Chapter Text
April 7th, 1988, 10:24 pm
Mike Wheeler has many qualities — loyal, brave, smart — but patient is definitely not one of them. This has become very apparent in the last hour as he glares intensely at the clock.
“That clock isn’t going to move any faster if you keep glaring at it,” Max snarks at him. “You know, you should really try this thing called patience sometime. It’s really nice.”
“Go away, Max,” he huffs out, turning to fix his glare on her instead. They’re all strewn across the floor in his basement, finishing the last bits of his birthday cake. Lucas is arguing with Dustin about something stupid, like the best cake flavour. Jane’s sitting on a beanbag watching them and occasionally adding her own input. Will is lying on his back on the carpet with his eyes closed. His chest rises steadily, and he has a peaceful look on his face, sleeping, most likely. Mike’s sitting on the sofa facing the clock, and Max has decided to leave her perfectly good seat next to Jane just to annoy him for her amusement.
“Oh, come on. I just want to talk to you for a bit.” Max takes a seat next to him. She’s smirking a bit, and Mike really doesn’t have the patience to deal with her teasing right now.
“Talk about what?” he asks, feeling a bit irritated.
“You know. It’s your 17th birthday, we’re graduating in a year, and we’ve all got our futures to worry about.”
Mike raises an eyebrow. “Since when were you so worried about things like this?”
“Well, 17 is a very important year. You’re supposed to start getting the visions, remember?”
She’s definitely messing with him now. How could he forget about the visions, the soulmate dreams? It’s the only thing he’s been thinking about for the past week. It’s the reason why he’s been feeling so impatient all day. The sooner he falls asleep, the sooner he can meet his soulmate — or at least he hopes he can. He could be older than them, which means he would have to wait until their birthday passes to have his first vision. Besides, it’s not guaranteed that the vision will come on the day of his birthday. Sometimes it takes a few days to come.
Max is grinning at him now, a slightly sadistic look gleaming in her eyes. “Is there anyone you’re hoping for it to be? Maybe someone with beautiful hazel eyes and very strong arms?”
She lets out a giggle as Mike groans and drops his head into his hands.
It had been his greatest moment of weakness. The party had gone swimming together at the lake to escape the sweltering heat of summertime. Will and Jane had just moved back to Hawkins after their brief departure to California, and Mike couldn’t have been happier to have all six of them together again. What he didn’t realize, though, was that Will had changed — a lot while living in California. Sure he had grown taller and a bit more tan, but that was to be expected of a healthy 16-year-old boy. What Mike didn’t expect was that Will had developed a lot of muscle. He didn’t realize this until Will was taking his shirt off to head into the water, and Mike was met with an eyeful of muscle.
The rest of the party had also noticed and immediately begun clamouring over Will’s new look. Mike, however, was completely stunned as he stood frozen in place. The only one to notice him was Max, and she had just stared at him with a pensive look on her face. Then Will had made eye contact with him, and Mike had felt his face start burning. He quickly busied his hands with putting on sunscreen, his heart racing away in his chest.
The rest of the day hadn’t gone much better. Mike was constantly distracted by Will. The way the light would reflect off his hair and the path of some water droplets as they trailed down his newly muscled arms. Suffice to say, Mike hadn’t done much else than stare at Will and panic the whole time they were at the lake.
He knew he wasn’t being subtle, so it was a wonder that Max was the only one to notice how odd he’d been acting. She cornered him later that day, after everyone had headed home, and confronted him.
“Do you have a thing for Will?” Her blunt words had stopped all brain function as Mike tried desperately to come up with an answer. But his silence had been damning, and Max came to the correct conclusion that he was irrevocably and crazily in love with one Will Byers.
She just looked at him before speaking mournfully, “And here I thought you were done with dating the Byers family after Jane. But I guess you just couldn’t resist completing the set.”
Her words seemed to have activated something in his brain as he began squawking indignantly.
“That’s not how it is!”
Max laughed and punched him lightly on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone.”
Mike had let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Strangely, he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
“Thanks,” he mutters.
“You know,” Max started, “you could tell me about it.”
