Chapter Text
It had been Dustin's suggestion long ago. Leave Hawkins during the summer vacation for a boys trip. And finally, the time had come. Except now, with Max, Eleven and Robin, it wasn't a 'boys trip' anymore.
So much had happened over the past couple of years. Sometimes Will longingly thought back on the days when it was just him, Mike, Dustin and Lucas against the world in Mike's basement, playing D&D as if it were the only thing that mattered in the world. Still, Will wouldn't trade the friend group he has now for all the money in the world.
It's the first night of the trip. After spending entirely too much time trying to push a fully clothed Dustin in the lake with them, eating marshmallows by the fire and bringing up memories from before,— before their world got turned, well, Upside Down— they decide to call it a day and head to the rented lake house. Max and El agree to share a room with Robin. Lucas and Dustin go with Steve.
"Wanna share?" Mike asks. Will turns his head around, just in time to see Robin join the girls down the hallway.
"Yeah, sure," Will answers with a smile. Being away from Mike, it hasn't helped him with his crush at all. He'd hoped that it would, though. But a few months can't erase a decade full of memories.
Mike enters the room and Will follows suit. He's about to take off his jacket, when he notices the beds.
Or more accurately, bed. And not even a big bed either. Will wonders if the universe actually hates him.
"Well," he says. "That's a small bed."
Great observation, Byers, he thinks.
Mike throws himself on the bed, testing it out. "At least the mattress feels okay."
"Are we even going to fit in here?" Will asks, knowing the answer (being; yes, we can fit here. If we're pressed together closely. Really closely. As in, I will feel the way your breath ghosts on my neck. As in, our legs will touch more than once and I will have to pretend I'm not going insane.)
"We'll make it work," Mike shrugs, oblivious to Will's internal freak-out.
Will climbs on the bed, albeit hesitant.
"Unless... you don't want to? I could sleep in the chair, you know," Mike asks.
"No!" Will says quickly. Too quickly, probably. "No, hey. It's okay. That chair doesn't look comfortable at all."
And so, they end up sleeping next to each other in the particularly small bed. They've done sleepovers before, plenty of them, but never like this. Will lays on his back, his arms awkwardly folded over his chest. He's afraid to move, to turn around, to speak even. With his eyes closed, he tries to think of— anything, really. Anything other than Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike. But he can't, because it's stuck in his head like a broken record.
Will wakes up in the middle of the night, sweating all over. With his heart beating in his throat, he holds on tighter to whatever it is he's so desperately clutching. He lets out a frustrated whimper. It had been another nightmare. Not real.
"Hey, Will? You 'lright?" Mike's muffled voice sounds through the room.
"Uh," Will says, opening his eyes slowly. He blinks once, twice, three times and—
Fuck.
He's holding Mike, he realises. Like, straight up spooning him, with his face pressed against Mike's neck and his arms tightly around his waist. And Mike's awake.
Oh. Oh, no.
Mike turns his head around towards Will, who immediately lets go, as if he's burned.
"I—, I'm sorry!"
He gets up and stumbles out of bed as fast as he can.
"Will, it's —," Mike says. But Will doesn't want to, no, doesn't think he could bear hearing what Mike has to say. He feels like he's going to suffocate, like he can't breathe. Like Mike knows.
Will runs into the hallway, tears blurring his eyesight. He rounds the corner and aims for the kitchen. When he reaches the door, he swings it open in one go and—
He clashes right into someone else. The collision makes him lose his balance and he stumbles backwards.
"Ohw!"
"Shit! You okay?" the person —Robin, Will realises, says.
Will gets back up. "Yeah, don't worry," he says.
"What are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be asleep? It's like three in the morning," Robin says, raising one of her eyebrows.
"I was just—"
"Oh, shit! Have you been crying?"
And if anyone else were to ask, Will would've denied it and ran away. Because shame. Shame, shame. Boys don't cry. Boys don't cry.
But Robin sounds so genuine, so concerned.
"Yeah," Will admits.
Robin walks over to the kitchen table and takes a seat. "What happened?"
