Chapter Text
“oh….ohhhhhh…..YESSSSSS” Mike lets out a yelp as he falls back onto his bed.
Will’s laughter bounces off the walls as he turns back to his desk and shakes his head.
They are both sitting on opposite sides of the room, working on assignments, occasionally glancing up to watch the DVD Logo on their TV screen bounce between all four sides, finally catching it, aligning smoothly with the right corner of the screen.
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Mike and Will were going on their second year of being roommates at college. Ever since they closed the gates, Mike had made it his mission to make up for lost time with Will, and why wouldn’t he? Will was his best friend, and he realized how much time he spent being a shitty friend to him. Not to mention, he was helplessly in love with him.
Especially after Will came out, Mike didn’t know who the fuck this Tammy person was, but all he knew was that he was NOT just some Tammy. And he was going to make sure that Will knew that.
However, that turned out to be a lot harder than he had expected. After the gates closed, he spent months grieving El, even though their relationship was majorly platonic by the end; that didn’t mean that his entire life didn’t get turned upside down. Losing one of his best friends was something he wished he had never had to go through, once, not to mention twice.
While grieving, Mike clung to Will and decided to follow him to college in New York City. Will didn’t mind in the slightest, and Mike checked…. Countless times. Will felt that it was best for both of them to get out of Hawkins and that best friends should stick together.
Best friends. Best friends is a sticky place to be when you know that one half of the friendship has been in love with the other half since, well, ever (Will). And when one half of the friendship is struggling to come to terms with his new emotions towards the other half (Mike).
Mike knew that he loved Will. And he knew that Will liked him back, but that was the issue. He didn’t want Will to think that he was just using him because he knew that Will liked him, especially at this vulnerable time. So Mike did what he thought was best; he didn’t tell Will about his feelings. He bottled it up and threw himself into being the best possible friend that Will has ever had.
This worked for a while, and after about six months of being roommates at college, Mike thought that he was finally ready to address his feelings; he was ready to be more than just the best friend Will had ever had, but the best boyfriend Will had ever had. He had the whole thing planned out.
He even talked to Hopper about it, knowing how difficult it was for him to express his feelings about El and his relationship. Hopper told him about the feelings talk and that he wrote it all out beforehand.
So that’s what Mike started doing months ago, he wrote, he wrote so much that he formed a small novel. A 200-page love note to his best friend. He was going to bind the small book and give it to Will, along with a spoken confession, and he prayed to god that Will had not gotten over his crush on him.
However, then the unthinkable, for Mike, happened. Will met someone. Chance. Chance was an art major like Will. Chance was tall and funny and openly out as gay. And Will liked Chance. He told Mike the night Mike had planned to express his undying love for Will.
And in an act of complete and utter selflessness that even Mike didn’t stop him. He wanted Will. But he put Will’s happiness above his own, thinking that this thing with Chance would end when Will realized that it had always been Mike.
Wel,l Chance stuck around for a lot LOT longer than Mike had hoped for. And every day that Chance hung around their dorm was another day Mike pushed his love novel deeper and deeper into the back of his closet. Funny, he thought.
Of course, he hid his confession of love for his best friend in his fucking closet. He should just get in there with it.
But after a grueling 8 months, Chance and Will broke up.
About a week ago, Mike came home to find Will silently crying on the edge of his bed. He didn’t directly tell Mike what had driven them to break up, but it did not sound pleasant. And Mike didn’t want to push. So he comforted Will and selfishly thanked the powers that be for this twisted opportunity and swore he wouldn’t fuck it up.
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“Hey, Will,” Mike asked from where he had fallen back on his bed.
Will hummed and pushed his headphone off one ear in response from where he was drawing in his sketch book on his desk.
“Do you- um - would you wanna grab dinner later?” Mike asked like they didn’t get dinner together every night Will was home. Though he felt he had to initiate an ask since up till a week ago, Will’s dinner plans usually featured Chance and some fancy restaurant.
“Duhhh, i’m already starving. Check what the dining hall has, though, cuz if it’s pork chops again, I will force us to splurge on takeout,” he flashed Mike a quick grin that made Mike’s check flutter, and then pushed his headphones back on and continued to finish his drawing.
Before Mike could even let his grin fully cover his face, there was a knock on the door. He looked to Will to see if he was expecting someone, but realized he couldn’t hear over his music.
Mike slid off his bed and went for the door. Whoever was on the other end knocked again, harder this time.
“Jeez, i’m coming,” Mike mumbled under his breath.
He opened the door wide and then immediately swung it back. Leaving a gap only large enough for the person on the other side to see half of Mike’s body.
“What are you doing here, Chance?”
“Hello to you, too, Wheeler. Can I come in?” Chance snapped with a sickly grin.
“Nah, I don’t think that’s a good idea anymore.” Mike glanced over his shoulder to see Will’s back still turned to the door, headphones on, and drawing.
“You must be loving this, Wheeler,” Chance spat through his teeth. Giving Mike an up and down before locking eyes with him.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Chance. Unlike you, I don’t break people’s hearts and then come hang out at their dorm begging for an audience.” The anger was palpable in his voice, and he knew exactly why Chance didn’t like him.
