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Will -
The mirror is all too familiar with him at this point, accustomed to Will’s almost-tears, and more often than not full-on tears. It looks back at him, menacingly, almost twisting Will’s features like an abstract painting. Will looks up at himself slowly. He can feel the fear running up his neck into his face, and hell, the rest of his body for that matter.
Even though this exact thing has happened more times than he can count, it never gets any easier. He analyzes parts of himself. His hair a bit messy from having his head in his hands for so long. His eyebrows furrowed upward in anguish. His eyes puffy and darkened, tired of it all. His nose as runny as a flowing river, he almost laughs at the way he used to be so insecure about it. His cheeks hot and red from his continuous sobs. His lips slightly parted, but not for long as he bites down on them after thinking for a split second whose he wants them on. Curse him for even thinking about it again. Yet he does for another, more prolonged second. His hand quickly moves from the sink to over his mouth, as a way of somehow blocking his sight of it so he'll stop thinking about things he knows he shouldn't be. Will is now shaking. Badly.
The van. That stupid, cramped van is what started this, he remembers. It wasn't the first time and probably not the last either. The painting. Will handing it to Mike nervously. Mike's reaction, and Will's blatant lies from that reaction. Ah yes, of course El commissioned it because she totally knew about the party's dynamic in DnD and could explain her vision of everyone for him to perfectly capture the moment. If he's honest, she probably could've, but now she's gone. He misses her, which just makes his sobs worse. He should've just told Mike the truth back then, even if things didn't turn out so well, because he knows he can't keep up with this lie much longer. A lie that, unbeknownst to Will, Mike has already half-seen through. El did not commission that painting.
A knock suddenly shoots Will out of his trance.
"Will? You ok in there? We've gotta head out." Jonathan's voice muffles outside the bathroom door. It startles Will, but a feeling of relief washes over him because it's just his brother and not Mike, thank god. He looks at himself in the mirror once again before wiping his face of signs he's been crying. He musters up all his remaining courage and opens the door.
Jonathan must've been having none of it because as soon as his eyes set upon Will's, he awkwardly shuffles himself into the bathroom, forcing Will to stumble back a little bit. He puts his hands around Will's arms to catch him in a way, but Will knows there's more of a comforting meaning behind it. His suspicions are confirmed when Jonathan says
"Woah woah hey, is everything ok? What happened? Did he do something?" The slight emphasis on he makes Will nauseous. He can work his way out with this, right?
"Yea..uh..I just feel a little sick, that's all. I'm fine," he manages to blurt out. He realizes the sentence contradicts itself. Does he feel sick or fine? Jonathan may be a stoner, but he's smart enough to know that sentence doesn't make sense either.
"You can tell me y'know, if something happened."
"Nothing happened. I think I just ate something bad."
Something did happen, something always happens that leaves Will in a speechless mess. As if his lying grave wasn't already being dug, he also realizes
"With Mrs. Wheeler's cooking? I highly doubt it," Jonathan chuckles out. He's not wrong; nobody could ever get sick from or of Mrs. Wheeler's cooking. Definitely not Will.
He lets out a small chuckle in response. It's not long before his nerves tense up again from his found-out lie. Jonathan's still holding his arms, so he notices.
"Hey it's ok. I'm right here." Jonathan pulls Will into a hug, and he lets him. He's wanted to tell him so many times, about everything. Not just that he likes guys, which regrettably now a lot of people know, but who he's truly in love with. Though a part of him has suspected he already knows ever since the conversation he had with him in the pizza place. There's always been a silent agreement between them not to mention that night and the feelings that he felt watching Mike and El fight over pineapple pizza. Will now hates pineapple pizza and has ever since. And now he's nauseous again. He shifts his head into Jonathan's shirt to suppress the sickness. The slight smell of weed and overbearing feelings don't help. He really hates the fact that Jonathan is a stoner sometimes. It's just enough for Will to force himself off Jonathan, because he might actually hurl if he smells that any longer. Good thing he's in a bathroom he guesses.
Will slightly nods at Jonathan as a way of saying it's ok, I'm ok. Jonathan nods back.
"C'mon Will, let's go home."
Will wipes away any dried-up tears and feelings he has left in the moment, and the two brothers exit the confined safety of the bathroom. Once they get to the bottom of the stairs, all the feelings Will was feeling punch him in the stomach. The feelings were staring nervously back at him, looking like they wanted to say something.
