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The smell of sweat, crappy deodorant and alcohol hung in the air of the Wheeler's basement. While the party usually held their D&D games in the space, they did this much less when the girls were around. El and Max occasionally would sit and watch, pretending to be interested, but most of the time would bug the boys until they agreed to play something else. Dustin loved sharing his random general knowledge in games of trivial pursuit while Will excelled in Pictionary, of course, although his drawings sometimes took time to account for the details he wanted to include.
But, there was one game that they were yet to try, despite it coming up briefly in conversation a couple of times. Mike had finished a bottle of pale lager he'd snuck out of his sister's stash and loudly put it in the middle of his circle of friends. He looked up to see Lucas with an eyebrow raised, Max smiling and Will suddenly pale.
"Is that what I think it is?" Max queried.
"A bottle?" Mike replied. Max laughed and stuck her middle finger up at him.
"I know it's a bottle, freak, I meant the reason you put it in the middle. You want to play it?"
"Max, stop, we don't need a game. We can make out anytime," Lucas nudged her playfully. Max just rolled her eyes, let out a tiny giggle and pecked him on the cheek.
Looking at his mostly enthusiastic friends, Mike decided to start the game and see what happened. He lay down the bottle, and with a flick of his wrist sent it spinning smoothly on the table. Its pace slowed as it went past Max, Lucas... slowing more... El, Will... Dustin. Hold on, Dustin?! Mike looked up at his friend with shock for a moment realising what he had to do.
Both boys were, well...uncomfortable. They leaned forward, Dustin looking like he'd tasted something sour, then barely touched an inch of their lips together before pulling away.
El laughed. "You guys are stupid. My turn!"
Dustin quickly recovered from hiding under his baseball cap and joined back in the game. Mike had no doubt Dustin was hopeful he could get an actual kiss, with an actual girl, even if it was a bit weird for Mike to think about it being with his ex.
She grabbed the bottle and twisted her arm around, letting it go to spin slowly on the table. It went around the circle once before landing on...Lucas.
A slight tint made his cheeks go lightly crimson, while Max scoffed. "Absolutely not" she stated, while giving Lucas a look that said it was not negotiable. Lucas threw his hands up in the air.
"What am I meant to do Max? It's literally the game!" He muttered, not seeming too enthusiastic either. Max shoved Lucas into her spot while climbing into what was previously his spot.
Confused, everyone exchanged looks. But they quickly learned what Max's plan was as she stood up, stepped over the table and firmly planted her mouth on El's. El gasped in surprise, before putting a hand on Max's cheek and kissing her back.
Lucas' reddening cheeks became darker yet, while Dustin's eyes looked like they might fall out of their sockets. The kiss continued for a couple more seconds before they pulled away from each other, Max sporting a sly grin as she returned to her newly assigned spot. El looked like a deer in headlights, with her soft eyes wide, a light pink tint on her cheeks and her mouth popped open into a small 'o'.
"What... the fuck was that?" Lucas gasped out.
Max shrugged, as if it was nothing. "Just taking one for the team," she replied, before planting a kiss on Lucas' lips.
Through all this Mike had been staring, numbly. He thought he should feel upset at the idea of El kissing somebody else, especially with his friends Max or Lucas, but he was disturbed by how little it affected him. He felt like he was heartless. Why wasn't he sad about their break up?
Through all of their varied reactions of shock, Mike only just noticed that Will didn't even look phased by what'd just happened. Instead, Will was staring intently at the bottle in the centre of the group, as if willing it to move. Mike chuckled to himself, thinking of the irony, as, if anybody in their group was going to move that bottle telepathically, it'd be El, not Will. Nonetheless, Will's focus on the bottle stayed sharp, until Dustin's voice cut through his apparent reverie.
"Will, you look like you really want to have a turn," Dustin teased. Will jumped, immediately looking up, before shrugging his shoulders. "I guess." He was trying to be nonchalant but failing miserably.
Keeping up the facade, Will reached over, spinning the bottle around with ease. As it went, Mike wondered who Will would have to kiss. It was weird because Mike had never imagined Will kissing anybody in their group, except... well, nobody (else) in their group. He thought how weird it'd be to see Will kissing any of them and, for some reason, the thought gave him a little nudge of discomfort in his belly.
The bottle spun, and spun, and spun, it felt like forever. It began to slow. Lucas, El... Dustin... it seemed to stop but, as if it were thinking for itself, it took a quick little jerk past Dustin to finish its journey to land on... Mike.
