Archive of Our Own

Holly’s new babysitter was exceptionally strange. He was something of an enigma to Mike; he’d gone missing several years ago, then been found by his own mother and the chief of police and had stories printed in tabloids for days about how he’d ‘returned from the dead’. Mike had told his parents that it might be a bad idea to let somebody like that take care of Holly when they weren’t there, until he found out that Nancy’s insufferable boyfriend Steve had had a fight with the boy’s brother a few years ago, and suddenly he didn’t seem quite so bad.

He’d still wanted to meet him, however, just to be perfectly sure that he wouldn’t be leaving his baby sister alone with some psycho. He’d waited patiently in the living room for his arrival, but the person who walked through the door was not big, or mean or scary with lots of tattoos and a haunted look in his eye like Mike had been expecting. In fact, he was quite the opposite:

“Hi,” said the boy awkwardly, standing in the doorway. “This is the Wheelers, right?”

Mike merely blinked at him. He was slight in build and a little shorter than Mike, dressed in worn blue jeans and a heavy-looking coat that hugged his shoulders. He had a gigantic knitted scarf around his neck that muffled his speech somewhat, and there was a light dusting of snow atop his brown hair, giving him the appearance of a delicately iced cream cake.

“Uh,” said Mike stupidly, his gaze raking over him in disbelief, “Will… Will Byers? That’s you?”

Will Byers (apparently) shuffled his feet on the doormat, then beamed up at Mike. “That’s me!”

When Mike continued to stare at him, speechless, Will’s expression faltered.

“Oh, have I got the wrong place? Sorry, I — I don’t really know this neighbourhood,” he said, backing away, “I live on Lincoln Avenue, so it’s kinda a dump, I mean, not that I mind, but—“

“Oh! No, yeah, this is the right place,” said Mike, shaking his head as he snapped out of his reverie, “This is the Wheelers. Are you, uh — did you come to see my sister?”

“Holly?” said Will, “Yeah, I heard she needed a babysitter? I’d be happy to do it!”

Mike narrowed his eyes suspiciously, but moved aside to let Will into the house. Apparently oblivious to Mike’s apprehension, Will stepped over the threshold, kicking his snowy shoes on the doormat, then walked into the hallway. Mike shut the door behind him with a gentle click.

“So, you’re Zombieboy?” said Mike, and Will froze where he’d begun to shrug his coat off. “I’ve heard that’s what they call you. After that… incident.”

Something unreadable flashed in Will’s gaze for a moment, and Mike was suddenly wondering if this was where he’d meet the real Will Byers; if Will would hit him, or snap at him, if he’d show his true colours to support all the stories Mike had heard. But once again, Will surprised him.

“Yeah, that’s what they call me,” he said quietly. He tried for a smile, but it fell flat. “Amongst other things.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Mike said evasively, because he figured it’d be rude to outright say that Will was something of a town pariah, and so far he hadn’t seemed remotely as nasty as people said he was.

Will pursed his lips, looking away as he tugged his coat off so he wouldn’t have to meet Mike’s searching gaze. “I’m sure you have.”

“And is it true?” said Mike.

“Is what true?” asked Will.

“The rumours,” said Mike, “about you… coming back from the dead. And they—” Mike swallowed, slightly awkward— “people say you can do stuff. Like, break someone’s arm without trying, and talk to the dead.”

“The arm wasn’t me and I can’t talk to the dead,” said Will, his voice much cooler now, his gaze guarded, “and I didn’t ‘come back from the dead’, either, the state just faked my death. They thought I wouldn’t be found and it was their fault, so they figured it’d be easier to say I’d been killed.”

“The arm wasn’t you?” said Mike, ignoring everything else that’d been said. “So it was someone else?”

“My sister,” said Will, and Mike’s eyes widened. “But she didn’t mean it like you’re thinking and she only did it in self defence,” he added at Mike’s expression, “so you can stop staring at me like that.”

“Sorry,” said Mike, though he wasn’t really that sorry. “But if they faked your death, then—”

“If you only invited me here to interrogate me, then I can just go,” said Will, and all traces of warmth had now disappeared from his voice. “I’ve explained myself enough times before. I’m not going to do it again.”

“No, I didn’t, sorry I — I was just curious,” said Mike, feeling oddly cowed for some reason. He was almost embarrassed at how unabashedly he’d been asking so many questions, when of course, he didn’t really know Will at all. “I — so, d’you wanna meet Holly, then?” he asked, hoping to steer the conversation into safer waters.

He’d expected Will’s annoyance at Mike’s questioning to hamper any positive feelings towards him entirely, maybe even to affect his desire to babysit for his family anymore, but strangely, Will brightened right back up again at this suggestion. It was as though the abrupt change in atmosphere was all he needed to be cheerful again. Like a very resilient flower.

“Yeah, okay,” he said, then smiled, “Is she down here?”

“Nah, upstairs,” said Mike, “but I’ll go get her. One second.”

Will nodded as Mike jogged off down the hall and up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He pondered what Will’s reaction would be to his sister—by the sounds of it, he had a sister of his own, though it didn’t seem as though she was younger than him as Holly was. Holly was eight, and Mike found that oftentimes, people who didn’t have younger siblings themselves didn’t know how to speak to her.

Most people he knew dismissed her altogether, which upset Mike because she was one of his best friends, sister or not, and she was lots of fun to hang out with once you got to know her. Generally, girls his age would coo at her if he invited them over, like she was a two-year-old or a pet who couldn’t communicate properly, and boys never wanted her around.

Only Lucas—who had a cool younger sister of his own—Dustin, who’d been around Holly long enough to treat her like a friend, and Max, who was naturally very good with kids, knew how to act around her. Mike wondered whether Will had any experience.

“Holls,” he said as he reached her door, knocking thrice, “There’s someone downstairs here to see you. Can you come down?”

“Who is it?” came Holly’s voice from within her room.

“Your new babysitter, if you want him to be. Can I come in?”

“No,” said Holly’s voice, “I’m busy.”

Mike rolled his eyes hugely. “Okay, but he’s not gonna be here for long, and I want you to meet him so we know if he’s good for you, alright?”

There was silence for a moment, then muffled footsteps before the door opened a crack, revealing Holly standing on the threshold wearing what looked like a bin liner with holes in it and a pair of neon pink scuba diving goggles. There was a gigantic mess of jigsaw pieces, glittery cardboard and paint behind her. Mike did not even want to know what she was doing.

“I’m busy right now,” she said importantly, “Tell him to go away.”

She then tried to slam the door in his face, however, expecting this trick, Mike had slid his foot into the gap when she opened it, and it wouldn’t shut.

“I’m not going to tell him to go away, that’s rude,” he said, glaring at her. “And you are gonna come and meet him. If you’re not downstairs in five, I’ll come back up and carry you down.”

Holly gave an affronted gasp. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Oh, I would,” Mike assured her primly, “And I’ll step all over your glitter terrorism while I’m at it, so I suggest you do as I say,” he said, then shut the door, cutting off the sound of her second gasp of the evening.

By the time he’d made it back downstairs, he’d expected Will to have migrated to the living room, where it was more comfortable, but he was still standing in the hallway, peering around curiously.

“Hey,” said Mike, as he reached the bottom step, making Will jump and look around, “She’s just coming. Do you want a drink or anything? We have, like, coffee and stuff.”

“Oh, no, that’s okay,” said Will, offering him a smile, “I don’t want to bother you.”

“It wouldn’t,” Mike assured him, “And we should sit down, anyways. No need to stand around here.” He continued down the hall into the kitchen and beckoned Will to follow him.

Will did so, taking each step very carefully as though he were afraid to damage anything, and he spent the whole time staring around himself interestedly. Mike looked over at him, amused.

“Haven’t seen a 70’s kitchen before?” he asked, his eyes twinkling, and Will looked over at him.

“Oh, no, I have, it’s just,” he paused, ducking his head a little with embarrassment, “you have a really nice house.”

“Oh,” said Mike, surprised, and he fumbled with the mugs a little where he’d been setting them out. “Um, thanks. It’s mostly my mom who did all of that,” he gestured vaguely, “the decorating. She likes interior design.”

“Well, it looks really good,” Will said sincerely. Mike shot him a smile.

“I’ll tell her, it’ll make her day. D’you want coffee or hot chocolate? We also have tea but it’s only herbal—“

“Oh, no, really, it’s fine,” Will insisted, “Seriously. And I — I shouldn’t stay. My friend’s radio show starts in an hour and I don’t want to miss it.”

Mike quirked a brow. “Radio show? Which host?”

He could’ve sworn he saw the hint of a prideful blush creep up Will’s cheeks, before he shrugged and muttered, “Rockin’ Robin.”

Mike gaped, dropping the mugs on the counter a second time with a sharp clatter. “Rockin’ Robin? But she’s great! Oh, you should’ve mentioned it! My friends love her.”

Will grinned bashfully, “I’ll tell her.”

“She must already know, though,” said Mike persistently, “everyone in Hawkins loves her.”

“I’ve tried to tell her that, believe me,” said Will with a wistful sigh, “she doesn’t listen.”

Mike suddenly thought back to Rockin’ Robin’s shows, in which she had mentioned several times a sweetheart who some of her best tracks (in Mike’s opinion) had been dedicated to. He stared at Will.

“Hold on,” he said, pausing where he’d moved to add cocoa powder to the first mug, “You — you and Rockin’ Robin are friends?”

Will looked up at him puzzledly, then nodded.

“You’re just friends? You’re not…” he trailed off, and saw in real time as Will seemed to process what he was asking.

“No!” he exclaimed, “No, no! We’re just friends! She’s a lot older than me, and anyways I’m not into gir-uhhh, I mean, um,” he paused awkwardly, his cheeks scarlet, “I meant, I’m not into… guitar! She plays a lot of guitar songs.” He shook his head and gave a slightly manic laugh. “Mm, yeah. Guitars. Not for me.”

