Chapter Text
It had all begun just one week before Halloween.
It started with El and Will joining them at their usual lunch table looking giggly and nervous. Mike hadn’t paid much attention – having very important pudding to focus on – until Will cleared his throat. The conversations at the table fell quiet as everyone looked to him.
“So uh… me and El were thinking, well I was thinking. Um yeah, I don’t think I want to do the Star Wars costume this year…” he was saying it to the group but he looked Mike’s way as soon as he finished.
He was probably anticipating that Mike would be the most surprised. Well, he was fucking right!
“What?!” Mike burst out, “But we decided this months ago! We were all going to be too busy with schoolwork and jobs to work on costumes so we would go the same as last year!”
Will looked uncomfortable. “I know, I know. But me and El, well we’ve been working on this different costume for me and well… I think it’s really good, I wanna do it!”
“But you’re Luke Skywalker! You can’t bail on us! We need you!” Mike felt really hot in the face for some reason. He looked around at the other guys. They were looking at him like he was overreacting but he wasn’t dammit!
“That’s party rules man! You can’t bail on the party! You’re Luke, I’m Han, Dustin’s Chewie, El is Leia, Lucas is Bobafet and Max is no one because she thinks dressing up is for squares! Just like last year! Right guys?!”
Mike again looked around the table. Will was looking down, his face crimson like it always was when he was embarrassed. El was frowning at him and Dustin and Lucas; they were looking… considering?
“Ya know Mike” Dustin started in a quiet voice, always the placating one, “If we all went different, I could use that Andre the Giant costume I’ve been wanting to use from Drama Club…”
“Yeah Mike…” Lucas who was usually so confident, was staring at where his fingers were fiddling with the buttons on Max’s jean jacket sleeve. “… it might be cool to all go as something different…” the for once didn’t need to be said.
Max didn’t say anything. But she rarely had to, her eyebrows could be mighty expressive.
Mike felt like he’d been slapped in the face. He tried to catch each party member’s eyes but they were all intent on their lunches. All except for El.
“Mike” she said grabbing his hand and squeezing it. “Will has been working really hard on his costume. It looks great! It’s not a terrible world if we don’t do the Star Wars again.”
Mike scoffed pulling his hand from her grip and pushing out from the table. “Whatever!” he left hanging in the air as he stormed out of the cafeteria.
That’s where it had started. After that the floodgates had opened. For the rest of the week all the group could talk about was what they were going as instead of Star Wars. Mike sulked in silence and barely spoke. He was still so angry. He couldn’t believe that Will didn’t want to dress up with him. It had been that way since they were kids. They always wore matching costumes. And now it was like he was going in this totally different direction. He wasn’t even telling the party what this stupid “mystery costume” was! It was all bullshit.
In Mike’s opinion, the rest of the week sucked.
And now here he was sitting on a couch at this house party while all the other seniors and juniors from his school were having fun and getting drunk. This party sucked.
Mike could see Dustin and Lucas across the room. Dustin was loving showing off his wrestlers body in his costume. He had worked hard for it, Mike guessed, though he should maybe stop lifting girls over his head. They didn’t seem to like it as much as he thought they did. He must have been hitting the liquid courage hard earlier in the night.
And Lucas, even Mike had to admit he looked cool in his Michael Jackson get-up, white glove and all.
Even fucking Max had dressed up! If you could call stretching yellow fabric over two hula-hoops, wearing a huge red bowtie and calling yourself Ms Pac-man, dressing up. She was currently having fun unapologetically bumping into couples out on what could only just pass as a dancefloor.
There was no sign of Will and El yet. They were coming late El had told him on the phone earlier that night. Apparently her makeup was going to take forever.
Mike signed. They better show soon because as mentioned before, this party sucked and Will was the only one bringing a car to drive them all home.
He was feeling very un-Han Solo-like just sitting here by himself nursing a cup of beer. Oh yes, he had been too busy sulking and being stubborn to come up with a different costume.
He was just considering whether he actually needed to pee or whether he just wanted something to do when a voice from next to his couch caught his attention.
“Hey Mike.”
It sounded like Will, but when Mike looked at who was standing in front of him, well, it didn’t look like Will.
He looked… out of this world.
His hair had been all brushed back into this puffy mullet and had this red glean to it. He was wearing really tight white pants and this white blazer with all these crazy colourful stripes painted all over it and… he was wearing makeup!