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Mike, a moment earlier -
Mike is feeling many things, one most of all is really fucking confused. Confused at what Will could possibly be doing for so long in the bathroom, but also at himself, wondering what the hell he was doing earlier.
He's cleaning up some snack plates off the living room floor, picking up the bigger crumbs he sees. It's been about half an hour since the rest of the party left from yet another hangout. The funny thing is about a month ago, they had made a haphazard pact to be on their own for the summer before making the big move to college they had planned. And well, that was bullshit.
It wasn't long before Dustin, Lucas, and, surprisingly, Max were begging the shit out of Mike and Will's lines to hang out again. The rest is history, up until today at least...
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Some time earlier...
"Holy shit you guys are teetering so far on the line of major PDA, you are driving me insane," Dustin half-jokingly, but also half-seriously, yawns at Lucas and Max cuddling on the couch. Mike suspects Dustin is so salty because he hasn't been able to rekindle his relationship with Suzie ever since she went radio silent. Does he even know what happened to her he wonders. Maybe that's why he was acting so strange around the girl who literally rejected him years back. Without pondering on it much longer, Mike looks beside him with a slight smile and roll of his eyes, which is mirrored to him from Will, who is getting just as much amusement out of this. They share a look for only a second, but it's just enough for Mike's eyes to freak out and look just below the eyes he's staring into-
Woah woah hey- his head shoots back to looking at Will's eyes as his smirk drops. Apparently it was a long enough second...or 10...for Will to notice because he notices his slightly tense up and look back to the group. Mike does as well, trying to push the encounter out of his mind. How many goddamn times does he have to remind himself where Will's eyes are.
Maybe he likes guys, but it definitely isn't...or wasn't I guess...me. That just isn't possible because we're friends. We're Friends Mike scoffs at himself, remembering what he repeated at the roller rink all that time ago-
"Uh what are you scoffing about?" Lucas's joking tone rips Mike out of his mind world. Shit. Did he scoff out loud? The group is looking at him, including Will, intrigued for answers. What was their conversation about again?
"Because Max...sorry...Miss Scarlet is obviously the suspect who did it!" Now he remembers; they're playing Clue. Mike doesn't quite understand or like this game for whatever reason, but almost everyone else really wanted to play it for some reason. Max..or Miss Scarlet..scoffs back.
"Hah ok genius, then where did I do it and what did I use?" Mike swears just a few minutes ago she thought the game was stupid, just as she did DnD. Maybe they don't share the same opinion like he thought they did.
After some back and forth banter, Mike takes a wild guess.
"It was Miss Scarlet in the lounge with the candlestick!" Mike laughs at his surprise guessing the candlestick of all things; oh what fun those memories bring up.
He smiles at his side once again to see Will, laughing along. The room is filled with laughter and joy over what is ironically a murder case.
"Hm ok well thennnn...let's see if you're right," Will teases. It makes Mike's stomach churn. The cards in the middle are flipped over and....
"Noooo fucking way! Haha!" Dustin doesn't hold back his astonishment. Mike was right. He thanks whatever higher power let the scoff at his wrong thoughts go and to give him the right conclusion. To be honest, he doesn't think any of them were playing the game all that correctly after a brief glance at the rules. He's just glad he's won, in more ways than one. Everyone is as surprised as Dustin is at the outcome. They cheer and laugh for a little while longer, none of them wanting the night to end.
And then there's the snack bowl. At some point Mike subconsciously reaches to get a handful of food without looking. His hand touches the food as expected, but also something else.
Dug into the bowl as well is Will's hand, also reaching for a handful of snacks. A bolt of electricity bolts through him, but his hand doesn't retreat. It just sits there. Mike thinks back to one time in the movie theater when they were younger. When he was checking if Will was okay, and did one of his infamous glances below Will's eyes. A similar thing happened back then. He shifts back into reality, and his hand is somehow closer onto Will's. If Will didn't notice before, he did now. He's looking at him now, but also not moving away. Another thing, his hand is shaking...like badly enough to make the food in the bowl move. Without even thinking (like usual) Mike starts wrapping his hand around Will's to comfort him. He even starts circling his thumb around the back of his hand like he used to do when they were kids. When it totally didn't mean anything. What on earth is he doing right now. And why can't he stop?
