Chapter Text
"Will! Will, c'mon man, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it! I didn't mean it—"
By the time Mike could spit it out, Will had already locked their dorm room behind him, leaving Mike alone with what the hell just happened.
He knew it was a sensitive topic, he knew he should've just stopped talking. But for some reason, Mike could never just stop himself.
"What? Because you're friends are cooler? Better? Will, what about me? Cause goddamn Carlton is better than me? Chance is better than me? Will, they don't know you." Mike only got louder the more he talked, hitting his hands against the kitchen counter. Will just stared at him, analyzing him.
"Mike, no, they're not better, I promise. But they still are my friends. You can't just be an asshole to them because you're my friend." Even when he was mad, he still had softness in his voice, like it was ingrained in his speech. That's just the kind of person Will was.
"Carlton didn't seem like just your friend. He was on you the whole night, Will! Do you think I'm blind? I don't want to see that!"
"So what, Mike? So what if Carlton's not just my friend? Why is that a problem?"
"Because…" He didn't have a reason. Not one that made any sense anyways. He can't explain that to Will, not without complications at least.
"Yeah." Will bit the inside of his lip, he was looking up at Mike with a glimmer in his eyes that mimicked the one he had in the rain all those years ago. "Yeah, okay."
"Will, no, I didn't mean it like that—" Will crossed his arms, fingers gripping into the skin of his sweater.
"It's fine, Mike." Will grabbed his jacket and started putting on his shoes. Mike just stared at him. He watched as disdain filled his eyes and kept watching as he grabbed his wallet.
Mike went to go grab his wrist but was promptly pushed off. He didn't know what to say whenever he hurt Will. He kept his arm outreached as he bit the inside of his cheek.
"Will, it's not that— I promise. I promise I didn't mean it like that. You know I don't care that… y'know."
Will just scoffed, grabbing his keys and left while Mike kept speaking.
Mike was all alone again.
He didn't have many friends at NYU. In fact, he only had 2, and that's including the famous Will Byers. The other two were Dean and Theo, two guys he met in his Lit class. He doesn't even know if he can call them friends when, if he was asked, he couldn't name their favorite colors. They were there when he was lonely, and they would go get drinks on Friday's where he would nod his head and listen to them talk. Mike has friends. Just not in the way he's friends with Will.
Mike could name Will's favorite color without prompting, Mike knows Will's favorite for everything. Mike knows Will. Carlton doesn't know Will like Mike knows him.
I'm being crazy, Mike thinks. Will can have friends. He deserves friends. He paces around the kitchen counter, fumbling with a stray pen he found next to the toaster. Will deserves everything in the world. He spins the pen on his fingers, biting the nails on his other hand. So why do I care so much about Carlton?
It was a stupid thought. I mean, what authority does Mike have over who Will hangs out with?
He quickly grabs the phone on the counter and dials Lucas, fumbling with the silicon buttons as it rang.
"Helloooo."
"Lucas, I need help."
"Mike? You okay man?" Mike could hear a faint 'Wheeler?' in the background that sounded like Max.
"I messed up, man. I really messed up."
"Woah, hey, slow down. Run it from the beginning."
Mike paced around the kitchen as he spoke, sitting down on the counter every time his legs would give out from the anxiety. He explained every minor detail, every time Will's face would scrunch up, and every time Will would bite the inside of his cheek when he was annoyed.
"Holy shit, Wheeler." Said a now closer Max, a soft scoff leaving her mouth. He could hear the rolling of her eyes from behind the phone.
"I know. I know! I just– I mean what do I do? I don't know where he went."
"Give him space. He clearly needs it, Mike. Calm down, and figure out what you're gonna say to him when you see him." Even Lucas sounded worried. God, Mike really did ruin everything.
"Ok. Ok. I… I'm gonna talk to you later, ok?" Mike stumbled through every worried, his eyes stuck on the painting of Hawkins in their living room.
"Bye, man. Good luck." A subtle "Seeya," faded into the background as put the phone down back on the counter.
He needed to do something, anything.
He rummaged through their junk drawers, looking for phone numbers, addresses, anything as a clue to where Will would've gone to no avail.
Jonathon was out of town for the day, and he's not close enough with Nancy to run there. Where would he have gone?
Will had absolutely no idea where to go. He up and left without a clue on where to head. Carlton and him weren't exactly on the best terms right now after a fight about Mike the night before. He leaned against the wall for a second, debating whether or not to just give in and go back inside. No, he needed to stand his ground. If Mike was going to be asshole, he was going to be treated like he was being an asshole. He's forgiven him more times then he could count.
