Work Text:
October
Will is on the phone with his mom, explaining for the thousandth time that Mike is, in fact, not his boyfriend (a fact which Will very much regrets himself). “I told you already, it’s not like that, we’re just-“
“Just good friends, I know, honey,” Will’s mom interrupts him. “It’s just, the way you talk about him, I can’t help but think you two would be perfect for each other.”
Neither can Will. “Well, it’s just not… like that. And besides, you haven’t even met him, how can you know we’d be so perfect for each other anyway?” He asks, trying to diverge the conversation a bit.
“Well actually,” his mom says, teasing smile clear in her voice, “I was going to see if you’d want to ask your just a good friend to come stay with us over Christmas break. If he doesn’t already have plans with his family, of course.”
Will bites his lip, thinking about bringing Mike home for Christmas. Introducing him to his family. He has to admit that is pretty boyfriend-y behavior. Literally, it was what he was planning on doing with his actual boyfriend last Christmas until Jake had cancelled last minute stating a family emergency (which, when he then proceeded to break up with Will in January, Will suspected might have been made up – he guesses it would be pretty awkward meeting the family of someone you want to break up with).
Will is shaken out of his thoughts by the sound of the front door opening, Mike shouting a quick, “I’m home!” (which absolutely does not make him smile like an idiot, the knowledge that he is part of Mike’s ‘home’). He then realizes he is still on a call with his mom, who asked him a question about 2 minutes ago, maybe, and that he should probably answer her. “Um, I’ll have to ask him. He actually just got home, so I’ll go do it now if…” he trails off, sure his mom knows he’s just eager to go spend time with Mike – he hasn’t seen him all day, okay!?
“You do that, honey, and say hi from me! I love you,” she answers him, clearly amused by his eagerness. Oh well. “Yeah, I will, love you too, bye.”
The second the call ends, he scrambles off of his bed and into the living room/kitchen where he is met with the truly adorable sight that is Mike Wheeler, cheeks and nose red from the cold, with a warm smile lighting up his face the second he sees Will.
“Hi,” Will says dumbly, embarrassingly a little out of breath. “I was just, uh, talking with my mom.”
Mike smiles a little coyly and jokingly wiggles his eyebrows as he asks, “talking about me?”
Always, Will thinks, Mike’s words making him blush, although he knows Mike is just joking. “Well, actually, my mom did ask me to, um, ask if you have any plans for Christmas this year?”
“Oh,” Mike says, his expression turning a little surprised and maybe a little… hopeful? Or that might just be Will projecting.
“Well,” Mike continues, “I haven’t actually given it much thought yet. I don’t know, I suppose I would visit my parents as usual-” Mike grimaces slightly as he says this. He doesn’t have the best relationship with his parents, Will knows this, and coming out as gay didn’t exactly do anything to improve it. Will kind of wants to strangle Mike’s parents sometimes – how can they not see how amazing their son is? He’s literally the best guy Will knows and he’s just so kind and smart and beautiful and- well shit, Will is so gone for him, isn’t he?
“That is,” Mike continues tentatively, “unless another offer turned up? I mean if…” He trails off, looking at Will, a bit unsure.
Will quickly answers, baffled by Mike’s sudden shyness. “Well in that case, would you like to come spend Christmas with me? Me and my, uh, my family, I mean.” And suddenly, Will is the unsure one, so he just keeps blurting out words that probably don’t even make any sense, “only if you want to, of course, I mean, I get it if you don’t! It’s like, we’ve only known each other in college, and, I don’t know, maybe you wouldn’t feel comfortable– not that you shouldn’t feel comfortable! Cause, you know, everyone wants you there, I just-”
The feeling of Mike’s hands on his upper arms makes him halt. Mike, who is suddenly very, very close to Will, gives Will’s arms a quick squeeze (oh god) and says, “Will, I’d love to come.” And god, he looks so sincere, like it’s actually important to him that Will understands that he means what he’s saying. Will could melt on the spot, truly.
“I feel like I already know half of your family anyway, with how much you talk about them,” Mike adds teasingly, taking a step away from Will.
And just like that they’ve fallen back into their easygoing best-friends dynamic, and Will is already trying to convince himself that the tension he had felt was probably all in his head. Because they are – exactly as he had told his mom earlier and himself a thousand times over – just good friends.
He tells himself again as he matches Mikes easygoing energy. “Hey, I don’t talk about them that much.” And then, in a slightly softer tone, because he just can’t help himself, “so um, you really want to? Come home with me for Christmas, I mean?”
“Yeah,” Mike says, “I really want to.”
December
Mike is acting weird. Or well, weirder than usual.
They’re in Will’s car, about a minute away from his childhood home, and Mike has barely said a word in the last hour. Also, he is fidgeting more than he usually does, his right leg bouncing up and down rapidly and his hands toying with the hem of his jacket.
Will's worried he’s changed his mind about spending Christmas with Will’s family. Shit, he has to say something. He clears his throat as he pulls into the driveway, “hey, um, we’re here.”
Mike briefly looks up at him, “what? Oh, yep, yeah. That’s great” he says, taking a deep breath as if to calm himself.
Well, here he goes, “is- is everything okay?”
Again, Mike looks at him, “of course, yep, I’m fine, I mean, everything’s fine, I mean, I’m really not that nervous, that would be stupid, I’m just- I mean, I’m sure your family’s great, and, like, El’s gonna be there and she’s great and-“
“Mike!” Will cuts him off, slightly exasperated, “breathe.”
