Chapter Text
[Winter of 1988]
Finally, it’s Senior year. An era of time when everyone belongs to where they should be.
The frosty season is fitting for lovers to cuddle up together under an old fuzzy blanket in front of a roasting fire.
The barren trees adorned with icicles sliding off from their dark branches are especially for friends to push each other around in in hopes of someone poking their eye out.
The slopes of snow pooled onto the sidewalk in the direction of the Wheelers’ house aren’t usually intended for best friends to stuff their hand in the heap of a warm Byers’ jacket pocket.
What should be normal is respected. Except for some people who have a different concept of normality.
Mike and Will are exceptions to this notion.
They make up the rules for their own convenience and breach the lines in their uncanny perception of friendship. Neither of them wields the courage to ever question their odd gestures, so they leave those situations unanswered.
For Will, some things are better left unspoken.
For Mike, ignorance is bliss.
Until it isn’t.
Monday Morning, February 10th, 1989
There’s something unwavering about the football season being over. It’s almost like the desolate field once occupied by chirpy crowds and loud band instruments has resulted in a nonexistent lawn with zero purpose. It feels remarkably lonely, to say the least. Peaceful but disquietingly silent.
*Click*
“Did I take it?” Will asks.
In a puzzled state, he eyes the camera like he’s holding one for the first time.
“Let’s see...”
Mike pushes his body closer to inspect the device and into Will. Their shoulders meet and their arms brush against each other's. Heat creeps up his nape and emanates on the swell of Will’s cheeks.
Instead of taking the camera away from his grasp, Mike cascades against the underside of Will’s palm with his piercing cold fingertips. The brisk touch zaps Will and shocks him momentarily. He tries to look anywhere else.
Mike’s honey scented shampoo overtakes Will’s nostrils. The smell floods his mind and devours his brain cells. It prevents him from functioning like a normal human being.
He gives in and takes a small peak at Mike from his peripheral.
Mike was right about one thing. Will is a spy. These quick glances are enough evidence to suffice to that theory. He always goes unnoticed when he’s being sly around him.
Will’s breath stills when he marvels at Mike.
His curls twirl around his sharp-edged face, hugging the sides of his slanted cheekbones and stroking his freckled skin, trickling down to his porcelain nape. Will wishes he could twine his fingers along Mike's wispy hair and play Connect Dots on his pigmented specks that cast over the bridge of his beautiful, curved nose.
He’s a lot taller than he was a year ago and Mike towering over Will is not helping him think straight. He fantasizes of being trapped under Mike’s high stature and narrowing gaze. He could only dream and hope for so long until it clicks.
Pining over Mike is his favorite pastime and while it brings butterflies to his stomach… it’s kind of depressing.
Will doesn’t want to shake Mike’s hold, but he needs to. Will needs Mike to let go of him before he can give himself away.
Like a pipe on the brink of imploding, his feelings could never leak from his mouth.
Will is caught red-handed once Mike looks up at him.
“You turned it off, Will.”
The scruffy brown haired boy’s cheeks flush a faint shade of pink from sheer embarrassment.
Why does Mike never ask for permission? It’s always on his terms whenever he wants to make Will feel seen.
“Sorry Mike. I really suck at this.”
Mike softly nudges Will’s side and reassuringly smiles down at him.
“No, you really don’t suck. You just need...”
When Mike rips his fingers off from Will, it makes his skin burn from the ghost of Mike’s former touch.
Without Will’s permission, Mike initiates skin ship once again and abandons connection whenever he wants to.
“... practice. It takes a while to learn new things.”
Will laughs at himself. Just when he thinks Mike is one step closer, he retreats seven steps back. Every brief interaction feels monumental in their will they or won’t they? friendship. It baffles Will when he comes to this conclusion all the time, but the way Mike acts warrants delusion.
Mike doesn’t have to touch Will. But he does a lot.
Will gets up from the bleacher and slowly paces. He presses a hand on his distressed wrinkled forehead as he rambles.
“I’ve been helping you for months, Mike. If I can’t take pictures properly, then what use am I to you?”
Mike worriedly watches him as he walks on each end of the bleacher. He’s nervous that Will is seconds away from breaking every bone in his body. He makes a mental note that he’ll be the one to take these high vantage point pictures next time while Will waits for him on the track adjacent to the football field.
Mike really should be dwelling on Will’s words right now, but he really doesn’t want him to fall.
“I mean, what kind of right-hand man can’t even take a picture? I’m not stupid, but working with The Weekly Streak doesn’t make me feel competent either.”
Will turns on his heel prematurely, too quick, and trips over himself. He’s flailing backwards and attempts to catch his own fall, but it’s all in vain. Will’s eyes squeeze shut as his life is ready to be recounted like a motion picture.
