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Mike was so nervous.
He had spent the last few months planning this night.
It had started with ring shopping. He had somewhat of an idea of what he wanted, something simple and sleek, and he wanted both rings to be the same.
What he didn’t realize was just how little that narrowed things down. Or how awkward it was trying to explain to store clerk why he wanted two men’s wedding rings. After having shopped at multiple places and having to give an explanation multiple times the excuse he had settled on was, “Oh you know she’s an artist and with her painting all the time she never ends up wearing rings because it’s too much of a pain to scrub paint off of them all the time. I figured a more simple ring would mean she can actually wear it.” And it wasn’t totally a lie. Will was in fact an artist, and Mike knew from experience how annoying scrubbing paint off of rings was. He and Will had done a painting date night a few months back and Mike had made the mistake of keeping all his rings on, and very quickly learned that trying to scrape paint out of engravings and in between crevices was a futile task. He was pretty sure there was still paint on some of them.
And there were a few times that the clerk tries to convince him that “Oh well you can get her two rings, one more fancy one she can wear out and one to be a more simple daily wear band.” And Mike knew that they were just doing there job and trying to get the commission for making two ring sales but it was very frustrating to have the employees imply they knew better than he did about what ring to get. They weren’t the ones marrying Will, in fact they knew nothing about him except that he was an artist, so why did they get to have an opinion on what ring he bought? He had to force himself to grit his teeth and in the most polite voice he could muster tell them “Thank you, but I know what type of ring my partner wants.”
It took a lot more shopping and consideration than he thought it would, but after 5 different stores and measuring Will’s ring size while he was asleep he managed to get the perfect rings. They were beautiful, two identical gold bands (yellow and gold always made him think of Will) with a small heart engraving on the inside that had “M+W” in the center of it.
He had been so excited and anxious the night he brought them home. He had been planning on where best to hide them, but it made him nervous not having them on him. Like somehow Will would find the box stuffed in the toe of his old pair of boots and it would ruin everything.
Will had picked up on his nerves immediately.
They were laying on the couch together watching a movie Will had rented for them but he could barely pay attention to it. He was nervously tapping his fingers on the couch cushions because all he could think about was the rings. He was terrified that he wouldn’t be able to keep it a secret and would accidentally just blurt it all out before he was supposed to.
“Mike, what’s wrong?”
“Huh? Oh nothing, just uh, fidgety I guess.”
Will’s face scrunched up in disbelief.
“Mike, come on I know something’s up.”
And God Mike was a horrible liar. Especially when it came to Will. He realized that he was probably just going to have to be somewhat honest with him otherwise he would explode with the stress of trying to maintain a convincing lie.
“I- It’s.” He took a deep breath. “I promise you it’s nothing bad, it’s actually something good and I’m really really excited about it but I can’t tell you about it yet, but I’m really bad at hiding things from you so I’m kinda freaking out that I’m accidentally going to blurt it out and spoil the whole thing.”
Will just stared at him for a moment.
Then he laughed.
“You’re adorable, you know that?”
“Shut up.”
They leaned in for a soft kiss and he felt his nerves melt away. It was Will, he could probably chuck the ring at him and he’d still say yes. Even if he somehow manages to fuck up the proposal Will would love him anyways.
That didn’t stop him from anxiously over planning though.
Will was at one of his classes and Mike took advantage of having the apartment to himself to do something he’d been debating doing for a while.
Call Lucas and beg him to give him any kind of wisdom or advice.
Lucas and Max had been engaged for two years now. And no matter how much Max pretended to be aloof about it he knew that Lucas’s proposal was really good.
He was pacing back in forth, phone cradled against his face as he waited for someone to pick up. He was flooded with relief when Lucas finally answered.
“Hey man what’s up?”
“Lucas how did you propose to Max?”
“What? Mike, you’ve heard the story before? and why are you calling me about it at 10 on a Tuesday?”
“Well I uh-“
“Wait are you going to propose to Will?”
He suddenly heard a loud yell from the other end of the phone. “WAIT WHAT?” He was pretty sure that was Max.
“Yes, and I’m like freaking out about it because I don’t know what do for it and every idea I have is either literally impossible or not good enough so I just really need some advice.”
There was shuffling on the other end of the line.
“Wait Wheeler are you saying that you’re actually proposing to Will? Oh my God I cannot believe it, you are actually getting your shit together for once.”
