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The Wheeler basement smells like dust and old carpet and something vaguely metallic from the A/C Mike insists still works fine. The windows are cracked just enough to let in cicada noise and the heavy press of late summer air. Everything feels thick. Like time is moving slower on purpose.
Will sits cross-legged on the floor, his sketchbook open but untouched in his lap. He's been staring at the same blank page for ten minutes now, pencil hovering, brain foggy and unable to come up with something interesting to draw. He sneaks a glance up and sees Mike looking incredibly bored.
He's on the couch, peeking at his watch every few minutes. It's a new habit. Not entirely new, he's always been impatient but these recent times it's been different. He isn't even focused on winning whatever racing game he and Dustin are playing.
Too unfocused. Like he's waiting for something to end. Or for an excuse to finally leave.
Dustin notices first. He always does. "Okay," he says, setting down his soda. "What is up with you?" Dustin finally speaks, eyeing Mike.
Mike blinks. "What?"
"You've bailed on like three hangouts this week. You're late today. Your mind is clearly elsewhere." Dustin squints. "And you didn't even complain when Lucas beat you at Mario Kart earlier."
Lucas nods. "That's how I knew something was off."
Mike rolls his eyes but there's no heat behind it. "I'm fine."
Max snorts from her spot on the floor. "You're literally vibrating."
Will keeps his head down. His heart has already started doing that too-fast thing, the one that makes it hard to tell if he's excited or terrified or both. He presses his pencil harder into the paper scribbling nonsense like that might ground him.
Mike shrugs. "I've just been… busy."
"With what?" Lucas asks.
Mike opens his mouth. Closes it. Opens it again. Will looks up then, because he can't help it. Their eyes meet across the basement, and something passes between them, silent and heavy. Mike looks away first.
Dustin's eyebrows shoot up. "Oh my god."
"What?" Mike snaps.
"You hesitated," Dustin says. "That's not a normal hesitation. That's a lying hesitation."
"I wasn't-"
"You're seeing someone," Max says flatly. The room goes quiet and Will's face burns. Mike freezes, like someone's just shined a spotlight directly on him.
"No, I'm not."
Lucas' eyes widen like they just solved the world greatest mystery. "You totally are!"
"I'm not," Mike insists way too fast. "It's not like that."
"So it is like that!" Dustin says, delighted.
"Dude! Since when?"
Mike looks like he wants to sink into the couch cushions and disappear entirely. He drags a hand down his face. "Can you guys not make this a thing?"
"We're not making it a thing," Lucas says.
"We're just asking."
"And being weirdly intense about it," Max adds.
Mike exhales sharply. He looks at Will again, just for a second. There's an apology there but he hasn't even done anything wrong. Yet.
"Ok, fine you got me! I'm seeing someone."
Oh.
Mike is clearly riled up now. "It shouldn't even be this big of an issue I'm here now aren't I? I can't spend time with my girlfriend anymore?" He blurts. "It's not like I'm never here! I can't have a few days out of the week to myself?"
At that, Will's face heats all the way up to his ears. Girlfriend. The word lands somewhere warm in his chest, makes everything inside him feel soft and fizzy, like carbonation. It sounds nice. It is nice. Him being considered Mike's girlfriend. That might be a problem.
"Wow! Didn't know you had any game left in you Wheeler!" Max snickers.
"I knew it!" Lucas sticks his tongue out at his girlfriend. "Hand it over." She rolls her eyes and reaches in her pocket, slapping a five dollar bill into his hand.
"First of all, congrats on the girlfriend and no we're not saying you can't," Dustin says already backpedaling. "Just, ease up a little! Summer's almost over, college is starting. We don't have that much time left where we're all... here. Together. Besides doesn't this remind you of how you were acting a few years ago? Starcourt?"
And, well. He's right but it's not like they're together everyday. Just every other day. He's also right about the other thing. Two months. That's all they've got before things start splintering. Before dorms, and schedules, and distance stretch the party into something looser, something harder to hold onto. Will feels the thought settle heavy in his stomach.
"Whats her name? Did she go to our school?" Max's eyes are wide, this is clearly something exciting for her.
"I'm not answering that! You're just gonna use it to make fun of me."
"Why don't you just bring her over?" Lucas cuts in, always the problem-solver. "You can introduce us and hang out with the party. Two birds, one stone."
Lucas and Dustin high-five like they've cracked some impossible code. Max rolling her eyes at the boys. Will doesn't join in. He glances sideways at Mike instead.
Mike's already looking at him. His brows furrowed, silently asking: Do you want to tell them?
Will does want to. Eventually. He told them he was gay over a year ago, stumbled through it with shaking hands and a voice that barely worked, but he did it. A boyfriend, though... that feels bigger somehow. Heavier. Like something that might tip the balance of everything.
He swallows it down and says nothing.
—
When the party finally disperses, Dustin biking off with a distracted wave, Lucas and Max off to see a movie, and Mike doesn't let Will follow them out. He grabs his wrist and tugs him upstairs, leading Will to his bedroom and shutting the door behind them with his heel before flopping backward onto his bed.
Will locks the door and kicks off his shoes and crawls up beside him, curling into Mike's shoulder like it's a habit they've had forever. Maybe they have.
Mike's fingers slip into Will's hair absent-minded. "I'm-I'm sorry about earlier," he says quietly. "Calling you my..." He trails off.
Will's heart jumps. He squeezes his eyes shut. "Oh. Uhm, I didn't... I don't-" He exhales. "I didn't mind. To be completely honest... I kind of liked it?"
Will braces himself, already cataloguing worst-case scenarios. Mike pulling away. Mike laughing. Him realizing this is all too much and deciding it's easier to walk it back now.
"Oh." Idiot, Will thinks. He should've stayed quiet.
"Can I be honest too?"
Will blinks, then tilts his head up to look at Mike and nods.
Mike's cheeks are pink. He's not exactly smiling but he's not pulling away like Will thought he might. "I didn't hate it either." he says. Then softer "I kind of liked it too."
Will lets out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and tucks himself closer, heart pounding, unraveling into Mikes body.
"Do you want me to call you that? Girlfriend, I mean like frequently? Even when we tell the party?"
Wills heart started to pump faster. He did like the label but wouldn't the party think it's weird? Would his mom? Jonathan?
No. Jonathan would never think Will was weird and if it wasn't weird to him then he had nothing to worry about. They've all been through a lot together, maybe they wouldn't care.
"If I- I mean, yes? I do."
"Ok, ok cool!"
"Cool." Will echoes and then he lets out a soft laugh. Mike hooks his free arm around Will's waist and hoists him on top of him. Will lets out a small yelp, planting his hands on either side of his boyfriend's head to keep himself steady.
"Mike!" he laughs again, god, Mike loves his laugh. "Your mom is literally three doors down. She's gonna hear your loud mouth noises!"
"Mouth noises?" Mike scoffs. "I'm not even that loud. Besides-" He pauses, "-I heard you lock the door. We'll be fine."
Will rolls his eyes, slips a hand into Mike's hair, and leans down to kiss him. Their lips move together, practiced. Mike lets out a quiet, huffy sound and Will immediately pulls back slapping a hand over Mike's mouth.
"See?" Will whispers laughing. "Mouth noises."
Mike laughs into Will's palm and gently grabs his wrist, tugging it away. "You're the world's first girlfriend to hate mouth noises."
Girlfriend.
Heat crawls up Will’s face and his eyes widen, the corners of his mouth tipping up.
”Shut up.” He smiles and dives back in.