Work Text:
Wur—wur—wur.
Will turns the key again, inwardly praying that this time it will start, but the engine once again grinds before slowly puttering to a stop. He slumps back in the driver’s seat, a frustrated sigh escaping him.
Shit. He knew he shouldn’t have relied on Jonathan’s old beat-up Reliant. The irony of the name doesn’t amuse Will, not when he checks his watch and realizes he only has ten more minutes until he will be officially late.
Pulling out the key, he slams the car door closed before jogging up the steps to the house. Spends another minute pulling his bedroom apart until he spots shiny black plastic half-hidden under a pile of dirty laundry. He grabs the walkie, tuning it to the right frequency.
“Lucas? Are you there?” A beat passes, and then he adds, “Over.”
A few silent seconds go by, long enough that Will starts mentally making a list of anyone else he knows that has a car that would give him a ride with no prior notice—which is zero. How much does a taxi cost? He wonders if there’s still an emergency twenty dollar bill hidden inside the old china vase in the living room when the walkie stutters to life. Lucas’s voice comes through static-y and, well, as if he’s half-asleep.
“Dude. This is way too early for a Saturday.”
“Lucas! Sorry, but I really need your help. Can you drive me to the hospital?”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I just need to pick up Mike.”
There’s a pause, and then Lucas’s voice comes through louder, more awake. “Mike’s in the hospital?”
“He’s fine, he’s just had his wisdom teeth removed. I’m supposed to be picking him up but Jonathan’s car won’t start. Can you come?”
There’s another beat of silence, until Lucas eventually says, “Right now?”
“Yeah, he’s being let out at 9.30.”
“Alright. Yeah, don’t worry. Gimme five.”
“Thank you,” Will says, before he drops the walkie onto his bed and heads back outside to wait.
The road at the end of the driveway is quiet, as it usually is on a Sunday morning. The low wall underneath him is old and crumbling but he sits on it anyway, adjusting the weight of the backpack on his shoulders.
He checks his watch. The minute hand hasn’t moved since the last time he looked and he lets out a low sigh, resting his hands against the rough brickwork.
Okay. He needs to think of a plan.
It shouldn’t take long to get Mike out of the hospital and back to the Wheeler’s house, right? How many opportunities would that give Mike to say something stupid while high on drugs? Will thinks about it for a moment then sighs again: this is Mike he’s talking about.
Maybe Will could make up an excuse to stop Lucas from coming into the hospital. Don’t worry about coming in with me, you can wait in the car. He can picture Lucas frowning and saying, Why?
And for the life of him, he can’t think of a good excuse.
Because… because you drove all the way here, just relax while I go get him.
Because the hospital only allows one person inside when collecting someone.
Maybe that one would work. It’s better than the truth of Mike’s gonna be out of his mind on painkillers and he’s worried that he’s going to blab.
But then there’s no more time to contemplate because Lucas’s car is coming around the corner, a burgundy Toyota Corolla that looks far more looked after than Jonathan’s car. As he gets closer and slowly pulls to a stop, Will’s heart falls into his stomach because Lucas isn’t alone.
“Why is Max here?” Will blurts out as he opens the backdoor, crouching slightly to look inside.
“Hello to you, too,” Max says with a scoff, her mouth drawing in a frown.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean—um, I was just surprised,” Will says as he slips in the backseat, dragging his bag in next to him.
“Max was already over at mine,” Lucas says, turning to look at him. “Uh, is that a problem?”
“No,” Will says quickly as he buckles himself in.
Shit. This is definitely a problem. Max is going to ask Mike stupid questions and Mike’s going to answer the stupid questions with stupid answers, he just knows it. “Thanks for coming.”
Lucas nods, then his gaze flits to Will’s backpack. “What’s in that thing? Why does it look so heavy?”
“Oh. Um, it’s snacks and stuff. For Mike. Like… soft food, soup. Painkillers.” Lucas is still staring at him, so he continues. “He won’t be able to eat hard foods for a few days.”
Lucas huffs out a laugh as he turns back to the front window, checking the road is clear before pulling off. “You know he has a mom already, right?”
