Archive of Our Own ^beta

Will wonders how he managed to end up in such a disastrous situation because really, that’s the only possible word to describe what’s going on right now. They’re in the middle of the schoolyard, trying to have lunch, all eyes are on them and Will can’t help but think about all the times he could’ve stopped this from happening.

It’s a Wednesday morning when it starts.

At first, Will doesn’t give it much attention because honestly, what troubles can a gentle smile bring? Alison Crumpley is a nice and sweet seventeen-year-old girl from his art class, and she’s kind to him. They’ve talked a few times and she always compliments his art and Will should’ve probably paid more attention to it, now that he thinks about it.

“Hey Will,” she says, sitting down next to him.

“Hey Alison,” he replies and startles when she scoots closer to him. “Uhm. What’s up?”

“Oh!” She looks definitely too delighted by Will asking her a question. Will should’ve noticed it. “Not much, you know. Did you already start to work on the assignment for next week?”

“Not really, I was thinking about starting it this weekend.”

Alison curls one of her golden locks around her finger. “Do you think we could work on it together?”

Will blinks and almost tells her no right away because he works on his art better when he’s alone, but Alison is nice and he’s too nice, so he says yes and this hell of a journey starts on a fateful Wednesday morning.

The weekend comes and goes and Alison sits too close to him on his bed and he’s thankful for his sister that keeps entering his room and distracting her, but she side-eyes Alison one too many times and again, Will should’ve asked her about it and he would’ve definitely avoided finding himself in this hell of a scenario.

Because Alison asks him if he can help her with calculus – and he always asks Dustin for help, so maybe he’s not the most qualified person for the task but he’s too nice and says yes – and then she giggles whenever he talks, and she shares her orange slices with him in class, walks him to his locker and he only starts to doubt it when Mike points it out.

“Why was Alison at your locker again this morning?” he asks as soon as he sits down for lunch. Will almost drops his food because Mike is staring at him and it feels like an ambush.

“She just wanted to say hello,” he replies and really, it’s not that weird that he’s making new friends.

“And to give you a pile of comics,” El adds, throwing a grape into her mouth.

“What?” Mike asks, turning to look at him and Max snorts, loudly – definitely on purpose.

“She just…she had some old comics that belonged to her older brother and she knows I like them, so she gave them to me.” The party – minus Dustin, because he’s somehow late for lunch – looks at him like he’s speaking an alien language. “She just wanted to get rid of them. Her brother just moved out.”

“Will.” Lucas leans forward and Will rolls his eyes. He’s using his “adult” voice, something he’s been trying out for the past few months. “I think she’s trying to woo you.”

Max chokes on her juice and El pats her back worriedly. While Lucas rolls his eyes, El tries her best not to kill their friend with her powers because Max takes a good three minutes to stop coughing. It would be quite anticlimactic to die because of a bad joke from her own boyfriend after surviving all the craziness Vecna put them through years before.

When Max recovers, she smacks Lucas on the back of his head and El turns to look at him. “What does woo mean?”

“It means courting,” Mike answers coldly, crossing his arms and leaning back on his chair. He looks entirely annoyed.

“She’s not-it’s not like that!” Will answers back and when even El raises an eyebrow at him, he realises that maybe Lucas wasn’t joking.

“Will, she definitely likes you,” El points out. “Didn’t you notice how close she was when you were on your bed the other day?”

Mike bolts upright before he gets to answer. “What were you doing in your bedroom?”

“We were working on our art assignments!” Will isn’t sure how this conversation is even happening and Dustin decides to finally show up right at that moment, and Will hopes his arrival will shift the conversation into something else.

“Sorry I’m late! What did I miss?” he asks, taking his place next to Will.

“Oh, nothing, we’re just talking about Will’s new girlfriend,” Lucas replies and Will sighs. Yeah, no, of course he’s not that lucky.

Dustin freezes. “Oh! We’re talking about that girl that’s been following you around for the past few weeks?” he asks and immediately bites his sandwich. “I was wondering why you had a new shadow following you around that’s not Wheeler.”

“I don’t-that’s not the point!” Mike shrieks as he throws his hands in the air. Then, he leans forward and lowers his voice. “Doesn’t she know you’re gay?”

See, the thing is, Will has been out for almost two years. In the chaos that was the end of the world, he blurted those words out because he decided he was not going to die with that secret – and it was also a very smart move on their part to share their fears and secrets so that Vecna could not use them against them without the others knowing what troubled them. Then the world didn’t end and Vecna died, for good this time, and Will was still out and decided he was not going to hide it.

“I mean, I think so, yeah,” Will answers and the look on El’s face makes him reconsider everything.

“It didn’t look like she knew,” she replies. “Maybe you should tell her.”

If there’s one thing Will really doesn’t want to do, is to come out again. Hawkins is a small city and rumours fly around faster than a twister, and when school started again he just assumed that everyone already knew because the boys were always trying to keep their distance in the changing rooms before PE and the girls looked him over with judging eyes. But apparently, not everyone knew.

Will sighs and grabs a carrot from his tray. “I’ll think about it. Maybe she’ll stop.”

She does, in fact, not stop at all.

They have art class together in the afternoon and Will realises, as he enters the room to attend his last class of the day, just how stupid and blind he’s been. Max would make a joke about how she’s actually the blind one and could still sense something was off about Alison, but he’s not Max. Alison waves at him and he waves back, finding his seat which, of course, is right next to hers.

“Hi!” she says, cheerfully, and Will hopes that hers is just a stupid small crush because he’d hate to hurt her. She’s actually really nice.

“Hey Alison,” he greets back and thankfully, Mrs. Holland enters the room and Will breathes again.

“Good afternoon!” she says. She’s a young teacher and Will is extremely happy she chose to teach in this small town. She lets them experiment, she gives critiques without judging them or making them feel bad about it. She’s very open-minded and that’s probably why he likes her that much. “I have some big news for you kids today!”

Some of his classmates groan because they’re seventeen, they’re not kids, but no one complains loudly.

Mrs. Holland takes out a pile of flyers and raises one to show the class. “I got permission to take you to the art show in Chicago in two weeks!”

Will beams, excited. He remembers when she first mentioned it at the beginning of the year, and he feared the principal wouldn’t allow them to go because it’s not exactly around the corner and he’s definitely not the nicest person on earth but apparently, the end of the world changes people.

Mrs. Holland starts to explain the logistics and what they’re going to see, and Will can’t wait to go home and tell his mother all about it.

“You’re allowed to take a plus one with you,” Mrs. Holland finishes saying. “Let’s take this opportunity to get more people into art. We might find a few new students for next year!”

Art class has never been the fullest and Will kind of likes it that way, but he imagines that Mrs. Holland wouldn’t mind teaching a few more kids.

When the bell rings, Alison follows him to his locker. She’s babbling about the drawing Nicky made, how she doesn’t like the colours she used but likes her style a lot, and Will listens as he puts his book back into his locker.

“I hope she didn’t take my comment the wrong way. Did I sound rude?” she asks.

“No, of course not. You just stated your opinion. And you still complimented her style.”

Alison looks pleased with his answer and when she leans on the locker next to his, Will knows something is up.

“Thank you.” She takes a deep breath and Will shivers. “Hey, I was thinking, about the art show-”

“Will!”

Alison sighs as she leans away from the locker and they both turn around to find Mike running towards them.

“Hey Mike,” he replies and he’s not sure if his friend came to his rescue purposedly or if it’s just a coincidence, but he accepts it nonetheless. Then, Mike looks at him with a worried gaze and Will panics. “Is everything okay?”

“It’s El,” he replies and Will immediately activates his protective-brother mode.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“She’s not feeling well.”

Will turns to Alison and sends her an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Alison, I have to go. Do you mind if we talk tomorrow?”

“No, of course! Don’t worry about it.”

He nods and thanks her, turning around and letting Mike guide him to his sister.

“What happened? Did she get hurt?” he asks and his mind spirals to the worst scenarios. He knows she doesn’t have PE that day, but she’s not that clumsy to get hurt while running so even if it was PE-related it wouldn’t be that. She’s gotten better in years and she’s vowed to never use her powers unless someone’s in real danger (e.g.: car accidents, people trapped beneath heavy objects, yanking potential mouth-breathers away from innocent people, you know, that kind of stuff) but he knows that sometimes she uses them for silly reasons, so it can’t be that, can it? Unless she did use them and someone saw her and she got into a fight. Or maybe, for some unknown reason to him, she got into a fight anyway and has now a broken nose and Will is already thinking about what to say to calm Hopper when he sees her.

Mike doesn’t tell him anything and he’s about to press for something, anything, when they reach the courtyard and El is sitting next to Max. She’s laughing at one of her jokes and Will blinks, confused.

“What is going on?” Will asks as they approach them. El looks very much fine and her nose is perfectly intact.

Mike shrugs as he smirks and Will realises what he’s done. “Nothing, sorry. I just thought you needed an excuse to get away from Alison.”

Will’s been in love with Mike for a few years now and his heart is filled with a love for him that Will doesn’t think he’ll ever get rid of. In times like these, though, he really really hates him and wishes he could just punch him without feeling guilty.

“Mike!” He slaps him hard on the shoulder and Mike looks at him with a disapproving glance. It’s not a punch but he couldn’t let him get away with it.

“Ow! What was that for?”

“You made me worry!”

“What’s going on?” El asks as they finally reach them. Mike is still rubbing the spot where Will hit him, his face slowly turning into a grudge.

“Mike told me you weren’t feeling well,” Will answers.

“Why would you do that?” Max asks, El gently slipping her hand into hers.

Mike throws his arms up in the air before folding them again. “Alison was bothering him again! I just thought that I could help him get away quickly.”

“By saying I was not feeling well?” El asks and Mike groans, nodding his head as he leans on the bike rack. “How does that make sense?”

“It was an emergency! It made us leave quickly!” El raises an eyebrow and Will rolls his eyes. “It made sense to me.”

“Well, I didn’t need to be saved,” Will adds. “I was handling it just fine.”

“Sorry for caring enough to help you, then!”

Mike looks genuinely upset and Will doesn’t know how to take it. Mike’s always been protective of him, he knows that, and everyone knows that. He’s made no secret of how much he cares about him and their friendship has always felt a little bit different from the others, but this feels like it’s a bit too much. He doesn’t want to assume anything but Mike almost sounds jealous. Almost.

Mike turns around and sighs as he turns to face his friends again.

“Alison is exiting the school right now. You might want to look a bit less happy, El,” Mike mumbles and El laughs a bit too loudly but promptly lets go of Max’s hand to go and cuddle in her brother’s embrace as she feigns some kind of distress.

Will doesn’t see Alison the next day since they don’t have art class and she doesn’t wait for him at his locker, thankfully. He’s thought about her last words and wonders what is it that she wanted to ask him about the art show. Somehow, he has a feeling it’s not going to be good so he doesn’t mind postponing their meeting till they have class together again.

He’s not that lucky, obviously. When lunch rolls around, the party decides to eat in the courtyard since the day is warm enough to allow them a picnic.

“All I’m saying is that plot holes are not always worth the cinematic effect,” Dustin says. He’s been trying to solve his Rubik’s cube for quite some time and whenever he gets some free time, he takes it out and fiddles with it. “Luke suddenly forgets he has the force in Return of the Jedi when they’re in the Ewok trap?”

“He doesn’t forget he has the force!”

“He literally asks Han to grab the lightsaber for him! He could’ve used the force to get it.”

“Sometimes you just forget you have powers,” El chimes in. She still has to watch the movies but Will is one puppy eye away from convincing her to watch them all with him.

“Yeah, okay, in real life maybe but that is a movie,” Dustin continues. “Everything in movies is there for a reason and that was just for a cinematic effect.”

Will laughs as El tries to defend this Luke guy and he loves lunch breaks like this, but his mood shifts when he hears giggles coming from behind him. He instinctively turns around and wishes he hadn’t because he sees Alison with her group of friends, and they’re all giggling while looking his way, and some of her friends are pushing her towards him and oh no. Please no.

Alison stops next to them and Dustin and El brusquely interrupt their argument.

“Uhm, hey guys,” Alison says, waving to everyone, and then she looks at him. “Hi Will.”

“Hi Alison,” he replies and smiles because he’s kind. Too kind.

“Uh, sorry to bother you but we don’t have class together today and I-I just wanted to ask you something,” she begins, hands already playing with her curls. “About the art show.”

“What art show?” Dustin asks and he should really learn how to read the room because this is not a casual conversation and Will is already panicking.

“We’re going to an art show in two weeks with the whole class and we’re allowed to bring a plus one,” Alison explains and Will knows exactly where this is going. It's a disastrous situation and Will should've told her the truth sooner. She turns to look at him and her smile is so bright and Will hates that he’s going to kill all the joy in it. “I-I wanted to ask you if you wanted to be my plus one.”

Will starts to twiddle with the apple his mother slipped into his lunchbox as he gathers his courage to say what he should’ve said weeks ago.