It was hard to miss the red and blue lightning bolt slashing right across his nervously smiling expression. His eyes blinking at Mike hugely, his front teeth peeking through the rosy lipstick to chew on his lower lip.
“What do you think?” he half-shouted above the music, raising his arms slightly to indicate his costume.
Mike thought… he thought he looked incredible!!
But currently his stupid brain couldn’t come up with the words to say that. Words? What were words?
“BYERS!!!” The moment was taken away from him as Dustin burst upon the scene wrapping his arms around Will’s middle and lifting him easily to spin him around. Will just laughed and went with it, used to Dustin’s rambunctiousness by now. The party knew he was especially bad when he was drunk.
“Holy shit Will you look amazing!” That was Lucas swinging into the fray to grab his friend by the shoulders so he could have a closer look at his made-up face. “Bowie right?”
Will nodded enthusiastically. “Ziggy Stardust to be exact.”
“Far out man! You’re a rockstar! Gonna make the ladies swoon with those tight-tight pants and that rockin’ bod!” Dustin laughed poking at where Will’s chest was revealed right down to his navel. Mike’s eyes bugged as he realised Will wasn’t wearing anything under that colourful blazer.
“Shut up Dustin!” Will laughed snapping the shoulder strap on his friends wrestling outfit.
“Yeah shut up Dustin! C’mon Byers, let’s get you a drink” Lucas added wrapping an arm around Will’s shoulder and starting to steer him towards the keg in the kitchen. Dustin tottering along behind them.
“You want one Mike?” Will struggled to yell over his shoulder. Mike couldn’t manage to give his answer before they all disappeared around the corner.
Alone again.
“He looks totally bitchin’ doesn’t he?”
Oh, not alone then. El had managed to sneak into the seat beside him. Not surprising. She was practically a ninja. It was one of the reasons Mike had fallen for her in the first place.
He turned to face her. Her costume was less surprising then Will’s. Cyndi Lauper was right up with this crazy punk look El had taken a liking to lately. Her and Will were always going on about this band or that and how they were changing the face of music or some bull like that.
He sometimes envied how close they had gotten since Hopper and Joyce had decided it was time for El and Hop to move into the Byers home. They were closer than any siblings Mike had ever witnessed. It had made the breakup between Eleven and Mike especially hard on Will in those first few months. Luckily that nastiness had been years ago and now there was only gentle love and sweet feelings between him and the incredible girl sitting next to him.
“He came up with it all himself” Apparently El felt no response was needed from him as she stirred a straw through her drink, taking in the party around them. “He talked about his ideas for months and drew all these great pictures but kept saying he wasn’t sure if he was brave enough to actually do it” at this El wrinkled her nose. She had a habit of doing that when she was particularly confused with what she labelled “The Normals Behaviour”. “I didn’t get why he was scared but told him it would be brilliant and that he was one of the bravest people I knew.”
Mike couldn’t disagree with her there.
“But didn’t you help him with it?” he questioned, remembering what Will had said on that first day at lunch.
“I helped him do his hair and makeup tonight, but the rest, that was all him. Took him 3 days to paint all those stripes onto the jacket. Bitchin’ right?”
“Yeah” Mike turned to face forward. “Bitchin’…”
The night didn’t really improve from there. No matter how Mike tried, he just couldn’t get in the spirit of things.
It wasn’t too long before Will returned to where Mike was sitting, Max with him. They both grabbed one of El’s hands to pull her up to dance with them. She went pretty willingly. Will turned to him next, grabbing one of his hands.
“Come on man. It’s dancing time!” He tried to hoist him up but Mike dug his heels into the carpeted floor and became deadweight.
“I don’t feel like it.” Mike tried to level his tone, but it still sounded pretty stern.
Will ceased tugging and dropped his hand.
“You sure?” he began fiddling with the sleeves on his jacket. “It’s just dancing.”
“Yeah what crawled up your butt Wheeler” Max crowed from where she was already spinning El under her arm continuously. “Don’t be such a party-pooper!”
“I’m not a party-pooper I just don’t feel like dancing!” Mike growled back at her. To which she shrugged nonchalantly and began to guide a dizzy El towards the dancefloor. Mike turned his attention back to Will who had now moved onto fiddling with his collar. He was kinda looking like a kicked puppy.
