
“Hey, Jonathan asked me not to buy anything new till the kids were completely grown up. They get over things in two minutes.”
“Why does my brother never give me that ‘out’? Steve sent me an entire fucking list. Like I’m Santa. And like he’s not a millionaire,” Will grumbled.
“It’s because you make more money than me, William Byers.”
Will rolled his eyes even though Mike couldn’t see it. “It’s not like I get to see any of it. Anyway, meet you on Friday? That’s when you’re landing, right?”
“Yeah, we’re supposed to land at two in the afternoon.”
“Great, I’ll pick you up. If I am not sick of driving.”
“You will be so don’t bother,” Mike sounded amused. “You hate driving.”
“I hate Steve Harrington getting all up in my case about ‘finding a man and settling down’ more, so yeah… I’ll pick you and Cora up. In fact, I’ll pick up Dustin, Suzie and the twins, Max, Lucas and their pet anaconda for all I care.”
It was a joke. Everyone and their grandmas knew Will and his brother-in-law got on like a house on fire but strangely enough, Mike didn’t laugh.
“Mike?” Will picked up the phone to check whether it had accidentally been disconnected.
“Yeah.”
“You there?”
“Yeah… uhm. Why don’t you?”
Will frowned. “Why don’t I what?”
Another pause.
“Why don’t you settle down?”
“Because, Michael,” Will turned off the loudspeaker and brought the phone closer to himself again, “don’t know if you have noticed but- I have not, in fact, found a man.”
Mike let out a dry laugh. It had a hint of cruelty in it. But Will quickly brushed it off. Mike had let go of his teenage brutishness a long time ago. He was a father of a five-year-old now.
“You find plenty of men, Will. Rather… a plenty of men find you.”
Was there an accusation hidden there somewhere?
No. There couldn’t be. Will brushed off that thought immediately. He had done this for years. Obsessed over signs, signals and what not. None of it meant anything. Mike was just a complicated guy. A complicated straight guy. A complicated straight guy with a five-year-old daughter. A straight guy with a five-year-old daughter who was freshly divorced and would start going on dates any day now.
“Well, yeah… I guess?” Will fumbled around for the right words to form a suitable reply. “Thank you?”
There was no answer from the other end of the line.
“I don’t know what to say, Mike,” Will went on rather uncomfortably, not sure how to end this conversation, “David was nice… but he spoke of marriage and kids and… I guess that’s just not for me?”
“You love Cora,” Mike reminded him. “Have since you first met her.”
“That’s because she’s your kid, Mike.”
“And you love Toby and Sarah and Leah and Joy and Rosy and Bobby and…”
“I get it, Mike. But they are related to me and…”
“And Oliver and Olivia.”
“Of course, how could I forget the Wonder Twins?”
“Will?
“Yeah.”
“Why did you really break up with David?”
“Mike…”
There was a sudden thud at the end of the line, immediately followed by a shrill cry.
“Mike, is that Cora-”
“Sorry, Will- I gotta-”
“Go, Mike!”
Will sat frozen for a while. Ten minutes later, he received an email: “Coraline had the bright idea of climbing up to the top shelf to fetch a book. She is fine. Just bumped her knee. Bit swollen but will be fine. Don’t worry.”
“Post-Christmas, I’m babyproofing that fucking house of yours, Wheeler,” Will typed out a quick reply. “And for God’s sake, you’ll die at my hands unless you nail that bookshelf to the wall. And also get a stool for Cora.”