Will rolls his eyes as the car rumbles onto the main road. For a few minutes the only sound is the radio playing softly, a song that sounds familiar but Will doesn't know the name of, and the soft tap of Lucas’s fingers on the steering wheel. A wall of tall trees speed past the window making a brown and green blur. Normally Will would make a fuss and ask Lucas to slow down, but today he’s glad they’re going quickly. He checks his watch again and then, as he looks up, he notices Max watching him from over her shoulder.
“Why are you picking him up, anyway?” She asks.
“His dad’s at work and his mom’s out with Holly, so I said I’d do it,” he replies with what he hopes is a casual-looking shrug. It’s not the only reason that Will was supposed to pick him up, but Lucas and Max don’t need to know that.
“Weird that he never mentioned it, though,” she says thoughtfully. “How has he not complained to us for weeks that he’s got to have them out? Mike whines about everything.”
And again, there’s a perfectly valid reason for this, but Will can’t say anything. So again, he shrugs. “He’s not that bad.”
“You’re joking,” Max says, turning her body further into the seat to look at Will properly. “Mike Wheeler is the whiniest person I’ve ever met. Are you literally forgetting when he got that splinter the other week at the lake?”
And Will does remember, because he’s the one who sat him down and spent fifteen minutes gently pushing it out with one of El’s bobby pins. “Splinters are painful,” he mutters, looking back out of the window.
Max just rolls her eyes and turns back around. “You baby him.”
“What? No I don’t.”
“You’re literally sitting next to a bag full of things to play nurse with him,” Max says, gesturing vaguely at the backseat.
There’s a snort from the driver’s seat as Will splutters out, “Play nurse—”
“You agree with me, right?” Max says, raising her eyebrows at Lucas as if daring him to say otherwise.
He holds a hand up in defence. “Hey, I’m not taking sides. I’m just the driver.”
They continue to bicker as they pull into the hospital parking lot, and Will’s fingers are already inching to the doorhandle. As soon as the car comes to a stop, Will pushes the door open and slips out. “You guys can just stay here, I’ll bring him out.”
Lucas follows him out of the car, a look of bemusement on his face. “What? Why?”
“Because… they only allow one person in to pick someone up?” Will curses himself for how it comes out sounding like a question and realizes then and there that his plan has failed.
“That’s not true,” Lucas says, and then he’s slamming the car door shut, and then Max is following suit.
“I think they said it when he first went in—”
“Nah, you might need our help,” Lucas says dismissively, striding towards the entrance. “I heard people can be really loopy when they’ve had teeth removed.”
“Oh, me too,” Max says. “Like they start rambling about random shit.”
And to think that Mike had begged Will to pick him up because he’d been worried about blurting out the truth to his parents. He’s not entirely sure how Mike will react when he sees Lucas and Max rock up at the hospital—maybe he will be too high to care. Maybe Mike’s worries will have all been for nothing and he won’t say anything about them at all. Maybe he will just blabber on about DnD or school or The Smiths.
But, Mike trusted him, so—
Will jogs a little to get ahead of them and holds out his hands, gesturing for them to stop.
“Max, please please promise me you won’t ask him anything embarrassing.”
Max grins slowly and Will swears there’s an actual glint in her eye. She pushes past him, striding up towards the entrance. “Why oh why would I want to embarrass Mike Wheeler?”
Will groans. Mike’s gonna have to believe that he tried his best.
The reception is surprisingly empty when they walk in, all sterile-white walls and harsh strip lights. There’s a woman and a toddler sitting in the far corner but she doesn’t look up as they enter, too busy attempting to wrangle her child from destroying the pile of magazines in the corner.
Will walks up to the counter first, praying that this will be quick and painless. He just needs to grab Mike, get him in the car, and get him to the Wheeler’s house. No dawdling, no unnecessary chatting. Just in and out. Easy.
A head pops around the back door as they approach, a blonde woman with a kind smile. “Hey! How can I help you?”
“We’re here to pick up Michael Wheeler?” Will says, leaning slightly against the counter. “He’s had his wisdom teeth taken out.”
“Ah, yes,” the nurse says as she flicks through a box of clipboards sitting on the desk. She hums to herself before pulling one out, gaze skimming over whatever is written on the paper. “I’ve just seen to him, actually. He’s all ready to go. Which one of you is going to sign him out?”
“Me,” Will says.
The nurse nods, picking up a pen. “Can I take your name, please?”
“Will Byers.”
