Chapter Text
Halloween night has not gone how Mike wanted. First “Mad Max” showed up to trick or treat with them, invited, apparently. So he’s already annoyed decisions are being made without him.
Dustin and Lucas were so weird about a girl joining the party last year, but now they want her? It’s because they like her, and it’s weird and annoying.
None of that even mattered though, because Will had an episode and that overrode any other upset feelings Mike was having about trick-or-treating. He’s both eager to help Will and eager to get away from the rest of the party, so he takes Will home.
Will seems to relax in the basement, loosing the wide eyed, terrified expression he’d had when Mike found him earlier.
What Will tells him is scary though. Mike doesn’t want Will to be seeing things that aren’t there, but he can’t help but hope that the doctors are right, and that it’s in his head. He has no idea what they could do about a giant shadow monster taller than a building. He wouldn’t even know what to do about that in D&D, let alone real life.
He wishes El was here. She would probably know how to make Will feel better, and make them both feel safe.
She’s not here though, so Mike does his best on his own, “Hey, well, if we’re both going crazy, then we’ll go crazy together, right?”
It finally earns a little laugh from Will, “Yeah. Crazy together.”
Mike is relieved that he finally got Will to feel better, at least a little bit. He scoots closer to him and wraps an arm around his shoulder, the same way he did earlier when he was walking Will home. Will looks at him, eyebrows raised in surprise, then he smiles and leans into Mike’s side. Mike wanted to comfort Will, but honestly he feels better too, holding him close. He never says it to Will, not wanting him to feel babied, but he understands why his mom worries about him being alone. Mike feels a little relief every morning when he sees Will at school. Last February he had been out sick, but all Mike knew was he wasn’t at school in the morning, just like last November. Mike got in trouble for ditching school at first chance and biking to the Byers to make sure he was okay.
“I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” Mike whispers fervently, squeezing his shoulders a little tighter and wishing there was something more he could say, or do-
Will turns his head to face him, expression solemn and unreadable, which is frustrating. Mike hates the rare occasions he can’t tell what Will is thinking. “You can’t promise that,” Will back. Their faces are close enough that Mike feels his breath on his face, tickling his cheeks.
Mike frowns, upset because he knows Will is right. He couldn’t protect him last year from the demogorgon, and he has no idea how to protect him from what’s happening now. Mike can’t do anything about any of it. He fights back the frustrated tears that are trying to rise up and whispers back, “Well, I promise that no matter what happens, I’ll be there to protect you.”
He thinks it’s pretty weak, as far as promises go, because he can’t really do anything. Maybe Will disagrees though, because he’s looking at him like Mike just handed him the moon. His eyes are wide and trusting, all traces of fear gone. Mike feels a vein of pride thrum through his chest, happy he made Will feel better, glad he can at least do that.
Then the few inches between their faces is gone and Mike’s thinking screeches to a halt.
By the time he processes what happened- Will kissed me- the space is back again, plus a few more inches from how hard Will jerked back. Hel looks just as surprised as Mike feels, which is kinda weird because Will kissed him.
Will kissed him.
Mike thinks of his kiss last year with El. Is this how she felt? Completely out of her depth, confused, wondering what it meant?
Will is staring at Mike, facial features quickly morphing back to his scared expression from earlier tonight, when Mike found him crouched by the stairs.
Concern cuts through confusion, and Mike thinks he would do anything to make Will feel better again. He’s already got him in a half hug, but… he should tell him it’s okay? Could he hold his hand, like when they were little kids?
Then an option never previously considered pops into his head: kiss him back. The thought has his face flushing and his heart beat erratically, but Will is still staring at him with wide eyes, mouth gaping like he’s terrified of what just happened, and Mike wants to fix it.
He’s just barely leaned forward when he hears the basement door open and his mom calls down, “Will, honey, your brother is here to pick you up.”
Will jumps up, grabbing his mostly empty pillowcase and rushes toward the stairs.
“Wait!” Mike says. Will freezes, hand on the railing, and turns back to Mike, eyes wide and face pale.
Mike picks up Jonathan’s camera and takes it to him. Will takes it wordlessly, not meeting Mike’s eyes.
Mike thinks it again: kiss him back.
The thought is warring with other ones now though: Kissing boys is wrong. Didn’t Mike like El? What if Jonathan or his mom came down and they got caught? What’s wrong about it anyway? Would kissing a boy be so bad? Would it make him a queer? Is Will a queer?
He immediately feels bad for thinking it, hating that it echoes all of the nasty things bullies say to them but… Will kissed him.
Mike doesn’t think anything Will is could be wrong.
Before he can sort through any of these thoughts Will has already run up the stairs, leaving Mike to figure it out alone.