She had to be joking. Mike had never told anyone about his feelings for Will. It had never felt right. How could he burden his friends with this? Surely it would hurt them to have to keep this a secret from Will. It certainly hurt him. Every time they spoke, he could feel the words bubbling up in the back of his throat, threatening to spill out. He had gotten good at ignoring the feeling over time.
But then Max had looked at him sincerely and told him, “It must have been so hard to not be able to tell anyone.” And Mike realized that he’d been wanting to talk to someone about this for a long time. Who was he to ignore an opportunity being presented to him on a silver platter?
So he told her everything he could think of. From the first time he realized he loved Will to the way he longed for more every time they hung out. And Max had listened to what he had to say.
Mike is glad he was able to talk to her about his feelings, but ever since, Max has been teasing him at every opportunity. Just like she’s doing now.
“I regret telling you about that.” Mike whines.
“No you don’t,” comes Max’s smug reply. She knows he doesn’t.
“No I don’t,” he agrees. “And… yeah. I am hoping for someone,” he admits with a faint dusting of blush on his cheeks. “I just don’t know if I could get that lucky.” Will is so perfect; there’s no way fate would force him to have a soulmate bond with someone like Mike.
Max tuts at him. “Have some faith in yourself. I’m telling you, you’re meant for each other.”
There’s a warmth spreading in Mike’s chest as he allows himself to hope. “I really hope so,” he replies with a sheepish smile.
Max gives him a reassuring smile. “I know so.”
The creaking sound of the basement door opening grabs his attention. He turns to see Nancy poking her head inside.
“Jonathan’s here to pick you guys up. He’s waiting outside.” She leaves at that, probably going to make out with Jonathan while they wait for everyone to get ready to leave.
The sound of shuffling fills the room as the party starts picking themselves off the floor, cleaning up the mess they made. Will is still sleeping on the carpet as Mike moves to wake him up.
Will’s mouth is relaxed and he’s lying spread-eagle. Mike chuckles a bit at the sight. His eyes are shut and the dim lights are hitting his face softly, making his face look like it’s glowing. He looks so peaceful that Mike almost doesn’t want to wake him up. Almost.
Jane appears at his side with a pillow, sporting a wicked grin. She whacks Will on the face with the pillow. He wakes with a start, eyes wide before they land on Jane and the pillow in her hand. He tries lunging to grab the pillow from her but she moves out of the way, giggling.
“Jonathan’s here to get us,” she says through her giggles.
Will flips back on the carpet with a sigh. “Got it.”
Mike’s heart swells. Will is just too endearing for him. He reaches down to Will, offering his hand. “Come on.”
Will looks at his hand for a moment before taking it. Mike pulls him up — or tries to. Unfortunately his arms have the strength of a wet noodle. They’re not like Will’s muscled arms. Heck, Will could probably lift him with one arm. Mike tries not to think about that too much. As it is, Mike does not possess the arm strength required to pull a 17-year-old boy off the floor. He struggles for a moment before Will takes pity on him and pushes himself off the floor.
“You should really join me and Lucas at the gym. It would do you wonders,” Will remarks.
“Never.” Mike scoffs. “You couldn’t pay me to go there.” He’d tried going once, and nearly died. He just wasn’t built for athletics. And he’d been too busy staring at Will, all sweaty and showing off his muscles, to really focus on doing anything correctly.
Will snickers. “Yeah, yeah. You’re just not built for athletics right?”
“Exactly.” Mike gives him a small smile.
By the time everyone’s out the door and on their way home, it’s already 10:48 and Mike’s anxiety has begun to skyrocket. He’s rushing through the motions of getting ready for bed—brushing his teeth, washing his face, and changing into his pyjamas. He’s eager to get to bed, but nervous for what might happen. Would he get the vision today? Or would he have to wait an indefinite period of time?
It’s only 11:11 as he’s tucking himself into bed. Mike closes his eyes, thinking a quick prayer. Please let my soulmate be Will Byers. The thought of appealing to some higher power gives him some comfort. He wills himself to go to sleep, his thoughts beginning to fade as he enters a dreamless slumber.