Any banter, laughing or low conversation stopped as Mike slowly looked up to his best friend. He watched as if in slow motion as his friend's face went from pale, to rosy pink, to red. Will's eyes caught Mike's for just a moment, before looking away, as if he'd been caught. Mike wished he knew what Will was thinking in that moment but, sadly, he didn't. To offset the awkwardness, Mike stood up quickly and announced "well, I guess we'd better get this over with." Mike stepped one leg over the table, then the other, hearing his heart beating. He knew he'd imagined this a couple of times, but he didn't think it would actually happen. He'd never intended it.
Mike knelt down just in front of where Will sat on the couch, somewhat frozen. Mike noticed El in his peripheral vision, wiping her nose on her sleeve discreetly, and he had a small epiphany about the bottle's weird jerky movement... but he decided to brush it off. His seeing El had made him suddenly very aware of the people around him, watching their movements. A feeling of dread rushed from his throat to this stomach and Mike was hit with a pang of guilt, sprinkled with self hatred. Guilt because he knew that this kiss had the potential to ruin their friendship, all because of stupid Mike and his stupid feelings. Self hatred because he knew he felt something beyond friendship for Will but didn't know what this feeling was yet.
Fuck. He couldn't do this, but he had to.
Will's eyes met his and, Mike leaned forward. Will closed his eyes expectantly, dipping his head down to meet Mike.
Mike barely touched Will's lips, his top lip touching Will's bottom one, before he felt an almost nonexistent spark fly through him from Will's lips. With this came an unexpected panic from Mike, and he pulled away rapidly. Will's expression turned to shock as Mike half crawled half climbed back to his spot. As he sat, he noticed his friend's faces, and he grabbed the sleeve from his long sleeve top and used it to violently wipe his lips before letting out a small "eugh" sound. He wasn't sure why he did that.
Will gasped lightly from his spot, while El eyed Mike with disgust.
"Wow... that was harsh," Dustin mumbled under his breath.
"I'm going to the bathroom," Will stated without feeling, standing abruptly and weaving his way to the stairs. Mike felt a sudden pain in his gut as he saw Will run up the stairs.
"Mike..." El mumbled.
"Yeah, yeah, I know," Mike replied irately. "I'll be right back."
Mike was up and making his way up the stairs before his conscious mind had even decided to follow Will.
"Will?" He called out as soon as he opened the door. He continued to call for his friend as he traced a path through his house, grateful that his parents were out for the night. The only sound was a "shut up" from Holly's room, but he didn't care. He kept calling for Will, with no response, until he saw a silhouette on the back porch.
"Will!" He exclaimed running to the back door and onto the porch. He found Will sitting on one of the wooden steps, with his head in his heads. "Will, are you okay?"
Will lifted his head slowly, not directly looking at Mike. "No, Mike, I'm not okay." Mike nodded slowly. Mike wondered if Will maybe wanted to kiss Dustin or Lucas more than him, if he should've let Will spin it again so he could kiss one of them.
"Okay, I get it. I should've just told you to spin it again so you could get somebody else-"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Will cut in. "That's not why I'm mad."
Mike was puzzled at this point; if that wasn't it, why was Will mad?
"Oh...so why are you mad? It's not like you wanted to kiss me."
Will sighed, "you're clueless."
In all honesty, Mike felt clueless, because what the hell was Will talking about?
"Of course I would've kissed you Mike."
"Oh." Mike gasped out. What did he mean? Is that something best friends do for each other, or?...
"But that's not the point! You- you... humiliated me!" Will shouted with disdain, standing up to face Mike. "You wiped your damn mouth after and said 'eugh'. What the hell even is that? You think I'm eugh?!" Will ranted. "And it sucks because not only did you humiliate me tonight, you've done it before and you'll do it again and again!"
"What?" Mike froze, "what do you mean I've done it before? You know I'd never try to hurt y-"
"There was one argument that really hurt me Mike. It was a while ago." Mike cocked his head in question, so will continued.
"When you yelled at me f-for.. not l-liking... girls." Will's voice caught in his throat just saying it out loud. Mike's eyes widened.
"Wait, what?"
Will finally lifted his eyes from staring at the ground to glance at Mike, shooting daggers. "Don't play dumb."
"I'm not playing dumb Will, I don't remember that."
Will couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did Mike really forget that conversation, that fight? It was so significant for Will... he'd thought that night had been a turning point for both of them, for Mike as well as himself, but Will realised he was wrong. Like always when it comes to Mike and his mixed signals.