Mike takes another deep breath before meeting Will’s gaze, his cheeks slightly pink and looking a little embarrassed. He then looks out the window at the house now in front of them, takes another deep breath and looks back at Will, still blushing, “I’m sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck with one hand and he’s still blushing and god he looks so cute right now. “I guess I’m just a little, uhm, nervous?”
What? Why would Mike be nervous about meeting Will’s family? Easygoing, doesn’t-care-what-anybody-thinks Mike is nervous about meeting Will’s family? Will is decidedly not reading anything into that.
“Oh,” is everything Will manages to say. “Uhm, why?”
Mike looks away and Will suddenly feels like that was the wrong thing to say. “Not that- I mean, it’s okay that you’re nervous! I’m just surprised, you know? You’re usually, well, not.”
“Yeah, no, I know, I guess I just- I just really want them to like me, this time. Usually it’s not that- I just mean, the stakes are kind of higher this time, you know?” Mike responds, looking back at Will.
“You really want them to like you?” Will repeats, stupidly hopeful.
“Of course I do! It’s your family and you’re-“ Mike coughs and looks down at his feet, “you’re my best friend and I care about you a lot.”
You’re my best friend. Of course, they’re friends – Will would do well remembering that. It’s stupid to keep getting his hopes up.
“Oh, yeah. So, anyway, shall we?” Will says, giving Mike what he hopes is an encouraging smile.
Mike looks almost confused – why would he be confused? – for a second before returning Will’s smile and together they make their way to the front door with their bags slung over their shoulders.
As Will rings the doorbell he notices Mike is fidgeting again and he really wants to grab Mike’s hand and give it an encouraging squeeze, but he’s pretty sure that’s not the standard best friend behavior, so he dutifully keeps his hands to himself and waits for his mom to come to the door.
As if on cue, the door swings open and Will is faced with the grinning – and a little scheming (shit) – face of his mom. “Will! It’s so good to have you home,” she says, as she steps forward to hug him tightly.
“It’s good to see you too, mom,” Will replies, hugging her back before stepping back so he can introduce Mike. “Uh, so, mom this is Mike,” he says, gesturing to Mike who is standing a few steps behind Will now, a slightly nervous smile on his face.
There is a glint in his mom’s eyes as she turns her attention to Mike (shit). “Yes, of course, Mike! Oh, I’ve heard so much about you, it’s honestly too bad that I haven’t gotten to meet you until now!”
Will is sure he must look like a tomato with how furiously he’s blushing right now.
Mike, oddly enough, also has a faint blush on his cheeks as he steps forward. “Well, I’ve heard a lot about you too, Mrs. Byers, it’s a pleasure to finally meet you. And thank you so much for inviting me to stay here for Christmas.”
He stretches out his hand, but Will’s mom pulls him into a hug instead of shaking it. “You are more than welcome here, Mike, everyone is looking forward to meeting Will’s famous college roommate.”
She takes a step back, now holding Mike loosely by the arms, “and no need to call me Mrs. Byers, honey – you can just call me Joyce.” She lets go of Mike and looks between the two of them for a second before continuing, “well, let’s get you boys inside where it’s warm, shall we?” And with that she turns around, disappearing into the house.
Will doesn’t move for a second, too busy overthinking the short conversation between his mom and Mike. First of all, his mom has definitely not gotten the memo that they are very much just good friends and that is definitely going to be a problem if the last few minutes are anything to go by.
And then there’s Mike who really must have been genuinely trying to make a good first impression because Will has never heard him use the words ‘it’s a pleasure to meet you’ before and he even thanked Will’s mom for inviting him which he would normally not think to do- like, okay, a lot of people’s first impression of Mike is that he’s kind of an asshole because he usually doesn’t really bother with manners and stuff- and, okay Will knows how that sounds, but he really isn’t an asshole at all, like, he’s the least asshole-y person Will knows and-
“Uh Will?” Mike is saying, maybe not for the first time judging by the look on his face, “should we, uh, are you ready to go in?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry, just zoned out there for a second but, yeah, let’s go.”
Once inside, they greet Jonathan who gives Will a big hug and takes the opportunity to whisper to him, “so this is Mike, huh?” Which of course makes Will blush again and god, if his entire family is going to act like this the entire time he’s home he’s never going to survive until Christmas.
Mike is still on his best behavior and still visibly (to Will at least) nervous as he stretches out his hand for Jonathan to shake. “Nice to meet you, I’m Mike.”
“Yeah, I know,” Jonathan responds, taking Mike’s hand, “Jonathan, Will’s older brother, good to meet you too.” Jonathan let’s go of Mike’s hand and looks between the two of them, grinning.
“So,” he begins, but he never gets the chance to finish that sentence, because Will has definitely noticed the glint in his eye and is quickly ushering Mike up the stairs to his childhood bedroom.
“Your brother seems nice,” Mike notes once they’re out of earshot. Will just shrugs in response but he can’t help the little smile that makes its way onto his face at the thought of Mike and Jonathan meeting each other and getting along and shit.
“So, this is my room,” Will says once they’ve reached the door furthest down the hallway. As he opens the door he dramatically steps back and gestures for Mike to step inside as if he were leading him to some luxury hotel room and not his small childhood bedroom.
It’s obviously a joke, but Mike, for some reason, reacts as if it were the latter, stopping dead in his tracks and looking around the room with wide eyes. This confuses Will for a second until Mike steps closer to the wall and gestures to the paintings and drawings covering the entire room. Oh.
“Did- did you make these?” Mike asks in a soft voice. As he turns to face Will, Will notes the look of absolute awe in his eyes and he feels warmth rise to his cheeks.