He just started wandering. Wandering the campus, and then taking the subway to the city. He kept walking. Times Square isn't that interesting once you've lived there for more then a week and he's already toured the art museums more times then he could count. He was stuck with his own thoughts and teary eyes.
Will felt horrible for leaving. It could've been a misunderstanding. I mean, Mike has always been pretty supportive. Maybe he's been lying this whole time, trying to put on a mask so he seems like a better person. Maybe he just doesn't like Will. No, no there's no way that could be. Will can overthink all day but the conclusion could never be Mike wholeheartedly hating Will Byers. He just needed a break.
He stumbled into a phone box and called Jonathon's apartment.
"Hi, this is Nancy Wheeler, how can I help you?"
Fuck. He forgot Jonathon was out.
"Hey, sorry, this is Will. He's not back yet, right?" His voice was unsure of himself. He was rocking back and forth on his heels hoping Jonathon maybe came back early.
"No, sorry. Are you okay, though? What did Mike do this time?"
Nancy was too sweet for her own good.
"Nothing, no, it's not Mike's fault. I just… can I go to your place? I'm sorry, I know Jonathon's not home but I need to…" God, what was he meant to say? I'm mad at your brother right now and I need to take a breather but I have no where to go? "…Pick something up." That works too.
"Of course! See you soon, Will."
He found his way to their apartment by speed-walking through crowds, smiling at the one or two acquaintances he knew from class in the street, and took 5 separate wrong turns at some point. Knocking on their door felt like completely a quest much harder then had been intended.
Nancy opened the door with a smile, her grown out curly hair reminded Will of Julia Roberts in a way.
"Hi, c'mon in." Will smiled back, but his eyes were still red from the tears and his breath was still heavy from the walk.
As he smiled at their stupid-looking white dog, Sodapop, Nancy interrupted his shaky pets.
"Hey, are you sure you're alright? I can make you some tea if you wanna talk about it." She patted him on the back and gave a soft smile. Even if Nancy and Will weren't close, she wasn't anything less then kind to him after everything that happened in the Upside Down. Her voice was so calming but stable, you could tell she interviewed people for a living.
"I promise. I will take that tea though." Will smiled at her, trying to crinkle his eyes to make it more real. He gave a quick kiss on Sodapop's forehead – prompting a weird bark-like sound to leave its mouth – before he sat down at their island bar stools.
"Is Green alright?" Nancy braids her hair as she speaks, seemingly trying to get out of the way as she made the tea. For her how much hair she had, she finished a seamless braid in less than a minute.
"Perfect. Thank you, really." Will smiled, fiddling with the rings on his hand.
He can't believe this is where he went. The sister of the guy he's trying to avoid. He's everywhere he goes, it seems. His graduation pictures on the wall, family photos magnetized to the fridge. There's some picture of just him and Mike on the side of the fridge. He can't avoid Mike no matter how he tries.
"How's school, Will? Anything new?" She leaned against the counter and smiled at him, resting both her arms out in front of herself. "Is art treating you well?"
"It's alright—"
A click of the front door interrupted him.
"Helloooooooo? Nannceeee?" Robin came around the corner, holding onto the side of the wall with a big smile on her face.
"Robin! What are you doing here?" Nancy ran up to her and hugged her, accidentally peeling Robin off the wall and loosing her balance.
Robin jingled the spare key she had to get into the apartment. "Spare key, weekend off, Jonathon needed help with his film, so I thought I'd drive to New York to see your pretty fac—" She went to go rest her hand on Nancy's cheek before looking over to Will and promptly stepping back."Byers! Little byers! Hey! Oh my gosh, sorry I didn't see you there!" She went over and scuffed his hair up, seemingly trying to distract him.
"Rockin' robin, hey..!" Will had no idea how to feel about that interaction. He gave a lopsided smile, though his eyebrows furrowed in the middle. At least it was a good distraction from Mike, he thought, he'd take anything he could get to get his mind off of him. He tries to hide his emotions behind his crooked teeth but Robin still gave him a knowing look. God, it's like ever since they became friends she could read any of his feelings about Mike like a book.
"Big brother byers is currently in the hallway trying to lug around his huge camera setup and, in all honesty, I don't really think you need that many light diffusers if you have that many lights. Maybe I'm biased because, y'know, I'm not a film director but it's such a huge like weigh—"
"Robin."
