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Mike Wheeler's mind had always had an interesting way of prioritizing things.
The world just almost ended around him and all he could think about was the fact that Will was gay and had a crush on someone, someone he probably knew, someone who Will thought of and wanted to kiss, who Will wants to go on dates with and hold hands with. Someone who wasn’t Mike and for some reason Mike wanted to punch a hole through something.
He didn’t have any problem with Will being gay at all, despite his own words being thrown back in his face, during Will's confession, but he felt so confused as to why he was so upset because Will was his best friend and he could never be mad at him for having a crush. It was a completely insane thing to be mad about, and he wasn’t even really upset, he couldn’t really place what he was feeling but he was sure it fucking sucked.
The Party was sitting in the Wheeler’s basement doing nothing in particular, their movie had already ended. Mike was sitting on the far end of the couch curling his long limbs into a ball, holding a book that he hadn’t changed the page of in the past 10 minutes, Will was sitting next to him absent mindedly sketching what might have been the beginnings of El’s face, Dustin and Lucas were sitting in front of the television set, fighting over what was the next vhs they wanted to watch for the night, while El and Max were in the corner talking quietly where no one could hear them.
Karen suddenly came down stairs saying that Joyce had just called and El and Will had to go home as they were going out for dinner to celebrate Hopper and Joyce’s new engagement.
As they all said their goodbyes and hugged Will and El, Mike found himself giving Will a weird half hug and pat on the shoulder after he had said bye to El, suddenly reminding him of the airport back in California, as Will gave him a strange look before leaving up the stairs.
Mike had to make an effort to not watch as he left. He needed to get his head back in reality and stop thinking about Will but it was like every thought in Mike’s head always came back to him.
“Ok man, what is going on with you? You keep looking at Will like you don’t know if you want to hug or fight him.” Lucas said in an exasperated tone.
“Yeah it's like you're not even here right now, dude, you can’t keep your eyes off of him.” Max added
“I did notice it but I thought we weren't bringing it up.” Dustin stated still looking through the Wheeler’s vhs collection.
“It’s nothing, you guys just drop it. I’m not looking at Will any differently than I always do.” Mike argued back defensively.
“Bullshit, you staring at Will is definitely not new, but now there's like anger hidden behind your googoo eyes, Wheeler.” Max said plainly
“First off, I do not make googoo eyes at anyone,” Mike heard someone muffle a, “Yeah, right” but didn’t care enough to figure out who it was, “and secondly there is no anger hidden in my eyes, let alone at Will, for crying out loud. He’s my best friend.” to which he heard Dustin ask, “What are we, chopped liver?” as he gestured between himself and Lucas.
“It’s different and you know that.” Mike stated simply like there was no more need for discussion.
Max intuitive as always then said, “I bet this about Will’s crush he told us about last month, I bet, Mike doesn’t like the idea that Will cares about someone more than him.”
“That-that's ridiculous, I do not care that Will has a crush, he could have a million crushes on Tammy or whoever for all I care, because I don’t, I don’t care. I’m not jealous.” Mike sputtered defensively.
“I never even said the word jealous by the way, but oh my god I was just joking but I hit it right on the mark, didn’t I. You are so jealous that Will has a crush.” Max bragged.
“I am not jealous, I’m just a little upset, I guess that he didn’t tell me about it, I mean I told him everything about when me and El were together, but he didn’t think he could do the same.”
“Mike I don’t think it had anything to do with you, I think it was more to do with the fact that the crush was a guy.” Lucas said treading lightly after Mike's small confession
“Yeah dude, he was probably just scared of how you would react, this is still Hawkins. Y’know, Steve said that Robin used to be so terrified of someone finding out about her, that she would get panic attacks and stuff.” Dustin shared
“Yeah I guess that makes sense, but it still hurts that he felt like he couldn’t talk to me about this.” Mike said as he thought of the idea of Will being afraid to talk to him, probably because of that stupid comment he made in his garage in the rain.
“So, who do you think Will's crush is?” Dustin questioned breaking the awkward silence that had settled across the basement.
“ I bet you it’s Steve.” Lucas said in a matter of fact tone after thinking about the question for a few minutes.
“WHY WOULD IT BE STEVE?” Dustin shouted confused as to where Lucas had gotten the idea.
“I don’t know, I'm trying to think of this from the point of view of someone who likes men! Steve is an objectively attractive man!” Lucas defended
“But he's so old!” Mike exclaimed, unable to keep his thoughts quiet, having finally joined the conversation again.
“Do I need to be worried about you and Steve, Lucas?” Max teased
“NO! As I said he is an objectively attractive man.” Lucas replied with a slight blush appearing on his cheeks.
