Work Text:
HAWKINS, 1981
Summer break was becoming very busy for Mike. With the addition of Dustin to the party in the past school year, Mike saw himself either going to the arcade with Will, Lucas and Dustin, or playing D&D with Will, Lucas and Dustin. And in one of the off days he wasn't hanging out with Will, Lucas, and Dustin, he was writing a new campaign for Will, Lucas, and Dustin. And that was great. Mike loved his friends, he loved the party, truly. But the growing amount of time Mike spent with Will, Lucas, and Dustin meant a reduced amount of time that Mike could spend with Will. Not in a big group outing, just Will. No matter how crazy people looked at him for it, Mike truly thought no hangout, no matter how loud or adventurous it may be, would ever compare to just sitting in his basement with Will.
Will didn't really start talking much until some months ago, but even still he was never really quiet with Mike. Since that day on the swings Mike could always understand what Will meant, they never needed words. A gesture, a smile, or even a look was all it took. Will started speaking more when Lucas became a staple in the party, and even more now with Dustin. Mike guessed that Will kinda realized that the bond they had together was different from other members of the party, which was something Mike took pride in every time Will would slip back into what other members would call 'silence'.
Still, regardless of how 'silent' Will was, just being in his presence was better than anything Mike could ever hope for. Luckily for him, with Dustin spending time with his mom, and Lucas being forced to watch over little Erica while their parents went out for a date, Mike was finally able to spend some time alone with Will without the party being involved. Well, only partly, Mike was still in his basement working on a new campaign for Will, Lucas, and Dustin, but this time Will was here with him, drawing the party's characters.
"Do you think my character looks too girlish?" Will said, breaking the gentle silence in which Mike was totally not spending more time watching Will draw than writing the campaign.
"What do you mean?" Mike responded, dropping his pencil and moving away from the table and towards the couch to sit beside Will.
Will sighed and showed Mike the drawing, it was Will the Wise in all his glory. He had his Wizard's hat on, and a long flowy robe that almost looked like a dress. The sleeves were accentuated with jewels lining the hem. And the waist showed a woven belt. Mike smiled at the creativity, it was beautiful, pretty.
"What?" Will said, confused with a slight blush on his face. Mike took all of 10 seconds before deducing that he must've said "pretty" out loud.
"Um" Mike said, blinking nervously, a matching blush on his cheeks, "it's pretty, Will. Your art is always pretty." He shifted his gaze to look down at the floor, toying with the hem of his shirt.
Will was silent for a moment, and with Mike's eyes trained on the floor, Mike couldn't read him. It was weird. He distantly hoped there would never be a time where he couldn't understand Will anymore.
"Isn't that a bad thing?" Will said softly, causing Mike to finally look at him. The faint blush on Will's cheeks remained, but there was something else Mike saw. Shame. "I mean," Will began again, "aren't girls supposed to be pretty and boys supposed to be tough?"
"Nothing you do could ever be bad, Will," Mike immediately reassured, grabbing Will's hand. "Plus I think it's cool, you know?"
Will tilted his head in confusion. "Boys being pretty?"
"What- well- no- but-" Mike sputtered, taken aback by Will's words. Did he find boys being pretty to be cool? He thought Will was pretty, and Will was cool, so he guessed the natural line of reasoning was that boys being pretty was cool. It felt weird to say though, almost dirty. He knows he couldn't say it around his dad, and maybe not the rest of the party, but he thought Will would get it, he always does. Did Will think boys being pretty was weird? He probably got that idea from his shitty dad or something. Mike hopes Will never tries to stop being pretty, he thinks that might actually break his entire world. But if Will was asking, maybe there was a chance that-
"Mike?" Will said, breaking Mike out if his thoughts. Will had been sitting silently for a few moments watching Mike work through his thoughts, but by the shifting expressions on Mike's face, (he could never conceal his emotions) Will figured he should probably snap him out of it before he started spiraling.
"Yeah, right," Mike said, coming out of his daze. "I just meant that, you know, you're characters are cool. They're never just one thing, they can be pretty and tough. I mean, look at Will the Wise! He can cast spells and defeat monsters, that's gotta be the toughest thing in the world! And he's, you know, pretty."
Will beamed at him, "Really?"
"Yeah," Mike said, smiling back at him. "Here, look." Mike got up, begrudgingly separating his and Will's hands, and went over to the binder full of Will's art that he kept on the shelf. Will smiled at the sight of it. He always loved how Mike collected his art, it made him feel special.
Mike pulled out a drawing from the back of the binder, folded up to hide the art. "Do you remember this?" Mike asked, unfolding the sheet of paper and displaying the drawing Will had made two years ago for their 3rd grade family project.
Will blushed. "Yeah, we were stupid little kids though."