"Right, sorry, Nance. Should we go-"
"Yeah cmon, let's go help him."
Will watched as Robin subtly put her hand on the small of Nancy's back as they walked out of the room, the way they gave a shared look as they walked. Nancy sounded annoyed but her face was smiling as if she worshiped that stupidness.
Huh, Will thought, weird.
Will hoped that the worry wasn't showing on his face, but he could tell from the way Robin looked down at him that she noticed something was up. He simply tapped his finger against the counter, biting the inside of his lip as he waited for the kettle to turn on.
"Theres something wrong with your brother—" Robin began, holding a box of camera parts, "— not in like a 'oh no Vecna's coming back to kill us kinda way' but in a 'emotional turmoil, something personal happened' kinda way."
Jonathon nodded, fumbling with the edges of the softbox he's holding, "Ok, ok, um, did you figure out why?"
"No clue, I'm guess it has something to do with Mike. He kept staring at the pictures of the wall." Nancy shrugged, holding two bags worth of scripts, parts, and mics. "I asked him but he wouldn't talk to me."
"Maybe a lover's quarrel? A drastic fight over dinner or something else domestic?" Robin added, stumbling over the part of the hallway flooring that stuck up.
"They're not dating." Nancy started,
"Mike would've told me."
"Will would've told me," Jonathon and Nancy synchronized. Jonathon almost comically drops the softbox from laughing, smiling at Nancy while she smiles at Robin.
"Ok, ok, um gosh I dunno! Jonathon, can you figure out if it's about Mike? We can come up with a plan from there maybe?"
"Yeah, I'll.. see what I can do." Jonathon mustered a smile as they walked into the apartment.
Jonathon quickly put down the softblox to go over and ruffle Will's hair just as Robin did.
"Hey, bud." He smiled, fixing pieces of Will's hair that was stuck in his earring.
"Hey. I thought… I thought you were coming back tomorrow?" Will looked up at him, no longer fiddling with the stray fibers and now focusing his attention on smiling. If anyone could read Will, it would be Jonathon.
"Change of plans, we finished filming early." Jonathon kicked off his shoes as he walked towards his room. "Hey, I wanna show you something. It's a new short film I'm working on."
And with that, Will and Jonathon were gone. The silence only broken when the door knob creaked as it turned itself back around.
Mike, after wandering the streets of New York hopping that for anything that could lead him to Will, found himself completely at a loss. He stumbled through crowds on the busy streets, and walked campus like a labyrinth without no ending.
After his exhausting and honestly pointless travels, he found himself in the middle of 42nd street with a cold nose and beaten-to-death lungs. He was out of ideas. He checked art stores and libraries Will was a frequent visitor of, and even the corner store he gets his coffee from (he always said it tasted better from there). Nothing. The air was heavy, it weighed him down the more he walked the streets.
He zoned out, trying to map out potential spots to find Will. While lost in thought, he hits his head right into the middle of a phone booth.
"Shit!" Mike screeched, holding the now red spot on his forehead.
In Hawkins, swearing like that would've gained you dirty looks from all the bystanders. In New York, you don't even get a side eye. The realization hit him harder then the phone box ever could. He was so far from home and the only semblance he had of it was missing.
As if it was a sign from God himself to call someone, he walks into the phone booth and punches in the only number he can think of right now.
"Hello, this is Nancy Wheeler, how can I help you?"
Fuck. What was he supposed to say?
"Hello?"
"Hey! Hey, Nance. Mike. It's Mike."
"Mike?" He could hear the instant annoyance in his voice but he couldn't help but notice the subtlest – and he means subtlest — bit of worry coming from her voice.
"Yeah. Um. Hey is Will with you?"
It went silent on the other line.
He heard inaudible murmuring coming from the static. It sounded like Robin by the speed and intense amount of rambling leaving her mouth.
"Why?"
Mike placed his hand over his face, leaning back against the wall of the box.
"Um, I just… Nancy, I messed up."
Great, good going, Mike. Now he has to explain it all over again.
"Hey. It's ok. Just explain what happened, alright?"
He repeats the same motions he went through with Lucas, the explaining, the subtly leaving out parts about he truly feels about Carlton (although he knows both of them didn't need an explanation to figure out how the fight started), he even stuttered on the same words.
The line went silent (again).
He could imagine Nancy's eyebrows lifting with the slight head turn, the one arm crossed with the other holding on the phone. He knew exactly what Nancy was doing in that silence.