“Uh, uhm, well, yeah,” Will gets out, one hand nervously rubbing the back of his neck and blush intensifying because of the intense way Mike is starring at him.
A beat passes and Mike just keeps looking at him like that so Will nervously rambles on, “but, like, they’re pretty old the things in here, I mean they’re really not my best work, which, or-”
“No, Will,” Mike interrupts, seemingly awoken from his stupor, “they’re like, amazing! I mean you’re just so talented, I can’t even believe it! And since you were a kid too, it’s incredible!”
“No Mike stop, you’re making me blush,” Will says, embarrassed, hiding his face in his hands.
“Just telling it as at is, Byers”
“Yeah yeah, okay, I’m amazing, now let’s change the subject, please, before I die from embarrassment.” Will looks up from his hands to find Mike grinning at him.
“Well we can’t have that now can we,” Mike says, “one subject change coming right up.”
“You’re such a dork.”
“Hey, you were the one who asked for a subject change instead of just changing the subject!”
“Yeah well,” Will begins, but he trails off as he notices the new bed in the corner of the room. The bed that is very much not his childhood bed but instead a king-sized bed. Meant for two people. To share. Oh god.
Mike seems to have noticed too. “So, what are the sleeping arrangements? I don’t see an extra mattress so…” he trails off, rocking back and forth on his feet, restless.
“Uh well,” Will begins, “I think we’re meant to, uhm, share?” He’s looking anywhere but at Mike, suddenly very shy around his supposedly best friend and his hands start fidgeting. “I guess my, uh, I guess my mom thought it’d be big enough for the both of us.”
He dares a look at Mike who has a funny look on his face so he quickly adds, “if it makes you uncomfortable I can-“ but his sentence is cut short by Mike stepping forward and grabbing his arms lightly.
“No! I mean, uhm, no, it doesn’t make me uncomfortable. Not at all.” After a beat, Mike adds, “does it… make you uncomfortable?”
“No,” Will gets out, sounding a bit strangled, but Mike is standing really close to him, okay? And he hasn’t let go of Will’s arms yet and it’s all just a little bit intoxicating and a little bit overwhelming.
Without meaning to, Will looks down at Mike’s lips, then instantly catches himself and looks back up, blushing. When he looks up, though, it’s as if Mike had been doing the same thing.
But he wouldn’t have been. Would he? No. No- he doesn’t like Will that way and that’s fine. But… but none of them have said anything for like a whole minute now, and why has Mike not let go of his arms yet, Will is going insane! If he just stepped a little closer, he could-
“Will,” Mike says then, voice the softest Will has ever heard it.
“Yeah?” Will responds, almost whispering, afraid to shatter the moment.
Mike swallows, “I-“
He’s interrupted by the door swinging open and they jump apart as if they had been caught doing something they shouldn’t.
“Dinner’s almost ready, can you boys come help set the table?” Joyce says, totally normal, but she’s looking between the two of them with an inquisitive look in her eyes.
“Yep, of course, we’ll be right down mom.”
“Oookay,” Joyce says, slowly backing out the door.
Neither of them says anything for a second, just standing there in silence as they listen to Joyce making her way down the stairs.
“So I guess we should-“
“Well anyway if you-“
“Oh, uh, you go first,” Mike says, trying to sound casual and almost succeeding.
“Yeah, uhm, I guess we should go down and help my mom?”
“Yes, of course, let’s go,” Mike says, already on his way out the door, “we can’t keep her waiting – good first impressions and all, haha.”
“Yeah,” Will responds weakly, though Mike’s already too far away to hear him.
What just happened?
Dinner is a success. Mike must have really meant it when he said he wanted to make a good first impression because he obviously really makes an effort. He makes polite conversation with Will’s mom and Hopper, who arrived alongside El just before they sat down to eat, talks about music with Jonathan, and jokes around with El.
It’s… good. Mike is just- he fits. Having him here with Will’s family, smiling, looking comfortable and happy, it just seems like he belongs here. Belongs with me, Will thinks, but as much as he wishes that were true, that’s not why Mike is here. And as much as Mike is making an effort with Will’s family it’s not because of- of that. It’s because they’re friends – Mike said it himself in the car, didn’t he? And whatever that was earlier, in Will’s room, that wasn’t-
“You okay?” Mike asks gently, bumping Will’s knee under the table to get his attention.
“Oh, uh, yeah, I’m good.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I was just thinking,” Will says, giving Mike a small smile to show him he means it.
When he looks across the table he makes eye contact with his mom who raises an eyebrow at him don’t think I didn’t see that, but he just shakes his head in response you know it’s not like that.
“Well, you boys should get to bed, you had an early morning today. El, Jonathan, will you help with the dishes today?” Joyce says, which sets everyone into motion, getting up and starting to clear the table.
Mike thanks Joyce for the dinner and asks if she’s sure she doesn’t want their help with the dishes, and only when Joyce assures him they’ve got it and he should go get some rest does he agree to go upstairs with Will.
They get ready for bed in comfortable silence and only when they’re all done and stand side by side contemplating the bed, does the silence turn a bit awkward.
That is, until Mike jumps onto the bed spreading his arms and legs like a starfish and happily exclaims, “this is the most comfortable bed I’ve ever tried!” His voice muffled by the duvet.
Mike rolls over to the left side of the bed, holding himself up with his left elbow, head leaning on his hand, and raises an eyebrow at Will, “so, are you going to stand there all night, or are you going to come try the seriously most comfortable bed in the world? Like, seriously, I need to ask your mom where she got this bed.”
Will can’t help but smile at Mike’s antics. He can be quite dramatic sometimes. It’s adorable.
