Archive of Our Own

Tick, tock, tick, tock. 

Will’s eyes remained glued to the clock on the wall, counting down every second until 21:50pm to be prepared at 22:00. 

Tick, tock, tick, tock. 

Everyone else was immersed in the game. It wasn’t his turn anyways, and being quiet wasn’t unusual for him, so he didn’t bother looking back. Nobody would notice he was completely absent. 

Tick, tock, tick, tock. 

He’d ask later about what they did. 

Tick, tock, tick, tock. 

21:47. 3 minutes. 

Tick, tock, tick, tock. 

Their voices were getting louder; it was probably Lucas and Dustin fighting over to defend or attack. Something about the odds being against them, and it’d be easier to defend instead of attacking. 

It was almost ten to nine... come on... 

As much as he loved D&D, right now, he had other things in mind. 

He couldn’t concentrate on the clock, however. Their voices got louder, again. God, could they not just discuss in a normal tone? 

“Will-!” 

Huh. 

Will snapped his head away from the clock, now sitting face to face with Dustin, Lucas and Mike looking all worriedly at him. He hated the look. They looked as if he were a kid who just woke up from a nightmare. Even Mike. He was just dissociating, not as if he were in a trance or anything. 

When he let out a deep breath, he suddenly felt the layer of sweat coating his skin. It wasn’t cold sweat- far from it. He felt extremely hot. Nothing external had to do with it, it was more about his own emotions and thoughts, embarrassingly. But the heat that the boys were releasing from spending almost half a day playing games non stop could be a nice excuse to explain why he was so sweaty. 

“Dude, we’ve been calling you for like a minute,” Lucas sat up, bending over the table a bit and leaning his weight on his elbows that were propped on his knees, “You’re sweating a ton.” 

“Are you okay?” Mike asked. “We can postpone the campaign and call your mom-” 

“No,” Will answered, keeping calm. Anyone but his mother, please. Not right now. If she came over and found out he was distracted while playing D&D (his all-time favourite game he could spend days yapping about without getting bored) and sweating for apparently no reason at all, he’d be in quarantine for the next month. 

“There’s no need to call her,” Will relaxed his shoulders. He hadn’t even noticed his position... well, it was easier to understand now why they were so worried about him, with the tense form he was sitting in. “It’s just really hot down here. And it’s late. I think I’ll be going to bed.” 

“Really? Shucks, man, we were so close,” Dustin sighed while reaching over to grab the Dungeons and Dragons box to put everything away.  

“Yeah, but we can continue next weekend,” Lucas answered.  

“Huh...” Will’s eyes widened as he finally came to the realisation that they were cleaning up. Oh, no, wait-! If they cleaned up and went home, then he’d have to sleep in the basement and Mike would go up to his room and- 

“Wait- you guys can continue playing. We had planned to stay up until late anyways, I don’t want to be the reason you guys are forced to leave,” Will tried to keep his voice from wavering. “I’ll find somewhere else to sleep.” 

If they left now, his plan was fucked. Jonathan was going to come back after the campaign and sleep in the basement, so he couldn’t hide in there either. He had to have Mike’s room, alone, and give them a good excuse to sleep there. It would be weird for him to plead to stay there without any reason. 

“We can wait-” Lucas started. 

“Seriously. You guys have been extremely excited about this, and I’ve been half asleep the entire time. I’m not going to be on track for next week. I’ll stay in Mike’s room.” 

“Oh, yeah, sure…” Mike mumbled. “I mean…” 

The three other boys stared at each other, contemplating their choices. Mike seemed more hesitant about everything. Dustin, however, didn’t take much time to speak his mind. 

“If you say so,” He shrugged, throwing the box into the corner of the room. “Then, rest in peace Will the Wise. We’ll see you in our next adventure.” 

“Yeah,” Lucas flicked the cleric off the board, earning a stern look from Mike. “Er… sorry.” 

Will almost cheered out in joy. Phew, that was easier than he expected. He waved goodbye to them and started heading out of the basement. 

“Will!” Mike suddenly called. 

Will turned around, seeing Mike on his feet, his hand clutching the stair railing. His eyes were wide open. He was almost… inspecting him, trying to see what he was hiding. Mike could always read him like a book when he was younger, and Will swore that it had changed, but… 

Something inside him told him to be careful. Maybe he was wrong and he couldn’t let his guard down. 

“If you need anything, you have my walkie talkie to contact us, and you can come back down whenever… I won’t enter the room just in case you’re asleep.” 