A small smile pulls at the corner of her lips as she writes. “Ah, you must be the boyfriend.”
Will stares at her, frozen. Maybe he misheard her. Maybe she said boy friend, as in, a boy who is a friend. Maybe—“What?”
“He hasn’t stopped talking about you. I think all the nurses on the ward know your name by now,” she says, smile turning into a grin as she looks up from the clipboard. “He’s a chatty one, isn’t he?”
He can hear Max whispering oh my god behind him, but he can’t bear to turn around and look. His face starts to burn. “No no, we’re just friends.”
“Oh,” the nurse says, looking between Will and the clipboard. “Uh, sorry about the mix up. If you can just fill out the rest of this and sign at the bottom.” She hastily scribbles something out before handing it out to him, her smile turning awkward.
Will looks over the form.
Name: Will Byers
Relationship to patient: Partner
He sighs as he fills in his information, writing friend next to the nurse’s scribbled out writing, and hands back the clipboard. Lucas and Max are suspiciously quiet beside him and Will can only imagine the teasing that will take place once the nurse has gone. Out of all the things he thought could go wrong today, he didn’t think that the nurse outing them would be one of them.
This means Mike’s not been subtle at all.
Maybe he’s gotten it all out of his system already. Maybe it’ll be fine.
“If you’ll follow me,” she says, gesturing down the corridor. “Is someone staying with him overnight?”
“Yes, me,” Will says, trying to tame the heat in his face as they head down the corridor.
“Okay, he’s just in there,” she says, indicating a non-descript door to the left. Lucas and Max head inside and Will goes to follow, but the nurse puts a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“I’ve put a pamphlet in his bag with instructions, but the basics to remember are: liquids and soft foods only, no smoking, no drinking from a straw. After the first 24 hours he can gently rinse his mouth with warm salt water.”
Will nods as she speaks, trying to discreetly look over her shoulder to see what’s going on in the room beyond. He hears what is unmistakably Mike’s voice, albeit heavily slurred, saying, “You’re not Will.”
“Wow, great way to greet your friend who is driving your sorry ass home,” Lucas deadpans from the doorway.
The nurse moves to catch Will’s attention again. “—Might be a little out of it for a while, make sure he rests, okay? Painkillers are fine—”
“Max?” An annoyed groan comes from the room. “Why—Where’s Will?”
Max catches Will's eye through the doorway as she replies to Mike, a smirk already on her face. “He said you were too annoying so he wasn’t coming.”
“WHAT?”
“Yeah that’s great, thank you,” Will says quickly, with a rushed smile before he slips past the nurse and into the room behind.
Mike is sitting on the bed, legs dangling over the side. Objectively, Will knows he looks a little out of sorts. His hair is a little messy, eyes a little drowsy. His mouth is open slightly where cotton swabs rest between his back teeth. There’s a bit of drool threatening to dribble down his chin.
Will knows he’s got it bad when he sighs and still thinks he looks handsome.
Pulling a tissue from a box on the side, he dabs it on Mike’s lip, stopping the drool in its tracks as brown eyes watch him carefully. His fingers itch to neaten his hair, to rub his arm soothingly, to touch, but his hands stay stiffly by his sides.
“Baby-ing him,” he hears Max whisper to Lucas. He ignores it.
“Oh,” Mike says, eyes blinking slowly. “You did come.” The swabs in his mouth make his speech muffled and Will feels a pang of sympathy for him.
“Of course I did,” Will says quietly, acutely aware of Lucas and Max standing watching them. “The car wouldn’t start, so Lucas is giving us a ride.”
Mike makes a sort of unimpressed humph.
“You ready to go home?” Will says, picking up Mike’s bag that sits next to him on the bed.
“Are you coming with us?” Mike says, brows furrowing.
“Yeah, of course. I’m going with you to your house.”
“Oh, okay. Then yeah, I’m ready.” He stands up and sways a little, unsteady on his feet and Will grabs his shoulder, glad at the excuse to touch him.
“I’ll take this, you focus on making sure he stays upright,” Max mutters, pulling Mike’s bag from his grip and tucking it over her shoulder.
“How you feeling?” Lucas asks as he moves to stand the other side of Mike, as if he might keel over at any moment.
“I'm feeling great!” Mike shouts suddenly, waving an arm in the air as if to get someone's attention. “Really great! Where are we?”