“Nice to see you too Max. Now can we please focus on the advice part of this conversation because I only have like 40 minutes until Will comes home and I really need help figuring this out.”
So that was how Max and Lucas got roped into the engagement committee. That first call was mostly spent answering their slew of questions.
“Well do you have a ring yet?” Lucas asked.
“Yeah I’ve had them for a couple weeks now, which is kinda why I’m freaking out because if I have to wait much longer I am going to accidentally tell him about it.”
Max cut in. “Wait what do they look like, because I swear if you make that poor boy wear some ugly ass ring I will personally kick your ass.”
“Hey! They’re nice rings. I got us matching ones, it’s just a simple gold band with our initials engraved on the inside.”
“Okay wait that’s actually good. Will loves gold.”
“Yeah I know Max that’s why I picked them out.”
They all burst out into laughter. They had chatted for a little longer and agreed on a time to call again to work on actually planning everything. Mike felt a major amount of relief now that he had someone to make sure he didn’t screw everything up. And also that he told someone about it. He had been planning on telling Nancy but she had been too busy to meet up and he really wanted to tell her in person, and he hadn’t realized just how much that was weighing on him.
Now that he didn’t have to keep it entirely a secret it was a lot easier to just relax and enjoy getting to plan everything.
He knew he would have to do it at their place. As nice as it would be to take Will out to a nice dinner or a romantic date he figured getting hate crimed would probably ruin the proposal. It still hurt a little bit to have to reject all of Lucas’s suggestions and have to remind him that they didn’t get the luxury of loving each other in public.
Thankfully Lucas was full of great ideas for an at home proposal too.
“I mean, a dinner is always good, very romantic especially if you make his favorite food.”
“Okay yeah that could work.”
Max had something snarky to say as always.
“Just make sure you propose before he sees the dinner Wheeler otherwise he’ll immediately know something’s up.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Name the last time you cooked for him.”
“Hey- what I cook all the time.”
“Instant ramen and frozen pizzas don’t count.”
“Shut up.”
As much as Max annoyed him she did actually have some really good advice.
“Just make sure it feels like you, I promise you it’ll mean way more if you do it the way you actually want to instead of doing some generic cookie cutter proposal. Will is like, head over heels in love with you so I’m pretty sure he’s gonna end up loving it no matter what. I mean, Lucas used a video game analogy in his proposal and I still said yes.”
“Hey! it was sweet.”
“Yeah yeah, point is Wheeler make it as nerdy and weird as you want to because that’s what he loves about you. He likes when you’re all nerdy about D&D, or when you ramble about the story you’re writing, or when you wear those God awful leather jackets. He loves you so much, so as long as whatever you end up doing has that stupid Mike Wheeler charm attached to it, it’ll be perfect for him.”
“I can’t tell if I’m supposed to be insulted or flattered right now.”
They dissolved into laughter.
Mike really did take Max’s advice to heart because she was absolutely right. Will would want something sweet and intimate and nerdy. He knew that if Will proposed to him he would want him to do something cheesy and artsy for him.
So Mike was going to make a D&D campaign.
It would just be a little one shot, he would make it seem like it was just a cute date night thing for them to do because they hadn’t played for a while and he missed it (which was true but besides the point). It would be a rescue mission where Will the Wise had to save Tayr who had been kidnapped by a group of goblins. He would succeed obviously after fighting his way through a dungeon to the room where Tayr is being held captive. They would have an emotional reunion which would lead to Tayr proposing which would lead to Mike proposing.
Max had said that it was “exactly the nerdy type of thing she expected from him.” Lucas said it was “cute” and that “Will would love it.”
He had spent the next 2 weeks frantically writing and planning whenever Will was out of the house. He had originally planned on having it be around an hour, but the idea of having to wait that long killed him so he made it more like 30 minutes long. Although no matter how much he tried to plan he knew it would probably end up taking forever. Will was indeed the “search every corner of the dungeon” type of player. Which was usually great because Will never missed any cool hidden details or lore he added, but terrible for having a quick campaign. Still he hoped that by some miracle he could keep it under an hour.
The Irony that he had waited months but the idea of an extra 30 minutes killed him was not lost on him (he’s an english major of course he picks up on that.) But he’s so excited just thinking about it he’s pretty sure he’s going to combust when he actually does it.