It shouldn’t be this hard to tell her. He never had to tell people, the rumours just flew around and eventually, everyone heard about it. Will realises that this is definitely not going to be the last time he has to say it because if he leaves this town – and he hopes it’s more of a when – then he’ll have to come out to other people. It’s a never-ending process and maybe he should start getting used to it now.

“Alison,” he starts and she looks hopeful. “I-I’m sorry but I can’t be your plus one.”

“Oh.” Her smile immediately dies and her friends start to whisper between them. “Did you already ask someone?”

Will ponders on it for a moment because actually, that could be the perfect excuse and he’d have a way out. Then, he could pretend that his plus one suddenly felt sick and couldn’t come to Chicago, but then Alison would still flirt with him, so maybe it’s not actually a good-

“He asked me.”

Will freezes because the voice belongs to one of his friends and that voice is all but female. He turns around and Mike leans against his shoulder, and when his hand slips into his, Will lets go of the apple.

Alison’s friends gasp, loudly, and Max leans closer to El to ask her what’s going on, but El doesn’t get the chance to answer because apparently, Mike is not done.

“We’re going together,” he finishes and gently interlaces their fingers together. Will tries to calm his skittish heart and promptly fails, but he still turns around to see Alison’s eyes grow comically wide.

“Oh. You mean…are you two…?”

“Dating? Yes, very much so.”

Will doesn’t believe in god but sometimes he wonders if there really is someone up there that’s having fun with him because he can’t be this unlucky. There is no way in the world that the boy he’s been in love with for years has just said to a bunch of strangers that they’re dating.

“Oh. Oh!” Alison looks uncomfortable but thankfully, she doesn’t freak out. Will’s sure she’s going to have a breakdown once she’s far away from the courtyard, though. “That’s…great! I didn’t know, so-uhm, sorry for bothering you. I-I’ll see you around.”

She leaves, coddled immediately by her friends who drag her into a group hug and start to stroke her hair as soon as Alison hunches her shoulders. Will waits for his heart to leave his ears, because that’s all he can hear right now, before turning around and staring at Mike.

“What the hell was that?” Will asks. They’re still holding hands and he very much wants to let go but not because he actually wants to but because it feels wrong to hold his hand when Will wishes Mike meant it the way he does.

“What?” Mike replies, blinking innocently. “I just saved you! She was asking you out!”

“Mike!”

Max bends over and laughs so loud that Dustin suddenly startles. He’s been frozen for the past five minutes, apparently.

“Holy shit, Wheeler,” Max says. “You did not just tell a bunch of gossip girls that you’re dating Will.”

“I was trying to help!”

Will lets go of his hand so that he can drown his face in both of his hands. Lucas snickers next to him and tries to give him some kind of support when he pats his back.

“Mike, I’m not sure you understand what’s going to happen now,” Will replies as he emerges again. “First of all, I was handling-”

“You were not, you were about to pass out.”

“Well, I was trying to tell her that I’m gay!”

“Which I did for you, so you’re welcome.”

“That’s-Mike! You can’t be that stupid!” Mike apparently is because he stares at him waiting for an explanation. “You just told Alison and her friends-”

“-her gossiping friends-”

“-yes, thank you Max. You just told Alison and her gossiping friends that we are gay.”

Mike seems to think about it for a moment but there is no sudden realisation, no panic, no oh shit written on his face. He just shrugs and Dustin does his best to hide a laugh.

“I know,” he replies and then swings an arm around his shoulders. “I don’t care if they think I’m gay, too. At least they won’t bother you anymore.”

“Mike, you don’t get it.”

He shoves his arm away and tries to put some distance between them, to look him in the eyes, but it feels like Mike has a magnet that keeps him glued to his side because when he moves, Mike moves.

“People will start thinking that you’re gay and-and you’re not and this is not- you can’t just say things like this. People will talk.”

Mike folds his arms and looks entirely too pissed off. “Let me deal with the bullies. I can handle them.”

“It’s not about the bullies,” Will insists. “It’s what people will think of you. This is not something you can easily come back from.”

“Since when have we cared about people’s opinions? They don’t matter, not to me and they shouldn’t to you either.”

Will turns to his friends for backup because surely he’s not the only one thinking that this is a bad idea, but when he sees Lucas’ smirk and Dustin’s weird but very big smile, he blinks.

“Guys, back me up,” he tries anyway but it’s a vain effort when he sees his friends exchange a knowing look.

“I’d say that Mike knows what he’s doing,” Lucas replies. “Besides, this could be fun!”

“Yeah, you get to date a guy for- how long was it?”

“Two weeks,” El chimes in.

“Two weeks!”

“We’re not-we’re not going to date, that was just…” Will frantically waves his hands around and his face is definitely too red, he can tell, because it feels like it’s burning but it seems like no one notices it.

“A way to get you out of an uncomfortable situation?” Mike suggests.

“Yes!” Will stares at him and Mike just laughs. He gets closer again and El updates Max on what’s happening in whispers, giggling when Mike throws his arm around him again.

“It’s done now. It’s not like we can tell them it was all a joke, anyway. We’re going to look extremely stupid.”

“Very stupid,” El echoes and Will wonders when she switched sides to be on her ex’s.

“So what, we’re going to pretend we’re dating for…two weeks?” Will exclaims and that’s when he expects people to actually start laughing and say they were just messing with him because of course he and Mike are not going to pretend to date. That’s stupid.

“Maybe a little more than two weeks,” Mike continues and Lucas nods convincingly.

“Yeah, it would be weird if you guys broke up immediately after the art show.”

“Maybe four weeks?” Dustin suggests.

“Why set a date?” Max says and Will feels ambushed because he can’t believe this is happening. “Let things flow, you’ll break up when the time’s right.”

Will stares at the girls for a long time and he can’t believe that they’re into this, as well. Will vowed to bring his love for Mike to his grave, a vow he broke one afternoon a little less than a year before when he found himself sprawled on his sister’s bed, squished between El and Max. They told each other secrets and Will felt brave enough to confess that he’s been in love with Mike for years. He mumbled apologies to El right after but his sister hugged him and said she loved him – and that she didn’t care because Mike was never meant to be more than a friend for her – and ever since then, they’ve enjoyed teasing him about it. This, though, feels like a bit too much.

He sighs and gives in. “All right,” he replies and then turns to his best friend-now fake boyfriend. “I don’t want to hear you complain, not even once, when we’re at the art show. You’ve got yourself into this situation.”

Mike waggles his eyebrows as he gifts him one of his most mischievous smiles. “I think I will handle it alright.”

Will feels like the whole school knows by the fifth period because when he reaches his locker, there are more eyes fixed on him. No one usually cares about him, they’ve stopped gossiping about him pretty soon after his coming out, even if bullies still pick on him sometimes, but right now it feels like he’s been thrown back in time. The fact that Mike is still glued to his side definitely doesn’t help, on the contrary, it very much proves his point, because he hears whispers and sees eyes looking between the two of them.

Mike is telling him something but he’s definitely not listening, and when he closes the locker after getting a notebook out, he finds him staring at him.

“What?”

“You haven’t heard a single thing I’ve said, have you?” Mike laughs, shaking his head.

“Sorry, I was kind of distracted.”

“What could possibly be more interesting than your own boyfriend?”

Mike feigns disappointment and Will tries his very best not to blush too hard at the word boyfriend, and rolls his eyes.

“People are looking at us already,” he replies. “I guess Alison’s friends know how to spread rumours around very quickly.”

“Come on, we knew this would happen,” Mike replies and the way he’s talking, it feels like they’re actually dating. Will is not sure his heart will make it out alive after these two-or-more weeks of fake dating.

“Yes, but I still don’t like this,” Will says and the bell rings so loud he goes deaf for a minute. “What were you saying anyway?”

“Nothing important. I’ll see you later?” Will nods and when Mike leans in, Will thinks he’s dead already. His heart beats at a rate he thinks is not entirely healthy and he freezes when Mike kisses him on the cheek. It’s short and gentle, but Will dies anyway.

Mike laughs when he leans back. “Relax,” he adds. “It’s just a kiss.”

Mike leaves as if nothing happened and Will gets to his class five minutes late.

It’s just a kiss.

Oh, boy.

When he sees Alison the next day at school, she looks embarrassed and Will hates that he managed to ruin something that could’ve potentially become a good friendship. He truly likes her and he wouldn’t have minded going out with her – as friends – and not just meeting to talk about assignments or homework.

“Hey Alison,” he says as he sits next to her. She doesn’t turn away, doesn’t scoot far away from him with a disgusted face. She looks at him and her eyes are shiny. It looks like she’s been crying.

“Hey Will,” she replies and when she ducks closer to him, he feels somehow relieved. “I’m sorry for yesterday.”

“You’re- Alison, I’m the one who should be apologising.”

Alison shakes her head and when she hints at a smile, Will thinks that maybe they can still be friends. “No, I should. I didn’t want to force you and Mike to come out in front of my friends.”

Will thinks that he wouldn’t mind keeping a friend like her in his life forever because this is really not what he was expecting. There aren’t many people in this world that would say something like this.

“It’s okay. I’m sorry I didn’t notice sooner that you…had some kind of interest in me,” he replies and Alison laughs.

“Well, I kind of get it now why you didn’t,” she answers back and Mrs. Holland enters the class. Alison leans towards him, her hands playing with her pencil. “And I’m also sorry my friends didn’t keep their mouths shut. I tried to ask them to keep quiet but they like to gossip a bit too much.”

“It’s okay. I guess people were bound to find out sooner or later,” he lies and hopes that Alison will forgive him if she ever finds out that he fake-dated Mike just because he didn’t feel brave enough to tell her the truth.

Mrs. Holland opens her book and when the lesson starts, Will feels a little bit lighter.

He’s not sure what’s going to happen in the upcoming weeks and he knows that he and Mike have to talk about it to at least decide how to act in public places. He doesn’t expect them to act much differently because they’re still in Indiana and it’s definitely not the most accepting state, so they can’t just randomly hold hands while on the streets or kiss each other out in the open. Then Will remembers that this is all a fake scenario and that they’re definitely not going to kiss, not on the lips, and that maybe they just need to act more touchy-feely and that’ll be it. He still thinks this is very much a bad idea.

“Hey!” He unlocks his bike and when he turns around, Mike is already next to him. He doesn’t give him any kind of warning – not that he did the first time around – and leans in again to leave a quick kiss on his cheek. Will pretends to fix his grip on the handlebars to hide his blushing face. “Are you free this afternoon?”

“Yes,” Will replies. “Actually, I wanted to ask you if you wanted to come to my place? I think we need to talk.”

Mike puts a hand on his chest and gives him a very fake worried look. “Did I do something wrong, love?”

Will rolls his eyes because Mike’s enjoying this way too much. “Stop it. I just think we need to talk about how to…do this?”

“What is there to talk about?” Mike asks and turns around to find his own bike. “You don’t exactly plan on how to date someone, Will. It just happens.”

“I know it does. I mean, I guess that’s how it happens but we’re not really dating, Mike.” He can’t believe he still doesn’t get it.

Mike removes the lock from the wheel of his bike and puts it around the handlebar. “I know but we have to make it look real. We can’t just plan things.”

“Okay, I’m not saying that we have to plan everything but just… talk about how we can act around each other.”

Mike rolls his eyes and hops on his bike. “All right, let’s talk. But you’re making me hot chocolate before we start any kind of talking.”

Will laughs and when Mike races him to his house, he thinks that whatever they’re doing doesn’t change the friendship they share.

His mother and Hopper found a house not too far from school and definitely as far as possible from their old house and the woods. It’s not too big but it fits the four of them just fine – Jonathan moved to New York the year before and before that, they shared a room. He didn’t mind but he was undeniably happy when he got to have a room for himself.

Will dutifully prepares hot chocolate for both of them and he’s glad that no one’s home. He loves his family – Hopper and El have been a very much appreciated addition to theirs – but they get too loud most of the time and right now, all he wants is peace to think clearly. It’s hard enough to put two and two together when he’s near Mike, he needs all the concentration he can right now.

“So. Rules.” They’re sitting on the couch, hot mugs in their hands, and Mike sips his hot cocoa like it’s the best drink in the world.

“Mmh.”

“Mike.”

“Sorry, your hot chocolate is just the best.”

Will blushes and wonders how on earth he’s going to survive the next days if he blushes at something as simple as Mike complimenting him.

“Thank you, but we really need to talk about this.”

Mike rolls his eyes and sighs. “All right. What kind of rules do you want to set?”

“I-I don’t know. I’ve never dated so you’re the one who knows what happens when you date someone.”

Mike takes a longer sip and Will has to look away when he licks his lips to clean them from the hot chocolate. “Uhm. I guess you touch a lot more when you’re dating someone.”

“Like holding hands?”

“Not just that. It can be small touches, like a hand on the back, or soft caresses. You know, just…more romantic stuff.”

