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Mike Wheeler was always oblivious to certain things for some reason. He never really knew why. But ever since Will confessed that he didn’t like girls, it was eating up his mind, his cluelessness disappearing. Every memory with his best friend woke up something new in him… and everything started to make sense.
No. It always made sense, he just didn’t want to admit it. Since the moment El kissed him before moving away to California. They kissed before, so why did it feel so… wrong? As if he realised something about himself. Something forbidden, yet something so right.
He was supposed to think about El, yet all he could think about was the brown haired boy. His beautiful hazel eyes, his gentle way of speaking. The soft looks he and Will exchanged. The way Will was always Mike’s first priority, ever since they were little. He always thought it was because they were best friends, but… his heart knew the truth.
Mike felt like a freak. He felt like a mess that needed to be fixed by dating a girl that deserved so much better than him. He assumed that he was alone, feeling attracted to a person of the same gender.
How wrong he was. It was there, in his face, all along. It clicked right when Will locked eyes with him, his voice trembling as he opened up. “I had this… crush, on someone, even though I know they’re not like me.”
Will thought that Mike was normal. Just like him back then. How could he be so blind?
He needed to fix this before it was too late. Now that he knew that Will could, theoretically, like him back, he wouldn’t forgive himself if he didn’t tell his best friend how he felt. Enough of avoiding Will like he did when he arrived in California. Oblivious Mike, the Mike in denial… he was gone. He had to be.
And so when he and Will climbed up the awfully tall tower, Mike’s throat tightened. Maybe he was wrong, maybe Will liked someone else and not him. But the thought of them both dying without talking everything out? It hurt. Unbearably.
He first offered his bottle to Will before awkwardly coughing.
“Hey, uhm…” Mike began hesitantly, regretting his impulsive decision almost instantly. “What you said earlier, at the Squawk… I’m sorry.”
Will looked him in the eyes, his expression confused, as if he was asking Mike what he was apologizing for.
Not wanting to start another misunderstanding, Mike continued talking, hoping he wouldn’t fuck up. “I mean, not sorry about what you said. That came out wrong.”
No, he fucked up.
“Or not came out wrong… Jesus Christ.”
His heart fluttered when Will chuckled. “It’s okay.”
More determined now, Mike slightly shook his head. It was too late to back out. “No, it’s… it’s not. I should have been there for you, and I wasn’t. And I guess I was just so self-absorbed that I couldn’t see it. I just… I feel like an idiot, and I…” he sighed heavily, “I’m sorry.”
Will’s gaze softened. “You don’t have to be sorry. And you are not an idiot. You’re not. It’s just…”
Will turned to stare into the distance, the darkness of the sky lit up by red lightning. “I didn’t even understand it myself for the longest time.”
“I just… I think it needed to happen the way it happened. I needed to find my own way.” The sorcerer’s voice cracked as he looked back at Mike, smiling lovingly. “But what matters is that you’re still here, and you… still think we can be friends.”
Friends.
The word shouldn’t have made Mike feel irritated, but it did. It was true, they were friends, the best of them… but he didn’t want it to be all they are. Just friends. He wanted to caress Will, hold his hand, embrace him and kiss him goodnight. He wanted Will to be his. In all ways.
“Friends? No, thanks.” Mike heard himself respond with a smile. What did he just say? His heart was pounding intensely in his chest, not believing that he was actually about to act on his hidden feelings.
Despite Will looking surprised, his eyes seemed to light up. “Wait, wha—”
Without thinking, Mike’s body moved on its own. He closed the distance between them, cupping Will’s cheeks with his hands as he made their lips meet in a longing kiss. Will tensed up in shock, almost as if he thought it was just a dream.
But just as Mike started to think that Will didn’t like it, questioning if he should pull away, Will put his hand on Mike’s hand that was resting on his cheek and kissed the black haired boy back with desire he held back for so long.
Their lips danced together tenderly, leaving goosebums on Will’s skin. He gasped shakingly into Mike’s mouth as their gazes met once again, their souls equally yearning for each other. If this was how sin tasted like, Mike wouldn’t care if he ended up in hell for enternity.