Mike stared at him.

“Um, okay,” he said, feeling slightly as though he were missing something.

He handed Will the mug of hot chocolate he’d been making anyways, and despite insisting he hadn’t wanted anything, Will took it with grateful hands.

A slightly awkward silence had settled over them, and so Mike was glad when it was broken by the storm of thundering footsteps coming down the stairs, then a patter as Holly ran through the hall and into the kitchen. She stopped abruptly in the doorway as she spotted Will, still wearing her neon pink scuba goggles. Mike could see flakes of glitter in her hair.

“Hi!” greeted Will, “I’m Will. I might be your new babysitter.”

“You what?” Holly all but shrieked, she turned to Mike furiously, “Mike! You have to tell me if there’s a real boy in the house!”

Mike gaped at her, affronted. “A real boy? What am I? A next-door neighbour?”

Holly gave an exaggerated huff of annoyance. Then, as though Will was merely a statue and not a real person who’d just spoken to her, she ran back out of the room and scurried away up the stairs. Will stared at where she’d just been standing in surprise.

“Did I say something wrong?” he asked politely. Mike scowled.

“No, she’s just behaving like an asshole because my parents aren’t here tonight,” he said, rolling his eyes, “I did tell her you were here. I dunno what she’s talking about, I’ll go get her — one second.”

He ran after her, back up the stairs and out of sight. As it so happened, it was much more of a struggle to retrieve Holly from her room the second time around, as now that she’d seen Will and had decided, in her words, that he wasn’t ‘a gross stinky boy’, she wanted to get changed out of her pajamas before she met him. Mike, however, was already at the end of his tether with her lack of respect for his authority; he picked her up off the floor, ignoring her howls of complaint, threw her over his shoulder and walked back downstairs.

She pounded at his back with her fists the whole way, and when he got back to the kitchen he dumped her, quite unceremoniously, onto the floor.

At once, she yanked off her scuba goggles and began to hurriedly comb her fingers through her hair. Unfortunately, this did not help the glitter situation whatsoever, and only served to make it more messy than it had been before. She pushed herself up onto her knees and stood, eyeing Will with interest.

“Now, say hello,” said Mike, guarding the door with his arms crossed so that she couldn’t make a break for it again. Will was staring at them, nonplussed.

“Um, hello?” Will repeated, glancing worriedly at Mike. Mike blinked at him puzzledly for a moment, then laughed.

“I didn’t mean you!” he said, and Will immediately blushed scarlet. Mike gently kicked Holly’s ankle with his foot. “I meant her. Come on,” he added pointedly, “be nice.”

“Hello,” Holly said with an unusual amount of shyness. She was now looking down at her feet. Will seemed to sense her unease, because he smiled warmly.

“I like your socks,” he said, and she looked up, eyes wide as she stared at him. Mike noticed that her cheeks had gone very pink.

“Really?” she asked, then lifted her foot. “They’re brand new! Look, they have chickens on the bottom, too.”

She pulled one leg up to show off the sole of her foot, hopping on the spot, and Mike knew that they did indeed have chickens on them, however it was very difficult to see when she was bouncing about all over the place. Will didn’t seem bothered by this.

“That’s really cool,” he said, “Are chickens your favourite animal?”

Holly stopped bouncing and dropped her foot. She frowned as she pondered his question. “Hmm… no,” she decided, “I think penguins are my favourite, probably. Or ponies, because penguins can’t fly.”

Will did not point out the obvious flaw in this reasoning, in that ponies cannot fly either, and instead nodded importantly.

“Makes sense,” he agreed, “ponies are pretty awesome.”

“So,” Mike said, smoothly interrupting before Holly managed to wrangle Will into a conversation about My Little Pony, and they lost her for the rest of the evening, “how d’you feel about having Will as a babysitter?”

Holly blinked. “For me?”

“No, for me,” Mike said with a huge roll of his eyes, and Holly giggled. “Yes, for you! Would you like that? Or d’you wanna think about it a bit more?”

“I don’t need a babysitter though,” said Holly, and Mike frowned.

“Holly, you’re eight.”

“But you’re my babysitter,” Holly continued, her eyebrows raised. “Why do I need another one?”

“I told you, I’ve got a job now on Monday and Wednesday and I have Hellfire on Friday night,” said Mike, staring at her pointedly, “Nancy can’t keep missing days or they’ll stop letting her be a reporter, and mom’s got her book group on Fridays and those dumb fitness classes during the week. We can’t leave you here by yourself.”

Holly’s brow furrowed as she mulled this over. A beat of awkward silence passed as Mike and Will seemed to be waiting for her to come to a decision, but eventually she must have conceded that there were no faults in Mike’s explanation, because she looked up again. She fixed her watchful gaze upon Will and looked him up and down, just as Mike had done the first time he saw him. Will gave a small wave.

“Okay,” Holly said brightly, “He can be my babysitter.”

Mike stared in surprise. “What? Really?” he asked, “Just like that?”

“Just like that.” Holly nodded.

Before Mike could enquire any further, she had shot a final look over her shoulder at Will, giggled a little, then taken off back down the hallway and up the stairs again. Mike heard her footsteps fade away, followed by the distant slam of her bedroom door. He gazed at the spot she’d just vacated, slightly speechless.

“I can’t believe it,” he said dazedly. Will came to stand beside him, also staring at the doorway like Mike was as though it might give him some answers.

“Why?” he asked, then his lips twitched amusedly, “You weren’t expecting her to like ‘Zombieboy’?”

Mike blinked in surprise and snapped out of it, turning to Will.

“No, sorry I — I shouldn’t have called you that,” he said, “I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“It’s okay, I’m used to it,” said Will, which Mike thought was sad.

“It’s not because of that, anyways,” Mike added hurriedly, “It’s because I’ve tried her with, like, six different babysitters and she hasn’t liked any of them. None of them lasted more than a day.”

“What?” said Will, “Really?”

Mike smiled at him, then shrugged, “Yeah. Guess you’re special.”

──────────────────────────── ✮

But Mike did not realise quite how special Will would grow to be, because after he told his parents, and they arranged the dates that Will would be looking after Holly, Mike hardly ever saw him. Of course, this was because he himself was out of the house almost all the time nowadays, and since he did not even pick Holly up from school anymore (as Will had a bike too), the only time he even glimpsed Will was if he arrived early on a Friday night.

More often than not Mike didn’t see him for weeks at a time, but he soon learned that Will had become something of an idol to Holly. It was strange to see the effect he was having on her, like a phantom influence in their household, but she grew from being cagey and annoyed whenever she was told she’d be home alone, to being nothing short of delighted by the opportunity to see Will.

According to her, Will was an artist, a comic-book writer, a ‘cardboard engineer’ (whatever that meant), a gardener, and most importantly, a huge fan of roleplaying. She said he didn’t mind playing with her no matter what they did together, whether he was a pirate or a knight or a pony prince, and that he’d always put the maximum amount of effort possible into any of their games.

Originally, Mike hadn’t believed her, because the only people he knew at his school who were into roleplaying were in the Hellfire Club, and all of them had been relentlessly bullied for it. He’d known Will—or known of him—and, like his brother, he’d always operated as a lone wolf. He’d never expressed even the slightest interest in joining them, nor, as far as Mike knew, had he ever tried to join any other club at their school. He wasn’t sporty or musical or a chess player… he didn’t go to parties, and from what Mike had heard from everyone else, he hardly spent any time with other people at all.

He’d been harbouring a theory since Holly’s first exclamation of Will’s brilliance that the real reason she wanted him to babysit was because she had a little bit of a crush on him, as Mike could agree at least that he was fairly good-looking. But one day, Mike returned home from work early (Max had offered to take his shift) to find Will still there:

The front door swung open and hit the wall as Mike stepped into the house. He was soaked to the skin; it’d been raining so hard that even his waterproof jacket was drenched all the way through, and his hair was plastered to his forehead uncomfortably. He kicked off his shoes, gagging at the sickening squelching noise they made as he did so, then dragged himself into the kitchen to make something to eat.

He’d just been eyeing up his Dad’s new six-pack in the fridge when he heard a loud shriek and a bang from upstairs. At once, he shut the fridge door in alarm, then raced down the hallway and nearly slipped on his soaking feet before he grabbed the bannister to keep himself up.

He ran upstairs as quickly as he could manage, and was so preoccupied with checking on Holly’s safety that he’d forgotten to knock, bursting into her room unannounced and causing both her and Will to yelp in surprise.

He was not sure what he’d been expecting, but nothing could’ve prepared him for whatever he’d just walked in on.

“Um,” he said blankly, “Hi.”

Will was sitting, his cheeks very pink, on the floor of Holly’s bedroom on a furry blanket the colour of candyfloss. He was dressed from head to toe in a bright purple robe with a pointy, glittery hat on his head, and Holly sat opposite him in a silky, frilly yellow princess dress she’d been gifted for her seventh birthday.

Around them was a collection of stuffed animals, also wearing pointy hats and tiaras, and Mike suddenly noticed the set of his grandmother’s fine china laid out before them, like a tea party.

“Uh… Should I just…?” Mike moved as though to back out of the room, but Holly suddenly jumped up from her spot on the blanket.

“No!” she said, “Come sit with us!”

And before Mike could refute her or insist that he was soaking and needed to get changed, she had grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into her room. She deposited him bodily on a heart-shaped pillow right beside Will.

Mike stared around himself incredulously, then looked over at Will.

“So, this is what you do when you babysit?” he asked, trying and failing to conceal his grin. “Have tea parties?”

