Work Text:
Hawkins High Senior Prom Night
Spring, 1988
Mike felt stupid.
He should’ve taken Nancy’s suggestion to drive him. The entire walk over to the Byers’ house was around eight minutes at most. But he had left around an entire half an hour earlier because he wanted to get the nerves out first.
That meant doing around four loops around the street, just so it meant it'd take even longer to reach the house.
But now he’s sweating like crazy, his shoes hurt, and his hand is sick and tired of holding onto the bundle of matching carnations for Will and El.
He only hopes and prays that he doesn’t look as lame as he feels. He catches his reflection in the window while messing with his bangs.
The light blue colored suit that all the women in his family had agreed upon reflects the moonlight’s glow. His dad, who has no real power in this situation, suspired that it wouldn't be the most insane thing that happened this year and promptly turned on the television to further distract himself. Nancy helped with all the hair stuff, which took an agonizing hour and a half to do, and had wasted a whole bottle and a half of hairspray at the end of it. Holly circled his room like a shark the night before, desperately trying to pry out any sort of information about the date.
"I can't believe you're actually going with someone," she said, looking through his month-old comics he hadn't gotten around to reading yet. "Are you guys just going to dance around and stuff?"
"Probably," Mike replied from his bed.
"Cool...like Kate Bush and stuff?"
"Only if they know what good music is."
"Does she like Kate Bush?"
Mike sat up from his bed. "What's with all these questions all of a sudden?"
"It's not fair that Nancy gets to know exactly who it is and I don't!" She crossed her arms with a frown as Mike began to fully get up from the bed. "Are they pretty, at least? You probably couldn't get a pretty girl to go with prom with you even if you tried."
"Very, for your information," he added, rolling his eyes. "Now get out of my room!" And successfully kicked her out. (Not without multiple other shouts of protest, though).
His mom safety pinned the right sleeve back so it was able to push just below the stump. He didn't want to cut any of his clothes and ruin them before the possibility of getting a prosthetic with the government Vecna hush-money they were promised.
It was still strange not having an arm. Mike could still feel the everything that was no longer there. Like when he was so used to talking with his hands and exaggerating, he could now sense the weight of both of them still moving, but one look over would prove no actual action.
Even so, it was so much more shocking in the beginning. After the procedure, even sitting became a learning curve. He remembered one time being in the cafeteria of the school (once it was fully healed), completely oblivious, and when he would usually push a weight onto the table with his elbows, he instead managed to fall over the side after attempting to lean on his non-existent left elbow. The party had a good laugh over it.
Pain was thankfully not too common. The spikes of ache felt more like sensations than anything else. When he did get pain, though, it would start small, like someone holding a small lighter under the skin. That would be the closest comparison. The heat from the lighter would then rise until a sharp spike tore through the non-existent arm. Until it would then shoot up the entire stump and only stop at the farthest point of attachment before slowly fading out into a numbness that itched like crazy after.
Gently massaging the stump was sometimes effective to ease the itching. Sometimes.
He was just thankful that the arm that needed to be amputated was the left rather than the right. His handwriting was already sloppy enough, and he really did not need to relearn writing thanks to Vecna.
It was getting late. The ticking watch on his arm signalled that he needed to clean up this mess of anxiety he was turning into on the Byers' steps before he would greet them. After another minute of psyching himself up, it took all the strength in him to finally knock on the front door.
Even though he had hoped that neither Will nor El would see him like this first, it was unfortunately the even worse scenario he didn't even consider as it was Hopper who greeted him at the door. Or, rather, subtly acknowledged that he’d arrived.
“Hey.” He nodded and held the door open wider.
The Byers household was utter chaos, Mike soon found when he had fully stepped inside.
El kept rushing in-and-out of rooms looking for a specific bracelet she was supposed to wear to match with Max. Mrs. Byers chased closely behind, wanting to keep adding on accessories and touching up on her makeup. Jonathan had his video camera out, documenting everything. Mike was now sure that his awkward self, standing confused in the doorway, was permanently archived in that camera.
And Will…was nowhere to be found.
He caught another glimpse of El’s big, curled hair and the lavender off-the-shoulder dress that stopped halfway at her legs. “Hi!” She waved, and he just dumbly waved back with a smile. “Just give us one more second, then we’ll be all ready. Promise!” she said before disappearing into yet another room. Mrs. Byers’ was just about to catch up with her as well.