Will groans, sinking deeper into the couch. “You’re a lot of help.”

“Come on, that’s not going to be a problem. Just do whatever you feel comfortable doing, I’m sure it’ll be fine with me.”

Will is not sure Mike would actually be fine with it. If he could, he’d draw constellations on his face using his freckles as stars. He’d draw him every day and kiss him goodbye every night. He’d hide in his arms when the nightmares become unbearable and he’d dance with him in the refrigerator light in the middle of the night. He’d do anything with Mike and he wishes he could actually call Mike his.

“Okay,” he ends up saying, his heart beating fast against his chest. “And same for you. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I trust you.”

“I trust you, too.”

Mike’s smile gleams and he leans towards the small table to put the cup down. Will looks at him with curious eyes because the chocolate was definitely too hot for him to have finished it already. “Okay. We’ve established that we can be more tactile with each other,” he starts. “What about kissing?”

Will blinks. Then, again. Surely he’s heard him wrong. “What?”

“You know, couples kiss all the time.”

“Yeah, I remember. That’s all you and El ever did that summer.”

Mike hits him on the arm and Will laughs as he drinks from his cup again. He’s feeling like his face is burning and he needs to keep himself busy.

“Okay, rude! All I’m saying is that people will expect us to kiss.”

“Yeah but we can’t exactly do it.”

“What part of couple kiss all the time and we have to look like a real couple did you not get?”

Will takes the last sip of his chocolate and puts the cup down next to Mike’s still half-full one.

“See, this is what you still don’t get.” It’s with a heavy heart that he says the next words, but it’s his reality and Mike needs to understand it a little bit if he wants to pretend to be gay for a couple of weeks. “Gay people can’t just kiss in public places like that, Mike. I can’t hold a guy’s hand and not have people scream insults at me. I can’t go around kissing boys in daylight without having the constant fear of being seen. I can’t love who I want to love in the open because people will always target people like me and say mean things, and that’s all because I’m gay. So no, we can’t act like other couples do because it’s different.”

Mike stares at him with the most hurt look Will’s ever seen in his eyes, and he guesses that his point has come through because he genuinely looks like he wants to cry.

“I know it’s different,” he whispers. “But it shouldn’t be.”

Will falls a little bit more in love with him right then. Damn it. He reaches out and takes Mike’s hand and his heart skips a beat when Mike turns it around to intertwine their fingers together.

“Thank you,” he whispers and he can feel tears pool in his eyes. He sniffs and rubs his eyes to prevent anything from coming down. “So, yeah. No kissing.”

“I still think that’s bullshit,” Mike mumbles and before Will can say anything, he gives him a pointed look. “It is! I’m not saying we have to make out all the time, but it would be weird if we never kissed.”

Will shivers at the words make out and pretends it’s just the cold air of the winter leaving them. “It’s-we can’t just kiss randomly!”

“That’s how a relationship works sometimes. You don’t always need a reason to kiss someone you like.”

He stares at him and he’s hyperaware that they’re still holding hands. Mike sits up straight, a bit closer to him, and continues. “Kisses on the cheek are not too much.”

“Well, I guess that could work,” Will replies because Mike is quite insistent on kissing him for some very odd reason and Will knows he can never fight with him for long. “Just, not always.”

Mike rolls his eyes and the laugh that escapes his lips is sweeter than the Halloween sweets. “All right.”

“And no other kisses.” Will’s not sure he could kiss Mike for real only to have to give it up shortly after.

“Well.” Mike wrinkles his nose and Will wonders how he’s still insisting on this. Has he some kind of kiss withdrawal and is in desperate need of a kiss? “We can agree on kissing for real only when it’s needed.”

“And when would that be?”

“I don’t know, maybe in a situation where there aren't many people around and it could look like we’re trying to be sneaky.”

Will lets out a loud laugh because he can’t believe he’s having this conversation with Mike.

“Sure, that’s surely going to happen.”

“Just think about it.” Mike pouts and Will can already feel himself giving in. “If the situation presents itself, do we agree on having a real kiss?”

It’s a lost battle and Will gives up. “Okay, okay. Only if necessary.”

He really hopes that day never comes but his heart wishes for it to happen right now and he’s going to need a whole month of vacation away from Hawkins after this.

“Agreed.”

And just like that, Mike leans in again and kisses him on the cheek. It’s not a short kiss because Mike lingers on his cheek for a few seconds, and Will feels like he wouldn’t mind staying like this forever. He can feel electricity spark between them and he tries to take a big breath as Mike presses his lips harder on his cheek.

“What is going on here?”

Mike jumps away and Will’s thankful that none of them is holding hot mugs anymore. When they turn around, they find a very serious-looking Hopper staring at them. Oh no.

“Hop!” Will clears his throat a couple of times and he panics when he sees his mother enter the house and close the door behind her. Damn it. They should’ve talked in his room. “Uh, h-hi mom.”

“Hi guys!” She’s too cheerful and Hopper is currently trying to strike Mike with his glare. She immediately senses that something is off when they both just wave at her and Hopper doesn’t move from his spot. “What is going on?”

“We were just-uhm, you know-”

“Kissing,” Hopper says. “The word you’re looking for is kissing, son.”

Joyce gasps and the grocery bags in her arms immediately hit the kitchen counter.

“It was a cheek kiss!” Will answers back and Hopper raises an eyebrow. He’s doing his best to look menacing but he lost that charm a long time ago, precisely the day he caught him enjoying all the soap operas his mother watches. It doesn’t work with him but it definitely still works with Mike.

“Okay. So you were cheek-kissing,” his mother repeats and Will hides his face in the couch cushions. He hates this. “So, you guys are kissing now, huh?”

“I guess?” Mike answers and Will almost falls off the couch as he tries to kick his shin.

“It’s not like that,” Will immediately says, resurfacing from the very comfortable cushions. “He’s just helping me with something.”

“Oh, I can see how he’s helping you,” Hopper replies, crossing his arms and Mike shivers next to him.

“I’ll explain everything later, I promise. We’re not together.” Mike turns to look at him, shocked, and Will stares back for a minute. “I’m not lying to my parents, Mike!”

“Fine.” Mike rolls his eyes and turns to fetch his mug again, drinking a now very cold chocolate.

“Okay.”

Joyce taps her husband on the shoulder and he follows her into the kitchen, leaving the two kids alone. Mike finishes his drink silently and it almost looks like he’s holding a grudge. When he turns to him, Will raises an eyebrow at him.

“I’m not lying to them about this, Mike,” he insists. “There is no way in hell I’m going to pretend with them. Not about this.”

He’s never told his mother but he’s sure she sensed something. Still, this is too much of a delicate topic for him to joke about it with her.

“Okay, okay,” Mike replies, drinking the last sip. “All I’m saying is that it would’ve been good practice.”

The next few days are thankfully quiet. People still look at them and Will feels too much under the spotlight but Mike makes him forget everything with his jokes, and the party’s quarrels turn out to be more interesting than anything. Alison still talks to him but she tones down the attention she gives to him, and Will doesn’t feel so guilty anymore. Mike sits a bit too close to him during lunch, he squeezes his hand before they head to different classes and sometimes he swings his arm around his shoulder on their way home. It’s nothing that Will feels like it’s too much.

The weekend is nearing and Will can’t wait to have a couple of quiet days. He wants to lie on his bed, listen to music and maybe bake a cake with El. He honestly wants to stay away from Mike for a bit because his heart needs to take a break before the week that leads to the Chicago art show begins.

It’s too cold to sit outside, so the party finds a table big enough for them all. Lucas starts to talk about his upcoming game and it’s a normal lunch up until Mike takes his hand and intertwines their fingers together. It’s not a new feeling but Will still can’t calm down his skittish heart. He looks at Mike but he’s talking with Lucas, and looking around he can’t see people staring at them. It feels normal, too normal, and he catches Dustin’s smug smile. He looks at their joined hands and then back at Will, and without saying anything, he just waggles his eyebrows. Will takes his water and almost gulps it all down because he doesn’t know what to do.

Mike turns their joined hands around so that he can look at his watch. “Shit, I gotta go. I need to talk to Mr. Hughes before the lesson begins.”

“Are we still up for a study session later today?” Dustin asks as Mike puts his used napkin on the tray.

“Yeah, sure.” Then, he turns around and kisses Will on the cheek. Will should be used to this by now because Mike’s kissed him three times already but this time hits differently because Mike kisses him definitely too close to the corner of his mouth and Will does his best not to faint right in the middle of the cafeteria. There it is again, the spark of electricity. “See you later.”

It should be meant as a greeting for all of them but Will can’t help but feel like Mike said it to him only. He leaves with his tray and Will hides his face in his grapes. He really didn’t want to eat them but he’d rather eat a mushy fruit than look at his friends.

“So. You’re kissing now?”

“It was barely a peck,” Will answers.

“Dad caught them kissing at home the other day,” El adds and Will chokes on the grain of grape. He coughs until his lungs hurt and he pushes his tray away. There’s no point in eating them now.

“Wait, what?!” Dustin screams and Will shushes him when people start to look at them. “I’m sorry but you’re actually kissing? Did you guys start dating for real?”

“We didn’t kiss!” He sends his sister an annoyed look. How is she betraying him like this? “It was again a kiss on the cheek. And we’re not dating, we’re just…trying to make it look real.”

“Jesus Christ,” Max mutters and Lucas chortles, taking her hand.

“Oh, that definitely looked real.” Dustin grins.

Will sinks in his seat and almost considers bailing on his friends that afternoon and just go home.

He doesn’t, of course, and when school’s over, they all meet in the school library. They try to meet at least once every week to study together, and so far they’ve managed to do it, skipping maybe one or two weeks.

Mike is obviously sitting next to him and even if they’re allowed to talk, they always try to be as quiet as possible. They’re all studying different subjects and Lucas is quietly reading to Max about Napoleon Bonaparte, El taking notes next to them.

Will is trying to focus on a calculus problem when he feels a hand reach his own. Once again, it’s Mike. He laces their fingers together without raising his eyes from the book he’s reading and he can clearly feel Dustin looking at them from the other side of the table. Will tries to ignore his gaze and focus on calculus but his brain completely shuts off. He starts to draw circles in the corner of his notebook and he counts to fifty, then to one hundred, and when he gets to two hundred he decides he needs a break. He gets up, letting go of Mike’s hand, who turns to look at him with a confused gaze.

“Where are you going?” he asks.

“I need to check something,” Will lies and he leaves before Mike can offer to accompany him. He reaches the math section and grabs a random book. A couple of guys look at him with a disgusted look on their faces, and they whisper what Will knows are insults to him, but he ignores them and they leave shortly after.

His heart is beating fast and hard against his chest. He can still feel the ghost of Mike’s hand in his and he knows he agreed to this, but it’s barely been a few days and Will wonders if he’s pushing himself to the limit already.

He wants this. He wants the holding hands, the kisses, the real kisses. He wants to love Mike openly, to tell the world how happy and safe and loved Mike makes him feel. He also wants Mike to love him back, but that’s a utopian thought he needs to push away.

Someone tugs his sleeve and Will’s heart calms down when he sees that it’s his sister.

“Are you okay?” she whispers.

“I’m fine,” he lies and she raises an eyebrow. Will hunches his shoulders and closes the book, putting it back in its place. “I don’t know, honestly.”

“You don’t look happy,” she continues. They’re talking in whispers but she still scoots closer to make sure only Will can hear her. “Is this getting too much?”

“I don’t know, El. Maybe.” He peeks over her shoulder and sees Mike and Dustin talking animatedly. “I thought I could do it but…”

“But?”

“I want this.” The first thing she told him when they came back home the day he agreed to fake-date Mike was that he should always go to her whenever this would get too much. She told him she was there for him and Will doesn’t know how he managed to live his whole life without his sister. “I want this to be real, El, but I can’t have it.”

“Maybe you can?” Will scoffs and El takes his hand. “He started this, Will. He kisses you on the cheek and holds your hand. Maybe he wants this, too?”

“He’s just being a good friend.”

“Dustin is a good friend, too, and he’s also single. He never even tried to offer you this kind of help.”

Will knows she’s right but he refuses to let himself hope. “It’s different. My friendship with Mike has always been different.”

“And why is that?”

She has a point, Will has to give her that, but he’s a hundred percent sure that it’s not because Mike reciprocates his feelings.

“I don’t know, ask him, not me.”

“I think you should ask him.” She squeezes his hand and lets it go when he doesn’t answer her. “But if this gets too much, you need to end it.”

“The art show is next week. I just need to hold on a little bit longer.”

“No.” Will looks up and his eyes meet the fierce look of his sister. She looks like she looked two years before on the field when she was about to kill Vecna. “There is nothing in this world that is worth your heartbreak, Will. If this gets too much, you fake-break up with Mike. Okay?”

He lets himself fall into her embrace and El hugs him so tight he almost forgets how to breathe for a minute.

