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It was October in Hawkins, Indiana. The air was starting to cool from the summer heat, fading into autumn's chilly breeze. It wasn't quite as cold as winter, but it was still very chilly.
I should have brought a jacket, Will thought to himself as he walked to school with his friends. He was wearing a long-sleeve shirt, but it wasn't enough to keep him warm.
All his friends had jackets. Max had a green coat with fur on the hood. Jane wore a bright, colorful sweater with funky patterns. Dustin had a hoodie with dinosaur facts on it. Lucas had a grey puffer jacket. And Mike–
Mike was pulling his sweater off.
Was he crazy? How could he not want to be wearing a sweater in this weather? Why was he taking it off?
Then, he nudged Will with his elbow, handing the blue sweater over.
Will was hesitant to take it. "Aren't you cold?" He asked the taller boy.
"Aren't you?" Mike returned. "Take it. You're shivering."
Since Will knew he couldn't argue with that, he took the sweater from Mike's hand and pulled it on. The sleeves were a bit too long on him, and completely swallowed his hands, but he was a million times warmer– partially because the sweater was still hot from Mike's body heat.
Even though Mike had let Will borrow his sweaters, jackets, and many other clothes over the course of their friendship, this time felt a lot more... intimate. Not for any reason in particular, but maybe because this was the first time Mike had given Will an article of clothing right after taking it off.
Isn't that something that couples do? Will asked himself. He'd seen Max and Lucas share jackets and hoodies like this before, and he'd even overhead Nancy talking about couples in her rom-com movies doing it.
"Hey, nerds!" Max called from a little further up the street. "Come on!"
For a second, Will was confused. Then, he realized that he and Mike had both stopped walking when Will took the sweater from him. Their friends were waiting for them up ahead.
Finally realizing this, Mike and Will ran to catch up. They all shared a laugh about it, but Max had this look in her eye. She grabbed Lucas' arm and they started walking a little bit ahead of the group, whispering amongst themselves.
"Oh, so they can be on their own and we can't?" Mike grumbled.
Dustin shook his head. "Mike, the difference is that you two both stopped," he explained. "You don't hear us complaining any other time that you two go off on your own."
"We do not go off on our own like that!" Mike deflected.
At the same time, Will argued, "You guys literally complain every time!"
They stopped again, sharing a confused look.
Jane sighed. "You two better figure this out before we get to school." She and Dustin kept walking, leaving Mike and Will on their own.
"Okay, maybe we go off on our own occasionally," Mike shrugged, trying to make a joke out of it.
Will laughed. "Just sometimes," he agreed.
"We definitely didn't just do it twice in less than five minutes."
"Absolutely not."
Mike laughed to himself, looking away from Will for a second. "Okay, but at least we aren't as bad as Max and Lucas."
"Mmm... I think we are," Will corrected, scrunching up his nose and grinning playfully.
They left it at that and started walking to catch up with the party again.
Everyone seemed to be in their own little world, so Will nudged Mike in the ribs. "Thanks, by the way," he said.
"For what?" Mike asked, seeming to have forgotten that he did something for Will. "Oh!" he exclaimed, looking at the sweater Will was wearing. "What, you thought I was gonna let you freeze?"
Will shook his head. "Obviously not. I'm just saying thanks!"
"Don't thank me," Mike said, shaking his head. He almost looked concerned. "You don't have to thank me for that."
Will glanced at him, confused. "It's manners, Mike."
"Still," Mike went on, "If I give you my sweater, or jacket, or anything that you need, you don't have to thank me."
"Okay," Will agreed, not wanting to argue anymore.
Suddenly, Lucas slowed his walking pace so that he was walking in line with Mike and Will. "Hey, guys, I'm stealing Will for a second."
"How dare you," Mike complained.
"You're insufferable, Wheeler," Max said, grabbing Mike's arm and pulling him away.
Will turned to Lucas. "What's up?" He asked.
"Um, that's Mike's sweater, right?"
Will nodded. "I forgot mine," he explained.