She shook her head before tucking the purple earrings back into her pocket. “I still can’t believe she’s running around like that when she’s going to ruin her hair.” She sighed before smiling at him. “Wow, looking great, Mike.”
“Thanks.” He flusheed at the compliment because he honestly? He felt super out of place at the moment. He wished that there were some kind of reflection to fix up his hair again. “Is Will ready yet?” He asked.
The question is soon answered for him. Will and El step out of the room El had originally disappeared in, El with her arm steadily looped around Will’s. Mike saw that he changed up his hair from the smooth bowlcut to a much shaggier version.
They looked great.
And Will, of course, looked good. Really good.
Mike made sure to tell them exactly that when he automatically stretched out the of carnations for both. Shades of purple for El, but a mix of greens and yellows for Will.
It was actually funny because, even though they didn’t coordinate a theme or really talk about what they were wearing to the prom, they still ended up complimenting each other's decisions. Will wore a suit the exact same yellow as the carnations with a matching patch over his left eye.
Mike was anxious to leave already, but Mrs. Byers insists that Jonathan capture them all before they leave. Mike wrapped his arms around both of them as the flash of the camera snapped a few pictures, taking them in as well.
Then they lean away from him, laughing, before leaning back in as Joyce insisted on taking ten more with all of them. Then her and Hopper with them. And then Jonathan got in there while Mike helped take the picture. And on and on it went.
“Wait,” Mike said, when they had finally peeled apart from the final picture, tugging on Will’s sleeve to bring him closer. He froze under Mike when he reached for the bowtie that was slightly flopping on one side to fix it up.
“It was loose,” he quickly explained once it was alright.
Will blinked at him after he pulled away. Mike knew that he wanted to say something there, but his lips formed a line instead.
“Oh.” Will looked down. “Thank you.” He timidly glanced behind Mike.
“Of course.”
When Mike turned, his heart dropped to his ass. If looks could kill, he would be so dead right now, the way Hopper was glaring him down.
Hawkins, Indiana, didn’t have a whole lot of dating options. That was a widely known fact. Partly because the whole town was full of mouth breathers and it was an acquired skill to weed out the good ones, and partly because it was just simply a small ass town without much.
Nonetheless, Mike was sure that Hopper was still pissed over the fact that he somehow ended up with yet another one of his kids.
Watch yourself, Wheeler, he swore up and down that Hopper was thinking that exact phrase in his mind.
This night had to go well.
“The flowers are good, yeah?” Mike asked when a car outside honked its horn for them.
“They’re really pretty,” El said. Will agreed.
He nodded his head. “Oh, okay. Good. Because they didn’t have a whole ton of options to pick from, and I still wanted to get you guys your favorite colors. It’s actually insane. The lady who I bought them from wanted to charge me a crazy amount, and we had this whole argument in the middle of the shop about it. Apparently, she raised her prices because of the number of times they kept selling out. Especially since it’s prom season. But they were purple and yellow, so I obviously had to get those ones for you guys because–,”
Will and El glanced at each other with a smile. Mike realized he’d been rambling just as they reached Steve’s new car, which he immediately bought with the hush-money parked right outside.
As soon as the car door opened, Lucas and Dustin started showing off their matching suits. El hugged Max, sliding into the seat beside her, and went ahead to tell her about all the trouble she went through to find the bracelet.
Steve volunteered (or was otherwise forced to be by Dustin) to drive them to the prom. But there wouldn’t be enough room for the entire party to fit. That left Will volunteering to walk there instead. Mike obviously followed because there was no way he was walking alone to senior prom. They eventually decided that they were alright with Dustin in the front, with Lucas, Max, and El in the backseat.
They would’ve all walked together if the distance that Max would have to walk hadn’t been too straining, even with the addition of her mobility aid. Lucas and El were basically a package deal when it came to her, and Dustin with Steve.
Cool.
Hawkins’ spring wasn't cold enough to rival its winter. But the spring carried winter’s harshness in its night wind.
Mike’s eyes slid down to their flexed hands swaying side-to-side. He’s sweating, and he’s nervous, and his stomach kept doing a questionable number of flips.
Will tried to be discreet. Their hands nudged as they walked together, and each time Mike swore that his brain stopped working.
