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Mike Wheeler is on the clock and bored.
There is absolutely nothing he hates more than his stupid job at the stupid mall doing nothing but scooping stupid ice cream. It’s boring and it’s tedious and their customers suck. On a bad day, Erica Sinclair shows up.
If there’s anything he hates more than his stupid job, it’s his stupid coworker, Max. The two know each other, because Hawkins is a small town and she might have a thing going on with Mike’s friend Lucas, though he really can't tell whether or not they’re together.
However, they never really talked and Mike didn’t anticipate that they’d be taking the same summer job, and he definitely didn’t anticipate that Max would be literally the most annoying person ever.
She’s snarky and she’s rude and she speaks only in quips designed to make fun of him. She has this whiteboard that she keeps with her on the job, which is split into two with one side saying “you rule” and the other saying “you suck”. The “you rule” side is blank while the “you suck” side is an ongoing tally she adds a line to whenever Mike does, like, anything.
Well, she adds a line whenever Mike does anything specifically to do with a certain guy whose name begins with “W” and ends in "ill Byers”, but he’ll get to that later.
Not to mention she seems to be allergic to the name “Mike”. She called him “Wheeler” once on a really good day, but most of the time it ranges from “dingus” to “idiot” to “stupid” to “loser”, the like.
The worst part about her is — Mike finds her funny. So not only does her entire existence revolve around making fun of Mike as much as is physically possible, Mike has to be careful not to laugh at anything she says out of fear of boosting her ego.
Mike thought that summer break would be freeing, he doesn’t have to worry about his mind numbing classes and he can get a job scooping one of mankind’s finest delicacies and he has more free time and everything would just be sunshine and lollipops and Will’s radio station would be playing Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go or some other song with that kind of vibe and it would be, like, the summer.
As it turns out, Mike is on track to spend his summer serving ice cream with his stuck-up coworker and praying no one ever takes any pictures of him in his stupid sailor uniform and he is miserable.
So far, the closest he’s gonna get to that killer upbeat summer vibe is watching other friend groups roam around Starcourt mall, all happy and smiling and hanging out and seeing movies and Mike hates them. He hates everyone who’s having a fun time right now. In fact, he hates everything. He hates everything and there is—
Mike Wheeler is suddenly totally optimistic about his life when he begins walking out to the counter and sights Will Byers, talking with Max.
“Is Mike here?” Mike catches, and every negative thought he’s ever had evaporates around him.
Will Byers is here, and he’s specifically asking to see Mike. That’s enough to power Mike for about a year.
Mike practically hears Max roll her eyes as she answers.
“Yeah, he’s here,” Max drawls and turns around to call Mike, “hey dingus! Your boyfriend’s here.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” Mike stumbles to the counter, his face heating up.
“Yeah, whatever,” Max crosses her arms and walks away before muttering something along the lines of “he might as well be” under her breath.
Gosh, she’s so annoying. He hates this dumb job and his dumb coworker and—
“Hi, Mike.”
Mike immediately forgets what exactly he hates when Will brings him back into the real world, his casual yet bright smile making Mike’s insides turn into mush.
“Oh, hey— uh, hey Will.” And he’s already blown it. Rather than speaking to Will like a normal person, his brain decides to glitch and turn him into a stuttering mess.
“I had a bit of free time after my shift at the radio station,” Will explains, “so I decided to come by to see you.”
“Awesome,” Mike can’t help but mirror Will’s infectious smile, “man, you showing up every once in a while gets me through my shift.”
And that is absolutely, undeniably, one hundred percent true. Mike would have died in this ice cream parlor long ago if Will didn’t use his free time to see him.
Which, by the way, that’s insane. The Will Byers using his free time to see Mike? Mike, his stupid friend working some stupid job at the mall in a stupid sailor outfit? It shouldn’t be surprising, given that they are best friends, but the thought that he’s worth Will showing up just to see him never fails to give him butterflies.
Mike zones out at the thought for a tad too long, and he realizes he probably looks like a total idiot given that he’s done nothing but stare at Will for, like, three seconds, and he quickly zones back in to speak again.
“So, do you, uh — buy anything? Shit, what… I mean, do you wanna buy anything?” He asks, embarrassment making itself at home in his stomach as his brain briefly forgets how to function.
“Oh, yeah, of course,” Will exhales a breathy laugh, looking at all the flavors on display, “nothing too fancy… uh, I’ll just take a scoop of vanilla. In a cup, not a cone, please.”
“Coming right up.”
Will orders this every time he visits, probably because it’s the most simple thing on the menu. Mike likes it. He likes that Will doesn’t get anything too extravagant, because to Mike it feels like he doesn’t care what ice cream he gets, because he doesn’t come here for the ice cream, he comes for Mike. That’s awesome to think about.
Mike probably doesn’t look nearly as cool as he thinks he does scooping the ice cream, he most likely looks like an idiot because sometimes the ice cream is surprisingly tough and difficult to scoop through.
“Here you go.” Mike smiles and slips the cup over to Will, though it doesn’t look nearly professionally scooped, between Mike’s clear struggle to get everything in one coherent scoop and the shameless half-scoop that he added as extra for Will.
“Thanks so much,” Will’s smile is so warm it might melt the ice cream, “how much is that again? I should really remember by now…”
“It’s on the house,” Mike says quickly, “don’t worry about paying.”
“Are you sure?” Will frowns, with a tilt of his head that Mike finds irresistible. “I have some spare money, you don’t have to be concerned about me paying.”
“No, it’s fine,” Mike insists, “don’t worry about that. You should use that money for something special, like a… date. You should save it for a potential date.”
Mike’s loser tendencies start to seep in the conversation, as he starts to do what he would call subtle flirting.
“I don’t think I’ll be going on any dates any time soon,” Will laughs, “but thanks.”
“You never know,” Mike knows that he glitch at any moment, “who’s to say, you might— well, your date may be closer than you— maybe soon you’ll— you know what, never mind.”
Yup, there it was. Mike’s brain can’t take more than one flirtatious comment at a time, and he immediately overheats when he tries anything else. He’s sure his face is red right now, and that feeling of embarrassment weighs him down and threatens to pull him to the floor.
“Right,” Will laughs and is seemingly unbothered by Mike’s idiocy, “thanks.”
There’s silence for a second. It seems as though they both want to keep the conversation going, but Mike can’t generate the stupid words because he’s still thinking about how embarrassed he is and Will’s too busy in the process of stuffing his face with ice cream to say anything.
“Well, I’ll see you…” Mike tries to think of what to say. Without school, they never really know when they’re going to hang out next. “Today? Tomorrow? Around? Uh…”
Mike hesitates, knowing how badly he’s screwing up this conversation. The only thing keeping him sane is hearing Will’s laugh ring through his constant brain glitches.
“Let’s say around,” Will’s seemingly somewhat endeared expression means everything to Mike, “though I imagine it won’t be long. See you around, Mike.”
“Right, yeah.” Mike clears his throat, realizing that just saying “see you” was also an option, and he feels stupid. “See you around, Will.”
With that, Will walks out of the shop, ice cream cup in hand, leaving Mike absolutely dazzled.
There’s, like, a pink aura, a herd of flower petals and sparkles surrounding him as the opening to Hopelessly Devoted To You from Grease plays as his background music, fading out as he leaves the shop.
Mike tunes out for more than a couple moments, staring at the pink flowery trail that seems to have been left by Will’s presence.
He’s involuntarily brought back in by the sound of Max’s grating voice, warming itself up to make fun of Mike’s every move as she emerges to the front counter.
“Ouch.” Max says sarcastically, adding a seventh line to the “you suck” tally on the whiteboard. “Seven to zero. Watching your attempts at flirting is getting painful.”
“I’m not flirting,” Mike tries a lie, “that was a normal interaction.”
“Keep telling yourself that, numbnuts,” Max responds drily, “you couldn’t get a date with Will Byers to save your life.”
That kind of offends Mike, because what does she know about dates? Sure, she might have a boyfriend, and sure, said boyfriend might be Lucas Sinclair, a close friend of Mike’s, but he’s not even completely sure that they’re dating and if they are, she probably bribed him into it or something.
“Could too!” Mike huffs, though deep down he knows she’s probably right.
“Yeah, sure,” Max snickers, “I bet you could only do it with the help of an expert such as myself.”
“And why would you help me?” Mike asks incredulously, because he can’t imagine that Max would ever want to help him in something quite so trivial.
“I’m not saying I would,” Max corrects, “but… it’s getting kind of pathetic watching you flop around like a wet fish because your brain turns into mush around him. I bet you’d be a lot more successful with my help.”
“No way,” Mike answers simply because he’s much too prideful, “I bet you’d give me some really bad advice just to sabotage me, or something.”
“Fine, don’t accept my kind and generous offer,” Max puts her whiteboard down, “I guess you’ll stay date-less forever because of your absurd lack of game. I just thought it would be such an act of service, because helping my loser coworker get a boyfriend would be way more interesting than rotting away on this stupid job with nothing to do. But, whatever.”
“You suck,” Mike groans at her oddly persuasive sarcasm, “if I were to let you help me — not that I would ever need it because I can definitely get a date on my own — what would you want in return?”
“I’ll think about it.” A grin spreads across Max’s face, because they both know that has to be the worst possible answer she could have given. “Do we have a deal?”
Mike wants to say no, desperately, because he’s known her for, like, two weeks, and she’s the single most annoying person he’s ever met, but he worries she may know what she’s talking about. He thinks that if he ever wants to woo Will Byers, he’s gonna need help, and he supposes it would give him something more to do on the clock.
He groans at the thought, accepting help from the red-headed girl who he has already proclaimed his arch nemesis. But, he’s got the offer, and he would be even more of a fool than he already is to say no.
“Fine.” Mike says reluctantly, extending a hand to shake. “I’ll take your stupid help.”
“Awesome.” She smiles and shakes his hand, though it’s not exactly a friendly smile. It’s not warm and comforting like Will’s, more sarcastic and sinister.
There’s silence for a second, before Mike looks over the counter and sees Erica Sinclair approaching the store.
On some days, this causes a sense of dread for Mike. Today, it causes immense glee.
“I dealt with her last time,” he grins and pats Max on the shoulder, “it’s your turn.”
Max looks over the counter to see Erica standing there, meaning business. She watches as Mike disappears to the back, frustration growing on her face.
“Seriously? You’re the worst, dude,” she huffs, and Mike snickers as he overhears her muffled conversation with Lucas’ little sister.
So, in case it hasn’t been made painfully obvious, Mike is crushing on Will, big time.
The two have been inseparable since kindergarten, and they’ve been through thick and thin together. They’ve stuck together through Mike’s phase of wanting a bright orange mohawk and the allegations that they’re dating that they’ve been getting since middle school.
Somewhere down the line, however, Mike caught feelings, bad. They’ve always been super close, even with Dustin and Lucas constantly making jokes about Mike and Will being each others’ “favorites” within the Party.
They can’t lie to each other and they’re more emotionally vulnerable with one another than they are anyone else, and in elementary school they had one of those fake weddings on the playground, a memory that always gives Mike the stupid warm fuzzies.
Mike has felt differently around Will for a long time now, a lot different. The amount of casual contact and their lack of personal space and the way Will is literally the sweetest person ever has had Mike feeling some type of way for years.
He was too stupid to figure it out for years, though. Or perhaps he was too deep in denial. Who knows. The point is, about two or three weeks ago on one of the last weeks of the school year, Will ditched some big school party to help Mike cram last-minute for a test in a class Will wasn’t even in. Will said that Mike was “more important than that party could ever be”, even with some playful scolding for not studying sooner.
That was the day that Mike realized he might be totally falling in love with his best friend of over a decade.
Okay, maybe ”love” is a strong word. Is it? Mike doesn’t know. It’s a daunting thing to say, so Mike is just sticking to saying he has a “crush” or a “thing” or “feelings” or something. Maybe he’s falling in like? That sounds dumb. He doesn’t know.
What’s important is, Mike might have been in like with Will for ages now, but he basically only just had a big revelation about it.
And he was a mess afterwards. Well, maybe “was” isn’t the right word, because Mike is still an absolute wreck about it, as is probably obvious from his previous interaction with him.
The way his stomach would flip whenever Will got a little too close to his face and the way Mike’s eyes drifted down to his mouth all too often used to be just normal platonic things, back when he was painfully oblivious to his own feelings, but now he recognizes that it’s all because he’s got a thing for Will, and it’s making his mind go haywire.
He stares, he stutters, he’s constantly overcome by the urge to do something dumb like run his fingers through Will’s hair or kiss him or whatever, and it’s absolute torture.
So he couldn’t function for about a week until summer break started, and he’s barely working any better. Nowadays he tries to initiate flirting, which, as demonstrated, does not go well.
Instead of being smooth and cool, he gets too in his head and he overthinks and he stumbles over his words and he humiliates himself, because even looking at Will Byers’ beautiful face makes him want to melt.
Max caught on by the second time Will came by just to see Mike, and it wasn’t exactly his proudest moment. He gave Will his ice cream for free and Max berated him for giving out free ice cream. She then caught on to Mike’s slight stammering and the pink on his face, and went “do you have a crush on him or something?”, which Mike tried to deny, but he’s a horrible liar, especially when he’s embarrassed.