Because he already knew what heaven felt like.
Neither of them wanted to pull away, but they didn’t forget the situation they were in. They were about to save the world and there wasn’t much time left, but… if they ended it here, Mike felt like they would never speak about it again.
So he stepped back and awkwardly coughed, his eyes not leaving Will’s flustered face. The sorcerer’s cheeks were heated up and his chest was rising up and down rapidly, lips swollen. He looked so adorable like that. Mike wanted to kiss him again, again and again… but talking was necessary. Maybe they wouldn’t get another chance.
“So I, well, where do I start...”
“But you and… El? I don’t— I don’t understand…” Will let out weakly. Fuck, of course he would be thrown off. Mike needed to explain himself properly. Quickly, but properly.
He parted his lips and let himself say anything that came to his mind. “I like El. Just… not in the same way I like you. I’m actually, kinda, sort of… I— I’m…”
Shit, Mike, get it together! He cursed in his head, trying to ignore his embarrassing stuttering. “I’m… in love with you. I— I mean, I was confused about myself for while, just like you were. I felt so disgusting, I wanted to be what everyone expected me to be. I started dating El before I even knew who I was, what I felt. But I realised it after you left to live in California with her.”
He came closer to Will again, wanting to hug him. His beautiful eyes kept distracting Mike, but he composed himself with a deep sigh so he could continue. “I realised that I feel differently around you compared to others. I brushed it off for a long time because we’re best friends, but… I can’t anymore. Not when the word may end soon and when I know that you don’t like girls. And that you… maybe feel the same way.”
Will stayed quiet for a brief moment that felt like torture for Mike. Did he really just do it? Confess? He never thought he would be brave enough to to it… and now, standing in front of Will, starting to sweat nervously, he never felt more vunerable.
No, seriously. The silence was getting to him. Mike had to break it. “You… don’t feel the same?”
And all of a sudden, Will’s eyes started tearing up. He ran up to Mike, hugging him so tightly that they couldn’t breath properly. “I take it back. You’re an idiot, Mike. The biggest one I know,” his laugh came out as a sob, his voice slightly shaking.
“I’ve loved you for so, so long. It was torture, but… I wanted to see you smile, even if it wasn’t with me. I— I never thought you could ever love me back, well… maybe I did, but then I gave up on that idea. You were were with El and— and you seemed happy. And she deserves happiness too. I didn’t want to stand in your way, the painting was supposed to fix your problems and—”
“Wait, slow down,” Mike snapped out of gently staring at Will. He tilted his head to the side in confusion. “The painting? The one you said El commissioned?”
Then it hit him. God, he really was slow. Why would El commision a painting of Mike being the heart, based on DnD, something she was never interested in?
“…It was from you directly, wasn’t it?”
Will pulled away from the hug, looking like he wanted to lie about it again, but he figured it would be pointless. “Yes, it was.”
The unbearable silence visited them again. The scary feelings that they held back for so long caused the intense tension between the two boys. They both thought they didn’t have a chance with the other, yet in reality, it was the exact opposite.
“I really am stupid, huh?” Mike couldn’t help but chuckle as he pulled Will back into his warm embrace, giving him a small kiss on his forehead.
The sorcerer smiled and hugged Mike back before distancing himself again, the feeling of the black haired boy’s lips still lingering on his skin. “No, we both are. We still have a world to save and we both just confessed like it’s nothing… I can’t believe I actually did it, that you did it…” he shook his head in disbelief. The pure happiness in his face was everything Mike wished for.
He wanted to see Will shine bright like that every day utill the day he would die.
“Well… we still have our whole life ahead of us. I’m sure there will be more confessions,” Mike winked, trying to flirt but failed miserably. At least he made Will laugh once again.
“Not if we don’t hurry up. We can talk about this, about us… when this ends. We wasted too much time, don’t you think?”
“With you? There’s never enough time.”
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Meanwhile, Vickie walking all around the room with Max behind her, stressed out: “Okay, what the hell is taking them so long?!”