Chapter Text
Mike Wheeler is in love with an idiot.
Woah. Okay, 'idiot' is a very strong word here, not one that Mike tends to use lightly, and more often than not, it's a word that Mike wouldn't even be able to imagine using when referring to his boyfriend, Will Byers.
His boyfriend. Boyfriend boyfriend boyfriend. Mike Wheeler is Will Byers's boyfriend, and has been for almost three months. Eighty-three days, if he's being exact.
That's eighty-three days of hand-holding and cuddling and snuggling and… Okay, so these are all things that Mike and Will were doing before they adopted the title of 'boyfriends', but the kissing is new. As new as an eighty-three-day-old feeling can be. Nevertheless, Mike still isn't entirely used to knowing that he gets to kiss Will whenever he wants— well, whenever Will wants, which pretty much always seems to line up with whenever Mike wants— which is kind of 25/8, eight days a week, but— shit. Idiot.
That's why they're here. Because Will was an idiot. A beautiful idiot on the edge of perfect both inside and out, yes, but an idiot, nonetheless. Because for almost a full week straight, Will had decided that, apparently, putting up with an excruciating amount of pain and hiding it from Mike was preferable to seeing a dentist.
But that doesn't make Will an idiot at all, does it? Will's terrified of doctors. It doesn't matter what they specialise in, and it's not Will's fault he has horrid experiences with the people who hold the title. Hell, that's the farthest possible thing from Will's fault.
So no, actually, Mike Wheeler isn't in love with an idiot. Will Byers is in love with an idiot.
Because Will Byers is in love with Mike Wheeler. And Mike Wheeler (who is still unable to fully comprehend this fact) is someone who prides himself on knowing anything and everything Will Byers. So he's the actual idiot for not noticing Will's pain sooner.
Seriously, it took Mike seeing Will cry in pain after he pressed a kiss to Will's cheek upon coming home to their shared dorm room for Mike to realise that something was up? Unforgivable. Absolutely unforgivable.
It doesn't matter how much stress Mike himself has been under with his ever-growing pile of assignments; it doesn't matter how little sleep he's been getting because of it; it doesn’t matter that Will was actively hiding this from him; and it doesn't matter just how much Mike has going on in his life outside of Will.
Because Will was hurting.
And Mike— his boyfriend, his protector, his Paladin— hadn't noticed.
“Urngh…”
Abruptly pausing the bouncing of his leg, Mike's eyes snap onto his boyfriend's face. His eyes are squeezed shut (cute), his nose scrunched up (double cute), and there's a small (triple) cute pout playing on his lips. Well, considering the gauze currently stuffed inside Will’s mouth, Mike isn’t sure it can really be classified as a pout. He can tell that it’s certainly supposed to be one, though.
Let Mike reiterate the fact that this is his boyfriend.
“Will?”
Mike can't help the smile that takes over his face as he reaches for one of Will’s hands where it lies atop the blanket Mike had decided to bring in from home. He brought it in hopes that Will would find some comfort in its familiarity, in case the dental office was too much for him. Will clung to it, as well as Mike’s hand, the whole journey here. So, Mike thinks, at least if it isn’t enough right now, it helped past-Will enough to allow him to walk through the front doors of the place that would (hopefully) cure his pain.
“Will…?” Mike tries again. “Can you hear me?”
Will shifts, and… Nothing. He must just be shifting in his sleep. God, he's cute. Or maybe Mike's just biased, because surely the majority of the world's population shifts in their sleep, and Mike is just kind of, sort of, very in love with this 0.000000019%. Everything Will does is endearing to Mike in one way or other, so it's probably a given.
Does Will feel that way about Mike?
Mike scoffs the second the thought forms in his head.
That's stupid. Nothing about Mike is endearing in any way whatsoever, and Mike finds it hard to believe that somebody would disagree. Even if that 'somebody' were in love with him. But yeah, Will would have to be crazy to disagree. Who knows, maybe Mike's crazy. Maybe they both are.
“Psst!”
Coming back to himself, his eyes slightly dazed, Mike quickly wipes at his face before meeting Will’s gaze. Will’s eyes are now staring widely— incredibly widely— into Mike's own. Really, it’s almost scary how wide they are.