"Yo Will, you ok man? You seem nervous." It's Lucas. Lucas has always had a sort of soft spot for Will, so it makes sense. Will swipes his hand out of the bowl faster than the speed of light, so much so that a few kernels of popcorn spill out. Mike does the same shortly after, absolutely shell-shocked.
"Oh me? Yea uh..I just thought I felt a bug crawl on my hand," Will nervously chuckles. The conversation continues without a hitch. But Mike sure as hell does not. Mike feels utterly put down.
A fucking bug? Is that was he seriously is to him? What the actual fuck?! Maybe Will didn't mean it like a dig but it sure sounded like one. Mike lets rage run through him faster than he realized it could. He's now looking at Will wide-eyed and downright angry. Maybe he shouldn't be, but the feeling still burns into his skin. Will doesn't look back for a couple of seconds, but then he does. He looks terrified now. It's too late when Mike notices the damage he's done, and probably too late for Will to take back the damage he's done.
"Hey I'm gonna go to the bathroom real quick," Will stumbles out. To Mike, it sounds like he's saying it to himself rather than the group, but they respond with the casual nod or "ok" nevertheless. Will gets up from his spot next to Mike, leaving a cold air in his place. Mike is. So. Fucked.
He gets through the next few minutes gritting his teeth, and eventually says his goodbyes and goodnights to Dustin as he walks out, and then Lucas and Max as their arms are around each other. When did Mike get so jealous of them?
"Night Mike, oh and say bye to Will for us. Hope he's doing ok," Lucas says matter-of-factedly. Almost too cool for Mike...does Lucas know something he doesn't?
He closes his front door and...
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now he's here. Mind still aghast at everything that happened, feeling bad for Will but also still the slightest bit mad he referred to him as a bug, whether he meant it like that or not.
"Mike, is Will ok? Jonathan went up a couple minutes ago after him. You should go check on them," his mom suggests from the kitchen. Oh right, Jonathan popped in the door to pick up Will and his mom mentioned he'd been in the bathroom for a while. Now she wants him to do the same, like it will go over well. Thank god Ted wasn't around, probably playing a late night game of golf...or whatever he does. He wouldn't have been able to stay this calm around Will and get to have snacks in the living room if he was. On one hand, he wants to go up there and apologize to Will, holding him until everything is ok between them. On the other, much smaller hand, he is disgusted with himself for thinking that at all, and he's still a little pissed. He tries to gather himself and make the choice to go up there, but just as he turns to the stairs, there they are.
Mike's mouth hangs open, not knowing what to say. He has to say something though, right?
"H-hey." Hey? That's the best you could do? His inner monologue speaks to him. Will deserves more than a hey, and he is worried about his wellbeing after all.
"Hey." Jonathan is the one to answer oddly enough. Mike can't tell whether Jonathan hates him or is just stoned again. He wants to choose the latter. Maybe he's both, which is worse than all other possibilities. Words creep out again, to deflect the sneer look he's getting.
"Are you ok Will? You've been in there a while." He tries to sound as gentle as possible. He doesn't want to scare Will off like he did earlier. He wouldn't be able to take the guilt.
"Mhm..I just feel a bit sick. I'll be fine." Will somehow looks worse than he did when he left Mike's side. What in the world happened in there? There's a small silence, then
"Oh..was it the food?" Mike's voice is starting to sound more nervous by the second.
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Will -
It takes all of Will's strength not to throw up, even worse, on Mike. How does he know him so well, knowing the food detail, even if it was a lie? At least him feeling sick isn't exactly a lie, he really does feel sick now. It's not actually because of the food, but he doesn't have to tell him that.
"No not at all, you know your mother's cooking would never do that to me." Will feigns a smile, only before following up with, "it's just some...uh...flashbacks." Also not a lie, but little does he realize Mike would think he means something about Vecna or the Upside Down. After all, he always used to get visions in confined spaces like that. It's too late, Mike already looks 10x more worried.
"Oh Will, why didn't you tell me," Mike whines.
Why? Oh he doesn't know, maybe because half an hour ago Mike was looking at him like he was the bug in the conversation. He feels so stupid for accidently calling Mike a bug. He should've known how he would take it. It's the thing that sent him spiraling into his reflection in the bathroom. He really messed up, and for what? An excuse for not telling the group he was casually holding hands with Mike Wheeler in a bowl of snacks, with Mike's thumb circling the back of his hand because that's totally normal? He told himself that Mike was just a crush a long time ago, even comparing him to a random girl Robin liked. Why did this thing keep coming back like a disease?
