Chapter Text
Mike stared into his cereal, watching the milk fill up the bowl slowly. His eyes are heavy-lidded with sleep and something that can only be described as 'the days blurring past'.
Footsteps echoed down the stairs, and Mike freezes. Will stops at their kitchen doorway, wearing a navy blue sweater that hung over his wrists.
"Morning," he smiled, pulling out a chair and sliding into it. His hair was tousled and messy, sticking up at the ends like he spent the night rolling around in his bed.
Mike dropped the milk carton. He groaned, the milk pooling out in a puddle on the wooden floorboards. Blush spread all the way down to his neck. He did not just drop his milk after seeing his best friend of ten years walk down the stairs.
Pull yourself together, Wheeler. "Hey," he muttered, running a hand through his hair forlornly and grabbing a wad of paper towel.
"Do you..." Will looked down pointedly at the puddle of milk on the floor. "...need me to clean that up?"
"No, no, it's alright," he stammered, flustered. To his horror, he knocked down a row of spices, the bottles clattering down the kitchen counter and onto the floor.
"Mike, what are you doing?" Karen called, hearing the noise.
"Nothing, mum!" Mike shouted, mortification flashing across his face. He looked up at Will, who was biting down on his lower lip, trying not to laugh.
"This is not funny," Mike groaned miserably. Will was smiling now, his eyes crinkling, flecks of green and amber flickering in them.
Mike would knock down a million more rows of paprika if it meant Will would smile like that again. Or maybe he wouldn't, because that wasn't a bro thing to do.
"Mike, why are you always so clumsy when Will is around?" Holly babbled, cocking her head like she was genuinely curious.
"I'm," Mike ground his teeth. "Not," swinging the cupboard door closed. "I just didn't get enough sleep last night."
Will snorted. "I could hear you snoring from my room." He looked up at Mike teasingly through his lashes.
Mike frowned. "Is everyone just against me now? Screw this, I'm going to watch TV." He grabbed his bowl of cereal and promptly left.
He exhaled as he sank down on the couch, feeling more and more miserable by the second. Not a day goes by where Mike Wheeler doesn't act like a complete idiot. Nevertheless in front of his best friend. He didn't know when he started feeling like this. Getting nervous in front of someone he's known since he was six years old. Noticing how Will...looked at him differently. Or maybe he was just imagining it? Was he overthinking this?
His thoughts were interrupted as Will sat down on the couch next to him.
"Hey,"
"Hey."
"What're you watching?"
"Huh? Oh." Mike wasn't even paying attention to what was happening on the TV screen. "I don't know, some random show I just put on."
"Cool."
The air was heavy with unspoken words. What happened to talking until the early morning hours?
Will tilted his head. "Are you okay?"
Mike didn't expect that. "Uh, yeah. Just, you know, tired," he lied, running a hand through his dark hair nervously.
Will's eyes narrowed like he didn't believe him, but didn't press.
"You've just been- I don't know, distant lately." Will shrugged.
Probably because he couldn't get his life together with his best friend staying at his house.
"I guess I have," he admitted. He looked away, pretending to be absorbed in the TV show. Will did the same, eyes flickering to the screen.
After a few minutes of the awkwardness, Mike couldn't stand it anymore. It was like he was suffocating in a sea of tension and discomfort.
"I'm gonna go get some water," Mike muttered, standing up.
He spun on his heel, intending to walk to the kitchen.
Instead, his foot was wedged under the coffee table, causing him to stumble.
"Shoot," he hissed, losing balance and falling back onto the couch.
Onto Will.
Mike's eyes widened, realising what he had done.
"Will," he whispered shakily. He could feel his heart pounding through the layers of clothes between them. Will's breath hitched, his Adam's apple bobbing.
Mike could feel the heat from Will's neck radiating onto him. His lips were slightly parted, forming a question.
"Sorry," Mike breathed. He tried to pull his foot out from under the coffee table. To his dread, it stayed jammed under the wood.
"Will," Mike gulped. "My foot, it's...stuck."
"Oh."