Will had noticed that too.
“What’s up?”
“Huh?”
“You just- you just keep staring at me with this big dopey smile on your face.”
Mike’s cheeks flushed bright red.
“I just- I love you.”
Will walked over to him and wrapped his arms around his neck. He had a big smile across his face.
“I love you too.”
They melted into each-other, lips colliding gently. The kiss was messy despite their nearly sedated pace. because They were smiling so much that they could barely keep their mouths together and kept breaking apart to laugh. Mike thinks he might faint from how beautiful Will looks in that moment. And he realizes that he needs to set up for the proposal right now because he can’t wait any longer.
“Can we have date night again, maybe Friday next week?”
“Yeah, I don’t have any plans.”
Mike grins wide.
“Great, I’ll plan everything, It’ll all be ready when you get home.”
Will giggles.
“I think I might be the luckiest guy in the world.”
And then they’re kissing all over again.
And this is great! Everything is in place for him to propose. Except suddenly the nerves are setting in again. And now he’s panicking because he has just over a week to prepare himself and set everything up.
He finds himself lying awake at night with Will curled up on his chest. He runs his fingers through Will’s hair over and over to try and calm his nerves. Normally he slept easily as long as Will was by his side. But now his heart was racing and his mind was tormenting him with the stress over getting everything perfect. He was stuck reworking and rehearsing everything he wanted to say over and over, and every time he looked down at Will he was struck with the feeling that it wasn’t good enough for him.
He needed to call Lucas in the morning.
So as soon as the front door closed behind Will he raced over to the phone.
“Hey Mike what’s-“
“I’m doing it next Friday.”
“Wait really? Congrats man!”
“Lucas I am freaking the fuck out right now, how on earth do I deal with the wait until then?”
“Okay first thing first is to take a deep breath.”
Lucas pauses as if waiting to hear him breathe. He rolls his eyes at the ridiculousness of it, but takes a deep inhale then a slow exhale.
“Okay, good. Next we figure out what exactly it is you’re nervous about, is there anything you’re not prepared for?”
“No- yes, I don’t know. I mean I have the campaign and everything ready and I scheduled out everything I need to do day of to have everything set up in time but I just- I don’t know I went from feeling totally ready to suddenly stressing that I’m going to mess it up and that Will’s gonna hate it and everything I’m planning to say isn’t good enough.”
“Hey, you know that none of that is true. Everything you’ve told me sounds great and you know how much Will loves your campaigns.”
“I just, I’ve been trying to plan what I’m going to say when I propose and I feel like I just can’t get it right.”
“Okay, you’re probably going to hate me for this advice.”
“Okay..?”
“You just gotta stop thinking about it. You can’t plan for everything and even if you do it won’t turn out as good or as authentic as if you just let yourself say what you want to in the moment. Trust me I planned a whole thing to say but by the time I was down on one knee it all went out the window and I just said what I felt.”
“So the video game analogy came straight from the heart huh?”
“Oh shut up, in case you forgot you’re calling me for advice on how to propose through D&D role play.”
And okay yeah maybe he shouldn’t be making fun of the guy he was asking for help.
“You’re right sorry, I just- do you really think that I can come up with it in the moment? That I won’t mess it up?”
“Mike you are literally a writer, I don’t think you have ever been at a loss for words. I guarantee you that not only you will have plenty to say in the moment, but it will also probably be very poetic and romantic and your boyfriend will be very impressed.”
“Okay, okay yeah sorry for freaking out on you I’m just nervous.”
“It’s okay I get it man I remember how stressed I was. I made Steve help me rehearse it like a thousand times.”
The image of Lucas down on one knee in front of Steve of all people is enough to make him laugh. But there’s still this weird weight on his chest and something gnawing at his nerves.
“Thank you Lucas.”
“You sure that’s it? I mean maybe you’re just stressed but you sound kinda upset.”
“I guess it’s just- we won’t even be able to get married you know? So it kind of feels like I have to make sure this goes well because it’s all we’re gonna get and I just want it to be perfect for Will. Because if it’s bad it’s not like we still get to have a ceremony where everything is planned out more so we can make sure it’s perfect you know? I just- I love him so much Lucas, and the fact that we can’t ever actually get married it just- it makes me feel like I have to somehow make this feel as special as an entire wedding and that’s like a lot of pressure and I-“
Tears were starting to prick in the corners of his eyes. He had been trying not to think about it. About how the rings may have been a beautiful symbol of their love, but they could never have anything actually backing them. He wanted to marry Will so badly, but he couldn’t. It hurt so much to think about how wonderful it would be if they could get married. Of how happy he would be to call Will his husband.