“Anyway, who do you think it is, Dustin?” Max asked slowly laying off of her boyfriend
“Obviously, it’s me. I mean look at me, who could resist all of this?” Dustin explained adding his little growl noise he always made to the end.
“You can’t be serious?” Max questioned at the same time as Lucas burst into a laughing fit.
“It is a perfectly reasonable possibility that Will used to have a crush on me. I have always been incredibly nice to him, shared comics, helped him with homework, and shared food with him.” Dustin said, continuing to defend himself.
“Ok, ok, sure it could be you, I guess.” Max replied. “Who do you think it is, Mike?” Max asked in a teasing tone that Mike could only describe as I know something you don’t know.
“I don’t know, I haven't really thought that hard about it, I feel like it's a little rude to be speculating about this, Will is our friend, and it's like you guys are trying to predict the next episode of Dynasty.” Mike deflected trying to take the moral high ground to get out of this conversation. Obviously lying, he had been silently watching every interaction of Will’s that he was present for to try and figure it out and he was leaning towards it being Lucas much to his dismay.
“You watch Dynasty, Mike?” Lucas asked teasing
“I live with 2 sisters and my mom, it's always on, and you get sucked into it!” Mike pointed out glad for the subject change even if it was only to make fun of him.
“I bet El knows who it is, we should ask her.” Dustin announced, apparently unaware that they had changed topics.
“I doubt it, she wrote me a letter back when they were living in California, that she thought he was painting something for a girl she thought he liked so she probably doesn’t know,” Mike explained, about to try and change the subject again when Dustin suddenly got up from where he had been sitting on the floor still sitting in front of the television, “I bet Robin knows!” he said like he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it to begin with, “she and Will are literally always talking, she even got him a job at the radio station when Steve quit to go to school, and she's the only other gay person he knows! He definitely must have told her who his crush is!”
“Or here's a crazy idea. We ask Will who he used to have a crush on and stop this before it gets out of hand.” Max suggested in a tone that said she was already done with this conversation, something Mike was completely on board with. It made sense to just ask Will who it was instead of going crazy with the different possibilities running through his head, possibilities he hadn’t even considered like Steve “The Hair” Harrington.
“I agree with Max, we should just ask him next time we see him.” Mike insisted, causing everyone to look at him like he had grown a second head, “what? Why is everyone looking at me? Do I have something on my face?” suddenly feeling self conscious.
“You just agreed with Max.” Lucas said with surprise in his voice, “Like out loud.” Dustin finished amazed at what he just witnessed.
“It’s because he knows I’m right, right Mike?”
“Yeah, I guess,” turning back to Lucas and Dustin, “Did you guys pick a movie yet or not?” clearly done with their previous conversation as he sat back down on the couch picking up his previously discarded book.
“Yeah we picked Superman,” Dustin replied, getting into his movie watching position by Lucas’s legs after popping in the tape.
‘It was going to be a long night, 'Mike thought as the film started.
Will and El had biked to the radio station, Will to work and El because she didn’t want to stay home by herself while everyone else was at work, which was fine as Robin and her had become fast friends bonding over their lack of social skills and similar taste in music.
“So how is life treating the wonder twins today?” Robin questioned as she put on an hour block of hits of the 70’s.
“Very good, we went to a fancy restaurant in the city last night!” El gushed
“It was to celebrate mom and Hopper’s engagement, we went to Applebee’s” Will added to give context to El’s previous statement.
“Nice. Did you guys go to the movies with the party before like you said you were going to?”
“No we couldn’t all pick something to watch at the theater so we just went back to Mike's house to watch Star Wars.” El said disappointment was clear on her face and in her voice.
“I thought you liked Star Wars? You said Han Solo was hot.” Will questioned turning to his sister
“I did like it, the first 20 times we watched it, now I’m sick of it.” she explained
“Noted, I’ll tell Mike he needs to up the movie collection.” Will said in a lightly teasing voice.
“Was Mike acting weird last night or am I going crazy? He was just staring at his book, he wasn’t even changing the pages and he hugged you weird.” El said, confused about her ex-boyfriend's strange behavior.
“Wheeler being weird, oh no we need to alert the media,” Robin exclaimed in an exaggerated voice making both of them laugh out loud.
Will couldn’t even deny it, Mike had been acting weird lately he had noticed. Mike had been staring at him, and Mike had been avoiding his touch often making Lucas or Dustin and on one occasion, Nancy sit in between them whenever they were together. He was a little annoyed, Mike had said that he didn’t care that Will was gay and it wouldn’t change their friendship, so he hoped it wasn’t what was causing Mike to put distance between them.