“Not always,” said Will, and though he was blushing, Mike thought he looked secretly quite happy there, “Mostly I help Holly with her homework. Sometimes we do crafts, and sometimes we go outside — but when I make dinner it’s always more fun to have it like this,” he gestured to the ornate teapots and teacups around them.

“Look! We did my English project together!” Holly exclaimed, then picked up a large cardboard box and shoved it in Mike’s face.

He held it away from him far enough to see, then at once was rendered speechless. It was a beautiful and intricate diorama of the Shire from Lord of the Rings, painted so carefully with shades of green and blue and brown that Mike was sure Holly had not done it herself.

“Did you do this?” Mike asked Will, gaping, “This is amazing!”

Will’s blush grew even brighter, and he ducked his head embarrassedly, “Well, technically we both did—”

“Yeah, he did!” Holly cried excitedly, “And he made this, and this and this—”

She suddenly withdrew a giant stack of papers, each of which had a very impressively detailed drawing of a character on it, be it a princess or dragon or something else entirely. Mike took them as she handed them to him and rifled through the pages in awe, even more impressed for the fact that Will had managed to do all of this with only Holly’s limited children’s art supplies.

“These are really good,” said Mike sincerely, and Will smiled at him abashedly. “Are you an artist?”

“Thank you. Sometimes I am, yeah,” he said, “I use the art rooms at school a lot. Not many people go in there, you know? I always feel bad for Mr. Wimborne.”

Mike blinked, puzzled. “Mr. Wimborne?”

“He’s the head of the art department,” Will explained as Holly suddenly seized his hands and began to tug him roughly to his feet, “I don’t think he has many friends, so I go sit with him at lunch, a lot of the time. He’s very nice—“

“Holly, stop that,” said Mike annoyedly, standing up and pushing Holly back with one arm. She had been trying to use her bed frame as a stepladder to climb onto Will’s shoulders.

“What? Why? Will always lets me do that!” she complained, staring at Will reproachfully. Mike shot him a raised brow.

“Seriously?”

Will shrugged, “I don’t mind,” he said, and immediately Holly took this as a cue to jump onto his back.

His legs buckled slightly under her weight but at once he straightened up, using her legs to hoist her up a little higher so that he could carry her properly. Mike stared at them, pleasantly surprised by Will’s kindness towards her. He wasn’t remotely strict with her at all.

“I never let her do that,” he said, amused, “She’d do it all the time if I did.”

“Well,” said Will, panting a little, “I figure I need the workout. And you’re not that heavy, are you, Holly?”

“Nope!” said Holly cheerfully, and she threw her arms around Will’s neck from behind. Her tiara slipped off onto the floor. “I’m light as a feather!”

Mike rolled his eyes fondly. “Right.”

“Ooh, Will, can we go downstairs and you can show Mike the new—” began Holly, when Mike cut her off.

“No, Holly, I’m back,” he said, his eyebrows raised, “Will can go home. I can look after you now.”

Holly looked absolutely horrified by this suggestion.

“But we were meant to have four more hours!” she exclaimed, and Mike could’ve sworn he saw her grip on Will tighten slightly. “You can’t take him away now!”

“Holly—”

“We could all play together!” Holly insisted, her little face pleading, “We could! We could! Mike can be Prince Charming, you can be Cinderella, and I can be the fairies—”

“I’m not sure Mike would want to do that,” said Will gently, and he leaned over the bed to carefully slide Holly off his back. “I don’t know if he likes playing the same games we do.”

“He does!” Holly insisted, looking up at Will with an expression of desperation. “He loves playing!”

“Holly, Will doesn’t want to play with both of us, this is his job,” he said, crossing his arms, “Mom and Dad are paying for him to be here, he isn’t just hanging out with you for fun. Let him leave if he wants to.”

A very pointed silence followed these words.

“This is his job?” said Holly, her voice very small. She looked up at Will with wide eyes. “You’re not my friend?”

“Of course I’m your friend!” Will said, and Mike suddenly felt extremely bad. Will looked absolutely heartbroken—he suddenly wished he’d waited until Will left to have this conversation. “I love playing with you, Holly—”

“But my Mom and Dad are paying you?” Holly questioned, suddenly scowling.

“Holly, don’t be ridiculous,” said Mike, stepping between her and Will, “You can’t be annoyed with him for that. We told you we were getting a babysitter!”

“But Mom and Dad never paid you to be friends with me!” said Holly tearfully, and Will seemed so distressed by her reaction that he was not even trying to leave. He made an aborted movement as if to reach for her.

“That’s because I’m your brother,” said Mike, “I don’t have a choice.”

This was apparently the wrong thing to say. Holly wailed even louder, and for a moment Mike considered the merits of taking Will by the arm and simply dragging him downstairs, leaving Holly to cry it out in her room until he came up later.

Before he could act, however, Will sat down beside Holly on the bed and put his arm around her shoulders tenderly.

“I am your friend,” he said warmly, “I promise. I’m just your babysitter too.”

“But if — if Mom and Dad pay you to hang out with me—”

“They pay me to look after you,” said Will, “Not to play with you. If you weren’t my friend, I’d just sit downstairs doing something boring like reading or watching TV. I come up here and do all our games because I like hanging out with you.”

Holly blinked up at him owlishly, sniffling, “You do?”

“Of course I do!” Will said brightly, “I love dressing up and painting and making cardboard forts in the front yard. And do you want to know a secret?” he asked her.

“A secret?” said Holly, her eyes positively glittering with excitement. Will nodded.

“You’re probably my best friend,” he said to her in a stage-whisper, though Mike heard him loud and clear.

Despite the fact that Mike knew Will must’ve had other friends (Rockin’ Robin for starters), this white lie had clearly had the desired effect on Holly, and she teared up again and threw her arms around Will’s neck.

“You’re my best friend too!” she said, hiccoughing a little over the words.

Mike privately thought that this wasn’t saying much, because Holly’s best friend rotated so regularly it changed almost by the day; some days it was somebody from her school and other times it was an inanimate object. Will, however, seemed touched.

“Then I’m glad to have such a cool best friend,” he said, and Holly beamed at him.

He abruptly seemed to remember Mike’s presence there, because he turned and looked up at him, clearing his throat. He stood up from her bed and brushed his shirt down.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to overstay my welcome,” he said to Mike, who blinked in surprise. “I can go now, if you want,” He turned to Holly. “See you next week?”

Holly nodded emphatically. “See you next week!”

Mike followed Will out of her room and shut the door quietly behind him. Will looked suddenly nervous to find himself alone in the hallway with Mike, and he shuffled his feet awkwardly.

“If you want to pay me less for staying while you were back, that’s fine, I didn’t—”

“What?” said Mike, “Pay you — no, of course not!” he said, “My parents left the cash out, you can just take all of it. They don’t know I came home early today.”

He began to walk down the hall towards the stairs, and Will jogged after him, his expression horrified.

“You — you mean steal? From your parents?” he repeated, “But that’s terrible! And they’ve been so nice to me!”

“You deserve it just for putting up with Holly,” said Mike amusedly, and Will’s shocked expression turned suddenly fond.

“Oh, no,” he said, “She’s very nice to me as well. I quite like hanging out with her.”

“I think she has a bit of a crush on you, y’know,” Mike said absently, and Will stopped. Mike turned around and looked at him.

“Really?” he said worriedly, “You don’t — you’re not upset about that, are you?”

“What?” said Mike puzzledly, “No, why would I be? She’s not gonna try to, like, kiss you, if that’s what you’re thinking. I don’t think she’s even realised.”

“Oh, there’s just… people make rumours about me, I don’t know,” said Will, and his gaze had turned suddenly sad. “I thought you knew.”

“Knew what?” Mike asked.

“Y’know, they call me, um, a — a faggot, and stuff,” he said. He kept darting looks back over at Mike for his reaction, though he didn’t meet Mike’s eyes. “They think I’m,” he swallowed sharply, “dangerous. They think… I don’t even know what. That I’d do something to them, I guess.”

“Oh,” said Mike, suddenly feeling terribly bad for him. He felt a deep, sunken chill in his chest that had nothing to do with the freezing rainwater soaking his clothes. “I didn’t know that.”

“If you don’t want me to babysit anymore, that’s okay—”

“No!” said Mike at once, “No, of course I do! Holly loves you, and she would never care about any of that.” He looked at Will. “And I don’t… I don’t think you’re dangerous.”

Will looked up at him in surprise. “You don’t?”

Mike shook his head. “No, definitely not. You’re lovely,” he said, then immediately realised what he’d said and turned scarlet. “I mean—”

Will was staring at him, slack-jawed. Mike hurried to correct himself.

“I meant, I just meant, you seem like a lovely person,” he said, hugely embarrassed, “Not that you’re — well, you’re not unattractive, obviously, but I’m — I meant that — I just…” he trailed off lamely, “I’m making it worse, aren’t I?”

Will laughed, a real laugh, entirely unlike the forced chuckles Mike had been privy to throughout all the other brief meetings they’d had before. It was a wonderfully pleasant sound.

“It’s okay, I know what you meant,” he said, then shot Mike a smile. “And I think you’re lovely too,” he added, which made Mike’s stomach do flips for some unexplainable reason. “You’re very nice for a straight person, anyway.”

Mike stared at him.

“What?” he said, “So — what, you — you are gay, then?”

Will froze. His expression turned suddenly extremely frightened.

“I thought you knew?” he whispered, and Mike shook his head, gaping. “But — but I just — I thought when I said—”

Will backed away slightly, as though he were expecting Mike to hit him, and this small movement suddenly snapped Mike out of his shocked stupor.

“No, I don’t care!” he said quickly, then immediately realised this was also the wrong thing to say, as Will’s eyes grew wider. “I mean, I do care. I do care, I’m not angry, I just — I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all!”

“You’re not angry?” Will asked. Mike shook his head hurriedly.

