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There's a mound of rocks piled up at the foot of the cliff face, Will lowers Mike to sit against them as he hisses in pain, his hand clutched to his side to try and stop the bleeding.
Mike's hand stays firmly on his shoulder as Will fumbles frantically through his bag for the first aid kit; disinfectant, cleaning wipes, bandages.
He turns to Mike, his best friend's face is screwed up in agony. Tentatively, he reaches out to unbutton the bottom half of his shirt, Mike's breath catches in sudden shock.
“Sorry-” Will apologizes on instinct, but Mike just tightens his grip on his shoulder and nods.
With his consent, Will peels back the shirt.
It's damp and sticky where the blood has glued it to Mike's skin. The faint imprint of a hand surrounds it where they’d frantically fumbled to apply pressure. Will winces at the sight of it.
“That bad, huh?” Mike laughs, it comes out almost like a choked sob.
“At least you'll get out of this with a badass scar?” Will smiles softly as he starts with the disinfectant.
“Shit!” Mike hisses, gritting his teeth, tugging at Will's sleeve.
Will freezes momentarily, “Um.. might sting a bit?”
“Thank you, Nurse Byers.” Mike grumbles.
The wound isn't too deep; not as bad as Lucas’, and Lucas is recovering just fine. As far as they know, there's no such thing as demo-rabies.
Will continues in silent focus, unaware of Mike's gaze wandering his face with that expression of incomprehensible awe.
“Mike- the bandage, can you hold that in place?”
Mike snaps out of it, Will is holding the bandage against his waist. The warmth of his hand sinks through to Mike's skin, through the burning agony of the wound. He nods, then moves his free hand to hold it in place, brushing against Will's. Their eyes meet for a fleeting second.
“Hey, you should volunteer at the hospital when we get back up there.” Mike smirks.
Will laughs sarcastically, “I don't know if the uniform would suit me.”
“Are you kidding? Pink is totally your colour.” Mike continues, grinning. The hand on Will's shoulder reaches out to mess with his hair. “Y’know.. and those little hats. You'd rock that little hat.”
For once, Will is grateful for the murky darkness of the upside down; he imagines his face is as red as the flashes of lightning above them. “Well, next time you're attacked by an eight-foot tall interdimensional monster I'll be sure to have one on hand.” He responds, silently cringing at how flirtatious this sounds. Mike is still smiling up at him like an idiot.
“Sorry, I think I'm delirious from blood loss..”
They share another look before dropping their gazes with snorts of laughter.
At what point does platonic teasing cross the line into flirting? Looking back, neither Mike nor Will could pinpoint the exact turning point of their friendship. Yet neither of them would dare acknowledge the glaring obviousness of the fact that it had, most definitely, turned.
“You haven't lost too much, I think you'll survive.”
“Of course I'll survive. I've got a real life sorcerer on my side, remember?”
“Right,” Will nods, “And I've got my Paladin in shining armour.”
Will stands and offers a hand, pulling Mike to his feet.
“Can you walk ok?”
Mike takes a step forward, grabbing onto Will's shoulder for support. “A little? It still hurts like a bitch-”