“Hey” Mike said, reaching up and grabbing his hand. “Its fine, I swear. I’m just tired I think. I’ll just chill here and wait for Dustin and Lucas to get back. You go.”
Will smiled shyly. Either El had done some sort of makeup trickery shit to his eyes or they really were just that sparkly.
With a quick squeeze of Mike’s hand and a “Ok I’ll be back later” he was gone.
And so there Mike sat. Han Solo going it solo. Thirty minutes passed and Dustin and Lucas did not return. Mike had no idea where Dustin had gotten to. But he had seen Lucas join the group on the dancefloor carrying cups of mystery drink for all. That appeared to have been the best thing to happen all night as the group erupted into rapturous cheers. The dancing continued with only mild success at not spilling their drinks on themselves and each other.
Surprisingly, Will was the most animated of them all. He seemed like a whole different person tonight. Like this costume had given him special powers or something. He danced, he laughed, he looked so happy. Mike couldn’t remember the last time he had looked this happy.
He found it kind of magnetic to watch. First Will danced in the group. Then he pulled El to him and they laughed as they kicked and swung and hung off each other. Then another girl grabbed him. Becky or Leslie or something like that. She seemed to really like his costume as she reached up to tug on his hair or ran a brightly painted fingernail down his chest. Will was all smiles and confidence as he whispered something in her ear that made her smirk and giggle. The music changed and so did Will’s dance partner. Sure he tried to re-join Lucas and Max and El but some other girl pulled him away.
Mike huffed and took another swig of his – by now – warm beer. It was kind of ironic that Will was the one pulling all the girls tonight since he hadn’t really shown much interest in dating since freshman year. Mike remembered it well. Will had finally gotten his first girlfriend. A sweet girl called Lucy from his art class. They had gone out for about 4 months before Will had abruptly ended it. Stating something like he felt he “couldn’t make a commitment to a relationship like that right now”. And since then… nothing. No girls, no nothing.
Everyone in the party had of course considered the possibility that Will might be gay. It was hard not to when presented with evidence like that. They’d all heard about gay people on TV of course… but it was just such an unknown entity in a small town like theirs. It was hard to combine that idea with their childhood friend. But… Will was Will and he was a party member and their friend, and so if it had turned out he was like those men and women in the news stories on TV, well then fuck what anyone thought. He was still their friend.
Mike remembered confronting him about it one night when he was sleeping over. He’d tried to be gentle in a “its ok if you are man” sort of way. It had been real awkward at the time. He would always remember the way Will had just had this small smile on his face as he shook his head.
He hadn’t really given him an answer. Just wandered over to his shelf where he kept his vinyls. They were outdated technology but he always said he loved the cover art. Pulling one from the shelf he traced his finger over the title. Bringing it back to the bed where Mike sat, he had handed it to him. “Starman” by David Bowie.
“Listen to this. I don’t exactly know what I am but I think it’s something close to this.” Then he’d hugged him and thanked him for being “the bestest” friend.
Mike must’ve listened to that stupid song about a million times in an attempt to pull some meaning from it. And after all that he still couldn’t understand what Will was on about. He just didn’t get music like Will did. He’d been so confused he had ended up talking to El about it. She’d giggled, wrinkling her nose. “I never got why The Normals were so hung up on whether you should like boys or girls. I agree with Will. I’d much rather be a Starman.”
The more Mike had thought about it the more it had kind of made a weird sense. Will was just like that. After what had gone down in 1984 he had really embraced the whole Zombie Boy thing. Like he relished being different. He would say he couldn’t control what the assholes at school thought of him, “so I’ll just do what I want”. It had been kind of cool to witness. He had used to be so shy.
He was still quiet of course, still the shortest of the group though he had grown much taller, still very much into his drawing, still too kind-hearted for his own good. But his attitude had changed. Only in small, incremental ways, ways only someone close to him would notice. Doodles on his chucks. Rips in his jeans. He stopped letting his mother cut his hair and just let it grow.
But it was more than just the cosmetic differences. He worried less. Argued more. And just didn’t seem to care so much when people called him names. Mike had tucked all of these little changes away in his mind like hoarded treasure. He hadn’t even realised he was doing it until that conversation with El.
So yeah, Mike could agree that Will was weird, but that’s what had made him perfect to him, to the whole party. They were all weird.
“Having fun Mike?! I feel like you haven’t moved all night.” Mike was brought out of his musings as a body hit the couch next to him. Will was grinning at him, limbs splayed everywhere and colour high on his cheeks.