So… yep. Will’s awake. And Mike can’t help the smile that returns to his face as he fully processes this realisation.
“Hey, Wi—”
“Shhh!”
Oh. Okay. Will post-anesthesia just wants Mike to shut up. Sure, fine, he can do that. If Will’s the one asking, Mike can do anything.
But before Mike even has the chance to put a name to the hurt within him, Will’s opening his cotton-filled, word-muffling, unreasonably beautiful, and insanely kissable mouth.
“They might hear you!”
The hand from Will’s opposite side shoots out, and suddenly, there’s a finger being pressed to Mike’s lips. As dumb as it sounds, especially given the situation, Mike has to resist the urge to kiss it. He would have on any other day throughout these past three months, but today isn’t any other day.
“They might… hear me?” Mike repeats, the words forming around Will’s finger. Should he mention to Will that he’s the one essentially shouting right now? Whisper-shouting, sure, but shouting nonetheless.
No. No, he shouldn’t. Will’s clearly stressed enough as is. Mike doubts that any additional input of his own would be much help.
“Yes!” Will confirms, nodding quickly as his index finger, alongside the rest of his fingers, slides to Mike’s cheeks. His hand is now covering Mike's mouth entirely as he gives a little squeeze. “Shh!”
Oh… fuck. Has the anesthesia made Will think he’s in the Upside Down again?
Holy shit, this is not an outcome Mike had considered. What can he even do in this situation? Should he tell Will he’s delusional— that there’s nothing here that wants to hurt him? God no, that’s bound to bring more bad than good. He’s scared. Mike isn’t just going to (essentially) call him stupid for feeling so. Fuck no.
Should he get into bed with Will so that he can cuddle, kiss, and just overall comfort him? Promise him that this time— this time— everything’s going to be okay, and that nothing and no one could ever hurt him when he’s enveloped in the comfort that is Mike’s own embrace? Would that really comfort Will, or would that just comfort Mike himself?
Hell, Mike doesn’t even know if Will recognises him right now. The dentist had said temporary amnesia was a likely possibility, but Will has yet to do anything to suggest he does or doesn’t remember Mike.
“You have very squishy cheeks.”
It’s now that Mike registers the fact that Will has been repeatedly squeezing and un-squeezing his cheeks for the past… many minutes, blubbing him like a fish. And wow, he has the biggest smile on his still-open-mouthed face whilst he does so; small giggles bubbling up and out of his throat, slipping past his puffy lips.
“Thank you?” Mike laughs, hoping the words are legible despite the incessant squishing, and hand over his mouth.
“You’re welcome,” Will replies easily, words just as muffled as Mike’s own. For someone who thinks he’s currently trapped in the equivalent of hell, he sure is acting calm about it, his eyes having relaxed significantly.
Mike wants to hold him so bad. But he’s not going to do so without a proper reason to. Because what if he really doesn’t remember who Mike is? Will wouldn’t want some rando on the verge of tears hugging him, and Mike doesn’t want to scare him.
“Don’t worry,” Will says, giving Mike’s cheeks one final squeeze before letting his hand drop back down to his bed. “My boyfriend will come save us soon.”
“Your—” Mike chokes on air. “What?”
“My boyfriend,” Will repeats, a distant, somewhat dreamy look taking over his eyes. “He’ll save us from this starship.”
“He’ll—” Mike’s brain feels as though it’s going to explode. Or implode. Or do whatever other forms of ‘ploding’ there are.“What?”
“We’ll be back to our respective planets in no time,” Will continues, as though Mike hadn’t said anything at all.
Mike can’t help the sudden laughter that bursts out of him, instantly slapping a hand over his mouth in an attempt to muffle it, or more ideally, stop it altogether.
Because Will doesn’t think he’s in the Upside Down, he thinks he’s in the fucking Star Wars universe. He thinks he woke up on a starship with Mike, and that any second now, his… boyfriend is going to rescue him.
So Will doesn’t recognise Mike, then.
It’s okay. This Mike had prepared for. Well, he hadn't anticipated Will waking with the thought he's on a starship (though maybe he should have, considering the two of them re-watched all three movies the night before), nor did he anticipate Will thinking he has a whole other stupid fucking boyfriend, but he had prepared for Will not remembering who he was.