“I’m sorry Mike. I can’t even imagine how awful that is. Whatever you need to talk about I’m here for okay?”
“Okay, thank you, I just, I think I just need to talk it through.”
“I’ll listen to whatever you need to say.”
Mike takes a deep breath before he finally lets it all out.
“It’s just like I’m so happy to get to be engaged, and to have matching rings, and to call him my fiancée, but I can’t help but think about how I’m going to have to lie when people ask about it. Hell I already had to lie when buying the rings, and now we’re both going to have to pretend that there’s some girl we’re engaged to. I just- I want to make sure it’s good enough, that it’s worth Will giving up the chance to have a normal life if he commits to being with me.”
There’s a quiet pause.
“Mike, Will loves you, so so much. I don’t think he would ever think of being with you as losing something. I am sure that whatever you have to give up to be together is worth it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as happy as you two are when you’re together. I don’t know exactly what it’s like to be gay, but I know that it has made both of you so happy to be together. I wish so badly that the world wasn’t the way it is, but don’t let that stop you from being happy.”
He was crying. His cheeks were red and his face was damp.
“I love him so much Lucas.”
“I know, and he knows too. I promise you he’s going to be ecstatic when you propose.”
“Yeah, yeah you’re right. Thanks Lucas, I really needed this.”
“Of course man, any time.” He can practically hear him smiling through the phone. “Besides it’s my job as the most emotionally stable of the party to give a good pep talk every now and then.”
Mike felt lighter as he laughed. Lucas always knew the right thing to say. He felt better than he had in weeks.
The days until the proposal seemed to fly by. He threw himself into perfecting the tiny details. He added more texture to the dungeon map, figured out how exactly Tayr would start his proposal (Hey Lucas never said he couldn’t script that one), and finished up the new figurines he made to give Will afterwards. He had found figures with detailed enough hands so that he could paint on tiny engagement rings. He also added little accents of each other’s color palette’s to each figure to make them match more. They weren’t perfect, usually he had Will help him with his figures, especially with tiny details, but he had gotten pretty good at doing it on his own.
Friday morning he was buzzing with excitement. Will had to pry Mike off of him multiple times in order to finish getting ready.
“Mikey please, I need to go get changed.”
He was standing behind Will, face buried in his shoulder and arms wrapped firmly around him. He gave him a gentle squeeze.
“Mmmm but you’re so comfy.”
“What is up with you today? You’re never this clingy.”
“I’m just excited for tonight, and once you leave I have to wait like 10 hours until we can have our date.”
“I know, I’m excited about it too, but I also have my still-life assessment today so I really can’t be late.”
Mike pressed a gentle kiss again Will’s cheek before releasing him.
“Thank you baby, I’ll be right back.”
Will rushed through the rest of his morning routine before kissing Mike goodbye and hurrying out the door.
Mike immediately sprang into action.
First things first was to grab the rings. He hadn’t gotten them out since he’d stashed them away out of fear that Will would catch him. Now he was eagerly pulling out the box and taking a peak inside to make sure they were there. They were just as beautiful as he remembered, the sunlight from the window making them seemingly glitter in the light.
He gently tucked the ring box into his pocket.
Next was setting up the campaign. The only tables they had were the desk crammed into the corner and the tiny coffee table in front of the couch. He opted for the coffee table.
He spent a long time carefully laying out and arranging each piece. as well as his DM screen. He set out all of Will’s stuff too, making sure to grab his favorite purple and yellow dice set as well as copying over a new character sheet for him. He placed their old figurines on the table, the new ones with rings hiding in a little box behind his DM screen.
Next was running to the store for groceries. He had originally planned on buying them ahead of time but then he realized how suspicious it would be if a bunch of fresh ingredients suddenly materialized in their barren fridge. It was probably a good thing anyway because he needed to kill as much time as possible today to avoid going stir crazy.