"You need to apologies, Mike. You can't say that."
"I didn't mean it like that!"
"Does he know that?"
No. No he doesn't. Mike knew that. He should've explained himself better. Will is the sweetest, most perfect, nerdiest yet coolest person he's ever met. And he knows what he said he stung. He was going to fix this. He had too. But… how?
"I've gotta go, Nance. Thank you, I guess."
"Mhm. Talk to him when you see him. Apologize."
"Love you. And, um, don't tell Jonathon. Please."
"I won't. Love you too, Mike, good luck." As the lined died he could still hear the voice of Robin mumbling to Nancy in the background. He didn't even have the heart to care. As long as it didn't back to Jonathon (or Will).
Mike stood there. Silent. His hands were still holding onto the now hung up phone and his legs felt as if they would fall then and there. He didn't want to go home. He couldn't. It was too far and he wasn't sure if he would be able to make the walk without losing feeling in his bones. He needed an excuse, a way out of this without finding himself dead on the New York streets.
He punched in another number.
"…"
No answer. Karen must be out.
He wasn't going to tell Karen his problems, God no, but it would've been nice to hear her voice. Maybe it would've felt like he was back home. He missed Hawkins. He missed how tight knit everything was, how much it felt like a community. He missed small general stores with nothing else in site, he missed being with his friends. He missed Dustin's nerdy rambles, he missed Jane's sweetness. He missed the smell of Hawkins. He missed clouds. He missed Will. The way they were before he went missing. He missed the way they were on Halloween, how close they were. He missed everything about Will — the good, the bad, the current, and the past. He's always been a bad friend but every time something like this happens he missed when he was a good one; when he'd jump off a cliff to save his friends, when he'd throw himself into the Upside Down without question to save them, when he'd do anything to be the heart. Will changed but never the way Mike did. Will became more confident and himself, he was more proud of who he was as a person then Mike could ever be. Will made paintings Monet would look down from Heaven and smile at. He was great at making mundane things beautiful.
He made Mike's world beautiful.
Woah.
Was that too far? Mike was a sap, sure, but the more he replayed his own thoughts the more it dawned on him he could never say those words to Dustin or Lucas.
Huh.
That's... that's weird, right?
To him, that was a normal train of thought to have about Will. Every time he looked at Will, it's as if he was staring at the Sun after an Ice Age. Will was his light. He's never had to think twice about that. So why does it matter now?
Mike's not going to think too hard about it. His biggest concern right now is figuring out what the hell he's going to say to Will when he gets back.
He groans against his hands, knowing he's going to have to cave and make the walk home. He didn't have anywhere else to go.
"I just… I don't know. I… I know I'm different, we all know that but… but Mike has always been supportive of it. I don't get why he's so upset to…" Will trailed off, not even knowing where to go with it.
"To see you find love?"
"I mean, I wouldn't say love but, yeah. I guess." Will held his own hand, tapping his finger against the hard part of his knuckles.
"Hey, I promise you two will get through this. You always do." Will could tell by the way he spoke he wasn't happy with Mike right now (although, to be fair, he never was), but he'd pretend for the sake of Will. Jonathon was always putting himself aside for Will. "Thank you for telling me, alright?"
"Yeah. Thank you too." Will smiled at him, trying to push the tears back into his eyes as he spoke. It was nice to have somebody that reminded him of home here. If anything, Jonathon was his home. New York can't take that away from him. "For listening, I mean."
Jonathon patted him on the back of the head before pulling him into a hug. "Always. I'll always be here for you."
Will let himself cry into Jonathon's old cardigan. He didn't know when he started sobbing into the fabric but he knew that it felt like a relief to let it out. He grasped at the holes in the yarn and just let himself for feel for a minute. His thoughts had been scrambled all day he hadn't realized he had been holding in his own breath for so long.
After a well needed cry, Will pulled back and smiled at Jonathon wiping his tears away.
"Don't tell Nancy, please. I don't want her to be mad at Mike."
"I won't, promise."
"Um. Hey, I'm sorry, but can I sleep here tonight. I don't really wanna go back. I will tomorrow. Promise."
"'Course." Jonathon smiled at Will, ruffing up his hair. Will didn't know what he had a done in a past life to deserve a brother like him. "You can sleep in here, I'll sleep on the couch—"
"No, no! I'm the guest, I'll sleep on the couch."
