Chapter Text
They barely make it past the last stair of the Wheeler basement before Mike throws his book bag and swings around to face Will - his face pinched in anger.
“I just don’t understand why Robin’s all over you all the time,” Mike huffs out in frustration.
Will is flabbergasted, to say the least. He doesn't understand. Mike is angry at him, but Will hasn’t done anything wrong. “Robin is my friend Mike. We're just friends."
Mike gets impossibly closer, dark fathomless eyes meet hazel in the low lamp light of the cool basement.
"Like we're friends?"
What? "What?"
Will's eyes, which are glued to Mike's face, witness firsthand how quickly his whole face squeezes and the tips of his ears redden.
Part of Will's brain is short circuiting because Mike is so close - his dark eyes, his sharp cheeks. Will can feel Mike's breath waft over his face, and Mike's ears are pink.
His ears, where they peek out from his long dark hair, are pink.
They’re a very pretty pink.
However, if he continues to focus on Mike’s pink ears or theorize why his ears are that color, Will would quite literally lose his mind. So he forces himself to think.
THINK, BYERS.
He blinks rapidly, trying to process Mike's words.
Is he jealous?
Jealous of Robin?
The very idea is utter nonsense. How can Mike not know? How could he possibly doubt his place in Will's heart?
Will's hands ache to touch him, to reassure, but he refrains because he doesn't want this twisted in Mike's mind if he ever finds out about his crush. So instead, Will leans closer. Getting close is always okay.
Personal space was a concept they'd long since abandoned.
"Mike." But Mike is already backing away, the pink a bright streak across his face. Will can't have him doubt this. Mike was literally the one that picked him on the playground, helped pull him from hell, and trusted him when he was possessed by a demon. Mike had done so much for Will he should know, had to know.
"Mike, how could you not know?" Will's voice catches; his eyes fill. It's too much, the love he feels for Mike. "Mike, you are one of the most important people in my life. You… you, Mike, are my best friend and nothing, nothing will ever change that."
They stare at each other in silence for a single moment before a grin is splitting Mike's face, and Will can't help but return it, his eyes still brimming with tears. His beauty is dazzling, like seeing the bright light of the moon after being encompassed in darkness for seven days. Mike ducks his head quickly obscuring the light with his hair.
Will's arms reach out, his body working before his brain, determined to tilt Mike’s face so he can see it - Mike’s full smile, wide and mesmerizing - and damn the consequences. But he catches himself just in time, his arms halfway outstretched to Mike.
Mike though sways towards him, like they’re orbiting each other, getting closer and closer. Some part of Will knows that one day he won’t be able to orbit, won’t be able to dance this ebbing and flowing dance of theirs. Will is soon approaching the day that he’ll crash land into Mike and watch their friendship flame to the ground.
But today, it's Mike moving closer, continuing to sway towards him, and something in Will screeches in equal parts excitement and terror. Mike gets closer to his face. Five inches. Two inches. One inch. One millimeter.
Before sliding right by and dropping his head on Will's left shoulder.
Will lets out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. His heart is thudding quickly, fighting to exit his chest and fit into Mike's palm, where it belongs.
Mike lets out a shuddering breath, but he doesn't move though. They stay like that, Mike's forehead resting heavily on Will's shoulder. Their stars have collided and nothing flames around them. Instead they might be breathing life into something new, something with the potential to be amazing, wonderful. Something that would be theirs. Will & Mike’s. Mike & Will’s.
If only they could both reach for it together. Breathe this new, terrifying thing between them to life.
Will feels warm as though a beam of sunlight were thawing cool skin. His entire body tingles from the pressure of Mike’s weight on his shoulder, from the mere inches of space between their chests.
Their breathing syncs eventually. In and out. Out and in. Into the new star between them. Unknown to them, even as they both reach to create it.
"Sometimes I wish we were a party, just you and me," Mike says softly, his spine hunching the slightest bit over Will's straight back.
Will aches because yes, that's exactly what he wishes for, just Will and Mike, Mike and Will, a party of their own, the Paladin and the Cleric. A name for the thing that grows tentatively between them now, their own Party to nurture between them.
They would take care of each other. They would love each other best. It’s everything he’s ever wanted.
Will tilts his head into Mike's, Mike's hair tickling his face, and Will's mouth closer to Mike's ear. His voice is choked with yearning, but he garbles it out anyway. "Me too."
Mike lets out a shuddering breath, out of sync with Will's. But his hands find Will's, fingers interlace. Will, driven mad by the space between their hearts, is desperate for more contact and grips Mike’s hands tightly.
His hand burns. His shoulder burns. His face, from where Mike’s hair tickles his cheeks, burns. His lips - Part of him doesn’t know if he should run away or push even closer.
"Okay," Mike says; it sounds like there's a smile in his voice, but Will can't know for sure. "Cool."
"Cool," Will echoes.
Will doesn't know how long they stay like that but eventually, they hear footsteps circle the basement door upstairs. Mike raises his head quickly. His forehead is red from pressing it against Will's shoulder - but he's just as beautiful as ever from his large crooked nose to the slight curl of his hair.
Dark eyes meet hazel, and they share a shy smile - squeezing hands tightly before releasing, just as Mrs. Wheeler calls out that dinner is ready.