Except, he sees nothing.
And yet he feels everything.
Arms latch onto Will’s body tightly; a large left hand fully palms his back as fingers splay across like a warm compress, and another securely cradles his head as the pad of Mike’s thumb slightly caresses skin behind the shell of Will’s ear.
Mike saves Will from danger like his knight in shining armor.
Will nears impossibly close to the crook of Mike’s neck and heavily breathes into it. Unintentionally, Will’s nose rubs against his exposed skin from the slightest movement. He’s relieved to be intact, but his heart is thumping like it’s going to leap out of his chest.
Mike is thankful that his surveyance paid off. His best friend is alive and all he can do is squeeze the boy under him. Lovingly and firmly.
He withdraws a tiny bit, diminishing their previous closeness, and clamps onto Will’s clammy palms. He stares until the latter can balance himself again.
“Will, please listen to me when I say this,” Mike pleads as his throat bobs.
With beckoning puppy eyes, Mike peers down at Will. A glisten flashes across his dark brown eyes.
This completely guts Will. He can’t explain why Mike loves to torture him. Will’s heart tightens and his stomach flips whenever Mike looks at him like that.
The thought of Mike potentially showing this innocence to anyone else drives him to the brink of insanity.
“I couldn’t ask for a better partner. You’re always there when I need you. Especially during my most demanding deadlines. So, please do me a favor and don’t die on me. I need you alive more than ever, Will.”
Surely enough, Will thought he couldn’t look more pitiful. He didn’t know how to work a damn camera, he couldn’t walk on his own two feet properly, and he couldn’t maintain platonic eye-contact with his best friend anymore.
Although, it’s not like Will has ever platonically stared at Mike before. His feelings remain unrequited for as long as he can remember. Will has loved this boy senselessly, but his feelings must remain in the dark. For the sake of their friendship lasting, it must continue without his deepest secret being revealed.
“Thanks, Mike.”
Mike leads Will down every bleacher with a careful hand that grips onto him securely. He lets go once they descend onto the track.
They walk alongside in perfect synchronicity towards the side entrance of Hawkins High. Their arms extensively brush each other’s with unknowing ease.
Space doesn’t exist between them. In their native tongue, proximity defies open air.
“Besides, if you didn’t already know, you and I make a great team. We’re destined to be together.”
Destined together? Fate is finally on his side.
Will does a double take in Mike’s direction who is idiotically cracking up at his own statement.
It catches Will in complete disarray.
Wait- what’s so funny about that? It shouldn’t be hilarious for Mike.
Mike continues, “I’m writing a dumb daily column on horoscopes.”
Mike holds the door open for Will, and they continue to walk along the empty hallways. It’s always like this. Quipping in the hallways before anyone else gets to school. Every morning at seven.
Just the two of them. Alone.
“Apparently, that’ll get everyone reading the paper this week.”
Will tried to grapple onto what on Earth Mike was talking about.
We’re destined to be together.
It didn’t make any sense and no matter how many times he tried, he couldn’t comprehend anything.
Will knows he needs to stop dwelling and holding onto every little word Mike says. It’s unhealthy. It’s going to drive him insane. He should change the subject, but he never listens to himself.
“Mike, not to be a total jerk but what does that have to do with us being destined together?”
Mike pulls the door open to the newspaper room, letting it swing back on Will’s face, and starts digging through a pile of papers like a savage. He pulls out the issue they’re supposed to distribute before lunch today.
Without glancing at him, he extends the paper to Will.
“I’m Aries and you’re Pisces. We are cosmically bound or some bullshit like that. I mean, that’s what Nancy’s stupid Cosmopolitan magazine says anyways.”
Will reads the issued title in bolden black letters “Daily Horoscope: They’re Definitely Crushing On You!” – From, Mike
With a disgusted grimace, Will reads the issue and acts like he’s being forced to eat grounded cement. He believed it to be foolish. Utterly vapid.
Who willingly believes in horoscopes just to let them decide their life?
“This is crap. Who believes in this shit?”
“A lot of people do, surprisingly. But who cares. I need more readers, and this is going to seal the deal!”
Mike beams as if he’s cracked the magician’s code.
For some reason, Will grows noticeably upset. He watches Will with a curious tilt of his head as he takes note of Will’s sudden change in behavior.
It’s not an easy task to get him abruptly worked up like this. He’s very rational and while he may be sensitive, he’s also level-headed. Something about Will makes Mike brace himself.
Will slams the paper on the sturdy wooden table in front of them. He presses his lips hard together as he shakes his head in complete disagreement.
“Now you’re lying to people. I mean, you don’t believe in any of this. Why don’t you write something you’re truly passionate about?”