Will hated the thought of being an inconvenience. The idea that, even for a second, he wasn't paying somebody back for all the things they've done for Will.
"Me, Nance, and Robin were gonna watch a movie anyways so it all works out if you sleep in here."
"…Okay."
"Okay." Jonathon smiled as he got up. "Do you want anything before you sleep?"
Will shook his head, smiling at Jonathon while sniffling. His eyes were growing heavy more and more by the second.
"Goodnight, Will." He turned off the light and slowly shut the door behind him.
Usually, on days like these, Will would stare at the ceiling and reflect. He needed to sort out what happened. It's how he prepared for the next day. Unfortunately for future Will, the exhaustion was catching up to him and his thoughts were promptly silenced as he slipped under.
"What do you know?" Nancy crossed her arms and leaned against the kitchen wall, whilst Robin on the other side of her, braiding a part of her curly hair. The air in the room was thick, almost suspenseful. You could hear all three of them breathing between everywhere.
"I can't tell you what I know, what do you know?" Jonathon squinted his eyes, holding Sodapop in his arms like a newborn baby.
"I can't tell you what I know."
"So we both know."
"Do we? I couldn't tell you because I don't know what you know I know."
"Hm. Ok. This is an issue."
Robin let go of Nancy's braid and paced around the kitchen, her hop-steps making a creaking sound on the cheap kitchen tiling. "Ok! We all know what we don't know. How are we gonna fix this?"
"Fix it?"
"I dunno, I just think they need a little push to work out their issues. A little nudge in the right direction, y'know?"
"Any ideas?" Nancy grabs the unpopped bag of popcorn from the cabinet, preparing it as the group brainstormed.
"Have you guys seen the Parent Trap? The old 60s movie where the two long lost twins trick their parents to reunite and get back together? My mom used to adore it, its actually really good— but that's beside the point! What if we did that to them? What if we parent trapped them?" Nancy and Jonathon went quiet, confirming their interest in the idea with a shared look reminiscent of Will and Mike's (God, it really does run in the family, huh?).
"Nancy gets Mike to go somewhere and Jonathon gets Will to go somewhere. Forced proximity, y'know? They have to make up somehow."
"It's not horrible. It actually might work." Nancy nodded, checking Jonathon for his reaction. He simply shrugged, placing a smile kiss on Sodapop's head before putting her down.
"See, not all my ideas are bad!" Robin smiled, grabbing a bottle of wine out of the cabinet (a movie night tradition of theirs).
As the night went on, the group conceptualized ideas on how exactly to do this (although they got worse and less doable as the night went on — at some point Jonathon considered forcing them on a plane to California, which was promptly shut down), deciding a time and place to make this work. It was strangely reminiscent of their planning for the crawls when they were younger, although this time with less lives and cities on the line.
Will woke up to the smell of cold (but far too salty for its own good) popcorn and wine outside his brother's bedroom door. He stumbled to open it, rubbing his eyes as he replayed yesterday in his head. The clock on the wall read 10:36am, which was way later then Will typically woke.
"Will! Hey! Good morning." Jonathon was already wide awake, pouring himself a cup of pure black coffee. Will never understood how somebody could enjoy the bitterness of black coffee, but Jonathon was strange in his own ways.
"I have to leave to go to work, but I made a reservation for tonight to go get hot pot. Just you and me. How does that sound?" His tone of voice was… off. He sounded too enthusiastic, and his smile lasted for much longer then usual yet it never reached his eyes. Unfournately, Will was far too tired to care. He didn't even question the lack of Robin and Nancy in the common area.
"Mhm, that works." Will nods, yawning midway through his sentence. The world around him is spinning slightly, the rickety wooden cabinets creaking louder then they usually would.
"6:00pm, it's that small hot pot joint on Ninth avenue. Just say you're there for Jonathon." He was clearly in a rush, pushing a plate of pancakes towards Will before giving him a kiss on the head and rushing out.
"Love you!" He yelled, almost dropping his keys as he left.
"Love you too!" Will ate his pancakes in silence, tossing a small piece of the pancake to the strange Sodapop laying next to his feet.
Next to his plate was a sticky note with the information for the reservation on it, likely so Will didn't forget. He stuffs the note in his pocket and gets ready for his unfournate 12pm art history lecture.
He's hoping that Mr.Hamilton's nonstop tangents will wake him up, although he already knows they definitely will not.
Mike woke up to an empty dorm. He knew it would happen, he honestly predicted it, but it still stung. As much as he hated the guy, he still hoped Carlton kept Will safe throughout the night, for the sake of Will's wellbeing.