“I love you,” he whispers and El kisses him on the cheek. He can’t help but compare the kisses because this carried no trace of any kind of electricity. It’s familiar and familial, and it’s different.

“I love you, too,” she replies and she leans back. “But there’s one more thing you need to hear.”

“What?”

El looks behind her and Will follows her gaze. Mike is staring at them and he smiles when he sees them looking back at him.

“You can enjoy this in the meantime,” she says.

“You just said that I have to break things off if it gets too much.”

“I know, and I mean it, but you can also enjoy this while it lasts.”

“Okay, I’m confused.”

El laughs and leans on the shelf. “Okay, let me start again. I know you feel guilty about this situation because you love Mike.”

It still feels weird to hear her say it. He starts to play with the hem of his sleeve and El continues. “And I know you’re not letting yourself have this because you think you don’t deserve this and because you feel like you’re taking advantage of him.”

“Well, I am.”

“Will. He started this. He offered to be your fake boyfriend. Do I have to say it again?” She rolls her eyes and she looks exactly like Hopper now. “He holds you close, holds your hand, kisses you in public. He’s okay with this, you’re not forcing him. So, if it doesn’t get too much, you can enjoy this. But if it does get too much, then break it off.”

Will’s chest fills with an unmeasurable love that he knows will forever be there. He hugs her once again and lulls her until she laughs and they both gain a disapproving look from the librarian.

“Okay,” he whispers as they slowly make their way back. “I promise I will.”

“Enjoy this?” she says, elbowing him in his side. He giggles.

“Yes,” he replies. “Or break it off if it gets too much.”

“Good.”

She goes back to Max and Lucas and Will finds his place next to Mike again. Dustin is scribbling something down, mumbling numbers and operations Will doesn’t even remember studying. Mike leans closer to him and Will thinks back to what his sister said.

“Are you okay?” Mike whispers and Will nods.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Okay.”

Mike gives him a quick glance and a warm smile, and then goes back to his book. Will keeps his eyes on him and his mind puts El’s words on repeat.

You can enjoy this.

While it lasts. Mike did offer. She is right. And for once, he can say screw you to his fears.

He reaches over and takes Mike’s hand, gently intertwining their fingers together again. It’s a sensation he’s starting to love and he repeats to himself, Mike started this, Mike is okay with this.

Mike looks up at him with a surprised but very pleased look on his face. Will just shrugs and Mike gives his hand a squeeze before turning once again his attention to his homework. Will looks down at his calculus book and he doesn’t even attempt to understand what he’s reading. He’s okay with skipping a productive study session if it means he can hold Mike’s hand the whole time.

When Friday rolls around, Will breathes a sigh of relief. While he’s starting to give in to the idea of enjoying whatever he has with Mike now, he still thinks that a break would do him good. He wants to sit around doing nothing all day, he wants to unplug his brain and not think about what people can say about him. He might consider a walk around the lake with his mother.

The party doesn’t always hang out during the weekends but he feels like they’re going to plan something, but he has no problem telling them he needs some alone time.

They’re sitting on the bleachers and they’re waiting for Lucas to finish practice. Will reaches his friends a few minutes later and when he sits next to Mike, he throws to the wind all his worries and leans down to kiss his cheek. It’s there again, that grain of electricity, and Will can’t help but blush. Mike looks entirely too pleased about this.

“Sorry I’m late,” he says. “What did I miss?”

“Oh, nothing, really,” Dustin answers. He’s lying flat on the bench and raises his head just to peek over at their friend, who’s currently waiting for his turn to shoot hoops. “They’re just practising throwing balls around.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re meant to throw them in the basket.”

“Whatever, it’s boring.” He lies down again and puts a cap over his face. “Why did we agree to this.”

“We’re just being supportive friends.”

Will chuckles and instinctively leans on Mike’s shoulder. He takes it as an invitation and when Mike raises his arm, Will finds himself engulfed in his embrace. He lies there, head resting on Mike’s shoulder, and catches El’s knowing look. He smiles back and thinks, you can enjoy this.

They watch Lucas practice for half an hour and Max begs El to stop telling her all the little things her boyfriend does after barely five minutes. After practice is over they can finally go to the arcade, enjoy an evening together and then eventually go home.

“Hey guys!”

Will sits up and turns around to see Alison with a couple of her friends coming down the bleachers to reach them.

“Hey Alison,” he says. She’s gone back to her normal quirky self and Will likes that she looks comfortable around them.

“Sorry, I won’t bother you guys too much, I just wanted to give you these.”

She hands them a couple of flyers and Will tries to read whatever is written on the one Mike’s holding until he realises that he’s looking at a map.

“You’re all invited to Rosa’s party this weekend!” Alison says, jumping down to hand El the last flyer. “This is the map to her house. It’s easy to reach, but there will be lights and music guiding you in case you get lost.”

“That’s so cool!” Dustin exclaims, sitting up. He fixes his cap on his head and smiles up at Alison. “When is it?”

“Tomorrow night. It will start around nine but you can come whenever you want.”

Will is about to say, thank you but no thank you, because this was not contemplated in his own plans, but Mike turns around to gift Alison a gentle smile as he answers for them all. “Thank you! We’ll definitely be there.”

“That’s great!” Alison claps her hands and one of her friends sighs way too loudly. “I’ll see you tomorrow then!”

She leaves as fast as she’s come and Lucas hops until he’s standing in front of them, a smile plastered on his face.

“What got you all into such a good mood?” he asks, taking a bottle of water from the bleachers and drinking it. His eyes land on him. “Well, all but Will.”

“We got invited to Rosa Miller’s party tomorrow night!” Dustin answers. “Damn. She’s one of the popular girls.”

“Why are you not smiling?” El asks and Will realises that his disappointment is probably well written all over his face.

“Well…I wasn’t exactly planning on going out this weekend,” he replies. “I thought about staying home.”

“Come on, Byers. You can stay home any other weekend! This is Rosa Miller’s party. You don’t want to miss it!”

“It’s going to be fun,” Mike adds, bumping their shoulders together. “And if it gets too much, we can always leave.”

If this gets too much, you need to end it.

Will looks at El and she shrugs because she won’t force him into coming and he knows his friends won’t, either. His heart needs a break. But, it’s not every day he gets invited to one of the popular girls’ parties.

You can enjoy this.

“All right,” he says and Dustin punches the air victorious. “I guess we’re going.”

Will spends two hours in front of the mirror on Saturday and whatever he puts on makes him feel like he’s stupid. He doesn’t want to wear something too colourful but he also doesn’t really like the idea of wearing black. Dark colours are fine but he feels like avoiding them after the last few years he’s had. He wants light and colourful things in his life, but he also wants to survive high school and while he knows everyone is already talking about him and Mike, he still doesn’t want to fuel the rumours.

“How about this?” El suggests him, taking out a chequered shirt that belonged to Jonathan.

“It’s old,” he says and he’s never had a problem wearing old clothes, but it’s a party and for once, he wants to look good. “It looks old, El. I need something new!”

“We have to leave in one hour, Will. We have no time for shopping. And the shops are also closed.”

“I know!”

He dives back into his drawers and his room looks like a bomb exploded in it and threw everything around. He will tidy up, but definitely not tonight.

The doorbell rings and Will freezes for a moment. He looks at his wristwatch and curses. “Mike’s always late. How come he’s one hour early!?”

“Maybe he got the hour wrong.”

He hears voices from downstairs and feet stomping hard on the stairs as he keeps looking through his clothes.

“Knock, knock.”

“Aren’t you supposed to knock instead of saying it?” El asks. She’s sprawled over his bed and Mike laughs as he enters the room.

“What the hell happened here?” Mike asks and Will notices that he’s holding a bag in his hands.

“I can’t find anything to wear!” Will replies, throwing his hands in the air, and consequently throwing a shirt on the other side of his room. “I hate this. I didn’t even want to go to this stupid party.”

“We don’t have to go,” Mike says and El sits up immediately.

“I want to go!” she exclaims.

“Well, we can take you there and then Lucas can bring you back.” Mike turns to look at him and Will can’t help but blush. “We don’t have to go.”

When he says we he means just the two of them and while his mind tries to tell him, you can enjoy this, his heart warns him not to enjoy these words too much.

“No, it’s okay,” he replies and El hums contently. “I just wish I had something nice to wear.”

“See, it’s a good thing I know you so well.” Mike waggles his bag around and throws it in his direction. “I brought you some of my shirts.”

Will gasps as he opens the bag and he almost squeals when he sees that Mike’s brought him a few of his favourite shirts of his. It’s an instinct, really, because he doesn’t control his movements and he doesn’t even think about it. He gets up and throws himself at Mike, kissing him excitedly on the cheek.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he chants as Mike hugs him and swings them with a laugh echoing in his throat.

“Well, that’s what a boyfriend is for, right?”

It sounds natural and Will smiles at the sound of Mike calling himself his boyfriend. His heart will have its well-deserved rest another time.

It takes him less than half an hour to dress up – he picks a simple blue shirt with long sleeves and a few yellow stars over the chest pocket, a shirt that he matches with his favourite jeans – and it takes them even less to reach Rosa’s house.

Mike drives them, having received permission from his parents to use the car for the weekend, and when they get there, they find themselves in front of a house bigger than Steve’s. Will doesn’t know what kind of job Rosa’s parents do but they must be very important people.

“Guys! Guys!”

Dustin calls them over and Will finds himself enveloped in a group hug with him and Lucas. El finds Max immediately and she’s already holding a red cup when the group hug ends.

“This party is awesome,” Dustin says and he’s swinging too much already.

“How long have you guys been here?” Will asks.

“Barely half an hour,” Lucas answers, shaking his head as he watches Dustin dance on his own.

“Is he drunk already?”

“No, he hasn’t even started drinking, man.”

“I’m just happy!” He swings an arm around his shoulder and Mike immediately removes it while throwing a disapproving glance at Dustin. “Come on, guys! We’re young and very much alive, and young! We should be happy! We should have fun tonight.”

“All right, all right, calm down,” Mike replies. His hand finds its place on Will’s waist and Will takes a very deep breath when he drags him closer to him. “We’re definitely going to have fun.”

“That’s the spirit! I’m going to get the alcohol now that we’re all here! See Mayfield? I’m a good friend that waits for everyone.”

He disappears, El tailing behind him shouting questions about what alcohol they can drink without dying of alcohol poisoning.

The music is loud, there are too many people laughing and talking around them, but Will can only register the feeling of Mike’s hand on his waist.

Somehow, he feels like it’s going to be a long night.

Dustin comes back with red cups filled with punch and they all sit together in a corner of the living room, laughing and drinking until El disappears and comes back with a bunch of sandwiches. Will doesn’t plan on getting drunk, it reminds him too much of his father, but he wants to allow himself to enjoy this night with his friends, and Mike.

They sit together on the couch, Mike almost dragging him onto his lap to have him close. They laugh, hands finding their way to each other, and when Mike giggles into his ear Will thinks that maybe he should stop him, tell him to slow down because it’s getting a bit too much, but Will’s tipsy and so is Mike, and he ignores the warning his heart gives him.

At some point they all go their separate ways, with Lucas taking Max somewhere more private – definitely to kiss – and with El and Dustin getting dragged into a game of beer pong.

That’s how he finds himself alone on the couch with Mike. The lights are dimmed and while there are still many people walking around them, and they’re definitely not alone, it feels like they are.

Mike is leaning against him, a hand playing with his hair. They’ve never gone further than holding hands or kisses on the cheeks and Will understand why because the feeling of Mike’s hand in his hair is enough to drive him crazy. Maybe he should stop this.

Mike’s other hand reaches his collar and he pulls it softly, as if he’s trying to fix it.

“My shirt looks good on you,” he says. He smirks, leaning even more in, and he lowers his hand. “You should wear them more often.”

“Well, I don’t want to steal all your clothes.” It doesn’t make sense but Will’s brain is definitely not functioning right now.

“I wouldn’t mind.” Mike waves his finger through his hair and Will shivers. “I like seeing you in my clothes.”

Will takes a minute to remember how to breathe because Mike is definitely flirting, and they haven’t talked about this, the flirting thing, and maybe that’s part of the fun but Will knows this will be too much for him, so he freezes and watches as Mike leans in.

It’s another kiss on the cheek but Will can feel how Mike wants more. His hand is cradling his face and bringing him closer, and the kiss lasts longer than any other. Then he kisses him again, inching closer to his mouth and Will doesn’t know what to do. His heart yells at him to stop Mike because he’s drunk and he’s surely not thinking straight, and he’s definitely going to regret this in the morning. But the selfish part of him keeps putting El’s words on repeat, you can enjoy this, and this is something he definitely wants to enjoy.

Mike kisses the corner of his mouth and Will is about to turn his head and kiss him properly when voices get too loud and his name is called.

“Will!” They break apart, Mike complaining with a loud sigh, and Alison almost falls on them. “Mike! You’re here!”