“You seriously do not need to do that,” Will laughs, as he makes his way to the right side of the bed and slowly crawls in. And, okay, he has to admit – the bed is pretty damn comfortable.
“You see?!” Mike says knowingly at Will’s silence.
“Okay, okay, you’re right, it is pretty comfortable,” Will amends, mirroring Mikes position so they are now facing each other.
Mike looks genuinely happy and comfortable, and Will can’t help the stupid smile that makes its way onto his face.
Mike notices, of course, “what?” He’s smiling too.
“It’s nothing,” Will responds, “just… was it an okay first day? Meeting everyone and stuff, I mean. Like, are you still okay with spending Christmas here?”
“If I’m okay with- are you kidding?! I’m totally looking forward to it!” Mike responds, almost exasperated. He’s sitting up now, facing Will.
“Yeah?” Will prompts, also sitting up.
“Definitely. Your family is like, the nicest people ever and I- well I’m- uh, I’m pretty happy to get to spend Christmas with you too so… there’s that.” Mike says, smile turning a bit shy. His voice goes soft as he says the last part and Will feels like there’s something there. It feels almost like a confession.
The thought makes him feel warm all over. It’s not often he sees Mike shy like this and he knows Mike still has a hard time being vulnerable which makes the admission feel all that more important. He really wants to reach out and take Mike’s hand in his, curl their fingers together – and he almost does, until he reminds himself that it’s not like that and he probably shouldn’t do that.
What he should do, though, is probably respond, because he realizes now that he’s just been staring at Mike without responding for who knows how long, and Mike still has that shy smile on his face although it has turned slightly less shy and more just worried and, okay, say something Will.
“Well, that’s good,” he gets out, going for a light tone, “cause I’m pretty happy you’re here.”
“Good.”
“Yeah, good.”
They sit there staring at each other a moment longer, and Will is reminded of what happened earlier before his mom interrupted them. He’s still not sure what to make of that.
“Well, we should probably try and get some sleep,” Will says then, breaking the silence.
Mike shakes his head slightly, as if he had been lost in thought, before responding, “yep yeah good idea.”
So Will turns of the lamp beside him, and they both get comfortable in the bed, their backs turned to each other.
A while passes, and Will can’t seem to fall asleep. He is tired, it’s not that, he just can’t stop thinking about the events of the past couple of hours and what it all means. Mike being nervous about meeting Will’s family and then later when they first went up to the room… It’d almost seemed like Mike was about to- but then again, he wouldn’t have wanted that. They’re not like that.
Although Will can’t seem to shake his crush on Mike, Mike has made it pretty clear that he could never see Will like that. When they met back in their first year of college Will had immediately started developing a crush on Mike (how could he not), but Mike had seemed to be interested in pretty much every other guy than him, so after a while he decided it was a lost cause, and that he would be happy just to have Mike as a good friend (and later best friend).
Will had even decided to put himself out there a little as part of his attempt to get over Mike – and to his surprise, he had actually met someone. Jake. He was Will’s first serious boyfriend and they were together for about a year.
When Jake broke up with him last January, he’d told Will to wake up and realize he was obviously more interested in being with Mike than Jake – which had promptly sent Will into a crisis, because if Jake had realized did that mean that Mike could tell too? And then- well then he’d realized just how right Jake was, if Mike finding out about his feelings was his immediate concern right after being broken up with by someone else.
And just like that he’s thinking about Mike again. Mike never did seem to like Jake much, now that he thinks about it-
“Will? You awake?”
Will startles slightly, lost in his own thoughts – thoughts about Mike – and thinking Mike was already asleep.
He turns around so he’s facing Mike before he answers. “Yeah. I thought you were sleeping, though.”
“Couldn’t sleep,” Mike answers, voice quiet.
“No?”
“No,” Mike looks like he’s thinking something over – whether he should say something or not, maybe. “I was just- what were you thinking about? At dinner, I mean, you said you were thinking and it- it looked important.”
Oh, he was still thinking about that. Well, shit.
“Important?” Will answers, trying to make his voice sound light.
“Yeah, I don’t know, just- is everything okay? Like, I don’t know... you know you can talk to me, right? If something is bothering you or…” Mike trails of, and it doesn’t seem like he’s going to finish his sentence.
Will is quiet for a moment as he debates how to answer and, in the end, decides to go for something like the truth, “I’m- nothing’s wrong, it wasn’t anything bad it was just, well-” Okay, shit, is he really saying this? Yes, yeah Mike’s his best friend, it’s not weird, friends appreciate having their friends around… and stuff.
He clears his throat, “I was actually thinking about, uh, how nice it is that you’re here and- you know, that you get along so well with my family and stuff. It’s… nice.”
Mike is lying frozen opposite Will and a few seconds pass before he lets out a quiet, “oh.”
Shit, was that too much? Will can’t tell if Mike’s silence is because he’s uncomfortable or just surprised.
Slightly panicked he keeps talking, “And- I don’t know, I guess also- I was thinking about how you were being so nice to everyone even though I know you usually wouldn’t have, like, that good manners and I guess I was just wondering why and- I mean I know you said in the car that- that it was- so, well, yeah...” what the actual fuck was that?
During Will’s chaotic little speech Mike has seemed to go from surprised to slightly offended (oops) to now, maybe, embarrassed?
“Well,” Mike says, “I meant it, you know. About wanting them to like me. And uh-” his mouth turns up into a shy smile, pink dusting his cheeks (although that might just be Will projecting – it’s hard to see in the dark and Will is definitely blushing) “-the other part as well.”