It’s only temporary. They’ll be okay. Right? Please don’t tell him that he and Will actually have the worst luck in the whole entire world, and Will won’t get his memories back. Please.
“He’s probably on his way right now,” Will states, eyes flicking between his freshly disconnected IV pump and the heart monitor that’s still tracking his heartbeat, clearly not noticing Mike’s silent panic. “He never gives up on me when I go missing,” Will continues, a smile now not only evident on his face, but in his voice, too. “He’s saved me my whole life. He’s great at that.”
“Oh,” Mike replies, voice distant. “That’s… that’s great, Will. He sounds great.”
So Will thinks his boyfriend is Luke Skywalker. Great.
Mike wants to cry again.
“He is great, yes,” Will confirms. “And I’m sure Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio over there would agree with me if they met him.”
R2-D2 and C-3PO would agree if… what?
“I don’t know you and your tastes well enough to know if you would,” Will continues, hand waving around in a circular motion as he blabbers on, not noticing Mike’s confused state. “For all I know, you’ve joined the dark side, or something, so…” Will drops his hand, shrugging. Well, he attempts a shrug. What he actually does looks more like a turtle retreating its head back into its shell.
“I can assure you that I never have, and never will, join the dark side,” Mike tells Will, unable to resist the laugh that bubbles out of him. “But, uh, Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio…? Where do you… huh?”
“Oh, have you guys not met yet?” Will questions, cocking his head to the side. Cute. Cute cute cute. “They’re talking over there!” He informs Mike, hand re-emerging to point lazily at the heart monitor and IV pump across the room. “I don’t know what about, but I don’t want to interrupt them, so— wait!” Will’s hand is being slapped back across Mike’s mouth. Awesome. “We’re not supposed to be talking! Shh!”
Mike allows for the giggles in his throat to slip out. He can’t be blamed, okay? Take a look at his current situation and tell him you can blame him. Exactly. You can’t. Not truthfully, at least.
“I’m not even—”
“Shh!”
“Okay, got it, sorry!”
Mike's giggles are much more apparent now, loudening with each passing second. He's sure it's his brain's attempt at calming the fluttering in his heart, but it's not exactly working. At times, Will's existence will directly inject Mike with every single positive emotion imaginable, and the anesthesia currently flowing within him seems to be multiplying the dosage by infinity.
"Uh," Will blinks, his eyes then flicking between his boyfriend and his heart monitor. "Okay— I really think you need to shut up now," Will blubs on, slight panic rising in his tone. "Because— your voice is very pretty, but I think you made Threepio mad…"
Mike's giggles come to a stop, following Will's gaze to the heart monitor. Well, C-3PO.
If the rapid beeping is anything to go by, Will's heartbeat is going wild. Mike doesn't know how he hadn't registered the sound of it beforehand— seriously, when did that happen? Shit, is Will okay? Should Mike call for someone? Well, probably. He was meant to get someone in here the second Will woke up. Evidently, he got kinda distracted.
"Will, are you feeling okay?" Mike asks, gently (and finally) prying Will's hand off of his face.
"I will be once he calms down…" Will murmurs, voice quiet as he nods his head slightly in the direction of the heart monitor. His eyes are fixated on Mike's fingers where they're wrapped around his own hand, and the rapid beeping doesn't seem to be stopping either. If anything, it's just getting faster.
"I— I don't think he's mad, Will," Mike starts. "I just think he's… excited?"
"Excited?" Will questions, irises darting away from their hands and back at Mike, staring up at him through his eyelashes.
"Yeah," Mike breathes through a stutter. God, he needs to get it together. "He's probably just…" Mike can't believe he's about to say what he is, but it's the best excuse he can think of on the spot. Never did he think there'd come a day where he was jealous of Luke fucking Skywalker, but here he is. "Really excited to see your boyfriend."
"Oh!" Comes Will's response, facing Mike fully again as a smile breaks out on his face. "I mean, I don't think so? They've never met before, and I don't think they know he's coming. I just know he's coming, you know? I can feel it. In here," Will states, removing his hand from Mike's to point not at his own heart, but Mike's.
Mike blinks. "Artoo and Threepio haven't met Luke yet?"
"What? Of course they have," Will looks at him, dumbfounded. "What does he have to do with this? Wait, that's right, you know Luke Skywalker! Duh! That's so cool. My boyfriend used to have a huge crush on him when we were younger."
