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The five are in Argyle’s van, driving home from Rink O’ Mania.
Mike’s sitting in between him and Jane but Will wants nothing more than to swap places with him. He wants to comfort Jane, tell her everything’s okay and to just be there for her.
Why isn’t Mike doing that right now?
He’s trying to disassociate but he can’t when the only people speaking in the van are the two high idiots in the front. He hates when Jonathan’s high, he’s just unserious and irresponsible.
They get home and Murray’s in their kitchen making risotto. He’s met him before, when they were at Starcourt. He’s a bit…out there.
They’re sitting down and he’s focusing on Jane mostly. She’s moving the food around her plate but only a small amount of it is actually being eaten.
His mum’s explaining everything, some business trip- that came out of nowhere- when Jonathan’s being stupid, “…Jonathan, what is wrong with you?”
“I think I know what’s wrong with him” Murray chuckles
Do you? Well good for you then.
“We’ve just had a super stressful day” Jonathan mumbles
“Stress, huh?”
Seriously?
“This girl got shmacked in the head today at the roller rink” Argyle explains, “One of those vicious skate attacks”
Great.
“A skate attack?”
“Not an ice skate. It was…”
“Plastic” Jonathan adds
“No, rubber. I’m not sure. But she’ll- she’s gonna be fine”
“She didn’t look fine” Mike spouts
Uhh, the fuck?!
Jane looks at him in disbelief. She stands up and storms out the dining room.
“El, are you not going to finish your- seriously, what is up you guys?”
“I sense tension” Murray says
Really? Oh well good for you Murray, I’m glad you do.
After a few minutes of awkward silence- yeah Murray’s right, tension- Will grabs his and Jane’s plate.
“What are you doing?” Joyce asks
“Letting her finish her dinner” Will grunts.
He knocks on the open door, then sits down on the edge of the bed.
“I have your dinner” Will says.
“Why?” Jane sniffles
“Because you should eat”
“I know”
“Then here”
Jane sits up and grabs the plate and starts to eat properly.
“How…how are you feeling?” Will asks.
“Don’t know” Jane mumbles
“Why’d you do it?”
“Don’t know”
“You wanna talk about tomorrow?”
Jane nods slowly.
“Mike’s a dick” Will huffs
“A dick?”
“Uhh, I-“
“What does that mean?”
“Well- Shit” Will sighs, “It means he’s…annoying, a jerk”
“Oh, then yeah. Dick” Jane giggles as she finishes the last of her food, Will’s finished too.
“But maybe don’t say that around mum”
“Why not?”
“It’s not the nicest thing to say”
“Mike wasn’t being nice”
“I know. I’m sorry, Jane”
“It’s okay”
“Are you gonna be alright tonight? Do you need me to stay in here?”
“No, I’ll be okay”
“Love you” Will nods, taking the plates out the room.
“Love you, too”
---
Will sits in his room after. He might hate Mike. What was his problem? Saying that stuff during dinner, making Jane leave, making Jane cry. He might not hate Mike, hate’s a strong word, but he does think Mike’s a dick. Mike’s very much a dickhead.
He’s reading when he notices someone standing in his doorway.
“…Hey” Mike starts
“Hi” Will mumbles, not looking up from the book
“Uhh, what you reading?”
“The handmaid’s tale”
“Sounds cool”
“What do you want?”
“I don’t think El wants me in her room”
“No shit”
“Can I…”
Will waits for Mike to finish his sentence, but he doesn’t.
“Can you what, Mike?”
“Can I sleep in here?”
Will finally looks up from the book.
“…What?”
“Can I?”
“I-Fine” he sighs, taking a pillow and putting it on the floor, “There’s a sleeping bag in the closet”
“Oh” Mike mumbles.
Will goes to the bathroom to change and brush his teeth. When he comes back, Mike’s changed into his sleep clothes and sitting on the floor with a blanket covering his legs. He’s reading the blurb of Will’s book.
Mike looks up at him and his cheeks tinge red; he won’t look away.