Mike seemed scared, almost. Desperate. Desperate for Will to trust him again like he used to do. 

“Yeah,” Will smiled, his fingers sliding onto the door handle. “Okay. Goodnight.” 

“Night!” 

“Sleep well, dude!” 

Will closed the door. He made sure to not make much noise, since Mr. Wheeler and Mike’s little sister, Holly, were both asleep on the couch. Next to them was a clock. 

21:52pm. 

He had enough time to prepare. The Wheelers wouldn’t mind if he stole some snacks, right? 

He rummaged quietly through the open kitchen. The party went out shopping before for sweets to eat while playing, and they accidentally bought tons more because of a miscalculation.  

Will found them in a large bag next to the cereal boxes in a cupboard. He didn’t know for sure what he’d be in the mood for, so he just grabbed the entire thing. Their taste in food was similar, so he didn’t have much to worry about him not enjoying something. 

He spent a few more minutes grabbing extra blankets from the living room, a few drinks and salty snacks that had already been bought days prior. 

One last look… 

22:01pm. 

Agh- he was late, just a bit. Well, his visitor wasn’t exactly known for being on time. He had time for a shower. Maybe he was already outside, getting soaked in the rain… oh well. 

Carefully, he made his way up the stairs and left his collection of ammunition for the night at the bedroom door before taking a quick and warm shower and changing into his pajamas. He then grabbed one last thing: a towel, an extra one. Not for himself. 

Each person in the house had a different towel, but somehow, the only one left there was Mike’s. As long as he didn’t find out that he was using it on one of his least favourite people. 

He yanked the blue towel from the hanger and rushed into Mike’s room. Giving the bag and blankets a couple of kicks, he made space to finally close the door. There was no lock, which was something that he really wished Mike put up, especially since- 

The rain clattering against the ground was loud, but not loud enough to hide the banging against the window. 

Will perked up in surprise, the towel immediately slipping from his hands. For a second, he couldn’t make out who the silhouette belonged to. 

But then… 

He almost tripped on the bags while crouching down to grab the towel and running towards the window that separated him from the other person. He clicked the lock open and opened the window. The cold air immediately hit him, but he ignored it for the boy. 

“Chance!” Will helped Chance jump inside the room without falling and closed the window behind him. 

“I’ve been waiting out there for a whole ten minutes!” Chance complained, his now wet and pitch black hair curling and sticking to his brown and delicate skin. It was such a sight to see, Will was so lucky. 

“That’s not my fault. Why only choose to come early when it’s raining?” Will grinned. He knew it was partially his fault, but teasing Chance was fun.  

He wrapped the towel around his shoulders and head as the other puffed like a child. A light chuckle slipped out from his behaviour while he held the tips of the towel together, wrapping him in a small cocoon. Only his face peaked out. 

“It started raining five minutes after I left the house,” Chance muttered, his arms snaking around Will’s waist. The sudden cold touch made Will shiver, but he didn’t care that much for now, not when their faces were suddenly so close to each other. “You weren’t here on time either, I could’ve died from hyperthermia…” 

“It’s not… hyperthermia…” Will absentmindedly mumbled to him. He was too busy looking over Chance’s beautiful facial features to correct him completely. Such a pretty sight that he could only stare at whenever they snuck around together. They barely got together at school because of their different social groups and outside of school… Well, Will still wasn’t allowed out without someone accompanying him.  

Chance didn’t press on the time he told him about most of his friends and family being overprotective of him nor mentioned his disappearance, which was one of the main reasons he fell for him in the first place. He respected his boundaries and treated him like any other teenager, even while being zombie boy to those who weren’t his friends. 

He ran his hand over Chance’s soft cheek, his pointer finger trailing over his jaw. If he could, he’d stare at this man for hours, draw him all day every day and even sculpture his sharp features just because he wanted to. And the fact that they kept being separated just increased his need. 

“You seem distracted, Byers,” Chance leaned their foreheads together, his voice making Will look up and letting their eyes meet. Will wasn’t sure if he enjoyed more staring at Chance’s bod or looking into his dark eyes, accentuated by his long and now wet eyelashes. It was breathtaking. 

It wasn’t long before Chance cut the eye contact, looking as distracted as Will himself as he eyed him up, until he locked his gaze on his lips. 

“Mhm,” Chance hummed, pulling Will closer by the torso. 

“I think you’re the one getting distracted, Pérez,” Will used Chance’s surname the way he had used his own. 

