Chapter Text
June 20th, 2026
Now that everyone in the party had graduated, they were taking a 5 day vacation to Las Vegas.
Robin, Mike, Will, Dustin, and Lucas were all carpooling to the airport. Robin in the driver's seat, Will in the passenger seat, and the other 3 boys in the back.
The car ride was pretty normal, boring even, until one song played on the radio while they stopped at a red light. “Hey, Dustin could you pass me the-“ Robin is interrupted by a girl’s voice on the radio.
Broke my heart on Saturday
Guess overnight your feelings changed
And I have cried so much I almost fainted
Robin, ignoring whatever her request was beforehand, snaps her head to Will, who's already smiling at her, an idea forming in their minds.
“Oh god, nonononono…” Lucas complains from the backseat putting his head in his hands and shaking his head.
To show you just how much it hurts
I wish I had a gun or words
If something got lost in communication
“What?? What’s happening?” Mike questions concern growing onto his face.
“Well, sayonara…” Robin sings to Will.
“Adios! You’re not bilingual but you should know..” Will sings back as Lucas complains more and more in the backseat, as Robin turns up the volume and suddenly, the two are sing-screaming the song together.
“Oh, fuck me.” Mike sighs, knowing exactly where this is going, Dustin giggling in the background.
“Can’t call it love then call it quits can’t shoot me down then shoot the shit!” Robin and Will sing along together, turning the volume up slightly.
“Did you forget that it was you who said goodbye?!?!” Will sings on his own as he faces and points at Robin jokingly.
“So you don’t get to be the one who cries!” They sing together as Robin giggles.
“This is an assault on my ears!” Lucas protested as Robin and Will sang their hearts out.
“By walking out that means you choose..” Robin sings to Will as Mike threatens to jump out of the car.
“Goodbye…!” Will sings back.
As the instrumental plays, Dustin starts talking, giddy and energetic, “You guys are no fun!!”
“They don’t like my singing,” Will replies in a sarcastic tone, giggling alongside Dustin and Robin.
The feeling’s so specific
The song continues as Will peaks over at the side mirror and rather than seeing a slightly annoyed Mike, he sees Mike staring at Robin with an emotion he can’t quite read, but it’s no good.
Wanna punch you every other minute
Will worries for Mike. Could he be homesick? Will had expected that, but they hadn’t even pulled into the airport parking lot. He’ll talk to him later. To be fair, Sabrina Carpenter is his all time favorite singer, and Goodbye is his favorite song ever.
“You used to love my ass now baby you won’t see it anymore!!” Will sings to Robin, stealing one last glance at Mike as he sings that line, Mike seeming to get even more hurt at it.
What is up with Mike?
Will snaps out of it, going back to singing his heart out, as the bridge arrives, they pull into the airport parking lot, Robin loudly sings, “Forgive my French, but fuck you tata!!”
“Sayonara….” Will sings at Robin enthusiastically.
“Adios!” Robin sings back, staring him in the eyes.
“On the flip side!”
“Cheerio!!”
“Por siempre te amo,” Will sings, butchering the pronunciation badly.
“Wait no! Shit, when did you get here?!?! Go put on some clothes!!” They sing together, as carefree as possible.
As the song ends Dustin cheers and applauds as Lucas whines, no shocker, “It’s over at last!” He says as they get out of the car, retrieving their luggage. Will, smiling, looks at Mike, expecting him to say something similar to Lucas, but he just looks… distraught. Almost.. almost disgusted? Or is it hurt? Will can’t tell for sure, but Mike is his best friend and the love of his life, he will make him better.
As they walk into the airport, Will runs up next to Mike.
“I can’t wait for Vegas!!” Will exclaims, but Mike doesn’t reply.
“Was my singing that bad? Oh god, you should’ve seen when I tried to belt No Good Deed when Wicked: For Good came out!”
Mike smiles a bit, looking up at Will with a look in his eyes that makes Will’s chest flutter.
“Sorry, sorry just gonna miss home.”
“Yeah, I get it. The good thing is it’s just 5 days! And plus, we have each other.”