The other part…? Will thinks back to their conversation in the car. You’re my best friend and I care about you a lot. Oh shit, Will had been so focused on the whole ‘best friend’ part of that sentence that he’d completely skipped over the second part. And okay, even though Mike means it in a platonic way, it still makes Will feel all warm inside.
“Me too,” he hurries to say, not wanting to leave Mike hanging any longer. “I mean, I care about you a lot too.”
“Good. That’s- yeah.”
“Yeah.”
They maintain eye contact a moment longer, until they decide, seemingly at the same time, that they’ve been staring for long enough, and they both roll onto their backs.
The silence seems charged but that might just be Will. He decides to break it.
“Goodnight Mike.”
“Goodnight,” a pause, “Will.”
The first thing Will notices when he wakes up is how warm he is. And, as someone who’s almost always cold, that’s pretty amazing and honestly quite unusual, which- wait, is Mike cuddling him?! Slowly opening his eyes, and trying to keep as still as possible, Will confirms his suspicions as he looks down to see Mike’s arm slung over his waist protectively.
Shit, this is too nice. He needs to get out of it. He has his back to Mike, but based on Mike’s slow breathing, that tickles Will’s neck with every exhale (!), Will assumes he’s still asleep. Okay, he can get up without waking Mike in the process. Probably. And, well, even if he does wake him, it is Mike who’s in the more incriminating position here, so, yeah.
Carefully, Will starts lifting Mike’s hand so as to crawl out of bed, but before he can move away, Mike sighs deeply and tightens his hold on Will’s waist, pulling them flush together.
Okay, so that didn’t go as planned. Instead of escaping Mike’s arms they’re now practically spooning, and Will is going to lose his mind if he stays like this much longer. Trying to get up didn’t work very well for him, though, so… plan B: pretend to be asleep and wait for Mike to wake up so he can deal with it instead of Will.
And, like, if he’s going to stay like this for a while, he might as well enjoy it, right? He’s just touch starved, that’s it, it’s not because it’s Mike that’s… yeah okay who is he kidding.
Will has started kind of dosing off when he feels Mike stir awake behind him. Suddenly Will is wide awake once again, waiting to see how Mike will react to their, erm, position.
At first, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a reaction from him, until suddenly he jerks away from Will, presumably sitting up next to him. He doesn’t leave the bed though and Will, curious to see the expression on Mike’s face, acts as if he too just woke up.
In a quite frankly Oscar-worthy performance Will yawns audibly and stretches slightly before turning around to look at Mike.
“Good morning,” he says, taking in Mike’s appearance. He looks- well, embarrassed mostly, which makes sense, a blush creeping all the way down his neck and disappearing under the collar of his t-shirt.
When he looks at Will his eyes widen slightly, as if he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have, and he turns, impossibly, even more red as he stammers out a weak, “Good- good morning. Will.”
Will can’t help but tease him a little and so gives him a teasing (okay, flirty) smirk as he says, “sleep well?”
“Ye- yep, yeah, all good. Normal, nothing- nothing out of the ordinary.”
And, god, Mike looks bordering on panicked now.
“Oo-kay,” Will says, holding Mike’s gaze a moment longer before looking away. He really hadn’t expected him to be this embarrassed about it. They’re best friends, after all, and he knows Mike is severely touch-starved. Hell, if it hadn’t been for Will’s feelings for Mike, he probably would have even suggested they cuddle sometimes.
When Mike doesn’t say anything Will chances a glance back at him only to find that he is still looking – or rather staring – at Will, still blushing but now with a more dazed expression as if he’s lost in thought.
“Well uhm, I’m just gonna,” Will begins, gesturing towards the door and starting to get out of bed.
This seems to bring Mike back to reality as he gives his head a little shake before responding, “uh, yeah- cool, I’ll, uh- yeah.”
And with whatever that was, Will gets out of bed, pulls on an old, oversized sweatshirt, and wanders off towards the bathroom.
---
The next few days pass incredibly quickly, time always seeming to fly by when Mike is with him, and all of a sudden it’s the 24th and Mike and Will are in the kitchen baking christmas cookies for tonight.
It’s been a good couple of days. Really good, in fact, but they’ve also left Will a bit… well, confused. Or rather Mike has left Will a bit confused.
It’s not that their dynamic has really changed all that much, Will thinks, it’s more that he has begun noticing some things about it. Has let himself notice.
Like how they’ve ended up cuddling every morning, despite going to sleep on separate sides of the bed, as if they gravitate to each other in their sleep. How this turns Mike into a flustered mess.
How Mike’s gaze seems to linger on Will’s bedhead in the morning. Seems to linger on Will a lot in general.
How he’s putting in such an effort to make sure Will’s family will like him.
How he always seems to know when something’s wrong or notice when Will is lost in thought – always checking up on him to make sure he’s okay.
And then there are these… moments. And, well, they’re new.
It had happened again yesterday. It had snowed a lot overnight, so, naturally, Mike and Will had decided to have an epic snowball fight in the back yard. It had quickly turned into Mike just chasing after Will, though, because Mike’s got shit aim and Will had been the only one getting any hits in.
When Mike had finally caught up with Will he had simultaneously managed to lose his footing on the slippery snow, and they’d both gone down – Mike landing on top of Will, caging him in.
And just like that, time had seemed to stop – just like the other night in Will’s bedroom. Only this time, Will had dared to hope – had dared to believe that Mike was actually gonna… that he had actually wanted to kiss Will.
Only he hadn’t. He’d given his head a little shake and then gotten up, walking towards the house while mumbling something about it being too cold out.
So, really, what was Will supposed to think? No one could blame him for feeling a bit confused and-
“Will?”