“Maybe…” Chance mumbled, pulling their foreheads apart to instead bury his face into Will’s neck. He inhaled deeply, capturing all of Will’s scent. “At least I admit it...” 

Before he could do anything else, Will pushed him away, earning a groan from the other. Not because he didn’t want this, far from that, but because Chance was still soaking. Will’s pajamas were starting to get wet, and he couldn’t ignore it any longer. 

“Dry off, dumbass,” Will shoved him lightly before jumping onto Mike’s bed and reaching for the bag of sweets. “Don’t want to get Mike’s room wet.” 

Chance started aggressively drying his hair, making water fly everywhere. Will wasn’t sure if he was doing it on purpose, knowing how much his boyfriend adored Mike Wheeler and how much he enjoyed messing around with him. He gave him a playful kick on the side, watching with giddiness as Chance doubled over dramatically. 

“Ah! You harm me, William,” Chance put a hand against his forehead, resting the towel on his shoulder. “You treat me so harshly.” 

Will grinned and grabbed a packet of Reese’s Pieces. He popped one into his mouth like popcorn, feeling like he was watching a theatre show with Chance’s acting display. 

“Sure,” Will sat up from his spot and crossed his legs. “Just take your jacket off and come over here.” 

Chance had come in with a denim jacket, probably the worst thing to have on in this weather. It was the only piece of clothing that was wet, so Will wouldn’t mind cuddling with him as long as he took it off. His pants were as well, but only around the bottom. 

“Pass me one,” Chance gestured with his head towards the pieces while shaking his jacket off and kicking away his shoes. The denim jacket was thrown onto the bed, showing off Chance’s gray t-shirt and… 

Absolutely mesmerising biceps. The way they flexed when he put his hands on his waist kept him absolutely fixated to his body instead of face. He didn’t even notice his bored face because of the wait for the candy. 

“Get in here,” Will moved to make space, his eyes attached to Chance’s arms. He just wanted to lay in his embrace and feel the hard work he put into them with his hands. 

“Nuh uh, not yet,” Chance said while wrapping the towel around his hair. “Throw me a piece. I wanna catch it with my mouth.” 

Seriously? Man, and here Will wanted to sit around and talk about their week, cuddle, maybe kiss, and Chance was acting like a child. He should’ve expected it, dating a popular athlete at school. But, it was endearing, so he couldn’t say much more against it.  

“Alright, then,” Will grabbed a yellow one, his favourite colour. “Open wide. If it falls on the ground, you’re eating it.” 

Chance nodded, unfazed by the threat. A dumb smile now decorated his face and his eyes followed the piece of candy in Will’s hand. He crouched down a bit, opening his mouth wide so Will could throw it. 

Will closed his left eye and furrowed his brows in concentration. Once he got the right angle, he threw the candy towards Chance. 

The other boy caught it in his mouth and lifted his arms into the air in success. If they weren’t in such a high risk of getting caught, Will knew he’d probably start making those weird noises the basketball team made when winning a game. He chuckled at the thought, eating the rest of the sweets himself. 

“Whaddya think?” 

“You’re such a dork.” 

Chance got onto the bed next to him with his stomach down. Will trailed his fingers over the bicep and a silly smile grew on his face as Chance flexed them. He wanted to feel them up entirely, but not yet… not yet… Not while he was rummaging for different sweets. 

“Don’t you like Reese’s?” Will asked, stretching his arms out under Mike’s pillow. 

“Yeah, just not really in the mood. My sister brought a ton home from a birthday and I ended up eating them all myse-.” 

Chance stopped mid sentence and ceased his movements, catching Will by surprise and causing him to sit up a bit. Was there something weird in the bag? 

“What-?” 

Two seconds later, Chance’s face was brightening up as he pulled a bar of something out. He immediately started unwrapping it. 

No. 

God, no. 

“I didn’t know you had Three Musketeers!” The cheerful Chance exclaimed while munching on the disgusting nougat. 

“You like those things?” Will grimaced. The only reason there were so many hoarded in there were because of Dustins’s everlasting unhealthy obsession with it. “It’s pure nougat! There’s nothing good about them!” 

Chance shook his head, shoving the rest into his mouth and humming in pure delight. If Will didn’t know much about being possessed, then he would’ve thought that Chance was brainwashed. He didn’t know anyone aside from Dustin who enjoyed them. 

“’ats whe’e you, ba’e, a’ wong-,” Chance mumbled, almost spitting his food out and making Will recoil. 