“No! Of course not!” he professed, “I’d never judge somebody for that. I didn’t — I just thought, when you told me, that you meant people were… y’know, lying about it. I didn’t realise it was true.”

“It’s not true,” said Will, looking hurt, and Mike looked at him confusedly. “They think I’m some kind of predator.”

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean that!” said Mike anxiously, “I only meant… like, if they called you those names. Not that it’s okay, obviously, but…”

“Well, it’s Hawkins,” said Will, with a slightly despondent shrug. “I’ve come to expect it. People have never liked me.”

At once, many revelations dawned on Mike, and he actually gaped in shock.

“So — so, this whole time, all the rumours about you being — all the stuff about being a monster…” he said, then suddenly felt absolutely terrible for the times he’d ever even considered believing those rumours. “People were just saying it… because you’re gay?” he asked quietly. Will pursed his lips, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“I guess,” he admitted, “I mean, I never stopped to ask them why, but I s’pose they figured it out, somehow. I think all the roleplaying must’ve been a bit of a giveaway.”

“Oh, they said that to me, too,” Mike said sadly, and Will whipped around to look at him.

“What? They’ve called you a fag?”

Mike could not help but flinch a little at Will’s casual use of the word, though he supposed having it thrown at you would make you slightly desensitised to hearing it in person.

“No, not that, they’ve called me a queer though,” he explained, “And my friends. The — the Hellfire Club, d’you know it?” he asked, and Will shook his head. “Oh, well, it’s a DnD club—”

Mike was cut off by Will’s surprised gasp.

“I love DnD!” he exclaimed.

“Wh—really?” said Mike eagerly, forgetting what he’d been talking about before, “Oh, you should join! We’re always looking for new members!”

Will stopped and stared at him, speechless.

“You’d want me to join?” he asked, his voice awed. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah?” said Mike, confused on why this would be so exciting as to warrant such a reaction. “I mean, only if you want to. Eddie can be a bit intense, but Lucas and Erica and Dustin are really nice. I’m sure they’d like to have you around. We’d just need to figure out some days where you’re not here babysitting, but I’m sure I could get the others to work around it.”

“But — but I thought…” Will trailed off, his expression completely disarmed. Mike frowned, and Will looked up at him, meeting his gaze with a strange amount of vulnerability. “I didn’t think you liked me.”

“What?” exclaimed Mike, “Why would you ever think that? I like you! Why wouldn’t I like you?”

Will blushed. “You’re, like… popular,” he said, and Mike gaped at him incredulously.

“You can’t be serious,” he said, and Will grinned at his expression.

“What? Don’t look at me like that! You are!”

“I’m not popular! What — how did you — I’m, like, a complete loser!” Mike professed, “I’ve been bullied practically my whole life!”

“You’re still popular,” Will insisted, “You’re friends with Lucas Sinclair.”

Mike scoffed. “Lucas isn’t that popular,” he said, and Will raised his eyebrows. “Okay, he might be a tiny bit popular… but still. That doesn’t mean I am, and none of my other friends are, either.”

“You definitely are, even if you don’t realise it,” said Will, ignoring Mike’s expression of disbelief. “I’ve always thought that. Even in middle school.”

“In middle school?”

“Yeah, I always watched you back then,” said Will, then he shut his mouth with a click, the hint of a blush climbing up his cheeks.

“Watched me?” Mike repeated, “But… when did you…”

“Clark’s class,” said Will, “I was in the back row, on the right. You probably don’t remember, I was pretty quiet.”

Admittedly, Mike didn’t remember. He hadn’t even noticed Will was in his class back then, because he’d always sat near the front between Lucas and Dustin, and whenever he saw Will in the hallways he was being escorted around by his mother or the principal or some teacher or other. It made him seem unapproachable.

“I know,” Will smiled softly at him, “you don’t need to feel bad. Not many people remember me.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” said Mike, his brow furrowed sadly, “you’re an amazing person. I was just… dumb, in middle school.”

Will laughed, “You definitely weren’t dumb.” Mike turned and frowned at him puzzledly. “Mr. Clark loved you. I remember, one time he asked us ‘does anyone know Avogadro’s constant?’, and we were so young—nobody knew it, we were all so confused—but your hand shot straight up.”

“Oh,” said Mike, and he could feel a blush creeping up his cheeks, though he wasn’t sure why.

“You always knew the answers,” Will sighed. “I wanted to talk to you so badly, but I never did.”

“Well, I’m here now, aren’t I?” Mike asked quietly, a soft smile pulling at his lips. They’d reached the front door, and despite insisting that Will would have wanted to leave, Mike had a funny feeling of longing for him to stay. “How about we start over?”

“Start over?” Will repeated as he took his scarf from the hooks beside the door and started to wind it around his neck.

“Mm,” said Mike, “you can come to Hellfire, and I can introduce you to everyone and we can start over from the beginning, as friends.”

“Okay,” Will smiled at the floor, his cheeks pink. “Um, Will the Wise,” he said, and Mike frowned at him. “That’s my character name.”

“Oh,” said Mike, “Mine is Mike the Brave. He’s a — a Paladin.”

“Cleric,” said Will, then he held out his hand.

Mike stared at it for a moment before he realised what Will was offering, and he took it and they shook firmly. He’d expected Will to leave after that, to let him go and walk out the door, but before they released each other he suddenly tugged Mike’s hand sharply downwards, pulling him to eye-level.

It happened so fast that Mike hardly registered what Will was doing until he felt the soft brush of Will’s lips on his cheek, and then Will was letting him go, opening the door just as Mike had known he would. He stepped out into the cold and threw Mike a smile over his shoulder.

“See you later, Mike the Brave.”

──────────────────────────── ✮

In the weeks after that, Mike thought of nothing but Will. He was like a persistent ache, a recurring fantasy, and Mike felt his absence like an open wound. It was a deeply confusing feeling, considering he had hardly known Will until they’d talked properly that day of Mike’s cancelled shift, but he lingered in Mike’s mind nonetheless.

Mike found himself searching for Will everywhere he could; the marks he’d left in Holly’s room over time, the illustrations he’d left on the table downstairs, the very faint smell of his lavender cologne in the bathroom. Everything beautiful seemed to bring him to mind.

He began to look for him between classes, making an internal map of Will’s timetable in his head. Mike was pretty sure he took AP physics and chemistry, that he had many of the same teachers as Mike and so consequently was busy at the same time, and most importantly, that Will always spent his lunchtimes in the art classrooms. He only knew this because Will had told him that time when he was babysitting, but Mike had felt it prudent to check, so one day he dragged Lucas and Max there when Lucas didn’t have training and he glimpsed Will through the door.

“Oh, that’s him!” said Mike, pressing his face against the glass panel that looked into the art classroom.

Will was not looking at them, he was standing before an easel in a red apron covered in paint, talking to a very old man in a chair at a desk, who seemed quite utterly enamoured by whatever Will was saying. Mike had a sharp, pathetic moment of sympathy.

Lucas shoved him out of the way so she could peer through the door himself.

“Hold on,” said Lucas, “That’s Will Byers!”

Mike stared at him, “Yeah, so?”

“Well, isn’t he, like… y’know…” said Lucas, and Mike suddenly felt cold.

“What? Gay?” he asked, and Lucas gaped.

“What? No!” he exclaimed, “I meant, y’know, he had that whole thing where he went missing, but — hold on, is he gay?”

Mike blanched. “No!” he said at once, and Lucas and Max exchanged puzzled looks. “I — I mean, I don’t know. I haven’t — it’s not like I’ve asked him. I just heard — there’s rumours.”

“Rumours from people like Troy,” said Max, shaking her head as she gently nudged Lucas aside to look at Will herself, “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“Yeah,” said Mike, breathing a sigh of relief. “Exactly. And he probably isn’t…” he added, just for good measure. The last thing he wanted to do was expose Will to his friends.

“Aww, it’s okay,” said Max, her face unusually remorseful as she pulled away from the window. She patted Mike’s arm. “You never know. He might be.”

Mike blinked at her. “What?”

“Yeah!” said Lucas encouragingly, slapping Mike on the back, “He could be! We don’t know, do we? And you haven’t spoken to him much, some gay guys are really quiet about it. Don’t lose hope yet.”

Mike stared around at them, feeling sure he was missing something important.

“Why does it matter?” he asked.

Max and Lucas exchanged disbelieving looks.

“Well, you like him, don’t you?” said Max, as though this were obvious. Mike gaped at her.

“What?” he choked, “Like him? I don’t like him! I mean, I — we’re friends, but that’s it! I barely even know him!” He lowered his voice, speaking in a stage-whisper. “And I’m not gay!”

Max and Lucas exchanged another pointed look, which only served to make Mike more annoyed. He crossed his arms and huffed loudly.

“Why would you think I’m gay?” he asked irritably, “I’ve always liked girls.”

“You liked one girl,” said Max.

“In seventh grade,” said Lucas.

“Before I met you,” added Max.

“That’s six years ago,” added Lucas, and Mike scowled at him.

“So? I’m just not really a relationship person!” he exclaimed. “You guys haven’t dated anyone but each other! Maybe you’re gay.”

“I’m not offended by that because I know I’m not gay,” said Lucas, “and I know it’s not a bad thing, and you know it’s not a bad thing too, but you’re still freaking out about it like it’s a big deal that we even suggested it.”

“People would hate me if they thought I was gay,” said Mike stiffly.

“But we wouldn’t hate you,” said Max softly, “you don’t need to pretend around us.”

“I’m not pretending,” said Mike firmly, and he scowled at Lucas and Max before they had another chance to look at each other disbelievingly.

“Fine,” said Lucas with a shrug. “You’re not pretending. If you think you’re straight then you are. I just thought your sudden obsession with Will Byers might have something to do with it.”

