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Mike already knew this day wasn’t going to go well, even before he ruined everything again.
He knew that from the way the sky was too dark and how it was expected to rain later today, El was mad at him and he didn’t even feel that bad about it. He should care, he is- was her boyfriend after all and he loves her. He really does, but for some reason unknown to him he isn’t in love with her.
Mike looked at the Dungeons & Dragons board and yawned. It was sure going to be a bad day.
“Do you guys hear that? It sounds like… thunder. But, no, wait. It’s not thunder. It’s… a horde of juju zombies! Sir Mike, your action.” Will put the figurines of juju zombies on the table.
Will… Mike cares about him. A lot. Sometimes he feels like he cares about him more than he cares about Eleven. He feels like it’s childish though, spending time with his childhood best friend rather than with his own girlfriend, so he tries to create a distance between him and Will.
Mike rolls his eyes at Will’s words, “What should I do?”
“Attack?” Lucas shrugs his arms.
“Okay, I attack with my flail.” He rolls the dice across the board.
“Whoosh. You miss. Your flail clanks the stone, the zombie horde lumbers towards you, and…” Will throws his dice, “The juju bites your arm. Flesh tears! Ahh! Seven points of damage.”
Mike grabs his arm and starts talking sarcastically, “Oh, no, my arm. Lucas, look, my arm.”
Lucas snorts at his friend’s exaggeration and Mike giggles with him. Will’s face falls and Mike notices it.
He didn’t mean to make him sad, he only wanted to make Lucas laugh.
Will keeps on continuing the game though, “Sir Lucas, the zombie horde roars! Do you fight back or do you run?”
Lucas can barely keep his face straight at his friend’s absorption in the game, but then the phone rings. Everyone’s faces turn in the phone’s directions.
Will stands up, “No! It’s a distraction! A trap. Do not answer it!”
Both Mike and Lucas ignore their friend’s comment and stand up running up to the phone thinking it’s El. Meanwhile Will’s face falls seeing how much the girls’ are important to them.
Mike picks up, “El? No. Sorry, not interested.” He puts the phone back, disappointed, “Telemarketers.”
Lucas shrugs, “Maybe we should just call them.”
Mike scrunches up his face at the idea. “We can do that?”
“I think so.”
“Yeah, but what would we say?”
“We’ll say nothing! The Khuisar tribe still needs your help!” Will cuts in.
“All right, then. I’ll use my torch to set fire to the chambers, sacrificing ourselves, killing the jujus and saving the Khuisar.” Mike announces, “We all live on as heroes in the memories of the Kalamar.”
Lucas high fives him, “Victory.”
“Okay. Fine. You guys win” Will throws his hat off and turns off the radio, “Congratulations.”
Mike starts feeling bad about saying that, “Will, I was just messing around.” When Will ignores him and takes off his Will the Wise costume, he starts walking towards him, “Hey, let’s finish for real. How much longer is the campaign?”
“Just forget it, Mike.”
“No, you want to keep playing, right?” He says in the direction of Lucas.
“Yeah, totally.” His friend answers.
“We’ll just call the girls afterwards.”
“I said forget it, Mike, okay?” Will lashes out, “I’m going home.”
“Come on, Will.” Lucas gets pushed away from the stairs by Will.
“Move!” He starts climbing up the stairs.
Mike runs after him, he couldn’t believe he fucked up again. First with El, now with Will. He needs to fix this, fast. He can’t lose his best friend again.
“Will, come on. You can’t leave. It’s raining.” Mike runs outside his house, “Listen, I said I was sorry, all right? It’s a cool campaign. It’s really cool. We’re just not in the mood right now.”
“Yeah, Mike! That’s the problem. You guys are never in the mood anymore. You’re ruining our party.”
“That’s not true.” Mike argues back.
“Really? Where’s Dustin right now?” Mike looks away from Will ashamed, “See? You don’t know and you don’t even care. And obviously he doesn’t either and I don’t blame him! You’re destroying everything and for what? So you can swap spit with some stupid girl?”
Hearing his best friend's words Mike clenches his fists so hard he can feel his nails digging into his palms painfully, leaving half moon marks, “El’s not stupid. It’s not my fault you don’t like girls!”
The words leave his mouth before Mike can stop them, he can see the way Will’s face falls, and regrets them immediately.
Why the fuck did he say that? He didn’t mean to be an asshole just like Troy or Lonnie. Why does he keep ruining everything?