Mike furrows his eyebrows and firmly holds onto the edge of the table. He hunches slightly, leveled with Will who stands right across from him fuming.
“I tried, Will. I can’t keep writing about the DnD club anymore. I must get my name out there. Even if it means writing fairytales every now and then.”
Will can’t believe his own ears right now. This isn’t who Mike is.
He’s real. In other words, he’s authentic, forthright, and honest. Mike is not a people pleaser, not like Will is. He wants to press him further on this subject, but he gets caught up on the last few words of the page.
Stay tuned for Wednesday’s Issue. “Daily Horoscope: Three Signals They Might Like You!” – From, Mike
Signals.
It’s like the word is laughing, pointing, and taunting at him.
Will awkwardly excuses himself from the room and bolts to the nearest restroom.
Standing above the sink, he wets his face and can’t seem to peel his eyes away from the drain. The wet fringe on his forehead disrupts the silence as it drips water into the ceramic.
He won’t look at himself in the mirror. He can’t. Since forever ago, a piece of glass defines Will’s worth. An object that means nothing represents everything he hates about himself.
He always sees a scared little boy staring back at him. He’s accepted parts of himself, but he hasn’t fully immersed into his new skin. It mostly stems from not having the love of his life to mutually reciprocate those feelings.
Will vividly remembers that conversation he had with Robin in the hospital over a year ago. How Robin explained the three key signals someone wants to date you or in her words, make-out with you.
He watched out for those signals in Mike, but they never happened. Mike continued to date El. They eventually broke up last Summer and while that gave Will hope… it didn’t last very long.
Mike embedded himself in his writing. He may have had Will by his side more often than he used to, but he never touched him like Robin implied.
And maybe he was being greedy because Mike does touch Will more than he should. They’re best friends. Instead, they act like they’re between a married couple and lifelong lovers.
Will can’t stand being a participant in this friendship, especially when he wants it to mean more than their actuality. For his mental clarity, he must move on.
Monday Lunch, February 10th, 1989
Mike can’t see it, but Will rolls his eyes every single time Mike promotes the Daily Horoscope. What’s worse is that people are reading it. With smiles on their lips, heart eyes gleaming, and everything!
“Daily Horoscope!” Mike extends multiple newspapers to students who pass him.
Dustin and Lucas approach Mike and Will from behind.
“Daily Horoscope? Am I hearing this, right?” Lucas raises an eyebrow.
Dustin grabs a newspaper and unfolds it to read the recent buzz. He pokes his tongue out between his teeth as he fully immerses himself into the words on the page. You’d think he’s interested in the reading, but he winces every six seconds as if he’s being poked and prodded by a seven-inch knife.
“Shit, Wheeler, this is pathetic.”
Mike scoffs and yanks the newspaper away from him, “Shut up.”
Will nods and chips in, “That’s what I said! This is a new low for Mike, but he won’t admit it.”
Mike glares at Will. Unable to understand why he’s being berated for writing a fluff piece. Journalists do it all the time, so why couldn’t he? Plus, it’s not like Mike was writing a scandalous paper or influencing murder upon the youth. Everything was written in good fun and in hopes of attracting new readers. Maybe, after this week’s issue, he can finally start writing for himself again.
Hopefully, Will won’t be so mad at him anymore.
“Oh, you think? This takes the cake for worse than a new low. This is blasphemous! Right, Lucas?”
Dustin and Will turn to the side to find Lucas reading the paper. With a hand clutching his tipped chin, it seems like he’s really trying to understand the contents of this material.
“Lucas, I swear to God…”
Dustin pinches the bridge of his nose in aggravating annoyance.
“… what are you reading there?”
Lucas immediately folds the paper shut upon hearing a familiar voice. He sandwiches it between his arm and waist. He tries to suppress his shock, but his eyes betray him and stay widened.
“Max, hey! Uh, I was just looking at Mike’s new paper.”
Max smiles and comfortably rests an arm on Lucas’ shoulder.
“Yeah, I heard about that. Apparently, Mike does have a loving bone in his body.”
The gang laughed except for Mike and Will. Mike’s not laughing because he didn’t appreciate the disparaging comment and Will didn’t find it humorous because he simply disagreed.
Will doesn’t doubt Mike loves him. He just hates being cared for as a friend. Even as a best friend. He’s over the labels and wants more than just a friendly connotation. Will wants there to be a romantic implication between them.
Will wants Mike to be in love with him.
“Ha-ha-ha. You’re so hilarious, Max. Need I remind you that Sagittarius and Capricorns are incompatible,” Mike defensively retorts.
Max nods and responds with unserious ease, “That’s cool, Mike, because I’m not a Capricorn.”