Mike blushed crimson. “It’s not an obsession.”

“And the sky’s not blue,” said Max, looping her arm through Lucas’s. “Come on, we still have time to get lunch if we go now.” She glanced back at Mike. “Are you coming, or are you going to keep staring at your not-an-obsession?”

Mike grumbled something that sounded a lot like “it isn’t an obsession” followed by “definitely not gay”, however he trailed after them to the cafeteria anyway.

Despite Mike’s insistence that he was not obsessed with Will Byers, his desire to be around him did not decrease in the following days. In fact, it seemed only to amplify, and Max’s comment remained at the forefront of Mike’s mind anytime he tried to catch a glimpse of him throughout the school day.

He had a very good idea of Will’s timetable now, mostly from grilling Holly for more information, and it had reached the point that sometimes Mike actually did manage to run into him between classes, and each time he did, the soft smile Will would give him felt like downing a shot of tequila. It burned and flourished and raced through his veins in the best way, making Mike feel giddy and lightheaded until something inevitably brought him back down to earth.

It made Mike reckless, distracted, and it was easier for other people to catch him out, but it also made him care less when they did. He could be tripped, shoved, have his bag pulled off his shoulder and get called any number of names, but it all paled in comparison to the sight of Will. He was dazzling; it was as though he emitted a kind of silvery glow wherever he went, and the light of everyone else seemed dimmed whenever they stood beside him.

He’d been waiting and waiting for the chance to move Hellfire to a day that Will was available, so he could finally get a chance to speak with him properly again and introduce Will to his friends (and maybe even to try and integrate Will into their group on a permanent basis), and eventually on one, shining Friday, the opportunity presented itself:

“So,” said Eddie as they were all packing up their things after their usual two-hour session, “I’m sure you’re all aware that in two weeks time, I need to go to a funeral with my old man on Friday.”

There was a murmur of assent from the group, when Dustin spoke. “Does that mean Hellfire’s cancelled? Or are we moving it?”

Mike perked up at once like a meerkat, hundreds of suggestions racing through his mind at speed.

“Well, I don’t like to miss it,” said Eddie fairly, “but I dunno whether we’ll be able to find a day that works. This room is—”

“Thursday works!” Mike burst, unable to help himself. He’d been carefully checking which weeks the room was free on a Tuesday or Thursday, when Will wasn’t busy, also he’d be one-hundred-percent ready to move Hellfire if the opportunity arose.

“Excuse you, Wheeler?” said Eddie, glaring at him. Mike quailed. He’d forgotten how much Eddie hated to be interrupted.

“Don’t be too hard on him,” said Lucas amusedly to Eddie, “he wants his friend to join us and he can only do Thursdays.”

Mike resisted the urge to add ‘Tuesdays’ as well, not missing the emphasis Lucas had put on ‘friend’. Eddie turned to Mike sharply.

“Is this true, Wheeler?” he asked, “You’ve found another lost little sheepie who wants to join Hellfire?”

Mike tried not to cringe at the wording. “Um, yeah,” he said, and when Eddie motioned with his hand for him to continue, he added, “D’you… d’you know Will Byers?”

There was a ripple of gasps across the table, which annoyed Mike, before Eddie quelled them with a single lift of his hand.

“Zombieboy?” he asked, and Mike scowled.

“Don’t call him that,” he snapped, earning a chorus of ‘ooohs’ from everyone else. Eddie leaned down, his eyes narrowed, bringing them nose to nose.

“And why is that?” he asked softly, dangerous.

“Because it’s not his name,” said Mike, urging his voice not to waver. “And he doesn’t like it, and only assholes like Troy Walsh and Jason call him that.”

Eddie pulled away suddenly. There was a pointed pause in which nobody spoke, waiting for Eddie’s verdict. A beat passed.

“Fine,” he conceded. “I want to meet him. We can move it to Thursday.”

Mike gaped at him, slack-jawed. He could not believe his luck.

“Really?” he asked, elated, not quite believing it, and Eddie shot him an amused glance, one eyebrow raised.

“Mm,” he said, “Good friend of yours, then?” he asked curiously, and Mike felt his cheeks burn as Lucas and Dustin tittered away in the corner.

“Um, sort of,” he answered evasively, which was apparently the wrong thing to say. Eddie latched onto this at once.

“Sort of?” he pressed, his eyebrows rising further up his forehead. “You want us to embrace someone, a newcomer, into Hellfire, because you’re ‘sort of’ friends? Does that sound a good enough reason to you guys?” He asked the others, who all shook their heads solemnly, with the exception of Lucas and Dustin, who were still giggling.

“No, I — it’s — it’s more complicated than that,” Mike said lamely, and Eddie frowned at him.

“Pray tell?” he prompted. Mike ducked his head, embarrassed, hoping his cheeks weren’t as red as they felt.

“I can’t,” he mumbled, “It’s just… complicated.”

He looked up and met Eddie’s calculating gaze for a moment. He thought he saw a glimmer of recognition there, before he waved a hand for the others to leave.

“We’ll stick with Thursday,” he said, not taking his eyes off Mike, “You guys go. Wheeler and I can sort this out alone.”

Mike had the unpleasant feeling that Eddie had seen right through him, and he stood up and slung his backpack on as he watched everybody else file out of the room before him. When they’d all walked out and disappeared down the hall, Eddie walked back in and shut the door behind them. Mike stared pointedly at his feet.

“Will Byers,” said Eddie contemplatively, and Mike still didn’t look at him. “Did you know people say that he’s gay?”

Mike’s head snapped up to look at him. Eddie was watching him very closely.

“They don’t know what they’re talking about,” said Mike, and Eddie shrugged uncertainly.

“Maybe not,” he said, “but they’re often right, even if they don’t know for sure,” he added, and Mike frowned at him. “A lot of people have said I’m gay, too.”

Mike suddenly caught on. “And you are?” he said, shocked for a moment before he processed it, and realised it actually made a lot of sense. Eddie nodded, the hint of a smile pulling at his lips. “Oh,” said Mike stupidly.

“But that’s not what I’m asking,” said Eddie quietly, “It doesn’t really matter if he’s gay. I wanted to know — and you don’t have to tell me… are you gay?”

Mike bit his lip and looked at the floor. He’d told Lucas and Max that he wasn’t, but now that he was alone, and he knew Eddie was gay and they were talking about Will… he found that he wasn’t quite so sure anymore. He didn’t like girls the same way as everyone else—he knew that at the very least—and he wasn’t particularly romantically oriented in general, but did that mean he was gay?

“I don’t know.” Mike decided on being honest. Eddie’s gaze turned understanding.

“But you think you might like Will Byers?” he pressed. Mike’s cheeks pinked despite himself.

“Um, maybe,” he admitted. “He’s my sister’s babysitter, and — and he kissed my cheek.” He blushed even brighter just thinking about it. “He’s… nice,” he finished lamely. When he forced himself to look back up, Eddie was grinning at him.

“He sounds like a catch,” he said, and patted Mike’s shoulder. “Bring him to Hellfire, I’ll see what I can do.”

“What?” said Mike, startled, “But — what does that—”

“Ah, jesus, look at the time!” cried Eddie dramatically, pointing to his wrist despite the fact he didn’t have a watch. He began to hurriedly usher Mike towards the door. “We’d better get going, wouldn’t want to miss your bedtime—” He swung the door open and shoved Mike out into the hallway— “Try not to get eaten by a Demogorgon on the way home. Bye!”

And then he slammed the door in Mike’s face, leaving Mike standing there blankly by himself, reeling.

──────────────────────────── ✮

It was very easy for Mike to push Eddie’s strange behaviour from his mind, because in the seven days before next Friday, Mike was positively thrumming with excitement. He spent all of Saturday and Sunday planning out how he was going to announce this incredible news to Will when he cornered him on Monday afternoon (Will had a free period on Monday afternoon), and had even pulled out a notebook to orchestrate his plan.

When Max, Lucas and Dustin came around to his house for movie night on Sunday evening, they spotted his notebook and immediately began to pass it around.

“Okay, seriously, how am I the one who got the nickname ‘Stalker’?” said Lucas, dumbfounded. “I mean, honestly!”

“There can be more than one stalker,” said Max, reading through Mike’s meticulous plan. She looked up at Lucas and grinned. “Stalker.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. Dustin was peering over Max’s shoulder to read the plan, and Mike was chewing his lip anxiously, awaiting their verdict.

“So, d’you think it’ll work?” he asked.

“What?” said Dustin, “What’ll work?”

“My plan to ask him!” said Mike, huffing, “Come on, Dustin!”

“Well… yeah?” said Dustin, “Mike, you’re just asking him to come to Hellfire. You’re not asking him on a date.” He paused. “Or are you?”

“No!” Mike blushed. “I’m not asking him on a date, obviously—”

“Then I dunno what you’re so worried about,” said Lucas, looking up, “I thought he already agreed to join?”

“He did, but—”

“And didn’t he say he was surprised you wanted him to join? Meaning he probably already likes you a lot?” added Dustin.

“Well, yeah, but—”

“Then stop worrying,” said Max, “he’ll say yes,”

Despite everyone’s assurances that Will would be thrilled to join them, Mike could not quell his nerves. When Monday rolled around, he read and reread his plan six times through math class and then again a dozen times at lunch, he even tried to recite it by heart to his friends (who covered their ears and groaned in annoyance), before it hit one o’clock and he knew he had to go and find Will.

The bell rang, and there was the usual scuffle of activity as everyone packed their bags and swung them onto their shoulders.

Mike walked very hurriedly through the corridors towards the art-block, and found him as he was exiting his usual art classroom, just as expected.

“Oh!” Will said, surprised. The same teacher from before was standing behind him. “Hi, Mike.”

