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"MICHAEL! PHONE!" Ted Wheeler calls from the first floor of the house.
Mike jolts out of bed. He had been about to fall asleep, even though it's only eight pm.
Who could be calling at this time?
His limbs feeling heavy, Mike pulls himself out of bed and drags himself downstairs to the phone. He's only wearing pajama pants and a tank top, but he can't bring himself to give a fuck.
"Hello?"
As soon as he hears the voice of the person who called, all signs of tiredness leaves him. "Hi, Mike–"
Mike cuts him off. "Will!" He exclaims, though his voice is still rough from sleep.
"Oh, sorry, did I wake you?" Will asks, always so concerned.
"No," Mike lies. If he said yes, then Will would tell him to go back to bed and hang up.
"Oh, okay," Will says. "Well, I wanted to ask if, uh, maybe you'd like to go stargazing with me?"
Mike thinks for a moment. "Stargazing?" He questions.
"Yeah, like, I could take Jonathan's car and pick you up and we could go look at the stars," Will explains. "Um, but you know, only if you want to. It was just a–"
"I want to," Mike interrupts.
They're both silent for a moment.
Then, Will asks, "Really?"
"Of course, Will," Mike answers. "Why wouldn't I? That sounds super fun! Plus, you know every idea you have is amazing."
Will scoffs. "You're just saying that."
"I'm not."
Holly passes Mike on her way upstairs to go to bed. "Ugh, stop flirting with your boyfriend over the phone." She rolls her eyes, then heads upstairs.
Mike pulls the phone away while he shouts back, "He's not my boyfriend!"
Yet.
Holly doesn't respond, so Mike returns the phone to it's original place by his ear. "Anyway–"
"What was that?" Will asks.
"Just Holly being annoying," Mike tells him. "Anyway, when are you picking me up? I'm kinda just in pajamas and a tank top right now."
He can hear Will laughing on the other end of the line. "Probably, like, an hour. I'm not much better myself."
"Wow, William, you're making plans without even being dressed," Mike teases.
"At least I have the decency to wear a shirt in front of my family, Michael," Will returns.
Mike laughs, then says, "I'll see you in an hour."
"See you in an hour," Will agrees.
Not wanting to hang up just yet, Mike adds, "I love you."
"I love you, too. Bye, Mike."
"Bye," Mike says, then hangs up.
He goes back upstairs to change, freaking out internally.
I said I love him! And he loves me? Wait, that's, like, totally platonic though, right? We're just two friends going stargazing together. Nothing weird about that.
Mike ends up wearing ripped blue jeans, an old Bowie t-shirt, and a black zip-up jacket– because he knows it's going to be kinda cold. Now, he sits on the porch, waiting for Will to arrive.
A few minutes later, he hears an engine rumbling down the street, and watches as that old beat-up car that he knows so well slows to a stop in front of his house. Mike stands up from the porch and runs through the front lawn to the car. He walks around to the other side of the car and gets into the passenger seat.
"Hey," Will greets as Mike buckles his seatbelt.
Mike looks up at him with a smile. "Hi!" He returns, checking out Will's outfit. Will's wearing a yellow and white striped shirt, and brown jeans. He doesn't have a jacket with him, so he clearly didn't think about the weather. "Uh, you– you look nice," Mike tells him, turning towards the window to hide his blush.
"Oh, uh– so do you?" Will compliments, although he's clearly a bit confused.
They're not usually the type of friends to compliment eachother like this, but then again, they're also not usually the type of friends to go on a stargazing date.
No, Michael! It's not a date! You two are just friends!
The drive is spent mostly in silence, since they're both embarrassed and confused. This was supposed to be a nice night out, and Mike fucking ruined it!
It's not far to the place where Will decides to take them. Mike barely knows how they got here, as he was zoned out for most of the drive. But, as expected, it's a beautiful little place; a clearing surrounded by trees– the perfect place for stargazing.
"Where are we?" Mike asks. "I mean, it's beautiful, but I don't think I've been here before."
"We're not too far from the quarry," Will answers, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Me and Jane went on a walk the other day and found this place. Thought it would be good for stargazing."
Mike follows his actions, and they both exit the car. Outside, it's even more gorgeous. He turns around to express this to Will, but finds him grabbing something out of the backseat. "What are you–?"
"Blankets," Will answers, pulling out a bundle of blankets and throwing them on top of the car.
He puts his hands above the driver's door and pushes himself up, climbing up onto the roof of the car.
Mike just watches in awe. "There is absolutely no way that I can do that," he tells Will.
Will shrugs, setting up the blankets. "Just climb on from the trunk," he suggests.
Mike does as he says, feeling entirely awkward the entire way up to the car's roof. "That was so lame," he says, sitting next to Will on an old, faded blue blanket.
"You're not lame," Will tells him, almost seeming offended.
"I totally am," Mike argues.
Will nudges him. "Whatever. Just look at the stars."
For a few minutes, they just look up at the balls of fire in the sky. Mike doesn't really know much about astronomy, but he can find a couple constellations. Namely: The Big Dipper, and Ursa Major.
On the blanket, his hand slowly starts to drift closer to Will's. When their hands finally touch, Mike feels just how cold Will's skin is. It scares him for a second until he notices that Will is still breathing fine.
"You're freezing, Will," Mike notes, already pulling his jacket off.
Will starts to decline the offer of Mike's jacket. "I'm fine," he insists, trying to push the fabric away.
Mike doesn't listen to him. He drapes his jacket over Will's shoulders and grabs his arms to put them in the sleeves. "There. Warm," he says proudly.
"Mike, you didn't have to."
Mike looks at him like he's crazy. "You think I'm just going to let you freeze?" He questions. "Absolutely not."
"Well, we have other blankets..." Will reminds him.
"You'll be warmer like this," Mike insists.
Will shakes his head in defeat. They go back to staring at the stars, then he says, "The moon is beautiful, isn't it?"
Mike remembers something that Nancy told him a few weeks ago when she was freaking out about one of her romance books. Apparently, telling someone that the moon is beautiful is basically like saying 'I love you'.
He turns and grabs the front of the jacket that Will's wearing, turning him towards him and guiding him to his lips. Mike's hands stay on the jacket, but Will's quickly move to his hair, kissing him back.
"I love you," he breathes against Will's lips, entirely out of breath. Still, Mike continues to kiss him. "Please," he whispers, "please be mine."
"I love you, too," Will admits. "I've always been yours. Always."
Mike pulls away to breathe. "So... does this make us... boyfriends?" He asks once he can breathe again.
Will nods. "Yeah," he answers. "I mean, we're literally on a date."
Mike pulls him into a hug, so happy that he doesn't even know what to do with himself.
That little clearing in the woods quickly becomes Mike's favorite place.