Work Text:
(Mike)
Mike wakes up with the same heavy feeling in his body that he’s had for the last few days. He sits up and tests his muscles a little. They don’t feel worse, so he sighs.
“Breakfast!” Holly calls out.
He ignores the call, opting for laying back down and covering his head with his blanket. He ends up dozing off for a while longer and when he wakes up, it’s quiet. He heads downstairs, ignoring the way his joints hurt at the movement. Downstairs is empty. Mike realizes that he’s in the house alone, so he decides that he’s gonna do some cleaning to distract himself. He takes Tylenol, then vacuums, sweeps, and dusts before the aching gets to be too much. He wipes the sweat from his brow with his sleeve and ignores how that's worse than it should be. He drags himself into the kitchen to make something to eat.
Eating, that’ll fix it. Stupid, this is stupid. I have things I can be doing. It’s like eleven-thirty.
He opens the fridge and it’s empty. He glances at the calendar and it’s grocery day.
Mom’s going with Joyce today, I remember now.
He groans, then shuts the fridge, giving up on the idea of eating. He trudges up the stairs and into his room. It’s a wreck, so he decides to pick up. He grabs exactly three things and puts them away before he starts tilting forward. So he does what makes the most sense, he lies down on his back and the exhaustion finally takes over. He stares at the ceiling as all of the spots blur together until his eyes finally drift closed and he passes out.
(Will)
Will finishes his tasks for the day early, around four pm, and because Joyce isn’t expecting him until five-thirty, he heads to the Wheeler house. Mike said that he was gonna be in the basement working on some stuff. He uses the spare key to let himself in since when he’s focused, Mike doesn’t hear someone knocking on the door. He goes straight to the basement door.
“Mike?” Will calls out as he walks down the stairs. No response, which is unusual considering. “Where is he? He said that he’d be down here?”
He reaches the bottom and when he doesn’t spot Mike, then heads up to the second floor. “Maybe he decided to work in his room.”
He walks past all of the open doors until he’s in front of Mike’s door, which is shut. Will knocks once, learning that this boundary keeps him safe. That it keeps Mike from being uncomfortable. No answer. Maybe he’s outside in the back. He turns to head downstairs and he hears a whimper. It’s so quiet that if he wasn’t completely silent, he would have missed it.
He whips around and throws the door open, rushing inside because comfort be damned. He barely gets a look at Mike’s pale face covered in sweat before Mike cries out. He starts thrashing and Will runs over, trying to pin him down without hurting him. “Why are you so strong?”
I need a new approach.
He cups Mike’s face in both of his hands and starts softly shushing him, thumb tracing Mike’s cheekbone. It takes a minute, but Mike stops thrashing. He’s still shifting uncomfortably, but he’s leaning into Will’s touch, burning up. “That’s it,” Will says. “It’s okay.”
He stays calm and relief washes over Will. He gets up and starts pacing the length of Mike’s room, trying to figure out whether to try to get a hold of Karen or deal with this himself. He doesn’t want to make anything weird, he can’t risk it. But she mentioned that she was gonna be gone with Joyce all day, which they do occasionally. Probably best not to interrupt them.
How long has he been like this? Is there any way for me to know? Has he taken anything? How long should I wait in case he has? Fuck, this is so stupid. Why didn’t he call?
Mike’s tired voice saying something that Will can’t make out draws his attention. He turns and Mike’s head is turned toward him, eyes are still closed. His mouth is moving, but no noise comes out. Will rushes over and strokes his hair and face.
“It’s alright,” he says. “It’s okay.”
Mike’s face presses gently on Will’s hand. Will smiles and then Mike kisses his palm. Will’s face heats up but he tries to keep his voice neutral, “You can go back to sleep.” Mike sighs against Will’s hand and it only takes a minute for his breathing to even out again.
Oh wait, I need to give him medicine.
Will goes into the bathroom and pulls the medicine out of the cabinet. He walks back and sits on the edge of the bed.
“Alright, come on,” Will whispers, pouring pills out of the bottle. He cups Mike’s cheek and his eyes crack open. “Hey, medicine.”
Mike turns his head away. He uses his index finger to gently tilt Mike’s face back toward him. Mike’s eyes are glassy but he seems to recognize Will, so he takes it as a win. “Can you take this for me?”
Mike holds out his hand, so Will places the pills in his hand and turns to grab the water. Will turns back and the pills are gone, and Mike’s eyes are closed again.
“Mike.” He shakes his and Mike slits his eyes open just enough to glare. “Drink some water.”
Mike takes the water and Will holds it steady while he drinks some. After half a glass of water, he goes back to sleep. Mike has Will’s full attention and he checks his temperature every half-hour on the dot. After three hours, Mike’s fever finally breaks. It takes another hour, but Mike opens his eyes and smiles at Will.
“Hey,” Will whispers, sure that if he raises his volume any, his voice will crack from relief.
“Hey,” Mike mumbles. “I feel shitty.”
Will laughs, the sound a little choked.
“Are you okay?” Mike asks, sitting up.
“Hey, take it easy. Your fever just broke,” Will protests.
“What happened? Why are you being so quiet?”
“It’s nothing,” Will replies weakly. Mike raises an eyebrow and Will’s resolve starts to crumble. “Do you remember anything from me coming in?”
Mike seems to thinking about it. Mike then shakes his head, and Will looks at his lap. “I remember laying down and I think I passed out, but I don’t remember anything after that before now… Oh fuck.”
Will looks up and Mike’s face is bright red. “What?”
“What happened?”
Will opens and closes his mouth a couple of times before he whispers, “You kissed my hand.”
Mike’s face gets redder but while he looks like a deer in headlights, he keeps eye contact with Will.
“Can you say something?” Will asks.
Mike pulls Will toward him but stops when they’re an inch apart. Will’s cheeks flush. “May I?” Will nods and Mike kisses him. Will melts into Mike and Mike’s hands go into Will’s hair. They finally break apart but their foreheads are still touching.
“Wait, did you say that my fever broke?” Mike whispers.
Will pulls his face away from Mike’s. “Oh.”
“Am I sick, Will?”
“Do you not feel sick?”
“I’ve felt shitty for days.”
“Mike,” he chastises but there’s no venom. Mike sheepishly smiles at Will. Will gets up, “I need to get you some more medicine.”
Mike grabs Will’s hand, “Sorry.”
“Don't apologize.”
Mike lets Will’s hand go, so he goes over to where he left the medicine. He comes back over and after Mike takes the medicine, he holds Will’s hand. Will rubs Mike’s knuckles as Mike starts babbling a list of things that distracted him from being sick, clearly trying to justify to Will why it wasn’t obvious that he was sick. Will reassures him that there’s no need to justify it, but he keeps it up so Will stops arguing. There’s no point and it’s not hurting anybody. Mike ends up falling back asleep practically in Will’s lap, Will running his hand through Mike’s hair.