Mike shook his head vigorously. "No, not stupid. Not stupid at all." He pointed to Will in the drawing. "You see how you're wearing a suit here? Your art is pretty here. And look," Mike reached for the current drawing of Will the Wise, "you're not wearing a suit but you're still tough. Things can be both."
Will considered his words, mouth twisting in thought. "Do you think it's possible in real life?" He asked.
"What?"
"For me to be tough and pretty." Will said, blushing.
"Oh," Mike said dumbly, a similar blush rushing to his cheeks. "Y-yeah, totally."
"I mean, people at school always call me pretty, but I don't think they mean it in a good way." Will said softly. "What does it even mean to be pretty?"
Mike thought for a second. "Nancy sometimes wears makeup to be pretty."
"Nancy is really pretty." Will nodded in what looked like admiration.
Mike scrunched his nose in disgust. (Nancy? Really?) "I guess..." An idea popped into Mike's head. "What if we put you in Nancy's make up?" He said excitedly, awaiting Will's response.
Will stared wide-eyed at him, his eyes conveying a question to Mike, 'Me?'
"Yes you, come on," Mike said suddenly, standing up on his feet and pulling Will with him. "If Nancy looks pretty in make up, then you'd look a million times better." He declared, dragging Will up the basement stairs.
"Wait wait wait," Will said just as they were about to ascend the second flight of stairs to Nancy's room. "Isn't she here?" He asked. Will, admittedly, went straight down to the basement upon his arrival at the Wheeler house. He greeted Mrs. Wheeler who opened the door, but that was about it, but he didn't even see her here anymore.
Mike stopped just as Will had asked, but didn't let go of his hand. "No, she and Barb went out to do something."
"Like what?"
Mike shrugged, "How should I know?" Mike said. Upon seeing Will's worried expression though, he softened his tone. "Hey, it's fine, nobody's here." He said, squeezing Will's hand a little tighter.
"Okay," Will nodded, letting Mike continue to pull him up the stairs until they finally reached Nancy's room. Will hadn't been in here much, he didn't have any reason too. She had a pretty wallpaper, some posters, and a stack of clothes and other belongings that didn't seem to fit her style. Will moved to inspect them while Mike dug around for the makeup. There was a couple magazines, some hair clips, all seemingly normal. But what stuck out to Will was the flannel sweater and mixtape with bands that he would've never pictured Nancy listening to.
"Found it!" Mike exclaimed, holding up a pink bag with pride. "What're you doing over there?" He said, making his way over to Will.
Will held up the flannel and the mixtape. "Is this stuff Nancy's?"
Mike looked between the two items for a second before shaking his head. "No, they're probably Barb's or something." He looked again, this time between Will and the mixtape. Will had been getting more into music recently, mainly because of his brother. "Do you wanna put it on?" Mike asked.
Will blushed and nodded. "Do you think we could? Just while you do my make up."
Mike smiled at him. "Of course Will." Because how could Mike ever say no to him, especially when he's allowing Mike to put make up on him.
Will started the mixtape and took a seat besides Mike on the bed. A simple melody started playing while Mike fumbled with the make up bag. After opening and closing a couple compacts and staring blankly at the brushes, Mike turned to Will.
"I.. I'm not really sure what to do." He said, scratching the back of his neck. "I mean," he continued, "you're the artist here."
Will grabbed Mike's hand. "You're really creative too, Mike. Just imagine you're writing a story, how would you write me to look?"
Mike didn't think he would change anything about Will's appearance, regardless of whichever story he was writing. Still, he had seen some blue powder (eyeshadow maybe?) in one of the compacts, and some black wand he was pretty sure was supposed to go on your eyelashes. He loved blue, and he loved Will's eyes, especially his eyelashes, so he figured he'd start there.
"Okay," Mike began, "close your eyes."
Will complied, putting his complete trust in Mike's abilities, which made Mike's heart do a weird thing is his chest. Nevertheless, Mike began smearing the blue powder onto Will's eyelids using his fingers, brushes be dammed (besides, there was like a million of them and Mike couldn't figure out which one to use.)
Mike sloppily put some blue onto Will's eyelids, and cheeks, then with a blush, some onto Will's lips as well. Will didn't say anything but Mike saw a small smile form on his lips, and a matching blush on his cheeks that was poorly concealed with the blue eyeshadow Mike had placed there. Mike then went in with that black wand, dipping it into bottle then brushing it through Will's eyelashes. It clumped up a bit, but overall made Will's lashes look fuller. Mike twisted his mouth in thought of what to do next. He looked down at the mess of makeup supplies he'd made from turning over Nancy's bag, and picked up a pencil looking thing. Smiling, he drew some hearts onto Will's blue cheeks, before figuring the intended purpose was to line your eyes and doing just that onto Will.
