Chapter Text
June 19th, 1989 - Will
The breeze of summer was in the air that morning, with a pink and orange sunrise draped in the background. Will always enjoyed the glimmer of early mornings like these, where everything is still and pure from the night before.
Clearly, Mike didn’t love it as much as he did, since he was draped across the front lawn, asleep. God, he’s never awake. He knew Mike better than he’s ever known him, after living with him for almost two years across his sophomore and junior year of high school after the Byers house got destroyed in a huge storm. Will and Jonathan, his brother, moved in with the Wheelers, while his mom, stepfather, and step sister moved into a tiny cabin. They’ve always been friends, but living with someone has to really change your perspective on someone.
But after Will moved in, their connection just felt like it was stretching out farther and farther, and it was too close to snapping for Will’s liking. They talked more than before, sure, but Mike was distant, more distant than normal (and not just because Will’s step sister, El, broke up with him).
He acted like Will was just a school friend, and not his best friend of over a decade. Each conversation just faded to the next, and they never talked deeply about anything anymore. Just about cool campaign ideas and yesterday’s almost impossible chemistry homework.
As he glimpses over to Mike again, he could feel his heart start thumping faster and faster in his chest. It’s happened for years, though, and he’s used to the thrill. But sometimes he still imagines that one day they could…
THUMP!
Will’s friend, Max, came up and aggressively dropped his hugely packed duffel bag down onto the pavement, next to him.
“Dude, how much stuff do you have in here?” She exclaimed, staring down the bag.
Will shrugged. “Probably not enough.”
“You’re insane,” Max replied. “Go put it in the car.”
For a final hurrah of the party’s high school years, they decided to take Dustin’s new car up to Northern New York, to the Adirondacks, where they all saved up to rent out a crappy house on the lake for a summer from Jonathan’s college friend, who decided to stay in NYU that summer. It was going to be fun, he could tell, almost perfect even.
Only if he resolved this weird period with Mike would it be perfect.
Max aggressively honked the horn of Dustin’s car, and called out, “I’m driving first, losers!” All the boys scrambled to get in the car, grabbing a backpack or comics laying on the ground. Besides Mike, who trudged to the car as slow as probably humanly possible. By the time he was there, everyone had a seat. Max in the driver's seat, Lucas at shotgun, El and Dustin in the second row, and Will in the back, surrounded by stuff, leaving room for just one other person.
“Get the hell in, Wheeler,” Max rolled her eyes. Mike opened the door and stared at the layout for a second, before climbing to the back.
“Why do I have to sit in the freaking back? I hate the back! I get carsick!”
“Always have a reason to complain, don’t you, Mike,” Lucas poked back, turning to see them in the back. This earned a punch to Lucas’s arm from Mike himself.
They continued to squabble, until Dustin finally aggressively told them to shut up, leading to Will suggesting for some music to break up the insanity. Everyone agreed, but with the weird music tastes of each and every one of them, no one could agree on a station or mixtape, until Max just turned on the Squawk, their friend’s old radio station. The reassuring drumming of the upbeat song, The Magnificent Seven by The Clash, drilled out of the sound system.
Conversation started again, with the party going on and on about random topics. Will added in a bit but stayed a bit off to the side, not trying to wear out his introverted self. He loves his friends but they’re all much more talkative and energetic than him.
He was about to add something about their principal's reaction to the fiasco, when he felt Mike’s knee against his, just slightly. Will didn’t think Mike was noticing, he was turned towards Dustin.
And then Mike placed his hand down, in between the space on the seat in between the two. Will could feel his fingers lightly gracing Will’s leg, just by accident, of course. But it made his head spin and his world go crazy, even if it’s not on purpose. Everything Mike does makes Will feel high.
Shit. Shit shit shit!!!
Does he like Mike again? He thought he was over this crush. Though he thought that after El and Mike officially got together, and after Mike went to California, and after Will’s coming out (to his mom, brother, and sister) and Robin’s motivational speech to stop liking him.
Maybe he should just replay what she said, right?
He’s just my Tammy Tompson.
(except he’s not, will has known him forever, and everything in his life revolves around mike. he needs mike, he’s a drug)
Why is love so complicated? Will thought it’d be easier after he finally accepted himself for being gay, but it seems like the universe just doesn’t want to let the stars align and for Will to get over this stupid, stupid, stupid crush over Mike and find another boy. Maybe he’ll find someone in the Adirondacks, right?