Mike smiles for real this time, and Will feels proud of himself for cheering his best friend up.
As they board the plan, Mike snatches the window seat from Will before he can take it.
“Oh you bitch.”
Mike laughs at him, and Will flips him off. Mike, still giggling, rolls his eyes as he sets his stuff down. Will sits in the middle seat, setting his stuff around, “Imagine how cool it’d be if no one bought the seat next to us?” Will says, sitting down.
Mike looks at him with a smirk, “Trying to get me alone, Byers?” Playful flirting had become normal for them, but recently, Mike had gotten less jokingly with his tone, and more touchy. Must be a good actor, Will thought.
“I mean, I’ve always wanted to join Mile High Club,” Will flirts.
“Mile High Club? Never heard of it.”
“Oh well, guess I’ll have to educate you,”
The two make eye contact for a few seconds, tension rising between the duo, as Mike breaks eye contact as he bursts out laughing, as if they’re 12 planning DND again. “Are you laughing at me?!” Will asks, giggling himself, in a sarcastic tone. “What if I am, how do you plan on shutting me up?” Mike replies, his voice dripping with want.
It knocks Will away from his senses for a second, and by the time Will goes to reply, Dustin comes over and sits next to them.
Mike greets him, the three talking for a bit, when Mike puts on his headphones, Will follows.
Will opens Spotify, hits play on his playlist and as the melody fills his eardrums, he thinks back to Mike in the car, how he looked like he wanted to murder Robin, how as Robin and Will continued with the song he got more and more pissed off.
Maybe he just hated them singing the song? He would’ve said something when it finished like Lucas.
He turns to look at Mike, who is staring out the window. He debates asking him. He shouldn’t let Dustin hear though, it could be personal.
Will turns to look at Dustin, who is asleep next to him.
That was fast.
Turning back to face Mike, he spits it out. “Hey, Mike?’
“Yeah?” Mike looks at Will, reading his expression. “Is something wrong?’ He asks the shorter boy.
“No, no, just, back in the car, when me and Robin were singing,” Mike’s demeanor immediately drops. “I saw you seemed really upset. I know you said you were homesick, but you didn’t look sad or upset. You..” He pauses, knowing Mike is hiding something by the fear behind his eyes that were hiding something.
“You looked mad, but also disgusted, but also hurt, and a million other things, if that makes sense.” He continues, treading lightly as Mike looks like a little boy caught sneaking candy.
Mike doesn’t say anything, he just widens his eyes, clearly searching for an excuse.
“You don’t have to tell me! But you are my best friend, I’m always here for you.” This seems to make it worse, as Mike shrinks back down into his seat, somehow further than before.
“Yeah, yeah sorry. Was just stuck in thought is all. I’m okay. Really.”
Will doesn’t buy it, but he doesn’t wanna prod any further, so he sends him a reassuring smile as he slips his headphones back on. He knows once the plane starts up he won’t have Wifi. He thinks he has time, but that thought cuts off quickly as the pilot talks over the intercom, “Ready for takeoff!”
After they land, they grab their luggage and meet up with the group at the hotel.
Sitting in the lobby, Will, Mike, Dustin, El, Nancy, and Jonathan, wait for the others.
When Robin walks in with Lucas and Steve, Will shoots up to talk to Robin.
Robin hugs him and they start talking immediately. “you had to sit with Lucas AND Steve? Must’ve reeked!”
Robin laughs at him as they continue talking.
When Will turns to look at Mike, he has that same face from back in the car. He gives himself a mental note about it, planning to talk to him, when Hopper and Joyce walk in.
“Finally, oh my god!” El exclaims as they stand in front of them.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go check in.” Hopper scoffs at El, who giggles in reply.
They get their keys and Joyce and Hopper sit everyone down to discuss whose rooming with who.
“Alright, I’ve got 4 doubles and 3 singles, so we have enough for everyone. First off, me and Hopper can share a double.” Joyce announces to the group.
“I can share with Jonathan?” Nancy calls out.