From then, she made the “you rule/you suck” board, and she puts a line on the “you suck” side every time Mike embarrasses himself trying to flirt with Will, which is every time he tries to flirt with Will.
It sucks, because he’s just accepted a deal to let her help him, which is chipping away at his pride, and she hasn’t decided what she wants in return, meaning she’s probably going to think of something absolutely diabolical and Mike can’t do anything about it.
He accepted a deal from his annoying coworker who seems to hate him, to help him charm his best friend of forever, who is totally out of Mike’s league in every single way possible.
Mike rests his head on the table, letting out a dramatic groan as he hears Erica demand to try all the samples at the front.
This is either going to be surprisingly fun or absolutely miserable, and he’s got a feeling it’s going to be the latter.
Mike leans back in his chair, letting out a hum of satisfaction as he taps his hands on the table.
The room is filled with the sound of Will’s voice and void of the sound of Max’s, making Mike feel very at peace with himself.
Will works at the WSQK The Squawk radio station. He took a summer job there and he’s got a radio show, with Lucas as his sound effects guy. Mike is honestly insanely jealous, he took this crappy job for the free ice cream, though he did consider applying for the radio station with Will, which he regrets not doing every single day.
Mike feels like the only one who got the short end of the stick in terms of jobs. Will and Lucas get to work together on a radio show, which is awesome, and Dustin sells movies at some place called Family Video with this girl called El. Mike doesn’t know her but she seems to be pretty good friends with Dustin now that they’re coworkers.
Meanwhile, Mike has to scoop ice cream with his mortal enemy, dealing with customers like Erica Sinclair and Derek Turnbow. One time, they both showed up at the same time and a fight almost broke out.
But the point is, whenever Will’s radio show is on, Mike would go to hell and back again to make sure that he listens to it.
When he’s lucky, it’s on while Mike’s not at work. On more unfortunate days, he has to serve customers with the radio to his ear as he tries to catch every word, which has gotten him many negative comments from customers and Max alike.
Today is a weird gray area between lucky and unlucky, because he’s at work, but he’s on break.
It’s honestly peaceful. Max’s “you rule/you suck” whiteboard hangs on the wall, which Mike has taken the liberty to deface completely, and the radio sits on the table as Max’s struggle with customers out at the front desk can be vaguely heard.
Mike thinks that Will’s voice is better than any of the songs he could ever play, though Will does have pretty great music taste. In fact, this radio show is a gift to Mike because he would have paid money just to hear Will talk, and now Will gets to talk for a job, and Mike gets to listen to support him.
He thinks back to the first day Will spoke over the radio. He really shouldn’t be getting nostalgic over it, it was two weeks ago, but he remembers Will being really nervous about it.
Mike listened to it with Dustin on his basement couch, and both of them were singing along to the songs and making commentary on how well Will was doing. Will was super nervous, but he, like, absolutely killed it, and Mike fell a little harder in like with him that day.
Since then, Mike would sacrifice his firstborn to make sure he tunes into that show every time it airs. Will’s more confident now, and Mike can hear the smile in his voice over the radio. He’s glad he’s having fun.
Perhaps it’s for the best that Lucas applied for that job rather than Mike. Lucas is good at the sound effects, and Mike fears he’d be too out of it and focused on the sound of Will’s voice to do his job right.
Then again, he’s too out of it and focused on the sound of Will’s voice to do his job right here, anyway.
Mike closes his eyes and relaxes, listening to Upside Down by Diana Ross and thinking that nothing in the world can possibly steal his indescribable joy.
It’s at that moment that Max bursts through the door, and Mike’s eyes open and his smile immediately fades.
“Your break’s over, idiot,” Max taps her foot on the ground, “it’s busy today. Get your ass out here and help me.”
“Shut up,” Mike says exasperatedly as the song fades out, “he’s about to start talking. It’s the best part of this show.”
“God, you’re such a simp,” Max reaches over in an attempt to turn off the radio, “I don’t care. Come out and help me.”
“Hey!” Mike slaps her hand away and stands up, picking up the radio. “Be quiet. I can’t hear him.”
“Oh, Max, stop talking right now! I can’t hear my boyfriend talk on some radio show that I only listen to because I’m obsessed with him!” Max mimics, making her voice sound high-pitched and strained.
“Shut up,” Mike repeats, “and I don’t sound like that.”
“Whatever. You can listen to your nerdy show at the counter like you always do.” Max grabs him by the arm and drags him out to the front, as he holds the radio to his ear and tries to catch as much of Will’s talking as possible.
Mike doesn’t get much of Will’s talking, which makes him very mad at Max, but he manages to hear Will introduce the final song.
“Okay, and this last song is for my friend Mike,” Will’s voice rings out through the radio, and Mike might as well be jumping up and down.
“Oh my god, Max, shut up.” Mike says though Max isn’t even talking, and he feverishly shakes a very unimpressed-looking Max’s arm. “He’s dedicating a song to me.”
Mike waits in anticipation as The Cure’s Just Like Heaven pours out through the speakers.
“Oh, I know why he chose this one,” Mike shakes Max’s arm again, “basically, a couple months ago we went to that karaoke place around here and Will and I sang this song together and— you don’t care.”
“I don’t.” Max’s mouth pulls itself into a sarcastic smile. “Now can you please stop acting like a weirdo and do your job? You’re scaring off our customers.”
Will’s the really nice type who puts on songs and says “this one goes out to a friend of mine” whenever a certain song reminds him of someone.
Whether it’s a song that person likes or some kind of inside joke, Will always does it. He’s played songs for Dustin and Lucas before, and Mike finds it incredibly sweet.
He gets a rush of butterflies when he hears Will dedicate a song to him, because of that time they sang it together at the karaoke place in Starcourt. It makes Mike feel special, because Will loves The Cure, so the fact that he thinks of Mike seemingly whenever he hears one of their songs is flattering to Mike.
Mike sighs and walks to the queue that seems to have gathered, trying to scoop ice cream into cones with that radio pressed to his ear with his shoulder like he’s on the phone.
The amount of weird looks that he garners from customers is substantial and completely deserved, as he almost drops the radio a couple times and he almost drops the ice cream a couple more times.
Mike serves about two customers in the queue with the struggle of the radio before Dustin shows up at the counter, a girl standing next to him.
“Dustin?” Mike blinks. “Hey, man.”
“Hey, Mike,” Dustin greets and points to the radio, “are you listening to Will’s radio show right now? What’s on?”
“Just Like Heaven. The Cure.” Mike lowers his shoulder and places the radio on the counter. “It’s dedicated to me.”
“Oh, nice,” Dustin snaps his fingers, “because of the time you sang it together at karaoke?”
“Yup,” Mike nods, “so who’s this?”
“Right,” Dustin gestures to the girl beside him, “this is El. I work with her. I think her best friend is actually someone you work with.”
El gives a wave and a “hi”, and Mike can’t possibly think of anyone he works with who’s likeable enough to be best friends with this nice girl.
“Is Max here?” El asks, and Mike suppresses a sigh.
“You’re friends with Max?” Mike tries desperately not to judge her. “She’s here. Max!”
Mike turns his head and calls for Max, who appears from the back almost instantly.
“What do you want? And what the hell did you do to my board—” Max cuts herself off when he sees El and Dustin, “woah, hey El.”
Mike picks up his radio and steps to the side as El and Max exchange greetings and grins, and Mike thinks that it’s the first time that he’s seen Max smile in a friendly way. It’s very unsettling.
“Hi, Max,” El waves, smiling, “Me and Dustin are here from Family Video.”
“Right,” Max nods, “so, can I get you guys anything? And sorry about my coworker, he sucks.”
“Shut up.” Mike swats at Max’s shoulder, but she dodges it, much to the amusement of the two on the other side of the counter.
Max takes the orders and scoops the ice cream flawlessly, which always makes Mike kind of angry to see because getting a smooth scoop seems to be second nature for Max while it’s Mike’s second biggest problem in his life.
She continues catching up with El and scooping her perfect scoops, and Mike finally gains an excuse to shut her up as a queue starts forming behind El and Dustin once more.
“Dude, people are waiting,” Mike calls and presses the radio to his ear once more as the song comes to a close, “stop talking and actually do your job.”
“Says you,” Max huffs, “I do my job ten times better than you do. You’ve been serving people with a radio pressed to your ear like a loser. Oh, Will, I need to sacrifice my work and creep everyone out just to hear you talk over the radio! That’s literally what you sound like.” Max pitches up her voice once more, and Mike is confident that is not what he sounds like.
Dustin laughs, and El lets out a giggle despite not even knowing the context of Max’s stupid joke.
“That’s kind of what you sound like,” Dustin shrugs as he pays at the counter.
Great. So Dustin’s a traitor who hates Mike’s guts. Good to know.
As Will starts talking to end the show, Mike decides to focus on that rather than retaliating to Max’s stupid banter as she hands Dustin and El their ice cream cones and they walk off.
A smile makes its way back onto Mike’s face as he zones in to the sound of Will’s voice, though he probably looks like a total idiot to anyone else in the store. A warm feeling festers in his chest, and Mike’s face might be slightly pink by the time the show ends and Mike moves to place the radio on the counter.
“Finally,” Max groans while she scoops ice cream, “does this mean you can finally help me out without that stupid thing to your ear? You can literally just put it on the counter.”
“Not when you have that attitude,” Mike mutters, “plus, the show’s over, and Will usually comes here after his shift. So maybe he’ll be here soon.”
Mike finds himself smiling at just the thought, because Will is truly the only person keeping him sane through this stupid job and seeing him in person helps even more, while Max rolls her eyes.
“Awesome. I get to have second-hand embarrassment from your awkward flirting. Again.” Max says as she waves off the last customer on the queue, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Are you forgetting that you said you’d help me? We’re in this together, now.” Mike reminds her.
“Oh my god,” Max groans, “I forgot we made that deal. Okay. Well, he might be here soon, so I’ll give you your first lesson.”
“Right now?”
“No, when the sun explodes,” Max rolls her eyes again, “do you want this date or not?”
“How qualified are you in this?” Mike doesn’t know why he’s questioning her, but he feels like being annoying. “Like, are you even seeing someone?”
Max’s lack of a quick response suggests that it’s a no.
“Not technically,” Max crosses her arms, “but… almost. He’s, like, my pre-boyfriend.”
“Pre-boyfriend?” Mike raises an eyebrow.
“Yeah, we’re not dating, but, basically,” she tries to explain, “like you and Will. Will is your pre-boyfriend.”
So there’s a new development — Max isn’t dating Lucas. Rather, she is pre-dating him. At least, Mike is assuming that the guy is Lucas.
“What I’m hearing is that you just haven’t asked him out yet.” Mike bites back a grin, knowing that Max seems to be in a similar position to him.
“You know what, I don’t have to tell you anything,” Max quickly shuts down the conversation, “in fact, I don’t even know why I started talking about this in the first place. The point is, I could bet money that I’m better at flirting than you are, regardless of if I have a boyfriend. Do you want my help or not?”
Unfortunately, that’s true, because Mike thinks that with his flirting skills, a parsnip would have better chances with Will than him.
“Okay, fine,” Mike gives a reluctant sigh, “give me my first lesson or whatever.”
“Alright, so,” Max begins, “for now I’ll just say the basics because you can’t even get those right. Eye contact. Make sure to actually form coherent sentences.”
Mike feels like he should be noting these down, and he’s trying to just soak it into his brain. The “actually form coherent sentences” part seems to be throwing him for a loop, however.
“What else…” Max taps her chin, “compliments. Tell him he looks nice or you like his hair or say something about his radio show that you love so much. There’s probably more, but those are the basic basics. Like, baby’s first time flirting.”
“Okay,” Mike takes a second to go over the information in his head, “is that all I need?”
“For now,” Max shrugs, “I think if we tried to make him your boyfriend now your head would explode. For today, you can focus on trying to interact with him like a regular human being.”
“I interact with him like a regular human being plenty,” Mike says, “I think I would know how to talk to my best friend of ten plus years.”
“You’ve been best friends for over a decade and that’s how you talk to him?” Max inhales sharply. “Ouch.”
“We’re a lot more natural when we’re just hanging out,” Mike tries, “it’s only when I’m trying to flirt when I’m like that.”
“Sure, whatever,” Max chuckles, “and one last thing — stop giving him free ice cream. It’s bad for business.”
“What? But I thought that would help.” Mike frowns. “Everyone loves free ice cream.”
“That’s true,” Max considers, “but I know you only started doing that because the first time he showed up you got so flustered that you forgot how to use the cash register and just gave it to him. Also, you’re not permitted to do that.”
“You can’t tell me what to do,” Mike huffs, offended by the idea of charging Will for his singular scoop of vanilla ice cream, “you’re not my boss.”
“It’s gonna be you that gets fired, man,” Max shrugs her shoulders.
The next twenty minutes are torture. They aren’t as busy as before, but they’re still getting a decent amount of customers, and every time someone walks in his heart stops in hope that it’s Will.
Spoiler alert — it usually isn’t. Until it is.
Mike is still humming to the tune of Just Like Heaven and drumming his fingers on the counter when Will strolls in, and Mike has to remind himself to act like a normal person and not scream and jump like a schoolgirl because seeing Will is the highlight of his day.