“Hi Alison,” Will says and he wonders if she can hear him because he’s still too caught up in whatever was about to happen to properly talk.

She falls between them, separating them, and she swings her arms around their shoulders. “Are you guys having fun?”

“Yes,” Mike answers and his annoyed look gets replaced by a genuine smile. “The music’s great!”

“I know right?!” Alison exclaims and she’s screaming and she’s definitely drunk. She gets up and Will wonders if he can go back to almost kissing Mike, but Alison has other plans when she takes both their hands. “Come on! Let’s go dance!”

Mike giggles and lets himself get dragged and Will thinks that Mike is probably relieved, that he’s realised what he was about to do and that he’s regretting it already even if nothing happened. Then Mike takes his hand and never drops it, not even when they reach the impromptu dance floor, and Will is more confused than ever.

Alison dances with them for a few minutes, Mike swirling her around a few times and her hugging Will a bit too tight. She tells him she is really glad they stayed friends and she’s drunk but Will knows she means it. She dances away and Mike drags him closer and once again, it’s just them. The music is too loud and Will knows that people around them are staring at them. He tries to block those thoughts away, tries to focus on Mike’s hands on his waist and when he does, he feels like he’s about to panic. He wraps his own arms around his neck and Mike rests his forehead on his. They’re not even dancing anymore. They’re holding each other close and Mike is gently swinging them. It feels entirely too romantic and Will feels panic rise in his chest. He looks around and someone’s whispering, some guys are staring at them like they can’t believe they’re actually daring to be this close out in the open. Someone is giggling and he knows that not everyone is looking at them, but it very much feels like it.

“Hey.” Mike puts a hand under his chin and brings his eyes back to him. “They don’t matter. Just look at me.”

It’s a whisper full of electricity and something more, words unspoken that none of them dares to speak but Will doesn’t care. Mike leans in again and he stops only when their foreheads touch. Will knows he wants more and that he’s not aiming at his cheek anymore.

“People are staring,” Will murmurs.

“That’s kind of the point,” Mike answers. “Only when necessary, right?”

Will’s breath hitches. “Right.”

Mike takes it as the permission he needs to close the gap between them and finally kisses him on the mouth.

It’s not his first kiss. He unfortunately didn’t get to dodge out of the way when a girl ambushed him back in California and kissed him treacherously. He hated everything about his first kiss but this, this is different. Mike is holding him close by the waist while his other hand has found its place on the cheek he so often liked to kiss. Will still has his arms around his neck and he allows himself to let go, to intertwine his fingers in Mike’s hair and to bring him closer, and as their lips dance together, he lets himself enjoy this.

It's a gentle kiss at first but it doesn’t take Mike long to let go of whatever was holding him back and deepen it. Will feels overwhelmed and he’s not sure what to do with his hands anymore, so he lets them travel from Mike’s hair to his face until they reach his arms. He’s living a dream and he’s not sure he wants to wake up.

“Get a room, you weirdos!”

They break apart but stay tangled together, and Will tries to even his breath.

“Leave them alone, Rick!”

It’s Alison who speaks and Will turns slightly to his left to see her giving this Rick guy the middle finger. Hawkins is full of closed-minded people, but he’s happy Alison is not one of them.

“Maybe we should,” Mike whispers into his ear and Will doesn’t get the time to process what he’s just said that Mike takes his hand and drags him away from the dance floor. Then, it hits him. They’ve been kissing, out in the open, in the middle of a dance floor. And it wasn’t just kisses on the cheek. He doesn’t want to think about it because they’re having fun and he really wants to kiss Mike again, so he follows his fake boyfriend until they find an empty couch in a dark room. It’s not exactly the most private place because the music is still very much audible from there and sometimes people walk through that small living room – or maybe it’s a veranda, Will’s too tipsy and too drunk with feelings to observe – but it’s still intimate enough for them.

Mike all but throws him on the couch and he’s on top of him in mere seconds. He doesn’t ask if it’s okay, doesn’t find an excuse to kiss him again, he just does and Will lets go.

He doesn’t know how long they kiss for but he tries to memorise every single moment of it. He wants to remember the way Mike giggles when Will’s hand brushes the side of his neck, tickling it. He wants to remember the small kisses Mike leaves on his lips when they need to slow down to catch their breath. He wants to imprint in his mind the memory of Mike brushing his messy hair away from his face before diving into another kiss. He wants to remember the way their lips feel against each other because he knows he’s not going to get this again.

They kiss, and Will feels like they’re loving each other. Will lets himself enjoy it even if his heart tries to remind him that it needs a break.

“There you are!”

Dustin trips on his own feet and lands next to them on the tiny couch. El is with him and while Dustin’s clearly drunk, El is sober enough to realise what they’ve just interrupted.

“We’ve been looking for you for ages,” Dustin says, sloppily trying to grasp their arms.

“Well, we were busy,” Mike replies and his hand lands on Will’s waist again.

“Come on, we need to have a dance-off!” Dustin says. He gets up and almost falls face down but he’s apparently still strong enough to force them off the couch. Mike complains but he still follows their friend. El grabs his hand before they leave the veranda.

“Are you okay?” she asks and Will doesn’t know if he can even remember his own name right now. That’s a very complicated question.

“I don’t know,” he answers and El doesn’t ask more questions. She doesn’t let go of his hand and together, they reach their friends.

The party never really ends but they decide to leave at around two in the morning. Mike isn’t in the conditions to drive and Will takes his keys and drags both him and El to his car. He knows how to drive, Jonathan taught him over a year ago. He just hasn’t gotten his licence yet.

Lucas is thankfully sober enough to drive both Max and Dustin home, and they part with the promise of seeing each other again on Monday.

The drive home is quiet and Mike sleeps with his face plastered on the window while El hums a song to herself. Mike is staying at their place, thankfully. He’s not sure he would’ve managed to drag him to his room without waking the Wheelers.

El helps him bring Mike back to their house, and she looks like she’s one blink of an eye away from falling asleep.

“He’s heavy,” she complains and Mike groans into her shoulder. “How much did he drink?”

“Not that much, actually,” Will replies. He finds his keys and manages to open the front door without too much effort. “He can’t really hold it well.”

“I can see.”

It’s a nightmare to drag him upstairs and if they wake up their parents, they’re kind enough not to come out and scold them about coming back home this late.

El disappears into her room as soon as she drops Mike on Will’s bed, and that’s when Will realises that they’re definitely going to share.

He doesn’t think too much about it. He removes Mike’s shoes, he takes off his and ponders on getting changed. Then, tiredness dawns on him and he decides that sleeping in normal clothes – in Mike’s shirt – isn’t such a bad idea.

Will slips under the cover and Mike starts making disapproving sounds.

“Stop. You’re moving too much,” he mumbles and Will chuckles.

“Come on. Get under the covers.”

Mike groans but complies, and it looks like it takes him all the strength in the world just to move around and slip under the covers that Will is holding up. He fixes his pillow, too, and then his hands find Will’s waist again and he drags him closer. Will is really starting to consider the possibility that Mike actually likes what’s going on between them because he’s been keeping him close, closer than usual, the entire evening. It’s either that, or he’s just too comfortable being this tactile with Will.

“Do you need something?” Will asks and he really should’ve thought about it before getting into bed.

“Just you.”

Will’s heart breaks and pumps back to life in seconds, because that’s all he wants to hear and that’s all his heart needs to crack open and bleed with a love he knows he’ll never truly let go of.

When morning comes, so does the headache. It’s not too strong but it bothers him enough that the rays of light entering his room annoy him greatly. He wants to turn around and hide his face in the pillow, but two arms are wrapped around his torso and he really can’t move. He opens his eyes and Mike is there, sleeping, holding him close, and Will takes a minute to look at him. He’s got freckles all over his nose and cheeks and Will feels the urge to drag his fingers along their lines. Then, he remembers that Mike would definitely be okay with it, or that he wouldn’t be bothered by it too much, so he does and he smiles when Mike wiggles his nose.

“Mmh. Will. Stop.”

Will continues tracing lines all over his face and he laughs too loudly when Mike leans back to avoid his hand.

“Stop, it’s too early. You’re being mean,” Mike tries again and Will turns his hand to look at his wrist.

“It’s actually almost two.”

“It’s definitely too early.”

Mike brings him closer and hides his face in the crook of his neck. It feels domestic, it feels real, and Will sighs.

“Mike, come on. We need to get up.”

“Noooo.” Mike emerges just to pout at him. “Can we stay here for a little longer? Please.”

Will gives in way too easily. “Okay. Just five more minutes. I need to pee.”

Mike snorts into the embrace. “How romantic.”

It’s in moments like this that Will lets himself hope. Maybe he can have this. Maybe, El was right and Mike wants this too.

It takes him more than five minutes to convince Mike to get up, but they eventually do and after a quick stop to the bathroom, they reach the kitchen where they find the table set for five.

“Good morning, boys!” Joyce says, using her high voice on purpose. Will loves her but he hates how she knows how to annoy him. “You got up just in time for lunch.”

El is sitting in her chair and she doesn’t look too wasted, and she laughs when Mike almost falls from the chair as he sits down.

“God, you look awful,” she says.

Mike grabs a piece of bread and bites it hard. “Thank you, El.”

Hopper chuckles and doesn’t ask them anything, doesn’t scream at them for drinking or for coming home late. Will likes him and he’s happy he’s the one his mother chose to marry. He’s nothing like his father but he’s more of a father than Lonnie ever was.

When they finish lunch, the grown-ups leave for the afternoon and the three of them end up on the couch. El chooses a movie and no one’s really up for anything too complicated, so they all make themselves comfortable as Tootsie plays. El is wrapped in her favourite blanket and Mike finds his place right next to him. He opens up his arms and Will gets the invitation as he slips into them, and Mike holds him close. He starts to play with his hair and Will can’t properly focus on the movie, not with Mike acting like they’re actually together. He feels observed and he turns to see El giving him a knowing look. She moves her gaze between them and her words come back. Maybe he wants this, too.

He rolls his eyes and goes back to the movie he’s definitely not paying attention to, and he thinks that maybe Mike does want this, and when Mike turns around and kisses him on the head, he thinks that maybe he should ask him.

Mike leaves before dinner, claiming that he really needs to show himself back at home. Will walks him to his car and Mike looks like he would do pretty much anything except driving.

“I’ll see you tomorrow?” Will asks and he knows he will, and he should actually ask him what is going on but he feels like that is a talk for another day.

“Of course,” Mike answers. He opens the car door and leans on it as he ponders what to do next. Will opens his mouth to tell him to drive safely, but Mike doesn’t give him time to utter anything because he leans in and kisses him.

It’s a short kiss, gentle, sweet, romantic, and it almost gives Will the answers he’s looking for but he knows he needs to actually hear Mike say it. Not today, though.

“See you.”

Mike gets into his car as if he hasn’t just randomly kissed Will on the lips. There is no audience, no one to convince that they’re dating, and Will waves at him and stares as the car disappears around the corner.

When he gets back inside, El is staring at him from the couch.

“So. You’re actually kissing now?” she asks and he wonders if she’s talking about what she saw yesterday or if she peeked through the window a few minutes before. Will drops next to her and sighs.

“Yeah. We are.” There’s no point denying it.

“Are you two together?”

“No.” El raises an eyebrow and Will hides his face in his hands. “I don’t know. We never talked about it.”

“Will, I love you but you can’t be this stupid. He kissed you. On the lips.”

“I know.”

“Friends don’t do that.”

“You’re probably right.”

“I am right.” El takes his hand and Will drags her into an embrace. “I think he likes you, too.”

Will lets out a watery laugh. “It does look like he does, doesn’t it?”

“Ask him.”

It’s a scary feeling because asking him means either ruining the best friendship he’s ever had or elevating it to a relationship he’s always wished he could have. But then he remembers that they’ve kissed, twice, and that there’s really no going back now.

Will is a mess on Monday. He’s nervous and excited, and anxiety is turning his stomach into a bundle of nerves. He’s wearing another one of Mike’s shirts because he not-so-accidentally left his bag over at his place and Will found himself wearing one to school on Monday. It smells like Mike and it gives him a little more courage to do what he’s meant to do.

He bikes to school with El and she kisses him on the cheek before entering school. He knows there’s no time to talk about this now, but he wants to wait for Mike and ask him if they can talk later. Then, Mike doesn’t show up and Will curses when the bell rings and he has to get inside. Mike’s ability to always be late is phenomenal.

The day goes on slowly and Will doesn’t see Mike around the corridors, so he waits until lunchtime. Then, lunchtime comes and goes and Mike is still nowhere to be found.

“Has anyone seen Mike today?” Will asks as soon as he sits down. Dustin still looks like he hasn’t recovered from the hangover.

“No, he wasn’t in English class today,” Max replies.

“He skipped history, too,” El adds and Will looks around worried.