“Swallow, please.” 

Chance covered his mouth with his fist and rapidly chewed the bar in his mouth. A few seconds later, he swallowed and sighed. 

“You’re wrong,” Chance simply stated, turning to the side to face Will. He leaned his head weight on his right elbow. 

“No, I’m not,” Will answered. Scratch what he thought earlier. They did not have the same taste. Far from it. 

“They suck.” 

“Then why do you buy them?” Chance asked, reaching to grab another bar from the bag, “Because there seems to be an unlimited amount of them.” 

Will snatched the bar away. If he saw Chance eating another one, he’d have to break up with him. Dating a Three Musketeer’s enjoyer was illegal in his world. 

“Hey-!” 

“Dustin is obsessed with them.” 

He grabbed a bag of crisps and threw the bag on the floor, far away from Chance. He opened the bag and forced his boyfriend to eat a decent snack. 

“I don’t get the hype.” 

Chance took a look at the flavour. It was salt and vinegar, Will’s favourite. Chance enjoyed them as well, so he didn’t mind grabbing a few. 

“Who’s Dustin again? Henderson?” Chance wondered, tapping the crisp against his chin before sliding it into his mouth. He had a weird habit of licking the taste off of crisps before eating them. 

“Yes, the boy you and Andy can’t stop tormenting,” Will wanted to scream at Chance, but couldn’t. Because, as much as he loved Dustin, Chance’s motives for everything he did were reasonable, somehow. And he wasn’t in the mood of talking about this again and making another empty promise about telling him the truth about everything when he was ready. 

Will was never going to be ready. Besides, he didn’t want Chance to get dragged into all this. 

“Yeah,” He simply said. 

There was a short silence, the only noise being the crunch of the crisps as they ate. Sometimes, he wished things were simpler. He wished he never got taken to the stupid Upside Down and have his life ruined by Vecna. He could be normal. Maybe that way, he wouldn’t have to sneak around with Chance every time they wanted to meet up. 

Will was getting into deep thought when he suddenly noticed a smell that brought him back to reality. An awful stench. He hadn’t even realised it, but it had been in the bedroom for a while...  

He sniffed around, trying to somehow follow the scent like a dog without moving from his spot. There wasn’t much of a change, but it did grow stronger when he was facing… 

“Chance,” Will eyed him. The smell was coming from him. “Can’t you smell that?” 

“Hm?” Chance raised an eyebrow, his hand looking through the bag of crisps. “Oh, yeah… that. It kind of appeared out of nowhere. I didn’t notice it when I entered, only when I got comfortable. I didn’t say anything though. Should I have?” 

“Yeah…” Will’s expression dropped at the realisation. His eyes drifted up towards the towel on Chance’s head. “Now that I think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mike put his towel in the wash.” 

The plastic crumpling from the bag Chance was holding came to a halt. Slowly, he turned his head towards Will. His mouth dropped open, as if he wanted to say something, but nothing came out. When he finally found something to say, he was stressing out. 

“You… you gave me Wheeler’s towel?!” Chance almost shrieked. His freak out could’ve been simply because it was Michael’s, but considering the added information about the lack of cleanliness… 

Chance yanked the towel off his head and gave it a testing sniff. A second later, he was gagging. 

Will let out a bark of laughter as Chance started squealing and trying to get the towel far from him. When it reluctantly didn’t, he grabbed it and threw it against the wall. 

It accidentally hit a poster, making it drop to the floor. 

Will’s brain first decided to think about how strong Chance was to so easily throw a framed poster over with a towel instead of the noise it made when it dropped first against the small patch of non carpeted floor, and then when it fell forward onto the ground. 

Shit. 

Chance quickly glanced at Will, both now alert just in case anyone came up. There was no noise from the stairs… 

“My bad… I didn’t think that-.” 

A static coming from the walkie talkie shocked them both. Will grabbed it from the nightstand the second it made a sound and opened the antenna. 

“Will, are you okay? We heard something fall and we weren’t sure if it was from you. Over,” Mike’s voice crackled through the speakers. He still said over, what a dumbass… 

Will noticed Chance rolling his eyes and gave him a glare. Every time Mike was just a bit worried about Will, Chance would get jealous. It was sooo dumb… 

Will cleared his throat, forcing a tired voice, as if he’d just woken up. 

“Mhm… yeah,” He groggily said, yawning at the end to add to the act. “Not sure where it came from, but it woke me up.” 