“Yeah he’s been a little off since the whole end of the world thing, which I guess is to be expected, but I’m sure he’s fine.” Will said defending Mike like it was second nature, because he wasn’t here to do it himself.
As if saying his name summoned him, the door of the studio burst open to reveal Mike Wheeler, with Lucas, Dustin and Max in tow.
“Jesus christ, if I had known befriending Steve would make it so that my place of work became a day care I might have reconsidered.” Robin said teasingly exasperated.
“You know you love us, Robin!” Dustin replied, giving her a large grin,”but we are here on a mission.”
“A mission?” Will and El questioned at the exact same time.
“Yes, we have a burning question that only a one Mr. William Byers can answer.” Dustin replied in an professional voice.
“Ok, let's see if I have an answer for your burning question, I guess.” Will said amused at his friends' antics.
“We started talking about this after you guys left yesterday and we all have our theories but we really need to know. Will, who was your crush, y’know the one you were talking about when you came out? Your Tammy, or whatever that means.” Lucas asked it like it was the most common question in the world and not something that was about to change the entire group dynamic of the whole party if answered truthfully.
“Oh I’m curious about this too, because I thought you were working on something for a girl back in California.” El said innocently.
‘Traitor’, Will thought as he turned to look at his sister with wide eyes, as everyone waited with baited breath.
“Um I didn’t realize it was such a big deal, you guys.” Will said nervously looking around trying to avoid all of the eyes that were on him, only to catch Mike’s looking directly at him.
“Would it help if we did process of elimination?” Lucas asked in a strange attempt to calm him down. Weirdly it worked because under all his anxiety he was a little curious who his friends thought he had a crush on, because in all honesty he thought it had been obvious. It was one of the reasons he didn’t think he needed to explain more during his coming out, but apparently not.
“Sure, why not. Give me your possible suitors, I guess.” Will said a small grin on his face, the color finally coming back to his cheeks as he tried to not show his anxiety.
Dustin steps forward first and asks, “Is it me? Because if it is I am beyond flattered and I love you, but I am taken and straight,” finishing his question with what Will guessed was supposed to be a comforting tone and a tight quick hug.
“No Dustin, it is not you but I love you too.” Will answered back as he pulled away having to hold back a small chuckle at the idea of himself being helplessly in love with Dustin Henderson. Next to step up to the metaphorical podium was El and he honestly had no idea who she was going to guess his crush was. He was a little scared she was going to say Mike, because El was not the best with social cues and a bit naive, but she was not stupid by any means.
“Is it Jonathan’s friend? The one with the pretty hair who smells kinda funny?” she asked with big eyes and an accepting smile.
“Argyle? No El, I definitely do not have a crush on Argyle, like I honestly kinda want to know how you came to this conclusion," she almost cut him off, quickly offering “He had the prettiest hair I had ever seen, Will! It was so long and shiny and he was really nice.”
“I mean I guess he did have nice hair and he was nice but no I did not have a crush on Argyle,” Will conceded then added with a small laugh “ but I do think you might have.” which made El lightly blush.
“Alright, who's next?” Will said having more fun then he had expected.
“Me,” Lucas announced, coming to stand directly in front of Will, “I have two words for you, Steve Harrington.” he said, radiating so much confidence that Will couldn't stop himself from laughing out loud.
“What? I’m sorry what? Why on earth would you think I have a crush on Steve Harrington of all people?” Will wheezed in between laughs.
“HE IS AN OBJECTIVELY ATTRACTIVE MAN!” Lucas yelled angrily, Will apparently having struck a nerve with the subject.
“Well no Lucas you are not correct, like at all.” Will let him know as he finally came down from his laughing fit.
“God dammit!" Lucas cursed as he walked back over to Max who just rubbed his shoulder in a comforting motion.
“Alright there's only two of you left Max, Mike which one of you are going next?” He heard Robin ask from behind him.
“I want to go last. Go, Wheeler.” Max insisted as she pushed Mike towards Will a little harder than necessary causing him to stumble into Will’s chest before catching himself. This was the moment of truth, the moment he had been avoiding since he was 12 years old, the moment that could destroy everything.
“It's Lucas, right. It makes sense he's always been there for you and I saw you look at his biceps the other day.” Mike said in a small, almost angry tone.
That was definitely not what he thought was about to come out of Mike's mouth as he just stood there with his hands in the pockets of his jeans, waiting for Will to confirm his statement.
“No Mike it’s not Lucas,” he turned towards Lucas and said, “No offence, obviously,” only for Lucas to reply with, “No worries at all, man.” looking back at Mike and finished with, “and I can appreciate someone's arms without having to have a crush on them, Mike.”