“We're at the hospital but we're taking you home, remember?” Will says, tugging his arm back down.
“The hospital?” Mike says, sounding distraught as he turns to Will. “Why are we—?”
“Why did you tell all the nurses that Will is your boyfriend?”
“Max! I told you—”
“Wha—?” Mike slurs, leaning a little into him. “Did I say that?”
“Ignore her. Come on,” Will says, gripping Mike’s arm tighter and moving towards the doorway.
Max slips out into the corridor before them, walking slightly ahead so that she can turn to smirk at Mike. “You did say that. The nurse told us you have been very chatty about Will.”
Mike looks a little sad. He raises his hand and seemingly tries to rest it on Will’s face, but misses and hits his shoulder instead. “So you’re not my boyfriend?”
Will wants the ground to swallow him up. He can’t imagine what expression is on his face right now, but he tries to close it off regardless. “Okay, we’re going. And stop asking him stupid questions,” Will says, pulling Mike down the corridor, ignoring Lucas's grin.
“It’s not stupid. It’s not a stupid question,” Mike slurs. “I think it's a good question.” He's quiet for a moment, brows furrowed, then—“What was the question?”
“Mike, stop talking. You’re going to jostle your swabs.”
“Okay,” Mike says. “Okay. I’ll stop talking. But only because you asked me too.”
Will sighs. “You’re still talking.”
“Am I? Shit, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to. Am I still talking now?”
“This is hilarious,” Max mutters beside them.
As they approach the reception desk, the same nurse from earlier looks up and gives them a smile. Her gaze flits between Mike and then to Will’s arm supporting him.
Will sighs internally. Yeah, she definitely doesn't believe him.
“Bye, Mike. Get home safe,” she says, giving him a little wave.
Mike slowly waves back with a frown as Will drags him towards the exit. “Do I know that woman?”
“Don’t worry about it,” Will says.
Though it's still early, the sun is bright and Will has to squint as they make their way over to the parking lot. They're almost at the car when Mike suddenly stops.
“Are we going to the arcade?”
Lucas tries to pull him towards the car but Mike's feet are firmly planted.
“No, we’re taking you home,” Max says, adjusting Mike’s bag on her shoulder.
“But you said…” he turns to Will. “We’d go to the arcade after I got my teeth out. You promised. Said you’d take me on a—”
“Later!” Will says loudly. “We can go when you’re better, you’re not well enough yet. Come on.”
It takes a minute but they manage to convince him to get into the backseat and Will leans over him, buckling his seatbelt. Mike stares at him the whole time.
“Are you okay?” Will says after a moment, slightly unnerved.
“Yeah. Are you going to sit next to me?”
“Yeah, Mike,” Will huffs, and even though this has gone disastrously wrong already, he still can’t help but feel a little warm inside at the way Mike's looking at him.
“Right, I’m dropping you both off at Mike’s then?” Lucas says as he starts the car.
“Yeah, thanks,” Will says, doing his own buckle. Mike is still staring at him and Will tries to ignore it, tries not to notice. But then a hand is sneaking across the back seat and rests on top of his.
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“This is better than I could have ever imagined,” Max mutters from the front. “I wish I had a way to film this.”
Will looks at Mike, at his dishevelled appearance, and sighs. It’s okay, Mike probably won’t remember any of this later, so for the sake of the others he’s just going to have to lie. “No, I—I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Oh.” Mike shuffles a bit in his seat. “Oh.” Then he tips his head back into the head rest and starts to silently cry.
“Oh my god, why are you crying, stop,” Will says, leaning over to grab his shoulder.
“I’m not crying,” he sniffs as tears roll down his face.
“What’s wrong with him?” Lucas asks, trying to eye him in the rearview mirror while he pulls out of the parking lot.
“Are you in pain?” Will asks quietly.
“No.”
“So why are you crying?”
“Cause—cause I told the nurse that I had a boyfriend, but you don't have one, so it must not be you.” Mike’s eyes close again and he leans his head against the window morosely. “I don't know who my boyfriend is and I don't want him.”
“Mike, no one has a boyfriend, just calm down.”
“I have a boyfriend,” Max says loudly from the front.