“I’m not trying to be a jerk. Okay?” He sees the way Will looks like he’s about to cry, “But we’re not kids anymore. I mean what did you think, really? That we were never gonna get girlfriends? That we were just gonna sit in my basement all day and play games for the rest of our lives?”
“Yeah. I guess I did. I really did.” Will grabs his bike and starts pedaling away.
“Will. Will! Will, come on!” Mike screams after him, but it does nothing to stop the other boy.
He stares at the way Will left and just stands in one place for some time, feeling the wind caressing his face. Mike starts feeling deep regret, he didn’t mean to lash out and say that. What if Will vanishes again on the ride back home and Mike loses him again?
Why didn't he apologize to Will? Instead he made some stupid excuse, if he loses his best friend now it's gonna be all his fault. He needs to fix it.
Mike runs back into the house shouting for Lucas. “We need to go.”
“What? Why?” He questions.
“I said something stupid, we need to go find Will.”
“What? What did you do, Mike?”
“It doesn’t matter, we just need to find him!”
“Okay, we will, just calm down for a second. We have to grab raincoats and bikes and then we can go.
If someone asked Mike what he remembered from the drive to Will’s house, he would answer how long getting there felt, but the truth would be how he felt the guilt eat him from inside out, feeling helpless that if anything happened to Will now, it would be all his fault.
He acted just like all those mouth breathers who insulted Will all his childhood. And why? Because he got mad that Will noticed how much time he spends with El? That's not an excuse.
When both boys finally arrived under Will's house they were both soaked to the bone and Mike finally released a breath he didn't know how long he was holding. He hoped everything was alright.
They both ran up to the door and Mike started banging on it, “Will. Will, I'm sorry, man, alright? I was being a total asshole! Please, can you just come outside so we can talk?” He knocked again, “Will!”
When Mike and Lucas realized that no one was inside the house, they decided to go to Castle Byers. When they arrived there the sight that met them was Will sitting in front of a destroyed fort in the woods.
“Will! What happened?”
Will snapped his head at the boys at the question, while sitting on the wet ground holding the nape of his neck in one hand and holding a torn apart picture back from Halloween of 1984 in the other. Mike noticed it and the guilt swallowed him even more.
“He's back.”
“Come on, man. Let's get you changed, it's freezing out there and you're only in a t-shirt and shorts. We can figure out everything later.” Mike says worryingly.
When the group walked into Byers’ house, Will immediately walked to his room to get them all fresh, dry clothes. Mike decided to make some hot tea for his best friend, so he won't get sick. Meanwhile Lucas sat down on the kitchen table.
“So, what did you do, Mike?” Lucas asked quietly so the boy from the other room couldn't hear.
“I fucked up. I told him the sort of thing that Troy and Lonnie used to say to him all the time and I didn't even mean it. And now the Upside Down is back too.” Mike said in a voice that showed his regret.
Lucas’ eyes flashed in realization at what Mike exactly said to Will. Then his expression softened in sympathy.
“Hey, it's alright, man. I can tell you didn't mean to say it. You just need to apologize to him and show that you really didn't mean what you said and he should forgive you.” Lucas says helpfully.
“You really think so?”
“Yeah, maybe wait until tomorrow though, so he has time to cool down. And later we can discuss the other dimension coming back.”
“Okay, thanks Lucas. I don't know what I would do without you.”
“If not for me you would propably still be crying over Will, so you're welcome.” Lucas adds knowingly.
Mike doesn't know how to respond to that, yet he doesn't have to since Will walks into the room right at that moment.
“I brought you guys pajamas, since it's already late, you guys should stay over tonight. We can deal with the Upside Down right after we wake up.
The boys decided to all sleep in Will's bedroom just in case, Will was gonna sleep on the bed and Lucas and Mike on the floor covered by thick blankets. It wasn't really comfortable, but it was manageable.
Mike still couldn't sleep though. He kept thinking about what he said in that rain and how stupid it was. How could he do that to Will. After his entire childhood? He felt horrible about himself, so he decided to get up and go grab some water from the kitchen.
While walking Mike accidentally bumped into the corner of Will's desk, he stayed still and started listening, hoping he didn't wake up anyone. Lucas was still snoring loudly and Will just stirred, but was still asleep.
Good, after today he didn't want to wake up Will, he hoped he'd sleep well and wouldn't have any nightmares.
Mike continued tip-toeing to the kitchen.
While pouring himself water into the glass, he got startled.
“Hey, what are you doing?” It was Will, and his heart sank.
“Hey, I didn't wake you up, did I?” Mike worried.
“No, don't worry I couldn't sleep anyway, after what happened today.”