“He does have nice arms,” Max said as she came up to stand in front of Will pushing Mike to the side with her hip.
“Rude,” Mike muttered under his breath as he backed up a bit.
Before Will got the chance to ask Max what her theory was she leaned into his ear and whispered one singular word, “Mike”. She then took a step back waiting for him to confirm or deny what she had said with a sly grin on her mouth.
“Correct. Max wins whatever bet you guys made.” Will announced looking Max in the eye hoping that she received the silent thank you he was trying to telepathically send to her.
“Wait who is it though? She whispered her answer! Son of a bitch! That's not fair! Why would you do this to us, Max?” Dustin raged
“It's none of any of your business, that's why Dustin. It’s Will’s choice to tell you. When I suggested this last night, I never thought any of you would go through with this honestly really weird idea, let alone all of you. Will, on behalf of the entire party, I’m sorry about this whole situation.” Max said, giving Will a small hug before walking back over to Lucas and Dustin and promptly smacking them both on the back of the head.
“Sorry, Will,” they both said immediately ashamed of themselves.
“It’s ok guys. I honestly thought it was pretty obvious who it was but I guess I'm better at hiding then I thought I was.”
“We're going to go now Will, have a good rest of your shift, bye El, bye Robin.” Max stated as she ushered Lucas and Dustin out the door of the studio.
“Isn’t she your ride Wheeler?” Robin questioned startling Mike out of the brain fog he had been in since Will announced that Max was correct.
“What no, I drove myself. Uh hey Will can I talk to you outside?” Mike asked, then remembering Will was technically at work for the first time since they had entered the building and added “If that's ok with you, Robin?”
“Sure, go ahead, just be back in 30 minutes otherwise Will will never work in radio again, if I have anything to do with it.” she answered, doing a strange pretend business man impression earning her two strange looks, “yeah, just be back in 30 minutes.”
“Thanks, Rob,” Will said as they exited the building, earning him a small head nod and a thumbs up from the girl.
They were sitting on the hood of Mike’s truck, side by side, shoulders brushing against one another.
“I’m sorry about all of that. I didn't know we were just going to ambush you at work. I saw Max driving up to Lucas’s place with Dustin and they said they were going to see you at the station but they didn’t tell me about-”
“It's ok, Mike I’m not mad. It was fun to see that apparently none of you guys know who I'm attracted to. I mean Steve, really?”
“I know! That’s what I said. He’s so old!”
“He is. And El with Argyle too. Do I give off the impression that I’m into older men? Like seriously? And Dustin. I love Dustin, but he’s insane if he genuinely thought it was him. And you, Lucas really? Though I do find it a little funny that you felt the need to bring evidence by the way. Also I don’t even remember checking out Lucas's arms the other day so why do you?”
“I notice everything you do.” Mike admitted sheepishly looking down at his hand resting in his lap.
“You do?” Will said surprise clear in his tone.
“Of course I do,” Mike replied, lifting his head to look at Will’s face.
“Oh, I didn’t know,” Will answered blush starting to spread across his cheeks
“Can I ask you something?” Mike almost pleaded looking directly into Will's large hazel eyes.
“Yeah, anything” Will breathed out realizing that Mike’s face was only about two inches away from his own.
“Who is it? I can’t stop thinking of you wanting to hold hands with someone, to kiss someone that I don't even know the name of, you’re my best friend, I want you to feel like you can talk to me, Will. Why did you not feel like you could tell me about this?” Mike finished looking a little crazed.
“Mike I wanted to tell you but I was so afraid, afraid that if you found out you would hate me.” Will said as he worried a loose thread on the hem of his shirt just to keep himself grounded
“It’s not like my dad or something, right?” Mike questioned in a joking tone trying to ease some of the tension between the two of them during such a tense moment.
“Mike, be serious please.” Will warned
“Yeah, sorry” Mike apologized quickly, hoping he hadn’t just ruined this with a stupid joke and motioned for Will to continue speaking.
“I don’t want you to be upset Mike, please tell me you won’t be upset, promise me you won’t
be upset.” Will all but begged.
“Ok I promise you Will, I won’t be upset. You know me Will, I could never hate you, ever.” Mike replied instantly, grabbing a hold of Will's hands in his lap, rubbing his thumb over Will’s knuckles like he would do when they were children and Will was nervous about something.
“It’s you Mike, you’re who I had a crush on for like half my life.” Will admitted looking away from Mike eyes terrified to see what emotion was in the dark brown abyss of them.