Mike might have been Will’s best friend, but the love and kindness he showed Will didn’t necessarily get passed on to Chance. Mike was icy to him. Shut him out. Shut him down. And took any opportunity to knock him down a peg.
“Look, I just want to give Will back a few things he left at mine, so can I just-” before Chance could even finish his sentence, Mike reached through the small door opening and grabbed the bag from Chance.
“I can take that. Did you need anything else?” Mike smiled at Chance with enough annoyance to knock him out.
Chance tried to stick his foot in the door, but Mike knew all his tricks. Chance and Will got into a few fights in 8 months, more than Mike thought was healthy, and every time, Chance would come to their door just like this and try to weasel his way in while Will was still mulling things over.
Mike loved that he got to be the one to ice Chance out. To be Will’s protector, even if it was just for a day or so before Will and Chance worked things out or whatever.
But this was different. Chance and Will were done. Will made that clear to Mike. So Mike made it clear to Chance that he was no longer welcome in their dorm.
“Goodnight, Chance, thanks for stopping by,” Mike grunted before slamming the door shut.
The slam tore Will away from his drawing, “Who - um - who was it?”
“Chance, he came to drop off your things. I told him to get lost, and he did,” Mike gloated.
“Mike - don’t - look I know we broke up, but I would like to keep things as civil as possible. I don’t want to make an enemy within the first month of Sophomore year.” He weakly smiled up at Mike. Will was better than him. Always trying to keep the peace. Mike, on the other hand, was willing to make a few enemies if it meant protecting Will.
Mike shook his head and stretched the bag out to Will, “What did he give you back?” he couldn’t help but ask.
“Ummmmmm looks like a t-shirt, a hoodie, and-”
“Is that - is that MY hoodie…” Mike’s eyes about shot out of his skull. He knew it was his. It wasn’t a special hoodie, just a navy blue one that Mike had cut the neck of cuz he didn’t like the way it felt.
“Oh, um, ya” Will’s voice trailed off, “sorry,” he winced, “the day we broke up, I - um - I accidentally grabbed it on my way out that morning. And then I left it in his apartment.”
Mike didn’t mind one bit. He would love nothing more than for Will to wear his clothes day in and day out. He loved it when they went out, and Will would forget a jacket or just get cold, and Mike would have an excuse to give him the literal (sweat) shirt off his back.
“Hey, all good, keep it. I don’t even wear that one much anymore.” Mike grinned at Will, pushing the sweatshirt Will was holding out back into his arms.
“Anything else good in there?” Mike poked, now just leaning into the bit.
“No… um no… these aren’t mine - I don’t - I - these aren’t mine.” Will’s whole face started to grow beet-red. His mouth going completely dry. And his heart dropped right into his ass.
Mike, being protective and a little (lot) jealous, grabbed the bag from Will.
“MIKE, no - Mike give it back - it’s not - they aren’t even mine - it’s not-” before Will could get out his sentence, Mike had pulled the condoms from the bag and froze.
“Oh,” was the only word that he would form before Will snagged them back from him.
Were Chance and Will having sex? Did Chance get to touch Will like that? Has he got his hands all over him?
He knew they had been dating for 8 months, but 3 of those were summer break, and Chance was in Europe with his family. So, really only 5 months of non-long-distance dating. Did Will really like Chance that much?
Then Mike had another horrible thought, worse than all the rest. Oh my god, was Will over him? Was he ready to go this far with Chance because he was fully over Mike? Even though Will and Chance’s relationship, Mike still kept up hope that one day Will would wake up and realize that it was Mike he should be with. But maybe Mike had it all wrong. Maybe that crush Will had died as soon as he started dating Chance.
“Mike - sorry - I swear they aren’t mine,” Will choked out, sounding like all the wind had gotten knocked out of him.
Mike only pulled himself out of his downward spiral at the feeling of Will’s hand on top of his, where it held him up on Will’s desk. Will’s hand was warm. It was grounding. Everything about Will was grounded to Mike. He was his lifeline; he knew that no matter what was going on and no matter how dark things got, Will was that light at the other end of the tunnel that kept him going. He pulled himself together and flipped his hand up to grab Will’s and give it a squeeze. Trying hard not to let his face give away the fact that his whole world was splitting down the middle.
“Ya, ya, wanna go get dinner now?” but Mike wasn’t even the slightest bit hungry anymore, he just needed to get out of the same room as Will and Chance’s condoms before he bashed his head into his closet and let himself take 5 million steps backwards.
“Ya let's go.” Will gave him a tight smile back. Will, who had also lost his appetite the second he laid eyes on those fucking condoms. A rude, cold reminder of his and Chance’s breakup. And as he squeezes Mike’s hand back, he feels like the knife is twisting further into his heart. Why didn’t Mike fight for him when Will told him about Chance asking him out 8 months ago? Why did he have to call Mike his fucking Tammy over a year ago? And why, after all this time, did his want, his need to be loved by Mike, not even subside the smallest bit.