“Not helping. Come here,” he says, pulling a tissue out his bag. He grabs Mike's jaw and gently pulls him round so that he's facing him. Mike seems to calm a little as Will dries his face, but his eyebrows are furrowed and his mouth turns down in a frown.
“Actually, it does hurt. Can you hold my hand?”
Will feels himself getting flustered, but it really can’t get worse than this, so he blurts out, “Fine, fine.” He leans back into his seat but gingerly stretches his hand across the back seat. Mike grabs it instantly, squeezing it tight.
Mike's frown melts away and is replaced with a sort of smug smile. As smug as one can look with cotton buds holding your jaw open. He then leans forward, towards the gap in between the front seats and mutters, “I got him to hold my hand.”
“This is so fucking weird,” Lucas murmurs from the front.
Thankfully, Mike manages to stay fairly quiet for the rest of the journey, except for one part where he gently tugs on Will’s hand and points out of the window with the other. “There’s trees outside.”
“That’s nice, Mike.”
Mike nods solemnly, as if they’ve just had a profound conversation, and resumes looking out of the window.
Max and Lucas help carry their bags inside as Will makes sure Mike doesn’t trip up the front step of the Wheeler's house when they arrive.
“Just take your shoes off, yeah—no, you can’t take them out yet, Mike, stop it.”
“But I don’t like it,” Mike groans, letting Will pull his hands away from his face. “Feels weird.”
“They’re to stop the bleeding, I’ll check them in a minute, okay?” Will says, feeling a tug of sympathy. The swabs do look gross.
Mike grumbles under his breath but seems to accept this. He turns to look at Max and Lucas who are still hovering by the door. “Are you all staying?”
“No, just me,” Will says.
“Thank god,” Mike murmurs. “I think I need to go to bed.” And with that he turns, heading for the stairs.
“I should probably go after him, make sure he doesn’t choke on his swabs. Um, thanks for helping today,” Will says, trying to watch his movements from the doorway.
“You sure you’re gonna be all right?” Lucas says, looking dubious.
“Yeah, the loopiness should wear off soon. Then he’s just going to be grumpy.”
“Rather you than me,” Max mutters. “Well, enjoy playing nurse. And—”
Lucas gives her a pointed look and she pauses. They seem to share some sort of psychic conversation that Will doesn’t understand, before Max rolls her eyes. “All right. Well, if you need anything, just call us, okay?”
Mike has flopped down on his bed by the time Will reaches his room, eyes shut, mouth propped open. Cute, Will thinks as he shuts the bedroom door behind him. He has a sudden urge to lean down and kiss him but, ew, and also banned according to the leaflet from the hospital, so instead he sits down on the edge of the bed and traces a finger across the back of Mike’s hand. His eyes open a little, lidded gaze looking up at Will.
“Here, sit up a minute,” Will says, and Mike does. Will fluffs his pillows and stacks them against his headboard so that Mike can sit up a little. “Okay, lie back again.”
Once Mike is comfortable, Will slips the guidance leaflet out of his bag and settles down next to him. They lie like that for a bit, Mike’s breathing slow next to him, until it’s time to take out his swabs and take another round of painkillers. Once his mouth is clean, they sit back against the headboard.
Mike is looking at him again. “I’m confused.”
“What about?” Will says, turning slightly so he’s facing him.
“Do I have a boyfriend or do I not have a boyfriend?”
Will can’t help his smile. “Yeah, you have a boyfriend.”
A small crease appears between Mike’s brows. “Who?”
“Me.”
Mike studies him then, his gaze roaming his face, before returning back to his eyes. “You’re my boyfriend?”
“Yep.”
“And I’m your boyfriend?”
“Yeah, that’s kinda how that works.”
“Woah.”
Will watches him, and tries not to laugh at Mike’s expression. His eyes are wide and, whether it’s more the effects of the anesthesia or his tiredness, he seems to be struggling to keep them focused.
“I can’t believe that you’re in love with me.”
Will sits up straight, a choked laugh escaping him. “Who said—that’s…” his face starts to warm but before he can think of what to say, Mike’s frowning.
“You don’t love me?”
“No—”
“No? Oh my god…” he whispers dramatically, letting his head fall back against the pillows.
“Mike,” Will laughs, pushing his shoulder gently. “I didn’t mean—we’ve only been together a few weeks. We haven’t said… ugh, you’re being too cute right now, stop it.”