It’s ridiculously hard to act nonchalant as Will walks up to the counter with that easy smile, his hair shaggy and Mike observes how it’s grown out a little as Will has to continuously brush his bangs out of his eyes and Mike feels weak.
Max is standing off to the side, arms crossed and leaning on the wall. Mike’s guess is that she’s observing the interaction to, like, coach him through it, and Mike doesn’t know if that thought should relieve him or terrify him.
Within the extremely long twenty minutes it took for Will to get there, Max had already gone and filled the “you rule/you suck” board back in, which puts a lot of pressure on Mike.
He has a feeling, however, that he won’t exactly be getting a “you rule” today.
“Hey, Mike,” Will says, crossing his arms and leaning forward to rest them on the counter.
There it is. Whatever sliver of confidence Mike could have ever had disappears into thin air as Will’s hair falls back into his eyes, and Mike’s brain completely short-circuits.
But, can anyone blame him? First of all, he’s in the presence of Will Byers, which is always going to have an effect on him, and Will Byers is currently smiling like nothing in the world matters, leaning over the other side of the counter and his face is like, six inches away from Mike’s.
Though he tries to will it away with whatever strength is still left in his body, he can feel his face going redder as he stares at Will’s very pretty and very close face, and he has to clutch the counter to make sure that his legs don’t give out on him.
Every time Will leans over the counter like this, Mike goes absolutely crazy. He always has the thought of Will leaning in extra close and, like, kissing Mike over the counter. He’s already got a name for it. The Countertop Kiss will be its name, and he’s going to trademark it one day. However, Mike really shouldn’t be thinking about that right now, because it will only make him dizzy.
Eye contact. Max said eye contact. That’s literally the easiest thing ever. Look Will straight in the eyes. Look Will straight in his very gorgeous, hazel eyes. Look Will — maybe not quite straight — in the eyes that Mike could explore as a full-time job, that show every emotion that Will’s feeling with beauty that makes Mike feel like he’s in a trance, and are ever so slightly obscured by his hair.
Okay, he’s zoning out. It’s been probably seven seconds and he hasn’t said a word. So thanks, Max, because now that he really thinks about it, eye contact is a horrible idea. He isn’t focused at all.
Avert your eyes, Mike. Look anywhere else, literally anywhere else..
Mike pries his eyes away from Will’s and looks at some random wall, which isn’t actually any less awkward.
Alright. Maybe the best course of action is to actually look at Will’s face, just not in his eyes. Simple, right?
Wrong. Because, Mike’s eyes naturally pull themselves to Will’s mouth, which is also a staring problem with him and it is not productive for holding a conversation.
In the end, Mike settles for Will’s nose, being right in between his eyes and his mouth. He’s spent way too long thinking about this, and he can vaguely see Will’s face contort itself into an expression of concern.
Stupid Max. If she hadn’t said eye contact, he wouldn’t have gotten in his head about it and he wouldn’t be looking like a complete idiot.
“Mike?” Will’s worried-sounding voice snaps Mike out of his trance-like state, which was very needed. “Are you alright? You haven’t said anything.”
“Oh — yeah, sorry about that.” Mike clears his throat and takes a step back, for his own sanity. “I just zoned out, um,” he clears his throat again, “hi, Will.”
“Right,” Will looks a little more at ease but still slightly concerned, “are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Mike shakes his head, “so, can I get you anything?”
Mike swears he hears Max sigh from the place she’s standing, which kind of annoys him, but he decides to focus on Will instead.
“Uh, the usual,” Will says before breaking into a smile, “I’ve never done that before. I’ve always wanted to try it, they do it in movies all the time.”
Seeing Will look so proud of himself for saying “the usual” at an ice cream place makes Mike’s heart skip a beat for some reason. Any simple thing that Will does basically has Mike as putty in his hands. It’s super unfair.
“You’re such a nerd.” Mike lets out a light, slightly choked laugh. “One scoop of vanilla then. In a cup.”
“You’re a fine one to talk,” Will feigns offense, “I know you wanted to get a hot orange mohawk just because of Bowie.”
“Don’t bring that up,” Mike laughs as he struggles to scoop the stupid ice cream, “I’d rather not think about what I could have looked like.”
“I think you could have pulled it off,” Will shrugs, “I mean, your current hair is better by a long shot but I don’t think it would look atrocious.”
The fact that Will said that so casually about such a horrendous idea that Nancy had to desperately talk Mike out of is definitely an ego boost for Mike. You have to be super attractive to pull off such a hairstyle. If Mike was delusional, he would think that Will’s calling him attractive right about now. Though, that’s impossible.
“You flatter me.” Mike slides the cup across the counter and sticks a plastic spoon in it. “You know what, I think I’m getting better at this ice cream scooping thing.”
“Just two more weeks and you’ll be like a professional,” Will jokes, taking the cup with one hand and using the other arm to lean his elbow on the counter.
“A professional ice cream scooper,” Mike goes along with the joke, “I could get behind that.”
There’s a second of silence as Will eats a tiny little plastic spoonful of his ice cream, and Mike thinks back to the things that Max listed off earlier.
The whole forming coherent sentences ship has long since sailed, so he thinks about compliments.
Give him a compliment. That should be easy. Mike finds so many things attractive about Will, picking out one thing and just saying it shouldn’t be that hard.
He’s been thinking a lot about the way Will’s bangs won’t stay out of his eyes, he should say that.
“I, um, I like your hair,” Mike says and gestures in the vague direction of where Will’s hair is, “your hair — your hair looks nice today. Well, it looks nice every day, but, you know, it just kind of looks extra nice today, or something like that.”
Shut up Mike. Stop talking right now.
At least he managed to give Will a compliment. Whether or not he did it successfully is up to interpretation.
“Thanks.” Will lets out an albeit confused laugh at Mike’s awkwardness, running a hand through his hair and roughing out his bangs in a way that makes Mike stare a little too long. “It’s growing out now, I’m always having to adjust it.”
“I like it,” Mike attempts to say calmly, “it’s a nice look for you. I like it. You look good.”
Was that too much? Is “you look good” too forward of a compliment? Mike wonders if he’s ruined everything as he observes the slight pink tint of Will’s face, which Mike thinks unrelated to his compliment but very cute nonetheless.
“Thank you.” Will looks just a little embarrassed, flustered, almost. He clears his throat and takes another spoonful of his ice cream.
There’s another moment where neither of them talk, until Will looks like he’s just remembered something.
“Did you listen to my show today?” He asks, a smile making its way back onto his face.
“I would never miss it.” Mike grins.
“It’s true, he wouldn’t,” Mike startles when he hears Max’s voice, “and he makes it everyone’s problem.”
“It’s not my fault that I have priorities,” Mike rolls his eyes, “sometimes those priorities include making sure that my friend’s radio show is on, at the counter, while I serve people ice cream.”
“I appreciate it,” Will chuckles, “though I do think you should prioritize work. But did you hear the song?”
“Hell yeah I did,” Mike grins, “you played it for me because of that—”
“—time we went to karaoke and sang it together,” Will joins in, and the two finish off the sentence in unison before breaking into laughter.
“Oh, I’ve been here for too long,” Will says suddenly and Mike feels a little disappointed, “I don’t wanna hold anyone up. How much for this?”
“You know what I’m gonna say, Will…” Mike tilts his head and smiles.
His final act of rebellion against Max — giving Will free ice cream because he actually has free will and can do whatever the hell he wants.
“Right,” Will shakes his head and grins, “you should really stop giving me free ice cream. You’re spoiling me.”
“You’re not the first to say that.” Mike spares Max a glance. “Don’t worry about it. Um, I’ll see you…”
“Around,” Will finishes the sentence, “I’ll see you around, Mike.”
Shit. “See you later” was also an option.
Whatever. “See you around” is their thing now.
Will’s trail of sparkles and flower petals follows him out of the store, and Mike’s day already feels duller without Will in his line of sight.
It takes him a few seconds of staring to remember that Max is, like, assessing him, and he turns back to her.
“So, how’d I do?”
Max sighs and picks up her board and pen, drawing an eighth line on the “you suck” tally.
“Can you guess?” Max says sarcastically, with a raise of her eyebrows. “It means you suck.”
In all fairness, Mike should have definitely guessed that.
Mike leans against the counter, picking at the dry skin on his bottom lip.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that Mike hates a lot of things — his stupid job, Wednesdays, Max — but today he’s doing something that combines all three, but then it's also ten times worse.
Today, he’s on the closing shift. It is the worst thing ever. He has to stay in stupid mall until ten or something, with Max, because they’re for some reason, like, the only people that work at Scoops Ahoy, and then he has to close up after.
They’re getting a fair amount of customers, so it isn’t painfully boring, but the fact that he’s spending his evening serving ice cream instead of doing something cool and productive like hanging out with Will totally isn’t ideal.
For now, Mike can do nothing but pick his lip raw while lazily watching everyone eating ice cream at their tables as the sun begins to set, just a little.
He eventually gets bored enough to decide to see what Max is up to in the back, where she’s got another whiteboard that she brought in at the beginning of the shift.
“Oh, hey, dingus,” she says absently, “check this out. I’m writing down some useful advice.”
Max shows Mike the board, with a title at the top reading How To Flirt (without combusting into flames).
“This is all the basic advice that you failed miserably on yesterday,” she points to the first bullet point, “nothing much. Just, eye contact — don’t stare — and, like, actually say things that make sense, and compliments, which you did okay, because I think it worked at least.”
Mike reads through the bullet points, and he can tell where she got lazy because at some point she wrote “just stop being a loser”.
She’s making this sound way easier than it actually is, by the way, but he can’t be entirely mad because she gave him sort-of credit for his complimenting skills.
“Very helpful,” Mike says drily, moving to sit across from her at the table.
“I know, right,” she replies, “all things considered, you’re terrible at this, but Will doesn’t seem to be not into it, so I’m moving you on to the next stage.”
“Which is?”
“Asking him out,” and Mike almost has a heart attack, “but in a more subtle way. Like, ask him if he wants to hang around the mall with you sometime or eat ice cream together after your shift. Since you guys are best friends, he won’t think much of it, and he’ll probably accept. What will make this work is if you try and casually refer to it as a date.”
“Okay,” Mike processes the information, “so, I could ask him if he wants to hang out or something, and just call it a date.”
“Pretty much,” Max shrugs, “it kind of sends a sign that you’re into him.”
The idea of doing that is more nerve wracking than it should be. Date is a word, it’s a very simple word. And, a lot of people use it platonically. People go on dates with their friends all the time and no one says anything.
So, if Mike uses it, then why would Will have any objections? Will isn’t the type to get uncomfortable or offended over something as simple as the word “date”, though Mike probably is.
It still makes Mike a little nervous to think about, because if he does that, then however they hang out will literally be their first official date. There’s a lot of pressure on that.
“Do you know what time he’s gonna be here?” Max asks, setting her board down on the table and standing up.
“No, he could show up at any time.” Mike shakes his head.
There’s a pause for a second, and Mike wants to ask something. He shouldn’t, it’s none of his business, but it slips out anyway.
“Why are you actually helping me?” Mike asks, unable to contain his curiosity. “Like, I thought you hated me. Why are you giving me useful dating advice?”
“Well, I’m bored,” Max pauses, “and this is more fun than doing nothing. Plus, I don’t hate you. Sure, you’re the most annoying person I’ve ever met, and you’re a total loser, but making fun of you makes my job entertaining. And I like being your wingman, you know? I’ve always wanted to do this kind of thing. You suck at this, but it’s pretty cool that I get to give you advice.”
There’s a moment where Mike doesn’t say anything. For the first time ever, Max doesn’t seem like a snarky selfish loser who wakes up and prays for Mike’s downfall.
For the first time ever, Mike thinks he might not hate Max. He far from likes her, but there’s something kind hidden behind all her insults. It’s something Mike hadn’t recognized before, but he thinks that even though she’s insufferable, she can be a decent person.
“Well, thanks,” Mike shrugs, “I still don’t know what you want in return, but I definitely owe you big time. Even though you suck, I’m glad I have a wingman, I guess. It’s just — I like Will so much, and I have no idea how to convey it, or if he has any chance of liking me as well. I don’t know. I think I’m going crazy.”
“No,” Max snickers and crosses her arms, “Will’s the crazy one. You’re more stupid.”
“What do you mean?” Mike tilts his head. “Why can’t me and Will be crazy together? And why do I have to be stupid?”
“Oh my god, you don’t know anything,” Max sighs dramatically, “those are the two things that love makes you? Crazy and stupid?”
Max’s explanation is met by Mike’s blank expression, which causes another sigh.
“Only love makes you that crazy, and that damn stupid,” she tries, “whatever. The point is, in this dynamic, Will’s crazy, and you’re stupid. It makes perfect sense. How do you not know that saying? The crazy-stupid thing is used in a lot of media types to reference love. Do you live under a rock?”
“Wait, hold on,” Mike chooses to ignore Max’s insults, “love is a big word, don’t you think? It’s just a crush.”
“Are you serious?” Max huffs a laugh, before she seems to realize that Mike isn’t kidding. “Dude, you’ve been best friends for, like, ten years. You know everything about him. You practically worship the ground he walks on. You look at him like he’s your entire world and you mention his name every other sentence. You’re so in love with him, man.”
