Chapter Text
There’s music playing softly on the radio
“Mike!” He’s giggling— failing to push Mike’s face away.
They’re sitting on Will’s bed— heads turned towards each other, giggling and whispering.
There’s a couple of comics strewn about, halfway open in their laps—forgotten as they sit next to each other. Not an inch of space between them.
“Mike, stop!” he says between giggles, finally pushing Mike’s face away, if only half heartily.
“Just one more! Please Will?” Mike asks jutting out his bottom lip in a way he hopes is convincing.
“Fine!” Will tries to sound annoyed, though the grin in his voice and the blush on his cheeks give him away.
Mike plants one last kiss on his cheek. “My dear cleric, you’ve blessed me once again!” He says in a stupid theatrical voice.
“Whatever.” Will says with half hearted annoyance. “Can we get back to reading now? I’d like to finish this issue before we have to meet up with the others.”
“Fine.” Mike groans out, as if not being able to plant kisses on Will’s face anymore is an inconvenience to him.
“Speaking of the others—“ Will turns towards his bedside alarm “Mike!” Sounding urgent.
“What?”
“We’re late! We said we’d be there by 8!”
“It’s 7:45–“
“It’s 8:05.” Will says fitting Mike with an unimpressed look.
“Sorry” Mike replies, not sounding a bit sorry at all.
“Let’s go, Micheal.” Will says getting up from the bed.
Mike winces
After throwing their shoes on, they rush out the door— bidding Joyce goodbye and rushing off on their bikes towards the Starcourt Mall
“You scared?” Mike teases jabbing Will in the ribs as he does so.
“Stop that! Besides you know I’m much more into horror than you anyway” Will rolls his eyes.
“Don’t worry, my hand will be free for any scared people in need.”
“Oh, my brave paladin! You’ve saved me once more!” Will exclaims mocking Mike— throwing himself onto him.
“Anything for you my liege!” Catching Will around the waist.
“Wow, look at who’s finally decided to join us.” Their theatrics are interrupted by a very unimpressed redhead.
“Hey, Max. Hey, Lucas.” Will greets them with a sheepish little wave.
“Whose idea was it to meet up at 8 o’clock again? Oh, that’s right! It was Mike’s!”
“What was it he said Lucas? I’m having trouble remembering.” She says with a finger on her chin in a mockery of thoughtfulness.
“8 o’clock sharp, no exceptions.”
“Yeah, yeah. We were late, so what?”
“Mike!” Will exclaims whacking him on his arm “What he meant to say is that we’re sorry.”
Mike grumbles out a “sorry” only after being whacked by Will once again.
Rubbing his arm “So… who’s ready for a movie?” Mike asks
Max rolls her eyes “Yeah, whatever. Let’s just go.” Grabbing Lucas’ hand as she turns to walk inside.
“So, what’s the excuse this time, guys? Too many speed bumps? Lost shoes? Paranoid Joyce?”
Max snorts at her boyfriend’s interrogation.
Will’s face goes bright red all the way down to his neck, while Mike only grins smugly— opening his mouth to reply.
“Just got caught up in the new Spider-Man issue. Not like we need to explain ourselves to you anyway.”
“Well, when you’re late ag—“
Cutting off whatever snarky comment Lucas was going to make “If I want to spend time alone with my– with Will, then I will. And I’m not sorry about it either, so stop complaining.” Mike says all with a barely contained eye roll.
As they make their way to the second floor ice cream shop— with only a few obstacles along the way, including Lucas’ sister. Will ponders on whether Max and Lucas are right. He knows that they’re mostly joking, but it’s the mostly part that’s getting him. Does he really get so distracted with Mike that the party expects their tardiness by now?
His train of thought is interrupted by their arrival at the malls ice cream shop— Scoops Ahoy.
They’ve been here quite a few times now. Seeing as their secret-mall-service-insider works here.
Walking up to the register they’re met with an exhausted girl with short blonde hair.
“Oh, Steve! Those children you’re friends with are here!” She says, with obvious mockery towards the fact that they’re his friends in the first place.
Steve pops his head out from the back annoyed— yet still willing to allow them to break the rules, and risk his job.
As they push their way into the crowded theater looking for seats, Will is able to snag some for him and his boyfriend— right next to each other, of course
Max snags two seats for her and Lucas in the row ahead of them. Luckily nearby enough to be passed some sodas and candy that Will snuck in.