The day faded to night quicker than he would’ve expected. They switched around who’s driving between Max, Lucas, El, and Dustin. Will didn’t learn to drive yet - he was too focused on his schoolwork and art to have time to learn. And Mike conveniently left his licenses at home. Thank god, though. The entire party agrees that he’s a horrendous driver.
This meant Will had to spend 13 hours too close to his liking to Mike’s leg.
By the time they arrived, it was 8:18 p.m., and the sky was painted with a pastel sunset sky. Everyone jumped up and slammed the car doors, eager to finally get out of the car.
They entered the house, throwing all their belongings in a pile next to the stairs, and started to look around at all of the rooms.
“Okay, there’s three bedrooms, two for two people and one with one bed, and a fold-out couch” Dustin said, then importantly added, “I call the one to myself! It’s my car that we drove in!”
“I want the couch!” El enthusiastically shouted. “I’ve never seen a fold-out, that’s cool!”
“Well, me and Max are gonna share, obviously,” Lucas grinned, wrapping a hand around his girlfriend’s waist, which led to Dustin pretending to throw up and Max to roll her eyes.
“That leaves you two,” Dustin added, gesturing to Mike and Will, who turned to look at each other. Then quickly turned away when they made eye contact.
Will just nodded to show he’s okay with it (while internally panicking), and he could see Mike in his peripheral vision just standing there, like he didn’t care. Which he probably didn’t. Will couldn’t tell if it’s better that Mike’s quiet, or if it’d be better if he said something stupid.
Everyone headed to their rooms - or in El’s case, couch. Will headed to the room before Mike, to see bunk beds, just like Mike's room when they were really young. Dropping his duffel on the bottom bunk, he went over to the cabin windows to pull the curtains open to see the fragments of sunset left, with the twilight violet falling down fast and stars beginning to drop down as a backdrop for the night.
A few seconds of just staring out the window passed till Mike walked in, rolling his huge suitcase and observing the room. This was something Mike’s always done, gaze around the room to understand where he’s going into.
“Hey. I thought you’d want top bunk, so…” Will trailed off, gesturing to the bed.
Mike nodded. “Thanks.” He threw his backpack up there, probably filled with comics and a notebook, knowing Mike. “Everyone’s talking about a few people running to get something from the grocery store in town. Do you want anything?”
“Uh, I dunno. Who’s going?”
“Dustin and Lucas.”
“God, we should NOT trust them to get food.”
Mike laughed his adorable, stupid laugh. “Yeah, you’re right. We can go tomorrow if they forget anything, though. It’s fine.”
We? Like just me and him? Or with Max and El too? Or with everyone?
“Yeah, sounds great!” Will agreed, giving what he hoped to look like a reassuring smile. Though looking back, he sounds too upbeat. Maybe he should try and stay more chill and cool, right? That’s what Mike’s like at least, so… ugh. He tried to move away from awkward silence, so he added, “Wanna go back to everyone else? I think we’re gonna watch something downstairs - I think El was talking about forcing us to watch a freaking rom-com and we don’t get a say.”
“That sounds like her.”
“Can’t believe you, of all people used to date someone so upbeat.”
He smirked. “So you’re saying I’m boring?”
“Kinda, yeah.”
“Well, I’m gonna go down and sit through a full rom-com and enjoy it. Is that boring to you?”
“Extremly.”
For some reason, this seemed incredibly funny to Mike, as he was still laughing by the time they headed downstairs to the living room, where El was setting up a full sleeping arrangement on the ground, filled with snacks and pillows everywhere. The TV was playing something probably on MTV, judging by the music, but Will wasn’t paying attention. He was paying attention to how Mike’s hand accidentally brushed against his.
Oh my god, not again he thought as his heart started to race with adrenaline and admiration. Just ignore these feelings for the rest of the night, and you’ll be okay. It’ll all pass.
Max walked in, carrying a huge bowl of popcorn with M&Ms in them and set it down next to the couch on the floor. “The boys are back from their grocery store run, by the way. And they only bought candy.”