After the next bump, instead of letting Will pull away from it, Mike slowly reached for the touch. He grabbed him with a pinky finger to draw him in. They were not holding hands so much as Mike was softly holding onto his wrist. But he was also gently trying to ease their hands together while distracting him with random blabber about all the different kinds of food they’d soon eat at the prom.
The other just smiled, carefully listening, but taking a quick moment to glance at the comfortable clasp between them.
Mike’s heart was not going to survive the night.
Everyone was waiting for them at the front of the school, and Mike and Will were promptly pushed inside the gym doors with hoots of laughter before they knew it.
Some person on the committee had chosen ‘Frozen in Time’ as the theme when the prom was supposed to be scheduled in late fall to the middle of winter. But the event had been pushed back so much because of the destruction of Hawkins and the school, and the committee was too stubborn about having a winter-themed prom in the winter. So now the gym floor looked like an avalanche crashed through the middle of a spring night. Cut-out silver snowflakes and stars hang from the ceiling, and blue-white streamers fall in a downward spiral above.
They dispersed from there.
It was strange how even though they all played a part in saving the literal world, and quite possibly the whole universe, they were still forced to drink the shitty fruit punch and watch sweaty teens dance to overplayed music.
The party rotated between taking a dozen pictures at the photo booth with the props and pretending like they knew the lyrics to all the songs. The food still sucked, though. As well as the fruit punch. Especially the fruit punch.
But it didn't stop Mike from circling around the table to at least pretend like he looked busy. At some point, he lost direction of Will, who wandered off elsewhere with El and Lucas. Max was taking a breather in a foldable chair, and Dustin was taking a leak in the bathrooms.
He didn't know how long he had been standing there like that, taking smaller bites of his pizza and cringing at the off-guard photos taken. But then the lights changed, dimming the room in a dark blue, and Cyndi Lauper’s voice sounded over the speakers. The dance floor paired up in a blink. He saw all his friends reappearing across the gym and inviting each other to the center of the music.
Lucas and Max were the ones his eyes landed on first. Max wrapped one of her arms around Lucas’s shoulders while the other was balanced by her fiery red cane. Lucas offered his own support with his hands gently holding her waist. She led with her shoulders while keeping the leg where the cane was balancing her weight, and the cane planted on the floor together, and then kind of twisted to the rhythm of the music. Lucas wore a huge, cheesy smile the entire time.
El’s vibrant corsage could be seen rocking over Dustin as they spin around the dance floor. Dustin’s curls bobbed as he engaged in some kind of rant with her. He was eventually shut up when El apparently saw it as the perfect moment to lean in for a soft kiss. When she pulled away, Dustin stared, wide-eyed, like he couldn't even begin to process that just happened.
Mike finally made eye contact with Will, who was standing on the completely other side of the gym. Even through the dim lighting, he could make out the ghost of a small frown tugging on his lips.
Everyone was dancing under the soft pastels of the altered gym, and Mike and Will decidedly…couldn't.
Will waved over Mike, but then continued to a space at the bleachers where the lights didn't quite reach. He took a seat, patting the one beside. Mike quickly weaved around all the dancing couples to join. Mike held his pizza, Will with a cup of fruit punch.
Across from them, they watched as Ashley Martinez and another guy from his physics class (whose name he couldn’t remember for the life of him) awkwardly looped their arms around each other. The physics guy stepped on her foot at one point. She tried her best to ignore it and tried to make some kind of conversation instead. But it ended just as fast as it had started, as they continued to wobble around to a nonexistent rhythm.
It was a car crash that neither of them could look away from.
Eventually, the girl found her escape by excusing herself and bolting for the bathrooms.
“Jeez, that was just painful.” Will laughed.
Mike shook his head. ”Right?”
He took another bite of his pizza, still watching physics class guy sway alone for a second before he finally slinked back toward his friends crowding the snack tables.
“I almost felt bad for him,” Will murmured.
Mike snorted. “If you step on someone’s foot like that on a first dance, that’s on you.”
Will hummed in agreement. “You think she’s actually coming back?”
“Give it five minutes. Tops,” Mike said. “Either she reemerges with a whole battle plan mapped out, or she climbs out a bathroom window and disappears forever.”
Will laughed again, then went quiet for a moment. “I doubt it. She looked like she wanted the floor to swallow her whole.”