“Will,” he said breathlessly, “D’you think — could I… could I talk to you?”

Will glanced at the teacher, who shrugged and smiled, then waved him away and Will followed Mike down the corridor, toward a large poster of a tiger.

“What’s up?” he asked, pausing to look at Mike properly.

Immediately, agonisingly, Mike flushed red. Will was even more spectacular close up, and now that Mike could see them properly he could not shake the phantom feeling of Will’s soft lips on his cheek. He forgot his plan at once.

“Are you okay?” asked Will concernedly, reaching forward to touch Mike’s shoulder. This did not help. Mike opened and closed his mouth a few times before he managed to force himself to speak.

“Um,” said Mike blankly. Will blinked. “Um — well, you see, I had an idea…” he tried, then noticed idly that his hands were shaking. Mike stuffed them in his pockets.

“Okay…” prompted Will gently, frowning now. “Are you going to tell me or just stand there staring?”

Mike inhaled sharply. “Wangoellfirewime?” he said in a great rush of words.

Will stared at him, bewildered. Mike blinked, then quickly added, “On Thursday?” as if that made his incoherent sentence any more comprehensible.

“Sorry, what?” said Will.

Mike paled, “I mean — we don’t have to—“ he stuttered, now extremely red in the face— “I just meant as friends — y’know, not as — as anything else, and other people will be there—“

“No, no,” said Will hurriedly, taking Mike by the arm and wheeling him out of the way of some juniors who were waiting for them to move. Mike had somehow lost control of his motor skills. “I didn’t catch a word of what you said. What did you ask me?”

“Oh,” said Mike, then, squinting his eyes as if bracing for Will to slap him, he added in a rush, “I-thought-maybe-you-could-come-to-Hellfire-with-me?”

It was a very quick and jumbled sentence, but this time it was clear Will understood perfectly well what Mike had said. His cheeks pinked a little.

“Hellfire?” he asked, and Mike nodded. “On Thursday?”

Now that Mike had at last managed to ask his burning question, some of the awkwardness dissipated and his shoulders relaxed. “I just thought… y’know, you said you wouldn’t mind joining, and Eddie said we could move it to Thursday this week, and I know you’re free, so…” he trailed off.

Will was positively beaming at him. Mike, however, found it very difficult to look back at him; it was like gazing into a brilliant light.

“I didn’t think you remembered,” said Will softly, his expression tender. “I thought you were just being nice to me.”

Mike managed to get a hold of himself enough to meet Will’s eyes.

“Of course I remembered,” he breathed, “I haven’t been able to think about anything else.” Will stared at him, open-mouthed, and Mike suddenly realised what he’d said. “I mean—”

“I’d love to go,” said Will, bouncing a little on the balls of his feet. Mike sighed in relief. “Thanks for asking me.”

“That’s okay,” Mike said, now beaming back at him. He felt lighter than air. “Thanks for — um, answering.”

Will grinned at him for a few more seconds, and Mike wondered whether he ought to say anything else, when suddenly Will said—

“Oh, I — I’d better go, I said I was going to help Mr. Wimborne move his costumes to the drama studio,” he said, beginning to walk away, and Mike nodded slightly dazedly, still gazing at him. “I’ll see you on Thursday?” Will added, a hint of nervousness colouring his voice, and at once Mike nodded.

“Thursday,” he agreed, and Will grinned, waving him goodbye.

Mike stared at his back as he disappeared down the corridor, then turned around and immediately walked straight into the wall.

──────────────────────────── ✮

By the time Thursday rolled around, Mike was so happy that not even his Dad’s annoying comments about college applications and homework could not bring him down. He sat at the table cheerfully over dinner, speeding through his math assignment so he could leave for Hellfire as quickly as possible. His parents eyed him puzzledly.

“What are you so excited about?” asked Karen. “Something fun happen at school today?”

“Oh, no — um, I’m just meeting a friend later,” said Mike evasively. “At school,” he added at their raised eyebrows. “Is that okay?”

“Which friend?” asked his dad, smoothing out his newspaper. “Dustin?”

“No,” said Mike hurriedly, “Um, you know Will? Holly’s babysitter.”

Mike’s parents hardly had time to react to this, as Holly dropped her fork with a clatter, gaping at him.

“Will?” she shrieked, “You’re seeing Will?! Without me?”

Mike blushed. “It’s just Hellfire.”

“I want to come!” Holly exclaimed, then turned to her parents, “Please, please, please, please—”

“No!” said Mike annoyedly, “This isn’t for you, Holly!”

“—please, please, please, please—”

“Holly, this is just for us,” Mike tried, speaking over her pleading, “Just me and Will, it’d be weird if you were there—”

Holly stopped abruptly, then looked at him. Her eyes had suddenly gone wide, her expression interested.

“Just you and Will?” she asked, and the abject shock in her voice made Mike’s cheeks burn.

“It’s not like that,” he said quickly, “Will is my friend—”

But there was no use. Holly had leapt out of her seat and let out a sound somewhere between a gasp and a scream.

“YOU’RE DATING WILL!” she shrieked, “YOU’RE DATING WILL, AND HE CAN COME AND LIVE WITH US—”

“No, Holly—” Mike began—

“YOU’RE DATING WILL, AND YOU’RE GONNA GET MARRIED AND LIVE TOGETHER AND HAVE FIVE CATS AND SIX DOGS—”

“I AM NOT DATING WILL!” Mike bellowed, but Holly did not care. She began bouncing up and down and squealing.

Karen and Ted were watching them with expressions of complete and utter bewilderment. Holly was practically ricocheting off the walls with excitement, and Mike had the brief thought of what her reaction might be if he actually did start dating Will. He shivered at the thought.

“You know what? Nevermind!” he said, getting up from the table when Holly did not quieten down, abandoning his half-eaten dinner. “I’m gonna go now, see you guys later — Holly, stay!”

He scowled at Holly where she’d immediately tried to follow him out of the room. She blinked up at him with wide, desperate eyes. Mike shook his head firmly.

“You’re not coming with me. Don’t even try it.”

“Please?” she asked, shuffling closer. She tugged at his shirttails. “Please, please, pretty please?”

“No,” said Mike, crossing his arms. “Now let go.”

“Can you bring him back?”

“What?” said Mike blankly, “How would I even…?” He caught sight of Holly’s face again, and she held up her hand and pointed at her ring finger. “No!” Mike exclaimed, “Holly, I’m not marrying him!”

“Why?” Holly whined, as Mike tried to walk away. She threw both arms around his legs and sank to the floor, sitting on his feet so that it was extremely difficult to walk.

“Because,” said Mike, trying to free himself from her grip by shaking his legs. She only held on tighter.

“But he’s so amazing,” said Holly, as Mike shuffled his feet slowly when he realised she would not be relinquishing her hold on him anytime soon. He dragged her into the hallway so he could put on his coat. “He’s the best, most incrediblest, most fantastic babysitter in the whole world! You should marry him!”

“I can’t marry him,” said Mike, trying to kick Holly to get her off. She pushed his foot down and sat on it more firmly. “And anyway, why would you even want me to date him? Then he’d spend more time with me than you.”

“But he’d move in with us eventually,” said Holly, as though this were a sensible thing to say, “and he’d probably be around a lot more, so we could play more. And I can come on your dates with you.”

“There’s no way you’re coming on our dates,” Mike said flatly, forgetting for a moment that he and Will were not actually dating. Holly scowled up at him petulantly.

“Why not?”

“Because that’s weird, Holly. Now let go,” he said, and tried to shake her off again.

“I could help, though,” said Holly, not remotely bothered by Mike’s attempts to remove her from his legs. She was like a very annoying little parasite. “I could come to a fancy restaurant and be your waiter. Or we could all go to a theme park together, then when you get bored of him it can be my turn.”

“I wouldn’t get bored of him, and you can’t go on a date with him. He’s gay and he’s nine years older than you.”

“It could be a friendship date.”

“No.”

“It could be a babysitting date—”

“Would you give it a rest?” said Mike annoyedly, “I’m not even dating him, anyway! We’re just hanging out.”

“But you like him,” said Holly, and when Mike paused at this she seized her chance. “I knew it!”

“Alright, fine” said Mike, blushing, “I like him a bit. But that doesn’t mean he likes me.”

“But why wouldn’t he like you?” said Holly, which Mike thought was a very sweet thing to say, and it touched him so much that he almost forgot how annoyed he was with her.

Mike shrugged, “I don’t know,” he said, “but he probably doesn’t, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up, if I were you.”

“Ooh, wait, how long do you have until you have to go?” said Holly, finally releasing Mike’s legs. She sat on the floor and looked up at him. “Do you have to leave right now?”

“I’m meant to be there at six,” said Mike, “but I was gonna wait in the library a bit first.”

“What time is it?” Holly asked. Mike checked his watch.

“Four thirty.”

“Ugh, you have ages!” Holly cried. “Look, hold on, I have a really good way to see if he likes you!”

Mike shot a skeptical glance at his watch again, then at the door. Holly seemed to sense his apprehension, because, not giving him time to deliberate, she suddenly grabbed his hands and pulled herself up. Then, she took off down the hallway to the stairs, pulling him with her all the way. By the time they got up to the landing and reached her room, she stopped and threw the door open.

She dragged him bodily through the doorway and pushed him so that he was sitting down on her bed, then she walked over to her desk and began to rummage hurriedly through her desk drawer.

“What are you looking for?” asked Mike. She continued to rummage for another few moments, then turned around, withdrawing a bright, glittery-pink magazine that was titled ‘Girl Talk’.

“Ta-da!” she cried. Mike stared at her, deadpan.

“You cannot be serious.”

“Of course I’m serious!” said Holly, “Okay, first question.” She flipped to the middle of the magazine and put on a pair of sparkly pink glasses. “What’s his favourite colour?”