“He’s probably sick,” Lucas says, reaching over the table to pat his hand a few times. “Don’t worry, your boyfriend might look weak but he’s not that weak to get killed by a hangover.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Will automatically says, and no one bothers to inquire on the topic. Dustin probably doesn’t even remember he interrupted their kiss and El is thankfully sensible enough not to mention his crisis to everyone.

The day goes on ever slower and when school’s over, Will goes to the phone booth and dials a number he knows by heart.

Two rings later, Mrs. Wheeler answers the call.

“Hello?”

“Hi Mrs. Wheeler, it’s Will.”

“Will! Hello darling, how are you?”

“I’m good, thank you. Is Mike there? He didn’t show up at school today.”

“Oh yeah, he’s currently in bed. He’s not feeling well.”

Will leans on the phone booth and sighs. “Is it bad?”

“Oh, no. I think it’s a stomach bug. Holly had it on Friday and she’s still not feeling completely fine, and I think Mike caught that. He’s been sick all night, poor thing.”
Will starts to play with the phone cable, his heart beating with a mixture of worry and love. Had he been with Mike, he would’ve definitely held his hair back as Mike probably emptied his stomach into the toilet.

“Is it okay if I stop by?” he asks. He doesn’t want to have the talk, there’s no point in having it if Mike’s not feeling well, but he still wants to see him.

“I think it’s better if you don’t, darling. It’s quite contagious, I don’t want you to get sick. I’ll tell Mike to give you a call when he’s feeling better, is that okay?”

Will knows it’s the most sensible thing to do, and he really doesn’t want to end up sick before the Chicago art show. If he avoids getting the same bug and Mike recovers, they can still go together.

“Yeah, sure. Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler.”

He slams the receiver back in its place and with the bag on his shoulders, he finds his bike and goes back home. He feels oddly alone.

Mike doesn’t come back until Thursday and it’s truly an agony for Will. He gets the first call on Tuesday evening and Mike sounds like he’s pretty much dying. He’s dramatic, Will knows it, and he laughs when Mike tells him that he’s leaving all his games and comics to him in his will. They end up having two hours-long calls and his mother almost cuts the power to the whole house when Will occupies the phone for four hours one afternoon. Then, Mike comes back and Will is nervous again because they’re leaving for Chicago on Saturday morning and they still have to talk. He’s lost all the confidence he had on Monday and he’s not sure that Mike wants this anymore.

He waits for him outside of school again and when he sees Mrs. Wheeler’s car stop and Mike get out of it, his heart skips a few beats. Mike waves at his mother as she leaves and when their eyes meet, Will feels the electricity come back.

“Hey!” Mike engulfs him in a tight hug and Will breathes in his scent. He’s got one shirt left of Mike to use, and he’s had to wash the others. They’ve all lost his perfume. “God, I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” Will replies. He wants this, he wants this, he wants this, he repeats himself.

Mike leans back but it’s just a moment because he’s caging him in again and in a blink of an eye, his lips are on his. Will gasps, he wants this, and kisses him back as his heart lets go of all the rationality and brings out all the hope because it looks like Mike wants this just as much as he does.

The bell shatters their moment and Mike groans as Will giggles when they break apart. He takes his hand and they both head inside.

“I haven’t missed school, though,” he adds and Will squeezes his hand.

Will is definitely in a better mood that day and he even lets Alison draw some doodles in his notebook during art class when neither of them is particularly interested in the lesson. Lunchtime is definitely his favourite time of the day again and Mike drags him outside to have a picnic together. They haven’t talked with the rest of the party about meeting there and Will doesn’t mind getting some alone time with his – best friend? Actual real boyfriend? Still fake but soon-to-be real boyfriend? Will doesn’t know and he remembers that they have to talk about it.

They sit down on the grass using their jackets as blankets, and Mike has a hard time eating the whole sandwich but Will encourages him to at least try.

“My stomach’s still not fully recovered,” Mike explains as he swallows the second bite. “It took Holly almost a week to get back to eating a full meal.”

“It must’ve been a pretty bad bug,” Will says. He’s already on his second sandwich.

“It definitely wasn’t nice.”

Mike takes his hand, intertwining their fingers together, and for a few minutes they enjoy the sound of students laughing and screaming around them.

Will crumples the napkin his sandwich was wrapped in and throws it near his bag, and Mike laughs.

“What are you laughing about?” he asks. He wasn’t really aiming at a precise point, so he can’t be laughing because his shot was awful, because it was not.

Mike points to his face. “You’ve got some mayo on your face.”

Will instinctively brings his free hand up to clean it, but Mike keeps laughing and he’s sure he’s missing the spot. “Where?”

“Here.”

Mike leans in and kisses him. Will’s eyes close immediately and he hums into the kiss. He can’t get rid of the anxiety that rises as soon as Mike kisses him, because even if pretty much the whole school knows they’re dating – fake dating, as for now, not that people need to know that though – he still knows that most of the people don’t want to see two boys kissing. But it looks like Mike doesn’t care and that’s one of the things that makes Will doubt that Mike actually wants this. He’s not sure if Mike being so reckless is a result of him not really caring about this because he’s not actually into boys and is used to being able to kiss people (girls, actually) openly, or if he’s just being a tad too rebellious and doesn’t really care about what people might say.

They’ve been bullied their whole lives and Will knows this is a different kind of bullying, but there’s a fear in him that will only go away once he hears Mike explain what this is to him.

“There you ar-oh.”

They break the kiss only to find the rest of the party staring down at them. Dustin blinks a few times while El whispers something into Max’s ear, probably updating her on what’s happening.

“Sorry. We didn’t know you needed…some alone time?” Dustin asks and Will notices that they’re carrying their lunch trays. He chuckles and moves his bag to make space for them. El brings Max’s wheelchair next to them and the whole party sits down.

“It’s okay. Sorry we didn’t tell you we were out here,” Will says and he feels the blood rush to his cheeks as he thinks back on his alone time with Mike. Everyone starts to eat their lunch and Mike goes back to his own sandwich. They spend something like ten minutes chatting about this and that when Dustin suddenly has an epiphany.

“Wait!” They all turn to look at him and he’s pointing at him and Mike. “So I wasn’t tripping at the party!”

“What are you talking about?”

“You were kissing!” He punches the air triumphantly, then he looks at them deadly serious. “You were, weren’t you?”

“Uhm…I mean, y-yeah,” Will answers and he doesn’t want to have this conversation now because he wants to have it with Mike first.

“Oh thank god.” Dustin looks entirely too relieved. “For a moment I thought I got drugged and had hallucinations.”

“Don’t worry, Dustin. You were just drunk.” Will laughs and hopes that this is it, but he’s not lucky and he’s never been lucky.

“So, you’re kissing for real now, huh?” Lucas asks, waggling his eyebrows, and Will panics. Max is shaking her head but she’s smiling. Dustin looks one laugh away from high-fiving Lucas and El is trying to give him all of her strength, but Will panics anyway.

“I mean, it was a big party,” Will replies. “People were looking. We had to make it look like it was real.”

The laughter dies down and Will hates the silence right now. El is the only one he dares to look at.

“Like it was real?” Mike asks and the hurt in his voice doesn’t go unnoticed, but panic has always been his worst enemy and Will wishes he could turn back time and ask Mike everything before the party interrupted them.

“Yeah, I mean, that’s the whole point of this, isn’t it?” he replies. “To make people believe we’re actually together.”

The silence that follows is brief but it’s deafening nonetheless. Mike nods, a laugh that sounds all but happy escaping his lips.

“Yeah, no. You’re right.”

Max suddenly shrieks and all the attention turns to her. She’s trying to remove something from her hair and El immediately goes to help her. The party is distracted and Will notices how there’s really nothing in her hair. She must’ve caught up on the awkwardness of the situation and decided to divert the attention, and Will makes a mental note to remind himself to go and hug her one day.

There are still a few minutes left for lunch and when Mike lets go of his hand, Will knows he screwed up.

The bell rings and everyone gets up, and Mike almost bolts away from him.

“Mike.” He stops him by taking his hand but drops it immediately when he sees the hurt look on his best friend’s face. “Can we talk later?”

There’s something new swimming in Mike’s eyes. It’s a kind of hurt he never thought he’d see and it pains him to know he’s put it there.

“My mom is picking me up right after school,” Mike replies. His voice is soft, a whisper full of heavy notes. Will likes it better when he uses the happy ones. “She wants me to get back on track with homework.”

“Oh. Okay, uhm.” He doesn’t like how awkward this feels. “Maybe tomorrow?”

“Okay.”

Mike leaves before Will can say anything else and the lonely feeling he drags along for the rest of the day reminds him that he deserves the guilt he’s feeling.

Mike avoids him the whole morning and El corners him before the fourth period starts.

“Did you get to talk to Mike?” she asks and Will shakes his head. “Are you going to?”

“Yes. Hopefully before lunch? He’s been avoiding me all morning, so it’s not like I got to ask him.”

“Will.” She takes his hand and it’s been their way of comforting each other for years now, but he’s not sure he deserves this. “Mike loves you. It’s going to be okay.”

“I’m not sure, El. You didn’t see his eyes yesterday…he looked hurt. I feel like I ruined everything.”

“You’re just being dramatic.” She bops him on the nose and chuckles. “Mike might be hurting right now, but you’re still best friends. You will solve things out.”

“You think so?”

“I know so!”

She hugs him and Will feels little for a moment. They don’t know El’s true birthday but Will has always felt like the big brother. He’s grown up as the youngest but with El it’s different, and even if a lot of people thought they were twins back in California, he’s always felt like the oldest between the two. Right now, though, she feels like his big sister and Will doesn’t mind.

“It’s going to be fine,” she tells him and Will hugs her a bit tighter.

Will bolts out of his chair as soon as the fourth period ends and he’s glad that Mike’s class isn’t too far from his. He hopes he won’t avoid him because they really need to talk – about what happened at the party, about yesterday and hopefully, about tomorrow.

He finds Mike’s class door still closed and he takes a breath of relief because it means he’s still in there and won’t be able to avoid him. He can still choose not to talk to him, though.

The door slams open a couple of minutes later and a flood of annoyed students runs out of it. Will tries to look for Mike and he’s definitely one of the tallest students, so it doesn’t take him long to see him. Mike stops dead in his tracks when their eyes meet and Will decides to be the brave one for once.

“Hey.” He steps closer and he’s relieved when Mike doesn’t step back. “Can we talk? Now?”

“Okay,” it’s all Mike gives him and Will accepts it. They walk through the swarm of students and there’s only one place that’s actually empty around this time, so Will leads Mike to the gym and his mind tries to go through all the things he wants to say.

Mike sits on a bench and drops his bag on the floor, while Will stands in front of him. It’s quiet, extremely quiet, and he hopes that no one gets the idea of using this place during lunch. So far, it looks like they’re safe.

“So, you wanted to talk?” Mike asks. He crosses his arms over his chest and he looks annoyed. Sad. Hurt. “We don’t have all day.”

“Right, sorry.” Will shifts on his spot and wonders where to begin. “It’s, uhm…it’s Saturday tomorrow. We’re supposed to leave at eight for the art show.”

“Yeah, I remember.” Mike gives him a cold look and Will hates how he’s managed to ruin everything with a few words. “Are you trying to tell me you don’t want me there anymore? Is this what this is about?”

“What? No, no, of course I want you to come with me.”

“Really? Because it doesn’t look like it.”

Damn it. He should’ve started with the other questions. “I’m sorry this is what you thought it was. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“Oh, so you’ve noticed that? That you hurt me?” He’s never seen him look this hurt and Will wants to wipe all of his pain away.

“Of course I’ve noticed! Why wouldn’t I?” He takes a step closer and Mike lowers his gaze, wrapping himself even more in his own embrace. “Look, about what I said yesterday, I-I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It seems like you didn’t mean a lot of things these past few days.”

Will’s shoulders flop, the weight of the conversation that’s about to happen heavy on them. “That’s not true.”

Mike looks outright offended by Will even daring to say such a thing. “Do I have to remind you what you told Lucas yesterday?”

He gets up and jumps down the bench to face him. “Didn’t you tell him that we were just making this look like it’s real?” he finishes.

“Of course I did! Because that’s what we agreed on! We never had a conversation about turning this into something more!”

Mike laughs and he rubs his hands over his eyes repeatedly. “I thought it was fucking obvious, Will. I was obvious.”

He should’ve paid more attention to many things; to Alison sharing her food with him, to her sending him meaningful glances. To Mike holding him close whenever he could, to him kissing him more than once. He should’ve paid more attention and he should’ve said something sooner.

“I didn’t know you wanted this,” Will says and he wants to say more, but apparently these are the only words Mike needs to break down.

“I can see this now.” His head falls to his side and he quickly wipes a tear away. “How did you not notice it? I kissed you. Multiple times, when there was no need for it.”

Will gapes because he’s really been stupid. So, so stupid. “I thought it was just you trying to-to-”

“Make it look real?” Will nods and Mike laughs. There are tears in his eyes again and this time, he doesn’t bother wiping them away. “Well, I wasn’t faking it. I’m in love with you.”