The slow dance music suddenly shifted into a new song. Will’s head tilted in recognition and spun his head around to face Mike.
“What’re you smiling at?” Mike asked.
Will rhythmically tapped on the bleacher seats, and Mike felt the soft vibrations tremble under him. “This song…” he exhaled through his nose in something resembling a soft cuckle. “I don’t know. I just haven’t heard it since forever ago.”
The sudden familiarity of it all struck Mike. It was halfway through the intro of the funky drums and guitars that he recognized it as Just Like Heaven. “I remember your Cure poster from Lenora.”
Will looked at him, shocked. He stares at Mike for a moment, like he couldn't believe that he had remembered that little detail. “Yeah, I did have that.”
He always remembered
The moment fell into agonizing silence between them again, music subdued to the background as Mike’s anxiousness to do something pushed to the forefront. His leg bounced against the surface of the bleachers until he just couldn't take it anymore.
In one quick movement, he grabbed Will’s hand and stood up so fast that he practically lifted Will alongside him.
“Let’s do it, Will.” The words breathlessly left his mouth. “Let’s dance.”
There was a brief second where Will just stared, slack-jawed, at him. Mike was worried that he was preparing to shake his head no. But then the lights in the dark room caught Will’s face and shone enough that he could see a pink blush overtaking his expression.
He nodded, laughing quietly as he stood up so Mike could drag them down the bleachers. He squeezed Will’s hand and took him across the floor to the doors that would take them to the halls of the school. He scanned the room to make sure no one was watching before pushing the doors open.
Mike felt his fingers buzzing against the ones intertwined with Will’s. His palms were also sweating like crazy. He hoped that Will could only feel the buzzing and not the clammy part.
Through the doors, the speakers were so loud that the music and all the pastel colors still bled out. But the shadows of the hall are dark enough to hide them away. They pushed to the middle of the dark, and Mike turned to finally look at Will.
It was stupid, especially after all these monster-infested years, that Mike was still scared. Not of Will, no, never. But this, this not-new but somehow even more complicated relationship he had somehow managed, He remembered from his last dance with El that the correct move would be for his hand be find to the small section of Will's back, gently pulling him close with the other holding his hand. But he was not sure how to manage a slow dance while being one arm short. He frowned. He wanted a real dance with Will. Not just simple rocking to the music.
“I don’t really know how to do this. So don’t expect too much from me,” Mike suddenly confessed.
"Trust me,” Will said. “I don’t either.”
It was nice to hear that the boy was equally as nervous.
They settled for a simple lacing of each other’s fingers. Will reached forward, wrapping one of his arms around Mike’s shoulder, and having the other naturally resting on his hip. Mike let him do it, using his one arm to rest on his waist. Somehow, despite his clear nervousness, they managed to fit together nicely. His knees are slightly bent just to shrink the height difference a little bit. “Just follow my lead, and we’ll be alright.”
”Promise not to disappear into the bathrooms if I step on your foot?” he teased.
Mike rolled his eyes. “Do I look like Ashley Martinez to you?”
Will tilted his head. “Your hair’s pretty enough for it.”
”Nancy did it,” he murmured, blush spreading across his ears. But then he lifted his eyes to seriously look at him. “I don’t care if you step on my feet a hundred times or even make me fall backwards on my butt. I won’t ever run from you. Not anymore.”
Will opened his mouth to say something, but never found the word leaving his tongue, as Mike continued to softly guide them through the rhythm. He nodded and allowed him to move his hands so that they were securely wrapped around the other. He gave Will’s hand another assuring squeeze.
Mike was no stranger to Will Byers’ touch. But he knew that both of them were too awkward to properly hold each other any closer. So they kept themselves at a comfortable distance that was just enough for Mike to study them. Will’s body was broader than it used to be. Maybe even a little boxier, albeit with the recognizable soft edges he was so used to, but it’s strange nonetheless how it’s only then that the obvious fact hits Mike: Will has changed. Both of them have, in fact.
Most of all, it was most strange to him that, even with all the scares and memories of gore he had collected from all those years, Mike could only see that shy boy he had walked up to in kindergarten. And it was almost like, in his mind, they were still frozen as little kids on those swings, even after all this time.