Mike childishly combats, “Okay, whatever you are, is incompatible with Lucas by a longshot. I see nothing in your distant future. Error, zilch, nada!”
Dustin, Lucas, Max, and Will exchange weird glances as if to say, “What’s with this guy?”
Lucas rolls his eyes and flattens his letterman jacket. He zones in on Will and says, “Right… anyways, Will, I need you.”
Everyone deadpans Lucas, and he shrugs like he’s not at fault for sounding ridiculous.
“Okay, not like that! Gosh, you guys are so dirty minded.”
Will’s questionable lifted brow sinks as he listens to what else Lucas has to say.
“I need a HUGE favor, man. Remember George Smith?”
Wondering where this is truly going, Will nods and hands Dustin a bulk of newspapers. Now giving Lucas his full and undivided attention.
“Okay, well, he’s injured for the rest of the season, and the team really needs a stand-in. I guess I figured you’d be a great candidate.”
Lucas smiles wide at Will, hoping his happiness would be enough to convince him.
Will doesn’t like where this is going.
To avoid this conversation altogether, he demands Dustin to hand him back the newspapers. But Dustin already gave half of his stack to Max, and now they’re both distributing Mike’s fluff slop.
“No, no, no, Lucas, I can’t do that. I don’t even know how to play. Dustin, give them back!”
To shut down whatever offer Lucas is handing out to him, Will tries to busy himself by avoiding the favor. Unluckily, Dustin is ignoring him and so is Max. A part of Will thinks they know about this basketball proposal too.
With an agenda up their sleeves, they ambushed Will successfully.
“Come on, Will. You’re a fast runner and it’d be awesome playing together this season. I can help you practice!”
Will feels stupid for considering the idea.
Am I a fast runner?
He can’t imagine himself sprinting across the basketball court and in that flashy uniform either.
“How long do I have to be a stand-in?”
The once pleading eyes Lucas wore are now replaced with radiating excitement.
“Oh my God, thank you Will! You’re like the best person ever.”
Lucas clings onto Will and side-hugs him tightly.
“Lucas! I never said yes. I’m asking how long I-“
Before Will could even finish his sentence, Lucas is retreating down the hallway with Dustin and Max.
Lucas shouts from across the hall, “I love you, Byers!”
Will feels shell shocked and totally taken advantage of. It’s like Lucas wasn’t even listening to a single word he was saying. He was so sure he didn’t agree with this whole basketball thing.
Okay, he did contemplate joining, but he didn’t say anything out loud. Unless Lucas read his mind. That’s impossible since Lucas doesn’t have any superpowers.
Well, Will didn’t think he had any either.
Wait, could Lucas be a mind reader?
“You’re seriously not thinking about joining the team, right?” Mike questions behind him, his voice tickling Will’s ear.
“Maybe I am,” Will mutters.
Mike scrunches his nose in disapproval and protests, “You gotta be kidding. Basketball isn’t made for people like you.”
Will impulsively shoves at Mike’s shoulder a bit too harshly.
“What do you mean people like me?”
Mike stumbles back a bit and sees Will.
He takes in every strain of Will’s wrinkled eyebrows that furrow in disbelief. They quiver against each other like he’s unsure of how to interpret what Mike said. The sheer achiness forecasted on Will’s unmoving glassy green eyes cease to blink. They assume the worst things in Mike and stare without fluttering an eyelash. His fists ball at his sides, bumping against his clad jeans, and clench until his palms suffer a paling hue.
Mike’s words scathe Will in a way he didn’t think was possible.
In a rush, he retracts his previous comment, “I didn’t mean it like that, Will. I was thinking more along the lines of the sport being too rough for someone like you.”
Someone like you.
Mike might as well just say it. Why didn’t he come out and tell Will what he already thinks of himself when he’s with him. If Mike knew all along then he should ask Will if it’s true.
Are you gay?
Will doesn’t just like guys. He can’t even remember when he had wandering eyes outside of his unrequited love for Mike. You could say his first time was his last time. Will knows the answer. He’s gay even if Mike’s the only boy he’s ever been in love with.
But Mike realizing Will’s sexuality is not the problem.
It stings like hell hearing Mike speak to him like this. It makes him wonder if Mike knows what he’s implicating. While it pains him, it also frightens Will.
Obvious hurt flashes across Will’s face and for the first time, he makes his feelings known to both of them.
It catches Mike completely off guard.
“I’m not some fragile piece of glass, Mike. I’m going to join the team even if people like me aren’t supposed to.”
Will is filled with determination as he shoves past him. He ignores Mike calling his name from afar.
This year, eighteen-year-old Will is going to face his fears and look into the mirror. What truly reflects on the other side is a boy who means so much more than who he loves.
No matter what it takes, Will is going to prove Mike wrong.