“I haven’t told you that I love you?”
Will lets his head drop down to Mike’s shoulder, hiding his face in the cotton of his sweater. “You’re gonna be embarrassed when you remember this tomorrow.”
“No, I don’t think so,” Mike sighs softly.
Will pulls back and looks at him, then shuffles in a little closer and rests his head on Mike’s chest. He feels the slow rise and fall of his breathing as he lets his fingertips trace the patterns of Mike’s sweater.
“I can’t feel my face.”
“It’s the numbing, don’t worry about it,” Will murmurs.
Mike hums in apparent understanding, then says, “Would you still love me if I was a worm?”
“... Why would you be a worm?”
“What if I had no hair?”
Will’s fingers pause on his chest. “Don’t put that idea into the universe.”
“I don’t want to be a bald worm.”
“You’re not a bald worm, so stop worrying. But yes, I’d still…” Will takes a breath, willing himself to be brave, “love you if you were a worm. Or bald.”
“Wow. You’re really nice.”
Will snorts. “I know.”
Mike does actually doze off for a while then, and so must Will because when there’s a soft knock at the door, he finds himself peeling open bleary eyes. He shuffles away from Mike and in a moment of panic, picks up the leaflet that had fallen to the floor and opens it on his lap, pretending to read. “Come in.”
Karen appears in the doorway, blonde hair tucked behind her ears. “Hey, Will,” she says as her eyes drift to Mike. She smiles softly. “Is he asleep?”
“Yeah,” Will says, hoping it doesn’t sound obvious that he was also asleep until around five seconds ago.
“Everything go okay today?” She asks as she comes in. She sits gingerly at the edge of the bed and looks over Mike, as if checking he's all in one piece.
“Yeah, the nurses said it all went fine. She gave me this, just with stuff to help him heal,” he says, passing her the leaflet.
Her eyes skim the front page before she folds it up, putting it in her back pocket. “Are you still staying over?”
“Yeah. If that’s okay?”
“Of course,” she says with a smile. “It’ll make me feel better knowing someone’s nearby in case he needs anything. Was he all right with the anesthetic? Didn’t do anything too crazy?”
Will bites his lip to hide a smile, looking back over at Mike. “No, nothing too crazy.”
Karen rests a hand on Will’s shoulder and squeezes it gently as she gets up to leave. “Thanks for being here for him today, Will.”
“It’s no problem.”
The door closes with a click and, after he's sure her footsteps have retreated down the stairs, Will lies back down on the bed.
“I hate this show,” Mike grumbles, shuffling back a little so that he’s propped up against Will’s chest. They’re on the couch in the basement, TV on, watching an old rerun of Happy Days. On screen, Fonzie clicks his fingers and a gaggle of girls surrounds him, cooing and awwing at him. “I don’t get his appeal. What’s the big deal?”
Will hums as he wraps his arms around Mike’s waist, clasping his hands together as they rest on his stomach. “I guess he’s a bad boy. And he wears a leather jacket.”
Mike shakes his head. “Can we put something else on?”
“Are you gonna let me up to go change the channel then?”
Mike huffs. “But I’m comfy.”
“Stop complaining, then.”
It’s not entirely comfortable in this position, Will’s back leaning against the arm of the couch, but Mike seems content and he isn’t complaining about his mouth hurting—unlike all of this morning—so Will stays put.
They watch for a few more minutes, until Mike starts getting fidgety. Will’s about to ask what’s wrong when he turns slightly in his grip.
“Okay. I think I’m strong enough now.”
“What?”
“For you to tell me how yesterday went.”
Will hesitates, then shifts slightly so that Mike’s head is against his shoulder. He brings a hand up to card through his hair, considering how much he should tell him. “What do you remember?”
“Er, I vaguely remember leaving the hospital. I remember Lucas and Max being there.”
“Do you remember anything you said?”
Mike’s quiet for long enough that Will peeks down at him. His brow is furrowed and Will can practically hear the cogs turning. “Not really? It’s all fuzzy.”
“Hmm.” Will carries on stroking his hair, thinking, where does he even begin?
“So tell me?” At Will’s muffled laugh, Mike adds, “Shit, that bad?”
“No, just, um. Okay. So Lucas and Max definitely know.”