Hopper gives the couple a look, stating, “Fine, but I swear to god if either of you have hickeys at any point…”
Robin stifles a laugh as Joyce hands Jonathan and Nancy the keys.
“Alrighty, 2 doubles and 3 singles left.”
Mike notices Robin turn to Will and get an idea, about to mention something but Mike cuts her off before she can say anything.
“Me and Will can share a double if that’s okay?” Mike presents, turning to Will for confirmation.
Will smiles and nods, “Yeah that’s fine!”
Joyce tosses Will and Mike a key, and Will swears he sees Robin a little hurt.
As they sort the rest out, Dustin and Lucas share a double, with El, Robin, and Steve getting a single to themselves.
“Okay, it’s almost 8pm, so you guys can go up to your rooms and do whatever, meet in back in the lobby at 10am.” Hopper says, as the group nods and heads to their rooms.
Will waves to Robin as he walks to his room alongside Mike.
“I call the first shower!!” Will calls out, as Mike groans and flips him off.
When they enter the room, they set down their luggage, Mike stretches as Will opens his suitcase, grabbing his toiletries.
As Will showers, Mike grabs his toiletries as well, puts away his clothes, and plugs in his phone.
When Will gets out, Mike practically celebrates, grabbing his stuff and going to the shower.
Will plugs his phone in and puts his clothes like Mike did, and goes to sketch as he waits for Mike.
Will draws Mike yet again. He has an entire sketchbook filled with drawings of Mike, he debated bringing it, knowing that Mike finding it would be deadly.
How would he explain that? Oh yeah haha, I’m gay and in love with you, have been since middle school, no biggie right?
He ended up bringing, deciding to only ever draw or even have it out in the open when Mike wasn’t in the room.
As Will’s pencil flows across the screen, bringing Mike to life yet again, Mike steps out of the shower earlier than expected.
Why didn’t I hear the water stop? Will thinks.
“Whatcha drawing?” Mike asks, noticing the notebook Will forgot to put away.
Shit.
Will slams it closed and puts it away,
“Uh, nothing. How was the shower?” He replies, trying to change the subject.
Mike raises an eyebrow, clearly suspicious.
“Good… Can I see what you were drawing?”
“No! Shit, I mean no, it’s not any good.”
He’s so fucked.
“Are you drawing porn or something Byers?” Mike teases, brushing his hair out.
“Totally.”
Mike rolls his eyes, maybe a bit hurt that Will wouldn’t show him.
“I’m so tired… What time is it??” Will asks.
“Almost 10, so since the time difference is 3 hours, 1am.”
That explains it.
“I’m sleeping, like, 5 minutes ago.” Will replies flopping down into bed.
Mike laughs at him, agreeing.
He plops into bed next to Will, immediately realizing how cold it is.
“I knew I should’ve brought an extra blanket.” Will says, as if he read Mike’s mind.
Instead of answering, Mike stares into Will.
“I think your eyes are my favorite part about you.” Mike whispers, making Will’s heart flutter.
“You think? What’s the contender?” Will whispers back, surprisingly quickly considering his state of shock.
“Scratch that, nothing compares. I could stare into them for hours.”
Will’s heart races, it might pop out of him.
“I’ve always loved your hair,” Will replies, subconsciously running a hand through his hair before he can stop himself.
Mike doesn’t reply.
The room isn’t well lit, other than the moonlight shining out of the window, a subtle light casting onto Mike’s face.
He swears he could see Mike staring at his lips.
Snap out of it Byers. Will thinks.
He’s straight. He couldn’t like you even if he was gay. You’re disgusting.
Will sinks a bit in the bed.
He hopes Mike won't notice.
You are unloveable, you know this.
He sinks lower into the bed, and Mike has definitely noticed.
How would he explain this?
“Oh I’m aware how completely disgusting I am and how much of a disappointment and is a stupid fa-“
He needs to snap out of it before he breaks down infront of Mike.
“Will?”
Shit.
“You okay?”
Shit.
“Yeah, just sleepy.”
“Alrighty, goodnight.”
“Nighty.”