Luckily he didn’t need to buy too much. He had called Joyce earlier in the week to get her mac and cheese recipe. Will loved mac and cheese so it was the obvious pick for dinner. He also picked up a nice looking loaf of bread that he could use for toast on the side because Will also loved bread. His palette hadn’t changed much since they were kids and honestly Mike was very grateful, because even mac and cheese was probably at the upper limits of his cooking abilities.
Unfortunately for him it’s still only 12 when he gets home and if he wants the food to still be hot when Will gets home he’s going to have to wait a couple hours to start cooking.
So then begins the nervous pacing. Back and forth back and forth, if Will was here he’d tease him about how he was going to wear a path in their rug. That didn’t stop the anxious pacing. He just felt like he had so much pent up energy, but he couldn’t do anything else until it was time to start cooking because then he might get distracted and then he would ruin the whole thing. So he continues to wear a walkway into the scratchy blue rug across their living room.
Maybe he could find something else for the proposal to work on?
He could read over his campaign notes again but at this point he was pretty sure he had memorized the entire thing. He could tidy up the house a bit, but he was probably going to make a mess when cooking and the just the thought of having to clean twice was exhausting. He could get dressed?
He was originally planning on waiting until after he made dinner but this way he could make sure he had plenty of time to look his best.
Okay to the closet it is.
He was just planning on wearing his usual Tayr costume. Well costume may have been a strong word for it. It consisted of a cream toned long sleeved shirt and a pair of grey slacks. Overtop was a sort of shawl that El had crocheted for him in a pattern resembling chain mail and a leather belt with a couple of small pouches threaded through it. If he wanted to dress it up a little more he usually threw on a pair of his leather fingerless gloves and a couple of heart themed pieces of jewelry.
He threw on the base pieces and left his accessories out on the bed so they wouldn’t get in his way. Making his way to the bathroom he sought out his bag of crusty eyeliner and crumbling eyeshadows.
He knew lore wise it didn’t make sense for Tayr to wear eyeliner and lipstick, but he also knew how much Will liked it when Mike did, so tonight Tayr would too.
He pulled off his glasses, setting them on the counter before leaning forward to have a better view of his face. He decided to do something a little different from his normal makeup which consisted of dark smudged eyeliner all around his eyes with a messy dusting of eyeshadow surrounding it. He figured Tayr would do something more simple but feminine, opting for a thin winged liner and a soft white shimmer on his eyelids. He dug through Will’s stuff and found a soft red lipstick that would pair nicely with his jewelry and applied it as well, doing his best to not over-line his lips.
He admired it for a second finding that he enjoyed it more than he had expected. The thiner eyeliner made his eyes look more angular, and the lipstick made his already plump lips look nice and rosy. He slipped his glasses back on before returning to put on his accessories. Shawl, then belt, then necklace, then earrings. He brought his gloves back to the living room chucking them down on an open spot of the coffee table. He figured cooking with gloves would be very messy, and very annoying, so he’d put them on later.
Now was just more waiting. He still had an hour to kill somehow.
He decided to call Nance. As badly as he wanted to tell her in person he also would feel bad if she was one of the last people to know because of it. They had agreed on no more secrets. And it’s not his fault that she’s too busy to come visit him.
He sorta doesn’t expect her to pick up but after only a couple of rings he’s greeted by her familiar voice.
“Hey what’s up?”
“Hi Nance, I uh, I have some big news to tell you.”
“Okay, shoot.”
He takes a deep breath before breaking into a ramble.
“Okay, so I’ve been waiting so I can tell you in person but since you’re so busy I figure it’s probably not going to happen so I’m just gonna tell you now. I’m proposing to Will tonight.”
“Wait Mike! Oh that’s amazing. I had a feeling you two were gonna get engaged soon.”
He feels a little shocked at her confidence in that statement.
“There’s no way you knew. I’ve literally only been planning on it for a couple of months and we’ve spoken maybe 3 times since then.”
“Well when you have a reporter for a sister sometimes she just knows things.” Mike rolled his eyes, but let out a soft chuckle anyways. “Besides Johnathan had been saying the same thing, apparently Will’s been gushing about you even more than usual so he figured something was going on.”
“Really?” Mike can’t keep the lovesick tone out of his voice.
“Yes Mike. And to be fair it’s not that different from usual anyways because according to Johnathan you are like 70% of what he talks about. But within the last month it’s changed to like, 90%, which he’s very annoyed about.”