“What? You did? Why?” Mike bombarded Will with questions as if he had never even considered the possibility of Will having a crush on him.
Will, still avoiding his eyes, replied, “Yeah I did. And what do you mean why? Because you’re you. You’ve been a constant in my life since I was 5 of course I have a crush on you. You’re my person, but I know that you aren’t y’know like me.”
“Mike say something, please” Will pleaded finally looking back into Mike's eyes seeing an emotion Will couldn’t read in them, and that scared the shit out of him.
“Mike?” He asked one more time.
“What if I am.” Mike asked in a whisper almost like he was afraid someone would overhear
“What are you talking about, Mike?” Will asked, looking at him still trying to decipher the strange new look in Mike's eyes.
“What if I am like you” Mike said this time with more confidence.
“You aren’t Mike, you like girls, you liked my sister, Mike, remember.” Will said back unsure if he was trying to convince Mike or himself just so he doesn’t get hurt, because this is scary. This is an option that Will had kept out of his brain since he was 13 because it hurt too much to imagine that Mike felt the same way that he did, that he was like him, only for Mike to prove him wrong. It was terrifying to put himself out there like this. He was taken out of his thoughts as Mike continued to speak.
“Yes I obviously remember that I used to like El, but I also know that the thought of you kissing someone who isn’t me makes me want to commit a violent crime, Will.” Mike proclaimed and Will did something he had always wanted to, he didn’t back down.
“Then do it, Mike”
“You want me to commit a violent crime?” Mike said confusedly
“No, kiss me you idiot” Will said in an exasperated tone.
OH
OH
That is exactly what he did. Mike kissed him like it was the only thing he knew how to do.
He put his hand on Will's cheek, closed his eyes and crashed his lips into Wills, and at that moment Mike thinks he felt nirvana in Will Byers’s lips. He had kissed Eleven before when he was younger and felt a small spark but kissing Will was like being in the center of wildfire, it was like he was engulfed in just Will and he never wanted to stop.
Will’s mouth moved against his, a little unsure like he was not sure that this was really happening, that he was actually sitting on Mike's car with his hands cradling his face like he was something precious. Will slowly pulled back from Mike’s mouth, pressing his forehead against Mike’s.
“I have always wanted to do that,” Will muttered before pulling Mike’s mouth back to his.
They stayed like that for what felt like eternity just wrapped in each other's arms, kissing until their mouths were swollen.
“I’m really happy it’s me. I was going insane thinking about you with someone else, just some faceless person taunting me because they could have all of you and I couldn’t.” Mike admitted touching his kiss swollen lips with his fingers before moving them to hold Will’s jaw.
“Thats why you’ve been so weird? You were so jealous of yourself, you were making yourself crazy, is that it?” Will asked in a slightly teasing tone, his hands moving up to Mike’s hair.
“It’s not like I knew it was me, for a second there I was genuinely worried it was Lucas and I'm not going to lie. I don't think I could take him in a fight and no offense but I don’t think you could take Max either.” Mike replied, stroking up and down the length of Will’s jaw and neck with his fingers like he couldn’t believe he was allowed to do this.
“Oh gosh there goes my idea for a double date cage match with Lucas and Max. I guess I'll just have to plan something else.” Will joked running his fingers through Mike’s dark curls that were a little outgrown, going just past the base of his neck.
“A date?” Mike questioned and Will wondered if it was the first time he had considered the possibility.
“Well only if you want to, but I need you to know that that’s the only way this can work, I don’t think I could survive if I couldn’t have all of you, Mike. I don’t want this to be just when we're bored or to be a body to hold until someone better comes around, I won’t put myself through that.” Will said with tears in his eyes
“You already have all of me, Will, you always have. I want to be with you in any way you’ll let me. I want to be who you go on dates with, I want to be the person who holds your hand, I just want to be with you.” Mike said and Will realized what the look in Mike’s eyes was. It was love, love for Will that he just couldn’t contain anymore and Will completely understood.
“I want that too, Mike” Will said with the love Mike now realizes has always been in Will’s voice.
Just as their lips connected they heard the door to the studio open and Robin came out.
“Hey lovebirds, 30 minutes was 10 minutes ago. I need Will now, Wheeler. I don't pay him to kiss gangly teen boys, I pay him to press buttons that make weird noises now that Steve is in college.”
“I’ll call you when I get home, I’m off at 5:00 and I’ll be home at 5:30,” Will breathed into Mike’s mouth as he gave him one last parting kiss and got off the truck.
“I’ll be waiting by the phone,” Mike promised as he watched Will and Robin walk back into the radio station, knowing that he would get to kiss Will Byers again.