“What?” Mike sits up a little, turning to look at Will, eyes wide. “How?”
“How?” Will blurts out before he can stop himself, amused. How could they not? “I’m not sure if you want to know, you’ll be embarrassed.”
Mike watches him for a moment, before he smiles and leans back into him. “You’re messing with me.”
“I wish I was,” Will says, trying to hide his smirk in Mike’s hair. “You kept asking if I had a boyfriend.”
Mike stills in his grip. “Say sike right now.”
“Mike,” Will laughs. “I'm being serious.”
Groaning, he covers his face with his hands. “Oh my god.”
An obnoxiously loud laugh-track plays from the TV and it almost feels personal. As it fades, joke over, there’s voices and footsteps audible from up by the basement door. Will stills, listening out for a turn of the doorhandle or a squeak of the hinges, but then the voices fade and he relaxes back again into the arm of the couch.
Soft strands slip through his fingers as he returns to stroking his hair, and Mike lets out a little soft sigh.
“What you thinking about?”
“Desperately trying to remember what else I said.”
“You told all the nurses about me,” Will murmurs.
“Ughhh,” Mike groans. “Embarassing.”
“No, not embarrassing,” Will says, trying to keep a straight face. Maybe he won’t mention the bit about crying in the car. “It was sweet of you.”
Mike’s thoughtful for a moment, before he tenses again, whispering, “Oh god.”
“What?”
Pink dusts his cheeks and he reaches out, grabbing a cushion and pulling it over his face.
“What are you doing?” Will laughs, trying to pull it away, but Mike grips it tight.
“No, no, I need to smother myself.”
“Why?”
“Because… because I remember one part.”
“Which part?”
Mike groans into the pillow. “When we got back here.”
Will thinks, then goes, “Oh. You mean…?”
I haven’t told you that I love you?
“Yeah.”
They’re quiet for a moment, and Will bites his bottom lip to try and contain the smile that wants to break across his face. He can’t help it. And so he sits incredibly still, waiting to see what Mike will say.
After a moment, Mike just sighs. “Are you going to dump me and find someone way cooler?”
“Cooler than you? Impossible.”
“Why did that sound sarcastic?”
Will snorts. “Don’t you remember me saying I’d still be with you if you were a worm? And bald?”
“Bald?” Mike says, barking out a laugh. “Nevermind, not gonna ask.” He turns a little again so that he can look at Will. “Thanks. For looking after me.”
“Hmm. You’re welcome. Just don’t turn into a worm, please.”
“I can’t promise that. What if an evil witch curses me?”
“Then at least get her to curse me, too.”
“Aww. You’d really be a worm with me?”
“You’re so stupid,” Will whispers with a smile, and he leans down and presses a barely-there kiss to Mike's cheek.
“The no kissing rule is stupid,” Mike murmurs, moving so that their lips meet, but Will pulls back before he can do anything else.
A knock on the basement door makes Will jump, and then Karen’s voice is calling down. “Mike! Some of your friends have come to visit you!”
They quickly settle on opposite sides of the couch just as Max and Lucas make their way down the stairs. As soon as Max locks eyes with Mike, a loud laugh bubbles out of her.
“I’m sorry, I thought I’d be able to hold it in,” she says, shaking her head. “You were priceless.”
Mike tucks his feet up onto the edge of the couch, rolling his eyes. “Yeah, so I’ve heard.”
“We bought you ice cream,” Lucas says as he takes a seat in one of the armchairs.
“Chocolate?”
“You know it. We also got you this in case you get bored,” he says, pulling a comic out of his bag and dropping it onto the table.
“Uncanny X-Men, nice,” Mike says, picking it up and flicking through a few of the colored pages. “Thanks.”
Lucas nods, and then a sort of awkward silence descends over the basement. Will clears his throat, watching as Lucas and Max give each other a look. It’s not subtle.
“So…” Max says.
“Yeah,” Lucas says, looking between Will and Mike. “So… anything new?”
“I have less teeth.”
Lucas snorts. “Yeah, apart from that.”
“Nope,” Mike says with a pop on the P, fiddling with a loose thread from the edge of the couch cushion.
“You sure?”
“What are you getting at?” Mike says.
Lucas and Max look at each other again, and then Lucas clears his throat. “How you feeling?”