"It was just sudden..er...nevermind. We should be getting home now." He needed to find away out of this house. Now.
Suddenly, Mike steps closer to him. Jonathan's hand is still on his shoulder, and his grip seems to protectively tighten for a moment before letting go and stepping back, letting whatever Mike was about to do happen. Funny enough, Will has a good idea what he's about to do. As scared and distraught he might be, he lets it happen. Mike full on wraps his arms around Will, hugging him tightly. Not too tight, but not too loosely, just right, like he always knew how to do. Mike let's go after a prolonged silence.
"Get home safe, Will." Not Jonathan. Just Will. The sound of his name from Mike's voice warms him inside a little despite what's happened. Speaking of what happened, Will is determined he will never want to speak of this day.
"Thanks."
With his last goodbye, Will practically whips the door open. He didn't know how fresh the summer-night air could feel in his lungs till now. He doesn't look back or wait for Jonathan as he steps out towards the car. He doesn't even notice that Jonathan doesn't follow him.
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Jonathan -
Jonathan isn't having a second of what's going on right now. He did, in fact, smoke a small amount of any left-over purple palm tree delight he hid from Nancy. Before finding out she literally threw what she could find out. He can't say he blames her. However, he's sober enough to realize there is something weird as shit going on between his little brother and Mike. Again. Obviously they always had this thing going on since they were little kids that Jonathan couldn't quite decipher until he came to a realization while being high in Lenora. He knows he should keep up this silent agreement that him and Will had of not talking about it; he knows how much the subject messes with him. It's getting harder though. He can't just stand there while Mike torments his brother like that. Like he just did. He stands in the doorway of the Wheeler home, letting the cool breeze flow through the house.
"Mike! Don't leave the door open. How many time do I have to remind you," Mrs Wheeler barks from the other room. Jonathan smirks at his avoidance of blame before feeling guilty. It's Mrs Wheeler after all.
"Sorry Mrs Wheeler," he shouts back. He closes the door, but he's not outside, he's still in their house. He stares down at Mike menacingly, not quite sure what emotion he wants to evoke. It frustrates him. He understands why Hopper has always had such disdain towards the guy. To him, Mike looks like a total dumbass right now. His jaw is sinking through the floor like one of the dimension gates, before he speaks.
"Uhm...did you wanna say bye to Nancy or..?" Is he serious right now? Now to Jonathan, Mike doesn't just look like a dumbass. He is one, through and through. He can feel the disgust creep along his face. Not at the thought of Nancy. They still talk sometimes, as the platonic friends they agreed to be when he through that ring at the floor of suspicious goo. Whether Mike knows that or not doesn't matter. He wants Mike to get out of his sight more than anything, while also wanting to strangle him to death.
Mike now looks like he's going to shit himself by how uncomfortable he is. It takes all of his slightly high ass not to laugh in his face. He also forgets how bad his rbf is, figuring out that he probably looks like a serial killer. Who knows, he had written a script about one not long ago, maybe he could become one too. And in his movie, Mike would make the perfect victim for what he's put Will through. He entertains the though for a moment before calling out.
"Goodnight Mrs Wheeler!" He yells out looking directly at Mike still. Mike flinches at it like he wasn't expecting it. Jonathan almost feels bad.
"Goodnight Jonathan," Mrs Wheeler yells back.
And with that, Jonathan finally lets Mike free from his death stare, unleashes the warm summer air once more, and leaves the Wheeler house.
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Mike -
Mike stands in near the door with his jaw sinking farther than before. He can't believe Jonathan. Him and his audacity to try and scare him like that after he was just trying comfort Will as we was leaving. He let him hug him, so what the hell is his deal? Did he kind of succeed when he practically yelled his departure to none other than his mom? Yea. But he really wasn't expecting him to do something like that.
Mike has always had the feeling Jonathan didn't like him that much, or at least much less than a normal brother would feel about his younger brother's best friend. Tonight though, his hatred pierced through almost as much as Hopper used to be when Mike was still with El. What does Jonathan know that Mike doesn't? He guesses he will never find out and simply rolls his eyes. He tries his best to shake the night off. To try and get his mind off of it, he goes into the kitchen to help his mom with the remaining dishes in the sink. It's not something he normally does.