Across from Will, Mike was reflecting on what Will had said. Why couldn't he remember this? It must've been a huge argument and Mike felt like a moron not being able to rememb- Suddenly, Mike's head felt like it cracked open with the memory pushing through his skull. All at once Mike remembered that day- Will in his costume, storming out, Mike knew Lucas was there but didn't even remember when he left, because the two of them were standing there in the rain. He remembered the hurt expression on Will's face, something that weighed on Mike so heavily that he felt as if he'd swallowed a gallon of concrete and it had just set in the pit of his stomach. Will riding his bike in the pouring rain away from his house, Mike feeling paralysed as if his body wouldn't cooperate despite his brain saying 'GO AFTER HIM' and 'COMFORT HIM'.
Somehow, despite the vivid memories of Will, his facial expressions, what he was wearing, Mike couldn't remember a word that was said. He couldn't remember saying such a horrible thing to Will, and the guilt flooded him.
Mike turned back to look at his friend.
"Will?" He asked timidly. "Did I...did I really say that to you?"
Trying to maintain his eye contact with the floor, Will nodded, slowly.
The words hit Mike like a slap in the face as another memory came to him.
"It's not my fault you don't like girls."
He heard it again and again, coming out of his 13 year old mouth, echoing in his mind.
"It's not my fault you don't like girls."
"It's not my fault you don't like girls."
"It's not my fault you don't like girls."
"It's not my fault you-" It was only when Will finally looked up at Mike that he broke out of the cycle. It was then that Mike realised he was shaking, crying, as he was thinking of Will's broken expression then and seeing the ghost of it reflected now in his tired, sad expression.
"I...Will, I'm s-" Mike started, but Will interrupted.
"It's a bit late for that, Mike. You can't keep doing this to me."
Despite his harsh words, Will looked at Mike with a softness that made Mike's knees even weaker.
Mike stopped and tried to breathe, the air coming out in small gasps. He couldn't believe he'd ever said that to his best friend, especially to Will. His Will. He felt his body wobble, his whole being feeling like it could collapse as he registered his own self loathing, how dare he say that shit to Will?!
As he tried to regain his composure, Mike noticed a dribble of tears going down Will's cheeks too. Before he knew what he was doing, Mike had stepped toward his best friend. His hand went up to cup Will's jaw and, ignoring the tiny, almost tangible spark between their skin, he wiped the tears from his left cheek. Will let out a small gasp, but then leaned slightly into Mike's grasp. He continued brushing Will's cheek with his thumb long after the skin was dry, Will nuzzling his head into Mike's soft palm.
Mike felt the warmth from Will's cheek spread down his hand, through his arm and into his whole body.
"Will, I'm sorry."
Mike felt Will shake with a silent sob as tears continued down both of their faces. He could see how much Will still hurt from what Mike said years ago.
The events from their stupid, juvenile game flashed in his head, and Mike felt the familiar pull from Will. The urge to take the friendship a step further. He knew it was wrong, he knew Will would be grossed out, but he didn't seem to be able to stop it.
Mike stepped forward until his and Will's foreheads touched, resting his nose on Will's and sighing. He inhaled the hot air moving between their mouths, thinking about closing that gap. He was shocked noticing that Will hadn't moved away, so he decided to take it just that little bit further.
Mike tilted his chin forward to touch his lips to Will's-
"Mike..." Will mumbled, "you're just going to hurt me again."
Mike shuddered, then shook his head lightly. Is that really what Will thought? On one hand, he didn't understand what Will meant. Why would this hurt Will? On the other hand, he didn't care. He just needed to see if Will's gorgeous lips tasted as good as they looked.
"Will, let me make it up to you. Let me show you how tonight's kiss should've gone."
He continued to move in, connecting him and Will at the mouth.
The feeling was like nothing he'd experienced before as he pressed his lips to Will's. His unique flavour flooded Mike's mouth as the two moved their mouths faster, tilting heads slightly. Mike craved more, his tongue moving to Will's lips and licking them gently before going past his teeth and into his mouth. Will returned the gesture, letting his own tongue explore Mike's mouth and taste everywhere. The two continued like this, hot breaths and gasps floating between them as the kiss deepened.
Mike didn't know what was happening, why this was so intense. He'd kissed before, plenty of times, but it had never felt as right as this. Will pulled himself closer to Mike and their chests pressed together, Mike feeling light pressure at the bottom of his stomach. He ignored this, enjoying their closeness and Will's enthusiasm just too much.
After a few moments, Will finally pulled away.
"Holy shit, I wasn't expecting that," he gasped out.
He looked Mike up and down, clearly checking him out. Mike felt himself blush lightly, realising what Will would be seeing just below his stomach. Will just smiled, meeting Mike's eyes.
"I told you I'd make it up to you, didn't I?" Mike replied lightly, trying to brush off his embarrassment. Will grinned.
"You most certainly did."