Oh, great, so Will remembers that but not…
"Wait—" Mike chokes.
"You should have seen his reaction when I dressed up as him for Halloween," Will giggles, stuck in his own thoughts, not registering Mike's words before his face screws up and he tilts his head in consideration. "Actually…" Will contemplates, nose scrunching. "Nevermind."
"Will—"
"He was too cute. Like, waaay too cute. That's only a sight for me, sorry."
"Will, who's your boyfriend?"
"Huh?" Will blinks, coming back to himself as his gaze lands on Mike.
"Your— your boyfriend, Will," Mike stammers, hope evident in the words. "What's… what's his name?"
"Miiike," Will states, dragging the vowel as his voice goes all dreamy. "His name's Mike."
"Yeah?" Mike— Will's real-life, honest-to-god boyfriend!— asks. Said boyfriend doesn't know if he's ever smiled wider than he is right now.
"Yeah," Will confirms with a small chuckle. "His name is so cute, right?"
Well, Mike thinks it's kind of the most basic name in the world, but if Will thinks—
"I came up with it. Kind of," Will states, cutting off Mike's train of thought. "His actual name is Michael, and when he told me his name for the first time, he told me it was Michael, but I asked him if I could call him Mike for short, because my name is William, but my Mom and brother called me Will, so—"
Holy shit, Will remembers that? Will remembers that he was the first one to call Mike… Mike? Not only does Will remember that, but he remembers it even when he's high off his ass. For fuck's sake, this boy is going to be the death of him. Mike kind of wants to bite him. That's probably weird.
"Um… Princess? Are you okay?"
Mike splutters, blood suddenly rushing to his cheeks. "Princess?!"
"Oh, sorry, do you not like being called princess?"
Mike is confused. Mike is so, so, so incredibly confused.
"I probably wouldn't either, even if I were a princess," Will continues, thoughts spilling out of his mouth as they form. "I'm just… Will."
Mike seems to have lost his voice, but Will either doesn't notice or doesn't care. Either way, he finishes his thought. "Sorry, Leia."
Oh! Oh, this makes so much more— wait. Will thinks he's—
"You think I'm Princess Leia?!"
"…Yeah?" Will stares at him, brows knitting together. "Are you… feeling okay?"
No. No, he's… honestly, Mike doesn't know how he feels. Physically, he feels very warm, but that probably doesn't mean anything, right? Even if it does, and even if Mike isn't exactly put-off by Will calling him 'princess' (like, at all), Mike would prefer to move on from this topic of conversation.
"Yeah. Yeah, Will, I'm great," Mike reassures, face still hot. "Except I'm not… Princess Leia."
Mike doesn't know why he feels like he can tell Will this, but can't tell him that he's not on a starship. Or that his heart monitor and IV pump aren't C-3PO and R2-D2. Or that his boyfriend isn't coming to save him, because he's already sat next to him.
Boyfriend. He's Will's boyfriend. Cool. Cool cool cool.
"You sort of are. No—!" Will exclaims, shaking his head. "Sorry, I don't know why I said that," He murmurs, a distant look in his eyes from where they've settled near Mike's chin. "But are you sure you're not Princess Leia?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm not Princess Leia, yeah."
"Oh. Okay," Will nods, seemingly shrugging it off. "You're just very pretty, and everyone says Princess Leia is very pretty, and she also ties her hair, so I think I got confused."
"Right," Mike says, flushing again. Mike's hair is at a point where it's just long enough to fit into a tiny ponytail, but he didn't put much thought into it when he tied it up in his rush to get Will to his appointment on time. He also just wasn't in the mood to deal with it at that very second.
"You're almost as pretty as my boyfriend, actually," Will thinks aloud. "But Mike's beauty on the inside matches the beauty on his outside, so…"
Let Mike reiterate what Will is going to be if he keeps this up.
"So no one could ever possibly be as beautiful as he is. Sorry."
The death of him. He's going to be the death of him.
"Eugh, actually, that sounds weird. I don't know if Mike's organs are beautiful. I mean, if anyone were to have beautiful organs… yeah, it'd be Mike. He is the heart, after all."
Mike is going to cry.