“Yeah that sounds like Johnathan. He never did like me very much.”
“He likes you just fine, he just doesn’t like you nearly as much as Will does and he can only listen to how great of a boyfriend you are so many times before it gets obnoxious.”
He laughs. He’s missed talking to his sister like this. It’s hard with her dealing with all of her coursework and an intensive internship on top of being in a completely different state. He should try to call more often.
“Okay, I need to get going but I just want to say congratulations again. I’m so happy for you guys! You’ll have to tell me all about it next time we call okay?”
“Yeah I can do that. Bye Nance Love you.”
“Love you too, also I call dibs on being your best woman.” Before he could respond he was met with the dial tone.
He put the phone back on the hook with a grin on his face.
Now it was time to cook.
And thankfully Joyce was a literal saint and had given him very detailed instructions. He actually made everything properly and it was nearly as good as when Joyce made it. It wasn’t perfect of course, it was probably a little too salty and his plating was kind of atrocious but hopefully Will would still love it.
Once both of their plates were set out on the table Mike slid on the last of his accessories. He was so excited that the only thing he could do to keep himself calm was pace back and forth across the rug again.
When he heard keys rattling in the door he practically sprinted over. As soon as the door opened Will was pulled into a tight hug.
“Woah, Hey Mike.”
“Missed you.” He murmured into Will’s shoulder, pressing soft kisses into his skin.
“I can tell. Are you in costume right now?”
“Maybe”
Will laughed. Mike couldn’t help the dopey grin that spread on his face at the sound.
“Are you gonna tell me what you’ve planned or are we just gonna stand here?”
Mike pulled Will into a warm kiss.
“Mmm maybe, gonna keep you right here all night.”
Will gave him a playful pout.
“Please?”
And yeah Mike couldn’t say no to that. Besides he was too excited to wait any longer anyways.
“Okay okay, come on, I made dinner.”
He eagerly pulls Will over to the coffee table. When Will saw it he gasped.
“Mike-“
“Do you like it? I set up a oneshot for us. And I got your mom to give me her mac and cheese recipe because I know it’s your favorite and-“
He’s cut off by Will practically tackling him into a kiss. Will’s hands slide through his hair before finding a good place to grip the strands and pull him in closer. He fumbles to gain purchase on Will’s body, one hand reaching up to cup his face while he places his other one on Will’s shoulder to steady himself.
When they break apart they’re both a little breathless.
“I love you so much Mike.”
“Love you too baby.”
Will tilts his head up at him.
“Is there a special occasion that prompted this? I’m starting to get worried I forgot something important.”
“Am I not allowed to spoil my boyfriend unless it’s a special occasion?”
Will flushes at that. Mike smiles before dropping into a more sincere tone.
“I just wanted to do something nice for us. And I’ve missed playing D&D just the two of us so I thought it’d be nice to do it again. Plus this way Tayr and Will the Wise can flirt without the rest of the party interrupting every five seconds. I think they deserve a nice date too.”
“You’re such a dork.”
“Yeah.” And they’re both grinning as they settle down at the table.
He anxiously watches as Will has his first bite of his food.
“Do you like it?”
“Oh my god, Mike this is amazing.“
He grinned at the praise.
“I’m glad you like it, I was honestly really scared I was gonna fuck it up.”
Will smiled at him, before reaching across the table to hold his hand.
“I love it, it’s perfect.”
The two of them spent the next few minutes eating and talking about Will’s day. To his delight Will devours his food, clearly enjoying it.
Once he’s finished putting their dishes in the sink to soak he settles back into his spot to begin the campaign.
“You ready to play?”
“Of course.” Will was practically beaming, rocking back and forth the way he always did when he was happy.
Mike gives Will the usual speech. Will the Wise and Tayr are taking the weekend off and spending it at a nice tavern together. He lets Will and Tayr talk for a bit, longer then he should’ve considering they were supposed to be cut off by a goblin attack, but he was having far too much fun flirting with Will.
“You know William, I do believe we have the whole weekend to ourselves. Why don’t we have some fun?”
Will laughs.
“Oh my god, Mike! Is this whole campaign just your idea of foreplay?”
Mike’s tone is playful as he responds. “You know I don’t have the patience for that.” Will laughs again. “And I was actually trying to insinuate that they should go on a date, you just have a dirty mind.”