But the way Will holds onto him now, so precise and gentle, like he was worth being fragile with, reminded him of all the things they’ve gone through to take on these new forms of their past selves.
He was getting too sad. He gulped before slowly picking up the pace with the playful music.
“You move just like this,” Mike spoke quietly. He was deliberate in his movements, leading Will through the easy back-and-forth steps. “You’re basically a natural, though.”
It didn't feel nice to admit. But after Vecna, after everything that they’ve gone through, all the death and destruction that he was at the forefront of to save lives, Mike still stared at the ceiling of his bedroom as the question: "Was it really worth it?" dangerously snaked through his mind.
He pulled until the gap between them completely disappeared as they were flat against each other’s bodies with Mike's chin resting in the crack of Will’s neck.
Because of what he did, he would have to live without an arm for the rest of his life. For the rest of his life, Mike would have to constantly learn new ways to adapt to this new disability.
But the answer was yes. Oh god yes.
He could die right now, and he would accept it all purely because of the fact that Will would die right there beside him.
He leaned closer to the familiar smell of cedarwood body wash, and everything about it screamed of Will. His hand, firm but gentle, anchored around Will’s waist.
”Is this okay?” He asked again, barely above a whisper. “Am I doing okay?”
Will nodded and let his eyes flutter shut, because he never had to say much when they were together anyway. Not with Mike.
Mike pressed a kiss into the skin. He was soft. That had always been the first thing Mike noticed about Will when they held hands, or when he would simply graze his skin for any other reason at all. He wasn't like a girl—or at least, with his limited experience, not like Ek. But it was so smooth and beautiful and tasted just like his best friend, and it was a constant reminder that he, Mike Wheeler, was kissing Will Byers. His best friend. The boy who actually agreed to go to the prom with him.
Mike chanted the name in his mind like a prayer.
Will didn't feel real. He tasted just like a dream, and he was almost worried that it would all quickly become a nightmare. It didn't feel real at all. Not the way that Will didn't pull away to laugh at Mike’s patheticness, or how someone still hasn’t found them kissing like this, isolated from the rest on the dance floor.
But the shadows were just dark enough, and the music was too loud, and he could feel Will’s breathing flowing through his hair and their hearts thumping together.
Mike’s fingers further curled at his nape, and Will couldn’t help but gasp a little and tilt his head, allowing Mike to slot deeper into the crook of his neck. He trailed up from the neck to his face and only hesitated when he reached that eye. It was concealed under the light yellow patch. He hasn’t seen it properly since Vecna gouged it out in the battle, and Will hasn’t given him the chance to. His heart hurt. But that hurt was soon replaced by a surge of anger.
He pressed a deeper kiss around the orbit. The boy said nothing. So he continued planting kisses all over.
Mike kissed Will for every tear he ever caused him for being an oblivious idiot. He packaged soft ‘I love yous’ with his lips for each time he denied himself the pleasure of this action. He allowed his greediness to get the best of him as he tried to take in all of this boy and only stopped when Will’s shaking became apparent.
“I’m sorry.” Mike quickly broke away, loosening his hold on Will. “Did I hurt you? Was it too much?”
Will began to shake his head no. “I can’t see you,” he said. This time, it was he who was guiding them closer to the glimmering blue lights seeping through the gym doors. There was a beat where they're washed in a sea of colors. There's a beat where Mike stopped breathing and where Will glanced down at Mike's lips and up again.
"Better?" Mike stupidly asked.
"Yeah." Mike shuddered at the voice. "Better."
Will moved before Mike could even form another thought.
This kiss was different. It was messy and sloppy, but Mike Wheeler can’t get enough of it. Will’s mouth against his was a soft pressure. Careful enough that Mike can feel the exact moment Will lets himself truly want it. It wasn't perfect with the way their noses bumped between the confusion of wet lips merging. But it was definitely the best kiss he'd ever have.
They pulled away only so they didn't suffocate.
“I've always wanted to do that,” Mike admitted when he pulled away. It was barely even above a whisper when it slipped out of his mouth that he wasn't fully sure if it was meant to be a confession for Will or for himself.
“And now you have.”
“Yeah, and now I guess I have."
Just Like Heaven ultimately faded out into a whole new song; neither could remember how many songs ago that was. He'd have to go buy a record off of Robin soon so he could replay this moment in his mind over and over again until he was completely and utterly sick of it.