Will looks up at Mike, standing in front of him with his hand gently resting on top of Will’s on the counter, a look of amusement and slight concern on his face.
“Is something wrong?”
“Just thinking,” Will replies truthfully.
He looks down at Mike’s hand covering his. Mike follows his gaze and then promptly removes it to instead place it on the back of his neck, color creeping into his cheeks.
“You’ve been doing that a lot these days,” Mike says, “thinking, I mean.”
And he- he just looks so soft and sweet, and he looks good and Will just wants to kiss him right here in the middle of the kitchen.
He’s not going to do that, though, that would be… yeah. But what he can do is try to be a little braver.
So, “maybe I’ve got a lot to think about,” he responds, looking up at Mike through his lashes.
This, somehow, has the desired effect, as Mike turns even more red before stuttering out, “Ye-yeah? Like what?”
Will moves a little closer to Mike before answering. Mike doesn’t move away.
“Like…” Will pauses, taking a deep breath to steel himself and still not breaking eye contact. He can do this, he can-
The doorbell rings and they both freeze where they are, listening in silence as someone opens the front door.
The voice of Will’s grandma greeting his mom is enough to make him unfreeze and he quickly takes a step away from Mike.
Mike, however, still seems to be frozen in place. As in seriously- is he holding his breath?
Will doesn’t have time to process any of what just happened – or what was maybe about to happen?! – though, cause right then his mom enters the kitchen followed by Will’s grandma.
“Will, honey, it’s so good to see you!” she says, as she smiles warmly at Will and walks towards him to envelop him in a big hug.
“Hi gran,” Will answers easily. His grandma – on his mom’s side – is truly the best gran you could wish for, and Will really loves her. She’s also, definitely, the most progressive 71-year-old he’s ever met and she was actually one of the first people Will came out to.
They break the hug, and she fixes her eyes on Mike who’s standing a few steps behind Will, fidgeting slightly with the hem of his shirt.
Will’s grandma proceeds to glance between him and Mike a couple of times with a look of contemplation in her eyes and Mike, who’s never been good with long silences, clears his throat and takes a step forward, stretching out his hand.
“I’m Mike, Will’s uh- friend from uni, it’s nice to meet you.”
His gran takes Mike’s outstretched hand in both of hers with a glint in her eyes.
“Lovely to meet you, Mike. And such good manners, too,” she looks towards Will, smiling. Oh- oh she thinks- “you’ve found yourself a good one, Will.” And she straight up blinks at him. Oh god.
Will feels heat quickly rising to his cheeks at the implication that Mike and he are dating and chances a look at Mike. Mike just looks confused for a second, two. Then he seems to realize what she’s implying, and a slightly panicked look crosses over his face. Well isn’t that great. Will needs to do something.
“Oh, eh no, gran. We’re just friends,” he corrects (regrettably).
She looks at him with a look that clearly shows she doesn’t believe him but luckily she lets it go.
“Ah, well, a good friend, then, that’s nice,” and with that she makes her way out of the kitchen in search of the rest of the Byers, Will’s mom in tow.
Again, Will looks at Mike, ready to make a lighthearted comment or something to make things less awkward, but he pauses when he sees the expression on Mike’s face.
Instead of slightly panicked and maybe a bit flustered, as Will had expected, Mike now looks kinda… sad? His shoulders hunching slightly and brow furrowed a worrying amount.
Will walks over to him, bumping their hips together slightly to get his attention.
When Mike looks up, he’s smiling, but it’s clearly a bit forced. Will doesn’t understand why.
“Hey so,” he says, in an attempt to lighten the mood, “the cookies should be cool enough to decorate now, so I hope you’re ready cause we take ‘The Great Byers Yearly Christmas Cookie Decoration Competition’ very seriously, you know.”
Mike’s quiet for a second more before looking at Will with a genuine smile and Will feels warm all over cause he did that.
“Well with a name like that how could you not?” Mike responds, glint in his eyes.
“Yeah yeah, I was literally five when I came up with that name,” Will says, giving Mike a gentle shove in the shoulder.
“I’ll go get El and Jonathan- be back in a second.”
After dinner they’d all gathered in the living room to watch a cheesy Christmas movie and eat the meticulously decorated Christmas cookies as they do every year (and Will had won ‘The Great Byers Yearly Christmas Cookie Decoration Competition’ as he does every year).
As the end credits start rolling, Will’s mom and Hopper say goodnight and head to their bedroom, followed shortly by Jonathan and a tired-looking El.
Will stretches and looks at Mike, who’s sitting next to him on the couch, asking him a silent question. Bedtime?
Mike nods and they too get up, walking towards the hallway. When Will turns around to say goodnight to his grandma he’s once again met with that scheming face he’s seen a lot on his family members the last few days.
“Not so fast boys,” she says, grinning.
Will looks at Mike, who’s also stopped in the doorway, and he looks as confused as Will feels.
He looks back at his gran and then realization hits, as he follows his grandma’s gaze to the mistletoe hanging above where he and Mike are standing. Well shit.
With one final grin, his grandma leaves the living room, effectively leaving Will and Mike alone.
It’s not like they have to kiss or anything – no one’s even here. But. But. Will wants to and maybe – just maybe – Mike wants to as well.
“So-“
“Anyway-“
“Oh uh, you go,” Mike says, looking nervous. Were they this close a minute ago?
“Yeah no, I was just- uh- I mean, should we, you know…” Will trails off, nodding towards the mistletoe hanging above them. “For tradition.” he adds, cowardly.
