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Ever since Will came back from the Upside Down, Mike’s been even more protective of him than ever. Will finds this kind of behavior smothering when it comes to anyone else, but it’s completely different with Mike. Any time that Mike picks up on the slightest bit of distress and rushes to comfort Will, he feels something deep inside of him warm up with happiness. And when he says the slightest bit of distress, he means it!
Case in point: two minutes ago, Will’s body shivered slightly, growing cold in Mike’s basement, and now Mike is running back down the stairs clutching one of his hoodies and a blanket.
“Here you go!” Mike exclaims, helping Will put the sweatshirt on despite Will being perfectly capable of it himself.
When Will breathes in, he is surrounded by a smell that he can only describe as Mike.
That’s another thing that has changed since Will got back from his horrific ordeal: his senses have become heightened. Well, at least his sense of smell. Before he got taken, Will could barely pick up on people’s scents just like every other beta. But now? Now he can smell his mother’s floral aroma, Hopper’s almost overpowering pine scent, but best of all, he can smell the subtle warm spice mixture wafting off of his best friend. The scent reminds him of when Mrs. Wheeler bakes Will’s favorite ginger molasses cookies around Christmas.
As Mike wraps the blanket around Will, he realizes that it’s one of the ones from Mike’s bed. Glancing over to the couch in the basement, he sees that there is a blanket on the back of it that he could’ve grabbed, but Mike had insisted on getting a different one. For whatever reason, Mike wanted him to have this one. Looking down at the hoodie, he notices a small stain on the front, reminding him that the last time he saw Mike in this hoodie was two days ago. Mike had accidentally dripped some of his hot chocolate onto the sweatshirt, and sure enough, this stain looks exactly like it did that day.
“Mike, is this hoodie dirty?”
He looks up at Mike in time to see his best friend turn bright red. “Is it?” he squeaks. “I just grabbed the first one I could find.”
***
Of course, Will noticed, because Will notices everything! Mike hopes that Will buys his poor excuse for grabbing dirty clothes for him, because that’s so much better than the alternative. Mike doesn’t have a reasonable explanation for why he wants to dress Will up in his clothes or why he wants to cover Will in his scent. Ever since Will came back from the Upside Down, Mike has felt drawn to his best friend more than ever before. He’s always been protective of Will, but that instinct has been cranked up since he got him back. And, for some inexplicable reason, he loves scenting Will, who has yet to complain. Then again, Will is a beta, so he may not have even noticed. But other Alphas, even ones who haven’t presented yet, can tell. He knows this for a fact because Lucas asked him about it last week.
“Dude, why does Will always smell like you now?”
Mike had shrugged and tried to get away with it by explaining that they’re just always together. Lucas gave him a look like he didn’t buy it for a second, but thankfully, he didn’t push the issue further.
Mike’s inner Alpha is screaming out to him to protect Will from anything and everything that can bother him. Unfortunately, it’s not enough, because in the following days, Will is going to start having visions of the Upside Down. Worse than that, Will starts complaining that he’s in pain, but every time Mike asks for more information so he can try and help, Will gets really embarrassed, and either changes the subject or finds an excuse to get away from Mike entirely, leaving him despondent.
All he wants is to be close to Will. Mike’s parents have noticed the change in behavior, and while his mom doesn’t seem to mind, his dad has had some choice words about it. He’s lectured Mike on how it’s unnatural for two boys to be that close, and that Mike needs to find a nice Omega to date. The implication is clear: he needs to find a girlfriend. Because boys can’t be Omegas, or at least that’s what they’ve all been told. There are fairy tales about boy Omegas, but one hasn’t been documented in at least a hundred years, so he knows that any hope that Will could be an Omega is simply wishful thinking.
Right?
***
“Will, baby, can you tell Dr. Owens what you told me?”
Will looks around the room anxiously, not liking how sterile it appears. Everything is stark white, and there is an overly clean smell in the air. His eyes settle on his mom for a moment, and she’s looking at him with wide, pleading eyes. Then, he forces himself to focus on Dr. Owens. As far as the staff goes that he’s had to interact with since he escaped the Upside Down, Dr. Owens is the best option. He’s always seemed to actually care what Will has to say, even if he hasn’t necessarily been helpful.
“Uh,” Will mumbles. “Well, besides the visions, my body has been changing.”
“Changing? Changing how?” Dr. Owens asks curiously.
He panics, looking at his mom, desperate for her to explain for him. She smiles sadly at him, then nods. Making eye contact with Dr. Owens, she says, “I’m just going to be blunt about it, because I don’t know how to delicately explain it. There’s something different about his genitalia.”