"So, what was that all about," she inquired. He should've known she was going to ask about this. Luckily, he knows exactly how to deflect this.
"I'm not sure. Are you sure you cooked the chicken all the way through? He said he was feeling sick," he says, knowing he feels fine as far it it comes to food and that his mother would never undercook chicken in her life.
"Michael! Gosh no, what makes you suspect that? Didn't he say he was having his sort of...visions or something?" Oh. So she heard that.
"Flashbacks...yea." Mike is becoming more speechless by the sentence. His act has been seen through.
"Well then why didn't you.. I don't know.. help the poor boy? Can't leave his brother to it all the time can you?" Is she being for real right now?
"Mom- I do! More than Jonathan probably has with him being stoned all the time," Mike snaps back sassily.
"Michael," she gasps for the second time, "how could you assume such a thing? He's not stoned for heavens sake. He's probably just tired." Mike knows for sure that she's just saying that and knows how much Jonathan 'secretly' smoked during his time living there after arriving back in Hawkins. She takes a long sigh to confirm this.
"Just help me finish up the dishes, and then you can head to bed."
And against Mike's own lazy will, he does just that.
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Will -
The outside world looks calm tonight through the safety of Jonathan's car window. Will wishes he could stare out of the window longingly for the rest of his life.
"Don't worry about him, Will, he's a dick." He knew Jonathan was going to say something at some point, but not that. He manages to unstick his face from the window.
"Not really, I mean, I may have..sorta..kinda," he starts, but lets trail away.
"You sorta kinda...what," Jonathan repeats in a humorous manner. He's trying to cheer him up.
"Accidentally called him a...bug." He cannot believe he actually admitted it. A couple of seconds go by, and then he hears Jonathan laugh like he's been holding it in for a while.
"You called him a bug?!," he clears his throat when he realizes Will is serious. "Uhm I mean..sorry..that was just unexpected." Will wishes Mike found it funny too. Despite this, he finds the small part of himself that lets go when he's with Jonathan, and gives a small chuckle too. When he thought about it it was kind of funny after all. Maybe his promise to himself that he would never talk about this night can start when it was actually over, just this once.
"Either way, he must've done something akin to his asshole self. Seriously what did he do? If you're ok telling me." Oddly enough, Will was alright telling Jonathan things within these oddly shaped walls. It reminds him of the talk he had with Bob years ago. Or maybe the weed Jonathan was smoking seeped into his veins and he's stupidly high, which he's admittedly terrified of.
"He just...looked at me with this look. He looked so angry, horrified, I don't know." The reality of what happened slips back into him after the small moment of ease and laughter. Mike's face appears in his mind again. His face reminded him of the face Vecna showed him if Will ever confessed his feelings. It haunted him. Tears are starting to snake their way through his eyes again.
"Jesus. Well fuck him for not being able to take a joke." Jonathan is squirming in his seat now. He seems irritated. Will slouches in his seat and lets anguish wash over him once more. Jonathan put his hand on his shoulder once more, this time while he's driving which Will thinks is a little risky. He lets him anyway.
"I'm sorry, he just, makes me mad y'know? I don't know what his deal is or why he is doing all this to you. Why he has been doing all this to you." Will didn't realize how much Jonathan noticed everything. It makes him nervous, but also comforts him a little knowing how attentive his brother can be.
"I don't know either," he responds. Except he has a very good idea, or maybe a few, of why Mike is like this. He just doesn't want to let himself believe it.
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˚ ˛˚˛˚｜ 田田｜門｜ ˚ ˚
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They finally reach the cabin. The night is quiet, and the lights inside are on, awaiting Will and Jonathan's entrance. When they finally do, their mom and Hopper are waiting for them. Joyce immediately runs over to Will.
"Oh Will! You're finally back! We were getting worried," she says as she has every time he comes back at night. She's gotten better at being not as controlling, sure, but it still bothers him sometimes. Hopper stands there like a lump on a log with that pose he does, also as per usual. Will can tell he was worried too, even if he doesn't show it. He can tell Hopper doesn't want to lose a third child. Apparently things are going well though, with him recently proposing and all. Their wedding might be one of the few things Will is excited about for his near future. After tonight, he needs a well deserved break. Joyce finally lets him go, and the night carries on like any other.
Peaceful, but something nagging in the back of his head like once of those cursed vines.