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Max throws her cards on the floor.
“You have to be fucking kidding me!” she exclaims.
Dustin and Lucas only shrug, seemingly already accepting of their loss.
“They are cheating, they have to be,” Max continues on, trying to rally her teammates for help, to no avail.
“They’re not cheating, Max,” Lucas promises her. “It’s been like this forever.”
“Unless, of course, you consider secret telepathy powers a form of cheating,” Dustin interjects. “We haven’t been able to completely prove it yet, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time.”
Will rolls his eyes.
“Mike and I don’t have secret telepathy powers, Dustin,” he says.
“Yeah, you guys just suck!” Mike crows, proud and ever the sore winner. He throws Will a smile that Will can’t help but return.
“There, they’re doing it again!” Dustin points.
Max squints suspiciously.
“Okay,” she says. “How about, next round, we switch up the teams?”
Dustin and Lucas flinch.
“Over my dead body, Mayfield!” Mike snaps. “Will and I have been a team since first grade, and that’s not about to change now!”
“I am not switching teams,” Will agrees, nodding. “Mike and I work too well together, why would I sign myself up for failure if I can just be on the team that wins?”
“That’s not very sportsmanship-like of you,” Max grumbles.
“Don’t even try,” Lucas sighs. “Dustin gave up trying to break them up in middle school. No chance.”
Will smiles, watching his friends playfully bicker while they pack up the game.
It’s a weekend, a few weeks into their senior year of high school, and the whole party has reconvened in Mike’s basement for boardgames and movies and snacks.
It has also been six months since Will had started dating Mike Wheeler.
Turbulent six months, that’s for sure. Still, probably the happiest six months Will has had in his entire life.
Turbulent, because that’s just what life is like if you’re seventeen and have survived unspeakable horrors and are also in love with a boy and in your first relationship ever.
Happy, because, well, at the end of the day, it’s Mike. His best friend. His favourite person in the world.
“Okay, anyone want anything from the kitchen before we start the movie?” Mike asks.
The boardgame has been packed up, and the blankets and pillows have been arranged for the second part of the evening. Really, when Will looks at it now, the basement he spent half of his childhood in, not much has changed.
They are still the nerdy kids spending their weekends watching movies and playing games together. He’s well aware that most people in their grade are probably spending the weekend going to parties and getting drunk and making out and living their lives.
Will is very glad he gets to have this, instead.
“We need some more chips,” Dustin says, turning the previous bag over, and watching surprised as a handful of decently sized crumbs fall out onto the carpet. “Whoops.”
Mike groans.
“Man, you’re cleaning that up,” he says. “Right now. I’m not waiting until you have all stomped it so deep into the carpet that the crumbs meld with the carpet fiber.”
Dustin mutters something, but obediently gets to work fishing the crumbs back out of the carpet.
“We also need some more soda,” Max supplies, from where she’s already made herself comfortable on the couch.
“And popcorn,” Lucas adds, next to her.
Mike turns to Will.
“Will?” he asks, voice a whole grade softer.
That, Will is very glad, also has not changed.
“I’m good,” he says. “I still have half of my Reece’s Pieces left. I can come and help you carry everything, though?”
“Yes, please,” Mike says. “Thank you for offering, Will.”
That last part he says with deliberate looks at the others, as if to say ‘see, this is how you behave as a good friend and houseguest’. It’s not very effective. Perhaps not in the least because Mike would have outright refused anyone else offering to help and somehow roped Will into it anyway.
The TV in the Wheeler’s living room is showing some kind of sports game that Will couldn’t pretend to care about if he was paid for it.
The two boys quickly by-pass it and duck into the kitchen, where Karen Wheeler is currently finishing up doing the dishes.
“Oh, hi, boys,” she says, turning around and smiling. “Do you need anything?”
“Just the usual,” Mike says, already rummaging through the pantry for more chips, while Will disappears into the fridge for the soda bottles.
“Okay, well, help yourselves,” Karen says, dries her hands, and exits the kitchen.
Mike dumps a packet of popcorn kernels into a big bowl and puts it in the microwave.
The soft whirring noise of the appliance nearly drowns out the muffled commentary of Ted Wheeler’s game.
