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“Mike! Where’s your Walkman— shouldn’t you have this ready?” Max yells from the top of the basement stairs. Mike didn’t know why he had agreed to this idea in the first place. El, the kind soul that she is, has asked if the party could go to Mike’s house and share different albums and songs they liked with each other, because she wanted the party to ‘know each other better’. It sounded fine on paper, but with Max berating him about not being properly prepared for the event, Mike was starting to have some regrets.
“It’s literally on the kitchen table! I thought you weren’t blind!” He shot back, walking upstairs to assist Max in her search. She was, surprisingly, the first person to show up, so for a five-minute period of time, it was just the two of them. Max kept glancing over at Mike, trying and failing to repress a smirk that made Mike feel like he was going to be the butt of a significant amount of jokes today.
Now, however, everyone was here, and the Walkman was set up. When El asked who wanted to go first, Max rushed in order to grab the device, claiming she had a specific song that she needed to show everyone.
It’s fine, it’s cool
You can say that we are nothing but you know the truth
A feminine voice accompanied by synthesizer piano chords and a drum beat bled through the speaker of the Walkman.
And guess I’m the fool
With her arms out like an angel through the car sunroof
Mike glanced at Will, for a reason unbeknownst to him, at the mention of an angel.
I don’t wanna call it off, but you don’t wanna call it love
You only wanna be the one who I call baby
Mike glances at El after those lines. The two of them had broken things off after defeating Vecna. El had told him that she knew he did not love her the way that the world told him to, and that it was okay. Mike had cried in her arms that day, because she was so kind about everything.
You can kiss a hundred boys in bars
Shoot another shot, try to stop the feeling
You can say it’s just the way you are
Make a new excuse, another stupid reason
During the chorus, Mike wonders why Max felt like she had to play this song. He also wonders why he felt like the song was speaking to him.
Good luck, babe! (Well, good luck!)
Well, good luck, babe! (Well, good luck!)
You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling
Good luck, babe! (Well, good luck!)
Well, good luck, babe! (Well, good luck!)
You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling
Mike’s sweating now, but he’s not sure why. He feels judged, somehow. He wants to run upstairs and hide under his covers like a little kid.
I’m cliché, who cares?
It’s a sexually explicit kind of love affair
And I cry, it’s not fair
I just need a little lovin’, I just need a little air
Mike glances around the room briefly, finding his friends looking straight at the Walkman, pointedly avoiding eye contact with him. He’s not sure why, again.
I think I’m gonna call it off, even if you call it love
I just wanna love someone who calls me baby
Mike’s looking at Will now, eyes caught on him after his sweep of the room. Will looks at him, and Mike tears his eyes away. He feels guilty, like he’s been caught sinning.
As the song went on, the chorus repeating, Mike felt Max’s eyes burning into him now, contrasting the short glances from earlier. He’s about to snap at her, ask her why are you staring at me so hard, when the bridge of the song starts.
When you wake up next to him in the middle of the night
With your head in your hands, you’re nothing more than his wife
And when you think about me all of those years ago
You’re standing face-to-face with “I told you so”
Oh. Oh god. The bridge felt like it was injected into his veins, the repetitions of ‘I told you so’ digging into his psyche like vultures. Not just the bridge, even. ‘You’d have to stop the world just to stop the feeling’ taunts him, laughing at him in his head. ‘That’s you and Will!’ his mind supplies, and everything clicks into place. Suddenly, it feels like he’s broken the surface of an ocean he’s been trapped under for years.
Max is looking expectantly at him, Mike’s thoughts having left him sitting in silence, the song over. The party is exchanging slightly worried stares with one another. Will opens his mouth to speak, approach Mike such as one would a stray cat.
“Mike? What’s wr-“
“I’m in love with you.”
The suffocating silence that cascades across the room makes Mike want to run upstairs and hide in his room again. He hears Will gasp and doesn’t dare look up to face him. The thing is— Mike’s certain about his love for Will. He’d pushed it down for so many years, repressing it, hoping it would go away, but it wouldn’t, and Mike was terrified.
