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Mike woke up feeling exhausted. His head pounded and his throat ached.
He was hungover.
He sighed and lifted his head from the pillow, spotting a glass of water and Ibuprofen on his bedside table.
Will must’ve left it for him there.
Will.
Mike’s eyes widened as he remembered the blurry events of last night. He had acted like a total idiot in front of Will.
He had tried to kiss him.
Mike felt as if he was doused in cold water.
Holy fuck.
What the hell had he done?
And Will had rejected him, saying that they will discuss this when they were sober.
Then Mike remembered something along the lines of Will saying that he liked him back, that was why he had been avoiding him for the past few months.
Mike sighed.
Will was probably being nice to him last night.
Oh God.
Mike had literally forced himself on him, didn’t he?
He punched his pillow.
He had fucked up his chance with Will Byers.
Maybe, if he pretended that he had forgotten everything that happened last night, Will also would not talk about it, would he?
Mike sighed and stood up, swallowing the pills Will had laid out for him. He then strolled outside, quietly opening his bedroom door. Maybe Will had left already. He had that art project thing today, didn’t he?
But no.
Mike could hear the sizzling bacon and eggs on the stove. The smell of greasy bacon made his stomach rumble. He sneaked into the kitchen, watching Will flip the eggs with ease. He was dressed in simple sweatpants and hoodie, looking all cozy and comfortable. Mike wanted to wrap his arms around him. His usual muscles were hidden, but he still looked good like this. Like an oversized teddy bear. Mike wanted to cuddle him. He remembered how Will had felt under his hands last night, his broad shoulders stretched against the black shirt, his pectoral muscles strong under his palms. And Will had carried him inside–
What?
Mike’s train of thoughts reeled back, making him nearly gasp.
Will had carried him inside.
And his drunk arse had asked him to do that.
Fuck. He had been fucking embarassing last night. A disgrace to humanity. First he had forced himself upon Will and then he had begged him to carry him inside. And Will, being the sweet angel that he was, had said that they would talk about it when he was sober, and had carried him inside.
“Hey Mike, Good morning,” Will’s voice woke him up from his depressing thoughts.
“Morning Will,” he muttered. He was sure his cheeks were flaming red.
“How’s your head?” Will seemed calm and cool, his voice soothing against Mike’s grating nerves.
Of course, why should Will not be calm? Mike was the mess here.
“Headache,” Mike answered, steering towards the pan.
He might as well help Will out and be useful for once.
“Did you drink the Ibuprofen?” Will asked, concern etched into his voice.
“I did yeah, thanks,” Mike said, taking the spatula and tossing the bacon.
“Hey, hey, I’ll do that, you sit down,” Will said, coming towards him.
Mike felt his cheeks go red again, as Will’s shoulder brushed against his. Will’s hand curled around his own when he tried to pry the spatula off from his hand but Mike stayed stubborn holding on to it.
It was a running joke amongst the party. Growing up in the Wheeler house, Mike didn’t know a thing about cooking to save his arse. Karen had done everything for them and the first time he tried his own hand at cooking was when he first started sharing an apartment with Will. And he almost burned down the dingy space. Ever since then, his attempts at cooking were a joke amongst them.
“Let me help you out, I feel useless when I watch,” Mike said, still gripping the handle tightly.
Will sighed and wrapped his own hand around his, guiding him to flip the bacon without dropping them.
They flipped everything in silence, the sizzling sound being the only sound in their tiny kitchen. Mike’s cheeks were still hot from Will’s proximity. Will didn’t seem to care, he was focusing on the task, making Mike feel even more embarrassed about himself.
Mike was a disaster. Wasn’t he? He was brash, self-centered and idiotic. He was a mess that dragged other people into his mess. He was an ungrateful bitch who would make his own best friend uncomfortable fully knowing that he was not into him.
“Thanks for the help Mike, you can sit down now. We are almost done,” Will said, gently easing the spatula from his hand this time and loading the food onto their plates carefully. Mike felt his cheeks flame again, seeing that Will was hiding a smile.
“Hey what’s with the pout?” Will murmured, standing closely to him to load the bacon onto their plates. Mike jumped when he felt Will’s elbow brush against the bare skin of his waist, reminding him that he was still in his last night’s clothes.
God he must look like a mess now. His face was probably smudged with makeup and his breath must smell like something had crawled into his mouth and died inside.