“I'm seriously so sorry about today, I don't know what got into me, you're my best friend and I would never tell you that bullshit that Lonnie and other mouthbreathers did. I just miss El, you know? It feels like we're growing apart more and more and I can't do anything with it. I'm a horrible boyfriend, I should do better, but I just lashed out at you both in the process.” At these words Mike sunk his fingernails into the palm, pain helping him calm down.
“No, Mike I'm the one who should be sorry… I saw that you and Lucas didn't want to play that stupid game anymore but I still insisted, I should have known better.” He took his hand in his own so Mike would stop hurting himself.
“No! Will you have nothing to be sorry about! I failed you! I lashed out and told a lie that everyone has been saying to you since you've been a god damn child!”
At these words Will looked down in fear and contemplation. “Did you ever think… That they weren't lies?”
“What? What do you-” Mike stopped mid sentence.
Oh.
Oh.
“Wait so you're actually… Oh God Will, I'm even more sorry then, what the fuck. I never meant to say that. I don't know what- why I even… What the fuck was I even thinking saying that. I'm so fucking sorry.” Mike looked near tears now.
“No, it's not your fault, you were right. It's your fault I don't like girls.” He answered fearfully.
Right this moment Mike got hit by a realization. All these times Will has looked at him, like one would look at the sun after it's been raining for a few days, with joy and adoration. It wasn't how someone looks at their friend. Will liked him. And Mike enjoyed it. But he wasn't like that… Was he? He had a girlfriend! He loved her! Or did he? Mike's head was a mess. What does he even do now? He felt disgusted with himself, at the bullshit he spewed out without thinking, all the lies and the hurtful words he told his girlfriend and best friend. He didn't deserve them. And now he was stealing Will's moment by having a breakdown.
“I'm so fucking sorry, Will. I don't know what to say.” His eyes were tearing up fast. “I screwed up completely, didn't I? With you and El. I'm so sorry.”
“What do you mean?” Will looked surprised at his words, he expected Mike to tell him he didn't want to be his friend anymore and to get lost… His reaction right now definitely wasn't what he expected.
“I've been lying to her. To you. To everyone we know. Instead of talking about it, I lashed out. Every damn time. The truth is… I don't love El, I don't think I ever did. I'm realizing I might…” He swallowed hard, unable to force the truth out.
This definitely surprised Will. That was completely not what he was expecting. After all restless nights where he thought his best friend would be disgusted with him, a thought that maybe he was the same as him never crossed his mind.
“What do you mean, Mike?” Will looked hopeful, but also slightly scared that Mike was just making fun of him.
“I don't like girls… I think all this time I was running after El looking for answers, why I felt… Different… I didn't know it was right in front of me. I-I think… I might like you. The day when you got lost in the woods was the worst day of my life. I thought it was a normal reaction considering my best friend just went missing, but looking back at how Lucas and Dusting were acting, I don't think it was a normal reaction. I felt like I died when you got lost. I didn't even look for El the way I looked for you when she went missing after finding you. I think it was always you that made me react like that.”
Mike looked right into Will's eyes, the second the words left his mouth. His eyes were beautiful, they looked like a dense, sunlit forest floor, they were brown with specks of green and shined in a way they shouldn't in the dark. His eyes were full of emotion sparkling with unshed tears.
“Do you really mean it?” Will asked.
“I think I never meant anything more than this in my entire life. I'm so sorry for acting like an asshole, Will.”
Mike's eyes left Will's and went right under his nose. During that moment they didn't realize how close they got next to each other, Will’s hand was still holding Mike’s. They looked at each other's lips, their eyes asking for permission. Will nodded the second Mike closed the distance.
Will’s lips felt like nothing Mike could ever imagine. It felt like going home after a long day. Like the sun peaking out at the horizon after a long, restless night. Kissing El felt like a chore, something a boyfriend should do, but with Will it felt like heaven. They parted after a minute. Both eyes glistened with tears.
“I can't imagine this just happened, it's better than anything I've ever imagined.” Said Will, his voice choked.
“Me neither… What do we do now?” Mike asked with awe in his voice.
“I think for now we should go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us. It's going to be hard with the Upside Down back. We should talk more about this after all of this is over, okay?” Will suggested.
“Okay, I'm still seriously so sorry, Will.”
“I know you are. I think you should also apologize to Eleven too, Mike.”
“I will. First thing in the morning.”
They went back to Will's room, both with hope in their eyes, after a long time of it being gone. Mike thinks that maybe this day wasn’t so bad after all. The glass of water was left forgotten by both of the boys.