"Mmm, okay, I think I'm....done!" Mike said, putting the finishing touches on his work. Will blinked his eyes open and wow. The make up was, admittedly, a mess. It was smudged on and had Mike's fingerprints all over it. Will however, looked beautiful. No, beautiful wasn't the right word, pretty. He looked absolutely, completely, pretty.
"Is it, is it okay?" Will said nervously, his big doe eyes looking up to Mike.
Mike nodded eagerly, dumbfounded, still entrapped in Will's delicate features accentuated by Mike's favorite color. "You look amazing Will. Here, come see." Mike held up a small mirror to Will's face. Will let out a small gasp, eyes widening.
"Wow," Will said, glee overtaking his astonishment, "I look-"
"Pretty," Mike finished, pulling the mirror away. "You look so, so pretty Will."
Will blushed, taking Mike's hands into his. "So it is possible? I can be both?"
Mike nodded, smile overtaking his expression. "Very possible, Will. You've always been pretty."
"As pretty as Nancy?"
"Wayyy prettier than Nancy."
Will beamed, ecstatic. "Do you think you could do some more?" He asked.
"Yeah, of course," Mike said, slowly pulling his hands away from Will to dig through the pile of make up some more. After a few seconds he picked up a palette that had a bunch of glittery powders in it. "What about this one?" Mike asked, holding the palette up to Will.
Will looked it over and shrugged, bashful. "Do you think it'd look good on me?"
Mike started nodding before Will could even finish his question. "Yeah, totally," he assured. "It'll match the sparkles in your eyes."
Will's eyes widened, "There's sparkles in my eyes?"
Mike blushed and looked away, avoiding Will's gaze by focusing on opening the case. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Here, close your eyes again, I'm gonna put some of this on."
Will nodded, once again complying with Mike's whims. "Okay, but don't ruin anything." He joked nervously. "You said I was pretty, I wouldn't want you to have to take it back."
Mike smiled, shaking his head even thought he knew Will couldn't see it. "Not possible."
The song changed to one with a bit more of an upbeat instrumental.
I would say I'm sorry if I thought that it would change your mind.
Will nodded along to the beat, giggling at the feeling of Mike's fingertips on his skin, causing Mike to giggle too.
"Will stop moving," Mike said, although there was no real command behind his words. "The make up's gonna get smudged!"
I try to laugh about it, cover it all up with lies.
"What? It's a catchy song." Will laughed, rocking further to the lyrics.
"No it is not." Mike rebutted, laughing just as well.
Boys don't cry.
"Here," Will said, blindly reaching around for a pallete, "let me do your make up too."
"What?!" Mike exclaimed, shocked.
"Come on, we can both be pretty." Will urged.
"You can't even see right now Will!" Mike said, giggling, now smudging the highlighter onto Will's nose.
"A true artist doesn't rely only on his eyes," Will said with a smile, taking the lack of further rejection from Mike as a sign that he could go ahead. He swiped an unknown color onto his fingers then felt around for Mike's cheeks and lips, smearing it on.
I would tell you that I loved you if I thought that you would stay.
"Close you eyes too, I wanna get your eyelids." Will said, and Mike immediately complied, the two boys both fumbling around with each other's faces blindly.
Mike giggled stupidly, "This is so fun."
Now, I would do most anything to get you back by my side.
Will giggled as well. "Yeah,"
Cause boys don't cry.
Boys don't cry.
________________________________________________
"Oh. My. God!" Nancy whispered-shouted, turning towards Barb. They had just gotten back from getting ice cream and had come back for Barb's belongings that she left behind, and instead found Mike and Will on her bed, Will with messy blue makeup and Mike with yellow. "They're screwing up my makeup!"
Barb squeezed Nancy's shoulder reassuringly, attempting to get some of the tension out. "It's okay Nance."
"No it's not! It's probably all over the bed! And I doubt their germy little fingers have been washed." Nancy said, moving to open the door further and burst in before Barb stopped her.
"Just let them have this," Barb said softly. "If you walk in right now they're just gonna freak."
"Good!" Nancy said defiantly, but her urge to interrupt the two boys was already fading.
"No, not good," Barb said, although she was smiling. "Look, I'll get you some new sets, how about that?"
Nancy stared at her, shocked, a smile creeping its way onto her face. "You don't have to do that."
Barb shook her head. "It's fine," She smiled at Nancy, beginning to head back down the stairs. "Plus, it gives us a reason to go back to the store and you absolutely need to get that top we walked past last week."
Nancy blushed, nodding, closing her room door, and following Barb back down. "Wait," She said, stopping. "What about them?" She turned back towards her room.
"They'll be fine," Barb reassured. "They'll have it cleaned up before your parents get back."
Nancy nodded slowly, following Barb's statements. "Yeah, plus it's Will. Mike would never let them get in trouble."
Barb smiled and continued to lead Nancy back out the door.
Nancy was still distantly worried about Mike, but she guessed Mike was always kind of closer to Will. They'd be alright. They always were.