“Holly—”

“Just answer the question,” Holly said flatly, and Mike quailed.

“Okay, um…” Mike pondered this, then immediately realised he knew virtually nothing about Will aside from the basics and what he’d been told the last time they properly spoke to one another. “I don’t know,” he said, “What kind of question is that, anyway? We barely know each other!”

“It’s yellow,” said Holly with a scoff, rolling her eyes, “Fake Will Byers fan,” she muttered under her breath.

“Excuse me?” said Mike.

“Nothing!”

Mike narrowed his eyes. Holly continued onto the next question, her eyes travelling down the page.

“Okay, what’s his favourite song?”

“Holly, I don’t know,” said Mike, “I don’t know him that well. It’s not like we’re friends.”

“It’s ’Should I Stay or Should I Go’ by The Clash,” said Holly, ignoring Mike’s complaints. “What’s yours? It’s probably not another song by The Clash, is it?”

“No,” said Mike, “I dunno. Maybe something by—”

“M’kay,” said Holly, drawing a cross on the page in glittery gel pen, “Would you describe your boy-crush as handsome, rugged, cute or dreamy?”

Mike blushed scarlet. “I am not answering that.”

“Probably dreamy…” said Holly contemplatively, and Mike scoffed.

“What, you think Will would be dreamy? He’s obviously cute!” he snapped, and Holly looked up at him with raised eyebrows. Mike immediately realised his mistake.

“Okay, one point for cute,” she said, drawing another cross, and Mike dropped his head in his hands. “Next one: Would you say your boy-crush is sweet and flirty, smart and funny, charming and charismatic, or shy and kind?”

“Shy and kind,” Mike said instantly, then internally kicked himself for not resisting the urge to answer. “I guess,” he added, though the damage was done.

“Alright,” said Holly, adding a third cross, “What d’you think would be your boy-crush’s dream date: a romantic boat trip in Paris, down the ‘seen’ river—”

“Seine,” Mike corrected absently.

“—going to see a theatre play in New York City, going to an epic rock concert in London, having a sunny day by the beach in California, or having a secluded picnic at sunset near home?”

Mike pursed his lips thoughtfully, then hummed.

“I mean, I guess if he’s into The Clash… like, going to a rock concert in London?”

“Hmm…” said Holly, and Mike frowned.

“What? You don’t think so?”

“Maybe.” Holly shrugged. “But he’s quite a quiet person, y’know. Sort of… down-to-earth. I think he’d like a picnic.”

“Well, good thing he wouldn’t be going with you, then,” Mike said primly, scowling. Holly looked up from her magazine and smirked at him.

“You don’t need to get so jealous,” she said, and Mike blushed crimson.

“What? I’m not jealous!”

“You are!” said Holly, grinning. “But whatever, it’s fine. It’s better for my plan if you fall really deep in love with him, so just keep doing whatever you’re doing—”

“Okay, I’m leaving,” said Mike annoyedly, grabbing his bag off the bed, and Holly stood up at once, spilling her magazine and gel pens across the floor.

“No!” she cried, “You haven’t even gotten your answer yet!”

“How many more questions is there?” said Mike, his eyes narrowed skeptically.

“Only two,” Holly said desperately, fixing Mike with her wide, pleading stare. Mike sighed and sat back down.

“Fine,” he said, “but make it quick.”

“Okay!” Holly chirped cheerfully. “Where would you want to have your first time: a rooftop terrace—”

“What?” Mike choked, “Holly! I’m not answering that, you’re eight!” he spluttered, “And my sister!”

“So?” said Holly blankly, “It’s just a kiss. It’s not that weird.”

Mike narrowed his eyes. “Are you sure that’s what it means?”

“What else would it mean?”

“Nothing,” said Mike hurriedly, trying to keep his burning blush under control, “Keep going. Maybe — maybe say it’s a first kiss, though. Just to be super clear.”

Holly rolled her eyes as though Mike was massively inconveniencing her, “Okay fine, where would you want to have your first kiss: a rooftop terrace in a private apartment, a fancy hotel…”

Mike’s thoughts were drowning out the rest of her words. He made a mental note to tell his mom to check whatever magazines Holly was reading, as he had a sneaking feeling they weren’t age appropriate. He tried to keep his mind from straying into dangerous territory, willing himself not to think of what it might actually be like to have his first time with Will…

“Mike!” said Holly’s annoyed voice, bringing him back down to earth. “Pay attention! Which one?”

“What?” said Mike, “Oh, uh — a rooftop terrace.”

“Really? M’kay,” said Holly, scratching down another cross. “Last one, if your boy-crush could have any gift, what would it be: a fancy car, an electric guitar, lots of arts and crafts materials, or a super-rad surf board?”

“Well, he hates guitars, we can’t drive yet, there’s nowhere to surf in Hawkins — and he’s an artist,” said Mike amusedly, “So you tell me.”

Holly drew a large circle around the ‘lots of arts and crafts’ box on the page, then tore it from the magazine and folded it in half. She handed it to Mike, who stared at her in confusion.

“Why are you giving this to me?” he asked her.

“You need to get Will to fill out the other side,” Holly explained, and Mike gaped at her disbelievingly. “What? That’s how the quiz works!”

“You had me sit here and do this, and the whole time you needed me to show it to him? Holly!” he snapped, standing up again. “Obviously I’m not gonna do that! Don’t you think that’d be a bit of a give-away?”

“I only wanted to help,” said Holly softly, and Mike rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, well, you didn’t,” he said viciously, feeling annoyed that he’d wasted so much time doing this and embarrassed that he'd placed any kind of hope in a quiz like that in the first place. He shoved the page in his pocket and grabbed his bag. “I’ll see you later.”

He stormed out into the hall, shutting the door hard behind him. Unwilling to answer any of his parents’ questions, he ran downstairs and walked straight to the door, not even bothering to put his coat on as he yanked it off the hook and pulled on his shoes.

It was only after he’d gotten outside, the cool wind whipping at his face, that he suddenly felt terribly bad for speaking to Holly that way. Of course it wasn’t her fault that he’d expected the quiz to work. And worse still, he realised that she’d probably only asked to do it in the first place because she liked hanging out with him, and he never really spent that kind of quality time with her anymore. She liked Will and wanted them to be together because she wanted more time with him, her brother, as well.

“Oh,” he said weakly to himself, fighting back tears that were suddenly threatening to spill.

He checked his watch, wondering whether he’d have time to go back in and apologise to her—however he only had ten minutes to get back to school as it was, and he lived more than twenty minutes away. He shook his head, willing himself not to cry about it. He’d make it up to her later; he couldn’t leave Will at Hellfire by himself.

──────────────────────────── ✮

By the time he got to school he had to race inside. When he swung the door open to their usual meeting room he found Will already sitting there, having apparently introduced himself to Eddie, and when Mike burst in his expression turned immediately from polite nervousness to relief.

“Hi,” said Mike hurriedly, “I — I’m really sorry I’m late.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” said Eddie, “We’ve just been getting acquainted with Will the Wise!” he said in a spooky voice. “Level 11 Cleric — not bad. But will it be enough for my treacherous plans?

Mike didn't know what to expect from a Hellfire Club welcoming campaign, as when he and his friends joined they’d integrated in the midst of a month-long storyline, and Erica got in by subbing in for Lucas, but it turned out to be reasonably simple—a singular mission they needed to complete in two hours.

Eddie gave the outline for the mission—the wizened Cleric was travelling to a distant Kingdom to forge an allyship, as his home was under threat of invasion. The Cleric needed to offer his golden ring, a symbol of friendship, as a gift to the King in the hopes to bring peace to their kingdoms. He would have to reach the King’s castle gates with his ring for the mission to be considered a success, and in doing so, rescue the missing prince who was trapped along the way—

“The long-lost son of the King, Mike the Brave!” cried Eddie, and Mike gaped.

“What? I’m not a prince!” he spluttered.

“You are now,” said Eddie sternly, fixing Mike with a pointed stare, “Or can you not handle this challenge? Are you too cowardly a Paladin to escape these dangers?”

“I’m not a coward,” Mike said stiffly.

“So it should be no problem then,” said Eddie, then he turned to Will, “As I was saying — you need to keep the ring safe, rescue the prince, and get yourselves to safety in order to have a victory. That’ll give you a guaranteed spot in Hellfire.”

Mike eyed him suspiciously. Eddie had never made Mike change his character before for any campaign, and Mike had a sneaking suspicion that this had something to do with Will’s arrival, and Will’s mission.

“Got it,” said Will eagerly, entirely oblivious to Mike’s calculating surveillance.

Mike decided not to mention it again, as Will seemed very excited to get started, and the last thing he wanted to do was ruin his first campaign by complaining about playing a slightly different role.

For the most part the mission went smoothly; they defeated the evils they countered as a group (most of them anyway, Gareth went down to a Thessalhydra). Lucas, Dustin and Erica managed to fend off a horde of zombie orcs, and Will kept a hold of the ring until he reached the castle, where Mike was trapped. Things seemed to be going perfectly well.

Mike had been slightly bored for most of the session, with not much to do as he was trapped beside the King (Eddie), and protected by an evil wizard (Jeff). It wasn’t until Will, Dustin, Lucas and Erica managed to reach the dungeons that preceded the castle gates where Mike’s prince was trapped, and they encountered a gigantic wyvern, that Mike realised what Eddie had done.

“And with a great swing of my sword, I slay the wyvern, allowing the wise Cleric to rescue his prince!” cried Dustin, miming the action of bringing down a heavy sword over his head. Mike blushed at the wording.

"I retrieve my arrows from the wyvern’s body before joining the Cleric in the dungeon," Lucas added, and Will watched them curiously from where he was sitting, surveying the table with interest.

