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The Wheeler house is a place Will is well acquainted with. More than acquainted really, you could go as far to say he's friends with the structure. That’s just what happens when your life long best friend, recently turned boyfriend, is Mike Wheeler.
All of this didn't matter, the truth is that Will is standing right at the door of the wheeler home, too nervous to knock. He was helping Mike babysit his younger sister, Holly, today, and well.. Will had no clue how to take care of kids. And neither did Mike, which is why he was here to help. So two idiots, with no clue as to what to do, taking care of an unpredictable seven year old.. yeah it definitely didn't sound great.
He took a breath and knocked on the door. The one thing he did know about today was that he was not going to leave Mike to deal with Holly alone.
“Will!” He was welcomed by a warm smile, Mike at the door with his usual wild hair and still in his pajamas. “Hey, Holly hasn’t run away yet?” Just as he says that he sees her run to the door, stopping to look up at him.
She was scanning him, up and down, it made sense. He had moved away and changed a lot while away, he wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t recognise him now, she hasn’t had the chance to see him since he moved back to Hawkins. “You look different” was all she said before shrugging and running off to, he assumes, the lounge to continue whatever she was doing.
“She has not run away.. do you think if i leave the door open she will?” Mikes looking in the direction Holly ran off to before looking back at Will with a grin. “She’s not a dog, she’s not gonna run at any open door” at least he was pretty sure kids don’t do that? He never did, but he was a pretty tame child. “I know that, but one can hope right” Will just rolled his eyes before pushing Mike out of the doorway so he could do what he came here to do, watch Holly.
Before he can Mike grabs him by the arm. “No kiss?” He pouts, Will just rolls his eyes, grinning, quickly leaning over to place a peck on his cheek. “That’s all you get” Mike sighs dramatically but lets Will go and smiles.
At first he thinks the house looks pretty clean, a good sign, but when he turns into the lounge he stops in his tracks. Either he just didn't notice, or within the few seconds he and Mike were talking at the door, Holly had managed to cover herself in purple paint, luckily over a towel. But her clothes, hair, and face were absolutely covered. And Will couldn’t help but feel a sense of deja vu..
— —
“Miiike, Mum wants to know… if.. Wills staying over” The door to Mike's bedroom gets opened, Nancy standing there in shock. What had started as Will trying to teach Mike how to paint, had turned into them painting each other, getting paint everywhere. “Uhm.. yeah he is?” Mike tries to act casual, which fails miserably because he's seven, what seven year old is casual?
“What are you two doing?” Nancy doesn’t yell, she doesn’t move from the door, she’s too shocked to register the sight in front of her. “Painting?” Will stays quiet, not wanting to get in trouble, he feels like this is all his fault. “And why are you painting.. each other?” Mike stammered, trying to find an answer. “Were.. not?” Will internally facepalmed, feeling immediate dread, he was going to get in so much trouble. “Mike don’t be stupid— just.. ugh get up”
Will immediately stood up, Nancy kind of scared him, she was the same age as Johnathan, but appeared way more mature. “Please don’t tell mom” Nancy rolls her eyes, waving them both over. “And why do you think I'd do that? I don’t want to deal with that as much as you don’t” instantly Will felt calmer, having an adult see them like this scared him even more. “What are you going to do then?” Mike just had to keep asking questions with a snarky attitude, Will was so close to slapping his mouth shut. “Helping you two clean up, I don’t trust you to not make more of a mess” That was a fair enough assessment, Will always stained the sink when washing paint off of his hands, and Mike well…
Nancy huffs before walking to the bathroom, the boys following after her. Once inside she shuts the door and starts to dig around in the cabinet under the sink. “Why did you shut the door?” She nearly hits her head when standing up. “Because I don’t need mom, or dad, walking upstairs and seeing this” there’s a packet of baby wipes in her hand as she turns around. “Stand in the bath” Will immediately listens, nearly tripping over the side when stepping in.
”okay, now wipe yourselves off with these, then turn on the tap and try get the rest off with that, i'll come back with towels to dry yourselves, and clean the bath” she orders before leaving the bathroom, shutting the door behind her once again.
— —
They had managed to get all the paint off without a stain in the whole house, and no parents alerted. Nancy didn't mention it again.
“Holly! What have you done!” Mike practically screams, hands on either side of his face. “Oops?” Is all she says as she stands up. “Uhh.. do you still have baby wipes in your bathroom?” Will turns to Mike, who’s still staring at his sister in fear and shock. “Still?”
“Never mind, i'll go check, make sure Holly doesn't get off the towel” Mike nods, looking even more dumbfounded by the second. Will doesn't dwell, instead heading straight to the upstairs bathroom, hoping that the thing that saved his ass all those years ago will still be there. Well, hopefully a new packet, he's pretty sure they went through the whole thing.