He took a step back away from Will. His hand reached out to him almost immediately to Mike, stopping when his mind caught up to what he was going to do.
They stared at each other, eyes wide as if they both processed what happened.
“Mike, I–”
“Will, I’m–”
They started at the same time.
“You go ahead,” Will said.
Mike swallowed, staring at Will.
There were two things he could do right now.
He could act dumb, pretend that he had forgotten about last night and sit down for breakfast.
He could also be mature and apologize for last night. And then ask him if they could go back to being best friends.
He sighed. This was Will. He needed to be honest with him.
“I am sorry for what happened last night, Will. I acted like a total jerk. I shouldn’t have forced myself upon you like that, I am really sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Mike said, feeling his eyes fill with tears as he continued, “Please tell me we can still be best friends even though I was a self-centered idiotic bitch last night? Please?”
Will stared at him, eyes wide, “What?”
“I– I tried to k–kiss you last night, didn’t I? I was being drunk and selfish, Will. I know that you don’t have feelings for me, but–”
“Mike–”
“No listen, I am really sorry if I made you uncomfortable last night, Will. It won’t happen again,” Mike said, furiously wiping the tears that were spilling down his cheeks.
Will stared at him, flabbergasted.
Then he started laughing.
Like a full blown belly laugh, clutching the edge of the dining table for balance.
“Will?”
How did Will find this funny?
“Which part of ‘I want us to be more than friends’ you don’t understand?” Will asked, wiping away his own tears from laughing.
“I– I thought you were being just nice to me,” Mike mumbled, staring at the floor.
“Oh, you are such an idiot, Mike,” Will said. He closed the space between them in two strides and grabbed Mike’s face kissing him.
The butterflies residing on Mike’s stomach went haywire with the feeling of Will’s lips against his. Will’s hands were warm and large against his face, the weight grounding him.
Will pulled back suddenly, staring at him.
Mike realised that he was staring back at him slack-mouthed.
“Did you want me to kiss you when you were sober or not?” Will asked, frowning a bit.
“I–I– can I brush my teeth and come? Please?” Mike asked, blushing furiously.
Will laughed, letting him go.
–
They had finished their dinner when Will had switched on the music player on the corner. Mike looked at him, dropping their plates on the dishwasher.
Will walked towards him, and bent his head deeply in an exaggerated bow. He offered his hand to Mike, “May I have this dance, my handsome paladin?”
Mike giggled. Will was referencing their DnD characters. He bowed back at him, and took his proffered hand, “Of course, my cleric,”
James Arthur’s voice crooned from the speakers, singing the words of ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’. Will swayed them gently to the melody.
I met you in the dark, you lit me up
You made me feel as though I was enough
We danced the night away, we drank too much
I held your hair back when
You were throwing up
Mike smiled and pressed his face into Will’s shoulder. He felt giddy with happiness, as Will pressed a kiss to the side of his head. He kissed his shoulder, and looked up at him. Will looked beautiful under the kitchen lights. His hair was a deep brown, the edges shining gold under their dim kitchen light. His eyes were a shade of honey brown, so warm and deep, Mike could stay lost in them forever.
“You said you wanted to dance with me last night,” Will whispered to him.
Mike remembered him drunkenly confessing that the man dancing with him wasn’t Will.
“I did,” his cheeks felt hot. “But this is so much better,” he whispered back, watching Will’s face split into a bright smile.
God he was so beautiful.
I'm so in love with you
And I hope you know
Darling, your love is more than worth its weight in gold
We've come so far, my dear
Look how we've grown
And I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old
Just say you won't let go
“Will”
Will hummed, pressing another kiss under his jaw. Mike squirmed. He slowly untangled his right hand from Will’s. He placed it on Will’s shoulder, slowly embracing him. Will obliged, wrapping his arms over Mike’s waist and dropping his head to his shoulder.
“I really like you,” Mike whispered, slipping one hand into Will’s hair and gently stroking his head.
“Me too,” he heard Will whisper back.
Mike sighed and pressed closer, feeling whole when Will started stroking his back.
I'm gonna love you 'til
My lungs give out
I promise 'til death we part like in our vows
So I wrote this song for you, now everybody knows
That it's just you and me 'til we're grey and old
Just say you won't let go
—