Feeling courageous Mike sneakily puts up the arm rest between him and Will and wraps his arm around Will’s waist to pull him in closer. With butterflies in his stomach, Will thinks he can be courageous too and lies his head on Mike’s shoulder. It’s dark enough that no one notices.
There’s a tingling throughout his whole body. It’s so soft it feels just like the movies theater’s ac blowing on his feet. Then, it starts to make its way upward, getting more present as it moves its way up through his body. The power goes out— and the feeling comes full force on his neck, his hairs stick straight up and a chill passes through him. He shoots up, right as the power comes back on— mid movie jump scare. The theater is an array of reactions, so he doesn’t stick out. Except to Mike. He’ll always stick out to Mike.
“You okay?” Mike asks in that soft voice he only ever uses with Will.
“Uh- yeah. Just got..” he trails off not finishing his sentence
“Scared?” Mike offers as an out, trying not to show his concern.
Will scoffs re-taking his position on Mike’s shoulder “You wish.”
That night, after Mike drops Will back home— he draws. A beautiful, full page portrait of Mike and the exact moment when they cuddled up together at the movie theater.
A broken down house with a stain glass window on the next—
When he goes to bed, he dreams of the Hawkins Public Pool, the sauna, and some blond boy with curly hair and a blurry face.
“Shit!”
Will wakes to a thud coming from his and Jonathan’s shared wall.
Last night he dreamt, but he can’t recall any of it. He’s been having this issue of not being able to remember his dreams lately. He knows he’s a vivid dreamer— he’s aware. So this inability to recall his dreams is unusual to him.
Feeling sluggish, as if he had not a wink of sleep at all, he makes his way through the morning slowly— hastily throwing on some clothes, and brushing his teeth. He makes his way to the breakfast table, barely missing his brother’s flurry— in a rush to not be late for his internship at the Hawkins Post. With a kiss mark on his cheek— gross!
“See you guys later, love you!”
“Bye, Jon!”
“Bye Sweetie, have a good day!”
Jonathan shuts the door in a hurry, shaking the house with it.
Knock, knock, knock
“Back so soon—“ his mom starts. opening the door. “Oh, Well Hello there Mike!” Glancing back at Will with amusement shining in her eyes “Come to see Will?”
Will’s face goes firetruck red. So does Mike’s.
“If that’s okay with you, Mrs.Byers?”
“ ‘course, you don’t need to ask. I’m sure you guys have plans. I trust you anyway— with Will I mean.”
Both boys mentioned become far more red— if it’s even possible.
“Want to come in? We’re having breakfast, I’m sure you could use a bite so early in the morning?” With slight amusement in her voice as she asks.
“Sure.” Mike answers back bashfully
After breakfast, they head to Dustin’s house. Where they’ll be setting up a welcome back surprise for him.
At the beginning of the summer, Dustin had left to go to science camp. After one long month he’s finally back. Will can’t wait to greet his friend again!
Setting up the surprise is no easy feat. The party sans Dustin, all meet at his house at 12— let in by Mrs. Henderson, who leaves shortly after to bring Dustin home.
After a few hours of setting up— with only minor complications, Mrs. Henderson was finally back with Dustin.
The party is huddling away behind a wall, Mike holds his hand up— looking towards El, and starts a whisper count down.
“3…”
Will feels a sudden chill wrack his body.
“2…”
Mike’s voice sounds deeper. His mind feels far away.
“1…”
Only it’s not Mike’s voice he hears this time, but a deep and gravelly sounding one.
A sense of urgency wracks his body.
And his attention is snapped back to the scene in front of him— Dustin being led towards the party’s hiding spot by his mind controlled gadgets.
He’s unsure of what just happened, but he’s sure he’s fine.
The plan goes successfully— mostly. Will winces at the memory of his friend getting attacked with half a bottle of hairspray straight to the face— sorry Lucas!
Dustin is currently showcasing his new gadgets—(courtesy of science camp)— with much enthusiasm— Will missed his friend so much.
Standing around in Dustin’s room with El and Mike— watching their friend vibrate with joy as he explains his gadgets and answers her questions of curiosity. Mike has a subtle hand on Will’s lower back.
Even though all their friends—(and most of Hawkins Middle)— are aware of their relationship, he and Mike still feel hesitant to be like that around other people.
Everyday they feel a little more courage to be more themselves around the party. It feels like this summer is all they have before stepping into whatever horrors that are awaiting them in High School. The calm before the storm.
Will hopes that maybe one day the world will catch up to them, and they won’t ever have to worry about showing too much of themselves ever again.