The cabinet was surprisingly messy, for how tidy Karen keeps the rest of the house, she does love her random hidden areas that are just full of random things scattered everything. It takes him a moment, but he ends up finding them. A new packet of baby wipes, same brand though.
He practically runs downstairs, hoping paint hasn’t made its way over all the carpet and furniture. Lucky for him, Holly is in the same place he left her in.
“Okay Holly, you're going to need to wipe the paint off with these, do you want Mike to help?” Holly shakes her head. “No. I want you to help” Will looks at Mike, who just shrugs. “I guess all grab a bag to put them in?” He supposes he has to help Holly now, so he nods at Mike and waits for him to return.
They start wiping the paint, Holly wiping her legs and arms, and Will attempting to wipe some off her face and hair. Mikes doing a great job of catching the dirty wipes in the bag so they don’t fall to the ground.
Once a good portion of the paint is off of Holly's skin, it's time for the next step. “I'll go set up the shower and you’ll get her a change of clothes?” Mike nods, saluting, which Holly giggles at, before they all head upstairs to fully get rid of this paint. “Okay, i have your clothes holls, you get all your paint off, get dressed, then come downstairs when your done okay?” For the first time today Wills seeing Mike actually seems responsible.
They leave Holly in the bathroom, and Will just has to pray that she doesn't stain the shower purple.
“How did you know about the baby wipes?” Mike asks once they both plop down on the couch, finally able to catch a breath since entering the house. “Don’t you remember?” He gets a shrug in response. “When we were seven, you wanted me to teach you how to paint, it ended up with us both covered in paint, and Nancy walked in and helped us get it off” it's like a light flicks on in Mike's head as his eyes widen.
”I do remember that! I was so scared she was going to tell my mom ""how do you think i felt? I was terrified of getting in trouble” He basically had an irrational fear of it, the idea of anyone getting upset with him would cause him to go into hysterics.
“I can’t believe Nancy walked into that” Will had to agree, he had no clue what must have been going on in her mind. “I mean, better than when she walked in on us about to kiss”
Will froze, then turned to Mike. “Do not remind me of that please, oh my god” he groaned as he leant back further into the couch and covered his face with his hands.
He could remember it like it was yesterday, it was only a few months ago realistically so it isn’t like it's that hard to remember, but it was embarrassing any time he remembered about it he couldn’t sleep at night.
Just as Mike opened his mouth to say more Holly walked in the lounge, wet hair and an oversized jersey paired with tights, that looked way more comfier than the scratchy dress she had on before. “I’m done” she announces as she squeezes herself on the couch in between Will and Mike. “We can see that, good job” Will pats her on the head, and Mike instantly snorts. “And you were telling me that she’s not a pet?” Will rolls his eyes before letting his hand fall.
“Well holly, what do you want to do?” She hums loudly, kicking her feet off of the side of the couch, too short to reach the ground yet. “I want you to teach me to draw” she looks up at Will with these big eyes that he really can’t say no to. “Okay, just no paint?” “Okay!” She hops up and runs upstairs.
Before Will can even think about what she’s doing she’s back with a huge stack of paper and a handful of pencils that she drops to the ground with a thud. Will slides off of the couch so that he's sitting in front of the paper and grabs a pencil. “What do you want to draw?” He tries to ask but Holly puts her hand up. “Not yet! I don’t want Mike here” there’s a scoff behind him. “What do you mean you don’t want me here? I live here!” Mike always takes offense to everything, even words from a child.
”I just don’t want you here, go up to your room or something” she shrugs, and Will can really see the family resemblance. He wonders when the wheeler's sassy nature starts to come out, is it at birth? Once they hit pre k? Is this a first generation of sassiness or a long long line of it?
“You’ll be fine without me” Mike kicks Wills back gently so he looks back at him. “Yeah, i'll call out to you if i need” he knows he’ll be fine, Holly may be a chaotic handful, but she’s generally a sweet kid from what he remembers. “Alright then, I see I’m not wanted here, so goodbye” in good old Mike Wheeler fashion he leaves the room with a dramatic sigh and bow before heading upstairs.
“Well, now that he's gone.. what do you want to draw?” Holly stared at Will like he was stupid, and maybe he could be, but he didn't get why he was right now. “I don’t actually want to draw” that would be why. “Oh” Will kinda froze trying to think of what to say. “I wanted to talk to you”
Holly suddenly became very timid, she was looking down at her fingers and there was a little shy smile on her face. “Okay.. what do you want to talk about?” She looks around for a moment before speaking. “So… i have a best friend, and he's a boy” Will nods along. “A boy's best friend?” “Mhm! But.. I think i might have a crush on him”
Now he understands why she wanted Mike out of the room. And he starts to think about it, that he was probably around Holly's age when he realized he had a crush on Mike, his best friend. “And, does he like you back?” Now he has to figure out if he's dealing with some little crush, or a secret boyfriend he should most definitely tell Mike about.