“Good job on the win,” Mike says suddenly.
Will looks at him. Mike looks beautiful in the dim light of the kitchen, already dressed for comfort in a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. Will’s hands itch with the urge to reach out and hug him.
“You, too,” Will returns, earning him a smile from Mike.
“You having fun?” Mike asks, softly, lowering his voice and stepping closer so Will can still hear him.
“Yeah,” Will replies just as softly. “Are you?”
Mike nods, but there’s a slight strain around his mouth that Will only knows too well. He looks around the Wheeler kitchen, and when he is absolutely positive that no one is in sight or earshot, he reaches for Mike’s hand.
Mike startles at the contact a little, like he always does when his father is close by. But he doesn’t pull away. Will tries to put as much comfort in the touch as he can.
“You don’t have to do it today,” he whispers, leaning in a bit more.
Mike frowns.
“I said I would, though,” he mutters.
Will shrugs. They have talked about this extensively.
“And I’m telling you, you don’t have to. I can tell you’re nervous, and I get it, I was... I was really nervous too.”
Mike smiles down at him and runs his thumb over Will’s knuckles. Will nearly forgets what he was about to say.
“I... I’m just... there’s no deadline, Mike. If you don’t want to do it today, you don’t have to. No one’s expecting you to.”
Mike groans quietly, lowering his head down to Will’s shoulder for a brief moment. Will leans his own head against Mike’s, turns his nose into his curls.
“Kinda feels like I’m leaving you hanging, though,” Mike confesses into Will’s hoodie.
“You’re not,” Will says decidedly. It’s an important decision for Mike to make, and Will would swallow glass before he pressures Mike to make any decision before he’s ready.
“I told you, I’m not planning on going anywhere. If it takes another week for you to tell them, another year, ten years, I don’t care.”
Mike doesn’t say anything in response, but he does turn his head just the slightest bit and leaves a feather-light kiss on Will’s neck before he steps back again.
Will lets their joined hands fall apart between them. The microwave dings, indicating that the popcorn is done.
Mike takes the bowl and the chips and makes towards the staircase again, looking back to see if Will is coming. Will grabs the soda bottles and follows him back down into the basement.
It’s Lucas’ turn to pick the movie, and Will is a little bit ashamed to say that he doesn’t remember much of it by the time the credits roll. His mind has been elsewhere.
To be exact, his mind has been a couple inches to his right, where Mike is sitting. Their shoulders and legs are knocked together, and their fingers are loosely intertwined underneath the blanket.
Getting to date Mike Wheeler is very possibly the best thing that has ever happened to Will. When they first got together, Will was a little worried if a relationship between them could really work. If things would get awkward with the new dynamic.
Those worries have quickly dissipated. It has not been awkward between them in the slightest. If Will is being honest, not much has changed. They are still Mike and Will, the way they used to be before the whole Upside Down business. They have become joined at the hip again, spending every free second of their day together. They do all the things they used to do, just with a few added bonuses like kissing and holding hands and sleeping in the same bed during sleepovers.
It’s perhaps a good thing that there have not been any dramatic shifts in their dynamic, because their friends seem to not have noticed a difference.
Which is at the root of Will’s distractedness. They haven’t told their friends yet that they’re dating, because Mike hasn’t even told them he likes boys yet.
And the longer Mike waits, the more antsy he gets.
And maybe Dustin is onto something with the whole secret telepathy thing, because Will thinks he can almost hear Mike’s worries through the way his leg bounces up and down rapidly.
Underneath the blanket, Will moves their joined hands over to place them on Mike’s thigh, hoping to offer some more comfort. He hates that Mike is so stressed out over this. He gets it, of course. The circumstances for his own coming out had been less than ideal, and Will had been plenty nervous about it, too.
Still, in the end, it had all turned out better than Will could have dreamed. He has a family who loves him for exactly who he is, and friends who support him no matter what. He wants that for Mike, too, but he understands why it’s so hard for Mike.
At least their friends would be supportive, Will knows that. But there’s no way Mike could ever come out to his parents without being kicked out of the house. Not while Ted Wheeler is around, anyway. After the whole demogorgon thing, Will doesn’t think there’s much left that could shock Karen.