Mike glanced over at Eddie to find him expressionless; not excited for Will’s soon-to-be victory, nor disappointed his plot had been foiled so easily. Mike opened his mouth to finally add something himself, when—

"Hiss!" Eddie leapt up from his chair, and slammed the wyvern down on its side. “The wyvern dies, but before it succumbs to its bloody fate, it lets out a scream of anguish—” He mimicked the dying cries of a dragon— “and as it does so, it releases… the toxic green dragon’s poison!”

Will and the others gasped. Mike frowned puzzledly.

“The Prince begins to choke—” Eddie looked at Mike, who had to resist the urge to roll his eyes before he mimed choking dramatically. He definitely preferred being a knight. “And the wise Cleric realises that only one spell can save him — a healing kiss.”

Mike’s eyes snapped open at once.

“What?” he exclaimed, “Eddie, you can’t just—”

“Silence, Prince!” cried Eddie, looking at Will instead, “What will the Cleric do? Will he save the dying prince? Or sacrifice his victory for the sake of his pride?”

Mike was going to have serious words with Eddie about the ethics of his match-making tactics after this, as Will’s face had turned scarlet and he looked near to bursting with terror at the prospect of kissing Mike—DnD roleplay or not.

“Hurry, great Cleric, for your Prince is dying as you deliberate!” Eddie added, only rubbing salt into the already tender wound. Mike stood up and rounded the table to stand beside Will.

“Eddie, this is ridiculous, you can’t possibly expect us to—mmph!”

The rest of Mike’s sentence was swallowed as Will kissed him, full on the mouth, dragging him to eye-level by the collar of his shirt. Mike kissed him back at once, his hands finding Will’s hips and waist as though he’d done this a hundred times before.

He felt Will’s body against him with a steady kind of certainty, smelled a trace of lavender cologne on the air, before Will was pulling away from him again, flushed and wide-eyed, his lips red and bitten raw.

Mike hardly registered the whoops of victory from everyone else, the cheers from all their friends as he wondered idly whether Eddie had told everyone else that he’d been planning this too, because all he could see was Will.

As soon as Mike released him, Will turned away, his cheeks flaming, and rolled the dice. It was an 18. Mike barely noticed.

“The healing spell works, and the Prince is restored 18 hit points!” Eddie cried, “He is safe, and can travel back to his home castle with the Cleric and his companions!”

Dustin, Lucas and Erica leapt up and cheered. Mike looked over at Eddie knowingly, and Eddie held Mike's gaze for a long moment before finally declaring their victory, the hint of a smile pulling at his lips.

By the time they’d closed up the mission properly and collected their things, it had been almost three hours since Mike left Holly at home. In the tension of the game he’d forgotten what he’d said to her, and was suddenly desperate to get back, but when he walked out of the school into the cool evening air, a soft hand at his wrist stopped him. Mike turned around.

“Oh,” he said, thoughts of Holly vanishing at once from his mind. “Hey.”

“Hi,” said Will abashedly, a light dusting of pink across his cheeks. “I just wanted to say, I — I’m sorry about… that,” he said, “y’know, kissing you. I know it was just a stupid game, but—”

“It’s fine,” Mike said immediately. Will still looked uncertain. “No, I mean, seriously. It’s totally fine, I think — I think Eddie got you to do that because I—” Mike broke off suddenly, realising what he’d been about to say. He shut his mouth with a click.

“Because you…?” Will prompted softly.

“Because I… like you,” Mike admitted finally, looking away. “I know it’s so dumb, and we barely even know each other and you only know me ‘cause of Holly, but I just — I don’t know.” He looked back at Will and shrugged, helpless. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”

There was a spell of silence in which Will did nothing but stare at him, and Mike wondered momentarily whether he’d made a grave mistake, and this would be the end of their tentatively blossoming friendship, when—

“Really?” Will breathed, awed. “You mean… you mean you like like me?”

Mike bit his lip, blowing out a breath through his nose, and nodded. “I like like you.”

“Oh,” said Will, his expression one of polite surprise, before it relaxed into a radiant smile. “Oh — oh, wow. Okay.”

Mike was beginning to feel embarrassed. “But if you don’t — I mean, sorry, I just — I didn’t know whether you liked someone else, or—”

He was cut off from speaking for the second time that evening as Will kissed him again, but this time it was much softer, more tender. Mike melted into it slowly, letting his hands find their way to Will, looping one around his waist, the other settling on his jaw, tilting his head up and pulling him in deeper.

Will’s hand found Mike’s shoulder, the other resting on his chest, and Mike felt the gentle flex of his fingers as he seemed to be resisting the urge to tug Mike by his shirt. They pulled away, gasping.

“Oh,” said Mike blankly, “So you — so you—”

“I like like you, too,” Will confessed, his smile warm despite the freezing weather.

“You do?” Mike asked, and Will laughed.

“The kiss wasn’t enough?”

“Well,” Mike shrugged, “it could’ve been more obvious,” he said, and Will raised an eyebrow. “I think two is clearer than one, don’t you?”

“Three, you mean,” said Will, grinning, and then they were kissing again.

This time it only lasted ten seconds before Mike suddenly made a noise against his mouth and pulled away, unable to feel embarrassed as he remembered Holly sitting at home, probably still sad about Mike’s dismissal.

“Oh, no, my sister!” he said, which would’ve made no sense to Will, who stared up at him puzzledly.

“Your sister?” he asked, “Holly? What’s up with her?”

“I was so mean to her before we came here,” Mike said morosely, and Will frowned. “She was—” Mike blushed, but plowed on— “She was trying to help me with you. Y’know, asking you out. I think she really wanted you to go out with me.”

“Aww,” Will cooed softly.

“Yeah,” Mike said, as he couldn’t help but agree. “But she tried to — we did this quiz.” Will arched an eyebrow. Mike shook his head. “It was dumb, just some quiz she found in a magazine, but she made me spend ages answering questions and then — then she told me I’d need to show it to you to make it work. And obviously I didn’t wanna do that.”

Will nodded in understanding, “Right.”

“But it hurt her feelings,” Mike continued, “I didn’t exactly say it in the nicest way. I was a bit of a jerk.”

Mike conjured the crumpled magazine page from his pocket and handed it to Will, who frowned. He unfolded it and smoothed it out against his chest, then as his eyes travelled down the page, his lips twitched up into a fond smile, before suddenly—

“First time?” he yelped, and Mike flushed.

“She thought it meant first kiss!” he amended hurriedly at the sight of Will’s alarmed expression. “She didn’t — I couldn’t tell her, so I just said… we just said it was a first kiss question. Not… that.”

“Oh.” Will relaxed again, “Okay, good. Well, I think I have a good idea on how to make her feel better,” he said, and grinned.

──────────────────────────── ✮

When Mike got back home, he pushed the front door open silently so as not to alert his parents, stepped inside to check the coast was clear, and when it was, he turned around and motioned for Will to follow him in. They crept down the hallway and up the stairs, and when they reached the landing Mike gestured for Will to hold back and wait against the wall, then he knocked on Holly’s door.

“Holly?” he asked quietly, awaiting the sound of her soft voice. There was no response. He knocked again. “Holly, are you in there? It’s me — I’m really sorry for being mean to you earlier.”

There was a sniffle, then: “Go away.”

Mike’s heart shattered. He twisted the door handle and pushed the door open, finding Holly curled in a ball on her bed. He walked over to her at once and sat down.

“Holly, I’m really, really sorry,” he said forlornly, and he hoped she could feel how much he meant it, “I know you only wanted to help me, and I was being a selfish jerk. And I’m sorry I don’t spend more time with you, I promise I’ll make sure we can play more, like we used to.”

Holly blinked up at him with tearful eyes. “I didn’t know you wouldn’t want to show him,” she said quietly, and Mike was sure he'd never felt so terrible in all his life.

“I know, I should never have said that.” Mike shook his head. Then, he slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the page again. “But… if it makes you feel any better, I did show him, in the end.”

He unfurled it and passed it to her. At once, she sat up and grabbed it; her eyes roved curiously down the page, once, and then a second time as she realised Will had answered his section of questions too. She let out a quiet gasp.

“You’re ninety-percent compatible!” she said softly, “You only missed a bit because of the song!”

Mike grinned. “Guess your method does work, after all,” he said, and Holly gaped at him.

“Does that mean…?”

Mike nodded warmly. Holly let out a shriek of delight and threw herself at him, looping both arms around his neck. He hugged her back immediately, holding her close, then he grabbed her legs and hoisted her up so that he was carrying her properly. He stood up from the bed.

“Where are we going?” she asked, frowning.

Mike didn’t answer as he stepped into the centre of the room. He leaned down until she let go of him, and set her back gently on the floor. She looked puzzled for a moment until Mike straightened up and said, “You can come in now,” and she whipped around at once.

“WILL?!” she exclaimed, then she let out another cry of delight, raced across the room and leapt into his arms. He caught her easily, lifting her up just as Mike had.

“Hey,” he said, laughing a little as she squealed and hugged him tightly.

“Oh my god, you’re my new brother-in-law!” she cried, squeezing him, and Mike watched amusedly as Will blushed scarlet.

“Oh, uh, I don’t know whether—”

“And you and Mike can get married, and you can share his room and we can get a puppy and then maybe a few kittens and we can all play together every day forever and…”

Holly continued her string of nonsensical wishes into his ear, now talking to herself more than either Mike or Will, and Mike met Will’s gaze over her shoulder amusedly. He sidled over to him as Holly rambled on, oblivious.

“Regretting it yet?” he asked, and Will gave a bright laugh.

“Not yet,” he said, “I’d consider this a benefit.”

Mike knocked hips with him affectionately, “You’d better stick around when that changes.”

“Oh, trust me,” Will said, smirking, “Nothing you throw at me could be as crazy as my family.”