“I don’t think so.. he doesn't really act like he likes me..” she appears sad as she says that, which of course she would, Will knows how she feels. And he remembers a little conversation in this house that was similar to this one, only it was years ago now..
— —
Will sat on Nancy's bed, close to tears after he and Mike had a fight just a few minutes earlier. Nancy wasn't in the room, she was somewhere sorting something out, but the door was opening as she came back in to sort out this boy on her bed.
“What did Mike say?” She immediately says, hands on her hips, stern as ever. Will had learnt not to be scared of her, or when she acted like this, because he had come to find out it was a sign of her protectiveness. “He said he hates me” it was a stupid fight over a comic book, that had them bickering that lead into them insulting each other, both saying things they didnt mean, but this one thing hurt Will the most.
Nancy sighs, walking over to sit on the bed beside Will. “You know he doesn't mean that, Mike just says things when he's angry” he nods, because he does know that, but it doesn't make it hurt any less. “Mike could never hate you, your his best friend, seriously i think if marrying your best friend was a thing he would be begging you to do it”
She can sense she's said something wrong as a tear falls out of Will's eyes. “Hey, hey, what’s wrong” she places a hand on his shoulder, a warm reaffirming touch. “Best friend marriages aren’t a thing, I could never marry Mike '' Nancy's face looks puzzled, as she's trying to put the pieces together. “Well of course not I was just giving you an example— oh..” it all connects, her face softens even more, and the touch turns into a firm grip, still warm.
“You like Mike don’t you? More than just a best friend?” Will can’t get the words out of his throat, so he just nods.
She pats his shoulder and lets her arm fall, silence falling over them at the same time. Will couldn't help as the tears continued to fall, he wasn't upset over what he had said anymore, he knew Mike didn't mean it, he knew Mike would apologize and do anything to make up for it, he always does. But he didnt know how to feel just admitting this, he hadn’t even said anything, but Nancy knew, someone other than him knew.
“I guess it's a common thing in our family to be oblivious” Nancy chuckles, playing with her hands on her lap. “How long have you..?” Will sighs, the tears still falling just as much as before. “I don’t know.. i think i always have” There was no specific moment that he could pinpoint it, but once he learnt about what crushes and feelings were, he knew that was what he felt for Mike. “And I assume no one knows?” Will shakes his head.
Nancy sighs, she was older, she probably understood a lot more about this than Will did. “This is going to sound weird, and I don’t want to scare you” she adjusts herself, turning to face Will, who turns his head to look back at her. “Okay?” For a moment Nancy closes her eyes before opening them again to lock eye contact with Will. “You can’t tell anyone about your feelings for Mike”
Will froze, he hasn't told anyone, more because he had figured it out recently and it just didn't really come up, but he didn't understand why he couldn’t tell anyone.
”Why?” In his shock his tears had dried, she had told him she didn't want to scare him but she kind of was.
“People.. people just don't like it, and they can react badly” if she was trying not to scare him she was going the wrong way about it. “What do you mean?” Another deep breath, she was trying to find her words just as much as Will was trying to understand them.
“Do you remember when you were so scared to start school?” Will nods. “You were so scared, because it was different, new classrooms, new teachers, you didn't like the change” He remembers, he was crying all the way to the front gate, nearly refusing to let go of his mums side, if it wasn't for Mike he wouldn’t of walked in at all. “I remember”
“Right, so that's how other people feel about this.. it's different so it scares them.. and some people when they get scared they get angry” Will was trying his best to follow along, he was understanding it to a degree. “But people in my classes have crushes, it isn’t different”
Nancy sighs, squeezing her eyes shut like it physically hurts her to have to have this conversation. “You're right, but the difference is that you like Mike” Will scrunches his eyebrows. “No, there’s another girl in our class who has a crush on Mike, but Mike doesnt like her” The girl ended up crying when Mike just told her no and walked off to play with Will, Dustin and Lucas.
”That's not what I mean.. all those people who have crushes in your classes.. It's girls liking boys and boys liking girls, right?” Will thinks about it for a moment, flicking through everyone he knows before nodding, that was right. “But you’re a boy who likes a boy” it finally clicks. “And that’s different..?” Nancy nods, pulling her mouth into a tight line.