Still, it’s Mike’s decision who he wants to tell and when, and Will respects that he needs his time. Mike isn’t very good at doing the same. He’s gotten it into his head to come out to the party five times this month already, and everytime, the nerves had gotten the better of him and he hadn’t done it.
It eats away at Mike, and Will can only sit and watch helplessly. He feels a little like when El had died and Mike would isolate himself and all Will could do for the first two months was wait for him.
He had to drag Mike out of his room, then, but with this, it’s not quite that simple.
Will isn’t sure what woke him up at first, and his eyes instinctively move around the room, trying to make out shapes in the dark. When he can’t find a threatening figure standing in the corner, he relaxes a little. Still, he reaches his hand out towards Mike’s sleeping bag right next to him. His fingers only meet fabric where Mike should be.
Will frowns and sits up, looks around the dark basement. Dustin is snoring lightly in his sleeping bag. Max and Lucas are still here, too, sleeping close together.
Will’s eyes move to the bathroom. Maybe Mike just went for a midnight pee. But he can’t see the sliver of light under the door that would indicate someone inside.
Before he can really think about it too much, Will has already peeled himself out of his sleeping bag and is tip-toeing towards the basement stairs.
He looks for Mike in the kitchen first, but to no avail. So, he makes his way up the stairs quietly, and there it is, a sliver of light coming from underneath Mike’s bedroom door. Just faintly, but definitely there.
Will breathes out with relief. He steps up to the door and gives it the softest knock he can. Still, it sounds out like a bell tower in the silence of the house.
“Come in,” Mike’s voice comes quietly from inside.
When Will enters the room, only Mike’s bedside table lamp is lit, bathing him in a warm glowing light. Mike is sitting on his bed, hunched over, but looking up at Will now. The shadows are exaggerating his already sharp features, and Will has the sudden urge to paint him.
Instead he closes the door behind himself.
“Hey,” he says quietly.
“Hi,” Mike says. His voice sounds a little off. A little far away. Will doesn’t like the sound of it at all.
He walks closer and sits on the bed next to Mike, close enough for their legs to touch.
“Can’t sleep?” he asks.
Mike shrugs.
“You know, I’m kind of getting déjà vu here,” Will jokes gently.
Mike gives him a questioning look.
“I just,” Will continues. “It’s starting to feel a little like when you locked yourself away after El died.”
Mike frowns, and Will hurries to explain.
“I just mean I can tell this is... hard for you. I get it, I mean, I was so scared of telling everyone. And it’s a big thing to tell people. It’s scary.”
Mike sighs and buries his head in his hands.
“Not that scary compared to what you had to go through,” he mumbles.
Will can only helplessly shrug.
“It shouldn’t have to be,” he says. “You have all the time in the world, Mike. It doesn’t have to be a day before you’re ready.”
Mike looks up sharply.
“I don’t though!” he says desperately. “I already wasted years of your time, and El’s, because I was too scared to face the truth! I already couldn’t tell El, because she’s gone, and now I’m keeping you from what you really deserve because I just can’t stop being such a goddamn coward!”
Will feels the old, familiar sting of loss in his heart that he always feels when his sister comes up in conversation. Still, Mike’s inner turmoil suddenly makes a lot more sense to him.
“You didn’t waste anyone’s time, Mike,” Will says softly. “No second spent with you is a waste, best friends or boyfriends. I know El would agree with me.”
Mike’s eyes are big and dark and pleading, staring at Will with so much helplessness that it breaks Will’s heart a little.
“How can you say that?” Mike asks, sounding genuinely upset now.
“I was such an idiot for years, and now I’ve finally stopped walking around with my hands over my eyes, but I still can’t give you what you deserve, and I don’t understand why it’s so hard for me, and I don’t understand why you’re still being so nice about it!”
Will blinks.
“You’re not an idiot, Mike,” he says softly.
Mike throws his hands up, exasperated.
“See?” he says. “This is exactly what I mean! I don’t deserve you being so nice to me.”
“Mike,” Will says, reaching for Mike’s hands. Mike doesn’t pull away, instead he holds tight onto Will like a lifeline.