Dr. Owens raises his eyebrows. “Oh?”
“He,” his mom pauses, glancing at Will to make sure he’s still okay with her saying this. When he nods, she continues. “Dr. Owens, frankly, it looks like there is a vagina growing underneath his penis.”
Dr. Owens freezes in place, no doubt shocked by this information. “But that would mean… No, it couldn’t be…”
“What? What are you thinking?” Will’s mom probes urgently.
Dr. Owens frowns at them. “We’d have to do an examination, and I hesitate to say anything further until that happens.”
“Please,” she begs. “Just tell me what’s happening to my boy.”
By the end of the day, life as Will knows is turned upside down. Quite literally, the Upside Down has altered Will’s biology. He doesn’t know if it is something that the horrible vine monster did to him, which the scientists hypothesize is the root cause for this change – especially after Will admits to vomiting up weird slugs that eventually turned into weird creatures like Dart. No one had been particularly happy with him that he’d kept that information to himself. But, for the first time in well over a century, a male Omega has been discovered.
Will feels like his life is over, because being a sensitive, shy, artist has already made Will the target for homophobic slurs. But now this? Will’s body is, quite literally, changing to allow itself to be mated with a man someday. The scans have shown that he does, in fact, have a womb now, along with ovaries and a vagina that has started to open up. The weird extra skin he’d discovered weeks ago that got progressively more tender has now spit open, and someday, if he manages to find someone not disgusted with him, he’ll have sex through that hole instead of the one that society has taught him is disgusting and dangerous.
Will is so embarrassed on the drive home that he can’t even enjoy the feeling of Mike holding his hand. Mike, who had sat patiently out in the waiting room all afternoon while Will sat through testing. Mike, who had looked sad but didn’t argue when Will gently told him that he didn’t want Mike to come.
That night, as they’re lying in Will’s bed side by side, Mike tearfully begs Will to tell him what’s going on.
“I can smell that you are distressed, Will. Please tell me what happened.”
Will chews on his bottom lip. He decides to be honest, because Mike is his best friend. Mike has stood beside him through everything. Crazy together, right? Well, there’s nothing crazier than this.
***
Mike blinks, staring at Will. He’s speechless, his brain overloading with everything that Will has just told him. But, finally, when his brain stops spinning wildly, a smile spreads across his face.
“Mike,” Will whines, “why are you smiling? This is horrible.”
“No it’s not!” Mike insists.
“How? How is it not horrible? I’m a boy, Mike. I’m not supposed to be an Omega.”
“Will, you don’t get it!” Mike exclaims. “This is huge. Just because boys aren’t Omegas anymore doesn’t mean that they never were. This just proves you are special.”
“No, it proves I came back even more of a freak,” Will groans.
Mike shakes his head furiously. “No, it doesn’t. Maybe, I don’t know, maybe this is the silver lining to you having to go through all of that.”
“How is this a silver lining?!” Will exclaims.
Nervous butterflies swirl around in Mike’s stomach, making him question if he’s about to make a huge mistake. Taking a deep breath, he says, “Because it means we can be together.”
“What?” Will whispers, his doe eyes getting even wider somehow.
“Think about it! My dad always said that I had to be with an Omega, but he never specifically said a girl! So if you’re an Omega now, then I can be with you.”
The expression on Will’s face doesn’t change, making Mike’s stomach sink. “O-or not. You know. If you don’t want that, that’s okay.” Mike turns away from Will, his stomach clenching uncomfortably. “Forget I said anything.”
Mike blinks back tears, sitting with his rejection for a few moments. Then, Will’s quiet voice cuts through the silence. “You want to be with me? You mean, not just be best friends, but, um, be together like other Alphas and Omegas.”
Mike shuffles back onto his other side, seeing that Will’s eyes are still shell-shocked, but now he’s blushing and biting back a smile. Hope bubbles up inside of Mike as he confirms, “Yeah. You’re my favorite person ever, Will. And I like you. I never said anything because I thought it was wrong, but this means it isn’t!”
Will smiles sweetly, then confesses, “I like you too, Mike.”
Mike throws his arms around Will, hugging his best friend as he lets out an adorable squeak. “Awesome!”
Will giggles, then relaxes into the hug. “Does this mean we’re, um, boyfriends?” he asks cautiously.
“Duh!” Mike exclaims. “Obviously.”
“Okay. Cool,” Will murmurs.
“Yeah, cool,” Mike replies. Then, he gets a brilliant idea. “Hey Will?”
“Yeah, Mike?”
“Will you go to the Snow Ball with me?”