“And that's bad?” “No! No no no.. it's not bad! Just, people don’t understand it, it's not.. common, so it scares people and they act out, so it's just safer if you don’t tell anyone, not yet at least '' Will still didn't fully understand it, why people would be so scared of it, but he trusted Nancy. She was older, and wiser, she knew a lot more than he did, so he knew to listen to her.
“You aren’t scared” Nancy chuckles looking off to the side. “Yeah, not everyone is.. and hopefully one day most people won’t be” she looks back with a warm smile, a real genuine smile Will hasn’t been on the receiving end of ever, he had become closer to Nancy, and he was glad for it.
— —
It’s easy to forget Nancy's only three years older than him, that at that time she was just as much of a child as he was, but she was so wise beyond her years, so focused on making sure that the people around her would be okay.
When he figured out what his difference was, him being gay, and how people did see that as bad, and people did get angry, and even though he didn't tell people they still just assumed it by how he acted, it took him a while to believe Nancy's words on how it wasn't bad.
”so, this boy, doesn't act like he likes you?” Holly nods, sighing dramatically. “He’s always talking to this other girl in our class, her name is Isabel, all the boys like her” She’s huffing and flailing her arms around like she was acting in a play, something Mike does, and especially did when he was younger.
She continues to talk about this girl Isabel, how she's smart so even the teachers favor her over the other students. “So you think he likes Isabel?” Holly huffs. “Probably! He does talk to me sometimes, so I think maybe he might like me, but everyone likes Isabel so probably” She’s trying her best to look disinterested, but the wheelers were never good at hiding their emotions.
”He sounds stupid” Holly giggles. “What?” Will grins, getting ready to try to make her feel better. “He sounds stupid! Cmon Holly, you're really smart, you can tell when someone’s stupid, so do you agree?” She’s a giggling mess, shaking her head. “Nooo, I don’t think he's stupid!” Will huff’s dramatically. “You sure? Because he sounds pretty dumb”
Will thinks he’s done a pretty good job as she's still laughing, it may not be the emotional conversation Nancy had with him that helped him deal with it all, but it's something. Laughter can be the best medicine.
“How does he sound dumb?” Will waits for the giggles to die down, smiling warmly, just like Nancy had smiled at him. “Because if he doesn't like you then that's pretty stupid, and you shouldn’t waste your time on stupid guys” Holly smiled, slowly starting to nod. “Yeah.. your right”
It was surely something to see this kid be so confident and sure of herself, sure maybe questioning herself a little, but she knew who she was. It kind of felt like being faced with a younger Nancy, one that Will never got to meet because she was already older. It was like being given the chance to give back after everything Nancy had done for him, he was now here for Holly.
Mike came pattering down the stairs, Will leaning to see him walk into the kitchen. “Don’t mind me, I’m just getting some water” He calls out, Holly giggles a little. “If I shouldn’t waste my time on stupid boys why are you still spending time with Mike” there’s a loud scoff from the kitchen and footsteps follow. “I heard that! I’m not stupid, Will tell her I’m not stupid”
Holly looks at Will with a glint of mischief in her eyes, and how can Will deny that. “Ehh, I don’t know, you can be pretty clueless” he shrugs as Holly grins even more, Mike tries suppressing his smile, knowing this is just a little game and he can’t help but feel happy seeing his sister and boyfriend getting along.
“Ugh i guess you're right..” he crosses his arms, smiling no longer being able to be suppressed. “I'll take it back if you put on a movie” Holly exclaims, hopping up and immediately opening the cabinet under the TV. “Okay then” Mike chuckles and walks into the lounge ready to put on whatever Holly chooses.
it doesn't take long, Will doesn’t recognise the movie but doesn’t mind. The three of them hopped up on the couch, Holly snuggled in between him and Mike, her head under Will's arm. Not even 40 minutes in and Mikes snoring beside them, Holly giggling at the sight.
She looks up at Will, then at the screen, then at the sleeping Mike, then back at Will. “Will?” She whispers in a sleepy voice. “Yeah?” Will whispers back, not tired but not wanting to startle her.
“Thank you”
Will tilts his head, then looks down at her, about to ask what she means, but she's already passed out, sleeping just like her brother.
He assumes it must be because of the conversation they had about her best friend, or crush, the only thing might be helping her get the paint off earlier but, he thinks he knows which one really means more. He knows which one meant more to him, and still means so much to him. So he guesses he has to thank Nancy, for all those times she had his back, and for now giving him the memories to know what to do for someone else.
The wheeler house wasn't just a house he was well acquainted with because of Mike, but the memories, and the family that he felt here.
That’s just what happens when your boyfriend's older sister is Nancy wheeler