“You deserve everything,” Will says sincerely. “You are wonderful and brave and caring and smart and creative and my favourite person in the world. I wouldn’t have been in love with you for as long as I have if you weren’t.”
Mike stares at Will, disbelief written all over his pretty face. Will lifts one of his hands to Mike’s cheek, gently rubbing his thumb over the pale skin as if he could wipe all the bad things away if he’s just gentle enough about it. Mike leans into the touch, eyes not leaving Will’s face.
“I hate this,” Mike says quietly. “I want them to know, but I just... I just don’t know how to tell them.”
“I know,” Will says. The two of them have come up with a dozen different plans for Mike to come out to their friends, but none of them have helped Mike actually go through with it.
“And I hate that I’m dragging you into this again,” Mike continues. “Bad enough that I couldn’t get out of my own room after El died without you. Now I’m making you hold my hand through this, too.”
Will smiles.
“Luckily, I really like holding your hand,” he says.
Mike’s cheeks turn a pale pink under Will’s thumb.
“Well,” he says quietly. “Me, too. But you deserve someone who’s not scared to hold your hand in front of our friends.”
Will gives Mike a look that he hopes conveys how ridiculous Mike is being.
“I,” he says slowly, “deserve someone who watches scary movies with me because he knows I love them even though he can’t sleep for days after. I deserve someone who drives me to school everyday even though it’s an unnecessary detour for him, just to spend a few extra minutes with me. I deserve someone who gives me all the green gummy bears even though they’re his favourite, too. I deserve someone who is protective and loyal and attentive and in love with me.”
Mike looks like he wants to say something, but Will is determined not to let him interrupt.
“And I know it’s hard for you to see sometimes, but you are everything I have ever wanted, Mike. No matter if you think I deserve something else. I don’t want anything else, I just want you.”
Mike looks at him with so much love that Will feels his own face grow warm under the pleasurable weight of it.
“Even when I’m being an idiot?” Mike asks quietly.
“You’re not an idiot,” Will reiterates firmly. “But on the off-chance that you are, yes. Even when you’re being an idiot.”
Mike nods. He leans in until their foreheads knock together softly.
“Hey, Will?” he asks.
“Hm?”
“I think... I could use a hug right now.”
Will doesn’t need to be told twice. He lifts his arms around Mike’s shoulders and pulls him close, his own chin hooked over Mike’s shoulder. Mike lowers his face to bury it in Will’s neck, wrapping his arms around Will’s middle and holding on tight.
“I love you,” Mike says quietly, and Will shivers, feeling Mike’s lips form the words against his skin.
“And I’m sorry I always take so long for everything. I don’t know why all of this is so hard for me.”
Will soothingly runs his hand up and down Mike’s back.
“That’s okay,” he says. “Some things are hard for me, too.”
“Yeah?” Mike asks, hands tightening in Will’s hoodie.
Will swallows heavily.
“Yeah,” he whispers.
There are... things that weigh on him heavily sometimes. Mostly at night, when Mike isn’t sleeping over and Will is convinced that the shadows in the room are moving in to get him. He hasn’t told Mike about it. Usually, when the darkness gets too heavy for Will, he goes and wakes up Jonathan, feeling like a five year old kid needing his big brother to chase the monsters away.
But Jonathan’s left for NYU a month ago, and Will misses him terribly.
“You could tell me, you know,” Mike offers. “If you want.”
And Will wants. He wants to tell him so badly, but he’s not sure if the weight of it all might be too heavy for Mike.
He takes a deep breath.
As if Mike can sense that Will is about to say something very important, he draws back from their hug to look Will in the eye. He looks concerned. Will reaches for his hands again, and Mike meets him halfway.
“It’s just,” Will starts out, voice already shaky.
“I worry sometimes. That I’m... that I’m a bad person. That I don’t... deserve to be this happy.”
Will feels his eyes starting to water, and Mike looks like he desperately wants to say something, but bites his lip, letting Will find the words.
“When El... when she died. I was so... I didn’t know what to do. We didn’t have a lot of time together, she and I, but she was still my sister, you know? She was my sister, and I loved her, and I... I can’t believe that she’s gone. I miss her so much.
“And it just feels wrong, you know? That she suffered so much, and that she’s gone now, and I just... I’m the happiest I’ve ever been. And that just doesn’t feel right. Not when she’s not here anymore.”