“Oh come on Mike, “have some fun”? are you seriously trying to tell me that was meant as a totally innocent comment?”
“Well maybe I was insinuating that they could have sex later. But right now you’re supposed to be going on a date. And I think Tayr would like an answer to his question.”
Will playfully sighs but he can’t contain the grin on his face. “Of course Tayr, what did you have in mind?”
Mike slips right back into character. “A picnic my dearest. There’s a field nearby where we’ll have total privacy and a great view.”
“Sounds wonderful.”
Mike describes the picnic. It’s a beautiful spot in a field of yellow wildflowers, the two of them sit under a tree enjoying bread and ale. They flirt for a little longer and Mike has to resit the urge to climb over the table and kiss Will for real instead of just role playing it. Even after all these years together Will still managed to drive him crazy as though they’re horny teenagers all over again. He forces himself to get the plot moving along again before they get too caught up in each other.
“As the two of you are packing up Will the Wise wonders down the hill to get a closer look at the fauna. He is startled by a shout from Tayr and turned around to see the paladin being carried off by a swarm of goblins. Will notices that he must have left his sword out of reach as it lays abandoned on the ground, so he was left defenseless as he was whisked away.”
“Can I attempt to rescue him?”
“You sprint up the hill to try and get into spell casting range but the goblins are unusually fast. It seems like they’re using some sort of magic to give them speed. Perhaps that can give you a clue to discover where they’re headed, because once you crest over the hill they’ve disappeared from your sight.”
The adventure continues on seamlessly after that. Will follows some leads from the town and tracks down the goblin dungeon. He’s flawless in combat as always, after playing the same character for 15 years he’s gotten pretty good at knowing how to combo perfectly to maximize his chances and take advantage of all his stats and abilities.
Which is really hot. He knows that makes him even more of a loser, but watching Will scrunch up his face as he strategizes, and the satisfied grin he gets every time he pulls off a perfect kill is really attractive. Will makes a sarcastic quip after one of his kills and Mike thinks he may faint.
But once Will is dealing the killing blow on the final boss his nerves set in again. When he steps in through the back door he’ll find Tayr and free him, and then, it’s proposal time.
“You open the small wooden door. Inside Tayr is tied down to a chair, his head snaps up at the sound of you entering, once he sees you he calls out “William” as you rush over to let him out.”
“Tayr, are you okay? Did they hurt you at all.”
“I’m fine, I’m just happy to see you light.”
“I untie his bindings and help him stand up.”
Mike takes a deep breath. Okay, it’s time.
“William I- I wanted to do this after our date but obviously we got interrupted, and I would wait until our next date but I don’t think I can hold it in any longer.”
Mike pulls the box out of his pocket, then gets up on one knee.
“Will the Wise, my cleric, the love of my life. I’d like to ask you something I’ve wanted to ask for a really long time.”
Will gasps when he realizes Mike isn’t in character anymore, his hands flying up to his mouth in shock.
“Oh my god, Mike.”
“Will, I love you so much.” He feels tears begin to well up in his eyes. “I’ve loved you since I was five years old. Since the day I met you on that swing set I knew you were special. You were the most beautiful person I’d ever seen and I knew right then and there that you were my favorite person in the whole world, my soulmate.”
They’re both crying, Will is looking at him with so much joy and love, it only makes Mike cry harder.
“And I have spent every day since loving you. Spent every day wishing I could spend every second with you because no one makes me nearly as happy as you do.”
Will shuffles around to the side of the table so they can finally reach each other. Will grabs onto his shoulders as Mike presses their foreheads together.
“I want to marry you Will. I want to spend the rest of my life by your side. I want us to make comics together. I want to you to illustrate the covers for all of my books. I want to go to all of your art shows and tell everyone that the most talented artist in the world is my husband.”
“Mike.”
Mike reaches up his free hand and cradles Will’s cheek.
“I want to grow old with you. I want to watch you with our kids and see how amazing of a father you are. I want to be buried with you so we can spend the rest of eternity side by side like we always have.”
He pauses to sniffle and take a deep breath. Will makes eye contact with him and he has to close his eyes to keep from breaking into full on sobs.
“I want to spend every holiday with you and your family. I want to buy us a big house where we can have a joint office and studio. I want to make love to you every single night because I’m so in love with you Will. I want to hold you and kiss you every chance I get because it gives me butterflies every time. I want to be yours and only yours if you’ll let me.”