“…what?” Will asks, all fragile and far-away, and Mike hates it. He faces Will now, embracing the part of him that he so desperately tried to hide.
“I’m in love with you!” He yells, voice strangled as if he’s only now processed his emotions. He looks up, brown eyes meeting hazel, and Mike could get lost in those eyes. But the scleras are tinted pink, and oh, Will’s crying. “I’m sorry, Will,” Mike decides. “I’m so sorry.”
“For what?” Will sniffles, eyes sharpening quickly, as if taking offense to Mike’s words.
‘For throwing all of this on you,’ Mike thinks. ‘For weighing you down all of these years and being an asshole because I was too scared to admit that I liked you. For taking so long to say anything. To only be able to say anything once Max dragged it out of me. For everything with El. For everything.’
“For everything.” He repeats, verbally. Out of the corner of his vision, Mike sees El nodding at him, her eyes shiny. ‘She knows,’ his mind supplies. “God, Will, I’m so fucking sorry for it all.”
Distantly, in his mind, Mike registers the fact that the party is here, and he should not be confessing his guilt-ridden love for his best friend with an audience, but he’s well past societal norms at this point in his life. ‘Fuck conformity’, Eddie had once told Mike.
“I’m sorry for doing this in front of the party,” He starts. “I’m sorry that it took a stupid fucking pop song for me to admit that I’m in love with you. Thanks for that, by the way, Mayfield.”
“You’re welcome.” Max replies, clipped but smug.
“I’m sorry that I’m springing all of this on you with no warning,” Mike addresses Will again. “I’m sorry for being an asshole for all of these years because I was too scared to admit that I like you. I’m sorry for being scared. I’m sorry for pretending it could all go away if I was with El. Most of all, Will, I’m sorry for taking so long.”
A beat passes.
Will kisses him. God, it feels like coming home. Will’s hands are holding his face tightly, and he tastes like the sun. And then Mike’s kissing back, wrapping his arms around Will’s shoulders, one of them reaching into his hair, and everything else is gone. It’s just him and Will, like it was always meant to be. Will pulls away, and Mike opens his eyes. ‘Holy shit,’ he thinks, ‘Will Byers kissed me.’
Will’s above him, face flushed, tears in his eyes. “You’re beautiful,” Mike whispers. Will’s eyes crinkle as he smiles at Mike.
“And you’re stupid.” Will laughs, hugging him. “You’re so stupid, Mike.”
“Why’m I stupid, Will?” Mike asks.
“You love me,” Will sighs, squeezing Mike. His head is in the crook of Mike’s neck, hiding from the world. Mike wraps his arms around Will’s back, rubbing circles into him. “You love me back.” Will whispers to himself, voice thick with tears.
“I love you back.” Mike repeats, quiet enough that only he can Will can hear. The two embrace for a few more moments before Lucas speaks up.
“Dustin, you owe me 20 dollars.” Dustin grumbles, opening his wallet and begrudgingly handing Lucas a twenty-dollar-bill. Max laughs. El smiles behind her hand. Mike sputters.
“Did you guys bet on this?!”
Max laughs louder at Mike, clutching her stomach. Lucas and Dustin shrug. Will turns around to look at them, pressing his back to Mike’s chest.
“What was the bet?” He asks.
“That bet was if Mike liked Will or not.” Max explains, wiping tears from her eyes.
“That bet?” Mike repeats.
“Dustin and Lucas owe me twenty dollars because they bet that the song wouldn’t do anything.”
Will’s laugh cuts into the air after Max finishes talking. He looks so pretty and bright, and Mike finds himself thinking of the sun again. Will is the sun, simple as that. Then he looks at Mike, all smiley, and Mike melts.
“Oh god, this is worse.” Max moans, faking a gag.
“You’ve doomed us all to their PDA, Max!” Dustin yells, shielding his eyes dramatically.
“You brought this on yourselves.” Mike shrugs, turning to look back at Will.
“Thank god for Chappell Roan.” Will smiles, and Mike finds himself agreeing.