Chapter Text
El and Max slowly inch open the door of El’s bedroom, peaking outside. Hopper sits on the couch, flipping through the channels on the TV. They slip through the door, tip-toeing their way to the front of the house.
“Should have used the window.” Hopper speaks without taking his eyes off the TV.
El and Max freeze. “Hi dad.”
Hopper stands, turning to face the two girls. “Where are we going?” The two girls look at each other, then back to Hopper.
“It’s just a party.” Max explains.
“Just a party?” Hopper asks. Will walks out of his room, heading towards the kitchen, but pauses when he sees El and Max standing awkwardly in their cute outfits. Hopper directs his attention to Will. “Do you know about this party?”
Will shrugs. Hopper nods, “Okay, if Will’s not going, you’re not going.”
El and Max’s heads snap to Will. He stands there, caught, eyes widening. “No.”
El approaches him, grabbing his arm. “Can you please, for one night, forget about the mouthbreathers.” She pleads. Will sighs, exhausted, but El continues, “Will, please.” He stares at El, clearly on the verge of breaking for his sister, “Can you please do this for me?” El pleads.
“Fine, I’ll make an appearance." Will relents. El squeals, grabbing Max’s arms around Will’s body as they both jump up and down.
“It’s starting.” Hopper complains from behind them.
“It’s just a party, dad.”
“Three rules.” El and Max roll their eyes, but Hopper continues, “One, home by midnight.”
“Hopper, serious-
“Home. By. Midnight.” He stares at El and Max, and vaguely to Will behind them. “Two, you call me to pick you up if you drink. And three, no sex.”
“Oh my god.” Max says.
“Gross!” El says at the same time. Will snorts, trying to cover up his laugh.
“That’s for all three of you, understand?” Will and El look uncomfortable, and Max looks like she’s about to protest. “Understand?” Hopper repeats.
“Understand.” The three repeat back.
Will heads to the door while El and Max grab their jackets. Will opens the door and–
“Mike? What are you doing here?” Will asks.
“Party’s at 9:30, right? Am I early?” Mike looks behind Will, waving at El and Max when he sees them dressed and ready to go.
“Whatever,” Will says, “I’m driving.”
Will walks past Mike, out the door. Mike smirks and follows him, with El and Max trailing close behind.
☆
By the time the four arrive at the party, it is in full swing. The huge house is filled to the brim with drunk highschoolers, blasting music, and an overpowering smell of weed.
Max grabs Els' hand, pulling her towards the room with all of the dancers, giggling.
Will stands at the entrance, overwhelmed immediately. He beelines towards the stairs, heading to the less crowded second floor, Mike following closely behind.
The second floor has a hallway that forms a sort of balcony. Will stands there, leaning against the railing and staring at everyone dancing below. Max is swinging El around, making her spin and laugh. Suddenly Lucas and Dustin are there as well, bringing the two girls drinks and dancing with them, jumping around and laughing.
Will watches it all from a distance, separated from everyone. It's as if he’s been separated since he first got stuck in the Upside Down, never fully returning to Hawkins like everyone else was able to. Words flash through his mind as the party passes by around him: different, soft, fragile…
Mike’s arms brushes up against his, bringing him back to the party, grounding him. Mike, who would never leave him alone at a party. Mike, who showed up at his house to make sure he came. Mike, stands too close, stares too intensely, smells too good–
Will jolts backwards, away from Mike. “I- I need some air.” Will turns around, slamming right into another body. He stumbles, but Mike steadies him with a hand on his lower back.
“Watch it, Zombie Boy.” The body he slammed into says as he shoves past the two boys.
Zombie Boy.
Zombie Boy
Zombie Boy. Zombie Boy. Zombie Boy Zombie Boy ZombieBoyZombieBoyZombieBoy–
Nevermind, Will doesn’t need air. He needs a fucking drink.
He looks around, searching until he spots someone pouring a table full of shots. He feels Mike's eyes on him, but he grabs one anyways, downing it. Will coughs as the shot burns down his throat.
“What are you doing?” Mike asks.
“Getting trashed man.” Will replies, rolling his eyes, “Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do at a party?”
“I don’t know.”
“Whatever,” Will grabs another shot, “Later.”
Will walks away, leaving Mike standing alone, confused and wanting nothing more than to follow.
☆
Mike pushes through the crowd of the party, turning into a new room. He barely recognizes anyone, and the one person he wants to find disappeared too long ago.
“Mike!” El rushes up to him, throwing her arms around him. Mike pats her back, but can’t stop himself from looking to see if Will is behind her.
“Have you seen Will?” Mike steadies El as he pulls back from her.
El looks behind herself, “I thought he was… oh, there!” El giggles, pointing to the edge of the room.
Mike makes sure El is steady before heading straight for Will, who has another shot glass in his hand. “Will, Will,” he reaches for the shot glass, “why don’t you let me have this one?”
“No! This one’s mine.” Will slurs, backing away from Mike and downing the shot. Will stumbles into the next room, Mike begins to follow until someone grabs his arm.
“Holy shit, dude” Max shakes Mike’s arm, “I’ve never seen Will like this before.”