“For- for tradition. Yeah,” Mike responds but neither of them move, instead just standing there, inches apart, looking into each other’s eyes. Will’s trying to decipher the emotion in Mike’s – trying to figure out if the longing he thinks he sees is really there, or if he’s confusing his own feelings with Mike’s.
“Okay?” Will asks, finally. He needs to make sure.
“Okay.”
Will closes his eyes, leaning in and places the softest of kisses on Mike’s lips. Mike presses back slightly and Will kind of melts. It takes everything in him to pull back instead of deepening the kiss, but he needs to know if that’s something Mike wants as well. Maybe, maybe, maybe-
Or maybe not. The look on Mike’s face is something akin to, like, pain and also panic and something third Will can’t quite place and- shit. This was a mistake. Will stumbles back a few steps. Fuck. Shit. Mike could probably tell from the kiss that Will has feelings for him and- shit.
Will can feel the tears coming and he really needs to not be here right now and so, without a word, he turns around and hightails it to his room.
Turns out he had been wrong then. He had been so wrong. About everything. And now Mike has figured him out and is probably really uncomfortable with it and he’ll probably want to leave and also maybe Will should start looking for a new roommate and-
“Will?” Mike says carefully from the doorway, effectively pulling him out of his spiraling thoughts.
Will looks up to meet Mike’s gaze and notices how his face falls when he sees the state Will is in. He truly must look like a wreck, because within seconds Mike has closed the door behind him and is sitting next to Will on the bed.
There’s a silence, neither of them sure what to say, Will supposes, and Will notices Mike’s hand twitch as if he wants to reach out but is holding himself back.
Mike swallows before asking in a gentle voice, “I- Will, what happened?”
“It’s nothing,” Will says, although it obviously isn’t.
Mike seems to think the same. “Obviously it’s not nothing,” he says with a small huff. Then, in a smaller voice, “was it something I- I mean, did I- did I do something?”
“No! Mike, no, of course not, you didn’t do anything, it’s just- it’s about me, okay? Don’t worry about it.”
But Mike doesn’t seem to want to let it go that easily which Will really shouldn’t be surprised about given Mike’s general stubbornness. Usually, it’s one of the things Will loves about Mike, but right now he really just wishes Mike would let it go.
“Of course I’m gonna worry about it, Will, I worry about you!” Mike persists, slightly exasperated now.
And it’s almost everything Will wants to hear. Except Mike doesn’t mean it in the way Will wants him to. And, god, he sounds so selfish – he’s lucky just to have Mike as a friend, to have him worry about him at all.
“It’s- it’s really nothing. I just… got in my head about things,” Will tries, one last effort to make Mike just forget about it.
“What do you mean ‘got in your head about things’? What things?”
“Just things, Mike! Just let it go!” Will’s the one who’s exasperated now, gesticulating wildly as he speaks.
“Not until you tell me-“
“I’m just- god, I’m just sorry I made you uncomfortable, okay?!” Will interrupts, abruptly standing up and beginning to pace back and forth slightly. “I didn’t mean for this to happen. And I know you don’t feel the same way and- and that’s okay! I just got in my head about it and I- I convinced myself that- that maybe you- I don’t know, it was stupid and I shouldn’t have kissed you because clearly it made you uncomfortable and I’m- I’m just really sorry.” Will’s gone from frustratingly semi-shouting to an almost whisper, his voice cracking on the last word.
“You… wait- you… what?” Mike stutters out after what feels like forever.
Will doesn’t dare look at him. “Don’t - don’t worry about it, okay?” He says, “I promise I won’t make it weird and I’ll try to get over it and we don’t even have to talk about it just…” he trails off. Just please don’t leave me.
Mike stands up as well, then, but Will is still staring resolutely at the ground between them. “You… Will, please look at me,” Mike says.
Will slowly lifts his head. There are a million emotions flitting through Mike’s eyes but he doesn’t look disgusted. Mainly, he just looks surprised and… hopeful? Nervous maybe? And a little sad.
“You like me?” Mike asks, sounding unsure.
“I’m sorry,” Will says again, because god knows he is, “I didn’t mean to! And I’ll- I promise I’ll get over it I-“
But he doesn’t get to finish his sentence because suddenly, Mike grabs his face in his hands and leans forward and kisses Will. And it’s not like the kiss they shared downstairs under the mistletoe – shy, gentle, tentative – it’s not like that at all. No, this kiss is urgent, insistent, so filled with- with need and longing and Will all but crashes into Mike, needing more.
He grabs onto Mike’s waist and pulls him closer to which Mike responds by brushing his tongue over Will’s bottom lip. More than eager, Will lets out an embarrassing sound as he follows Mike’s lead, deepening the kiss even more.
Mike’s hands move from Will’s cheeks to his neck and then to his hair and Will really can’t be blamed for the sound he makes when Mike tucks gently. He doesn’t have enough brainpower left to even care, though, not when Mike is kissing him like this cause god he didn’t know kissing could feel like this.
Needing to be even closer, Will moves his hands down to the bottom of Mike’s t-shirt, playing with the hem for a second before slowly sliding his hands underneath the fabric, fingertips dusting their way up Mike’s sides. He can feel Mike shiver at the touch and with one final press against his lips, Will reluctantly pulls away, though only slightly, leaving them inches apart.
His mind is desperately trying to process what just happened and if this means what he very much hopes it means and he’s about to ask just that when Mike beats him to it-
“Please don’t get over it,” Mike says, voice low and sounding a little breathless. A little desperate.
“Yeah?” he says. He’s pretty sure now but he needs Mike to say it. “And why is that?”
“Because I- fuck, Will, I lo- like you. So much. It’s honestly a bit embarrassing how much I like you,” Mike responds, a bit sheepish.