Some part of him wished he woke up to Will passed out on his desk, charcoal covering the sides of his hands, Mike's jacket draped over his shoulders. He'd pretend to be mad about the stains and yet never try to wash them out. He'd compliment Will's drawing and he would humbly say "it's just a sketch." But to Mike, it'd be a masterpiece.
His desk was empty and his charchol was put into a small plastic container on the corner of it. Mike's jacket was hung across the side of his bed and there was no Will there to wear it.
It felt like part of the room was missing. Like walking into a living room with no couch or reading a book with no title. It felt wrong.
Will had been out at night multiple times, there were days they wouldn't see each other for hours, yet this time it hurt because he knew it was his fault.
He couldn't dwell on it too much when the photo in the middle of the room starting blaring into his ears.
He stumbled out of bed, still wearing his Bronski Beat hoodie for the day before. He stumbled over the shoes lazily rested next to his bed, tripping over the laces.
"Shit," He muttered, grabbing the phone from his unfournate place on the floor.
"Mike?"
"Nance?"
"Hey, I was just wondering you were free tonight?"
Mike never really had any plans other the creative writing club meetings on Fridays, but that sounded too lonely to say out loud.
"I don't think so. I'll have to… uh.. double check my schedule." Shit, he sounded like such a liar.
"Yeah ok." He could hear her snicker behind the phone.
"Why?"
"I made a reservation to go get hot pot with Jonathon and Nancy yesterday but they both had to bail, so I was wondering you wanted to go with me instead?"
"You… you want me to eat dinner with you?"
"It is not that surprising."
"Uh huh sure yeah okay. Totally not suspicious whatsoever."
"Oh my gosh, Mike, I just want to do something nice and see my brother." He was starting to feel a little bad behind the teasing. They never did hang out much anymore.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry Nance. What time?"
"6pm, the hotpot place on 9th avenue. The one with the funny looking cat on the sign. Reservation is under Jonathon." She sounded oddly pleased with herself for getting him to come around on the idea. It would be nice to see her again, anything to get his mind off of Will – although part of him really hoped he'd accidentally bump into him on campus today.
"Mmmmm… 'Kay."
"Got it?"
"Got it."
"Alright, I'll see you later. Love you."
"Love you too, Nance."
Will wanted to look nice to go get hotpot. It was his favorite after all. Unfournately, Will is not going to be caught dead going back to his dorm tonight so he had to steal some of Jonathon's old clothes but he thinks he looks pretty swell in them.
It was weird, the more he thinks about it, to invite him to hotpot. Jonathon hates hotpot, it's too overstimulating for him. He always just eats a thing of white rice. He decided not to dwell on it too much, considering his brother likely picked it to make him feel better. He was always sweet like that.
He puts his dangly guitar pick earrings in (luckily, they stay in his bag at all times if he doesn't have them on, they're The Cure branded how could he not! It's practically his prized possession), and takes a deep breath before leaving. He was still tense for yesterday, tension still residing in his lungs and shoulders. He was hoping he could use the time to calm down and figure out what to say to Mike when he gets back.
As he's leaving, he sees Robin on the couch rewatching Back to the Furure. "Bye little Byers! Have fun at hot pot." She gives him a wink as he walks out.
Huh. Strange.
His walk to 9th avenue luckily wasn't too bad, as Nancy and Jonathon's new place was closier to the middle of the city, but he's still not used to the size of New York compared to Hawkins. He doesn't think he ever will be.
The hotpot place is as busy as ever, but it always calms Will down being inside. Everytime he walks in he knows it's about to be the best meal he ever has.
"Hi! Welcome. Do you have a reservation tonight?" The nice young lady asks. She reminds him of Mike with her curly black hair, sculpted cheekbones, and freckles. Although her freckles were much more scattered then Mike's, and her eyes were more far apart–
"Sir?"
"Oh, I'm so sorry, yeah I do. Reservation for Jonathon." He blinks harshly to kick himself back into reality. Mike was really getting to his head, huh.
"Oh, he's waiting for you. Table 5." She smiles at him, handing him a menu and pointing in the direction.
He goes to go sit down across from… Mike?
Wait wait wait.
What the hell was Mike doing at hotpot? What was he doing at his dinner with Jonathon?
"Will? What are you doing here? Where's Nancy?"
Nancy? Why would she be here–
Oh.
No fucking way.