The world stops for a minute. Will’s breath halts and the words enter his brain and print themselves all over it.

I’m in love with you.

These are the words he never thought he’d hear but oh, how he’s craved them. He dreamed about Mike whispering those exact same words to him, in fights and in laughs. He dreamed all versions of it but never once had he dared to believe it would become true.

Mike begins to shift uncomfortably on his feet when Will doesn’t answer. “Was this all just…a way to have fun? I know I talked you into this but…I thought you wanted this too. I-I felt like you wanted me, too.”

Will wants to scream that he does, that they’re on the same page, but the door of the gym slams open and a group of high schoolers starts to run around. They’re laughing, not even caring that they’re interrupting something, and when Will turns back to Mike, he’s already picking up his bag and heading towards the exit door.

“Mike, no, please wait!” He tries to grab his hand but Mike nimbly dodges it.

“No, I’ve heard enough.”

He leaves without sparing him a glance and Will watches as the gym doors swing back and forth after Mike’s run away. He stares, and he stares again and he thinks, stupid, stupid, stupid, because he’s ruined the best thing he’s ever had and right now he feels like he won’t be able to fix it.

His mother gives him a lift to school in the morning. It’s early, too early, but it’s an almost two-hour trip to Chicago and Mrs. Holland wants her class to have time to enjoy everything before they’re forced to come back home.

“You’ve got everything?” his mother asks.

“Yeah.”

“Money?”

“Yes, you gave me everything last night.”

“Tissues?”

“I’m not going to cry, mom.”

“There might be some very emotional art pieces!” Will snorts as he exits the car at the same time his mother does. “Oh! You took your water bottle, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Sunscreen?”

“Mom, it’s April.”

She lists a bunch of random things and Will lets her ramble, but he completely stops listening to her when his eyes land on Mike.

He wasn’t expecting him to come, not after yesterday. He’s leaning against a tree, arms folded and a still very much annoyed look on his face. Their eyes meet but Mike immediately looks away.

His mother notices he’s not listening anymore. “Ah. I see.” Will turns to look at her and she kisses his cheek. “Go and have fun today, okay?”

“Thank you. I will.” I’ll try, he thinks, because he’s not sure it’s going to be a fun day.

She goes to exchange a few words with Mrs. Holland and Will debates over reaching Mike, then thinks that if he wants to fix this, he has to begin somewhere.

He walks over him and Mike never raises his gaze. “Hi,” Will says.

“Hi.”

“You came.”

“I said I’ll be here. I didn’t want you to get into trouble.”

He’s about to say something stupid like I wouldn’t have gotten into trouble, but he stops himself before he can ruin this again. “I’m glad you’re here,” he decides to say.

Mike nods and still doesn’t dare to look up. Will takes a step closer but when Mike startles, Will stops and actually takes a step back.

“Mike, can we talk?”

“I think we’ve talked enough yesterday.”

“You didn’t let me finish.”

“Look, you don’t have to.” Mike finally looks up and he looks small, like a kid caught doing something he was not meant to do. His eyes are shiny and there are tears ready to fall, tears that Mike promptly holds back. “I get it, okay? I got it all wrong and you want to let me down gently, but it’s not necessary, okay? I-I’ll get over it.”

“I don’t want you to get over it,” Will replies and realises he’s said the wrong thing once again when Mike looks at him with another hurt expression. It’s different from the one he’s seen the day before.

“Oh, so what, you like the idea of me being in love with you when you’re not? I didn’t think you were this narcissistic.”

“I didn’t say that-”

“Well, you definitely made it sound like that!”

“Okay, kids! Time to leave!”

They both startle as they hear Mrs. Holland call for everyone. Some of his classmates decide to complain loudly that they’re not kids, and Mrs. Holland ignores them and pushes them up the bus. Mike grabs his backpack from the ground and follows the other students. Will sighs. It’s going to be a very long day.

He climbs up the bus and follows Mike until they reach the last rows. A lot of students have already taken their seats and Will notices Alison not too far from where they’re sitting. Mike chooses the seat next to the window and as soon as he sits down, he takes out his Walkman and puts his headphones on.

Will stares at him in the hopes that he removes them and turns to look at him. He doesn’t, the bus gets full and when the driver turns the engine on, Will groans.

“Are you really not going to listen to me?” Will tries and Mike sinks deeper into his seat, eyes fixed on the view outside his window. “Fine.”

Will tries to be patient. He stays next to him for a good half an hour, trying to offer him some of his snacks. Mike shrugs every time and when his tape finishes, Will tries to help him change it by offering to hold the Walkman, but Mike turns his back on him and drops the tape down, but still doesn’t accept his help. He understands that now is not the right time to attempt to talk to him, so he gets up and lets out a sigh of relief when he sees an empty spot next to Alison.

He doesn’t ask if it’s taken, he sits next to her and sulks down.

“Hey!” she says, gleefully, but one look at him lets her know that he’s not in the mood for cheerful chit-chat. “You look moody.”

“Yeah, the day didn’t exactly start great.”

She bumps their shoulders together and quickly glances behind them. “Are you guys fighting?”

“Is it that obvious?” he asks and he knows it is. He also knows how to be sarcastic and Alison thankfully gets it. She laughs and ruffles his hair.

“You guys are going to work it out, I’m sure.”

“I’m not.” Alison looks at him with curious eyes and Will straightens up. “I don’t know. I feel like I can’t fix it this time.”

“Have you tried?”

“Yes! Multiple times! But he’s stubborn and he won’t let me finish one single sentence!” The world has also not been kind to them because people have interrupted their talks way too often.

Alison chuckles and she takes out her own Walkman from her bag. “Then try again. He’ll listen eventually.”

“I’m not sure he will.”

She hits him – gently – on the arm and Will pretends that it hurt. “He will, trust me.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I’ve seen the way he looks at you. You guys are disgustingly in love. I doubt that a stupid fight will actually separate you.”

Will realises how stupid he’s been if even Alison has noticed that Mike meant every single look and touch in the past few days of not-so-fake dating. She fixes the headphones and hands them to Will when she presses play.

“Have you ever heard this song?” she asks and Will gifts her one of his best smiles as a thank you.

It takes them less than two hours to reach Chicago and once they’re there, Mrs. Holland regroups them all at the entrance of the museum. Will’s still not in the best mood, but not even the fight with Mike can tone done his excitement. He’s in Chicago and he’s about to enter an art museum. It’s not exactly something you get to do every day.

“All right, kids, listen up.” Mrs. Holland claps her hands as she stands on the stairs to look over all of them. “You’re free to wander around the museum all morning, then we’ll meet in the hall around twelve to have lunch together. Then, in the afternoon, we’re going to do an art workshop. Is that clear?”

Some nod, some reply with a very unenthusiastic yes, and Mrs. Holland rolls her eyes.

“I’ll be around the rooms. Feel free to come to me to ask about the paintings.”

A few students run away as soon as Mrs. Hollands hands them the entry tickets. Mike stays near him and Will figures it’s only because he doesn’t know anyone else except Alison and Rosa. They get their tickets and Will guides them inside.

“Do you want to come around with me?” Will asks. Mike’s put his Walkman away but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to spend time with him.

“I don’t think I have a choice,” Mike replies. He’s looking around, clearly avoiding his gaze.

“You do have a choice, Mike. I’m sure there’s a bar somewhere around here where you can stay if you really can’t stand my presence anymore.”

His words are what Mike needs to finally look at him. “I don’t-it’s not like that.”

“Okay.” Will wants to say something else, but right now it’s not the time for being petty. “Good. So, do you want to go around together?”

Mike nods and Will almost sees a smile cross his lips. “Sure.”

Will decides to keep their relationship problems out of his head for a few hours. He wants to enjoy this because he’s not sure when he’ll get the chance to actually visit a museum like this again. Mike follows him and asks him about some of the paintings, and when Will doesn’t have the answer they look for Mrs. Holland and she very happily answers all of their questions and definitely tries to enrol Mike on next year’s class. The first hour passes immediately and Will can’t help but stop and stare at Mike for a moment. In all of this mess, he’s never gotten a moment to just pause and think properly. Panic always got the best of him and he hates how he’s ruined this, because if he’s just said the right words, if he hadn’t chickened out during lunch with their friends and actually answered more vaguely, then he would’ve probably spent the journey to Chicago kissing Mike in the backseats.

They’re in a small room and Mike is staring at a painting by Monet, and Will wants to draw him right then and there. He suddenly feels brave and he knows they need to talk first, but maybe he can tell Mike what he wants to say with gestures, so he reaches out and takes his hand.

Mike startles, and it’s definitely not because they’re in public. Will tries to squeeze it but Mike withdraws it immediately.

“Don’t,” he whispers. He closes his eyes and Will can see how he’s hurting again, but he refuses to let go this time. “Don’t do this to me, please.”

“I’m not trying to hurt you, Mike.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

Their eyes meet and Will think, that’s it. He takes his hand again but it’s not gentle, and he drags Mike around the room until he finds the perfect spot to talk. It takes him a while and Mike tries many times to yank his hand free, but Will is not having this. They go around for a good five minutes, then Will notices a dark corner in a room with dimmed lights and that’s probably the best they can get. He drags Mike until they’re hidden behind a column and luckily, the room’s empty. There are paintings from unknown artists hanging around and probably not many people are drawn to them. Will feels sorry for the artists but right now it works in his favour.

Mike finally gets to free himself from his grip and he looks very much annoyed. “Okay, what the hell, Will?”

Will opens his mouth to speak but then he remembers that every time he tried to explain himself, either Mike didn’t listen or someone interrupted them, so he decides once again that actions are his best shot.

He brings his hands to Mike’s face and drags him down into a kiss. He pours himself into it, puts his heart on his sleeve and hopes that Mike can feel what he’s trying to tell him.

Mike doesn’t immediately kiss back but it takes him a couple of kiss from Will to give in and eventually, his hands find their way into Will’s hair and the kiss takes a quite desperate turn. Mike kisses him as if this is the last time and Will kisses him like it’s the beginning of something he hopes he gets to keep.

Mike’s grip gets desperate and when they break apart for air, he’s crying.

“Why are you doing this to me?” he asks, his voice as broken as the ice melting in spring. He kisses him again and when he sobs, Will feels his own heart break.

“Because I’m in love with you, too,” he replies and with a kiss, he tries to convey what he’s just said. It’s again desperate, on his part this time, because Mike kisses back but it feels like he’s frozen.

They break apart and Will looks him in the eyes.

“W-what?” Mike asks. “You-you’re in love with me?”

“Yes.”

It takes Mike a long and painful minute to unfreeze. “It’s-wait, you’re not messing with me, right?”

“Do you really think I could mess with you about something like this?”

“I don’t know!” Mike closes his eyes and their foreheads touch. “I don’t know, I was so confused after the other day. I mean, I know you’re not mean but it just…it looked like I got it all wrong.”

“That’s because you never let me finish a damn sentence.”

Mike leans back and Will knows he’s not mad anymore when his eyes shine with a newfound light but he pretends to still be annoyed. “Oh, so it’s my fault now?”

“No.” Will kisses him quickly. “It’s definitely my fault. I shouldn’t have said what I said to Lucas the other day. I just…panicked. And I wanted to talk to you about all of this first.”

“So you just played it down in front of our friends?”

Will nods and Mike laughs. “Oh, wow. Well, I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.”

“It’s okay. I deserved it.” Will tugs him closer by the waist and Mike puts his hands on his face. He caresses him gently and Will doesn’t want to move. “Did you really think I was just taking advantage of you?”

“I didn’t want to believe it but I felt like you were when you said we were just making it look real,” Mike replies. “It was real to me. It always has been.”

“It’s been real for me, too, Mike. I just didn’t think I could have this. That I could have you.”

Mike leans in and kisses him again, and then again, and they get lost in kisses they could’ve shared sooner if they had both been a bit less stubborn.

“You have me,” Mike whispers to his lips. “You’ve always had me.”

“Not always,” Will replies and he laughs because it’s okay. It’s who they are, it’s the journey that took them there, so it’s okay. “I definitely didn’t have you when we were fourteen.”

“Well, then fourteen me was stupid,” Mike answers back. He slips his own hands around his waist and brings him closer to hug him.

“It’s okay, Mike,” Will mumbles into his embrace. “It matters that we are here now.”

“That’s true. And it matters that we’re on the same page, right?” Mike leans back and squints his eyes. “We are, right?”

“Yes! Of course we are.” Will leaves a quick peck on his lips, and then peppers his whole face with gentle kisses, and his heart heals when Mike giggles. “I love you, Mike. I’m in love with you.”

“I love you, too.”

It feels incredible to hear it and Will knows he’s never going to get tired of hearing it.

“I love you,” he says again and he also knows that he’s going to say it so many times that Mike will threaten to break up with him just to make him stop.