Will swallows audibly, and two twin tears roll down his cheeks, leaving a burning hot trail.
“Sometimes,” he says quietly. “Sometimes it feels like the cost for my happiness was her life. And it’s... it’s really hard to live with that.”
Mike softly shakes his head, but he doesn’t try to say anything. Will squeezes his hands, trying to gather up strength for what he has to say next.
“I know I said I didn’t want to be a replacement,” he says. “But I feel like it sometimes. She died, and now I live in her room and get to date the boy she loved. And I know,” he adds hurriedly when Mike opens his mouth to, undoubtedly, strongly disagree.
“I know I’m not a replacement for her. Not to you, not to my family, not to our friends. And I know that you and El wouldn’t have worked out even if she was still here. I know that you love me, and that I’m not just second-best to you. I know that, Mike.”
Mike nods very seriously and closes his mouth again. He holds Will’s hands a bit tighter nevertheless, as if to silently confirm that statement.
“It’s just hard,” Will continues, sniffling. “To reconcile all of that. To love you and grieve her and not feel like a horrible person because of it. Like I’m betraying her somehow.”
Mike nods again, but this time he carefully untangles their hands to bring them up to Will’s face, and gently wipes the tears away. His hands are warm and familiar, and Will leans into the touch, exhaling deeply.
“I don’t know if it helps at all,” Mike says softly, in that very special tone that has made Will’s heart beat faster since elementary school.
“But from where I’m standing, you’re not a bad person. You’re the best person I know, Will. You were a better friend to El than I was. You were always there for her, just like you’re always there for everyone. No matter what, you’re kind and patient and you help whenever you can. You always hold my hand when I’m scared and you remember things about the stories I write, even though I talk way too much about it, but you still always listen, because you genuinely care about what I have to say.
“Even after everything that has happened to you, you still see the good in everyone, and you still have a way of looking at the world like something beautiful, and you’re still so kind and sweet and wonderful. There’s no way you could ever betray anyone you care about, especially not El. Especially not with this.”
Will’s vision swims with the tears welling up in his eyes and he can’t help it when a small sob forces its way out of his throat.
“Okay,” he hiccups.
Mike smiles at him sweetly and leans in to press long kisses to each of Will’s cheek.
“And, Will,” he continues when he sits back again. “You deserve to be happy. More than anyone I know. And it’s not... Denying yourself the things that make you happy, that won’t bring her back. You didn’t trade your happiness for her life. She made her decision, and all we can do now is move on and live our lives.”
Will laughs wetly and wipes at his eyes.
“Sounds like good advice,” he says, attempting a genuine smile.
“Yeah, well, someone very smart helped me come to that realisation,” Mike says softly.
“I didn’t realise you talked to Dustin about the process of grieving,” Will jokes weakly.
Mike smiles and rolls his eyes.
“Seriously though, Will,” he says. “You have no idea how much you helped me when I was suffocating under the weight of her... of her leaving. You saved me, you always do.”
Will hums, thinking back to those months. Well, he thinks. While they’re already on the topic...
“That was hard for me, too,” he admits quietly. “Not that I wouldn’t do it again. I’d do anything for you, Mike, you know that. But still, seeing you so... unlike yourself, that was horrible. It kind of felt like some part of you had gone missing, and I didn’t know if I’d ever get it back. You were so miserable all of the time, and all I wanted was to make you happy, but I didn’t know if I could. I was so scared I’d lost you for good.”
Mike’s smile has slipped off his face.
“Oh,” he says quietly. “I... I didn’t know that.”
Will shrugs.
“You were already suffering enough as it were. I didn’t want to burden you with my stuff as well.”
Mike shakes his head vehemently.
“No,” he says firmly. “No, I should have gotten my head out of my ass and been there for you, too. I mean, I knew losing her was hard on you. But I was too busy with my own shit, and I should have paid more attention.”
“You’re paying attention now,” Will offers gently.
“Not enough,” Mike decides. “But I promise I’ll be better in the future. Starting right now.”
Will can’t help but laugh, absolutely enamored with the determined look on Mike’s face.