This was clearly obvious, when loud shouts filled the almost silent air, slightly startling Will. He snapped back into reality, pushing any of these thoughts about Mike to where they belonged, the back of his mind, far, far away. Just realizing he was hungry, he jumped up and headed to the kitchen, where on the island countertop, there was a magnificent spread of assorted candies.
“Here, Will, we got you your favorite,” Lucas said, throwing Will a bag of Reese's Pieces, the childhood candy he has always loved.
“Oh, thanks!” replied Will, softly smiling at the kind gesture. He loves when people remember little things in relationships, platonic and romantic. Small acts, in his opinion, are the nicest thing friends can do for one another.
Mike was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame, a bit too dramatically for Will. “Did you guys at least get anything for me or did you favor Will again?”
Dustin threw him a Milky Way bar. “Don’t complain, dude. Of course we got you something. Where’s El? I need to give her the Sour Patch Kids she asked for.”
Perfect timing, his sister El walked in, making the room feel bubblier and brighter, although she was wearing a slight pout. “Were there no Eggos?”
“Nah, the selection wasn’t great, so we got candy for everyone instead. Sorry, El.” She shrugged. Will has lived with his step sister for many years, and knew she trained herself to not get upset, almost whatsoever. Her first year was pretty hard on her, getting bullied quite a bit in her first year, forcing her to adapt to the horrible structure high school formed.
After her freshman year, she started to learn more independence, breaking up with Mike, learning to drive, and joining clubs. Soon, she managed to learn how to surround herself with much better people than who she used to be around. Everything clicked for her then.
Even though Will is obviously happy for her, a part of him feels a bit heartbroken that he is never accepted the way that El is. Hell, Will can barely accept himself that he’s gay. That label still feels weird to him, like he’s being smushed into a category, and now people get to judge him just because he thinks men are fitter. What is this world that we live in?
Everyone begins to migrate back to the living room, and Max starts flipping through channels on the TV. “We should pick up some VHS tapes tomorrow. I cannot survive a full summer without them,” Max announced, after she settled on some cooking show (the best she could probably find on a Wednesday night.
“You do realize people used to spend their whole lives without them for like, millions of years?” Lucas replied, who then got hit in the head by his girlfriend.
Will settled in, leaning back a bit, until he realized that Mike freaking Wheeler was sitting next to him. How didn’t he notice this yet? God, Will feels like he’s going insane today. Come on, Will. Just relax. But now his leg was bouncing, his jaw was clenched, and everything felt wrong.
After about half an hour of this torturous time, Will finally allowed himself to get up. “I think I’m gonna go to sleep. I’ve been up for way too long at this point. G’night everyone.”
Everyone replied a random jumble of goodnights, and Will made his way back up to his room. He brushed his teeth, got dressed into pajamas, and was almost ready to sleep when he heard the door click open.
“Oh, uh, hey,” Mike said, giving Will an awkward smile. “I was just gonna go to sleep now, too.” He reached for his bag, to grab his pajamas and toothbrush, and hurried away from the room.
Will slumped into his bed, letting the covers and mattress absorb him. He couldn’t even put into words how tired he was, but it was almost unbearable to force his eyes to stay open. But as soon as he thought of Mike, and the day’s interactions, he jolted up, awake as ever. How is he going to survive having a crush on Mike again? He just got over him… or so he thought. Guess this crush was trying to move into his head.
And then Mike walked in again.
“Oh, uh, hey. Sorry, were you asleep?” He questioned Will.
“Ah, no, not yet. I was just laying here, you know. But I’m probably gonna sleep now, though, if you don’t mind? Can I turn the lamp off?”
Mike nodded. “Yeah, yeah of course. I’m going to sleep now too. G’night. Don’t snore.” He climbed up the ladder to the top bunk as Will turned off the lamp and went to his bottom bunk. They laid there in silence for quite a bit. Eventually, Will could hear Mike’s breath steadying and slowly started to drift away into the abyss of sleep.
Or he tried.
Will has always had a hard time sleeping since he was little. When he was eight, he was diagnosed with insomnia. Part of why he couldn’t sleep tonight was that of course. But his mind was still racing until hours far into the night. He tossed and turned like a maniac, flipping over for the cool side of the pillow, and everything he could try. But Will could just not sleep.
Slowly, the thoughts slowed down to a more mellow pace, and out of the exhaustion of trying to sleep, he ended up actually falling asleep for a few hours until the next day.