“Mike”
“Mhm?” Mike chokes, not looking him in the eyes.
“You’re staring”
“Sorry” Mike tries to shake the blush away, but it doesn’t work. “You just look…comfy”
“Whatever” Will huffs, sitting on his bed.
Mike puts the book on Will’s nightstand and turns over. After a while, Wills still awake.
He can tell Mike is too. His breathing isn’t steady and he keeps on shifting in his sleeping bag.
“Will?”
Will doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t want to.
“Are you awake?”
“…yeah”
“It’s uncomfortable on the floor. Can I get into your bed?”
“It’s a bit small-“
“We can fit”
Mike gets up and into Will’s bed quickly.
“Thanks” Mike says
“Shh, its late, everyone’s probably asleep” Will whispers, putting a finger against Mike’s mouth.
“Then why aren’t you?” Mike chuckles
“I don’t…I don’t know”
“I broke up with El”
“What?”
“I said, I-“
“I know what you said. Why?”
“Because of what happened today”
“Mike-“
“Well, more she broke up with me because I was being a dick. She said that”
“Oh”
“She said you said that too, you told her what ‘dick’ meant”
“…I did”
“I get it, I was, to both of you”
“Mike-“
“I wasn’t listening to you, Will. I’m sorry I called you a douche, you aren’t. I’m not mad that you didn’t talk to me, I was just confused. And I am, I am interested in what you say, I’m always interested in everything you do. But you were barely talking and I don’t know why and I want to know. I do know it’s my fault but I’m not sure what I did so can you tell me?”
“You…you forgot my birthday”
Mike’s eyes widen as a tear slips down Will’s cheek. He brings a finger up to wipe it away, but Will moves back and faces the wall.
“Will, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so, sorry. I- fuck, Will, I am”
“Okay”
“Can you look at me?”
Will doesn’t budge. Mike places a delicate hand on Will’s side.
“Please?”
Will turns but stops halfway. He’s lying on his back and Mike’s hand is still on his side. He’s slightly hovering over him.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know, Mike”
“And I know you said that we used to be best friends. We’ve drifted apart and I’ve lost you to distance and it’s-“
“You lost me?”
“Please, let me finish” Mike’s voice cracks, “You said we ‘used to be’. I want to be best friends; I want to be your best friend. But…I want to be…”
“You want what, Mike?”
“I want to be more than ‘best friends’?”
“Mike, I don’t-“
“I don’t have, like- can I give you a gift? For your birthday?”
“What is it?”
Mike hesitates.
“This”
Mike cups Will’s face with his other hand and kisses him. Mike bumped his nose and teeth as he kissed and he was highly uncoordinated. But what does he know? It’s his first. It takes Will a few seconds before his brain to catch up and he kisses him back.
It’s a long kiss, longer than expected.
Mike pulls back only because he needed to breath and his face is extremely red. Redder than it was when Will walked in a few hours earlier. Their foreheads are almost touching and their breaths are mingling.
“Uhh, there, there’s your gift” Mike breaths.
“Thanks”
Mike flips back down and lies beside Will, staring up at the ceiling. They sit in that silence for a bit, before Mike starts talking again:
“Uhh, can that be, like, a regular gift?”
“…What?”
“Well, instead of that being a gift specifically for your birthday. Can it be an everyday gift?”
“As in…you want to kiss me every day?”
“Yeah, like that”
“Mike, that makes-“
“Like I said, I want to be more than best friends”
“So, then what do you want to be?”
“Romantic friends?”
“…Boyfriends”
“Yeah”
“Wait- you want to be boyfriends?”
“Can I…can I be yours?”
“Well, I need to process this, this is a lot. Maybe give it a few days. Take it slow, also Jane- shit, Jane-“
“Look, I’ll sort it out, okay? If she wants to be mad, she can be mad at me for it, I’m the one that kissed you”
“Okay, but still, there’s so much that I need to process”
“That’s okay”
“Good”
“But we can still be boyfriends, right?”
“Yes Mike”
“Good, can I continue with your birthday gift?”
“Yes, yes you can”