And, god, Will just- he’s going to, like, burst or something, with how happy he is. Even if he tried, he wouldn’t be able to stop the massive smile he’s breaking into.
“It’s okay,” Will responds, grinning, “I like you so much too.” And he pulls Mike in for another kiss.
Some indeterminable time later they’ve relocated to the bed, Wills head resting on Mike’s chest as Mike absentmindedly plays with Will’s hair. Will still can’t quite believe that this is actually happening – that this is real.
Almost without thinking, he says, “am I dreaming?”
Mike’s hand stills and he looks down at Will questioningly, “what do you mean?”
“I just- I never thought you’d like me back,” Will says, blushing slightly at the admission.
At this, Mike sits up abruptly, the questioning look now replaced by incredulity. Will mirrors his position.
“What?”
“Will are you kidding,” Mike says, clearly exasperated, “I’ve liked you for forever!”
Well, that’s news.
“Forever how?”
Mike blushes and averts his gaze before replying. “Like since we met.”
“Since we… but- what about, I mean, all those guys- and you… what?” It doesn’t make any sense. Hadn’t Mike made it perfectly clear that he wasn’t interested in Will back then? Why else would he make a move on every guy but him?
“Okay yeah, um, so the thing is that I- well you know I wasn’t very settled in my sexuality before college – with the whole growing up in a conservative small town and consequentially having a shit-ton of internalized homophobia and all that. I mean, shit, I even had a girlfriend!” Mike pauses, looking at Will and Will gives him a small nod to encourage him to go on.
Mike keeps going, pink dusting his cheeks, “so, I’d basically decided that, like, once I started college I’d also start actually trying to meet some guys – and I did, surprisingly, and I kept at it for a while but…” Mike locks eyes with Will before continuing, “after a while I realized there was only one guy I wanted. That I couldn’t stop thinking about – hadn’t stopped thinking about since the first day we met. But once I figured it out… I was too late.” Mike’s tone has gone a bit sad and realization hits Will. He mentally curses the bad timing of it all.
“You had just met Jake and you seemed so happy and excited about him, and I just- I couldn’t- I mean you obviously weren’t even into me that way since you were with him and-“
“You’re the reason we broke up,” Will blurts out, because he can’t have Mike thinking Will didn’t like him right back since day one.
“… what?”
“You were the reason we broke up, Mike,” Will repeats, softer this time. He reaches out and intertwines his fingers with Mike’s and lets their hands rest gently in his lap.
“I- that’s why I was so cagey about the reasons for the break-up,” Will explains. “Jake basically broke up with me because he thought I would rather be with you than with him-“
“I’m sorry,” Mike interrupts, and he actually looks like he is. Will loves him so much.
“Don’t be. He was right,” Will shrugs, locking eyes with Mike and giving him a smile that’s probably half flirty half shy.
Mike smiles back until a thought evidently occurs to him, making him frown.
“What is it?” Will asks him.
They’re still holding hands and Mike begins restlessly playing with Will’s fingers as he talks, “just that- well if I really was the reason for you two breaking up-” “you were” “- if I was, then why didn’t you say anything? After, I mean.”
“Why didn’t you?” Will shoots back.
“Because! You’d just gotten out of a relationship!” Fair point. “And I- well I might have… hoped that I was part of the reason – or maybe more like, I wanted to be the reason, but I never truly believed I could be. And then you kind of pulled away from me a bit, after, so that kind of solidified the whole ‘no way does he like me back’ thing…”
“Shit, I’m so dumb,” Will says, dumping his head on Mike’s shoulder and thinking of what they could’ve had so much sooner if he’d just been a bit braver. “I didn’t- the reason I pulled away was that I was afraid you’d figure out that you were the reason – because I didn’t think you liked me back!”
Their eyes catch and they both start laughing. The whole situation is just so dumb and Will is just so happy because, even though it took them an embarrassingly long time, they got there in the end.
“I think maybe we’ve both been equally dumb,” Mike says after they’ve finished catching their breaths again.
“Yeah, I guess so,” Will agrees, smiling happily. “Maybe let’s just agree to actually talk to each other about these things from now on, yeah?” he says, placing his hands on Mike’s chest and leaning in.
“Yeah…” Mike’s gaze flicks down to Will’s lips and Will leans in the rest of the way, kissing Mike because that’s a thing he gets to do now.
Mike pulls back way too soon for Will’s liking, though, looking a little nervous.
“Actually, uh about that I- Will I…” Will squeezes his hand for comfort and Mike clears his throat. “When I said that I, uh, that I like you? I didn’t- I mean I do! Obviously, but I also, uh, I wanted to tell you that- you know since we’re being honest with each other and all that I… I love you-”
Will’s heart is quite literally overflowing with happiness, but he doesn’t even get to tell Mike that he loves him too, so much, because Mike is still talking.
“-and I know that’s maybe, like, a lot and very soon and we’ve only been together for like an hour- not that we’re like together if you don’t want to be, sorry, I just assumed but maybe you don’t-“
Again, Will leans in, this time kissing Mike softly, sweetly, pouring all the love he holds for this chaotic boy across from him into it.
When he pulls back Mike looks less nervous and so, so in love. Will is sure he looks the same. Seriously, how did it take them this long to figure it out?
“Mike,” he says, making sure to maintain eye contact, “I love you too.”
“You love me?” Mike is grinning like an idiot, but so is Will.
“I love you. So much.” And then, remembering Mike’s nervous rambling, “and I do want us to be together. I really, really do.”
Mike, impossibly, smiles even brighter.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”