“Okay,” he agrees. “And I promise to tell you more often when I feel bad.”
“Please do,” Mike says, and he sounds so painfully sincere, like it’s an urgent priority of his to know how Will feels at any given time.
“Okay,” Will repeats, feeling lighter already. “I think I could use a hug now.”
Mike all but tackles him onto the bed.
Will makes a surprised noise as his back hits the mattress, but his arms come up around Mike’s shoulders on instinct, holding him close. Not that Mike could be much closer, with the two of them pressed together from feet to shoulders. Despite the weight of Mike’s body on top of Will’s, Will feels like he can breathe easier now.
“Thank you,” he mutters into Mike’s shoulder. “For listening.”
“Anytime,” Mike insists. “Did... I mean, are you... do you feel better now?”
Will thinks for a moment. The loss of his sister is always going to hurt, and maybe the guilt will still get the better of him every now and then. But for now, with the weight of that confession off his chest and with Mike in his arms, he finds that he does feel better.
“Yeah,” he says. “I do. It helped, talking about it, I mean.”
Mike pushes himself up just a little bit, looking down at Will.
“That’s good,” he says softly. “I’m glad you told me. And that you came to find me.”
Will is already in the middle of saying, “Yeah, of course,” but Mike leans down and kisses the words right out of Will’s mouth.
He still tastes faintly of mint toothpaste, and a little bit like the salt from Will’s tears, and he’s everything Will has ever wanted, lips soft and mouth warm.
Will reaches up to tangle one of his hands in Mike’s curls and Mike makes a little noise against Will’s lips, kissing Will deeper. Will angles his face up a little and one of Mike’s hands comes up to cradle his jaw, using his thumb to gently ease Will’s mouth open. Will obliges immediately, and then Mike licks into his mouth, and Will’s brain stops working.
When Will wakes up, the sun is already shining golden through the window. It’s lighter than he remembers the basement being.
He blinks, looking around, puzzled. It’s then that he realises that he’s not in the basement anymore. Right. Him and Mike kissed on Mike’s bed for a long time after their emotional talk, and then they just stayed there and fell asleep tangled together, exhausted from all the talking and crying.
Mike, Will finds, is still asleep. His head is on Will’s shoulder, mouth a little open, arm slung tightly around Will’s middle and one of his legs in between Will’s.
Will sinks back into the pillows, enjoying the feeling of the boy he loves sleeping in his arms for exactly ten seconds before he realises something else, and sits up with lightning speed. This, of course, throws Mike right off Will, and he wakes with a start, looking around equal parts alarmed and sleepily confused.
“Will?” he asks.
Will takes him by the shoulders.
“We fell asleep in your room,” he says urgently.
Mike blinks back at him like Will is speaking a different language.
“Yeah?” he asks, voice still raspy from sleep. “I can see that? And?”
Will wants to shake him until Mike is more awake and realises the implications of this.
“And,” he says. “Max, Lucas and Dustin are downstairs. They’re probably already awake and wondering where we are!”
“Oh, shit,” Mike says, and Will can nearly see the lightbulb going off over his head.
“Yeah,” he agrees. “Oh, shit. They’ll probably think... I mean, I don’t know what they’ll think. What are we gonna tell them?”
Mike looks less panicked about this than Will expected, given the fact that Mike is the one who isn’t out to their friends yet. If anything, he looks strangely calm. Like something has settled in him overnight.
“We could,” Mike says slowly. “We could just tell them the truth.”
“We- what?” Will asks, not sure he heard that correctly.
Mike shrugs, but he twists his hands in the covers.
“I’m just saying,” he says. “I’m sick of pretending I don’t want to hold your hand all of the time when they’re around.”
“I-” Will says. “I... Okay.”
Mike looks up, hopeful.
“Yeah?”
Will wonders if he’s maybe still asleep and just having a weird dream.
“Yeah,” he says faintly. “I mean, yeah. Right now?”
Something determined settles on Mike’s face, and he nods.
“Yeah, right now.”
When they close the basement door behind themselves and descend down the stairs, the others are already awake, sitting up in their sleeping bags.
Dustin notices them first.
“Hey!” he calls out. “We were wondering where you two went.”