It takes a hot second for Mike to process that. He’s been avoiding the word love, because it makes everything feel so much bigger than it needs to be.
Love is a really big word, using it kind of scares him. Surely, he’s not in love. He’s just really, really, really intensely crushing on Will. He’s in like. This is what he’s been going with since he realized his feelings.
“No way,” Mike denies, “I think saying that I’m in love with him is sort of extreme. I think I just have a really huge crush on him.”
“Dude, you’re hopeless,” Max shoves a face in her palm, “I’ve never seen anyone more obviously head over heels than you. See? Stupid. You’re the stupid one.”
Max walks out of the room to the counter before Mike can say anything, which is probably for the best.
He collapses back into his seat and peels the annoying piece of skin off of his bottom lip, which stings.
In love. He’s thought about it, a ton.
When he first figured out he had feelings, the idea that he’s falling in love was always at the back of his mind. Is he falling in love? That makes it feel serious.
“Crush” is a word that feels safe. Even thinking about saying he loves Will makes a nervous feeling rise in his chest. Does he love Will?
God, he hates internal conflict. He wishes all the answers about the universe were just given to him so he didn’t have to figure out everything himself.
He’s already been sort of thinking about this, but the thought is even bigger now that Max just called him out on it. She looked so confident that she was right, it’s making Mike question his feelings.
He needs to get his mind off of this and scoop some ice cream.
When he walks out to the counter, there aren’t many people left. Music faintly plays in the background as light conversation ensues on about two tables, because the mall is about ten minutes away from closing.
Mike hadn’t even realized, but it’s looking dangerously like Will isn’t going to show up.
The idea itself almost makes Mike break out in hives, because he hates the idea of going through the most abysmal shift there is just to not even see Will.
“Where is he?” Mike asks Max, tapping his foot on the ground.
“I don’t know,” Max shrugs, “we’re closing soon.”
“I know that,” Mike rolls his eyes, “he should be here.”
The next seven or so minutes feel like an entire lifetime as Mike slowly watches the mall empty out, lights in the other stores beginning to turn off and people leaving Scoops Ahoy until Mike and Max are the only people in the room, exchanging worried glances.
Mike jumps when a figure runs into the store, slamming a hand down at the counter.
Of course, the figure is Will, who looks up at Mike and Max all out of breath and panting and his face is red, and Mike feels his chest tighten in an unimaginable way at the sight.
“Hey Mike.” Will offers a shy smile through breaths, and Mike’s heart is beating far faster than it should be.
“Will, are you alright?” Mike leans forward, though he finds himself distracted by Will’s sheepish smile and the way he brushes his bangs out of his eyes as he tries to catch his breath.
Max moves away from the two to the corner of the room, and Mike hardly spares her a glance as he feels unable to take his eyes off of the man in front of him.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Will begins to explain, “I wanted to get here late so we could talk without me worrying about holding up other customers. But at the same time, I didn’t want to get here too late and keep you for too long, and I feared I left it too late so I had to sprint here, so, hi.”
Mike’s brain has officially switched off. He can’t find it in himself to function when Will has just run in because he wanted to talk for longer while still staying considerate to other people.
Okay. He’s dizzy. He feels lightheaded when he stares at Will and takes in how he is the sweetest person Mike has ever met.
“Oh, yeah, uh — hi.” Mike chokes out, thinking he might feel slightly sick. But, like, good sick.
It’s already not looking good for him. But it’s not his fault, Will never fails to make him absolutely weak in the knees. It’s fine, Mike. Stand up straight. Look him in the eyes.
Mike’s mouth doesn’t cooperate with his brain as he stares for longer than he intends, mouth parted and his lip still slightly stinging.
“So, how was the closing shift?” Will asks, and Mike can only focus on the way his cheeks are still ever so slightly pink.
“Boring.” Mike says abruptly, because it takes him a second to register that Will was actually asking a question and not just blah blah blah, proper name, place name, backstory stuff.
“I bet,” Will leans on the counter, “I know how much you hate doing this.”
“Um, yeah,” Mike decides to make himself useful and starts scooping Will’s ice cream, “it’s a drag.”
Mike’s keeping his sentences short for now because he’s afraid he might go into overdrive if he says too much all at once. He is most definitely getting a “you suck” and he is in desperate need of help, but he keeps forgetting that his brain can’t handle Will Byers like this.
It’s a little awkward for a second as Mike slides the ice cream cup over to Will, who happily takes it.
Just then, Mike is saved. Max walks over to where the two are standing, placing a hand on Mike’s shoulder.
“Hey, Will.” She says, smiling ever so slightly. “We’re just closing now, so how about you two go and talk and eat ice cream together and I’ll get a head start on closing up.”
Mike turns his head to look at Max, his sworn enemy, but now his saving grace.
“Are you sure?” Will asks. “I wouldn’t want to make things more difficult.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Max shakes her head, “you two just go sit at one of the tables and catch up. I don’t have anywhere to be.”
“Okay,” Will nods with a smile, “are you up for it, Mike?”
“Yeah — yeah, of course.” Mike gets his words out, scooping himself a cone of mint chocolate chip ice cream.
“Great.” Max says, giving Mike a little push, as Will walks over to a table for two.
Mike regains consciousness and snaps out of his trance as he takes his ice cream cone and starts moving, turning around to mouth “thank you” to Max.
“You owe me” is what she mouths back, and Mike does agree.
Mike nods and turns back around to join Will at the table, feeling a little giddy and having gained just a little more respect for Max.
“You know what,” Will begins as he takes a spoonful of ice cream, “I actually like your uniform.”
“Really?” Mike makes a face and pulls the fabric of his dumb sailor outfit. “This thing?”
“Yeah,” Will laughs, “it’s cute. I dare say you pull it off.”
“You think so?” Mike’s face flushes at the fact that he can pull off something cute. Does that come with the implication that Will is calling Mike cute? Probably not.
“Of course,” Will says with a sincerity that makes Mike want to melt, “you look good.”
The exact same compliment that Mike said last time, used against him. Mike feels the irony as his face practically burns itself off.
“I don’t know,” Mike tries to brush it off, “I think it looks dumb.”
“Oh come on, no it doesn’t,” Will reaches an arm across the table to playfully shove Mike’s shoulder, “you’re wearing an objectively cute outfit. There’s nothing unlikeable about it.”
“Not even the hat?” Mike jokes, because he despises that stupid hat and everything it stands for.
“Not even the hat.” Will confirms, completely serious.
“Alright, I’d like to see you pull it off.” Mike chuckles, which is something he instantly regrets because he knows damn well Will could pull off this hat in his sleep.
“Challenge accepted,” Will grins and reaches across the table again to take the hat off of Mike’s head, “give me this.”
The two share a laugh as Will leans forward and plucks the hat from Mike’s head.
Will holds the hat and inspects it for a second before placing it on his head, adjusting the hat and moving his bangs before he’s finally satisfied and drops his hands.
“How do I look?”
Holy shit.
Don’t act weird, Mike, it’s just a hat.
Unfortunately, Will can most definitely pull off the hat, which Mike had predicted, but his mind is still blown by just how good he looks in a simple hat that’s also the bane of Mike’s existence.
Mike is obsessed with it. It can be argued that Mike finds Will attractive in anything, but the way Will’s hands keep moving to fix the hat because it’s messing up his hair and the way it goes with his blue shirt (which might be Mike’s, now that he thinks about it) has Mike feeling a way he could only imagine Will making him feel.
He knows he can’t stare for too long. He doesn’t want to mess things up or be glaringly obvious or make Will think he’s having a heart attack, or something — although he feels like a heart attack isn’t completely out of the question right now.
What’s he supposed to say? I’m so attracted to you right now? Sorry man, my brain isn’t working anymore because you look so hot in that hat? He spends about three seconds brainstorming what he’s gonna say before he decides he needs to start speaking.
“At this point, you should just work here,” Mike jokes and desperately tries to keep his cool, “you could one hundred percent make the uniform look good.”
“The free ice cream is tempting, but I like my current job,” Will laughs, “plus, I get free ice cream anyway. And I still think you make the outfit look good.”
“You flatter me,” Mike shakes his head, “if you can look good in just that atrocious hat, you could do the uniform way better than I could.”
“You’re not giving yourself enough credit,” Will says, “but this does also prove that the hat looks good to some degree, which means I’m right.”
“Whatever.” Mike chuckles.
Will takes off the hat, leaning forward and reaching over the table for a third time to place the hat back on Mike’s head, and it ends up just a little crooked, but Mike doesn’t bother to fix it.
Will eats another spoonful of his ice cream, and this time their brief silence feels more comfortable than awkward.
Mike feels awkward around Will all the time, for obvious reasons. But, at the end of the day, they’re best friends, and Will is also the person he feels the most comfortable around.
Perhaps flirting isn't his strong suit, but he can have banter with him and laugh and have a complete homosexual crisis over seeing him in some stupid-looking hat in an ice cream store in a closed mall, and he feels at home.
It’s so easy to talk with Will, even if he makes Mike’s heart want to give out. Once Mike gets out of his own head about it, he remembers that they’re still best friends, and that he’s completely comfortable with him. He loves him.
Woah. He actually just thought that thought without even thinking about it.
He was just thinking about how much he loves Will and then it hit him. He loves Will.
Man, he hates it when Max is right. It makes sense, but it feels so intimidating to say he’s in love. Like, this is a big thing now, not just a throwaway high school crush.
And it’s been like this for a long time. He’s been slowly falling in love with Will every day but his head was too far up his own ass for him to actually be able to admit it.
But then Max said all that stuff and he started panicking and now it makes sense.
Loving Will is easy, maybe the easiest thing he’s ever done. Maybe he should give Max some credit for helping him realize that.
Or not, because he actually thinks he’s given her enough credit for one day.
“So, how about your coworker, Max?” Will asks after a moment. Speak of the devil. “She seems cool.”
“She’s not.” Mike says quickly with a chuckle.
“Really?” Will grins just a little. “What’s she like?”
“Well, she’s super sarcastic,” Mike begins, “and all she does is make fun of me, which you’ve probably heard. She’s just super annoying and we argue all the time.”
“I kind of gathered some of that,” Will replies, “but she doesn’t seem that bad. I think it was nice of her to offer that we sit and eat ice cream together.”
“I guess,” Mike admits quietly. “I hate your ability to see the best in people first, do you know that? But I guess it was cool of her to stay behind so we could have this date.”
Bingo. Mike has successfully dropped the “date” like Max said, which definitely counts for something. He feels a little jittery immediately after he says it, wondering if Will is going to have some kind of reaction.
“See? She’s not all bad,” Will points out, “plus, you don’t get along with anyone.”
Will didn’t react to Mike’s “date”, which is actually a good thing because he realizes he actually has no idea what he would say if Will asked a question about it. If anything, Will’s face goes just a tiny bit pinker, but Mike thinks he might be hallucinating that.
Officially, this is Will and Mike's first ever date, even if not as a couple.
“That’s not true,” Mike feigns offence, “I get along with you.”
“We don’t count,” Will smirks, “I just know how to tolerate you because we’ve known each other for so long. Plus, I think I’m just a little crazy.”
“Are you saying you need to be crazy to get along with me?”
“I am.” Will laughs, and Mike doesn’t feel offended, even if he maybe should. “Sane people don’t put up with you like I do.”
“Which is why you’re my favourite,” Mike says, “Max just isn’t crazy enough to get how cool I am.”
“Sure,” Will waits before speaking again, “isn’t she dating Lucas or something? I think I’ve heard him talk about her.”
“Yeah, here’s the thing,” Mike explains, “she told me that Lucas isn’t her boyfriend, he’s her pre-boyfriend. Apparently they’re basically dating but she just hasn’t asked him out yet.”
“Oh, I see,” Will drums his fingers on the table, “that makes sense. Lucas wouldn’t get a girlfriend without telling us.”
“Especially not you,” Mike adds, “you work with him.”
“But what about Dustin and El?” Will leans forward. “I mean, Dustin does kind of talk about her a lot.”
“Oh, totally.” Mike agrees, and he leans forward because he likes how it feels like they’re conspiring right now. “I was hanging out with El today. Did you guys know that her name’s actually Jane? I have no idea why everyone calls her El!”
Will breathes out another laugh as Mike mimics some that Dustin has actually said to them before. Mike loves making fun of his dorky friend.
“I can’t say that impression was spot on,” Will says, “but it wasn’t horrible.”
“I’ll take it.” Mike finishes his ice cream cone, tapping his feet on the ground.
It’s just then that Max casually strolls into the room from the back.
“Alright, lovebirds,” she says, “sorry to interrupt your date, but we’ve gotta close up now.”
“Yeah, sure.” Mike nods, trying not to flush at Max’s stupid comments.
Man, Mike almost forgot he works here. He’s in crushing debt to Max now, because she’s actually done something cool for once in her life and Mike imagines he’ll never be able to live it down.
Mike stands up and sorts himself out, grabbing Will’s empty cup and throwing it in the trash because chivalry isn’t dead, before going up to Max and lowering his voice.
“What’d I get?” He asks, although he probably already knows the answer.
“I think it’s obvious,” Max snorts, “I had to do the whole thing for you. You would’ve gone into cardiac arrest if I hadn’t saved your ass.”