He pulls back, opening his eyes again and holding up the ring box.
“Will Byers, Will you marry me?”
Instead of answering, Will tackles him into a kiss. They completely melt into each other, desperately trying to press every inch of their bodies against each other. Will begins murmuring to him in between kisses.
“Yes. Yes of course Mike. I love you so much. So so much.”
The next few minutes are spent kissing and clutching onto each other while sobbing. Mike is so happy, so so happy. He didn’t even know it was possible to be this… elated. And yet here he is, bawling with joy as his fiancée holds him.
When they finally calm down enough Mike pulls back and holds out the ring box again.
“Can I show you the rings?”
Will nods eagerly while wiping tears from his eyes.
Mike opens the box. Will gasps and brings his hand to his mouth to try and stifle his sobs.
“They’re both identical, I got gold because it always makes me think of you. And on the inside there’s an engraving of a heart with our initials in it.”
“Mike-“
“And I made sure that they have a low profile and no bumps or anything so you can wear it while you paint.”
“I love you so much.”
A sappy grin forms on his face.
“I love you too.”
“Can I try on the ring?”
“Of course, here let me put it on you.”
Mike grabs Will’s ring before gently taking his hand. Holding his knuckles against his lips he presses a soft kiss against his skin before sliding the band onto Will’s finger.
When he pulls away Will stares at his hand as though he’s in disbelief that the ring is actually there.
He looks up at Mike.
“Here, let me do yours too.”
He fumbles to grab Mike’s ring from the box. His hands shaking as he places the ring on Mike’s finger.
“T-there.” He’s tearing up again. “-N-now we match.”
Mike pulls Will against him into a desperate hug. They both squeeze each other as tight as they can, as if they could transmit everything they wanted to say through the pressure. The compression is soothing and it helps Mike calm down enough to stop taking gasping breaths, allowing the tears to finally dry on his face.
Will laughs and presses against him.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe this is real.”
Will presses his face against Mike’s neck.
“So I take it you liked the proposal?”
“Mike, of course I did. I’ve been dreaming about you asking me forever, and it was even better than I imagined.”
A huge grin spreads across Mike’s face. “Yeah?”
Will leaned back to look at him.
“Yeah, it was perfect Mike. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.”
Mike cups Will’s face in his hands, gently brushing his thumbs over dried tear tracks.
“I can’t wait to tell my Mom. She’s gonna be so happy. I swear she keeps dropping hints to me about how we should get married soon.”
Mike laughs. Then he feels a little melancholy at the reminder of marriage.
“Will do you think- you think that we could…” his voice drops to a whisper, “Get married someday?”
Will rested his hand over the one Mike was using to cradle his face.
“Of course. I don’t care what the stupid law says. We’re gonna have a beautiful ceremony, and you’re gonna be my husband , and we’re gonna change our last names-“
“I want your last name.”
“Okay, you’re gonna get your name changed. You’re gonna be my husband Mike Byers, and nobody is gonna stop us okay?”
“Yeah.” He was holding back tears again. “Yeah I’d like that.”
Will’s eyes welled up again, but he was smiling brightly.
“Well you proposed to me, so I’d sure hope so.”
Mike burst into laughter and pulled Will into another embrace.
Will said yes. Will said yes and he was going to marry him.
He definitely owed Max and Lucas a gift basket or something. But he’d have time to figure that out later. Right now he wanted to bask in how happy they were.
He almost pulls Will into another kiss before he remembers.
“Oh wait, I have one more thing for you.”
“Oh?”
Mike leans over the side of the table, stretching his arm as far as he can in order to grab the other box he had been hiding. He holds it out to Will.
“Here, open it.”
Will gingerly pulled the lid off.
“I figured we’d need updated figures with our rings on them. Seeing as Tayr and William are also now engaged.”
“Oh wow Mike. They’re beautiful.”
Mike leans in to give him a peck on the lips.
“Well I did learn from the best after all.”
They both melt into a round of messy kisses.
Mike officially marked this in his mind as the first of the many special days he gets to spend as Will’s husband. They’d figure out the rest later, right now all that mattered was that he had a ring on his finger, and that the boy with the matching one was securely wrapped in his arms.
So he leaned in for another kiss.