Like this? Is this a good thing? Mike isn’t even sure.
A new song starts, and Max whips her head to where Will went. “Yeah! All right!” Max runs into the room as Will climbs on top of a table.
♪ You spin me right round, baby, right round ♪
A crowd gathers around Will as he begins to dance on top of the table. Max and El stand right at the front, screaming and cheering for Will.
♪ Like a record, baby, right round, round, round ♪
Mike looks around at everyone acting insane, staring at his best friend. Just watching him, cheering him on, as if there isn’t something wrong. Something off. Will doesn’t act like this. Mike has never seen him like this before.
His eyes are drawn back to Will on top of that table. Will swings his hips around, squatting down, and spinning around to the beat of the music.
♪ You spin me right round, baby, right round ♪
Will is illuminated by the table light above him, and with the haze created by all the smoking he looks like an angel. Something straight out of Mike's dreams.
♪ Like a record, baby, right round, round, round ♪
Mike stares at the way Will’s hips move. He traces them up his body to his lips, where Will is mouthing along to the words of the song.
♪ You spin me right round, baby, right round ♪
As Will kneels down on the table, Mike looks into his eyes. He watches the way Will is completely lost in his dancing, uninhibited in a way that Mike didn’t know he could be.
♪ Like a record, baby, right round, round, round ♪
Will stands back up, whipping his head back and straight into the light above him. Mike is so lost in watching his dancing that he almost misses it, but the second Will begins to fall off the table, Mike catches him in his arms.
“Will,” Mike is definitely not panicking at all, “are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Will tries to stand up, but immediately falls back into Mike's chest.
Mike holds him, an arm around his waist, “you’re not fine, come on.”
Mike tries to ignore the way Will's body feels, pressed close against him, as they make their way back through the crowd. He maneuvers them out the front door, and as they make their way down the front steps, Will throws his arms around Mike’s shoulder, leaning into him more heavily.
Mike helps him through the front yard, toward the cars. Will stumbles, nearly falling to the ground, if not for Mike's arm wrapped tight around him. They pause at a swing set, Mike slowly lowering Will onto one of the swings.
“Why are you doing this?” Will asks, leaning back on the swing.
Mike puts a steady hand on his back, “doing what?”
Will looks at him, “staying around me all night. You’d enjoy the party more without crazy zombie boy hanging around.”
“Maybe I like crazy zombie boy,” Mike smiles, making sure Will is steady before sitting down on the swing next to him, “plus, I thought we agreed, crazy together?”
“Crazy together.” Will whispers. He stares at Mike, almost as if he can’t believe he is really there. Mike watches as Will’s eyes flick down to his lips and back up again. Mike watches Will, sitting there on the swing like he did the day they met, and lets his gaze shift to Will's lips. Will, his best friend, who he sits too closely to and stares at too intensely.
Will, who leans a bit closer, eyes again fixed on Mike's lips.
Will, who throws up on the ground between them.
☆
Mike pulls the Byers car up in front of their house, putting it in park and looking over at will.
Will sits in the passengers seat, drumming his fingers on the dashboard while singing along to the song of the radio.
“And if you say run, I’ll run with you,” Will’s voice is steadier, but still slurs as he sings, “and if you say hide, we’ll hide.” Mike smiles, loving the way Will gets lost in music. “Because my love for you– hey!”
Mike takes his hands away from where he just switched off the radio, raising them in surrender. “Sorry, sorry, we’re home.”
“Mm” Will looks towards his house, a light is on in one of the bedroom windows. He looks at his watch, which reads 12:35, and then back up at Mike, “Uh oh, Hopper’s gonna kill us.”
“Us? He’s gonna kill me.”
“We’re both late, Mike.” Will explains, like Mike might just be an idiot.
“Yeah, but I bet Hopper thinks I’m the horrible influence that got his new, innocent son drunk and brought him home late.”
Will snorts, shoving Mike's shoulder. He lets his hand fall onto the center console, where Mike slowly rests his own hand on top. Will laughter dies down as he stares at their two hands together.
“I don’t think you’re a horrible influence,” Will connects their fingers, “I think you’re awesome.”
“Yeah?” Mike smiles, rubbing his thumb along Will's hand.
Will breathes out a soft “Yeah” as his eyes shift down to Mike’s lips. Mike waits for them to come back up again, but they stay fixed on his lips. Will slowly leans closer, eyes drifting shut.
Will is going to kiss him. Will Byers is going to kiss Mike Wheeler. Mike stares at his lips as Will leans closer. The lips he watched sing on the drive home, the lips he watched call him awesome in his soft, beautiful voice, the lips he watched take shot after shot after shot after–
Shit.
Will is drunk. Will is so, so drunk and he’s sitting there waiting for Mike to kiss him but he’s drunk and Mike is sober and he can’t do this. Not like this.
“We should… um, get you inside” Mike tears his eyes away from Will.
Will opens his eyes, straightening. Mike can feel Will's eyes on him, but he keeps staring ahead.
Mike tries to ignore the hurt in Will's eyes as Will turns away, gets out of the car, and slams the door.
Mike sits alone in the car, turning to watch Will stumble up the sidewalk, wishing he was with him.