“Fair.”
Will follows the two out of the store as Max turns the lights off and pulls the shutter down, wiping her hands on her skirt.
“Woah,” Will says breathlessly as he looks around the mall, “I’ve always kind of wanted to be at a mall after closing time. It’s cool.”
“I guess,” Mike agrees, “all the stores are empty and it’s just us. It is pretty awesome.”
“You two are dorks,” Max says, “it’s just a mall at night. This isn’t gonna change the trajectory of your being.”
“I still like it,” Will says casually, “I’m gonna, like, check this off my bucket list.”
“You have a bucket list?” Mike asks.
“I do now.” Will shrugs. “And this is gonna be the first thing to get crossed off.”
While Max starts walking ahead of them, Mike can only stand still and stare for a moment. Being in a closed mall is bucket list-worthy, to Will. Will finds joy in the simplest things known to man, and Mike loves him.
Mike loves him so much.
It’s been something of a week since Mike started taking Max Mayfield’s Masterclass on Flirting.
Nothing’s really changed, because Mike still sucks at it, but Will’s just so kind and awesome that he’s, as usual, unfazed by Mike’s awkwardness.
Mike hates a lot of things, but today is not one of them. Today, he doesn’t have work, and Lucas invited him to hang out at the mall.
At this point, Mike might spend more time in Starcourt than his own home, but he isn’t bothered by that, because this time he’s hanging out with his friends and it’s sunny outside and today’s episode of Will’s radio station actually did play Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go (per Mike’s request), so he’s pretty optimistic about the day, which is rare.
When he gets into the mall, Will and Lucas are waiting outside of the fancy clothing store that they have no intentions to go into.
“Hey, guys,” Mike throws a wave in their direction before he comes to a halt in front of them, “are we waiting on Dustin?”
“Something like that.” Lucas says, and Mike wonders what exactly that means.
“Hi, Mike,” Will’s casual smile brightens, and Mike’s heartbeat’s already starting to accelerate.
“I’m so glad I’m here without having to do my stupid job,” Mike stretches his arms, “all I’ve wanted this summer is to hang out with my friends.”
“I feel that,” Lucas sighs, “but not about the job. I love my job.”
“Yeah, you think you’re so cool because you’re the sound guy on a radio show,” Mike rolls his eyes, “well guess what, you are. I just scoop ice cream.”
“Can you get us a discount?” Lucas asks. “Max says Will gets his ice cream free. Which is fair, ‘cause, you know,” no, Mike does not know, “but you’ve gotta see if you can do something for Dustin and I.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Mike agrees, “I think it’s a friends and family discount or something.”
The three stand in silence for a moment until Mike notices two more figures coming towards them.
That’s strange, he thinks, because they’re only waiting on one more person.
It kind of clicks in his brain when he makes out the two people approaching them to be Dustin and El.
To be completely fair, Lucas did call and ask Mike if he wanted to hang out with “us”, not any specific names, and Mike doesn’t mind El. He doesn’t really know her, but Dustin likes her a lot, and she seems nice enough. Mike finds it pretty questionable that she’s friends with Max, but he isn’t one to judge.
Mike finds it questionable that anyone’s friends with him, so it’s all fair.
“Hey guys,” Dustin quickly waves a hand, “hope you guys don’t mind I brought El with me.”
El waves, accompanied by a “hi”, and she looks absolutely ecstatic. Will seems to be something of friends with her and Lucas seems acquainted with her, and Mike’s feet are impatient to start moving after everyone has greeted everyone.
“Well,” Mike says and taps his foot, “let’s go. Where are we headed first?”
Mike slips his hands in his pockets and stares at the other four, moving away from the door of the clothing store as people move in and out, upbeat music faintly playing from every corner.
“Oh, no, we’re still waiting.” Lucas cuts in, much to Mike’s confusion.
There’s only one name that comes to mind that everyone in this group knows well enough to invite to the mall. Mike has to suppress a groan. It’s not a name he likes, a mediocre name at best.
Hopefully he’s got the wrong person, and it’s actually some chill stranger that Lucas knows. Lucas probably knows a lot of chill people, as a certified chill person himself.
Maybe it’s someone Will knows. Will knows people. Will probably has great taste in acquaintances to spontaneously invite to a mall hangout with a childhood friend group and a girl that one of the friends works with.
Yeah, okay, none of that is realistic. It could be a friend of Dustin’s — no, Dustin’s already used his plus one.
“Right,” El explains, “I invited Max. I hope that’s okay.”
That’s it. He definitely should have seen it coming, but he still has to fight back a groan as Will shoots him a slightly amused look.
He recently found out that Max has the capacity to be nice to people, and she hasn’t even decided what Mike owes for his end of their stupid deal, which means that he’s in huge debt to her and she’s gonna be ruthless about it.
A fun summer hang out is going to turn into him being brutally insulted by his sworn enemy, a girl with ginger hair.
It’s just then that Max spots the five, strolling towards them with something of a smile.
Her smile immediately falls when she catches sight of Mike, “what’s he doing here?”
“Hello to you too.” Mike says sarcastically.
It’s already begun. Mike sighs and moves to stand closer to Will, because he thinks Will has a good shot at defending his honor from Max.
“Mike is part of the Party,” Lucas reasons, “you two can stand to be around each other for a couple hours.”
“You do work together,” Will adds, “you’re around each other all the time.”
“Too much.” Mike mumbles.
As it turns out, Mike’s stupid ice cream job will follow him wherever he goes, because his annoying coworker just has to be friends with his friends.
“So, where are we going first?” Dustin asks, trying to shift the topic from the conflict.
“Are you kidding?” Max asks, as if Dustin wasn’t being serious. “We’re right in front of a clothing store. Aren’t we gonna go in?”
“What the hell would we do in there?” Mike asks, slightly annoyed. “This was just our meet-up spot.”
“Well, we could go in and try on some clothes,” El suggests, “me and Max like to do that. We don’t have to buy anything.”
Mike’s just about to say something else to reject their idea when Max cuts in again.
“You can’t go to the mall with girls and not do something girls like,” Max drawls, “You guys aren’t gonna shit your pants if you try on some outfits. I mean, this one might, but—”
“Shut up,” Mike huffs as Max gestures to him with her stupid insult, “come on, it’s stupid.”
“I don’t think it’s a bad idea.” Will weighs in his opinion, and Mike is swayed immediately by his extremely moving and persuasive argument.
“I guess,” Mike agrees, “yeah, okay, I’ll do it.”
The rest of the group stifles a little laugh, making Mike’s face feel just a little warmer.
“It was that easy?” Lucas asks. “Alright, let’s go.”
Lucas, El and Dustin file into the store, pushing past crowds of couples and friend groups and families on their “fun summer day trips”. Mike and Will move to follow them as Max walks past them.
“Nice job, lover boy.” Max whispers as he walks by, before picking up the pace to follow the other three into the store with a snicker.
Will and Mike share a look, before making their way inside.
The store is decently crowded. It’s not huge, and the queue is fairly large, but it isn’t suffocating. Will glances around at all the mannequins as Mike turns around and catches sight of the other four, trying on hats in front of the mirrors.
“Mike, check this out,” Mike turns around when he hears Will’s voice, “star sunglasses.”
Mike can’t hold back a grin as he sees Will rocking a pair of star-shaped sunglasses with yellow frames, pointing to them with a heart-meltingly joyous grin.
“Awesome,” Mike picks up a pair of the same sunglasses with blue frames, “and check this out.”
“We’re matching sunglasses,” Will says with barely contained enthusiasm, “this is so cool.”
Mike lets out an endeared huff as he makes the bold move to move his hands up towards Will’s face and take the glasses right off of him.
Bad idea. Will’s eyes are shining and his cheeks are pink and he’s grinning wide. To be fair, he almost always looks like this, except at this moment there’s a goofy pair of sunglasses right in front of him that Mike is supposed to be playfully taking off, but now his hands are in midair and holding onto the frames as he stares helplessly.
Whoever invented the concept of staring is absolutely number one on Mike’s hit list, because Will looks so average. There’s nothing special about Will’s face right now, it’s just Will’s face with a wide smile plastered on and a pair of star-shaped sunglasses right in front of him. Yet, Will’s average face is still enough to stop time for Mike.
Will looks like he’s just about to inquire about Mike’s staring when Mike catches himself and quickly takes the sunglasses and lowers his arms, clearing his throat.
Mike sets the glasses back down from where Will picked them up, before Will takes the sunglasses off of Mike’s own face.
There was absolutely no need for any of that, but it was also a nice and sort of awkward and sort of, maybe, kind of romantic moment? Mike isn’t sure.
The two move around the store and check out all the clothes, and Mike wonders if he can try some subtle flirting with this opportunity. Of course, that is an atrocious idea, but he imagines doing something super smooth and cool like grabbing a shirt or whatever and going “this one will look good on you, then again you do look good in everything” or something corny and cliché like that and then Will gets all blushy and shit and then boom they kiss and it’s a super romcom style moment.
That will absolutely not happen, but he finds himself cheesing like an absolute loser at the thought, so he decides that fantasizing about being cool for a second isn’t bad.
“Will, Mike,” Dustin calls, “come look at this.”
The other four of the group are standing at the other side of the store, and Will and Mike quickly make their way over to see Max holding up a sailor outfit.
“These are like, basically the exact ones they have at Scoops Ahoy,” Max says, “we’ve got to get Lucas to try this on.”
“I think everyone needs to try this on,” Will adds, “we all need to see what it feels like for Mike and Max.”
“Oh, absolutely,” Mike agrees, “we’ll just have an army of sailors.”
“That’s a good idea,” Mike knows there’s about to be a catch when Max agrees with him, “Lucas, you’re off the hook. Will needs to try this. You’d like that, wouldn’t you, dingus?”
As much as Mike would probably pay money to see Will wear that stupid sailor uniform, he worries that his brain might completely shut off.
Just seeing Will in that hat the other day altered Mike’s brain chemistry, he worries that Will’s going to look so cute in that goofy outfit that he’ll, like, explode or something, and then everyone within a ten mile radius will know about Mike’s feelings.
But, at the same time, what’s he gonna say, no? And then he’ll be super suspicious and he might hurt Will’s feelings and the only way to get out of it would be to tell the truth and then everyone within a ten mile radius will know about Mike’s feelings.
Not to mention the idea of saying no is straight-up stupid. And Mike can be stupid, but he’s not so idiotic as to reject the opportunity to see his best friend in some dumb sailor outfit that he can most definitely pull off, for free. The mere notion of that is preposterous.
“I mean, sure,” Mike takes the opportunity to shoot his shot, “I think it would look good on you, Will. I mean, not that you don’t always look good, just — like, this would look extra good, or — I’m gonna stop talking now. Just try it on.”
He can’t say he didn’t expect to utterly embarrass himself as his face burns. He’s now got four pairs of knowing eyes watching him as he stumbles over his words and one pair of gorgeous eyes watching him, exhaling a laugh at Mike’s humiliation.
“Sure,” Will grins, taking the clothing on the hanger from Max, “I’ll be right back.”
Mike watches as Will disappears into the nearest changing room, still marinating in the embarrassment that will most likely take him a minimum of two to three business days to get over. Mike embarrasses himself all too much when it comes to Will, and it stings even more this time because of his audience.
“By the way,” Max leans in and lowers her voice, “you’re ten to zero.” She pats him on the shoulder and gives a sarcastic smile, “keep it up, champ.”
“Your face is ten to zero,” Mike retorts the first lame comeback to show up in his mind right as Max goes to check out some more clothes with El, Dustin and Lucas going over to the same section with the funky sunglasses that Will and Mike have just been.
It takes about three minutes of Mike going to talk to the girls, getting nice responses from El before Max tells him to go away, and then trying on sparkly heart-shaped sunglasses with the boys, before Will emerges from the changing rooms.
“Guys,” Will calls over the attention of the five, “what do you think?”
As expected, Will totally looks amazing in the outfit. It’s a little different to the Scoops Ahoy uniform in some aspects, but they’re overall very similar, and Will looks gorgeous either way.
When Mike wears that uniform, he looks stupid, but Will puts on some random sailor costume and Mike’s brain short circuits. It’s genuinely a wonder to him how it’s possible for a person to be so attractive that he could be wearing anything and still have Mike swooning.
This time, he came prepared. He already mentally got ready for his heart to skip a beat at the sight, so hopefully he’s going to be able to get out a normal response and compliment how Will looks in a normal but maybe ever so slightly flirtatious way without looking weird or medically challenged.
As is probably apparent to those who have known Mike for more than two seconds, that is an impossible task.
Because, Mike almost passed out when he saw Will in that hat, and now he’s wearing a uniform that he insists that Mike can pull off, and while Mike thinks the uniform looks horrible, Will keeps proving him wrong when he shows up looking pretty and still adjusting his hair to keep it out of his eyes.
Will receives an array of “awesome”, “you look great”, or some joke about him working at Scoops Ahoy from the rest of the normal people in the room, but Mike’s brain is about two minutes behind.
“You look, um,” Mike starts, “pretty.” Is what Mike’s genius mind decides to put through his mouth just a second after everyone else’s responses.