“Right, thank goodness. Get back to sleep, okay? If you need anything…” 

“Yes, I’ll contact you, Mike. Seriously, how old do you think I am?” Will interrupted with bitterness in his tone. Chance fist pumped the air at his attitude towards Mike, almost making him laugh. 

“Right, sorry… sleep tight…” 

Will said a quick goodnight before closing it off and leaving it on the side. Turning back, he was met with Chance’s sly grin. 

“I liked that,” He tilted his head and crawled towards Will until he was hovering over him. “God, can you speak to him like that every day?” 

“You’re such a jealous man,” Will smirked, yanking Chance’s collar and pulling their faces closer, centimetres away. “I’ll have to reject your petition, because seeing you getting so sour every time we talk reminds me of how much you actually need me.” 

Will let go of Chance, his smirk growing wider as Chance’s cheeks grew a shade of pink. His lips dried up in seconds but he tried his best to hide it by licking them. It just made it worse. He had him wrapped right around his finger, and it got him hyped up. 

“Clean your mess up.” 

Chance stayed there, taking heavy breaths before pulling away from Will’s grip to put the poster back in it’s spot. He knew he wouldn’t touch the towel again, and to be honest, he didn’t blame him. It smelt crazy bad. But he needed it out. 

“Leave the towel outside the door.” 

Chance huffed. He picked it up with a pinch and quietly opened the door before throwing it in front. Will would have to clean it up later just to save some work from Mrs. Wheeler. 

“Anything else, your highness?” Chance closed the door behind him, bowing over like Rui Kamishiro in the Showtime Ruler 3DMV (ok sorry cries). 

“Nothing. You can come back now, servant,” Will sat up against the bed frame, maintaining a higher and more confident position. 

It was quickly ruined as Chance basically sprinted into the bed and tackled him into a tight hug, shaking the bed and bumping the bedrest against the wall. His hands roamed over his sides, relentlessly tickling the hell out of poor William Byers. Said boy burst into a fit of laughter, his feet kicking the air. Chance new exactly where to get him. 

“Hah- not faiirr-!” He whined in the quietest tone he could to not call more attention from the party. “The one- time- I have t-the upper hand!!” 

Chance snickered, grasping Will’s waist to change their positions (with him now under Will and Will straddling his waist), and calming down the tickling. His fingers came to a halt, and he started using them to trail down his sides. Slowly, but surely, he slipped them under Will’s pajama shirt. 

“Why do you think I did it? William Byers having the upper hand against me? Pfft, sure, pretty boy,” Chance squeezed his hips, making him jump in his spot. “You’re so sensitive.” 

Will covered his face in embarrassment, only peeking out through his fingers to pout at Chance. 

“You really are a jerk sometimes, you know that?” Will lowered his hands from his face, using them to cage Chance under his body. “Do you even remember why I invited you over?” 

Chance crossed his arms behind his head nonchalantly. Something Will found very cute was that, no matter how much he tried to act unaffected by anything, Chance’s face always scrunched up so cutely when he was thinking. Will wanted to grab his cheeks and violently shake him around. 

“Let me think…” He exhaled. “Maybe… to cuddle?” 

He put his hands back in their previous spot. His fingers lightly ghosted over the skin of his waist, making Will involuntarily gasp. 

“Or to kiss,” Chance’s voiced dropped into a murmur as he leaned closer to Will’s face. “Maybe… to make out… But Will Byers isn’t that kind of boy, right? Or am I wrong?” 

Will let out a breathy chuckle. His heart was racing in his chest. 

“For sure you are…” 

In reality, he invited Chance over just to hang out. He didn’t mind what they did, he just wanted to be around him and feel him close. 

Will placed one hand on Chances arm and the other on his shoulder to get comfortable on his lap. They were so close…  

Will tilted his head a bit and his eyes started fluttering closed. The last thing he saw when he closed his eyes was Chance reciprocating. The jock’s gaze stayed attached to his lips the entire time. 

The last thing he heard- was static. 

Will sighed, opening his eyes to be greeted by Chance’s pissed off expression. He couldn’t blame him, what did Mike even want now? 

Chance grabbed the walkie talkie for Will so he didn’t have to move from his comfortable position and opened the antenna.  

Between a muffle of Lucas and Dustin bickering in the background, again, Mike’s worried voice rang through the speaker. 

“Will- are you okay, seriously? I heard another noise-.” 

“Mike, it wasn’t me,” Will sternly answered.  