“You look like shit,” Max blurts out at the same time.
“Wow, thanks,” Mike deadpans. “I feel shit. It hurts like a bitch.”
Lucas nods solemnly and then they’re basked in quiet again, and the longer it goes on for, the more Will starts to fidget where he sits. There’s a loud bump from upstairs followed by Ted Wheeler’s muffled shouting. Max tucks a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Sunday Monday happy days…”
The theme song plays out loudly from the TV, a new episode starting, but no-one says anything. Max is watching him with a strange intensity, and so he risks a look over at Mike.
“Tuesday Wednesday happy days…”
Mike’s already looking straight back at him, and then he looks away quickly when their gazes meet.
Will lets out a breath.
“Thursday Friday happy days…”
“We’re dating!” Will blurts out as the theme song ends.
There’s a beat of silence, and then—
“I knew it!” Lucas says, suddenly animated, darting forward in his chair.
“We all knew it,” Max says, grinning as she pushes to her feet. She walks over and drops down on the couch in the space between Will and Mike, leaning over to pull Will into a hug. “I'm so sorry that it's Mike Wheeler, but I'm happy for you.”
“I'm right here,” Mike mumbles.
As Max pulls away, she looks between them for a moment, before sitting back with a sigh. “If I’m honest, you two are like… weirdly perfect for each other.”
“I knew you two weren’t actually ‘wrestling’ that one time.”
“Oh my god, Lucas,” Will says, and from the corner of his eye he sees Mike lean over and shove his face back into the cushion. “Why'd you have to bring that up?”
“When the hell was this and why didn't you tell me about it?” Max says, indignant.
“In the basement the other week, I walked in and they were like—”
“Kissing! We were just kissing.”
“You guys were literally on the floor—”
“Everyone shut the hell up,” Mike says. “I’m in pain here, or has everyone forgotten?”
Lucas snorts, leaning back into his chair. “Sorry, dude. But… anyway, we’re happy for you guys.”
“You should be thanking god that Will still somehow finds you attractive after yesterday,” Max says. “Especially when you cried.”
Mike whirls to look at Will. “I cried?”
Will can't help but laugh at Mike's expression. “It’s fine, it was cute.”
Max mock gags. “It wasn’t cute, trust me.”
“Anyway,” Mike says loudly. “As much as I appreciate you guys coming over and being as delightful as always, I really just wanna sleep.” As if to make his point, he crosses his arms and lets his head fall back against the couch.
“Yeah, sure,” Lucas says, jumping to his feet. “We’ll leave you to get some rest.”
“Enjoy being coddled back to health,” Max says with a smirk.
After Will sees them out, he pads back down into the basement. The TV has gone dark and the room is only illuminated by the lamp in the corner, the room suddenly quiet after all the commotion. Mike is already stretched out across the couch, one arm behind his head, looking up at the ceiling.
Will steps around the coffee table and settles down on the couch next to him, allowing himself to be pulled in close. It’s quiet for a moment, before Mike clears his throat.
“Did I really cry?”
“Forget about it,” Will says, his laugh muffled by Mike’s t-shirt. “You don't need to be embarrassed by anything you said yesterday. Honestly, I kind of… liked it.”
“You liked me being drugged up?”
“No! I just mean, the way you were acting.”
“It's okay, I know what you meant,” Mike says with a smile. He reaches back and pulls down the blanket draped over the back of the couch, kicking the end until it covers their feet.
Warm beneath the blanket, Will sighs as an arm wraps around his back, keeping him from rolling off the edge.
“Actually, I wanted to say…” Mike shifts, nudging one leg between Will’s. “I, uh, meant what I said yesterday.”
Will stares at him.
Mike looks a little shy, running his teeth over his bottom lip and darting his gaze away. “Maybe it's… too early to say that. But I guess the drugs got it out of me.”
Will tries to bite back his grin before it takes over his whole face. “Me too,” he whispers. And he can't help but feel a little giddy inside because holy shit, and also, other people know. Even if it's only Max and Lucas, something about letting people other than himself and Mike into this little bubble makes it feel all the more real.
The corner of Mike's mouth tugs up in a smile before he looks away again, then tugs Will closer. “Nap with me?”
“Of course,” Will says with a contented sigh, tucking his face into Mike’s neck.