Mike tried to ignore the feeling of his breath tickling the fine hairs on his neck.
"I think..." Mike wet his lips. "I think we need someone to come and lift the table off my foot."
Will opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Isn't that a bit..." he paused. "...awkward?"
"Yeah, but I guess there's nothing else to be done."
He tried not to think about how close the two were. If he just leaned the slightest bit further, their lips would touch.
But maybe he shouldn't be thinking that, because they were just friends.
It wasn't that strange. He just accidentally fell onto his friend. No big deal. He tried not to think about the curve of Will's nose, or the way his lashes almost seemed to glow, illuminated by the soft light through the window, or the way his lips were full and slightly parted, or just Will in general.
"Holly," Mike called.
"Yeah?" The young girl walked into the living room. She saw the two and furrowed her eyebrows. "Why're you two cuddling?"
"We're not-" Mike sighed, exasperated. "We're not cuddling."
"Sure looks like you are."
Will's cheeks turned rosy pink. "Mike just got his foot stuck under the table and fell on top of me. Can you please help lift the table up?" Mike could feel his warm breath on his nose.
"Okay."
"Wow. So you just listen to Will now?"
"Will doesn't act like a weirdo in front of his best friend," Holly muttered. Mike chose to ignore that. She grabbed the end of the table and jerked it up, letting Mike's foot go free.
"Thanks." Mike stood back up, feeling the absence of Will's body on him.
He winced. "Ow."
"What happened?" Will asked, looking genuinely concerned.
"My foot. I think it's swollen."
"I'll go get you some ice."
Mike muttered a thanks, sitting back down onto the couch. He fought the urge to put his head in his hands.
What. Was. That?
Shortly after, Will came back with a bag filled with ice.
"Here," he hands it to Mike, and for a second, their fingers touch. Will's fingertips linger on Mike's for a little too long, sending a spark down his chest.
When they were kids, something as small as their fingers touching would never make Mike react like that. They used to be practically attached at the hip- when Will came over to Mike's for sleepovers with the rest of the party, sometimes Mike would get up and slip into Will's sleeping bag, huddling and giggling together. But since they'd become teenagers, they barely touched each other at all. Mike had been so preoccupied with El, and basically ignored Will for three years. Even after they broke up- El telling Mike 'they wanted different things', Mike and Will never really were the same as they were back when they were kids.
Mike still remembered the day the three went rollerskating together. Thinking back on it, he had been such a douche. He still remembers the tortured expression he had on his face, the way he asked what they were.
"And us?"
"We're friends."
"Well, we used to be best friends!"
Mike didn't want to think about the way Will's face fell as he retorted. He didn't want to think about the way he forgot it was his birthday, and spent the whole day ignoring him. He deserved so much better. Thinking about it made him physically sick.
Should he apologise? Or would that be weird, bringing up something from years ago? Or would Will appreciate it?
"Mike?"
Mike looked up from the ice, and saw Will staring at him intently.
"Yeah?"
"What're you thinking about?"
The question completely threw him off guard. "Huh?"
Could he see it on his face? Could he read how he was thinking about how horrible of a friend he had been? Should he tell him?
"You were staring at that pack of ice like it just insulted your whole bloodline or something." He cocked a grin, his hair falling over his eyes as he tilted his head a little.
Mike raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"I'm serious." Will chuckled. "You looked so funny."
"I was just thinking," Mike shifted in his seat nervously. "Do you remember when we were 15, and at that roller rink?"
"Uh-huh." Will's expression didn't change.
"I just remembered how I was like, ignoring you the whole day. I feel really bad about it. I was an idiot."
Will smiled, bless him. "You still are," he replied, playfully pushing him in the chest.
They burst out laughing. It felt good, being able to laugh about times that completely destroyed him before.
"I accept your apology, by the way," Will said, laughing. His eyes were bright and shining, and Mike felt his knees go weak.
"Good, because I didn't think of something to say if you didn't."
The two broke into peals of laughter.
Maybe Mike Wheeler wasn't a complete mess after all.