“I know, but it just sounded so close. Did you fall? You don’t move around much when you sleep so I wasn’t sure-.” 

“No.” 

Mike continued, and continued. There was something so wrong with him, he was acting weird and it was creeping Will out. Chance put his face up against Will’s jaw, his nose barely grazing the walkie talkie in his hand. It helped Will relax. 

“Mike, just please let me sleep,” Will said, his free hand twirling one of Chance’s hair strands. 

“I know, I just-.” 

The line went quiet for a moment, surprising both boys. 

“Mike?” Will asked. 

“Yeah! Sorry, my bad. Bye. Good night.” 

And it cut off. That was weird. 

“What was that?” Chance asked while Will threw the walkie talkie to the side. Now that he hang up, Chance was able to plant small kisses along his jaw without worrying about making much noise. He even gave a few sucks under his chin, wanting to leave a mark there. 

“I don’t know. He’s been acting off, but this has been the weirdest yet,” Will said, and then scolded Chance. “Don’t leave any hickeys…” 

He reached his hand out to his jaw and lifted it up to sit face to face. He took his time again and  was almost eating Chance’s freckles with his mind. His boyfriend was built like a God. He couldn’t stay more than a minute mad at him. 

“Mhm, ignore him, baby,” Chance murmured. The nickname took Will by surprise, but he didn’t mind a bit. 

“I’ll try to, if he doesn’t call again.” 

The corner of Chance’s lip turned up a  bit. Will knew he was planning to have him distracted from the walkie talkie, so he had nothing to worry about.  

“I’ll make sure to beat him up if he touches you,” Chance said his last few words before bringing Will into a kiss. 

Will felt his heart flutter as their lips touched. They had enough practice with each other already, so they knew whenever the other was ready or needed to stop. 

What started with quick and rushed pecks grew into passionate making out. Chance pushed his tongue way past Will’s teeth, making him moan quietly into his mouth at the intrusion. His hands travelled up Will’s bare body, making sure to feel his stomach up with his thumbs. 

“Ah…” Will pulled away to breathe. He sucked in the saliva that connected their mouths together and pulled his body closer to Chance’s. His hands grasped onto his back, desperately needing more of his touch. 

Chance kept one hand under his shirt and used the other to grip his thigh. A low groan slipped out as he captured Will’s lips again.  

It was sloppy and messy, but they somehow found a rhythm by following their heartbeats. A bit of music would’ve made it better for Will, but hearing Chance’s noises was enough to keep him going. 

Instinctively, Will ground his hips against Chance because of the hardness he was starting to feel rubbing in between his thighs. Chance moved his head to the side from the sudden friction. He gritted his teeth and wiped some sweat off his forehead. 

“Babe,” Chance breathed out, lifting his gaze towards the older boy on his lap. “You’re driving me crazy here…” 

“You’re enjoying it,” Will leaned towards his neck and started placing open mouthed kisses over his skin while keeping the friction. 

“Goddd…” Chance whined pathetically and thrust upwards to seek more pleasure from Will’s movements. 

Will closed his eyes and moaned quietly. He was starting to leak a bit onto his underwear, and he was not in the mood of getting changed afterwards.  

He never planned to go this far. It wasn’t much, but it was way more than anything else he’d done with Chance. But he wouldn’t just stop now- of course not! Not when it felt so good and… he had Chance right where he wanted him. 

“You’re getting all needy,” Will gave Chance’s neck a lick. His tongue passed over the few hickeys he left there as a decoration. “What happened to not wanting me have the upper hand?” 

He pressed his palm against the bulge in Chance’s pants. The groan he let out after halted Will’s movements. He couldn’t not be flustered by how extremely hot Chance sounded.  

“I already told you,” Chance closed his eyes tightly, his grip tightening on his thigh with each added ounce of pressure Will applied. “You’re driving me crazy. I can’t control myself.” 

Oh, he was melting in his hands.  

“I might have to do this more often.” 

Will went back to working on his neck, his kisses turning into soft bites. He nibbled on Chance’s skin, each wince fueling his want further. 

“Will- you gotta…” Chance sighed, letting go of Will to fumble with his belt. “I need-.” 

“Huh-.” 

Suddenly, the door to the bedroom burst open, making both heads snap towards it. There, stood none other than the owner of the room, Mike Wheeler. 

“Will, are you-?”  

The boy stopped dead in his tracks. 

“Mike-!” Will croaked out as he squirmed to get off of Chance, who was struggling to get his belt back on properly and hide his boner. 