He kisses his nose and Mike chuckles. “I love you.” A kiss on the cheek, then on the other. “I love you.” He lingers on the corner of his mouth. “I love you.” He kisses him properly and Mike drowns in his embrace.

It’s a weird feeling, to feel loved and to love in return, so openly and so earnestly. Will doesn’t want to let this feeling go and his heart explodes with happiness when he realises that he doesn’t have to.

They lose track of time and no one thinks that room is interesting enough, so they get a few good minutes all for themselves. They’re still kissing when Alison comes looking for them.

She enters the room and she’s wearing sneakers, so her steps are definitely not loud enough to make her presence known.

“Will? Mike?” she calls out and they break apart, blinking stupidly. They both look lost and Will takes a step back and peeks over the column.

“Oh, Alison.” He wipes his mouth and tries to straighten his clothes. She raises an eyebrow at him and when Mike appears behind him, she holds back a laugh.

“It’s ten past twelve,” she says. “Mrs. Holland sent me to look for you.”

“Uhm, sorry about that. We lost track of time.”

“I can see that.”

Will blushes, his hand nervously scratching his arm. He doesn’t know why he’s nervous. It’s not like Alison didn’t know about them already. They follow her and together, they head towards the entrance.

“Were we the only one missing?” Will asks and Alison shakes her head.

“No, there are a few other latecomers,” she replies and then she leans in only for Will to hear. “See? I told you you guys would sort things out.”

Will chuckles and gives his friend’s hand a gentle squeeze.

The rest of the day goes smoothly. The workshop is interesting and Will can’t remember the last time he’s had this much fun, and his heart swells with love when Mike tells him with a big smile on his face that he’s having fun, too. They spend the afternoon painting and laughing, and holding hands under the table when no one’s watching, and Will feels brave enough to kiss him on the cheek once.

They hop back on the bus and Will aims directly for the very last row. He waits until they’re on the road again, and when he’s sure no one will come and bother them, he turns around and kisses Mike.

That’s all he truly wants. Simple moments like this, where they get to kiss and act like teenagers who hide in the back rows to get some private time. He wants Mike, he wants all of this, and he’s never planning on letting him go.

After half an hour long of making out, they have to break apart because their lungs are asking for a truce and Will gladly accepts the invitation when Mike opens his arms for him. They cuddle as the night falls around them. They sit there in silence and Will’s mind wanders back to Hawkins. He wonders how he’s going to tell his family about them, and if their friends are going to be surprised. Then, he realises that they haven’t talked about a certain thing and he doesn’t want to assume anything anymore.

“Are we together now?” Will asks and Mike blinks a few times before turning to look at him.

“Yes? Was that not clear?”

“It was! I just wanted to make sure. I-I didn’t want to assume things again.”

Mike kisses him on the nose and Will’s heart calms down. “Yes, we’re together. If that’s okay with you.”

“Of course it is. So…do you mind if I tell El tonight? I don’t think I’ll be able to hide it from her.”

“Yeah, sure. Since we’re out already we might as well tell the party on Monday.”

“I think they understood before us that this was turning into something real.”

“Oh, I mean, Lucas and Dustin definitely knew. I told them.”

Will has to lean back and Mike complains at the loss of warmth, but Will needs to look him in the eyes for this.

“What do you mean you told them?” Will asks and the way Mike’s cheeks flush tell him that he’s in for a good story.

“I’ve been kind of bothering them with my “love problems”, as Dustin calls them,” Mike replies, raising his hands up to air quote. “I told them I was in love with you a few months ago.”

Will lets that sink in, and the words spiral down his brain because Mike said months and okay, they didn’t talk about that and of course Mike didn’t just wake up one day and said, “Oh yeah, I’m in love with Will”, but hearing him say it makes it all too real.

“You guys have been having secret meetings without me for months because you had to talk about me?” Mike laughs as he nods and Will loses it. “Oh my god. Oh my god.”

“I had to talk about it with someone!” Mike exclaims and they’re both laughing, hands holding their stomachs. “I couldn’t exactly go to El or Max.”

“I went to them.”

“You what?”

Will chuckles and takes Mike’s hand. “I told them I had feelings for you about a year ago.”

“Wow. Oh, wow. We really did pick our sides of the party, huh?”

“Stop, that’s not true!” Mike tries to lean back as Will hits his arm, but he ends up giggling even more and hits his head on the window. “I just felt more comfortable talking about it with the girls. El’s my sister and wherever El goes, Max is there. And it’s not like I could talk to you about this.”

“Why didn’t you go to Lucas and Dustin, though?”

Will hums. He’s thought about it but something stopped him every time. “I think it’s because the four of us have grown up together and I didn’t want to break our dynamic.”

“Oh, so you’re saying that I did?”

Mike is all but actually offended, and Will scoots closer to leave a kiss on his cheek. “I’m not saying that. I didn’t know you were into guys. I thought that I couldn’t have you and maybe, telling Dustin and Lucas meant breaking a dynamic in our group because they would know that I had feelings for you while they also knew that nothing could happen. Do you understand what I mean?”

Mike nods and Will is glad that this is a scenario that belongs to the past. “I didn’t want them to look at me with pity every time we were together,” Will continues. “And I know that El and Max are part of our party, too, but it’s different. The four of us have grown up together. I felt like it would change too many things.”

“I understand.” Mike leans in and steals a kiss from his lips. “I guess this didn’t cross my mind because I knew I could have some kind of chance with you.”

“Oh, you thought that, didn’t you?” Will smirks and Mike rolls his eyes.

“I mean, me knowing you were gay definitely gave me some hope!” Mike starts to draw circles on the back of his hand. It’s a soothing feeling, something that makes Will’s heart skip a few beats and find peace at the same time. “And…I-I’m not sure what I am. I hope that’s not an issue for you?”

“What? No, of course not!” Will launches himself at him and peppers him with sloppy kisses. Mike pretends to be disgusted by it but every time Will kisses him, he giggles and Will finishes his mission with a kiss on his lips. “I don’t care if you’re gay or not, Mike. You don’t have to figure it out now, okay? Take all the time you need.”

Mike wipes a tear away and he takes a deep breath, trying to hold back the breakdown. “Okay. Thank you.”

Will wants to hug him and tell him it’s okay to cry, but they’re on a bus full of teenagers and even if most of them are definitely asleep, Will knows Mike wouldn’t want to break down with a possible audience.

“Well, as long as figuring it out means you’ll still like me, then you can take all the time you need,” he adds and when Mike laughs a bit too loudly, he knows they’re going to be okay.

“Oh, don’t worry. If there’s one thing I know for sure is that I love you,” he replies and kisses him. Then, he takes Will’s hands and starts to play with his fingers.

“I know I-I like guys,” he continues. “And that I love you, but I feel like I really did have a crush on El? I don’t know what that makes me, if it’s even a thing or if I’m just a freak.”

“You’re not a freak,” Will immediately says and some of the worry covering Mike’s eyes goes away.

“You’re probably just bisexual.”

They turn around and their eyes widen when they see Alison looking back at them. She’s leaning on her seat and she gifts them a genuine smile.

“What?” Mike asks.

“You’ve never heard of it?” Alison says. “Bisexuals are people who like both.”

“So it’s a thing? I’m not the only one?”

Alison laughs, fixing her hair behind her ear. “It’s very much a thing,” she replies and then, she gives them an apologetic look. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. You weren’t exactly whispering, though.”

“It’s okay,” Will replies and he wonders how much she’s heard. She raises an eyebrow and that’s already an answer.

“So you guys just got together, huh?” she asks and when they gape, faces as red as a lobster, she laughs. “It’s okay, I get it. But I’m sure that you would’ve gotten together anyway, one way or another.”

“You have too much faith in us,” Mike states.

“No. It’s the truth.” She looks between them, a soft look in her eyes. She’s so gentle, and kind, and Will hopes she can stay in his life for a very long time. “I think you guys really complete each other.”

Her words shut Mike up, who doesn’t even try to answer back. He chokes down his words and Will squeezes his hand.

“Thank you Alison,” he says. “You’re a good friend.”

She winks at them before turning around and reaching for her Walkman. The music blasts through her headphones and Will giggles as he hears Madonna sing into her ears.

Mike takes a deep breath. “She’s right, you know. You do complete me.”

Will dies a little bit inside, but it’s a happy dying, if that’s even a thing. “God, you’re cheesy.”

When they arrive back in Hawkins, Will sees his whole family there, ready to pick him up. Hopper is leaning on the car and his mom and El are frantically waving at him. Mrs. Wheeler is standing near them, her car right next to Hopper’s.

He’s dragged into a group hug and he laughs when his mother tells him she missed him.

“I’ve been gone for barely a day, mom.”

“I know.” She kisses his cheek and Will laughs. “I just missed you.”

He’s definitely in a better mood and El notices it, but she doesn’t ask anything. She’s looking at him very intently, though, and it looks like she’s trying to communicate with him with telepathy. Will wonders if she remembers that they’re not actually twins and that he doesn’t actually have powers.

Mike gives his bag to his mother and runs back to him. “I’ll see you on Monday?” he asks.

“Yeah, of course,” he replies and he wishes he could kiss him goodbye, but they’ve spent the last twenty minutes of the journey back kissing, so he guesses it’s okay. He can wait until Monday.

Mike smiles at him and he’s definitely got a different idea because he leans in and kisses him. It’s not a peck, and it’s not even a kiss on the cheek. Will melts and panics at the same time, because his family is watching, Mrs. Wheeler is watching and he was not ready for this.

“Mike,” he whispers once they break apart.

“What?”

“Y-your mom’s watching.”

“I know.” Mike bites his lip and sighs. “She knows about us. I…might have told her we’re dating.”

“You-what?”

“I didn’t want to lie to her! You know how we’ve been working on our mother-son relationship in the past year, I didn’t want to move backwards.”

“But you did lie. We weren’t actually dating.”

Mike waves his hands around. “Details, details.”

“Mike!”

They turn around and Mrs. Wheeler is looking at them impatiently but with a fond smile.

“Coming!” Mike shouts back and they might have been working on their relationship, but some things seem to never change.

“So I guess she took it well?” Will asks.

“Yeah, definitely.” Another kiss, this time quick. “See you on Monday!”

“See you.”

Will unfreezes when he hears the boot opening and he turns around just in time to see Hopper put his bag in it. He slips into the car and he can feel everyone’s eyes on him, even Hopper, who’s now driving.

“So,” Hopper starts. “I guess you’re not fake-dating anymore?”

Will lets out a heavy – but happy – sigh and nods. El squeals and throws herself at him.

“Yeah,” Will says and can’t help but feel loved when his mother claps her hands and Hopper smiles. “We’re dating for real, now.”

It’s a good feeling and Will thinks that after all they’ve been through, he actually deserves this.

When Monday comes, Will feels like a new person.

He’s wearing Mike’s shirt again and he feels like he can conquer the world. He knows the feeling won’t last forever but he wants to enjoy this time, his time with Mike and with his friends. He wants to enjoy life and today he’s definitely in a good mood. He parks his bike next to El’s and they’re chatting about the movie they watched last night when the rest of the party decides to join them. Max and Lucas are the first to arrive and when Mike and Dustin park their own bikes, Will realises that they’ve never talked about how they were going to tell their friends. Should they just hold hands and tell them? They would probably think they’re still faking it, though. So maybe they should sit them down and tell them everything from the start, or rather explain what happened Saturday in Chicago. He’s thinking all of that but his mind goes blank when Mike reaches him and kisses him on the mouth.

It should be a greeting kiss, quick and sweet, but Mike lingers on his lips longer than he’d imagined he would and it’s a bit more passionate than he’d expected.

“What is going on?” Max asks. “Why is no one talking anymore?”

“Mike and Will are kissing,” Lucas explains and El giggles.

They break apart and Will feels flushed. Mike takes his hand and he feels a little braver again, but embarrassment is definitely the prevailing feeling rising in his chest.

“Okay, I’m confused,” Dustin exclaims. “You kissed at Rosa’s party, then you kissed during lunch and the next day you guys were avoiding each other and now you’re kissing again?!”

“Yeah, it was confusing,” Will admits. “To clear things up, we’re together now.”

“For real?”

Will nods, and Mike drags him closer. “Yes.”

“Like, are you sure?” Dustin asks and Max groans.

“Yes, Dustin, we’re sure,” Mike replies. “Do you need more proof?”

He turns to kiss him again and Will laughs when Dustin raises his arms and waves them desperately. “No! I believe you!”

“I’ve never been happier to be blind,” Max says. “At least I don’t have to see you guys making out.”

“But we could kiss near you and you could hear it.”

“Ew, Wheeler! Gross!”

They start to bicker and Mike starts to make obnoxious noises. Max almost runs him over and with a laugh, they all head inside. Mike never lets go of his hand and Will smiles, his chest swelling with pride and love.

It all started on a Wednesday morning and it starts again on a warm Monday morning, in blue shirts and yellow sunbeams, in kisses and promises of a future together.