Lucas awkwardly stuck his hands in the pockets of his jacket. He clearly didn't really want to talk about whatever this conversation was about. "So... you two aren't..." he trailed off, hoping that Will would get it.
"We aren't what?" Will asked, feeling the most confused he'd ever been in his life.
"Y'know," Lucas shrugged, "Together?"
What? Why would Lucas think that?
Will started overthinking everything that could possibly make Lucas think that. Was it him and Mike going off on their own a lot? Was it the fact that Will was wearing Mike's sweater? What was the reason???
"We're not together," Will told him. "Wh– why would you think that?"
Lucas just shrugged. "I don't know, man, but I do think he likes you. Like, like likes you."
Never in a million years did Will think that he'd hear Lucas say that he thought Mike like liked him. "No he doesn't," Will said, absolutely sure of it. Why would Mike like him back? "We're just friends. Best friends."
Lucas turned to face him. "Are you sure?"
"I– yeah! I'm pretty fucking sure, Lucas!"
Lucas raised his hands in defence. "Okay! I just thought–"
"Oh my fucking god," Mike grumbled, walking back over to Will. "Lucas, what the hell is your girlfriend on about?"
Lucas shrugged. "I think maybe I should leave you two alone," he said, then ran back to the rest of the party.
"What did Max say?" Will asked.
"We'll talk about it after school," Mike told him, since they were already almost there. "We don't have time to unpack all of that right now."
What the hell?
After school, Will and Mike went back to the Wheeler's house. Mike was sprawled out on his bed, and Will was sitting in the desk chair. He was waiting for Mike to stop moping, and groaning into his pillow, but it had already been ten minutes.
"Come on," Will complained, tired of waiting. "It can't be as bad as what Lucas was talking to me about."
Finally, Mike sat up, sitting cris-cross on his bed and facing Will. "What did he talk to you about?" he asked. "Let's start with that."
"No," Will said, hiding his face in his hands.
"Yes," Mike argued.
"No."
"Yes."
"N–"
Will felt something soft hit him, and uncovered his face, looking between Mike and the pillow on the floor. He didn't say anything, just got up, picked the pillow up from the floor by his feet, walked over to the bed, and playfully swung it at Mike.
Mike laughed, falling back on the bed to try and escape the hit. He crawled over to the headboard, trying to grab a second pillow, but Will continued to hit him, laughing as he did so. They hadn't had a pillow fight in so long– he had forgotten how fun they were.
Finally, Mike grabbed hold of a pillow and was able to fight back. They had a bit of a sword fight with the pillows for a minute, then Will climbed onto the bed to make it more fair.
However, this just resulted in them being almost face to face, Will hovering over Mike. It was so awkward that Will dropped his pillow and moved back about a foot.
"Fine," he agreed. "We can talk about what me and Lucas talked about."
Mike nodded, sitting up to show that he was paying attention. They didn't speak about the awkward situation they had just found themselves in.
"It's just, um, kinda... weird," Will warned. "So don't... don't freak out."
Mike shook his head. "I won't," he promised.
Will felt a little bit better knowing that. "Okay... well, he thought... he thought that we were... together."
Mike groaned. "Max thought the same thing."
"I mean, I don't understand why, because, like..."
They shared a look.
"Um..."
Silence.
"I actually can't think of a reason why they wouldn't think that," Mike admitted finally.
"Me either."
They were silent for another moment. Then, Mike asked, "I mean, why aren't we?"
"Mike," Will warned again.
"I'm serious, Will," Mike said. "Why aren't we together?"
Will stuttered, not believing this at all. "I– you– you actually want that?"
Mike nodded.
"Really?"
"Yes, Will. I want to date you, I want to kiss you, and I want–"
Will leaned forward, placing one hand on Mike's knee and the other one the back of his neck. He pulled him into a kiss, cutting off his sentence. "I want that, too," he said, pulling away.
Mike didn't let him get far, reaching out to grab his waist and pull him in again. "I want you be my boyfriend," he whispered against Will's lips. "I want to be your boyfriend."
Will smiled against Mike's mouth. "We can be boyfriends."