Mike didn’t speak, he just stared at both of them, going back and forth between the two before landing on Chance. 

“Chance fucking Lawson?!” Mike yelled, getting angry in less than a second. “What the actual hell-?!” 

“Mike, wait, lower your voice!” Will stood up and took a few hesitant steps towards Mike. “It… it’s not...” 

He couldn’t lie his way out. Both him and Chance had been caught mid act, and even if they hadn’t, both had at least a pair of hickeys decorating their skin. 

“It’s not what it looks like?” Mike entered the room, his eyes landing on the crumpled packets of sweets and crisps. “Because I can’t find any other explanation to why you’re in my room with Chance Lawson and having sex-!” 

“Woah, calm down buddy!” Chance uselessly interrupted. “We weren’t having sex!” 

“Chance, please,” Will silenced his boyfriend. He couldn’t let him ruin the situation further. 

Will felt sick to the stomach as he took in Mike’s disgusted expression. Not only had he been caught with someone they’re not supposed to like, but said someone was a boy. Will just outed himself. Unwillingly. 

He should’ve known, doing something so risky. But it wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair how he had to sneak around while other couples get to do whatever they wanted without being scared. 

And now, his friendship was probably ruined. He felt like crying and ripping his hair out for being so stupid and... 

“We need to talk. And I want him out of my house,” Mike eyed Chance. 

Will sighed, gesturing for Chance to, well, leave. Even if he wanted him to stay with him the entire time. He didn’t feel strong enough to finally have this discussion with Mike by himself. 

Chance got off the bed, grabbing his denim jacket and throwing it over his shoulder. Before he left, he gave Mike a side eye look and leaned to place a kiss on Will’s head. 

“I’ll wait outside, just in case anything happens.” 

“No,” Will whispered back, holding in tears. “Just… leave, we can meet up another time. I’m sorry for dragging you into this.” 

Will couldn’t even look Chance in the eyes. He felt so pathetic. Those dark eyes that usually comforted him even after the worst possible nightmare were something he didn’t want to see. He didn’t deserve to see. 

Chance placed a hand on the side of his neck, giving him a few more kisses, and whispering a soft “I love you”, before walking out of Mike’s room. The door slammed behind Mike, leaving the two alone. 

Will didn’t move. With Chance’s actions, Mike now not only knew that Will was gay, but also that he was either dating or in some weird situationship with Chance Pérez. 

“Care to explain?” Mike crossed his arms like an unhappy father would. 

“Why do you care?” Will bit back, but not strong enough to have any actual effect on Mike. 

“Why do I care?” Mike furrowed his brows, as if Will were asking him the stupidest question ever, “I was worried, okay? You act weird while playing D&D, you ditch our campaign when we were about to finish,” Mike counted everything on his fingers. “You make a ruckus, I hear breathing over the walkie talkie when I ask if you’re okay and when I come up, you’re devouring Chance Lawson’s neck on my bed?” 

Will debated what to say and how to answer. Mike didn’t seem too flabbergasted by him being gay so, well… That was good. Right? He still felt a heavy pressure in his chest though. It made him want to act on emotion, to spit out everything about how he’s felt for Chance and Mike, to explain how horrible he’s made him and how bad he treated him. 

“It’s Pérez,” Will instead said.  

“What?” Mike’s face scrunched up. 

“Chance’s name is Pérez, not Lawson-.” 

“I don’t care, Will. I don’t care about that assholes stupid name! I just need to understand why. Why would you ditch your friends to make out with that braindead jock?” 

“He’s not a braindead jock!” Will snapped back, the argument bringing back memories to him and Mike under the rain. It made everything worse. “You don’t understand-.” 

“Yeah, you’re right. I don’t understand. I don’t understand how you can hang out with someone who spends his free time bullying Dustin and making fun of us!” 

Will opened his mouth, words hanging out from his tongue. What could he say? Mike was right. But he heard Chance’s story, the full one. He can’t justify what he does, but he can at least understand it and try to help him change. 

“You haven’t heard his side…” 

“Oh, sorry!” Mike mocked sarcastically. “Sorry I don’t want to sympathise with the guy who was in a group who tried to kill us!” 

Will was taken aback by Mike’s straightforwardness. 

“I- But- you gotta understand, he doesn’t know who actually killed those people, and- the first person was found dead in Eddie’s house-,” Will fumbled over trying to explain. “I’m not trying to justify, but imagine! What would you do if you found my body in someone’s house?” 