Shouldn’t have said that. Max and Lucas let out a couple snickers, and Max is standing next to Mike so naturally he elbows her in the side. That was definitely a dumb thing to say in front of his friends, and a dumb thing to say full-stop, but he can’t take it back, and it was an honest reaction he stands by.
And when Mike can’t take something back, he doubles down.
“Uh-huh,” he crosses his arms, “you look, like, super pretty right now.”
He attempts to say that casually, in a joking way, but he can’t help the way that one might actually be able to cook eggs on his face, and the way his voice cracks ever so slightly.
Doubling down was actually a horrible decision. In fact, saying that in the first place was actually a horrible decision. In fact, ever speaking was actually a horrible decision. Someone should have shut Mike up a long time ago.
Now, everyone within a ten mile radius definitely knows about Mike’s feelings, which actually snaps the bones of his ego rather than just bruising it.
“Thank you.” Will responds, and Mike feels a little at ease by the fact that Will looks slightly embarrassed as well. “If it helps, I think you look super pretty in your uniform too.”
“Get a room.” Lucas says, resulting in a noise of agreement from Max, Dustin and El.
Obviously, Will is joking, because Mike probably just did such a good job at disguising his own comment as a joke. Will has complimented Mike on his looks before, of course, but super pretty feels like a stretch, especially in that stupid uniform, even if Will insists it’s cute.
“Well, I’ll go get changed,” Will decides after a moment, “I’ll be right back.”
“That was really dumb,” Max whispers to Mike as Will goes back into the changing room, “but it worked, I guess.”
It’s only about twenty more minutes that the six spend in the clothing store after Will gets changed back into his normal but still very pretty clothes.
Once again, Mike hates it when Max is right, but it was actually pretty fun. Everyone tried something on, even Mike put on a suit and tie (Will did, in fact, have to help him tie his tie) at some point for kicks.
He thinks he looked stylish and Will said so, though Max said it was dumb. He doesn’t count Max’s opinion, though, because she’s a hater.
Maybe they’ll do this again, if they ever come to the mall again. He wonders if this will be a regular thing. He wonders if El and Max will become part of the friend group.
The idea of seeing Max the most out of anyone else in the Party is kind of disturbing, but a part of him thinks he wouldn’t mind doing this again with the girls.
It’s about three pm, the sun is shining outside, the mall is crowded and lively, and Sh-Boom by The Chords is playing while the group tries on outfits and laughs and makes fun of each other.
Admittedly, this is the exact thing that Mike had hoped for this summer, just with two extra people. He hates giving Max even more credit than he already has given her, but the idea wasn’t half bad and he did have fun going kind of stupid over seeing Will try on the simplest accessories and items of clothing, and still staring for way longer than is probably socially acceptable.
The group moves out of the clothing store when Dustin raises a complaint about being hungry, and it’s pretty much agreed on.
“I could go for something,” Lucas says, “where should we go?”
“I mean, Mike and Max are the experts on this mall,” Will points out, “what do you guys think?”
“There’s this pretty good burger place,” Max shrugs, “unless you’ve got something better.”
“Not really.” Though Mike hates agreeing with her, that burger place she’s referring is pretty good.
“Great,” El stands on her tiptoes briefly before bringing her heels back down, “lead the way.”
Max leads the group, Lucas at her side and Dustin and Will following. Mike’s plan is to catch up to Will so they can trail behind and talk and touch shoulders together, but it’s slightly interrupted when El starts walking next to Mike.
Obviously this is kind of confusing, because El is a nice girl, and she’s friends with Max and Dustin and stuff, and Mike imagines that out of everyone here, he’d be the least of her interests. It’s sort of startling when she lowers her voice and looks around, as if she’s about to speak on something private.
“Hey,” she begins, “Mike, is it?”
“Uh-huh.” Mike nods, not fully paying attention as his eyes are fixed on the back of Will’s head, as he laughs with the rest of the group while Mike and El are pretty behind and starting to get mixed up with the crowd.
“Are you dating Will?”
Wow, okay. Straight to the point. Is he really that obvious?
“Uh, what, no.” Mike tries to play it cool like the answer’s clear, but the tremble in his voice tells a different story. “Why— what makes you think that?”
“Don’t worry, I’m just curious,” she clarifies though it doesn’t really reassure Mike, “it’s just that Max always makes jokes about you two, and you seem really close with him. It’s really not my place to know, but I wanted to know if you guys were together and I figured I should just ask.”
It’s sort of worrying how this girl who Mike has known for less than a day in total has already clocked that Mike at least likes Will. And she thinks they’re dating? Mike should really start thinking about how to conceal his feelings more so the wrong person doesn't catch on.
This sort of thing happened with Max after he had known her for a day. He’s lucky this knowledge isn’t getting into the hands of some homophobe.
The good news is, he and Will aren’t dating, so he can actually tell the truth and hopefully get no follow-up questions.
“We’re not dating.” Mike says, and he hopes he sounds as firm and sure about that as he thinks he does.
“Do you like him then?”
Damnit. There’s the follow-up question that he was hoping not to have to answer.
He contemplates telling El, he contemplates lying through his teeth. He doesn’t need a girl he’s only just acquainted with knowing all about his sexuality and his business, but he’s too flustered to sell a lie. He tries lying anyway.
“What? No,” Mike brings his voice to a whisper, “Will and I are friends. We’re just friends, and I’m not into him.”
“Friends don’t lie.” Is all El says in response, giving him a knowing stare.
So, just to recap, El has just officially declared their friendship and confronted him about his romantic feelings for his best friend at once, in their first time ever hanging out.
This is all insane, actually. To be fair, it’s probably on Mike for his pathetic attempts at flirting and the fact that Will’s existence seems to mess with his brain, which is embarrassing for him and everyone else around him.
“Why would you ask me a question if you already thought you knew the answer?” Mike huffs, crossing his arms and looking away from El.
El only shrugs and gives Mike another look, to which he folds.
“Okay, fine, I like Will,” Mike sighs, “are you happy?”
“Yeah,” she wears a slight smile, “I think you should tell him.”
“Where did that come from?”
“Well, I think you have a good shot,” El begins, “I don’t really know you, but Dustin, Lucas and Max have told me about you, and they almost always mention you with Will. And I’ve talked to Will a lot recently, and he really likes to talk about you.”
El fidgets with the skirt of her dress, trying to think what more to say. Mike wonders why exactly she’s been talking to Will “a lot” recently, though that’s not a relevant thought in my mind.
“And…” She tries to think. “I think you two would be cute together. You already act like a couple, so it would be nice to make it official. It’s not really my business, but I like romantic stuff, and I think he might like you too.”
For Max’s best friend, El is a lot more likeable than her, right off the bat. She’s blunt while not coming off as rude, and she genuinely seems well-meaning.
“I’ve been working on it,” Mike says hesitantly, “Max has been helping me flirt until I can get the courage to ask him out. I can’t really say it’s going well, but…”
“That’s nice,” El smiles wider, “I didn’t know Max has been helping you. It’s cool that you’re friends.”
“We’re not friends,” Mike corrects, “you’ve, like, only ever heard her call me “dingus”. She’s supposed to be helping me for something else in return, but she hasn’t decided yet.”
“You two are similar.” El lets out a light laugh. “You’re both stubborn.”
Mike can’t really tell whether or not he should be offended by that comment, when she says it with such a smile on her face.
The two become even more distanced from the other four as they take their conversation down the escalator, a decent amount of people standing in between them and the rest of the group.
“Let’s go catch up with everyone else,” El says when they reach the ground floor, “I’ll let you go back and talk to Will now. I’m just saying, you should tell him.”
With that, El picks up her pace to a run as she gleefully taps Max on the back on her shoulder and takes her spot in the conversation currently ensuing.
Mike stands still and watches for a second, trying to take in what just happened. Mike decides he likes El. She’s very straight to the point and she says what’s on her mind but she’s so full of joy and whimsy, too. He’s still sort of embarrassed about the fact that he’s so obvious about his feelings, but she gave him some encouragement, which was admittedly cool of her.
After a few seconds of standing at the bottom of the escalator and looking like an idiot, he runs to catch up to everyone before he loses sight of them.
Embarrassingly, he’s already kind of out of breath by the time he catches up to Will and grabs onto his arm.
“Mike!” Will’s eyes lighten up and Mike tightens his grip on his arm rather than letting go, like he should. “Where were you?”
“Sorry, I just got caught up in the crowd,” Mike looks behind him to see how believable that lie is, “and I kinda spaced out.” Now technically, that one is true if thought about hard enough.
“Don’t worry,” Will shakes his head, “you didn’t miss anything.”
Mike should definitely let go of Will’s arm right now. Except he’s, like, not doing that. Why would he? Will doesn’t seem to mind. It sort of makes them feel like a couple. Mike observes Max and Lucas, whose arms are currently linked together in a joking manner.
Steadily, Mike moves a hand up to Will’s shoulder and takes the other one off of Will completely, absently moving it up to pick at the dry skin on his lip that’s annoying him.
“Stop that,” Will scolds, gently elbowing Mike’s side.
“What?”
“Picking at your lip,” Will sighs, “it’s bad for you. And you always complain about it hurting afterwards.”
“But I’m so chapped right now,” Mike complains, “it’s bothering me.”
“Give me a second,” Will rifles through his jacket pocket and retrieves a tube of chapstick, “take this, then.”
“Uh, thanks.” Mike takes the chapstick and tries not to think too hard about how Will has probably used this before. They’re past that, they’re mature seventeen-year-old boys, an indirect kiss means nothing.
In all truth, Mike’s always been the one in the friendship with those kinds of bad habits, and Will’s constantly having to keep him in check. To this day, Will’s been trained to slap Mike’s hand whenever he bites his nails.
The chapstick is pretty cool, it’s mint flavored. As Will probably knows, mint is Mike’s favorite flavor of ice cream, and the taste makes Mike feel like he’s in Scoops Ahoy right now, eating ice cream on his break in his stupid sailor outfit.
“Here you go,” Mike takes his hand off of Will’s shoulder and separates the two completely as he hands the chapstick back, “thanks.”
“No problem,” Will takes it and puts it back in his pocket, “I like to keep a mint one because I know it’s your favorite flavor of ice cream.”
So that isn’t a coincidence. Will is actually just the kindest, coolest, most considerate person on the earth who keeps mint flavored chapstick for his friend with chronically dry lips, because he knows his friend happens to like mint.
“Really?” Mike smiles, but he can’t say anything more because he fears it will come out as an “I love you” or something too cheesy and romantic for something as simple as mint flavored chapstick.
“Of course,” Will affectionately bumps his shoulder into Mike’s, “why wouldn’t I?”
There are a million reasons why Will wouldn’t, why he shouldn’t, but he asks that question like those reasons don’t exist. He asks that question because the amount of care he puts into everything all seems so natural to him, even though he doesn’t even have a reason to be carrying chapstick in the first place, let alone to be offering it to Mike and intentionally choosing a flavor he likes.
Perhaps Mike is too easy to impress, but such a gesture fills him to the brim with an awful mix of butterflies, fondness, and pure glee. He wonders how he ever went a day in his life thinking that he doesn’t love Will.
It’s just then that the group finally arrives at the burger joint in the food court, pushing past crowds of people and trying to find a table that can fit six.
“Okay, should we go up and order?” Dustin asks as they place their belongings onto a table in the corner.
“Yup,” Mike says, “and my pay day was yesterday so I can really—”
He abruptly stops talking when there’s nothing in the pockets of his jeans.
“Yeah, I forgot my wallet.”
Max seems to find that information hilarious, and Lucas smirks a little.
“So much for having a job.” Max laughs.
“Oh, shut up,” Mike crosses his arms, “I must have left them in the pocket of my jacket at home. Man, that sucks.”
“Don’t worry, Mike,” Will places a sympathetic hand on Mike’s shoulder, “I can pay for you. Just order with me.”
“What? No way!” Mike objects immediately. “It’s my fault that I forgot my wallet in the first place. I can’t let you pay for me.”
“Oh, brother,” Lucas sighs, “this might last a while.”
“Yup,” Dustin agrees, “you know what, should we just go and order?”
“Definitely,” Max says at the same time as El’s “sure” before addressing Will and Mike, “you two can continue your lover’s quarrel over here, but we’re going to get our food.”
Mike watches the four walk over to the counter before turning back to Will.
“I don’t mind, Mike, really,” Will insists, “I’d rather spend some money than have you sit here starving while everyone else eats.”
“But this place is expensive,” Mike tries, “trust me, bro, I’ve been here once.”
“I don’t care that it’s expensive, I’m getting you something.”
“But—”
“End of conversation.”
El called Max stubborn, and she called Mike stubborn, both of which are obviously true, but Will’s also very stubborn in his own respect, probably even more stubborn than Mike, sometimes.
Unfortunately, Mike knows this is a fight he isn’t going to win, so he exhales and follows Will over to the counter.
“I’ll pay you back, I promise.” Mike says, because he truly doesn’t want Will to waste his money.
“No need.” Will says immediately, and Mike should have definitely expected that.
“Are you sure—”
“Mike.” Will cuts him off, but he seems more fond and amused than anything. “It’s just some fast food place in a mall. We’re supposed to be on a fun day out, and you forgot your wallet. Who cares? I’m more than happy to help you out.”