He zones back into the conversation just in time to hear Dustin talk about his new radio tower invention— Cerebro.
“So, it’s like a ham radio?” Will asks as he inspects Dustin’s invention.
“More like the Cadillac of ham radios! My baby carries a crystal-clear connection across vast distances— think North Pole to South.”
“Woah, how long did this all take to assemble?” Mike asks with genuine curiosity as Will and El scoot in to get a closer look.
“Would’ve taken me the whole month I was gone, but since I was working on it with my girlfriend we were able to get everything finished up throughout a two-week per—“
“Girlfriend!” El squeaks out
Will, Mike and El’s voices all overlap each other at once.
“Since when do you have a girlfriend?”
“Since the start of camp”
“Where’s she from?”
“She’s from Utah”
“What’s her name? What’s she like?”
“Her names Suzie— with a Z! She’s wicked smart, and looks like Phoebe Cates but cuter!” Dustin answers all their questions excitedly.
Will shoots a look in El’s direction. There’s been a weird tension between Dustin and El ever since Will met her in person. He always assumed they liked each other— guess he was wrong
But the jealousy radiating off El tells him he might not be.
“Wanna meet her?”
They all make their way towards the kitchen where Max is still helping Lucas wash out the hairspray from his eyes.
“Where you guys goin’?” Max questions
“We’re going to meet Dustin’s girlfriend.” Mike says skeptically.
“Girlfriend?” Max and Lucas exclaim together.
“Pretty sure they have phones in Utah!” Max exclaims annoyed
They’ve been walking up the Weathertop hill for quite some time now, and they’re all exhausted and over it— Will doesn’t do physical labor, thank you very much!
“She’s Mormon.” Dustin tries to explain
“So?–“
“Oh shit, she doesn’t have electricity?” Lucas questions
“That’s the Amish.” Max corrects
“What’s a Mormon?” Will is half sure Dustin is making shit up.
“Super religious white people.” Dustin explains
“What’s that gotta do with not having a phone?”
“Oh you sweet, sweet thing.” Max directs to her boyfriend.
“She does have a phone! We just can’t talk on it because I’m not Mormon, so her parents will never approve!” Dustin explains exasperated.
Dustin turns towards El who has fallen behind the group. “You doin’ okay?” He asks her.
“Curfew.” She replies
“Who’ll take you back?” He questions
“I’m capable of getting there on my own Dustin.” She replies annoyed
“Okay… see you later El.”
The rest of the group bids their farewells to El and keep on towards the top of the hill— except for Will.
Will feels a newly familiar chill run down his spine— checking his surroundings, he doesn’t find anything but the face of his concerned boyfriend.
“You okay?” Mike asks him in that sweet voice that gives him butterflies in his stomach.
“Yeah.. just tired I guess.”
Mike looks unsure on whether to push for more or let it go, but based on the hopefully pleading look Will has put on his face Mike folds and lets it go— Will knows they’ll be talking about this later.
“ ‘Kay.. want me to carry you?” Mike asks with a teasing but somewhat serious tone.
“Oh my brave paladin, save your strength for another day.” Will replies with a grin as they continue to walk up the hill— hand in hand!
Once they get to the top, Will audibly groans as he watches Lucas chug down all their remaining water— Will really hates physical labor!
Dustin smacks Lucas on the back of his head.
“Ow!”
“You drank all our water asshole!”
“Here’s your water back!” Lucas spits on Dustin and somehow gets some on Mike too.
“What the hell Lucas!” Mike yells
Will and Max watch as the three boys continue to bicker.
“We really know how to pick em.” Max says
“Yup.”
After Dustin finally gets the radio tower set up, they all plop down onto the grass in one big pile while Dustin tries to get a hold of Suzie.
“Suzie, do you copy?”
It’s been hours— the sun is setting and Suzie has still not copied. Will wants to give his friend the benefit of the doubt but after hours of no response he’s starting to actually question whether ‘Suzie’ is real or not.
“Hey, me and Max are gonna head back. It’s getting late, you know— curfew and all.” Lucas says while standing up and holding out a hand for Max to do the same.
“Yeah, curfew. Whatever, you guys are missing out!” Dustin exclaims
“You guys aren’t leaving me too, right?” Dustin directs the question to Mike and Will.
Will shoots a look towards Mike’s direction “I wanna stay.” He says.
“Then I guess we’re staying.” Mike says to Dustin.
“Wow, feels nice to know I would’ve been ditched otherwise.” Dustin replies
M starts on a snarky retort but is cut off by the radio going off–