The sudden question silenced Mike.  

“I- that’s different,” He muttered after a minute. “Eddie didn’t kill Chrissy or Patrick.” 

“He doesn’t know that. You know that dragging people into all of this is dangerous, so I can’t tell him that it wasn’t him. He won’t believe me,” Will kept his calm. “I’m not asking you to forgive him, just to understand that… his intentions aren’t purely fueled by hatred towards who we are. If they were, why would we be dating?” 

Mike regained his tense posture. His fists were closed together in a tight grip, almost tight enough to draw blood from his palms.  

“That doesn’t make him a good person,” Mike answered. “I just want what’s best for you, Will. You deserve someone better.” 

“I think I’m mature enough to know who’s good for me and who’s not.” Will lifted his head slightly, presenting himself with more confidence than Mike. 

Mike, for the first time, seemed attacked by Will’s words. Because he understood them. Because he knew he didn’t understand Will, not anymore. It finally hit him. He missed it. 

“Will, he’s a jock.” 

“You said that already.” 

“He- He-… He doesn’t know what you’ve been through.” 

“Is that a bad thing?” 

Will breathed heavily. 

“He doesn’t pressure me to reveal more about myself. He doesn’t asphyxiate me by staying by my side all the time to ‘protect me’. He doesn’t treat me like U can break upon touch. When I’m with him, I feel normal, Mike.” 

Will couldn’t help the small smile on his face as he reminisced moments with Chance, even to when before they started dating. Bumping into each other, small compliments to his work in art class, his stupid jokes… He felt like a dumb enamoured teenager. 

“I know I’m not normal,” Will said. “Far from it. And Chance knows that, but he doesn’t treat me any differently.” 

Mike reached his hand out, as if realising that he cooperated into making Will feel this way after years of promising he wouldn’t.  He took a step forward. Will hesitated between making the space between them larger, or letting him advance. 

He let him. 

“Will,” Mike was out of things to say. “I’ really… I’m so sorry. I never wanted you to feel that way. I… I just… everything’s so different, you still get visionsa and weird stuff, and we’re always preparing for when it happens. It’s… instinctive.” 

“But Lawson-.” 

“Pérez.” 

“Jesus, does it matter?” Mike frowned. 

“Yes.” 

“Alright. Pérez. Pérez only treats you like that because he doesn’t know the true story. If he did, he’d probably be the same as everyone else.” Mike explained, taking another step towards Will. 

“Why are you so insistent on saying that he’d treat me differently?” Will said, trying to keep his ground firm without bursting into tears, “You’re saying nobody would love me if I told-.” 

“No, that’s not what I’m saying!” 

“Then explain, why-!” 

Mike took one last step closer to Will before grabbing his cheeks and pulling him into a kiss.  

Will kept his eyes wide open. His body was paralysed, unable to react for a whole five seconds before pushing Mike away. His resolved shattered and he started sobbing uncontrollably. 

“Huh-,” It was Mike’s turn to be surprised. “Wait, Will, I didn’t mean-.” 

“Don’t,” He cried out, covering his face with his forearm while he wiped his tears. “Just… Mike. I… I can’t believe that of all times, you decided that it was now when- After all these years…” 

Will sniffled. Now, after all the time he spent crying in his bed over this unrequited shitty love for his best friend. When he finally gets over it and moves on. That… That’s when… 

“I don’t understand.” 

“You never understand, not anymore,” Will finally spoke out. “Leave me alone, Mike. Leave me alone. You have a girlfriend.” 

Will lowered his forearm. 

“I don’t want Jane to get hurt again by you because of your selfish feelings.” Will muttered coldly. 

Mike swallowed hardly. Will could see it, through his eyes, that he finally found who he really was in love with. His true self. 

He was just too late. 

And, to be honest, Will wouldn’t have it any other way. He’d much rather be with Chance than Mike. 

“Will…” 

“I’m leaving. I’ll sleep in the basement. I suppose Dustin and Lucas have left?” Will pushed past Mike and stood at the door. 

Mike didn’t turn around. His face stayed in the direction of his bed, where the sheets were all messed up from Chance and Will. He deserved to sleep with that memory in his head. 

“Yeah,” Was all he said. 

“Good night, Mike,” Will stated apathetically. “You’re lucky I won’t tell Jane about this.” 

He then left the room, keeping his gaze attached to his feet. He didn’t even look back when he heard a loud bang against cement coming from Mike’s bedroom. 

Will cried himself to sleep that night.