“Right.” Mike wants to say more, he wants to say that he thinks that Will helps him out too much, and he feels bad for rarely giving back. He wants to let Will know how much he means to him, right in the middle of this random burger place, but he’s been trying to train himself to keep his mouth shut.
“What do you want?”
“Uh,” Mike shrugs, “whatever you’re having.”
It isn’t that much of a kerfuffle to get the orders, and no one steals their belongings and takes their seats, which is good. Aside from that really annoying occasion of the number before Will’s order number being shouted, and then skipping over Will’s number and shouting the one immediately after it, ordering doesn’t take too long.
Mike’s the first one to sit down because he has nothing to carry, sitting closest to the wall as Will shuffles next to him, followed by Lucas, and Dustin, El and Max sit opposite them.
“So,” El attempts to start up a discussion, “how’s work for you guys?”
“It’s great,” Lucas responds, taking the fries out of his takeaway bag, “working on the radio is super fun.”
“You guys definitely got the best job out of all of us.” Dustin says, gesturing towards Will and Lucas.
“I don’t know, I like our job,” El offers her opinion, “it’s fun recommending people movies.”
“That’s true,” Dustin agrees, “I love it when people return movies I recommended and say they enjoyed them.”
“I think all of our jobs are pretty cool.” Will sorts through the food in his order and gives Mike his.
“Well, you’re a radio show host,” Mike argues, “that’s way cooler than ice cream scooper boy.”
“Speaking of that,” Lucas says, “what’s it like at Scoops Ahoy?”
“Boring,” Max replies immediately, “all I do is scoop ice cream. And can you please keep your sister in line?”
“Oh my god, yes.” Mike interjects.
“She shows up, demands all the samples multiple times, and starts going on about some “you can’t spell America without Erica”,” Max complains, “Mike and I have to take turns on who’s going to deal with her whenever she shows up.”
“Yeah, she’s like that,” Dustin mutters, and Lucas nods, “but, hey, you get a friends and family discount on ice cream.”
“And you guys are going to be using that to get us dessert.” Lucas leans back in his seat.
“Alright,” Max smirks, “the ice cream’s the best part. And I also have to work with Mike, and he sucks.”
“I’m right here, you know,” Mike makes an offended noise, “and I know you think I'm the most entertaining part of your job.”
“If entertaining is making sure the radio is on full blast while serving customers just to hear Will talk on some show,” Max states, “then sure.”
“You do that?” Lucas asks.
“Actually, me and Dustin went not long ago and it was playing.” El confirms.
“He plays it every time it’s on at work, too,” Max adds, “it’s so annoying.”
“Well, sorry I’m supporting my friends and their job,” Mike tries to defend himself, “you wish you had my commitment.”
It’s hard to hide that he’s slightly flustered since they’re talking about this right next to Will, because even though Will already knows this, they’re talking about it in such a way that it probably makes Mike seem obsessed with him or something.
“I appreciate your support, Mike,” Will says with the utmost sincerity, “but, try not to get fired.”
“In Mike’s defence,” Dustin joins in, “you and Lucas absolutely kill it in your show. If I didn’t actually care about not getting fired and being a good employee, I would probably do exactly what he does.”
“That feels more like an insult than defending me, but okay.” Mike says under his breath. “Plus, it’s the least I can do for Will. He shows up for the majority of my shifts.”
“That’s true,” Lucas nods, “I show up every once in a while, but Will’s always at Scoops Ahoy.”
“I know,” Max throws her head back, “all the time.”
“What can I say?” Mike may be seeing things but Will’s face reddens slightly, “I just like to see you as much as I can.”
“Aw,” Lucas makes fun of Will’s display of affection, “Max, why don’t you say stuff like that to me?”
“Wait, so,” El taps her chin, “if we listen to Will and Lucas’s radio show, and we also visit Mike and Max, why don’t you guys come to see us more often?”
“Uh-huh,” Dustin snaps his fingers, “you could rent some movies.”
“We could get them for a movie night.” El adds, and Dustin hums in agreement.
“That sounds fun,” Will agrees, “we should come by when we get the chance.”
“Movie night is great,” Max hums, “you know, if we hang out like this more.”
Part of Mike hopes they will.
After that, the group naturally moves into a discussion about what movie they would theoretically watch, which sparks an argument between Mike and Max, because Max automatically assumes that Mike’s taste in movies is bad, as she does with his taste in most things.
It’s when the argument is diffused by Lucas and everyone’s trying to generate a conversation topic that Mike works up the guts to ask a question to El, his self-proclaimed friend, because she’s the one he knows the least about.
“So, El,” he begins, “are you new around here? I’ve never seen you at school.”
“Oh, I’m homeschooled,” El responds quickly, “but I think there’s some talk about sending me to public school for my senior year after summer break.”
El being homeschooled admittedly makes a lot of sense, and by the looks of it, Mike is the only one who didn’t know that.
“That’s cool,” Lucas snatches a fry from Max’s part of the table, “why?”
“It’s because my dad is dating Will’s mom,” El says casually, “so they might be sending me to school with Will.”
There’s a look of surprise throughout the whole group, and Mike is kind of relieved that he’s not the only one who isn’t in the know this time.
“And you didn’t tell any of us?” Max huffs, slapping Lucas’s hand away from taking another fry. “You guys could become step-siblings.”
“Well, I didn’t know it was serious,” Will defends himself though Mike is still somewhat offended, “and my mom didn’t tell me until, like, last week.”
“Shame.” Dustin shakes his head.
“I wanted to tell all of you,” El shrugs, “like, at once. And we just did that.”
Judging by El’s last name, Hopper, her dad is probably that police chief, which kind of adds an extra layer of crazy. Mike can’t be too mad, because it isn’t too big of a deal until they move in together or anything, but it’s mildly surprising.
“Well, it’s still pretty cool,” Lucas grins, “I can’t believe this has never come up in conversation before this point, but at least we all know now.”
“Sorry, guys.” Will offers an apologetic smile.
“I’m not that sorry,” El says honestly, “I’ve been wanting to reveal it like this to see if you would all look shocked.”
So between her friendship with Max, the fact that she’s (maybe more than) coworkers with Dustin, and the slight possibility that her and Will are to be step-siblings, Mike concludes that he’ll be seeing a lot more of El.
That isn’t a bad thing. As he has declared, he likes her, and she also knows about his feelings for her potential stepbrother so it’s best that they stay friends.
“I forgive you, Will.” Mike presses his shoulder against Will’s as he hears an “of course you do” from Max’s direction. “So, are we going to get ice cream after this?”
“What kind of question is that?” Lucas asks. “I’ve been talking a lot about that friends and family discount, man.”
“Okay, well,” Mike drums his fingers on the table, “I’m ready to go when you guys are.”
Pretty much everyone is finishing eating at this point, aside from El, who is wrapping half of a burger back in its foil, because of her philosophy that tomorrow she’ll feel like having it more than she feels like it today, so she explained that she always saves her food so she doesn’t regret eating it before she really wanted it.
Aside from that, everyone seems to be finished, and it isn’t long before they gather their stuff and head out.
The mall is a little less crowded now, it being about four o’clock, making the place a little easier to move through, and Scoops Ahoy isn’t far from where they ate.
“I’m excited to see who else actually works here,” Max starts as they approach the store, “I promise it’s only ever me and Mike.”
“I know, right,” Mike feels weird agreeing with her, “sometimes I wonder if the store’s even open when we’re not working.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if it isn’t.” Max nods her head.
Maybe it’s surprising, maybe it’s not, but Scoops Ahoy is, in fact, open, and quite busy.
The room is filled with light chatter as Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra plays in the background, and most tables are taken aside from a booth in the corner. There’s about three people in the queue in front of them as they step in, discussing what they’re going to get.
“Mike, what do you think?” Dustin asks. “You and Max work here. You’ve probably tried all the flavors. What would you recommend?”
“Dude,” Max snorts, “I don’t even know how many flavors Mike has actually had. Whenever he gets ice cream, he gets mint chocolate chip like a loser.”
“What do you mean loser?” Mike snaps, because he knows exactly where this conversation is going and it’s already making him angry. “Mint chocolate chip is glorious.”
“It tastes like toothpaste.” There it is. The worst thing any human being can ever say, ever.
“There’s no way anyone who says that actually believes it,” Mike protests, “they’re different kinds of minty.”
“Whatever helps you sleep at night, man,” Max exhales a sarcastic laugh, “whatever. Dustin, what did you get last time?”
Behind Mike, El and Lucas try to figure out what to get as well, and as the line keeps moving, there’s only one more person in front of the group before they get served.
“Let me guess,” Mike turns to Will, “one scoop of vanilla?”
“Actually,” Will wears a smug grin, “two scoops of vanilla.”
“Woah,” Mike bites back his own smile to make his sarcasm believable, “you’re bad.”
“I know, right,” Will makes a sound of agreement, “since I’m actually eating here and not just coming to talk to you, I figure I should be extravagant. Who knows, I might even get sprinkles as well.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
Mike doesn’t continue their banter because his mind lingers on the comment Will made about just coming to talk to Mike.
And, before anyone says anything, he’s well aware Will has said this on multiple occasions, but is it so wrong for a lover boy to just feel a little warm inside when hearing Will Byers admit so casually that he only actually shows up to see him?
Unfortunately, the person serving them at the counter isn’t anyone they know. Mike was kind of hoping it would be Steve Harrington or something, even though he stopped working here years ago, but it’s actually just some random miserable-looking guy who is not pulling off the uniform.
There’s a little bit of a hold up as Mike and Max try to apply their discount, which involves signing some discount sheet for their friends, and the very unbothered employee had to try and find said sheet.
It works, and they didn’t hold up that much of a queue, so all’s well that ends well.
The booth in the corner is still free when they have their ice cream, and they all cram in before anyone else can take their seats.
Mike has accepted he won’t ever escape this place, the scent and the slightly uncomfortable seats and the upbeat music constantly playing in the background is just going to be something that haunts him on the daily.
And Max. Max is also going to haunt him on the daily. This job is a bigger part of his life than he’d like.
Then again, it’s not terrible. Mike has told a lot of lies, and he doesn’t sell many of them, but saying that he hasn’t had fun today isn’t something he could make believable in the slightest.
Sitting in a booth, his body pressed against Will’s as everyone now makes fun of him for knowing the objective truth that mint chocolate chip ice cream is amazing, isn’t something he hates, even though it combines Scoops Ahoy and Max. Despite the two other people who have been added, he does feel like he’s in a teenage friend group having fun during the summer, which is all he’s really wanted for this break.
It’s not like he’ll be able to avoid El and Max, so he doesn’t think hanging out more as a group is too bad, and he’ll learn to tolerate Max as long as Will is by his side.
“We should do this again sometime,” El suggests, “like, hanging out. It’s fun.”
“Definitely,” Will smiles, “I think we should do that movie night.”
“I’m telling you,” Mike sighs, “we can’t watch a classic. Movie nights are all about watching some random crappy find and then making fun of how bad it is.”
“I’ll admit,” Lucas comments, “that’s always pretty fun.”
“But I have so many good movie recommendations,” Dustin protests, “we can’t let them go to waste.”
“I think Mike’s probably saying we should intentionally choose bad movies to hide the fact that he has horrible movie taste,” Max suggests, “why else would he be pushing this so hard?”
“You think I have bad taste in everything.” Mike argues, glancing at the ice cream cone he’s holding.
“You’re eating mint chocolate chip ice cream right now,” Max points out, “and also you just possess the vibe of having objectively horrible opinions.”
“Okay, enough,” Will squanders the opportunity for an argument, “just to confirm, we’ll have a movie night soon, right?”
Everyone else says something along the lines of a “yeah”, a “yup” or an “of course”, and Mike thinks he likes the sound of that.
Going to the mall was fun.
Mike is actually at the mall again today, but this time he’s standing at a counter, scooping ice cream, wearing some sailor outfit and — the cherry on top — he’s on the last shift. The mall closes in, like, ten minutes.
He’s bored out of his mind, and he serves one person every ten minutes, and he’s just waiting for Will to show up.
He thinks he has seen way too much of Max in the past week (you could say he’s Max-ed out), but he still finds himself going to the back to see what she’s up to, because arguing with her is his least boring option of what to do right now.
“What’s up, dingus.” Max says drily, sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall.
“Nothing much.” Mike stares at the whiteboard with Max’s flirting tips written on it. “Will might be here soon. Do you have anything to teach me?”
“So, today, I was thinking,” Max begins, “you could ask him out today. For real this time.”
“What?” A wave of nerves washes through Mike’s body.
“Well, yeah,” Max says like it’s casual in any way, “I’m fairly confident he’s into you.”
“Okay, cool,” Mike takes a breath, “cool. So, what should I do?”
“Just, remember all the really basic tips,” Max gestures to the whiteboard, “it’s pretty similar to last time, except today I won’t be giving you help. Ask him if he wants to go out to get food tomorrow, or something, and make sure to clarify it’s a date.”
“You’re making this sound way easier than it actually is,” Mike moves to sit down on the floor next to Max, his back pressed against the wall, “are you sure there’s nothing else?”
“I don’t know,” Max runs a hand through her hair, “I’m not a teacher, I can’t explain it that well.”
“Then why are you teaching me in the first place?”