"Nothing much," Will says, mirroring her movements and sitting opposite her. His hands are still trembling. "It's stupid."
"You can tell me, you know. I mean, only if you want to, of course."
"It's just..."
"Something with Mike?" Robin guesses.
"N—, yeah. Wait. How'd you know that?" Will asks.
"I mean, I wasn't sure."
Will doesn't reply. Instead, he starts fiddling with the sleeves of his pajamas.
"So, what did he do?" Robin asks after a while, raising one of her eyebrows.
Will combs a hand through his hair and sighs. "He didn't do anything... It was me."
"Alright, what'd you do, then?"
"I, uh...," Will starts. "Promise me you won't tell anyone about this."
"Ooohhh, a secret," Robin says, a smirk on her face. "I love secrets."
"Yeah," Will says nervously, resuming the fiddling.
"Right, sorry! Promised," Robin says.
Will feels like he's about to throw up. Still, he pushes through.
"I accidentally ended up cuddling Mike in my sleep and we woke up and he looked at me all weird and I screwed it all up," he rambles.
"Hold up... You cuddled him?"
"Yes," Will says, feeling miserable already.
"And he looked at you weird?"
"I mean, I think so? I sprinted out of the room," he says.
"So, he's not a cuddler. Big deal?" Robin says, shrugging her shoulders.
"I—," What?
"Just talk to him about it! When me and my girlfriend started dating, there was a whole lot of stuff I still had to learn about her! It's really going to be okay if you just talk to him about where each of your boundaries lie."
Girlfriend? Dating?
"Wait. You're dating a girl?" Will asks.
Robin, who had just walked over to the fridge, turns around with her eyebrows furrowed together. "I— yes? I thought that was known information in the group?"
Was it? Oh.
"Oh. I mean, that's cool," Will quickly says.
"Yeah!" Robin says with a grin, taking two bottles of water out of the fridge. She throws one at Will, who barely catches it.
"But—, wait!"
"Hm?"
"Why did you say something about dating? You think me and Mike are dating?" Will asks, whispering the last part. He's suddenly become very aware of the fact that they are in a lake house with all of their friends not even three rooms away from them.
"You're... not?"
"No!" What?
"Huh. I just thought—," Robin says, a pensive look on her face.
"You just thought what?" Will asks, anxiety rising in his chest.
"It's just... The way you always look at each other. The little touches when you think no one is looking. Those weird inside jokes that everyone else thinks are annoying. I thought you two were dating because you look at him as if he personally hung the moon and the stars for you."
"Yeah..." Will whispers. "Well... we aren't dating," he adds lamely, trying so hard not to cry.
"Oh, okay."
"I wish we were, though," he adds quietly.
"Oh, Will..," Robin replies.
And before he can change his mind, Will continues talking.
"I wish I wouldn't have to run up here at three in the morning because I'm afraid of him knowing. I wish I could just spoon him whenever the hell I wanted to," Will says. He pauses for a second, inhaling shakily. "I wish I could tell him that I love him... but I can't, Robin... I can't," he adds in a whisper.
Everyone has a breaking point, right? Well, this is Will's. As soon as he's said it, he bursts out in tears. Robin doesn't say anything back, she doesn't need to. She just walks up to Will and gives him a bone crushing hug. Will wraps his own arms around her and lets his head rest on her shoulder all while ugly sobs escape his mouth. He's said it. He's finally told someone about his secret. It feels scary, but good.
"Thank you for telling me, Will. I promise you that it will all be okay. And if you ever feel like talking to someone about all of this, I'm here for you."
"What if he'll hate me?"
"That boy cares about you so much, Will. He couldn't hate you, even if he tried. You haven't seen how he looks at you when you're not looking."
"Robin, I don't know.."
"You never know what might happen. But you don't have to tell Mike anything if you don't want to, Will."
"Yeah… you're right," Will replies. And if he hadn't been so caught up in the conversation, he would've heard the door open, signalling the presence of another human in the kitchen.
It's only when he hears the familiar voice, that his heart drops to his stomach.
"Don't have to tell me what?"
Will's certain now; the universe hates him.