Mike looks at Will. Will nods, gives him a smile that he hopes is encouraging.
“Yeah,” Mike says, and there’s something about the way he says it that has the other three sit up a little straighter.
Mike swallows so loud that Will can hear it. He watches Mike wipe his, no doubt nervously-clammy, hands on his sweatpants and wishes desperately that he could just hold Mike’s hand.
“I, uh,” Mike says. Looks at Will again.
“Will and I... we have to tell you guys something.”
Dustin gasps loudly.
“I knew it!” he says, pointing excitedly. “The telepathy thing is real!”
Max hits him hard and Dustin yelps.
Mike takes a deep, shaky breath, ignoring the disturbance. Will can almost taste his nervousness in the air.
“I...” Mike says. He closes his mouth, opens it again, looks around the room as if he could find the right words there.
Will can’t help himself. He gently nudges Mike’s hand with his own, just a gentle little reminder that he’s there, if Mike needs him. Mike immediately grabs Will’s hand and holds on so tight Will is absentmindedly worried about bruises.
All three pairs of eyes in front of them go to their joined hands.
“Will and I are dating,” Mike says, voice steady and sure, and there’s something in his eyes, something vulnerable and defiant.
The room is silent for a second.
“Wait, run that by me one more time?” Dustin asks, shaking his head like he didn’t hear properly.
“Will and I are dating,” Mike repeats, and Will doesn’t know if he’s ever known anyone as brave as Mike Wheeler.
“Like, dating-dating?” Lucas asks. “Like boyfriends-dating?”
Mike frowns.
“Do you know any other kind of dating?” he asks.
“No, no,” Lucas says. “I mean. That’s cool.”
“Yeah!” Dustin hurriedly adds. “That’s great! Happy for you guys, I mean, I wasn’t going to say anything but...”
He exchanges glances with Lucas.
“We were all cool with Will being into guys, but you were like, super touchy with him,” Lucas finishes, looking back at Mike.
Dustin nods eagerly.
“Yeah, like, you two were always kind of... closer than the rest of us, but after Will told us, you almost got even closer. We didn’t wanna assume, especially because that’s just what you guys are like, but. Yeah, it does make sense.”
Mike looks back at Will. The emotion in his eyes nearly knocks the air out of Will’s chest. He squeezes Mike’s hand.
“Yeah,” Mike says quietly, still looking at Will before turning back to the group.
“I... took pretty long to figure it out, but I’m really glad I finally did. I think... I think it was always supposed to be Will.”
Will thinks he’s about to pass out.
“Oh, wow,” Dustin says quietly.
Max hasn’t said anything yet, she just sits there, eyebrows raised so high they nearly disappear into her hairline.
“That,” she says finally. “Makes so much sense.”
She doesn’t elaborate on it, but Will reckons he knows what she means. There’s assenting murmurs from the rest of the party.
Mike clears his throat, still looking a little bit on edge, despite everything.
“So, just, you know,” he says. “To be clear. I... I like boys. I’m in love with Will. That... is that... are you guys okay with that?”
His voice is shaking just the slightest bit now, holding onto Will’s hand like he doesn’t know how to let go again.
Lucas smiles.
“Yeah, dude,” he says. “Of course we are.”
Dustin nods along.
“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?”
Max sighs and gets up out of her sleeping bag.
“Alright, you two,” she says. “Bring it in. I think I still owe Will a coming-out-acceptance hug anyway.”
She walks up to them and, despite being smaller than both of them, pulls Mike and Will down into a crushing hug. Will can hear Mike exhale like he’s been holding his breath for years. In a way, Will figures he has been. They both have.
“Group hug!” Dustin shouts and scrambles to get up, pulling Lucas along with him to join, wrapping his arms around them, Lucas not far behind.
In that hopeless tangle of the five of them, Mike is still holding Will’s hand, and Will can feel the tension falling off of him like a tidal wave crashing down. His hand relaxes, no longer a vice-like grip around Will’s, but something comfortable, something familiar.
He meets Mike’s eyes over Max’s shoulder and Mike smiles at him, something so happy and relieved, and Will thinks he could burst with how proud he is of Mike.
It’s a good thing, he thinks, smiling back. They deserve to be happy.