“Because I wanted to help you, okay?” Max snaps, and Mike’s a little surprised to hear her say such a thing to him. “I don’t know if it was boredom, or pity, or what, but I saw you try to flirt with Will and I saw that he looks really into you and I saw how obviously in love you are with him and I wanted you to be together. And I’m not an expert in flirting, but I’ve got a romantic interest in someone and I don’t turn into a pathetic puddle of goo around him, so I figured I could help.”
Despite the fact that she’s still kind of weaving insults into what she’s saying, she looks sort of vulnerable, telling the truth like that.
“Seriously?” Is all Mike can get out, even though it’s a little dumb.
“Yes, seriously,” Max admits, “I thought it would be fun to be your wingman, and I wanted to help you out, but I didn’t want to admit it, which is why I made it seem like a deal. Hell, I still don’t even know what I want from you.”
“I mean, I’d be happy not to give you anything.” Mike says, and Max lets out a laugh.
“I’m still gonna think about it, stupid,” Max rolls her eyes, “but are you happy? You broke me. The most you’re going to get from these classes is just me telling you what I think you should do. You’re the one who’s asking him out. You’re the one who wants to date him, not me. Unfortunately, part of being your wingman is letting you do the hard work.”
“I wish it didn’t work like that,” Mike takes a chance to be a little honest as well, “I love Will, but asking him out is so nerve wracking. I mean, I’m risking a decade-long friendship. What if he says no? That’s gonna shift things permanently. Right now, he doesn’t even know I’m…”
Mike struggles to get the word out, because he isn’t exactly fond of saying it, but Max says it for him.
“Gay?”
All things considered, Mike has spent a lot of time (three weeks) of his life hating Max. Over the past few days, and especially after what she said just now, he’s been reevaluating that, but those first two weeks they worked together, Mike loathed her.
She’s so annoying, she’s so snarky and rude, she thinks she’s so much better than him. And while all of that is true, Mike hasn’t really stopped to consider that Max is the first person Mike ever — you know — came out to.
He spent his whole life convinced he was straight. Up until about a month ago, he was totally sure he liked girls, but he knows now he could never like a girl the way he likes Will.
Though he’s pretty sure that at least Dustin, Lucas, and Nancy have caught on, after discovering that he’s very obvious about his feelings, he hasn’t told anyone.
Because that’s a hard thing to tell to someone, anyone. He’s spent years trying to sort out his feelings, denying any sort of romantic interest in Will, always attempting to figure out what’s making him feel this way in the back of his mind. He doesn’t know if that night that Will ditched some party to help Mike study was the night that Mike realized his sexuality or came to terms with it.
This is a battle he's been having his whole life, and the general public isn’t exactly fond of people like Mike, as has been made very clear throughout his life. So, he hasn’t told any of his close friends or family, he can’t even verbalize the word “gay” yet.
But Max is different. Max waltzed into his life and casually discovered his biggest secret within two days of knowing him, and she didn’t care.
Sure, she judged Mike a lot, but never for liking guys. She judged him for his flirting skills and his cringe nerd comebacks and his taste in ice cream, but she never brought his sexuality into it.
Even when she first clocked it, she asked if Mike had a crush on Will, and not if he was gay. Mike liking a boy seemed to just be a normal thing to her.
His sexual identity actually seems like the only thing about him that never bothered her. It’s strange to say, but Mike likes that she really just enjoyed making fun of Mike as a person.
Mike thinks he hasn’t appreciated her enough for that. It could have been a lot worse, his coworker catching onto such a big secret on day two of knowing him, but Max never cared. She treated him like a regular person, which meant that he was not off-limits to her insults and snarky comments.
Maybe he should have stopped to think about this sooner, but even though Max is annoying, she’s never been hateable. She’s the first person for Mike to ever be out to, and that information has never affected her opinion on him.
Right now, as they sit down on the floor, backs against the wall, the room dim and the mall minutes from closing time, Mike thinks he can admit that Max Mayfield is a good person.
Hell, he can admit that Max Mayfield might just be his friend.
“Yeah,” Mike chuckles, “that. It’s just, you and El are the only people who know, and I’m afraid it will change things between me and Will.”
“El knows?”
“She caught on when we were hanging out,” Mike shakes his head, “turns out I’m not subtle.”
“You’re not.” Max smiles, and it’s the first time she’s ever looked at Mike and smiled in a friendly manner. “But, you’re never gonna know how Will feels if you don’t tell him how you feel. There’s only so much I can do.”
“You know what,” Mike turns his head to face Max, “don’t tell anyone I said this, but, I like you, Max.”
“I’ll murder you if this leaves this room, but,” Max’s smile softens, “I like you too, Wheeler.”
The brief silence is comfortable, and Mike’s so relaxed he thinks he might fall asleep.
“I appreciate your help,” Mike continues, “even if you’re not a teacher, you can flirt better than I can. Maybe in return, I can set you up with Lucas?”
“Actually,” Max grins, “I already asked him out. Earlier today.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that sooner?” Mike’s slightly annoyed that she waited so long to say something. “What’d he say?”
“He said yes, obviously,” Max says proudly, “our first official date is tomorrow.”
“Congrats.” Mike leans further into the wall. “I’m happy for you guys. Lucas seems to really like you.”
The two fall into another silence, and Mike checks his watch, realizing he let the time slip away from him.
“Oh, shit,” Mike whispers, “we’re like, closed. I gotta get out there.”
He quickly stands up and dusts his clothes off, a rush of anxiousness hitting him suddenly.
“I’ll stay in here,” Max stays where she’s sitting, “give you two some privacy.”
“Got it.” Mike makes his way towards the door, before Max stops him.
“Hey, Wheeler.” She says, and he turns around. “Don’t screw this up. This is my best friend’s possible future stepbrother you're asking out. I have no doubt he’ll say yes, but… good luck.”
Mike throws her a quick “thanks” as he rushes out to the front, slightly jittery.
The lights in the store are turned on, while most of the lights in the mall are already off, and Tiffany’s I Think We’re Alone Now starts up in the background.
Will’s already leaning against the countertop, glancing at his watch with a slightly bored expression.
“Mike!” Will’s face immediately brightens when he sees Mike, and Mike thinks he might melt.
“Hey, Will.” Mike tries to greet him casually. “Sorry about that, um — I was just, uh, doing something.”
Horrible start. Mike stands opposite to where Will is leaning his arms against the counter, their faces close enough to trigger thoughts of the trademarked Countertop Kiss, and Mike’s already forgetting the structure or basic sentences.
“Don’t worry,” Will shakes his head, “I know that you guys are closed, so I’m sorry for coming by so late.”
Will looks around sheepishly and runs a hand through his hair, and Mike feels like he’s watching it in slow motion as flower petals dance around him and sparkles radiate off of his body. Honestly, Mike can’t believe that he gets to interact with Will for free sometimes, when he swoons at any little thing he does.
Will keeps his hands up in his hair, trying to keep his bangs out of his eyes, as Mike gets lost in the pink shade of his cheeks that seems to always be there and the light smile on his lips, that aren’t nearly as cracked or dry as Mike’s.
It takes about a second for Mike to realize that Will is waiting for a response to what he just said, while Mike is far too busy staring.
“No,” Mike says abruptly and a little too loudly, “no, it’s fine. I was, uh, I was waiting for you. And, you know, it’s better when we’re alone.”
“Yeah,” Will seems to be listening to the irony found in the song currently accompanying their interaction, “yeah, it is.”
Mike is still mentally about a couple minutes behind as he carefully grabs a cardboard ice cream cup and reaches for the scooper.
Right now is the perfect time to ask him. While he’s scooping Will’s ice cream, just play it cool and ask him on a date. It can’t be that hard. Just ask him, Mike.
Will stands up straight and fidgets with the collar of his shirt as Mike’s mental pep talk, is, for some reason, not putting any words through his mouth. Instead, his legs feel like jelly and he is doing a humiliating job at scooping his ice cream.
“So, I was thinking,” Mike starts hesitantly and shuts his eyes for a moment, “I really like you. I mean — you know that, but — I’ve been meaning to ask, like… I was hoping we could go somewhere together. I don’t know where, but we could hang out tomorrow, or whatever works. I mean — shit, what am I saying, we hang out all the time. That’s, like, a normal thing between us. We spend so much alone time together, uh… I’m trying to say that we could, like go out to eat, or…”
Mike sets the poorly scooped cup of vanilla ice cream on the counter, his hands trembling ever so slightly. He’s doing terribly right now, and he can hardly look Will in the eye, but as long as he gets out the word “date”, he can sleep at night at least knowing he tried.
“Anything’s fine. It’s stupid, or whatever, but what I’m trying to do is ask you on a da—”
Before Mike can force the word through his throat, he’s abruptly cut off when he sees Will, whose hands are resting on the counter rather than taking the ice cream, his eyes half-lidded and his mouth parted, and he slowly leans in closer over the counter until their mouths meet, and he’s kissing Mike.
The Countertop Kiss. Will actually did it. For a moment, Mike stands still, thinking that this is just an incredibly realistic fantasy, or something. It takes a second to realize this is actually happening, and he gets used to the reality real fast.
Mike presses back, breathing a light “dude” into Will’s mouth, and Mike squeezes his eyes shut and grips the counter, because he feels dangerously close to collapsing right now, which would totally ruin the moment.
The sensation is electrifying, and Mike’s fingertips feel like they can shoot lightning as Will leans as far over the counter as he can without pushing Mike backwards, and Mike notices the familiar taste of that mint flavored chapstick on Will’s lips.
It’s funny actually, because before Mike could properly ask him out, Will leans over and kisses him in a way Mike’s been wanting him to, but it just seemed like a daydream. Here Will is, wearing the flavor of chapstick Mike likes and kissing him like he means it, with so much care that Mike simply wants to melt into it.
To Mike, Will pulls away much too soon, but the expression on Will’s face says that he sort of thinks the same thing.
There’s silence for a beat, as Mike takes in the face that just kissed him. This man is Will Byers, whose low-lidded eyes are slightly covered by his hair and shining with a joy Mike’s never seen before and he’s grinning from ear to ear, his pink cheeks turned red.
This is the most gorgeous man Mike has ever laid eyes on, and he’s unable to process what exactly just happened.
“Holy fuck,” Mike’s voice is breathless, and he can’t bring himself above a whisper, “you just kissed me.”
“I did.” Will confirms.
“Woah.” Mike’s face contorts into his goofiest grin, and once it’s confirmed, Mike can’t control the euphoria that rushes into his body at the fact that the Will Byers just initiated a Countertop Kiss.
“So,” Will starts, “how about that date?”
“Oh, my god, yeah,” a breathy laugh escapes Mike, “um, I was just trying to ask you if you’d be interested in going out tomorrow, but — I’m sorry, I’m still processing this — did you just kiss me?”
“Yes, I did,” Will reaches out an arm to give Mike a playful push to the shoulder, “is that so hard to believe?”
“Kinda,” Mike admits, “I was just trying to do a very horrible job at shooting my shot, and then you did that.”
Mike’s grip on the counter is still tight as ever as his heart races at unhealthy speeds, because he definitely can’t say he was expecting that to happen.
“Well, I figured I was gonna shoot my shot today,” Will’s smile is still brighter than ever, “and then you started talking about going out and I was pretty sure you were asking me on a date so I just, leaned in.”
“Dude,” Mike crosses his arms and rests them on the counter, “thank you for doing the hard part. I’ve been wanting you to kiss me like that since, like, I started working here.”
“I’ve been wanting to do that since you started working here.”
“Dude. We’re actually always on the same wavelength, oh my god,” Mike’s cheeks hurt from just how much he’s grinning, “so, does this mean we’re like, a thing now?”
“Of course,” Will chuckles, “well, I mean, I’m like, in love with you, so it would be cool.”
“Okay. Awesome.” Mike should really stop trying to act nonchalant in moments like these. “I’m totally in love with you too, so, that’s cool.”
“Cool.”
“We can — we can go in a minute,” Mike slides the cup of ice cream further towards Will, “you can wait outside. I need to go and tell Max. She’s been kind of helping me try to get a date with you for the past week.”
“Really?” Will takes the cup, curiosity in his expression. “I thought you didn’t like each other.”
“Turns out she isn’t as bad as I thought.” Mike admits honestly, and Will’s smile widens.
“I expect the full story later,” Will takes a small step away from the counter, “see you around, Mike.”
“Oh— yeah, um.” Mike hesitates for a second, before leaning forward and planting a brief kiss on Will’s cheek. “See you around.”
Will turns around and runs out of the store, and Mike can only watch as he lets out a sigh and his legs almost give out, pure glee overcoming him.
This is a lot. It’s probably going to take him a while to figure out whether he’s dreaming right now, or if Will Byers is in love with him. This is insane. It’s so much, but Mike doesn’t mind this insanity.
It’s just then that Max walks out to the front, a smirk painting her face as she holds the “you rule/you suck” board and a whiteboard pen.
“You’re an awkward loser, Wheeler,” Max grins and takes the cap off of her pen, “but Will’s into that. And, as your friend, I say that if you managed to secure Will Byers as your boyfriend by just being an awkward loser, you’re ten to one.”
Max proudly draws the first line on the “you rule” side of the board, and all Mike can feel is joy.