“Hey! I’ve moved. I went to get another drink!” Mike huffed good naturedly trying to reach over and ruffle the shorter teen’s hair. His hand was promptly slapped away as though it was diseased.
“Don’t you dare Wheeler! This hair took way too long tonight! I think a whole can of hairspray was sacrificed!”
Mike couldn’t help but smile. “Hey yeah I uh, didn’t get a chance to say before… your costume… it’s totally awesome!”
At this Will straightened up from where he’d appeared to be slowly melting into the couch. He stared unblinkingly at him for a few seconds as though processing his words before looking down bashfully.
“You really think so? You don’t think it’s too… much?” Mike could see colour blossoming on his friend’s cheekbones, or at least the one that wasn’t covered in paint.
“Nah man” Mike insisted. “It’s perfect. You’re totally blowing my mind Starman”.
Will looked up at him. His expression slowly shifting to this huge smile, his eyes wide with what looked like wonder. Like he was surprised that Mike would remember a line from that stupid - annoyingly catchy - song. It was the first time Mike had noticed just how long Will’s eyelashes were as they slowly blinked at him.
He was feeling a bit flustered under Will’s scrutiny. Gazing around the party his eyes fell upon the girls who were still out on the dancefloor.
“Heh. Well the costume certainly hasn’t hurt your chances with the ladies tonight. They’re all over you man” Mike gestured over to where the half-inebriated teens were currently flailing to some screechy song about girls wanting to have fun.
Will snorted, shaking his head. “Hardly. They just like my outfit. Becky was even asking me for makeup tips.” Will always seemed to do this. It was like he could never see himself the way other people saw him. Like he refused to admit that he was anything special. It never sat well with Mike and irked him to no end.
“Oh yeah?” he challenged. “And I bet Shelley was ‘just interested’ in your makeup too huh?” he said leaning over and mimicking the way he’d watched one senior girl slip her hand under Will’s jacket, his calloused fingers sliding over the soft skin of Will’s pectoral.
He’d expected Will to laugh and slap his hand away, maybe give a smart mouth remark. He hadn’t expected the sharp intake of breath, the flush that immediately rose in Will’s cheeks, the way his eyes snapped up to Mike’s, bugged so wide he resembled a spooked animal.
It was like they were frozen in time. The silence drew on and Mike felt himself become increasingly embarrassed with every moment that he didn’t move his hand. Will was still staring at him, his eyebrows furrowed as though there was a difficult math problem scribbled across Mike’s face. He could feel the faint thrumming of Will’s heart beating wildly against his ribcage.
Mike finally withdrew his hand, letting it fall limply back into his lap.
“I just mean you’re a catch is all” he mumbled, staring at his knees, feeling oddly dumb. “Don’t sell yourself short. Any of those girls would be lucky to have you.”
It took a few seconds, but he finally heard a quiet “Thanks Mike.” He looked up and met his best friends gaze. The frown was gone and Will had a soft look in his eyes. It was the most he’d looked like himself all night. Mike observed his friend leaning closer, felt where his fingers enclosed around his wrist.
“Come dance with me?” that same warm, buttery voice. His expression was so sweet, his lips curled into an inviting smile. He was so close that Mike could see where shimmery pink had been dusted over his cheekbones.
He felt his own breathing stutter. For a split second it was like Mike’s brain shorted out before… suddenly he was on his feet.
“Actually I uh… have to go… pee.” He watched as Will’s earnest expression appeared to shutter through several different emotions. It finally settled on something neutral, blank, something so not Will.
“I meant with the group Mike. Come dance with the group” he said, his flat tone lancing through Mike’s chest for some reason.
Mike hunched his shoulders. “I-I know, I know that. I’m serious; I just need to go real bad. I’ll-- I'll be right back.” The next thing he knew Mike found himself exiting the room, shouldering his way through the rowdy teens blocking the doorway.
His chest felt tight. His vision blurry. Only when he managed to lock himself inside the bathroom did his racing thoughts begin to settle.
What. The. Fuck.
Mike stared at himself in the mirror. Just breathing. Waiting for his heartbeat to slow.
It was like there was this huge knot in his chest, he could practically hear the blood pounding through his brain. His cheeks burned as he thought back to what had just happened.
For a moment there. For just a moment… he had felt an incredibly strong urge to lean forward and kiss his best friend.