"He's everything to me. I couldn't imagine a life without him. He just makes me feel so safe," Will informs Mike, smiling to himself. "He's… a Paladin. A real-life, honest-to-god, Paladin!" With his smile widening, Will cocks his head to the side. "Do you know what a Paladin is?"
Does he? Does Mike Wheeler know what a Paladin is? Guess we'll never know. His sorcerer never gives him the chance to respond.
"They're like knights, kinda, but waaay more awesome. He's so awesome."
Mike doesn't think he'd be able to say anything even if he tried. He's kind of awestruck right now. Awestruck, and incredibly teary-eyed.
"Mike's, like, the coolest person I've ever met," Will remarks, eyes sparkling as he chuckles to himself. "Don't tell my friend Max I said that," he says through the chuckle. "She'd throw a fit."
Mike's chuckling now too, his hands coming up to wipe the tears that are beginning to spill from his eyes. It's just that… well, Will loves him. Holy fuck, Will loves him. And yes, Mike knew this. Yes, Will's told him this before, but… God.
Mike never knew the extent of it. Mike never knew that Will's love for him runs just as deep as Mike's own love for Will. And Mike doesn't know how exactly he's supposed to exist normally whilst also knowing this fact as truly and deeply as he now does.
Well, Mike never really was 'normal' to begin with. And he doesn't really even know what 'normal' means. But Mike guesses he's fine with being 'not-normal' if it means that it gives him Will Byers.
"Yeah?" Mike manages to get out eventually, voice watery.
"Uh-huh," comes Will's reply. He's way too happy for someone with bloodied spit dribbling down his chin, but that isn't anything Mike can't fix, grabbing a tissue from the countertop beside him.
"And he's sooo smart," Will blubs on, either ignoring or not noticing as Mike wipes his chin and lips clean. "So smart. Like, I'm pretty smart too, I think; we're both huge nerds— that's one of the biggest reasons I fell in love with him— but he can, like… build bombs. He has built a bomb! And he almost accidentally killed my sister with it, but it's okay, she wasn't actually hurt—"
Jesus Christ, okay, Mike thinks, putting the bloodied-tissue into his pocket rather than leaving Will's side for two seconds to throw it away. Mike really didn't think that the memory of him almost killing Jane would be one that he and Will would be reminiscing on today, but here they are.
"…Um," Will blinks. "I don't think I'm allowed to tell you about that," he continues, only somewhat coming back to himself. "You didn't hear me say that, okay?"
"Okay, baby," Mike responds, not registering his use of the pet name. It comes so naturally to him now, and the Mike Wheeler of three— two— hell, one month ago would struggle to believe that. But if Mike did register his use of the word, he'd notice that Will doesn't fully register it, either. Because the word sounds just as natural coming from Mike's voice as Will's own name does. And somewhere, deep within the depths of his heart, mind, body, and soul, Will seems to remember that.
"…Cool," Will replies eventually, leaving Mike with no other choice but to repeat the word back to him.
"Cool."
Mike smiles at him, watching as Will's eyelids grow heavier and heavier. Shit, he should really get someone in here. Why isn't anyone in here already? Surely they're supposed check up on their own patients every now and again.
All Mike wants to do is take Will home to the comfort of their own bed. As comfy as two twin-sized college dorm beds pushed together can be, anyway. The comfort-factor of this, for Mike at least, mostly comes from knowing that it's something he shares with Will. The blankets also smell like a mixture of his and Will's cologne, so that definitely adds to it. It's now that Mike remembers that one of those blankets are currently laying atop Will, and his smile widens.
"I'm going to go to sleep now, I think," Will mumbles, finally allowing his eyes to shut, gaze no longer fixed on Mike's face. "Can you wake me when my boyfriend gets here?" Will continues, words becoming increasingly slurred. More than they already were in Will's drug-fueled haze, at least.
"Of course," Mike responds, voice soft, gentle, fond— all the other synonyms of those words. "Sweet dreams, Will."
"Sweet dreams," Will repeats, too sleepy and out of it to think up new thoughts of his own. His brain's just doing what feels instinctual, and there's only one person (besides his Mom and brother) that Will allows himself to relax completely around, consciously or not. And Will is very familiar with the name of that person. He did essentially give him the name, did he not? "Mike."